I had mentioned a few days ago that I was holding off on offering City Supplement 1: Dweredell as a printed book until I’d had a chance to personally review a galley proof from Lulu. Well, the galley proof arrived in the mail over the weekend and, after a thorough review, I’m happy to report that everything looks simply fabulous.

And so I’m quite pleased to announce that you can now buy City Supplement 1: Dweredell from Lulu.com for $6.49. And, of course, you can still buy the PDF e-book for just $2.00.

UPDATE: OneBookShelf has gotten things straightened out, and you can now find the book on RPGNow and the ENWorld Download Shop.

Today I’ve got a D20 dire animal template for you. This template is something of a “pseudo-peek” for Rule Supplement 1: Mounted Combat. I say pseudo-peek because, if it was a true sneak peek, it would be content which would actually be appearing in the book. It is, however, a tool I developed in order to create some of the content which will be in the book.

This template is being released under the OGL. It was developed from a template originally published by someone else (check the Section 15 of the OGL). Unfortunately, the original template was poorly designed in several respects and needed to be fixed. (Its most egregious error was creating a non-standard sub-type so that dire animals created with the template would be a completely different type of creature than standard dire animals. It then compounded this error by attempting to create a special-case rule in order to nerf the Ranger’s favored enemy class ability. So, obviously, that’s been corrected along with a handful of other minor errors and problems.)

TEMPLATE: DIRE ANIMALS

Dire animals are larger, tougher, meaner versions of ordinary animals. Each kind tends to have a feral, prehistoric, or even demonic appearance.

CREATING A DIRE ANIMAL

“Dire” is an inherited template that can be added to any animal that is not already a dire animal. A dire animal uses all the base animal’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size: If the base animal is Tiny or smaller, increase its size to Small. Otherwise, increase its size by one size category. The dire animal gains all the benefits and detriments that arise from increased size (see below).

Hit Dice: If the dire animal is Small, it has 1 HD or the HD of the base animal +1, whichever is greater. If the dire animal is Medium or larger, its HD is equal to the minimum value listed for its size category in the base animal’s advancement +2. If a Medium or larger animal has no advancement or its size does not normally increase with advancement, then the dire animal’s HD is equal to the maximum HD given the base animal +2.

Speed: Same as the base animal + 10 ft.

Armor Class: Natural armor increases by +2. If the base animal has not natural armor bonus, it gains a natural armor bonus of +2. This bonus stacks with the bonus gained from the increase in size.

Special Attacks: A dire animal retains all the base animal’s special attacks. The damage of its special attacks is adjusted for the increased size and ability scores, where applicable.

Special Qualities: A dire animal retains all the base animal’s special qualities. These special qualities are adjusted for the increased size and ability scores, where applicable.

Saves: All saves are good for a dire animal. The base value of each save is equal to (1/2 HD) + 2.

Abilities: Dire animals gain the following ability score increases: Strength +4, Dexterity +2, and Constitution +2. These bonuses stack with any bonuses or penalties gained from a size increase (see below).

Skills: A dire animal receives (2 + Intelligence bonus) skill points per HD, or four times this amount for the first HD. Any skill given in the base animal’s statistic block is considered a class skill for the dire animal.

Feats: Same as the base animal, with additional feats gained normally from the increase in HD. If the base animal has Weapon Finesse and the feat would become useless after its increase in HD and Strength, then trade Weapon Finesse for Weapon Focus with one of its primary natural attack.

Challenge Rating: Increased by +1. In addition, if the dire animal is increased to size Large or larger, increase it’s CR by +1.

Advancement: Dire animals can advance to three times their new HD.

SIZE INCREASES

A size increase affects any special ability the creature has that is affected by size. Increased size also affects a creature’s ability scores, AC, attack bonuses, and damage values as indicated on the tables below.

Welcome to the new lay-out of the Alexandrian. With the advent of Dream Machine Productions, the Minnesota Fringe Festival production of John and Abigail and the near-future advent of several other projects, I felt it was necessary to make it a little easier to navigate around the site.

You’ll also notice that, as promised earlier this week, Google ads have arrived. I know, I know. I’m a capitalistic whore. Hopefully you will find that I have been successful in integrating them tastefully into the site’s new design.

Sales have been very brisk for City Supplement 1: Dweredell. If you haven’t checked it out, yet, I think you should! (Of course, I might have a slight bias in this matter.) It remains unavailable on RPGNow and the ENWorld Download shop due to continued technical difficulties on the part of OneBookShelf, but you can still find it at Lulu.com and DriveThruRPG.

Tomorrow: Actual content.

City Supplement 1: Dweredell is now available for sale through Dream Machine Produtions’ preferred vendor, Lulu.com! You will also find it for sale through DriveThruRPG, although their software is buggy at the moment and crashes whenever I try to upload a cover image. It was also supposed to appear on RPGNow and the ENWorld Download Shop, but — as of this writing — this has not yet been achieved (for reasons unknown, since they’re run by the same organization that runs DriveThruRPG).

A print-on-demand hardcopy edition of City Supplement 1: Dweredell will be available as soon as I’ve had a chance to review a production proof from Lulu. In the future I anticipate releasing the POD edition at the same time as the PDF edition, but since this is our first product I want to review it and make sure it meets my personal standards of quality before asking anyone to lay down cold, hard cash for it.

However, in the interest of being perfectly up front with all of you, allow me to point out that City Supplement 1: Dweredell was designed as a PDF product. It only serves up 12 pages of content, which presents a pretty solid value for a $2 PDF product once you factor in the full-page map of the city and the special bonus map of the Tower of the Sorcerer. But as a POD product it’s going to have a price tag of $6.49 (due to the minimum costs associated with any POD product). That’s a pretty hefty price tag for a fairly slim package.

(To give you some idea of how much those minimum costs end up being, I end up making less money on the $6.49 POD than I do on the $2 PDF.)

So why offer it as a POD at all? Because there’s no reason not to. It costs me essentially nothing to offer the POD option. And if someone wants a professionally published copy of the book, with a full-color cover and saddle-stitch binding, there’s no reason I can think of for why they shouldn’t have it. (Besides, I’m a raging egomaniac and I’m looking forward to holding a copy in my own hands.)

So why talk about the price here? Because in the future we’re going to be offering larger and more substantial products — products that probably make more sense for the POD format. And I don’t want anyone ordering a POD copy of City Supplement 1: Dweredell, being surprised by its slim size, and writing off those future products as a result.

The first RPG product from Dream Machine Productions is ready to be announced:

A CITY FALLEN UNTO RUIN…

Three hundred years ago Dweredell was a teeming metropolis: The last city on the road to the great dwarven kingdoms of the east. The trade which passed through its gates was born from dwarven forges and western realms, and the riches which came with that trade made Dweredell a jewel among cities. Its people prospered, and its fortunes seemed endless.

But the dwarven kingdoms fell, and Dweredell lost its glory. The traffic from the east vanished. And, with Dweredell as the road’s end, the merchants of the west soon realized that the city had nothing to offer them. The city slowed, and then it began to die…

Coming Soon! – 12 pages – City Map

City Supplement 1: Dweredell features a full-page map of the city, new D20 rules, and a special bonus map of the Tower of the Sorcerer!

I’m currently in the process of getting my PDF sales machine set up. If I don’t hit any speed bumps, I’ll be posting information here (and on the DMP website) within the week with a sales link.