H a p i m e s e s

Hair

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:57:22 GMT

I'm cutting my hair tomorrow. 10am. Mark it in your diary. I've had long hair for many a year now. The last time I cut it short was when I was 17. I wanted to look professional for an interview with Games Workshop. It seemed to work, as I was offered a job in their head office (after two weeks there, I was shipped out to their fastest growing shop at the time, Edinburgh -- I've never seriously left the city since). After I quit GW (the second time I quit, when I was managing Edinburgh's store), it was inevitable that it would be grown again. Now it hangs to the small of my back, much like it did when I was 17, just, erm... thinner. Many times I have considered cutting it -- hell, I even posted here about it once a few years back -- but now it's happening. Anyone have any ideas what I should do with my mop?

...

I'm not scared, honest.

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:24:33 GMT

I’m deciding what to do until Lori goes to school in 3-years time. Having talked to several peeps both online and off, it seems the following roughly encapsulates what others think:

1) Create an RPG either by myself or with others. Then, either self-publish using something like Flaming Cobra, or tout it to someone that could actually do something with it. Given I have more ideas than the M1 has cars, this seems vaguely sensible. It also seems I know several peeps who may be interested in joining me, which would certainly make it more fun than doing it all myself. However, being realistic, I can’t see myself making much money from another Heartbreaker, so it seems likely it will never happen — but I’m open to being convinced that I’m wrong.

2) Create some generic PDF RPG products full of high quality maps and accompanying text. This is a piece-of-piss option, but I've no idea how well such a product would sell. In short, it could represent some quick bucks, or it could be a colossal waste of my time and money. I’d certainly enjoy putting them together, but I’m still unconvinced I would sell many given the lack of interest I’ve garnered from several quarters. Do maps really sell when not attached to a well-known IP? I dunno. Anyone know?

3) Write a lot of short stories. My wife's preference for the long term is for me to write novels. However, my wife is probably pretty biased regarding my authorial skills, and I don't know enough about the market to be sure of getting anywhere within it. So, to set myself up, this option would have me writing pretty much all the time, working on short stories, character pieces, vignettes, and other fun things, all for practice, and perhaps with the aim of selling some words at a later date. However, it seems unlikely to draw cash in, unlike…

4) Continuing as a freelance. This is the default option. I make money just now, but nowhere near as much as I could, as I typically choose lower-paying jobs due to excitement or friendship rather than selling my skills to the highest bidder. I enjoy the work, and have made many good friends over the last few years by email and in person. However, my freelancing work has always been fairly piecemeal — a bunch of maps here, a few thousand words there, a handful of illustrations as icing — and I’m reaching the point where I crave more. Sure, I’ve often scored writing, illustration, and cartography credits all in the same book, but it’s never my book, and I like making decisions. In short: I’m a little frustrated, but still really enjoy freelancing, and it brings in a little money, too, so it’s a good choice; well, certainly an easy one.

So, that’s the main options. I’ve had other suggestions — such as working on an online gaming magazine, or producing fan material (a popular choice amongst WFRP fans, it must be said), or writing kids’ books — but the above are the four that seem most likely. As it stands, I freelance (option 4) and write my own version of WFRP on the side for my players (kinda option 1, but it’ll go nowhere as it isn’t my IP, and FFG would never accept my version of the game, so it’s not worth touting to them), and I write for enjoyment.

So, what do you think I should do? I’m completely open to being convinced towards any of the above, or to something different, if you think that would be better. As this post and the last probably makes clear, am at a bit of a loss what to do just now, and am looking to set myself up for the next three years.

Oh, and I'm ill today. A cold. Not fun.

Freelancing

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:04:47 GMT

So, I've been mulling over what to do next. It's been growing stagnent these last few months in the Law household, and I feel the need for a new challenge. WFRP is gradually becoming a dim memory in my past, and I enjoyed the run I had there, but it seems I've done all I can. I'm proud of having my name in every book for the last three years, and feel I made a positive contribution to the line, but things have changed since FFG took up the property, and now I'm most certainly on the outside of affairs. So, it seems it's time to open my eyes to the rest of the world again and move on. I'm worked on many small projects recently, but I've not committed myself to any particular line or large job lately (beside, perhaps, Dragon Warriors, but that's mostly finished now). I've just not been all that inspired, and, as my freelancing is more a hobby than a required career, inspiration is pretty important to me.

So, what to do now?

Anyone have any ideas?

