Working on Obsidian Twilight... and my own stuff.

Well, right now the front page of RPGnow.com is fairly empty. Aside from a few indie games, and some of Sade's excellent stock art (of which I've purchased quite a bit), I don't see much new content. I'm a bit disappointed. I know intellectually, that the market is on a down turn because of fourth edition, and everyone is waiting for the revised GSL, and hell, I know that the biggest election of my life was just 6 days ago, and people are still shaken up by that. But man, it is lonely out there.

Right now, it seems that only myself, Mark and Louis are still plugging away at 3.5 content, which on one hand is good, because I just got my October royalites a few days back, and my stuff is still selling pretty well. Even if the big names are nolonger supporting 3.5, there are still enough gamers who will buy products for it, and at least now I'm no longer competing for 3.5 dollars against Wizards.

Still, I'd like to see some more stuff out there, from other publishers, if only because as a gamer I enjoy good 3.5 material. I picked up some Starwars D20 RPG books at Half Price the other day and thought they're about 5 years old, they're really excellent. But that's another story.

Still, I'm doing my part to end the 3.5 D&D Drought of '08. I'll be doing some freelance work for Louis Porter, working on Obsidian Twilight with him. I just turned in a first draft of a half dozen prestiege classes for the settings, and I'd like to do some more work on the project. Gamers- if you want me to have a big presence on Obsidian Twlight, drop Louis an e-mail and let him know.

Anyway, the way it was pitched to me is Obsidian Twilight is a classic fantasy horror setting, inspired heavily by Dark Sun (probally my favorite fantasy setting of all time) and Ravenloft (eh, its okay). The combination of the two really sounds good, from what Louis has told me, and I definately figure I've got just the right kind of warped worldview necessary to bring a settng like this to life. Check out Louis' blog for some preview material.

I also completed two more The Thinking Races releases, one focusing on savage, warlike races, and another focusing on beautiful, feminine (but alien) races. They should be releasing soon, after "Core Revisions" a Thinking Races book focusing on elves, dwarves, halflings- the usual suspects. Oh, if you're into Obsidian Twlight, you'll definately want to pickup "The Thinking Races: What Savage Beast." "The Brass Men" are a race in the upcoming release, which is very, very inspired by one of the iconic races of Dark Sun.

I'm also working on art for the Otherverse America setting, as well as putting together some material from my unpublished 'slush file'. I never throw anything away, even if I abandon a project midway through or a deal falls apart, so I've got a huge backlog of material I'll be doing something with. On deck, I've got the core setting for Sanctuary: City of Secrets, a D20 Modern crime setting, which was originally built as a West Coast companion for LPJ's Have: City of Violence. The setting was abandoned when Neo-Exodus took off, but the core setting is done. I'll probally be releasing that one myself, as an Otherverse sourcebook. More on that one later,

Since the deal with Reality Deviants fell through, I'll be publishing the Slaugther House Earth setting (post apoc magic and zombies) myself. I worked on some title art last night, actually.

Also on deck is a huge monster book focusing on dinosaurs which I wrote a couple months back but never did ANYTHING with. I'll probally slam something together with stock art or public domain illustrations, and put it out. After all, what gamer can't use 50 pages of monster stats?

Likewise, I've got a geomancy/leyl-lines/steampunk techno-magic source book for 3.5 about 60% complete. I picked up Sade's airship stock pack last weekend, and it's given me the impetus to finish this bad boy.

Anyway, talk to you all later,
I'll be here, filling the D20 gap,
CHRIS

I should be working...

I really should. I've got a pretty cool assignment on deck, and I'm working on art for my Otherverse America setting. I'm not sure if I can tell you about my new freelancing gig or not, but if you're a fan of a certain classic fantasy setting (with Cannibal Halflings) you should be pretty happy.

I should be working...
But I'm not. I can't concentrate on writing or art right now. I'm watching history being made, and I hope that when the sun rises it will be a good historical moment. After 8 years of the most corrupt, evil and theo-fascistic president (lower case intentionally) I'm looking forward to having a President I can actually respect again. I feel like I'm being let out of prison.

Goddess, I hope Obama wins, because I don't want to imagine what this country will look like in the hands of McCain and that Palin psychopath.

You know, for me, the economy, the war in Iraq are all important issues, but abortion rights are my hot button issue. I won't elect a pro-lifer to anything, not President, not local dog catcher. I despise the ideology, which probally isn't a suprize to readers of my fiction. So today I voted straight ticket Democrat, because they're pro-choice, and well, they're right on pretty much everything else too.

Oh, and I'm hoping that either this Personhood Amendment horseshit gets knocked down in Colorado, and fast.

And so,

The Facts: Voted today, at a few minutes past noon, at a church on the corner of Kostoryz and Crestmore, about a mile from my house.

I got ticket number 6611, voted straight ticket Democrat, and according to the people at the polling station, they'd had around 1,600 voters through the doors by the time I walked in.

The Sadism: I did take a sorta sadistic pleasure in walking in with my pentacle around my neck, becuase I figured the Republicans in there casting their ballots sorta deserved to know exactly why I was kicking their political asses. Immature, yes, but emotionally satisfing.... also yes.

I just wish I had a good pro-choice t-shirt to wear, but that may have been a bit much.

Anyway, I feel like I've been let out of prison. I've been waiting for the chance to vote for President again since... well, the morning of Nov 5, 2000. (And yes, I did vote in 2004, for all the good it did.)