Barrowmaze II Update

Simul-posted from the Indiegogo site:

I hope everyone has had a great summer. I’ve posted short updates recently on Indiegogo and my blog, Discourse and Dragons, but also wanted to send an update on the various aspects of the Barrowmaze II project:

Dice: The dice are in hand (had to order more).
Maps: The maps are in hand. Final size: 26×30 inches in old school blue (BMI and II on the map).
Dice Bags: The dice bags are complete and in hand.
Illustration booklets: In press. Should have them by Wed.
BMI: I’m updating and revising BMI. This will include the new map and a bunch of new illustrations.
BMII: BMII is complete. Phew! It is 154 pages-ish and over 70,000 words. I’ve pulled themes from BMI into BMII that should be fun and keep some consistency to the experience. Be advised that some of the front-matter will be consistent between the two books, there’s just no getting around it. I don’t want to say anything else and spoil any surprises :)

I’m hopeful to tie some ends together this weekend, and get proofs in a couple weeks. If those are ok, I’ll put in the order. If I can send the pdfs ahead of the hard copies, I will. I’ll also make it available on RPGnow around the same time.

I have limited extras of everything, including the illustration booklets ($14), which, if I do say so myself, are fantastic. The dice bags are sold out though. The price on the dice will be increased from $3 to $4. I do have a special surprise for all those receiving dice as part of their package. It’s a first come, first served deal and, as I said, supplies are limited.

I am SO excited to see all the threads coming together. Thank you again for your continued support of this project. BTW if you know of anyone who wants in late to the campaign, have them get in touch with me.

The OSR Is Dead? Well Don't Tell Me...

I have to say, I really fucking hate these "OSR is dead" posts. They are shortsighted and bloody stupid. The original poster strikes me as somebody who likes attention, rather than making much sense. Anyway, for the record -- don't believe the hype.

Speaking for the OSR being alive and well, here's an update on BMII:

Dice: All the dice are in hand. Check.
Poster Map: the final poster map is 26x30. They are in press right now,
Illustration Booklets: Layout is complete. I hope to send these to the printer this week.
Dicebags: I hope to have all the bags complete this week.
BMII: Layout is complete. Just reviewing and revising for final edits.

Anyway, this project is moving well and on-time. There are a few more moving parts, but minus any issues, these should be in the mail by the end of October or the beginning of November. I'll update as needed.

Fantasy Draft Tomorrow

Tomorrow is my Fantasy Football Annual Selection Meeting :)

Nothing quite says the beginning of fall like football.

Anyway, yours truly has the first pick in the draft in a 12 team league. We play with 3WRs and a half point per reception. The draft snakes so I won't pick agan until picks 24 and 25. Draft gurus claim the first pick should be one of Arian Foster, Ray Rice, or Aaron Rogers. I have to play this the right way and guess the way the draft will go to get my players at the endof the second round.

Update

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I'm still trying to get my feet under me from OSRcon and Gencon back to back. I have also been very busy organizing art for the Barrowmaze Illustration Booklets and getting the map off to the printers, when I have some spare time :) I'll try to get a gencon post up shortly.

Barrowmaze at Gencon

So today I hosted a session of Barrowmaze at Gencon. It was a really enjoyable game that featured players Matt, Mark, and Derik. I'll save a full report for when I can upload pictures. I can confirm that all the players survived (I know, I must have been off my game), but I did manage to reduce a couple to negative hit points (and they made their save or die rolls). They each walked away with a custom Barrowmaze Random Monster Die and I think we all had fun. Will post more on the game (and gencon generally, including my disappointment with the 5e playtest) when I return home.

Gencon Part II

So, I walked over this morning at 745am and walked right in to pick up my registration with zero wait. Sweet! I spent most of my day wandering the exhibit hall. The OSR booth looked stocked full of sweet modules. I also noticed that Dwarven Forge has a new set of tiles on display for release inthe fall. These are called Catacombs -- and boy, they look like they were MADE for Barrowmaze. All kinds of alcoves, niches, etc filled with skeletons. Brilliant! Just perfect. They even had torches that flickered. Switching topics, I picked up a copy of the Monster Manual II in shrinkwrap (mine is falling apart). I also bought dice for my players and my kids. I'll try to get some pics on the go for later tonightor tomorrow.

Gencon will call

So much for smoothing out the will call pickup. The line, when I walked over there a little while ago, was huge and didn't seem to be moving very quickly. This was worse than 2010 around the same time of night. In 2008 they mailed your stuff (to Canada) which was a way better idea. I've been up since 5am and had a 10 hour van ride. I sounded a full retreat. Will try again early tomorrow morning.

OSRcon: Reflections

As I mentioned previously, I attended OSR con with Alex, one of the peeps from the homegame.

We played in James' Dwimmermount session on Friday. I hosted a Barrowmaze game on Saturday morning. We listened to the panel discussion and then played in Ed Greenwood's game in the evening.

I'll take a moment to speak about each.

James' session: I'm going to keep it real here folks. I also want to say that I don't know Ken St. Andre and I've never played his game. Having said that, Ken was a total pain in the ass and pretty much ruined the session on his own. Too many tangents. Too much griping about the rules. I felt really bad for James. Then, after shanghiing the session, he buggered off with 20 minutes still left in the game. If it was my game I would have thrown him out. I don't give a fuck who he is. Don't be a dick to a DM running a large table of players.

Barrowmaze: The session was quite fun with four players each carrying one hireling. I also carried an NPC cleric. The first fatality was Brendan's cleric Stumpy who fell down a bottomless pit. The next was the elf Crow. I think Vinz Klortho also bit the dust. I didn't take pictures (I know!) but I was too busy with the game.

Ed Greenwood's Game: This was fun. Ed has a full bag of personalities, voices, and sound effects, that made things interesting. I have to admit, I've had more than a few chuckles to myself since then. The thought of me turning undead as the cleric Tashram, while looking Ed Greenwood in the eyes and saying "In the name of Tymora, I banish you unholy abomination!!!" makes me smile everytime. Well, that - and I rolled an 18 :) He was also very gracious and friendly. A real class act.

So, all in all, a great minicon experience. Very nicely done.

Now it's off to Gencon!

OSRcon

I'll be at OSRcon today and tomorrow.

Looking forward to it.

I'll be running Barrowmaze and playing in James M's Dwimmermount and Ed Greenwood's second edition game.

Barrowmaze II: Jim Holloway Art!

The art from TSR-ex Jim Holloway has started to come in for Barrowmaze II!

Here's the first. A screaming Banshee!

Barrowmaze in 3D



One of the artists for Barrowmaze II, Stephen Thompson, recently did a 3D mock-up of one of the dungeon rooms. I'll let the images do the talking, but it felt super cool to see BM come alive in this way. I hope you take as much enjoyment from these pictures as I did.



Spell Contest Winners Announced

[Sorry for the formatting, I'm posting on an Ipad.]-----The winner of the spell contest is Imon Fyre and for the entry of Hitzeamun's Blue Foot. Well done and thank you to all the participants! Imon, please contact me when time allows. You can find all the entrants and their spells here: http://discourseanddragons.blogspot.ca/2012/06/barrowmaze-ii-spell-contest.html