Ancient Temples (in Space)!

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!

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: