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Five Years and 400 Followers Later …

/ jstater / 11 Comments
Image found HERE

Five years (and a few days) ago, I decided to start a blog. My first blog post went a little something like this …

“The Land of Nod is an old school rpg campaign I’ve been running for the past few years, initially using the 3rd edition of D&D, and then moving to the Castles & Crusades system and finally to something between Castles & Crusades and the excellent Swords & Wizardry clone of the original D&D rules. It seems as I get older, I look for ways to simplify my life – less static and more living.

The Land of Nod is my attempt at making a setting that allows players and referees to get down to the business of playing games. It doesn’t have a grand, thousand page history to memorize, or abundant restrictions on what you can play and how. It is a grand sandbox with all the requisites for the heroic adventures that have driven people’s imaginations for decades. Most importantly, it is a collection of places to see and things to do.

Over the coming months (and years?), this blog will serve as a place I can present my little imaginary world, and maybe a few notions that other role-players will find useful. So, consider this my entry into the Old School Renaissance.”

I was in the Swords & Wizardry camp back then (blessed be the name of Matthew J. Finch).

My plan at the time was to write hex crawls and other Land of Nod-oriented things and post them on the blog. About a month into it, I decided that hex crawl stuff was going to be tough for people to use if it was on a blog, so I thought about doing a quick Word document each month to collect that month’s material in one place. Then I thought … why not a PDF? Then I thought … why not publish it?

So, not long after the blog started, the NOD magazine started, with 25 issues now completed. In between, I also wrote a few games (Pars Fortuna, Mystery Men!, Space Princess, Blood & Treasure, Bloody Basic, Greatsword), had a chance to work with Frog God Games (I’d like to do more of that), and I’m working on getting another game, Grit & Vigor, published. Pretty sweet.

If this sounds like something you want to do, do it. It will probably not get much easier than it is now to write and publish your own material, provided you are willing to put in the time and effort.

I usually miss these anniversaries, but today I noticed that I finally hit 400 followers, so I figured I’d take note of this one. I want to thank all my readers over the years, especially the ones who have encouraged me with kind words and the ones who have actually forked over their cold, hard cash for something I’ve written, for supporting me. My plan is still to write up the entire Land of Nod in hex crawl form. If I live long enough, I think I can get it done!

In other news …

ITEM: MOTHER GOOSE IS MY TREASURE KEEPER

I’m almost finished with my Mother Goose edition of Bloody Basic. Just finishing up some layout and editing and putting on the finishing touches to the text. This weekend is going to be busy (Viva Las Vegas show and Easter), but if I find a few spare moments I’ll get the PDF version up for sale.

The Chaos edition is probably next … though I might veer into the Jules Verne-esque Victoriana edition. Don’t know yet.

ITEM: HEY LADIES

It occurred to me today that it might be fun to do a Bloody Basic edition illustrated by women. It could put a light female spin to the game classes (maybe amazon instead of fighter, or amazon and oracle as sub-classes). The question – how to do it without involving stereotypes one way or the other – just good old fashioned fantasy role playing with art involving female characters by female artists. To women out there reading this blog, I’d love to hear from you if this sounds interesting to you. I’ve been perusing some of my favorite women artists on DeviantArt to approach for commissions, but suggestions from the assembled Nodians are always appreciated.

ITEM: NOD 25 IN PRINT

Yep, got NOD 25 up for sale in print today. Check it out if that sort of thing floats your boat.

