announcements

D&D Drums in the Marsh Fantasy Grounds and Map Pack Now Available

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Over at the DMs Guild, I've updated my D&D Adventurers League adventure DDEX1-07 Drums in the Marsh (Tyranny of Dragons) to include complete files for use with the Fantasy Grounds 2 virtual tabletop. Since the VTT environment works better with more maps, I've included three new encounter maps and redrew the existing encounter map. The new maps are based on my sketches for some maps originally submitted with the adventure, but not included in the final version that was released. They aren't required to run the game, but they can help.

Thanks to Fantasy Grounds for the opportunity to create these files. It was easier than I expected once I got the hang of it. I plan to make use of this for some future DMs Guild works. 

For those who play at the tabletop or on other VTT products like Roll20.net, I also released a separate Drums in the Marsh Map Pack. 

The pack includes:

  • Separate DM and player versions. 
  • Print versions for use as handouts at the table.
  • JPG files for use with virtual tabletop programs. (These maps are already integrated into the Fantasy Grounds version of the DDEX1-7 adventure file.) The maps include guides to aid in setting up grids in some VTT software. The VTT version of each map includes a players map without grids, a players map with grids, and a DMs map with notes and no grids.
  • Note: Due to the large size of the encounter areas, this pack does not include files suitable for printing at 1" miniature scale. 

The areas included are: 

  • Farm area map (new map).
  • Twilight Marsh encounter areas (2 new maps).
  • Redrawn final encounter map.

 

Star Wars Force and Destiny Ghosts of Dathomir Announced

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Today, Fantasy Flight Games announced Ghosts of Dathomir, a new adventure for Star Wars Force and Destiny, arriving in the first quarter of 2017. I had a fantastic time writing this adventure and look forward to the everyone getting a chance to play next year. In the meantime, the first preview went up today over at FFG. The art is fantastic, once again.  As always, that's about all I can say at this time....

MidAmeriCon II / Worldcon 74 - Panel & Games

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This year, the 74th annual World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) is being held in Kansas City as MidAmeriCon II, August 17-21, 2016. Among the events, such as the noted Hugo awards, is Star Wars Day. The original MidAmeriCon hosted Worldcon in 1976, and featured a promotional panel of an upcoming sci-fi movie called Star Wars. Mark Hamill, Charles Lippincott and producer Gary Kurtz attended. This year's convention is welcoming back Lippincott and Kurtz for a return visit, along with novelist Alan Dean Foster.

There will be a number of other events for Star Wars Day. I will be part of the Star Wars Tie In panel, discussing novels, games, and other elements beyond the movies. Stephen Saffel (past Del Rey editorial director for the Essential Guides, etc.) will be the moderator, and the other panelists are Kevin J Anderson (Jedi Academy Trilogy, etc.), Rebecca Moesta (Young Jedi Knights series), and William Dietz (Dark Forces trilogy).

I will also be running Star Wars RPG games and demos. The demos will feature the just-released Star Wars the Force Awakens Beginner Game RPG. The full 4-hour games will feature the main RPG lines. I am also running one session of Dungeons & Dragons (5e).

My full schedule is here.

Sign up for games ahead of time on Warhorn. My events are not yet listed, but hopefully will appear soon. My games are listed on my full schedule (link above).

Now available: DM Combat Tabs on Dungeon Masters Guild

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DM Combat Tabs is my new product now available at the Dungeon Masters Guild.  

Track initiative, conditions, and more on any DM screen.

The kit includes 37 tab types:

  • Player Character, Monster (2 types), NPC, Ally, Your Turn
  • Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Frightened, Grappled, Incapacitated, Invisible, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Stunned, Turned, Unconscious
  • Death Save (Fail), Death Save (Success), Stable, Dead
  • Concentration, Inspiration, Reaction Used, Ready Action, Other
  • Lair Action Active, Legend Used, Recharge
  • Advantage, Disadvantage, Spell Effect, Roll to End Effect
  • "More Problems" tab extension for those unfortunate monsters suffering many effects at once.

DM side.

Fill the PC and Monster tabs out by hand after printing, or use the PDF form fillable options before printing. Forms can be saved for reuse.

Customize tabs for your game. Do you want to track different conditions, spell effects, or other information not provided in the kit? Do you run the same adventure often and want to create tabs for the specific monsters used? Use the customizable tabs to add your own text to the front and/or back of the tabs. Add images to the front of the PC and Monster tabs.

5 fully customizable tab types:

An example of a customized tab page.

  • Player Character (Front and back: character name, class, level, race, faction, player Name. Front only: image. Back only: AC, HP, Passive Perception, Vision type and distance)
  • Monster (2 types)/NPC/Ally, (Front and back: Name. Front only: Image. Back only: AC, HP, minimal notes)
  • Condition tabs: Long and short.

Tabletop Tab Rack.

Keep organized and find the right tab quickly during the game using one of two rack types:
DM Screen Tab Rack: This pair of racks hangs right on the DM's screen to minimize loss of table space. It works with the official standard D&D screens or most any other screen type.
Tabletop Tab Rack: A simpler rack folded into a sawtooth shape to hold the tabs. It sits on the table top. 

Storage options: Assemble the included custom box to store the DM Screen Tab Racks with the tabs still in place. Other storage suggestions are also included.

DM Screen Tab Racks and Storage Box.

Also use on table tents and minis.

Printing on cardstock is highly recommended, but thick or regular paper can be used. Cutting and folding is required to use the tabs and the racks. Assembly of the optional storage box requires glue or tape.

Formatted for US letter sized paper. 

Player side view.

DM side view

Storage box.

Sterlinghershey.com Upgrade

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Welcome to the upgraded sterlinghershey.com. I finally foundsome time to switch to a more modern interface and update a few pages that were lagging behind or not all that visible on the old site. It looks like everything made the conversion without too many issues. I know there are a few missing images that I need to replace, along with all of the PDF file links (I think). Some of the lesser pages aren't live yet - like the Star Wars Miniatures scenarios list - because they need some more work.

I used the last format (squarespace v5) since 2009. This new one is v7 and much more mobile friendly. It has behind the scenes tech that makes it easier for me to keep some things updated. I've stuck to largely the same page names and types as the old version, so hopefully links back to the site won't break too often.

Here are some notable changes:

  • The front page features images of my latest and/or representative products of my freelancing work instead of going directly to the blog. If you want to skip the front page, you'll need to link your favorites/bookmarks directly to the blog page.
  • The blog page has three drop down menus on the right column, allowing one to search by category, tag, or month/date. I will eventually try to clean up the categories and tags a bit.
  • Freelance now features a couple of carousel galleries featuring my product covers and cartography projects.
  • The store is now the storefront. One of the reasons I made the switch was to improve this page and make it easier to manage. It's better, though not quite spot on. To buy items you'll need to use the "Buy at" links under the images. I call it a storefront because all of the actual purchases are at other sites. Only digital products are in the storefront. I don't currently have links to buy the physical products.
  • The cartography portfolio is easier to find and finally updated to include some of my work with the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether products.
  • The cover gallery is easier to find and is updated for a lot of recent work, as well as a few covers I didn't track down previously.

DMs Guild: Uncommoners Now Available

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My latest DungeonMastersGuild.com product is now available for Dungeons and Dragons (5e). 

Uncommoners is a collection of 10 new backgrounds for characters starting their adventuring careers from commoner roles and unusual jobs. These backgrounds are suitable for most characters, particularly those starting in villages, settlements, or cities. Some characters may continue to use their backgrounds while adventuring, while others have moved on to greater things.

Uncommoners includes the following backgrounds, complete with features, personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws.

Apothecary
Boat Handler
Butler
Falconer
Lamplighter
Master Builder (Apprentice Builder)
Messenger
Sexton
Shipwright
Town Crier
Each background has flavorful story ideas to spur creativity for players and DMs alike. For example, the Falconer includes advice for using a trained bird in the game. The Butler features a table of reasons for their loss of employment that likely spurring them to a life of adventuring. Many backgrounds include possible ties to individuals at different levels of society. The Lamplighter is an expert on life taking place on the city streets at all hours. The Boat Handler knows vessels and waterways. The Sexton tends a religious site or building, often with a graveyard, and possibly one that requires extra precautions due to restless spirits. 

DMs Guild

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Wizards of the Coast announced the new Dungeon Masters Guild today. It's an online store selling D&D 5e PDF works. Here are a few of basic highlights: 

  • It is selling earlier Adventurers League adventures. 
  • People may create new D&D content referencing official books, though it must be for Forgotten Realms or setting agnostic.
  • Wizards splits the sales with the author for both the author's new works and Adventurers league adventures.
  • The system runs through OneBookShelf / DriveThru RPG / DND Classics / RPG Now, so people with one of the various DriveThru sites already have an account they can use.  

The new open gaming license SDK is also now available, and there are differences between publishing thru the GMs Guild and on your own using the license. 

My Adventurers League Expeditions Tyranny of Dragons adventure DDEX1-07 Drums in the Marsh is available right now for purchase and download. 

I've also updated my Store page for my other titles available on DriveThruRPG.

I have additional content I hope to post soon (the site went live a bit earlier than I expected). 

 

Pranac Pursuit Releases to Kickstarter Backers

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Tonight, Pinnacle Entertainment Group released my adventure Pranac Pursuit for the Savage Worlds RPG setting The Last Parsec to last year's kickstarter backers. It looks great. 

As members of Jumpcorp, your team is assigned to find out what happened to a Jumpcorp scout ship that went missing months ago in the unexplored Pranac star system. It's a sci-fi exploration adventure complete with new aliens and unexpected happenings. 

Enjoy.

The Last Parsec Kickstarter Launch

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The Last Parsec Savage Worlds RPG setting kickstarter took off to a fantastic start yesterday.  It funded in an hour. It is blazing thru stretch goals, which is great because at the 40k level, the backers get my adventure, Pranac Pursuit. The setting is sci-fi exploration, partly inspired in style by the old Star Frontiers RPG. Jump in to Jumpcorp today!

Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether Cartographer's Craft

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So, the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether broke though the $100,000 mark, and the Cartographer's Craft stretch goal. That means the maps are a go!

But that's not all. Now the details for the Deck Plans goal have been revealed. There are 7 days to go, and if they break $120,000, I'll be drawing a really cool ship.

 

HMS Pegasus Deck Plans - If we achieve this Stretch Goal, Sterling Hershey will bring to life Her Ladyship's conveyance with a set of deck plans of Pegasus. Working with Rick and Greg, this will be a minimum of four sheets, detailing each deck of the ship, and potentially as many as eight, showing detail, cut-aways, and close-ups. These will be printed on high-quality paper, in a "blueprint" style, and designed to replicate the ship plans of the era. A complete set of these deck plans will be included with every copy of the book (Cloth Covers, The Style to Which She is Accustomed, and the Rare & Royal editions) as well as be included in the All Digital, All the Time package.

So, there is still time to join in. You can check out the Kickstarter here, and the comic itself here (from the beginning).

 

Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether KS Cartography

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Just announced today, if the Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether kickstarter reaches the Cartographer's Craft stretch goal, I'll get the opportunity to create a number of maps for the book! There are 13 days to go, and a little over $9,000 to that stretch goal. Take a look and see if you'd like to join in. The kickstarter description is below:

At this level, Sterling Hershey will be commissioned to create the Map of the Known Sphere as of IV.E.890 (this is our dating convention in the series). This will be large, "flattened" map of the Lady Sabre world as it had been explored thus far. This map will be included in the Vol. I trade. Additionally, Sterling will revisit the maps seen in the series thus far (the Tanitin Frontier and the Coming Storm), giving them professional treatment that will also be reflected in the trade.

Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is a comic written by Greg Rucka (Batman, Detective Comics, Gotham Central, Queen & Country, Whiteout, and many more) and drawn by Rick Burchett (Batman, Superman, The Justice League, The Batman and Robin Adventures and many more). Both are Eisner award winners. Eric Newsome runs the website.

What is it about? You can go read entire series so far at Ineffableaether.com, and there is a bit about the comic in their own words below.

Swords are cool. People fighting with swords are cool. Airships are cool. Cowboys are cool. Pirates are cool. Clockwork men are cool. Smart, savvy, witty women are very cool. Laconic gunslingers? Totally cool. Steampunk? Frosty.

That’s what Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is, that’s what it’s about. The adventures of the Lady Seneca Sabre and those she meets along the way as she travels the Sphere. Who she fights, who she foils, who she befriends. It’s about adventure and romance and excitement and, to paraphrase the great Zaphod Beeblebrox, “really wild things.”

And most of all, what it’s supposed to be? It’s supposed to be fun.

Some of you might remember that I also contributed and help design the map in Greg Rucka's Alpha novel. You can read my blog post about that map and process here.

I've produced maps for roleplaying game products such as DugeonADay.com, the Nebulon-B for the Star Wars RPG years ago, Super Genius Games and a non-gaming map for starwars.com. Click here for my online cartography portfolio. I'm also an architect and freelance writer and game designer.

 

 

Sterlinghershey.com Adjustments

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FYI, I've been adjusting the site, having learned a bit more about the behind the scenes controls. I do this regularly, but this time, the changes are more significant and apparent. I've merged the news list into the blog, so it's all one page now. The blog now shows up as the main page. Longer blog entries (like Star Wars Wednesdays) will show the first paragraph or so, then you'll have to "click to read more..." which sends you to the full post. This will also help me track which entries are getting the most readers. This shouldn't affect any links to any individual posts - those page addresses have not changed.

I've also cleaned up the tags and categories, so searching by subject should be easier (see the right column for the lists). Given that I talk about Star Wars in a variety of contexts, I haven't tagged every Star Wars entry with that, which gets redundant very quickly. Instead, look for items starting with sw, like swse (Star Wars Saga Edition) or swminis (Star Wars minis).