Savage Sword Audio Up on Spotify

 I have found some time to crack open my live play sessions and edit the audio for snappy playback. Here is the first one out of the box; The beginning of the Savage Sword online campaign!

I Bend the Knee to My Lord and Master

 I find this following blog post aligns with my tastes in fantasy fiction. Long live the king, King Conan!

Shrine of the Keepers Now Available Full Color Hardback

Yes, I have created my first full color publication. Shrine of the Keepers is now available as its own stand alone adventure module. I took the plunge and played around with AI to generate the full color illustrations for the adventure module. Here are some photos of the final product. 

It is 33 pages and by this time the adventure has been vetted for all typos, it is a clean manuscript. Hey, it is even complete with a 5e conversion guide so you can play the adventure with the world's most popular roleplaying game. 

This 33 page adventure is available as a POD publication from Drivethrurpg.com. Get your blood-soaked copy today!

Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery Session

With some judicious holiday hours off I decided to actually run a game of Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery instead of laboring on the third and final book of the trilogy. I offered up the introductory adventure from the setting guide (the third book), Shrine of the Keepers. A venerable adventure I wrote back in 2012 for the first playtest of this game. Wow, USR Sword & Sorcery has a first edition!

I was much pleased to get many enthusiastic answers and interest to the game session. After I sorted out the time slot, I ended up with 4 rogues. A goodly number, for the pulpy nature of classic sword and sorcery does not lend itself to large parties of dungeon delvers. The roll call consisted of Hackon Rinson-Hunter, Nosarat-Hunter, Patty-Warrior, and Votwin-Sailor. The adventure was to begin in Zul-Bazzir in the world of Xoth and two of the players rolled for nation of origin. This came up as Khora, the Island of Sea Reavers, and Khazastan, the might empire across the great desert east of Zul-Bazzir. The other two I just declared they were locals of Khazastani and Jairan heritage. Character creation was done at the “table” for USR Sword & Sorcery is a rules-lite system and creating a character is dead simple. Gear, on the other hand is a pricey proposition. Armor and fine weapons are well out of reach for a starting character in the world of Xoth. The wealth disparity between the rich and powerful and everyone else is vast. This meant, outside of some favored weapons I granted the Warrior and Sailor, the group possessed no armor. I take that back, Hackon was able to purchase a shield to complement his sling and club.

The set up for Shrine of the Keepers is one of simple robbery. It is late night, and the group is finishing up hours of carousing and look to settle their tab. Unfortunately, whatever silver they had left on their person was gone. I slinking thief twirling their coin pouches good be seen slipping through the rowdy crowd and exiting the wine bar. A swift pursuit began as the players leapt after the thief, all the while the wine tender hollering for his payment. They chased the fleet-footed scoundrel through the warren of alleyways in the slums of Zul-Bazzir. They lost sight of the thief and as they wondered which way to continue the chase when a blood-curdling scream pierced the night now far away. Descending on the scene they were just in time to hear the death rattle of the thieving dog. His body was slashed and ravaged. Their coin purse gone. The crafty hunters searched the ground for tracks. The night was full of light from the twin moons of Xoth, and they could pick the tread of sandaled feet leading down an alley which ended in a walled courtyard. The single large door for the gate left slightly ajar. 

A passing city guard, drawn to the scene by the dying scream of the thief, quickly assessed the situation and cautioned the party to let go their loss. The open gate led to the temple of the Seekers. These demon-worshipping cultists were not to be trifled with. The Seekers keep what they take and only fools and madmen would risk causing their wrath. They predictably ignored the watchman’s sober advice (and it is a one-shot gaming session), and cautiously approached the open gate.

The courtyard beyond was illuminated by the moonlight and the hunters again could see the tread of sandaled crossing the dusty ground to the entrance of the Shrine of the Keepers. A wide stone building unadorned. Black smoke issued forth from somewhere out of the roof. In the middle of the temple’s simple facade a wide set of steps led into the building fronted by three wide pillars evenly spaced across the entranceway. They slinked up the steps into a wide unlit chamber. The slanting rays of the twin moons revealed large bronze doors directly across from the staired entry. Open archways gaped to the left and right, one had the flickering of torchlight coming from it. The other, darkness. All was quiet and no further tracks could be discerned indicating which way the group of cultists had travelled.

While they debated which course of action they should take, their brief exploration of the entrance chamber revealed a door to the left of the mammoth pair of bronze portals, discreetly hidden behind a tapestry writ large with obscene images and runes of dreaded black speech. The group globed onto this hidden door and desired to pass through it. It was locked, but the sailor worked one of his arrows (he carried a bow) and rolled well enough on his non-contested attribute roll (NCAR) to spring the latch.

Their exploration of the hallway beyond found them abruptly entering a bald priest’s quarters, the owner present. They had interrupted the robed priest in the middle of scratching his meaningless ramblings upon parchment. He quickly leapt from his chair and brandished a dagger gauging the danger in which had come upon him. Hackon boldly charged with raised club. The priest, considering his odds poor, ran to another door close by, opened it looking to escape. Votwin had his bow at the ready and made a called shot against the priest’s legs. His shot was a success, the damage great, and the priest fell to the floor incapacitated. The rest of the party followed, and before Hackon could fast-talk information from the wounded man, was stabbed repeatedly through the chest and killed.

The group made a thorough search of the main level of the temple, encountering four priests loitering in a room of tall shelves stacked with scrolls (they were dispatched in close hand to hand fighting), a sunken chamber filled with granite sarcophagi, a room heated to a blast furnace by a coal-fueled fireplace burning a pile of human bones, and a room with a large, lurid stone idol adorned with candles holding a bronze platter with a decent pile of gold and silver coins upon it. Besides doorways leading out of this room a narrow set of stone stairs descended to a lower level.

The group had no stomach for the lower reaches of the shrine, but they had yet to gain significant loot to leave. They continued their search of the upper level until they found the chambers of the high priest. There they were confronted by 4 priests and 2armed temple guards. Here they experienced the benefits of armor as the priests were cut down by quick thrusts and Votwin’s rain of arrows. But the 2 guards presented a hardier challenge and before they were hacked down, they grievously injured Hackon and Nosorat. Facing no further opposition they then looted the high-priest’s chamber of valuables and quickly left with their loot into the late night streets of Zul-Bazzir sleeping under the twin moons of Xoth once again.

USR Sword & Sorcery Deluxe Book One and Book Two are out!

Finally dragged these over the finish line. The size is in homage to the LBB's released at the dawn of roleplaying, and the first two books make a complete game. DriveThruRPG Link

Book three is still being rewritten and reedited. It is a much larger book (in page count) from the rules of the game. It is a setting book featuring the World of Xoth. Then I will have my own LRB's (little red books). 

I wish Drivethru RPG could produce boxes for our POD books. These little darlings are screaming to be put in a small red box with bad-ass art on the front.

Speaking of art, I finally can let people get a hold of the great line art I commissioned. 

I went as heavy as I could featuring sword-swinging women in the book. Muscle-bound male barbarians have had all the attention over the last 90 years, so every piece I commissioned features the game's mascot; Dor Stryker! This artist hasn't captured her broken nose, but yeah, she is a little beat up and battle scarred while still displaying the physical power which traditionally makes for your Sword & Sorcery "hero".

The system is still the rules-lite game you have come to love, but now you get Massed Combat rules and an expanded magic section (this is what makes up Book Two). The signature features of the game system are simultaneous combat, and carousing being the most effective means of healing Hits damage. Some have bemoaned the critical hits and dramatic fumbles mechanic as being too crunchy for a rules-lite game, but I have found the mechanic a lovely narrative tool in the blood-soaked contests PC's will find themselves in the center of. Others who have used the game for years love the tables, so there is that!

The game was play-tested for three years (2012-2015) so I know it delivers true sword and sorcery feels unfettered by licensed property and well known fantasy worlds.   

But these same features don't make the game a good "first" game for those new to roleplaying. There isn't anything really in the rule books which explain what a roleplaying game is and how "best" to play one. These slim books (50 and 40 pages are the page counts for the first two books) will serve players and crypt keepers who have a firm grasp of pulp fantasy adventures and know exactly what they want their game to look like. 

The game is a solid scaffolding the crypt keeper can hang any sword and sorcery vision they have on and start adding their own colors, textures, and tones. For a long time I was content with the game not having a built-in setting. The game did exactly what I wanted it to do, that was the goal to begin with. 

But you can't have three Little Red Books with only two tomes, now can you? Fortunately there is a fantastic map which illustrates the fabulous primeval world known as Xoth. When I first wanted to run a true sword and sorcery campaign I did not want the game to be subservient to existing, well-known fantasy worlds from the storied history of pulp fantasy literature. I was surprised to find when I did many internet searches there wasn't really anything out there for options. I think my search terms were "Sword & Sorcery Campaign World", and you can imagine what search engines return. Nothing new, Except this evocative name Xoth. Totally metal and smelled of moldering crypts and vicious desert nomads, steaming jungles, and lost civilizations. So after letting my playtesting PC's roam from one end of the world to the other (they never did plunge south into the dark jungles, but one only has so much time do they?) I reached out to the creator about marrying my rules with their setting. 

Another Piece of Art for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery

 This is the draft of the latest pic for the book. Epic Werks Studio produced this gem. Dor Stryker in all her savage glory!

It gets inked tomorrow! It will end up in the setting book I reckon.

Book One USR Sword & Sorcery Deluxe is done!

 After much agonizing over format for the publication I have decided to go with a throwback, retro look in honor of the LBB's of original Dungeons & Dragons and Classic Traveller. Three books total. Here is an image of the cover for Book 1.

Blood red, of course, there will be Book One Characters, Combat, and Carousing; Book 2 Magic & Mass Combat; and Book 3 Worlds of Adventure. The third book should be the largest in page count because it will include a bestiary, notable NPCs, original adventures as well as a World of Xoth setting guide. 

The original art I commissioned is all black and white line drawings because this is what I dig, and all interior pages (so far) are black and white with a mix of one and two column text blocks with formatted tables where needed. 

For the first three who request it I am offering an advanced PDF copy for your perusal. Email me directly at jay@vanishingtowerpress.com. While not a complete game in itself, you can run your own Sword & Sorcery adventures with just Book 1. You would just have to be someone who is comfortable with a minimalist rule set.

Fuck, I am soo close to bringing this bitch home, Blood and Souls, Blood and Souls!

USR Sword & Sorcery Reaches Electrum Best Seller

 USR Sword & Sorcery notches another medal achievement at DriveThru! We've gone plaid! No, I mean Electrum! USR Sword & Sorcery is now an Electrum Best Seller. 

The little game which launched a thousand and more unpaid hours devoted to learning Scribus, Indesign, Photoshop, Live Streaming games, podcasts, blogging about games, going to game conventions and getting suicidally drunk, etc.

I have a return date expected for work on Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery (title is still in the air). It is August. This is predicated on my DC Heroes 3rd Edition retro-clone manuscript being complete and sent to the editor. This is looking good so I might even be able to return to the Word of Xoth setting guide even sooner! 

Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery

 First part of the book is done! This includes all the rules, magic and spells, carousing and a bestiary. Now the second half of the book; World of Xoth setting and three new adventures. Shrine of the Keepers will be included as well, but has been circulating for a while. This shit is coming together, love it.

Black Book of Sorcery Now Available in Print

 There does not appear to be a means to find it with a book search at Lulu, so I am providing the direct link to the product here in this post. The link will be also posted on the products page of this blog. 

The book looks really sharp! I was surprised at how good it looks in its designed size, A4 I think? The PDF is serviceable and gives all the goods, But in book format it makes a nice companion piece to any Crypt Keeper's game prep! Copies for review are available free of charge, pdf of course, for those who regularly review new game stuff.

The Black Book of Sorcery (POD)

Final Version PDF Black Book of Sorcery

 Is uploaded to Drivethru just now. This version is not at the "early-bird special" price, the final work (minus typos I catch here and there) is appropriately priced at $6.66.

The print version of The Black Book of Sorcery is going up right now on Lulu.com. I received my proof, made the appropriate revisions, and am now uploading the file. You should see it available for purchase soon after! I'll update this post with a Lulu link so anyone who wants a physical copy (and why wouldn't you) can sell their soul for $16.66 77-page softcover. I'm producing a hard-cover. I'm going to price this nocturnal gem at $666.00 so I become the only one with a hard-cover edition! I am an evil son-of-a-bitch.

As you can see from the pictures I'm giving you a clear, two-column layout with original b/w art. 11 point font size for body text at 15 point line-spacing. Its A4, nice presentation size. I like the way it looks in your hands. 

Also please note the amount of white space on the page. This is intentional on my part and I'd like any feedback you may have on adding in good amounts of white space. Here is why I did it. I don't know about you, but any adventure, any RPG print product really, I get my hands on I mark up. Professional print products use up as much space as they can in their stuff so I always end up scribbling vertically in the margins with arrows pointing to the actual text I am changing. And then resorting to notebooks as information takes the all-to predictable voluminous written pages. And then I got to track this down before game time. Grrrrr.

And I want to mark up my books. Especially adventures. Well, the BBoS is not an adventure, true, but it is a magic supplement and in game utility. Therefore I have given plenty of space in the margins. I've included blank lined sections near spell descriptions so notes can be added that can be used during the game! I have added headings to some of the note-taking spaces anticipating common uses the book will see in a fantasy game. There are even hints of the Mass Combat Rules which will be going into the next, ultimate, deluxe edition of USR Sword & Sorcery, as well as a generous casting of words and names hinting at what will be found in USR Sword & Sorcery official campaign setting, the World of Xoth. Exciting times.

The Black Book of Sorcery PDF Drops Tonight!

Like a curse laid on a restless soul it looked like there was no end in sight to my suffering and anguish over the completion of this diabolical tome.,, but it is done.

I will post the PDF in the wee hours of the night, proper summoning time and all, and it will be found on Drive Thru. The POD is done, it is going through the "artist proof" stage. When I'm sure all the graphics print correctly it will be available in softcover, perfect bound.

Here is the link to the PDF book on Drivethru!

The Lulu POD softcover edition with the completed bad ass red cover has been ordered!

Rom'Myr the Dying Earth - Currently in Averoigne.

Latest video at Vanishing Tower Press studios is up. Uncut version of session #25 of the High Fantasy epic which is grudgingly being dragged out of our bleak sword and sandal word of Rom' Myr and has spent most of the campaign time in Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne. It is has been a long and turning path and the linkages between the two realms is little understood. Fortunately the PCs are of a single minded purpose of meting out justice against their enemies. If they could only come to grips with them!

 

USR Sword & Sorcery Reviewed on Drive Thru

This silver best seller of mine did go up in 2016, so, 1,631 copies later its first review now appears on DriveThru Rpg!

I will count this a win. Out of all the copies sold it appears it was not sooo dreadful it moved anyone to commit an online barrage of hate directed at the press.

Designing an Ad for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery

Common refrain I hear from potential buyers of new game stuff, besides a smart question to ask, which I have tried to tackle with this ad is "What does it offer that I don't already have?" Game Masters and Crypt Keepers alike are skeptical of the latest dark brooding thing. And they have every right to be. I think the blurby, what's inside pitch I make is a decent one. Go ahead let me know what you think.

Patrick Stuart's Sky-Stone-River Place

Is an obscure PDF, no longer available, containing a very entertaining dungeon filled with opportunities for climbing, swinging and yelling in a vast cavern filled with toppled templery and mosaic birds. 

My Rom'Myr Dying Earth campaign was built around this adventure module as the start location. Firstly, because I think the adventure is hella-cool. I knew I wanted to run it as soon as I skimmed the plain text doc. The other is because my OSR Homebrew setting used the Thief class as the base character class. If you don't qualify for any of the other six classes you are a thief. And with thieves having a high Climb Walls ability, the only  ability they can really exercise with some assurance of success, is a perfect match for the dungeon's interior environment. 

The campaign has moved on from the starting location, obviously, in the last year and a half, but before more daylight appears between that glorious opening and the current campaign's direction I would like to honor this original freebie with my own illustration of the water-warped temple.

Back Ad Copy for Deluxe and classic USR Sword & Sorcery and Horrors Material & Magic Malignant

The primitive media operation which is Vanishing Tower Press has been busy making product ads for all the mad DIY zine and POD products Vanishing Tower Press products can currently be found.













Here is what I am using right now.

Daniel Hernadez Delivers!

Another artist finished their commissioned work for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery, Daniel Hernandez. He completed six black and white line drawings of the signature mascot for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery; Dor Stryker! A reaver of blood red rivers and blood red passion, she embodies the wild freedom of the Sword & Sorcery genre I have built into the game. 

Dor Stryker earning a night's pay

I should probably keep these under wraps, make folks pay for a view in my book, but I am so excited by the whole experience; searching, contacting, negotiating, and waiting for finished product, f#@%ing exiting I tell you.

Daniel Hernadez is an artist in San Diego, easy to get a hold of, and charges appropriately. You can trust him with your project. You heard it here from the tower.

Here is my current list of reliable artists for hire:

Michael Gibbons, Aos, Metal Earth; if you are a fan of black and white illustrations and want them fast then Aos is your guy. Themetalearth@gmail.com.

Jeremy Hart; monster stock art and commission work. He does solid, detailed line drawings.

and Daniel; makestuffsd@gmail.com

All DIY'ers can get some great art in your games with this bunch. It also will also prompt you to start drawing your own illustrations. You'll want to see your own stuff in your books for sure, and damn, your art budget will thank you.

Gambling Mechanic for your Online OSR Game

A great roadside attraction thrills your fantasy players. The promise of unexpected boons and banes from carnival games is a thrill not unlike gambling. Most tavern encounters and back-alley interactions are spiced up with an odd game of chance or ridiculous custom being played out. In a FTF game going “all-in” with a game of cash poker can be done in real time if the DM and PCs agree. While not necessary, the “game-within-a-game” has not uncommon interest for your average gamer. Just like a mass combat encounter where the DM and players through down miniture armies and work out the fight with a table-top wargame, so to can gambling games be so straightforwardly delivered.

Not so online. The DM can’t whip out a deck of cards and start dealing, all the while laying out house-rules. Falling back on the hobby’s early improvisational roots, you can roll out both use real gambling games to play for a winner. Online, not so much.

Besides the physical barrier to play, if some PCs are in to gaming while others want to move on to other goals this can cause disruption in play for everyone if the games of chance take too long. I therefore conjured up a quick way to resolve exotic card games while retaining a reusable mechanic which gives the thrill of hitting a payout!

For my occasion I came up with a poker game called “Dragon Master”, and resolved it thusly; any PC who wants to play a hand must put up an ante. This is added with all other antes to give the starting “pot”. The DM decides how many additional players are so the number is correct. Now each PC must Save vs. Poison to get a playable hand, a hand worth betting on. If not then the PC looses their ante and must wait for another round to play. The NPC’s the players are gambling against never roll for a playable hand. This set up is completely player-facing. If only one PC is gaming against others than rolling for a playable hand is straight forward. Roll your Poison Save till you succeed. Pay the amount of antes equal to the number of hands you were “dealt” before you stayed in.

Now the PCs declare their wagers and roll to win. This is resolved with an attribute roll. The PCs are free to choose from Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma. Both the DM and any active PC players roll a d20. Winner is the highest number without going over their chosen attribute. Rolling over your attribute represents folding, losing in a showdown, however the PCs and DM want to role play the encounter. There is nothing in the way for any amount of role play PCs want to do because the final dice roll always gives you the winner.

I give my PCs xp for every bit of cash they win, even if they loose it all in following hands. Nothing sharpens a card player like taking a few beatings along the way! The improving saving throw with character advancement complements the idea of a more experienced traveler and adventurer getting mre playable hands. Face it, good card players are more than likely to have had a wide variety of wordly experiences, and PC level is a good representation of this in game terms. The d20 throw against attribute counts both the edge a character may have with high numbers while at the same time these flat rolls can also throw surprises!

So, to recap;

1. Place your ante.

2. Roll save versus poison to continue, or loose ante.

3. A saved ante now must be wagered on, PCs still in declare their wagers.

4. Roll d20. Highest number without going over attribute wins.

5. Repeat.

Going in Hack & Slash MEGADUNGEON #4

Courtney Campbell of Hack & Slash blog fame is offering ad space in his new Megadungeon 4 release. Vanishing Tower Press is sending this in;