I don't know if you are into Doctor Who like I am, but BBC has created a small web series called "Pond Life" as a prequel to the forthcoming series 7 starting Saturday on BBC America (quickly becoming my favorite TV channel).
I would've posted them all tomorrow, but I'll be busy running NeoExodus adventures!
JP
I messed up... I gave chose the wrong con in my post earlier today. I was contacted by the authorities of Risen Rune in Sydney.
With any luck, someone at Spring Revel will also ask for adventure (wink wink).
That is all for now.
JP
For the past week, my inbox has been abuzz with emails of penile enhancements among which a number of convention organizers and con-goers have been asking me where they could play and how to get their hands on NeoExodus Adventures. While NeoExodus Legacies (the name of our organized play campaign) is still a while away, we will be sending adventures to con-organizers - and doing some GMing of our own...
Here are a few places where NeoExodus play will be available in the coming months.
I will be running 5 slots of NeoExodus and have a second GM run two slots of "Undying Legacy of the First Ones" Sunday. I am looking forward to premiering the first of two new adventures "Bloody Ice" and "Shattered Peace".
You will have to be VERY quick to get into one of our slots... Here is an image I just took from their site. Jonathan who has been working with us on a few projects (including the magical weapons subscription) will be running "Encounter at Ramat Bridge" at DragonCon.
I will be traveling to Anaheim for my first-ever stay in the Los Angeles area to play and run NeoExodus. I will be running 3 different adventures: "A1 Encounter at Ramat Bridge", "A4 Slavers of the Dominion" and "Undying Legacy of the First Ones".
I was contacted with requests to offer NeoExodus at Risen Rune. I must have died and gone to heaven! I will be sending them a number of adventures. If you will be there and have any requests... Likely A1 though A4.
It is almost certain that I'll be at Genghis running a series of NeoExodus adventures there. Information and details are sketchy at this time.
There are a few others but nothing that is tangible or that I can announce right now. You can be certain that I'll let everyone know.
JP
For a month or so now, I have been watching closely the Obsidian Apocalypse numbers go up ever so slowly... Raging that LPJ did not want me on the project. Still I kept feeding LPJ ideas for the project. If you are looking for ways to turn your favorite campaign world upside down, whether it be one you created yourself OR one that's already published, such as NeoExodus, Golarion, Shadowfell, or even a 3.5/4e transpose, Obsidian Apocalypse will be full of evil things to make your PCs' lives miserable. There are about 6 days left as the time I write this. Hop on, this is gonna happen!
There is also a monster-writing contest going on for Obsidian Apocalypse! I sent in a few monsters myself, but now that I'm part of the project myself, I will ask LPJ to retract my offering as part of the contest. Still I came up with a few ideas I will be using in upcoming NeoExodus products. I mean I'm still the "Creative Director" for NeoExodus, and I must feed my "baby".
The charming fellows on the right (--->) are something that really got my interest and what I felt was missing in Pathfinder. So I sat down and tackled the problem. I can't wait for the poor players to be the happless targets of my shambling hordes...
Check both out! You are almost out of time!
The Kickstarter : Link
The Monster Contest: Link
JP
LPJ doesn't want me to say but Obsidian Twilight was the first product that put me in touch with his products, then I was introduced to NeoExodus and well... You all know the rest. But this post is about Obsidian Apocalypse.
LPJ is stubborn. For weeks now I have been asking him to add me to the Kickstarter for Obsidian Apocalypse. For all this time I was pitching ideas to him on things I'd like to do there. Unlike NeoExodus, I wouldn't have the time to do it all, and with the great names attached to the project, I was like a moth to a flame.
I mean, guys I admired like James Desborough who wrote the original product. Owen Stephens who is a giant in the industry and someone whom I got the honor of updating to Pathfinder some of his work on NeoExodus (the Sanguine Covenant and the Order of Kaga). And Richard Pett who wrote many of my favorite Pathfinder adventures.
By the way... DAMN YOU RICHARD PETT! I still have nightmare about Carrion Hill! DAMN YOU!
I felt a little starstruck and the idea of adding a few of my idea to this massive project weighed on me. I've been wanted to add some of the ideas to the project that I had from the start. So my stubbornness came into play. Finally, I won!
Before some of you go berserk about me dropping NeoExodus, I'm not. I just want to add a few things to OA, not the whole thing. Help on with the project as a fun side-project from NeoExodus.
There are just a few days left on this! Check it out. Kickstarter for Obsidian Apocalypse
JP
For a long time, this miniature has remained on my painting table for a long time. It remained primed and gathering dust. BUT NO MORE! I finally got around to paint this mini.
Why would I need to do this?
See you at Tacticon...
JP
A few more vikings... These guys spent a lot of time on my painting table before I finally got them done. The leader was a clear miscast: he is missing half his face (hence the black beard), and a left arm (hence the shield). These archers were very crisp and can be used for a number of different roles.
JP
More Pictures!
First comes some Gygnar Gun Mages.
Nuala is a unit attachment for Bloodtrackers. You will indeed have noticed that I have yet to post any pictures of the Bloodtrackers. That's because they are still on my painting table!
JP
Yesterday afternoon, I received an email from Mike Brock (aka my Paizo Overlord) where I was notified that it was time for a change of Venture. Long story short (yes its very long with a lot of things), I accepted the offer and became a free man. I posted the following email to the Rocky Mountain Pathfinder Yahoogroup late yesterday.
As I know many of you read this blog but not the Yahoogroup, I will re-post the email here.
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Fellow Pathfinders, I'll be blunt. I have been asked to resign from my position as Venture Captain of Colorado, a position I occupied with pride for almost two years. After some thought, I have accepted the offer to resign from the position, effective the moment I send this email. Although I am not happy about having to take this decision, I am at peace with it. If I am to be fully honest, a number of things in PFS no longer kept me as interested as I once was, and I guess it showed. During my time as VC, I saw PFS grow from a one-table a month affair to something you can play almost every day if you wanted to. We have one of the most vibrant and dynamic community in all of PFS-dom, and I'm not afraid to say it. I did not do that alone, I credit the many GMs, the organizers and the many stores who worked with us to get this madness going. I like to think of myself as the grease in the machine that allowed this ballet to happen (yeah, yeah it's kinda pun-ish). But now its time to throw someone else into the grinder. Now I'm sure you all wonder "WHY?" I won't go into into details. I'll keep my official line to "some people lied and exaggerated". Yep "some people" told Mike Brock a lot of lies and unverified lies got me fired without getting a chance to explain or disprove. That is what hurts the most. I want to thank my Venture-Lieutenants, all PFS GMs, all the organizers, all the players, with whom I got to play my tenure, and the store owners who gave us space to play. All this was accomplished by you and your enthusiasm for the game. To my replacement, I will say this: Good luck. About Tacticon: Its business as usual: I'll still be running the event with Bryan and Scott. Don't worry about it. So there you have it... It should come as no surprise that other than Tacticon, I will be passing the organizer's baton to another for all my PFS events (PFS in Cos, PFS at Petries') to focus only on NeoExodus. So if you want to organize events, I will be retiring from them at the end of Tacticon. Since PFS did eat up a large amount of my time, time I now have to focus on other priorities. Did somebody say "NeoExodus Organized Play"??? I still plan on staying around and playing Pathfinder with you all. So that was the big announcement. Colorado PFS now enters its next chapter. JP PS: Please do not inundate Mike's inbox with angry emails, it would not serve any useful purpose. I am surprisingly at peace with the decision imposed on me. |
Seeing the large number of unhappy people at this announcement, I felt I had to make the following post. The massive wave of support I felt really surprised me and made me feel much better. I knew I had a great group of players, and their posts and kind words mean a lot to me.
However, it is not my intention to start a backlash against Paizo, or see the community break itself apart over this.
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Guys, Please do not let my situation change what you were doing. I will ask all of you to keep participating in events being put together AND keep up the spirit and goodwill we built together. I ask each of you NOT to start a witch hunt about "who said what", "who complained", or whatever. I KNOW who is responsible, and chose to forgive them. I'm annoyed and angry about it, but I will get over it. Remember we built this TOGETHER and let's keep playing TOGETHER. Many of us came to PFS because it was the best game out there: because WE MADE IT THE BEST. Also, please support whoever becomes the next VC. He will need all your support and I'm sure has nothing to do with the events surrounding. I already plan on giving him my full support, whoever he will be. JP |
There you have it. I am no longer the Colorado Venture-Captain. I turn this page of my life with a sentiment of accomplishment. That it ends this way leaves a sour taste, but the memories and the good times will forever remain etched in my heart.
Some of the accusation leveled against me may just become true! Now I MAY get to run 8 slots of NeoExodus... Or run 5 and play 4 slots of Arcanis!
Now... who wants to play some NeoExodus? I have some free time!
JP
It has been a while since, as a painter I wanted to get my hands on some Mesoamerican warriors. I've always seen them as a challenge. The color schemes, the feathers, the jaguar pelts all really intrigued me. These I originally purchased to go with my Conquistadors.
However, like most miniatures I buy these days... they will join my forces of NeoExodus, for the Reis Confederacy.
JP
Using random bits and bobs, I created a number of construct with random pieces I had. Unlike LPJ, I believe that ironforged are not a common lot, but that they should have something unique about each of them. Same game stats but different looks.
Now that said, I included the sample art for the ironforged LPJ put on the Facebook page. I really like it. It looks nice, steampunkish and dangerous.
Last night, LPJ and I were talking about a number of things: the Obsidian Apocalypse Kickstarter (where I learned I'm one of the "other" writers) and a few extra goodies we could had for that (they are coming and they are pretty exciting). I offer you . But as usual, the core of our argument rested with NeoExodus. We went through parts of the Upcoming Players' Guide to add things our players have asked us to do on the Paizo Forums, and adventures.
Yes... It turns out that I have written a decent adventure to premiere at Tacticon but as I'm looking over what I have... I don't like it. It has everything the adventure needs and fills the goals I have for it.
But I don't like it.
There are many things I don't like about it, but mostly I feel like it contrives the PCs' choices too much and makes the choices they have to make somewhat trivial and that bothers me. It's not bad. I don't like it.
I may be spilling a few beans here... LPJ is working at getting his web comic, Grand Theft Exodus back on track after a few years of hiatus. I'll admit that the short-lived series was one of my first contacts with NeoExodus. I liked the ideas behind it.
Long story short, I'm now the Creative Director for NeoExodus.
One of my little side projects is the upcoming Nations of Exodus: The Arman Protectorate, wherein I have already a fair amount of work done. Well, turns out that the GTE reboot will be set in Mureath, capital of the Protectorate. As LPJ described the place as he envisioned it, it became quickly apparent that we had some different ideas.
Now don't get me wrong, I liked what LPJ had, but I didn't want to have to re-write everything I had done already as my version (I'm not shy to say it) did take into account some research into the history of Exodus. LPJ's was a lot more visually pleasing I must admit.
So after a bout of arguing - it wouldn't be a design meeting at LPJ Design without arguing. LPJ wanted to be able to give an overview of the city. So he envisioned a multilevel city built on the side of a cliff. My writing had Mureath on a hill. He explained the reasons and (for once) they were valid enough.
So then I explained to him that Mureath was on a hill over looking the Tyranius Straight and that it did not - initially have a natural harbor but that the Arman had quarried the local limestone so much that they created a harbor close by. The harbor could be expanded to the multilevel layout he wanted AND keep to what I had. Win-win.
We both resorted to drawing. It wasn't pretty. There are reason why I'm a writer and he's the business guy. Neither are nor should be considered artists by any stretch of the imagination.
Here was my original draft:
Then we argued some more... So I added his comments:
Here is a quick funny from Dorkly... You all know I'd do it. Yes... yes I would... and people would ritualiscally offer themselves to some dark entity rather than see that...
Here are a few RPG characters I created for myself (and one for a gift).
The first one is one of Foundry's Argonauts that I like to call "Alexander" because I think he looks like Collin Farrell.
