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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:14 am
by gamerprinter
Working on a castle town map, located on close islands near a river's mouth. So far, I just have the isles where two of the bailleys of the castle sit, the castle walls, wall towers and main fortress. I still need to place the administrative buildings in, then I plan to start the Samurai district closest to the castle, then temple district, then merchants district and residences. Another larger island to the west of these isles will be the town map. A bridge will cross the river from the island on the north side. South side is open to boat traffic.

The forest and trees are not done yet.

Hand-drawn, scanned, digital bevels and colors created in Xara Xtreme Pro 4.0

This is the final destination location for both Adventure modules #1 and #3 for the The Gift mini-campaign arc.

GP

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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:03 pm
by Jengenritz
Ye gods, man. I love this stuff.

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:56 pm
by gamerprinter
I'm glad you like it! Almost done, need to place the docks on the south bank of the island, then some illustrations before I call this complete. This time I'm uploading a thumbnail, I didn't realize the last one was so big. The full size version is 24" x 48" at 100 ppi (though I can change the resolution at anytime.)

This is very close to complete though.

GP

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Link to larger file: http://www.gamer-printshop.com/kaidan/tsue-jo.jpg

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:40 pm
by gamerprinter
My first of 3 part mini-campaign arc set in Kaidan, called Gaijin (The Gift intro campaign) will be officially published on Wednesday, September 23, 2009. It is a Pathfinder RPG Compatible setting in a dark fantasy feudal Japan-like world. The adventure party consists of four to five PCs at 5th level of experience consisting of a well-rounded party of fighters, spellcasters and rogue/bards from a typical fantasy setting doing a short-term visit to this exotic land (so you don't have to play oriental PCs to enjoy the introductory adventure.)

It should be priced at $5.99 with a limited time $2.99 price as a 50+ page full color PDF including nine full color maps, a bunch of new monsters, with limited rules for the setting. It will be available at RPGNow, the Paizo store, Dementia5.com (publisher's site) and my own http://www.gamer-printshop.com/kaidan/index.html (not yet though.)

If you purchase from my site only, I get 100% of the proceeds, everywhere else I have to share.

Within two weeks of publication both a MapTool and Fantasy Grounds version of the module should be available as well.

I'm excited!

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:35 am
by gamerprinter
Working on an interior structural map of Lord Hachiwara's palace and residence at the foot of the hill beneath the main castle, in my Tsue-jo castle town map posted above. Note this map is rotated in reverse 90%, thus north is on the left side of this map. This map is a work in progress, as I plan to place interior objects: chests, floor pillows, bedding, incense decanters, fire pits, braziers, paper lanterns, daisho racks (sword holders), supplies, crafts, a bunch of onmyoji arcane devices for study, divination and magical protections. I have already placed a Buddha-like statue in the Abbot/Gardens House (north side, just right of center, L-shaped).

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Note all structures are built on stilts sitting three feet off the ground, including the walkways between the buildings which have open sides but roofed top.

Also a demon-spirit, thought to be the demonized ghost of Lord Hachiwara's original wife in the form of a Marilith demon haunts the pool in the water garden on the west side of the complex, she is usually invisible, but is thought to haunt the entire second bailley containing the palace complex.

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:35 pm
by gamerprinter
My first publication, called The Gift: Part 1 is the first installment of a three part mini-campaign arc set in my Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting has now been officially released. It features 13 full color maps, dozens of original illustrations by Jan Pospisil, Mark Hyzer, Simon Turnbull and Michael Tumey (me), written by Michael Tumey, Andy Champagne and Andrew Chirgwin, over 50 pages of content, including introductory rules to the setting, a beastiary with all the new monsters included and much more.

For the first 30 days it should be available for only $3.99, but will then go up to $7.99 - still cheap all the way around. Its a 7+ MB PDF download.

Visit my website to learn more!

Kaidan RPG website

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:35 pm
by gamerprinter
Here's a preview of the cover art for The Gift: Part 2 Dim Spirit. Cover art by Jan Pospisil, same artist who painted the Cover for Part:1

Enjoy!

GP

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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:44 pm
by Ramone
gamerprinter wrote:My first publication, called The Gift: Part 1 is the first installment of a three part mini-campaign arc set in my Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting has now been officially released. It features 13 full color maps, dozens of original illustrations by Jan Pospisil, Mark Hyzer, Simon Turnbull and Michael Tumey (me), written by Michael Tumey, Andy Champagne and Andrew Chirgwin, over 50 pages of content, including introductory rules to the setting, a beastiary with all the new monsters included and much more.

For the first 30 days it should be available for only $3.99, but will then go up to $7.99 - still cheap all the way around. Its a 7+ MB PDF download.

Visit my website to learn more!

Kaidan RPG website

GP
Mike, it looks like the link isn't working. Is there somewhere else we can go to purchase?

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:44 pm
by gamerprinter
Whoops! I misspelled the link - fixed it! Thanks for pointing that out.

http://www.gamer-printshop.com/kaidan-rpg/

You can also buy the adventure from dementia5.com, RPGNow, the Paizo Store and Drive thru RPG, but now that the link works, just buy it from me direct, please!

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:52 am
by Ramone
gamerprinter wrote:Whoops! I misspelled the link - fixed it! Thanks for pointing that out.

http://www.gamer-printshop.com/kaidan-rpg/

You can also buy the adventure from dementia5.com, RPGNow, the Paizo Store and Drive thru RPG, but now that the link works, just buy it from me direct, please!

GP
Works now, thank you!! :D

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:05 pm
by gamerprinter
The delay in publishing has been caused by my unhappiness with the previous publisher, Dementia 5, whom I had been working with in the publication of my Kaidan adventures. It is currently in purchase negotiations between D5 and Rite Publishing. If all goes as planned, the second adventure, The Gift: Part 2 - Dim Spirit, should be released in May 2010.

I needed to make a few more maps for that adventure, and this is one of them. Kitsumura, is a wilderness village for a tribe of hengeyokai (animal barbarian shape-changers), specifically for kitsune (fox), musashi (badger), and tanuki (raccoon dog). The village is a major resting point for the adventure party having escaped a posse of samurai and a hebi-onna demon spirit. A final big battle between those pursuers and the party will occur at this village.

The map features my hand-drawn linework, scanned in Photoshop, then imported to Xara Xtreme Pro 4.0 - for coloring, shadows, bevels and special effects. I had lots of fun creating the stream and waterfalls for this map. This is my second true Isometric styled map - I used 3D models of roofs as a reference to creating the placement of buildings.

Enjoy!

GP

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Link to larger file:
http://www.gamer-printshop.com/kaidan/k ... -final.jpg

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:29 am
by gamerprinter
I needed an illustration of a Mujina (Japanese badger shape-changer/hengeyokai) but I did not want to pay for it, so I created it myself. I went online and found myself a decent photo of a badger (with the right pose) and an old photo of an Ainu chieftan in ceremonial garb, morphed them together in Xara Xtreme, printed it out and used as reference to create the hand-drawing. I used the color picker to best match the colors (in the garb) of the photo to the illustration.

I think it worked - enjoy!

GP

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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 12:08 pm
by gamerprinter
Tomorrow, on the 4th of May, I am buying back full ownership of Kaidan. There will be an update to The Gift: Part 1, all previous purchasers of this release will receive a free update. The Gift: Part 2 - Dim Spirit should be released sometime at the end of May - as an imprint under Rite Publishing.

So the long delay is finally over and releases will come in earnest.

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:04 pm
by gamerprinter
Kaidan is risen from the dead!

Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting will be an imprint under Rite Publishing as a patronage project.

Currently lead designer, Jonathon McAnulty of Open Design Project/Kobold Quarterly is in the process rewriting my hackery from last year, and make this a top quality mini-adventure arc.

As a patronage project, individuals can become patrons by purchasing bronze, silver or gold access levels to development from participating in closed development forums, to pitching your own ideas on what should be included. All members get a full color printed version of the final product, bronze and gold members get further access and their names included in the publications credits. Gold members will also receive an autographed final of the product.

So if you would like to see Kaidan develop a specific way to meet your needs then become a patron - the project definitely needs more participants.

If you're interested check out the following link: http://ritepublishing.com/kaidan/html

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:56 pm
by gamerprinter
If anybody purchased the original The Gift: Part 1, please send me an Email or Private Message with a link to your digital receipt, and I'll be sure you get the updated first adventure which is being re-released Feb/Mar 2011. It has been renamed, rewritten, main ideas and some parts kept, while many new encounters. There are new ghost (yurei) templates, new monsters fully statted out, the cursed reincarnation mechanic has been better explained with a full chart using the karma score. Jonathan McAnulty of Kobold Quarterly/Open Design Project/Rite Publishing is the main author and lead designer. I am the concept creator, technical advisor, a designer, developer, art director, and of course the cartographer still. There are new maps. Overall there's 76,000+ words of adventure, plus 15,000+ setting rules, monsters, NPCs, magic items and more.

It's now called The Gift: Curse of the Golden Spear (got a more pulp fiction sound to it).

It is currently in playtest and with the editor, once playtesting is complete, critiques modifying the various encounters, it will go back to the editor, then to me for page layout. Hopefully sometime in February 2011 it will be released.

The second adventure Dim Spirit is currently at the start of writing, unlike the first adventure which is very linear, a "going from here to there" adventure, the second adventure is intended to be more sand box in design. While the third and final adventure will be a mix of linear and sand box.

We will also be releasing side products that can be used both in and out of Kaidan, including the first In the Company of Kappa - a racial guide for kappa as a player character race for Pathfinder. The PDF book features an origin mythos, basic racial traits, a full 20 level paragon class, 3 kappa specific class archetypes, plus recommended Advanced Players Guide archetypes. This will definitely be released in February 2011. Later in the Summer we will be releasing similar 'In the Company...' books on Henge and Tengu.

We will also be releasing Class books, or rather Castes and Cultures books each containing multiple classes fitting a specific social caste or subculture. Our first book will be (title TBD) on Yakuza of Kaidan. This organized crime syndicate contains Bard (bakushi), Fighter (bushi), Monk (budoka) and Tattoo Sorcerer (horimyo). The book will describe the hierarchal structure, the distribution, their economy, major activities, and other nuance about this subculture. Similar books on Samurai Caste, and Shinobi Clans will also be eventually released.

I plan to create several Gazetteers of all the major islands, the imperial capital and the various mystical sites across the empire all with many plothooks built-in, for more sandbox style play. Hopefully we'll also begin full adventure path later in the year.

Today, I had to create a logo for Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story, so here it is...

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I'll make a full announcement when the first adventure is released - wish me luck!

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:40 am
by gamerprinter
I've been working on a Yojimbo (alternate ranger class - samurai) build for Kaidan, which is currently undergoing mechanics editing. Waiting for the results and being bored I decided to create me an illustration of my yojimbo. Rather than the typical haramaki-do armor clad samurai, I opted for an unarmored yojimbo doing yabusame archery on horseback. I think it works.

Enjoy!

GP

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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:43 pm
by gamerprinter
I decided I needed some oddball player races for Kaidan, and the first one will be Kappa, here's the cover design for it... this will be released February 22nd, this month!

Michael

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Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:04 pm
by gamerprinter
So we were missing some extra Section 15 license data for the Kappa book, so it will be released tomorrow instead of today.

We are now designing a couple one-shot adventures with Kaidan base class characters for use as demo games at this years conventions. We'll have various folks from Rite Publishing running the demos at Origins, GENCON and Paizocon.

One of the one-shots is The Frozen Wind featuring travellers in the mountains forced to take shelter in a monastary from an impending ice storm. Though welcomed by the monks within, the party awakens to a cold scream. All the monks are dead, but begin to rise as frozen zombies, who has caused this will be the real protagonist in the adventure.

The second one shot is called The Tolling of Tears. The great bronze bell of Kinogasa Temple is thought to be haunted and cursed, so the monks refuse to ring it. The New Year celebration is coming soon and the abbot has called for heroes to remove its taint, so it can be rung for that important festival.

Other updates, the first adventure for The Curse of the Golden Spear is complete and in proofing now. The second adventure is written and in editing, while the third adventure will begin writing next week.

This should be a big year for me.

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:52 am
by gamerprinter
The Gift, Curse of the Golden Spear Part 1 has been released on June 1st 2011 as a downloadable PDF (the printed book will be released on June 9th and available at the Paizo Store).

The first reviews are in - both 5 out of 5 stars!

Game Knight Reviews

Megan Robertson

That can only be a good thing!

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:17 am
by gamerprinter
I went to Gen Con on Saturday (1 day only) and finally got my hands on my 3 adventures printed through Cubicle 7 at both their booth and the Paizo booth.

Oh and I'm now freelancing for Paizo for cartography - I met Wes Schneider, managing editor who assigned me the commission, and introduced me to the art director, where I got to show and discuss some large format printed versions of my maps - like an impromtu interview. It went well. Wes told me, the circumstances concerning my commission came up in two Paizo Seminars on Saturday morning. I'm dying to hear a podcast to learn what was said.

It looks like I'll getting lots of work from Paizo - from adventure maps, to map packs, flip maps, map folios, and gazetteers. The future looks bright.

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:53 am
by GnomeBoy
Such cool news. Congratulations! :D

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:19 am
by ATOM
Good news! Congrats dude, you deserve it. :wink:

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:47 pm
by gamerprinter
Thanks guys! I found where I was mentioned in one of the Paizo Seminars at Gen Con. This is the 'Writing for Paizo' seminar, about the very middle of the podcast Wes Schneider mentions a 'half Japanese author' - this is describing me. Strange, since I am primarily an artist, I have to say, I was hired by Paizo as an author to create the Gazetteer for Kasai, the capital of Minkai (Japan analog in Paizo's Jade Regent AP). The map was extra work required by the author. While they liked the written part of my commission, that map wow'd them to death - I'm glad.

Writing for Paizo Seminar at Gencon - by Chimera Games podcast at 3.5 Private Sanctuary.

Even one their art directors (Chris Vallas) was shocked that I was hired as a writer considering how he was mostly concerned with my art. (Most freelancers do one or the other; writing versus art - I was hired for both...)

I know I am supposed to do some work in the upcoming Shackles and Skulls AP - which is their pirates adventure path, but hints at much more work in the other product lines have been mentioned to me. I look forward to the next job Paizo sends my way!

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:52 pm
by gamerprinter
The next Kaidan supplement for Pathfinder has been released, a PC race book for the animal based shapechanging Hengeyokai with several archetypes and a racial paragon class, called In the Company of Henge.

Our next supplement deals with the criminal organization of Kaidan, Way of the Yakuza featuring several rogue archetypes including one especially for Bakuto gamblers, a blind bard archetype called Moso, and the Horimyo Tattoo Wizard. Also includes a yakuza gang stat block.

This release will be followed by the Way of the Samurai which will feature archetypes for the new Samurai class from Ultimate Combat, as well as the Yojimbo ranger archetype, and the Onmyoji (origami wizard). For Kaidan samurai is a social caste, not just a player class, so all samurai caste classes of Kaidan will be featured in this supplement. Will also come with a Samurai House stat block.

Then we plan to do the same treatment for the Ulimate Combat Ninja, with Way of the Shinobi, which will include multiple archetypes for the new Ninja class, as well as a shinobi monk, a shinobi ranger, and an alternate sorcerer bloodline - possibly one for alchemist as well. And a shinobi clan stat block.

Probably a look at casters in the supplements to follow these...

Am also currently working on #30 Ancestral Relics - 30 each magical weapons and items of near artifact quality similar in function to Weapons of Legacy, but works by character levels, amount of Honor accrued and event triggers - roleplaying and combat opportunities that activate powers that level up with the wielder. These items are powered by the soul of an ancestor, and only function as masterwork items in the hands of someone not of the appropriate family line. (I'm wraping that up, and should go to editing soon...)

Lots of stuff coming out.

We're going to hold off presenting a patronage project for the next Kaidan Adventure Path, until after Jade Regent is finally fully released. We need to create a full campaign setting book first...

GP

Re: Feudal Japan Map Objects Project

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:17 pm
by gamerprinter
Wow, In the Company of Henge has only been released for 1 day, and its managed to make the #11 spot on the DriveThruRPG.com top 100 products sold today!!!

I wonder where all the traffic is coming from - or which ad is leading them to purchase.

Amazing!

GP