The Nearly Last 1/2010 Post. Do You Want to Know about Midrea

Juts a question for my loyal readers.


Is anyone interested in a Midrea Gazetteer?

I figure it would be a 64 page (or so) free PDF with enough material to get someone started or to fill in themselves. More details could be offered for a modest price as maybe regional guides or other sorts of splat books.

Make the game offer it in Pathfinder system or one of the old school systems as well. Conversions aren't hard as the game has world has been used with AD&D2e, Rolemaster, homebrew card toss , Novel Form (??!! yes it was mediocre) 3x and GURPS (where the bulk of the writing was done)

Its generic enough but different enough to be different. I hope. Or its another Fantasy Heartbreaker and I am deluding myself. Either way, it might be useful for someone not interested in world design but who needs a sandbox to play in.

The Machine Called (Playtest Update)

I updated the playtest files for Loadouts and included a new and improved OGL declaration. Its in a microscopic size 4 font to keep that mess under a page so you'll need to zoom in if you want to read it but its all there now.

Thanks much to Starglim over at the ENWorlds boards for pointing out the errors and for the other suggestions as well.

I owe ya one man....

First Product to the Wild

Grab it at the main page or here

Loadouts is designed for Pathfinder using the Pathfinder SRD and an art budget of zero (literally) and is meant to enable easy outfitting of starting characters.

It provides pretty much everything that a person and a party need for dungeon and wilderness adventures in a a short 4 page PDF, Its art light and generally printer friendly.

I really appreciate any comments you have on its usefulness, layout and ease of reading (and printing if you so desire)

Thanks Much.

Status Report

OK thought I'd give y'all a status report.

I have two Pathfinder products written and mostly edited, one is free and one is a pay product.

I am currently in the "Layout" stage which is the beast as my skills in this area about those of a deranged gibbon with hooks for hands ...

After I improve my layout and editing skills I am going to acquire some decent art and we'll have something then.

In addition I have an OSR Freebie coming up, my take on the Thief, the Adventurer. Its supports my someday I hope, Old School Companion product and the d12 Thieving Rules. While I could put it together right now, I'd like to make this a nice professional looking instead so, it maybe a while.

On the horizon: Free: Old School Products

I do have a few Old School products brewing too.

Project Fairylands:
A complete RPG for new and old gamers. Amusingly the art is nearly selected on this game but the text is just dewdrops.

Old School Companion:
64 pages of delicious options usable with B/X, Labyrinth Lord or with a bit of effort any of the others

Also under consideration are OSR versions of , Encounters A through Z , Isle of Danger and Dragons Gate. whether these see the light of day will depend on market research and the amount of work they take. The OSR market is tiny and there is a lot of good stuff out there, much of it free. It might simply not be worth the work to sales ratio.

On the horizon: Free Pathfinder Products

A continuation of the above post. Here is what I have planned as "give away" items for Pathfinder

Alphabet of Encounters Outtakes: A free encounter

Keng-Ko-Ku: an adventure inspired a certain giant ape

Iconics: Iconic NPC's from Midrea in Pathfinder format.

On the horizon: Pathfinder Products

Just as a goad to get more work done, here is a list of Pathfinder products I have in various stages of completion and want to get to y'all. Basically this is the catalog. Consider them ethereal till you see them as its pretty ambitious for what is essentially a one man show but I believe I can manage it.

Into the Woods:
A ready to go Pathfinder quick play designed to challenge new and old players of all ages. Its a starting adventure for up to six players designed to be played in one sessions but to leave the doors open for more adventures.

To Battle! :
6 Short (Five level) fighting style prestige classes recycled from my 3.0 OGL and converted to Pathfinder

The Magic of Midrea:
A big list of spells, spellbooks and possibly magic items from my Midrea campaign because you can never have too much magic.

Spells, Swords and Prayers:
New 20 level classes for Pathfinder. To spoil this one, these are classes that resemble some of the prestige classes scaled up to 20 levels. This way you can play several cool concepts from L1 instead if having to struggle with planning and min-maxing.

