I have finished working on Monsters of Verdune and its off to the layout atrist, thought I would give you some excerpts of my work..

Blato-prvo (The Primordial Ooze)

DESIGNER’S NOTES
Oozes, slimes, and jellies, oh my! There is something primal about the fear of being surrounded by a viscous substance you know is not water. Striking you with disease, acid, and/or poison, these things tend not to kill you. They diminish you. Perhaps that is a worse fate than death.

“The Kallethan did reach into the forge of life and steal away its essence. Taking this fluid form, he did corrupt it to his cause with surpassing ease and named his creation blato-prvo.” Excerpt from The Kallethan Testament as translated by Stave Beast-Speaker.

Fascination (Ex): A blato-prvo secretes a euphoric hallucinogen. A creature engulfed by the blato-prvo, or attacking with natural weapons or unarmed strikes, must roll a DC 20 Will save or be fascinated for 3d6 rounds. The ooze can automatically engulf a fascinated opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Kavilljor Ur-rathi (Knight of the First Wrath)

DESIGNER’S NOTES:
The Black Knight of Ivanhoe, The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hallow, The Ringwraiths of
Middle Earth, The Death Knights of Krynn, The Sith of Star Wars are mounted shadows that creep into some primal place in your mind, bringing a level of fear that is both visceral and ephemeral. It would be lax of me not to attempt to create a dark knight that will fill this vacuum in the lands of the Diamond Throne with myth, legend, and a little fear.

“I must apologize for in this section. I cannot stomach the terror this creature has put into my bones and perform a proper interview...

...I am ashamed to admit that I did flee upon first seeing her smoke-filled visage, leaving the fearless Sir Elidyr Gyvarwydd “Lion of Verdune” to stand-alone. I know she let me live just so that I could die a coward’s death.” – Excerpt from The Doom of Verdune by Stave Beast-speaker.

Arms of Wrath (Su): Any melee weapon wielded by a kavilljor ur-rathi (including natural weapons and unarmed strikes) with which it has Weapon Focus deals wounds that are beyond the healing skills of most, and even then, these wounds never fully heal. Upon a successful hit that deals damage, a creature must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 +1/2 the kavilljor ur-rathi’s hit dice+ the kavilljor ur-rathi’s Charisma modifier) or suffer one point of Constitution damage.
Damage dealt by the arms of wrath cannot be healed normally, (including regeneration and fast healing). Magical healing will not heal damage dealt by the arms of wrath unless a specific creature type chosen by the kavilljor ur-rathi (see the bane special weapon property) casts a remove curse. Once chosen this creature type can never be changed. A Delve the Collective Memory, Heal, or Knowledge (religion) check (DC15 + CR) can be made to determine this creature type. This is a necromantic-curse effect.

Steven D. Russell
www.RitePublishing.com

Qwillion

My conversation with Soren Keis Thustrup concludes as we discuss 4E, the OGL, and his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, you can start at the beginning of the interview HERE .

31. Are you playing 4th Edition? Why/Why not?
No. I simply don't have any interest in it. I've tried a short launch game, and it was okay, but I simply don't feel I'm done with AE/Ptolus.

32. What is your home game currently like?
I play with 5 friends every third week. I've known most of them for nigh-on 10 years or more, and to the best of my knowledge, it's really like any old regular game, where stories are told, jokes are made, and monsters are killed. My group is quite an eclectic one: We have a bricklayer (he's the smartest of the bunch), a software designer who specializes in special effects, a driving school owner, an architect, and a geologist who works with finding oil. 3 of them are Danish, one is Canadian, and one is from Alaska (so in addition to him being an architect, he is also a specialist on US-Russian related matters).

33. What is the Patronage Product you want Rite Publishing to produce?
Anything AE that is so whacky that we wouldn't think it could be sold through the normal channels.

34. Can you name for us a totem type, champion type and a witch type that would be cool but you have never seen from the fans?
I haven't kept up with fan productions, so I'll just name the types I haven't seen: A feline predator totem, a champion of War (I still can't believe they didn't make it for the Children of the Rune anthology), and a song witch.

35. What kind of player experience did you hope to create with The Living Airship? Did your goals change during the design process? Do you feel that you met them?
I want to give the group a good action adventure with a frenetic pace. That was what I wanted to give my players, and that's what I shot for when I designed it. Off-hand I should hope that you have thought hard enough about your goals for the adventure before you put finger to keyboard.

36. What does the 3.X/OGL Community need more of? (Besides customers!)
Don't know... Unity, maybe?

37. What advice would you give to 3.X/OGL fans?
Buy, buy, and buy the published modules. And go to cons to meet others and keep it alive!

38. What do you think the future is for the 3.X/OGL fans?
I'm afraid we are going to be a dwindling flock that will keep to ourselves playing whatever they're feeling for. Hence, my second advice in 37).

39. Is there anything else the world should know about you?
As I said in my first interview: Between my blog and my posting at Monte's message board I should think the world would mostly like me to shut UP for 24 hours. I've ignored the online petition for the moment, though

40. Is there anything else the world should know about The Living Airship?
It's a fun (hopefully), and action-packed adventure that can be played on its own for the weekend where you can get your buddies together for a one-off game.

I would like to thank Soren for taking the time to answer my questions, as always a joy of an interview to read. Perhaps we will have him back again talking about The Rituals of Choice Adventure path.

I hope you enjoyed!

Steven D. Russell
Rite Publishing

Qwillion

My conversation with Soren Keis Thustrup continues as we talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amongst other things you can find part I HERE.

21. What is your opinion of the Heroes of the Jade Oath Patronage Project?
I think it will be amazing to finally see Frank Carr's magnum opus get off the ground. And it is a testimony to the faith the fans have in HotJO - and in Rite Publishing, that we have managed to get the required number of patrons without a massive marketing effort.

22. What role do you think Patronage Products will play in the future of the gaming community (such as those by Open Design, Rite Publishing, and Chatty Studio)?
I think it can certainly be a good way for small-scale publishers to survive - here I'm not talking OD who has a much wider readership (I think) - but I would prefer it if quality products were available to the masses rather than the few.

23. What is your favorite Non-Soren, 3.X/OGL product and why?
Ptolus, hands down, tied with AE. AE showed what d20 could really do, and Ptolus is simply the benchmark against which all future city projects must be mentioned.

24. What is your favorite Soren Keis Thustrup product (other than The Living Airship) and why?
Circle of Rites from Fiery Dragon. I don't care, you always love your first-born more.

25. What is your favorite Rite Publishing Product?
I really like how Veiled Denizens pushed the envelope in quite a few directions, so I'm going to go with that.

26. What has been your most memorable fan response to The Living Airship so far?
There hasn't been any, really, because I believe that at this time of writing, it's still in the pre-order stage.

27. What is your favorite 3.X/OGL product that you use in design?
Since I write AE modules, it's Arcana Evolved.

28. What are you design plans for the next year?
Due to real-life factors, I'm not that good at thinking ahead right now, but I plan to tackle one part of the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path.

29. Could you tell us a little about how you went from fan to game designer?
I started off making some NPC level progression tables for diamondthrone.com. Fiery Dragon then asked if they could use them and then said that they would publish anything I wrote, so I had a go at it. Then we (the Council of Magisters) also designed the runes of revival trilogy of adventures, so that was also quite a leap. And finally, in November 2007 (I think), Monte asked if I wanted to co-author Vault of the Iron Overlord, and that was really when I felt that I could say that I, to a small degree, was a game designer.

30. What gaming products are you looking forward too?
I am looking very much forward to the products Rite Publishing is putting out. Partly because I know that, they will be good in their own right, but also because I look forward to seeing their effect on the fan base.

MORE TO COME

Steven D. Russell
Rite Publishing

Qwillion

Part II of the interview with Soren Keis Thustrup as we talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview will appear in 4 parts, ou can find the first part of the interview HERE.


11. How did you feel when you first saw the cartography by Jonathan Roberts?
It completely blew me away. The Vallorians' three spires are not the easiest setting, and the maps really, really help. The sense of depth is certain to help all the DMs who'll be running this.

12. Describe your best moment working on The Living Airship?
When I thought up the flesh golem with the attack from within spell inside. What can I say; I'm a rat bastard DM, sometimes.

13. What do you feel was the most ingenious part of The Living Airship that you devised?
That's really for others to say. I hope people will agree I made some good choices with regards to the Vallorians, their equipment and their tactics. But other than that, I doubt it's that ingenious a module.

14. What specific design choice are you most happy with, and why?
Well, part is answered above, but I'm also particularly fond of the scree slope, which puts all non-flying PCs at a distinct disadvantage. Anything that forces PCs to waste resources on just getting from A to B is nifty in my book.

15. Which design element was the hardest to figure out, and why?
Well, there was a spot of bother figuring out heights etc. on the pillars, but otherwise things went pretty smoothly.

16. What did you learn about design while working on The Living Airship?
Not that much. Although, because it started off as a thing in my own game, re-writing it into a (hopefully) complete adventure was a challenge and quite educational.

17. What did you learn from playtesting The Living Airship? What did you change as a result?
Nothing, really. The "playtest" consisted of me running the adventure through, and my crew of 5 8th-level PCs proved up to the task, so that was nice enough.

18. Did you make any other mistakes or miscalculations in the early stages of The Living Airship? How did you fix them?
None, really. I'm a bit worried that a bunch of 10th-level will just fly up the pillars. I might include some metal nets to keep flyer in their place.

19. When I look at a setting and an adventure I always think of the Tropes of that setting. What Arcana Evolved tropes does The Living Airship take advantage of?
None that I can think of! This adventure is as action-filled adventure as you could wish for. But of course, with choice and free will being so prevalent in Arcana Evolved, there's nothing that prevents the PCs from taking over the living airship.

20. Are you happy with where The Living Airship is today?
As long as it's out where it belongs, with DMs who want to run it, I'm happy.

Continue to Part III

Steven D. Russell
Rite Publishing

Qwillion

I finally got a chance to sit down with Soren Keis Thustrup and talk about his new adventure The Living Airship, amoungst other things, this interview will appear in 4 parts.

1. Please, provide a brief bio about yourself, you gaming habits, and your professional work.
I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, where I work as a copywriter. I run an AE/Ptolus game once every three weeks, and once a month I play in a high-level GURPS game (300 CP for those of you who swing more ways than d20). In my copywriting job, I have done as varied things as designing a marketing campaign that involved Lego bricks, designed a role-playing game, and done a bit of voice-over work for a regional TV ad campaign.

2. This year one of the books you worked on Vault of the Iron Overlord earned an ENnie nomination how did that feel?
Well, naturally, I was exceedingly proud. Unfortunately (although fortunately for the industry), we were up against some very good competitors.

3. Beyond Creation came out this year; do your three AE adventure (Circle of Rites, Beyond Creation, and The Living Airship) constitute an Arc story?
As a matter of fact, they do. Or they did in my own campaign. Basically, Beyond Creation dealt with my PCs being told where their missing airship was, The Living Airship was the adventure where they got it back, and Circle of Rites was the adventure they had in Thayn when they went back to settle the question of ownership. Beyond Creation also dealt with the PCs wanting to destroy the Ebonring (from Mystic Eye Games' Siege on Ebonring Keep)

But they aren't related in their present form.

4. Could you please sum up The Living Airship in a sentence or three?
The Living Airship gives the PCs a chance to obtain an actual airship, but they will have to fight for it, and even if they win, the prize may not be all it's cracked up to be.

5. How did you first become interested in creating the The Living Airship as an action/adventure story rather than a murder mystery like Circle of Rites?
I had a lot less time to think up the original Living Airship, and besides, it was originally designed as a tie-in with Mike Mearls' Siege of Durgam's Folly. And because that adventure was so action-packed, it just made more sense to keep Living Airship the same.

6. How did it feel, to work with a start up publisher like Rite Publishing? What were your initial misgivings? Did any of those prove True/False?
Well, with regards to my adventure, I've only encountered strong commitment and complete professionalism. I didn't have any misgivings - especially since I got to pick my editors!

7. Could you list some of your major influences in the creation of The Living Airship?
Airwolf, for one. And Monte's advice of always looking to make combat more interesting. And some of the Vallorians described in Poisoncraft from Blue Devil Games.

8. What are the strengths of The Living Airship over other adventures? Over other Arcana Evolved Adventure? Over your earlier work?
I wouldn't presume to say that the adventure has anything on other adventures. Compared to other Arcana Evolved adventures, it may be simpler. It's definitely something that can be played over one marathon session, or maybe two regular ones. And compared to my earlier work, well, it was actually written at approximately the same time as Circle of Rites and Beyond Creation, so I'd expect it to be pretty similar.


9. Can you tell me about your experience working for Rite Publishing as opposed to Malhavoc press (Ruins of Revivl) Goodman Games (Vault of the Iron Overlord), Fiery Dragon Productions (Beyond Creation)?
Well, because of my stronger involvement with RP, I felt a more direct connection to the entire process. My work on Ruins of Revival was more in the line of overall design and specific character design. Vault of the Iron Overlord was a two-week masterclass where I got to work with one of the best designers there is and just learn from him. Beyond Creation was quite a finished product when I handed it over to FDP.

10. Can you tell me how you felt when you first saw the cover art for The Living Airship by Kurt A. Taylor?
Pride. Simple, utter pride. I was privileged enough to see it grow from concept sketch to final work of art, and the end result is nothing short of amazing.

Continue to Part II

Steven D. Russell
Rite Publishing

Qwillion

DISCLAIMER: This is a criticism of Wizards of the Coast customer service not 4th edition.

Question: Why am I not supporting 4E?
Answer: because Wizards of the Coast offended me as a loyal customer.

Question: How did they offend you?
Answer: Well I was also a loyal subscriber to Dungeon and Dragon Magazines via my local hobby shop that I also support. When they canceled it as a print magazine with no reasonable explanation

Question: What do you consider reasonable?
Answer: If the magazine is unprofitable, now as I understand it this was a licensed product to Paizo Publishing they paid for the rights to publish and covered all the other costs, so Wizards of the Coast always made money, always!

What about Dungeon and Dragon PDFs? I guess wizards thought I would just translate over to a pure PDF especially if it was free. No, I never downloaded a single issue. The feature I would have used from their Digital Initiative, the virtual table top well their reviews speak for themselves and all my friends say “Don’t bother go use Fantasy Grounds or Maptool”

Then there is their disastrous handling of the Gaming System License as the majority of my favorite 3rd party publishers are not creating content for 4th Edition. So WotC now fails to have companies who have not offended me making products in support of the new edition.

Now back when 3E came out I was reading about all the cool changes in Dragon and Dungeon Magazine, the same when 3.5 came along, my players would read my copy at the table while we chatted or if a PC died, and had to wait to be raised.

Now along comes 4th edition, except no magazine, so I am still playing 3.X. My players don’t care, I am the Only DM, they are happy they don’t have to buy new books like they did when 3.5 came out. Eventually though we switched over to Arcana Evolved so we bought some new books anyway. I am now looking wistfully though at Pathfinder Beta.

I also picked up Kobold Quarterly as my hobby shop started carrying it; I even bought a subscription to help this magazine out.

I so far have seen only one product that made me consider 4th edition and that was Open Design’s Wrath of the River King, but alas it was a patronage project and is no longer available to the public.

As you will see this has nothing to do with 4th edition mechanics vs. 3.5, what WotC is doing to the Realms, or that the current print copy print smears. This has to do with how they rewarded my customer loyalty of 15+ years

4th edition could be the best game in the world and I would never know it, because Wizard’s failed to consider me in their demographics, failing to consider that the next generation of gamers is sitting at my table learning to play D&D from the current DM (me). So I guess they will learn to play Arcana Evolved or Pathfinder next.

This is only my experience, I could be a very small sample of the community as a whole. I could be wrong (though I doubt it).

Steven D. Russell
Rite Publishing

Qwillion

Either growing up sucks or its cool to be an adult because you can do stuff, it all depends on your point of view, Bring the magic and tragedy of this transition to your adventure with a coming of age story.

Coming of Age (Rite of Passage)
In Far-Rough, children choose a mentor (or a parent/guardian chooses one for them). These mentors generally teach the children a trade, skills, philosophy, religion, and/or simple morality. At some point in the relationship the mentor will declare that the child has "come of age" and is ready to become an adult. A Runethane, Runelord, Champion of Runes, Runechild, Runeblade, Shuryn, or someone with runic knowledge (usually a relative or the mentor themselves) will place the rune for “Coming of Age” upon the forehead of the adolescent using the mentor's blood. The mark is to remain until the end of a ritual celebration. Invitations for this celebration are sent out, during which the newly declared adult receives money and special gifts.

ADVENTURE HOOKS

Uninvited Guest: The PCs are invited to the coming of age celebration. Ur-glif the rune reaver disrupts the beginning of the celebration kidnapping the Runechild mentor, the PCs are asked to rescue the runechild.

Childhood’s End: The family of the child contacts the PCs, having found the dead mentor. The only clue is some note about the location of an immoratlity scroll, it seems the child plans to stay a child forever. The family begs the PCs to help their child.

New Beginning: The adolescent seeks out the player characters telling them a strange man once visited telling him “You belong to me once you come of age.” The adolescent asks for the PCs aid if the stranger comes calling, The stranger is a military recruiter come to enforce the daft upon the newly eligable (or an arranged marriage etc, have fun with it. )

Put Away Childish Things: A mentor is ready to allow the child to come of age but he discovers that the adolescent has an imaginary friend. Ashamed the adolescent runs away, the PCs are asked to help locate him, discovering the friend is not imaginary and has a dark plan for the adolescent.

Steve Russell
www.ritepublishing.com

"A hundred thousand lemmings cannot be wront!"

Qwillion

You can avoid this one in your games, or you can use this trope to show the importance of rituals and mark a radical cultural difference in your setting. The best way I know how to put this is summed up by Tvtropes.org No Periods Period.

Menarche (Rite of Passage)
When a girl has her menarche in the town of Far-rough, she is henceforth called a woman. An interpreter of dreams (priest, diviner, warlock, witch, or somnomancer) is contacted and will speak to her about her next dream, to help guide her choices concerning the future. A ritual bath is preformed at the Ceremonium by the women of the family; she then is dressed in blue symbolizing her accesnsionn as a true women. Invitations for a party are sent out, during which the girl receives money and special gifts.

Adventure Hook:

The Gift: The mother of the woman ordered a very special gift related to her daughter's dream, it has been stolen, and the Mother asks the PCs who were guests at the party to recover it before the party ends.

Carrie: An uneducated and repressed young girl comes screaming to the PCs seeking their help because she has been stricken by a horrible curse, as her witchery powers also manifest at this time.

Not Rite: A young girl is seen by the PCs throwing away bloody stained sheet, she is uncooperative and eventually tries to flee, the young girl is only covering up her first Menarche so that she does not have to perform the ritual but she knows her family will not respect her wishes.

Moonblood: It is not what you think, because at the height of the party the young girl transforms in to a monster, she is suffering from Curse! (Go nuts use something like the Monstrous Lycanthrope Template from the Advanced Bestiary).

Steve "Qwillion" Russell
Rite Publishing
"A hundred thousand lemmings cannot be wrong!"

Qwillion

Rites of Passage are very important rituals that can bring a group of PCs together and can also help establish the tone of a campaign, they also can be more than the mundane as in a fantasy setting (such as my example of Monte Cook's Land of the Diamond Throne) as the supernatrual and magic forces take root.

Childbirth (Rite of Passage)
When a women learns she is with child in the town of Far-Rough, at dawn on the first day of the next week the mother (and father if available), seek the "Blessings of the Green" usually granted by a servant of the land (druid, ranger, greenbond, totem warrior, or totem speaker); usually a close relative. Their parents are often invited as witnesses. As of late the First Speaker Rabin, anointing the mother with the holy oils of Rollonarch the Giving has substituted this.

Adventure Hooks:

Dark Blessing: Each PC is invited to the Ceremony when the mother is kidnapped by a servant of the Dark who wishes to perform the "Blessing of the Dark" on the unborn child in a lightless cavern on the last day of the week at midnight. The Father is killed in the assault and it is up to the PCs to save the women and her unborn child.

Split at Birth: In a supernatural and magical land birthing can be far more dangerous than this mothers birthing ceremony is disrupted when a oppositional twin (choose two opposing causes) is created, there are cries of abomination and destroying the child, the mother however contacts the PCs begging them to save her child and see it finds a good home.

Instant Baby just add water: The party is escorting the pregnant woman so that she can go see the servant of the land when her water breaks right there in a very inconvenient place (monster territory), at a very inconvenient time (a super-cell lightning storm is on the horizon)

Changeling: The mother swears this is not her child after but no one believes her but the PCs are able to deduce that this newborn is a doppelganger. Is this her child transformed into a doppelganger; or did the doppelganger steal her child and replace it with one of their own.

Death by Childbirth: The PCs are this woman’s only friends, the servant of the land is a PC who is there to give the blessing, her sister is in a far off secluded area and the trek is too dangerous. Yet, there is blood, agony and tragedy as the mother dies in childbirth now the PCs must decide what to do with the child. Take it to her sister? The local orphanage? Raise the child themselves? What about the Father?

Steve "Qwillion" Russell
Rite Publishing
"A hundred thousand lemmings cannot be wrong!"

Qwillion