Migration

A note to anyone checking this blog:

I've moved my blogging activity to https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/news.

This blog will remain indefinitely, but will likely not receive any more updates.

Dolmenwood: The Book of Monsters So Far

Since the announcement of the work on the Dolmenwood book of monsters in Wormskin issue seven, I've been meaning to write a quick blog post about it.

First some details about what is planned:

1. A hardcover book of monsters for the Dolmenwood setting. (The first in the line of Dolmenwood hardcovers.)
2. Probably a full-size (A4 / Letter) book, for the more flexible layout possibilities that offers.
3. PDF and softcover editions as well.
4. 100+ monsters. (I'm setting 100 as the minimum goal. The final total may well end up higher -- I have a long list of possible ideas.)
5. All monsters will be unique to the Dolmenwood setting. As those familiar with the monsters presented so far in Wormskin know, this may, of course, include Dolmenwood reinterpretations of classic monsters of myth or D&D. Check out the Dolmenwood take on dragons (wyrms) in Wormskin issue six, for example.
6. Heavily illustrated. The dream here would be to have an illustration for every single monster. The über-dream would be for those all to be full colour illustrations. This basically depends on money, as commissioning 100+ illustrations will be expensive. Doubly so, if they're colour pieces. I'm considering setting this up as a kickstarter, when the time comes.
7. The book will probably contain encounter charts for the different regions of Dolmenwood. (I'm not 100% decided on this yet.)

And secondly, just for fun, here's the list of monsters that I currently have written up. They number 49, so we are already pretty much half way to the initial goal of 100 monsters. Monsters in bold are new creatures that have not appeared in the pages of Wormskin.

• Addercorn thrall
• Antler wraith
• Barrowbogey
• Black tentacles
• Bog salamander
• Bog zombie
• Boggin
• Brainconk
• Brambling
• Centaur
•   Bestial
•   Sylvan
• Devil goat
• Drune
•   Audrune
•   Cottager
•   Drunewife
• Elf
•   Lord/Lady
• Fairy horse
• Flammbraggyrd (by Andrew Walter)
• Gelatinous hulk
• Giant snail
•   Psionic
•   Rapacious
• Gloam
• Goatman
•   Crookhorn
•   Longhorn
•   Shorthorn
• Half-goat
• Incantophage mushroom
•   Fruiting body
•   Sporeling
• Kelpie
• Mogglewomp
•   Domestic
•   Wandering
• Moss dwarf
•   Commoner
•   Fighter
•   Mould oracle
• Nightworm
• Nutcap
• Ochre slime-hulk
• Redcap
• Root thing
• Scrabey
• Scrycke (by Yves Geens)
• Sodder
• Witch
•   Witch
• Witch owl
• Woodgrue
• Wyrm
•   Black bile wyrm
•   Phlegm wyrm
•   Blood wyrm
•   Yellow bile wyrm

More news as development happen!

B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment: Illustrators and Layout Previews

I finished the layout for B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment over the weekend. That means two things:

1. Illustration is under way
I've commissioned a cover and twenty internal illustrations from the following imaginative folks:

Andrew Walter

Thomas Novosel

Matthew Ray (don't think he has a website, but he's known around the old-school D&D scene)

Michael Clarke

Tom Kilian

Luka Rejec

Sean Poppe

Twenty pieces and a cover is actually one illustration less than appeared in Core Rules. However, there are a lot more larger pieces in Classes and Equipment, including three two-page spanners.

It's going to be a visual feast!

2. I can share some previews

Just a couple of spreads that don't involve illustrations (that don't exist yet), for the moment:

The cleric class. Everything on a single 6" x 9" spread:

The basic equipment list, including armour, weapons, and all associated combat stats:

More news as progress happens!

B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment -- Table of Contents Preview

Since the draft text for B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment was completed two weeks ago, I've been working on the layout. One thing took me by surprise: this book is longer and more difficult to lay out that Core Rules was. The cause? The number of large, complicated tables. It's been a lot of fiddly work getting big tables like the class level advancement tables and the sea vessel charts to fit nicely on these small, 6"x9" pages. But: I have done it. The rough layout is complete. All the text of the book is cleanly set up on pages and spreads and I'm now going through tweaking things to look nice.

It's a fun process. I'll share some preview spreads, once things are looking more finalised. (And especially once illustrations start being put in place!)

But for now, here's a little preview in the form of the table of contents. Some notes:

• Each of the class descriptions (including all required information and charts!) fits on one or two pages. Guaranteed no page flipping required!
• The basic equipment lists -- adventuring gear, armour, and weapons -- are all presented on a single spread (including all related combat stats). Again, no page flipping! Everything you need when going shopping is all in one place.
• The book comes in at 44 pages long. That's 10 pages longer than Core Rules. (This surprised me. I wasn't expecting it to be that much longer.)

That's all for now. I'll post more updates as I progress! The planned late Nov / early Dec publication date is looking accurate.