:)

A small preview from the map, still done with pretty primitive gimp'ing.

A later, cuter map will be done... And drawn by hand by a friendly artist... :twisted:

I was pretty pleased to see this pop up on my FB page today. I look forward to seeing more as it becomes available.

Hehe, many thanks. :)

It's still a while until the finished book, but I am cautiously optimistic that we will see the first longer preview
in December or January, probably, even as part of another publication. (No, not the LFC Companion, as I am very careful
not to mix Blackmoor and Mordred, but I am trying to hammer out a preview deal with a magazine.)

Probably, a comment on the map, though.
This is a cut-out part of the map of the Kingdom of Angria - not the entire kingdom, just the part that would make people
here smirk. And not ready, of course, given that I simply bastardized an existing map with a bit of Photoshop.

(The name "Angria" should give you an idea from where I took the model for this map. :o )



Essentially, the setting will be divided into four areas, and probably a fifth, that just now has spawned from the writing.

Angria, containing the clearest hommage to my own Dungeons & Dragons.
Another, still very S&S-heavy area, set in a giant swamp - not so much "Blackmoor", more like "Captain Blood".
Then, another, an Elven Realm, that goes after Philip José Farmer and, mainly, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

And, then, two areas where the characters go to die, the true core of the setting.
One, "The Navel of the World". (No info on that one yet, sorry. That's the reason why I want people to buy the book. :twisted: )
Another, "Iram of the Pillars", and you can think what you will find there.


Even though the map snapshot suggests otherwise, the bigger influence than D&D might just have been Adventures in Fantasy,
and, specifically, Dragon Warriors, the old UK RPG that I play. In that the setting is not poor man's Lankhmar, but rather
to the "grim fairy tale" motif we find other authors. I think Melanie Rawn's book might have somewhat influenced
my choice for the setting, even though it's been nearly two decades since I read those books.

The map is now BETTER.

Will attend GenCon 2013. Will bring book there.

8)




Of course (hopefully) I'll get it released way earlier, though. March seems likely, right now, if everything works together. :)

WOW! not March will come sooner than you think...
(But still after February).

Hehe...

Yeah, we will have to see. Right now, after the holidays, I am positively burned out, but I think it will be doable.

Initially, I had meant this to be rather simple, a short and, quite honestly, sort of loveless overview of a setting that I wanted to use mainly to get a more defendable copyright
on some of the terms I have used in the LFC and other games. But then, the beast evolved, and to a point where I am even having realistic chances of getting fiction based on it
published.

Given that my initial endeavor last year was to get a novel I had written published, and that I almost completely shelved/postponed that to focus only on Mordred for the time being,
quite a remarkable development. I have written different - as in, FUNDAMENTALLY different outlines for the book, and right now, I am focusing on the smallest one:

Probably 250 pages of average RPG book size, detailing ONLY the Black Desolation, not the entire region ("Summerland"). The reason for this being,
and this gives you an idea how seriously things have developed, that I want to keep the rest to me, so I don't narrow the frame for possible future stories. :)

Instead of a one-shot, this might at least become a two-shot. :D

:) The paradox is, the fantasy genre, and less, and don't get me wrong, the usual English-language run-of-the-mill fantasy genre does not call me AT ALL.
As in, I don't particularly read fantasy; I don't look for it; I have, in general, other interests, and fantasy gaming is ONE of them, but not the main one.

Yet, here I am, being an admin on a website for superobscure fantasy gaming from the 70s. Yet here I am, writing a fantasy setting book of epic proportions.

The reason why I do so now is pretty clear, though: Life. I have had ten extraordinary years with D&D. I don't expect my daily life to necessarily continue like this.

As in, the older I get, the less I am going to be involved in the gaming scene, as far as I see it. I'd rather write this now, and do it well, than to try it in five years,
and notice that I am not in touch with the genre and the game any more. :)

Well, you know... life is full of unexpected surprises :wink: ... planning usually doesn't work well... :roll: