Grognardia reviews Hammers of the God here.
Reviews from R'lyeh reviewed Tower of the Stargazer here a few days back.
Showing posts with label Hammers of the God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hammers of the God. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hammers of the God - Some Hype
It's at the printer, and I can't wait to see what the reaction is to it.
I always have the same fears and expectations. "This is awesome and different! Nobody's going to care, are they?" I mean, I'm the guy that thought Death Frost Doom was this little dungeon crawl thing that I wrote while trying to figure what to do with the No Dignity in Death masterpiece, ya know?
Looking at Hammers of the God now, after three phases of its development (the original two adventures that were run, the for-publication writeup at the end of last year, and the empty-room description update earlier this month), I think it rocks.
One one hand it's got fabulous set pieces. The great chasm, the whirlpool room, the great hall... your players will have to cooperate and plan amongst themselves in order to get anywhere in some of the coolest areas yet seen in print. (yeah, I'm talking up my own stuff. I dare you to not find anything grand and epic in this adventure. That's right. I dare you.)
On the other hand it's got a deep backstory that players will only ever learn if they read the books found in the adventure. Tower of the Stargazer has this feature as well. One one hand (maybe I should be counting fingers instead), the assumption is adventure! Nobody interrupts their adventure to study. That's a between-adventure thing to do! On the other hand, if you're in this place and you find a vast repository of knowledge, completely ignoring it is really, really dumb, you know? By the way, my wife is usually very uninterested in the actual content of my writing when she proofreads, but she was actually excited about the history detailed in the adventure. How that will translate to you guys liking it, I don't know.
No standard monsters. Every monster is a new monster but none are treated as a new monster big deal. They get a description and a stat block where they are encountered, not a "Monster Manual" style entry at the back. OK, I admit it, maybe there's a snake, but the stats weren't taken out of any monster book. :P
Two great artifacts and a gem worth seven figures are present. In an adventure for levels 3 - 5. This is gonna piss some players off. :D Plus a good deal of more standard treasure as well - LotFP modules may be hell, but they reward commensurately.
Plenty of threads that are left hanging so they can be sewn into an individual campaign. Some of the history will be shared with other adventures I release, but there will be no sequel to follow up on this adventure. Modules should be campaign aids, not campaign replacements. (until my megadungeon, anyway ;) )
I think it is magnificent (but I would say that, wouldn't I?) in establishing that "You're not supposed to be here" kind of vibe. Your PCs will feel like they are intruding. You will have plenty of time to sit back and observe while the players discuss things amongst themselves.
... and a few traps so utterly diabolical that your players will hate you if they trigger them. But they are also so incredibly avoidable, and in some cases telegraphed, that they will lynch you if you explain how easy it would have been to avoid them.
I always have the same fears and expectations. "This is awesome and different! Nobody's going to care, are they?" I mean, I'm the guy that thought Death Frost Doom was this little dungeon crawl thing that I wrote while trying to figure what to do with the No Dignity in Death masterpiece, ya know?
Looking at Hammers of the God now, after three phases of its development (the original two adventures that were run, the for-publication writeup at the end of last year, and the empty-room description update earlier this month), I think it rocks.
One one hand it's got fabulous set pieces. The great chasm, the whirlpool room, the great hall... your players will have to cooperate and plan amongst themselves in order to get anywhere in some of the coolest areas yet seen in print. (yeah, I'm talking up my own stuff. I dare you to not find anything grand and epic in this adventure. That's right. I dare you.)On the other hand it's got a deep backstory that players will only ever learn if they read the books found in the adventure. Tower of the Stargazer has this feature as well. One one hand (maybe I should be counting fingers instead), the assumption is adventure! Nobody interrupts their adventure to study. That's a between-adventure thing to do! On the other hand, if you're in this place and you find a vast repository of knowledge, completely ignoring it is really, really dumb, you know? By the way, my wife is usually very uninterested in the actual content of my writing when she proofreads, but she was actually excited about the history detailed in the adventure. How that will translate to you guys liking it, I don't know.
No standard monsters. Every monster is a new monster but none are treated as a new monster big deal. They get a description and a stat block where they are encountered, not a "Monster Manual" style entry at the back. OK, I admit it, maybe there's a snake, but the stats weren't taken out of any monster book. :PTwo great artifacts and a gem worth seven figures are present. In an adventure for levels 3 - 5. This is gonna piss some players off. :D Plus a good deal of more standard treasure as well - LotFP modules may be hell, but they reward commensurately.
Plenty of threads that are left hanging so they can be sewn into an individual campaign. Some of the history will be shared with other adventures I release, but there will be no sequel to follow up on this adventure. Modules should be campaign aids, not campaign replacements. (until my megadungeon, anyway ;) )
I think it is magnificent (but I would say that, wouldn't I?) in establishing that "You're not supposed to be here" kind of vibe. Your PCs will feel like they are intruding. You will have plenty of time to sit back and observe while the players discuss things amongst themselves.
... and a few traps so utterly diabolical that your players will hate you if they trigger them. But they are also so incredibly avoidable, and in some cases telegraphed, that they will lynch you if you explain how easy it would have been to avoid them.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Quick Art Notes
Amos Sterns will now be handling the cover for the Tutorial book in the box set.
There were problems with the colors for the Hammers of the God cover so Dean Clayton will be redoing that cover art.
Both of those, as well as Cynthia Sheppard's main box cover art for LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing, should be completed by the end of the month (crossing fingers and toes) and I'll show each of them to you as I receive the finished pieces.
My small illness and strained back muscle or whatever it was seem to have passed so now I have four mostly wasted days to make up for. It's always something. Remember back when I thought this would be out in June? :D
There were problems with the colors for the Hammers of the God cover so Dean Clayton will be redoing that cover art.
Both of those, as well as Cynthia Sheppard's main box cover art for LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing, should be completed by the end of the month (crossing fingers and toes) and I'll show each of them to you as I receive the finished pieces.
My small illness and strained back muscle or whatever it was seem to have passed so now I have four mostly wasted days to make up for. It's always something. Remember back when I thought this would be out in June? :D
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
How Many Times Have You Offered 1,000,000gp Treasures?
Hammers of the God has a gem worth far more than that. It's kind of a dare, as there really isn't a way for the low level characters the adventure is designed for (2-4) to get it (and woe to those that make the attempt...), and it's very unlikely (but fully possible) they'll even be aware of it. The players that ran through this never discovered its existence, but I've since added a clue in the library about it...
Death Ferox Doom hands a treasure worth that to the PCs that they are free to take. My players, quite recently, didn't walk away with it, even though they had it in their hands.
I figure such mega-treasures, even if recovered and XP granted for them, aren't a game-breaker. It's a free level, if using the gp=xp rules as all good and proper games do, but other than that, it's nothing but complication. Keeping the treasure, hiding it away, that would prevent further complication, but once such an item becomes known (surely you're not just going to try to sell it down at the market), even good and noble nations will go to war for such a thing. Certainly adventuring types for which such a treasure would be level-appropriate will come a-knocking, and far more quickly than a nation could mobilize for war...!
So even if I try to engineer that these treasures never leave their dungeons, players always find a way, and I don't think it's such a big deal. (unless you allow the purchase of magic items in your game, but that's rather insane, isn't it?)
(Hammers of the God, out late July... Death Ferox Doom, later in the year...)
I can't wait to see what people make of Hammers of the God... it's nothing more than a hole in the ground, "here's a dungeon" adventure with no more of a suggested hook than sticking a map to its location in a previous treasure... but between the grand locations, the backstory which will only be known by basically stopping the adventure for a good long time and reading everything in the library (not that the players need to care, but the studious will find much to learn, and I expect conflict in groups that have more action oriented people and those who want to read all the books!), and the treasures available for such low-level characters - and the guardians of those treasures - I expect some to love and some to hate and hardly any to have a middling opinion.
Death Ferox Doom I hope to just be a complete punch in the gut, but that's aways off yet. After the box set and Hammers are out I want to get Insect Shrine, the Sanitarium adventure, and Death Ferox Doom all out this year. That's a very ambitious schedule, but this seems to be the year for that.
We shall see.
Death Ferox Doom hands a treasure worth that to the PCs that they are free to take. My players, quite recently, didn't walk away with it, even though they had it in their hands.
I figure such mega-treasures, even if recovered and XP granted for them, aren't a game-breaker. It's a free level, if using the gp=xp rules as all good and proper games do, but other than that, it's nothing but complication. Keeping the treasure, hiding it away, that would prevent further complication, but once such an item becomes known (surely you're not just going to try to sell it down at the market), even good and noble nations will go to war for such a thing. Certainly adventuring types for which such a treasure would be level-appropriate will come a-knocking, and far more quickly than a nation could mobilize for war...!
