Published my first story with Amazon, Smashwords, etc

 About a year ago, I posted a series of short fiction pieces to Wattapad, revolving around an entity known as the Messenger of Sorrow. 

A few weeks ago, I decided to revise that material into an actual short story. I took out some parts, revised others, and added new material. I then took one of the removed parts, and revised it into a standalone microfiction piece as a bonus.

Once I finished, I went ahead and imported it into Kindle Create (which is a great program, imho) to make a kindle book. I also did an epub export, and uploaded the two files on Amazon and Smashwords. I even created a mobi version for Smashwords as well. It's been out since yesterday, and I'm finally getting around to posting here about it. 

It has the same cover as the Wattapad version, with some minor changes to the cover text:

As a short story, I priced it at $0.99. You can get it via Amazon Kindle here, and Smashwords here. If you pick it up, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on it.

In the meantime, I'm working on more stories that I hope to release next year. 

It's a good start for this new journey. Hope you'll stay around for the ride.

Quick and Dirty Mythos short story reviews

This past weekend was the HP Lovecraft Film Festival here in Portland, Oregon. As I've done for the bast 5 years, I attended the whole weekend. Got to hang out with my old boss Ken and his son Mason. I always get the Micofiction collection the festival puts out, and this year (for the first in over a decade), I did buy some actual books. 

While travelling back and forth on the train to the Theater, I'd read on my kindle app on my phone. To keep in the right mindset, I was reading various short stories (or story collections) of Mythos and/or Weird Fiction. Since I don't use this blog as often as I normally do (as my rpg publishing efforts has been spotty the past 2-3 years), I thought I'd do some short (pun intended) reviews. So here goes!

This story revolves around a man who is hunting a supposed homeless serial killer he believes took his sister a few years before the start of the story. The killer is the subject of a manhunt, and the protagonist is trying to avoid them, as he wants to confront the killer on his own. 

While this seems like a typical crime story, there's more to it, as the killer's motives are tied to "Gee", some form of entity trapped in the mountain the story takes place on. It tells a decent story in 12 pages. 

I've read one of Klu's other stories (At the Tower of Midnight, which I got via a giveaway), and remember liking it (I might have to go back and re-read it now). This was no different. You can pick this up on kindle for $0.99 here.

This story is currently free on Amazon. It's longer at 47 pages, and is set in the 1920's. The protagonist of this story has it all, then suddenly loses everything. In desperation, he decides to rob the house of an elderly man who he knows has a lot of cash on hand. Needless to say, his plans don't go the way he expected them to.

I liked this one, though I'm not sure the Mythos elements were as good as could be. Still it's free, so not all I did was invest the time it took to read. This appears to be the only Mythos fiction the author has written; the other two titles they have appear to be part of a fantasy setting. If you want to check this one out, you can grab it here.

Discovered this one when the author posted about it on reddit. Something supposedly dead washed up on the shore of a lake in Wyoming in the late 1970's, and the horror it caused. The narrator is someone writing this down in the modern day, as they are still haunted by these events. 

Being a narration of an event that happened a few decades ago, there's things left out of the story, because the narrator details how this continues to affect them. This one was one of my two favorites of all the stories I'm reviewing in this post. The author has a full novel out, which I plan on getting as well. This is only $0.99 at 28 pages, and totally worth it. You can pick it up here.

I have these two together, because they share the same narrator/protagonist. They are part of a larger collection, which is sadly not available on Amazon currently.

The Dulwich Horror of 1927 is a take on The Dunwich Horror. A group of young intellectuals discover said horror in this small town, and it affects them in different ways. One decides it has to be stopped, and it all falls apart from there. 

While the group of intellectuals are interesting, the story doesn't really come across as good as The Dunwich Horror. Not for lack of trying though. If you've never read Dunwich Horror, I'd suggest reading this first, because it might be more enjoyable if you read Lovecraft's tale second. The story does go into some dimensional science which was cool, but still, something seemed missing. 

One of the female characters becomes the lead in a novel that kicks off a series. I haven't picked that up yet, but plan on doing so down the road.

The Monsters in the Park takes place ten years later, and our narrator/protagonist is called in by someone who was part of the outer group of friends to the characters from the first story. Something seems wrong with his son, and he thinks the protagonist, having experienced strange events a decade prior, could help. There's some weird science in this one, and a few entities known from other stories by Lovecraft. 

While I liked Dulwich Horror better, Monsters in the Park rates higher because it's not retreading another story like Dulwich did.

Hambling knows the Mythos well; he has an entire series based around his character Harry Stubbs to prove it. These stories are a good intro into his work, which hopefully leads readers to check out more.

Both are $0.99 on Amazon; Dulwich is here, and Monsters in the Park is here.

I saved the best for last. This story really appealed to me. Set in the modern day, it features a broken Marine veteran discovering that a homeless man he knows dead, with his body covered in ritualistic carvings. Having encountered the same thing in Afghanistan, he decides to deal with things on his own.

Action and the Mythos don't always mesh. This isn't cinematic action; think more Dirty Harry level, but it fits the story being told. I also liked the use of a lesser known entity instead of one of the usual suspects. As a military veteran myself, I've had a friend who had PTSD after the first Gulf War. The author does a reasonable job showcasing that in his protagonist. Given the story is only 28 pages, that didn't leave a lot of room to set something like up. I felt they did so well enough given the page count. The author does have a full length novel, which has more action in it from the description. I definitely want to check it out, as this story had me wanting more.

This is also $0.99, and you can pick it up here.

There you have it. Six quick and dirty reviews of various Mythos stories. Hopefully I wrote enough to pique your interest in one of more of the stories I covered. I'll likely do some reviews in a few days, as I have a few more stories I'm reading. 

Until next time!

Hunter$ now available; thinking about supplements

 So Hunter$ came out two days ago. I was dealing with some stuff, so I didn't get to post about it here. I think it came out pretty good, so I hope people will check it out.

Now that it's in the can, I've had some ideas for a few supplements. One would feature some vampire types from Asia, but the others would introduce new creatures for characters to fight. Ghosts and Shapeshifters are the two main possibilities. 

While searching around on Drivethru, I found this really good stock art piece of a werewolf, and whipped up this quick cover for a shapeshifters supplement:

Besides Werewolves, there are also going to be Wererats and Weretigers. Might do Werebears as well. 

I have some unfinished projects for Supers! Red I need to get back to eventually as well, so hopefully my creativity lasts me awhile. 

That's it for this post; hopefully I'll have more soon.

Coming soon to Itch: Hunter$

With PocketQuest underway, I've been working on a few projects. I'm currently writing 3 rpg's, all of which use the Breathless system by Fari RPG's, just like Beneath the Waters does. I find it a good, narrative system to build upon. Strangely enough, the third one I'm working on is probably the first one I'll be releasing. It's called Hunter$, and it's about Vampire Hunters in the modern day who sell their services to those in need. The main inspirations are John Steakley's novel Vampire$ and the Netflix original Day Shift, starring Jamie Foxx. 

Here's a peak at the cover:

I've got all the character creation and rules material done (which isn't hard, as I'm working with text from an SRD, and modding as needed). I added some new mechanical bits as well. Breathless has a type of class known as Kits, each of which comes with a unique skill. I decided to revise that a bit. My kits are called Professions, and instead of a unique skill, I have what I called Talents. Talents can be used as a skill, but also work as a narrative device. One profession, The Badge (representing law enforcement types) has a talent called "Force of Law". With this talent, the character could replace it for the skill Sway (which is persuasion or charm like skill) if they were interrogating or questioning someone if their rating is higher. They can also use it to say, call in a Swat team, request a search warrant, or even to get something for their Go Bag (every character has a Go Bag with a couple of items of varying dice ratings). 

Once I add in some info on Vampires (of which there are different Breeds), and some Adventure Snapshots, I'll finish it up and upload to itch. I've already designed the product page, and I think it came out pretty good.

So look for another post once this is out, and when the others are released. Speaking of which, here are the covers to Smoke Wagon and The Unbelievable Excerpts:

Now, to pimp PocketQuest some more: Many of the publishers got together, and created multiple bundles of the games you can pick up. There's a Mega Bundle of 33 games (mine included). There's a Flashlight Bundle of horror themed games (mine included), a Sunny Bundle of whimsical games, and a Dark Comedy bundle of games with a comedic element to them. Check out some of them, and help support the jam. It's going well so far, so I expect we'll be seeing more PocketQuest in the years to come.

PocketQuest 2022 is live!

 So PocketQuest 2022 is now live on Drivethru today. There's a lot of games involved. First off, let me remind everyone that my game, Beneath the Waters is part of this. Here's the cover:

The games uses the Breathless system by Fari RPGs. It's a light, narrative rpg. You can find the SRD for it here. 

I wanted to give a shot out to a few other PocketQuest Games. First up is Summer Camp on a Broken Lake by my friend Quin McConnell. You play the grandchildren of different organized crime family members who are camping at Lake Mead. Bodies start to pop up (as the families used it for dumping grounds in the past), and the characters learn the harsh realities of their families secrets. It uses the Charge! system, which is a derivative of Forged in the Dark. It's also by Fari RPGs, and can be found here. This is Quinn's first official release for his new publishing venture, Cat Culture Studio. Here's a look at the cover:

Next up is Exceptional Youth Camp, an interesting game set in a Soviet era camp for youth who appear to possess special abilities. It's a neat little game, and the imagery really gives you that Cold War feel. Definitely one people should check out. Here's the cover:

 We're all gonna Die is a horror-comedy rpg. It's not set in any particular type of horror outside of being low budget. What I love about this game is the GM is called The Sleazeball! Definitely looks like a fun game. Check out the cover:

I haven't picked up any other games in the PocketQuest series, but a few that I'm going to cover a couple I think stand out to me.

Camp Karate comes across as Cobra Kai the rpg. That's a good thing to me. It's also a lot different than most of the other entries. I do plan on picking this one up when I have the cash to spare. Check out the cover:

Next up is Summer Camp is Hell! I totally dig the concept; your summer camp is sent to Hell, and you have to find a way to get home. Definitely a different take on summer camp horror. It's a bit pricey at $10 for a 20 page game imho, but the premise does sound interesting. I really dig the cover too:

Camp Cryptid stands out because the camp is actually for Cryptids, not people! That's a nice twist on the summer camp theme. Definitely another one I plan on picking up when I can. Check out the cover:

You can check out all the PocketQuest entries here. There's quite a few new publishers involved, so please, show them some love and support!

I'm finally writing RPG material again! Plus PocketQuest!

 After a long drought thanks to the pandemic & work, I've finally gotten the itch to write RPG material again. I think leaving my old job, and how my current job has been less stressful so far, has been a blessing. While I'm still adjusting to working different times (up real early in the AM now, as opposed to being up all night), I'm sleeping somewhat better than I did the past 9 months. My health is much better too, and I'm definitely doing better on both an emotional and mental level.

I've been checking out some games on itch.io, and that led me to a few SRD's for some systems. A few of those peaked my interest, and I've got a couple of ideas I hope to work on in the future. I also hope to get back to some projects I had started prior to the pandemic I never finished.

First off though, I'm taking up the challenge of writing an rpg for Drivethrurpg's PocketQuest. It's like the game design jams itch runs. The idea is to write a game (original or with a system you can use that isn't one of the major ones, like D&D, etc) with a page limit of 20 (not counting front/back covers, if those don't contain rules text).

The theme is Summer Camp, which is a challenge for me. My only exposure to Summer Camp is the movie Meatballs and various horror movies. So making a game to match this theme wasn't easy. I finally settled on an idea to go the route of kids investigating weird happenings at the lake/town where the camp they are attending is located. Once  I got the idea, I needed a system. Enter Breathless. Breathless is a short, fairly narrative rpg from Fari RPG's. They have their SRD posted to the web here, or you can pick it up on itch here.

I also joined their Discord, where I've gotten a lot of help bringing my idea to life. The SRD is a little barebones, but that's not a bad thing. It gives people the chance to modify it to their liking, and each version can stand out a bit more with whatever the author adds to the base rules.

I've got my version of the rules done, which includes some "gasps", which are what specific rules add-ons that are available with attribution to use. Now to just write out some adventures, and stat our some creatures, etc, and I will be finished. I've got 2 adventure ideas fairly well fleshed out, and 2 more idea sparks to work on after that. It also helps that I have plenty of stock art to use. All those sales that Fat Goblin Games did were a godsend in terms of how much stock art I've acquired. 

Anyway, back to work. I'll make another post linking to Drivethru once it is available.

In the meantime, here's a look at the cover I whipped up:

So, I wrote some micro-fiction......

 Some time after my last blog post about 2 years back, I got inspired to write some micro-fiction. I've written a series of interconnected stories revolving around The Messenger, an entity who appears in people's dreams, informing them that the person they are dreaming about when he appears won't be seen by them again. Once the person wakes up, they discover that person has died. I had posted the first story on the blog previously, but that one has changed from what I originally wrote.

