wizardthieffighter

Cerulean Five Oasis

The patrons, hello. Casual visitors, greetings to you, too. As you may have heard or seen, patreon has decided to change their revenue structure, impacting me and you with larger fees. This is not something that makes me very jolly, but for now, I don't have a solution yet. However, I'm open to ideas and solutions and revolutions. Now, back to the semi-scheduled mini-update.

A few weeks ago Andrew Downs pleasantly surprised me with a very nice email about his gaming group's adventures...

Other Crossings

I'm testing mixing public mini-updates between the larger chunks of UVG. These texts and art will (probably) find their way into the monthly series. I'm also testing a zine-sized layout (see attached).

The Moon-facing Ford was lost behind the grass-knit dunes. Poncho shivered, the wan purple light of the sun behind the haze layer no consolation in this desolate land under the gaze of the Near Moon.

"We don't want to cross there," said Demiwarlock.

The emphasis was hardly n...

Chapter VIII: From Umber to Behemoth

Dear Patrons!

Welcome back to the UVG. This time, we continue our voyage, pushing deeper into the far west, where the Dark Star also rises. My focus this time was on detailing more regions, pushing into the misty regions as fast as I could, and uncovering the detritus of the Long Long Ago.

Including bio-engineered fungal gardens, hallucinogenic oases, and half-floating islands.

Join Poncho, Pointyhelmet and Demiwarlock as they continue voyaging into this weirdness.

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Style and Substance in the UVG

Welcome to November. The days grow colder, the leaves grow redder, and I am imposing some new discipline on my UVG writing, putting 200 oddly shaped words to paper every day.

Which is great.

There is, however, also feedback I seek from you, dear heroes. My goal is to write an adventure that is inspiring but also quick to use at the table. To that end, three questions:

1. Do the "directions" sections of the location descriptions help you? I am preparing a map with travel distances ...

UVG7: More Places Between

We've made it into the deep steppe, beyond the Last Serai! Woohoo! Deadly one-way journeys, machine graveyards, and peaceful high steppes abound.

Specifically:

* Pages 30 to 35 detail the three new areas

* Page 36 has an expanded summary of the upcoming areas. Outlined almost all the way to the Black City (area 30). I've realized that I'm much slower than I had originally planned! Poxes!

* Page 40 has some tables for dealing with sealed gates and what they might hide in the U...

Towards an October Update

Where has this month gone? I turn my head, work on some projects, and here it is, whooshing by.

For the next update, I'm tackling five desolate areas:
- The Way Stone, a graveyard of Long Long Ago machine creatures,
- The North-Facing Passage, an ancient chiseled way bathed in a death-bringing light from the south. Hence, a journey mostly undertaken in one direction. Don't look back!
- The South-Facing Passage, a gentle pastoral area, a perfect counterpoint to the savage North-Facing...

UVG6: The Last Serai and the Vome Nest

Let us continue our voyage! The trading depot of the Last Serai for your exploring pleasure, as well as a full-on vome nest, if you want to threaten your players with horrible bloody death.

Those are pretty art-heavy sections, so I've added high-res A4 files of those you can print out for your home game.

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Dear patrons!

A few of you have joined just recently, and a few others have shared very kind words. Thank you all, it means the world. I know the $100 mark wasn't o...

Over 100!

Holy Amazeballs! Thanks to y'all, we've breached the $100 per post barrier. I can't emphasize enough how good it feels to know that you are out there, looking forward to the weird epicness of the my little WizardThiefFighter imprint.

There were times I thought to myself, "Luka, what are you doing? Who cares about weird drawings and strange dreamscapes? Nobody would ever support you doing that." And then you folks, you came through, you put money forward, and you said, "we would."

Thank y...

Herospective 3: The Lands by the Sea of the Centaurs

"The Sea of Centaurs region was settled by the Children of the Great Mother from beyond the Shear nigh on five centuries ago. The Good Children dominated the barbarics for long years, but then the devils of the Great Kaan forced them to submit in 370zd. After the Bonethrone War the Centaur overlords were cast out, but at great cost with the South Cities destroyed and the lands beyond the Idri Jivot laid waste. Still, the Nilut reigns now in Potomo. Hail."

- Tere Ob Mar Kentavros

d100 Magic Tomes

Followers, heroes, warriors, here's a freebie from my blog, a rebuild of an old post. http://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2017/47-demiwarlocks-d100-magical-tomes/

Meanwhile: I haven't heard from you yet, what kind of NPCs you'd like to see added to the UVG?

Oh, yeah, this is a free po...

Onwards to the Grass Colossus (Update 5 of the UVG)

Voyaging further along the northern route, travelers pass through the depths of a toxic biomechanical infestation and approach the holy site of the lime nomads: the grass colossus.

In this update: two major areas, four more odd sites in the wilderness, a corruption table, eight NPCs for the nomad clans, events among the nomads, and teasers of upcoming areas.

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In other news! Gosh, again a month. It's been a bit rough, moving around. I always think it'll be easy, but it nev...

Kromo Reza in the Jungle

quite unrelated to the UV Grassland, here's probably my last piece from Busan. Tomorrow I'm moving to Seoul.

Wish me luck with my studio set up and that no missiles start flying because some stupid hothead with daddy issues thought it'd make 'em look strong.

Do you want a regular art feed on the Stratometaship?

Besides the paid posts, I am thinking of adding a free art feed to the Patreon. It will be pretty much similar to my AoWTF feed, though possibly a bit sparser and more retro-focused.

Whoops!

I accidentally posted the wrong patreon content on WTF ;) Probably something to do with the flu and being out of it.

Have a monstrous bubble leech to return you to the fantasy realms.

Ultraviolet 4: Beyond the Throne

First: thank you for your patience!

Second: whoah, made it. Welcome yet deeper into the Ultraviolet Grassland! This installment adds:
- the next area: the Potsherd Crater, including map
- a teaser of the area after that: the Grass Colossus, including map
- six more weird encounter areas
- a load more NPCs
- revamped kits and mounts
- detailed guns and more armors
- a glossary
- a ton more art and a streamlined layout

- content count: 9000 words.
- appendices: ...

Teaser: Grass Colossus

So ... the re-laying-out has been happening and is nearly done. It has been challenging, I won't beat about the bush, but ... well, done now.

I should write a post about laying out rpgs, it's really interesting for a certain type of human.

Anyway, looking forward to giving you something cool again soon.

Bad Bears and More and Updates

Oh, lords! You must be thinking to yourselves, well, that's gone and fizzled out, hasn't it? He's not updating no more!

And you'd be wrong. The simple fact is, I'm taking stock of my workflow. What I like most is writing and drawing. So far I've been laying out the adventure in InDesign and that is a slow pain. Also, not conducive to writing.

Does the end result look pretty? Ye-es. Does it look pretty enough to be worth the time? I dunno. I'm betting you'd prefer to see an extra page of ...

Princes or Onwards

I'm going to forge ahead with another section really soon, so it's polling time again:

Ultraviolet Grasslands - 3 of 8

Patient Patrons! Our caravan stumbles and jumbles off, deeper into the UV grasslands, crossing the first obstacles on our trading journeys. Odd sights, rare nomads, and the very palatable traditionalists of the Porcelain Throne await.

... choo, choo, kachoo!

What's new: Pages 10–15 have been added. Slightly more than I planned, but there you have it. It had to be done.

Also: Crappy encounter rules that still need polishing are now included in the appendix.

What's not new: I...

Syruss Sits

Leonard Pierce suggested a bearded thief, but I missed the beret. So it goes. ;) there's still a number of you that haven't submitted your heroes! Huh!

Part 3 of 8 is also a bit delayed. I had the choice of rushing through layout, or polishing it like a rough ultramarine's skull.

So you can guess which I chose.

The next episode will have two wilderness areas, six or so interesting sights in the wilds, the Porcelain Throne "oasis", encounter rules, expanded healing rules and ...

Hero Portrait - Beauregarthe

Quick art preview - this grungy ole guy comes to you courtesy of Frotz's Classy Hero Act.

Fingers crossed: next step in the journey comes out this weekend.

Hero Avatar: Jonky Bonko

A collector of trifles, a bagger of purses, a tosser of livingwood furniture antiques. Myles Corcoran's Jonky Bonko.

Thief, short, lean, unpersuasive but a specialist in the improvised chair leg or pool cue.

...

Just got back from a trip and ramping up work again on the UVG front. And what better way to start, than with the patron hero avatars?

Porcelain Teaser

Well, well ... looks like we done got to see a preview of the UVG map style. Looks legit?

Journeying West at Last

Phew. First month I charged you guys. That was a bit heartstopping for me, hitting that post. I didn't lose too many of you! Good!

Next step: the Caravan Heads West + the first stop. With caravan guards included.

Guess that was pretty clear from the last poll, but this time, I'd appreciate some feedback on how useful you find the format. Drop in with comments, too.

Also, for the $4+ patrons, I've contacted a few of you already, but for all of you, now's the time to chime in with he...

Big Pineapple (One Page Dungeon)

Gosh! A bonus post?

Well, yes. So, it's free. You know how the one page dungeon is coming around? Yeah. You get to see my dungeon first.

You can use this to flog my patreon page around and tell people: "we were supporting the stratometaship before it was cool!"

Meanwhile, Pointyhelmet ...

... has an adventure, too.

Drugs, Carousing, Eating ... and Guns

"Holy moley! I did it, but damned," P.T. adjusted his helmet, "that swordpig could eat lead like a brick wall."

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Finally, folks, the second part of at least eight of the first expedition. This one's gonna cost ya, but you're also supporting all the rest of the art, so ... ;) Quidditch pro qualude. I thank ye.

Next post, we're finally getting into the UV Grassland.

This one was fun to write, but hard because I soon ran into the issue of hammering out the rules for trekking...

Nearly Ready!

Folks! You've noticed I haven't posted anything extra on the UV grassland yet? There are some real life reasons, but those are boring. The main thing is, I realized I needed to lay the groundwork for the adventure before I wrote it.

That's rules in RPG-speak.

Now, they're not finished yet. And once the adventure is done, I'll revise them and lay them out nicely. But they're done _enough_ that I'm sharing them with you and getting back to the rest of expedition now.

Including:

The Journey to the West (Input Time!)

Now we're getting into Patron-only territory. You've seen the Violet Citadel ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Ep0mpfHrnpd2dmZm0xX1R3SXc/view?usp=sharing ) - that one's free, because that's where the journey starts, and I want you to know what this journey will look like.

Each subsequent step will be at least one spread, with additional pages to cover notes and other no...

Ultraviolet 1: The Violet Citadel

Welcome to the first step in the first Stratometaship expedition - visiting the Ultraviolet Grasslands beyond the Purple Lands. Our first stop is still in the Purple Lands, the in the citadel of the Purple God(dess).

This first part is free of charge (and lightly updated today), to show the direction the illustrated expedition will take. The .pdf is also hosted here: https://drive.google.com/...