Imperium Chronicles

Moving to Facebook

2011-10-29T14:45:00.000-05:00

I've been focused on increasing visibility for the Imperium Chronicles Facebook page. For that reason, I haven't been posting here very much over the last year.

If you'd like the latest info about the game, please go here: www.facebook.com/ImperiumChronicles

Newest Product from MoFoCo!

2010-08-28T13:15:00.000-05:00

>>>>>>START TRANSMISSION<<<<<<

From VOX News, Sylvia Flax Reporting:

MoFoCo, makers of Spastic Cola, have once again triggered controversy with their newest product, Gaydar. Designed as a dating aid, Gaydar is supposed to detect whether a potential mate is gay or not. However, purchasers soon discovered that the device registers ALL potential mates as gay. When asked how their Quality Assurance department could have missed such a glaring defect, a MoFoCo spokesman stated that the result did indeed occur during QA, but managers simply assumed that everyone in the department was gay and lying about it. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it,” the spokesman said.

>>>>>>END TRANSMISSION<<<<<<

Wayward Traveler - Prologue (Full Text)

2010-07-28T18:20:00.042-05:00

A few weeks ago I posted part of the prologue for a story I'm writing called Wayward Traveler. I decided I didn't like how it sounded, so I rewrote it nearly from scratch and then went on to write the rest of the Prologue. Please tell me what you think!

Prologue

Detective Crawley was about to have a bad day and the growl in his stomach told him so. All he really wanted at the moment was a decent sandwich, but in Ashetown, a decent sandwich was nowhere to be found. The red-headed step child of the Imperial city Regalis, the Ashetown district teemed with the unwashed denizens that the rest of the Imperium had forgotten or merely ignored when passing them on the street. Cyberpunks and the homeless called this place home; a cesspool of burned out apartment blocks surrounded by garbage-strewn alleyways. And not a decent sandwich anywhere.

Crawley’s stomach grumbled louder as he spied a street vendor down the sidewalk. The sign on the cart read “Gyros and Falafels – Real Meat!” The vendor was a Tor, a minotaur race from the labyrinth cities of Rochan. On his home planet, the Tor would have been a successful craftsman, hammering ruddy iron into intricate shapes and selling them to the off-worlders who came to gawk at the sweaty spectacle. Here, he shoveled carved meat into pitas and sold them for 2 creds apiece.

Knowing this was probably the best he could do, Detective Crawley made his way toward the xeno and his cart, passing walls the local youths had decorated with gang tags and unflattering caricatures of the Emperor. You could get yourself shot for that, but nobody really cared too much around here. Mind your own business was the rule of the day.

The Tor towered a good foot or more above the Human cop. The tip of one horn was missing and the ring hanging from the bovine’s nose looked brown with tarnish. Like most of his race, he wore a leather kilt and not much else. Perspiration zigzagged down his bare, hairy chest, dripping into the row of pita breads sitting in the cart.

“You got any beef in that cart, cud-muncher?” the detective asked. He had left open his coat just far enough that the Tor could see the badge on his shirt and the strap of a shoulder holster.

“Yes, officer,” the big brute replied in a slow, baritone voice.

“That’s “detective” to you, xeno.”

“Can I get you something, Detective?”

“Isn’t it kind of strange for a cow to be serving beef?”

“It wasn’t anyone I knew,” the Tor said.

Detective Crawley smiled wryly. “Then I guess it’s safe to eat.”

“I didn’t say that.”

The Human heard a warble coming from deep inside his coat pocket. He reached in and pulled out a small datapad. The image of his lieutenant, a middle-aged woman with grey hair, winked open on the screen.

“Crawley!” the woman said. “There’s a possible homicide at the Greenwood Towers on the West End. I’m assigning the case to you.”

“West End?” the detective queried. “That’s not my usual beat, Lieutenant.”

“Just do what you’re told, Crawley.”

The display went blank, revealing Crawley’s reflection and the questioning look on his face. He rolled his eyes and popped the pad back into this coat. The vendor was handing him the gyros. The detective took the sandwhich, without offering to pay, and turned on his heel. He headed back down the street where his gravcar hovered silently.

The bufferbot didn’t know anything about Imperial society, but it knew a great deal about polishing floors. It knew exactly the right combination of cleaner and abrasive compound, enough to brighten the fine marble without scratching, and the precise amount of torque to keep its cylindrical body moving steadily without getting pulled to one side or another. The bufferbot had no idea, however, that the floor it was polishing was in fact in the West End district, literally on the west end of the city, across the Regalis river opposite the slums of Ashetown. The robot would’ve been perfectly happy doing its job in either location, although marble in Detective Crawley’s corner of the woods was even harder to find than a respectable ham on rye. The robot would do its best no matter what the conditions. It didn’t mind. In fact, its mind wasn’t partial as long as it provided a service, appreciated or not, in line with its corresponding protocols. Coincidentally, the Robot Freedom League abandoned trying to liberate janitorial bots for this very reason. It was frustrating to say the least.

When the bufferbot sensed the apartment manager of the Greenwood Towers crossing the freshly polished lobby floor, the robot’s circuits nearly jumped with glee at the prospect of redoing what he had just finished. The manager, a Dahl named Eadan, barely acknowledged the bot’s existence as he trotted anxiously past. His mind was on the oddly misplaced Human standing just inside the lobby entrance. Slight of build with pointed, elf-like ears -- a typical Dahl in every respect -- Eadan approached the stranger with the trepidation of a host encountering someone crashing an otherwise wonderful party. The Human, in his late forties, wore clothing of someone who gave up on making a mark in the world long ago. His coat was a synthetic blend, probably made by cheap labor off planet, and his shirt, tie, and pants were hopelessly outdated. The manager noticed one of the large potted planted plants to one side and momentarily considered dragging it over to the man, blocking the view of him from outside the entrance, but thought better of it. The Dahl’s frame was too slight to move such a heavy pot and, anyway, the Human wouldn’t be staying long with any luck.

“Can I help you?” Eadan said doubtfully.

“I’m Detective Crawley, Regalis PD.”

“Yes, of course, I was told to expect you, but I was expecting something…else.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Crawley blatantly lied. He didn’t trust Dahls; they tended to be psionics and he didn’t like having his mind read without permission. He thought of a racial slur, but the manager didn’t flinch. A non-psi, apparently.

Eadan motioned toward the elevator. “This way.”

Once inside the lift, the manager attempted a more cordial tone, failing miserably. “Obviously, we’re very concerned about appearances,” Eadan said. “The thought of one of our tenants being murdered could damage our reputation. That just wouldn’t do.”

“That’s not my problem,” Crawley replied.

“All we ask is a level of decorum in your investigation. There’s no reason our other tenants need to know a murder has occurred.”

“Well, I guess that all depends on you.”

The manager’s eyebrow rose slightly. “How so?”

“I normally canvass the apartments near the crime scene, you know, to see if anybody heard or saw anything unusual. I’d have to explain to the neighbors the circumstances of the questioning, the murder that is, during the canvassing process.”

“Is this canvassing really necessary?”

“Not if I concluded the murder was an open and shut case.”

“Is that common?”

“Not particularly,” the detective said matter-of-factly.

“What if you were motivated to consider it such a case?” the manager asked.

“Well, I can’t imagine what kind of motivation that would entail.”

The Dahl fumbled awkwardly in his pocket and produced a small, plastic chip.

“Would this suffice?”

Detective Crawley took the chip. The tiny LED display on the cred stick read 500. “Yeah, that’ll be enough.”

“Good,” the Dahl replied as the door to the elevator spread apart with a rush of air.

Outside in the hallway, an android waited patiently, its casing painted black except for a silver trim and the lettering FU42 stenciled in yellow. “Detective Crawley, I presume?” the robot asked, holding out his hand.

Briefly taken aback, Crawley shook the machine’s hand but immediately felt stupid for doing so. “Yeah, who are you?”

“Forensic Unit 42,” the bot said. “Please come this way.”

The detective left the elevator and the manager behind and followed the robot down the corridor.

“Aren’t there any other detectives here?” Crawley inquired.

“No, sir.”

“Not even a green shirt?” he asked incredulously, referring to the uniform worn by regular policemen.

“I was the only unit sent to the crime scene, sir,” Unit 42 said in a clear, monotone voice. “Do you require another officer? I could request another FU bot if you’re dissatisfied with my performance.”

“I just got here,” Crawley said. “I don’t know if you’ve been satisfactory or not.”

“Except for preliminary scans, I’ve left the crime scene as undisturbed as possible, sir. I hope I can fulfill any FU needs that you require.”

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

Unit 42 opened the door to an apartment and walked in, its gait mechanical yet steady. Without pausing, the robot took the Human through the main living room, down a short hallway, and into the bedroom. On the bed, a nude woman was lying with the sheets covering her lower body. Her left arm hung over the side. Her cold, dead eyes greeted the detective with sharp indifference. Crawley heard someone talking, glanced around the room, and saw a large shimmering holodisplay next to the far wall. A man, some kind of news anchor, was speaking. “…more about the retirement of Duke Tertulla after these messages.”

Video		Audio

Camera up on a man and woman, their backs to the camera, sitting on folding chairs on the beach as they look out on a brilliant azure sea. Between them is a small wicker table with an ice bucket sitting on top.		(Sounds of the ocean and sea birds in the background.)

Cut to the front of the couple. The woman looks hot and uncomfortable.		Brad: Hey, Linda – what’s the matter?

Cut to woman.		Linda: Oh, Brad, it’s so hot out here and all this exotic food is making me constipated!

Cut to man. Smiling, he reaches into the ice bucket and pulls out a can of soda.		Brad: Well then you should try this!

Cut to soda can. Label facing the camera.		Brad (OC): Spastic Cola has a refreshing cold taste AND it’ll keep you regular!

Cut to woman. She takes the soda can and drinks from it.		Linda: Mmmm, I feel better already!!

Cut to product shot .		Announcer: From MoFoCo, enjoy a delicious can of Spastic Cola today! Now with 20% less anal leakage!

“Holodisplay off,” Detective Crawley ordered. The apartment AI obeyed immediately and the floating soda can disappeared. “That shit gives me gas,” he said.

The gastrointestinal tract of organic creatures fascinated Unit 42. The forensic robot was amazed by its complexity and how easily variables, like the kind of food that was ingested, could throw the entire system off kilter. Granted, organics required sustenance to create internal heat and build biomass, but an internal fusion reactor and a mechanical prosthesis was infinitely more dependable. There was much about organics that Unit 42 simply didn’t understand.

Ignoring the body, Crawley strolled over to a black lacquer dresser and pulled open the upper drawer. He reached in and casually removed a pair of pink woman’s underwear with white lace.

Unit 42 watched the police detective attentively, unsure what purpose the undergarment served in the investigation. The robot noticed that Humans often depended more on their intuition instead of hard facts. Perhaps this was a piece of evidence that his own cybernetic brain could not comprehend?

The detective slipped the panties into his coat pocket and turned toward the corpse. “Can you imagine living like this?” he asked. “This bedroom is bigger than my whole apartment.”

“I live in a closet,” Unit 42 remarked, hoping to create a friendly rapport.

“Shut up and tell me what you know about her.”

Unsure which of the opposing directives the Human actually wanted, the robot hesitated momentarily. “The manager told me that the woman’s name is Jolana Valeria, a 38 year old from Middleton,” Unit 42 stammered.

Middleton was the third district of Regalis, for those not wealthy or blue-blooded enough to live in the West End, but still better off than the unwashed masses of Ashetown.

“How could a middle-class girl afford to live in West End?” Crawley wondered aloud, considering the options. She could be a mistress or a sugar daddy’s kept woman or even a prostitute, although a lot classier than the whores the detective normally encountered.

“Cause of death?” he asked.

“Asphyxia,” FU42 said. “Her hyoid bone is broken, indicating she died from manual strangulation. Also, after examining the bruises on her neck, I’ve concluded that the murderer was a male, approximately 180 centimeters tall.”

“Okay.”

“One more thing, the murder appears to have occurred either during or shortly after coitus.”

“Ahhh,” the detective’s attention perked up. “Now we’re getting somewhere. I bet she’s a prostitute and the john didn’t want to pay. I see that crap all the time in Ashetown, though you’d think the guys around here could afford it. Cheap bastard.”

“I took samples, but I’ll need the lab at the station to test them.”

Detective Crawley stood near the woman's body. The blood vessels in her eyes had burst, red tendrils filling the white like the strands of her auburn hair strewn over the pillow.

Unit 42 examined the detective while he was doing the same to the body. Of the two, the robot found the corpse far less puzzling. A dead organic was infinitely more understandable. They decayed at a set rate – this particular one expired precisely eight and three-quarter hours ago. They no longer suffered from bouts of uncontrolled emotions like anger or sadness. Living beings, at least the non-cybernetic kind, were often unpredictable based on their moods or intuitions or what kind of sandwich they ate for lunch.

The robot heard a faint warbling from the detective’s coat. The Human removed a datapad from the coat, snagging it for second on his shoulder holster, and looked at the screen. Instead of a video feed, only text appeared. Unit 42 didn’t know why someone would only send text, but organics were apt to do strange things from time to time. Perhaps it was a joke somebody thought was funny enough to share with the detective. Humor was another thing the robot found mystifying. Sarcasm was especially lost on the forensic unit. It must not have been a joke, though, or at least Detective Crawley didn’t seem to “get it.” He had a strange look on his face as if he didn’t entirely understand what he just read. Then, he glanced at the body.

“You haven’t uploaded any of your findings have you?” he asked Unit 42.

“No, sir,” the robot replied. “I was waiting for your authorization.”

“Good.”

Detective Crawley held the datapad in his left hand, leaving his other hand free to pull an energy pistol from his shoulder holster. He pointed the gun at the robot.

This was curious behavior to say the least, thought Unit 42. He wondered, for perhaps a millisecond, whether this was another example of organic humor. He waited, calmly and without moving, for the detective to put away the weapon, smile and then laugh. Instead, Crawley squeezed the trigger, sending a flash of superheated plasma across the room.

Very odd indeed, Unit 42 thought just as the energy bolt impacted the outer casing between his eyes. The plasma continued, melted plastic and fusing circuits, until it reached the back of the casing. A fountain of sparks, smoke, and bits of formerly expensive electronics showered over the furniture. Unit 42 took a step forward and fell to the floor with a loud, metallic crash.

Detective Crawley returned the blaster back into the holster and erased the message still showing on his datapad.

Wayward Traveler - Prologue Part 1

2010-06-10T12:40:00.001-05:00

I’ve been working a lot on my next supplement, Minor Races, but I’ve also had the idea of a fiction story bubbling in my head. I wanted to finish my comic script first, Crimson Kiss, but this new story wouldn’t leave me alone. So, below is the first part of the Prologue of what might grow into something novel-length (or not). Part 2 of the Prologue is coming a little later. In the meantime, I'd welcome any feedback you'd like to share. :-)

Prologue - Part 1

Detective Crawley heard the faint warble of his datapad coming from deep within his coat pocket. He stood beside a street vendor’s cart, buying a sandwich. The vendor, a Tor from the Labyrinth Cities of the planet Rochan, shoved beef between two slices of bread. The fact that the Tor were partially bovine, with the body of a man and the head of a bull (including horns and a brass ring through their noses), made the choice of beef a little unsettling to the detective.

Crawley reached into his pocket and pulled out the datapad. The image of his lieutenant, a middle-aged woman with grey hair, winked open on the screen.

“Crawley!” the woman said. “There’s a possible homicide at the Greenwood Towers on the West End. I’m assigning the case to you.”

“West End?” the detective queried. “That’s not my usual beat, Lieutenant.”

“Just do what you’re told, Crawley.”

The display went blank, revealing Crawley’s reflection and the questioning look on his face. He rolled his eyes and popped the pad back into this coat. The vendor was handing him the sandwich.

“Are you going to pay this time?” the Tor asked in a deep, unsympathetic voice.

Detective Crawley grabbed the sandwich and looked at it skeptically.

“Not until you start paying your protection money,” he said.

“Why are Humans such assholes,” the vendor grunted.

“Beats me, cud-muncher.”

The detective turned on his heel and headed back to where his gravcar was parked further down the street. “This was a nice part of town,” he thought, “before all the Xenos moved in.” He took a bite out of his lunch, made a sour face, and threw it to the curb where a small service robot was sweeping garbage into an internal dustpan. The bot, like a crab with mechanical appendages, considered the sandwich, decided it was waste, and tucked it inside.

Detective Crawley was a man in his late forties, wearing clothing of someone who hadn’t quite made his mark in the world. His coat was a synthetic blend made by cheap labor somewhere off planet. His shirt, tie, and pants had stains of varying sizes and textures; his shoes showed signs of over use.

The gravcar hovered silently next to the sidewalk. The vehicle was oblong with a large windscreen covering most of the top section and an airfoil rising from the back. The plastisteel body had a grey finish and the word Police etched across the front, just above the headlights. Detective Crawley touched the side of the car. The vehicle’s AI registered the man’s fingerprint and opened the top, allowing the detective to climb inside. Crawley swiped away the fast food boxes from the seat and pressed himself comfortably into the leather upholstery. He programmed his destination into the navigation computer and felt the gravcar lift off the ground. The car pushed upward 500 meters until it reached the skyway, a line of vehicles in single-file, moving at an AI-controlled speed. Crawley’s gravcar quickly matched velocity, merging in with the others.

The city of Regalis sprawled out below the traffic like a relaxing giant. Regalis wasn’t the largest or even the most beautiful metropolis on the planet Aldorus, but it served as the seat of government and the home of the Emperor, which made it the center of the Imperium for most citizens. Crawley’s beat was a section of the city called Ashtown where the poor lived in tightly packed slums and crime was a constant reminder that the Underclass was the lowest rung of society. To the North of Ashtown, the skyscrapers of Middleton rose up like fingers of glass and plastisteel, paying tribute to the bourgeois that called that part of the city home.

The detective watched with detached interest as the gravcar flowed with the other vehicles down the skyway. Traffic was dense heading toward Middleton, but the parade of cars was noticeably thinner where Crawley was going. Leaving Ashetown behind, he headed west toward the Regalis River (nicknamed the Reggie). Past the ribbon of water, the gleaming West End seemed to beckon, though the detective knew the aristocrats living there would be less than welcoming.

The Greenwood Towers were three columns of apartments, thirty stories high, with a main strut, containing the elevators, running up the center. Walkways connected the hub with each level, providing a view of the surrounding grounds. Detective Crawley landed his gravcar on a designated pad at the base of the structure. Once the detective was safely off the pad, the slab of ground lowered the car into the unseen garage below where the parking AI would file the vehicle away like a book in a library.

Crawely walked up the main driveway, past a line of sycamore trees flanking a turquoise reflecting pool. He became acutely aware that people were staring at him. Residents, and even the staff, were dressed in clothes of fine fabrics and tasteful jewelry. This contrasted badly with the detective’s own attire. He cringed, but kept walking. The logo for the towers, a golden trident, hung above the main entrance. Crawley walked through the sliding glass doors only to find the reproachful look of the concierge. The gatekeeper was a Dahl, an elf-like and somewhat effeminate race known for their intellect and general snobbery. His pointed ears twitched ever so slightly as the interloper approached the front desk.

“Can I help you?” the concierge asked doubtfully.

“I’m Detective Crawley of the Regalis PD.” He showed his badge. “I’m told you have a possible homicide on the premises.”

“Well, don’t announce it to the whole world,” the Dahl said. “We pride ourselves on being discreet.”

“Yeah, well I’ve got a job to do so if you don’t mind…”

“Indeed. Please follow me.”

What's in a name?

2010-04-22T17:38:00.001-05:00

Of all the things I do related to the Imperium Chronicles, naming things is probably my least favorite. This is ironic since naming something (like Adam in the Bible) is a powerful thing. You’re attaching a tag to something that will probably be the first thing people associate with that thing from then on. I mean, people will view a guy named Robert much differently than someone named Biff, so naming things is important.

Unfortunately, I hate naming things. This is all too apparent with my newest game supplement, Minor Races. Each race gets a name and I’m the one who has to figure out what that will be.

I don’t have a particular system for names, although I do have a couple of fallback positions that I usually end up using. My favorite method is to use words from other languages, preferably ones that nobody has heard of. This gives the name an exotic quality that is perfect for a sci-fi game like mine. The language I’ve used the most, including for planet names in the Basic Rule book, is Sanskrit. There’s something about that ancient Indian language that is both familiar and yet fantastic. One of the reasons I’m drawn to other languages for naming is probably Star Wars. I was watching a news program about a small island nation in the Pacific whose population was amazed to find their language being used in Return of the Jedi. A henchmen of Jabba the Hutt opened his mouth (ostensibly to say something in an exotic alien dialect), but what came out was in fact the native tongue of this island nation. George Lucas, instead of creating a whole new language (such as Klingon), simply used a preexisting one (albeit one that few of us have ever heard of). From that point onward, I decided that if George can do something, so could I.

