Akhamet Player's Guide Released

After many months of writing, refining, and reviewing, it is with great pride that I announce the release of the Akhamet Player's Guide, the second book for the setting.

ActionMan has been reading the book from cover to cover and he's been really been enjoying it and learning a lot of new things.

The book includes and expands on the following:
- Expands on the Akhameti Pantheon by adding four new deities, from the beautiful Hathor, to Thoth the scribe, to the vengeful snake-headed Meretseger.
- Ten new races, including the cow-headed Hathorians, to the vulture-headed Nefru and living mummies!
- Six new class options, from the hoplite fighter to the divine agent rogue, to the divine sorcerer.
- New backgrounds including the fake priest, the former cultist, the prophet, or the palace brat.
- New feats, equipment, and magic items.
- Learn about Akhameti society, new cities, and locations.
- Explore the universe of the lands beyond Akhamet, the lands beyond death.
- Discover the ancient states and kingdoms that existed within Akhamet and the lasting impression they left behind.

The book is available right now through DriveThru RPG.

Apple of a Mother's Eye reached Copper Best-seller!

It took a little more time than I wanted it to, but earlier this week, Apple of a Mother's Eye reached the first threshold into eternal posterity... It reached the level of a Copper Best seller on the DM's Guild.

That adventure was written on the heels of Real Housewives of Ravenloft as an expansion of Curse of Strahd and from talking to the players, was one of the highlights of the campaign. It provided insight into the many NPCs and their backstory. You know how experiencing something gives you insight and perspective.

The adventure is available on the DM's Guild.

Treasures of Ravenloft released on the DM's Guild

As I was running Curse of Strahd this past year, one thing I created was a list of magic items. Why? Because nothing annoys me more than to have to stop the flow of the game to pull out the DMG and then read out loud the powers of an item.

That annoys me. Breaks the flow. Breaks immersion in the game.

One thing Call of Cthulhu taught me was the importance of putting things in the hands of the players: something tangible they can use a reference.

And in D&D, magic items are important. Getting a "Vine Axe" is more interesting than a +1 axe the deals extra damage to plants... It allows the player to read the item and understand it, refer to it, and reveal to the others as much or as little as he wants. Helps the game by adding mystery.

This new product is available now on the DM's Guild. Pay-what-you-want for it.

I also added it to the FOE Ravenloft Bundle.

Kinda Book Report: Legion of the Super-Heroes Vol.1

Many times, LPJ and I would talk about these guys. To me, the Legion of the Super-Heroes is just a gathering of the randomess, dumbest super-heroes. Whatever idea of the week ended up in there. Too many characters to have any kind of personality. A legion of them, litterally.

Half the stories deal with people they reject because of their dumb powers, and why they either turn into villains wanting revenge or joining the Legion of Substitute Heroes. As if there weren't enough characters already! Now surprisingly because of their really dumb flaws, the substitute heroes have some personality and are more interesting than the perfect super-heroes.

This book presents the origin of the Legion. These characters did not have their own titles but were taken from the pages of Superboy or Supergirl comics. The "modern-day" character would fly so fast that he or she would travel through time to the future... a similar trick to the Superman movie.

Now these are DC stories from 1960-1964 where wrote simple stories without any thought: the villains were evil because... well because. There were little-to-nothing in the way of foreshadowing the villains. Very bad-guy of the week with bland cardboard characters. The alien monster all look the same: some type of dragon/ crocodile/ dinosaur mix and look more silly than dangerous.

The Legion has a constitution that is used to bullshit reject or expel people from their ranks, to at least limit the number of members. I mean they are just the worse, most elitist jerks in superhero-dom ever.

One thing I did enjoy is that there is a meta-plot involving a barrier in time, which they frequently allude to in the latest issues. I do like this thread but the resolution did not happen as part of this omnibus.

To review this... Well the art is good - at least on-par with other comics of that era, which is a style I enjoy. However, the stories were mostly weak and without much wonder or interest, happening to characters without interest or personality.

