Next Project: World of Samardan...

Good Afternoon, Everyone:

On Friday, I asked people to vote on what my next blog project should be. Here are the results as they currently stand:

• Sword & Planet Setting: 4
• Traveller: 2
• Other (MyD20 Lite GM's Guide): 1

I think it's safe to assume that the Sword And Planet setting wins by a 2:1 margin, unless a mad rush of voting comes in at the last minute, after I've written this but before it has been posted. I am actually pleased to hear that there's interest in the MyD20 Lite GM's Guide, and I'll put that on my to-do list for 2013. I have also slated at least two Traveller products for publication this year. This should be a very interesting year, I think, assuming I can get even half of my publication wishlist completed.

Over the next few posts, we'll discuss the development of a planetary romance campaign setting. I'll be developing it loosely on my first Sword and Planet campaign, but there will be some major revisions and I'll be creating a ton of new material along the way. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about the prospects of sharing the World of Samardan with everyone, and using it as a vehicle for discussing planetary romance as a gaming experience.

For those of you that participated in the informal survey, thank you very much for making your opinion known. For everyone, I definitely hope that you guys enjoy the new development that will be unfolding here. I'm sure that there will be material you might be able to alter and use for your own games, even if you prefer a more standard fantasy or Traveller gaming experience. And if you use the final setting as a planetary romance campaign, that's even better.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Free One Page Mini-Setting: Sell-Swords of Mars...

Good Afternoon, All:

For the last few years, I've always told myself that I would write up and submit an entry to the annual One Page Dungeon Contest. This month, I felt appropriately motivated, and finally took the plunge.

Sell-Swords of Mars is a mini-setting intended for Sword & Planet: A Roleplaying Game of Planetary Romance. As you can see, it's a snapshot of a small region of Barsoom, complete with encounter table, reaction table, map and location key. In true Old School deference, this setting is rather "bare bones", with a number of adventure hooks hinted at in the descriptions of each location. I welcome you to check it out and share your feedback with me on its contents.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Fantasy Friday: Sword & Planet RPG, First Draft...

Good Afternoon, All:

I've posted the first rough draft of the Sword & Planet RPG for your review. You can download the file at:
https://sites.google.com/site/flynnsfiles/my-gaming-files/SwordAndPlanetRPG.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Bear in mind that it is still a work in progress, and that there's a lot of data and layout work that is still missing. However, since I said I'd have it up today, I figured I should at least post what I have.

Please feel free to check it out, and give me any feedback you might have. I'll work on getting an updated version up next week.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Fantasy Friday: Free Sword & Planet Ruleset Coming Soon...

Good Afternoon, All:

For Fantasy Friday today, I thought I'd mention that I'm pulling together all the Sword & Planet material I've posted into a single document, along with material I hadn't posted previously. I will make this document available sometime next week (probably around my birthday on March 8th.) This document will be available for free, simply to share those creative efforts with others. I'm doing this in part to honor or celebrate the new movie "John Carter of Mars", but mostly because I just love Planetary Romance gaming. I hope that my contributions will help others enjoy more of it themselves.

The book itself will contain all the rules needed to play a game in this exciting genre, as well as a small bestiary of foes inspired by the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I will be releasing the entire thing under the Open Gaming License, so other publishers can use it as they see fit.

The list of character races will be simple, and will likely include one or two species from different planetary romance series. Obviously, human (Earthmen) will be the preferred race, but local humans of varying skin colors, as well as a large multi-limbed giant (ala the Green Martians), and one or two other options would be good to have in the rules for creativity purposes. Any suggestions on this particular point would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the news of my intentions with you, and ask for your thoughts, concerns and feedback on the idea. I will likely have no artwork in the document unless I can find some good public domain art that inspires a Sword & Planet game. If any of you have any suggestions of where I might find something of that ilk, please feel free to let me know.

With Regards,
Flynn