The first four pieces are written creppypasta style, but the rest are more in the vein of weird fiction. The Messenger has ties to the Cthulhu Mythos, but that's only hinted at until one of the last pieces.

I whipped up a cover using a free cover piece on some site, and published it for free on Wattapad. If anyone would like to read it, it's available to read here.

Here's the cover:

I am working on some other material. I've got some Superhero vs Mythos stories, some Mythos-tinged dark/pulp fantasy, and one about another entity called The Bleeding Child. Not sure if I will publish those on Wattapad also, or try my hand at going through Amazon. Stay Tuned!

Adversaries: The Dirty Dozen out!

Adversaries: The Dirty Dozen was released for BASH about a week or so ago. I'm pretty happy with it. It's the longest product I've released, clocking in at 40 pages (the last one was 30). Sales are slow but steady.

I worked out a discount offer for backers of the Awesome Powers Suites kickstarter. Hopefully Chris will contact backers with the discount code in the near future. I did that because some of the villains in Dirty Dozen use material from various volumes of Awesome Powers, and I thought backers might be interested in that. It's also a thank you to people for supporting such an awesome game from another fan of the system (ie me!)

With two big releases out, I'm taking a semi-break before planning my next project. Since my last blog post, I've seen Shazam! and the animated Justice League vs The Fatal Five, both of which I thought were pretty good. Als watched Black Lightning Season 2, which I didn't like as much as season 1. It was good, but just seemed to cram in way too much.

I'm psyched for Avengers: Endgame next weekend. I can't wait to see that.

In the meantime, I'm working on my annual Supers! demo for Free RPG Day this year. Called Home Invasion!, it features a version of the Fantastic Four dealing with a group of villains invading the Baxter Building. Given they've never fought any of these villains before, why are they attacking the FF in their home turf? That just leads into the real threat. Here's the cover I whipped up for it:

The cool thing is between this and the other game being run by Quinn (who many of you know as Ortrail on various forums), we have a prize for our players: Walt from Hazard gave Quinn a copy of the core rules to give away this year. I'm hoping we have full tables again this year.

I'm also planning a one shot of All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Titled "Rest home of the Walking Dead", it will feature four retirees caught up in the start of a zombie apocalypse at their retirement home, and their efforts to survive. Took some inspiration from a 2012 British horror-comedy called Cockneys vs Zombies, which featured a few retirees stuck in their home in the East End while zombies are all around them. Hopefully it will be fun.

So that's it for now; hopefully I'll be back in a month or so with a new post

Time to BASH!

Adversaries: Mercenaries, Spies &... for G-core has been out a few days now. I've been really busy the past 4 days or so. Overtime at work, going to see Gabriel Iglesias perform live, then catching up on rest yesterday (as I'd been averaging 3-4 hours a sleep the 3 days prior).

I'm now sitting down to plan out what is next on the SS schedule. First up is going to be my long planned next release for BASH. Titled Adversaries: The Dirty Dozen, it will feature 12 villains. There will be updated versions of Binary & Indar from Adversaries 0, as well as updated versions of The Triad (including new art by Juan Paolo). This project would not have been possible without the help of Ben Norman (aka Mr. Jupiter), who converted the characters to BASH for me. The only one he didn't do was Post Haste, whose creator did the stats.
Here's a look at the cover:

For those who've purchased my products for Supers!, you likely recognize these bad guys. Most of them have never been released for BASH, so it's about time I did so. I will likely convert this to G-Core eventually as well (and hopefully convert Mercenaries, Spies &.... to BASH).

Norbert Franz from Spectrum Games is going to adapt Mercenaries, Spies &... for Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul, and I approached Mike Lafferty of Fainting Goat Games about possibly releasing it for ICONS (I might approach him about a FATE version as well, but ICONS is what I initially approached him about).

On the Supers! front, I have two partially written projects (Adversaries: Pulsar, and Astounding Space Adventures: Conquest) I need to complete. I had also started another Underbelly Extra, and I need to get back to that as well. I also have a couple of releases in The Golden Age line planned, and will need figure out those down the road as well. I do have some newer ideas for both Adversaries and Astounding Space Adventures as well, so I haven't set a schedule for anything. The focus right now is getting Dirty Dozen for BASH written, then go from there.

So looks like 2019 should be a good year for Soultaker Studios. I thank everyone for their support so far, and look forward to putting out more material for you all to hopefully enjoy!

