Bugspittle's Hive – Final Cover

I think I'm finished with the cover illustration for my next adventure for publication. I may tweak it some between now and when I upload it, but I'm fairly satisfied with the image and it's already pretty close to the limits of my drawing/Photoshop skills. I really struggled to draw proper leaf piles, so I ended up using a special brush to paint in the leaf patterns. I like the result, but it feels like I cheated a little.

The manuscript is complete, but the adventure will have a total of 5 (possibly 6) illustrations and a diagram that explains how a certain magical effect works. This is the most art I've ever done for an adventure and I'm just not that consistently productive with doing the work (another reason why the leaf dilemma was so daunting...there's a LOT of it).

I'm finishing up the black-and-white illustration of the adventure's antagonist that I posted blue-lines for in the previous post. That image and the cover are two of the art pieces, while the other 3 depict some of the new monsters in the adventure: A trio of magically-mutated insects that serve the hive's master. The two bugs below are a "warrior" (a mutated giant warrior ant) and a "worker" (a mutated giant fire beetle).

 

There is also a mutated giant wasp with hypnotic wings that I'm working to finish. The potential sixth piece would depict some unique fungi found within the hive. I'm on the fence about drawing it, but it could be a nice reference piece to show players and wouldn't be too difficult or time-consuming to do, so if I get the gumption I will.

Oh, also, Bryce over at tenfootpole.org reviewed Level 1 of the Hurricane Dungeon and gave it a "No Regerts," with room for improvement if he likes the other levels. I'm not sure he realized that the first 7 levels (now 8 as of this post) are all available, and he only grabbed Level 1. I was really pleased that he recognized my intent to replicate a dungeon experience from the early days, the kinds of adventures I made and played as a kid back in the early 80s. 

The numbers start to taper off for the more recently released levels, but the early levels have around 250 downloads each, which is awesome. The final level will post next Friday and I anticipate releasing Bugspittle's Hive before the month is out. I'm still trying to put together a playtest group for my Adventure Site Contest IV submission, so I'll turn that in some time in November or December, and that will probably be it for the year. I hoped to release 6 adventures this year, and the ASCIV submission will be #6, so I think that counts as a win.

I have two other adventures mostly ready for release in early 2027, and then a list of 8 others on deck to convert to OSRIC and format. Finally, I've gotten some requests to compile the Hurricane Dungeon into one volume, which I may undertake, maybe with some new material and corrections for a few typos that somehow got through editing. I am also considering creating the levels for the Empress's Ivory Tower, which is referenced throughout the dungeon but doesn't yet exist as a manuscript (or even a map). 

When I was creating the dungeon just for me, I didn't worry about resolving all those hints and clues concerning the Empress and her entourage, but now that so many people have it in their hands, I feel like I should make a run at wrapping up the threads. I worked out HOW to open the portal into the tower, but not what was inside. My thought is to hand-draw the tower levels in the same style, the tower being an extra-dimensional space that can house a much larger area inside, and then stocking it in the same way I did with the regular levels, but for players from 9th to 12th level.

Project Updates

I have several things ongoing that I hope to wrap up by the end of this month. Firstly, I was  looking over my Hurricane Dungeon level write-ups. It's hard to believe it's been almost two years since the hurricane hit. I really like the end-results of the maps and the random stocking rolls, so I decided to put them up on Drive-Thru RPG for others to hopefully enjoy. Since I was sharing them for free here, I put them up as Pay What You Want. I'm happy to give it away for free, but if someone wants to throw me a few bucks for a 10-level mega-dungeon, that would be okay, too.

So far, the first 4 levels have been up for a couple weeks, with over 600 downloads. That's pretty exciting. I'm sure a lot of those are 1e/OSRIC DMs, but I hope some 5e folks discover it and it stirs some interest in exploring 1e.

I'm also putting a group together to play-test OGRERAHK, my entry for the Adventure Site Contest 4 (or IV, I can't remember which numeral system we're using). I think it will take a few sessions to get through it, just because I will have some players returning to 1e after a long spell away, but an experienced party should be able to get her done in one long session or two shorter ones. It's just an ogre lair, but then again, it's a lair FULL OF ogres, which is certain to be a punishing time for everyone involved. I can't wait to run it!

Finally, my next adventure for publication, Bugspittle's Hive, is nearly completed. I just have to finish up the artwork. This one will feature several interior illustrations in addition to the cover art. It's my biggest adventure so far, probably 30 pages once I get all the maps and art dropped in. There are 38 encounter areas over 5 levels, with lots of verticality and multiple routes of access. There are also 9 new monsters, 7 varieties of fantasy fungi, and 7 new magic items. The chap at right is the adventure's antagonist, Nunyo Bugspittle. This is only the blueline sketch; I still have some detail work to do, but I'll be creating a finished version for the manuscript. 

Below is my blueline sketch for the cover illustration. The foreground stuff is pretty far along, but the trees in the background are just rough sketches for placeholders. I think it's coming along nicely, though. It features 3 of the characters from my cover to Aethelberd's Tomb. The pointing priest was an homage to the best illustration in the MM, so I reused him here. The fighter has also picked up a shield and the magic-user a staff.

Bergummo's Tower Is a Silver Best Seller!

My first published OSRIC adventure, Bergummo's Tower, is now certified Silver on DriveThru RPG after 8 months. Aethelberd's Tomb and The Heart of St. Althus are both closing in on Copper status as well. (UPDATE: A day later and Aethelberd's Tomb has made Copper!) When I started this, I had hoped to sell a few here and there, but all the three adventures I put up so far have seen good reviews and steady sales. I owe Bryce over at tenfootpole.org a few beers because every time he reviews one I get a big uptick in sales.

To be sure, I'm not lighting the gaming world on fire and I certainly can't retire on the income, but it's nice to know my creative output has found some interest among other DMs. I wish I could hear how they played out for different parties.

I've been playing D&D in some form since I was 13, and I'll be 60 next year. There are few things that have been as big a constant in my life as this hobby. I had dreams of making a living doing this when I was a kid, so being able to contribute something to the game, even if its leaving just a teeny-tiny mark, feels pretty good.

I have a fourth adventure that I'm almost ready to put out, but real-life projects are soaking up much of my writing time. Adventures 5 and 6 are waiting in the wings as well. My goal was to put out six this year, but I think I'll be hard-pressed to meet that at this point. I *should* be able to get adventure #5 out by year's end, though.

I've also got my entry for Ben Gibson's Adventure Site Contest IV completed, even though the submissions don't start until November. It's called, "OGRERAHK", and it is, indeed, a lair full of ogres in a big rock. It's a wholly new adventure that I hope to playtest in coming weeks, then I can fine-tune it and be contest-ready by the fall. Here's a sneak preview of level 1.

I'm on the short-list (or, rather, the short-bus) again for judging this year's contest. I had a great time judging ASCII, but I think I'll take a different approach to the written reviews this go-around. Previously, I took a super-deep dive into each one but I'm not sure how useful the results were. It's not that I minded going that in-depth, it just took a long time to do each review and I don't have a lot of that to spare these days. Especially given that we could have upwards of 40 to 50 entries this year (if the growth trend holds up). I'm excited to get my hands on a bunch of freshly-minted adventures, though.

Below Gwarnath – Level 1 Map Complete

The Level 1 map is fully generated. I actually completed it back in July, but I wanted to get my dungeon generation walkthrough posts completed before I showed the finished piece. I still haven't decided on doing a walkthrough post of the mapping rolls for Zone P. Those posts are quite a bit of labor and I'm not sure it would add anything to what I've already written. My real-life project is taking up a ton of my time and I still have a lot of work to do if I'm going to launch this campaign in the fall.

Anyhoo, here's the finished map. As with my earlier progress posts, the actual map image is too big for blogger, so this is a lower-res (1500 x 1500 px) image. A full-size (7200 x 7200 px) image can be found here.

I still need a surface map and a map for Level 2, plus I need to stock everything, but I'm not done with my monster and treasure tables. I mean, I could start right now if I needed to and just wing it, but I like to be more prepared than this, especially when I'm introducing sci-fi elements to a non-traditional fantasy setting. I want to set all this up properly so my players understand what's going on and can quickly grasp how to get started.

Very happy with how this map turned out and I'm really impressed by how well the tables work. I used to dismiss those random tables as kind of pointless, but it sure was fun watching the dungeon unfold before me. I can't wait to stock it and then throw my players into the fray.

Below Gwarnath: Bestiary – Converting "All the Worlds' Monsters" to OSRIC (Part 3)

 

Continuing my series of posts about the conversion of entries from Chaosiums' All the Worlds' Monsters, a 3-volume set of creatures published in the late 70s.

Part 1 | Part 2

This post will deal with the level 1* creatures from ATWM Volume III (*according to the internal logic of whatever game ATWM is playing... so far, I've found little correlation between AD&D's standards and ATWM's outcomes). The creatures on that list are as follows:

• Cuddle
• Death Seed 
• Demon, Succubus (Simplistic)
• Demon, Basic (0th Level)
• Demon, Basic (1st Level)
• Dingo
• Four-Eyed Hig
• Golem, Mud
• Hell Sprite
• Hush Puppy
• Khirra
• Possessor
• Titterer

There's a few interesting ones here on quick read-through, so hopes are high that I can pull some decent monsters out of this batch. I have encountered hush puppies and hell sprites in my capacity as a player back in the 80s, whilst adventuring in the depths of the mega-dungeon, Darconea. Let's get to it...

Below Gwarnath – Map Generation Walk-through (Part 2)

Okay, so this is where we left things in Part 1 of mapping Zone O.

I decided to move to the northeast door to start resolving that route into this zone (from Zone K). No particular reason other than to take a fresh direction. Doors also have a different dynamic than passages, so let's see what happens.

The roll to determine what's behind the door on Table 20 results in a '3' = "Parallel Passage." Checking the passage width on Table 22 is a '12' = "10' wide." Rolling a d4+2 roll to determine length came up a '2+2' = "40' long." Since it's a 40' long passage, we roll 1d4 to determine which 10' segment the door is located in, resulting in a '3' = the 30' section. This series of rolls means the passage runs east 20' from the door, and 10' to the west. We'll roll at either end to see what's next (although we're running out of room to the W due to the big circular room).

Rolling on Table 18 for the west branch comes up a '12' = "Side Passage." A follow-up roll on Table 21 is a '2' = "Left 90 degrees" (perfect!) A d3 roll for length results in a '1' = "10' long." Rolling on Table 18 for the east branch comes up a '15' = "Stairs." A follow-up roll on Table 13 is a '9' = "Up 1 level." This route will take the party back topside into the city ruins.

Below Gwarnath: Bestiary – Converting "All the Worlds' Monsters" to OSRIC (Part 2)

Continuing my series of posts about the conversion of entries from the old-school collection of creatures known as All the Worlds' Monsters, a 3-volume set published by Chaosium back in the late 70s. They're full of gonzo, often-overpowered monsters designed by some of the celebrities of the golden age of gaming. Part 1 goes into more of the history of these books.

They were such a huge part of my gaming past, so when building my stocking tables for the Gwarnath mega-dungeon, I decided to parse through each volume, pick out the best monsters, and convert them to OSRIC. Part 1 handled the Level 1 monsters from Volume I, so this post will discuss the Level 1 monsters from Volume II.

There are substantially more Level 1 monsters in Volume II than there were in Volume I, but the quality and usefulness is of the same degree (low-to-medium). From the index, the Level 1 monsters are:

• Beetle, Fire
• Gangbat
• Glitch
• Gremlin
• Helltide
• Imp
• Lert
• Locust
• Pseudowoman
• Raw'yas
• Slesszoyd
• Tate

Obviously, some of these monsters share the same names as those that appear in the AD&D Monster Manual. ATWM Vol. I and the Monster Manual were both published in 1977, with ATWM Vol. II being published in 1979. Many of the monsters in all three ATWM volumes originated in other, pre-1977 sources, or were from homebrew campaigns that existed between OD&D and AD&D, so it's not surprising that some of them share the same name. Let's have a look...