Now, the problem with using foreign words (including Latin) is that it’s hard to explain why those words would be known by these sci-fi creatures. In other words, it’s illogical to believe that an alien in Jabba the Hutt’s hideout would be speaking a language from a small country in the Pacific (considering that Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away). For that matter, why is the hero of the movie named after a chapter of the Bible? This is when writers like myself (and apparently George Lucas) pull out a little thing called “Poetic License.” It’s a similar concept used in fantasy games: if you can’t explain something, say it’s caused by MAGIC! It’s a powerful tool (magic or poetic license, take your pick) because it takes a lot of pressure off the writer. Logic flies out the window and the writer can continue on his happy way.

We’re not all J.R.R. Tolkien, after all. Some of us have deadlines. ;-)

Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl

2010-02-18T14:39:00.001-06:00

Last night we finished up play testing the Ovid Incident. It went really well and I’m going to incorporate some of the lessons learned into the module. The supplement itself is much like a conventional “dungeon crawl,” but in a sci-fi setting. This corresponds with the theme of my game system: a mash up of sci-fi and fantasy elements. The only downside is that players are pretty much led through the adventure (on “rails” as it’s called), but the module is also telling a story and I think this is the best way of achieving that.

Besides working on the Ovid Incident, I’ve also been making changes to the Basic Rules. Some of the lessons from play testing the adventure module have led to me wanting to change a few things in the Basic Rules that I originally hadn’t planned on. For one thing, I’d like to review the abilities (especially the psionics). Currently the recast duration on several abilities (i.e.: how long before you can use the ability again) is not very standardized. I’d like abilities to have one of three recast durations: once per round, once per encounter, or once per day. This is similar to what’s used in some of the other games in the industry, most notably, Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition.

I haven’t done anything with the Crimson Kiss (a comic script I’ve been working on) for several weeks. Between the Ovid Incident and some non-game related tasks, I haven’t really had a chance to work on the script. I’m hoping in the coming month I’ll be able to get back to it.

Lastly, I’ve been playing Star Trek Online lately and it’s gotten me in the mood to design more starship deck plans. I’m thinking about making maps for some of the races in the game, like the Dökk and the Lutins (as well as other groups mentioned in my Monster Menagerie supplement). Unlike the original Deck Plans supplement, however, I’d like to give a deeper description of each ship, especially how it’s used by the races in question.

I realize I put too much on my plate at times, but I tend to go with wherever my imagination takes me. Hopefully I can get some of it done eventually. ;-)

I can't find my glasses!

2010-01-26T14:20:00.000-06:00

Since I’ve been updating my progress on our Facebook page, I haven’t felt the need to write a whole blog for quite a while. At the moment the Ovid Incident has progressed nicely, although at a glacier speed. I’ve completed three sublevels and I’m about to start the fourth. I’m a little unsure whether Sublevel 4 will be the last or whether I’ll need a fifth. Either way, the module is more than two-thirds done.

A funny thing happened after my big hard drive disaster: I had done the model for one of the main characters, Howard Wimple, which included some thick, black glasses. After the meltdown, however, I thought I had lost the glasses model. This wouldn’t be a big deal except I had rendered a really nice picture with Howard wearing those particular glasses. If I found a different looking pair, I’d have to discard the render. So, the other night I lay in bed thinking about it, and I just couldn’t sleep. After midnight, I started scouring the internet for the lost pair of glasses. Eventually, after having no luck at all, I took another peek at my folders where I keep the different Poser models. Low and behold, in a folder I normally don’t expect to see Poser models, I found the precious glasses. As far as victories go, this probably wasn’t a big one, but at one in the morning I’ll take what I can get.

Btw, I’ve started playing weekly with some friends via Skype (voice only). Last week we ran through an adventure using the Labyrinth Lord rules. It’s been suggested that I might want to run an Imperium Chronicles game, and I think the Ovid Incident would do nicely (once it’s finished).

Hardware Blues

2009-12-31T15:45:00.000-06:00

So far, the holidays have been a major bust when it comes to my game. The biggest downer occurred when my hard drive completely crapped out on me. I mean it was DEAD. Having had problems like this before, I routinely back up my documents on an external hard drive and even uploaded them into the “cloud.” This time around, however, I discovered two very important weaknesses: a) backups can become corrupted and therefore useless, and b) it’s a good idea to backup your art assets as well as the finished documents the assets go into. In short, cover your assets.

So, after installing an entirely new hard drive and reinstalling various programs, I discovered that I had lost almost all of the art I had done for the Ovid Incident (except for whatever was already in the document itself). This means all the mutants and characters I had created are gone unless I had already put them into the Ovid Incident document (which had been safely backed up).

It was very demoralizing to say the least.

Along with all the busyness of the holidays (family, drinking, getting bailed out of jail), I haven’t gotten much done. On the bright side, however, the New Year is upon us with its promise of hope and improved hardware performance. Although I’ve learned some valuable lessons, I’m glad to say goodbye to 2009.

For those of us at the Imperium Chronicles, I wish you a Happy New Year!

The Crimson Kiss

2009-12-07T13:14:00.002-06:00

Before writing the Imperium Chronicles RPG, I originally created an online graphic novel and (shorter) online comic based on the universe that would become the game. Although both have been available through my website, I decided to publish the latter (called Magnus Black: Born in the Grave) on DriveThruComics so people could download the PDF. Several people have downloaded it, but since the comic’s free, that’s really no surprise. On the other hand, H1N1 (Swine Flu) is also free, so I shouldn’t assume people actually like the comic.

I love the graphic novel/comic format because it combines story telling with a visual media. Films (live action and animation) also combine these elements, but I lack the money, skill, or time to make movies. Truth be told, I also lack the artistic skill to create a good comic. I’ve always depended on software like Poser and Photoshop to compensate for my lack of drawing ability. Even so, I’ve been playing around with the idea of writing a script that a real artist would then turn into something people could read. This is actually pretty common: there are countless comics writers who can’t draw a straight line to save their lives and plenty of artists who have trouble signing their own name (unless it’s in some sort of calligraphy).

So, besides working on the Ovid Incident (the adventure module for Imperium Chronicles), I’ve also started writing a script for an Imperium comic called “The Crimson Kiss.” It’s based on an adventure idea for the game, which I think would make a pretty good comic. Coincidentally, I first mentioned the Crimson Kiss in this blog entry which just happens to be the most searched post on my blog, apparently due to the words “naked elf women” in the title.

I won’t go into much detail right now about the script, but I will say its protagonist, Rowan Ramus, was included in my most recent supplement, Home Worlds, and in a story fragment I wrote here. He’s a Dahl outcast who’s teamed up with a Gordian named Orkney Fugg and a robot named Gen. They’re hired to investigate attacks on some merchant ships that eventually lead them to a surprising discovery. I’ll try to keep you posted about how it’s coming along.

Home Worlds Now On Sale!

2009-11-06T14:53:00.004-06:00

Home Worlds is now available for purchase! Considering I delayed it by a month, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome (maybe because of the delay). As I explained before, I pulled out about a third or more of the content and replaced it with a lot of new stuff (including NPCs and new creatures). The end result is a better product. Now I need to see if anyone buys it.

Speaking of which, I’m happy with how my previous product, Cardboard Citizens II, has been selling. It’s not very expensive, so I’m not getting rich from it, but selling stuff you’ve worked hard on does wonders for my fragile self-esteem. Would it kill my Mom to buy a copy?? ;-)

Currently, I’m churning the story for the Ovid Incident in my head. The whole thing starts when the characters get a distress call saying a research station has been hit by a micro-singularity (a black hole basically). For that reason, I’d like to incorporate some fractures in time, perhaps ghost-like images from the past showing people from the base before the accident. I plan on using this as a storytelling device, to move the plot along as the characters explore the damaged structure.

Below is a work-in-progress for Ovid. It’s a mutant I’m calling “Dark Angel.” He hovers above the ground and kills with a burst of radiation.

Ancient Temples (in Space)!

2009-10-22T13:06:00.004-05:00

It’s taken four tries, but I think I’ve finally got something I can use for the cover of Home Worlds. I already did two images, the first was the Pool of Memory (which really sucked) and the second showed an Aztec-style temple (for the Draconian home world). Since the latter wasn’t really “sci-fi enough,” I decided to create a new one that showed a street scene with an alien walking down the sidewalk. However, the Editor (also known as the Wife) didn’t like it, so I tried again. With the Editor looking over my shoulder, I fashioned a scene with the Draconian temple again, but with a large alien moon filling the sky. This was met with a conciliatory gesture from the Wife (i.e.: she put down the stun gun), and the cover art was decided!

As for the rest of Home Worlds, it’s almost ready for re-proofreading, so I need to figure out what I’m doing for my next project. Previously, I had been doing stuff for the Ovid Incident adventure module, but all this work on creatures for Home Worlds got me thinking about doing a supplement on minor races. I’ve also considered doing a supplement about the Five Families (and the minor aristocratic families) of the Imperium. However, from a business point of view, I really think I need more adventure modules, so I’m going to finish Ovid before tackling anything else.

As a side note, I’ve been writing for the Examiner.com website lately. It doesn’t really pay anything frankly, but it does give me some experience. Take a look at one of my newest articles, an interview with another game publisher located here in the Midwest.

So, here’s the two cover images: the first is the rejected street scene, and the other is the one I think I’ll be using.

Fantasy/Sci-fi Smash Up!

2009-10-08T13:45:00.003-05:00

I’ve been working full speed ahead on the Home Worlds supplement since my last blog post. Although I was disappointed with how the supplement was shaping up before, I’m feeling more at ease with it now. I pulled out everything that wasn’t related to actual home worlds, including Dark Psi and the racial abilities. Instead, I’ve been adding NPCs and creatures for each planet, and changing the formatting a bit to highlight each world.

The Imperium Chronicles RPG is a fusion (or “smash up”) of fantasy and sci-fi, and I’ve been able to continue that theme with Home Worlds. For example, the Dahl (who are analogous to fantasy elves) share their planet with a minor race called the Fae (or “fairies”). For die-hard sci-fi players, the idea of seeing fairies flying around their science fiction universe might seem crazy, but that’s exactly the kind of incongruity that I love. Besides, who wouldn’t like to see a centaur (a future race I have planned) running around with a missile launcher strapped to his back?? ;-)

Since my last post, I’ve also published a print version of my online comic, Magnus Black: Born in the Grave. Lately, I’ve been thinking about writing a script for a comic based on my adventure module, Scent of Decay. I wanted to write the script and then collaborate with an artist to do the actual drawing. Since I’ve never written a script for a comic before, however, I’ve been practicing with my Magnus Black story. Of course, this is backwards from what you’d normally do, but I thought it’d be a good way to familiarize myself with writing scripts. I’ve only done a little bit so far, but it’s been educational and a lot of fun.

Here are a couple of images from Home Worlds, both with a fantasy theme. The first is an NPC named Danu the Fae Queen, and the other is a minor race called the Sporemen:

Evolution of a Supplement

2009-09-22T14:35:00.003-05:00

NOTE: For people in Kansas, please use the title “Immaculate Changes by the Big Guy.”

When I first started work on my current supplement, it was entitled Pool of Memory and was going to be about five home worlds, weapon modifications, and a set of new abilities called Dark Psi. Early on, however, I decided to move the weapon mods to a different supplement. After going through the proofreading process, however, I also realized that there wasn’t enough content, so I added more information about each home world and added a section of racial abilities (one per race with each home world). I then changed the name from Pool of Memory to Home Worlds, since that seemed to fit better. After adding more content for each home world, I reached the point where the Dark Psi (and the racial abilities) just didn’t fit anymore. I had very nicely painted myself into a corner. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that I needed to pull the abilities out altogether and just focus on the home worlds, including the addition of more content like NPCs and encounters (similar to Chapter 10 of the Basic Rules). For those paying attention, this is NOT the best way to write a game supplement. In fact, it’s quite possibly the WORST way to write a game supplement. On the other hand, this only gives credence to my belief that the world would be a better place if it was run by robots and not people (or at least not people like ME). ;-)

Soooo, instead of publishing Home Worlds this week, it’s going to be a while longer. However, I do have my other product, Cardboard Citizens II, which is just about ready to go, so I’ll probably be publishing that within the next week or two.

On another front, I’ve been taking more notes about The Ovid Incident, my next adventure module. I was doing some brainstorming last week and came up with some more ideas. It’s still only in the planning stages, and hopefully I can plan a little better this time around.

They Drag Me Back In

2009-09-08T14:51:00.001-05:00

As it turned out, I really wasn’t done with the content for Home Worlds. After going through the new sourcebook, I realized that each planet wasn’t fleshed out enough. I spent the last two weeks adding more details for each world, especially the geographical regions. I also added a few more cultural tidbits for some of the races. Now, finally, I think I’m getting close to the end and I’ve given the current draft to the Editor for proofreading.

In the last couple of days I’ve been doing some preliminary renders for the Ovid Incident adventure module. The adventure’s about a runaway retrovirus and the grotesque mutations that occur at the lab where the virus was developed. So, I’ve been messing round with different character shapes and textures in Poser. I’m not sure how good the results are at this point, but there’s lots of time to fiddle with it.

Lately I’ve also been thinking about doing some creative writing (with the Imperium as the background). A while back I wrote the beginning of a short story called Ramus, but never went beyond the first few pages. Over the last week, however, I’ve been putting together an outline and some character ideas. In the original story, Ramus was a human, but my recent work on Home Worlds got me thinking about having him be a Dahl outcast who’s dabbled in Dark Psionics. I’d like to tie the story into an adventure idea revolving around the Dökk (the Dark Dahl). I only hope writer’s block and a lack of time (due to my other projects) won’t keep me from writing the story.

The Tiny Parvulians

2009-08-26T14:40:00.001-05:00

I’m happy to announce that Imperium Chronicles is now available on the Your Games Now website. For the last year, my game could only be bought on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow.com (and its affiliates). Starting this week, however, my empire is growing a little bit bigger. Of course, if YGN could make their vendor application a little more idiot proof, it would make my life (as the before mentioned idiot) a lot easier.

Home Worlds is approaching the home stretch. I’ve pretty much added all the content that’s going in there and now I just need to do some finishing touches and have the Editor read through it for grievous typos. In my mind, I guess I’ve already moved on to the next project, but I still haven’t decided what that’ll be.

I was thinking about Lilliputians the other day. Well, technically I was thinking about a race of tiny humanoids living inside robots. Since I was a kid, even before watching Dr. Who (i.e. Daleks) and certainly before seeing Men in Black (i.e. the Arquillian living inside the corpse at the morgue), I’ve been fascinated about creatures living inside machines. Then I started thinking about the machines themselves and I was reminded of the Mechs in the Gundam series. I asked myself: “What if the people in Gundam were actually very small and their “gigantic” mechs were really human-size? So, I came up with the idea of a race of small creatures (maybe 15 cm tall) that interact with other races by walking around in machines. Basically, the Mechs allow the race (who I’m calling Parvulians, based on the Latin word for small) to interact with other races without fear of being stepped on or tucked away into someone’s pocket. My wife even suggested making them extremely boastful (like most tiny men you encounter). ;-)

Btw, here's an image from Home Worlds. It's a Dark Psi psionic that turns your hands into the claws of a bear:

Creative Juices

2009-08-11T17:29:00.001-05:00

The creative juices are flowing again (ewwww), so I came up with two new ideas. The first is a supplement I’m calling Weapons of War that features new weapons, weapon modification rules, and military vehicles (including grav and hover tanks). I’ve been thinking about the mod rules and some new weapons of destruction, but it’s only been recently that I considered adding tanks to the game. For the tanks, I think I’ll be using the same basic “slot” mechanic that I’ve used for robots and starships. I don’t want to go too overboard with them, however, so there’s probably only going to be three sets of chassis (light, medium, and heavy) and three sets of turrets (small, medium, and large). It’s early days, though, so we’ll have to see.

The second idea is for an adventure module called The Ovid Incident. It starts with a cryptic message that reads "Mayday, Mayday ... [static] ... impact ... [static] ... micro singularity ... [static] ... losing containment ... [static] ... please help us ... [static].” Upon investigation, the characters trace the message back to a moon base where mutants and a runaway retrovirus have run amok. The characters must search for survivors and discover what’s gone so terribly wrong.

The Home Worlds module is also coming along. I’m working on the second half right now, which covers Dark Psionics. Right now there’s 26 new psionics that characters can choose from, mostly divided into two categories: metamorphism and so-called Death Magic. I’m hoping these new psionics will satisfy my players’ need for a darker side of the mind. ;-)

The Alpha Totem

2009-08-04T17:58:00.004-05:00

The final home world I’m working on right now is called Septu VII and unlike the others that came before it, this one is shared by two of the major races: the feline Akiak and the canine Vogars. The planet, like its two main inhabitants, is a world of contrast: in the northern and southern latitudes, the climate is cold and snowy (kind of like the forests of Siberia). Along the equator, however, the weather is much hotter and desert-like. With that in mind, I envision the Vogars like the wolves of northern Russia and the Akiak like the ancient Egyptians (who actually worshipped cats). Since cats originally came from the desert, that also fits nicely.

Religiously, the Vogars have a shaman culture that values protective spirits called totems (similar to the Indians of the American Northwest). Each individual Vogar has his own guardian spirit, and each Vogar tribe/pack also has its own totem. All of the Vogars, however, have a supreme spirit called the Alpha Totem (like the alpha dog). This spirit protects the entire race.

Below is an image of Septu VII (click to enlarge) and the Vogar flag. The flag is split into two parts: the bottom white area represents the snow, including the footprint of a wolf. The upper part is black, representing the night sky, including the moon and a star:

Path of the Blade

2009-07-29T18:01:00.003-05:00

I released the Basic Rules LITE (for free) about a week ago and already it’s been downloaded over 150 times. I’m glad for that, but I wonder if those who downloaded the free version realized just how much more is in the regular rules. I mean there’s a lot I took out that people won’t see unless they buy the full version.

This week I also took another stab at the cover art for Pool of Memory. I posted the image on the Facebook page, but I wish I could’ve done a better job. I see the stuff in other games and wish I had that level of artistic talent.

Today I’ve been writing about the Draconians and something they call the Path of the Blade. It’s a code of conduct similar to Bushido. The Dracs aren’t samurais per se, but they do follow the same ideas of honor and courage. Their planet was invaded by the Imperial military two hundred years ago and the Draconians have attempted to rebel at least eight times since then. The Dracs view the Imperials (and especially the Humans) as barbarians because they don’t follow the Path of the Blade. I’ve also written of a Draconian legend about a two-headed dragon whose one head is good while the other is evil. The legend incorporates the idea of good and evil being connected, and that you can’t have one without the other.

Here’s an image of the Draconian home planet and their flag. Notice the flag features a fist (symbolizing their struggle against Imperial occupation) and a volcano (symbolizing the mountain in which the two-headed dragon lived):

Basic Rules LITE

2009-07-22T13:27:00.003-05:00

Another week’s gone by, during which I found myself sucked into a side project (instead of Pool of Memory). Basically, I have a free product called the Imperium Grab Bag that people snatch up like hotcakes, so for a while now I’ve been thinking about offering something a little more substantial for free. That got me thinking about having a “Lite” version of the Basic Rules that people could download. This is actually pretty common: there’s a GURPS Lite and a d20 Traveller Lite, for example.

What is a Lite version? Well, mostly it’s a stripped down edition of the regular rules that introduces people to the game system who might otherwise pass on buying the full version. The trouble lies in how much or how little of the full version you’re going to include. If you keep too much, then there’s really no reason for the person to buy the full rules. If you keep too little, then the person might think your rules have nothing to offer. So, with that in mind, I’ve spent the last several days stripping out stuff from the full Basic Rules to create a Lite version. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, however. For one thing, I had to make sure that I removed any references to things I’ve taken out. I also had to make clear to the reader that there really was a lot more in the Full version that they were missing out on, and thus suggesting that, if they like what they saw, they should buy the regular rules. To that end, I included a little chart (similar to what software makers use) to compare the free version with the pay edition (click to enlarge):

Anyway, I’m hoping that I’ll have the Lite version ready this week so I can post it on DriveThruRPG by the weekend. It’s all a big gamble since there’s no guarantee that anyone will actually buy the Full rules after downloading the free version. Nevertheless, I’m hopeful it will help sales so I can be rich and famous like all the other Pen & Paper game authors. ;-)

The Liquid Computer

2009-07-13T17:47:00.002-05:00

Sadly, I didn’t get much done last week. Over the weekend, however, I went to visit family and the long road trip gave me some time to think about the new supplement. Actually, the Wife kept asking “Are you listening to me?”, but thankfully I was able to drown that out.

I’ve mentioned how the Dahl accumulate knowledge and store the info in a liquid computer called the Pool of Memory. The question remained: how do the Dahl accomplish this and how do they “upload” it into the pool?

In the Basic Rules book, there’s a practice adventure about a monastery where a group of Dahl live and perfect their psionics. During my car trip, I started building on that idea and came up with another monastery of “mind monks” who go about collecting news from across the Imperium. They are divided into two groups: scribes and seers. The scribes spend their time using a form of astral projection to visit other worlds, learning about whatever is happening on that planet at that time. At the end of the day, the scribes visit the Pool of Memory where they begin chanting (think Gregorian Chants). Using their voices (and telepathy), they “record” data onto the surface of the water (think ripples) that then becomes part of the collective knowledge stored there. The pool serves as the home of the Oracle, a water nymph that acts as the computer’s main interface. Whenever the Dahl need guidance, the group of monks called the seers, go to the pool and ask advice from the Oracle.

Interestingly, I did a Google search last night about liquid computers and in fact they do exist (at least in the experimental stages). It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but basically it’s a bunch of designer molecules (with atoms that turn on and off, creating ones and zeros) dissolved in a solvent. Of course, the Pool of Memory is more about storage than computing power, but at least today’s research suggests that my idea isn’t completely beyond the realm of possibility. And isn’t that what Sci-Fi is all about??

Btw, here’s the Dahl national flag and their home planet, Gwlad Ard'un:

Outpost Alpha on Sale

2009-07-02T16:37:00.002-05:00

Outpost Alpha, my new 2D terrain supplement, is now available to buy. It allows GMs to quickly (and cheaply) create rooms and corridors; perfect for most sci-fi “dungeon crawls.” Outpost Alpha can be used with my 3D miniatures, including the next batch I plan to release in a month or two.

Meanwhile, I’ve been writing about the Magna home world in my new sourcebook Pool of Memory. Called Diavol (Romanian for devil), the home planet of Imperium’s enemy is a volcanic hell world with vast tracks of land covered in free flowing lava. Since the Magna, with their horns and reddish eyes, are demonic-looking, I wanted to carry on that theme throughout my design of their home world.

I also talk about the Magna caste system. I started by using the traditional Indian castes as a guide, and then changed things around a bit. In the Indian system, for example, the Kshatriyas (warriors) are second to the Brahmins (teachers and scholars). In the Magna system, the warrior caste (Regatul) is first while the teachers (Preda caste) are relegated to the bottom (since they don’t “contribute” to society according to Magna values). Of course, those who reject the caste system (or run afoul of the government) are exiled from their social group, becoming Outcasts. In my graphic novel Alexander the Prince, the character Maal-Bok was an example of this.

Scent of Decay Now Available!

2009-06-22T13:56:00.004-05:00

Scent of Decay, my first adventure module for the Imperium Chronicles, is now available. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but I’m happy with how it came out.

Sorry it’s been so long since my last blog post. Besides putting the finishing touches on the module, I’ve been working on my next project, a supplement I’m tentatively calling Pool of Memory. It’s a source book for my game featuring lore for the six non-Human races. The name comes from part of the lore I’ve written so far. Basically, the Dahl, who specialize in chronicling all knowledge in the universe, store this information in a “liquid” computer called the Pool of Memory. A water nymph called the Oracle rises from the pool and acts as an interface to the computer. I like this because it mixes fantasy and sci-fi, which has been my goal for the Imperium Chronicles since the beginning.

I’ve also been creating maps and flags for the home worlds of the six non-Human races. I’ve been fascinated with heraldry and different flags, so I’ve really had a blast making the flags for each race. The one below is for the Gordians. I picture them as hard drinking Scotsmen who swear a lot and have poor personal hygiene (FYI: I’m part Scot). For the flag, however, I was having a lot of trouble deciding how it should look. Then I came across the image of the Celtic Knot. This fit perfectly because the Gordians get their name from the Gordian Knot, due to their stubborn and often obnoxious behavior (which is probably why I like them so much). Anyway, I put the Celtic Knot in the middle of the flag and gave it a Celtic border around the edges. I also used the color gray because their home world is called Grarfell (Old Norse for Gray Mountain).

Dark Psi

2009-06-12T13:27:00.001-05:00

Scent of Decay is now with the Editor who, with a Mai Tai (with a little paper umbrella) in hand, is sitting in our comfy chair scanning the pages for mistakes. She should be done soon enough, but I probably won’t publish the module until next week.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my next project which is currently untitled. It’s a source book with information about some of the playable races (and their home worlds). I’m also including weapon modifications (i.e. adding a grenade launcher to your blaster rifle) and some new psionics. The latter ties into what I plan to write about the Dahls, namely an off-shoot group called the Forgotten. Basically, the Dahls are a mostly non-violent, studious people who chronicle everything that goes on so it can be remembered forever. Ironically, the so-called Forgotten are Dahls who’ve turned away from that lifestyle, preferring to seek fame and fortune in any way possible. This has led them to research a new form of psionics called “Dark Psi.”

Dark Psi are psionics with a more sinister nature than the kind introduced in the Basic Rules. For the new source book I’ve created over a dozen psionics in two basic varieties: disease and biomorphism. The first kind revolves around Necromancy spells typical in many fantasy games. These include psionics that require the victim to make a DISEASE resistance roll to avoid damage. The other kind allows the caster to mutate his body at the molecular level, changing his hands for example into animal claws or making his skin as hard as stone.

Again, I don’t have a name yet for the new source book and I’m not even sure what it’ll include, but I have about 3-4 months before I plan to release it so hopefully I’ll come up with something by then. ;-)

Outpost Alpha

2009-06-01T15:42:00.004-05:00

As it stands now, Scent of Decay is about 90-95% done. I’ve got a little more writing to do before I can hand it over to the Editor (aka Mrs. Big Shot). Today I worked on the cover art as you can see here:

I also wanted to update everyone on the other projects I’ve been working on (all paper miniatures related), including one I haven’t mentioned yet:

Landscapes. This is on hold for now. I wasn’t happy with how it was coming out and I’m not even sure it’s a viable product to sell. I’ll revisit it sometime later, after I’ve thought about what I want to do with it (if anything).
Cardboard Citizens II. This is still in progress. I looked at what I’d done already and realized I’m going to need a lot more renders before I’m satisfied with it. Each render takes quite a while and I need a lot of them, so it’s going to take me awhile to finish apparently. I’m really trying to improve the quality of each render over what I accomplished with Citizens I.
Outpost Alpha. This is a new product I started only a few days ago, but it’s nearly done already. It’s a 2D product (unlike Dark Corridors I & II) that’ll have flat “building blocks” of rooms and hallways. You can combine the different blocks to form large complexes for use with your miniatures. Here’s a low rez example:

New Website Design

2009-05-29T17:06:00.001-05:00

The People (God bless ‘em) have spoken and they’ve said the logo without the crests is the best. When Scent of Decay is ready to go, it’ll have the new logo on the front cover. It’ll also have a new header to replace the “cluster of arrows” design. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the arrows were too much like the one used by Franco fascists, so obviously I’d like to avoid the connection. ;-) The new one has five stars instead of arrows (see the logo on this blog). I can only guess what neo-nazi group probably uses that on their flag . . .

Using the new cover logo, I also tried messing around with a redesign of the Imperium website. Eventually, however, I decided that the logo took up too much screen space so I went with a flatter version. In fact, I published the new site yesterday and I’m happy with the results. The starry background and the new artwork on the main page give the site a more “sci-fi” feel. However, the new design broke the story pages (Alexander the Prince and Magnus Black). I spent a large chunk of today trying to fix it. For the most part, everything is fine now.

Part of the reason I’ve been working on the website is because I was procrastinating on Scent of Decay. I was at the part when the characters first meet the Nanomancer and he gives a little speech. It’s the classic Nemesis monologue, though it’s pretty brief. I’ve been struggling with it for a few days because I couldn’t think what he would say. Is it possible I’m not evil enough? (The Wife says “No.”) Anyway, eventually I jotted down something which I think will work. Hopefully it’s not too cheesy, because that’s certainly my strong point.

Enter the Nanomancer!

2009-05-21T16:22:00.002-05:00

I’ve been chugging away at Scent of Decay (oh, I rhymed!) this week, including a rewrite of the climax. I think the new one is more dramatic and introduces a nemesis character that I hope players will enjoy. I haven’t written too much about this on the blog because I didn’t want to give anything away. However, I’m about to change that:

Spoiler Alert!!

The climax of the module revolves around Jon Fletcher (a brilliant scientist) and his work on self-replicating nanos. He’s been doing secret experiments to reanimate dead bodies using nanites to effectively take over for the corpse’s failed systems (brain, lungs, and heart, etc.). When Fletcher’s fiancée dies, he has her body stolen so he can try to bring her back to life. After injecting her with the nanos, he makes the mistake of kissing her on the lips which then transfers some of the nanos into his own system. The nanites then start self-replicating and eventually take over his body (since the little machines don’t realize Fletcher isn’t a corpse). At this point, Fletcher ceases to exist; replaced by a new being calling itself the Nanomancer. This new creature inherits all of the ambitions and intellect of Jon Fletcher, along with several million nanos surging through its body. Most of all, the Nanomancer wants to survive and, like any self-respecting self-aware entity, it thinks that taking over the world is a good place to start. Obviously the players will have to stop this from happening, and prevent their characters from getting infected with nanos in the process.

So, in a nutshell, that’s what I’ve been working on lately with the new module. I think it’s coming together pretty well so far. Btw, here’s a picture I did of both Barbara Bennett after being re-animated, and Jon Fletcher after he turned into the Nanomancer:

New Logo Designs

2009-05-15T14:18:00.004-05:00

It’s funny how much writing I got done on Scent of Decay in the first few weeks of working on it, and how little writing I’ve done over the last couple of weeks. On the bright side I’ve gotten several sections done recently so at least I’m making progress. Scent of Decay is now over 20 pages and will probably reach almost 30 by the time I’m done.

While I was working on the adventure module, I’ve also had a couple of side projects going. One is called Landscapes and it’s basically another paper miniatures product: this time 3D terrain. I’ve also worked on what I’m calling Paper Citizens II: Friends and Foes. Along with the 3-sided miniatures included in the original Paper Citizens supplement, I’m including A-frame and tokens in the new one. The tokens are probably my favorite because I can zoom in a little more on the image to give greater detail.

Perhaps most exciting (at least for me) is a new logo I’ve been designing. Originally, I created the first Imperium Chronicles logo to be simple and, dare I say, “elegant.” Well, I achieved the former but not the latter, so I’ve been trying to design a new one that looks better. A few days ago inspiration took hold and I created a round logo with the crests of the five families on it. After some feedback, however, I designed a second version without the crests. Not knowing which version would be more popular, I posted both on an RPG forum and put it to a vote. So far, the non-crest version seems to be winning, but we’ll see over the next few days how the vote goes (hopefully without the need for a re-count). Here are the two versions (click for a larger view):

Zombies & Nanos & Ghuls, Oh My!

2009-05-04T15:58:00.007-05:00

Seriously, how has it been another week already?? I feel bad that I haven’t updated my blog more, but then I’m also updating the Facebook fan page so that’s something. Btw, if you haven’t joined it yet, please click on the Facebook icon on the right and join the Imperium Chronicles fan page. It’s hard to explain how much I appreciate people showing an interest in my game. It really helps keep me motivated. Also, the Wife has a cattle prod . . .

Besides writing, I’ve been busy with more renders. Below are two logos: one for the SuTech Corporation and the other for the Dancing Jackal nightclub (click to get the bigger image). The first one turned out well, but I’m still on the fence about the Dancing Jackal. It’s supposed to be for a nightclub so it had to be a bit more “frilly” that I’d prefer. To me it looks too much like a gay bar (not that there’s anything wrong with it).

I also did these two Ghul images. The one on the left was my first attempt, but ultimately I decided not to use it. The arm and hand look odd, although I thought the face came out well (especially the teeth). I decided to use the second render instead. It’s a different model and texture than the first attempt and I think it’s a lot of more successful.

Basic Rules Version 1.1

2009-04-27T13:42:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend I released version 1.1 of the Basic Rules. I’ve been trying to increase sales lately and I thought this might help. Basically the new version features material from the Imperium Grab Bag, including religions, new factions, and trade maps. Perhaps more importantly, I’ve also changed how players generate their character’s starting attributes. Originally, each character had a set of attribute values based on their race. I’ve now changed it so players roll for attributes and then get race-based modifiers. This will give players more flexibility when creating characters and it’s more in line with how other games do this.

I’ve also been trying to increase the number of fans on the game’s Facebook page. The Facebook site is nice because I can keep fans updated on the game more often than this blog, and I can also reward fans with special coupon codes. Overall, I’d like to build up the Imperium player community if I can.

Today I’ve been working on Scent of Decay. I’ve started the descriptions of several locations and the action that takes place there. While doing so, I’ve also been thinking about new skills (like Investigation) that are currently not in the game. I will likely add those ideas into the Basic Rules later on.

Here’s a new image I put in version 1.1 of a Fire Monk. I’ve been trying to add better artwork for a while now since I know people like “eye candy.” I thought about just putting in photos of me in a bathing suit, but the Wife once again said “No.”

Little Miss Sunshine

2009-04-19T15:59:00.005-05:00

After writing the secondary plot last week (featuring Barbara Bennett), this week I wrote her actual character bio. Like her fiancé Jon Fletcher, Barbara is a tragic figure who suffers a loss and then tries to fill the void with terrible results. She’s an aristocrat, so (in the Imperium universe) she has it all: money, prestige, and probably a robot to say how pretty she looks every morning. However, after spending too many nights at clubs and carousing with the wrong people, she’s introduced to a new drug called Sunshine. The drug offers ultimate euphoria, but then a deep depression after it wears off. Oh, and it’s also highly addictive. In a way, it’s kind of a morality tale, which is often the case in these kinds of stories. Eventually, the drug causes a brain hemorrhage, which nicely explains her cause of death.

The guy who gives Barbara the drugs is a Vogar named Rex Kazak. Of course, Rex comes from the typical name for a dog (since he’s from the canine race). I got his last name, however, from a dog featured in a Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. novel called Sirens of Titan. Besides the reference to the book, I think it has a nice ring to it.

Btw, I also did three new maps this week: the Ghul tunnels, a warehouse, and a secret laboratory. Maps are kind of boring to show on a blog so I’ll just include two other images: Jon Fletcher (sans facial hair) and Rex Kazak’s mug shot. I thought about including a photo of Barbara Bennett getting out of a limo without wearing any underwear, but the Wife said “No.”

SuTech the Destroyer!

2009-04-13T17:17:00.006-05:00

Per Matt’s suggestion over at the Dwarf and the Basilisk, I did a new render of Jon Fletcher (one of the main characters in Scent of Decay) to make him look less sinister (and more cute and cuddly). I also did a render of Barbara Bennett (see below), and the SuTech office building. The latter is a corporation specializing in nano technology, and Jon Fletcher’s employer. The word SuTech is a play on the name Sutekh, which is the god of chaos in ancient Egyptian mythology. Sutekh was also featured in one of my all-time favorite Dr. Who episodes, Pyramids of Mars.

I sent Matt a copy of the Scent of Decay synopsis over the weekend and he suggested that I add some additional plot structure to act as a red herring for players. Unfortunately, this got my mind racing, which ultimately left me awake until 2 AM last night. D’oh! Eventually, I came up with a side plot that explains why Barbara had the brain hemorrhage that killed her. It involves a Vogar drug cartel called Cerberus and a fashionable nightclub called the Dancing Jackal. Keen-eyed readers of my posting from April 5th may’ve noticed that the mortician looks like Anubis, the jackal-headed guardian of the dead. Just a hint: every successful drug cartel needs someone who can get rid of a body without raising suspicions . . .

Easter Sale!

2009-04-10T14:11:00.002-05:00

For the month of April I’m running an Easter sale! Click HERE to get a coupon code to buy the Imperium Chronicles Basic Rules for a whopping 50% off! Yaaaah! Woot!!

Okay, too much coffee . . .

Yesterday I defeated my nemesis, Captain Writer’s Block, and wrote the full synopsis for Scent of Decay. This was a good start for the module since it gives a thorough outline of how the adventure is supposed to pan out. On the other hand, I’m writing the rest of the module in a more asymmetrical way since I know players don’t usually like to follow a plot from A to B to C. They have a nasty habit of going to C first and then getting some Starbucks in between. Darn you, Players!

Special thanks to Matt over at Dwarf and the Basilisk for writing a review of Monster Menagerie. I appreciate his kind words of support. If you don’t normally read his blog, you should bookmark it. He always has something interesting to say (unlike me).

City of the Dead

2009-04-05T14:25:00.003-05:00

Monster Menagerie is now on sale! The money and accolades are now pouring in (mostly from my Mother). I’ve also uploaded the newest version of the Basic Rules (1.0.2), which includes new artwork and some minor typo corrections. I’m doing my best to improve the game as I go along, so hopefully people will appreciate that.

Speaking of which, I’ve also started writing my new adventure module, Scent of Decay. I’ve also rendered some new pictures (see below). The first one is of a Vogar who works as the mortician where Barbara Bennett’s body disappeared. I used a Vogar (the canine race) because Anubis, the Egyptian guardian of the Dead, has the head of a jackal (dog). The second image is a crypt. Notice the door is slightly ajar . . .

Speaking of Egypt, the city where all the action takes place is called El’Arafa. This is named after an actual place in Egypt called the City of the Dead or just “the cemetery.” I’ve already started on the city map for El’Arafa. Just like the map of Regalis in the Basic Rules, I took the map of a real city and then flipped it to make it less recognizable. In the case of El’Arafa, I used the city of Paris. For Dr. Who fans, you may remember the story called City of Death which takes place in, you guessed it, Paris! I thought this would be a cool reference, even if most people wouldn’t get it. Just one of the many things I do to amuse myself . . .

Scent of Decay

2009-03-29T14:35:00.002-05:00

Besides putting the final touches on Monster Menagerie, I’ve been doing research for the next supplement, an adventure module called Scent of Decay. It has a very Lovecraft/Night Gallery feel to it, combining both horror and science fiction. Without ruining the surprise, it includes zombies, but with a sci-fi twist. It’s actually a concept I’ve thought about for many years, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to actually use it.

The adventure revolves around a missing fiancée, or to be more exact, her dead body. Her father (a retired admiral) and her fiancé (a talented scientist) hire the characters to find her and bring the body snatchers to justice. In the process, the players will discover that the fiancée was not the only cadaver stolen, which leads to an even deeper mystery.

Yesterday and today I did a couple renders for the father and fiancé (see below). The father was especially tricky because my usual “sketch” style of art didn’t work very well since it made his wrinkles disappear (making him look younger than I wanted). So, I had to resort to some photoshop tricks, which I’m not entirely happy with. On the other hand, I think the fiancé came out pretty well. He’s an egotistical scientist who thinks he’s god’s gift to the universe (much like myself).

It's All Downhill From Here . . .

2009-03-17T13:24:00.003-05:00

As some of you know, I turned 40 over the weekend. Now that I’m officially over the hill, it’s occurred to me how few naps I have left in my life. This has left me both sad and somewhat sleepy.

I didn’t take my birthday off from working on my game, however. In fact, I spent much of the day working on a cover image for the Basic Rules. The current cover doesn’t have any artwork except the Imperium Chronicles logo. I originally wanted it that way to have a clean and simplified look. After doing other products, each with cover art, I’ve decided that the Basic Rules needed something too. So, on Saturday, after a couple of hours of frustration, cursing, and laying under my desk in a fetal position, I came up with the picture below. It’s somewhat generic, but I’m happy with it (because I’m a generic kind of guy).

As for today, I created a new render of the Akiak race for the Introduction of the Basic Rules. The one I had before used a Tiger image, but I wasn’t pleased with how it looked. For one thing, he was naked and nobody wants to see a naked Akiak running around. So yesterday I downloaded some clothes for the model I’m using. I chose some clothes that had an Egyptian theme because the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats so I thought that was apropos. Anyway, the second image shows what it looks like. I think it’s an improvement over the Tiger one.

Watching the Watchmen

2009-03-11T13:59:00.005-05:00

The Wife and I went to see Watchmen Monday afternoon. It had a lot more graphic violence and nudity than the original comic, so in other words, it was totally AWSOME. If you haven’t read the comic, I think the movie might be confusing for some. It’s possibly the most complex superhero movie I’ve ever seen, but I think necessarily so due to the subject matter. Btw, the Wife liked it too, even better than Mamma Mia!

Besides working on Monster Menagerie, I’ve been upgrading some of the images in the Basic Rules. I totally redid the artwork (except for crests) in the Introduction, including the playable races. Frankly, my artistic abilities are limited, but I’ve definitely improved since the Basic Rules first came out. I really like doing renders, even though I realize it’s merely a superficial part of the book.

That's One Ugly Muse

2009-03-05T16:06:00.003-06:00

Since it’s unseasonably warm today, shirts are now optional here at the Imperium Headquarters. Pants, however, are still required, especially among the editing staff (AKA the Wife).

I finally got an image for the cover (see below). I’ve been trying to come up with something for a while, but it wasn’t until I downloaded a new 3d model that I found my muse. In this case, my muse is a six-eyed monster with big teeth and a long tongue. The original render I did for the creature came out so well that I decided to do one for the cover too. It took several tries before I was happy, but the end product looks pretty good (at least to me).

Now that I’m getting closer to finishing Monster Menagerie, I also have a better idea of which areas need additional images. These are the white spaces at the end of sections, etc., that would look too empty if left alone. So, I’ve been trying different ideas over the last couple of days. Most of them sucked, leaving me in a deep funk. However, after a false start today, I came up with one that’s kick-ass. It features two reptiles with the image of a dragon behind them (see below).

Just as an update, I need another seven monsters before I’m done with the General Creatures section. That leaves just the New Abilities section left to finish, so I’m right on schedule.

Gelatinous Bob

2009-02-26T15:05:00.003-06:00

I finished the NPC section of Monster Menagerie yesterday. It features five new NPCs, including a new character named Gelatinous Bob. I like Bob because he’s my homage to Jabba the Hutt, and he has a belly larger than mine (which is nice). As you can see from the render below, Bob’s a cross between a toad and god knows what else, with a little Buddha thrown in. He’s officially a bail bondsman, but he’s really a loan shark who lends money from “Bob’s Bank.” That last part is a reference to a Steve Martin routine I heard many, many years ago (although I could be remembering it wrong in which case it’s a reference to nothing at all).

I’m very happy with how Bob’s render came out. I actually did at least three separate renders, but the lighting looked all wrong. I then realized I could remove the roof of the dojo prop I was using, which made all the difference in the world. You can actually see the shadows from the rafters in the image below (after the roof was removed and the light could shine in). I enjoy using shadows a lot, perhaps due to the darkness recesses of my mind . . .

So, now that the NPC section is done, that leaves the Minor Races section (which is about 90% done) and the Creatures and New Skills/Ability sections (50% and 25% done respectively). It’s important that I try publishing new stuff every 2-3 months so I can maintain visibility (and continue earning income). If things continue the way they are now, Menagerie should “hit the shelves” in another month.

Damn You, Dweezil!

2009-02-21T13:06:00.004-06:00

I’ve added four of the five minor races to Monster Menagerie over the last few days, including the Tor and Klixians from the Destination: Rochan sourcebook. I have no plans to go back to writing the sourcebook, actually, but I will use those materials elsewhere. In fact, all of the creatures and races from Destination: Rochan are going into Menagerie. As for the Tor and the Klixians, I’ve changed them a little from the sourcebook. The Klixians, for example, are now a xenophobic race of anal retentive insects bent on purifying the universe of all those other “filthy” races -- beware of an insectoid carrying a dust pan and a plasma rifle.

By the way, I’ve also decided to change the name of the Drazil (the “Lizardmen”). I never liked the name in the first place, perhaps because it reminded me too much of Dweezil Zappa. So, I played around with the letters (which spell out Lizard) and came up with Z’radil, which I like better. Also, you can tell it’s an alien race because of the apostrophe. ;-)

So I got a very nice email from a customer. He was having trouble using a coupon I sent out (due to my stupidity), so I sent him a new coupon that would actually work. He replied that “It is certainly uncommon in this day and age to receive such a high degree of attentiveness over something that most people would consider a trivial.” This really made me feel good, because, believe it or not, I don’t get a lot of feedback from my customer base. I really work hard to create quality products for people, so it’s nice to hear back from them from time to time.

Anyway, here are two new renders of the Tor (included in the new supplement) for viewing enjoyment:

Friday the 13th Sux

2009-02-16T15:18:00.004-06:00

I hope everybody had a good Valentine’s Day. I gave the Wife a blue Ninja bobblehead (which may or may not be a colorful euphemism). The rest of the weekend, however, was nothing but an exercise in frustration, starting with Friday the 13th [insert ominous music here]. Basically, I was having a lot of trouble with Poser crashing or freezing up. Friday, I only got two renders done, and the second one (see female below) took me most of the day. I couldn’t get the textures to work first, and then once I got that done, Poser froze up. It took until the evening before I got an image I could use.

Then, on Sunday, I got some work done in Word, which was fine, but when I tried to do more renders, Poser crapped up again. To add insult to injury, this afternoon, I checked that final render and realized I had stupidly done it at the wrong resolution, so I had to do it yet AGAIN. Gaarrrrrr . . .

So, I did what any normal person would do: I went back to bed.

However, after getting up, I redid the render (which I’m calling Captain Ramsey) and it seemed to work okay. I’m just hoping the rest of the week won’t suck as much as the last few days.

Anyway, the following renders are 1) Magnus Black and 2) Sylvia Flax (both appeared in my Magnus Black short story). And 3) Captain Ramsey, who appeared in the Prologue of my graphic novel Alexander the Prince. All three will be featured as NPCs in the Monster Menagerie supplement:

The Blood Prince

2009-02-12T16:19:00.003-06:00

Since Deck Plans went live on Friday, I’ve been very happy with the sales so far. It looks to me that even people who haven’t bought the Basic Rules are buying the supplement. I guess the sample deck plans I included are generic enough that people can use them in whatever sci-fi campaign they’re running. With that in mind, I sent an email to everybody who tried my free Imperium Grab Bag and told them about the new supplement. I’m hoping some of them will want to buy it.

The first image below is the render I did this morning. It’s one of the Drazil (or “Lizardmen”), a reptilian minor race. They work as mercenaries for crime syndicates and megacorporations. They have a bad reputation, especially for their habit of eating parts of a prisoner while interrogating him. As for the render, I’m fairly happy with how it came out, although the Wife didn’t like it as much (“Go do your own renders, Lady!”).

The other render is the Dökk boss, which I’m calling a Blood Prince. Each group of Dökk is called a Brood, and each brood is led by a Blood Prince. I did three different renders of the prince before I got one that I liked. The finished render has a definite Dracula vibe, though the Dökk are not actually vampires. Blood sucking is more of a hobby . . .

Deck Plans Now on Sale!

2009-02-09T14:58:00.005-06:00

Friday, my first Imperium Chronicles supplement, Deck Plans, went on sale! Coincidentally, I got the print version in the mail that day too, so I made that available also. The print one looks pretty good, although I’m not very happy with how much Lulu.com charges for full color. Since the deck plans wouldn’t look very good in black & white, I felt compelled to offer the supplement in color (for the print version that is). However, due to the printing costs, it’s almost prohibitively expensive to buy. On the other hand, the downloaded version is fairly short (24 pages), so I think plenty of people will be able to simply print it out on their own color printers.

Today I’ve been rendering like crazy. I got several new 3D models so I’ve been creating images for the creatures they represent. One of them (see below) is a new minor race called the Lutin. They are also called Hobgoblins due to their green skin and nasty demeanor. Basically, the Lutins are slave traders who smuggle slaves across the border into Magna territory. They also take them to planets within the Imperium that are too poor to buy robots (the de facto slaves of the Empire). They are pretty bad guys, so I’m hoping players will enjoy fighting them. ;-)

The other image below is a Siren. The Siren creature is grotesque, but (like the story from the Odyssey) sings a song that charms men into believing she’s beautiful (even without beer goggles).

Here are two sample images. The first is the Lutin (Hobgoblin) and the other is the Siren:

Naked Elf Women (Not Really)

2009-02-02T15:24:00.003-06:00

The Deck Plans supplement is just about done. Actually, it is done, but I’m waiting until this weekend to release it since Saturday is a high volume day on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Just one of the things I’ve learned since joining the capitalist elite. I’m also offering a print version, but I’m waiting until I get the sample copy in the mail before I make it available (just to make sure it looks okay).

Now that the Deck Plans are done, I’ve turned my attention to my next project, which I’m calling Monster Menagerie. My goal is to include 30-40 new creatures, 3-4 new minor races, and some NPCs. I may also include some factions too, perhaps the ones I featured in the Grab Bag.

Speaking of minor races, the Dökk will be included. I was looking for some clothes for them (at least the female) and found the one below. The Wife thought it made her look a little slutty, but then I reminded her that “sex sales.” Also, since I had already bought the outfit, I was “damn well going to use it!” The Wife appreciates my business sense . . .

Btw, I’ve also been thinking about an adventure featuring the Dökk, which I’m calling The Crimson Kiss. I sketched out a few details for the adventure, but I’m not sure when I’ll be working on it . . .

To Bite or Not to Bite

2009-01-27T15:11:00.001-06:00

Perhaps it’s fitting that on a dark and dreary day I’ve been thinking more about the Dökk. I wrote this quick blurb: “Some view the Dökk as only myth, but seasoned starfarers know that the black ships of the Shadow Fleet are all too real.” I picture them appearing without warning out of the abyss of space to attack vessels, and then disappearing again before help can arrive. I would like there to be some mystery about them, such as where they come from and their relation to the Dahl race. I thought about perhaps Dahl explorers who got cut off from the rest of their people and devolved into something sinister.

As you can see from the render in my previous post (and the new one below), they have vampire-like teeth. I don’t want the Dökk to be actual vampires (i.e.: undead), but I like the idea of them needing to drink blood. Instead of living underground (which is typical of dark elves in literature and games), my Dökk would live predominately in space, either in their ships or on a hidden space station (orbiting a dead planet). It’s a fact that animals that live without much sunlight have trouble producing red blood cells (and hemoglobin). Perhaps that’s why the Dökk would need to attack ships -- to feed on new victims.

I also picture them has using stealth a lot (including their ships). They would be adept at attacking from hiding (in space and on land), and then escaping. Due to their lack of hemoglobin, they would tend to be weaker than even their Dahl brethren, so they would need to pick their battles well to avoid injury or death.

Again, these are the thoughts I’m having (although I may want to turn on my Daylight lamp before I sink my teeth into the Wife’s neck). ;-)

She Looks Like My Prom Date . . .

2009-01-25T15:32:00.004-06:00

I noticed yesterday that Daz3d.com was having a sale on some of 3d models I’ve been eyeing (here and here), so I snapped them up. Since I’m currently unemployed, I’d been hesitant to spend much money, but the deal was too good to pass up!

I wanted the model s because I can use them for both the Vogar and the Akiak races in my game. Although the previous model s were okay, I felt they needed an upgrade. The new ones give me a lot more variety, and they look pretty badass (much like myself):
Today I did the render below of a new minor race for my game. Based on the Dark Elves/Drow of fantasy fiction, my version is called the Dökk (based on the Old Norse word Dökkálfar, meaning "dark elf"). This is actually one of several minor races I’d like to include in the supplement after the current one I’m working on. It’ll have new creatures, races, and NPCs (essentially an expansion of Chapter 6 of the Basic Rules). Of course, I’m not done with the Deck Plans supplement yet, but it never hurts to plan ahead. ;-)

Mad Art Skillz!

2009-01-23T12:07:00.003-06:00

Sorry it’s been awhile. I had to wait until the Wife recovered from proofreading my last post. She’d fallen into a boredom coma and had a “do not resuscitate” clause. I’m hopeful this time I can be more entertaining. ;-)

The deck plans supplement is going well. I’m at least halfway done, if not more. The last few days I’ve been doing artwork, and I’ve been experimenting with a new style. Basically, I’m using the sketch render functionality in Poser 7, and mixing that with a regular render. I’m still debating whether this new style is any better (or worse) than a regular render. However, since a recent review was badmouthing my wicked art skillz, I’ve been obsessing about it. Here are some samples. Please comment on what you think of them, but remember any tomatoes you throw will be hitting your own monitor:

Method to the Madness

2009-01-12T17:52:00.003-06:00

The deck plans continue to go well, although I’ve run into issues with some of them. Usually this is solved by just walking away for a while or taking a nap. Since walking away sounds too much like exercise, I prefer the napping strategy.

I thought I’d talk about how I create each plan. It’s pretty dry stuff, but someone might find it useful. FYI, I got the original idea from Section IV of this article written by Randy Tyler.

First, using the volumes of each component, I create boxes in Photoshop. In the image, I have a grid of squares so each box will be consistently sized.

Next, I start arranging the different component boxes in the general shape of the ship. To figure out exactly what the ship will be shaped as, I usually take the top-down silhouette of a vaguely ship-shaped object. (For example, the Lembu Cargo Barge plans are actually in the shape of a grav car (page 93, Basic Rules) that I’ve turned 180 degrees.) I can then take that shape and shrink or enlarge it to fit all the different components.

After making a rough arrangement of the components, I start drawing in the bulkheads and other interior walls. At this time, I also include other compartments like airlocks, storage areas, etc. Then I add hatches and doorways.

Finally, to make the plans more visually pleasing, I add color to the major components, using a consistent color scheme. For example, avionics (computers, radars, and comm systems) are green, while thrusters and drives are orange.

So that’s the basic method I use. It actually goes very quickly once you do it a couple of times. I’ve been able to complete about one deck plan per day this way.

Speaking of the Lembu, here’s what it currently looks like. Keep in mind that it’s a cargo barge, so most of the hull is empty inside (for all the cargo containers):

People Love Free Stuff!!

2009-01-08T15:53:00.001-06:00

I put the Imperium Grab Bag on DriveThruRPG a few days ago and it’s been “selling” like hot cakes. Who knew that giving away free stuff would be so popular? It’s a good way to create awareness about my game, but only if people actually buy my game as a result. Right now that’s still an open question.

The deck plans I’ve been working on lately are going very well. I’ve completed three so far (Rapier Class Fighter, Ballista Class Missile Boat, and a Rambler Class Freighter) and I’m currently working on a fourth: Daemon Class Merchant Raider (all from Chapter 8 of the Basic Rules). So far, the deck plans have been pretty symmetrical, but I’d really like to throw in one or two asymmetrical ones just to irritate people like my Wife whose Germanic heritage rails against anything without right angles.

Here’s one of the deck plans (the Missile Boat):
In the review I mentioned in the last post, the writer commented on one of the problems that goes with the 3e d20 rules: namely that high level characters have such high skill values that most rolls become a joke. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about modifying the skill rules a little to help alleviate some of that problem. Instead of putting an unlimited number of ranks (although capped by the current XP level) into a particular skill, I’d like to divide each skill into five “tiers”, each worth a +2 modifier. Each tier would cost skill points (first tier equals one point, second tier costs two points, etc.) up to the fifth tier, which would act as a cap (giving the character a maximum of +10 for that skill). Also, characters could only buy one tier per XP level. In other words, after reaching a new XP level, the player could only buy the next tier for a skill (not multiple tiers). Anyway, it’s just an idea for now, but I’m looking at ways I can improve the game moving forward.

The Grab Bag is Now Open!

2009-01-04T15:00:00.000-06:00

I published the Imperial Grab Bag and announced it on several sites. There’s nothing like giving things away for free to attract a crowd (just ask Paris Hilton -- No he didn’t!). Ahem, yes, well I’ve had quite a few people came to the main site and even to this lowly blog/news page. With that in mind, I will try to keep my usual foul language to a minimum (daggumit!).

Now that the Grag Bag is out there, I’m working on another supplement about starship construction. When I wrote the Starship chapter in the Basic Rules, I wanted to make a system that would allow GMs and players to create new ships quickly, without bogging them down with too many restrictions. I did this by using the concept of “slots” for each hull size. Shipwrights could then just plug in the components they wanted based on their sizes. I’m pretty proud of the system, but it’s not really designed to take into account exact volumes (which are required if you want to create deck plans). So, I’ve been busy assigning sizes (in standard 1.5 meter squares) for each component. I completed that a few days ago and since then, I’ve been drawing deck plans to see how well the sizes work. For the most part I’ve been happy with the results. In short, the method in the Basic Rules still stands, but this new supplement will act as a loose guideline. Btw, I’m undecided whether I’ll try selling this new supplement or give it away for free like the Grab Bag.

So, I was reading a review about my game recently and it said that it was hard to put Imperium Chronicles into a particular genre. It said there was a mixture of hard and soft sci-fi, cyberpunk, and even fantasy elements to my game. While the review seemed to suggest this was a bad thing, or at least “diluting” the overall game, I don’t agree. Perhaps it’s because I’m a very eclectic person (i.e.: I love both ABBA and Metallica equally), but I purposely mixed genres when I was writing the game. I love to mix and match and include whatever catches my eye. I can definitely see why some would not like this, but for me, it gives a richer experience, not a weaker one.

Pies for Peace

2008-12-29T13:59:00.002-06:00

We’ve been out of town for Christmas, visiting my dear ol’ Mum. There was food-a-plenty there, and lots of the usual drinking and fisticuffs. The best part was the sweet potato pie that the Wife made. I think the world would be a better place if conflicts would be resolved by giving each other pie.

While I was driving back home from the holidays, I began to wonder why I haven’t been working much on Destination: Rochan. Part of it is writer’s block, but also I think I’m just getting sick of the whole sourcebook. I’ve been researching and working on it for what seems like forever and I’ve reached that magical sweet spot called burnout. Even before leaving town, I had started on something I call the Imperial Grab Bag. It’s a collection of material that I’ve created that didn’t get included in the rule book or any of the other products I’ve published. The content is pretty miscellaneous, which is why I’m giving it away for free, but I hope people will still find it useful. As for Destination: Rochan, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it in the short term. I might work on more of these small projects in the meantime.

Some of the things I’m including in the Grab Bag are a few more factions. One faction is called the Butcher Boys, which is a pirate clan I introduced in my Magnus Black: Born in the Grave story. To go along with the faction description, I’ve created an emblem for them with the typical pirate skull, but instead of crossbones, I’m using two cleavers (butcher knives). Here’s how it looks:

DaCo II on Sale; World Domination to Follow

2008-12-20T14:39:00.002-06:00

Dark Corridors II went on sale this week, and on that day my usual self loathing was replaced with happiness and a sense of fulfillment. Actually, I was pleased with how it came out, although I’m glad I went through it one last time because I discovered I had forgotten a whole set of walls (oops). In all, DaCo 2 came out to be 38 pages and 42 MB. However, I’m selling it dirt cheap so I’m hoping people will buy it. Most people nowadays are snowed in so why not play Imperium Chronicles with paper miniatures? Don’t ask questions -- just do it!!

I also started advertising on a miniatures website called The Miniatures Page. They have news blurbs on products and companies that sell miniatures and they’ve been very nice about posting stuff about my work. The thing I really lacked for advertising, however, was a good banner ad. I’d created one before for RPG.net, but I wasn’t very happy with the ad. So, I sat down and tried yet again and I think it came out a lot better (Note: My animated gif doesn't seem to work on Blogger, so here's the unanimated one):

Finally, for the last couple of days I’ve been back to work on Destination: Rochan. As you know, I’ve been procrastinating like a son-of-a-bitch and haven’t gotten much done lately. My Wife suggested I might be worried about failure, and I think she’s right. It’s one thing to work on my rules for two years largely in a vacuum, but now that it’s out there and getting reviewed, I’m subconsciously worried about how people view my work. Creation is a personal experience, so criticism (depending on the severity) can be personal too. However, it’s important not to let things get to me too much, but it can be hard. I’m a sensitive person after all. ;-)

My Muse: Procrastination

2008-12-15T17:23:00.003-06:00

After two weeks of hard work, I’m almost done with Dark Corridors II. I’ve been really busy too -- working several hours each day. Nothing like procrastination (i.e.: NOT working on Destination: Rochan) to get stuff done!

What shocked me today, however, was the size of the PDF. The original Dark Corridors was 8 MBs to download, but the new one was a whopping 44 MBs! That’s because this time I’m using images at 300 dpi, so they’re bigger files, plus there are more pages, so that adds even more. To trim things down a little, I reduced the number of wall sets from 6 to 5 and then reduced the size of the floors from 6x9 to 6x6. That knocked the size of the PDF down to 36 MBs. It’s still pretty big, but I think people will appreciate the quality of the images.

Over the weekend, I printed out some of the new walls and mounted them on foam board. I then had the Wife take some photos, so I can use them on the DriveThru RPG site. I’m hoping that if people see how the walls look in practice, they might be more interested in buying it. I didn’t do that with the original Dark Corridors and I think that was a mistake. Here are a couple of the photos, including miniatures from my Cardboard Citizens product:

More Paper Walls

2008-12-12T16:29:00.002-06:00

Since my last post, I’ve been very busy, but not with the sourcebook. I got sick of the writer’s block so I switched to a different project, one that doesn’t involve writing. I’m calling it Dark Corridors 2. Like the original, the sequel features paper walls to be used with miniatures. I’ve made some improvements in this case, however, including a higher resolution (300 dpi) and greater variety. I’ve also included columns and even graffiti. For the latter, I added graffiti from games or shows I like. For example, “Kill Skuls” comes from the City of Heroes MMO, while the alien lettering comes from Futurama (which reads “Drink Slurm!” and “Kill All Humans!”. Here’s what one of the walls looks like (note that their supposed to be folded, etc), including the writing on the wall (so to speak):

It was suggested recently that I set up forums for my game. Back when I was trying to turn Imperium into an online game, I had forums, but they were hardly used. I’m concerned that history would repeat itself if I tried again with my pen and paper game. On the other hand, I could open the forum up to other things as well, including prose and artwork (since those were the basis of the game in the first place). We’ll see what happens. :-)

Drinking the Al Stewart Kool-aid

2008-12-07T12:58:00.003-06:00

Friday, we drove up to my Mom’s house to help set up her Christmas decorations (and get her new laptop working). Normally during these long drives, I take the time to think about my game. In this case, however, I mostly just listened to my wife’s Al Stewart CD. I must be brainwashed because I’m starting to actually like it. I guess I should be glad that she didn’t play her other favorites: Outhouse or Toad the Red Sprocket.

It’s hard to explain my exasperation during my current writer’s block. I’ve been trying to write the chapters of Destination: Rochan, but nothing is flowing. Of course, I can write other things (like this blog) and everything is flowing fine. Thus, my frustration. I’m beginning to second-guess myself about the whole sourcebook itself. I’m wondering if it’s too unfocused and whether I would’ve been better served to work on a single adventure supplement instead. My wife says not to second guess myself (since that’s her job), but those are the thoughts that creep in when I’m trying to fall asleep at night.

Since I’m currently unemployed, I’ve noticed that my creativity in general has decreased. I work in a technical field (software testing), and I’ve noticed that when the technical side of my brain is stimulated, my creative side kicks into gear. It seems that if I don’t keep my scientific side functioning, my artsy side takes a long nap. Perhaps I need to do some math problems . . .

Thanks, Matt!

2008-12-03T12:49:00.004-06:00

First off, I’d like to thank Matt over at The Dwarf and the Basilisk. A while back he wrote a review of Imperium Chronicles on his site, and yesterday he was nice enough to reprint it on DriveThru RPG where my game is sold. Thanks, Matt, for doing that. I truly appreciate it!!

So today marks the semi-annual Hurt-Myself-While-Sleeping Event! I once again woke up with a pain in the neck (literally) that only goes to show that growing old suuuuucks! I’m beginning to think that the Logan’s Run method is the best way to go. On the other hand, if that was the case, we’d never get to meet an embarrassingly old Peter Ustinov and get to touch his wrinkled face (Ewwwww).

Last week I took a break to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and Tryptophan-induced naps, but I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things since then. I wrote the Introduction to Destination: Rochan, largely rewriting the rough draft I had written previously. I’m having some problems with writer’s block, so hopefully I can get through that soon. Yesterday, I created the graphic below that shows the Edon system, including the planets. It’s not exactly to scale, but it’s close enough to demonstrate what planets are in the system, etc. Note, the image here is a reduced resolution so it doesn't look as good as the print version would:

Quittin' Time

2008-11-26T15:23:00.002-06:00

Actually, just my day job, not Imperium Chronicles. I told them to “take this job and shove it” on Monday and I’m pretty happy about it. While I take some time off from the rat race, I plan to focus more on Destination: Rochan. To that end, today I created the bare bones of what will be the actual sourcebook document. Before I just had my notes and sections of text (on Google Docs), but today I started the Word document in which all that content will eventually appear. No, I don’t have anything fancy like QuarkXPress or InDesign, although through Wikipedia, I just found out about an open source program called Scribus, which I should probably investigate. In the meantime, I’m just using Word in all its mediocre greatness. ;-)

For the document, I needed a cover graphic, so I spent much of the morning working on that. As you can see below, it has the planet plus some nebulous-looking clouds. Originally there was a different star field, but I wasn’t happy with how it looked. Also, since the main star for the Rochan system is very large and very close to the planet, I was playing around with including it as well. However, it dominated the picture too much, taking focus away from the planet, so I dropped that idea.

Lastly, I’ve been trying to drum up traffic by emailing other RPG bloggers and seeing if they wanted to exchange links on our respective blogrolls. I’ve also applied for inclusion on the RPG Bloggers site. I sent complimentary copies of the Chronicles to the writers on the site, so I’m hoping I can be included there.

Feedback Please!

2008-11-21T10:30:00.003-06:00

I’d like to take this opportunity to ask people who have bought my game (or who simply have questions about it) to let me know what you think of it. Please post a comment here or, if you’d prefer to email, drop me a line at feedback@imperiumonline.com. At this point, about the only comments I’ve gotten are a few reviews (some that were positive and others that weren’t). I’m really interested in hearing what you all have to say. Actually, if you just want to say “hi,” that’s okay too. So lonely . . . ;-)

Here’s a partial map of Zakros (just showing the city). Each square is about 30 meters and the water to the East is the Undersea (although most of it is cut off in this image):

And, just for fun, I did a mosaic of a Tor Elder. I’m not sure it looks all that good, but I thought I’d show it off anyway:

Don't Ask Your Wife Whether You're an Idiot

2008-11-19T10:34:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, I’m a proponent for spending a lot of time creating content and then deciding not to use it. I do this, as most of you also know and the Wife can confirm, because I’m an IDIOT!! Case in point: I created a map for Zakros. Only after doing so did I realize that it’s entirely too small to be a city. Although I could still use the map by somehow turning it into something else, after realizing my mistake the map became dead to me. To a somewhat lesser extent, I also spent a lot of time working on a map for the Undersea, but since it wasn’t really part of either the Klixians or the Tor, it felt extraneous and I decided not to use it. However, in this case I didn’t throw it away completely. I decided to take the Undersea map and fill in half of it with land and use that space for Zakros. The rest of the map will remain an underground sea (albeit half its original size). This allowed me to create a city that was believably sized while also using the Undersea map. Of course, all of this meant doing a lot of additional work, which could’ve been avoided if I simply planned things better.

In other news, I created a new map called the Elders’ Sanctum. This is part of Zakros, but is much smaller than the original map I had created (but serves the same purpose, namely, the home of the Tor Elders).

Last week, I also worked on robots and creatures for the sourcebook. This included examples for the Tor, Klixian, and the Tagus Miners. Each one is actually a set of three different NPCs. In other words, for the Klixians, there’s the Worker, Warrior, and the Noble. For the Tagus Miners, there’s the Miner, Guard, and Foreman. Each has its own stats and level range.

What’s next? Well, I plan to create the Klixian diamond mine, which I’m currently calling Firedeep. Of course, I’ll probably make the entire map and then decide to abandon it, but that’s only because I’m an IDIOT!! ;-)

Don't Make Me Go Biblical!

2008-11-11T14:46:00.005-06:00

A cold rain’s-a-fallin’ outside, but at least I’m working from home today. The company where I work laid off half their staff on Friday, but I’m still employed for now. Also, my sister got laid off from her job yesterday. Gotta love the holiday season!

I’m more or less done with the map for Rochan. I added the last few regional names, using a middle-eastern theme (or the Holy Land as my father would call it). Why this theme? Well, I decided on the name Edom for the star (a red giant) that Rochan revolves around. Edom was the twin brother of Jacob in the Old Testament, but the name is also Hebrew for red. So, while I was finding names for regions of Rochan, I kept up the biblical theme. In fact, if you go to the wiki link above, you’ll see two words (Negev and Shasu) on the page, both of which I used for names on my map. I’m nothing if not lazy . . .

Here’s the map as it stands now. Of course, I might shift things around later:

I also downloaded the model for the Klixians and did a few practice renders. The textures for the model are a bit dark and problematic in places. There’s some dappled light on the textures which is very distracting. I can turn it off in most spots so that’s not too bad, but for some of the renders, I found it difficult to make out surface features. Overall though, I think I can make it work. Here’s what I did so far:

We Dig It!!

2008-11-07T13:17:00.004-06:00

I’ve been surprisingly productive lately. I say surprising because I’m really quite lazy by nature. However, over the last few days I’ve completed the main layout of the underground Tor city (called Zakros), created the logo for Tagus Mines, and did a couple more renders of Tor warriors.

For the Tor city, I’ve been struggling with what Zakros should look like. I’m not sure how I came up with it, but I started thinking of concentric circles. That evolved into three concentric squares with the edges consisting of long hallways. As you travel from the outer halls into the inner halls, you actually travel deeper underground. Here’s a composite view that shows the three rings together. For the actual sourcebook, however, each ring will be shown separately on its own map:

The Tagus Mines logo was something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Yesterday I took those ideas and created the logo in Photoshop. I wanted it to look like something a company would actually use, including a tag line (in the usual horrible marketing style). Although my wife pointed out that the logo looked like a letter T wearing a blazer, I decided to keep it. In fact, if I ever create a hammerhead shark super hero, I may use the logo for that too. ;-)

Lastly, I did a couple more Tor renders, using some clothing I bought from Daz3d.com. As you can see, they look Romanesque or Greek. Since I’ve based a lot of the Tor society on the Minoan culture, I wanted their dress to follow the same theme. My wife suggested that they actually look like they’re wearing dresses, but I insisted those are tunics. She remains unconvinced.

Can we get on with our lives now?

2008-11-05T10:55:00.002-06:00

Let me just say that I hate politics. I hate it, hate it, hate it! Oh, how I hate it so!!

Having said that, I should point out that Imperium Chronicles is full of politics (at least where factions are concerned). Each group is out to better their position, often at the expense of other groups. Many are, in fact, diametrically opposed. Why did I include this in the game? Mostly it’s because a good game, like a good story, needs conflict: a protagonist versus an antagonist. Also, I think it’s human nature to dislike each other, especially those who are in any way different than ourselves. Even if two people looked exactly alike and came from similar backgrounds in similar places, you can bet there’d be something that they’d dislike about each other. It’s why human history is full of fighting. Peace is not in our repertoire.

But enough about politics . . . did I mention how much I hate it?

I’ve written yet more on the Lions’ Den (the main camp of Tagus Mines on Rochan). One of the influences for this sourcebook has been the ’81 movie Outland starring Sean Connery. I saw it in the theatre as a kid and I’ve seen it a few times on TV since. I’ve always been struck by the cramped living conditions of the miners in the film and how they turned to drugs and prostitutes to cope. Since the miners on Rochan live entirely underground, almost never seeing the sky, their lives are very much like the ones in Outland. To that end, I’ve also included an underground shanty town in my sourcebook, full of all the vices one would expect on the frontier. This includes a large brothel called Digger’s Delight. This is run by an all-women crime syndicate called the Red Lotus (which I introduced in the Core Rule book). Ironically, the name Rochan is actually a hindu name meaning “red lotus”.

Next, I hope to turn my attention to the Tor capital city . . .

The Stygian Well

2008-10-29T12:27:00.001-05:00

After a few weeks of writing notes for the new sourcebook, I finally had to buckle down and start some actual writing. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of days. So far it’s going okay. I began with a brief history of Rochan and how the Tagus family came to pillage its riches. Today I talked about the main mining colony (called the Lions’ Den, named after the lion on the Tagus family crest). Most of the facility is underground, including the primary mining shaft that’s 50 meters wide and 8 kilometers deep. I call it the Stygian Well after the river Styx. Here’s a snippet:

“Also called the "Highway to Hell," the Stygian Well is the primary shaft for Tagus Mines and serves as the main artery from which dozens of other mines branch out. The top of the shaft is actually over a 100 meters below the dome of the Lions' Den and runs for over 8 kilometers straight down. Fifty meters wide, the sides of the shaft are lined by elevators and conveyers bringing material and personnel up and down the hole. Since most miners live for weeks in the actual mines they work, many of them don't make the long trip up the Stygian Well more than once a month at most.”

Meanwhile, I’ve also written a little for my short story “Ramus.” I still have no idea where the story will lead, so I may stop working on it until I can figure something out. However, for those interested, here’s what I wrote:

RAMUS – PART 2
( … Continued from the previous post)

The twilight landscape revealed little. Low hills dotted with fir trees. A river leading to a lake reflecting the gloomy sky. Finally, the rough outline of apartment blocks and warehouses. The pilot steered his craft in for the final approach. He saw other ships parked on the landing pads, huddled like beasts of burden. His freighter shuddered as the landing gear deployed and the vertical thrusters fired. The ship groaned, coming to rest.

The intercom crackled.

“Ray, you going out?” said a voice sounding like it came from a deep pit lined with gravel at the bottom.

“Yeah,” the pilot replied.

“Get me some smokes would ya?” the voice said. “And take that piece of shit in to get fixed. I left him – or what’s left of him – by the airlock.”

“Yeah.”

The pilot unbuckled his harness and swiveled the chair around to face the back of the cockpit. He grasped the rungs of a ladder, taking it down past the galley and sleeping racks. Two decks below the cockpit, he found a canvas bag sitting on the grating. A metallic foot attached to a leg protruded from the sack. The pilot took a coat off the wall and pulled it on, covering his head with a dark hood. He tapped a control panel and the door to the airlock hissed open. He went inside, grabbing the bag along the way. The airlock closed and the man waited while the pressure equalized with the atmosphere outside. In front of him was another hatch, this one with a red light above it. When it turned green, the man heard a locking mechanism clank and twirl, and the hatch opened to the outside world. He stepped through and felt the planet’s natural gravity take hold. A steady drizzle dappled the dusty tarmac.

He walked, a little unsteady at first, to the gate where a starport officer greeted him with a sour smile.

“Identification, please” the officer said.

The pilot pulled out an ID and showed it to the officer who scanned the bar code printed below the photo.

“Ramus?” the officer asked.

“Yes,” the pilot affirmed.

“Captain of the Starling?”

“That’s right.”

“Business or pleasure?”

“I’m looking for work,” Ramus told him.

“Well, good luck with that. It’ll help if you’re not too picky.”

Ramus

2008-10-24T09:17:00.001-05:00

I’ve had an idea for a short story recently, set in the Imperium. Technically, I only have an idea for the first part of the story and nothing for the rest, so that doesn’t bode well for me finishing it. However, the weather has been dark and cold for several days which play havoc with my mood, so I haven’t done much with the new game material. So, instead I’ve written a few paragraphs of the story (see below). It’s still in a rough state, but I don’t mind showing people my dirty laundry if they don’t mind reading potential crap. ;-) Anyway, the name of the story is Ramus, which happens to be my character’s name in Warhammer Online. It means branch in Latin, but I actually picked in for its phonetic quality (ie: I liked how it sounds).

RAMUS

A tramp freighter approached the upper atmosphere of a gray shrouded planet. A stream of particles trailed the engine nacelle where burnt pock marks discolored the fuselage. Inside the ship, a man sat in the cockpit. He looked cramped, crowded on either side with control panels and supplies lashed to the walls with elastic cords. His hair was a muddy blond, but his three-day beard was red except for the scar along his chin that burrowed through his whiskers. His eyes were a brilliant blue.

The ship lurched up as it plunged deeper into the atmosphere. The pilot corrected the trajectory and the pitching stopped. His attention turned back to the warning light that had been blinking steadily. It worried him, but he tended to worry. The lines in his face were testament to that.

In another time and another place, the pilot is a young man. He’s strapped into the tight cockpit of an Imperium fighter. His hand eagerly grasps the stick as he banks the ship to the right. A pirate marauder fills the HUD as target data scrolls up in green, translucent numbers. The pilot squeezes the trigger, releasing a stream of plasma blasts from the fighter’s nosecone. The marauder disappears into vapor and debris.

An orange glow filled the cockpit windows, but it was merely the ship burning through the heavier air. Before long, the glow was gone and droplets of rain began pelting the glass. The pilot checked the navigation console. It had already connected with the local traffic control grid. A series of yellow squares appeared on the window directly ahead, leading the pilot like a trail of breadcrumbs to the starport.

Dodging Dead Deer on the Hwy of Life

2008-10-21T14:51:00.004-05:00

When my wife and I go on car trips, we play a game called “Guess the Road Kill.” It’s not a very fun game (especially for the road kill), but at least it passes the time. Another thing I do (instead of listening to my wife) is thinking about my game. So, over the weekend, we drove to a little town called Hermann, Missouri and along the way I thought about Destination: Rochan. Although I wasn’t all that productive -- dodging dead deer can be distracting – I did manage a few ideas. For example, the main employer on Rochan is going to be called Tagus Mining Limited with a nice logo (not pictured here) and a catchphrase “We Dig It!” I also came up with a name for the main mining camp called Boonville. This is from a town we drove past which also happened to have a lot of XXX stores. Actually, Boonville will be the part of the camp containing the actual miners (the “dirty masses”) while the Tagus admin facilities will be called the Lions’ Den based on the lion on the Tagus family crest.

Last week I was also thinking more about the volcano on Rochan that I’ve named Mount Thera after a famous Greek island that blew apart 3,600 years ago. During my research, I found out that diamonds are brought to the surface from deep underground by lava, so I decided to use that for the game. Basically, I decided that the Klixians mine diamonds from beneath Mt. Thera and sell them to the Tagus Mining company. Tagus buys the diamonds because the Klixians will do the work more cheaply than Imperium workers. However, the Tor worship a fire/earth goddess who happens to live beneath Mt. Thera and thus they view any mining there to be sacrilegious (and another reason to hate the Klixians). Since the Imperials use the Tor as guides for their other mining, Tagus Mining Limited has to keep their diamond dealings secret. So to recap, I started with the idea of the diamonds and the rest organically grew from that.

Off topic: because I’m a nerd, I took a quiz about which kind of Dungeons & Dragons character I would be (see below). It’s from the site http://www.easydamus.com/character.html, but be warned: it’s a freakin’ long-ass quiz. Anyway, I saw the quiz on Matt’s blog, so thanks for bringing this nerdy goodness to my attention.

You Are A:

True Neutral Elf Wizard/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength- 11
Dexterity- 11
Constitution- 11
Intelligence- 14
Wisdom- 12
Charisma- 12

Alignment:
True Neutral- A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.

Primary Class:
Wizards- Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Secondary Class:
Sorcerers- Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
________________________________________

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXX (7)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXX (8)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Chaos --- XXXXXX (6)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Evil ---- X (1)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXX (4)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXX (8)
Halfling - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Orc - XXXX (4)

Class:
Barbarian - (-4)
Bard ------ (-2)
Cleric ---- (-6)
Druid ----- (0)
Fighter --- XX (2)
Monk ------ (-19)
Paladin --- (-23)
Ranger ---- XXXX (4)
Rogue ----- (-6)
Sorcerer -- XXXXXX (6)
Wizard ---- XXXXXX (6)

Change of Plans

2008-10-16T15:31:00.003-05:00

Forget what I said last time about the first labyrinth. In fact, it’s not even the first labyrinth. ;-) Not only did I discard my previous idea and go with a different one, I also switched its order to last (or third, for those keeping count). Basically, the first idea involved a bunch of connected rooms, but once I started thinking about how I would fill each chamber, I decided it was restricting me too much. I mean, I could put in traps or creatures, but that just seemed to limit the variety of what I could do. So, dejectedly, I laid down for a nap and came up with a fresh idea. Instead of connected rooms, I went with something that on the surface appears more conventional, namely just hallways and rooms (like any other dungeon). However, what I have in mind are a series of surprises that I hope will keep the players guessing to the end.

Today I was busy working on the second labyrinth, which consists of platforms surrounded by lava. Characters have to jump between these platforms without falling, or face certain death. To make things more interesting, some of the platforms are booby-trapped, including some that fall into the lava once someone lands on it. Others will have creatures (with ranged weapons) to attack the characters as they transverse the platforms. I call this a labyrinth because there is a safe “path,” but the characters will need to find it through trial and error.

I also revisited the side view of the Klixian home city Tholos today. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t very happy with it, and frankly I’m still not. However, I fired up Bryce and did some different mountains in the background and a different sky. I also tweaked the shading a bit, to give it more depth. It’s not great, but I think players will want to know what the city looks like from the side. Judge for yourself:

The Hive City

2008-10-13T14:05:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend I worked on one of the Tor labyrinths. Unlike a maze, which has many dead ends, a labyrinth is really a single path with many twists and turns. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking of three different labyrinths for the Tor capital. Each one leads deeper below the Rochan surface, eventually leading to the Council of Elders. This first labyrinth is a series of attached rooms winding its way to the exit. The characters will need to traverse these rooms one by one, dealing with whatever obstacles they find within.

In my last post I talked about the Klixian capital city. After doing some research, I decided to call the city Tholos, because of the beehive-shaped domes that make up the structure. Here’s the overhead view:

The city's buildings come in three sizes: large, medium, and small. The four medium domes are home to the four castes that make up Klixian society: workers, soldiers, priests, and nobility (including the Queen). Obviously these are based on insect society, especially bees and ants, but I came up with a twist on how a new queen is selected. Basically, the Queen has several daughters and when their mother dies, each one takes a special pill. One of the pills is harmless while the others are poisoned. Whoever survives the ritual becomes the next queen, while the rest perish. This “poison pill” ritual insures that the daughters don’t try to kill the Queen prematurely since the chance of dying during the succession ritual is pretty high.

Muse, Don't Fail Me Now

2008-10-04T14:49:00.008-05:00

I’ve been working on a laundry list of items for Destination: Rochan. Using the Lunar Cell plugin for Photoshop, I created images of Rochan itself. It took a lot of experimentation to capture the sense of desolation I was looking for, and the color palette that looked good to me. The great thing about Lunar Cell (and I recommend it highly), is that I can create a flattened version. I then take that and use another plugin (also from Flaming Pear) called Flexify 2 and make an equirectangular map (like the one on page 227 of the Basic Rules). Here’s what Rochan looks like from space:

I also bought the models for the Tor from Daz3d.com, and spent some time doing test renders. At this point I’m just trying to get a feel for the model and what I can do with it. I’ll be buying additional gear for them too, including more clothing and a double-headed ax. Here are a couple of renders. Keep in mind they are just tests and very basic:

Lastly, I worked on the Klixian capital city (although I haven’t given it a name yet). I’d been doing sketches of what I had in mind: basically hive shapes with tall spires on the top. I made a map in photoshop of a top-down view that came out pretty well. Today I worked on the side view, but I’m not as happy with it.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been largely thinking of the business side of things, so it’s nice to get back to the artistic/creative side. Neither one is particularly easy for me, but I keep trying anyway. ;-)

Walls of Jericho

2008-09-30T10:28:00.002-05:00

My other paper miniatures product, Dark Corridors, went on sale over the weekend. This is a milestone because it also allows me to sell all of my products as a bundle called The Complete Imperium (saving customers 30%). I’m also selling just the paper miniatures in a bundle called The Imperium Papers (33% savings). I’m not sure how well either bundle will sell, but at least it gives customers more options and a way to save some money.

Before selling Dark Corridors, I tested it out quite a bit to make sure the walls would work properly. As you can see, the Cat was very helpful:

Although his methods of QA are somewhat extreme:

As mentioned in the comments of my previous post, Matthew over at The Dwarf and the Basilisk has written a very good review of my game. I found it very fair and balanced (not a fanboi article by any means), which is all I could’ve asked for. He also went into great depth, clearly reading through the entire rule book. He was one of the bloggers who I sent complimentary copies to, so it was certainly time well spent. Many thanks to Matthew for taking the time to write his review. I very much appreciate it.

Last but not least, my wife and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday. I gave her chocolate covered strawberries, but those pale in comparison to what she bought me, proving she’s the best wife EVER. Bow to your Robot Overlords!

Do you love me now, Daddy??

2008-09-26T10:42:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not, but not everybody loves my new game. I’ve read two reviews that basically complained that the game wasn’t very original and even derivative. After reading these, I spent the next few hours under my desk in a fetal position. This raises the question: how well do I take criticism? The answer: not so well. ;-)

On the other hand, several people in forums have said nice things about the game and, in fact, it’s sold decently as far as I can tell. Basically, no matter what you do, somebody’s going to not like it for various reasons. After Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel, for example, the Pope reportedly said the masterpiece looked “kinda gay.” This is not to say my work is on that level (although I did try to include some homoerotica). I tried to create something that I could be proud of and I think I succeeded in that, at least from my narcissistic point of view. I wanted to create a universe of my own making that other people could roam around in, and I’ll be happy if even one person takes that journey.

Anyway, to that end, I’ve been sending out more complimentary copies to various RPG bloggers, so we’ll see what they say about it. Hopefully they’ll like it, otherwise the Cat will get pissed if I keep taking his spot under my desk.

Where are you, Vicodin?

2008-09-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

I’ve reached that time in my life that I can become severely injured by sleeping. I woke up yesterday morning with an agonizing pain in my neck, apparently just sleeping at a bad angle. Last night it was even worse because it hurt every time I moved my head. Where are you, Vicodin, when I need you??

Yesterday I posted “ads” for my game on several pen & paper forums. On one of them, it was my first posting so somebody on the forum suggested I was a “bot.” I replied that I was actually not a robot, but that it would probably improve my personality if I was. On another forum someone said he had sent a link to his friends about the game, so that was encouraging.

Last night I worked on Dark Corridors. I had originally planned on two styles for the walls (basically, two different ways to construct them). However, after putting together examples of both styles, it looks like only one of them really works properly. After conferring with the Wife (she has a vote in this), I’ve decided to just do the one style. Unfortunately, I decided to use the one that doesn’t work, just because I’m a bastard. Noooo, not really (at least about the first part).

Out of the Gates

2008-09-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday (9/18), my game (and the paper miniatures) officially went on sale! Since then I’ve been very happy with how they’ve been selling. Mind you, the sales aren’t “huge”, but the numbers so far have certainly surprised my wife. ;-) Since last week, I’ve been trying to drum up interest in the game by posting on some sites and sending out copies to some people who will hopefully review the rules.

Friday I got the print version of the game in the mail and I was really pleased. Previously, I thought I’d only sell the game as a downloadable PDF, but since getting the print version, I decided to sell that also. It’s not priced much more than the downloaded version so I think it’s pretty reasonable. Plus, a lot of people prefer to have something tangible to hold or don’t want to bother with printing out a big PDF. On the other hand, the printed rules are not in color (except for the cover), since the cost would have been very high (>$50 per copy). By keeping the inside pages in black and white, the cost is under 20 bucks.

This weekend I was also busy with the next supplement, paper walls and floors I’m calling Dark Corridors. I was worried because I had printed off a page last week and noticed that the measurements of the walls were off. After doing some testing with a different printer, however, I found that the PDF was correct and there must’ve been something wrong with the first printer I tried. This means I can proceed with the renders I had already done. I don’t know how long before I’ll release Dark Corridors, but since most of the work is done, it shouldn’t be more than a couple of weeks.

The Imperium Chronicles RPG is Done!

2008-09-16T09:50:00.002-05:00

After over two years, the Imperium Chronicles RPG is finally done! Of course, done is a relative word. The rules are ready to sell, but there’s plenty of other content, including the paper miniatures that I plan to sell also. Not to mention the first expansion coming in the next few months. However, getting the rules to this point is a major accomplishment for me and I’m excited about seeing how well it’s received (hopefully without anyone throwing cabbages at me).

Over the weekend, I was feverishly getting the website redesign completed. It’s not ready yet, but by the end of Monday I was in a lot better shape than Sunday night. I was getting so frustrated with the pages I had done that I had to just quit for the day and go at it again later. My poor wife had to listen to me ranting at my computer in what I figuratively call my “process.” This involves a) working calmly, followed shortly thereafter by b) getting aggravated and cursing at the computer, c) taking a nap, and d) finding the solution to the problem. At that point, I move on to the next issue and repeat the process.

The good news is that I’m almost done with the site redesign, which means I should be ready to sell the game no later than this weekend. The next step will then be advertising and seeing if anyone actually likes the game. I’m trying not to hold my breath, but that hasn’t stopped me from turning blue.

Robots!

2008-09-05T10:30:00.002-05:00

It’s been my belief that the world would be a lot better if it were ruled by robots. Granted, they would undoubtedly enslave the Human race, but I have to ask “Would that be so bad?” Needless to say, robots have a soft spot in my cold heart, so yesterday I found great pleasure making the renders for the Robot chapter of my game (see below for one example).

I’ve made great progress with the artwork over all and now I only have chapters 9 and 10 left to do. Next I’ll tackle the arduous task of making the index and then the rules will be largely done. I did notice something strange in the most recent PDF I made, however. Some of the table headers have shifted to left justification instead of centered. I thought maybe the original document was wrong, but it was still centered. I’m not sure what to do about this since I need the doc to be a PDF. I’ve done a little research on the web, but so far haven’t come up with anything.

Once I get all that done, I’ll need to finish the website redesign work and then get the rules up on some of the PnP websites around. There are only a handful of those, but there are literally thousands of different PnP-related products on them, so I’m not sure how well my stuff will stand out. I’m just hoping the price of the game and the quality will help it sell. I also plan to advertise somewhat, so we’ll see how that goes.

The Wanderers

2008-09-03T10:33:00.002-05:00

The Labor Day weekend was a wash: I got nothing done on Saturday and only the newsletter done on Sunday. I DID get stuff accomplished on Monday, including several renders and some new rules. As for the latter, I realized I hadn’t really explained the whole DNA snapshot idea very well, so I corrected that. Basically, your character can have a DNA snapshot done so when he dies, a clone can be made. It’s an idea taken from MMORPGs so players won’t lose everything when their character bites the dust.

I put out the newsletter on Sunday, and included some renders for people to look at. I felt bad that I couldn’t announce that the rules were ready to be published, but they’re simply not done yet. With all the artwork that needs to be added, it’s taking me longer than I wanted. As I’ve said before, however, the latter chapters already have a lot of art in them, so they should go pretty fast.

When I did the paper miniatures, I named some of them nomads since they looked like rugged outsiders to me. That got me thinking about nomadic groups, especially the gypsies (or Roma), so yesterday I did some research and came up with the draft below. I’m thinking about adding them as a faction in the upcoming supplement Destination: Rochan. I included the reference links too:

Wanderers

The Wanderers (also called the Gitan) are groups of nomads who travel from system to system, usually in a freighter packed with their belongings. The entire extended family is included in such groups, including several generations. After arriving on a new planet, the Wanderers will take up temporary residence in tenements or other low-income housing. From there, the family will trade with locals and do odd jobs. They are also known as talented fixers and are sometimes referred to as "tinks." Under most circumstances, the Wanderers only stay on a planet long enough to earn enough money to pay for their next jump.

Most societies in the Imperium (and elsewhere) view the Wanderers with suspicion. In fact, although some Wanderers are known for committing petty larceny and other minor crimes, there is little evidence that this is a common practice. However, perhaps due to this sense of alienation, Wanderers are often secretive, speaking in a language called Sheldru, to prevent outsiders from understanding them. Nevertheless, due to their travels, the Wanderers are often very well informed about rumors and other news. Most will gladly share what they know -- for a price.

Emo Magna

2008-08-25T09:53:00.002-05:00

I got some feedback from one of the playtesters for the paper miniatures. He was largely positive, although he thought some users might not like the idea that I only include the tri-fold style instead of A-frame. As I may’ve mentioned before, I just don’t like A-frame miniatures very much. I think tri-fold makes miniatures look more 3D, plus the A-frames remind me too much of playing Stratego as a kid (not that there’s anything wrong with it!).

I was busy over the weekend making renders and I am happy to say I’m done with the Abilities chapter. Since there were so many different abilities (and a lot of straight text), there were a lot of opportunities to add images. Overall, I’m happy with the results, which were a combination of new renders and a mix of images from my graphic novel and short story.

I’ve included another of these images below. The two main things to take away from this one is the light reflecting off the Magna’s chest and his black fingernails. I added a light source in Poser to simulate the light given off by the lightning. Besides adding realism, the light also highlights the Magna’s powerful pecs (which remind me of my own). As for the fingernails, contrary to what my coworker said, they are NOT painted black. In fact, since Magna blood is also black, I thought that perhaps their fingernails would appear that way naturally. On the other hand, perhaps they’re just into Emo.

Cardboard Love

2008-08-22T14:16:00.002-05:00

I completed Cardboard Citizens last week and emailed them to the playtesters. I decided to give them that (and the game rules when those are done) as thanks for helping test the game. As I said before, I’m going to be doing cardboard walls and floors also. Yesterday I came across this funny cartoon on the Penny Arcade site. If you haven’t read them before and you play computer games (or just have a dark and sometimes violent sense of humor) check them out. It’s hilarious.

I’ve been working on renders for the game for the last week, but in most case it’s been a painless experience. Last night, however, it was a pain in the ass. I was originally doing a render of a woman casting an ice psionic so I could add it to the Abilities chapter for, you guessed it, ice psionics. I started messing around with it, including adding an eery blue light and a frosty FX prop (which I also colored blue). Well, I got about 30 minutes into it and realized it totally sucked. The blue looked more like the woman had chewed some forbidden gum at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. So, I decided to make a radical change: I changed both her hair and her dress to red and removed the blue FX prop, replacing it with an orange one and -- voila! -- I had a woman casting a fire psionic! I put it all together in photoshop with a black background. I’m happy with the result, and I think it’s in keeping with the previous psionic render. However, it took me over an hour to do the whole thing. Since I have a lot of these renders to do, I hope the rest won’t be as time consuming.

Worrywart

2008-08-18T12:33:00.003-05:00

I took time off from the Olympics (and even naps!) on Saturday to work on renders for the game. I completed two new ones (see one of them below) and redid a third from Magnus Black. I’m happy with the results, but I have a lot more to do. Of course, I also have the website to complete . . .

Speaking of which, I made an embarrassing discovery Saturday: my website provider had changed a parameter that had turned off the headers and footers on all my web pages. So the site looked very bad and had apparently looked that way for days. I wish I could blame the site provider, but they had actually set out notifications previously. I remember reading it, but the announcement hadn’t sunk in (or perhaps I’m just a knucklehead). Anyway, I was able to fix the problem quickly and the site’s back to normal.

One of my biggest faults is a propensity for obsessing about things (and for using words like propensity). Saturday I got an email from a guy commenting on my game and its similarities to Traveller. So, Sunday I woke up obsessing that people would think I was a big fat copycat. In fact, the mechanics of my game are quite different, even though I was certainly influenced by Marc Miller’s game. Once the game comes out, however, I think people will see how different it really is. At least I hope they will. Still, these are the worries that wake me up at night. ;-)

A Seed Sprouts Roots

2008-08-14T12:10:00.000-05:00

Although I’ve been mostly focusing on the website redesign and the rules recently, I took some time to brainstorm some more about the next supplement Destination: Rochan. Specifically, I thought about the two new playable races (the Klixians and the Tor). One of the things that bothered me about the Klixians was how they made a living. I mean, if the Tor are underground and can mine for materials, what would the Klixians do on the barren surface?

So, I starting thinking about what the surface would offer and it occurred to me that sand (or silica to be exact) can be used for making glass. Then I thought about what could be done with that glass. I envisioned the Klixians creating beautiful art with blown glass and whole palaces of crystal. Coincidentally, a few nights ago I was watching a science program about light and how it interacts with glass, specifically in the use of lenses. So, for the Klixians, I thought about how they might use lenses for telescopes looking at the stars, and perhaps develop an astrology that would impact how they lived their lives. Eventually, while driving home in the car actually, I thought about the stories of Nancy Reagan using horoscopes to help her husband make decisions as president. Why not have sects of soothsayers in Klixian society do the same thing? In other words, an elite class of “priests” who advise their leaders on what actions to take based on the movement of the stars.

And with that, I had started to flesh out ideas for the next supplement. This is usually how my creative process works: I come up with an idea and then begin extrapolating out to build on the original idea. Having a lot of useless knowledge floating around in my noggin also helps, because I can draw on that to fill in the blanks. Anyway, there are still plenty of other holes to fill in before I have a complete picture of Klixian (and Tor) society, but at least I’ve made some headway (so to speak).

When Cats Attack!

2008-08-11T10:14:00.001-05:00

It was a busy, busy weekend! Besides watching the Olympics nearly 24/7, I also had one of the playtesters (a former co-worker of mine) come over Saturday to run though combat scenarios. Everything went fine until the Cat decided to literally crash the party by jumping from the couch onto the table we were using. The Cat and everything else went sliding into a big pile. Nevertheless, we discovered a few things and I took plenty of notes. For example: “Put the cat in the other room.”

I also worked on the paper miniatures. I finished the last pages and wrote up the instructions. I still have some tweaks to do, but it’s mostly done. Besides those, I’ve been toying with the idea of releasing another supplement called Dark Corridors. These would be walls and floors that players could print out, just like the paper miniatures. I had originally envisioned single sheets that people could paste to foam board. However, when I tested this idea out, the foam board was clearly not going to work. The edges were just too jagged. So, I went back to the drawing board and redid the mockup. This time, I did something similar to the folding miniatures (i.e.: something that can stand up on its own). This worked a lot better.

With only a few weeks left before I hope to release the game, I plan to focus on cleaning up the rules and adding artwork. I also need to get the website ready for launch. It’s going to be a busy time for me, but hopefully all the hard work will pay off in the end.

Dog Envy

2008-08-06T15:23:00.003-05:00

I redid the Vogar miniatures last night. I used the same werewolf model for Poser that I’ve been using since I did my graphic novel over three years ago. Later last night, however, I came across a new model being offered on the Daz3D site: Lycanthropos

Along with its accessories, it would make a very nice miniature for my Vogar (instead of the old one I’ve been using). However, here’s the rub: do I really want to spend $30-40 on a new model or do I stay with my old one and save some money? I mean, I’m only planning to sell the miniature supplement for 5 bucks and I really don’t know how many I’ll actually sell. Return on Investment (ROI) is a bitch!

By the way, another thing I was thinking about last night was the number of miniatures in the supplement. Right now I’ve got 42 miniatures, but that only fills two pages. That seemed pretty light to me. I thought about it some more and I’ve decided to add another 12 guys. With a little rearranging, that’ll give me 3 pages instead of 2 (54 total miniatures). I think (and hope) that will be enough.

Litt’le Green Guys & Cat Spit

2008-08-04T10:28:00.001-05:00

The 100+ degree weather meant I stayed inside most of the weekend. Actually, I normally stay in all weekend, unless the Wife makes me step outside and integrate with Humanity (which I of course strongly oppose). However, the idea of 100+ temperatures did mean I had a very good excuse for staying home most the weekend, and I used that time to work on the paper miniatures.

I now have 42 different miniatures (that’s 126 separate renders for those keeping count). I think that’s enough to sell, even though I haven’t included any robots or creatures in the collection. But since the supplement is called Cardboard Citizens (not Cardboard Robots and Creatures), I think that’s okay. I still need to arrange them though. I’ve been thinking about doing it by social class and then by race for the non-humans. Speaking of the latter, I did the Magna over the weekend and I’m happy with how they came out, especially in color. They’re muscular, green-skinned guys with horns so you can’t get much better than that!

Friday, I printed out one sheet of miniatures that I already had done and, with help from the Wife, put them together. Now I have a little army of 15 miniatures on my desk waiting to be devoured by the Cat. I’m going to be using them (or at least the ones not covered in cat saliva) when I run some combat scenarios later this week.

Toro! Toro!

2008-07-30T09:23:00.003-05:00

I’ve come up with another playable race for the Destination: Rochan module. I’m calling them the Tor, based on the word Toro, meaning Bull. Basically they’re a race of minotaurs that live underground in intricate tunnel systems (ie: mazes). Since I had already talked about the other playable race, the Klixians, living underground, I decided to change that race to being above ground (since they are better suited for the radiation on the surface of Rochan).

As I was driving home, I started coming up with a back story for the two races: there’s a Tor myth about the planet, saying how it had once been a beautiful paradise before the Klixians laid it to waste, driving the Tor underground. However, there’s no scientific evidence that Rochan had ever been anything other than a wasteland to begin with, yet the Tor still blame the Klixians from robbing them of paradise. For their part, the Klixians view the Tor as filthy creatures, living in the dirt. As a result, the insect race is obsessed with cleanliness and has many rituals related to cleansing the body and soul.

This is all preliminary stuff, but it’s good to set some ground work for the expansion. I like the idea of having two new playable races, each in conflict with the other. It creates a good dynamic for adventures and fits in well with the underlying themes of the Imperium Chronicles.

Yay, I CAN be taught!

2008-07-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

Since deciding to redesign my website, I’ve been relearning a lot about design. For example, if you choose to organize the page using a lot of tables, you can expect to be hunted down by the web police and burned at the stake. Tables are out; DIV tags and CSS are in. I knew a little about the latter, but next to nothing about the former so I’ve been teaching myself (slowly) for several weeks. Eventually, I heard a *ding* which either meant I had finally reached a critical mass of understanding or my microwave burrito was done.

So, this week I made some progress on the site design that didn’t make me want to jump out the window. In fact, over the last couple of days, I’ve even approached being “happy” about the results. It may not last, but at least I can enjoy some temporary satisfaction. Here’s a screenshot of a large graphic I'll be including on the main page. It’s not done and there’s still stuff to be added or changed, but I want to give some idea where I’m doing with it:

Meanwhile, the playtesting continues, but without a lot of progress. It’s nobody’s fault actually, but I’m worried about things that haven’t been tested yet. I’m thinking about putting out some more forum posts specifically for people to playtest the combat system since that’s the part that could be really bad if it’s not balanced properly. I’d hoped to be nearly done by now, but it’s looking like testing will go on into August for sure. Delays . . . Delays . . .

The Challenges of Change

2008-07-21T15:03:00.001-05:00

Ironically, I didn’t end up using the picture I had in my last post. I chickened out and used the same original, but simply changed the hue to a different color. It looks nice too, but isn’t as stylized. Basically, I added images for the first couple of chapters over the weekend. After doing it, however, I realized that the ones in the Character chapter are going to shift because I still haven’t added the beginning prose. Blah! Seems like I’m always forgetting things -- maybe because there are so many things to remember!

On Sunday I started putting the miniature renders onto a single sheet (or at least as many as I could fit). Each sheet will have five rows with three different sets per row. One sheet will fill a regular page, meaning there’ll be 15 miniatures per page. I’m still planning to call the product Cardboard Citizens and I even mocked up a quick cover. I can’t say the cover knocks my socks off, but it’s only a draft for now.

For awhile I’ve thought about redoing the website. The problem is that I’ve got dozens of pages for the graphic novel and my short story, all based on the current design. To redo the site, I’d have to redo those also. That’s a lot of work, but I could put the stories back in later and just focus on the new pages designed to sell the game. It’s not ideal, and of course I could just keep the current design, but I wanted something new and hopefully more professional looking.

Breaking up the Wall of Text

2008-07-17T15:08:00.006-05:00

Well, playtesting is slowly winding down so now I have to think about adding artwork to the game. Right now there’s already some, but it’s mostly boring stuff like pictures to go with creatures, robots, and starships. I need to add a lot more to make the game more visually appealing. Rules are a pretty boring to begin with (just ask my Editor), but by adding art I can at least break up some of the monotonous text.

I’ve already looked at my two online stories and grabbed some art from there, but I felt like they needed to be more unique, so I used some filters in Photoshop to freshen them up (see below for an example). I’m going to create brand new renders also, using my best friend: Poser 7. I haven’t done any big time renders since I finished Magnus Black over two years ago, so I don’t plan to get too complicated. Mostly I’m just going to create some scenes and maybe some portraits and see where that takes me.

Besides adding artwork, I also plan to create an index next month. I’m dreading it, because it’s an enormous pain in the ass. I’m guessing it will be a few pages long, but I’ll need to go through the entire 240-page document to pick out all the words to be indexed. I also have to wait until playtesting is basically done (ie: few if any changes left), otherwise I’ll have to go back and retag various indexed words. From a usability standpoint, however, it’s vital that I have an index, otherwise it’ll take people forever to find stuff in the game. In other words, by being a pain in my butt now, it’ll be less of a pain for players. Ultimately, I’ll have my revenge by forcing people to look at my hackneyed artwork. ;-)

And so the Klixians are born . . .

2008-07-11T14:08:00.002-05:00

One of the playtesters pointed out that I didn’t have an insectoid race in the game, or at least not a playable one. He suggested that type of race was common in most sci-fi games, etc. I’m really not sure why having an insect race never occurred to me, since they’re usually pretty cool. Although I don’t plan to include such a race when the game is published, I have been thinking for awhile about what to include in a future expansion. For a long time I’ve thought about having a supplement focusing on the planet Rochan, so it occurred to me that I could include a new playable race in that expansion. They would fit together well because I’ve always envisioned Rochan as being crisscrossed with mining tunnels beneath the surface. Perhaps the insect race would also live underground (to escape Rochan’s inhospitable environment), and come in contact with the miners (perhaps in conflict).

So this week I started brainstorming about this new race. I found a nice model on the Daz3D site and from that I starting thinking of a name. I went through several ideas, but ultimately decided (at least for now) on the name Klixian. The name comes from their language, which is a series of clicking sounds. In other words “Klix” sounds like “clicks”. I like the use of the letter K and X in the name also because it gives it an alien quality.

As for the racial stats, those are still up in the air, although I’d like to incorporate some psionics, perhaps even a so-called Hive Mind. Right now only the Dahl have good PSI skills, so it would be nice to have another race to give additional choices for players. Also, while doing research on insects, I found that ants have something called the Metapleural gland which secretes antibiotics. By adding that to the Klixians, I can give them a high Disease resistance modifier. I will likely give them a decent Radiation resistance as well.

While I’ve been thinking about the new playable race, I’ve also been working on the game itself, adding changes based on playtester comments. I plan to publish a new draft (verison 0.4) next week. I’ve also been doing new renders for the paper miniatures (see image). I’m thinking about calling the product Cardboard Citizens, or something like that. ;-)

Art and Miniatures

2008-07-07T12:21:00.001-05:00

I spent a couple of hours yesterday working on renders in Poser for the paper miniatures I mentioned in my previous post. Since I haven’t worked too much in Poser lately, it was a time consuming process. Also, Poser crashed on me (effectively went “poof!”) so I had to redo some setup. All in all, I only got six sets done, which include three middle-class and three aristocrat figures. Each set has three renders, one from the front and one from the 135 and 225 degrees. I have many more to do, but it’s good to get at least a few renders under my belt. See below for a sample:
So, last Thursday while I was driving home from work, I had an idea to hopefully drive some additional traffic to the Chronicles website. Since the game originated from ideas for a book and then an online graphic novel, it seemed logical that I should have artwork and prose featured on the website. In other words, I’d like to get artists to show their works and writers to post their fiction on my site. In both cases, they would need to have either a sci-fi theme or, preferably, relate directly to the Imperium universe. As I envision it, the artwork would lead directly to the artist’s site or perhaps some other site like DeviantArt. Either way, my site would act as an affiliate, hopefully attracting people to the artist’s sales site. At the same time, it would hopefully attract people to my site as well. Of course, I’m not sure how well any of that would work, but it’s just an idea.

An Organic Process

2008-07-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

I sent out the July newsletter this week. Not a lot to really talk about except a progress report on how playtesting is going. In many ways it’s an organic process: of the people who have shown an interest, at least half have not been able to actually take part. Half of those couldn’t do it for technical reasons of one kind or another. One person didn’t have steady internet access and another person needed the rules in printed form (which is a hefty 240 pages). Since I’m incorporating the testers’ comments into new drafts every couple of weeks, it’s vital that the testers receive the drafts via email (as opposed to regular mail), so internet access is very important.

Another group of people who ended up not taking part simply disappeared. I basically stopped getting email replies. I assume those individuals simply decided to do other things (or perhaps they just really hated the game). I don’t think that last part is the case, although there’s no real telling. In the end, those who remained have made very good comments and I’ve found their input invaluable.

To that end, I’ve been making several changes since publishing version 0.3 of the draft rules. Most recently, I’ve added a whole section to the Starship chapter involving component damage when a ship takes a critical hit. This was directly due to the comments from playtesting that suggested the rules needed it. I had thought of it before, but left it out, but apparently I did so in error. :-)

During this period, I should also work on a supplement to the game: namely, paper miniatures. I’ve mentioned this before, but I haven’t really done much since. They are 28mm miniatures printed on paper (or card stock) that players can cut out and use to play the game. A handful of others offer paper miniatures, but mine will be tailored especially for my game, including creatures and other baddies featured in the rules.

Prose

2008-06-24T12:08:00.000-05:00

As I may’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been adding some prose (story) at the beginning of each chapter. Today I wrote one for the Encounters chapter, which features creatures and other things that go bump in the night. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how this little story came out, but it’s not too bad hopefully. ;-)

The tunnel opened into an immense burial chamber. The explorer shined her flashlight around the room. The beam cut through the dusty air, landing on columns encrusted with cobwebs and ancient writings. The light fell on a sarcophagus in the center of the room. She stepped closer. Remains from a cave-in covered the stone coffin, but the explorer had no doubts about what lay underneath. She had spent years searching and now, finally, she was inches from her goal. She brushed aside the webs and stood with eyes ablaze with discovery. The red eyes of a giant spider glimmered almost as bright as it slowly descended from above, its jaws awaiting another meal.

The Playtesting Adventure

2008-06-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

The epic adventure called playtesting continues . . .

Right now I’m working on draft 0.3, incorporating most of the changes found by playtesting so far. The biggest change, from a headache stand point, has been re-alphabetizing the abilities. I had the descriptions split up into groups (ie: General, Combat, Psionic, etc.), but one of the playtesters said this made looking up abilities difficult (unless you knew which group it was in). So, I spent a couple of days doing a lot of cutting and pasting in Word until they were in the correct order. While I was doing that, I corrected some inconsistencies in my naming conventions too. I think it’s a lot better now.

I’ve been trying to use Google Docs to get new drafts to the playtesters from a centralized spot, but my PDF is just too big apparently so I was getting server errors. I discovered today, however, something called Google Sites which is a website editor. From there I’m able to upload docs and have others download . That seems to be working, so I’ll try to use that from now on. It also has a place for adding comments and announcements, which may prove useful.

Playtesting Begins . . .

2008-06-16T10:21:00.001-05:00

Over the last week I’ve been talking with people interested in playtesting the Imperium Chronicles Role Playing Game. I posted an open call for playtesters on several Pen&Paper game forums and so far several people have shown an interest. I’m not sure what the best number of people would be, but I’m happy to get as many as I can.

The process begins by sending each person a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). I’m not a lawyer (and can’t afford one) so I did a web search for a generic NDA and then modified it slightly to suit game testing. I emailed the NDA to each participant and they emailed it back with an electronic signature and a statement that they accept the agreement.

After getting the NDA, I emailed them the draft PDF of the rules. It’s a big file so we’ve had some issue with people’s email provider rejecting such a big file (over 9 MB). I saw today, however, that Google Docs allows uploading a PDF up to 10 MBs, so I’m testing to see if I can distribute the rules that way. It would be better because it offers a central location and the ability to upload the newest version as it gets done. My only concern is privacy since I believe Google shows the email of everyone who is eligible to download the file. I’ll have to make sure each playtester is okay with that, or I’ll need to continue emailing PDFs to those individuals.

I continue to be apprehensive about playtesting since I don’t know how much will need to be modified. I’m just crossing my figures. ;-)

Game Diary Summary - May

2008-05-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

5/2/2008
My wife the Editor has proofread the Introduction and Chapter 1. She's starting to proofread Chapters 2 and 3 today. Her comments have been very good so far: it's great to have another pair of eyes with suggestions on how to say things. That's one of the most important parts of being an editor, not just to find mistakes but to also suggest clearer ways of writing.

Beside the misc stuff, I'm also working on a new landing page for the website. I did a render using Poser today as the main graphic and worked on the text describing the game. I'm really very happy with how the image came out and relatively satisfied with the text. It'll be some time, however, before I can use it: have to play test first!!

5/4/2008
I added the damage and ranges for starship weapons yesterday. Although I think the ranges are fine, I'm not confident in the damages. This will need to be tested fully to make sure they don't do too much or too little damage.

Chapters 2 and 3 continue to be proofread. Since my wife isn't a gamer, it's slow going.

5/6/2008
I wrote the beginning prose for the Robot chapter. After several drafts, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I still have several more chapters that need prose, although I'm debating whether they all need to have that. I'd like to be consistent, but I don't want to force it or settle for prose that isn't very good (not that my writing is Shakespeare).

5/8/2008
Chapters 2 and 3 are done being proofread. I need to go over Chapter 4 (Combat) before having the Editor proofread that. Last night I added the resistance nanos to the rules and looked over my To Do list to see what's left. I've been trying to estimate how much is left before I can have the game play tested. Right now I'm thinking by the end of May it should be ready, but I've been wildly wrong in the past, so we'll see.

I've been thinking that, once the game is published, I'll stop writing the game diary. Since this has really been an exercise to capture the creative process of building the rules, there much reason to continue it after that process is largely over. Of course, there are tweaks to the rules and future additions I could talk about, but I doubt I'd need to write about it that much.

5/11/2008
Friday and Saturday weren't very productive, but today I've been able to get some work done in the Starship and Star System chapters. In the former, I added info on making FTL jumps (and went back to the Skills chapter and modified the Starship Navigation skill somewhat). In the Star System chapter, I worked on the Commodities section a bit, trying to make it more understandable. Although I used a fairly simplified system for trade, it's still pretty complex and I think a little confusing. I'm hoping what I did today will make it more clear.

I did some research on playtesting. I think I will have an open call on some of the forums and MySpace toward the end of May, assuming the rules are ready by then. I probably should have a NDA as well, but not sure how I'm going to do it. I'm nervous about the process since I'm don't know how others will react to it. I'm worried I'll have redo large sections of the rules because the playtesters will hate it. We'll see.

5/13/2008
I added a new robot (Deranged Loggerbot) and a new faction (Gaia Brigade) to the rules last night. I'd like to add another couple of robots perhaps before the game goes to playtesting. Speaking of which, my former coworker Mark has agreed to play test my game. He's played several PnP games before so that's good. It's also good to have someone I know well to playtest.

5/14/2008
I created another two robots (SpiderBot and Heavy AssaultBot), but haven't added them to the rules yet. I still have three other robots that I did awhile ago, but I have to confirm match with the current rules (since it may've changed since I wrote up the robots). My Editor has finished proofing chapter 10 so we need to go over that. Next I'll have her look at the Star Systems chapter. Obviously we're not going in order; she's just looking at chapter that are basically finished.

5/15/2008
I've been slowing adding the prices of various items, mostly in the Gear chapter so far. It's time consuming because I want the prices to make sense, although I'm not very confident about them: playtesting will need to see if they're too high or too low.

I went over Chapter 10 with the Editor tonight. Next she'll be looking at Chapter 9.

5/18/2008
I've completed most of the prices now in the Starship and Robot chapters. Although there were a lot of them, it went faster than I thought it would. I went through for the robots and added up their total costs, and the prices were about right I think.

5/20/2008
The Editor completed Chapter 9 last night. Next I'll be giving her the Robot chapter to read, although I need to add another few robots. I've also added prices to the commodities list: however, there are so many of them, it will required some testing to see if the prices make sense.

5/21/2008
I changed my mind and gave Chapter 5 Gear to the Editor to proof. The robot chapter is almost done, but I wanted to add another couple robots and didn't want to rush it.

5/23/2008
Besides misc stuff, I've been calculating the costs for the starship based on their components. Doing it after the fact, is time consuming to say the least. The end amounts, however, seem reasonable to me which is good.

The Editor continues proofing the Gear chapter. We're going to be out of town most of this weekend, but I'll be back to work on the game some more Sunday night and Memorial Day. Of course, I'll take time out to grill stuff too!

5/27/2008
I was out of town Saturday and Sunday, but yesterday I was able to complete the cost calculations on all the starships in that chapter. I'm told that the Gear chapter is going to be done proofing today, so I'll be giving the Robot and Starship chapters to the Editor to proof. Since there's still another two chapters to proofread as well, I'm probably going to give a current draft of the rules to the first playtester by the end of this week or beginning of next. At this point, the proofreading process is just to find typos, etc., not technical errors in the rules themselves. With that in mind, I'd like to get the game into playtesting as soon as possible and just update their copy as the final chapters get proofed.

5/28/2008
The Editor finished the Gear chapter last night and I gave her the Robot and Starships chapters to do next. I also worked on adding notable NPCs to the Encounters chapter last night. I had left that section blank previously. I created stats for Prince Alexander, Lefty Lucy, and Durant Blixx. Next, I'll do the Magna Ambassador and Smitty Gurkin which will be all of it.

5/30/2008
I wrote prose for the beginning of the Star System chapter yesterday. I ran it past my wife and she liked it! I also went through Chapter 10 last night and corrected a few things. I want to go through and correct the final touches before handing the rules over for playtesting this weekend or perhaps early next week.

By way, I added all the notable NPCs except Smitty Gurkin. I decided to leave him off for space reasons, but I can always add him later if I need to.

Game Diary Summary - April

2008-04-30T19:59:00.003-05:00

4/1/2008
The character sheet continues to come along. I spent much of the day working on it, after taking a break yesterday. I added the combat, weapons, and armor sections, and rearranged the resistance section.

4/3/2008
I've completed the character sheet finally, although it's taken a long time it seems. The second page was easier, however, and I was able to hammer that out in only two days compared to the better part of a week for the first page. I can now switch to backfilling stuff in the rules that I didnt' get done the first time and revisiting parts that need to be reworked a little. One of the biggest sections I need to add features vehicle combat. I didn't do it the first time around, but I can't leave it out.

4/5/2008
Yesterday I started writing the vehicle combat section. I didn't get a lot done, but it was at least a start. I realized, however, that I didn't have a good game plan for writing the section, so this morning I wrote out an outline to better organize my thoughts. This is usually the best way for me to work, which makes you wonder why I don't do it that way more often.

4/7/2008
I completed the stunts section of Vehicle Combat. Although not a huge amount of content, it's still quite a lot, which makes me happy. I'm not sure how useful players will find it however, but we'll see.

4/8/2008
So far today I've added another nice chunk of the Vehicle Combat section. I also added a new page to the website so people can read the current newsletter without having to actually subscribe (in case people are concerned about doing that). As part of the change, I modified the main page of the site so you can access the newsletter. I also made it a little better looking (but only slightly).

4/9/2008
I finished off the vehicle combat section today, but I need to add some additional information: vehicle armor and force fields. I will include that in the Gear chapter.

I also decided to make yet another change (although a small one) to the Psionic abilities. I'm taking Detect Psi and Detect Aura and making them alone, instead of being prerequisites for other psionics. I'm also going to add three new ablities involving what's called a Tulpa, which is basically physical creatures formed by ones own mind (ie: mind into matter).

4/12/2008
The last few days I've been chipping away at misc stuff in the rules, including adding some skills and adding vehicle force fields and armor to the gear section. Speaking of vehicles, last night I realized that I forgot to include rules for crashing damage in the vehicle combat section. Again, having only one person working on something like this can lead to missing things. I'm hopeful that anything I may've still forgotten will be picked up during play testing.

4/14/2008
I didn't get much done yesterday. I've been struggling to get my wife's computer to work, which involved installing a new hard drive. Although it's working now, my hardware abilities suck so mostly i'm just frustrated, which doesn't help my creative flow to say the least. Grrrrr.

4/15/2008
By yesterday afternoon I was back on track and I got a lot done in the skills chapter. I was adding some new starship skills which also entailed making some changes in the Starship chapter. When I had originally written that chapter, I hadn't included the starship skills yet since they hadn't been finalized. This meant that starship combat didn't really involve too many actual skill rolls. Although such combat still doesn't, it does include some references to specific skill requirements to use certain starship systems, thus tying them together.

4/17/2008
Today I worked on redoing the Restricted/Black Market section of the Gear chapter. Along with that, I will add the Streetwise skill to the Skill chapter. While i had been working on planets in the Star System chapter, I realized that law levels as I had envisioned them wouldn't work so that meant going back and fixing it under Gear. I'm fairly happy with how it's turned out this time around.

4/19/2008
Originally, which social class a character picked didn't really matter too much except when it came to factions and reputation. Yesterday, I changed that by adding different skills that the character would get based on the class. An aristocrat gets one skill (Diplomacy Rank 4) and twice the starting money; a middle class character gets two skills (Computer Operation and a Craft skill, both Rank 4); and the underclass gets three skills (Bribe, Smuggling, and Streetwise, all Rank 4) but get only half the normal starting money.

Since social class is so important in Imperium society, I felt I needed to make it more important for each character players make.

Today, I also wrote some prose for the beginning of Chapter 3: Abilities. I'll run it by the wife first to make sure it doesn't totally suck.

4/20/2008
Good news: the prose I wrote for Chapter 3 passed the Wife test, so I guess it didn't suck too bad. Still, I don't think it's one of my stronger prose works.

The biggest thing I did today was add Software to the Starships chapter. I had left it blank when I did the chapter the first time around, so it was a gapping hole. I struggled with it a little bit because I didn't like how I was implementing it, but now I'm fairly happy with it. While I was working on the software for Starships, I also noticed i need to update the software section for the Robots chapter too.

4/22/2008
I spent yesterday adding ranges to the weapons in the Gear chapter. Unlike the d20 system, I don't use a set increment for ranges. Instead, I use five different ranges (point blank, short, medium, long, and extreme), each with its own modifier (+2, +0, -2, -6, and -10 respectively). Originally, I had mods of -4 and -6 for the last two ranges, but while working yesterday, I thought those would make it too easy to hit targets at pretty long ranges, so I changed them to a steeper penalty. Anyway, I was able to fill in all the ranges for the different weapons.

Today I filled in the restricted status of weapons and other items in the gear chapter.

4/26/2008 For the last several days I've just been working on misc stuff for the rules: for example, yesterday I fixed the formatting in the table of contents. It's been wrong forever, but I've never taken the time to actually fix it.

I'm going back to work on Monday (4/28). This means I'll only be able to work on the game in the evenings and of course on weekends. However, over the last few months I've been able to get a lot done, so there really isn't that much left to do before I can have people start play testing. I'm not quite there yet, but it should be within a few weeks maximum if not less. Of course, I also have to find people willing to play test. That's a whole other question altogether.

4/29/2008
This week I'm going to try and get some of the chapter ready for my editor (the Wife) to proofread. I still have work to do in several chapters so I don't want her to proofread those yet, but I can at least have you get started on some of the other ones. Once that's done, the rules should be ready for play testing.

Game Diary Summary - March

2008-03-30T12:24:00.000-05:00

3/1/2008
Yesterday I sent out the Newsletter, which included how the game is going and the Feb. game diary. After I sent it out, however, I realized that i hadn't actually signed, which is kind of embarrassing.

Before yesterday, I was working on Dharmesh Monastery, and wrote up descriptions for all the rooms on the main and second floor, and started on the basement. I still need to flesh out those rooms a bit though, and I also need to figure out exactly what's going on in the crypt. I think I'll be adding psionic phantasms that are ancient monks that have died but still remain in spirit form.

3/3/2008
Yesterday and today I worked on new creatures to populate the locations in Aldorus. I had been thinking the Encounters chapter had been a little light, so I'm adding some generic creatures and some specific ones, including a few for the Dharmesh Monastery. My wife asked me yesterday if I was just adding things so the game would never be done. NO! I just want it to be complete. So, it'll be done when it's done and you'd better like it or I'm going to have a huge hissy fit! ;-)

3/4/2008
I've been hard at work today getting the Dharmesh Monastery section done. Using the creatures I created the last few days, I've fleshed out the rooms of the monastery and set the stage for player adventures there. Next, I need to add the creatures to the rules (so far they are in note form) and also write up some adventure seeds. After that, I'm largely done with this last chapter.

3/5/2008
Today I redid the Poison section Chapter 5 that had been lost last week I think (when the file got corrupted). I actually like what I did today better than before, so I guess it worked out okay. I also added all the creatures I had created notes for. I put most of those in Chapter 10, but I added a couple general ones in the Encounters chapter. I still have more to do notes on so I'm not done quite yet.

3/7/2008
Yesterday I created three new guys for the Si-Sawat Syndicate, and today I added them to the rules. It may seem like a no-brainer but I had originally made them Humans, even though the boss is an Akiak and the syndicate is named after a cat breed. But, never too late, I changed the new guys to Akiak as well, so now the whole gang is run and operated by kitties (okay, tough kitties)!

Today I also reformated the headings for Chapter 10, which meant moving things around a bit. Not a big deal but it took me a while to get it right.

3/9/2008
I spent yesterday working on the Crazu, the native race of Aldorus that the Human largely exterminated when they adopted the planet as their own. This is one of the original ideas from when I was still working on the computer game so I'm recycling it a bit here. All along I've been using a particular model I got from Daz3d for Poser, but my wife suggested (since the model has black "skin") that people might view this as racist. So, per her suggestion, I changed the texture in Poser to a dark green color instead. This makes sense since they live in the Shadewood Forest and could camoflage better. However, the idea that something you create for a game (full of imaginary people) might be viewed in a very real sense in the real world is one of the hazards of doing this kind of stuff.

3/11/2008
Today I worked on misc. stuff: I wrote the descriptions for the dharmesh monks (ice and fire) and rendered some ships for the starships chapter. Yesterday, I worked on the table with all the different abilities, and made a few adjustments. I'm still worried about how well some of these abilities will work during play testing.

3/13/2008
Yesterday I was slacking some (although I did get stuff done), but today I was back to work and added several new creatures to the Encounters chapter. I also added a description for the Si-Sawat Syndicate in Chapter 10.

3/15/2008
Well, I've been slacking some more but I have a good excuse: my wife bought me a new computer game for my birthday and I've been playing that. Okay, not a very good excuse, but I have gotten some work done on the side, including some new renders. Today I've been thinking again about adding Loot Tables to the Encounters chapter. That way characters can get stuff from killing creatures which they can turn around and sell. Not sure I want to add yet more stuff to the game, but I think I could do it fairly easily if I did decide to do it.

3/17/2008
Today I added the Griefers to the game: the Hoodlum, Gank, and Cutthroat. I only have the Crazu to add, and then I'll be done with that section.

I also redid the front page logo for the game. I thought the old one, which is featured on the webpage, was too small for the cover so I increased the text for the title. I ran it by my wife and she seems to think it's an improvement!

3/18/2008
I added the Cruzu today so I only have the adventure seeds section left for Chapter 10. I had some writer's block this morning while trying to write the Crazu descriptions, but after awhile I was able to work through it.

3/21/2008
I've been brainstorming ideas for adventure seeds, which I'm calling "Odd Jobs." I've written over 20 so far, but I'm not completely happy with them. They're okay, but not great. This weekend I'll be out of town, so I won't be getting much work done.

3/23/2008
Friday I took some of the seeds and expanded on them. I've done 7 so far and would like to do 10-15. I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out, so I hope the rest will be as good.

3/25/2008
Very frustrated today. I was trying to work some more on these adventure ideas, but the creative juices were fickle once more. Grrrrr. On the bright side, I got to practice my swearing, although I doubt my wife thinks I need any more practice.

3/27/2008
Today I wrote another couple adventure seeds, which brings me to a total of 14. I'm basically done, unless I can think of any more seeds to add later. This also means I'm done with Chapter 10.

The rest of the day, I've been working in PhotoShop to create a character sheet to add to the rules. It's been pretty tricky since I have to know all the things to include in the sheet and then how to arrange everything so it's not too messy or ugly looking.

3/29/2008
I worked some more on the character sheet yesterday, but it's really taking a long time. Not sure if it's because I'm using Photoshop and not some other program, although I really don't have anything else I can use. I also printed the sheet out on a laser printer in both gif and png formats to see how they look. They both look the same, although it's not as sharp or crisp as I would like. Not sure whether I should just continue and live with it or try to find some other way. Blah.

MySpace and Facebook

2008-03-19T13:30:00.003-05:00

I've created a page for MySpace and Facebook that I hope will increase awareness of the Imperium Chronicles game, and perhaps better organize those who want to keep track of its progress.

Please take a look at the MySpace page and/or Facebook.

Game Diary Summary - February

2008-02-29T18:15:00.001-06:00

2/5/2008
I created a PDF of the first 4 pages of chapter 10 and posted them on one of the RPG forums. It shows some of the areas I've written about on Aldorus. I can't say I've had many people show any interest (and that's just my own family). ;-)

Today I was working on a map for the Palatine Mts. I was originally going to take a bump map and use it in Bryce, but I settled on using part of the Aldorus map (enlarging it slightly) and working with it in Photoshop. I still need to add locations, etc. but it looks okay so far.

2/8/2008
Yesterday I was working on the floorplan for the monastery in the Palatine Mts. If I had software (like from ProFantasy), this would probably be easier, but since I'm currently still unemployed, I didn't want to spend the money. So, instead, I'm just doing it all by hand in Photoshop, which is actually almost as good (almost).

Prior to yesterday, I was writing descriptions for some of the places in the Palatine Mts. This was pretty straight forward, although it came after a couple of days of not doing much.

2/9/2008
Over the last few days I've been spending a LONG time working on the monastery floorplan, but I'm almost finished. Last night, I was working on the basement/crypt areas. It took me over 3 attempts, but I finally got it to look more or less the way I want. As for the whole monastery, I plan to have it in a section called Point of Interest, which is basically highlighting a location on the planet that the GM can use for an adventure.

2/12/2008
I completed the Devil's Cauldron area descriptions, including the map. Since it's not as extensive as the other areas, it took the least amount of time. Next comes the Notable NPCs section . . .

2/13/2008
Yesterday I put a post on The Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com). I haven't gotten any real responses yet, but then it was just an introduction.

Today, I worked on stats for a couple of NPCs: Big G and Funkmeister Rik. I need to have a few more to fill out the section. At this point I'm not completely sure which other NPCs I'll be including.

2/16/2008
Today I was able to get a little done in the Notable NPC section, but not a lot. For the last few days, I've been in a creative malaise with little work done at all. It's possible I've been to preoccupied with finding new job and worrying about money.

2/17/2008
I was able to flesh out the stuff I did yesterday. I'm still not 100% happy with it, but it's better than nothing. I've completed two NPCs for the section, but I need to do maybe 2-3 more NPCs before I can move to the next section.

2/19/2008
This morning I wrote the description for Shakkar, the Duel Master. He appeared in Chapter 4 of Alexander the Prince. I wanted to include him because he has both some melee and psionic abilities. Next I would like to create the Abbot for the monastery, but I'm having trouble finding a good name for him. I did some research on Buddhist abbots, but none of the names worked for me.

This afternoon, for a change, I worked a little with paper miniatures. Using Poser, I did renders for the four sides of a character (and then the top as well). There are other paper miniatures on the market, but they all use either two or three sides. I wanted to try four, but I discovered that a four sided miniature wants to fold in on itself and isn't stable. Whereas the three sided one is much more solid feeling. Apparently this is why four sided paper miniatures aren't used! Anyway, I may create some of these (3 sided) especially for my game, including important characters, etc.

2/22/2008
Yesterday I completed the Notable NPC section by adding Kid Vicious and the Abbot. Next I need to do the Point of Interest section featuring the monastery. I'm unsure right now if I'm going to create some kind of adventure or mission around the POI, or just leave that up to the GM. I think the former is ideal, but I'm not sure if I have something good enough.

I've also been looking at the Skills the game offers, and I've concluded I need to add more, and slightly change a few existing ones. I've made a long list of Knowledge-based skills to add, and I've previously listed some others like Streetwise which I need to include. I think it would be wish to give the Abilities another once over as well since I'm sure there will be some that need to be added there.

2/23/2008
Although I took a break from chapter 10 today, I've been very productive. I written notes for 31 new abilities along with another 5-10 skills which I did yesterday. They're still in note form, however, so I still need to add them to the rules. While I was creating the notable NPCs for chapter 10, I felt that there weren't enough skills or abilities, so now I'm a lot happier.

2/24/2008
I wrote the rules for 20 out of the 31 abilities today, and will try to work on the rest tomorrow. I still have the skills to work on too, however, but I'm not sure when I'll get that done.

2/26/2008
I didn't work on the new abilities yesterday, but I was looking at some of the other sections of the game rules, in this case the Encounters section. I really need to add more creatures to the rules. Right now there just aren't that many, except in the Minor Race section. Also, in general, I'm seeing various typos and other mistakes which just shows that it will be very important that I proofread very carefully. I will have my wife proofread also, but some of the mistakes are how the rules are implemented (ie: which dice to use) which regular proofreading isn't going to catch.

Today I finished the rest of the abilities from a few days ago. I'm now pretty happy with the total number of abilities available.

2/28/2008
So good news and bad news: the bad news is that, for whatever reason, the rules file got corrupted and I've lost everything I did yesterday. The good news is that I had back the file up on 2/26 so I didn't lose that much (maybe a couple of hours worth of work, and nothing that major). However, this once again reinforces the need to back up every freakin day. Today, I also sent a backup copy to my email address so it's also saved off-site. I normally backup to my external drive, but if we had a fire or something, that would also get destroyed. By backing it up to my email, it's completely off site so it would be save from such a disaster.

Aldorus Map

2008-02-01T18:04:00.000-06:00

Here's the map I created for Aldorus. I used the lunarcell and flexify photoshop plugins to create much of the map. Both plugins are from Flaming Pear.

Game Diary Summary - January

2008-02-01T18:03:00.000-06:00

1/2/2008
This is the first entry for the new year, a year since my very first entry (1/19/07). After reading that first one, it's interesting to me how much I've gotten done over the last year and how much I haven't gotten done. Although I don't anticipate taking another year to finish the game (since there's really only one chapter left), I'm curious how things will be in January 2009.

1/7/2008
I FINALLY started working on the commodities yesterday, but it was slow going. I have plenty of notes, but it's been very hard for me to put it in rule form that didn't sound terrible. However, I did get it started and, like pulling off a band-aid, that's perhaps the hardest part.

I was able to do more today with commodities including examples of how to setup the preliminary supply/demand quantities and prices. I will have to test all of this, however, to make sure the values come out okay. As usual, there will probably be modifications once I get into the actual numbers.

1/8/2008
I added my notes to the rules last night, although I was having some technical problems getting the stuff from my google doc into my word doc. I normally use Firefox, but I couldn't copy and paste into Word that way. However, after getting really frustrated, I switched over to IE and it worked fine. I guess there are still reasons to use Internet Explorer. ;-)

Anyway, I have to remember to add a section on cargo licenses etc. Seems like there's something else I'm forgetting, but I can't remember right now.

1/9/2008
I worked on the Events table yesterday. Basically, there's a chance (once per week) of an event changing the commodity prices and supply/demand amounts. I had done this table previously, but decided to rework it slightly. I was getting frustrated with it, but I got it done and added it to the rules last night.

1/11/2008
I've had a pretty crappy couple of days. On Wednesday, I got laid off from my day job and yesterday I fried my hard drive and had to reformat everything. Although I had a lot of my stuff backed up, I did lose the last section of the current chapter and I also lost the photoshop files for the Imperium and Jova maps. I have jpegs for those, but neither are print quality (at least not the Jova one). So, I have some rework to do which sucks. Of course, I also have to get a new job which also sucks. Meh.

1/13/2008
I spent lasts night and part of today redoing the Jova map. I basically started from scratch, although I had a jpeg version as referenced. Actually, the most frustrating part was trying to get the colors of the districts the same as the old version, but I simply approximated the colors instead of matching them exactly. Today, I mostly worked on adding all the star systems in. I got Capitis done and I will try to do Kurai tomorrow.

1/14/2008
I completed the Jova map today so it's basically as good as new (and backed up even!). Next I need to redo the part of the rules that was lost. That didn't amount to much and a lot of it was already in my Google docs, so I was lucky there. It's funny, but working today on the map I felt a certain calm come over me: even though I was laid off last week, I guess I still have the game to work on and keep me busy. It helps.

1/17/2008
I've been kind of busy lately trying to find a job. Today I had an interview (which went terrible). In the meantime, I redid the header for the rules (which had been lost due to my drive failure). I was lucky because the image for the Imperium crest was still on the wiki AND it was at 200 dpi for some reason (even though it's a JPEG). So, I was able to add it to the header.

1/19/2008
My rules are now totally caught up. I spent today putting in the Trade stuff that I had lost. I guess it only took a week to get everything back more or less as before, but it's still a wasted week since I shouldn't have lost the stuff in the first place. Unfortunately, I really have only myself to blame. :-(

1/20/2008
It looks like I'm basically done with the current chapter, which means I can start the final chapter of the game now. Today, I added the rest of the Trade section and also a section describing Jova province and the Aldin star system. As I may've mentioned before, the final chapter will describe Aldorus in greater detail, including various NPCs to meet and places to explore. It's really intended as a jumping-off point for characters just starting to play the game.

1/22/2008
It turned out that I wasn't completely done with the chapter after all: I still needed to add contraband and smuggling rules, although some of that info will be in the Gear chapter instead. Today, I've been mostly doing preliminary notes on the final chapter about adventuring. I'd like to create a nice map of Aldorus, but I'm having trouble getting something that looks presentable. So far I've been pretty dissatisfied.

1/24/2008
Today I was working on the Regalis city map. I had created a map for it a long time ago, but I thought I could do better. So far I haven't. :-( However, I don't think the original is good enough either so I'll keep trying.

1/26/2008
Yesterday I decided to go with my old Regalis city map instead of the new one that I had slaved over. The new one just didn't look like a city map to me. Today, I actually started the last chapter (ie: actually wrote in the rules instead of just notes. I didn't get too far however because I found that the world map for Aldorus was far too small. So, I spent the last two hours redoing the map so it would fill the page instead of just of a part of it. I'm much happier now, though!

1/29/2008
I was stuck the last couple of days: couldn't seem to write very well. Today, however, I've written quite a lot; describing some of the areas in Regalis. The wife seemed to even like what I'd written so that's something! ;-)

Game Diary Summary - December

2007-12-31T14:36:00.000-06:00

12/3/2007
I had some trouble in Photoshop, working on the Jova province, but I worked that out yesterday. I also found a formula to plug into my names spreadsheet to give me a random name from the long list (around 500 names). I used that to select the 50+ star names for the Capitis district of Jova (the one containing Aldorus). Only problem is making sure I don't somehow duplicate the same names.

I continued working with spreadsheet formulas for automating the star system creation process. This time I was doing the Raw Material, Ag Prod, Ind Prod, and Wealth Index. While doing this, I discovered a problem with the Wealth Index mods and changed that to work better.

12/4/2007
I added the names for the 53 systems of the Capitis district (Jova province), but I'm concerned the names don't have enough variety. I have a large pool of Hindu names with some others mixed in. It's perfectly fine to have mostly Hindu names of course, but it might be better to have a wider variety as well. Not sure I'll change it though.

Also, each star system has a circle with the color of the star. However, if the map is printed in Black & White, you won't be able to see these colors. I could put a fill pattern in each as well, but I'm worried that might look bad (especially in color). Not sure how I want to do this . . .

12/5/2007
As I mentioned yesterday, I need to figure a way for the stars to show the type in case the map is printed in black and white. So, I looked a different fill patterns but none of them looked right. I ended up using the actual letter for the star (ie: M, K, etc.) and put that inside the circle or the star. Frankly, I'm not happy with this solution, but I'm really not sure what else to do. :-(

12/6/2007
I finished assigning stars to the Capitis district last night. It's a very time consuming which begs the question whether its too much of a hassle for the regular player. Of course, a GM may not be doing it for an entire district or province, etc.. However, it's already made me question the validity of doing trade routes which depend on going through all the planets and moons to find the highest level starport for that system. Of course, I could do trade routes differently or just not do them at all since their really aren't that necessary. Once again I'll have to "think about it." ;-)

I've been doing a sample system, including all profile values. It's given me some valuable data that, among other things, shows me some changes I need to make. For example, the Wealth Index is still very out of wack. I got a planet with a 10 for industrial production but with a wealth index of zero. So, I'm going to look at that too.

12/7/2007
I think it's becoming obvious to me that I need to drop the Wealth Index. It's just not working very well or constantly. With that in mind, I also will need to rework the commodities (supply/demand, and prices). Also, I've pretty much decided not to have trade routes: in several games (like Elite), there are no routes and frankly they just aren't that necessary.

Sigh. The more I test the Raw Materials and Ag/Ind Prod stuff, the more I come to the conclusion that it's a terrible mess. I may have to just chuck the whole thing if I can't get it to balance right.

12/10/2007
Good news and Bad news: the bad news is that I've abandoned the whole Raw Materials, Ag/Ind Prod, and Wealth Index process, which means I've wasted a lot of time on it. The good news is that I've replaced it with a much simplified version involving trade modifiers. I had worked so hard on my idea because I wanted something original but I just couldn't get it to work inconsistently. The new system isn't very original, but I know it will work.

12/11/2007
I've completed two practice star systems for the Jova province. I'm not doing the whole province, but I want to have at least one or two samples to include in the rules (including the one with Aldorus since that's the capital).

12/12/2007
After getting a second opinion from a friend, I've decided not to have letters or symbols for the stars on my map. I was concerned that the different stars wouldn't appear different enough in black&white. However, after talking to my friend, it seems that there is enough shading difference to make it work. This will keep the map from looking to "busy" with letters or symbols. Also, there will be another table showing the type of star anyway, so it's not really necessary to have it on the map as well.

12/13/2007
I worked a little bit on the second district for Jova, including the different stars and their names. I noticed something I did incorrectly for the Capitis district so I need to go back and fix that as well. Basically, I had too many M class stars so I will change some of them to different classes.

12/14/2007
I was reading my bio page on the website. I wrote it in September and at the end I say I hope to have the game ready by December. Well, it's the middle of December now and I'm no where near done. :-o On the other hand, I only have another chapter and a half to go, but it's taking longer and longer to get it done. At the moment, I think the most realistic estimate would be summer 2008 before I'm ready, but we'll see.

12/17/2007
Over the weekend I largely completed the second district for Jova (although I still haven't settled on a name for the district itself). I plan to add the image to the wiki along with info on star systems. I will add an image of the big Imperium map as well.

Okay, so now I have a name: Kurai, which is japanese for "nobility". Also, I counted up all the stars (both primary, secondary, and tertiary) and there are 170 total stars in the Jova province. Hurray!

12/19/2007
I'm done with Jova now and so I need to turn my attention to finishing out the Star System chapter. The main thing left are the commodity/trade rules which should be just a few pages long. However, I still need to wrap up the Jova content to make it nice and clean and understandable. :-)

12/27/2007
Although I was gone part of the last week for the Christmas holiday, I did get some work done. I had added the Imperium map to the rules, but I was unhappy with how it looked. Yesterday, I added a lot more to the map (surrounding countries and the Magna Supremacy) and now I'm a lot happier. I also put descriptions into the rules for the different regions, etc. Next, I plan to include the Jova province info.

12/28/2007
I redid the Imperium crest in photoshop, again using the 5 arrow motif. I then redid the header in the rules by including the new crest and redoing the lettering. It looks a lot better now. Yesterday, I added the Jova province info. Now, I need to add the Aldin star system info, and then do the commodities/trade section. Once that's done, I'll be finished with the chapter.

12/31/2007
I've been trying to think of a prose piece for the beginning of the Star System chapter. I had written one already but it doesn't really go well with the chapter, so I may move that prose to the next chapter.

I've made a large update to the wiki, adding the info on star systems and their creation. I included the Imperium main map and the one for the Jova Province.

Imperium Map - Complete

2007-12-27T12:48:00.000-06:00

Here's the Imperium and the surrounding space. I decided to add the other neighboring countries/empires as well as regions.