Today we’re going to show you some of the more recent Liz Danforth art destined to appear in the Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls rulebook and the new version of Buffalo Castle. Liz’s art became a part of the T&T universe as far back as 1975, when she did some art for the first T&T Supplement. There is little doubt that her prowess and skill improved rapidly beween then and 1979 when the fifth edition was released.

These new pieces are in the classic Liz Danforth style, with elements of Art Nouveau graceful lines, but still uniquely her own style. Below each illustration is a brief comment by Liz about the illustration.

WTF?? or The Bottle is Labelled “Eat Me”; What Do You Do?
When adventurers find a small bottle of pills with the label “Eat Me” … it’s always cause for a moment’s consternation. Will this cure a disease or poison you? Give you an increase in some attribute… or make you swell up, turn purple and explode? Often as not the only way to find out is …

The Room of Stone Statues, or The Lady Needs Her Beauty Sleep

I invited people to let me draw them into the Buffalo Castle, as I was re-doing some of the (let’s say) “less attractive” original drawings. One room is full of life-like statues, and I wanted to focus on a few of those individuals. Ken and Steve volunteered for this one, and so I drew Ken in full armor with a crowned helm, in recognition of his status as the head of this merry band of misfits. Steve always had a rogue-ish air, so that’s the equipment I selected for him. I had quite a bit of fun doing this!

Smoke Inhalation Danger, or Who Left the Fog Machine Running?
Pen and ink comes in two pure colors — black and white. An ink drawing that is to suggest shades of grey or fuzziness is always an interesting challenge. This image illustrates someone walking through a room filled with smoke or mist — a fun challenge.

A Dwarf Portrait
As I’ve said in my blog ( www.lizdanforth.com ), characters interest me. If I doodle something, it almost always starts out with a face. This fellow began as one of those kinds of doodles.

 

Dreaming of Evil Schemes, or Mischief? Maybe!
This elf has mischief, pure mischief on his mind. He’s up to no good at all, and he will probably enjoy the trouble he’s going to cause some else far too much. As I recall, the main point of this piece was to illustrate a kris-dagger, but by putting it in the hands of someone hatching a scheme… it took on a lot more life. T&T has such an array on unusual weaponry that illustrating arms and armor is almost a necessity for someone whose shelves don’t groan with the weight of reference books, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a boring picture.

Make No Assumptions, or Chances of Your Saying The Right Thing Are Close to Nil
Ahh, another character who seems to be up to no good — although in this case, someone might almost almost enjoy seeing her at her worst! I was thinking of my warlock character in World of Warcraft when I drew this picture, although the only resemblance she bears to that character is a demonic companion and a bad attitude. On the other hand, don’t ever let someone tell you that all bare breasts are sexy… I doubt that her demon’s dugs would excite purient titillation in a frog (which is probably what she’d turn you into if you comment uninvited on hers).

If you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning, you can plainly see that many of the threads in the tapestry we call dT&T are already in place and ready to go. Liz’s beautiful art is just one more part of the whole picture. She has said she hopes to provide a finished cover sketch for the rulebook before the end of the Kickstarter, but time is running short… so stay tuned…

dT&T Wooden Box Price announced!
Yes a price has finally been worked out.  Here’s Rick Loomis’ official quote about the box… “THE BOX! We have found a great supplier for laser cut wooden boxes. He promises us a great-looking box for a reasonable price. It will be black, with the logo and artwork laser-etched, with the etching filled with gold-colored paint. We are going to make it look as much like the old black & gold box set as we can. It will be big enough to hold your rulebook, dice, pencil, paper, and other odds and ends (assuming you want to carry this elegant box around to your gaming locations!)  We have to charge $45 for this, but we are pretty sure you will be pleased with it!”

$100k Milestone Rewards:  If this milestone is reached everyone will receive the Origins Poker Deck and you will get some temporary tattoos (we may even make more than just two different!)

New Options:  Here are a list of new options that have been recently added in the final days:
Printed version of City of Terrors with recolored original cover – $7

 1 gig Thumb Drive with our logo printed on it, pre-loaded with all the KS pdfs .  (And if you are a $1 or $5 supporter who wasn’t going to get these free pdfs, you can now add them all for pledging  for this thumb drive - $20.

dT&T Wooden Box (details above) – $45

August Demigod of the Timeways:  This option was added a few days ago and allows you to be added to the Rules by name, and in an illustration – Liz will do the pencils and Steve Crompton will ink.  You get the original art. (details on the KS options column) - $275

Making of a Legend” dungeon by Bear Peters. If someone else was sorry to see this opportunity slip from their grasp, now is the time to reconsider! It’s a “one only” option that was listed  with the main options that was sold, but now it is available again. (details on the KS options column) – $1200

We are now in the final 3 days.  Many of these options will NOT be available after the Kickstarter project ends on Tuesday.  Its been an amazing journey for the fellowship as we have connected with many old friends form those early days, many of whom we’d had lost contact with for many years.  The support and help has been tremendous and we are deeply touched by the outpouring of love for the flexible rpg that just wouldn’t die!  Be sure to post a comment, we read each one.  And tell your friends they only have 3 days left!

Today we have some good news and some  sad news, both of which involve everyone’s  favorite T&T artist, Liz Danforth.

THE GOOD NEWS: If you’ve been reading the comments  at the Kickstarter page or  here at the blog, you know that Liz  has been working hard to get the cover sketch finished before the end of the Kickstarter pledge period.  The good news is that Liz has finished the sketch and has sent us a scan to use for a big cover reveal just in time for the concluding days of this big dT&T festival we’re all a part of.

We are presenting her sketch as she originally drew it and with the background reversed so you can see the characters jump out of the image.  It’s an in interesting, different way to look at it.  Liz had planned to give us a rough color version of this sketch, but that leads us to the bad news we need to tell you.

THE BAD NEWS:  Early today, Liz badly burned her hand and had to go a Doctor to get it checked.  Her hand injury is  serious and she was told she had 3rd degree burns.  She will not be doing much drawing and much less typing for the next few days and probably a week.  Please send her your best wishes and pray that her drawing hand fully recovers soon!  Visit her her Facebook page to see a photo of her hand, and to get the latest news on her recovery.

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this sneak peak at the new cover for the Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Rulebook!

One of our Kickstarter supporters emailed to ask if we’d consider adding a Martial Artist character to the available character types.  This idea of adding more character types to the mix is one that comes up fairly often.

The answer is: I already have that covered. You probably don’t know about it because we don’t handle character classes quite the same way That Other Game does.

You can have any kind of character you want in Tunnels and Trolls.  The game is open-ended.  Here are a couple of paragraphs about how to create a Martial Artist character in T & T.

oriental swords and sorcery heroes as shown in Jackie Chan’s Forbidden Kingdom.

Specialist (SPD)—Martial Artist.  The Speed attribute is a measure of reaction time, not of absolute velocity.  A Martial Artist is well served by being able to react more quickly than his/her opponents.  It seems like time itself slows down for them.  While some Martial Artists use their own bodies as weapons, others prefer to use physical objects such as staves, swords, knives, etc.  When a Martial Artist is asked to make a saving roll on SPD, he/she may double the final total dice score before evaluating the result.

 - – -

1.3.3  Other Character Classes

One could easily imagine dozens or perhaps hundreds of other character classes that describe individuals with special abilities.  The thing that players and GMs need to realize is that such character classes are already included by two mechanisms in the rules.  First, there is the Specialist class where the player may invent the character class of her desire by tying the class to an enhanced attribute such as Speed pr Dexterity or Charisma.  Second, there is the use of Talents to simulate special feats that the character can regularly accomplish.  Thus, instead of having a myriad of different character classes such as Acrobat, Bard, Engineeer, Hypnotist, Martial Artist, Mentalist, Navigator, Trickster, Umbrella Pedlar, Witch, Zoologist, etc., each player may create their own version of the unusual class by using the Specialist and/or Talent rules to define the player character.  For example: the Martial Artist was described as a Specialist using the Speed attribute.  A Martial Artist could also be a Citizen with a Talent in Martial Arts: Chair-fu based on Dexterity.  The Talent allows the character to do unusual feats in combat using any kind of furniture as his weapon.  Players, you are only limited by your own imaginations in defining your character as you create it.

So, when you ask me if we could do this or that with Tunnels and Trolls, the answer is Yes.  But, it’s up to you as players and GMs to use the T & T guidelines/rules to finish creating all the archtypes you want to play.  Specialists and Talents–two different ways to make anything you want for your T & T adventures.  I have better things to do than invent 1000 ways to differentiate fantasy adventurer characters.

Now I just have to finish typing out 1000 different spells.  Next time I create an rpg that uses magic, I’m just going to come up with a system, and leave the spell invention to you players.  Come to think of that, I already did that for this deluxe version of T & T.  It remains to be seen whether you players will really get involved with using your new powers of magic!

Comments?  We love to hear/read what you think.

We passed our final milestone today on the long journey to renewing Tunnels & Trolls.  We traveled over 125,000K.  The trip was far longer than any of us would have guessed and as long as the journey was, we enjoyed every step of it. and we are so glad that over 1600 of you joined us on this amazing voyage.  That journey is over, but don’t be sad, for everything we wanted to do – we did. More than we could have imagined. And you were all helping us build a path to another place.

A new journey begins tomorrow.  That is the journey that will take all of you to Trollworld.  This time you will get to see the wonders, the magic and the kindreds of this mythical place.  And you’ll have a chance to share that place with your friends, the way we have shared it with you.

Words cannot convey the camaraderie and happiness we feel at this success.  We knew T&T had been around a long time.  But we didn’t know how many of you remember it so fondly.  Thank you.  From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.  Our goal now, will be to give you all the art and maps and books and coins that you pledged for, and make each one a joy to behold and a thing of beauty.

And here now here is a video clip that sums it up better than anything I could ever write…
Watch it and think of the journey we have all just traveled…

I have often described Tunnels and Trolls as a cross between Lord of the Rings and superheroes from Marvel Comics.  Surely anyone familiar with fantasy can see what an enormous influence Tolkien’s epic has had on my own Trollworld.  It shows in the presence of Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Goblins, Trolls, and Hobbits.  From the first edition T & T all the way up through fifth edition had them all.  The honorable Mr. Tolkien only invented Hobbits, and he took them pretty much from English folklore of small creatures that lived in close association with men.  Hobbits may have started out as Hobgoblins, which are not just big goblins, but a different creature entirely.

It is fitting, therefore, that we conceived our fellowship of creative people trying to do a big T & T quest in terms of the Fellowship of the Ring, and called ourselves the Fellowship of the Troll. None of us has pushed the analogy further than Steve Crompton, and it is he who posted the clip from Peter Jackson’s movie below where Aragorn claims the kingship of Gondor.  During the month of the kickstarter project Steve has posted a number of movie clips from the Lord of the Rings, by way of analogy for what we were doing at the time.  Bringing out the deluxe editon of T & T is seen as a kind of personal quest for us, where we must deliver the Ring (the next editon of Tunnels and Trolls) to Mount Doom in Mordor (you fans and game players).  Our quest is quite a bit less arduous and dangerous, and altogether happier in tone than Frodo’s was.  But, we humans tend to exaggerate the importance of everything in our daily lives and invest it with Significance however we can.

One of the games we have played among ourselves is to ask who we are in the fellowship.  Which of us is Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Samwise, etc? Is there a Sauron? a Saruman? Are there Nazghuls that must be defeated?  I’m not sure we would all agree on who is whom, but let me pose the question to you readers.  You are the citizens of Trollworld (Middle Earth).  Who do You think We are shadows of?

(Another one of the analogous mythologies that some of us think about is Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber.  Roger said that Amber is the one true world, and everything else including our Earth is but a Shadow of it.  In those terms I might be a Shadow of some greater personage from a world of greater reality–like Middle Earth for example.)

I’ll tell you one thing.  I’m not Frodo Baggins.  He’s too short, too doom-haunted, and too much an instrument of fate.  On the other hand, I might have once been Bilbo.   Bilbo was an adventurer, writer, and friend/protege of wizards (at least one wizard), and I have been all those things in my life.  However, in the video down below, I believe I’m lucky enough to have another role than that of hobbit.

And who are you, my friend?  Make no mistake.  If you supported the dTnT project in any way, then you are in the story–you are in the shadow movie.  I think that we tend to focus too much on central characters.  Everyone has a part to play in the various dramas that make up our lives. Getting back to the Lord of the Rings analogy, Gondor falls if Eowyn doesn’t slay the Nazghul outside the walls.  Rohan falls and Saruman may have become as great a menace as Sauron if Merry and Pippin don’t befriend the Ents.  If the Riders of Rohan don’t come to the aid of Gondor, the city falls.  Could you be a rider, an Ent, an Elf to help the fellowship through a dangerous part of the journey?  Everyone had a part to play, and if some of them failed in their parts, then the quest would fail.

The Kickstarter is over–you raised more than enough money for us to complete this quest, but THE QUEST ISN’T OVER YET!  We still have to deliver the gold ring.  There are still many who must contribute to make this quest succeed.  We will be calling upon craftsmen, printers, artists, writers, and others to help us finish this task.  Some of you who read this message may be called upon before we’re through.  Some of you have done your part, and now need only endure and keep the faith until the end.

This is not and will not be my triumph.  It is and will be Ours!  I have always quoted the Beatles, and have said, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”  In this case, I get by with help from Rick Loomis, Liz Danforth, Steve Crompton, Bear Peters, Mike Eidson, Susan Davis, Mark Thornton, Mark Evans, Simon Tranter, Mari Volmar, Jeff Freels, Roy Cram, Chet Cox, David Ullery, David Moskowitz, Stefan Jones, and hundreds of others.  I cannot list you all here, although you will be listed in the final edition of Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls.  I wonder how many pages it will take to print the over 1600 names of those who came through for us when we asked them to.

You are in the movie, my friend.  Do you see yourself in the credits?  Do you see yourself on screen?  Take a bow!  Thank you for  your support, and let’s bring the next part of this quest to a triumphant conclusion.

—————————————–

If you’d like to find out what I’m up to, and it’s always something, you could visit Trollhalla.com.  You could join the Elite of the inner circle who interact with me all the time.  You could follow Trollgodfather on Twitter.  You’re invited.  I know you have your own busy and important life to live, but you should know, you are invited to the party.

There are members of the Fellowhip in this picture. Can you spot us?

Ugh!

I have now reached the hard part of my job in the Deluxe T & T project.  It isn’t hard to write.  I love to write.  My fingers leap around the keyboard, and my brain teems with ideas.  I have lots of stuff I could write.  And it will all be witty, brilliant, immortal prose.  Or, at least momentarily amusing . . .

The hard part is finishing things.  Two weeks ago I started a new solo adventure for First edition Tunnels and Trolls.  It is called Saving Fang (from the Pits of Morgul).  This isn’t a deluxe adventure.  It’s a first edition adventure.  I never did a solo for first edition T & T.  One of the hardest things is staying true to how we played the game back in 1975.  I come up with a situation and think about how I would roleplay it now, and then compare to how I would have done it back then, and force myself to use the earlier style.  No matter what people tell you, the game has actually evolved and changed a good deal since those first guidelines were published back in 1975.  (The heart of it-combat and saving rolls-have only changed a little bit).  I think I can finish it in less than 100 paragraphs, and I have at least 55 of them done.  But, damn! It is so hard to quit reading email, Twitter, Facebook, my favorite mmorpg, and focus on finishing the adventure.  You know what they say: hard work and planning pay off in the future; laziness pays off now.

Who knows how much I could accomplish with the proper motivation? Heh!

One thing that helps me stay on task is any kind of encouragement.  You want to see this solo adventure finished?  Bug me about it!  I mean it.  Go ahead and bug me.  If I see some email that says, “Have you saved Fang yet?” I might just buckle down and try to finish it.  Honest, I’m going back to working on it as soon as I finish this blog.

Some of you also have work to do for deluxe T & T.  Some of you paid for character portraits, or islands, or to name places on the map, or to have your characters used as examples.  I know who some of you are because you are members of Trollhalla and have been in touch with me.  But, if you’re not a member of Trollhalla, and you paid for something special, then this might be a good time for you to sit down and do some writing too.  Is your character slated to show up in the rules text?  Tell me about it–name, kindred, experience level, idiosyncracies, male or female or other.  Don’t expect everything you tell me to make it into the rules, but do tell me enough to get some idea of who or what your character is.  If you’re naming a place, go ahead and tell me a little bit about the place.  Who lives there? What does it produce? What problems do the inhabitants face?

Liz is doing the character portraits and new art.  If all you expect is a picture, you can save that info if you want and give it to her directly when she asks for it.  Even so, you might start firming up your expectations–in a general sort of way.  Write up a character description so it will be ready when she needs it.  I don’t need that info unless I’m putting your character in the rules, or perhaps putting them into one of the extra adventures I’m writing.  But, as a writer and a gamer, you might find it interesting to have that info down on paper, or in pixels on a computer somewhere.

You can send me an email by addressing it to kenstandre@yahoo.com.  I’m easy to reach.  I don’t promise to answer unless you really have something interesting to say.  Actually, I answer when I think I have something interesting to say.  You may be utterly profound, and if I don’t have anything to add, I won’t respond.  You’ve been warned, but write to me anyway.  I need the encouragement.  (Grin!)

Interview with Rob Carver  By Steve Crompton

One of Rob Carver’s illos from the 1979 T&T Calendar

Before Liz Danforth, Rob Carver was the artist that did most of the art for Tunnels & Trolls.  His illustrations appeared in the 1^st through 5th editions of the rules, in several of the early solos & GM adventures, the T&T Calendar and in first the few issues of Sorcerer’s Apprentice (along with several other places as well).

Rob’s art (which was often mixed with a touch of sardonic humor) left an indelible mark on style and tone of Tunnels & Trolls. To help keep that same classic feel to the new book, the Fellowship plan to use virtually all his illustrations from the 5^th edition.  While searching the Flying Buffalo archives, we recently discovered some Rob Carver art that has not been seen in over 30 years.  Our plan is to incorporate some of this “rediscovered” art as well.  In getting permission to use this additional art, we contacted Rob and he agreed to an interview with Steve Crompton about those early days of being T&T’s first artist.     

1) How did you get involved in drawing T&T in the first place?  (i.e. how did you meet Ken St Andre?)

I met Ken through the local sci-fi group we belonged to, well before T&T. I used to help collate the fanzine we put out, and I also used to illustrate them sometimes, along with some other local artists, among ‘em Skip Olson, the best damned artist I knew back then – he was awesome, and funny, too bad he left us way too early. I wish I’d been that good. That was where I met Liz Danforth. as well. Ken wrote for the fanzine, funny stuff. We would meet at various houses and talk SF, and we also war-gamed, the board game way. Bear Peters and I had long sessions of the old Avalon Hill games like Jutland, Battle of the Bulge, Panzerblitz, even LeMans with elaborations of our own, and one day Ken brought Dungeons and Dragons to our attention, and the rest is as you know. I threw out the name for T&T as a suggestion, and Ken ran with it. I really liked the fact that it was a somewhat irreverent game, much like the people i knew there at that time. I did some early LepreCon illos, as well.

2) Did you get Ugly John Carver (the author of Uncle Ugly’s Underground) into T&T or did he get you into it?

Dan (Ugly John) and I were there the same night T&T germinated, and we play tested it often before it was refined, if that word can be used in connection with T&T. I was good with name-slinging, I gave Ugly John that moniker, too.

3) What memories do you have of working for Flying Buffalo back in the late 70s & early 80s?

By the late ’70s I was in California, and almost all the work I did then was by mail, and on the odd occasions I stopped by  FB when I was visiting in town. I remember doing some illos for a Japanese version back then, I liked them a lot. It was always a fan’s type of biz, I got that feeling whenever I ran into FB folks.

One of the recently “rediscovered” Carver pieces from Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

4) What was your approach to drawing?  Where did you hone your skills and were you self-taught or did you take various art classes?

I took art classes in HS and college, but I was mostly self-taught, I’m an autodidact to a great degree. I made it a rule not to swipe, and I hope i never did unconsciously. I preferred the original Blackwing pencils, but depending on my budget, I used other kinds. For inking, and sometimes drawing straight onto paper without penciling, I generally used Koh-I-Noor’ Rapidograph pens, and sometimes certain ball-points and other types of ink pens. I liked Frazetta and the classic fairy-tale authors a lot, Wally Wood, Alex Raymond, Burne Hogarth, the old EC MAD magazine crew, Corben and the Eerie/Creepy works, and Will Eisner was a god, the Undergrounds  – Trashman was my absolute fave of those, along with S. Clay Wilson. I took a lot of art history courses, and had a long interest in Military History.

5) What are your recollections about working on the wraparound cover of City of Terrors with Liz Danforth?  How did the two of you work on the same illo and whose idea was that?  (It works very well by the way.)

City of Terrors cover art by Liz Danforth and Rob Carver. A rare joint effort by both artists

City of Terrors was a fun assignment; Liz and I were almost seamless on that one. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with her on that cover, it was one of our best works. The only thing I wish was I’d had more time to mess with the pencils I did. One error I noticed right away after it was inked, (I’m such a detail nerd) was that the masts of two different ships were combined on one vessel! Um? Oh well, it made it look strange and exotic, and wot the hell, it worked. The three of us on the cover – Liz, Mike Stackpole, and me – were actually representing the characters we were playing in a live action Amber game at the time; we would pass on our ‘moves’ to Ken and the game would move along from each input. Ken put out a ‘zine that I did the banner for, with game info. At one point, I had taken a replica Broom-handle Mauser (non-shooting, of course) to an SF meeting to ‘kill off’ a rival character. Took that game serious, we did. Such are our vanities, those three are now enshrined there on the cover.

6) At some point, you stopped doing any more illustrations. . What is the reason you ceased drawing after 1982?

Life happens, and I had to make a choice about time-sharing with reality, so I put some things away. I was doing other things when the whole direction of gaming changed, and that was that. I was going to ComicCon in San Diego every year, right up until recently, so I looked in on things. As you know, Steve, I went every Saturday dressed as No. 6 from The Prisoner TV show, (and a pretty damned good costume, too, if I do say so myself)  – I had a lot of pictures taken of me over the years. I met a lot of the artists still alive that influenced or interested me, that was amazing to me. I was glad to see SF and fantasy had grown exponentially.

7) Do you still do any other art?

Not recently.

8) Did you ever think that your art would still be in use over 35 years after you created it?  What are your thoughts about that?

I had a vague idea that someone might remember me later, and every so often I would run across T&T stuff I’d done. The ogre with the arrow thru his head is probably my most enduring image. As for 35 years on, as soon as I had my first WWW visit, long ago, I realized nothing would ever die, and I kept my fingers crossed.

9) Any last memories or comments about T&T or Ken  or your art?

I liked working with Ken a lot, I picked up his sly humor quite quickly, and the sci-fi scene back then was very influential. I was glad I had the chance to draw for that time and place.

The Classic Nyaah Image by Rob Carver. This illo has appeared on t-shirts, bumper stickers, magnets and in the T&T rules.

Thank you Rob!  It’s really great to get some insights on the early days of T&T from an entirely new source.

Behold the Fellowship, ready to travel to Trollworld in search of knowledge and a safe path for the rest of you to follow!

THE GROUP PHOTO: Near the end of the Kickstarter campaign lots of various pledge rewards were offered, just to keep things exciting and interesting.  For example; Liz Danforth, promised that she would get a tattoo of the Mage illustration and have a video of her getting the tattoo on YouTube.  One of the other promised items was an 11 x 17 group photo of the Fellowship.

Several of us were surprised by the news: “What? We have to pose for a group photo?  AAARRHH!”  “When did we agree to that?!”  These were some of the responses once  the pledge goal was hit and we actually now had to DO a photo!

Ideas and suggestions came hot and heavy;  “Let’s just get a picture of us at the office,”  Let’s go to a Ren Fair and all get dressed in medieval outfits and take our picture there.  ”Let’ do a shoot at a park” “Let’s do a wanted poster…”

So we narrowed things down, everyone voted and we eventually settled on doing a sort of cross-genre wanted poster with a bit of fantasy, steampunk and wild wild west thrown in for good measure.  The photo above is one of the 130 photos that were taken for the shoot.

Why THIS idea?

Well believe it or not, T&T was creating cross-genre adventures before that concept became popular.  The City of Terrors solo has several science fiction side adventures in it. Medieval and Roman themes are explored in several of the solos as well.  T&T had rules for using early guns in the 5th edition. Then there’s some art Liz has created for T&T, which clearly shows characters in outfits and hats that don’t really fit into the traditional fantasy armor and clothing one sees in “that other game.”

Besides, T&T was created in Arizona by people who grew up there, so the Western motif is ingrained in their very souls. (whether they want it to be or not!)

So the Fellowship gathered some of their favorite clothing and treasured items and we each created a cross-genre persona for the photo.  Our thought is the group is about to go on an adventure in Trollworld and we took this photo the day before we leave.

Ken St Andre is the Steampunk Wizard, with pointed hat and staff. His magic leads the way in the darkness.

Liz Danforth became a no-nonsense Warrior Scout. Her tracking skills find valuable treasures and avoid dangerous peril.

Bear Peters is the Mad Scientist whose flying ship and wacky inventions help the Fellowship out of tricky situations.

Steve Crompton is the agile Rogue who picks locks and talks his way out of danger.

Rick Loomis is the diplomatic Sheriff, who makes sure that all the proper rules and permits are taken care of to avoid any trouble for other authorities in TrollWorld.

We had a lot of fun that day getting it all together for the shoot.  We drove up to Cave Creek, AZ to Deb’s Wild West Memories A photo studio to get the shot done.  They did a great job and were very helpful with letting us use our props right along side with theirs.  Some of the Fellowship were skeptical of the whole idea, but once we embarked on this path, all five of us rallied together and each did their utmost to make it a success. We shared costume pieces and ideas and after it was all over, we all considered it an enjoyable success.  It was a little bit of live-action role-playing and some cosplay.

If nothing else, it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity to immortalize the Fellowship of the Troll in a very memorable manner!

Let us know what you think…

We had a lot of fun at the photo shoot.  As we were nearing the end of it, all the props suddenly inspired me to act out a little skit.  You know how Deluxe Staffs are supposed to be imprisoned demons with a personality of their own?  What if the staff refused to do what the wizard told it to do–i.e. cast a certain spell.  Would the wizard get pushy?

As  you can see, the wizard took the shot in that confrontation, and now is kind of out of it.  I invite you to make up the narrative for this little tale of hard knocks.

No way I was going to take the fall all the way to its logical conclusion, but the next picture would show me dropping staff and gun. After that it would show me  prone on the floor. And finally the staff would hover in mid-air over the prostrate wizard–a victim of a different kind of knock knock spell.

–Ken

In other news, I’m working on the deluxe rules, and yesterday I imagined some kindred specific suits of armor.  It seems unlikely to me that elves and dwarves and others would be wearing the same kind of human armor that is offered to the players in the rules.  So, the Deluxe rules will say something about that.

–end

This part of Trollworld is wild and mostly unexplored. This is where I have located many of the places where your Trollworld and mine intersect.

Part of the deal with the Tunnels and Trolls Kickstarter was that supporters would get to locate their places on the map of Trollworld.    I’ve been in a hurry to get that done, and have pushed my co-workers, especially Steve, to make that happen.  Until now, other things have taken priority.  But, yesterday I got together with Steve Crompton, and compiled all the places that people had asked me (paid for) to put on the map.  We had lunch. We talked about gaming projects and writing projects, and then we went back to Steve’s office, fired up his computer, and filled in all the blank spots on the map.  We added a few things that were not there before.

I thought you might like to see it.  Four new places were added to the continent of Rrr’lff.  They have been highlighted in yellow.  Most of the people naming things were naming islands.  All the islands that you see on this map with names were christened by Panjandrums who bought the right to name an island.

A couple of the islands named above came from supporters’ last names.  I’m sorry, but those people ignored me twice when I asked them which island they wanted, and what to call it.  One person did write back with a really great name, but it was a full day after Steve and I finished the map.  I apologize to the people who paid good money to name an island, and didn’t actually get to do so.  I gave you some of the largest islands that were left unclaimed, and put your name (or most of it in one case).

So . . . . . . take a look at the Backlands, I mean Badlands, of Rrr’lff and see if you can spot the four new adventure locations.  Go sailing through the islands and stop to visit those with names.  Beware of pirates.  There are a lot of lawless types up in that part of Trollworld.

There are other new names on the Trollworld maps including two places on the eagle continent of Zorr and several islands not in the Wings archipelago.  However, I don’t want to show you everything before the final map/maps are published as part of Deluxe.  So, if you know that you named something, but you don’t see it on the map above, then it is in another part of the world.  And if you’re one of the people who did name part of Trollworld, be proud.  You are helping create the world of Tunnels and Trolls!

–end

Not everyone got their place names in to me as quickly as i wanted them to, but I’m glad to say that the slow ones did finally get in touch with me, and told me what they wanted.  Steve and I got together again yesterday and added two more places to the Dragon Continent, one of which is shown on this map.

Since I’m updating the map, it gives me a chance to share another corner of Trollworld with you.  This is the part around the Isle of Phoron and the city of Gull.   The Dragon’s foreleg and breast is part of the Human lands in this part of Khosht.  In fact there are a lot of human cities in this part of the world, places where nonhuman kindreds aren’t liked or tolerated very well.  Khosht, Knor, Kartejan, Bamora, Voluka, Jankhun, G’eon, Dueraz, Jepik, and Rubla are all human cities.   To these has been added the small village of Ledabris. Although the village has a population of less than 100 people, I’m told that it is close to a number of ancient dungeons and other dangerous places.

Kickstarter patrons also named four previously nameless islands in this part of the world: Khrayyt, Cotillion, Guyeneal, and Vellaland.  I’m told there is a city called Bookfell on Cotillion.  Alas, the namer chose an island really too small to show a city, but we all know it’s there now.  If you scroll to the east you’ll find another mostly human island, Celtic Broch.

Although the jungle labeled as the Naga Lands is the home territory of a race of serpent-men sorcer0rs, the coastal cities of Angos, Khavia, Terres, and Katras are all human as well.  Farther east is the large island of Sonan Ie, where the dominant human culture is based on that of Japan.  The big island of Darksmoke is, I believe, owned by a dragon, but mostly inhabited by humans.

Although Trollworld is a nexus of universes, inhabited by dozens or perhaps hundreds of different, intelligent species (called Kindreds), it should still be considered a mostly human world.  If you want to keep that sense of wonder where elves, dwarves, trolls, goblins, and other eerie types are rare, magical, and seldom seen, you might want to set your adventures down in the area of the Dragon’s Front Leg.  I’ll be writing more adventures set down there, and on the Eagle Continent of Zorr in the future.

I’ve been told that some members of Trollhalla are also creating new adventures in this corner of the world.  Susan Davis is writing an adventure set on Vellaland.  Mike Stackpole has done a long essay about his city of Gull, and I’d like to see him write some more adventures.  He has his own mythology going on down there, and I’d like to see him do more with it in the future.  Stan Frady is also a member of Trollhalla, and he has an island called Celtic Broch that I’ve already mentioned.

For all the new places we’re showing you now, just take a look and you’ll see that the map is still mostly empty.  There is plenty of room for you to locate your own population centers and places of peril.  C’mon down.  The adventuring weather is fine  and we’d like to see you.

–end

Steve Crompton emerges from his cave…

Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Game Master screen art

Hello all – Yes, its been awhile since I ‘ve posted here, but if it is any consolation that’s because I have been very busy working on various things for dT&T.  For example, did you know that we created a special preview edition of the dT&T rules for Free RPG Day?  Well we did, and it looks great (coming soon to a store near you).  Also I got the production art done for the pencil, the dice, the magnets, and have virtually finished the map. and scanned in piles of artwork for the rulebook.  Plus Buffalo Castle is on its way.

What finally lured me out of my cave and into the light was the completion of the art for the front of the GM screen.  (Yes that’s the image right up there)  In working on the City of the Gods books, I’ve gotten very good at removing images from famous paintings and then placing them in an entirely new setting.  So with the OK of the rest of the Fellowship, I selected various images from some of the classic T&T books and created this (hopefully stunning) image for the GM screen.  We hope you like it.  Please let us know what you think, by posting comments below.

So – just to make things interesting let’s have a CONTEST!
Can you give me the titles of the books I got these images from?  If you are a true hardcore T&T fan, you’ll have these in your collection. There is nothing tricky about this and there are no hidden images or anything like that.  Just figure out which books the various characters appeared in and email me your list.  The prize will be a signed copy of Ken’s novel Rose of Stormgaard.  (If you already have that you can instead pick the Mythic Tales anthology which has a story by Ken and art by me and Liz)  So the first person to email me a list of the book titles wins!  So don’t hesitate.  You can e-mail me at skcrompton@gmail.com  First correct entry wins.  I’ll post the winner’s name and the correct answers right here on the Blog.

By the way, the background image is NOT from any T&T book – BUT if you can also name the title of this painting(or even the artist)  I will include a copy of Mythic Tales with the Rose of Stormgaard novel.  OK Ready.. Set… GO!

Three pieces of lost or recomposited T&T art

By Steve Crompton
In putting together the art for the numerous T&T reprints and the new dT&T Rules, I’ve made it one of my missions to find, scan and track down any T&T related art that may have become forgotten or lost over the years.  I was surprised by just how much art has been shrouded and lost by the passage of time.

One of the reasons for this lost art was the replacement of older editions of T&T solos with newer ones.  A perfect example of this is the original cover for Dargon’s Dungeon.  When the book was rewritten and printed with a new color cover, Liz’s 1978 b&w cover was left unused until we found it in 2013.  There were also two calendars from 1978 and 1979 that contained several of  Liz’s and Rob Carver’s art in which the artwork was never reprinted.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice is another great source of lost T&T art, including some of my very own.  Liz also did several illos that were used in ads for T&T, Flying Buffalo and Catalyst products that were only used for a short time and then forgotten.  There were also a few limited edition items that contained lost art that we rediscovered.

One experiment I conducted is digitally re-compositing or even re-inking some of the older art to make it better suit our current needs.  I recently created the image of the Mad Dwarf Wizard for Ken & Bear’s new Free RPG Day dungeon by merging several parts of some Rob Carver character illos to create a new character.   I was also taken by a sketch Rob had done of an archer in the first edition of T&T and I reinked it, adding more detail and turning the archer into an elf.   (Back in 1982 I actually got to touch-up and re-ink some of Rob’s art for the reprint of Naked Doom, so this isn’t the first time we’ve “worked together” in this manner.)

Before and After. 1975 Rob Carver sketch, inked and enhanced by Steve Crompton in 2013.

I’m sure we won’t use all the art I’ve discovered and scanned, but we have a great well-spring of original art that was created by the same artists and in the same time as many of the pieces we all know and love in the 5th edition T&T Rulebook.  My hope is that all this this “new” art will fit right in with all our other favorites and will pay tribute to some of these lost and forgotten pieces.   Don’t worry though, there’s going to be plenty of brand new illustrations in dT&T as well!

Feel free to comment or suggest other places we might find Liz or Rob art that we might have overlooked!

City of Terrors cover art by Liz Danforth and Rob Carver. A rare joint effort by both artists

For me. City of Terrors was “the book” that sold me on T&T. I buried myself in its strange places and odd citizens.  It was fantasy, sensuality and humor all at mixed together same time.  It is my favorite solitaire adventure –ever and has yet to be topped in my opinion.  (I’m sure other members of the fellowship feel differently.)

If I was to compare the solos to rock music, City of Terrors is T&T’s “Sgt. Pepper album.”  The concept of exploring a City in a solo adventure was new and no one had done it before. Mike Stackpole is to be congratulated for coming up with a great idea and executing it so well. CoT also has lush, textured illos on every page by Liz Danforth  and Rob Carver.  Both of them working together and separately on the same “album.”  Pat Mueller’s typesetting and layout add a professional look to the book that stands up even 30 years later.  Even Ken St. Andre’s presence hovers in the background, much like Sgt Pepper himself inspiring the Beatles as they created this masterpiece.  All of it fell perfectly into place with this book. Rick Loomis took a chance publishing a 60-page solo about a city – but it paid off in spades.

Most fans remember the great wraparound illustration by Liz Danforth and Rob Carver with its panoramic view of the city of the Gull, its varied inhabitants spilling out of the main gates. It was a black and white illo, never meant to be in color and was replaced in 1983 with a new cover painted by Janell Jaquays.   City of Terrors became a “must-have” in most fans collection.

Flash forward to 2012.  When we started discussing what to do with the solos for Deluxe T&T, I think all of us agreed that reprinting City of Terrors should be high on the list. Everyone still remembered that original cover, so it seemed appropriate to somehow use that as the cover once again.  In the years since I worked for Buffalo, the computer had become the tool of artists, and I had a lot of experience digitally coloring comic books.  So I offered to digitally paint the original art, little realizing just how big a job with would be.  I should have known – after all it’s 11 x 17, contains hundreds of individually drawn buildings and over thirty characters.  A very daunting task indeed!  So how did I color this piece of art?

This is the flat color placed into the Cot cover. the next stage is actually painting it.

The Process: scan and flat color:  Once the cover art is scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop, I start to drop in flat colors in all the areas that will have to be painted. Liz Danforth had given me a rough colored pencil thumbnail to use as an overall lighting guide. She had suggested a sunset scene, just before night descends and the City becomes dangerous.  The colors of everything and everyone were largely up to me, though I consulted regularly with Liz for her input and suggestions. Above is the flat art version of the image.  Some of the general colors of the finished piece are in place and you can begin to see hints of how it might look in the final version.  But the real purpose of the flat color is to allow me to easily select individual areas of the image that I can work on one at a time.  A perfect example would be the tile rooftops. Once they are in as flat colors, its easy to select them all and work on them as a group.  Same for the sky, the ocean or the grassy areas etc.

And here is the final version of the cover with all the painting texturing completed.

Painting & Texturizing:  This is where the hard work begins.  In this case I worked from the background to the foreground, so I selected the sky and got that done first, then the water etc. To me this piece is really a landscape with a group of people in front of it, so the landscape came first.  That way I can make sure the people fit into the lighting that’s in the landscape. It was a this stage I also decided to redo the City of Terrors logo to better make it match the rest of the dT&T product line and the new look of the cover.   I painted in textures like fur or water, along with seemingly endless toning, layering and adjustments, until the background is done and all the characters are painted. (see above)

We had planned to go even more darker and dramatic with the coloring and lighting, but in the end, I decided I didn’t want to run the risk of obscuring Liz’s and Rob’s beautiful line work with too many lighting effects.  I wanted to keep the original line work all there, because that’s what everyone remembered from that cover.  In all, it took me about 100 hours from start to finish.  That’s just the coloring and painting.  I don’t how long it took Liz and Rob to draw and ink it back in 1976   Maybe Liz will post a few of her remembrances of creating the black and white art.

I am deeply honored to have been a part of bringing this book back and making it better than ever. Yes, better. Besides the color cover, Deluxe City of Terrors has also been updated by Ken so that it will work better with the new Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls rules.  We adjusted some information in existing paragraphs to add dT&T features and added some new paragraphs at the end of the book to allow you more options.  We also fixed a couple of link mistakes that were in the last version of the book, the main one being that you can now actually get to Chronus for a chance at bringing yourself back to life.  I also scanned and cleaned up all the original art for the book.

Working on City of Terrors I literally fell in love with T&T all over again.  I think you will too, once you see the new Deluxe version!

In the meantime, enjoy seeing Gull in full-color.  And please, let us know what you think.       Steve Crompton

Steve Crompton, Rick Loomis, Ken St Andre, Liz Danforth & Bear Peters give an update on Deluxe T&T at TrollCon 2013.

A week ago, I went up to Phoenix (well, Scottsdale actually) to attend Trollcon/FBIcon. This is a mini-relaxacon where I could visit with friends and the fans of FBInc and T&T, and to have a confab with the Fellowship to discuss the new edition of the T&T rules. Coincidentally, it let everyone see that I was back on my feet, at least to a degree, after my bout of pneumonia earlier in the summer.

On Sunday, the Fellowship gave a talk about what we had been doing, showed off the products completed so far, and answered questions from the audience. That talk was videotaped, and I understand you’ll see it on YouTube once all the umms and ahhs and dead air pauses have been edited into a watchable package.

Here are the Deluxe T&T products we have released so far; Deluxe mini-rules, Buffalo Castle, 1st Edition T&T Reprint, Deathtrap Equalizer, TrollWorld Map,Saving Fang Solo, City of Terrors, Dungeon of the Bear & new dice.

After the convention, I had some people tell me privately that they were glad to hear from me, and I gave them a renewed confidence in the success of the project. Eeek? NO PRESSURE, AMIRITE? But they were right that I am not as visible as some, at least in terms of this project specifically. Being sick dried up even my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and my personal blog (www.lizdanforth.com) covers many topics of which T&T is only one.

I thought it was time to bring readers and fans into my back room, and let them see what I’m up to for Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls. Fans of the game know my artwork, so you know what to expect. What I’m writing here is about the editing and game development of the rules, because that’s a less obvious thing.

WHAT I AM NOT DOING
Let me start by saying that what I am doing with this edition is not what I did bringing out Fifth Edition. That edition, I worked from Ken’s original concepts but rewrote the whole shebang from top to bottom, and massaged the whole thing into a conceptual flow that daisy-chained from one step to the next. Ken answered questions when I had them, and put up with my stupid ideas (like negative charisma that evidently makes sense to no one but me).

“Game developer” wasn’t a term we used back in the day, so I am listed as “editor.” And while “game developer” is the term I am using now, I don’t intend the kind of draconian rewrite I did then. The game has changed over time, and Ken has produced a number of editions with no participation from me. Edition 5.5, 7.0 and 7.5 all have their adherents. (There never was a legitimate 6th edition, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.) Patrice Geille’s French edition had additional tweaks and is a kind of unofficial (but approved and licensed) 8th edition.

Here are some of the various editions of T&T that have been released since 1975.

The game morphed until if feels like everyone is playing slightly different games. Personalization of the rules is great, but the Kickstarter gave us the opportunity to put together a full blown, definitive new edition that will set a new standard for T&T, and we hope the majority of fans will be able to use and enjoy playing it for a long time to come.

WHAT I AM WORKING WITH
Ken put his nose to the grindstone and delivered the manuscript in May, just about the time I started feeling ill. Reading through the draft, I had questions for him, and many of them wound up being discussed on Trollhalla. I asked the most motivated people to write me emails, and every one I got was read and put in my files for consideration as I worked.

Trollhallans will argue with anyone about anything — I consider that a sign of a healthy community — but it’s clear that no decision of Ken’s or of mine will please everyone. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. Even Ken and I don’t always agree on every decision, but we are united in wanting to put together the best possible result.

WHAT I AM DOING
“Best” has many definitions, of course. Over time, as I worked and read and listened and conversed, I came to a few conclusions about the key principles I wanted to guide me.

1. The game should remain recognizably Tunnels & Trolls. I am against changes so extreme that it is no longer recognizable as the same game. But if even large changes improve on Point 2, I’m glad to have them. Changes that do not improve on Point 2 are on the firing line.
2. Game mechanics and accessibility are a primary consideration. I’m less involved in the society/ies or worldmaking. Nevertheless, if worldmaking decisions damage simplicity and elegance of mechanics, or raise a barrier to accessibility, I’ll take issue with them.
3. The “shape” of the book will mirror Fifth Edition. The basic core rules for play remain up front, and the optional/alternative rules material are separated out. The narrowest world-content material comes after that. Concepts will build on prior concepts.

WHAT YOU WILL BE GETTING
I’m still mentally moving things from one section to another but here are some things I can say for sure.

In the front section you will find the basic rules for character creation — humans and a few widely-known non-human types. There are warriors, wizards and rogues, and the rules for playing them. The primary mechanics for combat, talents, and saving rolls are all there, as well as the familiar array of magic and how to wield it. There are weapons and armor to buy, delver’s packs, and more.

More colorful mechanics and optional rules will be next. Ken’s manuscript for Deluxe had many spells not seen in earlier editions, and at the confab, Bear described a model of differing spellbooks. There will be variant systems to create characters, and variations on the classes. Adopt these options if they improve your game, and know that others are working with the same concepts out in the wider world. You will all have common ground, with consistent standards, from which to build up the inevitable house rules.

And in the last section, the rules will feature Trollworld. The specifics of what will go in there are still being hammered out, but one of my fingerposts came from a correspondent’s concern that the game was becoming Tunnels & Trollworld instead of Tunnels & Trolls.

After almost four decades of the original designers telling players to create your own worlds, it is no surprise that you have done so. That may or may not resemble the Trollworld that Ken has created, and it won’t do to force the game’s mechanics and structure to support only Trollworld. To be honest, the world has changed so that I can hardly recognize it as the nameless fantasy world this group played decades ago. And that’s okay – Trollworld is still a lively, interesting creation with enormous potential and variety. Bear’s city of Khosht and my Knor still bear traces of that old world, and you’ll get those in the back section with much more as well.

Ultimately, my intention is to see that Ken’s creation, the Trollworld he has built up and explored in his fiction and for this game, is available to be played for those who want to do so. I do not, however, think that Trollworld’s specific ecology and cultures represent the only way to play T&T, and I am trying to balance the wonderful, but sometimes bizarre vision Ken brings to fantasy role playing with also delivering a game that gives the players room to make it their own without throwing away the core game itself. It makes no sense to me for us to say “Here’s a tight, narrowly-defined world and the rules to go with it, or… you can just go make it all up for yourself.” My aim is to give you a well-constructed skeleton which can be fleshed out like Trollworld or in the image of your own creation without missing a beat. I want the commonly-shared tropes of sword and sorcery fantasy fiction and our earlier games to remain accessible, the things that say “this is a fantasy game I recognize as such” … but with ample room to tweak and personalize, but without having to reinvent the wheel.

If you can’t recognize the final result as Tunnels & Trolls, the fantasy role playing game you fell in love with, the game that over 1600 of you elected to support with your dollars and your Euros and your hopes and dreams, then we will have failed to deliver what we promised. It’s coming a little later than planned – check out my own blog to understand why I’ve not been working as hard as I intended to this summer – but we promised you the best edition of Tunnels & Trolls that the Fellowship could make.

I intend to deliver on that promise, with everything in my ability.

– Liz Danforth

By Steve Crompton

As you may or may not know, part of our plan for the world section of the Deluxe T&T rulebook is to have maps of four cities that play a role in the history of the game. A few months ago we showed you the map of Khosht. Now we’re presenting Khazan, capital of the Northern Empire.

With Khosht we discovered a forgotten map that Bear Peters had kept in a tube for thirty years. Khazan was a different story, as we had two maps to work from – though finding them was a bit of a challenge.

Khazan map one: Back in the early 1990’s Liz Danforth did a quick map of Khazan for Ken so he could run a play-by-mail rpg campaign in his T&T fanzine. That zine had a very low circulation and was sent to friends and fans of Ken’s who had contacted him directly. Eventually the fanzine was discarded as Ken and the fans switched over to the website that Ken set up. The information in these zines was never transferred to the website and was soon forgotten. As the years passed, Ken eventually gave away all the remaining copies he had, so the map of Khazan and the list of 60 locations in the city were lost.

Khazan map two: A few years later, an online fan of T&T from Italy, Andrea Canobbio consulted with Ken and drew up a color map for Khazan. As you can see, it’s a 3/4 view of the northern part of the city, done in color. Like the first map, this one too had disappeared into the void and there was no copies of it to be found online or in Ken’s archives. Since it was never printed anywhere, it seemed unlikely it would be found.

Since we didn’t have those maps, it looked as though Khazan would have to be created from scratch. As a last resort, I begged Ken to post to the Trollhalla fans to see if any of them had copies of this material. He was skeptical but agreed it was worth a try. At first it looked like he was correct; most of them didn’t even know there had been a T&T Zine (let alone owned any copies of it.)

T&T FANS TO THE RESCUE!
But just as our hopes started to fade, fans searched their collections and turned up some lost treasures. Stefan Jones found the T&T Zines and sent us scans of the relevant pages, and another fan happened to have a scan of the color map and sent that in. Special thanks to Stefan Jones for his efforts and help! (And thanks to all of you that searched your T&T collections and the internet to help us find the Italian map and the clue book for the T&T Computer game as well.)

Below are the two older maps side by side:

Once we had these, Ken and I got together and worked out what from those maps we should use and what else we needed to add to the final version of the Khazan map. Ken also had a couple of changes he wanted made, the main one being the location of the river. Then I got to work drawing, inking and coloring. I have combined the two maps and added a City wall. We also added some other details that were spoken of in other sources but not on either map. I used Liz’s map as the main starting point; almost everything in her map is in the one I drew. Liz’s map contained only roads, so I added buildings in the same manner that the map of Khost had, so the maps will be compatible for GM use. I used the Italian color map as a guide in drawing the northern part  (left side) of Khazan, where you see the palace and the Wizards Guild.  Below is the new combined map.  Its not completely finished, but its well on its way.  At the very least I still need to add a map key scale and compass  (On this map North is on the left side.)

Believe it or not, we don’t know if this finished map will actually appear in the rulebook, as the original plan was to have a map of just the undercity of Khazan. This would include a map of the caverns of Naked Doom, the Dwarven section of town, and various other catacombs and caverns beneath the streets of Khazan. I just couldn’t create an accurate map of the undercity without having a map of the topside to look at first, so I had to make one! If we have space, this map of Khazan will go in the rulebook, otherwise, it will have to wait until we do the Trollworld book. Of course we can also be influenced by your comments…

The Four Coins of Trollworld from Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls

As you can see from the huge picture above, we have finished the Trollworld coins and they are now about to be actually minted.  The images here are the proofs from the coin company and they are a pretty close representation of what the final coins will look like.

We have four metals represented in the set: Copper, Silver, Gold and Myth-Ril.  The coins are slightly different sizes based on the value of the metal.  myth-ril is the smallest & copper is the Largest. The coins aren’t actually made from those metals, (well the copper one is made of copper!  All the images on the coins have specific meanings and relate directly to the location the coin is from.  The Gull coin has a blue enameled beetle on the back, which makes it particularly unique.

If you want to purchase a set of these but didn’t get them during the dT&T Kickstarter, don’t worry, we are minting a few extras, so you’ll be able to order your own set of these.  We don’t have them in hand at the moment and we are not completely certain on the price, but if you want to add your name to the waiting list for these coins, email Rick Loomis at Flying Buffalo.  Here’s his e-mail:  rick@flyingbuffalo.com

Meanwhile give a comment and let us know what you think of the coins!

The photo above is the prototype for Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Dicebag!  Its going to be an amazing embroidered affair on a velvet bag, truly a unique and beautiful sight to behold (and a great way to carry your dice.)

You have Liz Danforth to thank for coming up with the concept for this item.  Liz looked high and low to find someone that was willing and able to tackle the task of embroidering over 100 of these bags for all you Kickstarter dT&T fans that ordered one.  Liz eventually found T&T Fan Eleanor Woolley ”Gothybeans” who also happened to have amazing skills with needle & thread.  (if you want to see more of her work, visit her site at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/GothyBeans.

UPDATE! Eleanor has told us the following: “ It’s a prototype I sewed for Rick to showcase at Essen. The actual bags will be 5″x7″ rather than square (more room = more dice!) and have a chord (and possibly a glass bead), but not a ribbon.  There’ll also be a few small improvements on the pattern.”   So high praise to Liz Danforth and Eleanor Woolley for the Amazing Trollhead Dicebag!

And while we’re on the subject of high praise, it’s about time we heap some praise on the designer of that gorgeous Trollhead logo that we are using on the dicebags, coins, tattoos and on virtually every other T&T product we’ve come out with.  Surprisingly, the logo was NOT designed by Liz, Steve or Rob – It was in fact designed by Dan Carver (or Ugly John Carver as some of you know him.)   He’s also the creator of Uncle Ugly’s Underground Doom and Rob Carver’s brother.  Dan was one of the early playtesters of T&T and he worked for Flying Buffalo from the late 1970′s to the mid 1980′s.  He went on to work as a game designer for one of the largest computer companies in the world (among other things).

Let us know what you think of the new bags and the Trollhead logo – post right here.  Who knows? Maybe we can cajole Ugly John to reveal the Trollhead’s secrets; when he made it, how it came to be and what does it REALLY mean?