Almost Like Being There

Sadly, I'm missing yet another non-Milwaukee GenCon, just like I've missed all the previous ones. 

However, I just found out that some guys were playing through Liberation of the Demon Slayer using AS&SH.  And that's awesome because now I get to feel like I'm part of the magic!

Details: the guy drinking diet Mountain Dew fell in a blue slime pit and died.  The dude drinking Irish whiskey lived to tell the tale.  Haha.  Good times!

To celebrate such awesomeness, LotDS shall be ZERO dollars until after H.P. Lovecraft's birthday (August 20th, if you didn't know).

Looking forward to hearing more fun gaming news - especially if it relates to me or anything Kort'thalis Publishing has put out!

VS

The Evil Dead analogy!

This morning, I stumbled upon a slew of reviews from +Timothy Brannan of The Other Side blog fame.  I'll post links below, but first I wanted to approach my RPG catalog with an analogy...

There are some books of mine that are more like The Evil Dead, an old school horror movie containing subtle moments of whimsy and humor, but plays it straight faced.  I'd categorize Liberation of the Demon Slayer, Revelry in Torth, and The Outer Presence as Evil Dead.  Precious little "monkey business".

There are other books which are more like Evil Dead II, a nice mix between horror and comedy.  Like the film, these books don't take themselves too seriously.  Plenty of scares and laughs throughout.  I'm thinking of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, No Escape from New York, and my upcoming Alpha Blue.

It wasn't until this summer that I just let go and went total Army of Darkness with Crimson Dragon Slayer and Descent into the Candy Crypts (No Escape from New York is sort of a hybrid between II and III, I guess).

Now, when I first went to go see Army of Darkness in the theater, I was in High School.  For whatever reason, I didn't get it at the time.  I thought it was cheesy, stupid, and not particularly funny.  It wasn't until I watched The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II and then saw Army of Darkness for a second time that I "got it".  The cheesy stupidity was on purpose!  It was a parody of the genre and also a self-parody of itself.  It tried so hard to be ridiculously awesome that it became awesomely ridiculous.

I assure those willing to try Crimson Dragon Slayer that playing it can be a richer experience than merely reading the rules, just as a comedy script won't be nearly as much fun as watching the movie itself.

Anyway, without further ado, Here is Tim's review of How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss (doesn't really fit any of the categories).  There is his review of Crimson Dragon Slayer.  This is his review of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  That is his review of Liberation of the Demon Slayer.

I appreciate your spilling the virtual ink, hoss.  Much appreciated!

VS

Purple Progress Report

For those who don't know, I've been working on a new OSR campaign setting and hex-crawl book with optional rules since December 2013.  It wasn't supposed to be as lengthy as it's turned out to be.  The more I wanted to include, the longer the book became, and with that, the greater my challenge.

Right now, Ed Wedig and I are about halfway through the layout phase of the book.  It's a process of trial and error, getting things just right, making sure illustrations are correctly placed, realizing our mistakes or miscommunication and then going back to fix whatever needs fixing.

The rest of May will be a race to the finish line.  Yet, I won't sacrifice quality.  Worse case scenario (other than my untimely death or something) is we'll be a couple weeks late.  However, at this stage I'm still confident that the kickstarter deadlines will be met.  Thankfully, I built-in a month of cushion time just in case.  Purple would be in your hands by now (or at least on your computers) if it was only 32 pages long.  Hard to say exactly what the page count will come in at once it's all finished, but I think 111, ballpark.

Anyways, the color version of the map is finished.  Alyssa Faden did an excellent job!  So, here are a few zoomed-in snapshots around the purple islands to tide everyone over until the next update.

If you have a question about The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, feel free to ask.

One last thing... your support and enthusiasm are very much appreciated.  No one should have to suffer through a six month slog without the awesome encouragement I've received from all quarters of the paper & pencil RPG community.  Thanks, everyone!


VS

p.s.  You can read the teaser flash fiction here.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea review

Here is my rpg.net review of AS&SH.

Some old school renaissance fantasy RPGs (at least the core rules) don't include a rich, evocative setting in which to place these fantastic adventures.  AS&SH succeeds on that front.

In fact, I had the opportunity to run a one-shot over the weekend.  I used Swords & Wizardry as the base for character creation and rules, Dungeon Crawl Classics for the mercurial magic (the artwork is also impressive), and Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea as the wintery, alien backdrop.  It worked very well.

I'll be writing/posting more OSR reviews in the near future as I believe they get less attention than deserved, living, as they do, in the shadow of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, etc.

VS