Five months later.....

So it's been 5 months since my last blog post. Been busy with life and such. I've done a few releases since then (2 new Adversaries, and a new Halloween Horrors, all for Supers!). As always, you can find my stuff on my Drivethrurpg.com page.

My current project that's close to completion is a compilation of 3 of my Adversaries releases for G-Core. All 3 of them featured supers for hire in one for or another. I'm putting the finishing touches on it now, so hopefully it will be out by the end of January, if not sooner. Here's a peek at the cover:

Not sure what I will be working on next. I really need to start on the Adversaries adaption, since Ben Norman all ready did all the stat conversions. I'm debating on whether or not to use the Triad cover for it, or just do one like this, with the characters all on the cover in a composite image. I'll likely phase out the BASH version of Adversaries 0 when I release that, as Binary, Indar and Roughhouse (the villain from one of the story seeds) will be part of that book. So we'll see after I get this one out the door.

I also have some work done on something for DWD Studios FrontierSpace rpg that I need to get back to. Again, we'll see how that goes. 

That's all for now folks!

The Messenger, a Creepypasta

A friend recently told me that she's seen a strange man in 1930's style pinstripe suit in her dreams a few times. Each time he's appeared, he told her someone was going to die. I became fascinated with this figure she's seen. I tried to get more information from her, but she didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Taking the basic information she gave me, I added my own touches, and created The Messenger. He appears in your dreams, and tells you that you won't be seeing someone ever again. After you wake up, you learn that person has died. As grief overtakes you, The Messenger appears in real life, and touches you. You feel weak after ward, like he took a part of you with him. He might appear a few times to you as you lose people close to you, or he may never appear again. As you'll see in this first story, he doesn't seem that malevolent. That seemingly changes in later stories, or does it?

So here is my first attempt at writing a Creepypasta. Hope you like it.

The Messenger

By Gerry Saracco

I'm standing in my father's room.

I hear the rain outside.

I feel a presence behind me, but am afraid to turn around.

A male voice says "I'm sorry". It sounds distorted and full of static.

"Why?" I ask, still afraid to turn around.

"Because your father won't be coming home"

I shake my head; I don't believe him.

"How do you know?" My mouth feels dry as I force the words out.

"Because I'm the messenger"

Heart pounding in my chest, I turn to face the man. He's wearing a white suit with black pinstripes, with matching gloves, shoes and a fedora. His body wavers in and out, like a glitch in a film. 

He has no face. I open my mouth to scream....

The sound of my cell phone buzzing under the pillow wakes me. It's my sister. Hands trembling, I answer.

"The hospital called; dad's gone"

The phone slips from my hand, and falls to the floor. I get up, and walk into the bathroom. I hear my sister's voice faintly over the phone.

"Derek? Are you there? Hello?"

I turn the light on, then the faucet. Body trembling, I splash water on my face. I gaze at myself in the mirror. The lights flicker as I splash more water on my face. I look up again, and he's behind me. I feel his hand on my shoulder. Terrified, I turn to face him, but no one is there. 

I feel weak; I barely make it back to the bed. Ignoring my phone, I fall onto the mattress, and drift off again. 

I hope he's not still waiting for me in my dreams......

New products coming this month

So Aldo Regalado, one of the co-authors of Supers! Revised, recently ran a kickstarter for his Superverse setting. 

To help him out, I offered to write some new Adversaries releases that backers would get free if the campaign funded, and then as stretch goals were met. Sadly, the campaign didn't fund. Since these were going to get general release after backers got their copies, they are both on track to be released this month. Following in the vein of Adversaries #1, both of these releases feature four antagonists who are more mercenary in nature. Not all of them are necessarily evil, but most of them tend to be considered bad guys.

I'm working on compiling all twelve villains into one compilation for G-Core Prime to release after the Supers! versions are out. Here's a peek at the cover:

Look for it sometime later this month, and expect the first of the two Supers! versions to drop on Drivethru/RPGNow sometime this coming weekend

Three Years gone by...

Damn. Three years to the day since my last blog post. Truth be told, I suck at blogging, hence the 3 year gap since my last post.

A few days from today is Free RPG Day. I'm running a one shot of Supers! Revised set in the DC Animated Universe (The tv shows, not the movies). The cast will be villains working for Task Force X (Suicide Squad), trying to derail an attempted coup in the nation of Kasnia. Here's a cover I whipped up for it:

Hopefully it will go well. I'll likely make a pdf of it, and post it online.