The second model is from Mega Miniatures' thieves guild set and is for my friend Lenny. The model represents his character "Gustav" in Arcanis. Gustav is "my favorite barbarian" from Mylandir, as he protects my character (Gallia Kermina) by standing in the way of danger.
Finally a vampire I got from the Reaper pack I initially wanted for Viviana in PFS. However, I think the Deathwalker from the Iron Kingdoms is a much better choice. So I don't quite know what to do with her now...
JP
It seems I've always been intrigued by the era of discovery and colonization. Being a descendant of early French settler to New France (before 1630), I've always been intrigued by these early settlers. These past few years I read a number of books on the French regime there: the courts, the way of life, and the creation of these new cities.
Then in the late 80s/early 90s, I picked up a copy of one of the RPGs that would change my life: Gurps Swashbuckler (2nd edition). I devoured that book left, right and center. I kept dreaming of running a campaign with it. To this day I would love to create a setting set in that type of environment: you are settlers to a new land and have to fight your way to making your colony successful. I tried it many times with various degrees of success, but I never really sat down and WROTE that as a complete, coherent setting. Maybe one day...
The simple art within made me dream of sailing the Caribbeans, raiding, pillaging and saying a whole lot of AAAaaaarghs! I had even conceived a small BBS-style game to mimic the game "Pirates". It would've been great.
But that was not to be. So I dreamed and read about it. One of the things that I read about was history. And a lot of it. So I learned with trepidation of the Spanish colonization of South America, and the conquest of Mexico.
It was only a matter of time before I got my hands on some miniatures for the period... So here they are! I like the idea of them carrying the huge cross (made of coffee-stirrers). I also like how the flag of Castile came out. I'll have the Aztec later.
JP
Finally! I got them done! I have been making quips at both John and Matt about them not letting me know about the mini they wanted. But both finally let me know.
Starting with Matt, he wanted a warrior of Cheliax clad in red with heraldry and a symbol of Asmodeus. Looking through many minis, I found a picture of a 14th century knight and sent it to him as a rough concept. He liked it and so painting begun. At first, I did not have the shield. And as I looked as the almost finished mini, I felt like it needed something bold, something big to go with the model. So the old-style chaos warrior shield made its appearance! The pose makes it look like the knight is leaning on the shield and I thought it gave the model a different pose and I liked it.
The second mini was for my long-time friend John F. If you know John, you know he is a human-dwarf. He is the living embodiment of Dwarfdom. Especially classic dwarf paladin. That's right... So I was not surprised when John handed me a dwarf mini! He said he wanted a back beard, which he got (its actually 3 layers of browns drowned in black for a multi-layered black, but you have to be close to see it).
The shield was added by me and has a pin in the center. The mini has little that is not: armor, beard, fur or scale cloak, the shield allowed me some painting space. Not-quite-so-funny story, but I did managed to drill my right middle finger while putting the pin in... Yup... It healed since, but the memory of drilling remain. I painted the symbol of Torag (dwarf father and John's deity) on the shield.
John is also known as a strong defender of the slaying of the helpless and that mercy is not due to anyone who opposes him... Oh! I mean John is a dedicated Andoran player in PFS! The blue/white scheme comes from there. The field of the shield is also inspired by Andoran.
The scalemail cloak, I had originally intended to drybrush with some silver/metallic but after the magic dip, the cloak was just super-shiny. I chose not to mess with it. It makes it look a lot more like a dragon scale cloak. With the white winter-wolf fur on top, the contrast was there.
It was fun to paint a dwarf in something other than simple armor and beard.
JP
Now that my wife has returned from Montreal to evade the fire, I once again have access to a decent camera. You, me dear readers will get to see what I did while she was away!
To start things off: I have Bloody Bradigan, the bezerk drunk pirate.
Two objectives I plan to use for my Rhulic army, but also for my Pirate city (which is still being built, slowly). These are Reaper minis (I think) I got LONG ago (as in 5+ years). The panels are made with Popsicle sticks and read "Khador/Cygnar go home". Homely isn't it?
