This afternoon I noticed a very nice burst of sales, and couldn't figure out why... turns our there is a 25% off sale at RPGNow, and my stuff is included! So take advantage of great prices on many different DCC titles while the sale lasts. :)
You can of course also purchase Purple Sorcerer Adventures at the sale prices through The Purple Sorcerer Store.
Hey Crawlers!
A couple happy bits of news to share: first, I'm beginning to recover from the effects of the bell's palsy. I can blink my left eye, and I'm starting to get some movement in both my eyebrow and the left side of my mouth. I'm thrilled that such good signs are appearing less than two weeks after all this weirdness started. :)
Secondly, The Carnival of the Damned has been approved by the Dark Master, and I'll be starting the print proof process this weekend. With luck, the print version and PDF will be available within 2 weeks. (As always, with print items you learn to expect the unexpected, and each round of proofs adds 10-14 days to the process. But I'm feeling lucky!)
Take care everyone.
Earlier in the week, after a morning believing I was experiencing an allergic reaction, I suddenly realized the left side of my face was sagging, and I could no longer close my left eye. After eight hours in the hospital, two MRI's and many additional tests, in the main it seems I've been struck with Bell's Palsy, and as a result, the left half of my face is completely paralyzed: I can't close my eye, expressions are strange, and eating and drinking are a grand adventure. :)
There's no way to know how long this will last. For most, the effects fade within a month, but can reoccur occasionally throughout life. The gentleman across the hall from me in the hospital has dealt with his for 71 years. I'm surrounding by a loving family and an understanding employer, and I'm beginning to adjust just fine. But reading and editing and doing work is challenging. (I picked up an eye patch today, which is a huge help, but using touch-devices is now a bit of a hunting and pecking adventure.)
I'm sure I'll get back in the swing of things shortly, but on top of the other physical challenges I'm dealing with, I imagine progress will be slow. Thanks to everyone for your understanding.
Take care,
Jon
I apologize for the silence of late: health issues continue to slow things to a crawl. Using a mouse in particular has been a challenge. Cursed little blighter! ;)
I've switched to a new arthritis med, but these things take a while to get revved up: it will likely be another six weeks before any improvement is expected. For the third time, fingers crossed.
The Carnival of the Damned is just a good days or two away from completion.
As always, thanks to all for your support,
Here's a roundup of recent small updates to the DCC Tools:
1) The cover sheet image for the Sorcerer's Grimoire has been 'inverted' so you can print out a cover sheet using much less ink. (And I'm working on adding additional images.)
2) I've added Terry Olson's Tatterdermalion's Tampering super-funky dice methods found in this year's Goodman Games GenCon Guide to the zero and upper level character generator dice-methods, and his 'Emerikol' rolling method to the Mercurial Magic Generator and the Sorcerer's Grimoire. (Which makes it much less likely to roll a 'no mercurial magic' result.)
3) New occupation sources for the character generators include Mark Hunt's Drongo, Zine lists for Black Powder and Black Magic and Crawling Under a Broken Moon, and Andrew Trents Food-Suin list. (Which are now described in the new occupation list description page linked from the character generator pages.)
Happy crawling everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know that David Baity's Carnival of the Damned is still amazing! We'd hoped to have things wrapped up by this point, and any and all delays have been directly related to my poor health over the last few months. David's text is complete and edited, there's only a couple pieces of art to polish off, and I'm in the process of creating the first proof to go out to my loyal army of readers.
Thanks to everyone that has expressed excitement over its release, and we hope to have it in your peasant-crushing hands as soon as possible. :)
Jon
All Purple Sorcerer Adventures are 25% off through July 30th in both the Purple Sorcerer Store, and at RPGNow!
A host of DCC titles from Goodman Games, Purple Duck, Thick Skulls and more are also on sale at RPGNow.
In in the closing moments of what will surely become known as The Great Kidney Stone Explosion of Mighty Tools 2015, I'm pleased to announce the release of new versions of the Zero and Upper Level Generators with some very cool new features:
Just select from a growing list of tourney styles in the style/format drop-down, and the generator will create 0-level characters in the '1 serf per page' tourney style. I've done some minor graphic work so all the tourney sheets have been touched up with their own individual flair.
Yes, you can now create multiple characters in PDF format with a single click! For weary judges looking to assemble a stack of standard 4-character or tourney sheets, you can create up to 50 character sheets at a time. In testing, I believe these 50 page PDF's are actually easier on the server than creating dozens of individual sheets, and a 50 page sheet is scarcely larger than a solo sheet since the background graphic (the main file-size contributor) is embedded a single time for all the sheets. Give it a whirl!
For example, John Carr requested an occupation list that would start each character with zero beginning funds. Previously this would have involved updating codes in lots of different places, but the recent code streamlining simplifies processes like this considerably. It's also much easier to add new occupation/equipment lists: it's basically as easy as dropping the new files onto the server, so expect a number of new lists in the future! :)
As this Kidney Stone Marathon has gone on, I've been reminded how much I enjoy working on these tools. But it's your support that makes them available to the community, paying for hosting and publishing costs, as well as helping to purchase new devices and tools to both test and develop the utilities.
With no formal pledge drive this year, this will be my final call until 2016: If you feel inclined to support the free tools, any and all donations will be warmly received.
http://purplesorcerer.com/support.php
I truly appreciate and thank everyone who has supported, and continues to support, Purple Sorcerer Games!
While battling a kidney stone of late, I've hurt a bit too much to sleep, but have had a clear enough head to get in a little coding. So I whipped up web versions of the Mercurial Magic, Demon, and Dragon generators. My pain is your gain! ;)
So here are the newest web tools:
One final reminder
Even though we raised enough last year that I'm not doing an official fund raiser for 2015, if you feel inclined to continue supporting the free tools, any and all donations will be warmly received. Thanks to everyone who continues to support Purple Sorcerer Games.
If you've tried to contact me in the last stretch without success, I apologize: It's happy fun fun kidney stone time! I deal with small painful stones fairly frequently, but this is shaping up to be a stone of the "please let me die" variety, and outside of writhing in agony I tend to not get much accomplished. ;)
I had a similar stone 4 years ago and it required surgery: we'll find out tomorrow morning after my cat scan if we need to do so again. Until it's resolved things will be quiet in Purple Sorcerer Land. Take care everyone.
Last summer we had a very successful yearly Purple Sorcerer Tools Fundraiser. I can't tell everyone how much I appreciated not having to worry about hosting or app store publishing costs over the last 12 months: my health has impacted the family finances and your kind support truly helped! Thank you.
And despite the challenges, I'm pleased we managed to make some nice progress on the tools front in the last year:
It's so gratifying to see sheets from the tools showing up almost every day in pics from DCC events around the world. The 0-Level party generator is quietly counting up every sheet, and at some point in the not too distant future the one-millionth serf will roll off the line, complete with a special Willy Wonka style golden character sheet. :)
Finally, even though we raised enough last year that I'm not doing an official fund raiser for 2015, if you feel inclined to continue supporting the free tools, any and all donations will be warmly received! Every $350 raised covers an additional year of hosting/store costs, and there's always another development tool/gizmo/subscription to swallow up additional funds. Thanks again to everyone who continues to support Purple Sorcerer Games!
I've updated the Sorcerer's Grimoire with all of the missing spells I could detect, as well as fixed a bug where cover sheets weren't being added to non-random grimoires.
Check it out: we should be close to pulling the beta tag off the thing. ;)
For Android users comfortable side-loading their apps and walking on the wild-side, the version 1.5 beta of the Crawler's Companion is now available.In my pre-arthritis/neuropathy days I usually put in 25-30 hours or so a week working on Purple Sorcerer stuff, spread across the website, adventures, tools, and social media. And I enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, a total of 25-30 hours of solid work in a week is now often a bit of a stretch. ;)
And though my capacity has diminished, my commitments have not. As a result, I've been researching task-management strategies to try and squeeze out as much productivity with the hours/strength I have. My initial evaluation of all outstanding tasks has made it abundantly clear that too many things are stacked up, making it particularly troublesome to deal with emotionally nasty things like the recent blog security problem that popped up out of nowhere. Things I can't effectively manage need to be set aside, so here's my high-altitude view of how things will be changing:
No changes. I'm actually hoping that streamlining other areas will speed up my work here. I've got a nice stream of upcoming titles, and I love publishing new stuff!
I currently have the Purple Sorcerer site, the blog, my Facebook page, my twitter account, a storefront, two store back ends, RPGNow, and my presence on Google+. I'm thinking there just might be something I can streamline in this mix. ;)
The insecure Wordpress blog on my site is gone, moved to Blogger. I'll let you know what else I decide to axe. :)
I don't see many changes here. The generators and Grimoire are easy to update, and I can even do lots of the work from my iPad. I'll probably be a bit slower about adding occupation lists and specialty character sheets, but I've already scheduled time to evaluate what the next tool will be once I'm caught up with all the planned updates for existing tools.
I've made no secret how deeply I loathe publishing to the Apple App Store: it literally gives me heart-burn, and updating the app in 3 different Android stores and on the web is no small endeavor. I've decided that the next update to the Crawler will be the last to add new features. Of course, the app already has more gizmos than I ever envisioned, and I will keep my eyes open and jump into the breach if a future iOS or Android update breaks the app. But as far as new features go, we're reaching the final stop.
Because the user party/encounter system used the old blog as its authentication system, I'm replacing it with a much simpler copy/paste method that doesn't require any outside data storage/access. Maintaining the database is just too big a cloud to have hanging over me at the moment, and the change will in part future-proof the app as a stand alone tool.
I'll continue to be happy to hear everyone's bug reports and ideas about what they'd like to see, but for the foreseeable future my plate is full and most new stuff/requests will have to wait until my current queue is empty.
I wish I had the verve I once had... I really do. I love communicating with everyone, and the interactions I've had wearing my Purple Sorcerer hat have truly eased the burden of this rotten health stretch. But I look forward to moving the crystal ball forward for years to come... only a bit slower and with a slightly more realistic scrying range. ;)
As always, thanks to everyone for your amazing support.
Players who have experienced the adventure at conventions like GaryCon and DragonCon know it's packed with surreal horrors: characters find themselves trapped in a mist-shrouded carnival in the dead of night, tasked to rescue scores of village children who vanished after returning home from a magical day at a seemingly innocent carnival. Nightmares come to life as players move deeper into a mad environment ruled by a dark power, struggling to survive corrupted versions of carnival oddities like the Hall of Mirrors and Tunnel of Love....at least the images and maps for Against the Vortex Temple. I love the sepia look on the maps but will be reverting to b/w to match the print version: I'm not that gassed about maintaining different sets of images for screen and print. :)
Now off to finish the text: setting phasers on maximum creepy. Barring craziness with work/health I hope to be playtesting in 2-3 weeks.
I'd guess my most persistent role-playing-related passion has been mapping. Even during the years when I lacked an active group I would happily crank out maps, some of them massive affairs on 17x22 paper. I've spent endless hours trying out new techniques on paper and the computer... and never got tired of the process.
In addition to being on sale for just $.99 for the next day, I've updated the download bundle of Perils of the Sunken City with new updated color and mobile versions!
All existing customers should be able to download the latest files from their RPGNow accounts.
Through sheer laziness, I forgot to sign up for the GM Day sale at RPGNow.
Seeing all my DCC publishing chums taking part filled me with shame, so I just marked everything down 30%. And since March 9 is my birthday, I've also marked down Perils of the Sunken City to 99 cents!
All sorts of great stuff on sale from Goodman Games, Purple Duck, Thick Skulls and more. And don't forget the amazing variety of zines. I have pretty much all of the them and they're packed with useful material.
The sale ends March 9.
(And of course, all the prices have also been reduced in the Purple Sorcerer Store.)
Apple has made changes of late that require apps published to the app store to support 64 bit magical whimsy. Apps that are currently in the store (like the Crawler) have a small window where non 64-bit updates will be accepted, but that will be closing soon.
Unfortunately, when I update the Crawler with a new SDK to support 64 bits, all versions from that point on will no longer support iPad 1's. Version 1.4 will be published in the coming weeks using an older SDK, and will likely be the last version of the Crawler to support iPad 1's: future versions will be incompatible and invisible to iPad 1's when you visit the app store.
You should still be able to install and run version 1.4 'forever' on your iPad 1 by accessing your 'Purchased' tab in the App Store. (If I understand the madness of Apple correctly.) So if you haven't purchased the free app yet on your iPad 1, do so quickly, as I believe it will (maybe, perhaps, who knows?) be invisible to you once we go 64 bit.
Version 1.4 runs fine on an iPad 1, and represents the cleanest, most feature rich build so far, so at least we'll be sailing away on a high point. Regardless of my explanation, my daughter, who uses the iPad 1, is displeased she won't see future updates. Conversely, she was also unaware that the Crawler was in the app store and used by thousands of folks outside the family, which scored me some cool-Daddy points. :)
If you have an iPad 2 or later, or a supported Android device, you will not be effected, and future 64 bit versions of the Crawler should appear and work as usual. (Already tested on our creakiest test device: the original Droid phone.)
Argh! The utilities I create always seem to require much more time fixing all the fiddly bits than in implement the major functionality in the first place. But I'm happy to announce that the Sorcerer's Grimoire is available for testing!
During last year's pledge drive to help support the free Purple Sorcerer Tools, folks voted on which tools they'd like to see me work on in the coming year, and the Sorcerer's Grimoire was the clear favorite. The Grimoire creates dynamic DCCRPG spellbook PDF's for you to print out, adjusting text size and spacing on the fly so that every spell fits on a single page. You can choose the spells yourself, or have the tool randomly select spells based on your caster's level and appropriate stat. You can do the same with Mercurial Magic, or have the script ignore MM altogether
Many design decisions have been made to conserve space since the number one goal of the project was to keep each individual spell on a single page. I played with lots of fancy layouts, but eventually ended up with a simple look to obey this prime directive. Physics dictates that really wordy spells require pretty small fonts, but hopefully folks will still find them readable. :)
If you notice any strangeness let me know: particularly spell results that run on past the available space.
As many of you know, I've struggled with health issues of late, but my trusty iPad allowed me to keep working during the worst stretches. (This is the first project I've completed from beginning to end using my tablet and beloved bluetooth keyboard.)
I am a bit beat pushing this out the door, so I might be a while before I update things, but Patrons are on the way, including patron-specific Invoke Patron results and spells.
As always, thanks to the amazing folks at Goodman Games who support community tools like the Grimoire.
Take care everyone. I hope you find the Sorcerer's Grimoire useful!
Happily I've made major progress on the new PDF spellbook creation utility. I've continued to refine my iPad workspace (which is easier on me physically) to the point that I've done all the Grimoire programming on it. I'm most pleased. :)
The individual spell page creation code is complete: involving lots of fiddling to dynamically adjust text sizes/spacing to allow each spell to be printed on a single sheet. I've also completed the Mercurial Magic code so that you can have it rolled automatically for each spell.
I'm now building the forms so you can choose whether to create a random spell book based on level, or select individual spells/mercurial magic for an existing caster. After that I'll just need to complete the random generation code, and we'll be good to go! If I can continue the pace I'm on, we'll hopefully be up and running in a week or two.
Health issues continue to bedevil the Sorcerer, and unfortunately things have gotten progressively worse over the last year. I'm excited about some new approaches we'll be taking medically, but I'll be going through a few months of testing before really kicking thinks off with my specialist.
I have many things that are slooooooowly simmering in the fire, so expect a burst of activity when I get back on my feet. Two (perhaps three) new adventures, an update to the Crawler's Companion, and a beta release of the Sorcerer's Grimoire are all waiting in the wings. I'm really looking forward to sharing these fun new creations with the wonderful Dungeon Crawl Classics community!
The Too Lazy To Update Prices Sale will run though the weekend. Act now: once I go to the trouble of restoring the regular prices everywhere, it will likely be a good while before we run another sale! :)
Added some fun new occupation sources to the 0-Level party generator.
For those about to share the wonders of +Michael Curtis' amazing Chained Coffin milieu, +Pete Schwab compiled the Shudder Mountain occupation list with and without non-humans.
+Noah Stevens also created occupation and unique trade goods lists for his light-hearted/horror/romp Space Dungeon campaign for tomb-raiders, prospectors, and last-ditch wannabes on the burial world of Nebulmor in the far-reaches of the Galactic Funnel.
Have fun, and let me know if you notice any strangeness using the new occupation sources. :)
