Magic, Myth, and Occasional Mayhem
A painting of Evelos in his ren’dorei (void elf) form. This was my second attempt at using my new drawing tablet, and my first attempt at adding shading to a character by making use of multiple layers.
You can read more about how I did this in its accompanying Special Edition post. You can read more about Evelos the character in these posts, though at present, no stories about him once his transformation into a void elf have made it onto this website.
Sad news today. I just received word that Neverwinter will be closing down its Foundry for good.
Neverwinter is an MMORPG set in Dungeons & Dragons’ Forgotten Realms setting, using a version of the 4th Edition D&D ruleset. It had an editor named the Foundry that gave players the ability to create their own quests and dungeons, complete with branching dialogue, monsters, simple puzzles, and (pre-generated) quest rewards, for other players to play through and critique.
Though it had its flaws, for me and many others, it was the main draw of the game. I won’t forget adventures like faithful renditions of Drizzt’s battle with the Many Arrows orcs, doing my in-character introduction for my roleplay guild <Order of the Broken Path>, knocking over mountains of crates just for the heck of it, evenings spent in specially created taverns chatting with other roleplayers, and even a quirky quest about saving a village from hallucinatory cheese.
I myself created a small campaign following the story of a drow who had fled the Underdark after his daughter had been turned into an evil priestess of Lloth. He surfaced somewhere in the Anarouch Desert, met a sharp-tongued wood elf who reluctantly befriended him, and eventually found faith in Amaunator (Lathander), the god of the sun and truth. The campaign is still available until April 11th on Neverwinter. If you care to give it a look-up, it is called the Fox’s Den; author is @kevaar. Please note, given the current status of the Foundry, some bugs may exist that I can no longer control.
I’m just a little choked up it’ll all be gone soon, really. Over the next few weeks I’ll be salvaging what I can, perhaps to retool for a pen and paper module. Or perhaps greater things lie in store? The community of Foundry authors, while small, has been wonderful, and we’re considering refocusing our creative efforts into making a community based on creating quests and perhaps even our own indie RPG. It’s too early to tell yet.
In the meantime, it was good while it lasted. We’ll miss you, Foundry. Should you resurface in some form, whether in this game or another, don’t be a stranger, hey?
In my efforts to start up a small bookselling business on Amazon, I ran a little experiment on the World of Warcraft economy. As described in my February Update post, I determined I would start with a small amount of ingame currency, then proceed to play the Auction House to see how much of a profit I could make with it. This was to simulate the real world market of buying items used and trying to sell them up for a profit.
It’s now one month into the study and I’ve decided to post my findings thus far.
Continue reading “Playing the Auction House: A Qualitative Study”Avaliet is a large volcanic island off the western coast of the Shey Lands.
This is a teaser to an RPG supplement I will be putting out later this year (2019). It describes the large island of Avaliet and some of its notable cities and landmarks. Continue reading “RPG Teaser: Avaliet”
Akor’mari (singular: akor’mar) are the cave-dwellers of the ‘mar races, and can be found in most inhabitable parts of the underground Reaches. On the Surface, they are rare… This is to the relief of most other races, who throughout history have suffered the attacks of the akor’mari and term them one of the greatest evils of the known world.
This is a teaser for one of the races being added by the new RPG setting I will be putting out later this year (2019). Being only a preview, some details may change upon publication. Continue reading “RPG Teaser: The Akor’mari”
Though I am still waiting back on the verdict from the latest publisher I am trying Hottest Day on, I have another squee to share in the meantime. I have been extended a contract to start work on some RPG supplements to be posted later this year on DriveThruRPG!
If you haven’t heard of them, DriveThruRPG is a website specializing in posting supplements for RPG systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Vampire: The Masquerade. Both official rulebooks and supplements as well as those written by third party professionals can be found here. Though there is some self-interest in my suggesting you go poke at the site, it’s also a nifty place to find inspiration for your next RPG adventure.
We are also looking at getting it posted onto Open Gaming Store. Open Gaming Store is similar to DriveThruRPG, though its audience is slightly smaller and does not carry some of the bigger-name brands. That said, many of their indie rule sets are still compatible with Pathfinder, 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and other popular game systems.
Finally, if we can figure out Amazon’s archaic rules, a hardcopy (as in literal book!) will be released there, as well.
I am treating this as my first big break into the industry and am really quite excited! The world of my novels-in-the-making will soon be available to play with your favorite RPG system! To give you a teaser (and there is self-interest in this preview as well), I’ll be posting the descriptions of the akor’mari race (as the race featured in Hottest Day...whenever that sees the light of day) as well as some locations from the island of Avaliet. Enjoy!
Even the term “corkbulb” would have one thinking it is what it sounds like: a root made of a cork-like substance, that could assumably be used in place of wood. Alas, it is not quite so, and the uses of this fine root in Morrowind are often mistaken by horticultural novices.
This is a sister post to “The Origin of the Ash Yam” and written by the same in-world character, Cantur Caelmoryn, who may yet find his way into other texts of mine in the future. The inspiration for this post is a pet peeve of mine on the level of the Alot. Continue reading “The Purpose of the Corkbulb”
When I first wrote “Of Fire Ants and Hooms”, a lot of people didn’t know what to think of it.
Write down report: someone should really tell Zaurac not to bang his head on chairs.
You need to be a little punch-drunk to test quest coding, I think. This story was inspired by my attempts–and failures–to get chairs to magically float in a tavern for a Tamriel Rebuilt quest. Some of the jokes are references to the world or to the quirks of the Morrowind Construction Set. Can you decipher them all? Continue reading “A Day in the Life of Testy”
Cross-posted from my Tamriel Rebuilt blog. The original post was put up on August 25th, 2018.
Author’s Note
I write this as an answer to a startling twist that the story of Morrowind’s Great Houses took in the canon writings after Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (TES3). Continue reading “What’s Up with the Hlaalu-Dres Alliance?”