LoSS 6: Sorceress of Zhaan has arrived! With Soundtrack and Videos!

Issue 6: Sorceress of Zhaan has finally arrived!
And it's was definately worth the wait!

The Lair of Sword & Sorcery game continues with a new issue with loads of new articles, Background and a new Adventure!

Get it on DriveThruRPG Here

She's almost here!

Issue 6 is almost here.
Print Proofs checked and corrected!
Soundtrack done!
Videos done!
Just have to wrap everything up in a sweet pdf and we're good to go!

And what's inside you ask?

Sorceress of Zhaan Video Preview!

Oh yeah! Things are moving!
First song has escaped the studio and the video tour of the Refinery is done for the Pdf Download.

You see the refinery is a bit of an elaborate area and a map can be a tricky thing to decipher when using so many different levels and ramps.

So click on the link above to check out one of the extras the pdf will have.

Now let's settle in for a serious Long Weekend!

~Ripley

The "Back of the Box" Text

(click the pic for a full size view)

I'll get to that picture up there in just a second.

First of all...Zhaan is done! Kind of...

beware the grinder!

More pics of the refinery, Beware the grinder!

~Ripley

LIghts! Camera! Action! (photoshoot for Zhaan)

Regardless of the heat, your humble editor set up all the bright hot lights and got to shooting. All the Pics, illos and movies for this issue of Zhaan are shot and are now being edited for the issue.
And here's you first sneak peak of the set piece for the issue, the bowels of the great Refinery!
Hope you enjoy it all!
New issue soon!

~Ripley

Sorceress of Zhaan! Cover done!

And the cover is done! Officially ready to cram it all in issue 6! Going in photography and video tomorrow!
This has been a long time coming but issue 6 of LoSS is coming soon!

~Ripley

So close, soundtrack almost done

Ohh we're so close.
Two more tracks done for the soundtrack and two more to go.
Only the cover is left in the art-to-be-done pile.
Everything else is ready to go into photography and video.

Once this issue is out I'll be starting up the LoSS home campaign again on Roll20, and if I can get enough players locally, a real life game.

So anyone interested in throwing down some Lair of Sword and Sorcery action let me know through the email spookyroomproductions@gmail.com

Back to the grind folks

~Ripley

Another Late Weekend Update! Progress on 2 fronts!

Progress continues!

Music time! Late Weekend update.

Working on the soundtrack for Issue 6 now!

Nice to be back in the studio again!
Once that's done it's on to photography and film.
Then back into layout to finish all the little fiddly bits and on to the cover!
I'm always loathe to slap a date on it but summertime is definately looking good for a release date.

Sorry about the lack of new releases so far this year, lots happening in the first of the year.

Work had a few "glitches" to iron out in the first quarter.

The transistion to print copies on Drive Thru RPG did not got as well as planned (get your print copy at Lulu here) That ate up a lot of the first of the year.

That led to working on the Lair Core Rules rerelease, which led to a rewrite of all the rules and background information and grew into a whole thing of it's own. It's creeping along as well but will likely be next year minimum before it see's light of day.

And so on...

So lot's happening just not alot of "releases".

But Sorceress is winding down and Brytax is winding up.

Brytax is going to be a more "traditional" release.

It will include a "wilderness" map of the area between the heroes and Brytax.
It will also include a Campaign like story with a few Main adventures weaving through the story and many optional encounters along the way. The heroes are free to continue with the main story if they wish or leave it at any point along the way.

Also to be in this issue will be the extended Veteran Point rules. They're useful for so much more than just buying skills!

So rock on my Bloodreavers! more coming soon!

Soon...Soon...

Yes indeed, Zhaan is still underway.
All the interior art is done and half the maps are done.
Miniatures are almost done and the set piece is almost finished, going into photography, video and music soon....
All the hype will start soon enough once some of the color materials are done and I can't wait!

After this one jumping right into issue 7: Brytax! And lot's of extras along the way.
For anyone interested in getting in on the fun the home game will be starting up again once issue 6 is out.
A weekday game, haven't decided on the day yet.

Have a fun Sunday all!

~Ripley

Sorceress of Zhaan, art train still rolling!

Sorceress of Zhaan, art train still rolling!

Long time between updates, but that just means I'm busy working on the issue 6: The Sorceress of Zhaan.

22 of the 27 interior illustrations are finished! 

Still lots more to do, are few more illustrations, cover, maps, finish up the soundtrack as well as the big set piece and miniatures for the grand finale of the Lair.

Issue 6 of  LoSS magazine is nearing is nearing the finish line!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

~Ripley

New Art for the Sorceress issue!

Limrust

New Art for the Sorceress issue!

I know it's been real quiet on the Hub here for the last month or so. After all the big announcements it would seem that I disappeared.

But no! I've been penciling all the illustrations for the next issue, and it's going to be a great one.

After my round up of art programs Manga Studio won by far. All the other ones had great tools but being able to organize all the illustrations into one "issue" file was a huge time saver. 

Update time for Lair of Sword and Sorcery!

Injection Molder complete, but I need your help to finish the molds

Busy time here at the Spooky Room!

This fellow is more of a general adventuring type, perhaps a rogue, maybe a sorcerer, up to no good or perhaps on a mission for justice. Not sure at all what range he is from, again he popped up in the pile of wretched lead, most of which was inherited from varied people unloading miniatures.

Another mini for the Sorceress issue

Still working on some more minis for the sorceress of Zhaan issue photoshoot.

Since Iron is so rare in the Winterlands a full suit of plate like this would be made of Bronze. So I'm trying to find some good ways to bring that across in the painting.

For the sword this warrior may have been able to afford steel, or been able to steal it, but more likely it would be a bronze sword plated in silver for a more impressive look and to terrify his enemies into thinking it is steel.

Enjoy.

~Ripley

Here's another Winterlander warrior mini painted for the Sorceress of Zhaan. Still working on blending and color choices.

On most of the minis for this set I've chosen a bright Ivory/Yellow as the brightest highlight color, and blend up to that color highlight for almost all the areas of the mini to pull all the colors together and make all the minis appear to be in a the same gloomy dimly torch lit room.

Enjoy!

~Ripley

Painting minis for LoSS

Finally have a few things I can show to all my Blood Reavers!

The refinery build is moving right along, but I need some heroes and enemies to populate it.

So into the bucket of wretched lead to find a few fellows that would be suitable for the Sorceress of Zhaan Lair.

The first one to finish is this fine gent! A popular mini in it's time I inherited him in a pile of other minis, can't remember who though. He had a red cloak when he started and after a repaint he still does.

And because it's just not old school unless it has a thick unbreakable coat of glossy varnish, he's got that too!

More will appear as I finish them up.

Enjoy my Blood Reavers!

~Ripley

Weekend Update! but still no pics (surprises coming)

The Sorceress of Zhaan motors on!
I've got rough layouts and illustration lists finished but I'm likely going to do a full redesign before getting to the end.
The fonts I was in love with just didn't come together on the page the way I hoped.

I'm also still torn about font size, waffling back and forth on that one.
I went through a bunch of old game books and noticed that from the 70's to the present font size keeps getting bigger and bigger, with modern books seeming to be set anywhere from 14 to 16pts for regular text.

Meanwhile flipping through stuff from outside of gaming like magazines and textbooks font size is shrinking with some magazines running from 6 to 8pts for regular text.

But back over to novels we see the font size growing as well.

I was most shocked when going back to reread Warhammer fantasy battles 6th edition. The book itself is a monster compared to the 3rd edition size, but when you check out the font it's massive.
This also means that the rules are spread out much much more, meaning that a simple set of rules for moving stretches past 6 or 7 pages, making it hard to find something specific, and the heading have to be way larger as each tiny subsection seems to take multiple pages and so you need the big headings for every section to both find something quickly, and to have them visually much larger than the giant text.

The same rules were also printed in a pocket version that was only about an inch and half thick and about the size of a half a page (If I'm remembering correctly, it was about a decade ago), but with a smaller type size that I remember being quite readable.

So how bout you readers? Since you'll be the ones reading the book what do you think of font size and do you prefer extra large text or smaller text? You're the one in charge so I'll leave it up to you so I don't have to keep flip flopping over it.

Cast your vote in the comments below!

~Ripley

Quick update on LoSS

Another quick update so you all know I aint dead!