[Kinda Book Report] Elminster in Myth Drannor by Ed Greenwood

Ed Greenwood is a giant in the world of D&D. as the creator of the massively-successful Forgotten Realms. His slate of adventures for TSR are a mixed bag, but most are good enough. I had never been exposed to his fiction before (I am not a big fan of D&D litterature).

This book did not endear me to either.

Things happen randomly and the plot armor reaches deific level. Litterally. Most of the book is complete, boring filler as he goes around from one random event to another, meeting random NPCs. And their events are best described as "the GM rolls random shit and you see it."

- The names.... the long, unpronounceable name
- The many, many, many characters whose importance is dubious
- Exactly what happens in parts is difficult
- Elminster changes sex (and back) for no reason
- NPCs get major introduction then get kill off then come back to life only to die(?) again.
- The Epilogue is where the important and interesting event happens, even if what is happening is not fully clear.
- But then we are introduced to NPCs we never heard from before (or after).

Now... I would have dropped this book one third of the way in. BUT it did something that I found I could apply to my own current novel, the sequel to One Hundred Daughters. The characters introduced to be disposed of later. In my own book, I use this to expand and present elements the main characters would not know, yet provide the reader with the information to better understand the situation.

The funniest part of this was that my wife kept telling me to "Stop reading it if you don't like it" every night when I picked it up to read a few pages.

[Xmas Gifts] Jojo's Stitch

For Xmas, I printed and painted a Stitch for my daughter. I had fun with it.

[Xmas Village] His Angels

After my wife completed her Xmas village this year, I took the liberty to add some of His angels to her colorful display.

BLOOD ANGELS THAT IS!!!

Then every couple of days, I would add one of two more until she discovered them.

She only found the terminators, and forced me to remove them. The rest snuck through the Holidays. The Emperor Protects! Not pictured, but I even have an old dreadnaught, yes, the metal ones that weigh about 15 pounds...

As I write this, they are still protecting the good villagers from the eight-pointed star...

[Xmas Gifts] Pumpkin Monster Redux 2010

In this post dating back to Halloweend 2010, my daughter found herself a model that I painted for her. This model survived no less than 15 years, four and a half moves. By then, it was pretty chipped and worn.

She asked me for a refresher job on it, which I was quite pleased to do. The new paint job is darker and more atmospheric. I also added much more depth to it.

BTW, Shout-out to the Gang from Gamers' Haven in CO. I haven't forgotten about you guys.

[Crown Of Tears] Chaos in Tarsyn

The heroes had many things to do that took them to the city itself. There, they conducted several short tasks: bought some magic items, met with a mentor, and, best of all, discover information about the Hidden Foundry, said to be somewhere deep below the city.

The session ended as the heroes went to look for a lead about the location of the foundry when they encountered a group of Knights of the Whip involved with a citizen accused of draft evasion. Terrificus plunged the area in darkness and the knights immediately took action, killing the poor man and looking for the culprit. A potential culprit showed herself: Brindle. She was promptly arrested and when offered a mark to be set free, she refused and was promptly taken to jail...

[Crown Of Tears] The Badlands

Our heroes traveled to the Badlands to the northeast of the Tower. As they travel, they came upon a bandit camp and charged in.

Another fight that came really close and challenged our heroes. This time, they put the mage to flight despite almost losing one of their own. They managed to find some information about happenings in the Badlands.

[Crown Of Tears] Death in the Juniper Woods

Our heroes traveled to the Juniper Woods northwest of the Tower of St Edras where they encountered a band of gnolls and a mage.

A brutal fight led to the death of Star Chaser and the flight of the mage.

[Yearly Retrospective] Looking Back on 2025

Another year has ended and we are now in 2026. This one is late but better late than never!

Personal and Family Life

- I am still working with the immigration service to become a permanent resident of the US. 6 years and on-going. Yes, I have harsh positions about illegal immigration.

- Kitty graduated high school. I'm so proud of her.

- I am now the father of two college girls! Proud of both of them.

- ActionMan was part of a Blackman High School that did took part in its first 12-win season!

World Events

- The Continuation of the Russia-Ukraine War. Although the peace between the two sides I wanted did not come true, I keep hoping that the suffering comes to an end and that peace returns.

- The Peace around the world. I will give kudos to President Trump for his efforts to bring peace across the world. Whether this is a lasting peace, remains to be seen. I admire the willingness to talk to disparate parties. A desire the previous administration did not have.

- The "Tariff" War. I don't care about most countries, my main interest lies with Canada, and the Canada-USA relations. I am an avowed Quebec Separatist, dating back to the failure of the Lake Meech Accord in 1990. That proved to me that the country cannot be reformed or changed without something major. I proudly voted OUI in '95, and would do so again. Now Canada talks a big game (and in all fairness, one it SHOULD talk). However, that's all it is: talk. The country cannot get out of its own way to accomplish its goals. It has the resources it needs to thrive and see its economy EXPLODE and diversify by providing what the world needs. Becoming the powerhouse it thinks itself to be. But red tape and bureaucracy will ensure its own destruction. Canada was created on the basis of an economic accord: Charlottetown in 1864 and Quebec in 1865 before the BNAA on July 1st 1867 (the first Canada Day). So economic consideration will lead to its ultimate demise. Separation sentiment is on the rise again, in Quebec and in the West (Though I give the latter a better chance to succeed).

Trips

2025 was a pretty tame year when it came to traveling. We spent most of our year at home.

- My wife, Jojo, and I traveled to Ottawa, Canada for a quick visa-renewing trip in March. It was great drinking some hot Tim Hortons coffee with a donut. And a smoke meat sandwich with yellow mustard. Ah... the simple pleasures of life. I also got to spend time with my parents, my sister, and my in-laws. Not everyone I wanted to see, but on a short stay, it was a blast of awesome. That was SO good.

Fiction

This year, I released not one but TWO novels! My first two major pieces of fiction

To help me complete this work, I continued my association with the Reading Nook Discord (hi gang!) and the Murfreesboro Writer Group that meet Wednesdays at the Linebaugh Library here in Murfreesboro TN. From these two groups, I got involved with very different story styles than I would normally. This includes romance in particular, something I really do not like. However, by trading critiques, I learned a little insight into female psyche and provided insight into male psyche. Yes ladies, we ARE that simple.

The Bloody Notebook Book 1 of the Olympia Chronicles

One Hundred Daughters Book 2 of the Olympia Chronicles

RPGing/ GMing

- The Online Ozaka Campaign in French ended after two years, leaving good memories behind.

- The maritime Olympia campaign ended and I wrote a full timeline of the campaign in this post.

- With school starting, we changed to a new campaign set in Tarsyn. I keep track of the campaign in this post series.

- I am no longer involved in the Adult D&D group mostly out of a desire to avoid conflicts as they are playing a hybrid form of 5e/5.5e. They don't need me to run anyway, so all good!

- I joined a campaign for 2nd Edition in this post series.

Conventions

2025 was a good year.

- Midsouthcon Memphis TN

- I took part in Festival Draconis Online

- Gencon Indianapolis IN

- I took part in Music City Multi-Con again this year.

Books

Different things to read thing year. Again a variety of things, from fiction to comics.

Fiction
- Bound by Destiny by R MB Pearson
- La Reine Étranglée by Maurice Druon
- The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
- La Reine Étranglée by Maurice Druon
- Ships of Minos by Maciej Slomczynski
- Beowulf
- African Samurai by Tom Lockey and Geoffrey Girard

Comics
- Essential Xmen Vol 4 by Marvel Comics
- Essential Xmen Vol 5 by Marvel Comics
- Essential Xmen Vol 6 by Marvel Comics
- Essential Xmen Vol 7 by Marvel Comics
- Ayn Rand's Red Pawn
- New Mutants Vol 1 by Marvel Comics
- Red Star Vol 2

Movie/TV reviews

If I ranted about it...

- Doctor Who: Joy To The World

- Doctor Who: War Games

So with all this, I wish you all a very happy new year.

JP

[Campaign Fail] Failing at Creation

So recently, I asked to join a Pathfinder 1e group to try out a classic PF Module I never played. Met with the GM who seemed like a good guy, experienced, with a lot of takes that vibed well with me. Quirky but not in a bad way (aren't most GM?). We had a long chat about the game and I was definitely on the hook. He was looking for people to refill his group after life happened to many of them. Nothing to worry me. He was well-organized and made great use of online tools, exciting. Definitely things I may use for my own campaigns.

Then came character creation... "Make a character" he said... I built myself a cleric - which the party did not have (they only had melee thugs).

I started asking questions to round out my character.
- "What creation method?" No answer. I used 20-points as a type of default.
- "How much money/equipment do I have?" A question particularly important since he spoke of integrating me while I was in jail with half the party. And 7th level! No answer.
- "When/Where do you want me to come in?" No answer.

I gave him a background, using the following guidelines for myself: since I did not participate in the opening segments of the game, having someone from the outside would allow me to play that I didn't see/know everything they did. I sent him four concepts that could fit the above, and he liked 2 of them, so I merged them into one, ending up with this:

Henry von Garabet is a low-tier noble from Cheliax. Charming, he drew the attention of a Countess and they started got into an affair. Captured in the throes of love, he fled. The husband accused him of rape (which it wasn't), and placed a bounty on his head. Escaping, he swore his allegiance to whatever gods would save him. He received help from Shelyn - goddess of love and beauty. From there, he came to [adventure location].

And that's pretty much where the shit hit the fan. He got annoyed that I changed from Taldor to Cheliax, giving me a paragraph why Shelyn made no sense in Cheliax and sent me to the Pathfinder Wiki to "read up on Golarion"...

After back and forth that yielded none of the answers to my questions (I still don't know how much money I should have). He began asking me for an extensive family history (about my siblings) and I said "whatever you need, I'll go with it."

After a week of this back and forth, he told me I was not longer welcome in his game. Funny because I was about to say the thing due to frustration to get the character done.

Now, what *REALLY* happened? There was clearly a breakdown in communication here. Instant messaging is great but it is important to ask the questions you need. And answer them. Massive multi-paragraph answers are not good for Q&A-type discussion. Keeping replies short allows for replying to particular elements.

Also, answer the questions.

So this post is about Pathfinder, but not really. In fact, my biggest gripes would've happened regardless of whether we played PF or 5e or Call of Cthulhu.

[Olympia Novel] One Hundred Daughters Released!

One Hundred Daughters is the second book of the Olympia Chronicles and a loose sequel to The Bloody Notebook. Although knowledge of the first book is recommended, this second book is also a self-contained story.

The writing for this novel was a completely different experience than The Bloody Notebook, whereas I started with a clear idea of the ending of TBN with a vague idea of how the characters would get there. For 100d, I had a strong starting point, and a vague idea how the characters would reach the ending. Whereas TBN has a small cast, this book has a much larger one and features a sea voyage in the tradition of the Argonautica or the Odyssey with a wide cast of colorful characters. Several known faces from the first book return, including fan-favorite Melita. Others make cameos, while most of the crew of the Endoxos are brand new characters that explore the world of Olympia.

So this was a fun, unique experience for me to create and discover this story. When I re-read it, and really had a blast. This story has so many twists and turns as it builds towards it inevitable conclusion. And the secrets each member has and keeps from the others.

One Hundred Daughters

A Prince without a City

Miltiades is the last prince of Ekkos, a city destroyed by a Titan over five years ago. To reclaim his crown and his homeland, he gathers a band of heroes—including the demigoddess-sorceress Melita, a drunkard captain, a dancer, a priestess, and a handful of dregs from the docks of Athenion. Together, they sail aboard the Endoxos, an old, rickety penteconter, to seek the aid of a distant nymph-queen. The gods watch their journey closely, for their own entertainment.

But will secrets and prophecies tear the crew apart before they even reach their destination?

One Hundred Daughters is available on Amazon and DriveThruRPG

For a full PDF experience of the world of Olympia, you may get One Hundred Daughters as part of the Olympia Bundle.

[Crown of Tears] Lady of the Whip and the Old Man

The Knights of St Edras having accepted Sir Garrick's offer of assistance, accepting subjugation to the king in return for troops, servants, and supplies.

Dame Sabine de Marivault, a knight of the Order of the Whip arrived at the head of a force of outriders, servants, and archers to man and defend the Tower of St Edras.

After a short discussion, the Knights left because the Mists were going to part to open to a place called the "Hanging Glacier" to find another piece of the Crown of Tears. One held by the dragon Galdavantrix.