So even if I try to engineer that these treasures never leave their dungeons, players always find a way, and I don't think it's such a big deal. (unless you allow the purchase of magic items in your game, but that's rather insane, isn't it?)
(Hammers of the God, out late July... Death Ferox Doom, later in the year...)
I can't wait to see what people make of Hammers of the God... it's nothing more than a hole in the ground, "here's a dungeon" adventure with no more of a suggested hook than sticking a map to its location in a previous treasure... but between the grand locations, the backstory which will only be known by basically stopping the adventure for a good long time and reading everything in the library (not that the players need to care, but the studious will find much to learn, and I expect conflict in groups that have more action oriented people and those who want to read all the books!), and the treasures available for such low-level characters - and the guardians of those treasures - I expect some to love and some to hate and hardly any to have a middling opinion.
Death Ferox Doom I hope to just be a complete punch in the gut, but that's aways off yet. After the box set and Hammers are out I want to get Insect Shrine, the Sanitarium adventure, and Death Ferox Doom all out this year. That's a very ambitious schedule, but this seems to be the year for that.
We shall see.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Selection from the Suppressed Library of the Temple of the Old Miner
Chronicle of the establishment of Control Zones by the dwarfs as a solution to “the goblin problem.” All goblins living within dwarf lands are relocated to these zones. These zones will be guarded so that no one is allowed in or out without proper permits. The goblins are told that if they wish to re-integrate with dwarf society, they must succeed in organizing their own affairs first. A senior dwarf Councilor is quoted as saying, “If they can not behave, they will suffer.”
Sunday, December 20, 2009
How to Stock a Library
We're in the middle of the International Snow Like a Motherfucker Festival, as continents on both sides of the Atlantic get hammered by the wonderful, wonderful white stuff this weekend. It's snowing sideways outside my window right now.
But I'm thinking in four dimensions right now. There's the upcoming Hammers of the God, the upcominger Insect Shrine of Goblin Hill, the right-around-the-corner Death Ferox Doom, and the further-down-the-line plans for LotFP Traditional Fantasy Role-Playing.
The problem with ideas is that having these ideas and imaging how it'll turn out is the exciting part. Fleshing it out and writing the stuff, that's work, and while working, ideas come for other projects that seem much more inviting and awesome because they haven't reached the stage of needing work yet!
But Hammers of the God is done writing-wise except for the history of the location which in many ways is the main feature of the adventure from a writing point of view. I'm sure from a GM and player perspective, the thrilling locations and deadly foes and diabolical traps will be the most interesting feature of the adventure.
Of course, six rooms' descriptions depend on that history, so it's a bit less done than that paragraph makes it sound. The final pieces of art still aren't finished (but I've approved the sketches) and the map's not done yet so I've got some time.
The context that the adventure that became Hammers of the God was run in (ugly sentence, sorry) won't work for a commercial release, as it was adventure #2 of the Vaasa campaign, and it was used to communicate important information about what the campaign was, and that campaign lasted a full year. Obviously I can't do that for general release... or can I?
One of the important points within the location of Hammers of the God is the library. At the time of the original running, the books that were there were not so important. It was the book that was not there that was important for spurring the players to later action.
For the commercial release, I'm swapping that. The book that isn't there will be very ominous and may very well inspire a campaign arc for referees, but it's not the matter at hand. So the rest of the books in the library all need to have relevance to the location itself. Or at least a significant number of books needs to be relevant; irrelevant books will just be there to divert and delay attention, and perhaps misdirect PCs into harm whereas the relevant books will help them avoid harm.
How to do this?
A random table, sure, but it seems like cheating to throw in a random table with quick information like it's some damn rumors-at-the-tavern table.
No, I've got 100 index cards, and I'm writing a short synopsis of a book's contents on each one. When I get to the end, I'll put them in chronological order according to in-game writing date, then decide which bits are boring or extraneous and eject them. With the ones that are left, I'll see how each particular one might be able to be twisted around or have some "historical perspective" and spin doctoring put upon it, so a single subject might have multiple books - with conflicting information.
Then I'll come up with titles for each of these books, write up coherent summaries of their contents to be given to players who want their characters to take the time to translate these books, and put them in a list in chronological order so the referee can see the Big Picture, and tack random numbers on to each of them so the referee can randomly determine which book the PCs are rifling through at the moment. This whole thing will be stuck in the back of the adventure as an appendix so it doesn't clog up however many pages right at the beginning of the module.
