Bonus Zine: There A Red Door (Patreon)

Dear Heroes,

Here, something new and different: There, A Red Door.

16 things for your psychedelic roleplaying adventure roadtrip. It is exactly what it says on the tin. 16 locations, spells, and items compatible with UVG and SDM. Each with an art and, usually, some fiction to go with it. Some of them are all fiction. 

Fair warning, some of the fiction is a little disturbing (like the setting itself, I suppose).

Please let me know what you think of this style, as I have an idea for a simple pointcrawl that I might be able to adapt to this format quite quickly ...

The Design Conundrum

For a while I've been experimenting with a conundrum: how to make something small and concrete (that I can share with you), while keeping it simple enough to produce. This is often a bit of a challenge, because rpg things tend to be layout heavy: tables, lists, multiple columns, formatting and all kinds of emphasis (level 4; HD 2; Ftr 16 Cl 2; AC 245; DRM'#5; L.A.M.B., 13hp).

The major problem with that kind of rpg format is that it compounds the challenge of creating a useful product. Each of the following takes a different focus:

• coming up with a new idea
• writing it down in a compelling fashion
• illustrating it
• laying it out in pages and spreads (the art goes here, the text goes there)
• formatting the text to fit a specific rpg system

Frankly, the challenge I face is that steps 4 and 5 take as much (if not more) time than steps 1, 2, and 3. However, those steps are neither what I am best at nor what I enjoy doing most (that is correlated) — even more, I would dare argue that for my preferred style of roleplay, those are not even the most relevant factors.

I'm not yet completely where I want to be in the ways of having the simplicity and coherence I want in my gamable content. But, I think I'm slowly getting closer. The design language I used in UVG 2E and then simplified in SDM (Eternal Return Key) and have now been using in OGA (Our Golden Age) has promise.

In this zine of new content for the Vastlands, I was able to write it up to fit without spending an exorbitant amount of time on layout and formatting by reusing the styles I'd already designed.

This is especially important to me because I'm trying to streamline my process from idea and art and story to a pdf (or printed) zine you can enjoy, since I expect my available time to contract drastically in the near future. After all, we're now in the last few weeks before our baby is due to grace us.

In that vein, I hope you can accept my journey towards slightly less emphasis on dense information & game design and a greater embrace of white space and loose rules.

A Masterful Statblock

I don't know how many of you have seen Reach of the Roach God. Zedeck Siew's writing in that book is a thing of wonder and his system-neutral stat block for creatures truly makes me jealous. Look at this wonder he has wrought:

Two words for power level and life force (Powerful. Hale.). Three words for the way the creature interacts with the world (Sorcery, dream-craft, scattering). A few phrases to offer elaboration (Roach swarm. Hundreds, thousands.). Then, a few further paragraphs to describe the creature.

Very elegant.

I confess. I will try to adapt that. But will almost certainly skip the small caps. They strike me as extra-necessary. Extraneous. That's the word.

You've Read This Far!

I actually colored a few of the pieces in There, A Red Door, but they didn't fit with the style of the zine itself so ... you get them here.

First, the Atom Express. Whoosh, whoosh.

Second, the Mouth in the Field.

I actually think I made the contrast between the yin and yang sides of the hill a bit too extreme, making it look like the travelers are under a cloud.

Hey, I Thought You Said Silver Ship Wizard Was Next!

I did. And I'm a little stuck figuring out the main map(s) for the module because I want to do a cutaway drawing of the Silver Ship. I've figured out how to do it ... but it's going to be at least a 3-day drawing project and I couldn't make myself do it. So I assembled There, A Red Door instead. Funny how the mind works, huh?

Each of these levels is going to be a little illustrated map / pointcrawl. But I want the pieces to separate, so I can highlight each section separately.

And these were the initial design sketches for the silver ship.

I want to do a physical (paper and ink) drawing for the ship, because if I go straight to digital I will spend way too long on the lineart and hate it by the end. I don't know quite why, but if I do the pencil and ink in a physical medium, I get a much better flow to my process.

But, this one's going to be complex and I've been kind of dreaded getting started ... wish me luck.

Till Next Week!

Take care, game well!

—Luka