Adversaries #1 3/4 completed, New Art!

So I ended up adding a fourth villain to Adversaries #1. The character fit the criteria, and while not as interesting as the other 3, was one I wanted to put out for awhile. Just an addition that won't affect the final cost of the product.

I've also decided that after #1, I'll be focusing on single villains for a few issues. So #2 will actually feature Moodswing, and not the villains mentioned in my last post. However, I'll be doing something different with Moodswing. There will be two sets of stats for her. The first is as she is now, which makes her a challenge for a single hero. The second will be a version where she's developed more powers, and is a threat a small team would have to face.

I did this because as I looked over her original write up, I got some new ideas for powers for her. However, adding those powers made her way too powerful for one hero to handle, so I decide to present two versions. I might do this for a couple of characters, and see how it goes.

I also commissioned work from two artists I haven't had the pleasure of working with yet. +Jacob Blackmon has done a lot of work for Rogue Genius Games, and has contributed art to Fainting Goat Games Supervillain Handbook. I ordered two pieces, and he finished them so quickly, I just ordered two more from him. Figured I'd show off what he did for me all ready. These two villains are a brother and sister duo named Zip & Zap. Zip is a speedster, and Zap controls Electricity. I've had the idea for these two for a little over 2 years now, so it was great to see Jacob finally bring them to life visually.

I've also ordered four pieces from +James Shields. I had wanted to work with him for awhile now, but sadly couldn't afford to. He was running a special this month to celebrate the success of his Patreon Campaign, so I jumped at the chance to order a few pieces. I've only sent him info on two of them so far, but will be getting the info on the other two off to him soon.

Lastly, here's a look at the cover for Adversaries #2:

Getting back on track...

So It's been a few months since my last post, where I showed the cover for Adversaries #1. That's now 1/3 of the way done. I had a minor setback a few weeks ago, just as I was getting back into a writing groove. I got sick after work one day, and accidentally spilled soda on my laptop, killing the motherboard, keyboard and some ram.

No longer being in NYC, my only choice locally was to take it to Best Buy. Turned out to be a costly mistake, but as they say, live and learn.

Last night I took my laptop to work. I normally watch videos on my tablet during break times, but this week, I'm going to try and do writing on my breaks. With 2 of the 3 characters for #1 finished, all I need to do is finish Tremble.

After #1, I'll start on #2. Thankfully, that is half written all ready. That issue will feature 2 villains, Amaethon and Adranus, both of who command specific elements. The Supers! verson of #2 will also feature a new boost for Summoning, so it will make the release a bit more valuable (I wrote the boost last year, and it's been reviewed and approved by Aldo & Russ).

Past that, I'm going to likely do a few single villain issues. A few of the villains in upcoming issues include Firefly, Lighthouse and Moodswing, to name a few. There will be other mini-compilations, as well as one featuring The Crime Guild, a villain team whose origins predates the Pulp Era.

I've also got some ideas for Halloween Horrors #2 for October. The first one did pretty well, so I think a followup for this year is a must.

In the meantime, here is some newer art I've had commissioned from various artists.

First up is an original Golden Age villain named Justin Tyme, drawn by Anthony Green:

Anthony's take on the Queen of Evil, a public domain character:

Joe Singleton did this one: Star Spectre, a cosmic superhero:

Another one from Joe: The metahuman serial killer known as The Glitch:

Last, but not least, Juan Paolo Mananita drew this one: Aktzin, the Totonac Thunder God:

Links for Adversaries #0, and some new Art!

I realized that I had forgotten to post links to the various versions of Adversaries #0 here, as I had posted them everywhere else. There are currently 4 versions available, for BASH, CC&VF, G-Core and Supers!. I hope to be working on an ICONS version soon. Down the road I hope to do versions for M&M when I get a feel for the system. Might also look into Champions Complete as well.

Anyway, here are the links:

BASH Version

CC&VF Version

G-Core Version

Supers! Version

#0 is priced Pay What You Want, so you can get it for free if you want, and pay again for it later. If you want to pay, the minimum is just $0.50, so if you don't have credit in your account, you'd need to purchase it with other items. So far it's doing fairly well, so I hope the next one will also do well.