The result will be a fully-stocked, no-cheating library for the players to research within, or not (things in there will definitely make life easier for the PCs, but nothing will be necessary to proceed to certain areas). It's already an interesting experiment to write, and I can't wait to see how it turns out, and how it is received by the people who buy the adventure.
I've always thought of traditional fantasy adventuring to be something akin to Indiana Jones-style archaeology. That there are ruins and treasure (and foes and conflict) are all good and well, but the success of the expedition depends on research and knowledge. Indy is a second-generation academic, you know. Gandalf pulled the same sort of thing when he visited Minas Tirith before returning to inform Frodo about the nature of his Ring. Pushing this sort of thing as necessary in an adventure might be pushing it, but making it available is something that should be done more often!
But I'm thinking in four dimensions right now. There's the upcoming Hammers of the God, the upcominger Insect Shrine of Goblin Hill, the right-around-the-corner Death Ferox Doom, and the further-down-the-line plans for LotFP Traditional Fantasy Role-Playing.
The problem with ideas is that having these ideas and imaging how it'll turn out is the exciting part. Fleshing it out and writing the stuff, that's work, and while working, ideas come for other projects that seem much more inviting and awesome because they haven't reached the stage of needing work yet!
But Hammers of the God is done writing-wise except for the history of the location which in many ways is the main feature of the adventure from a writing point of view. I'm sure from a GM and player perspective, the thrilling locations and deadly foes and diabolical traps will be the most interesting feature of the adventure.
Of course, six rooms' descriptions depend on that history, so it's a bit less done than that paragraph makes it sound. The final pieces of art still aren't finished (but I've approved the sketches) and the map's not done yet so I've got some time.
The context that the adventure that became Hammers of the God was run in (ugly sentence, sorry) won't work for a commercial release, as it was adventure #2 of the Vaasa campaign, and it was used to communicate important information about what the campaign was, and that campaign lasted a full year. Obviously I can't do that for general release... or can I?
One of the important points within the location of Hammers of the God is the library. At the time of the original running, the books that were there were not so important. It was the book that was not there that was important for spurring the players to later action.
For the commercial release, I'm swapping that. The book that isn't there will be very ominous and may very well inspire a campaign arc for referees, but it's not the matter at hand. So the rest of the books in the library all need to have relevance to the location itself. Or at least a significant number of books needs to be relevant; irrelevant books will just be there to divert and delay attention, and perhaps misdirect PCs into harm whereas the relevant books will help them avoid harm.
How to do this?
A random table, sure, but it seems like cheating to throw in a random table with quick information like it's some damn rumors-at-the-tavern table.
No, I've got 100 index cards, and I'm writing a short synopsis of a book's contents on each one. When I get to the end, I'll put them in chronological order according to in-game writing date, then decide which bits are boring or extraneous and eject them. With the ones that are left, I'll see how each particular one might be able to be twisted around or have some "historical perspective" and spin doctoring put upon it, so a single subject might have multiple books - with conflicting information.
Then I'll come up with titles for each of these books, write up coherent summaries of their contents to be given to players who want their characters to take the time to translate these books, and put them in a list in chronological order so the referee can see the Big Picture, and tack random numbers on to each of them so the referee can randomly determine which book the PCs are rifling through at the moment. This whole thing will be stuck in the back of the adventure as an appendix so it doesn't clog up however many pages right at the beginning of the module.
The result will be a fully-stocked, no-cheating library for the players to research within, or not (things in there will definitely make life easier for the PCs, but nothing will be necessary to proceed to certain areas). It's already an interesting experiment to write, and I can't wait to see how it turns out, and how it is received by the people who buy the adventure.
I've always thought of traditional fantasy adventuring to be something akin to Indiana Jones-style archaeology. That there are ruins and treasure (and foes and conflict) are all good and well, but the success of the expedition depends on research and knowledge. Indy is a second-generation academic, you know. Gandalf pulled the same sort of thing when he visited Minas Tirith before returning to inform Frodo about the nature of his Ring. Pushing this sort of thing as necessary in an adventure might be pushing it, but making it available is something that should be done more often!
Friday, December 11, 2009
"We're Gonna Need a Bigger... Ink Cartridge"
This is a photo, not a scan, of one of the art pieces (by Laura Jalo) for Hammers of the God.
Illustrations of adventurers in their little sanctuaries of light in the midst of huge caverns... yeah, there's going to be a lot of black.
The front and back covers look... trippy. But since I have not seen anything but color-warping photos of the art, I shan't post them yet.
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