Gunslinger Art - Apache Brave and Lots of Art

 As I'm closing in on the final version of the Gunslinger Roleplaying game I'm spending more and more time on the art and layout. I've gone back and forth from how realistic to make the art to how stylized and fantastical I want to make the illustrations. My first inclination was to be fairly realistic, but as the book took shape it became clear that a slightly more idealized art style would fit it better. So that the fantastical elements still felt in place.

Here is a page from the Character Creation chapter on the Brave character class. Along with a finalized illustration. Though I'm being idealized that doesn't mean a lot of research wasn't done on authentic wear and features. In fact I got so lost in the research it delayed the completion of the book by quite a bit. There is just too much history and details to dig into. At some point you have to edit and complete the project. I think this is why so many Western RPG's have gotten bogged down. The history and lore of the period is fascinating and becomes more so with the more you learn.

While a lot of research can be done online, trips to the local library are still important. The book has a very large bibliography and suggestions for further research. As well as a great number of films and novels. One of the best resources were the Men-at-Arms series by Osprey publishing, particularly for a lot of the harder to find images and information.

I spent a lot of time reading and sketching from these books. What will appear in the Rulebook will only be a fraction of what I've drawn. At this point I'm thinking the next step will be to make a "Beta" version available to gather some feedback before sending the book to press. That will be posted soon.

 

Store Generator

A minor inconvenience when running a game is the inevitable trip to a local town store that the characters will make, but as DM you don't want to make just everything on the equipment list available.  You can wing it and say certain items are unavailable, but I found this handy random generator that makes it easier to determine the available inventory at the store.

This generator is for Dungeon Crawl Classics, but works for any fantasy OSR game. 

https://www.juliosrpgcove.com/storegenerator/

Big Geek Emporium

I've been hearing good things about Big Geek Emporium, it is a little mom and pop online store for RPG books and games. As a test I've created a store. The process wasn't too difficult if you want to consider expanding beyond the current vendors you use.

 https://biggeekemporium.com/product/warriors-of-the-red-planet-rpg/

Gunslinger Update

 This month we've been working hard on maps and art.  One of the maps that was always so compelling in those old RPG books were the cutaway side-views that showed multiple levels of the underworld with dungeons and caves going down.  In that spirit here is a preview of the Underworld map for Gunslinger. We kept coming up with more and more ideas for interesting adventure locales and the map was starting to get crowded, so fit them in and kept the map legible. It has the benefit of visualizing the kinds of adventures the player's can go on in the game.

Can't believe it's been a year since the Kickstarter! I fully expected to have the book out just a couple months after the successful funding.  It is true that last 10% takes more time than the first 90% of a project, wrapping up all those details can be time consuming meticulous work.  The scope did expand a little, with additional character classes, more critters, and more adventure material. So it is turning out to be a better book than was advertised in the KS campaign. 

I am looking to make the PDF's available soon before sending the book to press so you'll have a chance to look them over. 

As always I post updates first on the NightOwlWorkshop forums. Your participation is greatly appreciated https://nightowlworkshop.freeforums.net/board/10/gunslinger

May your powder stay dry, and happy trails,

The Nightowl

Bookmark Dungeon #39: Vile Keep of Adiv the Crooked Wizard

Adiv the Crooked Wizard is a powerful wizard who is known for his knowledge of dark magic and his willingness to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. His keep is located in a remote region of the land, surrounded by a dense forest and guarded by fierce creatures.

The objective of this adventure is to explore Adiv's keep, retrieve a powerful magical artifact, and defeat Adiv himself. The artifact is said to have the power to control the elements, and Adiv has been using it to terrorize the nearby villages.