We'll Burn All the Negatives

Some of my books are on sale!

BREAKING LOTFP EU WEBSTORE NEWS:

* NEW SHIPPING METHOD!

* 25 % OFF SALE ON BOOKLETS + SOFTCOVERS

* JUST SEVEN COPIES OF MIDVINTER LEFT

LotFP EU Webstore: https://www.lotfp.com/store/

We've got the Global Mail option on the EU webstore up and running, which will result in much cheaper shipping rates for a lot of customers on lighter (under 1kg or especially under 500g) shipments.

To encourage you to try out this new shipping option, we are offering 25% off all of the booklets and softcovers in the EU webstore. Use coupon code SOFTIES on checkout. The titles included: Beware the Mindfuck!, Black Chamber, Curious Conundrum, Curse of the Daughterbrides, Do Not Accept This Quest, Forgive Us, A Gift For All of Norway, Green Devil Face #7, Idea from Space, Jovian Visitor, Just a Stupid Dungeon, Obisidian Anti-Pharos, and the Random Esoteric Creature Generator. Sale ends Tuesday morning when I wake up and remember to turn off the coupon code.

And we have just seven Midvinter copies left in the ol' Finland warehouse. There are a couple dozen still sitting around in overseas warehouses for future conventions, but if you want to order online these are the last copies from us. Midvinter is one of the most unhinged and disturbing folk horror adventures ever in RPGs, all the more effective because it presents itself in good cheer and not as a nightmare. It is a masterpiece.

So that's FORGIVE US and CURIOUS CONUNDRUM OF THE CONFLAGRATED CONDOTTIERO on sale, and MIDVINTER not on sale, but quickly becoming a collectable. Probably. Ish.

(Five copies left as I type this.)

I haven't left much time for you to take advantage of the sale, for which I'm sorry.

And now, a banger:

Blowing One's Trumpet

I'm not comfortable with self-promotion so forgive me -- ho ho -- for taking advantage of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess snow sale to plug my adventure Forgive Us. Since its release back in March the adventure has been bought by far more people than I would ever have expected and has received some positive reviews.

Diehard GameFAN said Forgive Us "is definitely worth the current sticker price attached to it, and it serves as a great introduction to the mood and themes LotFP likes to present to its audience."

John Arendt of Dreams in the Lich House thought the adventure would "make a fine addition to your horror themed D&D game."

Bryce Lynch of tenfootpole didn't like it as much, which is a shame as I thought I'd done the sort of things he liked in D&D adventures. Maybe next time.

Doc Schott called it "a One-Page Dungeon (or rather, a series of them) writ large, by a master of the form." The adventure did start out as an idea for my third One Page Dungeon entry so I'm happy with that.

Zak Smith said "Make More Adventures Like 'Forgive Us' By Kelvin Green" and he's a tough critic so I'm more than pleased with that.

Imaginary Enterprises thought that the adventure was "another gem from the LotFP camp", which puts it among good company, although I wouldn't say it's anywhere as good as Vornheim, Qelong, or Death Frost Doom.

Pookie at Reviews From R'lyeh said that the adventure "presents a mysterious malodorous situation in a quietly entertaining fashion, punctuated by some short sharp shocks that work all the better for the scenario’s very ordinary setting."

Ramanan Sivaranjan said "I really like Kelvin Green’s Forgive Us." That's good enough for me.

Claw Carver said that Forgive Us was "bloody brilliant" and I'm happy with that.

Forgive Us was my first published adventure so more than anything I was hoping that people would like it and that it wasn't rubbish. I'm glad that they probably do and that it probably isn't. If you'd like to get physical copy without paying postage all you have to do is buy a t-shirt before 5pm Finnish time tomorrow.

Now I feel a bit embarrassed so that's enough capitalism from me. Expect something frivolous about robots soon.

A Time For Forgiveness

After aeons of waiting -- for which I'm sorry, because they were my fault -- my adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess has been released!

Those who backed the Indiegogo campaign should be getting their copies in the next few days and will have been sent instructions to download the pdf version at some point today. Anyone else with an interest can buy the adventure from either the LotFP shop or DriveThruRPG.

That's enough self-promotion from me! I'm a couple of sessions behind on my WFRP recaps so expect at least one of those in the next couple of days.

Farewell Dwarf

I haven't bought an issue of White Dwarf since last century but even so the news that the magazine is to end in February has come as a bit of a shock. I may not have read it for over half my life but even so there was a certain comfort in knowing that it was still out there, plugging away each and every month; it looks like the magazine is going to be replaced by a weekly newsletter version but White Dwarf as I know it is going away and that makes me sad.

