Books That I am Reading/Want to Read

In between the mounting chaos and perilous journeys of the mind, body and soul that I have experienced over the last two months either corporeally or otherwise, I never lost sight of the books that I have been perusing (or stacking about me in piles, neat piles, however). They include but are not limited to:

The Selected Writings of Lafcadio Hearn
Selected Poems of Luis de Gongora

Selected Poems of Antonio Machado

sample:

We thought that we could
make our love a grand festival,
kindle new aromas
on unknown mountains,
and hide the secret
of our pallid faces,
because in the Bacchanalia of life
our cups are always empty
while the golden juices of the vine
laugh with a crystalline and foamy echo.
A bird hidden among the branches
of the lonely park
whistles mockingly…
We squeeze
the shadow of a dream into our glass…
And something that is earth in our flesh feels
the moisture of the garden like a caress.

Deep Play by Diane Ackerman (a monumental book IMHO)

Deep adj. Play n. : 1. A state of unselfconscious engagement with our surroundings 2. An exalted zone of transcendence over time 3. A state of optimal creative capacity

Fantasists on Fantasy (highly recommended, especially Moorcock's essay on humor in Fantasy)
The Philosopher and the Wolf by Mark Rowlands (given to me by a friend)

I am also teaching myself conversational French (no kidding!), though with my schedule the way it already is this seemingly will only be accomplished if I am able to duplicate myself. I'll have to read a book on that latter process... I'll let you know how it goes... :)

The Lord of the Blog Has Returned

Well, The Lord of the Blog has returned.

If you believe I was on vacation, guess again. :)

With the failure of 3 free-lance manuscripts (2 of which PPP paid a heap of advances on) to materialize I have been about staunching the wounds and now announce that with Ramsey Dow's help, that they are staunched. Six Weeks of schedule reordering to redo the schedule, art ordering, cost estimates, etc. was but the start. Then came the new products, two of which will be released the 15th of this month and which some of you know about (more on that in another post), and the ordering of the release schedule for the new line (DUNGEON SETS™) and the re-convening on my GH Castle levels (which were pushed in the 9 month slash of time and revenue as a dominoes effect of the previous aforementioned products not materializing).

In between I suffered great fatigue and a bout of depression (No Kidding). I had encouraged others to post here, but, alas, no one has opted to do that. So, between fire and foe and burning flesh (to Odin and Thor) we are finally rolling again, and with solid wheels.

For those who believe a life of an artist is easy, couple that with self-publishing and doing all the work (now with Ramsey's help) and you would be wrong on both counts. In fact on my birthday I was at home writing and planning, did not have a drop of liquor or cake (someone ate that a long time ago...), and would not have remembered it if the Facebook crew and those here had not wished me one. Thanks again, btw.

More... I have agreed to a very, very, very long interview and am readying notes for that, I have rough-designed an award that will be presented at next years Texas RPG Con (which I will be at as a guest and DM and as the presenter of said award), and I have started writing my memoirs (a two year chore which I am long-handing on vellum with a M200 Pelikan fountain pen--I long-hand about 2 pages/day), I considered a relationship in between, thought better, and instead made linguini in clam sauce....

I am at the moment drinking coffee (can you tell?), though I do not consider it coffee so much anymore, rather blood as it appears to have replaced my own these days. That should bring me right up to date for the moment, plus or minus 10 other things.

More posts to follow after my caffeine high has subsided. :)

RJK

Happy Birthday to Lord Robilar!

Happy Birthday Rob!

New Cover Piece

Tower of Blood 2nd Printing Shipping

The ordering platform was enabled for ToB 2nd Printing at 12:19pm CST.

Thanks to the fans who voiced such strong interest in this!

Tower of Blood 2nd Printing Available July 29th

I received the booklets for Tower of Blood late yesterday and am now collating them and packaging. Sometime after noon on the 29th I will enable the ordering platform so that purchases can be made. I will announce this not only here, but at our forums and by email to those who have been on the waiting list since it went OOP.

The demand for this title is extremely high, so I doubt that even with the extra batch I ordered that these will last longer than 2 weeks max.

