As some of you have no doubt guessed by now, the Stonehell compilation will be my first (and hopefully not last) book issued under the Three-Headed Monster Games imprint. Although the primary purpose of compiling the first half of the dungeon into one document was to provide a sense of continuity and to expand on some things I had glossed over in the .pdfs, the collaboration with Dave and Michael certainly help influence that decision. In light of the official THM Games announcement yesterday, this will be the last progress report regarding the Stonehell project to appear on this site. Further updates will be posted on the THM Games’ blog.
It has been a productive few weeks for the book. I was entering the dreaded mid-project doldrums – that time when the initial enthusiasm of starting a project has worn off and there remains too much more to do to get excited about finally completing it. I did what most writers do in this situation: lowered my head and plowed forward. Because of this single-minded determination, I’m mid-way through the revamp of the final quadrant. Twenty-two dungeon sections have been reformatted, reworked, and rewritten; only half of one remains.
Over the next two weeks I intend to go over all twenty-three sections to fill in any material I may have missed, make sure all the maps are completed and properly keyed, and ensure that the various tables and charts reflect the changes I’ve made. Once I’m satisfied that everything is jake, the dungeon itself will start the editing and proofreading phase.
While this is going on, I’ll be hashing out the introductory chapter to the dungeon that covers Stonehell’s history, nuts and bolts, general monster overview, and the obligatory “how to use this book.” Once completed, I can start doing a rough layout of the final manuscript.
I’m shooting to make the book available at the end of August, beginning of September. I’m fairly confident that the actual writing and layout of the book will be completed by then, but there are some miscellaneous factors that could take a bit longer to sort out. In any case, there will be an official Stonehell dungeon book available in the coming months, barring any meteor strikes, tsunamis, or the landing of little green men on the White House lawn. Unless they’re gamers, which could accelerate the process.
3 comments:
Awesome! I really appreciate your giving us this tentative timeline. It's going to be a real test of my patience, but at least I've got a clear idea now. I'm especially looking forward to seeing your aboveground design, as my version has been showing a lot of wear at the seams. (I just hope that integrating the new material won't be too difficult.)
I don't suppose you'll be giving us a preview of what sorts of revisions we can expect? maybe a glimpse of the new "hell's antechamber" or something? I don't know that I've ever been this impatient for an RPG release.
I appreciate everyone's patience with the time it has taken to assemble the book. It's been a real labor of love, but that doesn't always reduce the labor portion of it. I'm committed to getting this out as soon as I can. I just hope everyone finds that the end result was worth the time required.
I do plan on releasing some form of "demo" section to coincide with the main book. I want people to get a look at the new format before deciding if they want the whole thing part and parcel. At the moment, I'm torn between the first section of the dungeon as you mentioned and a supplementary .pdf that could be used to augment the whole dungeon. In all honesty, I'm not putting too much effort into making a decision at the moment. My primary concern is getting the book completed. But I will be doing something.
The Brazen Strumpet! I'm there!
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