Blog of Holding

Jared von Hindman unlocked! D&D Game Table unlocked!

April 5th, 2012

We’re into the final stretch of the Dungeon Generator kickstarter: the countdown is measured in hours, and we’ve achieved all our goals! Jared von Hindman is already at work on his dungeon art (he sent me a sketch of one of the pieces: check it out below) and I’m putting together the PC and monster art to give to Rory for the D&D Virtual Table.

What’s left after this but two Burlew Points ($25,082)? Can we make it before midnight Friday? If we do, we’ll achieve the Secret Goal, which is veiled in mystery but might involve the construction of a statue in Lake Geneva? And maybe some pandas?

Here’s a sketch of one of Jared’s dungeons. See if you can figure out what is going on without the accompanying DM notes. (Oh – straw poll: Jared and I are trying to figure out how to make the watercolor dungeons available as a series of prints. How many people would be interested in getting prints?)

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$23k reward: Random Dungeon characters on D&D’s Virtual Table! Also, let’s review all the swag!

April 3rd, 2012

Another great day, another milestone achieved! We’ve passed $20,622, so Tavis will give us rules for the AD&D dungeoneers as high-level adventurers. And we’re less than $1000 away from amazing Jared von Hindman art. And the bonus rewards bonanza rolls on! Stay tuned for details on EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE GETTING.

If we hit $23,000, Rory from the D&D Virtual Table (also known as Rory, my co-writer at Blog of Holding) will make 20 custom PC and monster tokens and give them to all $22+ backers to use in the application. The tokens will include the art for the five iconic AD&D dungeoneers and all the other characters and monsters from our 20 stickers. Artists include Rich Burlew, Anna-Maria Jung, Rusty Axe Games, me, and half a dozen more real artists who have had real gallery shows and are probably too good for this sort of thing.

The D&D Virtual Table is WOTC’s official tool for playing D&D online. The D&D VT has all the tools for running a D&D campaign: a dice roller, map & dungeon creator, character & monster token system, initiative tracker, campaign notebook, character sheets, integrated voice chat, as well as integration with other official D&D digital tools, such as the D&D Character Builder and Monster Builder. It has support for playing D&D over the internet with friends or jumping into pick-up games with other users.

When the D&D VT launches, backers can email Rory with their usernames, and Rory will give them the bonus PC and Monster tokens to use in the application. The D&D VT is currently in beta for DDI Subscribers and their friends; check it out at vt.wizards.com. If you don’t have a DDI account and still want to check out the beta, email Rory: rory at blogofholding d0t com.

Hold on now. What exactly is everyone getting?

I may have overwhelmed you with bonus rewards. Let me lay out exactly what everyone’s getting. There are a few changes from previous announcements, including new print options.

$5+ backers: $5 backers started with a PDF of the poster. As bonus rewards, they’re now getting:

A PDF copy of a D&D-compatible board game, Dungeon Robber, which uses the poster as a board. It’s now got rules for statting up YOURSELF as a Dungeon Robber: did you get straight As? Intelligence bonus! Can you bench your weight (or 150% your weight for men)? Strength bonus! (Note: as a $17 backer, you’ll have the option to get a print copy.)

Access to an interactive, online version of the poster: like the poster, you can use it to generate random dungeons. It’ll move you around the dungeon and roll the dice for you. This will be exclusive to backers for a few months, then I’ll make it a free web app.

$17+ backers: $17 backers started with a Random Dungeon poster and a PDF of the poster. As bonus rewards, they get:

EVERY BONUS REWARD THAT $5+ BACKERS GET (Dungeon Robber, online poster)

A giant PDF containing a) dungeon adventures by master DMs Mike Mornard, Mike Shea and Tracy Hurley; b) Adventurer Conqueror King (ACKS) rules for the dungeon by Tavis Allison; c) Dungeon Robber game rules. All told, this should be a pretty hefty PDF: since it will also be useful at the game table, I’ll make it available for backers only as a super-cheap lulu book for $5.

$22+ backers: Besides the various pledge levels at or above $22, all $22+ backers get a PDF of the poster. As bonus rewards, they get:

EVERY BONUS REWARD THAT $5+ BACKERS GET (Dungeon Robber, online poster)

EVERY BONUS REWARD THAT $17+ BACKERS GET (all-star dungeon adventures and ACKS rules, pdf and lulu)

a signed bonus poster: either a second Random Dungeon poster or a Wandering Monsters poster.

A sheet of 20 stickers inspired by the poster, by a dozen artists.

A PDF copy of Paul’s DM Notebook, an all-editions D&D resource, containing art, adventures, DM advice, rules, and settings, that will be 75-100 pages. It’s too big to send in poster tubes, but I’ll make a print version available on Lulu for $5 for backers only. To save shipping, I’ll also make a single print book that contains the DM notebook and the various-authors lulubook in one volume.

If we reach $22k: a PDF of five watercolor dungeon-adventure paintings by Jared von Hindman. If possible, I would love to make these available as prints as well!

