Behind the scenes: The Trolls of Mistwood

The Trolls of Mistwood was an idea that came to me when I was a player back in 3rd edition. My character, a paladin named Gabrius Helmson, led the party on a rescue mission into a troll cave. The party was high level and we'd kicked a shadow dragon's butt - so we were feeling pretty cocky. So we marched straight down the main tunnel without scouting or investigating the side tunnels. BIG MISTAKE. When the trolls emerged from the tunnels, our only means of retreat was cut off and we were annihilated. Trolls, I decided, should never be underestimated.

The idea of a village under siege by trolls seemed like a killer idea to challenge a party but it didn't have much of a story. But as the adventure was written it evolved into the tragic curse story that drives the adventure. I enjoyed the process so much I planned a sequel before I had even finished the first. If you have purchased The Trolls of Mistwood (thanks) you might notice little hints and hooks that play out in the sequel. Hags, trolls, a curse and a swamp - that's the basis of this adventure and the next.

Now for the art. Sometimes when I get these ideas I start to visualise what I want the cover to appear like and out comes the pencil and paper. Below are some pieces that didn't make the final adventure and some that evolved into the final pieces.

Here is the original pencil drawing of the cover.

It didn't change much as you can see.

The trolls themselves took a bit of time to lock down for how I wanted them to be. I love the look of first edition Dnd trolls but (SPOILERS) the trolls in the adventure aren't your normal trolls and Pathfinder had seemed to go the way of the Weta trolls, so I tried a few different looks that ranged from The Lord of the Rings trolls to naked pube troll (that's what I call him).

I also designed what the hags faces looked like - in the adventure Glyndel, Gillara and Necrosa are only seen in silhouette in the adventure but originally I wanted to show each of their faces to show their character further. Here below are the faces of the Gravic Swamp coven.

Above is Glyndel (as well as some troll concepts urgh). As the youngest and most 'attractive' and nice, I limited her ugliness. Bellow are the vicious Gillara on the left and the bloated Necrosa on the right.

 Since they figure into Curse of Mistwood, I may develop their appearance further - they were originally witches but rapidly evolved into hags for the sake of the story. Their hut on Crone Island was also sketched but never made the adventure.

The swamp itself was also an interesting development, it had to be large enough to necessitate navigating but also include some exciting encounters - below are a series of sketches and details from myself and then Brian as we developed the environs.

My original brief to Brian:

Brian's development:

As you can see - Brian is a true artist! Have a look at what he did with this sketch I gave him of Mistwood:

His version:

And further still:

Well, that's about it for what I'm going to share today - please ask any questions you like. If you enjoy this kind of post, I can certainly share a bunch of ideas and art that didn't make Feast of the Preserver. Cheers for now.

The Trolls of Mistwood is available to purchase at a very affordable price at the link below:
Trolls of Mistwood $6.99 only!

I don't remember anyone asking for this?

It's interesting when a friend is looking for tokens for Roll20 and comes across my art as a downloadable piece... Oh well?

My halfling paladin

The person who has contributed it may have asked me at some point but I can't remember and it is for free - I just find it interesting where your work can mysteriously appear.

What is the Fractured Dominion?

Can anyone hazard a guess?

Angels, Daemons and Beings Between and Unseen

My first foray into DCC and RPG illustration was working on the Patron Sourcebook, Angels, Daemons and Beings Between. Not being familiar with DCC, the concept of Patrons was a bit odd but it was explained to me that the book would be like the old Deities and Demigods supplement for AD&D.

Sean Connors, the project leader and Daniel Bishop and Paul Wolfe, the writers. Daniel and Paul have become regular contacts for me and I have learnt a lot from both of them and still collaborate with them whenever possible. Sean is a little more elusive as he has withdrawn largely from the RPG community.

This isn't a post about the success of the book or its shortcomings, I wanted to focus on the job.

My mother was selling her house up the coast and I had just signed onto the contract with Sean when I was called to help my mother pack up the house. I decided to catch the 5 hour train ride over driving so I could draw. And I loved the experience - I pulled the printed descriptions of the Patrons from my bag and began sketching.

I think I drew about four of the final pieces and some of the unused Patrons in the train. When I got back to Sydney, I anxiously waited for Daniel and Paul to send more subjects to draw. In the end I drew 16 of the 18 illustrations in the book. The other two were completed by Daniel. I created the cover out of the sheer love I had for the project.

Anyway, I found this video I put together back in 2013 that looks at some of the art I did for that project.

I'd love to see AD&BB re-released with the additional Patrons that were left on the proverbial cutting room floor. Maybe even expand the pantheon further to include other 3rd Party Patrons... but if wishes were fishes... hang on... I am a Fisher.

Looks good in print!

 

Very happy with the quality of the printed version - thanks for all of your support!
Come buy your own!!!

Print Copy Arrives!!!

My print copy of Feast of the Preserver came today - much to my delight. It looks great in print! I'll post a video of it when I get the chance.

Feast available now!

Come and get your feast...

RPG Art 3: The influence of Kong

Having wrapped production of Feast of the Preserver and taking some time to prepare myself for another couple of products, I thought I'd make a 3rd art post.

I have enjoyed my art since before I can remember. I remember writing my own illustrated books before I started school. For some reason they all focused on the 1933 film King Kong. Yes, I loved King Kong and not long into the start of school, Dino De Laurentiis' version of the movie was released. In hindsight, the movie doesn't hold up very well, but back then I had the bubblegum cards, the Viewmaster slides and a board game all photos and concept paintings of Kong. 1970s Kong Painting I learned to draw a gorilla face before I ever started working on human faces. In fact, in staff meetings (where I am the chairperson) I often find my agenda page filled with ape faces at the end of the meeting as my repressed artist passes the time subconsciously.

When Peter Jackson's version of Kong was released in 2005, I was lucky enough to get some volunteer work at Weta right before the film's release. The sculptures and concept art for Kong was mind blowing and if you get the chance you should try to pick up the book: The World of Kong. It contains many concept pieces and more if you find the location of Skull Island appealing as I do. Inspired by the work of Gustave Dore, the original 1933 movie created the most amazing location for a fantastical, imaginary playground for my young mind and of course, for Kong and his dinosaur buddies. Peter Jackson has tried his best to recapture that.

So, how does this relate to my RPG art? Well, it doesn't, yet it does entirely. My father waking me at 4 in the morning as a young boy to watch the 1933 King Kong awoke the artist inside. I had never dreamed of spending countless hours drawing and dreaming until I watched this masterpiece.

Now for some work.

Inspired by the book World of Kong, I decided I would design my own neo-dinosaur, and so was created the Aquasaurus. This reptilian/amphibian/fish creature loves lamb. I was doing my best to pull off a dinosaur with reflective, fish-like scales. I didn't quite succeed but I learnt a lot from trying. This piece was from 2008 or 2009. I had just started to learn how to paint digitally.

The following pieces are from Daniel Bishop's Revelation of Mulmo. I loved working on this adventure as there was some weird sh_t happening throughout the adventure. I especially enjoy giving new creatures the concept workout.

This Lunar Centaur, for example, sounds on paper to be the weirdest thing ever - trying to understand how a centaur with humanoid limbs and hands for feet looked like was trippy at best. In the end, I think this was my favourite piece for that adventure.

Below, also from Revelation of Mulmo, is the Whispering Shades. new creature that was difficult to visualise but in the end I think this piece worked but not as well as the centaur.

The last piece I'll share is a painting I did of my Mutants and Masterminds character, The Cricket. I really enjoyed playing M&M, as I was an avid comic fan as a kid and early adult. My friend and I came up with the look for this character back in 2004 and had him as a regular character on the message boards on Green Ronin. I can't help but feel his look was lifted by the film makers who made the comedy, Superhero Movie. What do you think?

Feast of the Preserver Commercial?

So, Goodman Games has green lit Feast. So I am very pleased. I am waiting on the print version for approval before I put the product out.

I made this promo during some free time. I'm going to start the marketing process over the next week but this video will be on the product page on RPGNow.com.

Video of the Preserver... I mean Savage GM.

Once again, Brandon Goeringer has taken some of his valuable time to kindly review our new adventure on video. One thing I've learnt from producing this adventure is that the more people that read it, the more little aspects I pick up on through their feedback and perspective.

Playtested by more groups than Trolls ever was, this adventure can end in many different situations. I really like that in this adventure. Brian and I especially enjoyed reading the playtesters' reviews that ranged from claiming the adventure was super deadly to those whose players handled everything the adventure threw at them.

One of the features we tried to put into this adventure was a method to pit the PCs against the clock - time can be the real enemy when you have a disease. But that was my sadistic writing - so that version for the adventure became optional.

So again, many thanks to Brandon for putting together this video for me again.

The coming feast

So a few developments have happened since my last post.

Firstly, the adventure Feast of the Preserver has been set up for sale at rpgnow.com. It is still unavailable till I have been given the green light for release by Goodman Games. I have, however, got a print version of the adventure coming to me as a proof copy. So with luck the green light will coincide with my approving the print product.

Another exciting happening (for me at least) is Brian, my great friend and collaborator, has signed up to commence work on a new adventure. It is the map of all maps. I'll have more on that soon.

I'm also interested in getting fellow artists and writers who are interested in publishing their art and adventures through Shinobi27 Games to drop me a line. I'm working on some big projects and if I can get some other collaborators, well the more the merrier. Drop me a line if you're interested.

Hopefully my next blog will be announcing the release of Feast of the Preserver.

Off for approval

It is with a sigh of relief that I announce Feast of the Preserver has gone off to Joseph Goodman for approval before release.

Once approval is given, I will most likely wait until print is fully available before I release the adventure for sale. Depending on that time frame, I'm hoping for a positive announcement soon.

I can't wait to get this out there!

 Good old Cedric can't wait to meet you...

One to go!