Friday 29 July 2011

What's this?

Hmm... something's going on over on the Age of Shadow website

;)




Monday 25 July 2011

Map-a-Monday (week 30)

The last dungeon map for July:


...and a simple pdf battlemat version can be found HERE

Saturday 23 July 2011

Elvish in The Age of Shadow

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I had originally used words from Tolkien's Sindarin language to construct all of the place/people/item names in the AoS - but since there is the possibility of some copyright issues with doing something like that, I've been renaming them all (just to be on the safe side).

Of course, I then decided to try my hand at creating my own elvish script (yeah, I really need to get out more :p ), and this is what I've come up with:


...which I think should do the job nicely. (note that the red title is in regular runes - its only the description beneath that's written in the new AoS elvish script - which also has a few runic influences).

However, each character is just an image at the moment, so I was wondering if anyone knows anything about creating fonts? or could recommend any (free) software that would help to make one?

Monday 18 July 2011

Map-a-Monday (week 29)

This week's modular dungeon:


...and a simple pdf battlemat version can be found HERE

* * * * *

In addition here's a quick look at how a couple of these maps could be pieced together to make a large dungeon complex:


Saturday 16 July 2011

Campaign Guide temporarily on hold

I had hoped to release the Age of Shadow Campaign Guide this weekend, but if I'm going to make it a commercial product (at a similar price to The Little Book of Dungeons) then I'll probably have to rename everything in the entire book.

The reason for this is because I have constructed all the place names, item names, and NPC names with Tolkien's Sindarin elvish (or at least pidgin-sindarin) - which might cause me a problem in the future.

I've done some research online, and I think I might be safe to leave it as it is, as the copyright of individual word elements is probably invalid (and there are a lot of band/song names in elvish, and I specifically remember a 3rd edition D&D book by Mongoose Publishing having ship names in Sindarin), but I'm probably going to err on the side of caution with this one.

Obviously that means the maps will have to be changed too - so I've got quite a bit of work ahead of me.

Anyway, I just thought I post an update on where I'm at with the guide.



Wednesday 13 July 2011

Map-A-Monday ...decision made

A little while ago I mentioned that I might scale back the Map-A-Monday project a little (perhaps to one map per month rather than one every week) - just to free up some of my time for other projects.

However, when I started the project I did say that I was going to try and keep it going for an entire year - and since I'm more than half way there, I think it would be a shame to stop now.

So (as you've probably guessed), I'll be continuing to post a new geomorph-style map every Monday throughout 2011 ...just like I originally planned - which is (hopefully) good news to those of you who've been following the project.

But if that's not good news enough, I've also taken the first map from The Little Book Of Dungeons - Volume I and blown that up to battlemat scale too - which can be downloaded (for free) from DriveThruRPG and RPGNow...


...and already it's got a couple of nice reviews :)

Others will probably follow, but I'll likely have them available for a dollar or less.

Monday 11 July 2011

Map-a-Monday (week 28)

Here's another dungeon geomorph:


As always, a simple pdf battlemat version can be found HERE

Sunday 10 July 2011

The Little Book Of Dungeons - Volume II

I know it's only been just over a week since the launch of Crooked Staff Publishing, and with it Volume I of The Little Book Of Dungeons, but I've really been in the mood for creating a few dungeon maps recently ...and as a result The Little Book Of Dungeons - Volume II is now available through DriveThruRPG and RPGNow for $2.50.


I'm also planning to compile a third volume of dungeon maps this year - though I'll probably start work on this final volume in a few months time, and concentrate my efforts on a few other things in the meantime (unless of course, folks really do want Volume III sooner rather than later).

Also, both volumes have had their first review over on the Adventures & Shopping blog ...and a good one at that! (thanks BB).

Monday 4 July 2011

Map-a-Monday (week 27)

While I'm deciding whether or not to scale back the Map-a-Monday project (perhaps to one a month), I've still got enough finished to last me through until the end of the month (so I'll use that time to make my final decision). So, with that said, here's the first map for July:


As always, a simple pdf battlemat version can be found HERE

Sunday 3 July 2011

Blog discount!

I've been playing around with the DriveThruRPG interface and wondering if I can pass on discounts to readers of the blog ...and apparently I can.

So if you would like to get a copy of the Colony 19 starter set for the reduced price of $2.99 then simply click on the following link:


And to get $1 off the normal price of The little Book Of Dungeons click on this link:

(note that the discounts run until the end of the month)

Friday 1 July 2011

Crooked Staff Publishing on DriveThruRPG & RPGNow

I'm pleased to announce the launch of Crooked Staff Publishing - and with it my first two products available for download through DriveThruRPG & RPGNow!


The first of these is the Colony 19 Starter Set - a set of sci-fi/near-future floor tiles for use with 28/32mm miniatures*



The set includes nine pages of full colour tiles depicting various rooms, passages, and objects that folks can print out and use to represent various interior locations for their RPG's and wargames.


The second product is titled The Little Book Of Dungeons (Volume I) and contains nine greyscale dungeon maps ready to be populated by a host of monsters and traps.


The maps themselves are of a very similar style to the Map-A-Monday maps - but each fills an entire page, and is a little more extravagant in its design.

* * *

So there you have it - anyone who's been following the Blog for a while probably knows that I've been toying with this idea for a while now, so (for me at least) it's great to finally get things underway.


*Figures shown are from em4 miniatures (used with permission)
and are available from www.em4miniatures.com