Tom Knauss's page

Is now funded! The first stretch goal at $22,000 is a sneak peek backers only exclusive look at the next book in the Perilous Vistas series called Icebound. You'll get a glimpse at the nuts and bolts of polar biomes as well as some of the obstacles that face polar travelers. I'm also thinking about adding in a new hazard that can also be applied to Mountains of Madness, glacial lake outburst floods.

This KS is interesting for the 2 books that I think will be realy good and also for the possibility to get a great deal for older 5-stars hard covers.

Don't miss it!

Thanks. Mountains of Madness has already been printed and its weighing in at 292 pages, which is 70 pages more than Fields of Blood.

Zhern and Andre are correct about Dead Man's Chest. Bill is mulling some other stretch goals, but I don't know what they are. Hopefully that answers the question.

Two new books in a series that has so far managed to get on my Top Ten with each single installment? Absolutely frickin' worth it. Dunes and Fields are superb and I can't wait to see these two.

I have a high bat to live up to there. Rest assured I always try to improve with each offering.

Mounatins of Madness and Marshes of Malice, the successors to Dunes of Desolation and Fields of Blood are now available on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/froggodgames/perilous-vistas-two-new-e nvironment-books-for-path?ref=discovery

I stink at links so if this doesn't work hopefully a more tech savvy fan can help.

Everyone has been at NTRPG in Dallas for the past few days plus Paizocon last week so once everyone settles back into their routines you'll see more updates about the product.

Thanks for the great news Tom

EDIT: Specifically this snippet: "the adventures are set in the Stoneheart Mountains so it fleshes out some more of that area and builds on one of the storylines in Sword of Air."

Then you'll really be thrilled to know that the events from Slumbering Tsar also feature prominently in two of the adventures.

Tom, ETA on Mountains of Madness? Also, anything lined up after that?

Spring 2016 is the last I heard. I'm halfway through the next book on wetlands.

Thanks so much everyone.

You also have to play in one of Bill or Matt's games. It's like watching a maestro conduct an orchestra.

Richard, I love your music suggestions. Sex Pistols, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy. May I also suggest Trivium's "Villainy Thrives".

Now I must get back to writing about alligators and crocodiles otherwise Skeeter may hurt me.

I thought this might be helpful if I posted this for people that haven't seen the KS page yet. This covers the thinking behind much of FGG and Necromancer Games feelings about the Lost Lands.

"Dark Medieval" Fantasy in the Borderland Provinces

We've had some questions about why our books are so often called "Dark Medieval" in style and feel...

This Kickstarter is the first view of the campaign for many people: if you’re a fifth edition player, you may not be particularly familiar with Necromancer Games or Frog God Games, or with our various past publications. In that case, welcome to a vast, rich, world-setting with undreamed-of potential for gaming. In fact, if you’re counting the published words of game resources -- i.e., not including novels or computer games -- the Lost Lands setting is probably comparable in detail to the well-known Realms.

So, what do people mean when they talk about “Dark Medieval” as a way of describing the Lost Lands? At a surface glance, the world looks fairly traditional: there are elves, there are halflings, there are wizards … what’s the big deal? How is that “dark?”

Basically, we’re the “film noir” version of escapist fantasy, in contrast to Tolkien’s epic and folkloric approach to the same genre. Our adventures tend to have lots of horrific elements underlying the apparent reality, which is why you’ll often see us saying, “All is not as it seems” when we’re talking about the Lands. Where the Forgotten Realms have a strong tendency toward high fantasy and heroism, our world is a bit … well … ickier.

One of the strong themes of the campaign is that beneath the civilized veneer of things, there is actually a seething mass of rot, evil, heresy, and supernatural threat. Again, “all is not as it seems.” The Borderland Provinces campaign book, as a supplement, has more focus on the actual veneer than an adventure book. What does the “normal” world look like when I’m not in one of these dungeons? So there is a lot of material about culture, history, trade, and...

To boil it down to one sentence, monsters are scarier when it isn't obvious that they are monsters, and may even be likeable. The statement applies to fantasy world and the real world.

200 backers and almost halfway funded in just a few days. Keep spreading the word whether it is by longship, Viking horn or more modern means.

I worked the Kobold booth at Gencon. Both the Southlands and the Bestiary are visually spectacular. When I showed customers the Southlands map in the back of the campaign setting, they were left speechless.

Just a quick reminder that you can get two, yes two, EZG nominees for top 10 of 2014 (Dunes of Desolation & Cyclopean Deeps Vol 1) at a discounted price ($25 as opposed to $34.99) as part of the add on packages for this kickstarter.

Years ago I wrote an adventure called Where Madness Dwells that is set in an asylum. It's a 3E adventure, but it is free.

What film?

This is Spinal Tap.

On a serious note, I've only seen bits and pieces of the upcoming Lost Lands material, and it is seriously awesome. The Gregmeister did a wonderful job coordinating the works of countless different writers into a coherent package that makes sense. That is an absolutely daunting task. So hold onto your seats for all the FGG goodness that is about to come your way.

And on a less serious note, I solemnly vow that I will never create another new Lost Lands deity unless I am specifically directed to do so by one of the Elder Frogs.

Dunes of Desolation from Frog God Games should be right up your alley. Vot a stellar review from End to boot.

Been reading through Dunes of Desolation. Awesome job Tom. The amount of material and detail is fantastic. This puts Glades and Dead Man's Chest to shame. It was amusing to see a creature that can neuter your character. ;-)

Also the art for the monsters was well done. I notice some FGG products get monster art and some don't.

When the next book coming out?

Thanks, I really appreciate that. The plains book, Fields of Blood is done and in the development stage. I don't know the release date, but I would presume that it's sometime early 2015. Fields is actually bigger than Dunes, as the third adventure is more than 50K words and the second adventure is in the 40K range. I think it really brings the plains to life and has some good Native American/Mongol feel to it with some other elements as well. The plains won't be plain any more.

Yes, sorry should have put Tom and the crew. Can't be many great RPG books that are a one man job! I have enjoyed reading it though I don't play Pathdfinder, as much as I love reading RPG crunch I just don't play it - but the "fluff" is inspiring and easy to drag into my 5E game

I don't think there are too many one man projects these days. The toughest part about that is constantly switching gears. That's why I now do the adventures first, while I'm in that mode and then switch to the monsters, fluff and then crunchy parts.

And on the front page today available for order from Paizo.

Pre order this book on backerkit if you bought the Barakus kickstarter! Should have the survey out this week!

I am going to have a huge preorder from friends and family that want my precious baby.

DaveMage wrote:

Belishan sucks the life out of everything, doesn't he?

That's just how he roles.

(See what I did there? Because it's an RPG and that's how he roles? Oh... okay, nevermind...)

;-)

RPG writer, yes. Comedian...ah, no.

Tom did a real bang-up job on this book, by the way. I remember while laying it out that the thought "Damn, Tom did his research!" crossed my mind many, many times.

An acquaintance made the mistake of trying to "school" me on the fact that 100 degree temperature in Vegas and 100 temperature in Florida felt the same. Yes, they're both hot, but there is a big difference in how they feel and why.

Bill's cover kind of looks like the guy you meet shooting dice at the craps table at 4 am in an off the strip Vegas casino.

OK Rachel, I backed it too.