With the latest issue of Yggdrasil MGZ in the can and available for folks, I have been furiously working on finishing the next issue. I realized as I was wrapping it up I needed to get the next two issues out quickly.
My next project is already creeping into my brain and eating up valuable space. I'm excited about it, and I am excited about some games Luke Crane is working on that I have had the pleasure of getting to try out.
And GenCon is around the corner, so I gotta get moving. Need to get all of these ideas onto paper so I don't get distracted. It is the curse of creativity. That last 20% of the previous project is always the hardest for a damn reason.
Ok, I can't help myself. Let me tell you a little about what I am cooking for next year before I get into some details for the next issue.
It is only in notes format now, but I am working on, what I can only describe as Black Company bait. If you have read Glen Cook's estimable work, you know what I am hinting at. If you haven't, know that he explores the life of a group of people who start out as mercenaries working for the "big bad" and it all goes sideways from there.
It is of course using Torchbearer as its base. It is of course modified to center play on a mercenary company in the middle of a war. It is of course set in my fictional world of Yggdrasil. It is of course going to trick you into using it to explore themes that have nothing to do with war.
Ok. Got it out of my system. Let me talk to you about a nifty thing I am working for this year's issue two!
The Grand Dais
Issue one of this year is very much an exploration of, "How would Keith build an effective urban adventure?" Issue two for this year is an exploration of, "How would Keith take X2 the Isle of Dread and make it awesome?" Issue three will be about how I create a Ravenloft adventure that isn't a slog, but you get the idea.
Each issue has a theme, but also each issue is an opportunity for me to play with the shape of the tools we use as players. With that in mind, I created the Grand Dais, a moving dungeon crawl. A circle with three separate rings that move, changing your options on how you get to the center.
Like the Dream Way in issue one, it shows up at the end of the adventure, capping the hex crawl with something familiar, yet different. Here is the illustration I put together for it. Unlike issue one, issue two will be filled with some predesigned dungeons you can use as needed.
And here is a view of how it looks in action...
Links to the map will be available in the issue so folks and print and play. I have found it challenging to keep track of the rotations without cutting it and putting it in front of me. I'm excited about this weird science-fantasy thing I am making. Hope you are too!
Volume 2, Issue 1
A new year, so a new volume of Yggdrasil MGZ and it is huge! Sixty four pages of adventure for both the Torchbearer RPG and Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons!
And this issue is only the first part in a trilogy of adventures deep in the Sanctum of the Serpent Vaults, the last echo of a civilization cursed to desolation. In this issue you will get a vast adventure that includes:
• A sprawling urban crawl that shifts and changes every time you enter the city.
• The Dream Way, a dungeon that embraces the randomness of the Shifting City.
• A novel faction system that is centered on the adventurer's actions.
• A host of monsters for your party to face.
• Guidelines on how to use adventures for both D&D and Torchbearer.
