Moe Lane's Blog, page 79

The THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY Season 2 trailer.

I’ve never watched the show – this entire universe of Undead seems rather strange to me; they’re not very fast and don’t seem particularly immune to blunt force trauma. Why not just shoot and/or flamethrower them? – and I’m very confused as to why they’re coding the eventual fate of these zombies as somehow awful. Macabre I can see, but otherwise… yes. Yes, this seems like a sensible use of resources.

My interview with Mildra the Monk!

I think it went well, but I’ll let you decide. Check out the Fermi Resolution Worldbook Backerkit here, and note that there’s a link to the v.80 non-commercial version of the game at that link. It’s obviously not done, but it’ll give you an idea of what the game will look like.

The ‘Doom Desert in the Decanter of Delirium Zine’ Kickstarter.

Full title: Doom Desert in the Decanter of Delirium Zine: A Psychedelic 5e Adventure Zine for Four to Six Characters of Level 1 – 2. It’s a small project by somebody I know, and the dude doing it is just having fun. Since I like to have fun, too, I backed it. Check it out.

02/25/2025 Snippet, JUDITH STORMCROW AND THE FLIM-FLAM MAN.

Town!

They had a couple of days where Judith could tell herself that things had gotten settled with the Death-Seekers. Gods didn’t always pay attention to what their cultists did. When they did pay attention, a lot of times they didn’t even care. And even if they did care, Judith could hope that it’d be a god versus god thing. Spiders eat a few helpless cultists alive, cultists go burn out a few spider-lairs, everybody else could go on with their own business. That was religion at its best, in the Twenty Realms.

Speaking of their own business, it wasn’t like the Fancy Britches were just strolling along without a care, here. This part of the Realms wasn’t nearly as bad as some places. There were plenty of towns where a caravan could pull in and safely stay the night, with nothing worse than watery beer and overpriced suppers to worry about. But there were plenty of towns where you kept your crossbow cocked, or laid out the first black-toothed son-of-a-bitch who looked at you funny. You didn’t always know when one kind of town had switched to the other, either.

Willy’s Mess was supposed to be the first kind, but Judith wasn’t really sure how much longer that’d last. There were more layabouts on the street this visit; the kind that could work, but didn’t. Or, rather, the kind who had a different idea of what ‘work’ looked like. “Pass the word,” she told Barry as the crew set up a perimeter in the trade paddock. “Groups of three, and don’t flash coin around. We’re not buying anything we can’t check on the spot, either.”

Patreon!

100 Backers on the Fermi Resolution Worldbook Backerkit! Woot!

That means that all of the backers of the Fermi Resolution Worldbook will get extra maps as part of the art download. At the moment, that specifically means the ‘North America at different times’ maps, but it’ll probably extend to the maps I’ll be commissioning as part of the first stretch goal. I’m still assessing who will be making those; I want to see how the artist who’s doing the maps for the cross-collaboration between me and Lead & Chrome works out first. We’re not on a time crunch, and if I like how she fulfills this project, no reason why I shouldn’t keep that going…

Back the project(s) today!

We are three Fermi Resolution Worldbook Backers away from more continent maps!

That’s pretty much it. The Fermi Resolution Worldbook has an achievement: with one hundred backers comes extra digital maps. We are at ninety-seven. And there’s only ten days to go, so back it now!

Reminder: interview tomorrow with Mildra the Monk about the Backerkit.

You’ll be able to tune in here – or whatever they call getting onto Twitch – February 25, 2025, 8 PM Eastern Time. Mildra will be talking to me about The Fermi Resolution Worldbook, which is by the way only 3 backers away from everybody getting extra map art. Check it out, check that out, and you’ll see me tomorrow!

My Once Upon A Con Author Alley photo.

…I really need a better picture of me. I look like a constipated hobbit. Anyway, this is where I’ll be in August! If you can’t go to Once Upon A Con then, buy my books here!

#commissionearned

02/24/2025 Snippet, JUDITH STORMCROW AND THE FLIM-FLAM MAN.

Disputes!

…

Judith gave the soon-to-be-bodies a look-over. Some of her crew were carefully searching them for holdout weapons or last-curse tablets, because you didn’t kill a Death-Seeker until they were naked and out of easy grabbing range. Their god had a morbid sense of humor about reanimating his dead worshipers, but it usually didn’t matter if you cut off the head in time.

“Yeah,” she told him. “We’ll do for them in a couple of minutes, once we’re sure they’re not carrying anything.”

“Good!” snarled Gregor. Then he… blinked, and even shuddered for a moment. The man opened his mouth, stopped, flicked a look at Judith for a moment, then carefully stood up. “I need to move around for a moment, Mistress Stormcrow. Please excuse me. I am not angry at you.” He didn’t wait for her response; he just got up, and walked over to one of the storage wagons. In fact, he almost ran.

Judith watched him with an unhappy eye. It was probably a good thing that Gregor told her that he wasn’t angry at her, because Gregor was angry about something. The wagon was too far away for her to hear anything, and Gregor was visibly keeping his arms crossed, but the man’s body language was of somebody who was infuriated, and desperately trying not to shout. It all reminded her of, well, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was definitely familiar.

So was Gregor’s slightly dejected trudge back. “I’m sorry, Mistress Stormcrow, but the answer is actually ‘Bad.’” He grimaced at her confusion. “I need you not to kill them.”

First stretch goal reached for THE FERMI RESOLUTION WORLDBOOK!

We have just passed $2,500 on the Fermi Resolution Worldbook Backerkit! Thank you so much! To expand on what backers will be getting:

It is the wild and woolly days of the Twenty-Third Century. A beast-man has attacked a Second Republic trade caravan at Poughkeepsie, and fled east! But is he more man, or more beast? Either way, your party must track him down. There are places along the coast that you would not send your worst enemy…

So, time to update the stretch goals. Note that both stories referenced can be found in TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION, Vol 1.

$2,500 (reached): A PDF adventure! This will be available for all backers at Senior Adventurer and above. It’s based off of my short story “The Wolf-Man of Westhaven,” and will double as a look at a different time period than the main campaign’s. There will be maps!$3,000: (current) Tip the team! I’m a firm believer in spreading around good fortune. If we hit this goal, I’ll toss in a little something extra for Ben Fleuter (artist) and Dungeon Master Tuz (layout maven). More about them here.$4,000: Another PDF adventure! This will be available to for all backers at Senior Adventurer and above. This adventure will be set in the current campaign time period. A critical forward base in captured Dominion territory isn’t reporting in. There aren’t enough Alliance troops available to investigate, but that’s why there are Adventurers. There will be maps! (Based on my short story “Job Along the Borderlands.”)

Thanks again, and let’s get to the next stretch goal!