Brekkil's page

I dont want another system for amateurs, because frankly, I think my products can stand there with the best of them (like paizo), but as you know products from various 3pp come in different chapes, from people who use no art, to people who use clipart and to publishers, such as myself, who ALWAYS spend a lot of money on new and beautiful artwork. Even though we are rated the same, you could give a product without artwork or one using clipart, a 5-star review. So, either you dont care that much for new art, colour covers, maps etc., or you do indeed have two standards from which you rate.

You've mentioned these things before, and if I could, I would provide these things, but I dont have the money to buy professional programs which to make my products and must therefore rely on open source programs, such as scribus.

And as far as player-friendly maps and a printer-friendly version goes, if this has become the standard then I am awfully sorry, because I certainly dont have the money for these. Some cartographers might provide a map without numbers and labels, but to make an entire book without any backgrounds, illustrations and maps, that would require much more work, as you can't just remove them, you have to make a whole new layout.

You know that I value your oppinion and all the work that you put into a review, but yes, your last section did indeed rub me the wrong way because I think it was quite unfair. I believe that this product has things that more than outweighs the few negative things about the product.

- axel

Well, these days I have to think about how to best use my time, End, adding bookmarks, making a printer-friendly version, player-friendly maps and a pdf of "reasonable" size will take me much longer than its worth. Nothing, as you may know, is free. Bookmarks and player-friendly maps would cost more, and a printer-friendly pdf and a better size would have meant at least 3 more weeks of work.

Sadly, the state of 3pp is pretty bad and I can tell you that none of Headless Hydra Games' products have ever made the money back that I spent on them, so all this work I do with little to gain from it, which is absolutely fine by me, I just love it, but to expect me to make a 100% professional product, when I am a 100% amateur, is maybe not fair at all.

So, while it may piss you off that these minor things are missing, it's an absolutely necessity for me. I would gladly go the extra mile, if it was even remotely worth it, but sadly it isn't.

So, sorry to piss you off, but I'll be glad to settle for a (somewhat sour) 4-star review. In all honesty, I think you are trying to make a statement here, with your rhetoric, instead of acknowledging all the work that has actually gone into this fairly cheap product. Not many 3pp would deliver a product of this high quality, with such beautiful maps and artwork and incredible writing.

But... thanks for the review. I am glad that you liked the adventure.

Now available! I hope everyone will enjoy these critters as much as I do!

Hello all,

We just released the first volume in a new series by Dean Siemsen, called Libris Monstrous. With each volume we are bringing you a new outsider, dragon, humanoid, fey, vermin, ooze, aberration, construct, magical beast, giant, animal, monstrous humanoid, plant and undead!

Within the first volume, you'll find 15 new monsters from the raging Baphomian demon, to the carnelian dragon and the dangerous rust vine creeper.

It is available from RPGNow, here, and I'll let you know when it becomes available at the Paizo webstore.

- Axel

Thanks jjaamm, I appreciate the compliments! What any publisher and writer wants to hear is that his products are being used in games... this is what we make the work for.

I could have published this 2 months ago, but I also have a real job and this is just a hobby of mine, however, we are working hard at making chapter 2 and 3 available soon.

You should also expect a small monster book from Headless Hydra Games... soon.

- Axel

Hey Ruemere, thank you for taking an interest in our new adventure path! I can recommend checking out our two free products, the Viridian Legacy Player's Guide and GM's Guide, which should give you the answer to some of your questions.

The idea is that each chapter should give the PCs a level, so by chapter 12, they should be around level 13 and ready for the great finale.

This adventure path is centered around Mor Aldenn - the City of Mages, and is designed to give the PCs insight into this setting. They start outside the city, in a very dangerous and famous plocation called the Spindlewood Marsh, but quickly move into the city itself. During the various chapters, the PCs are also "forced" to travel to the surrounding lands in search of answers and even visit a couple of extremely fantastical locations, like a dream/ghost world and even get to do some time travel (I should probably have screamed spoiler alert here... so I hope you are thinking of running the adventure path).

The basic idea is that the PCs follow in the footsteps of the Exalted Champions, haunted by the past in the form of the Cult of the Wyrmmother. They are actually looking to find the bones of the wyrmmother, before the cult finds them... if the cult finds them, they will be able to summon the Wyrmmother who will wreck havoc on Mor Aldenn. However, there are many forces at work here, like the demi-god, Grey, and perhaps even Mor Aldenn's greatest enemy, the Night Hag.

During their adventures, the PCs unlock the mystery of the Legacy of the Exalted Champions, which are basically, a bunch of really cool intelligent items that the PCs gets to experience up close.

You wont find a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, but the GM's Guide will explain all the background information about the Exalted Champions and their past deeds, along with presenting their Legacy.

I hope you'll give it a chance.

- Axel

Hello all,

Its been a while since Headless Hydra Games published something, but that's just because we have been working on something really special for you. And now the first chapter of that special thing is here - The Wasting of Duny Slough!

Yes, this is the very first chapter of our new Mor Aldenn adventure path called Viridian Legacy. This adventure will take your players on an amazing journey through the surrounding lands of Mor Aldenn into the very heart of the City of Mages. They will be confronted by hags, ghosts and wyrms, all the while following in the footsteps of the Exalted Champions.

This first chapter is 40 pages and was written by Thomas Baumbach and Ron Lundeen, with a shortstory by Jason Kimble, who also wrote the shortstory in the Mor Aldenn Setting Guide. It explores the Spindlewood Marsh and pits the players against an army of kobolds, a bone hag and her very special minions... the kuba.

And if you fear a long wait for the next chapters, I can tell you that chapter 2 and 3 have already been written and as soon as I am done writing this... will enter the next stage of getting artwork and layout.

At the moment, the Wasting of Duny Slough is available through RPGNow, but will (hopefully) soon be available here at the Paizo store.

- Axel

Please head on over to the Headless Hydra Games Blog and take a look at some of the artwork from chapter one, along with the introduction... I hope you find it intriguing!

The first chapter was written by Thomas Baumbach and Ron Lundeen.

- Axel

Thanks Ron, for the kind words!

I should really get a preview of the first chapter up on the Headless Hydra Blog... maybe some art and a map?

Thanks guys!

Yes, I am extremely proud of the group of authors who agreed to breath life into the Viridian Legacy and can't wait to show you what we've been working on for nearly a year. Hopefully soon...

- Axel

As promised, drop by the Headless Hydra Games blog and see who is going to write what chapters in our upcoming adventure path.

Thanks in advance!

- Axel

Thanks for the good words, End! I am glad that you like it and look forward to the adventure path... also, I want to adress one of your comments.

We left out the breakdown of each chapter for one reason... sure we have a breakdown of each of the chapters (an outline), but a lot has been left to the authors and we simply can't be sure that they will keep entirely to the chapter outline.

Something magical happens when a writer sits down to write and they should be allowed to explore this magic, which may indeed take the chapter slightly off course, at least according to the original outline, not to the overall idea, of course.

But not to worry, all chapters will be logical connected and give the players the perfect experience of playing in the Viridian Legacy adventure path!

However, when that is said, we may have to release a breakdown eventually, to give the GM a feel for where this is going, but at the moment... too many wonderful loose ends! :)

- Axel

Thanks for getting this up and running, Liz!

I hope everyone will enjoy the Viridian Legacy GM's Guide and maybe give the adventure path a try... players should not read this, however, check out the Player's Guide instead!

- Axel

Hello guys,

A couple of weeks ago, maybe three, the Viridian Legacy Player's Guide became available at paizo.com, so now it is time for the GM's Guide!

This guide is packed with a lot of information that makes the GM ready to run the Viridian Legacy adventure path. It has information about the basic plot (and background), how to handle certain items and, basically, how to give the adventure path an overall feel. At the end of the guide, you'll also find a new monster, the corrigan, which is a fey creature that may help the PCs in their quest for glory or maybe has some motives of her own.

The Guide is 23 pages long and was written by Ron Lundeen. Ron is also the creator of the adventure path so who better to offer the GM advice? The corrigan was created by David Nicholas Ross.

You can find the GM's Guide here at RPGNow.com, but as soon as it is available from Paizo.com, I'll let you know.

Also, when 100 copies of the Viridian Legacy GM's Guide have been downloaded, I'll reveal who is going to write which chapters in the adventure path... so... get your FREE copy of the GM's Guide today!

- Axel

Still here... the GM's Guide should be along within a week and (hopefully) chapter one, within 2-3 weeks.

- Axel

Np, DM, I look forward to reading your review, but I was just surprised to see that only 35 people had downloaded this from Paizo!

I mean... its free... and has loads of cool and balanced material for low-level characters from such acclaimed writers as Ron Lundeen and David Nicholas Ross...

Did everyone forget about this?? Don't! :)

Thanks End!

I have a habit of going over the review, making a sort of review of the review, but you know what, this time I am just going to say... I am glad that you like what we've (mostly Ron, though) created here and I cant wait to show you the upcoming adventure path!

I hope everyone is going to give the free Player's Guide a chance and maybe dig into the adventure path, following in the footsteps of the Exalted Champions.

- Axel

Thanks Ron! I am very excited about the GMs and Player's Guide as well, these are both packed with loads of information, especially the player's guide! Information that you can use with the Viridian Legacy AP or with a setting of your own. I'll try to finish the GMs Guide next week.

Honestly, I dont know why I haven't used the coloured backgrounds before... big mistake!

Also... guys, this is a FREE product.

- Axel

In case you missed the release here on paizo.com, you can find the Viridian Legacy Player's Guide... here!

I hope you'll enjoy it and give the Viridian Legacy adventure path a try!

- Axel

Now available! I hope you enjoy it... and I hope that you'll tell us why, or why not!

- Axel

Thanks DM, I hope that people will give it a try and get excited about the upcoming adventure path!

There are also loads of character traits here... and variant racial traits for most of the races.

- Axel

Hello all,

I've been looking forward to this day, the day when I could finally show you some of what we've been working on for, well, nearly a year, I think. It is a new PFRPG adventure path called Viridian Legacy and since the first chapter is close to being done, we've decided to show you the first free product, the Player's Guide!

Oh, and don't worry, there'll be a GM's Guide as well, also free!

So far the Player's Guide is available from Rpgnow.com, but I'll get around to uploading it to paizo within the week.

You can get it here!

Even if you are not going to play the adventure path, check it out, its full of awesome stuff! Feats, archetypes, magic items, spells and loads of player information!

I hope you'll enjoy it.

- Axel

I think it is written like that to make the armor useful to characters who play centaurs and characters who play regular races. For a centaur this is a chainmail +2 and for another race, this is a chainshirt +2. Also, if a character wants to use part of it as barding for his horse, he can, but it costs a little to make it a complete set.

Compared to a mithril chainshirt, I'll take the +2 chainmail, unless I was playing a spellcaster, of course, or had a +6 dex bonus to AC.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the review End!

Well, this wasn't really written as an adventure, more like an adventure location, but seeing as it is really short (and free) I hope you'll forgive us Marc and make your own decision on this :)

- Axel

This is the third and last freebie to celebrate the 'newly' released Mor Aldenn Setting Guide! It presents a ruin of a pyramid outside Mor Aldenn... the last remnants of a lost civilization.

Enjoy... and if you do, please check out the Mor Aldenn Setting Guide as well.

- Axel

Thanks for the review, End!

I'm not on the defensive, I just love to explain myself :)

No seriously, I am really glad that you like the setting and want to see more, and can understand why you feel sad that you've already read this material once and, in fact, purchased it already.

Sometimes (not always) material changes slightly when reprinted, as we learn from mistakes and want to rectify them. Our upcoming player's guide for the Viridian Legacy adventure path has some spells, feats and magic items from Eldritch Secrets, and these have been altered slightly, to fit the setting and to make them more balanced.

- Axel

Thanks for reviewing our big setting book, KTF!

I hate to repeat myself, so if you want to know why I reprinted some material already published elsewhere, and I honestly don't think there is too much of that, look above.

I am currently planning a print edition yes, one that I am going to work on this summer, and I'll be reprinting this material as well as other material from newer products (like traits and feats from our upcoming FREE adventure path player's guide). If this material had an effect on the price (to make it more expensive) I'd say, drop it two stars, but it really doesn't. It is included for the sake of completion, and honestly, we are talking about some gaiant feats, a couple of races, an archetype, some magic items and then most of the monsters from the Mor Aldenn Creature Compendium (though not all of them). All in all we are probably talking 20-25 pages out of the 167 pages, and you still get all this for less than $10.

Had I not published some of the stuff already, I can tell you that this book would have included less artwork and probably a map of poorer quality.

Even paizo reprints material and especially make use of old artwork that you've already seen in other products.

- Axel

The recipe for success is easy, End... I just have to find the right people for the job and keep my own contributions to a minimum! Oh, and then I can focus on what I do best... layout and art direction :)

Thank you for the kind words and for commenting on the series!

I'll look into adding bookmarks to volume II (this weekend), and I'll give some thought to making a big list of all the items from all the volumes, with a random table, but I can't promise that I'll make it before I start working on the collected edition of all the pdfs. I'll definitely make this a free download. All volumes from now own will contain their own random list.

- Axel

Thanks Brian, for the short review! That sounds like a really cool way to bypass the trap :)

We should have the next one ready within a couple of weeks... an old forgotten dwarven distillery with... a couple of drunken guardians!

Thanks for the review, Alz! You have some good points there, especially concerning the guardian. We'll be looking into these issues as soon as possible and try not to make them in upcoming mini-dungeons.

As far as why the two lock puzzles are the same, I kinda like that when you've learned something, you get a chance to use it (a GM observation, certainly not Alantes!). It also makes sense thematically.

- Axel

Cool KTF! I look forward to reading it, as I am planning on making an updated print version this summer, your insights might prove useful in finding out what works and what doesn't. No pressure though :)

- Axel

Thanks KTF! I am glad that you liked this small selection of magic weapons. And honestly, it is pure accident that this one ended up with 16 weapons and not 15... we'll see about the next one! :)

You should also expect to see an armor edition at some point.

- Axel

Now available! Enjoy.

Now available! Enjoy.

Thanks both of you - I hope you won't be disappointed, KTF! :)

If you liked the two free Mor Aldenn samples (Death in the Spindlewood Marsh and Gallery of Dreams) there is a good chance that you'd like this as well! 167 pages of setting material and options for the players and GM!

- Axel

Well, it's done and will most likely go live tomorrow, along with the 4th volume of 15 Specific Weapons.

Thanks for taking an interest!

- Axel

These are 'mostly' dungeons in the ordinary sense, but sometimes they will bend the concept a little :)

The first one, however, is a classic three-room dungeon at the bottom of a well, the vault of an ancient mage called Alantes, completely with mysteries to unlock doors, traps to guard treasure and even a couple of monsters, one being the Guardian of the Vault.

Others will include an ancient dwarven distillery, an infamous toymaker's tomb and even a living dungeon of sorts.

They will range from 6-8 pages, present a new monster and a new magical item, oh and only cost $0.99!

I finally got around to asking Paizo to pull the old Mor Aldenn products from the store... and to offer a 50% discount on the new Mor Aldenn Setting Guide!

You can find it here.

You should also keep your eye out for two new products that we are going to release within a couple of days; volume 4 of 15 Specific Weapons and a new mini-dungeon called the Storage Vault of Alantes. The latter will be the first in a series of mini-dungeons, useable for GMs who like to spice up their campaigns with small sidetreks to wondrous dungeons.

- Axel

Now available at a 50% discount! This discount will run until the 15th of March.

You know, since you asked nicely, I am going to give you the entire description! :)

Summerfire
The elves of the Summer Isles crafted these beautiful +2 mithril elven curve blades at the pinnacle of their power, to serve the elves who traveled into the world. Patterns of flowers and leaves have been etched into the mithril blade, and even continue into the hilt and pommel design. Once per day, the wielder can cast daylight (as a standard action), an effect that lasts for 1 hour. The daylight spell is centered on the blade.
In addition, the area around the summerfire blade is always considered hot with a temperature between 75 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The wielder decides the precise temperature, which can be changed as a free action.

If you buy this (fairly cheap) pdf, you even get an illustration of the Summerfire blade!

- Axel

Thanks to everyone who dropped by and commented on our newest HHG project! Every comment has proven useful in developing this new subsystem. If you haven't dropped by yet, please do!

- Axel

Awesome discount! I can't say much of the product, yet, but I can say that I really look forward to delving into the new base classes, especially the Eldritch Conjuror looks promising, it has a real sword & sorcery feel to it.

I'll definitely write a review when I get a chance.

- Axel

Thanks Tom! I am glad that you like this idea from a linguist point of view... and I really hope to persuade the gamer that its a good idea as well!

We are trying to make languages fun (and easy) to use and choose... so if you want to help out or just let us know what your oppinion is concerning languages, come on over to the Headless Hydra Blog and comment on our first language post.

- Axel

Thanks again KTF! Like Gaiants Discovered, this book is also on my shortlist for books that needs an update and revision, and when I get to it, I'll definitely look into the things you noticed.

- Axel

Thanks KTF! You are right about the layout, when I created the "black" page, I did not think about the people who were going to print the pdf :) I just wanted to separate the information from the rest of the pdf.

However, Gaiants Discovered are on my shortlist for products that need an update, which will definitely mean a layout change as well!

- Axel

I just want to thank everyone who has written a review the last couple of days, I've really enjoyed reading them and has already decided to buy a few products based on recent reviews!

- Axel