Encounters A thru Z:
26 Short pre planned encounters for every letter of the alphabet. These can be used as filler or expanded into additional games or even with a little mental muscle into a campaign arc.

Dragons Gate Adventure Path:
Exploration, action and danger await on the Isle of Danger. This adventure path inspired by the pulps and the Isle of Dread is designed for up to six L1 to about L15 PC's and is suitable for Midrea or any other game world.

Isle of Danger:
This is the setting guide for the above Adventure Path.

Signs of Night Adventure Path
Something experimental, a shorter more Gothic Adventure Path. 5 Adventures perfect for you horror inspired game worlds or for players with an appetite for darker fair.

Power Up! Magic items that scale with you;
Just like the title says.

Wonder: Low Magic Rules for Pathfinder:
This is a pulpier, lower magic set of rules for Pathfinder. It includes simple low magic rules and a more complex "low magic item" rule set that keeps the associated power levels.

If y'all see anything on there thats sounds like a must have, let me know so I can prioritize otherwise, wish me luck.

So Are You a Big Stink Hypocrite Planning to Create a Bunch of New Crunchy Pathfinder Stuff

Well the answer to that question is, hedge -- hedge -- hedge -- kinda

If things go well I will be putting out a bunch of new spells and maybe some prestige classes and feats.

The spells are coming out because, well I love spells

These and the prestige classes were were already published years ago (so I know they were good) in D20 Weekly (they are OGL) and thus recycling --

As for the feats, they serve a niche I think is not being served (cool weapon style feats)--

Besides, not everyone has gone completely overboard and larded up on material like I have. A lot of folks out there in gaming land need new stuff.

Product Update

Been working a bit on some Pathfinder stuff, a couple of new classes, a really cool book of encounters (which will also be Old School) and a big book of cool spells and such (which may also be Old Schooled)

They aren't ready yet but there has been progress.

Stay Tuned and thanks for reading my blog.

Some Things I Am Working On

New Racial Classes for Labyrinth Lord

Elves.

My take on elves is that all of them use arcane magic of some kind. Like a certain elf from a very bad movie "Humans use magic as versus elves being part of it." This colors all the elf classes as X + Plus magic user.

All elves will have certain abilities in common. In newer editions these would be called "racial" abilities but here they are part of the class.

Those abilities include:

Night Vision (instead of infrasvision)
auto detect secrets doors on a 1-2 and concealed doors on a 1-3 if within
Immune to aging,disease, ghoul touch, magic sleep
Hear Noise +1
Surprised 1 time in 6 less
Stronghold at L9

Classes for Elves include

Sword Dancer (your classic fighter/mage)
Spell Hand (sneaky elf)
Wanderer (woods elf)
Arcane Archer (archery and magic rather similar to the prestige class)
Healer (limited cleric and nature magic )

The Tentative Product List

This list is very tentative and it depends on how well I can get my personal stuff in order. Prices and sizes are not set in uhh, stone.

Product #1 (for Pathfinder)

FSPFC #1 Swordmage

A new core class combining fighter and wizard. A less complex and (IMNSHO) more fun alternative to the Eldritch Knight that blasts out the door at level one.


Product #2 (for Old School)

FSOS#1 Class Options for Old School

This is themed for Labyrinth Lord and B/X but could be used easily enough with any of the old school type games. It includes a comprehensive background system, my "lens system for classes, a bunch of new race/classes, a smattering of house rules and a set of snowflake rules to add cool and simple backgrounds traits. I am guessing this will be about 64 pages when its done.

Product Query: Character Companion

I have a question for all my readers. Who here would be interested in a Character Options Companion?

What I am thinking here is a product for "old school" in general with a focus on Labyrinth Lord but usable with Swords and Wizardry, B/X and other games.

It would be composed of an extended background table, a discussion of what each class should know how to do, a simplified (very simplified) skill system based on attribute rolls , an optional "snowflake" table of special abilities (rather like a saner version of the infamous Arduin tables) and the meat of the matter, several dozen new character classes designed to mesh with the others.
These classes ought to be balanced and flavorful while being easily plugged into most any campaign

I figure it ought to be about 64 pages or so.

So what say y'all. Any interest ?