Miscellanea

It’s a period I can’t be really bothered with longform writing, so, here’s a bunch of random thoughts and updates

Production

• The new plate for the boxed sets works totally fine and last night I printed the first few covers. So I should have the first boxes ready this weekend, but…
• The printer is taking is sweet sweet precious time. So, most probably, no Lost Pages at any of the OSR-friendly cons this year.
• The oak covers for the codex edition of Chthonic Codex are taking weeks to be cut too. I’m not impressed with the supplier.
• Yes, the codex covers are going to be oak. Well, in theory, I’m confident at 95%. I need to try first, and post pictures. I’ll try a thing with gold foil too but I can’t guarantee anything yet.
• You know what is super-quick? Sheperd’s Bookinders. Ordered a few metres of gold-speckled black silk (and a non-exciting brush for glue) less than 48 hours ago and got them today before lunch.
• I have a handful of secret projects I can’t talk about yet in various stages of being done.
• I’m really tired.

AFG

• AFG-R9 is done. I’ll email the new file this weekend unless weird stuff happens. Email me if you want it early.
• AFG-R9 has a couple of changes and a couple of fixes. The PDF is fully bookmarked and it has clickable references and indexes. They are being printed as we speak
• I started designing AFG for kids, “My First Adventure”.
• MFA I want it so that kids can play with older people too. Designing a game with different sets of game mechanics can be hard but I came up with a few AFG-compatible classes: the Young Fighter (which can keep fighting as long as anybody in the group has hits left, but gets literally pushed around when the hits go to 0), the Apprentice Sorcerer (with simple lvl 0 spells, but usable more often than in AFG) and possibly some kind of Spirit-based kid that heals and grants rerolls. And all characters have pets. Because pets.
• And because of violence, people at zero hits either get stunned and a convenient spiral on their head or run away. Their choice.
• I can see the handbook starting with a very railroady learn-by-doing adventure, then a multiplayer CYOA, then a masterless-boardgamy sandbox, and then a normal adventure with a Referee. And plenty of collaboration mechanics.
• … presented as infographics with derpy drawings. In a boxed set. With maybe even wooden meeples for the characters and the monsters, if I can get a router. And when I wake up from the dream, I’ll have a smoked salmon bagel and eggs+bacon+hollandaise, with a cappuccino and OJ, thanks.

Whitebox for Chthonic Codex: pretend Q&A and mo’better box pictures!

Hey Paolo, how’s Chthonic Codex doin’?

Progress! I just put together the second last test box, using a bad test print I had lying around.

What’s wrong with the lid? and why did you order the boxes?

The plate got scratched. And was done for a deeper lid, the new lid is slimmer, so the new plate will have to be etched based on the new box. No biggie, heh. I ordered the boxes from a local supplier as I was not happy with going for a fully handcrafted boxed set. Well I was happy with them, but maybe the customers would not be completely happy.

What’s inside?

Glad you asked!

Dice for scale. They’re a mixture of Gamescience, Citadel/GW and Chessex. And now, with the contents out. Also, ruler for scale.

AFG is inserted in lieu of Mysteries and Mystagogues (AFG is almost twice the pagecount of CC:MM, btw), as I do not have yet a CC:MM book with the real cover. I got feedback from the first reviewer/proofreader though, so we are very close to printing a big stack of them.

What’s that thing??

Oh, it’s a foam insert. I carved a big slot for dice, so they do not rattle around the box. The boxes will be shipped with no dice, and with no slots in the padding. You can carve it in whatever shape you need to hold index cards, dice, pencils, votive images, whatevs, or remove it to keep more handbooks in it, like AFG or S&W Whitebox or even, I dare to say, D&D.

Why do CC:CC and CC:AA look different?

That CC:CC is from Lulu, gloss cover. The one on the right is from Clydeside Press, my local printer, and looks odd because it’s unfinished. The shipped versions will have a matte finish (like AFG-R8 above)

Sup with Mysteries & Mystagogues?

Work continued even while I was in Japan, because bullet trains make for good offices and, while they’re fast, Japan is a very long country. I only need to transcribe stuff in, finish the layout (too many herons, not enough axolotls) and bring it to the printer.