The Book of Unlife

[Shadekeep]

My first planned supplement for the TFT Creator's License is getting into shape. It's a combined illustrated guidebook to unliving entities, new spells and religious rites involving the unliving, and an adventure module set in and around a haunted manor house and the adjacent farms.

I wanted to see if anyone is interesting in helping review it. I could use both editorial checking, such as spotting typos and places where the language isn't clear, and playtesting, to see if the new entities and spells and such are balanced and fun.

I'm hoping to wrap up the last maps in the adventure module this weekend and after that I will be able to share the rough book with those who are willing to help out. Please PM me or reply here if you are interested. Thanks!

[larsdangly]

Sounds great; I'll definitely help. I have parsed my house rules spells, items and critters into bite-sized 'Tomes' that are broadly similar to what you describe (in fact there is even one on necromantic magic that might complement what you are doing). I'm not ready to distribute them yet, but probably will start in about a month.

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Sounds great; I'll definitely help. I have parsed my house rules spells, items and critters into bite-sized 'Tomes' that are broadly similar to what you describe (in fact there is even one on necromantic magic that might complement what you are doing). I'm not ready to distribute them yet, but probably will start in about a month.

Much ta! I'm looking forward to seeing what folks will be coming up with. I've begun outlining my second book as well, The Book of Strange Beings, so that I can get it to my illustrator later this year. It will include the speciation and titan slime stuff I posted here, plus more content and an adventure module. My plan is that every "guidebook" kind of supplement will have an included adventure that utilises some of the new material.

[larsdangly]

One thing I'm struggling with is how to approach layout and illustration. Basically, I'm too lazy/busy to organize a professional artist, so I'll likely end up doing whatever I can manage using freely distributable images I can grab online. Any advice?

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

One thing I'm struggling with is how to approach layout and illustration. Basically, I'm too lazy/busy to organize a professional artist, so I'll likely end up doing whatever I can manage using freely distributable images I can grab online. Any advice?

I can probably give some layout tips when you're ready to share your draft. I do book design work on the side, and for some reason I seem to do better work for others than I do for myself.

As for illustration, I'm hiring a couple of illustrators I know. One did the Unlife book (she still has the cover to do), and her sister is on the slate for the Strange Beings book. Honestly I doubt my books will ever sell enough to make back what I paid them, so hiring illustrators is a tricky business. For free resources I recommend starting with a web search and Wikimedia Commons. Be very careful though, a lot of sites are shady and just post stuff they've grabbed from elsewhere as "free". I've found my own (copyrighted) artwork on such sites before.

[larsdangly]

My (loose) understanding is that digital reproductions of super old art, like Durer drawings, is free to use as you please. Is that true? I really don't need much for any one of my supplements, as I'm organizing them into ~5-10 page, punchy things, each centered on a very focused theme. So, 2-3 pieces to break up the wall of text is all I need for any one of these things.

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

My (loose) understanding is that digital reproductions of super old art, like Durer drawings, is free to use as you please. Is that true? I really don't need much for any one of my supplements, as I'm organizing them into ~5-10 page, punchy things, each centered on a very focused theme. So, 2-3 pieces to break up the wall of text is all I need for any one of these things.

The art itself is public domain, yes. There are some instances where the reproduction might be under copyright, such as professional photo of the Mona Lisa or some such, but otherwise you should be in the clear.

Dover Publications has for ages made bank on printing books of just such art, and they can be a decent resource. They use to put a cap on how much from each book you can use in a project, which is mostly just to keep people from reproducing the books whole cloth. Not sure what their policy is now in the wild frontier digital age. Anyway, check them out for art on a budget, they have tons of great old medieval woodcuts and fantasy engravings.

[Shadekeep]

In the hopes of maybe getting a few more people interested in providing feedback, you can grab the most recent Table Of Contents from the book here:

http://shadekeep.com/files/The_Book_of_Unlife-TOC.pdf

If anyone has suggestions of where else to find playtesters, it would be much appreciated.

[Skarg]

Surprisingly, that worked on me. I'd be willing to proof and do some limited playtesting.

Other placed I'd try would include the braniac TFT email list, and the TFT Discord server, and the various old-school players who have fled or been banished from here.

[hcobb]

Feel free to use my way of creating a litch.

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/house_rules.html#Creatures