ElPerdedor

So after a near semi-permanent hiatus, I have returned to use this as a more active profile.

While my professional interests are elsewhere off this site, I suppose I can use this for an archive of all sorts of character and dungeon designs, so why not?

Sorry fellow deviants, haven't been keeping in touch as often as I'd like to on here.

However, I can say one thing - I haven't been slacking by any means.


Right now me and are working on a brand new RPG system - The Sword Land Role Playing Game, to be exact. It's a d12 system built off of the OGL, and is designed to be a system that anyone can pick up and play within an hour or so. No more entire nights devoted to Character Creation - you roll up your stats and choose what kind of character you want to play, and then you get to playing!

It's been an awesome time, and you can see some of the fantastic artwork has been making for the game on her gallery - you might see a few characters you're familiar with running around in the background art of the game when it's finished.

I'll be trying to keep up posting updates on here - but you can always find me at www.facebook.com/elperdedor4 , where I'll be posting things about SLRPG most often.

(There's alot more I have planned, including the previously mentioned Itty Bitty Quest RPG system, but Sword Land is the top priority right now. Keep following though - I got lots of neat things on the way.)

Thanks, everyone!

- Erik

My, my, my...16 days into the new year and I've already missed several deadlines

The Playtest versions of "Iellos Armory" and "Itty Bitty Quest" are on the way, if a bit later then was initially expected.

Also, I owe you guys at least three more articles in the "Rambling..." series by my count - perhaps they might not be the most interesting things to read, but I wanted to convey various points of design about the Iellos setting and how those factored into designing the "heroic" default characters that would be pre-generated (or, already rolled up) for most adventure modules written with the setting.

However, one thing I can say for sure is that I now have a Play-By-Post forum I am setting up for the Iellos setting - with the intent of further playtesting various parts of the setting with a wider audience then my initial test group would allow, and also allowing people who have already expressed an interest in the setting a chance to play with me(and others later on, most likely) being able to be the game master for them. (Maybe my ego shows a bit here, but I figure people might like a chance to see how the original designer runs it. )

That forum can be found here: iellospbp.proboards.com/index.…

Right now I use the Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game (www.basicfantasy.org) to run the game(s) on there, but when I have "Itty Bitty Quest" (d4 dice pool system) near completion I want to start playtesting it on there.  Also, at some point I'll be using another system I've been designing and tinkering with tentatively titled "Sword Land RPG" (2d12 system).

Also in the works I have the previously announced modules for BFRPG, and also will be completing the transcripts of Ahrea Campaigns 1-3 this year for sure (those being part of 5 campaigns that inspired me to put the setting out for use with the public). An Obsidian Portal website is also in the works, which hopefully will be the most comprehensive source of information about the Iellos setting at large - at least until I can finish work on the "Iellos Campaign Setting" game book.

So my apologies about being quiet on here often - time is always a commodity I run out of working on these projects - but hopefully what I've been working on will be worth the wait.

(PS: As a side note...if you're in Montana during May 24th-27th this year, you can catch me running games at this year's MisCon in Missoula, Montana. Would be glad to see anyone from here and have a chat.)

- Erik

Time yet again to go into detail about work on the Iellos Campaign Setting. Actually, it's been a rather interesting couple of weeks as I already have a few major announcements to make:

1. The first book to go live is going to be the "Iellos Armory", a book featuring all sorts of magic items and trinkets with all sorts of in-universe lore to explain the history of said items. It will be compatible with the 3rd and 3.5 editions of the world's most popular role-playing game and it's OGL related systems, and a host of Retro-Clone systems as well. It'll feature new art by who is the lead illustrator on the project, and of course is written by yours truely. The finished product is most likely going to beat the actual Campaign Setting book to publication, however these items will be able to be used in almost any campaign, whether or not they are set in the Iellos setting. The first playtest release featuring some 50+ items will be out on Christmas Eve, so follow me on here and mark your calendars.

2. Tagging along with the "Iellos Armory" to be released on Christmas Eve, I've actually come up with a whole new game system! Introducing "Itty Bitty Quest", which is a rules-light role playing game that only uses d4s. The finished product will feature the art of who is going to lead the illustration work on this project (yay, chibis!), and yet again of course written by yours truely. First playtest release on Christmas Eve.

3. Not making the Christmas Eve deadline that I was hoping for, I have plans for an all new adventure module! Details following:

"IN1 - Shadows of Ava'Ven takes place on the continent of Norncrast, calendar year AC1259. Norncrast was once a fertile tropical land, long since ravenged by the gods during the war of life some 500 years ago. With the continent reduced to mainly desolate wastes, the people of Norncrast seek out the relics and civilizations of their ancestors in order to find safe haven from the harsh climate they've inherited. Such is the quest of Galadar the half-elven cleric and Deas the wood elf sorceress, who search for the lost city of Ava'Ven, which had gone silent during the War of Man and Elf in the last 300 years. The cleric hopes that the ruins of this hallowed site may allow the rise of a new life for their dying people...however, elements of a new generation of the Black Legion of Vas seek those same ruins, hoping to secure the site in order to build up the foundation of a new war that may soon engulf the world..."

This release is interesting since it'll be the first time that any of the setting other then what I've shown of the Ahrea Continent will go live(and indeed, the campaign that this scenario is derived from predates the adventures in Ahrea by some 3 years), and features some new "iconic" characters that have not yet seen the light of day. Get ready!

4. To cap off the madness, I'm finally also working on an Obsidian Portal website that features Ahrea Campaigns 1-5 and it's sidestories, these campaigns being notable for being the basis of the "Ahrea Saga" storyline itself, and indeed the inspiration for me working on releasing the Iellos setting in order to release it to the public. More then anything right now it's sort of a pet project in order to get all the information right for the currently ongoing 5th Ahrea campaign, but the wiki for it will be all-comprehensive, to the point that it will be the most in-depth source of information for the entire Iellos setting until the Campaign Setting book is finished. Keep an eye out as I'll link to it as soon as I have it in a stable release.

So, I'm pretty excited, yeah. But anyways, I was here to talk about a particular elf, right?



Far and away here on dA, it seems that K'Rena the rogue is one of the most popular characters I've ever created from all the reactions I've seen. (That, and whenever I do ask for an art order and give the artist their choice of what character to depict, K'Rena always comes up as one that they would like to draw the most.) This wonderful art here by was actually the second piece of art from the Iellos setting in general, as at the time her character had been introduced to the setting and I was still approaching those campaigns as just a hobby rather then using them for the basis of a public campaign setting.

While this might sound like I'm tooting my own horn here, one of the things about the Iellos setting that I think beats out most other role playing supplements is that the "iconic" heros and heroines of Iellos are very much derived from the actual gameplay experiences I've had, rather then being something that the marketing department put together without having ever thought to have put stats to the characters they use to portray their works. Whether it's K'Rena here, or Aya, or Aras...all of these characters that I use to advertise the Iellos setting were at one point (or for those three, very much still are) actual characters that I rolled up and ran as either PCs or NPCs at the gametable, and are quite dear to me to be honest. In a way, to put their stats out on the table eventually as default PC characters for adventure modules is me giving you the keys and saying "Here, have fun!" It's a weird feeling, but at the same time really cool after having seen some very positive response in regards to some of these characters from the last convention I've run games at, and really all I can say is I'm hoping that you'll have as much fun running these characters and their wild adventures as I did.

As far as K'Rena goes, right away you'll notice that she's a dark elf (In-Setting lore known as the "Vanrer"). Now this usually brings up some stereotypes used in other games, but one of the biggest points I could possible make about the Iellos setting is that there is no set alignment for any race. One of the biggest problems I've had with the world's most popular role playing game is that it always struck me a bit outdated that the dark elves in their settings were always evil in nature(along with a number of races), and that it was usually expected that these particular elves would never have any positive encounters with the adventurers. Furthermore, when one creates a good-aligned PC of one of those dark elves, it is always considered that the PC is an extremely unusual exception to the rule, to the point that most players find it laughable.

That's something I aimed to do away with in the Iellos setting right off the bat, and K'Rena here is the shining example of those efforts. There is no default "Good Guy" or "Bad Guy" race in the Iellos setting, as alignment is not spread all across the board in that way. It's something that determined by the individual rather then the whole, and in that way you're as likely to see a wood elf or a dwarf as the evil chaotic master of doom as much as you are to see a dark elf put into the role. Morality does play a good part in a majority of the adventures I've ran myself in the setting, and if anything the Vanrer were always portrayed in-lore to be the victims of such prejudice rather then being perpetrators of what they are demonized for - which for most was something they struggle with in order to survive with the various other races. So for those looking for "Evil chaotic dark elves of destruction!", yes, it is very much possible to find a few of them, but you're more likely to find those indifferent to the world at large or those hoping to do good for it.


Her white cloak was influenced by that decision in the design process, and in her backstory she renamed herself to "K'Rena Shir Os Aeir" (or the Iellosian elvish for "Blood of Hope") to cut her ties with a portion of her home city that wished to go to war on the behalf of the Black Legion of Vas (who for the most part generally are the "bad guys", though the majority of them have various interesting reasons for what they do). This artwork by represents that moment she deserted her militia post in order to help innocents, and very much represents the character in a way I was hoping for. The cloak gives off a mysterious yet confident flair(to the point that it is actually a large part of her character), and due to her military training she indeed is quite a capable opponent to face/character to play as. Artwork featuring K'Rena generally falls under that line that she should come off rather confident (to the point of being cocky) and with that cloak fluttering around, and if she's depicted in combat, then the feel of the art should be "...the things I'm really good at are stabbing and killing things!", to steal one of her own quotes.


Other notable elements of her design was the overall post-apocalyptic feel of her outfit, as she wears much more leather then the majority of her comrades but hopefully without it coming off as some kind of cheesecake design. There's also hints of Arabic and Oriental-style flair to her clothing, like this rendition by depicts. I'm hoping for some art later on to show off those traits even more.

In the gameplay, she of course has the gift of a rather high Charisma score (to the point of convincing distraught friends that she does not know the location of the rather familiar gems she's holding in her hands, or that she just so happened to find an incredible magic sword out on the city streets, or even managing to wrangle Aras into getting engaged to her due to a "misunderstanding" of sorts) and Dexterity (well, everything that can be stolen has been stolen under her watch. Steal all the things!). Her constitution score was a bit low, but then again thanks to the Dex score she generally can hold her own in combat whether she's fighting from a distance or right up in someone's face. Though, of course it never hurts to have friends to help out in such an event.


Of course, I'll be adding more to this post as I think about it, K'Rena is one of the more fun characters in the campaigns. As a parting gift, here's 's depiction of her and her good friend/unintentional fiance, who just so happens to be the focus of next week's article.

Hoping that the holiday season is going well for all, and I'll be keeping in touch quite frequently.

Cheers!

- Erik