Halfway There

Run through the jungle

Songwriter Roger Clyne used to address his emails “Dear happy and important person,” and I think about that a lot when I need to address people. I don’t have much else to say about it, except that I hope you are all feeling happy and important as you read this.

No bits of fiction or deep thoughts, but I’ve got four maps to share with you, most of the month of July. I’ve been on vacation and did absolutely no writing while away, despite my fantasies of sitting by a lake with a stiff drink and cranking out brilliant RPG Content. Don’t worry, there were lakes and drinks. Equally brain and time-consuming is this ongoing illustration project, which has proven trickier than anticipated. Feeling ok with it and chronically behind, as usual. I am pleased to share that I will be providing some new illustrations for the Abyss of Hallucinations Collected Edition from Max Moon Games and Exalted Funeral. Click that link to sign up for the Kickstarter! If you’re familiar with the Abyss, you may recognize my class illustrations from the first volume. The Collected Edition will feature three new classes including the Anarchist, depicted below. These illustrations provide their own difficulties, but I enjoy trying to work outside of traditional character and costume design. Doing art for the Abyss of Hallucinations also means I get to have fun with ink washes, which I love. Here you can see the finished pencils and the final inked scan.

I’ll have more to share about this project later, but I’ve got to get back to it, so let’s get to the maps!

Week 27: July marks a shift back to a top down view, which I’m enjoying. A lush jungle deep in the bowels of the dungeon, branching off of the central shaft. Lots of elevation changes here still, but I wanted to give players a wilderness experience, stalking through a heavily forested cave. This level in particular is sprawling and complex. The first thing PC’s encounter is a treacherous slope that feeds a horrible stone-eating beast. It doesn’t like flesh though, so there’s a good chance you’ll make it through to the other side, for better or worse. Escaping the rockslide brings a bit of respite before delving deeper. A humming pit compels risky behavior and lewd rodents mock clumsy adventurers.

Week 28: A groaning bridge stretches brittlely over a sunken glade. A gleaming metal man stands guard and plays games with your fragile psyche. In the distance, a gleaming golden light illuminates a plateau that rises above the terraced forest. I like the way this map works and I can visualize the elevation changes and the size of this huge cavern. This is one of the levels that I am most excited about eventually starting to illustrate. This whole space is fascinating to me and I remember knocking these pages out pretty quickly as I was catching up after a previous lull. By now adventurers will be aware that wise travelers from beyond and powerful extraplanar entities populate much of the dungeon. This level seems to be fully stocked with new weirdos.

Week 29: A lair! This is a fun one. A giant sentient tuber and her offspring call this place home and are not willing to share. Evidence of their carnivorism and brutality is abundant. A shifting hidden stairwell leads deeper and an ancient temple may provide some clues and useful tools. A skeleton of fused bone and glass holds a Heart of great importance. Is it as important as your eyes? It might be. I think I was on a pretty good roll when I was writing these and I really like the boss here. She can do some fairly horrific things if you don’t entertain her inquisitions. This section is pretty well hidden by a secret passageway, so it’s a nice surprise for those who can find it and will reward their bravery.

Week 30: That feels like a lot of weeks! Still going. More evidence of a settlement, ancient and ruined. Monolithic and alien. The echoes of former inhabitants ring throughout and skitter around in the synapses. Creeping vines and leathery flyers dwell here currently. There is some fun to be had with scavenging tables if PCs choose to spend some time here searching the ruins. Care must be taken when investigating the powerful forces that pervade the village. Things could get very weird very quickly and it might only be the next guys who find out what happened to you. They can just ask the giant frog being who lives in the baths.

This post has been converted from a previous Substack post and dated accordingly. Please let me know if it seems like something got lost or if you find any major formatting issues.

Thanks for reading! You know what to do.

Andy