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!