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:

Halloween Horrors Flyer

Walt Robillard made a neat flyer for Halloween Horrors for me:

Feel free to share it around!

In other news, I hope to sit down today and do some G-Core stats, and maybe play around with the ICONS stats. I asked someone to look over my ICONS stats, but they haven't had a chance to do so yet. Hoping they will soon though

Halloween Horrors for Supers! now out!

Following on the heels of the CC&VF version, Halloween Horrors is now out for Supers!. My previous post covered the basics of the book. Same deal as the CC&VF one: $0.99 until Halloween, then $1.99 starting November 1st.

Get your copy today!

Halloween Horrors is out for Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul!

So Walt finished up the CCVF version of Halloween Horrors, and I uploaded it to Drivethru for sale.

Totally 18 pages, it features six horror themed foes for your superheroes to fight. The supplement also includes stats for Xavier Stone, an occult investigator and magician. His journal entries on each creature provide a little in character insight on these creatures. From a creature of out of folklore, a race from the realm of Nightmares, a spawn of Cosmic Horror, a ghost serving another cosmic horror, a demon possessed gingerbread man cookie, and an Urban Legend given life, you have a nice variety of opponents to face.

In order, the book features the following foes:

Barghest
Dream Reavers
The Eye of Phugg
The Ghost of Hollis Whateley
The Gingerdead Man
The Postman

Until October 31st it's just $0.99. After that it will go up to $1.99. So get it on the cheap now!

Halloween Horrors for CC&VF

Sliding to Home Base.....

Got 3 things done today. Both the Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul and Supers! version of Halloween Horrors were uploaded to a dropbox folder I shared with Walt Robillard, who is going to lay the project out for me. He's going to play around with some layouts for me, because I have a bad habit of writing in one column instead of two. Once we settle on a layout, he can do the whole thing, and get them ready for Sale. After that, just need Cythina's approval for the CC&VF version (Walt being the publisher of Supers! can approve that one easily)

Lastly, Steve Kenson approved an ICONS version. Working on adapting the characters over to that game. Most of the adaptions are easy; it's the Qualities I seem to stumble on. Going to contact someone about looking over the stats for me, as I always like another person to eyeball them for me. If they do, it will be a big help.

Anyway, my next blog post should be about Halloween Horrors being available for sale!

Almost to the finish line on Halloween Horrors....

The main text is done, as are all the character sheets. Right now I'm just waiting for some feedback from Russell Boyd, one of the co-authors of Supers! Revised, on a new power I created just for this book, called Mental Transformation. It's a nasty power that allows the user to transform users Mental/Emotional States, which can include giving them various disadvantages like Mental & Social Hindrances, Phobia and/or Rage.

As soon as that is ready, I can send Walt the file, and he can start layout on it.

In other news, I contacted Cynthia Celeste Miller from Spectrum Games about doing a version for Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul, their super hero game. She said yes immediately, and none of than Barak Blackburn himself, the games author, whipped up CC&VF stats for all 6 in about 2 hours!

I've also contacted Steve Kenson about doing an ICONS version. He's pretty cool about project pitches, so I'm confident he will say yes. In anticipation, I pulled out my copy of Great Power to start prepping ICONS stats for the characters.

So we're almost there. I'm hoping after I hear back from Russel, the Supers! version will be off to Walt by tomorrow afternoon/evening at the latest.

Halloween Horrors Update

I was originally leaning towards 10-12 creatures for the book. After giving it some thought, I decided to go with 6 creatures.

Here is the lineup I currently have for the book:
Barghest
Dream Reaver
The Eye of Phugg
The Ghost of Hollis Whateley
The Gingerdead Man
The Postman

In addition, there will be in character pieces from Xavier Stone, occult investigator. A character sheet will be included for him as well.

At this time, the Barghest, Dream Reaver and Ghost of Hollis Whateley are done. I'm saving the Eye of Phugg for last, as I'm trying to figure out a good way of representing the fact that it causes insanity when you see it (as befits encountering something Mythos like)

I'm pretty pleased with what I've come up with so far; I didn't think I'd suddenly be inspired to write a short supplement of horror themed creatures for a Super Hero game, but hey, it's happening!

Halloween Project....

So Drivethru is preparing to have a Halloween Bundle. I would like to be a part of it, but don't have something appropriate for the theme of Halloween.

While skimming through my collection of clip art and background art of pages, etc, I started to put together an idea for a Halloween themed supplement for Supers! (and any others I might be able to put together in time) called Halloween Horrors.

The basics of the book is simple: Horror themed creatures/individuals for super heroes to face. I also decided to feature an NPC narrator, Xavier Stone. He's an occult expert and mystic who battles supernatural evil on a regular basis. Each "villain" is a creature Stone has faced before, but can still threaten our heroes.

So what will be in there? Here's a few names to drop: Dream Reavers, The Ghost of Hollis Whateley, The Eye of Phugg and The Postman.

And here's a gander at the cover I whipped up:

It still need the for use with Supers! logo, etc, but it's simple and to the point. Funny how an email from OBS just inspired me to get off my ass and get some writing done!