Creative friends and finishing touches

Image by veeterzy

Tonight, I enjoyed a pleasant phone conversation with an old convention friend. Robert Stikmanz has always held a special place with Tortured Earth. He is the creator of the D'Varsh language, writer of Nod's Way, and a novelist to boot! Since we've met, he's proven to be possibly one of the most creative people I've known.

As old friends, we're pretty much open with one another regarding our businesses, promotional strategies, and general operating practices. We are also very open with one another regarding the issues and hurdles we face. Robert mentioned a friend who has basically called him out for wasting his time on his labor of love. From the conversation, I had the feeling his intention was to shame Robert into giving up his project and pursue more profitable ventures.

For those of you reading these blogs and never having attempted to create anything, please pay attention. A creator pours their heart and soul into their projects. When you are truly creating, you don't just see the words on the paper. You see the worlds as they unfold. The characters are not literary gimmicks. They become extensions of your personality. Their triumphs are yours, their losses pain you.

Robert has created not just a world within his novels, he's expanded that world into the role-playing community. Nod's Way, The Oracle is a fortune-telling device used to breathe life into the lore of his world. The D'Varsh Guide is the actual language - unique mechanics, fonts, script, and all. The world is built waiting for readers to wander into it. Topping the list of diversity to his world is the art. Several of his prints have the D'Varsh script. His current work is an epic poem written in the language. (For a sample, Robert reads a few stanzas of the work here.)

The notion that anyone would discourage that level of creativity is offensive beyond all measure. I can't understand why anyone considering themselves a friend would even think of breathing those words. To the creative mind, it is crippling. After hearing his discouragement, I decided I'd post his information in the blog. For my readers, all I can ask is: Look at his work. See what you think. If you're interested, subscribe to his newsletter. I think you'll be impressed by his project.

On other matters:

The Game Guide and Player's Guide are finished. Content is edited. Table of Contents and Index are being compiled.

This weekend (2/6/2021) is our first recording session for the Tortured Earth Broadcast. The first episode is the Interview of Split Face - and we are all excited.

Next week, we start the official editing of the Creature Manual content. Fortunately, there are a lot fewer mechanical issues with the creature content. The goal is to have all three books ready for Mid-March. We'll have a Kickstarter promotion and start Convention Season with the new ruleset.

Kevin is polishing up the convention campaigns and bundling them for a release. He is also working on a full-scale module. I'll begin work on the Fires of Apison as soon as the Kickstarter launches.

Thanks for reading! 

K. B. Kidder


If you are checking out this blog for the first time, you may access our website by clicking here: Tortured Earth.

Character Species released for review: Allorn, Dwarf, Elf, Eoceph, and Goblin.

Combat Creatures released for review: Braunach, Faeda, Fetid Hound, Minotaur, and Wolf.

If you are interested in the creature development process, you may submit your own creatures by filling out the following form. We will review the forms before publishing the creatures to the website. Creature Creation Form

If you would like to see what Tortured Earth looks like, the rule book's GM portion is available as a free download on the Tortured Earth Home Page. Tortured Earth Beta GM Guide  

I have created a Tavern Generator and Loot Generator. Both are free downloads and can be adapted to a wide range of story settings. Both are written in Excel. If you are using a tablet, you can download a free version of Excel and operate it live at the game table.

Tortured Earth is now a partner with Sanctum Games, Powered by Cactyys Totem. Video Gamers are asked to take a peek at the system and let us know what you think!

Finally, Fixi's Playground is a new podcast focusing on all things geek. Favorite books, school, politics, gaming, writing, geekery, and a whole host of other topics were discussed. Fixi's Playground Interview. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Never Ending Cycle

Image
Part of launching into this industry is the continual creation process. The development of Tortured Earth was a means to an end - the development of a framework in which a broad range of stories could be told. Now that the system is finalized, the process of storytelling must begin. Kevin and I are currently focusing on the development of one-shot adventures. These kits are retrofitted from the 2.0 Core Ruleset and give players a taste of the system without having to invest in multiple books. Other game systems have developed similar products for the same goal. The Rules Lite versions allow for replayability while the core books provide the full flexibility of the system. A creative GM will be able to adapt the Rules Lite version for homebrew adventures fitting in the world setting for which the kit was built. Currently in the editing phase are four such adventures. Two have been completed and are already in production and being distributed through the convention circuit. Eventually, t...
Read more

General Notes on Creature Development

Image
I have a Bachelor's in Biology and a Master's in Environmental Chemistry. Clearly, I have an analytical approach to solving problems and a flare for fiction. I love how nature seems to fit together to make functional systems. I also love stories having unusual elements somehow fitting seamlessly together and creating new and alien worlds. This makes stories both relatable and believable.  Unfortunately, this concept has yet to reach game designers. Many designers create creatures having features not in line with the environments from which they supposedly originated. A classic example being the red dragon. A massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing fire, and living in hot environments. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the white dragon. Another massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing ice, and preferring cold environments.  This imagery makes absolutely no sense.  Let's begin with the red dragon. To begin with, life on this planet has deve...
Read more

Iron City Comic Con and New Developments

Image
Today we leave for Birmingham, AL to vend at Iron City Comic Con . We're actually pretty excited about it. Birmingham used to be a staple on our convention circuit. The company we used to follow split apart and the original show fell by the wayside. One of the partners of the original show decided to return to Birmingham and rebrand under the new name. We are VERY excited about the return! In other news, we do have a few announcements. First, Dark Origins has finally arrived. We will showcase the new module at Iron City Comic Con. When formatting the book, I had some reservations about going full color. We received some negative feedback on the original books color format, I was hesitant to produce another full color print. However, the text layout against the faded page looks really good. The pages are interesting and the text is easy to read. Of course, the story is amazing! We're really happy to have Anthony Kallas on board. Anthony has also announced he's working on a ...
Read more