The world beyond was a plain filled with ice-looking crystals with snow whipping in the air. Lucky for them, Tera obtained enough cold weather gear for all of them to travel to that cold land without issue.

In the distance, they saw only one dark point over the snow haze. They headed that way and encountered a walled village. Wolf, the guard at the gate refused them entry, but showed them the way and reminded them of the presence of slaadi.

As they traveled to the Hanging Glacier, they encountered three red slaadi which led to a massive battle among the crystals.

After that, they found themselves at the base of a 600-foot cliff to reach the monastery where they wanted to meet the old monk master Vantrix. A few sheninanigans and abilities used later, and they were all up there sporting a few bruised.

Vantrix admitted that he could get the shard, but that he would not ask the dragon until the other shards of the crown were brought to him. When asked what the effects of reforging the crown would be, he replied "Not what you expect."

He also gave them the location of the two other shards:
- The Hanging Tower in the Underdark of a place called Faerun
- The Tomb of the Frost Giant Yarl in a place called Rhym

Now in possession of the locations they needed to visit to reassemble the crown, they made their way back to Tarsyn.

[Crown of Tears] Strange Giant Chickens

Continuing the annual tradition of a lighter, Thanksgiving-themed adventure. After last year's Chimeric Turducken, this year featured another fowl-themed adventure. This time, several farms have been raided by "strange giant chickens" and a bear.

After a short investigation, the knights of St Edras followed the monsters' tracks only to fall in a gnoll ambush, but then...

The squwaking reached a feverous pitch as a terrible flock of fowlbears burst from a cave to attack the knights.

After their defeats, they found several seasonal items and brought back enough food for the entire village as fowlbear meat... well... it tastes like chicken.

[Crown of Tears] The Devil's Boar

Problems in Darveshnagar are mounting as gnolls and bandits threaten the roads. Food is growing scarce in town and the merchants are looking for more.

The one military unit in town, volunteer spearmen keeps the road open, but the Knights of St Edras will have much to do. Too much to do for their own goods. The knights opted to track down a massive devil boar that attacked hunters and gnolls alike.

Tracking the large boar to its lair uncovered that it had taken over a bandit lair and killed several of the bandits, partially devouring them.

The "boar" turned out to be an ogre infected with lycanthropy, leading to a hard battle in the cave.

Let's just say the scene ended on a war crime as the prisoners (future meal) of the ogre met a sudden fiery end...

When the knights returned to the Tower, they found the skulls of six of the spearmen on pikes forming a welcoming committee of sorts...

Another development is that Fatima found a charming girl for Vulcanus. Marya is a pious orphan she believes would make a great match. She even sent him a portrait of the girl.

FOE releases... The Fiend FOELio!

Since FOE was formed in 2013, I have ran several multi-year campaigns, one-shots, and the Legacies campaign that still runs yearly at Gencon and at other smaller events through the year.

These many events resulted in the creation of several different, new, and unique opponents. These stat blocks languished in various documents, and adventures, forgotten or ignored. Some were on roll20 where I created them. A few were on pictures of a scan of a partial stat block.

Over the past two years or so, I have been collecting these stat blocks in one location. Several of them needed new coats of paints: tightening the wording, creating new art, and bringing things in line with hour we create our stat blocks now.

I added some new art, from the usual artists I work with, and a several pieces using AI. This is capped by The British Shark's awesome cover inspired by X-Men 135 by John Byrne (one of my favorite comic of all time).

The book contains:
- Over 250 fully-statted creatures and NPCs to use as allies or opponents and seven major characters from the Legacies campaign over the years.
- Unique characters from Akhamet, Olympia, Ozaka, Rhym, Tarsyn, the Truskan Empire, and even fully-statted First Ones.
- New creatures from FOE settings, presented with notes on how to adapt them to other worlds.
- Updated creatures from older FOE products. Giving a little love to these creatures after years of playtesting. Cleaning and bringing them in line with more modern standards.
- Dozens of Book of Lairs-style encounters provide immediate adventure ideas for your table.
- Though written for the worlds of FOE, most of the material contained within can be used for any campaign setting.

This is a book that took over a decade to create!

It is available on:
- Amazon for physical books.
- DriveThruRPG for PDFs.

The Face that terrifies my players...