May 2024
This year has been one major rollercoaster of seemingly non-stop creating. I know creative burnout is around the corner, so to err on the side of caution I’m having a little break from making stuff for Zuperbuu Works for a short while. Subject 218 stuff will commence after the break and the D&D module is finished.
In the meantime, you can read more about what I’ve got so far!
Specimen G-13 is over!
The final entry of Specimen G-13 is finished and is now LIVE! You can grab it in Paperback, Hardback, or EPUB from Amazon. if you have Kindle Unlimited, the book is free with your subscription (along with the rest of the series!)
You can read a snippet of the book below.
With this book being the last of the series, I am now focused on adapting the characters and world into something more visual and interactive. Will there be more writing in the future? Absolutely; the world and characters will return, but not under the Specimen G-13 name. Once you finish Heart of the Feles, you’ll understand why.
The D&D Module
Writing books was never my end goal for the Jinimaru project, and neither was adapting them into comics or animations; my ultimate goal was to make the stories interactive. Telling you as a reader what you are seeing or hearing is fine, but placing you as an avatar in that world and letting you decide if that Nuhk’nuhk is a cute companion or deserves death is what I’d rather do.
Making interactive media is always a huge undertaking, any indie game developer can tell you that. So, as I mentioned in the past blog entry, I have decided to set down some foundations before I dare move into making a video game; a Dungeons & Dragons module was perfect. It serves to help me learn about game balance and structure questing.
The module is centred around the events of “Wrath of the Lancer”, though elements have been changed to allow your cast of characters to be Edris’ saviour and not the G-13 characters. Those same characters appear as NPCs to help or hinder your players in the module.
Working on this module has also encouraged me to make all the fauna models for my future game asset library; instead of recycling the art from the Edris Compendium, I have posed the models and made screenshots for use as artwork instead.
This artwork has a transparent background so I can add parchment-style paper as the module page backgrounds, to be more in keeping with other module books.
You can see examples below of a “So’ton” creature; a multi-tailed canid that your players can encounter in frigid southern regions of Edris that come in 3 colour variants. Your players can earn quite a sum of gold if they sell a pelt from the white variant, and less from the grey one.
The module has been written with stat blocks for almost all Edris fauna found in the Compendium, most named NPCs, 6 new races, 7 special items, and some dangerous flora!
There are optional rules for Choking Humidity in swamps and jungles, cold damage in Frigid Conditions, and exhaustion impacts in Arid Conditions.
An entire Radiation system has been developed too, which includes a new “disease” your players can obtain: Radiation Sickness!
Venom and Bleed systems are also optional additions included in this module.
Although the module is finished, I am now putting it through some testing and proofing with a DM with more experience than myself, to help balance all the monsters’ difficulties, because as they are right now, the common beasts are too difficult for Level 1 parties to defeat.
The module will be available by the end of the year, perhaps sooner, depending on how fast the proofing goes. I plan on listing the module digitally, probably as “Pay What You Want” with a minimum of £1, I have yet to decide. The physical book will be a Convention-Only Exclusive.
What you get in the module are:
- A campaign based on “Wrath of the Lancer” that spans 7 major locations, split into “chapters”.
- Optional side-quests and activities for your party to do during the campaign.
- An appendix with 28 creatures, and 7 special items, complete with artwork for each one (and additional artwork for any colour/gender variants, digital only).
- A dedicated Appendix for managing or using Radiation, Bleeding, and Venom.
- Creature and NPC tokens. (Digital only)
- 8 City/Town Maps, 2 World Maps, and multiple battle/exploration maps.
Once the initial proofing stage is over, the module will be finalized and made available publicly.
Other 3D Models
Whilst the 3D modelling for making game assets is on pause for a bit, I am still making things over on my Patreon for subscribers and followers of my free stuff, but as of this blog entry, all future articulated models will no longer be made free; you will have to pay to download and use them. This includes “Improved Versions” of any existing models.
I am also still available for 3D commission work at All Meshed Up: https://allmeshedup.square.site/3d-services
The shop is still not open; I am still looking for suitable packaging methods for shipping my 3D prints. If you wish to request a custom 3D print, but have been waiting for the shop to open, please don’t be afraid to contact me; finding a suitable packaging solution for one item is easier than what I’m trying to accomplish for my existing items. (IE. finding a box that fits most of my existing models shapes.)
This ends the blog for May. I’ll post another update when I make progress on something, but for the next few months I plan on getting some 3D models for Patreon wrapped up and also completing this D&D module, however, I’m also attending a few trading shows now so things will be a tad slow. I thank you for your patience.
See you later!