Dig it cats and kittens – I finally got NOD 16 up on Lulu.com for sale as a book and a PDF. And since I missed the big sale that ended yesterday, for a limited time you can get the book for 20% off.

This issue of NOD takes you into the jungles of Cush, the newest hexcrawl set in the Land of Nod. Also includes monsters from African folklore and mythology, the beastmaster PC class, an alternative super power system for Mystery Men!, mystic minerals and variant green dragons.

Book is $9.99 ($7.99 for a limited time)

E-Book is $4.99

Now I just need to get my ass in gear and write a couple Hex Crawl Chronicles and NOD 17 …

I don’t know why, but this one was like pulling teeth for me …

This issue features the final three Hellcrawls – Phlegethon, Malebolge and Cocytus, and the astonishing thing heroes must do to escape Hell! Also a Handy Dandy Cavern Generator, a gaggle of arch-devils and demon lords, magical bracelets, variations on the blue dragon and some random Silver Age nonsense for your Mystery Men! game. 70 pages.


The PDF is available now for $3.50.

The book will be available in a week or so after I get my review copy and make sure all is well.

Later today … Dragon by Dragon

Tomorrow … Some Thoughts on Angels

Next Week … Who knows?

Over the weekend I finished writing Blood & Treasure. Yippee!

Up next is the final editing, which I’m beginning now (I also have a few illustrations I’m waiting on – and thanks to Jon Kaufman and Ndege Diamond for their work in this area, and of course Tanner Yea for his editing prowess) and hope to finish in about a week. After that, I create some PDFs and begin selling them while I wait for a hard copy to review – I’m trying to use the thinnest margins possible to keep the overall page count of the books as low as possible, but if the result is hard to read/use, I’ll have to fix the layout.

Anyhow, I though that people who are interested in the project might like to the a quick and dirty version of the table of contents (note: not actual TOC – I can’t really do that until I have something physical to work out the page numbering) for this beast:

I. Getting Started

II. Characters
Ability scores
Races (human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc)
Classes (assassin, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, duelist, fighter, magic-user, monk, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, thief)
Multi-Classing
Changing Class
Feats (optional rule)
Equipment
Henchmen & Hirelings
– Adepts
Character Details
– Alignment (3-fold and 9-fold)
– Alignment languages
– Personality and description
Strongholds
– Selecting a domain
– Clearing a domain of monsters
– Designing a stronghold
– Establishing your rule (includes random events)

Web spell by Jon Kaufman

III. Magic
Arcane Spells
Divine Spells
Spell-Like Abilities
Arcane Magical Writings
Spellbooks
Spellcasting
Magical Research
Spell Descriptions (627 spells)

IV. Rules of Play
Time
Movement
Encumbrance
Saving Throws
– Item saving throws
Survival
– Starvation and thirst
– Light
– Falling
– Disease
– Poison
Conditions
Heroic Tasks
– Bend Bars
– Break Down Doors
– Balance
– Climb Sheer Surfaces
– Decipher Codes
– Escape Bonds
– Find Secret Doors
– Find Traps
– Hide in Shadows
– Jump
– Listen at Doors
– Move Silently
– Open Locks
– Pick Pockets
– Remove Traps
– Riding
– Survival
– Swimming
– Tracking
– Trickery
– Skill Points (optional rule)
Encounters
Combat
– Initiative
– Combat Actions
o Melee Attacks
o Ranged Attacks
o Hitting in Combat
o Charging
o Fighting Defensively
o Tactical Advantage
o Special Attacks
o Fighting with Two Weapons
o Running Away
o Mounted Combat
o Underwater Combat
o Turning Undead
Damage and Death
– Hit Point Damage
o Alternate Dying Rules
– Ability Score Damage & Drain
– Energy Drain
– Healing
Mass Combat
Naval Combat
Example of Play

V. Adventures
Dungeons
– Mapping
– Dungeon Walls
– Dungeon Floors
– Dungeon Doors
– Dungeon Rooms
– Dungeon Corridors
– Other Dungeon Features
– Cave-Ins
– Slimes, Molds & Fungi
– Traps
– Running Dungeon Adventures
– Random Dungeon Chamber Generator
Wilderness
– Designing a wilderness
– Wilderness encounters
– Wilderness movement
– Wilderness combat
– Wilderness dangers
– Random Wilderness Hex Generator
Civilization & Settlements
– Vistas
– To map or not to map
– Goods for sale
– Rulers
– The long arm of the law
– The dogs of war
– Notable citizens
– Random encounters
– Urban adventure hooks
– Random Settlement Generator
The Planes
– Planar traits
– Elemental and energy traits
– Alignment traits
– Magic
– How planes interact
– One possible cosmology

VI. Monsters
Monster Size
Monster Type
Monster Intelligence
Monster Organization
Other Stats
Special Attacks and Abilities
Making Monsters
– Reskinning
– Modifications
– Creating a new monster
Monster Encounters
Monsters as Characters