I wasn't even aware of it during its golden -- pre #100 -- age and my current enthusiasm for those excellent early role-playing-heavy issues is all down to going back and catching up with what I missed. Even so, White Dwarf is responsible for getting me into the role-playing hobby in a roundabout way.

I had been playing Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and reading TSR novels for a number of years but I wasn't a gamer as such so I was just the sort of person that Games Workshop and MB were after with HeroQuest; one day I'll write about that venerable game but for now it's enough to know that I loved it. Then one day while in Hailsham town centre -- probably looking for comics -- I saw the HeroQuest logo on the front of a magazine and that was it for me.

The magazine was full of games that I didn't recognise but I did know that logo and I could tell that that the orcs with guns on the back cover were akin somehow to the ones in my HeroQuest box so I bought it and read it from cover to cover. Then I bought the next one, and the next, and I bought Space Marine, and started playing Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer and Blood Bowl, and I was very much a Games Workshop man. Then one day +Timothy Coxon told me that if I liked the orcs-with-guns of 40K then I would like the orcs-with-guns of Shadowrun and I discovered a whole new hobby. Some time later I found out that the magazine I'd been reading had once supported my new pastime and so I went back and uncovered a wealth of great content that still influences me today; my own Forgive Us owes no small debt to early White Dwarf articles and adventures.

So here's a pint of Bugman's Best raised in thanks to White Dwarf for years of enjoyment -- both direct and indirect -- and I suppose that at least this will stop people saying that it isn't as good as it used to be.

Thieves of Time

If you contributed to the fundraising camapign -- thank you -- you will have received an update about this already but after what has seemed like aeons I am pleased to say that Forgive Us, the adventure anthology for Lamentations of the Flame Princess that started out as Horror Among Thieves, is complete and is in the layout stage. I've seen a rough version of the book and it looks amazing, thanks to the clever eye and deft skills of Eero Tuovinen; I don't know if I'm allowed to show off any of the pages from the rough draft so here instead is one of the maps from the book picked at random.

I will post further updates as we get closer to the actual publication of the book. Having worked on it for so long I am more than a little excited to see it getting closer to completion but I must be honest and admit that there's a little bit of trepidation mixed in there too. I hope people like it.

Stolen Years

Last week I received a note asking how Horror Among Thieves is going; it turns out that it's been a whole year since the Indiegogo campaign funded. That's a bit embarrassing, as I'd intended to have it completed by Christmas and it's clear that I am not ready for even semi-professional publishing.

The good news is that I handed in the text of the adventure to James in May, along with almost all of the maps and art; I have a couple of final images to draw and I'm working on those now. We want to include some bonus adventures as a gift to those who helped fund the adventure and who have been waiting for so long; the adventures are written but I'm not happy with the format, so they'll need a bit of revision. It may be that the adventure is released without them and they get sent out as backer exclusive pdfs later.

Oh, and after going back and forth on the cover image James and I decided to go back to the original idea and as a result we've changed the title of the adventure to Forgive Us. I do love a good pun but the new title does fit a bit better and is more LotFPey.

I'm sorry that Forgive Us has taken so long. It is on its way and I hope it will be worth the wait.

Thieving Thursday III

Here's where I am with Horror Among Thieves. Almost there.

Cover - done.
p1-3 - Introduction/Norwich 1625 - done.
p4 - Norwich map - still to do.
p5 - about the Tenebrous Hand - done.
p6 - Tenebrous Hand headquarters map - done.
p7 - Unexpected Visitors - art almost done, text done.
p8-9 - The Dog & Bastard - maps done, text done.
p10 - The House on Cow Hill - maps done, text done.
p11 - "Dear Christina" handout - done, but I'm not happy with it; my handwriting's not the right look for a letter from 1625.
p12 - The Warehouse - maps done, text done.
p13 - The Scribe - maps done, text done.
p14 - The Potter - maps done, text done.
p15 - The Butcher - maps done, text done.
p16 - mutant dog picture - done, but I think I should take another pass at it.
p17-18 - The Carpenter - maps done, text done.
p19 - "Forgive us" art - done.
p20- The House on Willow Lane - maps done, text done.
p21 - The Casket - art done, text done.
p22 - The Courtyard - maps done, text done.
p23 - The Secret Cellar - maps done, text done.
p24-25 - The Vaults - maps done, text done.
p26-27 - treasure table - art done, text done.
p28-29 - The Things in the Vaults - art almost done, text done.
p30-31 - The Brotherhood of Pus - maps done, text done.

pXX - "Death and Taxes" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.
pXX - "In Heaven, Everything is Fine" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.

Thieving Thursday II

Here's this week's update on Horror Among Thieves, again as much for me as it is for anyone else.

Cover - done.
p1-2 - Introduction/Norwich 1625 - done, but needs a rewrite in a less, well, boring voice.
p3 - Norwich map - still to do.
p4 - about the Tenebrous Hand - still to do.
p5 - Tenebrous Hand headquarters map - done.
p5-6 - The Dog & Bastard - maps done, text still to do.
p7 - The House on Cow Hill - maps done, text done.
p8 - "Dear Christina" handout - done, but I'm not happy with it; my handwriting's not the right look for a letter from 1625.
p9 - The Warehouse - maps done, text done.
p10 - The Scribe - maps done, text done.
p11 - The Potter - maps done, text done.
p12 - I have a blank page here at the moment, to preserve the double-page spreads elsewhere in the book; perhaps I can put some full-page art here.
p13 - The Butcher - maps done, text done.
p14 - mutant dog picture - done, but I think I should take another pass at it.
p15-16 - The Carpenter - maps done, text still to do.
p17 - The House on Willow Lane - maps done, text done.
p18 - The Casket - art done, text done.
p19 - The Courtyard - maps done, text done.
p20 - The Secret Cellar - maps done, text done.
p21-22 - The Vaults - maps done, text done.
p23-24 - treasure table - art done, text done.
p25-26 - secret double-page image - art almost done.
p27-28 - The Brotherhood of Pus - map still to do, text still to do.

pXX - "Forgive us" art - done, but I'm not sure where it's going to go yet.
pXX - a rival party - half done.
pXX - "Death and Taxes" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.
pXX - "In Heaven, Everything is Fine" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.

Thieving Thursday

Inspired by Tenkar's overdue Kickstarter name and shame roundup and the Dwimmermount updates, here's where I am with Horror Among Thieves. This is as much for me as anyone else, but I thought it might be good to have it be public. I shall update it each Thursday.

Cover - done.
p1-2 - Introduction/Norwich 1625 - done, but needs a rewrite in a less, well, boring voice.
p3 - Norwich map - still to do.
p4 - about the Tenebrous Hand - still to do.
p5 - Tenebrous Hand headquarters map - done.
p5-6 - The Dog & Bastard - maps done, text still to do.
p7 - The House on Cow Hill - maps done, text done.
p8 - "Dear Christina" handout - done, but I'm not happy with it; my handwriting's not the right look for a letter from 1625.
p9 - The Warehouse - maps done, text done.
p10 - The Scribe - maps done, text done.
p11 - The Potter - maps done, text still to do.
p12 - I have a blank page here at the moment, to preserve the double-page spreads elsewhere in the book; perhaps I can put some full-page art here.
p13 - The Butcher - maps done, text done.
p14 - mutant dog picture - done, but I think I should take another pass at it.
p15-16 - The Carpenter - maps done, text still to do.
p17 - The House on Willow Lane - maps done, text done.
p18 - The Casket - art done, text done.
p19 - The Courtyard - maps done, text done.
p20 - The Secret Cellar - maps done, text done, but needs a rewrite.
p21-22 - The Vaults - maps need fixing, text done.
p23-24 - treasure table - art done, text done.
p25-26 - secret double-page image - art almost done.
p27-28 - The Brotherhood of Pus - map still to do, text still to do.

pXX - "Forgive us" art - done, but I'm not sure where it's going to go yet.
PXX - a rival party - still to do.
pXX - "Death and Taxes" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.
pXX - "In Heaven, Everything is Fine" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.

Gods, Thieves and Dwimmermount

I wasn't going to discuss the Dwimmermount imbroglio. I didn't contribute much to the Kickstarter and it doesn't seem like my place to comment on James Maliszewski's morals or personal circumstances. That said, there have been a couple of developments of late that have caused me to reconsider.

The first is that I have my own crowdfunded project that is running very late. Horror Among Thieves is far from dead, but I find myself unable to devote as much time to its completion as I'd like. It will be finished, and those who supported the project will be getting something extra to -- I hope -- take some edge off the interminable wait. People have called for James to hand Dwimmermount -- a near-complete manuscript exists, it seems -- over to someone else to manage and publish since he cannot do so himself; I see the wisdom in that suggestion, and it made me look at what I was trying to achieve with Horror Among Thieves and see if I should do something similar. I am confident that completing the adventure is within my abilities, but when that will happen I don't know, though I hope it will be soon. My own lack of productivity on the, er, product annoys me no end; James had a whole megadungeon to publish but I only have a small adventure to write and I can't even get that out the door on time. I feel terrible that Horror Among Thieves is the first project of my own that I can call professional, and yet I've been less than professional in its production; I don't want to be known for lateness and unreliability, and so my hope is that at least the final product will be a good one. Even if not, I have learned some valuable lessons.

James was working on another project alongside but unrelated to Dwimmermount, a collection of minor deities called Petty Gods, and that too has languished in development heck, until now. Greg Gorgonmilk has decided to resurrect the project in James' absence and has put out a call for the contributing writers and artists to get in touch. I'm pleased to see the book's potential return, in part because I'd contributed three drawings to it -- such as Fluxalle, the god of rusted cookware, above -- but also because I like the idea of making use of the inventiveness of the gaming community to produce something fun and free for everyone.

Greg hasn't yet tracked down all of the original artists and writers, so if you are or know one of them, then get in touch with him here. I believe he's also looking for new contributions, if you'd like to get involved.

The Casket

This carved stone object is about the size of a pineapple and feels hollow. It can be opened with a successful Tinkering roll or suitable magic but is quite empty, its contents having already done their horrific work.

A Cleric will recognise the casket as a sacred item associated with one of the less pleasant deities; if the Cleric can roll their level or less on a d20, they identify the item as being dedicated to Bubonica, a minor goddess of plague and disease.

The casket counts as a holy symbol for Clerics of Bubonica and is worth 20sp to a depraved enough collector.

Not Brian Cox

It has been a weird few days. I was told something earlier in the week that has shaken me up more than a little; it's not a bad thing -- far from it, in fact -- but it's given me a lot to think about. I'm being coy, but I'll talk about it more when I know more.

With most of the art and graphics done for Horror Among Thieves, I've been working on the text, something that I've been putting off as I was much less confident about the quality of my writing. It's all coming together quite well but what I've realised is that the final product isn't going to be quite what I want it to be; that might seem negative, but I see it in a more positive light. Through the production of the book, I've thought of better ways to do things and so while I think -- or hope -- that Horror Among Thieves will be good, I believe that whatever I do afterwards will be even better. As of right now, I'm aiming to have the art and the first draft of the text to Lamentations of the Flame Princess HQ by the end of February; before then if I can manage it.

As well as getting Horror Among Thieves finished, February will also see me doing the thing that I perhaps fear the most: public speaking. My boss turned on the charm today and convinced me to take part in an upcoming training day by giving a presentation on Technology; the agenda for the day spells it with a capital letter for no good reason at all. I wasn't keen at first but then I thought that I know enough stuff that I could at least prevaricate for the required two minutes, and it would be a small audience made up of people I know, so it wouldn't be too bad.

It turns out that I'm going to be talking in front of pretty much everyone at my place of work, and it's going to be recorded and streamed live to other colleges across Sussex. "Abject terror" would not be an understatement.

I wonder if I can just put this on and sit down for six minutes?

Thieving: 75%

The main reason behind the lack of posts of late is that I've been spending most of my time working on Horror Among Thieves. It's not done yet, but I estimate that it's about 75% done. What I have completed as of this morning are all the maps, aside from the big city map and one bonus location that wasn't in the original adventure as written. Behold:

There's still some way to go, but it's starting to look like a complete adventure. I want to thank everyone again for contributing to the funding campaign, and also for being so patient; I'm a little embarrassed that it's taken so long to get this thing done, but I hope it will be worth the wait.

Horror Among Updates

I haven't abandoned this blog, but I have been working on Horror Among Thieves. The adventure exists in a playable form as of right now, and I managed to get in a playtest with my regular gaming group, but there's still a lot of work to be done to get it into something that can be published.

That said, I thought I'd share a bit of a preview. This is one of the least spoiler-laden locations in the scenario, the House on Willow Lane:

This is a rough version of how I want the book to look; if the adventure hadn't reached its funding goal and I'd put it out myself this is how it would look more or less, but with James Raggi's layout people putting it together it should look much better, and of course there are still changes to be made. Even so, this should give you an idea of what I'm going for.