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.

Bugspittle's Hive

Bryce over at tenfootpole.org reviewed The Heart of St. Althus and gave it a "The Best" ranking. Pretty pleased about that, as this adventure was a lot of fun to design and run. He had a lot of nice things to say about it, so be sure to check out his review.

I'm hard at work on the latest adventure I intend to publish, titled Bugspittle's Hive. The basic premise is that a malevolent faerie wanders the earth, occasionally settling in one place to torment and murder local humans, before moving on again. He lives in a magical mound that he can transport with him on his travels, a lair that combines the comforts of a country manor with the winding tunnels and caves of a subterranean insect hive. Dwelling with him are a slew of magical, fey-infused insects that do his bidding, for Bugspittle created them and can control them. The evil creature has recently settled in a spot near to the party's current location, and his actions have attracted the attention of the characters somehow (various hooks are provided).

This adventure is around 15–16 years old, and was part of my 20-year King's Realm campaign , a pastiche of Arthurian legend, Northern European/Scandinavian folklore, and Church of England-style monotheism. The party in that campaign became embroiled in a religious mystery that would ultimately reveal the ancient pagan roots of the king's throne, and its connection to the faerie realm. The party's investigations led them to confront Bugspittle in his lair, though he was only a middling piece of the larger plot, which involved much greater powers.

Below is the original map for the adventure, just a quick isometric sketch for my personal use at the table. I always intended to draw a proper map, but we arrived at the adventure before I had time to do another version, and then the party made short work of the place, so I never bothered doing it. Years later, I expanded the basic idea for my 5e tabletop campaign, placing Bugspittle's lair as a site deep within the Gloomy Forest hexcrawl map. In this campaign, Bugspittle had a relationship with Etta Capp, the spider-matron of Etta Capp's Cottage, but the party never discovered his mound.

The premise for the original adventure came from reading about the Filipino fairy spirit called the Nuno sa Punso – the "Ancestor of the Mound." He is a temperamental spirit that lives in anthills and termite mounds, and inflicts terrible punishment on anyone who disturbs his mound. Superstitious Filipino farmers know never to plow through an anthill, for fear of angering the Nuno. 

The Nuno curses his clumsy victims by spitting on them. The enchanted sputum causes the afflicted area to swell painfully (like a fire ant bite, I reckon). The curse then expands to other areas of the body, causing a variety of horrible symptoms like high fever, aches and swelling of the extremities, bloody vomit, and black urine. 

I thought the idea of an evil/angry fairy who lived in a hive and manipulated insects was a neat idea, so I borrowed it for my campaign. I converted him to more of a traditional, European-style fairy, and named him Nunyo Bugspittle to honor his origin (and mode of punishment).

When I decided to start publishing some of my old adventures, this one immediately made the list as it's very different from a lot of my other work. In reviewing the original materials and the expansion notes, I decided that the expansion was too much. Realizing the original was just about the perfect size, I decided to revert to that version with just a few extra ideas thrown in (the best few bits of the expansion material).

I don't yet have a firm release date in mind, though sometime by the end of July/early August would be good. The adventure's conversion to OSRIC is complete and a first draft of the write-up is about 90% done. I've finished the first round of new maps as well, though I have more to add and touch up. I'm also working on some original art for the adventure: A cover piece depicting Bugspittle's mound, and several interior illustrations of Bugspittle and his fey-bugs. My timeline may be a bit ambitious as real-life work projects are chewing up a lot of my time (and writing output), but I think it's possible.

Here's a preview of the new maps...