Xaoc by Ndege Diamond

Monster Descriptions (538 monsters)
A – Aasimar to Azer (31 monsters)
B – Baboon to Burrawog (35 monsters)
C – Cecilia, Giant to Cyclops (32 monsters)
D – Dark Creeper to Dwarf (79 monsters)
E – Eagle (Hawk) to Eye of the Deep (15 monsters)
F – Flail Snail to Frost Worm (6 monsters)
G – Gargoyle (Kapoacinth) to Grue (41 monsters)
H – Hag, Annis to Hyena (26 monsters)
I – Ice Giant to Iron Cobra (8 monsters)
J – Jackalwere to Juggernaut (3 monsters)
K – Kobold to Krenshar (2 monsters)
L – Lamia to Lynx, Giant (27 monsters)
M – Magmin to Mushroom Man (19 monsters)
N – Naga, Dark to Nymph (15 monsters)
O – Ochre Jelly to Owlbear (9 monsters)
P – Pegasus to Purple Worm (23 monsters)
R – Rakshasa to Rust Monster (16 monsters)
S – Sahuagin to Sylph (50 monsters)
T – Tarrasque to Turtle, Giant (21 monsters)
U – Udoroot to Uvuudaum (5 monsters)
V – Vampire to Violet Fungus (5 monsters)
W – Walking Slime to Wyvern (14 monsters)
X – Xaoc, Achromatic to Xorn (9 monsters)
Y – Yeth Hound to Yrthak (3 monsters)
Z – Zombie (1 monster)
Templates – Beastman template to pseudonatural template (12 templates; 40 sample monsters)

VII. TreasureCoins
Gems
Art Objects
Magic Items
– Using items
– Size and magic items
– Charges, doses and multiple uses
– Creating magic items
– Magic Armor
– Magic Weapons
– Potions and Oils
– Rings
– Rods
– Scrolls
– Staves
– Wands
– Wondrous Items
– Intelligent Items
– Cursed Items
– Artifacts

A few quick notes …

NOD 14 has been released as an e-book. Print book will follow after I’ve seen my review copy.

“Issue 14 arrives with two new chapters in the Hellcrawl, sending players through the swamps of Stygia and into the murderous metropolis of Dis. You can also build more notable nobles and set families to feuding with two new random generators. Also – variant white dragons, magic hats and random dungeon chambers!”

Link is over on the right. $3.50 for 100 pages.

Saw Avengers last night, and for the first time in a looooooong time, I can honestly say I watched a movie without having any complaints afterward. Most of the “prequels” left me either mostly satisfied or mostly unsatisfied, but the Avengers just freaking works. It was like watching Star Wars for the first time when I was a kid – exciting, fun, etc. I’ll call it the Citizen Kane of superhero movie. Go give it a shot.

Almost forgot a third important thing … Rappan Athuk. Hit the Kickstarter and take the record for biggest RPG Kickstarter away from Vampire: The Whatever!

Finally finished NOD 13 and got the e-book uploaded at Lulu.com. NOD enters its third year of existence with this issue, and it’s received a minor facelift. This issue contains …

The Evolutionary PC class – with some simple stats for using the future men as alien races in Space Princess

Abaddon and Gehenna – the third and fourth circles of Hell dedicated to gluttony and avarice respectively

Hero vs. Villain – this one featuring Zanzibar the magician and Greymalkin, the speed demon

Dual Helms – magical helms for two

Greatsword – rules to my card game of medieval one-on-one combat

Pandaemonium VI – featuring Amon, Demoriel, Mammon, Mulciber and Paymon

Shades of Red – variant red dragons

112 pages of content for $3.50

When I’ve received my copy of the hard copy I’ll put it up for sale – probably will cost $10.00

… and stop talking about Hollywood’s intellectual property.

Instead, you can give all that free publicity to me! 

Come on – NOD, Pars Fortuna, Mystery Men!, Mutant Truckers, 1800-American Empires, Blood and Treasure, Space Princess, Cave Brawl, Greatsword, Action X, Queen and Kaiser … I have tons of content, and I won’t shut down your blog if you use any of the original art from it that I’ve posted – so long as you credit the artist and give me a link back.

And it doesn’t have to be me or my nonsense. I’m sure other small creators of games, independent movie and entertainment producers and craftspeople like the folks at Etsy would like the free publicity as well. Instead of buying yet another t-shirt with Batman on it, buy somebody’s groovy creation at Cafe Press. Instead of watching the latest Hollywood big budget sci-fi or fantasy film … well, actually, you probably just shouldn’t watch that crap period.

Allow SOPA/PIPA to bite Hollywood and the whole Entertainment Industrial Complex so deservedly in the ass and stop talking about them and their content. If they want to take their ball and go home, let them. We can have plenty of fun without them!

—

Illustration by Jon Kaufman, from the upcoming release of Blood and Treasure