Boreal Level Map (Sample)

Ramsey and I are conferring by phone this week over the next map he's rendered, a sample of which should be an appropriate teaser. Next in line after we've put this one to bed is the Machine Level which EGG's main PCs playtested (just as Robilar did Tomb of Horrors) before we placed it in the Castle precincts.

Original Castle Levels Project

I have been receiving many inquiries regarding this project and the book of tales, essays and other early day commentaries, Lord of the Green Dragons. An in depth synopsis of the Castle project follows.

When PPP put these into the production schedule we had two projects due out at the time which would float, so to speak, the publication of the Castle project and LotGD. Unfortunately, the person that was to complete these projects did not do so. This set us back with everything thereafter, and the publishing schedule had to be remade (as is now being addressed). In between, Ed Kann finished the FC illustrations (4, with 2 having already been finished by ATOM); Ed was then to do what Ramsey Dow is now doing, re-render the six (6) castle levels. Unfortunately, again, Ed had to drop out of gaming and associated creating due to very personal issues, which I understood. While taking up the slack for the missing two projects to keep us on target with releases, I now found myself scrambling to get all the pre-press stuff juggled as well, and that is where Ramsey, Hextor bless his soul, came in (with help from his beautiful lady, "Z").

Ramsey and I are working at breakneck speeds to get everything finished. The Castle levels (at least these first 6, as there are more to follow), will be released in 2 sets of x3 levels each, with an estimated page count of 24-32 printed pages per booklet and with three booklets per set. Each will have a color map and a reproduction of my hand-drawn original map. The levels will either be available as single issues or as sets, as noted, with a sizable discount if one purchases the sets. This will also allow a reduction in combined mailing costs as opposed to being purchased separately over time.

There is so much Original Campaign material slated for future publication that I am quite sure that I will be kept busy for many years to come. Beside the Castle Levels, there is the City, the extensive sewers beneath, Special levels (like the Annex), Demonworld, more magic, NPCs and PCs from the OC, spells, one-off adventures and army/unit organizations, etc., etc. Though I contributed about 15 levels to the OCastle, by that time many of the PCs were moving to the outdoor and city adventures (or specials); so as EGG continued crafting rules and such, I was busy with campaign crafting, and was getting more detailed about things from the way they originally appeared in our sketch notes. Major work was done by myself on the City and Sewers, for example, and that is why I have elected to add that to a growing list of future products for the line.

I hope that explains a little and more of my intent and position regarding this project. It has the highest priority after our next drive, which I hope is a successful one. :) After the Castle levels we should be in a poisition to do LotGD, which is for the most part finished except for 10,000 additional words and then editing.

Wrapping Up a Very Busy Month

I have been too busy as usual what with an upcoming drive. Let's see, some tidbits...

I am in the middle of organizing the pieces to get Black Festival ready for the layout person.

I am ordering the details of an adventure to be to written with another chap having to do with the Original Campaign: The Cursed Village.

I am ordering another part of a secret project PART 2 for another person to draw the maps for.

Ramsey (Yesmar) finished secret project PART 1.

Ramsey Dow and I had a phone conversation the other day (whew, 2 or so hours long) and finalized the go ahead for the next Original Castle map, The Boreal Level. He is now rendering it. Ramsey is real cool and so is his lady, Z, who helps as well. Real neat.

I am about to get my remaining short stories off to our editor, David Coalter.

I am waiting on Tower of Blood, which did not ship today, so I expect it to be available next week Tuesday.

In the middle of outlining a new project as well as plugging away at a new essay length post for the blog.

In between, reorganizing the Living Room adventure to be reprinted as a saddle-stitched booklet with a color cover and with additional material. This might take the place of DHALT which I am falling behind on with so much organizational stuff, but we'll see what reserves I have left for it.

Also communicating with NTRPGCon on a very special adventure I am crafting for next year's event.

I also keep up a steady stream of research each week as well as scratch my ear on occasion...

Did I mention that I went shopping today? Home made tacos for dinner. :) Afterward, if I am not already dead to the wind, I will savor a flute or two of Perrier Jouet Grand Brut to help issue me off to Dreamland...

