Sorrow in Haven Update

I've been actively working on a game for about a year now. Things are in the home stretch and I'm pretty excited.

A Brief Update

• Text is done.
• Cover art is done.
• Basic Layout is (probably) done.
• Internal illustrations are commissioned.

Playtesting

• More! More! More!
• I need to find 2 more groups to play test full adventures
• Perhaps an online group as well
• Need to look at mid and high level games as one-shots

More Writing

• I need to add a few pages to bring this from 90 to 96 pages
• so 4 or 6 pages of material
• probably some examples
• index seems like too much

Next Up

• Technical editing
• Content editing
• Mechanical editing
• Final Layout
• Final proof + edits
• Make a book

Some Game Material
While I'm focused on the core game rules as my primary project, I've also got the first monster books in the works. Each creature gets not only the classic stat blocks and description, but also a table of "when encountered". I really like the idea that a quick table can give a ton of role playing opportunity and make a monster that might be just "kill it to get through this area" into something more interesting and enriching.

Ghol		Common I
Type: Scion (M) Danger: 2 Alignment: Selfish Org: small group Demeanor: Rough Cunning: Average Ferocity: Wary Intelligence: Animal	Attack: -1 Speed: 3 Damage: 1d4 Defense: +0 DR: 0 END: 5 VIT: 3 KO: +1	1d8: When Encountered 1: Rooting aggressively through rubbish. 2: Hiding in the shadows, afraid of the light. 3: Following a party member to steal something. 4: Picking at their stitches and scabby wiring. 5: Fiercely guarding a worthless pile of garbage. 6: Weepy oily tears, looking for something to blame. 7-8: Moments from screaming (random encounter roll).
Once human, now rotted, bestial, and held together with heavy metal wire, Ghol tend to avoid confrontation. Their wetworks programming causes them to approach, but years of corruption have caused them to react erratically. If engaged in combat, their shriveled claws cause minimal damage. 1 in 6 ghol are “red-eyes” that are very aggressive and wield a serrated dagger causing +2 damage. A ghol can often be distracted with a shiny object.		image borrowed from http://www.ghostride.com/

With the additional table, these pitiful monstrosities are now extra pitiful. Picking scabby wiring is both a description and an activity; weeping oily tears makes them potentially approachable, or perhaps the party will try to aid these little bastards. In any case, it takes a relatively weak monster and turns it into a role playing situation. I'm going to do this for all the monsters on my list ... about 300 on deck.  Plus I'll need illustrations for all of them - i have an idea there as well (I totally took the image above without permission). And I need to several more for astral, gloom, and wilderness encounters.  Too much!  This is awesome.  But one thing at a time.

Game On!

Sorrow, The Gauntlet, The Great Hall

The Gauntlet is one of the dungeon areas that are part of the mega-dungeon Sorrow (the Shame of Haven). The details of the first level of the Gauntlet are both well known and a close guarded secret by the Guild of Defenestration. The second level, known as The Great Hall, is ... different.  It is larger, ancient, and something unexpected.

Generating the Great Hall
The initial area is a crossroads - a junction where each of the 4 halls are 30' wide and go 120' before. After each section, roll to see what the next chunk looks like: 3d10 for Passage, Width, and Pitch; then again for specifics like what kind of side passage or number of chambers

1d10	Passage	Width	Pitch	Side	Y	Ruins	Landmark	Chambers
1	Straight 1d6x60	10	Rise	Left, backward	Base	Citidael	Statue	1d4
2	Straight 1d6x60	20	Slight Rise	Left, forward	Base	Temple	Fountain	1d6
3	Straight 1d6x60	20	Slight Rise	Left, forward	Base	City	Old Battle	1d6
4	Straight 1d6x60	30	Flat	Left, stright	Base	Workshops	Camp	1d8
5	60' T	30	Flat	Left, stright	Base	Gardens	Doomguard	2d4
6	60' Side	30	Flat	Left, stright	Equal	Tombs	Graffiti Walls	2d4
7	60' Y	30	Flat	Right, backward	Equal	Great Chamber	Fortifications	2d6
8	60' X	30	Flat	Right, forward	Equal	Tower	Great Pillars	2d6
9	Landmark	40	Flat	Right, forward	Left	Fortifications	Magical Residue	3d4
10	Chambers	40	Slight Fall	Right, stright	Left	Rubble	Giant Skeleton	3d6
11	Ruins	50	Slight Fall	Right, stright	Right	Heavy Rubble	Great Bettle Shells	4d4
12	Ruins	60	Fall	Right, stright	Right	Blocked Passage	Ghost Infestation	5d6

T-Intersection: The passage splits left and right

X-Intersection: The passage continues left, right, and forward.

Y-Intersection: This gets an extra roll for the specific type of intersection.  Bottom, Left and Right are in relation to a Y passage where the split 45 degrees from the stem of the Y.  Equal indicates a Y intersection, each passage 120 degrees  from the next.

Side Passages: This gets an extra roll. Left and right are pretty obvious. Forward and Backward are 45 degree splits based on the direction of travel, straight is a side passage that is perpendicular.

Pitch: Slight rise and slight fall are likely not noticed, rise and fall are obvious to every adventurer. They might be a gradient, some sort of fault like a huge drop or cliff, or grand stairs.  Up to the GM because I forgot to add it options to the table.

Landmarks: This gets an extra roll. Big picture stuff -landmarks are tremendous locations that can be used to get one's bearings in the impossibly huge Great Halls. The GM should have some fun and spice these landmark locations.  Roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.

Ruins: This gets an extra roll. Once great structures that now lie in ruins; like super-destroyed. These are much like landmarks (and are landmarks) but their ruination tends to attract horrible monsters. The GM should double the chance of any creatures that are here of having a lair. Roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.

Chambers: This gets an extra roll. Effectively, these are dungeons within the dungeon. The exact size and configuration of the chambers are left up to the GM. If doubles are rolled, there is a second level, triples indicates 3 levels, and so on. Each level uses the same dice to roll for number of rooms, but ignore doubles except from the first roll. The GM can roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.