Vampire Bestiary

Upper_Krust · Jul 5, 2010

Hiya mate!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
With the bestiary being split are there any Mega/Giga size creatures in the first part?

Initially there were, and then I tweaked the line-up (for the better), so at the moment there are none.

The Boss monster rules and a handful of examples are in there.

Actually I've mentioned this to Alzrius, but never posted the news, due to the ever-growing nature of the Vampire Bestiary I have cut it into three chunks rather than two. Each about 60 pages.

Part One: Levels 1-15, plus Boss Rules
Part Two: Levels 16-30, plus Unit Rules
Part Three: Levels 31-45, plus Superboss Rules

Obviously I will be lowering the price accordingly.

Also I have inquired at work about the possibility of cutting down to two nights per week (or rather 4 nights every other week). I think I have to give them 3 months notice for something like that though - so even if I go ahead with it, it won't 'kick-in' until the start of October. But its clear I am completely unable to make serious progress under the current situation. Financially I think I can handle the change without much difficulty. Releasing a book even every 6 months would easily compensate for that loss, so its a good incentive as well. The greater free time would mean I'd have 10 days off in a row every two weeks. Two of the main problems I have is firstly that it takes a day or two to adjust coming off nights and secondly I was having to do all my real-life stuff on the days I was off (thus cutting into the writing time). Time will tell how much of a difference it makes.

Pssthpok · Jul 6, 2010

Upper_Krust said:
But its clear I am completely unable to make serious progress under the current situation. [...] Two of the main problems I have is firstly that it takes a day or two to adjust coming off nights and secondly I was having to do all my real-life stuff on the days I was off (thus cutting into the writing time). Time will tell how much of a difference it makes.

Jeez-louise.... Fax me your notes and I'll have them typed in an hour or two.

On top of that, I can build you a machine in Excel that will build monsters for you using your own rules, and a mail-merge file that will format everything in a processor cycle. I did it for v.5; I can do it for 4e.

Upper_Krust · Jul 6, 2010

Hiya mate!

Pssthpok said:
Jeez-louise.... Fax me your notes and I'll have them typed in an hour or two.

I appreciate the offer amigo, though I suspect it would be more complicated than that.

At any rate, work agreed my downshift and in fact said I could start within 3 weeks instead of 3 months. So by the start of August I should be able to make some headway.

On top of that, I can build you a machine in Excel that will build monsters for you using your own rules, and a mail-merge file that will format everything in a processor cycle. I did it for v.5; I can do it for 4e.

This sounds interesting. I do already have a monster builder for the mechanical aspects of the stat block creation. That side of things isn't whats holding me back though, I think I am over-planning elements and revising too many features (over and over), its a habit I need to break.

Khisanth the Ancient · Sep 10, 2010

Upper_Krust said:
At any rate, work agreed my downshift and in fact said I could start within 3 weeks instead of 3 months. So by the start of August I should be able to make some headway.

Has that successfully worked out?

Upper_Krust · Sep 11, 2010

Hiya mate!

Khisanth the Ancient said:
Has that successfully worked out?

Yes, with two slight hiccups.

Firstly I was on holiday the last 2 weeks of August. While the start of September I have been setting up my new website - I'll have all the links to that tomorrow - its basically ready, but one or two of the articles could do with some fine tuning.

Progress is still going well though. I estimate 3-4 weeks to have the Vampire Bestiary completed.

So its all going much better. The holiday and the new website threw a spanner in the works, slowing me down about 3-4 weeks.

Upper_Krust · Oct 22, 2010

Hey all!

Just to let you know progress on this book is nearing completion. I should have a 99-100% text version ready by about this time next week.

Of course I'll send Alzrius a preview copy (next week) and he can at least confirm I'm not having hallucinations.

After that, I'd estimate about 2-3 weeks to finish the remainder of the art and we'll be good to go.

...and the reason I haven't updated the new website much the past 2 weeks is because I have been working extra hard to get the Vampire Bestiary done...of course as per usual the page count ballooned even after cutting the book into three parts. So its looking like about 80 pages now.

No need to respond to this, I know, I know, get it done, then we can chat about it, rather than speculate.

Alzrius · Oct 23, 2010

Upper_Krust said:
Of course I'll send Alzrius a preview copy (next week) and he can at least confirm I'm not having hallucinations.

But will it be real to my eyes, or is it folie a deux?

Pssthpok · Oct 28, 2010

I predict we'll see delays until next spring.

Upper_Krust · Oct 28, 2010

Hiya mate!

Pssthpok said:
I predict we'll see delays until next spring.

I'll wager you a free copy against you buying two its out before Xmas day.

My goal of 99% of the text completed by this Sunday may have been a tad ambitious but I'm probably only a few days behind that (and this in the week I filled in my tax return).

The darn thing is up to 84 pages...though that will be THE final page count. I think I also have about a dozen new monsters in the book that aren't listed on the Contents I posted over at the Eternity Publishing Forum.

I'm a bit annoyed with myself I didn't get it ready for Hallowe'en, but thinking about it I should have had it ready for Hallowe'en 2008, nevermind this year. So as long as it gets done as soon as possible I'll be contented.

But the book is shaping up to be very good (if I do say so myself), I'm really starting to get a handle on the Boss Monster design aspects.

Fieari · Oct 30, 2010

We shall see... we shall see.

Personally, I'd be willing to pay for just the Boss, Unit, and Superboss rules with a single set of example stats for each. I'm PARTICULARLY interested in rules for fighting city/mountain/planet/star/galaxy sized creatures. It pains me to know that even if this book comes out this holiday season, it'll be YEARS before I get the rest of the rules...