Wolfar: Black Festival Art (Sample)

Wolfar is a barbarian, an educated Frank, who I created back in 1989. I wrote a lone novella of 20,000 words on his most daring exploit entitled, "Black Festival." This will be available soon. I have other stories outlined that I will write and publish which pertain to his various adventures here or there throughout Francia and the Mediterranean world. The action for Black Festival takes place in historical Aquintaine, Lombard and other remote parts of the area as the action shifts. The story has many fantasy elements and thus can be considered a "historical fantasy," but I chose the locale mainly due to the colorful nature of Francia at that time and the admixture of pagan and Carolingian Empire spices. It does not compare to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne in as much as it follows the bent of a Fafhrd minus the Gray Mouser, with some attention given to the far-ranging story line which even touches upon Wolfar's past wherein he was a Moorish galley slave. I hope that our fans appreciate this when published and support our line of fantasy fiction that I intend to publish, with this being the first of the batch! :)

Tower of Blood 2nd Printing

Tower of Blood (2nd Printing) is off to the printers and should be available as early as the weekend or at least by early next week. I ordered double the number of reprints for this than I did for CAS1
(120) as there has been a larger demand for it, presumably because we only issued 350 of them (as opposed to 500 for Cairn) in the initial print run. These will go very fast, so stay tuned! :)

Cairn of the Skeleton King 2nd Printing Sold Out

The limited reprinting of this adventure has been sold out.

There may be more reprints in the future based upon demand.

Tormented Trees

Long time no post. Been busy with work, life and preparing some material for the Lord, among other things (that is Lord as in Green Dragons, not Yahweh or Jehovah - just so we're clear - I'm not preparing anything for the Other Guy just now)

Anyway, in recent fiddlings about seeking inspiration from natural sources, I stumbled up against this weird little website, and especially the section of pictures pertaining to unique trees. There are some decent dendrites with tales to tell in that lot.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/offbeat-news/30-creepiest-trees-on-earth-pics/1381/2



Enjoy.

A Comprehensive Game-News Site

Here.

:)

Ever Wonder Why...

That newer Fantasy in Games is becoming a laughing stock? I don't...

From a WotC Board Post:


"Level 30 Elf Paladin / Astral Weapon / Demigod
Tools:
Elven Accuracy
Pray for More
Divine Miracle
Vorpal Weapon
[!] Given this build, there are no additional feats, optional class powers, or ability scores that are required to accomplish the trick.

How it works:
Setup: Before attacking you must expend every encounter power you have except Elven Accuracy.
Execution:
Step (1) Approach your enemy.
Step (2) Perform a basic melee attack.
∟(2a) Regardless of the roll (even a natural 20), use Elven Accuracy to reroll.
Step (3) Reroll your attack. After rerolling, Elven Accuracy has been expended and you can use Divine Miracle.
∟(3a) If you roll a natural 20, you hit. Use Divine Miracle to recover Pray for More.
∟(3b) If you do not roll a natural 20, you might not hit. Use Divine Miracle to recover Elven Accuracy . Repeat Step (3).
Step (4) Roll for damage.
∟(4a) If you roll max damage, roll an additional die as provided by Vorpal Weapon. Repeat Step (4).
∟(4b) If you do not roll max damage, use Pray for More to reroll your damage. Upon expending Pray for More, use Divine Miracle to recover it. Repeat Step (4).
Step (5) Repeat Step (4) until your damage is greater than your target's hit points and other miscellaneous modifiers such as temporary hit points or resistances.
Step (6) To end the cycle after completing Step (5), Use Divine Miracle to recover Elven Accuracy instead of Pray for More. Thus, you will be able to repeat this trick upon your next attack.


Conclusion:
This build is capable of instantly killing anything with a basic melee attack at-will. Furthermore, the trick can be accomplished with any At-Will or Daily power also. However, It can not be used with an Encounter power! Astral Whirlwind would be great if you ever ran into a pack of Elder Red Dragons. You could even perform this trick multiple times in a single turn from things such as Opportunity Attacks or other bonus attacks.

Furthermore, the build is completely independent of feats, other powers, and ability scores. In terms of optimizing any of those, I would suggest optimizing your survivability as you no longer need to worry about your offensive capabilities.

Also, the base class of Paladin is not required. Only Astral Weapon and Demigod are required. Therefore, in the pursuit of defeating Orcus with each class, Level 30 Elf x / Astral Weapon / Demigod with Soldier of the Faith can serve as a template for any class.

Enjoy."

How enjoyable...