Welcome Back to the Labyrinth

"We have been away far too long, my friends," Ashoka declared, his face lit by the eldritch green glow of his staff. "But we have finally returned to the labyrinth whence our adventures first began."

"Just imagine the treasures that lie within," said Yun Tai, flexing his mighty muscles. "Wealth enough to live in luxury the rest of our days."

"And arcane artifacts of great power," added Ashoka his words dripping with avarice. "All ours for the taking!"

"Umm...guys?" Nysa interrupted. "Do you hear something dripping?"

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Otherworld Miniatures Skirmish Game

As is typical of me, although this news has been out for a while, I've only just heard about it: Otherworld Miniatures is producing a tabletop skirmish game!  I thought I'd pass the news along in case there are others, like myself, who remain inexplicably oblivious to various happenings in the gaming world.



The game, which is due to be released this summer, is a small-scale skirmish game using small warbands that can be constructed with a point-buy system using any miniatures in Otherworld's line.  The game will apparently remain true to Otherworld's old school aesthetic, and capture the feel of classic D&D adventures.

I'm obviously pretty excited about this. I've already got a fair-sized collection of pig-faced orcs; more than enough to make a decent warband, and I'm always happy to see another alternative to the increasingly rapacious Games Workshop.

Here's a recent Youtube video interview with Otherworld at UK Games expo from the Duke of Blood Keep.

And here's an older post from last summer with more details about the game from Wargame News and Terrain.

Friday, March 28, 2014

In memoriam: Dave Trampier 1954 - Mar 24 2014

I was sad to learn of the passing of Dave Trampier earlier this week.  It was his art more than any other that I came to associate with Dungeons & Dragons, and he was certainly my favourite artist ever to illustrate the game.  I have no idea how many times in my life I've looked to his illustrations in the Player's Handbook or Monster Manual for inspiration, and I have no doubt that I will continue to do so for many years to come.

Here's to well-earned treasure at the end of the adventure:


Monday, February 17, 2014

Libram Mysterium Vol. 1 Now in Trade Paperback

The long wait is now over, and Libram Mysterium Volume 1, an anthology of thirteen OSR-inspired short stories is now available as a trade paperback!

You can order your copy from DriveThru Fiction for only $14.49 ($15.49 for trade paperback/PDF bundle).


Monday, January 20, 2014

Libram Mysterium Volume 1 Now on Sale

Here it is at long last, folks!  It's been a little more than six months since Pulp Mill Press opened to submissions, and now Libram Mysterium 1 is finally finished.  It's been a huge amount of work that has claimed the lion's share of my spare time for the last several months, but it's also been a lot of fun, and I'm tremendously proud of the finished product.  The contributors are a mix of established professional authors, and emerging authors who have never before been published, and I think you'll be as impressed by the quality of the stories as I was.

If you haven't heard of Pulp Mill Press or Libram Mysterium, the anthology was the brain-child of Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor who, back in June, proposed publishing a book of short stories of the sort that might appear in a modern-day Appendix-N.  A few others, including Ken Harrison of The Rusty Battleaxe, Boric Glandaum, and myself came on board and Pulp Mill Press was born.  In fact, I'd long been contemplating putting something like this together some day, but as we all know, some day never comes, and if it hadn't been for Tim proposing the project, I would probably never have gotten around to it.

Tim, Ken and Boric ended up not being as closely involved with the project as we would have liked, due to other commitments on their time, but their support and enthusiasm, especially in the early days, helped make Pulp Mill Press a reality.

Libram Mysterium 1 is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of pulp style fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories, and I hope that as many of you as possible will check it out and pass the word on.  At present the book is only available as a PDF download, but I am waiting on proofs and it should be available as a 6" x 9" trade paperback within a few weeks for those, like myself, who need a hard copy in hand.

The cost to buy the book is $2.99 for the PDF, $14.49 for the trade paperback, and $15.49 for the trade paperback/PDF combo pack.

Since I had no start-up money to fund this project, I was only able to offer the contributors free copies of the PDF in compensation, but I hope to be able to pay them actual money with proceeds from the sale of the book, so please do consider buying a copy - the authors and artist really do deserve to be paid for their outstanding work.



THIRTEEN TALES OF THE WEIRD AND FANTASTIC!
Join vengeance-seeking ghouls in Dylath-Leen; an expedition to the cursed ruins of an ancient city; and a mercenary company with only one criterion for recruits: they must already be dead.
This anthology recalls the pulp fantasy stories of the early- to mid-twentieth century: from pulse-pounding sword & sorcery adventure to chilling tales of the macabre, eldritch horrors, ruthless warriors, and fabulous treasures await within!

FEATURING STORIES BY:
Josh Reynolds, Josh Graboff, Matthew Bottiglieri, Timothy P.
Remp, Tobias Loc, Trey Causey, James MacGeorge, Alasdair
Cunningham, Jared Plumber, Alex J. Christy, Garnett Elliot,
and Sean P. Robson

COVER AND INTERIOR ART BY:
Christopher Conklin

Buy Libram Mysterium 1 at: