sfgray
Explorer
“The Hidden Halls of Hazakor” on Kickstarter
Scott Fitzgerald Gray here, freelance editor and designer for WotC and other folks. I have a Kickstarter campaign live for a project I’ve wanted to do for a while now — a starter 5e dungeon crawl adventure written with a specific focus not just on beginning Dungeon Masters, but on young players wanting to take on the DM’s role for the first time.
The Hidden Halls of Hazakor will be a 64-piece adventure (possibly longer depending on stretch goals), fully illustrated by Jackie Musto, and available in PDF or full-color softcover through Drive-Thru RPG. As of right this moment, we’re close to 50 percent funded. Press release info follows the cover pic below, but that info and much more can also be found at the Kickstarter page. Thanks for checking it out.
EVERY YOUNG HERO NEEDS SOMEWHERE TO START
The Hidden Halls of Hazakor is a fully illustrated, 64+ page starter adventure for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons — and written with a special focus on young, beginning Dungeon Masters.
Created by designer and editor Scott Fitzgerald Gray, The Hidden Halls of Hazakor is a perfect introduction to classic dungeon-crawl adventuring for young DMs of ages 12 and up. In a friendly and straightforward fashion, it demonstrates some of the ways a good fantasy RPG adventure can be put together, and talks about some of the tricks and knowledge that all good DMs learn through the experience of running games — but which aren’t always instinctive for a young player sitting in the DM’s chair for the first time.
This adventure builds on the rules and information presented in the D&D core rulebooks and the D&D Starter Set, and on the first-time DM’s experience of having previously been a player in the game. A beginning DM running the adventure will learn to think about the ways in which the story can go in different directions based on what the characters do — and how to not be scared when it does. They’ll practice bringing NPCs to life by way of interesting quirks, to help the players engage with and remember them. They’ll get tips on running fun combat sessions, building from an initial slate of simple, single-foe encounters to more complex fights. And they’ll learn to use humor as a tool to make the game interesting and memorable, especially for other younger players.
The adventure’s approach to humor fits perfectly with the work of artist and comic creator Jackie Musto, whose full-color illustrations will bring The Hidden Halls of Hazakor to life. (And for those who’d like the young gamer in their life immortalized as their very own RPG hero, Jackie will be doing a limited number of original illustrations as part of the Kickstarter campaign’s “Eternal Hero!” reward tier.)
In the vein of many classic starter scenarios, the adventure features a fully detailed local keep, where the characters meet and learn of the legendary lost ruins in the nearby wilderness. Those ruins then present a classic dungeon crawl in nine parts, featuring fifty different areas to explore, fun physical puzzles and daunting traps, a host of classic monstrous foes — including not one but two dragons — and other challenges that will bring the characters to 5th level… assuming they survive the threats of Hazakor’s lost halls.
This isn’t a stripped down or simplified adventure scenario, and there’s no reason why experienced players and veteran DMs won’t also have a good time running it. But The Hidden Halls of Hazakor has been designed and written with young DMs firmly in mind — helping them break down the processes of running an effective RPG session, creating a fun and dynamic world in the dungeon, and sharing that world and its stories as only roleplaying games can.
THE CREATIVES
Scott Fitzgerald Gray is a full-time freelance writer, editor, story editor, and RPG designer, whose gaming work covers three editions of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG — including working as an editor on all three core rulebooks and the Starter Set for D&D fifth edition. He’s written and edited upwards of fifty RPG adventures for Wizards of the Coast, Dungeon magazine, Schwalb Entertainment’s Shadow of the Demon Lord, Sly Flourish, Gamehole Publishing, Green Ronin, Frog God Games, and others, as well as producing adventures and gaming supplements on Dungeon Masters Guild under the Insane Angel Studios imprint.
Jackie Musto is a comic creator, illustrator, and educator. She’s been working for nearly a decade creating fantastical worlds, daring adventurers, and monstrous beasts, and spent her childhood lost in roleplaying worlds and games. While playing tabletop games as a teenager, her career path was decided — she wanted to be the person who drew the amazing illustrations that brought those games to life! Now it’s her pleasure to fulfill her dream and help other young folks get entranced and creative with their own ideas and stories.
Her webcomics Kay and P (the story of a girl whose best friend is a skeleton) and The Adventures of Lady Skylark (a sky pirate adventure) are found online at: www.kayandp.com and www.ladyskylark.com.
MORE INFORMATION
Check out the project Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1734298920/the-hidden-halls-of-hazakor
Or contact Scott on any of the following:
• Email: insaneangel@insaneangel.com
• Facebook: sfgray
• Twitter: @scottfgray
Scott Fitzgerald Gray here, freelance editor and designer for WotC and other folks. I have a Kickstarter campaign live for a project I’ve wanted to do for a while now — a starter 5e dungeon crawl adventure written with a specific focus not just on beginning Dungeon Masters, but on young players wanting to take on the DM’s role for the first time.
The Hidden Halls of Hazakor will be a 64-piece adventure (possibly longer depending on stretch goals), fully illustrated by Jackie Musto, and available in PDF or full-color softcover through Drive-Thru RPG. As of right this moment, we’re close to 50 percent funded. Press release info follows the cover pic below, but that info and much more can also be found at the Kickstarter page. Thanks for checking it out.
EVERY YOUNG HERO NEEDS SOMEWHERE TO START
The Hidden Halls of Hazakor is a fully illustrated, 64+ page starter adventure for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons — and written with a special focus on young, beginning Dungeon Masters.
Created by designer and editor Scott Fitzgerald Gray, The Hidden Halls of Hazakor is a perfect introduction to classic dungeon-crawl adventuring for young DMs of ages 12 and up. In a friendly and straightforward fashion, it demonstrates some of the ways a good fantasy RPG adventure can be put together, and talks about some of the tricks and knowledge that all good DMs learn through the experience of running games — but which aren’t always instinctive for a young player sitting in the DM’s chair for the first time.
This adventure builds on the rules and information presented in the D&D core rulebooks and the D&D Starter Set, and on the first-time DM’s experience of having previously been a player in the game. A beginning DM running the adventure will learn to think about the ways in which the story can go in different directions based on what the characters do — and how to not be scared when it does. They’ll practice bringing NPCs to life by way of interesting quirks, to help the players engage with and remember them. They’ll get tips on running fun combat sessions, building from an initial slate of simple, single-foe encounters to more complex fights. And they’ll learn to use humor as a tool to make the game interesting and memorable, especially for other younger players.
The adventure’s approach to humor fits perfectly with the work of artist and comic creator Jackie Musto, whose full-color illustrations will bring The Hidden Halls of Hazakor to life. (And for those who’d like the young gamer in their life immortalized as their very own RPG hero, Jackie will be doing a limited number of original illustrations as part of the Kickstarter campaign’s “Eternal Hero!” reward tier.)
In the vein of many classic starter scenarios, the adventure features a fully detailed local keep, where the characters meet and learn of the legendary lost ruins in the nearby wilderness. Those ruins then present a classic dungeon crawl in nine parts, featuring fifty different areas to explore, fun physical puzzles and daunting traps, a host of classic monstrous foes — including not one but two dragons — and other challenges that will bring the characters to 5th level… assuming they survive the threats of Hazakor’s lost halls.
This isn’t a stripped down or simplified adventure scenario, and there’s no reason why experienced players and veteran DMs won’t also have a good time running it. But The Hidden Halls of Hazakor has been designed and written with young DMs firmly in mind — helping them break down the processes of running an effective RPG session, creating a fun and dynamic world in the dungeon, and sharing that world and its stories as only roleplaying games can.
THE CREATIVES
Scott Fitzgerald Gray is a full-time freelance writer, editor, story editor, and RPG designer, whose gaming work covers three editions of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG — including working as an editor on all three core rulebooks and the Starter Set for D&D fifth edition. He’s written and edited upwards of fifty RPG adventures for Wizards of the Coast, Dungeon magazine, Schwalb Entertainment’s Shadow of the Demon Lord, Sly Flourish, Gamehole Publishing, Green Ronin, Frog God Games, and others, as well as producing adventures and gaming supplements on Dungeon Masters Guild under the Insane Angel Studios imprint.
Jackie Musto is a comic creator, illustrator, and educator. She’s been working for nearly a decade creating fantastical worlds, daring adventurers, and monstrous beasts, and spent her childhood lost in roleplaying worlds and games. While playing tabletop games as a teenager, her career path was decided — she wanted to be the person who drew the amazing illustrations that brought those games to life! Now it’s her pleasure to fulfill her dream and help other young folks get entranced and creative with their own ideas and stories.
Her webcomics Kay and P (the story of a girl whose best friend is a skeleton) and The Adventures of Lady Skylark (a sky pirate adventure) are found online at: www.kayandp.com and www.ladyskylark.com.
MORE INFORMATION
Check out the project Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1734298920/the-hidden-halls-of-hazakor
Or contact Scott on any of the following:
• Email: insaneangel@insaneangel.com
• Facebook: sfgray
• Twitter: @scottfgray
