Thursday, August 12, 2021

On the Workbench

 I have a couple projects I'm working on, all at various stages.  I hesitate to presume which one will be complete first, as that isn't really how my brain works - I hop back and forth as inspiration dictates.  Here's a preview of what's (probably) coming:

Travel Guide vol 2 (name in flux).  A sequel, format-wise, to Lumberlands.  This one focuses on a mountainside retreat where wizards go to have their (debauched) conventions.  If you want to spend a week in a casino town full of tipsy magic-users (who all hate each other, have secrets, know spells you don't, and are probably worth stealing from), this is the place for you.  This mini-region is probably also a good place to drop all the "set in a wizard's tower" adventures you keep meaning to use, but don't.  Just like Lumberlands, this one should have plenty of inspirational NPCs, random tables to help you run on the fly (including for wizard generation), and more adventure hooks than you can shake a wand at.

Working on the wizard stuff makes me feel like the Arcane Abecediary needs an update, probably including a bunch more wizard-y stuff (Wampus Country Wizardry seems a likely omnibus title).  Getting this updated, expanded, stuffed full of art, and in print would be a pretty stellar thing.

Travel Guide vol 3 is about an enchanted forest full of ravens and unseelie fae and things who are the gangs/factions (The Warriors is an over-the-top inspiration here), and exists now primarily as a sheet of paper with a bunch of ideas on it.   I think a drop-in fairy forest would have some use in many campaigns.

Based on percentage of completion, the thing that's likely to see the light first is Poggle Hollow, a quick-and-dirty mini-hexcrawl about nasty little dog-men, and inspired by our own (quite stupid) dogs.  This one will be a very basic pdf with some illustrations and maps by me.  I'm telling myself I can get this out the door in September.

A long ways off is something collecting the bits and pieces I've been using in the current iteration of Wampus Country with the "Critter Gitters" party - the badlands town of Bitter Luck, and developed versions of some classic blog content like Massacre Mesa and Buzzard Gulch.  I think it'd be fun to take all that stuff at some point, polish it, and put it out there with notes from the actual campaign.