Development of Victorious! announced

Arcana Creations in collaboration with Brave Halfling Publishing is pleased to announce the development of "Victorious: Heroic Adventure in the Age of Super-Mankind".

This is a new game built upon the SIEGE Engine from Troll Lord Games.

In recognition of November 5th and the inspiration that the works of Alan Moore, and many others, continue to provide ... we have put together this little ad:

http://arcanacreations.com/works/post.jpg

For more information, be sure to visit the Brave Halfling Publishing forums... a forum for Victorious! will be added later on today.

M

More Updates

Well, I got a whole bunch of the stuff done that I actually planned for today.  The articles need a good read through before I submit them which is fine.  I'll do that when I get up tomorrow morning and after I've had a necessary dose of caffeine.

I got all the work that I needed to do for that announcement I mentioned.  I won't spill the beans just yet but the announcement should be posted tomorrow.  I'll be mentioning it here, on the TLG forums, and the BHP forums.

Lastly, I also want to thank those of you that have sent me encouragement and other kind words as I get this blog up and going and with the expressed concerns on the welfare of my beloved pet.  I've had her for over nine years now and she has been ever at my side.  :)

M

Deadlines for Me ... Changes for TLG

Well, I've been recently involved in a couple of discussions and debates on C&C and the SIEGE Engine. I'll be commenting on this a bit later today. For now, I've got a couple looming deadlines for material I promised to submit. A couple are reviews for the upcoming, and last, issue of the Domesday as well as an article on Arcana Creations.

I also have to prepare something of an announcement for later in the week.

Both needs to get done today but thankfully I see the light at the end of that particular tunnel.

In the meantime... some food for thought:

Troll Lord Games has had its share of challenges since Trigree Enterprises pulled the Lejendary Adventures, Castle Zagyg, and Gygaxian Fantasy World licenses. Coupled with these changes, TLG has also had to adjust given the release of the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons. When these things happened, TLG presented to the fans that this could be an opportunity to build on the C&C and SIEGE Engine brand. After a difficult year when everybody is facing troubled economic times, Steve Chenault expressed the concern that TLG was a 'One Pony Show' and that they were going to look to expanding the number of games they supported and published.

Now that we less than two months remaining, I'm forced to consider the releases that C&C has seen in the past year. This year saw the new printings of Monsters & Treasures and the Player's Handbook, the C&C conversion of the Heart of Glass, Black Libram of Nartarus, A5 and A6 as well as DB5, the Tainted Lands, and Of Gods & Monsters. There were also the character sheets and mapping sheets, the first tournament module for C&C, and a module for Star Siege.

Unfortunately, more than a couple of items listed have had issues attached to them. The M&T had a 'stat block' left out in the layout process, problems with the initial release of the Heart of Glass had to be rectified, and there remains concerns with the Tainted Lands box set (which I do discuss in my forthcoming review of the product). Problems outside of TLG's control caused an inordinate amount of delays with the new printing of the Player's Handbook which snowballed and derailed attempts for publishing Of Gods & Monsters in hardcover.

While I love the material that TLG produce and agree that expansion into other product lines is a good thing for the company, I can't help be a bit concerned considering the problems they had with their flagship line.

M

Personal Update

As I mentioned in my previous post, my cat was taken to the veterinary hospital early yesterday. I am happy to say that she is back home now and has eaten some solids. This is the first time she has actually eaten any solid food (the vet's included) in the past five days. I imagine it will still take a bit of time to get her up and going again. The regiment of pills I have to give her during the course of the next couple weeks will certainly be a challenge but things are looking up.

I'll be able to better concentrate on a few things I was doing for Arcana Creations which I had been falling behind on. :)

M

Monsters & Villains

Well, it's now well past midnight as I write this on Halloween and this year's holiday has not been a good one this year. On a personal note, I spent a good portion of the day at the Veterinary Hospital and my little siamese cat who is normally by my side when I do all matters of writing is in their care tonight. The evening was quite sedate as some of you can imagine.

My evening for the most part was spent in watching a few movies in the comfort of home. Being the time of year, there are no shortage of interesting films. Some are more gore... others with a hint of the fantastic and horrific... and then there are others which offer a nice dash of suspense. This year, I watched movies that I had seen many times before and, much to my better half's delight, we started off with "Interview with the Vampire". This was followed by the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and the evening closed off with the original "House on Haunted Hill". It was watching these movies that gave me the idea for this particular post.

What I would have liked to do, and others have probably done, was sit down around the table and do a bit of gaming. I'm sure some have chosen to pull out "Tainted Lands" and give that a whirl since that boxed set includes a scenario that's ready to go. Others will pull out some old favorites -- maybe revisit the original Ravenloft module or just have some sort of session with more undead... more gore.. and more atmosphere. I think that's pretty cool. It was watching the movies though that I was reminded what can make a good 'horror' scenario worth remembering.

You see it doesn't have to involve a lot of 'supernatural elements', the 'living dead', or anything demonic. If it does, it certainly doesn't have to be legions of them. Interview with the Vampire is a good tale but, how many vampires are there? For the most part we are dealing with 2-3 interesting characters. Rocky Horror certainly has an interesting character portrayed by Tim Curry but on the other hand, no character was really all that memorable in the House of Haunted Hill. Then again, Vincent Price is always fun and awesome to watch. A single vampire or interesting character... a single element of the bizarre... or a single twist can go a long way. Horror in your game doesn't have to resemble an 80's slasher flick. There is also no need to go on and on trying to establish a certain atmosphere for everything the players interact with. Finally, if you feel that some of these things are toned down too much, then a single but fun twist can make the whole experience come alive.

In other words, sometimes less is more.

One idea would be to have a 'monster hunt' which has the characters chasing down a single but unknown creature. Have the characters piece together clues to what this thing they need to eliminate might be. Keep these clues vague enough to have experienced players stumped or make incorrect assumptions. Make reliable witnesses difficult to find ... though maybe some remains of some could help with a more grisly feel to the game. Provide options and allow the players to follow up on these. When the chase comes down to what appears to be a natural conclusion, feel free to throw in another twist or an intriguing Villain.

Incidentally, a good C&C conversion of an older d20 module is available for free and does start off with a 'monster hunt'. For those who haven't tried it, the adventure titled Lion In The Ropes is worth checking out.

My own holiday gaming tribute will be a bit belated due to unfortunate circumstances but it will happen. In the meantime, allow me to wish all of you a happy Halloween!

M