If we reach $23k: Custom tokens from the D&D Virtual Table!

Bonus reward for posterity: I’ve agreed to donate my original artwork to Tim Hutchinson, the curator of D&D history, for PlaGMaDA.

Delivery Dates:

I’ll do my best to have mailed stuff (posters and stickers) arrive in April. I’m on the pace, as long as no shipping/printing roadblocks develop.

Most PDFs will be available in April as well, probably around the same time as the posters are mailed. The Paul’s DM Notebook lulubook will also be available in April.

The all-star dungeon adventures PDF and lulubook will be ready later: it’s scheduled for May, but it depends on the availability of the authors.

The online dungeon crawler should be ready in May or June or so. One thing I’ve learned as a programmer is not to guarantee software delivery dates

One more thing…

There is a secret bonus goal if we reach 2 Burlew Points ($25,082)!

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$20k goal reached! At $22k, mind-melting dungeon art from Jared von Hindman!

April 2nd, 2012

We’re 1000% funded! That means that we’ll be seeing dungeons from Mike Shea, Mike Mornard and Sarah Darkmagic. Let’s continue the Backer Reward Bonanza!

You’re probably familiar with the work of Jared von Hindman. You might know him from that Stupid Monsters article you just read yesterday, or his regular column, D&D Outsider. Or, if you’ve spent a lot of time on the official D&D site, their 404 page. Or, if you’re classy, these cartoons about opera.

Jared’s going to do some art for Dungeon Poster backers! If we hit $22k by the end of the week, everyone who pledged at least $22 will get a PDF of an original project – call it Jared’s DM Sketchbook – which will contain five separate dungeons, each with its own theme, each rendered as a watercolor painting. I can guarantee that anyone who reads all five cursed pages is guaranteed to lose at least one sanity point.

Here’s a rough sketch Jared sent me. Tell me you don’t want to roll this out in front of your players and tell them its the map of this session’s dungeon.

Posted in fluff/inspiration, news, RPG Hub | No Comments »

If we beat ACKS, we can take its stuff: $20,623 kickstarter goal

April 1st, 2012

When I worked with Tavis Allison for the Gygax Memorial Fund last year, I got a copy of his Adventurer Conqueror King: it’s sort of the missing manual for high-level D&D play. Our kickstarter is coming up on what is, to me, a major milestone: we’re almost at the giddily high funding level of the ACKS Player’s Companion. This calls for a celebration – and more swag! Tavis says:

“Paul Hughes, I challenge you! If you can surpass the $20,622 funding level achieved by Autarch’s Kickstarter for the Adventurer Conqueror King System Player’s Companion, I’ll use ACKS to create a PDF for every $17+ backer. In it, I’ll lay forth the fantasy economics of your dungeon-generating dungeon, from construction cost to upkeep. I’ll also create versions of the DMG sample party at the appropriate level to rule a domain containing such a dungeon, and provide details on all their henchmen, hirelings, and military forces (using Autarch’s forthcoming Domains at War). This should be useful to everyone because the ACKS framework is a synthesis of economic data from the earliest roots of the game, and designing mundane goods for Mordenkainen’s Magical Emporium convinced me that the fundamentals haven’t changed significantly from OD&D to 4E. Plus, it’ll create a new way to use the poster in play – raising an army to take over the land surrounding the dungeon-generating dungeon!”

Sounds great to me! I especially look forward to high-level versions of the DMG characters. Maybe at name level, the sorceress and the halfling can afford shoes.

Posted in news, other systems, RPG Hub | 7 Comments »

Sarah Darkmagic joins the party

March 30th, 2012

I’m pleased to announce that Tracy Hurley (sarahdarkmagic.com) is helping me out with a new backer reward. If we hit $20k, she’ll join Mike Shea and Mike Mornard as DMs who are providing exclusive dungeon adventures to $17+ backers.

Sarah Darkmagic is the writer of the “Joining the Party” column on the official D&D website and also one of D&D’s few Important Bloggers: people whose opinions absolutely should influence the future of D&D. I’m proud and humbled to have another all-star help me out with my little project.

One of Tracy’s coolest new projects is her upcoming Prismatic Art kickstarter: “In geek culture, there are plenty of Lukes, but not enough Landos or Leias.” She’s looking for female and ethnically diverse artists and art.

This is an overdue project, and I wish I could contribute art! I don’t qualify, and I must admit, my art often falls short in that department. For instance, when asking artists to help me with my sticker backer reward, I made sure to include more than 50% women artists. Then I went ahead and contributed this sticker:

Posted in 4e D&D, news, RPG Hub | 2 Comments »

dwarves are from the shadowfell

March 29th, 2012

In 4e cosmology, elves are the natural-world descendants of the eladrin of the Feywild. The Feywild is the bright counterpart of the Shadowfell, the land of death.

Ever since the rivalry between Legolas and Gimli, dwarves have been foils for elves. So what if dwarves descend from the Shadowfell?

It kind of makes sense. Dwarves are underground creatures who spend their time fighting the encroaching darkness. THAT’S WHAT THEY DO FOR FUN. That and build tombs and worship ancestors. And they are dour. So dour.

So let’s say that, long ago, the ancestors of the dwarves migrated from the Mountains of the Shadowfell. They established themselves in the mines and caves of the natural world, fighting goblins and kobolds instead of whatever dark shadowfell creatures they used to battle.

Does the Shadowfell still contain the Ancestors – the dwarven equivalent of eladrin? Maybe.

The Ancestors might now be enslaved to some powerful shadow creature: that long-ago flight to the natural world might have been a slave rebellion.

Or they might be taller, more graceful and more sinister than regular dwarves, with strange powers to walk through earth and stone, and with darker greeds.

They might be extinct. The story of dwarven civilization seems to be one of decay. Maybe some forgotten dwarf tunnels lead to the old Shadowfell palaces, more cunningly worked than any modern dwarven architecture, now abandoned to ghosts and balrogs and whatever else doomed the Ancestors.

Posted in 4e D&D, fluff/inspiration, RPG Hub | 1 Comment »

$15k goals met! $20k reward: dungeons from Mike Mornard and Sly Flourish!

March 26th, 2012

We hit $15,000, so we have some presents to distribute!

I’ll be programming an online, interactive version of the Dungeon Generator map that creates a dungeon for you as you explore it! That’ll be a bit of work, so my guess is that it’ll be done in May.

I’ll be adding Epic Level to the DM notebook! The DM notebook is getting out of hand, by the way: between rules, advice, adventures, and art, the first chapter alone is about 15 pages long. At this rate, I’ll be writing a 100+ page sourcebook. Hey, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. It’s looking more likely that the notebook will be PDF only, though. I’ll continue to think about print options.

Finally, now that we’ve hit $15k, we need a

$20k reward!

If we hit $20,000, every $17+ backer will get PDFs of never-before-published dungeon adventures from a couple of D&D masters.

Mike Mornard is familar to old-school players as the only guy to play in Gary Gygax’s, Dave Arneson’s, and Professor M.A.R. Barker’s campaigns. He’s thanked in the first page of the Greyhawk supplement and the Player’s Handbook. He’s also one of the most terrifying DMs I’ve ever played with. (Check out my series of articles about playing in his game.) He’s contributing a harrowing low-level OD&D dungeon crawl, along with DM notes about how he created the adventure. I’ve played in this dungeon before, and made it out with 1 HP and a sack full of gems. I’m interested to see how you all do.

Mike Shea is the guy who writes Sly Flourish. As a 4e blogger and DM myself, I’m a little in awe of him and honored that he’s helping me out. He’s providing an epic-level 4e dungeon he used for his home game: “Valley of the Crypt Things”, along with photos of the dungeon constructed with Dwarven Forge tiles. He’s also providing DM design notes and monster references.

From low-level OD&D to epic-level 4e, this should provide a snapshot of how some really good DMs make dungeon adventures. I really hope we make $20k because this is the coolest backer reward ever!

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question for old school D&D history experts

March 23rd, 2012

The interior illustrators for the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide are listed as David C. Sutherland III, D. A. Trampier, Darlene Pekul, Will McLean, David S. LaForce, and Erol Otus.

I’m using the illustrations from the Random Dungeon section of the DMG as inspiration for my kickstarter art. I’m using new pictures of the same five adventurers all over my poster. I’d really like to credit the original artist, but I can’t find specific attribution anywhere.

Does anyone know who did the DMG illustrations below? Or does anyone have an educated guess based on art style?

Posted in legacy D&D, RPG Hub | 46 Comments »

Burlew Point Party!

March 22nd, 2012

Thanks to you guys, we blew away our “1% of the OOTS Kickstarter” goal! That means that every $22+ backer is getting, in addition to fabulous stickers by other artists, an original sticker that Rich made for this project. I love this guy, gloating over his kill. He’s clearly a first-level fighter. Thanks again, Rich!

The sticker pictures keep coming in. Here are some more monsters to do battle with Rich’s fighter:

Behold! It’s an Ocular Tyrant, by Patrick Smith!

Sara Edward Corbett did a hippogriff, taking a rare break from eating adventurers or flying them from place to place.

You should probably check out Sara’s and Patrick’s websites for more cool pictures.

Because there is a hero for every monster, Caolan painted this version of the 1e wizard.

In case any of the other adventurers try to objectify her with their male gaze, she has a reminder:

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Where do you like your art: in a gallery or on a sticker?

March 21st, 2012

Now you can have both! Tim Hutchings, the artist and RPG ephemera archivist behind the invaluable PlaGMaDA, is doing a gallery show at I-20 in Manhattan tomorrow. You should probably go if you’re within, say, 100 miles of the gallery, because Tim is a Great Artist and is doing cool stuff.

If you can’t make it tomorrow, and would like further proof that Tim is a Serious Artist, here are some monster stickers he’s contributing to the backers of the Random Dungeon poster kickstarter: