I’m happy to announce the release of Mini-Adventure 2: The Black Mist.

This book is the result of a confluence of events: Several years ago I wrote several submissions for Atlas Games’ En Route II supplement. The Black Mist was originally one of them — and despite the fact that it featured what I thought was the coolest of ideas — it was the only one to be rejected. Shortly after Mini-Adventure 1: The Complex of Zombies was released, I got into a discussion over at ENWorld with James D. Hargrove. He had some very positive things to say about The Complex of Zombies:

I’m a huge, rediculous, almost sick fan of all things zombie. And I’ve always wished that the flesh-eating geeks had more, better, coverage in fantasy adventure modules. Louis Porter Jr’s Cold Visitor was, until about five minutes ago, the only example of a full-blown zombie fest (albeit one dealing with alien imitations) that I could find for [D20]. The mode (i.e., survial horror) is simply not covered well in Fantasy.

Last year, I had an opportunity to discover why such adventure are so few and far between. I talked to a publisher about writing one but, without some seriously warped interpretations of the RAW, I found that making plague a real, substantial, threat in [D20] is not at all easy. In the end, I couldn’t get the job done, much to my chagrin. I did end up writing something similar for another system but that’s a different story.

Today I found out much to my frustration that I can’t debit my bank account for anything less than $20 and, since I didn’t have $20 in it, that was a problem. So. . . what to do with that lingering $8? Hit up RPGNow, of course! I had planned on picking up some of Justin Alexander’s city modules since he posted to ‘OGL Settings’ thread here — but what really caught my eye was a little thing called “The Complex of Zombies”.

This short adventure is more or less Resident Evil in Fantasy. Which rocks. It rocks hard. And it rocks because it’s not just zombies but zombie-like things. Bad things. Bad things that eat people. Bad things that are just different enough from bog standard zombies to scare the crap out of players when they first encounter them. And all for $2.00. I’ve been looking for a promising hook to start a guilty pleasure hack and slay campaign.

And, by gawd, I think I have!

When he mentioned that he had found “making plague a real, substantial threat” to not be particularly easy it reminded me of the little encounter I had written for Atlas Games all those years ago. I went digging through my files, pulled it out, and realized that it would make a pretty awesome Mini-Adventure. Plus, it was already written! All I had to do was polish it up, re-format it for the Mini-Adventure line, and I’d be good to go!

Well, nothing is ever that simple in reality. Once I started digging into The Black Mist again, I remembered why Atlas Games had rejected it in the first place: In order to make a complex scenario fit within a very limited word count, I had used every trick in my arsenal to present as much material as quickly as possible. In fact, I’d used a few too many tricks. The Black Mist, as I had written it, was an excellent scenario… but it was more like an outline for that scenario than a fully-fledged adventure.

What was missing? All the little things that make the job DMing simple and smooth instead of laborsome and time-consuming.

So I fixed it.

With an expanded word count and 5+ years of design experience, there were lots of things that could be done. A more complete range of stat blocks was included, so that the DM would always have the appropriate stats ready and at their fingertips. The entire adventure was reorganized in a way that made it easy to use and reference the material on-the-fly. Full-color handouts were added. New rules, spells, and necromantic magic items were thrown into the mix. This took a lot more effort than the simple revision I had originally planned, but it was worth it.

The result is an exciting and terrifying journey through the horrors of a magical plague. The Black Mist can be used as an adventure in its own right, but at it’s heart it’s an event that can be used in many different ways: It can be placed center stage. It can be used as a backdrop. It can be used as a history. It can be used as a hook to even grander stories.

Without more ado, I give you…

MINI-ADVENTURE 2: THE BLACK MIST

PLAGUE AND NECROMANCY…

When a city is wracked by a magical plague that cannot be cured, the PCs are trapped inside the walls by the seal of quarantine. Will they hide from the threat of death? Or stand tall against the city’s terror?

But whatever course they choose, nothing is ever as simple as it appears. Death breeds death, and before this mist-born plague has passed the entire city will be placed in a crucible of riot and fire and necromancy…

The Black Mist features…

Full-Color Handouts
Rules for Plague
Diseased Undead
Necromantic Magic Items
New Spells
Advanced Rules for Crowds and Mobs
Advanced Rules for Large Fires

Buy PDF – Print Edition

64 pages – Handouts

The Black Mist, designed for four characters of 3rd to 5th level, can be used as an exciting adventure by itself or as the dramatic backdrop for any city-based campaign!

It’s important to remember that America exists as a nation only because its citizens were able to take up arms against a repressive government and win their freedom. Its founding fathers, quite rightfully, knew that the only true way for a populace to remain free from oppressors is for that populace to have the ability to fight back against oppressors. This bedrock principle is enshrined in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

That being said, the debate over gun control has been warped by Republican rhetoric for a long time now.

The 2nd Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” When gun-control comes up, the NRA screech that the 2nd Amendment shall know no limits. The gun-control advocates have never effectively countered this rhetoric, which is relatively easy to do:

D: Do you think that your neighbor should be able to mount a howitzer in his front yard?

R: No.

D: Then we both agree there should be gun-control. So the question is, where are we going to draw the line? Howitzers? Machine guns? Sub-machine guns? Assault rifles?

If they’re actually nuts enough to say that suburbia should be studded with howitzers, raise the stakes:

D: So do you think that your neighbor should be allowed to build a nuclear bomb in their basement?

R: No.

D: Then we both agree that there should be arms-control. So the question is, where are we going to draw the line? Nuclear weapons? Plastique? Howitzers? Machine guns? Sub-machine guns? Assault rifles?

If they’re actually nuts enough to say that nuclear weapons should be available to every Tom, Dick, and Jane, then they’ve lost all credibility in the debate.

The trick is to get this debate onto the level of yelling fire in a crowded movie theater. Only loonies believe that freedom of speech should allow people to deliberately create false panic, engage in criminal conspiracies, or perjure themselves under legal oath.

Similarly, only loonies believe that a right to bear arms should allow people unrestricted and unregulated access to nuclear weapons, plastic explosives, or biological weapons.

The legitimate debate, in both cases, comes down to: Where do we want to draw the line?

Right now, it’s impossible to have that debate because the issue is systematically reduced to extremist rhetoric. But with a little Socratic dialoguing and a handful of questions you can quickly and effectively strip away that rhetoric.

Once you’ve done that, you can start talking about the issue rationally. Here are some good questions that get to the heart of the issue:

1. What weapons should private citizens be prohibited from possessing under any circumstances?

2. What weapons should private citizens be allowed to possess only under strict regulations and controls?

3. What weapons should private citizens be allowed to possess only after being properly trained and licensed?

4. What weapons should private citizens have a right to own without limitation?

Another minor update: With the announcement of 4th Edition, I’ve decided to set aside further development work on the advanced Diplomacy rules I was working on. I may, or may not, return to these when I pick up development on Rule Supplement 4: Advanced Skills. If I do, they’ll be posted here.

For the moment, however, I have gathered together the design notes and the final fix for the Diplomacy skill in the Advanced Rules section of the Creations page. As with my the other Advanced Rules, these rules have been placed under the OGL.

Enjoy!

Well, it took about five more hours than I really wanted it to, but I finally managed to wrestle DriveThru and Lulu into submission. It looks like they’ll behave themselves now as far as Mythos Audio Library: Call of Cthulhu is concerned. You can now purchase a version of the audio book in MP3 and listen to a sample.

After many travails, I have finally managed to get Mythos Audio Library: Call of Cthulhu published through CafePress as an audiobook on CD. I’m hoping to have MP3 files available for purchase shortly, but I’m running into delays trying to get the files uploaded to both DriveThru and Lulu. I’ll post an announcement here as soon as that happens.

The delay in getting the MP3 files up is also delaying my ability to get a direct download link to a sample of the audiobook. But if you click through to CafePress, they have several samples available for you to listen to.

THAT IS NOT DEAD WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE,
AND WITH STRANGE AEONS EVEN DEATH MAY DIE…

On February 28th, 1925, a terrible cataclysm wracked the Pacific Ocean. On March 22nd of the same year, the world nearly came to an end.

But humanity lived through it all on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity. And perhaps it was merciful that it should be so, for if those who had in their possession the disparate clues which might have pieced out the truth of it had ever had a chance to compare notes a true panic would have broken loose.

Such secrets should remain buried… and more than buried.

“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

Buy CD – Buy MP3
72 minutes – Sample Audio

“Of such great powers or beings there may be conceivably a survival… a survival of a hugely remote period when… consciousness was manifested, perhaps, in shapes and forms long since withdrawn before the tide of advancing humanity… forms of which poetry and legend alone have caught a flying memory and called them gods, monsters, mythical beings of all sorts and kinds…”

– Algernon Blackwood