Brian N. Young's Blog, page 11

My Old Novel Project is about to Surface...

In the many years of play-testing what is to become the ' Codex Druidum ' I had come to develop many ideas for stories, many, and after a chance encounter with who became my film script agent for Hollywood in 1998 the process began. He asked me to write a script, so I did in three weeks. It was a sudden inspiration but one that I have found to be ingenious in the following years. I called it ' The Girl with the Rainbow Eyes ' and it involves a girl named Ana who will find herself caught up in an ancient war in Faery between the Faeries of Light and Darkness.

I won't give the story away here of course, but I will say that it is a work of art in places. One I am proud of and wanted to see in movie or book form someday. The script sits gathering dust (Hollywood takes FOREVER) but I decided to write it as novel, my first novel ever written. In the past I tried to write but could never get passed the first few pages before burning out. The art of writing seemed impossible to me at the time. I had hundreds of original stories in my head but wanted to capture that magic, the same we find in our games.

So I swore a vow to myself while in undergrad school that I would write something in the novel once everyday, no matter if it was just a paragraph at a time. I was going to write them taken from the script no matter what! Slowly after six months I wrote it all and by 1999 I finished it. Then I held onto it until 2008, almost ten years later before I felt like sending it to publishers and literary agencies. But after continual rejections (about 10+) and overcoming my own ego about it, I was humbled to realize that it wasn't my story, but it was HOW I wrote it. It needed to be formatted properly like a true novel or it wasn't going to work at all - ever.



The first draft was amateurish and sloppy, a shame to admit that I composed it.

After writing several novellas in the same fall of 2008 ('The Witch of Round Mountain') I knew that I needed to sit down and correctly write a novel, not just assume that I could do so. So by December of 2008 I jumped into the re-write of the novel, almost ten years later from the original first draft. As I was writing it I was feeling the writer in me transform and take shape for the first time. My new re-write was full of energy, life and color, and it was engaging to read. In the next three months I was eagerly writing on it every day after coming home from teaching my courses at the college. Progress was being made but I was feeling the pangs of burn-out and had to stop for a break.

A big mistake.

In the interim I decided to go with the writing flow now that I found it, and put my Steampunk Horror novel ' De Civitate Sanguino ' into book form (but that is another story of its own). Meanwhile my Celtic adventure novel sat again to gather dust as it had since I first composed it in the late 90's. I should have finished it then while writing it but I didn't.

Now, years later from the spring of 2009 I am finishing it again. Finally. My pet story is going to see the light of day very soon. I have a chapter and a half to go and it is a BIG conclusion more improved from the first draft and the script version. In the re-write I have changed radically many elements from the old version and have it greatly improved.



My adventure modules echo this story intentionally, and the Codex Druidum will provide gamers with everything from the setting in game form. Now with the novel about to be officially completed after twelve long years I plan to give it to a literary agency and see it become a major published novel with one of the Big Six companies. Yep, the Big Six as authors call them. A scary step in my evolution as a writer.

' The Girl with the Rainbow Eyes ', and its two sequels (and possibly a third) is about to be official and hopefully a serious deal. My other novels and series are with a slightly small press and without advance pay or an agent to help, it helped me start as a writer now, but this is about to go large if I can make it.

Once the novel is finished, I will thoroughly read it through, make its corrections and prepare it for an agency. It is the next logical step as a writer to me.

 

The Codex Germania is Completed!

Just on the verge on the production of the first, the Codex Druidum , the Germanic counterpart is now done! It was Steve's old dream in 2002 to see this book and a series in print that were historical and mythical in origin as supportive materials for Game Masters but the project fell to pieces as the Codex Germania 's original author (a well known RPG author with TSR - Robert J. Kuntz) stopped writing on it and the whole project stopped in its tracks. This book was initially the beginning to the series and it sat forgotten and gathering mold for a decade...until now.

Separately, in my own two decades of play-testing my Celtic Otherworld setting and rules I had thought about and longed for adding a Germanic element to it, but only was able to get a few scattered rules written but never officially tested. ALL of those early ideas of mine went into this Codex and they fit smoothly. Gamers are going to be able to play Saxon warriors, Viking raiders or anything else from that tradition now. My academic specialty is in the Celts, specifically the Celtic Britons and the 'Arthurian' age following Rome's departure and fall, and you could say a minor to my studies is on the Anglo-Saxons with some side dabbling on the Goths and Norse peoples. This Codex isn't written by someone who doesn't know the culture or topic but someone who taught history, has a degree in the field, and has always loved it.



Once these first two Codices are out, Game Masters can incorporate Celtic and Germanic magic, ideas, etc into their campaigns, merge the two, and have hours of fun. My next Codex in mind is the Codex Classicus covering the Greeks, Ertruscans and Romans. The only odd one out from this series is my Celtic one. It doesn't focus on the Continental Celts only the Insular groups, and is centered around my Otherworld aspect more than the historical. The emphasis on the other Codices is a balance with mythical and historical unlike the Celtic. I could almost make a separate one called Codex Celtica that is JUST the Celtic peoples as a whole AND their many strands of myths, etc. It wouldn't be that difficult.

So I have the honor to not just bring back to life an old moribund project of Troll Lord Games, but to do so in the footsteps of Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz. Between my modules (which are highly rated as they are put out one by one) and Codices, the gaming world will be given some new and original works that will change the way people play for a long time to come, and that makes me extremely proud to know.

Hard Copies are Available With Me Now!

Copies of 'The Witch of Round Mountain' and 'De Civitate Sanguino' are here for anyone that wants a copy. Contact me and come by while they are still available! Yay!

This is a limited time thing because these copies are going to Octopodicon in two weeks' time!

Caledfwlch...or 'Excalibur'

My Workshop Today at the Enid Public Library

Today from 1PM to 2 I gave an introductory workshop on the basics of being an author and it went well and had a decent turn out! With a plan, I jumped into the topics of:
1.) 'Why do you want to write?' (Motives, goals, etc)
2.) 'How to get started.' (Prepping, outlines and more)
3.) 'Preparing to Write.' (Making time and setting priorities to do so)
4.) 'Finding a Publisher.' (The Do's and Don'ts)
5.) 'Doing it all again.' (Starting the whole process over again)
6.) General questions and answers.

Several authors were present and the reception was positive with renewed interest, inspiration and friends. This also brought a means to network with people who have similar interests and genres in writing which could lead to better things.

It went so well that I do plan on doing more of these talks, especially as more of my publications are released in time it will be more important to reach out to more people who want to write but just do not have the right kind of fire lit to encourage them. It takes many unexpected sources of inspiration to drive someone to sit down and produce a work, literary, film or whatever form of art. I think this workshop was helpful to some and I could see the interest and note taking.

I will add the photos from it once I have them on here on this very post sometime on Sunday!

Review for the Crimson Pact is here! It is Good!

Four out of five stars again! Two modules in, and this is only the beginning. Far better modules are on the way I can assure you! It takes a little bit of evolution and a little refining to make the ultimate 'classic' adventure module - and they are coming next!

"All in all this new quasi-Celtic setting has been a great move for Castles & Crusades and really seems to have revitalized the system. Troll Lord has now put out two excellent adventures and I hope the streak of high quality continues for some time to come. Will there be more? Only time will tell, but I truly hope so."
Just wait until they see my Codices...
Go to RPGNow for the Reviews!

Official Announcement of the 'Codex Druidum' is out!

TLG 8130 Codex DruidumProduct Type/Format & Price: 8.5 x 11 Perfect Bound, 144 pages; $24.99 (est)Ordering Info: TLG 8130, ISBN 978-1-936822-55-3
Beyond the comforts of home lie worlds of epic adventure.Druids have surmised that before the present Universe there was a Disharmonious Void that once existed. Torn by destructive chaos and strife, it was devoid of any creative powers and life completely. Nothing could exist in this Disharmonious Void. It was death for the dead in essence and completely uninspired. A spark of Inspiration or Awen, called the Great Spark, blazing red and shaped like a thunder-bolt, tore its way through the blackness with fury. The Fire of Creation split the shapeless Void into the (as yet empty) Three Circles (Trí Fáine) that were anchored around one magnificent, growing oak tree. This tree was the first in the Universe, and under its immense leafy crown hung golden acorns, swollen with potency.
A Celtic CromlechThe druids dwelt in a world wholly apart from our own, a world that comes down to us in the stones of the cromlech, the wild burnings of the wicker man, the priests who called on ancient trees and fey to bless or defend them and a language of such haunting beauty that its echoes stir memories within us of a people we once were.
The Codex Druidum delves into the myths of the Celtic peoples, the powers of the world around them, the monsters that hunted them, and the gods that watched over them. Its author, Brian Young, a scholar by trade, introduces the Celtic mythos like never before, exploring the depths of that world to recast it for the fantasy RPG Castles & Crusades. Within the Codex Druidum lies a wealth of information; gaming material that blows new life into the world of the fey, the druid, the ranger and all characters whose travels carry them through the wooded hills, broken crags and dark forests of our primeval imagings.
More than Myths and GodsThe Codex Druidum contains a veritable host of gaming material. New spells for your druid, new powers for your characters, combat, and more, within the Codex Druidum you’ll find:
190 new druidic spells90 gods and monsters from the Celtic mythos150 powers for the fey monsters
Expand your character! With fey blood in your veins you too can possess the powers of the fey. Or even adopt new races for your game. The elder gods possessed powers of surpassing wonder and left a world with all manner of strange incarnations, those are yours to bring to life.
Codex Druidum comes complete in seven glorious, fun filled, fact packed chapters. Chapter 1 covers a complete history of the Celtic world view. Chapter 2 delves into the world of fey. Chapter 3 presents races and monsters. Chapter 4 covers mountains of new spells and magical abilities. Chapter 5 tackles the lords of war. Chapter 6 looks at the gods themselves. Chapter 7 yields new material for the Castle Keeper.

'The Crimson Pact' Module is at Press Today!

My second adventure module, 'The Crimson Pact' is now being officially printed after spending a week in PDF format! That means you will be able to have a hard-copy this week. That is very good news! The third module, 'The Giant's Wrath' is being edited right now and being readied to be published next.

Here is the ad copy for this newest module...

TLG-8322 The Crimson Pact
Product Type/Format & Price: 8.5 x 11 Saddle Stitched, 24 pages; $6.99
Ordering Info: TLG 8322, ISBN 978-1-936822-53-9

Beyond the comforts of home lie worlds of epic adventure.

The slopes of Bryn Maenhiri play host to a portal, a door that opens to the Otherworld, the lands of Faery, and possession of it brings men powers untold. So the tribes of men waged war with one the other to hold it; until their battles brought forth an otherworldly host from the lands Faery, elves, fey, terrible and wonderful, wild men of the woods, giants and other such horrors. in countless battles the four realms struggled to take and hold of Bryn Maenhiri, where too often the deep green grasses know the warm stain of blood and the iron of shod boots.

In time the other worlders sent forth their champion, the elf-lord Eifion, and he carried with him the sword Haearndarian. With this blade few could stand against him so that he fell upon the luckless with wild abandon, slaughtering the men in droves. But in the end his vanity undid him and he fell and his blade shattered by the heroes of men. The host of Faery fell back into the hill and upon the red soaked field the three kings of men made peace with one the other and swore a pact to keep the hill closed. They each took a shard of the sword for safety. So peace came to the whole of those people.

But now the shards have gone missing; stolen by some unknown hand and war spreads across the lands. Fear grips men for rumors of a host of fey returned spreads through whispers in every household. Bloody war and murder grip the hearts of men.


The Crimson Pact is a hard hitting adventure module following that pits any would be adventurer against a veritable host of problems that hard sword strokes alone won't solve. Crimson Pact is designed for use with mid-level characters and for play over several gaming sessions.

My Blog Can Now Be Seen On GoodReads!

If you are on GoodReads, find and add me, and I will do the same! I have the RSS now a part of the site on my profile's blog updates which synchronizes ALL of my internet author presences (website, Facebook page, Twitter, here and on GoodReads). If you can read this on GoodReads let me know!

Play This Loud When The Codex Germania Is Done!