August 9, 2016
I just got back from GenCon 2016, an exciting and game-packed long weekend. Although I had many fun games--some of which I'll touch on in future blog entries--the highlight for me was the chance to slip into a sold-out game of Torg.
I've been a fan of Torg since the 90s, and the news that Ulisses Spiele was relaunching the game put me into a tizzy last year. News has been slow, however, until last week. Although the rulebook is very sparse (only 31 pages, akin to a quick-start set of rules) and the adventure "Zero Hour" is very straightforward, there was more than a dozen pregenerated characters to choose from that, among them, displayed a lot of the reworked rules system. It seems to be streamlined without losing the core feel of the game. Further, there are now three separate decks of cards in play (the initiative cards and character power cards are now separate, and there are realm-specific decks as well).
I'm very excited to see more of this game. Below is the character I played, an edeinos optant (or, for those unfamiliar with Torg's game world, a lizardman priest).
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Torg
July 11, 2016
I heard the news a few days ago that Steven Russell of Rite Publishing, had died suddenly in a car accident. He was 42 (also my age). This was a tragic loss for the gaming community, because Steven helped so many people get a start in writing, art, cartography, and all the other aspects that make up game publishing--not to mention the many, many great products that have enhanced people's games at the table.
I wrote quite a bit for Rite Publishing in the early days of my freelancing, all of it ...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
July 8, 2016
I've done lots of freelance work for Paizo, and in virtually every case I'm given a comprehensive outline of the entire project (even if I'm only writing a part of it). I appreciated, but didn't fully understand, how much thought and effort went into these outlines, and how much they set the tone and guidance for the whole project. The outlines are as much "don't do this kind of thing or go this sort of direction" as they are "here, do this kind of thing" (in one project about human races, I ...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
June 27, 2016
I've been hard at work on multiple simultaneous projects for Paizo and Wizards of the Coast. Right now, I'm finishing up my work on the Encounter Codex, one of the hardcover books announced at PaizoCon. I've been working through about 20,000 words of that, and I'm just about done--that is, I'm at about 22,000 words and I'm giving my wife the unenviable task of cutting down all my extraneous verbiage. Although this wasn't a particularly easy project--the goals and guidance changed a few times...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
May 31, 2016
I made a quick trip to PaizoCon last weekend, and I had a great time. The events were all quite fun, and I was able to sit down an talk with many of my developers about projects I'd recently completed for them, as well as pending projects they'd like me to write.
There was also the usual series of announcements at the banquet. Most years, I have a good sense of what those will be, and I'm rarely surprised. This year, I knew that the Ironfang Invasion adventure path would be announced (I wrote ...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
May 13, 2016
One of my most useful tools as a GM is my d6 labeled "Yes" on 3 sides and "No" on the other 3 sides. It's my Yes/No Die, and it solves all sorts of questions in combat. Between the rogue and the oracle, does the mindless monster attack the rogue? Is it the wounded orc that falls into the pit? Are you closest to the statue? And so on, and so on. As a recent experiment (and as a playtest of an adventure where I needed to test the story rather than the rules), I invented a whole gaming system ba...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen.
May 11, 2016
It's been a while since I've written a Pathfinder Society adventure, but developer John Compton reached out to me to see whether I'd revisit the site of Azlant Ridge from an adventure five years or so old. I eagerly agreed, and was assigned
PFS7-27 Beyond Azlant Ridge in early April. After a lot of writing over the last month culminating in a fun playtest last night, I'm practically done with it--although I need to cut over a thousand words to bring it under word-count. My due date isn't tech...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
April 20, 2016
I've been playing around with haunts for a Pathfinder adventure I've been asked to write. Man, they can get unbalanced fast, and need to be sharply reined in to serve the story being told. Here's one that is legitimate by the rules, but can kill just about any low-level character without recourse. I absolutely promise I'm not using this one.
Murderous Word CR 6
XP 2,400
CE haunt (a room 30 ft. square)
Caster Level 6th
Notice
Perception DC 15 (to hear a short intake of breath, as though s...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
April 12, 2016
Whew! My fourth adventure path is finally away. It's the second chapter in an as-yet-unannounced adventure path from Paizo (the one that follows
Strange Aeons). I'm pretty happy with how it turned out: I was able to get right near the wordcount without having to add a bunch or (even harder) cut a bunch, the three new items I created turned out pretty neat, and there are four separate sections that each have their own feel and play to different character types. Crystal has been a great, respon...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
March 29, 2016
My group goes through a lot of campaigns, and we're trying something neat on Wednesday nights this year (and into next, I'm sure). I'm running the Hell's Vengeance adventure path (where all the PCs play evil characters) and my friend Greg is running the Hell's Rebels adventure path (a concurrent campaign where all the PCs play good-hearted revolutionaries). We have pretty much the same group in both (Greg plays in my game and I play in his) and we switch off on alternate Wednesday nights. But...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen.
March 13, 2016
My next 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons adventure for the Adventurer's League has been announced. It's DDAL04-05 The Seer (which, in development, had been "The Esper," although I like the name "The Seer" much better). It required my to get deep into the lore of the Vistani, the Romany-like people of the classic Ravenloft setting. It was a lot of fun to write, although I overwrote it by quite a lot and had to trim it back pretty substantially (as I mentioned in a blog post about two months ag...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Wizards of the Coast
March 13, 2016
Paizo tapped me write a chapter in the upcoming Adventure Path after Strange Aeons. I can't say a lot about the AP itself until it's announced at PaizoCon, but I can say that I'm working with a new developer. She's developed (and written) several adventures, but this is her first opportunity to develop an entire AP line. I really want to impress her with my adventure--not only because I want her first AP to go well, but because this is my first work for her and I want to keep up my reputation...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
February 29, 2016
So, the last week or so has been hard for Paizo. They offered a ton of products to a pay-what-you-want charity site called HumbleBundle, and they were wildly successful. The charity is making a ton of money, HumbleBundle is getting a good cut so they can keep doing their great work. Paizo is getting a ton of new customers.
Then everyone that bought pdfs from the HumbleBundle sale went to Paizo's site to get them, and it all came crashing down.
Paizo's download page just wasn't set up to handle...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
February 18, 2016
I'm pleased to report that A Flirtation with Fey received its first review--and it's five stars plus a seal of approval from Endzeitgeist! I couldn't be happier that the work Greg and I put into this adventure was so well received. This adventure started life as part of an adventure path for Headless Hydra Games, but when that didn't pan out we were able to take it back, revise it heavily, and release it in the format you can see today. Check it out!
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
January 24, 2016
As a quick update, I'm finishing layout today on the
Emergency Settlement Collection, which I should be able to print proof and release in February. I've uploaded its cover picture as well--take a look!
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
January 22, 2016
I've done plenty of writing for Paizo's Player Companion line:
Magical Marketplace,
Champions of Balance,
Giant Hunter's Handbook,
Melee Tactics Toolbox,
Black Markets, and the soon-to-be-released
Blood of Shadows. Although there is some world-specific flavor in these books, they're primarily aimed at giving new rules for players: new spells, feats, traits, equipment, magic items, and sometimes entirely new rules subsystems. They're very crunch-heavy.
In each case, the process (for me) goes a ...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
January 14, 2016
So I'm normally quite good at sticking to word counts. I keep a good, close eye on the targeted number of words. Normally, I shoot a little bit high and have to trim back on some words, which is fine because tighter editing improves the final product anyway. Sometimes I'm right on or just under my word count, and that makes me feel like I can't edit the words down as tightly as I otherwise would--but I'm consoled in the fact that I'm "on budget" for words, which developers really appreciate.
F...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Wizards of the Coast
January 13, 2016
Well, this is all happening a bit sooner than I'd like, but it's great to see.
Wizards of the Coast, in conjunction with OneBookShelf (the engine behind DriveThruRPG and RPGNow) have produced their own storefront called "The Dungeon Master's Guild." This allows people to create and sell their own materials using all of the 5E rules, Forgotten Realms intellectual property, and even some basic art and maps that WotC has provided (although not maps of the Forgotten Realms world, unfortunately).
W...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
January 7, 2016
The New Year is here, and I lost the first four days of it due to a sudden illness. This puts me a bit behind for the start of the year, as I have a fifth edition adventure due on the 15th and another quick turnaround project for Paizo due on the 18th. Neither is very large--the fifth edition adventure is one of the "two hour" Adventurers League adventures and is therefore only 5,000 words, and the Paizo product is only 3,400 words, and I'm making good progress on both.
I'm also working on ano...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
December 21, 2015
The
Run Amok Bestiary is now available from all the usual outlets. Tons of monsters, including adventure seeds, and lots for PCs, including new races, new familiars, animal companions, and more!
Check it out!
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
December 19, 2015
My next adventure path chapter, which is due Monday morning, is finally (almost) complete! I have all the text, and it's just a few hundred words (out of 36,700) over wordcount, which is just fine. My lovely wife is going to edit the whole thing--all 122 pages, with the text blown up to an editable font size for her--and then I'll be able to submit it. My only last points is to make sure all the treasure the adventure provides is sufficient. I think it might be a little short, so adding a few...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
December 2, 2015
This fellow looks like quite a thinker...I wonder if he's thinking about the release of the
Run Amok Bestiary? In that case, he'd be pleased to know that the print proof is on its way, and the
Run Amok Bestiary will be out early this month. This gizzit is just one of the more than 30 new monsters within. Although a nuisance alone or in flocks, the bizarre gizzit can also be taken as a spellcaster's familiar.
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Hints and Teasers
December 1, 2015
Yesterday was my "milestone" day for the adventure path chapter I'm writing. I had to show at least half of my wordcount, and also provide all of my maps (3 pages' worth: I decided to go with two full-page maps and two half-page maps). For most of my milestones, I prefer to be well above halfway through my wordcount--and if I can be 80% or 90% of the way through, all the better. This time, I was just over--I provided about 18,900 words of my 36,700 word assignment (that breakdown is a 32,500 ...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
November 15, 2015
Who's a good boy? You are! Yes, literally good, in that the aralazar is a celestial canine who restores fallen warriors to fight against evil. Inspired by Armenian folklore, the aralazar is the first of many creatures in the upcoming
Run Amok Bestiary.
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Hints and Teasers
November 10, 2015
I turned in my outline for both my Paizo adventure path adventure, and for my Adventurers League adventure. In both cases, I intentionally went beyond the general outline expectations, just to make it crystal clear what I'd be doing.
For the Paizo outline, I was shown a previous outline for the product; it was about 2,000 words. I kept what I thought were some pretty good parts of that, filled out the rest, and expanded it all. My outline was about 6,500 words.
For the Wizards of the Coast ou...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
October 27, 2015
In my last post, I mentioned a 9000-word Paizo assignment for a new project--now that the name is released, I can say it's for
Heaven Unleashed. It was exciting to be delving into the motivations, lairs, and conflicts of angelic beings, and I think this will be an exciting product!
Although I could peaceably turn to my adventure path assignment and have all my writing time fully occupied, I actually picked up yet another freelance assignment: a short adventure for the Adventurer's Guild campai...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
October 20, 2015
I was talking with Mark, one of my developers at Paizo, last GenCon. I observed that, although I get work from a few different developers at Paizo, I only seem to get work from one of them at a time--I joked that there must be some whiteboard with the freelancers' names on it, and the developers mark them off as they're using them. This isn't the case, but it wasn't until this month that I actually overlapped on Paizo products--and how!
I was asked to contribute to an upcoming Pathfinder Campa...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
October 15, 2015
I was ridiculously excited six months ago when our local comic shop, Aw Yeah Comics, opened a sister store across the street called Aw Yeah Games. It sold board games of all sorts, lots of Magic the Gathering, and a small but promising stock of RPG titles. I immediately made it my game shopping destination, buying lots of games for myself and my kids there, and participating in some of their game events (notably, DMing the D&D Encounters seasons of Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Aby...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen.
October 14, 2015
Just dropping a note that the Run Amok Bestiary is fully written and now in layout and final editing. It should be available in the next week or two.
The timing is great, because just as I finished up the Run Amok Bestiary, I received two separate writing assignments for Paizo (one short, one medium-length, both fun).
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Announcements
October 1, 2015
I received my contributor copies of
Inner Sea Races, and I have to say I'm very impressed--seeing my bare words on the printed page, with art and borders and layout and such always gives me a thrill. In this case, it's particularly exciting because it's the first hardcover book I've contributed to.
I was hesitant about stating publicly what I'd worked on in
Inner Sea Races before seeing this, because I know that a lot can change in development and they might have decided to jettison some of my...
Continue reading...
Posted by Ron Lundeen. Posted In : Work with Other Publishers
