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.

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...

The Heart of St. Althus for OSRIC Is Now Available at DriveThruRPG

My latest adventure is now live on Drive-Thru RPG. I discussed the background and development of this one in an earlier post, so here's the cover and a few sample pages to check out.

 

Below Gwarnath – Level 1 Latest Progress

The Heart of St. Althus has been uploaded to Drive-Thru RPG, so while I'm waiting for it to be approved for sale, I turned attention back to developing my next campaign's mega-dungeon. Since my last post, I've filled in zones C, D, H, and I (including some creep back into neighboring zones that still had room to squeeze in some more dungeon).

Other than the four initial zones, I haven't rolled out any of the contents of the keyed areas yet, as I'm still developing customized tables for this campaign. I intend to stock each zone individually and post about the results when I get to that point. Below is a look at the map thus far, and here's a link to a higher-res (7500 x 7500 px) version.

To this point, I've been using the OSRIC tables to generate everything, but the more comfortable I get with these tables and the ones in the DMG, I'm liking the DMG version more. One of my main complaints about OSRIC's tables over the DMG's is one little result on one table. When following the course of a dungeon passage, you make a roll at the end of each corridor length to determine what's next. It's called "Table 18: General" in OSRIC, while in the DMG it's called "Table I.: Periodic Check."

They largely mirror each other, with the main differences being the placement and percentages for the same line items (for example, OSRIC provides for a 25% chance to come across a door, compared to the DMG's 15% chance). I'm dissatisfied with the OSRIC table due to the absence of the "Trick/Trap" result from the DMG. I've read that many of the little math differences in OSRIC come down to not wanting to emulate AD&D too closely, so perhaps that's the reason it wasn't included in this table, but I'm missing the presence of the occasional hallway trap.

I don't like the Wandering Monster result in both tables, either. I think it's there to facilitate solo play, but that's a different procedure than generating a dungeon, one that's already accounted for elsewhere in the rules. Is a solo player ALSO rolling an encounter check every proscribed period? In any case, I don't get it. So, as a compromise, I've decided to continue using the OSRIC tables, but treating all "Wandering Monster" results as a "Trick/Trap" instead. Same percentage chance as in the DMG, too.

I'm well into mapping zone L, and now that I've completed my latest publishing project, I may start properly keying the map soon as a test run for my new encounter tables. 

In addition to working on this, I've begun work on my next adventure for publication, an update to/adaptation of an older adventure entitled "Bugspittle's Hive." I'll have more to say on it in the near future, but it's a magical fairy mound full of insect ickyness. I've often referred to it as a "spiritual sequel" to "Etta Capp's Cottage."

The Heart of St. Althus – Finished Cover

Cover illustration is done, and the manuscript is complete and formatted. I'm giving it one final review and then I'll upload the file to Drive-Thru this weekend. Should be available sometime next week.

Adventure Sites III Now Available on DriveThru RPG

Coldlight Press has put the Adventure Site Contest III compilation up on Drive-Thru RPG, featuring the top-rated 8 submissions (out of 30 total). My submission, Ophidian Temple, is one of them. The price is FREE, so check it out if you want some good creative sites to drop in your campaign for your players to visit.

Also, my adventure, Aethelberd's Tomb, received a "No Regerts" ranking on tenfootpole.org. Woot!

The Heart of St. Althus – Cover Progress

My upcoming adventure was formerly known by its casual campaign name, The Haunted Chapel. I didn't really need to call it anything else, as I knew what the name referred to. I wanted a more interesting title for publication, however, so I renamed it after the holy relic enshrined inside the temple: The Heart of St. Althus.

Recovering the relic may or may not be the explicit goal of the adventure, depending on how the DM running it wants to involve the party in investigating the site. They may not even be aware the relic exists at the start of the adventure, but its presence in this site will be felt almost immediately by any Good clerics who enter the area. The item is based on a real-life holy relic: The Preserved Heart of St. Camillus.

I considered several ideas for the cover. One was an image of the chapel ruins, to give players a visual reference of the site, similar to what I did for the cover of Bergummo's Tower. Another idea was an action scene of some of the monsters encountered in the undercroft, like the Aethelberd's Tomb cover.

I ultimately went with an image of the relic as it seemed like an easier (and quicker) thing to illustrate, so I drew a quick sketch:

After scanning the sketch and drawing some blue lines for perspective, I converted the sketch into the basic shapes of the illustration. I still have lots of details to incorporate, and then need to color the whole thing, but its taking shape nicely, I think.

Aethelberd's Tomb for OSRIC Is Now Available at DriveThruRPG

My latest adventure is now live on DriveThru RPG. This started out as an adventure for my first 5e campaign, but the players failed to bite down on the hook. They rescued the goodwife being held captive by the brigands, but noped out when she told them about the "whispers from down in the well." (Cowards.)

I ended up using the dungeon in another 5e campaign, but re-imagined for a Viking-themed setting. Several of the same players were in this party, and this time they bit. It played pretty well and they recovered the magic hammer, Angbolt, but never encountered the otyugh.

This is my second adventure for publication, and I have several more in development. It's gratifying to put my work out there, and hopefully others will enjoy running (and playing) it.

 

Aethelberd's Tomb – Cover Progress

I've been drawing the cover illustration for my next adventure for publication, which I teased in a previous post. I used to draw a bunch as a kid, and I drew a lot of character tokens and maps for my Roll20 campaigns, but it's been awhile since I composed a "dungeon scene." I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I sketched the original in pencil, then scanned it into Photoshop and created a blueline version. I moved some of the figures in closer to compress the space. I've done the preliminary characters and the room background, and now I'm working on the little details to finish it up. The style is inspired by Erol Otus' and Peter Mullen's works (with a nod to Tramp), and depicts a potential scene down in the dungeon if the party attracts the attention of a monster down the well.

Once I get the detail work done, I'll color the image. I'm already building a palette (seen to the left in the image), and I based the otyugh's coloration on Otus' illustration in the AD&D Monster Cards set (at right). I gave the otyugh three eyes, because that's how it looked to me in Dave Sutherland's original Monster Manual illustration, but it's pretty clear from Otus' illustration that it's some sort of gross orifice (a "nose," perhaps). I added the orifice, but decided to keep the three eyes, as I like how they're looking at different party members.

I'd like to have the new adventure up on DriveThru by the end of March, so I need to keep chugging. I'll post the finished version of the cover piece once it's complete.

Recent Reviews and Coming Content

Sorry for the ham-handed alliteration. I've had lots of coffee this morning and feeling cheeky. I've been hard at work on a few things so I haven't had a chance to post much recently, particularly after the marathon blogging run for the Hurricane Dungeon. A few things to mention, though...

Judging is wrapping up for Coldlight Press's third-annual Adventure Site Contest and the winner(s) should be announced soon. Reviews for my Ophidian Temple submission were mostly positive, though JB applied his well-honed perspective and brought up several points I didn't consider while writing. I (politely) disagreed with some of his points in the review comments, and after some additional discussion, he graciously improved my score a skooch. There are no real stakes in this contest, but the goal is to improve as a designer. If one can meet and exceed JB's demanding criteria (which I 100% appreciate), then you know you've accomplished something.

UPDATE: I somehow missed Owen_E's review of my contest submission.

Speaking of demanding criteria, Bryce over at tenfootpole.org reviewed my recent published adventure, Bergummo's Tower and awarded it a prestigious "The Best" ranking. I was pleasantly surprised that he had even reviewed the adventure, much less put it among some really heavyweight awesome adventures in that short list. I won't lie, it feels good. I don't crave validation, but it's always nice to receive.

What's coming up? I have a second adventure nearly ready for publication called "Aethelberd's Tomb," a fairly straightforward exploration of a crypt below the ruined keep of an ancient warlord. It's a nice little expansion of a dungeon I've run several times now, and was even a One-Page Dungeon submission some years ago. I think it's a solid delve. All that's left is to finish the cover illustration, which I am currently blue-lining. Here's a sneak preview...

After that, I have about a dozen adventures in the queue to format and publish over the next months and couple years: Some are old dungeons I'm pulling out of mothballs to refresh and retool; others are fairly new in my repertoire, designed with my rediscovered love of the classic methods and principles of adventure gaming.

Upcoming titles include:

• "The Haunted Chapel" (a dark secret beneath the ruins of a holy place).
• "Bugspittle's Hive" (a spiritual sequel to my ASC 1 entry, "Etta Capp's Cottage").
• "Fire Forge" (a high-level mission to assault a fire giant's caldera lair).
• "Oleg's Problem" (classic dwarven-miners-digging-too-deep dilemma).
• "The Drowned Gates" (a cavernous kilo-dungeon).
• "The High Ice" (a travail to the glacial lair of an ancient white dragon).
• "Owlbear Hill" (a full(er) version of my ASC 2 submission that didn't make the cut).
• "Isle of the Dead" (my too-long-delayed Mythic Greece-inspired adventure, which is 95% done). 

After "Aethelberd's Tomb" is released, "The Haunted Chapel" will be next, as I'm nearly done formatting, but still working on pieces of the content and redrawing the map to my house style. I'll feel good if I can get half the bullet list finished and uploaded.

I also intend to keep posting here as frequently as possible. Cheers until next time!

Bergummo's Tower for OSRIC Is Now Available at DriveThruRPG

A couple years ago I entered Prince of Nothing's "No Artpunk Contest" by converting a 5e adventure I'd designed for my home table to OSRIC. I was already committed to shifting back to Basic/Advanced D&D, as my disenchantment with 5e had reached a critical point. The 5e version was written with classic-style adventuring principles, however, so I found it converted pretty easily to the older ruleset. I also needed to abide by the contest limitations, so a few other other changes applied to the OSRIC version of the adventure. I was actually still play-testing the 5e version (for the second time) when I entered the contest.

Prince's review came back pretty positive, but I didn't quite make the cut for the finalists. At the time, I intended to publish the 5e version on DM's Guild/DriveThruRPG, but after being reprimanded for defending Oriental Adventures in the product comments, and then having an email fight with the site's CSRs for calling out a blatant double-standard on a different product, I pulled my adventures off the site and stopped doing business with them.

Unfortunately, if you want to publish game materials, they're pretty much the only game in town. I'm looking into Lulu, but itch.io seems like a nightmare and I have no large following to draw attention to a product for direct sales. I'm not really looking to make money (based on past efforts, I won't), but I have a good deal of experience (40+ years) designing adventures, I have a ton of existing material in my campaign folders, I know a lot about writing and layout, and it's a creative exercise that gives me a lot of personal satisfaction and joy. I wouldn't mind earning a few bucks for the trouble, either, so what the hell...

I took my OSRIC version of Bergummo's Tower, rewrote the copy (reducing word count by about 15%) and redrew the maps to clean up a few things I didn't like. The final result is now up for sale at DriveThruRPG.

Here's the cover...

...and the annotated dungeon map as a preview.

It's a challenging gauntlet of puzzles, tricks, and monsters that will test even the most experienced players, but stays simple enough to avoid getting bogged down over impossible riddles and inscrutable clues. Check it out and let me know how it plays at your table. 

I'm currently working on two other adventures for publication, with a list of six more I plan to release over the next year or so. Hopefully, I can contribute to the effort of bringing this ruleset and style of gaming to new players.