Layout is well underway, and Jettila has completed spot art to fill in a couple of spaces in the pages. Here's some previews! There may be missing art and placeholder typefaces, but it gives you the jist:-)
A spread from The Cut & Die surgical clinic
Sample Spread from the Slickworld
Map Design
I think I've probably said "I'm still working on maps!" in at least a couple of these updates, and well- I'm STILL working on maps. I wanted to talk a little about how I think about maps as I make them. When possible I've been trying to reference real-world architecture while drawing. When sketching out a map for a surgical suite I read about hospital layouts and referred to my own hospital visits (nothing serious), and tried to incorporate architectural designs which allow patients to be smoothly guided through reception, surgical prep, surgery, and recovery without inadvertently wandering into staff areas.
For one of the last maps I'm including a small set of prison cells, but researching prison design is not quite as straightforward as hospitals, bars and clinics. Contemporary prison designs are not something that's widely publicized. Older blueprints from centuries past are readily accessible, but contemporary resources are (reasonably) elusive. Instead search for "fundamentals of prison architecture" and you'll find "Jail Design Guide Third Edition" from the National Institute of Corrections, and The National Sheriff's Association Handbook on Jail Architecture.
National Sheriff's Association Handbook on Jail Architecture.
While these resources don't share blueprints per se, they contain a wealth of other inspiration for dungeon design. Some guidelines I never would have considered otherwise: how to position a control room to look directly into every cell, the relationships between staff and prisoner accessible areas, and the flow between rooms designed for intake, holding, control, staff use and release.
Security orientation
How does this effect gameplay? I... don't know! I enjoy tightly streamlined dungeon playgrounds, but I also get a lot of pleasure out of seeing functional architectural elements that don't explicitly serve a dungeon, but DO serve the day to day existence of the NPC's. I don't know that utility closets, staff breakrooms, bathrooms and reception area couches objectively make a dungeon better- but if crew are sneaking around and want to make a quick hide-away I think it's great that there's a janitor's closet near the warehouse, or a staff locker room.
Residential security design
I haven't keyed in the minutia of each room, but leave it to the Warden to imagine that the locker room may have uniforms to use as disguises and a fridge with lunches to steal. No where is it written that a skyscraper's architectural pillars could stop bullets, but I've built a map around those pillars anyways- some rooms have them and some don't.
Does the module benefit from 4 layers of secrity in this little holding area that gets just a couple lines of text description? I don't know, but there it is!
Until next time crew!
I've finally finished my cross collaboration trifold: Red Line Rush. When you eventually get your hands on All On Red you'll find that Red Line slots right into the district with shared locations in each adventure.
Red Line Rush is a tight little adventure unfolding on a packed metro train. Crew play as a team of gig-economy medics racing to keep a critical patient alive long enough to reach the clinic. Fight against time, terrified commuters, overbearing managers, and a raging parasitic infection. It's got 5 NPC's and D20 streamlined encounters with fellow passengers, plus a nifty little train map, and a nasty little alien monster. It's gross, you'll hate it.
Inside you'll find a couple PDF's- one labeled "digital high quality" and another "press ready." Use press ready if you want to print yourself a copy, and use digital high quality for screen viewing.
As a cross collaboration with All On Red by Glue Trap Games each team made a small tie-in adventure for one another's Mothership Month projects. When we first started brain storming we settled on making a pair of tri-fold pamphlets. I'm still pugging away on mine- a tight quarters pressure cooker called "Red Line Rush." In the meantime Glue Trap Games not only finished their tie in, but ditched the trifold and expanded the scope to make a TWELVE page adventure set in a single derelict company tower in the Sink.
I'm still actually figuring out the best way to share this with backers, but in the meantime, here's a quick preview!
It's easily 5 times the size of my little pamphet!
Production work on The Conduit continues- we're focusing on art and maps right now. The Conduit adventure is roughly broken into 5 major locations: a secret clone lab, surgical office, nonprofit clinic, a bar, and a surreal virtual slickworld. This month we focused on art for the secret lab, and I wanted to share a couple of Jettila Lewis's pieces of final art from this area.
Fresh from the Gestation Carousel, new clones get imprinted with a mix of skills and memories. Final art by Jettila Lewis.
Do you recognize any visual elements in this piece from Jettila's concept art in "The Conduit Update 2" last month? Final art by Jettila Lewis.
In the meantime on the map front, I'm laying out the rooms in the non-profit clinic and surgical office. These past couple of weeks I've been sketching out maps and researching hospital floor plans during free time at my day job, then drawing final art on the PC at home.
My initial sketches for the Cut & Die cybersurgery, and the Nurolife donor clinic. I *may* have stolen some printer paper from work for this...
The Donor intake, donation floor, and O2 distribution for the Nurolife clinic in the Sink. Still in-progress:-)
If I can remember, I'll post more maps and more final art in our next update.
A belated happy new year to you all, and thanks for bearing with me with the delayed update of The Conduit. Jettila Lewis and I have been meeting regularly fleshing out more concept art for NPC characters in the laboratory level. This adventure is heavy on medical settings so we're looking for fun ways to visually differentiate a cybersurgery VS a donation clinic VS a secret clone lab.
A full spread scan straight from Jettila's sketchbook of characters and equipment from an illicit clone lab in the Sink.
Every secret lab needs a capable private security force. Here Jettila's made a rough sketch of mercs in the lab airlock swapping betwteen guard duty and an undercover Sink supply run.
In terms of the timeline we are in the final stages of editing before getting underway with layout. While this update only shares concept art, the finished color artwork is underway, and I hope to shared a little of that later on:-) This is my first time working with another person for layout. I'm excited to hopefully talk more about layout work with Courtney in one of our subsequent updates.
That's a wrap for now, we are all excited to share this adventure with you!
In the month since funding we've been working on setting a production schedule and budget for The Conduit. While the module is written, developmental editing, playtesting, and a final pass still remain before we can move the manuscript to Curious Friend for layout. Jettila Lewis and I live in the same Chicago neighborhood and have been meeting weekly for coffee to talk about characters and inspirations. The Conduit is just one of many commissions she's working on, and we're setting up manageable milestones and a payment schedule to keep production moving without overbooking her time.
Meanwhile we're getting quotes for printing costs from competing printers, patches, and shipping options to TKG's distributor. In some cases this is as simple as just filling out online forms, but some quotes involve emailing printers directly.
All of this helps us estimate what we can afford to pay for art, and helps Jettila and I set a reasonable scope for her work. We're both making TTRPG's just for the joy of the hobby, but figuring out these limits helps keep us from committing to more than we can handle.
In the meantime- here's a behind the scenes look at some of Jettila's earliest concept art from this summer. These illustrations will never make it into the final project, but show some of her initial prototyping for character looks and locations.
Sunnyside
This cybernetic body builder's bar illuminated with natural starlight cascading through massive prisms. Sunny is the owner and operator but rumor has it their bar is just the front for a smuggling operation under the noses of the Novos.
My initial feedback on the art was just that the bar itself was a little too spacious. Luxury on Prospero's Dream is measured not just in O2 and creds, but in square meters. The poorer you are, the more comfortable you learn to get with a lack of elbow room. In a seedy smuggling front the only thing closer than smell of liquor and cybernetic machine oil is the quarters.
Layout is well underway, and Jettila has completed spot art to fill in a couple of spaces in the pages. Here's some previews! There may be missing art and placeholder typefaces, but it gives you the jist:-)
A spread from The Cut & Die surgical clinic
Sample Spread from the Slickworld
Map Design
I think I've probably said "I'm still working on maps!" in at least a couple of these updates, and well- I'm STILL working on maps. I wanted to talk a little about how I think about maps as I make them. When possible I've been trying to reference real-world architecture while drawing. When sketching out a map for a surgical suite I read about hospital layouts and referred to my own hospital visits (nothing serious), and tried to incorporate architectural designs which allow patients to be smoothly guided through reception, surgical prep, surgery, and recovery without inadvertently wandering into staff areas.
For one of the last maps I'm including a small set of prison cells, but researching prison design is not quite as straightforward as hospitals, bars and clinics. Contemporary prison designs are not something that's widely publicized. Older blueprints from centuries past are readily accessible, but contemporary resources are (reasonably) elusive. Instead search for "fundamentals of prison architecture" and you'll find "Jail Design Guide Third Edition" from the National Institute of Corrections, and The National Sheriff's Association Handbook on Jail Architecture.
National Sheriff's Association Handbook on Jail Architecture.
While these resources don't share blueprints per se, they contain a wealth of other inspiration for dungeon design. Some guidelines I never would have considered otherwise: how to position a control room to look directly into every cell, the relationships between staff and prisoner accessible areas, and the flow between rooms designed for intake, holding, control, staff use and release.
Security orientation
How does this effect gameplay? I... don't know! I enjoy tightly streamlined dungeon playgrounds, but I also get a lot of pleasure out of seeing functional architectural elements that don't explicitly serve a dungeon, but DO serve the day to day existence of the NPC's. I don't know that utility closets, staff breakrooms, bathrooms and reception area couches objectively make a dungeon better- but if crew are sneaking around and want to make a quick hide-away I think it's great that there's a janitor's closet near the warehouse, or a staff locker room.
Residential security design
I haven't keyed in the minutia of each room, but leave it to the Warden to imagine that the locker room may have uniforms to use as disguises and a fridge with lunches to steal. No where is it written that a skyscraper's architectural pillars could stop bullets, but I've built a map around those pillars anyways- some rooms have them and some don't.
Does the module benefit from 4 layers of secrity in this little holding area that gets just a couple lines of text description? I don't know, but there it is!
Until next time crew!
I've finally finished my cross collaboration trifold: Red Line Rush. When you eventually get your hands on All On Red you'll find that Red Line slots right into the district with shared locations in each adventure.
Red Line Rush is a tight little adventure unfolding on a packed metro train. Crew play as a team of gig-economy medics racing to keep a critical patient alive long enough to reach the clinic. Fight against time, terrified commuters, overbearing managers, and a raging parasitic infection. It's got 5 NPC's and D20 streamlined encounters with fellow passengers, plus a nifty little train map, and a nasty little alien monster. It's gross, you'll hate it.
Inside you'll find a couple PDF's- one labeled "digital high quality" and another "press ready." Use press ready if you want to print yourself a copy, and use digital high quality for screen viewing.
As a cross collaboration with All On Red by Glue Trap Games each team made a small tie-in adventure for one another's Mothership Month projects. When we first started brain storming we settled on making a pair of tri-fold pamphlets. I'm still pugging away on mine- a tight quarters pressure cooker called "Red Line Rush." In the meantime Glue Trap Games not only finished their tie in, but ditched the trifold and expanded the scope to make a TWELVE page adventure set in a single derelict company tower in the Sink.
I'm still actually figuring out the best way to share this with backers, but in the meantime, here's a quick preview!
It's easily 5 times the size of my little pamphet!
Production work on The Conduit continues- we're focusing on art and maps right now. The Conduit adventure is roughly broken into 5 major locations: a secret clone lab, surgical office, nonprofit clinic, a bar, and a surreal virtual slickworld. This month we focused on art for the secret lab, and I wanted to share a couple of Jettila Lewis's pieces of final art from this area.
Fresh from the Gestation Carousel, new clones get imprinted with a mix of skills and memories. Final art by Jettila Lewis.
Do you recognize any visual elements in this piece from Jettila's concept art in "The Conduit Update 2" last month? Final art by Jettila Lewis.
In the meantime on the map front, I'm laying out the rooms in the non-profit clinic and surgical office. These past couple of weeks I've been sketching out maps and researching hospital floor plans during free time at my day job, then drawing final art on the PC at home.
My initial sketches for the Cut & Die cybersurgery, and the Nurolife donor clinic. I *may* have stolen some printer paper from work for this...
The Donor intake, donation floor, and O2 distribution for the Nurolife clinic in the Sink. Still in-progress:-)
If I can remember, I'll post more maps and more final art in our next update.
