d30 Sandbox Companion 1-year Anniversary

It was 1 year ago today that I released the d30 Sandbox Companion.

If you would have told me then that 1 year later it would still be bouncing around the Top 20 at RPGNow, I'd have thought you'd failed your save vs. insanity. But there it is, still hanging in there.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to offer the entire OSR community a huge "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" I've continued to be humbled by the love this oddity has found, not only with old-school RPG'ers, but those outside in the larger RPG community as a whole who've put up with the convention of its odd dice usage, and accepted it on their bookshelves as well.

Also, thanks again as well to Welbo, who helped me polish and polish this thing to be the best it could absolutely be.

Time is Running Out: Win Dead Tree Copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion and d30 DM Companion

d30 Dead Tree Giveaway
Time is running on on the New Big Dragon/Tenkar's Tavern GenCon Jet Lag Giveaway.
Get the details on your chance to win print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion or d30 DM Companion over here...

d30 Sandbox Companion Flash Sale
And until tomorrow (Tuesday) night at midnight CST,
the d30 Sandbox Companion .PDF is 33% OFF at RPGNow.

GenCon Jet Lag Special & Giveaway!

I myself wasn't lucky enough to attend GenCon this year, and given that it seems to fall during my busiest client month of the year, I imagine that may continue to be the case for a while. So, in honor of my jealousy of those who did get to go this year, and the many of you who traveled yesterday and are traveling today, I'm doing a couple of GenCon Jet Lag thangs.

d30 Sandbox Companion Flash Sale
First off, I'm doing another d30 Sandbox Companion Flash Sale on the PDFs at RPGNow. Get the PDF for $3.95 (33% off the standard price) until Tuesday night at midnight CST.

d30 Dead Tree Giveaway
I'm doing a giveaway in conjunction with Tenkar's Tavern. Go to his post and leave a comment. One winner will will receive a dead tree copy of the d30 DM Companion, another winner will receive a dead tree copy of the d30 Sandbox Companion. Both those winners and an additional five runners up will receive an Order of the d30 sticker sheet. This is all courtesy of the New Big Dragon Storefront. Commenting closes at 9pm EST, August 19th, 2014. (Please note that any comments here are appreciated, but will not enter you in the giveaway. You gotta do that at The Tavern.)

d30 A-to-Z Update: "You should compile your 27 entries into a single download."

In regards to my A-to-Z d30 posts this past April, the question/request keeps coming up about combining the 27 entries into a single PDF for download. I actually mentioned a couple of times (in response to posts, so I did not expect everyone to see this) that I really feel like several different kinds of material had been developed over the month: 1) encounter-related material (like monsters and NPCs), 2) location-related material (like the altar generator, the village generator, the necropolis generator, etc.), and 3) treasure-related material (like the coin generator, or the intelligent sword generator).

Many of you knew that the d30 Sandbox Companion took a very long time to be published from the time I announced it. Honestly, a good portion of time (months, in fact) went into the order of the book's contents—grouping the right things in the right order, and placing those categories in the best order possible. IIRC, the order of the book went through 4-5 major overhauls. And what Welbo and I came out with on the other end was (what we believe to be) the "ultimately usable" version of the book.

While I could "slap together" April's items into a single PDF, I do admit it would be a single convenient PDF, but I also believe it would not work the way a DM needs it to work for him/her at the gaming table. I also believe it would be terribly incomplete. For example, April saw encounter charts for forests, jungles, and swamps. But what about hills, mountains, and plains? April also saw encounter charts for dwarves, elves, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, and orcs. But what about bugbears, gnolls, gnomes, halflings, and lizard men? April also saw encounter charts for magic-users, paladins, and thieves. But what about bards, clerics, druids, fighters, rangers? And don't even get me started on all the various monster charts I would like to see here (something like a snake generator, to go along with the plant monster and giant generators, and troll mutations pages I've done in the past). I'm sure how you could see that, when these charts were added, it would be enough to fill it's own book (and quite possibly be even longer than the d30 Sandbox Companion)... something like a d30 Encounter Companion.

Now let's take a look at the other types of charts I've done this past month... the location- and treasure-related ones. If I had a page for every idea that I had but didn't do, I'd have two more books... a d30 Location Companion and a d30 Treasure Companion.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS: right now, there is no schedule or plan to release these three additional d30 books. There are only the following thoughts: 1) any "compiled" PDF I would put together right now would be something that I felt did not live up the promise it seems to hold, and 2) I will continue to produce more and more d30 charts (at least 1 per week) from this ever-expanding list of ideas. So, in a weird way, any PDF I released would technically be outdated 1 week later. What I can offer you right now is this... a promise that I will continue to produce d30 charts that you can download into a folder on your desktop, organize however you see fit for your DM'ing needs, and know that at some point I will think they're ready to be compiled, I will most likely do that.

d30 Downloads Grab Bag

Since many of you who read and follow this blog are somewhat newer, and because I'm now reaching an extended audience through Google+, I thought I'd dig through the archives of this blog and re-post some d30 downloads from the past. Some of these were intended for the d30 Sandbox Companion but were left on the cutting room floor. Others were intended for the d30 DM Companion but didn't really make sense there.

d30 Named Magical Swords All of the named swords on this chart do come from either history or legend/myth, but probably aren't nearly as strong/powerful as they could be for magic swords of their reputation — there's only so much info you can get on 1 page. Without getting into a multi-page, full-blown description of the items, what's on this chart should get the broad strokes across. Obviously, feel free to enhance, add to, or otherwise expand upon these. [Originally posted 8/17/12] To download a free PDF of this d30 Named Magic Swords chart, click here.		d30 NPC Height Determination This was originally intended for the d30 SBC but it felt like fluff, so we cut it. [Originally blogged about 1/7/13; download previously unavailable] To download a free PDF of this d30 NPC Height Determination chart, click here.
d30 Dinosaur Encounters Let's face it, when it comes to dinosaurs, "you can't tell the players without a program." And forget about trying to look at the length of the damn things in correlation to their hit dice, and then guessing the basic shape of the dinosaur from the number of attacks or special armor class conditions. And then there's the fact that what we used to call the "brontosaurus" in the 70s and 80s is now officially the "apatosaurus." Consider this your program. It includes all of the major prehistoric players (dinosaurs and pterosaurs) covering all the bases of the 1e MM, BX Blue, and module X1, as well as newer discoveries that post-date those editions (like the velociraptor.) [Originally posted 5/25/12] To download a free PDF of this d30 Dinosaur Encounter/Stats Page from MediaFire, click here.		d30 Hit Area Determination This is a hit area determination chart for hex-based combat facing (center facing, right facing, right flank, rear, left flank and left facing.) I have to admit, the chart is really better suited for ranged attacks than for HTH combat, but it's still passable. [Originally posted 10/28/11] To download a PDF of this Hit Area Determination chart fromMediaFire, click here.

Last Day for Introductory Pricing on d30 Sandbox Companion

Don't forget, today is the last day for the introductory pricing on the d30 Sandbox Companion.

Had a brain fart on the date today. The prices noted below are good until this Thursday.

Get is as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95).

Get it in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95).
And right now, Lulu is having a Valentine's sale. Use the code AMOR14 and get 14% off sitewide.

At midnight CST tonight, the prices on both the print and PDF editions will go up to their normal price.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

The Gaming Ballistic Interview With Yours Truly Is Now Online

Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic spoke with Welbo and I about the d30 Sandbox Companion and other New Big Dragon related topics, and the final edit of the interview is now online.

Continuing to be Humbled + Upcoming Interview Info

First off, thank you all again for the wonderful reception to the d30 Sandbox Companion. Except for a few hours on a few different days which have featured some great new releases from both large and small publishers, it has been maintaining the #1 spot at RPGNow for three weeks straight (as of today). And if that wasn't surprise enough, I noticed on the RPGNow page this morning that it is now listed under the header "New from Top Publishers." The titles in this section rotate and I just happened to catch it this morning, so I'm not sure when I became a "top publisher" at RPGNow, but that kind of blows me away. So thank you to all who bought, and use, and talk/blog/etc. about the d30 Sandbox Companion. You are the real reason for these overwhelming results.

I have no doubt this has been due in large part to Erik Tenkar who has blogged about (or at least mentioned) the d30 Sandbox Companion in more than a half-dozen blog posts, as well has his interview with Gaming Ballistic. And speaking of Gaming Ballistic, Welbo and I had the privilege of being interviewed by Douglas Cole at GB on Friday evening. When the interview has been transcribed and edited and posted, I'll make sure to put a link/post here. (BTW, Doug, like many of us in the gaming blogosphere, runs things out of his pockets, and the transcriptions of his interviews are an out-of-pocket cost for him; if you'd like to donate to offset his costs, you can do that from the Gaming Ballistic home page.) And here's Doug's original d30 post at Gaming Ballistic.

There area a few other bloggers out there that have given more than a fair share of kind words to the d30 Sandbox Companion, and I'd like to thank them here as well.

Gaming-Guy.com's review -
"Not Your Father's Book of Lists: A Review of d30 Sandbox Companion"

The Frugal GM's post about the Sandbox Resources Hex Map Pack
(which was created both to answer a request from users of the d30 Sandbox Companion, as well as a shameless plug for it)

Terre Tromentate's mention in Italian
(you'll have to have your browser translate if you don't happen to speak Italian,
which I don't)

Sologamer mentioned it this weekend in a play report
(you'll have to have your browser translate if you don't happen to speak Polish,
which I don't)

Martin Ralya has included in his list
"Looking for Tabletop RPG Products on Lulu? Try These"

The Venomous Pao at the Strange Stones blog posted
a bunch of NPCs generated with the help of the d30 Sandbox Companion

And my continued thanks and appreciation to
those who've reviewed the book at RPGNow

If I've missed someone, it may be just that I missed your post or mention, so please forgive me, and thank you as well!

I promise, I'm not resting on my d30 laurels.

First off, I do have to thank you all for helping make the d30 Sandbox Companion #1 at RPGNow.com for almost two weeks straight (apart from a few hours on the evening that it was overtaken by the re-release of Gazetteer #1, and a few hours last night when Kristian Richards released Basic Dungeon Tiles Expansion Set 1 - which I believe will recapture the #1 spot again before many of you read this). I also thank you all for helping make the print edition #1 at Lulu.com off-and-on for few days now, not to mention helping the d30 DM Companion print edition climb as high as #5 at Lulu.com this week (something I don't think it did even during its initial release!) There's also an interview in the works with Gaming Ballistic, for those who will be interested in seeing my ugly mug (as well as Welbo's), as we discuss the d30 Companions' origins, development, etc. (BTW, Gaming Ballistic is GURPS heavy, so I'm happy to see the d30SBC's acceptance outside the OSR).

As for the headline of this blog...
I promise, I'm not resting on my d30 laurels. But I also won't be making the same mistake I made back in February of 2012 when I announced the d30 Sandbox Companion. It was a tad premature. Given the relatively short development time of the d30 DM Companion, I assumed a similar schedule for the d30SBC. Little did I know it would end up being almost 70% longer than its predecessor. So, if you're looking here for the announcement of the next d30 book, you're not going to find it... YET. What you are going to find is this, though...

Beginning this Friday, it's back to d30 business-as-usual.
That's right, beginning this friday, I'm going back to making a weekly post of a new d30 chart as a PDF for download. This friday's chart is going to be a "d30 Lithic Location Generator" (think monoliths, stonehenge, stone circles, dolmens, etc.). It's already completed, and waiting with Welbo for a brief look-over. I've also brainstormed a list of over a dozen more (that's usually the hard part). These new charts/tables will not be specifically sandbox-oriented. In fact, a few would be more at home in the d30DMC (e.g., a Dungeon Doors table that goes well beyond the small one in the upper right corner of p. 8 of the d30DMC, including specifics regarding style, size, thickness, modifiers to attempts to open, etc. - or that's the plan). That does not mean there's plans for an expanded version of either, or a new one entirely. I'm just going to keep developing new downloads, and see what shakes out.

Beginning this Wednesday, it's back to new creature business-as-usual.
I'm also trying to get back on schedule with my monster of the week posts. I've come up with a few really fun, and really "old-school" style creatures that are almost as goofy as they are cool (e.g., the snatcher serpent, and the stinking pile), but my attention has been so focused on the release of the d30SBC and the playtesting of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, that I've let this lapse.

There's always more going on.
But for now, mention of those things here will remain unspoken.

Free PDF Download... Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack

Since I've had a couple of requests for alternate ratios for the Hex Crawl Worksheets from the d30 Sandbox Companion, I've put together a free d30 Sandbox supplement - Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack. It's got the Hex Crawl Worksheet in 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1 ratios (4:1 is the ratio that's been on my free download page for quite some time, 5:1 is the old Judges Guild Standard, and 6:1 is what appears in the final d30 SBC). There are also geomorph-style blank hex mapping pages (which, should you choose to do so, could be printed, cut out, and "pieced" together).

Download the Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack PDF for FREE from RPGNow.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I could never have asked for such an overwhelming reception to the d30 Sandbox Companion. I am truly blown away by everyone's response. If you'd asked me a week ago if I thought I'd be the #1 download at RPGNow for entire week, I'd have told you I would feel lucky just to break the top 20. And if you'd asked me if I thought I thought it would garner six 5-star ratings, I'd have told you, "I'm very proud of the way the book turned out, I (with Welbo's assistance) spent a lot of time making sure the book provided a lot of great DM tools (without fluff), and I hope that everybody gets some use out of it."

I have no doubt that the sales over the last few days are due in no small part to Erik Tenkar's coverage on his blog. With nearly 8,500 people in his Google+ circles, and with his blog posts being reposted by a lot of different OSR RPG web content aggregators, his review on Friday (along with a giveaway of PDF copies), it really helped spread the word.

BTW, congrats to Brutorz Bill, Fred Bednarski and DacholaEtecoon, who won the free copies via Erik's blog. Also, a note to Moe and Robert (winners of my goods from Erik's 12 Days of OSR Christmas Giveaway), I have been delayed in getting print items out to you, so I've emailed you free PDFs of the d30 Sandbox Companion, and hope to get your various print items in the mail this afternoon.

From the newest reviews at RPGNow.

"Best $4.95 an Old School DM could spend in 2014 on gaming."
-erik f. t. t. (a.k.a. Erik Tenkar) (★★★★★)

"I'm a big fan of New Big Dragon products and this one is my favorite. I'm creating a campaign and the D30 Sandbox companion is now on top of a small pile of books I'm using to aid me in building a world. It's concise, so you won't get lost in hundreds of pages trying to find a chart you want to use. It's useful, there is something in here to develop various parts of your campaign. I highly recommend the D30 Sandbox Companion, especially if you are into building your own worlds."
-Tim S. (I'm assuming this is Tim Shorts; if it's a different Tim S., thank you!) (★★★★★)

And print buyers, don't think I'm leaving you out. Not only have you put the d30 Sandbox Companion print edition at #2 in their Top 10 for the week in the gaming section, the d30 DM Companion print edition is #9. I don't think the d30 DM Companion cracked the top 10 when it was initially released!

For all those that purchased print copies and emailed me for PDFs:
If you haven't seen an RPGNow email with the link to your PDF copy, check your spam folders. There's a handful of copies that have not been redeemed yet. If you still don't see an email from RPGNow, email me again and I'll see if I can resolve.

---

Get the d30 Sandbox Companion in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95), and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95). These introductory prices will only be good until January 30, 2014.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

Thanks for making the d30 Sandbox Companion #1 at RPGNow for the 5th day in a row!!!

I am humbled by it's reception, and the three 5-star reviews it's garnered.

"... virtually essential for anyone wanting to create a fantasy world (irrespective for the most part of rule system) who would like to take some of the donkey-work out of it."
-Megan R. (★★★★★)

"Tables of infinite inspiration! Either handpick or randomize the results from these tables to run great sessions with zero preparation! Or use this as a writing aid to create complex, multidimensional adventures, and even use it to develop entire campaign settings! Supplied here is more than enough for DMs to pick from so you can emphasize the details important to you and your group.

I strongly suggest using this along with New Big Dragon's other accessory, the d30 DM Companion. This set is one of the best DM resources I have ever seen!"
-Jeffrey K. (★★★★★)

Get the d30 Sandbox Companion in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95), and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95). These introductory prices will only be good until January 30, 2014.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

2013: A Look Back

For nearly a month now, I have actually been planning a 2013 retrospective post for today. I guess we all find ourselves at that same place, given the number of similar posts I've seen over the last few days. Following are some of the highlights of my blogging year 2013.

Just a disclaimer: although below you'll see me talk about some products I released, one thing on which I've learned not to concentrate is sales and downloads. If they happen, I'm happy and gracious they do. And being in a creative field (graphic design by trade), my skin thickened to a natural (descending) AC of 0 some twenty or so years ago, so bad reviews or lack of interest don't phase me... much.

d30 Sandbox Companion
Of all the things I've done in the past year, the thing I'm easily most proud of is the d30 Sandbox Companion. In fact, it may be the thing of which I'm most proud since launching this blog. But I have to give props where props are due. I can 100% most assuredly say that if it weren't for Welbo's assistance, this might not have happened. If you can find a statistics-savvy, obsessive compulsive editor, I highly recommend it. It might mean things take a little longer to get done, but it also means you can feel safe that you've thoroughly thought through the end-user experience and how 30-sided math backs that up, not to mention editing content so that my sometimes semi-Gygaxian prose actually makes sense. I also have to thank all of you for this...



I can disclaim all I want about the numbers not being important to me, but... damn, that makes me feel good (no pun intended about the #2 listing in the image above).

Valley of the Five Fires
I'd like to think that everything I do is a passion project, but Valley of the Five Fires was almost more of an obsession project. I started back in 2012 with a couple of Mongol-inspired monsters for William Dowie's Mongol-themed adventure contest, and before I knew it, I was creating a Mongol-inspired sandbox setting complete with new armor, weapons information, a bunch of new monsters, pre-gen NPCs, background info on the region, and a bunch of smaller, self-contained adventures. This was really one of those things that just got out of hand very quickly and, like a painter and his painting, I just sort of had to see it to its end. I'm also extremely proud of this, even though I realize that anything that steps outside of the Tolkien-esque world of most RPGs is not everyone's cup of tea.

The Ogress of Anubis
I'll be honest. I really don't remember how the hell this thing started. I got back from the North Texas RPG Con revved up from the experience, and was waiting on proof print copies of Valley of the Five Fires, and just sort of banged this out. I ran a quick playtest session, made some tweaks, and released it. Imagine my surprise when I saw a post on the RPG.net forums listing Ogress of Anubis as one of his favorite 3 OSR adventures/modules. I've put some preliminary work together on a continuation adventure tentatively titled Viziers of the Shadow City, but I'm guessing it will be 2015 before it sees print (though I imagine it will see some tableplay late in 2014).

And so on...
This wasn't everything, of course. I published my first zine (albeit digital only), I put out a whole bunch of new monsters, and I continued my goal of featuring artists from the golden age of illustration. Not to mention, at the North Texas RPG Con, I got to play in a test for Michael Curtis's RPG Shiverwhen, and I survived (and got killed) by James Ward.

I've also got a bunch of stuff planned for 2014. But if you want to find out about those, you'll have to wait for tomorrow's post.

d30 Sandbox Companion Now Available in Print & PDF

Yes, Virginia, there is a d30 Sandbox Companion, and it is available now (December 30, 2013)
in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95),
and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95).

The special pricing above will
be good until January 30th, 2014.

If you buy a print copy,
send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com
and I'll send you a free PDF copy
(via RPGNow).

The final came in at 52 pages,
and below you'll find the complete
Table of Contents.

Using This Book Wilderness Mapping Key Hex Crawl Worksheet Settlement Worksheet NPC Record Sheet ADVENTURE GENERATOR Adventure Generator Tables I Adventure Generator Tables II WILDERNESS LOCATIONs & LOCALES Prevailing Weather Conditions (by Season, Climate, and Terrain) Weather Events (by Precipitation Class) Off-course Determination Foraging & Hunting (by Terrain & Season) Natural Features & Phenomena (by Terrain Type) Natural Features & Phenomena Definitions Settlements & Inhabitation by Population Density Ruins Generator Temple Generator Cult Generator Magical Places Generator Pilgrims Generator Road Encounters Castle/Keep/Stronghold Generator I: Owner and Patrol Size/Makeup Castle/Keep/Stronghold Generator II: Type, Size, and Construction Heraldry Generator Expanded Heraldry Charges/Sigils

SETTLEMENTS Settlement Background Assorted Settlement Encounters City Guards, City Watch, Border Patrols Methods of Torture & Execution Settlement Suppliers by Size of Settlement Shop & Shopkeeper Information Tavern Name Generator Tavern Accommodations, Features, Reputation, and Food NPCs Classed NPCs: Class, Race, Sex, and Level Determination Classed NPCs: Quick Ability Score Generation Classed NPCs: Quick Character Inventory Classed NPCs: Quick Magic Item Determination NPC Occupations Nobles and Noble Household Personnel Sage Generator NPC Physical Traits NPC Persona & Behavior NPC Background, Eccentricities, and Talents NPC Language Determination Henchmen/Hirelings Recruitment Reactions to Offers of Employment Henchmen/Hirelings Recruitment Modifiers Retainer Loyalty Index

New d30 Sandbox Companion Back Cover Image

To replace the original front cover that moved to the back cover when I did the new front cover.

So close...

The weather charts and hireling/henchmen pages have been rewritten/reworked and the index (below) has been completed. (BTW, rewriting one small paragraph on the weather page took about an hour!) All that's left now are a few illustrations, the back cover copy, a round of spellchecking, and a round of proofreading.

d30 Sandbox Intro Finally Done!

Let me just say, I don't remember the last time I worked on something that required so much work and produced so few pages. But, especially thanks to Welbo, the introduction for the d30 Sandbox Companion is done!!! Really, I cannot impress upon you the amount of work the two of us put into crafting the pages you see below. We wrote, re-wrote, and re-wrote some more. We wanted to put as much information as possible, but at the same time, only that information which was truly necessary. It also meant tweaking pagination, as well as individual items (e.g., we made some updates to the Hex Crawl Worksheet to make it more scale-neutral, and the NPC Record Sheet to make it more system-neutral).

If all goes well, we'll finish up the individual page headers over the next week or so, then start to put the final polish on (e.g., there's a couple of illustrations I have left to complete).

It's so close to being done, I can taste it!
(Want to know what it tastes like? Then, click here to see what the tavern is serving.)

d30 Sandbox Final Stretch + Other Goings On/Updates

So first, an answer to the questions, "Why haven't you been posting much lately?" and "What the hell is up with the d30 Sandbox Companion?" My client workload has been the major culprit in eating/sucking my free time. But I've also been working on a lot of things in the background, without constantly posting about them or pulling snips from them to talk about.

d30 Sandbox Companion
I've finished up the drafts of the final 2 items for the book... the Wilderness Mapping Key (below) and the "How to Use this Book" section (which covers the pages in the book for the Hex Crawl Worksheet, Settlement Worksheet, and NPC Record Sheet.) That just leaves Welbo and I to finish proofing/editing. (BTW, it looks like there may 2 blank pages in the book, so I might have to develop a couple of new items to go here -- possibly other worksheets of some sort.)

Other Goings On
I have not been slacking in my blogging absence:

I have finished the writing on issue #2 of the Dragon Horde Zine. I just need to run a couple of playtest sessions for the adventure. Be on the lookout this week for a more complete update... including the possibility of offering #2 IN PRINT!!! (As well as the possibility of doing print back issues of #1.)

I've created a microgame based on my module Valley of the Five Fires. Again, just need to run a playtest or two of this internally before recruiting a few playtesters and sending them copies (counters/chits and all!) Again, stay tuned for information.

And, finally, I've started work on a "Golem Index," similar to my other Monster Indexes. Hope to have this posted next week.

Now here's a peek at the Wilderness Key from the d30 Sandbox Companion.

d30 Sandbox Companion Update/The Value of Editing

First off, an apology... I have been slammed with work lately and neglected my d30-ly duties (I have three clients all in their major push time for the year, but that is starting to slow down).

Second up, a vow... I am forsaking all other gaming-related diversions for the next couple of weeks while I hunker down on trying to finish up the d30 Sandbox Companion.

Thirdly a HUGE shout-out to my right-hand man Welbo. He's the guy that looks at everything I write and gives me that outsider view, and helps to make things more usable/playable/understandable. A few of you got the chance to meet him at the NTRPGCon (he too survived James Ward on that legendary Saturday morning!)

The d30 DM Companion would not be what it is without him, and the same goes for the d30 Sandbox Companion. For example, check out the before and after images for the Weather generator pages (at bottom of post).

With Welbo's first round of major edits under my belt, I've got my sights set on the final few things that need to happen: 1) a good proof of copy/content, including page references, 2) finishing the Master Wilderness Mapping Key, 3) writing the intro/how-to-use-this-book pages, and 4) creating the index. It's all asses and elbows from here! That's my vow!

On the left = "before" with instructions all over the place;
on the right = "after", with numbered steps and instructions on the left where they should be.

d30 Sandbox Companion Pagination

I know I recently reported that I'm on the final leg of the work on the d30 Sandbox Companion. More importantly, now that I know what everything in the book will be, and WHERE it will be, I have a final pagination ready! There's a bit of intro writing, a bit of table refining, and a good amount of proofing to be done, but we're close.

So without further ado, I present the final list of pages & content for the d30 Sandbox Companion.

1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3-5. Using this Book
6. Wilderness Mapping Key
7. Hex Crawl Worksheet
8. Settlement Worksheet
9. NPC Record Sheet
10. Adventure Generator Tables I
11. Adventure Generator Tables II
12. Hex Terrain Generator
13. Natural Features & Phenomena by Terrain Typ3
14. Prevailing Weather Conditions by Season, Climate & Terrain
15. Weather Events by Precipitation Class
16. Off-course Determination
17. Foraging & Hunting by Terrain & Season
18. Inhabitation Determination by Terrain Type & Population Density
19. Ruins Generator
20. Temple Generator
21. Cult Generator
22. Magical Places Generator
23. Pilgrims Generator
24-25. Road Encounters
26. Castle/Stronghold Generator I: Resident/Owner and Patrol Size/Makeup
27. Castle/Keep/Stronghold Generator II: Stronghold Construction, Type, and Size
28. Heraldry Generator
29. Expanded Heraldry Charges/Sigils
30. Settlement Background
31. Miscellaneous Settlement Encounters
32. City Guards, City Watch, Border Patrols
33. Methods of Torture & Execution
34. Settlement Suppliers by Size of Settlement
35. Settlement Shop Stocker
36. Tavern Name Generator
37. Tavern Accommodations, Features, Reputation, and Food
38. Classed NPCs: Class, Race, Sex, & Level Determination
39. Classed NPCs: Quick Attribute Generation
40. Classed NPCs: Quick Character Inventory
41. Classed NPCs: Quick Magic Item Determination
42. Freeman NPC Occupations
43. Nobles and Noble Household Personnel
44-45. Sage Generator
46. NPC Physical Traits
47. NPC Persona & Behavior
48. NPC Background, Eccentricities, and Talents
49. Language Determination and Languages Spoken Crib Sheet
50-51. Henchmen/Hirelings Recruitment
52. Index & Open Game License