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The Midderzines are an old-school, zine format gaming supplement intended for use with, but not exclusively for, The Midderlands setting. The rules content is written for Swords & Wizardry Complete and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work.
The two new zines contain:
Meet The Midderlander interviews
More juicy rumours from The Haven Gazette.
Gloomium – the lowdown.
Currency thoughts.
Slightly Less Sh*t Lesser Rings and Scrolls
The Lost Wyrld: The world of The Midderlands setting.
Races of the Lost World: A focus on the main S&W races with a Midderlands twist.
Treasure of the Lost Wyrld.
Drakekin – the OSR Dragonborn.
Three Drakekin NPCs.
New Oddities for Drakekin.
Upper Wychbray: A riverside settlement on the edges of Linkern Wolds.
The close date for submission to the ENnies 2021 is for packages post-marked 1st May 2021. My ENnie performance in previous years has been as follows:
2018 – Gold ENnie for Best Cartography for The Midderlands
2019 – Nomination for Best Cartography for The Midderlands Expanded.
2020 – Nothing
I deliberated on whether to enter this year on account of not finding time to do the leg work to get the correct submissions in, and also the increasing costs of submission.
Six copies of each of the submitted products have to be sent off, and the judges are NEVER in the United Kingdom, so the cost to send the packages by a tracked service is not for the feint-hearted. This year’s postage cost alone was £181.55 (just over $250 USD). Adding on the cost of the products, I need to ensure that enough sales are generated by the publicity to at least cover the postage, product cost, and my time. That’s going to be around $400-$500 USD. If it doesn’t, then there’s not much point in submitting.
I recall last year that based on the analytics, sales generated via the ENnies website were less than a product review by Ben over at Questing Beast… Sales via the ENnies is a bit nebulous to interpret though.
As the reminder for entering came in, I realised that the products we release are the work of a team, and that I wanted to allow the great folks in the team that supports me to also get a chance to have their efforts rewarded in an industry-acknowledged way.
Richard Marpole, Jim Magnusson, Pookie, and all those fine people in the credits deserve to have their work recognised, and I can help that along, and hopefully reward them with a medal.
I sent off three sets of products last week. They were:
I say this every time the ENnies come around, but if you are a fan of MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing, AND we get nominated for anything, then the support of fans like yourself is invaluable.
So, fingers and toes are crossed for a result in 2021.
Trips to the Isles of Nukkertawa are free. Just bring your imagination…. Oh, and don’t mess with the obelisks.
I’m just a LoRes version, see below for download link to full resolution file…
No one is really sure why not. I mean, they are so black, shiny and tactile it’s hard not to want to touch them… then the runes that you never spotted before start to glow deep red.
Anyway, besides that you can always do a spot of diving. The Golden Caravel was said to have sunk off the coast over a hundred years ago, filled with stolen gold.
You could alwys take in the views north of Reaper’s Point, but watch your step, those rocks are quite loose.
Sound good? Great! Pack your bags and a cart will pick you up and take you to the port in 10 Rounds…
I previously shared the settlement of Ironhome from the intro scenario for GATEpunk, which sits in the region called The Dustlands.
I did a map for a commission a long time back which was a parched desert land and I really liked the style. I wanted to revisit it for this map and I’m really liking it!
I’ve been a little lax on the blog posts lately, as I’ve been soooo busy. Mainly with the Bats of Saint Abbans Kickstarter fulfilment, and some work on GATEpunk v0.7. I’ve even commissioned the cover artist as well as some character/race/profession artwork, as well as some playtesting and rules work/updates. It’s going well and hope that the project will be a handy A5 hardback book and some character/reference sheets. Maybe a 100-page count or something like that in the end.
Anyway, I also wanted to do some shout-outs for some projects I’ve got a hand in, or really like the look of (especially with ZineQuest in full swing). So, here we go:
The Midderlands 5E
The PDF of this is now available over on DrivThruRPG via Frog God Games. The physicals will be cominhg soon once backers get their meat 😛
I love how the 5E version looks. I believe it’s my best art, layout and cartography work to date. Even if you have the OSR version, it’s worth picking up for the new map as well as the glorious green juicyness of it all.
Cruel attacks by strange dwarves in the Ilorin wood have disturbed the peace of Withgan village. Many fearful and angry people blame their dwarven neighbors, who profess innocence but proudly prepare to defend themselves. The faithful few of Withgan explore the perilous forest, uncover its mysteries, and restore security and trust to their home. These brave adventurers are up against more than ordinary bandits, but rather an ancient and fearsome people. Fantastical creatures, powerful magic, and fabulous treasures await discovery, as well as gruesome death for the unlucky and unwary.
Andrew Sternick
This is a great DCC adventure by Andrew Sternick, which will be up at Goodman Games soon. I did some interior map artwork. If you can’t wait until then… grab it at DriveThru here:
An EVEN NEWER Tentacle and Sorcery zine for the DCC RPG #ZineQuest (we’re back)
“It’s terrifying to know that everyone you meet, and every city you visit, will or has already fallen to the Bat whether or not you realize it. Sky-Lasher the Everlasting, Trident of the Sun goes to great lengths to make sure the walls fall as it approaches, as it drinks of humanity’s riches. Pay attention, if you see these things.. The Bat is on its way.” — The Infinite Reach of the Bat God.
Sean Richer
ALREADY FUNDED! The awesome Sean is back with another installment of the wonderful Stratosfiend series. I’m thrilled to be handling layout duties.
Karth is a tiny mesa studded moon on the galaxy’s edge. The only way down is an antique space elevator to the lawless boomtown of Larstown; a place surrounded by even greater danger and strangeness in the wastes beyond. Survival or salvation is not guaranteed, partner.
Harvest ossified coral corpses to live forever. Become an involuntary organ donor. Dodge ancient orbital defenses. Explore sand blown ruins. Hunt the fearsome sandsquid. Ride camels through the dunes. Drink whisky until you’ve forgotten your own name.
Karth’s inspirations include Dune, Firefly, Alien, John Carter of Mars, Cowboy Bebop, The Dark Tower, spaghetti westerns, and modern adventures like Hot Springs Island, A Pound of Flesh, Ultraviolet Grasslands, and Slumbering Ursine Dunes.
You’ll find plenty to use for your other sci-fi RPG of choice like Stars Without Number, Traveler, or Starfinder with a touch of back alley stat surgery.
Joel Hines
ALREADY FUNDED! Joel Hines is making a wonderful setting for Mothership. Check it out here. I’ve worked on some maps for this project and cannot wait to see it in the flesh!
A cyberpunk roleplaying game of corporate violence, artificial intelligence and vampirism. Welcome to 2119.
Towards the end of the 21st century, the third world war, which became known as the Resource War, pushed mankind to the brink of destruction and brought ruin to the Earth’s atmosphere. Small pockets of humanity survived this horrific conflict, eventually forming the eleven metropolises. Initially, these incredible urban constructs were able to grow and prosper through advancements in atmospheric processing and technological innovation, but now cut off from each other, the eleven metropolises must each face their own difficulties and hardships. The Gaia Complex focuses on the largest of these locations; New Europe, a single sprawling city that covers much of what we currently know as mainland Europe. New Europe is a world of street violence, corporate espionage, vampiric uprisings and an overzealous A.I., known as Gaia, which functions as the city’s governor and the protector of its citizens.
This is a game of conspiracy and brutality, where players take on the roles of Mercs; former police officers, hackers and street-savvy dealers who are hired to fight back against the system and ultimately unravel the secrets of The Gaia Complex.
Chris Shepperson
ALREADY FUNDED! Chris has made what looks like a stunning product here, the art is sumptuous. Check it out here. I’ve worked on some maps for this project too. Cannot wait!
Nagara is old, the city is dying, and you are the only one who can ward off the Doom.
City of Flesh is a tarot-based roleplay game where you play one of the Midwives, a person imbued with primordial energy, tasked with staving off the end of the world as you know it. Together with your fellow players and GM, you create the city of Nagara and its unique locations using a tarot deck. Each session your characters inch ever closer to a Doom they’re working tirelessly to prevent, but must inevitably face as the chronicle ends.
The game has the dark horror feeling of a dungeon crawl, while focusing on mechanics that drive in-game drama and push personal stories. You’ll get embroiled in the various wars raging between guilds in the city and try to secure a bit of personal peace, before all your efforts crumble around you. You’ll strive to survive in a city that is literally trying to eat you, and siphon off its power to keep the ones you love safe.
City of Flesh takes inspiration from grimdark fantasy combining it with a feminine aesthetic to create an immersive gore-splattered roleplay experience where you delve into the dreams of a sleeping colossus and tear through fleshy reality to make your own fate.
Steffie & Liz
Im not involved in this project, but have worked with Liz on a couple of projects in the past and Angry Hamster Publishing is on my ‘must buy’ list.
Lady Ingrade cared for her land and the people who tended to it. But there was always darkness about her. She would provide comfort to a grieving mother one moment and then in the next, demand a farmer be given lashes for having too many rocks on his field.
As she grew older her perceptions of the world darkened to paranoia. Lady Ingrade obsessed about the adventurers that rode across the countryside unhindered. Grave robbers, all of them. That’s when the crypt construction began.
Lady Ingrade feared a filthy group of adventurers would violate her in death. She compulsively built crypts to lure in tomb raiders and dispatch them with deadly traps and creatures.
Upon her death, the wealth she accumulated was not found. Presumed to be dispersed throughout her many crypts or hidden within her true, final resting place. No one is sure what’s within the crypts. Those that enter, do not return.
Tim Shorts
I’m not involved in this project, but I love Tim 😛
The winners were announced for the One Page Dungeon Contests 2020 this week, and I think I came in at number 16 with The Trojan Pig, which I am pretty pleased about as it was another classic ‘running out of time late panic entry’ 😀
Congratulations to the winners, honorable mentions, and anyone that took part and submitted. There are some lovely entries.
I thought it would be nice to summarise all of my One Page Dungeon Contest entries into a single blog post, so here we go!