Now for some new art. As I mentioned in a previous post, I found this great artist named Juan Paolo Manitata. He did a few characters and some covers for me. He has a sale going on over at DeviantArt, and his prices are a steal! I had him do commissions on a pair of Golden Age villains that are in the public domain. Loved the results, so I wanted to share them. First up is Black Hood, a gun toting crook who leads a gang dressed like him. He's a two bit thug, but I love the costume, so figured he'd make a good disposable villain for a golden age game:

The second is named Phantom Archer. Another thug, but with an Archer motif. In the comics, he died in the same issue he appeared in, but I still thought he'd make a good rpg villain. I liked this one so much, I'm having Juan do a modern age version of the character, but more high tech:

That's all for now. Hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a good one!

Adversaries Issue 0 finished for 3 systems and Issue 1 cover!

So I finished writing Adversaries Issue 0 today for BASH UE, G-Core Prime & Supers! RED. I've all ready contacted the people behind G-Core & Supers! to see if it's good to go. For the BASH version, I asked Ben Norman, the BASH Guru, to check over my stats. I haven't used BASH in some time, so I wanted to make sure my totals were ok before sending it to Chris for approval.

I hope to look into adapting it for a few more systems if I can. ICONS is obviously my next choice. I really need to sit down and read M&M 3rd so I can start producing for that system. Same with Champions Complete. There's still a dedicated fanbase there that is hungry for new product. Would be nice to try and tap into that if possible.

In the meantime, I've started plotting out Issue 1. I've put together a cover mock up, so those who actually read this blog will be the first to see it!

Investing in the Future....

So I went and purchased a copy of Serif PagePlus 8 today. I had been hesitant to get any real desktop publishing software because I haven't worked with such software since I used Pagemaker to lay out my old music fanzine in the 1990's. Plus having someone else with more experience doing layout means the product looks better (like Halloween Horrors does; Walt did a fantastic job on it with the material I gave him to work with).

The main problem is with this being a niche hobby, I'm putting more into making a short pdf like Halloween Horrors than I'll ever likely make back. I'm not expecting to reap big profits. Hell, I'm not worried about breaking even just yet, as I know I still need to establish myself as a small press rpg publisher. I'm hoping to release a bunch of pdf's in the future, and if possible, make a compilation of those for Print on Demand release (at which point, I am likely going to have someone else do layout, as I'd rather pay someone I know can do a good job of that than try it myself and end up with something that isn't that good).

I started playing around with it, using my upcoming Adversaries Issue 0 as a testing ground. Took me a bit to get it where I wanted it, but I had some help from my friend Joshua Kubli, who wrote Invulnerable (another superhero rpg). The 30 or so minutes we spent going over my work via pm on FB was a big help. It's going to be a short pdf with just 2 featured villains, and as I'm using clip art for the characters, this is going to be Pay what you want pricing for it. Since I had previously written both characters backgrounds, as well as their stats for Supers!, the project is about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way done. Now to add in some adventure seeds, one of which may feature a 3rd villain.

I also went back and redid the cover, fixing some things I did half assed the first time I made it in PaintShop Pro. This version looks better, imho:

I'm looking to have this out before Thanksgiving. Maybe the end of next week if I get it finished sooner. But I'm happy with the progress I made today on this. That's about it for this blog post. Until next time!

Halloween Horrors now available for G-Core & ICONS!

So Walt finished the G-Core & ICONS versions of Halloween Horrors. Need one more edit to make (totally my fault), but they are both up for sale right now. As with the CC&VF/Supers! versions, they are priced at $0.99 until after Halloween.

G-Core Version

ICONS Version

With Halloween Horrors now out, I'll be heading back to what I was working on before I decided to do Halloween Horrors. It's going to be a series of short villain books called "Adversaries". Once enough are out, I'll see about a compilation of them in pdf/PoD.

Here's a mockup for "Issue 0", which will be Pay What you Want:

More Halloween Horrors, and new art!

Yesterday I sent Walt the GCore & ICONS stats for the creatures in Halloween Horrors. I figure he will work on them either tomorrow or Monday. and I'll get them off to Jay & Steve to approve so I can upload them for sale. Too a little longer than I thought to do the GCore versions, and I ended up writing 3 new powers for the supplement (one of which was adapted from FASERIP, the system GCore branched off of).

Tonight Juan Paolo sent me the third and final character commission he did for me. All 3 came out great. I took the 3 images, and whipped up a quick composite to show off. So here are Mora, Firefly and Fade: