Some Good news at last...

The proof copy for Abundant sole: Elemental sock design for the gauge impaired. has finally arrived, and subject to a couple of edits, it will be available soon.

*Note to self: never use media mail... especially during the winter holiday season.

Nope... That was an on comming train...

So much for day light at the end of the tunnel. 

Critters, Creatures, and Denizens is written, but the art is only 85% complete... and the artist working on the project has injured himself.  It is severe and we here at CP are praying and sending good thoughts to him and his family right now.  I'm not entirely sure what will happen now, but I'm left without cover art, and many of the fancy borders, and even a few critters.  I think I can cobble together the covers from old artwork that hit the editing room floor, but I think I'm just going to have to pull the stuff without art from the book and hope for the best with a first edition.

the latest news...

Well folks, we're happy to announce that the first of the two projects we have on tap has entered has been submitted to the printer for a proof copy.  So we will be announcing the debut of "Abundant Soul: elemental knitting for the gauge impaired."  An excellent 'how-to' book on the wonders of creating your own sock designs. 

Likewise we are pleased to announce that "Creatures, Critters, & Denizens" A DCCRPG compatible source book for monsters and their design is approaching its final phase.  We have 85% of the interior art and will be working out the cover soon.  I wish I could give a more solid date for delivery, but we are a small time operation at present, and when We hired the artist for the CCD project we doubled the production staff.  ;)

Cheers.

Yep! That's definitely daylight...

It's been a long and difficult struggle, but we secured the very fine talents of Scott Ackerman to illustrate Critters, Creatures, & Denizens a few weeks ago and the project is now rocketing towards the finish line.  The art is rolling in now and I'm adding it to the layout as fast as I can.  Here is a sample:  the art plate for chapter 1...  Hope you like it as much as I do!

... because this was the alternative!  Here's the 'scribble' as I call it, that I sent to him to convey my compositional ideas:

THANX MR. ACKERMAN!!

You saved us from my stick figures!

I think I see daylight....

Well, both the author's edit and the final edit of the manuscript for "Critters, Creatures, & Denizens" are done and now it is own to the layout editing.  For this I will be learning a new program; Serif PagePlus v6; and the initial attempts have been rather frustrating, but things are starting to smooth out.  The rather colorful cursing and cussing was centered around my attempts to create a new document from scratch.  However, before things devolved into 'fist -to- circuitry' combat I managed to figure out how to import a PDF to be manipulated.  This is something I can work with... it will at least allow me more freedom to move the text blocks around.  Man was I clueless as to how long a project like this would take, so I hope anyone who may still be interested has a bountiful reserve of patience.  Be assured, that we're working as fast as we can.  :D

In other news (and I don't want to jinx anything) but it looks as if we may have found an artist... I'll post more as soon as things are more certain; but things are looking a bit more colorful in the art department!  :D

News Flash: Dateline Editing Desk

“This is Phred Phreely with the Crystal View News Channel, with the latest on Critter-gate.  We join our correspondent in the field, live at the scene of the battle.  Take it away Fritz!  What’s the latest on the action at the embattled editor’s desk?”

“Well Phred, things are lightening up in here and the smoke is clearing, but the casualty reports are only just now starting to arrive, and I don’t think the shredder will ever be the same again.  I really must say it was grim there for a while.  The red ink was flowing across the pages like the waters of the mighty Mississippi, and all I can tell you at the moment is that we have unconfirmed reports of heavy casualties.”

“Wow, Fritz, it sounds awful.  Is there any hope?”

“Well Phred I think it is safe to say that it will survive to see the light of day… Wait a moment Phred… (Listening to an earpiece) I can now confirm that an entire chapter was among the casualties.  It seems that the Crossbreeding section wasn’t bringing enough to the work to justify its inclusion as a separate entity.  Unconfirmed sources are saying that it has left its legacy as a couple of re-written entries on the Mutations chart.”

“Amazing… what else can you tell us?”

“Well Phred, I can tell you that late in the reviewing process we learned that most of the work on magic has been well received and delivered up to the neo-natal intensive care unit.  I’m told that it will remain there on life-support pending the start of a new work on spells and the metaverse.”  (Looks shocked for a moment, hand flying up to his ear, then covers microphone and whispers vigorously with someone off camera.)

“WHAT is it Fritz?!  What has happened?!”

“Well Phred, I can confirm now that the Book has had to have emergency surgery to amputate its title…  It seems that the title of: “Creature Catalog,” has been sorely overused in recent years.  I’m being told now that a new one has been chosen.  Yes, it is referring to itself now as: ‘Critters, Creatures, & Denizens” and has been moved off the critical list and is considered stable and it is now being sent off to artwork & layout for recovery.  There are unconfirmed rumors of perhaps yet another round of editing after some more play testing.  I’m going to continue monitoring the situation here at the editing desk while we all wait for more information.  This is Frtiz Frelgerwunten saying: Back to you in the studios Phred.”

“Well, an amazing journey so far Fritz!  We’ll be waiting for your next up-date, but for now, this is Phred Phreely saying goodnight to all of you out there in adventure-land; and if you’re out there on the trails, remember… don’t stop to feed the trolls.”

Let the Redlining begin!

The first draft is blessed and finished.  A few additions to make (art, table of contents, table numbering, pagination).  Other than that, finished.  Today five copies were printed, and will be handed out for editing this weekned.  The author is a bit nervous.  But we are excited!

Manuscript copy #1

A Review of the DCC RPG system

I’ve been playing the DCC RPG beta-test since June 2011, and decided to codify my thoughts on the system for you.  As an old-school D&D player, I was not exactly prepared to like this system.  I really liked first edition (I started playing in junior high in the 80’s), and have refused to go all the way to 4^th; I’m not a fan of rules lawyers and complication.  I believe the system should support the story, and the rule are there to prevent fights and favoritism by the judge.

In the beginning, I did not like playing multiple characters.  I found the Cuisinart of the zero level character slaughter left me a bit cold.  I did not like the randomness of the character generation, as it takes the player away from having a personal interest in the characters.  This was frustrating for me, as part of why I play is to have a vested interest in the character.  That having been said, the game has been fun.  We have almost finished Idylls of the Rat King (not my first time through this one, but it is always a good time).  I’m sure the DM has not played it strictly as written, he rarely does.    The character I was stuck with after the zero level slaughter has proven to be interesting, but not a fleshed out as I am accustomed (I do tend to Munchkin out a bit).  It is a nice diversion, but not engrossing.  Not being personally invested in the character has allowed me a bit of freedom to be bold with play; to do things I might not otherwise do, to act with a sense of abandon, without concern for the safety of the character.   Quite a difference from my real life, and a welcome respite.

They system itself is straight forward, if one is playing a fighter.  The magic system has been a bit cumbersome, just watching others play it.  Play goes much faster than WotC play, in that there aren’t as many bonuses to add up.  As a fan of THACO (go ahead, boo and hiss), this has been much faster than what the WotC rule became.  I no longer have to endure the verbal diatribe of a character’s abilities to find out if the roll was successful.  You know what I mean: roll a 12, plus strength, plus this ability, plus that skill, plus that the age your granny was when she first met your granddad, plus the date of your first ice cream cone, plus … all to realize that the monster you are attacking has immunity to your weapon, and the whole process was a phenomenal waste of time.  Now it’s just a die or two, add a quick modifier, and you are there. 

A word on the new dice:  With my past in mathematics, I understand and embrace the new dice.  They do add to the random factor, and provide an enhanced level of nuance to dice rolls and character abilities.  The quality of the dice produced leaves something to be desired.  The manufacturer has left too much sprue on, causing the dice to be unbalanced and requiring modification to correct which could also lead to reduced randomization (did I mention I used to work in injection molding and quality control?).

I like this system, and am a new convert.  I am hoping that the rules allow for more epic play, not just the quick and dirty afternoon that they seem to provide.  I am sure that this system could be used to provide this kind of storytelling, as well as quick modules.    I am looking forward to using this system to introduce my grandchildren to the joy of RPG.

Happy Gaming, Mikki

The Creature Catalog Promo Flyer

Is finally here after great toil and effort.

The Creature Catalog

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

It's been a bumpy road so far, but we are still on track for a Summer publishing date.  The really big news is that we've got all the legal work taken care of, and I'm 80 pages into creature design.

We started the new year with computer death... which is one of the reasons that I've fallen behind on my correspondence.  Apparently I'm not the only one with difficulties.  While pushing the release date for the DCC RPG core system back to April is frustrating for all, having read the manuscript for the final version I can say it is WELL WORTH WAITING FOR! 

I went out and pre-ordered my copy as soon as I finished reading the file.  Its Awesome!