ITEM: SCOTTISH GLOSSARY

Saw a glossary from an old book of Scottish fairy tales today. A few excerpts:

Baudrons: Scotch name for a cat

Ben: A mountain peak

Bonnet-piece: An old Scottish coin

Cantrip: A freak, or wilful piece of trickery

Clout: A blow

Cutty-pipe: A short clay pipe

Eldritch: Weird

Emprise: An enterprise

Gled: A hawk

Gloaming: The twilight

Louping-on-stane: A stone from which to mount a horse

Unchancy: Uncanny

Wight: A person

Unicorns: Ancient Scottish coins

Also this:

“Finlay the hunter lived with his sister in a lonely little house among the mountains, and near at hand there were giants who were descendants of Beira. This giant clan was ruled over by a hag-queen who was very old and fierce and cunning. She had great stores of silver and gold in her cave, and also a gold-hilted magic sword and a magic wand. When she struck a stone pillar with this wand it became a warrior, and if she put the gold-hilted sword into his hand, the greatest and strongest hero in the world would be unable to combat against him with success.”

Killer magic item, that wand.

NOD for 2015

/ jstater / 4 Comments

NOD 25 – the PDF version – is now up for sale at Lulu.com. The link to my shop is on the right, or you can click HERE to go directly to the magazine. What does it hold?

NOD 25 – First issue of 2015! In this issue, the Klarkash Mountains hex crawl through weird, goblin-infested mountains. Also – The Thirty Years War Camapaign, the Landsknecht class, a Pen & Paper Football Game (American Football), random tables for making weird ecologies and a couple magic items. 76 pages.


On sale for $4.99

Now that it’s up, it’s time to start writing NOD 26, and to polish up the next Bloody Basic edition. GRIT & VIGOR is being play-tested now, and if I can find the time I’m going to do a short play-test adventure on Google+, in case anyone is interested.

Two New Products and a New Notion

/ jstater / 7 Comments

Hey folks. Three items today …

ITEM ONE – BLOODY BASIC IN SOFT COVER

Bloody Basic – Classic Edition is now up for sale as a soft-cover book. A game with characters levels 1 to 6, with elves, dwarves, halflings, fighters, clerics, magic-users, thieves and all the rest of the classic fantasy elements, for $8.99. I’m working on getting the Contemporary Edition out pretty soon as a PDF, and then a hard copy, and then the other editions will follow – Fairy Tale, Chaos, Apocalypse, Jules Verne, etc.

ITEM TWO – BLOOD & TREASURE MONSTER TOME PDF

The PDF of the Monster Tome is now available for download for $6.99. It includes 172 pages of monsters, with 258 monster entries. I hope to have the softcover and hardcover books up for sale in two or three weeks. As I often do, I’ll be offering a free PDF to those who buy the hard cover edition of the Monster Tome, so if you’re planning on buying the hard cover later, you’ll probably not want to buy the PDF now.

Monster Tome II will have to wait for 2015.

ITEM THREE – STRANGE TWIST OF FATE

Just so this isn’t a completely commercial post, here’s a little notion for using a fate mechanic in your adventures.

When you delve back into heroic fiction, back to the days of the Greeks, Romans and Norsemen, it’s hard to avoid the concept of fate. The Fates and Norns measured out the days of a man or woman’s life and cut the string when it was time for them to die.

If you’re running a game set in these times, or any time if you like it, you might want to inject a little fate into the game. You could also inject Doctor Fate into your game, but that’s a matter for another post.

Obviously, you don’t want to use fate as a way of arbitrarily cutting a character’s life short. You can, however, use it as a way to determine whether character’s are beloved or cursed by “the gods”.

You could do this in one of two ways.

The first is to randomly determine a person’s fate for each adventure, every adventure. First, determine which deities are looking down on the player characters by rolling D10.

1. Lawful Good
2. Neutral Good
3. Chaotic Good
4. Lawful Neutral
5-6. Neutral
7. Chaotic Neutral
8. Chaotic Evil
9. Neutral Evil
10. Lawful Evil

If you use the three-tier alignment, roll D6.

1-2. Lawful
3-4. Neutral
5-6. Chaotic

Next, determine the character’s fate for that adventure by rolling 3d6. If the character is the same alignment as the deity, they enjoy a +2 bonus to their roll. If they are the opposite alignment, they suffer a -2 penalty to their roll.

1-2. You are loathed by the gods – subtract -2 from all d20 rolls during this adventure
3-6. You are cursed by the gods – subtract -1 from all d20 rolls during this adventure
7-12. The gods are disinterested – your fate is in your hands
13-16. The gods favor you – add +1 to all d20 rolls during this adventure
17-18. You are beloved by the gods – add +1 to all d20 rolls during this adventure, and re-roll one failed saving throw.

An interested god will be watching over the adventure. Whenever an accursed or loathed character performs an action in accordance with the deity’s alignment (or any element of their alignment), they are permitted to re-roll their fate. Whenever a favored character does something in opposition to the deity’s alignment (or any element of their alignment), they likewise must re-roll their fate.

If you are using this system, you might want to add a couple spells to your game.

Tell Fortune – 1st level spell for clerics, druids and magic-users; it literally tells the character’s fortune (i.e. loathed, cursed, favored, beloved).

Read Signs – 1st level spell for clerics, druids and magic-users; tells you the alignment of the deity watching over the characters during this adventure.

The other way you can use a system like this is to put the characters’ fates into their own hands. Instead of always rolling to determine a character’s fate for an adventure, the player’s instead offer themselves up for judgment. The system works the same way, it just puts the decision in the hands of the players.

 

1800 – American Empires Revisited and Monster Previews

/ jstater / 7 Comments

A couple years ago I had a little brainstorm that resulted in an article for NOD involving fantasy Napoleonic-era wars in a North America divided into a number of competing nations, not unlike the Europe of the real Napoleonic era. I planned to turn it into a game called 1800 – American Empires, and then … well, I got a bit off-track.

First and foremost, I got started on something called Blood & Treasure, and that sure took up a chunk of my time. Secondly, the huge hex map of North America I painstakingly created was lost due to a computer crash (don’t worry, my daughter now has a much better understanding of what we do and do not click on on the internet). That really took the hydrogen out of my blimp.

Well, even though it was put on the back burner, American Empires never completely left my brain. I still love the idea of the thing, and I think it’s just about ripe for development. Now that I’ve put together the framework of Bloody Basic, I think it would serve as a great little engine for the game. (By the by – still need to produce the soft-cover book for Bloody Basic … dang, the time sure flies).

Grit & Vigor still has to take precedence once I’ve finished with the B&T Monster Tome (should be on sale next week, if all goes well). But once G&V is finished, and while I work on the next issue of NOD, I’m going to put some work into American Empires. Four classes (scout, soldier, venturer and magician), just one race, humans (though some other humanoids will show up as monsters, with some options for using them to play), a nice gazatteer of fantasy Napoleonic America (including a Napoleon-ruled Louisiana, Jefferson’s Virginia Commonwealth, the stern Yankees of New England, Aaron Burr’s Texican Republic and those red coats up on Canada), and lots of rules aimed at wilderness exploration (really wilderness as dungeon), armies and stronghold, colony and nation building. Should be a blast, and I look forward to doing it.

Now, since this post has been nothing but a commercial, I feel compelled to give a couple sample monsters from the Monster Tome, art included.

 

 

 

Monsters on Parade

/ jstater / 2 Comments

I know – been a little while since the last one. But I’m still editing, and I think I can get this bad boy published within the next 30 days. I hope. Anyhow, here’s J through M …

Melting Man illustration by Andrew Shields

Jabberling (CL 2)
Jenglot (CL 5)
Jiang Shi (Hopping Vampire) (CL 5)
Jinnati (CL 5)
Jolly Roger (CL 3)
Kamaitachi (CL 5)
Kelp Mummy (Template)
Kelp Mummy – Kraken (CL 22)
Lady in Grey (CL 7)
Lamashtu (CL 7)
Lightning Bird (Impundulu) (CL 7)
Lout (CL 1)
Melting Man (CL 4)
Metal Monster, Tiny (CL 1)
Metal Monster, Small (CL 2)
Metal Monster, Medium (CL 3)
Metal Monster, Large (CL 5)
Metal Monster – Advanced (CL 11)
Metal Monster – Keeper of the Cones (CL 13)
Metal Monster – Metal Emperor (CL 13)
Metal Monster – Prophet (CL 6)
Mist Monster (CL 13)
Monkey Folk (CL 1)
Moon Folk (CL 5)
Mothman, Lesser (CL 6)
Mothman, Greater (CL 12)
Mottled Documentarian (CL 8)

The Monsters Keep Coming!

/ jstater / 4 Comments

Today, the monsters from E to H …

Gemini illustration by Andrew Walter

Edimmu (CL 5)
Electric Head (CL 3)
Eloko (CL 4)
Exquisite Corpse (CL 12)
Fire Freak (CL 4)
Fly Man (CL 5)
Flying Head (Kanontsistontie) (CL 10)
Flying Monkey (CL 2)
Forlorn Grey (CL 9)
Fox Fairy (CL 2)
Full-Throated Screamer (CL 7)
Gemini (CL 5)
Geometron – Battle-Prism (CL 6)
Geometron – Death-Cube (CL 4)
Geometron – Hell-Sphere (CL 5)
Golem, Leaf (CL 11)
Gorger (CL 9)
Grim (CL 7)
Hag, Granny (CL 5)
Haunted Armor – Haunted Jazzeraint (CL 5)
Haunted Armor – Haunted Maile (CL 7)
Haunted Armor – Haunted O-Yoroi (CL 8)
Haunted Armor – Haunted Gothic Plate (CL 10)
Headless Horseman (CL 9)
Hideous Hurler (CL 5)
Holy Bones (CL 12)

Also – Bloody Basic – Classic Edition is now up for sale at Lulu.com as a PDF for $4.99 if you want to check it out.

More Monsters from the Tome

/ jstater / 2 Comments

As promised, I continue the list of monsters appearing in the Blood & Treasure Monster Tome. This list includes the D and E monsters in the book.

Pterosaur illustration by Jon Kaufman

Demon Doll (CL 2)
Demon – Lilitu (CL 7)
Demon, Storm (CL 10)
Dhampir (CL 2)
Dinosaur – Ceratopsian (Horned Faces) – Small (CL 3)
Dinosaur – Ceratopsian (Horned Faces) – Medium (CL 5)
Dinosaur – Ceratopsian (Horned Faces) – Large (CL 9)
Dinosaur – Ceratopsian (Horned Faces) – Huge (CL 16)
Dinosaur – Ichthyosaurs (Fish Lizards) – Medium (CL 7)
Dinosaur – Ichthyosaurs (Fish Lizards) – Large (CL 12)
Dinosaur – Ichthyosaurs (Fish Lizards) – Huge (CL 21)
Dinosaur – Mosasaurs (River Lizards) – Large (CL 7)
Dinosaur – Mosasaurs (River Lizards) – Huge (CL 15)
Dinosaur – Ornithopods (Bird Feet) – Medium (CL 4)
Dinosaur – Ornithopods (Bird Feet) – Large (CL 7)
Dinosaur – Ornithopods (Bird Feet) – Huge (CL 14)
Dinosaur – Pachycephalosaurs (Thick Heads) – Medium (CL 4)
Dinosaur – Pachycephalosaurs (Thick Heads) – Large (CL 7)
Dinosaur – Pachycephalosaurs (Thick Heads) – Huge (CL 13)
Dinosaur – Plesiosaurs (Nearly Lizards) – Medium (CL 5)
Dinosaur – Plesiosaurs (Nearly Lizards) – Large (CL 10)
Dinosaur – Plesiosaurs (Nearly Lizards) – Huge (CL 20)
Dinosaur – Pterosaurs (Winged Lizards) – Small (CL 3)
Dinosaur – Pterosaurs (Winged Lizards) – Medium (CL 6)
Dinosaur – Pterosaurs (Winged Lizards) – Large (CL 10)
Dinosaur – Sauropods (Lizard-Footed) – Huge (CL 14)
Dinosaur – Sauropods (Lizard-Footed) – Colossal (CL 26)
Dinosaur – Sphenacodonts (Wedge Tooth) – Medium (CL 4)
Dinosaur – Sphenacodonts (Wedge Tooth) – Large (CL 7)
Dinosaur – Sphenacodonts (Wedge Tooth) – Huge (CL 14)
Dinosaur – Therapods (Beast Feet) – Medium (CL 6)
Dinosaur – Therapods (Beast Feet) – Large (CL 10)
Dinosaur – Therapods (Beast Feet) – Huge (CL 19)
Dinosaur – Therapsid (Arched Skulls) – Medium (CL 5)
Dinosaur – Therapsid (Arched Skulls) – Large (CL 9)
Dinosaur – Therapsid (Arched Skulls) – Huge (CL 16)
Dinosaur – Thyreopherans (Shield Bearers) – Large (CL 9)
Dinosaur – Thyreopherans (Shield Bearers) – Huge (CL 16)
Dragon, Black – Arsenic Dragon (CL 7)
Dragon, Black – Bistre Dragon (CL 9)
Dragon, Black – Charcoal Dragon (CL 8)
Dragon, Black – Liver Dragon (CL 9)
Dragon, Black – Onyx Dragon (CL 8)
Dragon, Black – Taupe Dragon (CL 7)
Dragon, Blue – Azure Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Blue – Cerulean Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Blue – Glaucus Dragon (CL 10)
Dragon, Blue – Indigo Dragon (CL 12)
Dragon, Blue – Sapphire Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Blue – Ultramarine Dragon (CL 12)
Dragon, Green – Beryl Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Green – Celadon Dragon (CL 10)
Dragon, Green – Chartreuse Dragon (CL 9)
Dragon, Green – Harlequin Dragon (CL 9)
Dragon, Green – Moss Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Green – Viridian Dragon (CL 10)
Dragon, Red – Carnelian Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Red – Crimson Dragon (CL 12)
Dragon, Red – Florid Dragon (CL 12)
Dragon, Red – Ginger Dragon (CL 10)
Dragon, Red – Sanguine Dragon (CL 11)
Dragon, Red – Vermilion Dragon (CL 12)
Dragon, White – Achromatic Dragon (CL 6)
Dragon, White – Cinereous Dragon (CL 6)
Dragon, White – Ghastly Dragon (CL 7)
Dragon, White – Isabelline Dragon (CL 8)
Dragon, White – Ivory Dragon (CL 7)
Dragon, White – Pearl Dragon (CL 8)
Dragon Bones (CL 7)
Drakkar (Dragon Man) (CL 2)
Draken (CL 4)
Draken, Two-Headed (CL 5)
Draken, Three-Headed (CL 6)
Dwarf – Barbegazi (CL 2)

Icthyosaur illustration by Jon Kaufman

 

Blood and Treasure Monster Tome

/ jstater / 6 Comments

Still editing the Monster Tome, but it’s going well. I was going to have Bloody Basic – Classic Edition up for sale this weekend, but noticed at the last moment that I left a couple artist credits out, so I need to fix the PDF. It should be up on Monday. The physical version of NOD 23 is also up for sale at Lulu, in case you’ve been waiting for it.

In the meantime, I think it might be apropos to toss out a list of the monsters that will appear in the Monster Tome, along with an art preview or two. This post covers the monsters from A to C.

Belle Dame Sans Merci by Anthony Gregori & David Lewis Johnson

Achiyalatopa (CL 6)
Actaeon Fey (CL 7)
Amazon, Yellow (CL 2)
Amputator (CL 10)
Asanbosam (CL 4)
Astarion – Star Mother (CL 13)
Astarion – Starling (CL 1)
Astation – Star Killer (CL 5)
Astation – Star Lord (CL 9)
Astral Psychic (CL 3)
Atomic Juggernaut (CL 11)
Azeban (CL 2)
Baku (CL 11)
Barbed Woman (CL 6)
Belle Dame Sans Merci (CL 6)
Bhoot (CL 8)
Bird Man (CL 2)
Blot (CL 8)
Carcolh (CL 10)
Caterpillar Man (CL 2)
Ceiling Creep (CL 4)
Centaur, Eland (CL 5)
Centaur, Giraffe (CL 6)
Centaur, Zebra (CL 3)
Cicatrix (Scabrous Cadaver) (CL 3)
Crabomination (CL 5)
Crystal Skull (CL 15)
Custard (Template)
Custard, Blackberry (CL 12)

I’ll try to post D-F tomorrow – if nothing else, keeping these posts frequent will keep me on track for getting this thing edited. If I find a couple minutes, I’ll get the Bloody Basic-Classic PDF up for sale as well. Forewarning – probably won’t be offering a free PDF with hard copy on BB-Classic – it’s only about 40 pages long, and so it should be pretty inexpensive.

Time to Get Your Ende On – NOD 23!

/ jstater / 6 Comments

I remember when I knocked these out in two months …

Nonetheless, NOD 23 is ready for download on Lulu.com:

NOD 23 features the beginning of the India-inspired Ende hex crawl, the end of the Dungeon of the Apes adventure, a random list of weird things to do with wizard brains, Thor vs. the Monster Maids – a new hero and villain for Mystery Men! and four new mythic races inspired by Indian mytholody. 64 pages.

Selling for $3.99 folks – check it out if you have a mind to.

On the Bloody Basic front – Classic Edition is written and being edited. Blood Basic-Contemporary Edition is written and not yet being edited – it features different races – automatons, drakkars and tieflings – and some different classes – sorcerer instead of magic-user – and sub-classes – arcane archer, monk, warlock and shadowdancer, as well as a few different modern spells and a bunch of more modern monsters. I’m dealing with a research conference for the next few days, but I’ll try to find some time to edit it. I’m about halfway through writing Bloody Basic-Chaos Edition.

In other news – May is going to be devoted to finishing the Monster Tome and getting it published – super excited about it. Then I’ll focus on NOD 24 and Grit & Vigor. A full plate, but a happy one!

Also, I promise to get more gaming-related posts up soon – I have a ton of posts I need to finish up, so there’s more material coming.

It’s Bloody Basic!

/ jstater / 17 Comments

Blood & Treasure Basic is going to officially be called Bloody Basic. I like the sound of it, and that’s all the market research I need (or can afford).

The draft is completed and the layout is finished. I’m now editing the text, and should be done by the end of the day (which is good, because I need to finish up layout on NOD 23 and then get my butt in gear on the Monster Tome – some of the art for that thing is so awesome I’m chomping at the bit to get it out there). The first publication will be the Classic Edition in blue. At the moment I plan to follow it up with the Contemporary Edition in red, the Fairy Tale edition in green and then maybe a the Victoriana Edition in brown.

All of these editions will be the same basic game, but the illustrations will be different and there will be slight alterations made to fit the rules to the theme. The Fairy Tale edition, for example, will be based on my “Mother Goose is My Dungeon Master” articles. The Contemporary edition might have automatons and tieflings as playable races, and sub-classes like shadow dancer and soulknife.

That’s the plan. This is probably the quickest I’ve ever gone from idea to publishing, so hopefully it won’t bite me in the ass (fingers crossed).

These covers are mock-ups – I plan to vary the cover images for the different editions – but they should give you the idea. Obviously, if these prove popular, I might other editions, assuming I can come up with a theme that can sustain an edition – the one that comes immediately to mind is a sort of “mirror-mirror” Chaos edition, where you play the monsters and the dungeons are actually human and demi-human fortresses.

Okay … actually, that sounds pretty good.