dT&T Progress

Everyone should be aware that the dT&T design team did not make it's initial goal of releasing the dT&T rules this past summer. The new expected release is sometime in December. I was not at all surprised by this turn of events; it was a rather aggressive schedule. Progress certainly was not helped by Liz Danforth's sudden case of pneumonia; that's not good for the productivity of your main editor. I certainly don't begrudge the dT&T for the lateness, I'd rather see the best possible product come out of the Kickstarter so they should take their time and get it right. The dT&T Preview Pack released for Free RPG Day, for example, got some pretty mixed reviews. It seemed to be a bit of a rush job to get the book together and out in time for the event. I don't want to see this happen with the real thing, so they should definitely take their time. Ken St. Andre, Rick Loomis, and Steve Crompton have also been very open about the progress they have made so far and made regular updates. On top of that they have been creating and releasing the new material that was promised as part of the various stretch goals. Those adventures and supplements are shown in the image above. Eligible Kickstarter supporters have received pdf copies of Buffalo Castle, City of Terror, and Saving Fang. All three have been of exceptional quality. Hard copies of most of these items have also been sold at Origins and GenCon as well as by Ken online. I would like to get my hands on the pdf copy of the 1st edition T&T rules soon as well as Deathtrap Equalizer and Dungeon of the Bear. There's been a bit of a delay on the release of these pdfs, though I'm not sure why. At any rate I'll be getting hard copies of some of these books when I get my hardcover copy of the dT&T rulebook so that will be a fun day. If you'd like to read a full review of what's been accomplished so far as well as a preview of the format of the rulebook from Liz Danforth, check out this excellent post on the dT&T website.

New Lone Delver

Yes it's been a while, but I'm back. Life's been rather busy lately. What's better than a new lone delver to get things going again?

This month's Lone Delver is by Luigi Castellani. This piece was part of the free art pack offered by Sine Nomine Publishing as part of their Spears of the Dawn African-themed RPG.

This delver does not seem to like what he has discovered in this ancient temple. But those knife-wielding cultists are surely long dead and no threat to him, right? I like this piece for a number of reasons. Ruin crawls are among my favorite themes for fantasy art and adventures. There are so many possibilities in exploring the remains of lost civilizations. This delver seems to have stumbled across one with a rather dark history. There are also the details of the delver himself. Every delver needs a light source, even a simple torch will do. Illustrations of adventurers wandering down dark passages without even a single torch always bother me. Of course torches and lanterns only light up so much; this delver can see what is in front of him, but he is still surrounded by darkness. The armor and axe are also very well done and quite original. Given the African setting the artist has moved away from any sort of European influence and designed a unique set of gear. What will this adventurer find as he delves deeper into this ancient temple? Will he discover a vault of gold and precious gems? Will he zombie cultists thirsting for new sacrifices? Or perhaps the giant slug pictured at the top of the panel? My money is on number two.