My wife suggests I start my own rpg, or start planning a novel, or something similar, but I'm not 100% sold. I love my freelancing, and I get to meet many, very cool people, and I'm a little loathe to turn my back on it. Also, when talking to peeps at Conpulsion, I was offered the possibility of a couple of writing jobs, and one sounded right up my street, so perhaps that's what I should do? It'd certainly be nice to start work on a new system again (it's been a while), so I'll admit that I'm pretty tempted, but I imagine the money will be pretty poor. Lastly, one chap spent a good half an hour or so trying to convince me to produce a book full of high-quality, generic maps for fantasy roleplaying, perhaps with story seeds and the like attached. It would certainly be an easy job, but would it be worth my while? Really, I'm not sure, I don't really have enough experience in the market.

I dunno, so many options; but I suppose that's one of the benefits of being a bit of an all-rounder, there is always another mapping, or illustrating, or writing, or whatever job around the corner. Whatever I decide, I'll soon have a great deal more time on my hands as Josie will be going to school in August, and I think I'd rather work on something funky than spend all my time playing computer games.

:)

Conpulsion

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:11:14 GMT

I attended Conpulsion again this year as a guest, sitting in on a panel led by James Wallis about bringing the classic RPG Dragion Warriors to a new generation of roleplayers.

As always, it was a fun, little con. I enjoy it, as it's full of old friends, and I always make some new ones every year. Yes, it may be sedate and small, but it's also friendly and familiar, which is a plus. Oh, and it's held just 2 miles from my house, which is a big bonus.

The panel was... well... put it this way: I was a touch surplus to requirement. It comprised of James Wallis, Jon Hodgson, Andy Hepworth, and I. James led, and was his charming, witty self, full of amusing anecdotes and interesting little stories. He knew everyone involved with the game both in its previous interation and the current one, and had a great deal to say. Jon had led the artwork in all of the current books for the game, and had painted every cover, so he had a fair chunk to add as well. I, however, had precious little to contribute. I'd drawn a bunch of maps (but few were in print yet), and drawn a few pictures (which, again, weren't in print yet), and hadn't been involved with anyone barring James. All I had to add was that I loved the game as a kid; that, yes, it was similar in tone to WFRP, but similar in rules to early iterations of D&D (which were an obvious influence); that, yes, I enjoyed the work; and that also, yes, I had worked on WFRP a fair bit. In short: not much to add. Mostly, I nodded a lot at James being witty. However, if I had it bad, poor Andy Hepworth had it worse: he only had one picture in print so far and had never played the game as a kid. Indeed, he knew comparitively little about Dragon Warriors. He'd simply drawn some pictures for it, and kinda digged the grubby feel for the game. He had even less to say than me. Still, all that aside, it was a fun little panel, and it was good to speak to other fans of the game, albeit it briefly. Indeed, it was fun being the non-talkative one for a change, as I'm normally the one gabbing away incessantly.

Other than that, I bought some dice (my kids love dice too much; I lose many), chatted to friends, and borrowed a copy of the Mouse Guard RPG (which is lovely). From the chats, I think I've come to the opinion that I should attend as a guest artist next year and lay out my work for others to browse. I've never bothered in the past as, largely, I've been too lazy. But I love chatting to peeps, and there was interest from several parties to buy prints of my work, so it may be worth my while. After all, it's not like I'll have far to travel, is it?

Lindsay also popped up for a while with the kids; they wandered about being cute and getting attention, which is what kids do best. James was charming to them, and Josie told me that she though he was a nice man. Lori was too busy running into things and dropping her bear, Bis (named by Josie when she was 1), and generally getting underfoot, to care too much that people were talking to her. Given there was little for them to do, they left early.

When I went home to check on them, Lindsay was a bit ill (probably the con-food lunch she'd had), so I quickly returned to the con to grab a cheque from James, had some sausage and mash with him and Gar (Gareth Hanrahan -- a chap that's written more books for Mongoose than I can list -- unfortunately for him, James and I spoke about our kids a lot), then regrettably went home, missing another of James's talks (something about roleplaying's crimes against the Glorious Revolution), and, annoyingly, the charity auction. At least I'd contributed a little something to that by annotating a Dragon Warriors book with the rest of its creative team; I wonder how much it went for?

Anyway, fun con, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

30,000 > 7,900

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:55:51 GMT

Bleuch. I was sick yesterday, and it sucked. It seems I've yet again been afflicted by one of those tummy bugs that do the rounds at Jo's nursery. Really, it's joyous.

So, in an attempt to ignore that, I spent my time today finishing the second book of A Song of Ice and Fire (fortunately, Lindsay worked at home for half the day, and help tend the kids -- an absolute godsend). It was spiffy; although, as with most things I read nowadays, I have issues. In particular, the cartographer and demographer in me sometimes balks at scale. For example: 10,000 leagues (the claimed distance from 'beyond the wall' to Dorne) is a really long way; significantly bigger than our old, familiar earth. Perhaps I'll just lodge it all under in-character ignorance (which seems very likely). Still, I'm hooked, and looking forward to what the third book may bring.

In fact, on that, I may go fish out a global map for the books, see how it all looks. Anyone know of one? If Dorne isn't in the southern hemisphere, for example, then the planet is really, really big... or, the 10,000 league things is just nonsense -- the aforementioned in-character exaggeration or something. Not that any of this matters as I'm not mapping the place, but I can't help myself.

:)

Still being alive

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:29:10 GMT

Hey all.

For those out there wondering where I've been, it's been a long few months of deadlines, ill children, and roleplaying. Lots of roleplaying.

Anyway, just thought I'd drop a quick note in LJ to remind myself to update here more often. It's far too easy to lose contact with all the cool people I've met over the years, and I really should take more time to visit here.

So, here I am.

These past couple of days I've been tackling the A Song of Ice and Fire books for research purposes. A Song of Awesome and Awesome, more like. Did I just type that? Oh dear.

Anyway, I'm finally reading the books even though a friend was nice enough to lend them to me ages ago. I've just finished the first one and I'm loving it so far. and I can also understand why my WFRP campaign was being compared to it. There are, indeed, similarities. Really, reading A Song of Ice and Fire is kinda like reading another chapter of my game. I'll leave out details because one of my players is unaware of many of the more recent events (and he sometimes pops in here), but I will say that much politicking is involved, and warfare, and treachery, and incest, and even dragons.

As I said, awesome.

It makes me want to write another book.

I'd like to thank...

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:42:32 GMT

Look, I know that I never post here, and, basically, I'm rubbish at staying in contact, but I thought it was time I stopped by as I've just won an ENnnie! Well, not me, exactly, but the maps I completed for The Pirates of Freeport an age ago (one of which I posted here).

For those not in the know, the ENnies are kinda like the roleplaying industry's equivalent of the Oscars, but with less designer clothes. This year, The Pirates of Freeport, a book I did the maps for, was nominated for Best Cartography, and won (all the winners are here).

To which I say: Woo hoo!

Now, I'm a bit late to the party -- this was announced a few days ago -- but I've been busy working, and not really paying attention. If it hadn't been for righteousfist emailing me about it, I'd've completely missed it. So, thanks to him, and thanks to freeport_pirate for giving me the opportunity. And, of course, thanks to anyone that voted for my maps!

:D

On other news, I'm having a tooth extracted next week, and am in mucho pain just now. Not cool.

Josie tackles the obstacles of life

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:00:51 GMT

Josie's doing a sponsored Obstacle Course today at 1pm for her nursery. I really should have mentioned this earlier, but I forgot. Anyway, if anyone would like to due their duty to God and to the Queen (well, Stanwell nursery), drop a post here before 12pm today, so I can add it to her sheet. There are 10 obstacles in total, and she's eating an energy bar now in preparation -- they will go down!

And, yes, I understand this is probably far too late, and that most of you (perhaps all) will miss this by the deadline, but I thought I'd ask nonetheless.

:)

Empire Map 2

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:44:19 GMT

Having received a couple of emails and some PMs at my site, I've decided to post a WiP of the Empire map so far. I've made some posts regarding the thing in my forum, and intend to update it fairly regularly.

Empire Map

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 06:38:50 GMT

I'm making a detailed map of the Empire for my gaming group. It isn't a typical map for WFRP. I'm drafting it as an atlas map, using modern stylings (well, kinda), and showing the curvature of the planet. It goes into faily exhaustive detail, and includes most of the various locations mentioned in most of GW's books, and then some. It's proving to be a useful tool in my gaming sessions already.

That said, it doesn't look anything like any other Empire map, as the whole making-the-existing-Warhammer-World-maps-fit-on-a-globe thing caused a whole bunch of major distortions, but I like that. It kinda gives the impression that the existing maps are rubbishy in-character iterations made by ignorant Empire folk, and this map is the underlying truth. Not true, of course, but as it's just a game aid, what does it matter? After all, this is a map for my games, not for print.

:)

Gallopy Gallopy

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:56:02 GMT

White horses have been galloping through my dreams.

This may seem odd, so let me explain: My grandmother was an artist. Well, in truth, before she retired she was a nurse, for all that I find it hard to conceive of her as anything other than the old woman that lived in Rattery Street. She painted a picture of three white, galloping horses before I was born -- just the heads, with a plain background. It used to hang in the stairwell that led up into her house. I remember spending much time as a kid sitting on those stairs (or, more commonly, jumping down them, seeing how many I could clear in a single leap), occassionally looking up at the painting, wondering what drove those horses on.

Later, when I lived in Golspie, my mother -- a stay-at-home type, much like myself -- worked as an artist -- also, much like myself. She painted portraits of kids and local landscapes, and was known for it. She also painted those three white horses, but in her own style. I remember it being sketched; I remember asking my mum about paint and how it worked as she put her brushes to the canvas. Watching my mum paint inspired me to do the same, and I'd sketched all manner of things in various pads. I remember drawing athletes when the 1984 Olymics were on television. My mum did the same to encourage me -- she always liked that I was arty. Unsurprisingly, hers were a lot better. Eventually my mum finished her painting to her satisfaction, and the finished work hung in the hall of whatever house I lived in for all my childhood. The horses were always there, always pounding onwards.

And now, unexpectedly, I hear them beating their tireless tattoo in my dreams. Perhaps it's my turn to paint some horses? Of course, I'll do it digitally, as I now do almost all my work, so the final piece will be very different from my mother's, or my grandmother's; but that's the point, I think. But, I'll probably print it out on canvas; that feels right... Or maybe I'll buy some oils? But, it's been a long, long time since I painted with oils. I'm not sure I'd even know what to do anymore.

I might phone my mum and ask her about it. I've never drawn a horse in my life (somewhat amazingly, considering my line of work). Time to practice, methinks.

Oh, what a night...

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:39:20 GMT

Just watching The Descent (adverts just now) -- great film so far!

woblin and I watched Gosford Park earlier. We've seen it before and enjoyed it muchly, and would have watched it again anyway, but we watched it this time because we thought it might help inform one of Lindsay's characters. Y'know, Julian Fellows can be a bit of a prick at the best of times (or, so it seems from his telly persona), but his script is really, really good. Oh, and the film did help with the character.

The Descent just ended (this post has taken a while to compose -- watching movies kinda slows the words per minute). Nasty movie. No heroes here (or heroines, more accurately). Good stuff.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'm on the early with the kids tomorrow. Unfortunately for woblin, she won't get much of a lie-in, as she has an appointment for a haircut tomorrow morning at 10am.

Sucks to be her.

The Day of Rockening!

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:42:53 GMT

Singstar -- a game I should hate with a passion, and I bizarrely find I kinda adore -- officially rocks! As I sit here feeling like Arnie hit me in the face with a shovel (I'm a bit poorly) Lindsay is rocking out to Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah! And Alice Cooper (she is poison)! And Silver Machine!

I.... I just took a ri-i-i-i-ide... in a Silver Maa-a-achine... and I'm stillll feeeeeling meeeeaaaaan!

Man, there is something so wrong about this game, but so-o-o-o-o-o right.

Rather amusingly, Josie is currently in the top30 online with her rendition of Junior Senior's Move Your Feet. She looks so super adorable that apparently people are voting for her and keeping her up there.

Sweet.

Anyway, I'm off to slither to the loo and continue to feel like crap.

Note to self:

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:17:42 GMT

I will post here more often. I will remember...

State of the freelancing...

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:28:32 GMT

So, since I've been away for a while, I thought an update or two for those of you still reading would be useful. First, I'll tackle work.

I was very, very busy during the end of last year, and the fruits of that work should be seen by you all very soon. Beyond my normal gigs for WFRP (of which one job was pretty huge), I was also working on some maps for 40KRP, and for Dragon Warriors, both of which were pretty big jobs. Unfortunately, I was plagued with a host of minor disasters during this time as well, some of which made drawing maps or pictures pretty difficult (having no PC, for example). But I seem to have got through it all pretty much unscathed.

This year, I've started with more maps, and received a bunch of copies of new books I worked on (such as this, this, and this). However, not all is good on the freelancing side, as the company I do most of my work for has just announced it will close. Less than ideal for someone that works for them, but I'll make a post that covers this later. What I will say is that I'm going to use the closure as an opportunity to review my freelancing work, and to decide whether I wish to concentrate on it anymore; after all, I'm also working on several projects for my gaming group (such as a ground-up rewrite of WFRP), and it'd be nice to have the time to finish them.

Anyway, that'll do for the mo'. Until next time.

Really, I am alive, honest...

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:29:39 GMT

Sorry for the prolonged silence, people. A mixture of disasters rolled through Chez Law these last few months, meaning I've hardly had time to hit my old online haunts.

So, what's been happening? To be brief, I've been working, my kids have been waaaaay cool, and woblin has been the bestest wife in the world -- y'know, the normal stuff.

Anyway, I'll see about making some proper post about some specifics later.

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:20:02 GMT

Well, my copies of the Tome of Salvation arrived today. Looking good! Unfortunately, a credit for my art is missing, which annoyed me more than it really should have. Not only did I write for the book, and do the maps, but I did a bunch of piccies, as well; but no credit for that. Never mind, huh?

That all aside, the book looks like it's going down very well with the fans. Here's a selection of the opinions so far from BI's site to give you an idea (and before you read them, a big thank you goes out to all these posters that have provided feedback on Bi's forum):

'Tome of Salvation BRILLIANT' - Necronomicus

'Tome of Salvation: *****' - Warden

'Tome of Salvation: **** 1/2
'It's hard to imagine a more complete WFRP supplement. This level of detail is what WFRP's all about. It also contains answers to criticism put against WFRP. I'm only keeping the last half star because while this supplement shows BI can do the Empire, they still haven't expanded the game much beyond those borders.' - capnzapp

'Tome of Salvation: 9
'Again a wonderful book, limited in scope (rightfully so, in my opinion), but very thorough in what it covers. In particular, I just love all the different and contradicting (and conflicting!) ways of worship, and most of all the 'small gods to be elaborated on by you the players' (which I've been doing to my hearts content. The only thing missing is more rituals (as the authors conceded), but that's forgivable.' - Dr Rudolf von Richten

'Tome of Salvation! Oh my god! It's bleeping amasing! ' - Sol. P.

'I received Tome of Salvation as my reward for running WFRP at Gen Con and I've enjoyed reading it so far. There's some nice verbal acrobatics in the Intro section which patches up many of the metaphysical contradictions that have been discussed on the various fora. Left plenty of scope for 'mystery' while offering a reasonably entertaining and substantive read at the same time. ' - Herr Arnulf

'I have [the Tome of Salvation] for about two weeks now and I just can't stop reading it, it's awesome. So now everybody vote on this supplement for next years Ennies.' - Santiago

There is more, but you get the idea.

:)

Back on track

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:58:55 GMT

All those images I lost have been redrawn and received by the publisher concerned; to rave reviews as well, fortunately.

So, now to WFRP again. I have a juicy project to complete for the end of the month, and I'm relishing getting stuck in properly.

Unfortunately, Lindsay is back to work on Tuesday, so I'll be back to full-time house-dadding during the day, and mapping until I sleep in the evenings. Who needs freetime anyway? I hear it is vastly over-rated; all you do with it is play console games and watch TV.

:)

Snapshot

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:08:54 GMT

So, everything is pretty much back in place after the unfortunate events of the weekend. I'm redrawing the work I lost (which is very depressing), and preparing the way for the next job.

Lindsay and the kids are back today after a long weekend at the grandparents. I was supposed to use the time to clear out some work so that Lindsay's last two weeks of maternity leave would be largely free of work interruptions. It seems that certainly won't be the case now, which is annoying.

Damned PCs.

Other than that, my house is a mess, and I really need to get on top of it before Lindsay goes back to work. Somehow, I get a feeling that won't happen either.

:)

Never any time to post

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:59:29 GMT

I'm so busy I've forgotten what's it's like to have a normal amount of work. This month I've drawn 45 illustrations and maps and written 20,000 words. For me, that's a lot. This month I have far less work lined up, and I think I'm going to keep it that way.

Y'see, Lindsay finishes her maternity leave in two weeks, and that's kinda terrifying. Soon I'll be looking after both my kids full time as well as doing the freelancing thing, and that's going to be hard.

Maybe I should stop freelancing for a while? After all, I've written about 100,000 words for my own update of my favourite game, and I'd really like to finish that...

Nah! It'll never happen. I kinda like having the extra cash -- in fact, I kinda need it.

Ah well, let's ignore that and talk about cool books!

Just released is the Tome of Salvation, a book I've written a large chunk of and also drawn some pictures and maps for. People have been getting it all over the world and, so far, the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

Yay to us!

Here's the cover:

Other than that, I've finished the maps for the Kislev book, Realm of the Ice Queen, and I've also finished the a bunch of maps and diagrams for the 2nd edition of Dragon Warriors (no links for this one yet), which were an absolute blast to do, primarily for nostalgic reasons -- I loved that game as a kid! I've also recently completed a bunch of diagramatic maps and images for Grudgelore, which proved to be a longer job than I initially expected.

I've also suffered from a PC crash and lost all the work from the current project I'm working on.

That was not cool.

I didn't cry too much.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. So, until next time,

Must back up more often. Must back up more often...

Questioneroonies

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:17:07 GMT

Hey all,

My wife is doing a post-grad thingy and needs LJ people to answer a few questions about LJ. So, if you have a free minute (really, it takes almost no time), drop by here, say hello to Lindsay (well, woblin), and I will be eternally grateful.

:)

Andy

Yuppers, still alive

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:41:20 GMT

Man, I've been a very, very busy man.

Anyway, I'll not bore you all with the details. In short, I've not been around due to a mixture of realife and work, always a poisonous combination when it comes to updating my LJ. So, this post is here to say I'm still alive, and everything is great in the Andy household, and to tell you all I've not been keeping up with your posts. I'll see if I can resolve that.

As for work, there is a bunch of new examples of my stuff online, so I'll have to sort some links, but that'll have to wait until next time.

For those looking for a more immediate Andy fix, drop by facebook, join up (if you haven't already) and say hi. I've been kicking about on that site a lot these last few days, urged there by woblin. I've found it does a whole load of things that I wish LJ did, and, more importantly, involves less typing to keep in touch with people I know and love, which gets my vote when I'm busy.

Also, if you've never seen what I look like, my profile even has an... ugh... photo.

:)

Until later,

Andy

Conpulsion, maps, and more...

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:00:06 GMT

I'm running a game of WFRP at Conpulsion this year for BI. After a bit of humming and hawing, I went for a scenario tied in with the upcoming Night's Dark Masters supplement for vampires. The Sylvania map I posted some time ago is for that book. The scenario is shaping up nicely, although I don't expect to finish it until maybe Thursday this week; I have a lot of fine-tuning to do to it. Anyway, if you want to pop along and sign up to play it (I'll be running the scenario on Saturday and Sunday morning), here's the blurb (with a title I stole from an early draft of NDM):

The Bride of von Carstein
Elyssa von Tauer, beloved daughter of Baron von Tauer of Ostermark, has been kidnapped. Horrified, the Baron stakes an enormous quantity of gold as a reward for her return. However, when it transpires the girl has been spirited away to haunted Sylvania, dread land of the Vampire Counts, the scores of would-be hunters that had gathered for the reward scatter. Now, only six remain: a Sigmarite Priest, a Vampire Hunter, a Bright Magister, an Assassin, a Witch Hunter, and a Knight of Morr. But not is all as it seems, and soon the threat of undeath is the least of the six's problems.

It should be a laugh; or, at least, I hope it will be. It's a one-shot scenario designed specifically for a convention, so is pretty atypical, but I'm liking it so far.

On other news, BI posted a map I did of Marienburg for a BL novel, A Murder in Marienburg. I never expected to see this online, so it came as a bit of a shock when I was contacted explaining it was going up. However, I think it's a good thing, as many roleplayers have been looking for a map of the city.

Lastly, my email and website are down. Hackers attacked my host this morning, causing all manner of problems. So, if you want to contact me, it may be better doing so here, or on another forum you know I frequent; at least until tomorrow.

Anyway, I have stuff to do, so I'm out of here. Until next time,

Andy

Freeport

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:31:52 GMT

Well, as I mentioned a while back, I've been involved with Green Ronin's update of their Freeport setting. This time, I've been doing maps, and you can read about what I've been up to on the Freeport Blog, here.

Further, you can see one of the maps here.

Now, go read the Freeport blog already!

:)

The Dangers of "Shadow Run"

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 18:01:24 GMT

Man, those roleplayers are total freaks:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6430683.stm

On unrelated news, I had a triple deadline day today, which was cool until my PC upstairs decided it was bored with working. But, regardless of that, I got them all in - which is nice.

So, I'm languishing in the post-turnover glow. I've decided I'll take the day off tomorrow, do some playtesting on Sunday, then organise a WFRP scenario for Conpulsion on Monday.

After that, I'll go back to work.

No peace, and all that.