So a rating? 2/5. I don't think I would read another omnibus set during that era. I WOULD be willing to read some later omnibus in the series, perhaps from the 70s when DC abandoned these types of stories.

In the end, I can tell LPJ that my original assessment of this series was right.

Gencon Online: After Action Report

Well as you all know, Gencon Indy did not happen this year. I had originally planned on running a smaller local event here (FOEcon) but I had to call that off. There was Gencon Online... I thought about it but in the end elected not to participate by running events. Maybe I should have, but I managed to get a lot good things done instead...

Normally I would tell you a tale of a trip and of the perils and experiences of the road. Of the Speedway coffee I'd get in Bowling Green or Lebanon (both KY). But no. There was to road trip with Will or Ryan as had been originally planned...

This year on the Wednesday, I got a teeth pulled (the whole crown popped off while I was GMing live a week before). Surgery it was! I survived but slept through the day enjoying the Maury show.

Thursday, I planned on taking off and find some game to play. However, work needed me so I coded and reviewed all day and finished work around 5pm. A short dinner later, at 6pm I was at my Heroes of Rokugan table. Well truth be told, that table was not part of Gencon. Let's say it was an impromptu planned game! Yeah go with that. Enjoyable, and another opportunity to play Haruhime, a character that I am really digging.

Friday, I had a ticket to play the newest Arcanis adventure by Cody Bergman. I must say that of the Arcanis authors, Cody writes the adventures I find the most fun to play. They are not key to the "main plot" but from a gaming aspect (what I call in French, scenaristique - the science of scenarios) they usually deliver. This one did. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I will say that his adventure went back to the Blessed Lands book and pulls material directly out of there, crafting a story with NPCs from there. I dug that.

Another point of interest was that I got to play with my in-game husband, Sestius Ovidius val'Mehan aka Comma played by Tom-C. He and I have been playing Arcanis together for years. We rarely play together but when we do, it's always awesome, like, super!

I could not find anything I wanted to play for the next while so I watched TV most of the day.

On Friday evenings, I run a D&D game for my kids and the neighbors so I ran that as they ransacked through my sahuagin temple looking for loot and plunder. I mean, it was pretty much a fight the whole time as they took down the sahuagin priestess and her entourage. It got dicy for them but they pulled out.

Saturday evening, after talking to Florent and Florence during their stay here at the Dublin House, I got a ticket in a Starfinder game. While I'm still not a HUGE fan, it is "okay". I will say the GM I had (Cory) mastered the system and was really on-point with both the rules and the scenario, which made things roll much smoother. The game was enjoyable though a few places the plot dragged on a little. I think everyone had fun and there was an interesting mix of colorful characters and cardboard PCs to keep my interest.

2$ well-spent.

Throughout the weekend, I kept looking at the Heroes of Rokugan tables as my ticket was on Sunday morning and my table not filled... Always a worrisome sight for Sunday morning.

When I rolled out of bed WAY too early (giving me time to play with some ideas on Olympia), I hoped the game would happen. Turns out, we had four players, to old hands and two new players (one was completely new and the other had only played a different edition). This adventure turned out to be a play-within-a-play situation and was a marked departure from the usually serious and dour scenarios that make Rokugan so enticing.

The adventure over, I looked at a few other offerings but did not find anything that drew my eye.

The trip home took my rear end from the chair to the couch and a well-deserved nap! Prepare

I have been thinking of participating at the next Gencon Online if/when it happens and put together a FOE program. Offer one or two adventures... Ah well live and learn.

Akhamet Player's Guide going to the printer...

After working and re-working the manuscript for months now - what to say... I'm a tweaker! I finally posted the final cover on the FOE Patreon. Patrons get access to a lot of early details on the book such as art, new races, new class options, and whatever I complete.

I also have a few occasional recorded chats about some of the design topics and interesting aspects with many of the regular FOE GMs and

The next project will be the Olympia Campaign Setting, a setting inspired by Ancient Greece! There is already a LOT of art getting posted and some additional details. Check out the FOE Patreon for full details.