This week was the end of the month, which means it's time for another behind-the-scenes post! Over on my Patreon page! Sorry, everyone. Wanna read what I've been up to, and what I'm scheming for the future? You should check me out over there. It's super helpful for me keeping the lights on, cat fed, … Continue reading Behind the Scenes #5
Tag: Fantasy
REVIEW: Tress of the Emerald Sea
This review is spoiler-free. Last year, fantasy monolith Brandon Sanderson revealed that he'd been cheating on fans of his in-progress series by writing even more books. This culminated in a record-breaking Kickstarter which raised millions of dollars to fund four new novels in high quality premium editions. As a complete and total Sanderson fanboy, obviously … Continue reading REVIEW: Tress of the Emerald Sea
The Astrologer
The candle's little amber flame at last melted its wax just enough to let the bronze nail's heaviness pull itself free, to fall upon the copper candle-stand. The circular disc—bent upward along the rim, like a cymbal—chimed twice, as the nail bounced on the thin-beaten copper. As the stand trembled, the first clear sound fuzzed … Continue reading The Astrologer
Humans, the Half-Made
Let us return this week to exploring Akhelas, the First Land, in the setting of the Endless Lands. My previous post began exploring the setting's creation and cosmology. For today, let's talk about humanity. The origin of humans in the Endless Lands begins with a folk story, "How Papa Thrun Earned His Wings." I largely … Continue reading Humans, the Half-Made
REVIEW: Duckpac
In 1982 Chaosium published the innovative species-specific "splatbook" Trollpak. This boxed set detailed the culture, religion, history, and society of the Uz—called trolls by humans—thereby fleshing this species out as a player option, rather than a statblock. It seems rather fitting that a nice, round forty years later indie publisher Legion Games began to release … Continue reading REVIEW: Duckpac
New Release! To Hunt a God
Hello all! Quick post to share that the full release of To Hunt a God is available on the Jonstown Compendium. You can get it here. This 139-page publication includes: The longform cult of Hrunda, God of Bluepaw Monkeys, including rules for creating new adventurers, new Rune spells, and path to shamanhood. The macabre Temple of the Bones at … Continue reading New Release! To Hunt a God
Calling on Ernalda
This week's post is a short story I wrote to explore what the process of summoning and binding an earth elemental in RuneQuest feels like to the characters. Originally I was planning to set this at the Clearwine Earth Temple, but my fingers put it in Sylthi instead. Hah, oh well! The story's RuneQuest mechanics … Continue reading Calling on Ernalda
REVIEW—Akborítha
For this week's book I've got a lovely small-press treasure by Tolkien scholar Richard W. Rohlin: Akborítha, to which is appended The Songs of the Seven Cities. I stumbled across this work courtesy of the God Learners podcast interviewing JM DeFoggi and Evan Franke, because JM mentioned a forthcoming roleplaying game which intrigued me, Amboria: … Continue reading REVIEW—Akborítha
FIRST IMPRESSION—Elkoi Expansion
Elkoi Expansion is a new Jonstown Compendium release by Anders Tönnberg which bundles a variety of full-color maps in multiple styles together with a 34-page PDF providing additional details about the Balazaring clans near Elkoi, and mapped-out sites of interest inside the city. It is written for use with Griffin Mountain from Chaosium. I kept … Continue reading FIRST IMPRESSION—Elkoi Expansion
A Bit of Cosmology
This site wasn't randomly named "Akhelas." Akhelas is the name of the First Land, the most significant continent in my fiction about the Endless Lands. The name goes back to around 2015, the major stories to around 2011, and its barest bones to games of Pathfinder 1E I played with friends in around 2009. Akhelas … Continue reading A Bit of Cosmology