Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thieving Thursday

Inspired by Tenkar's overdue Kickstarter name and shame roundup and the Dwimmermount updates, here's where I am with Horror Among Thieves. This is as much for me as anyone else, but I thought it might be good to have it be public. I shall update it each Thursday.

Cover - done.
p1-2 - Introduction/Norwich 1625 - done, but needs a rewrite in a less, well, boring voice.
p3 - Norwich map - still to do.
p4 - about the Tenebrous Hand - still to do.
p5 - Tenebrous Hand headquarters map - done.
p5-6 - The Dog & Bastard - maps done, text still to do.
p7 - The House on Cow Hill - maps done, text done.
p8 - "Dear Christina" handout - done, but I'm not happy with it; my handwriting's not the right look for a letter from 1625.
p9 - The Warehouse - maps done, text done.
p10 - The Scribe - maps done, text done.
p11 - The Potter - maps done, text still to do.
p12 - I have a blank page here at the moment, to preserve the double-page spreads elsewhere in the book; perhaps I can put some full-page art here.
p13 - The Butcher - maps done, text done.
p14 - mutant dog picture - done, but I think I should take another pass at it.
p15-16 - The Carpenter - maps done, text still to do.
p17 - The House on Willow Lane - maps done, text done.
p18 - The Casket - art done, text done.
p19 - The Courtyard - maps done, text done.
p20 - The Secret Cellar - maps done, text done, but needs a rewrite.
p21-22 - The Vaults - maps need fixing, text done.
p23-24 - treasure table - art done, text done.
p25-26 - secret double-page image - art almost done.
p27-28 - The Brotherhood of Pus - map still to do, text still to do.

pXX - "Forgive us" art - done, but I'm not sure where it's going to go yet.
PXX - a rival party - still to do.
pXX - "Death and Taxes" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.
pXX - "In Heaven, Everything is Fine" bonus adventure - needs a rewrite.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Gods, Thieves and Dwimmermount

I wasn't going to discuss the Dwimmermount imbroglio. I didn't contribute much to the Kickstarter and it doesn't seem like my place to comment on James Maliszewski's morals or personal circumstances. That said, there have been a couple of developments of late that have caused me to reconsider.

The first is that I have my own crowdfunded project that is running very late. Horror Among Thieves is far from dead, but I find myself unable to devote as much time to its completion as I'd like. It will be finished, and those who supported the project will be getting something extra to -- I hope -- take some edge off the interminable wait. People have called for James to hand Dwimmermount -- a near-complete manuscript exists, it seems -- over to someone else to manage and publish since he cannot do so himself; I see the wisdom in that suggestion, and it made me look at what I was trying to achieve with Horror Among Thieves and see if I should do something similar. I am confident that completing the adventure is within my abilities, but when that will happen I don't know, though I hope it will be soon. My own lack of productivity on the, er, product annoys me no end; James had a whole megadungeon to publish but I only have a small adventure to write and I can't even get that out the door on time. I feel terrible that Horror Among Thieves is the first project of my own that I can call professional, and yet I've been less than professional in its production; I don't want to be known for lateness and unreliability, and so my hope is that at least the final product will be a good one. Even if not, I have learned some valuable lessons.

James was working on another project alongside but unrelated to Dwimmermount, a collection of minor deities called Petty Gods, and that too has languished in development heck, until now. Greg Gorgonmilk has decided to resurrect the project in James' absence and has put out a call for the contributing writers and artists to get in touch. I'm pleased to see the book's potential return, in part because I'd contributed three drawings to it -- such as Fluxalle, the god of rusted cookware, above -- but also because I like the idea of making use of the inventiveness of the gaming community to produce something fun and free for everyone.

Greg hasn't yet tracked down all of the original artists and writers, so if you are or know one of them, then get in touch with him here. I believe he's also looking for new contributions, if you'd like to get involved.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

The Casket

This carved stone object is about the size of a pineapple and feels hollow. It can be opened with a successful Tinkering roll or suitable magic but is quite empty, its contents having already done their horrific work.

A Cleric will recognise the casket as a sacred item associated with one of the less pleasant deities; if the Cleric can roll their level or less on a d20, they identify the item as being dedicated to Bubonica, a minor goddess of plague and disease.

The casket counts as a holy symbol for Clerics of Bubonica and is worth 20sp to a depraved enough collector.

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Grubby Tropical Pizza

Local mini-chain Grubbs Burgers is quite famous with the Brighton post-pub crowd, although in almost seven years here I'd only been once, until a friend, knowing full well my love of bananas, suggested I try their tropical burger. This is a standard burger -- vegetarian for me -- topped with peanut butter, a pineapple ring and some banana slices; even with my aforementioned love of bananas, this seemed a bit dubious, but I liked it a lot and began to wonder if it would work as a pizza topping.

It does.

I will give rough measurements here, as everyone likes a different amount of stuff on their pizza. This made one thirty centimetre-ish pizza, enough to feed two persons of medium appetite.

Stuff You Will Need:

One pizza base. I use Hugh Furry-Orchestra-Stall's magic dough as it results in a happy medium between poppadom-crispy and Domino's-spongy; I halved his measurements to get enough dough to make one base and, as you can see from the picture, a few dough balls, because dough balls are ace.
Two or three dessert spoons of peanut butter. I used the Whole Earth Crunchy variety.
Two or three dessert spoons of pineapple chunks or pieces.
One banana, sliced.
Cheese, sliced or grated. I used about half of a 125g lump of mozzarella.

How to Make It:

Preheat yon oven to 250°C if possible, or 225°C if it's weak like mine.
Follow the instructions to prepare your pizza base. I like to cook it for a couple of minutes before I add the toppings.
Spread the peanut butter over the base.
Add the pineapple pieces in as chaotic an arrangement as you can handle.
Add the banana slices, again in an arrangement that best suits your personal demons.
Top with the cheese.
Bake for ten to fifteen minutes until the base is cooked.
That's it!