Scent of Decay Now Available!

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

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

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: