What's Cooking?

Well, Goodman announced a project I was involved with (along with a passle of other Werecabbages -- http://www.werecabbages.com/), and I'm very excited about it. A book of advice and guidance on pimping out your PC. The book is called PC Pearls, and the link to their preview is: http://www.goodman-games.com/4372preview.html. I'm a writer on this one. Too busy with Sinister Adventures (http://www.sinisteradventures.com/) and some work for Paizo's Pathfinder Society to pitch in as a developer and editor. However, Rone Barton, Adam Daigle, Steve Greer, and Greg Oppedisano did a smash up job. My favorite for this piece was an article I had the opportunity to write with Clinton Boomer with a whole lot of input from Greg Oppedisano. We brought the infamous Bedlam Havok to life, and folks, you won't regret checking him (and his Pearls of wisdom) out.

Other things in the works I'm excited about are:

• The Great City Campaign Setting from 0onegames (http://www.0onegames.com/) is rumored to be coming out this summer. This is just downright tasty.
• Working on two somethings related for 0onegames that I can't talk about yet. Damn it.
• Just turned in a piece for Paizo's Pathfinder Society (http://www.paizo.com/). Very excited about that one! Once its in print I'll tell you the name and where to get it.
• Also working hard on the Known Universe Gazateer, Cold Black, and expect to see some Dark Horizons indulgences, hopefully in July! All at Sinister. http://www.sinisteradventures.com/

Thanks for tuning in!

SAW#12 Out on RPGNow

The last adventure in the first volume of Sidetrek Adventure Weekly hit the virtual stands. I wrote it in 3 days, with some help from Greg Oppedisano (the line manager) and the always solid, sounding-board advice of my friends/fellow authors, Tim Hitchcock and Rone Barton. Very exciting. I really enjoy the cover art. Nothing like having something you only saw in your head brought to life!

I'm particularly pleased with a chase mechanic I invented to simplify outrunning an avalanche, but given a chance, I'd make some changes. The publisher plans to re-release with them, but I just can't wait. So if I had it to do again, I'd change these entries (changes in italics):

Hit By the Bury Zone
If the bury zone hits players, they lose maneuverability until the avalanche hurtles them over the cliff. While in the bury zone they suffer its effects each minute (DMG pg90). Every other round PCs are in the Bury Zone, they may make a Climb Check (DC20) to struggle through to the slide zone, take damage and be catapulted out in front of the avalanche (+2 Chase Points). Once thrown over the cliff, the unfortunate player has two rounds to escape the falling snow and rocks or be buried beneath the avalanche, under very cold water. Being buried means the player is immobilized by 100’ of ice and snow in all directions (digging and under water spell casting are still possible). The drowning rules (DMG pg 304) apply, as do the effects of very cold water (DMG pg 304). The rapids dissipate the ice and snow of the avalanche at the rate of 20’ per round. At the top of the 6th round after being buried, the rapids carry buried players to the surface without requiring a Swim check. After surfacing, Swim checks are required for fast-moving water as normal.

Hit By the Slide Zone
We use a modified version of the avalanche rules (DMG pg90). If the Slide Zone hits a player (when, at the start of any give round, the avalanche slide zone Chase Points equal or exceed a player’s Chase Points), that player must make a Reflex Save (DC 15 for half damage) or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from rocks and ice. They must also make a DC 7 Balance check or Wipeout (-1 Chase Points). However, unlike the rule in the DMG, a failed save does not result in burial, just the Wipeout penalty. All PCs hit by the Slide Zone are picked up and thrown forward, gaining +2 Chase Points.

Wipeout
If players Wipeout, they lose 1 chase point, as if spending one round recovering and resuming their pell-mell descent. After a Wipeout, players may choose any of the terrain types for their next move, regardless of which terrain type caused the Wipeout.

If anyone out there in cyber land gives this a whirl, I'd love to hear about it!

I can finally talk about the Great City Campaign Setting!

I've been dying to talk about this project, but its been under wraps. I'm one of a group of writers on a very original, intriguing and fun urban campaign setting called "The Great City" from 0onegames. It comes out the summer of 2008 and the first ads just hit Kobold Quaterly #4.

Ok, I'm biased for obvious reasons; but I really do feel this is a unique urban setting. We were given tremendous creative freedom, and I think it shows. Each of us was given a section of the city and let loose. Each writer is a Werecabbage, and we collaborated at every step of the way. Tim Hitchcock, our fearless leader, provided the center about which we all held (oblique Yeats reference intended).

On top of it all, the setting (contained in one book) is based on and accompanied by Mario Barbati's Ennie award winning maps and map systems. There is more coming down the pike, too, but I can't talk about that stuff yet (damn!).

Either way, this is the piece of fantasy RPG writing of which, to date, I am most proud.

When it's out, I hope some of you will let me know what you think!

I'm Manager of a SciFi/Horror RPG Line

Here's the press release for the new company!

Announcing Sinister Adventures, LLC: A New RPG Adventure Publisher

Fan favorite Dungeon Magazine™ and Pathfinder™ author Nicolas Logue announces Sinister Adventures, LLC, an adventure publisher dedicated to delivering the very finest RPG modules in multiple game systems.

New York, NY, April 1st, 2008. Fan favorite Dungeon Magazine™ and Pathfinder™ author Nicolas Logue announces Sinister Adventures, LLC, an adventure publisher dedicated to making the very finest RPG modules available in multiple game systems, including 3.5 OGL, True20™, Runequest™, d20 Modern™, d20 Future™, Bulldogs™, the Dawning Star™ setting and more! Nick and Sinister have tapped some of the best known adventure authors of the world’s most popular fantasy role playing game – including Wolfgang Bauer, Jason Bulmahn, Tim Hitchcock, Michael Kortes, Richard Pett, Greg A. Vaughan and others – to deliver two product lines: a fantasy line, titled Dark Vistas and a sci-fi/horror line, titled Dark Horizons. The lines will be illustrated by some of the industry’s most beloved artists, including Aaron Acevedo, Richard Clark, Andrew Hou, Wayne Reynolds and Kevin Yan.

The Sinister Adventure web site is live now and offers an entire line of inexpensive pdf products by top name authors, called Indulgences. The first four Indulgences, written by Wolfgang Baur, Nicolas Logue, Craig Shackleton and Greg A. Vaughan offer GMs everything they need to kick off a high seas adventure campaign and explore the cold reaches of the ocean’s deepest rifts.

The company’s core products will be available on the site as both PDF download and print, starting in June, 2008 with their Dark Vista flagship 130+ page mega-adventure, Razor Coast, by Nicolas Logue. Dark Horizons will follow in August of 2008 with its innovative space horror adventure Cold Black, by Nicolas Logue and Lou Agresta.

Preorders for both lines are now available. Dark Vista mega-adventures include a built-in mini-campaign setting and take players through many layers of story and adventure, but do it non-linearly! Built on a plot web, instead of the standard linear approach, Dark Vista mega-adventures yield the widest possible range of play experiences and offer an unheralded degree of fluidity of play. Moreover, when you buy any Dark Vista or Dark Horizon adventure you also get PDF versions of the full adventure in all the other game systems available.

To deliver on their plan, Nicolas Logue and Sinister Adventures will also tap the Werecabbages, a freelance RPG writer’s guild that includes rising star authors like Lou Agresta, Rone Barton, Tim and Eileen Connors, Liz Courts, Phil Larwood, James MacKenzie, Greg Oppedisano, Craig Shackleton, and Brendan Victorson. Going forward, look to the Sinister Adventures web site for more than just product.

Sinister will soon announce the Spawn of Dajobas contest. A 1,000 word 3.5 OGL open call monster design contest, the winner of which will receive $100.00 and be included in the forthcoming Dark Vista adventure Shrine of Frenzy, written by Brendan Victorson and illustrated by Kevin Yan.

Come listen to our official podcast for more news and details about Sinister Adventures.

About Nicolas Logue
Recently hired by Paizo Publishing as Organized Play Coordinator and director of the Pathfinder Society, Nick is well known for his work in Dungeon Magazine™ (Issue #150 "Quoth the Raven", Issue #135 "Chains of Blackmaw", Issue #133 "Chimes at Midnight", Issue #132 "The Library of Last Resort", Issue #131 "Campaign Workbook - The Journey: Dimension Doors", Issue #129 "Campaign Workbook - The Dungeon: Black Sheep", Issue#120 “Obsidian Eye” w/Brendan Victorson, Issue #117 “The Winding Way”, Issue #102 "Cry Wolf"); his work for Wizards of the Coast™ (Voyage of the Golden Dragon, City of Stormreach, Monster Manual V, Dragons of Eberron, Hell’s Heart); for Paizo Publishing (GameMastery Modules D1: Crown of the Kobold King, E1: Carnival of Tears, U2: Hangman’s Noose, Pathfinder#3: The Hook Mountain Massacre, Pathfinder #7: Edge of Anarchy, Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited) and his Open Design project (Blood of the Gorgon) with Wolfgang Baur.

I'm on sale!

I'm on sale! Or my first published adventure. You can check it out here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=54344
Let me know what you think!