Admin: Gaming Ballistic on the Web
over 5 years ago – Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 02:42:02 PM

Lost Hall of Tyr was my second Kickstarter, so if you're reading this as a backer and haven't followed my work since . . . some of this might be new to you.

Even so: Gaming Ballistic isn't a one-hit wonder, and we've got a lot more coming in 2019 (and maybe one more thing in 2018 if I can swing it). So if you're looking for

Gaming Ballistic on the Web

now you know where I am.

And that's a wrap
about 6 years ago – Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 04:58:25 PM

It's taken a bit, mostly because I was working personally with two busy folks, but all Kickstarter rewards have now been delivered: the two character sheets with portraits were finalized and delivered for my Styðja-level backers last weekend.

It was a fun ride. As I noted before, I indulged in a bit of extravagance by splurging on a piece of art that took the project to date from break-even to a bit of a loss. However . . .

There's more coming for Lost Hall of Tyr. I wish I could discuss it . . . but look for an announcement on my mailing list and blog in a week or two.

I've also been hard at work on the next voyage into Etera - a very important one. The core rulebook for the Dragon Heresy Introductory Set is in layout and final assembly. Sometime this coming weekend, I should have the chapters on Foes (80-125 pages and about 100 critters, depending on how it lays out) added to the 140-150 pages of core rules for level 1-5. That's right down the pipe for what I wanted.

Here's an image of a sample of interior layout: 

 And another WIP of the cover:

 I expect you will see this in Kickstarter some time in April. Early April if things go well.

Thanks for joining me for Lost Hall of Tyr!

Douglas 

Character Sketch and Sheet WIP; Dragon Heresy approaches
about 6 years ago – Sat, Feb 24, 2018 at 05:52:14 PM

Two of the backers chose illustrated character sheets for their reward levels. I thought I'd show you guys a Work-in-Progress view of one of them.

The backer chose to use the Dragon Heresy character classes and backgrounds, because Dragon Heresy is going to be awesome. He's a Berserker following the Path of Lausatok, which is basically a grapple-barbarian in 5e terms.

He'll be 5th level when he's done. Michael Clarke, who did my cover on Dungeon Grappling and has done the covers, layout, and graphic design on Dragon Heresy did the character sheet template.

The Path of Lausatok's initial ability is:

Expert Grappler  

Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your study of unarmed combat begins to focus on grappling and wrestling. You gain proficiency with Athletics; if you were already proficient, you gain expertise. Additionally, you gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage if you are making a grappling attack against a foe but have not yet achieved any Control.
• If you have a creature grappled and they attempt to counter-grapple either to reduce control or establish control on you, you may use your reaction to reduce their effect by 1d4 plus your Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is better.

The next boost, which will come at 6th level (so only one more!), is called Weapon Wary, which makes it easier to lunge in on armed opponents to secure a grapple (opportunity attacks when initiating a grapple have disadvantage), and you get to give yourself resistance (if you're not raging) or immunity (if you are) to mundane bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage for one turn, once per short rest.

The Dragon Heresy RPG is the next step in my mission to bring the world of Etera to life for gamers. I have 425,000 words written, and 300,000 of those have been subjected to a first-round comprehensive copy editing pass.

When that's done, hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll hack it down to 256 pages (maybe 140,000 words) and present a Kickstarter to develop an introductory set that will cover level 1-5 for some of the more classic races and classes, to get folks used to the world and the new rules concepts.

I'm working out how that's going to go. I'd love to do the entire three-volume full set at one go; that will be expensive to do as I'd like. So I'm going to follow The Big Dog and bring out an intro set first, followed by The Hunted Lands, a mini-setting tailored to the intro rules. Those two will then pave the way for the deluxe full-spectrum books.

If you've been following my 2017 Year in Review and my Financial Updates, you'll see I've pre-invested a rather substantial amount of money in art, layout, and editing. So the barrier to produce the intro set should be fairly low. There are still things I want to do with it (a professional copy edit, and an index, and paying my layout partner for the actual work to do this for real), but those are relatively speaking lower ticket items.

Stay tuned for more!

Ten Days . . .
over 6 years ago – Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 11:35:17 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

That went better than expected
over 6 years ago – Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 11:17:22 PM

 92 copies of Lost Hall of Tyr went into the mail today. Five to seven days from now (business days, taking into account the MLK holiday) all physical and digital rewards will have been delivered, with the exception of two character portraits for the highest sponsor backer level.

Thanks you all so much for supporting Lost Hall of Tyr, and I hope I can interest you in the Dragon Heresy introductory set when it comes out in the next few months. I don't think I need to Kickstart that one, though I might do it anyway as it's a great way to get word out.