Ok, I won’t torture you with my singing.

We’re excited to announce we’ve got two new d66 being released today. First up is d66 Criminal Hideouts. Need someplace imaginative for the alien your characters are searching for to hide, look no further. This list covers everything from low-life drug dens to high class private floating islands. Grab some new ideas where to stash your NPCs today.

Also up, we have d66 Planetary Bureaucracies. Sooner or later, everyone has to deal with some type of government bureaucracy. Name your offices something unique and a little troubling like the Vargr Registration Office or something totally opposite of what it actually does like Institute of Peace and Justice for the office in charge of oppressing the masses. Give your planets their own flavor with their own Planetary Bureaucracy Names.

Grab these and other d66 lists today at DriveThruRPG.com

While calling a member of the Bronze Star a heartless mercenary is not true, it is not far off. The Bronze Star exists to bring order to the varying mercenary bands that rove the country side. It serves to make contract negotiations more prosperous and passage between nations easier. Plus it helps to train its members to become better fighters.

The Bronze Star has a code of conduct that its members are sworn to uphold. This code includes: never fight another member of the Bronze Star in paid combat, do not turn a blind eye to someone being threatened, do not break local laws unless paid to do so, pay those that help you what they are owed, and obey the Grand Masters of the Bronze Star. Despite the sworn oath, there are few repercussions for failing to obey. Only paying what is owed and obeying the Grand Masters see significant action when members break these tenants. The other tenants exist for good public relations with hiring nations. A lord is more likely to hire a mercenary company had the company prevented his citizens from being eaten by trolls and kept good relations with local guards.

The single biggest service is that it provides schools to teach train military units. Members receive a discount for all training they receive at one of the Bronze Star fighting school. Knights are in charge of teaching new recruits the basics of weapon fighting. Knight Captains train new officers how to effectively order their units in battle. The Grand Masters train veteran officers and generals how to effectively run a war.

Payment in the Bronze Star is done by shares. The amount of money collected is divided by total number of shares of everyone in the Bronze Star’s actions plus the Bronze Star’s shares. The Bronze Star’s has a number of shares equal to half of all those participating in the military action (minimum 1).

Common Magic: Bladesharp, Heal, Protection, Strength

Heroic Abilities: Heroic Aura, Mighty Blow, Severing Slash

Men-at-Arms

To be among the Men-at-Arms in the Bronze Star, characters must possess either a sword or spear style at 30%. Men-at-Arms are not official members of the Bronze Star but may join in a mercenary fight where Men-at-Arms are required and receive a payment. All Men-at-Arms each receive 1 share for their participation.

Squire

Squires are official members of the Bronze Star and are required to have a image of a bronze star on their armor at all times. This is typically stamped and painted onto metal armor or pinned onto cloth or leather armor. Most squires earn their money by adventuring although some routinely take part in sanctioned Bronze Star actions. All squires must have a sword or spear style at 50% and any four other order skills at 30%. Squires are each paid 3 shares.

Knight

Knights are the most recognizable members of the Bronze Star. With a large bronze star embedded into the middle of their armor, they are easily recognizable walking down a city street and on the battlefield. Being knighted requires slaying a known foe or monster, a sword or spear style of a minimum of 70% and four other order skills at 50%. All Knights receive 5 shares.

Knight Captain

Being a Knight Captain means being a deadly force on a battlefield. Minstrels sing songs of their battles and everyone in the region from kings to commoners has heard the Knight Captain’s name. The horse’s armor is decorated in Bronze Stars. A Knight Captain must have a sword or spear style at 90%, any four other order skills at 70%, the Teaching skill at 30%, and one of the order’s Heroic Abilities. Additionally the Knight Captain must be selected for promotion by the school’s Grand Master.

Grand Master

Each of the four Grand Masters is in charge of a fighting school. Although seldom involved in fighting directly, a Grand Master mainly stays with a king or general, orchestrating the war from afar. When a Grand Master enters battle, it is typically to lead the King’s forces because the Grand Master is more capable than the general. Grand Masters receive 20 shares for any military action they directly participate in. To be a Grand Master, the character must possess a sword or spear style at 110%, four other order skills at 90%, the Teaching skill at 50%, and any 2 of the Order’s Heroic Abilities. Once those are met, the potential Grand Master must defeat another Grand Master in a non-lethal single combat. There are only four Grand Masters at a time.

Order Skills

The Bronze Star offers training in : Common Magic, Evade, Resilience, Ride, Track, Any Lance Style, Any Spear style, Any Sword style, Long Bow style

The next thing we want to draw your attention to is the Feats section of the stat block. We placed the relevant penalty/modifier next to Power Attack. I know when I am GMing a game, I have enough numbers flying around in my head that I don’t need to figure out what the appropriate penalty/modifier for the Power Attack is. Hero Lab is our inspiration for that addition. So I’d like to say a “Thanks guys,” to the crew at Lone Wolf Development for that. We did the same for Combat Expertise as well.

Lastly, I want to call your attention to the quote between the stat block and its descriptive text. As we mentioned in our last preview, the quote gives a bit of inworld perspective of the monster either from the monster itself or from others. The unquiet giant’s text in particular is a reference to Andre the Giant’s character in the Princess Bride. When I decided to put in game quotes into the monster book, that movie was one of the first references I thought of and wanted to make sure it went in there. I am glad it is a reference to one of my favorite scenes.

Follow along all week to get more insights and spoilers from new Book of Beasts. Pre-order this book today at your local game store or at your favorite gaming website and get the PDF for free when you do.

Riyal’s Research: Traps brings you two dozen new traps for you to endanger your player characters’ very lives. These traps range in from CR 1 to 19 and include traps from the best kobold designers, traps from ancient temples, and traps in active castles and shops. These murderous menaces will enhance your world and your adventures.

Grab your copy today at Paizo.com or at DriveThruRPG.com

T. Glenn Bane

Wonderful Wizard of Oz
This isn’t the old movie. This is the series of books written by L. Frank Baum. The books were a lot darker than the movie ever was. For example the tin man chopped his whole body off one piece at a time. While reading the book, I was amazed at how closely the book was to the tone I wanted to strike with Shadowsfall. Because of this, I made sure our version of the winged monkey made it to the cover. We also have a tree creature that evoked a similar feeling as the dark forest in the book. Mind you, the creature itself is rather different, but we wanted a tree that would feel right at home in that forest.

Firefly/Serenity
“If they take the ship, they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we’re very very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.” -Zoey, Firefly
Early on, I said I wanted a creature that characters were afraid of as Mal was of Reavers. I really think we accomplished that with the Dermestide Kyton. This creature rips the skin off a living creature for sport. Mind you, they don’t rape (mostly because that is not something the system compatibility license will allow), but I hope Joss is happy with my homage to this deadly creation.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Gentlemen are another of my all-time favorites. When I saw the artwork, I knew I this book would have its own version of these creatures. Darklings as they are called here are fey with a constant zone of silence. After damaging a creature, they can lick the blood off their feystone battleaxes to gain fast healing for a few rounds. And like The Gentlemen, they are accompanied by
their minions. In this case: dull mites.

Dresden Files/Order of the Stick/Princess Bride
In my opinion, giants and poetry go together like giants and violence. So why not a giant that is known for being either “jovially violent or malevolently violent” as Harry Dresden described one of the monsters in his books. From there it was just a matter of crossing Thog with Fezzik and making it outcome undead. I hope you enjoy the outcome as much as we do here.

Warhammer Fantasy
Early in the planning for the book, someone pointed me to Old World Bestiary, describing it as the best monster book they have ever seen. It didn’t take long to see why. It was downright awesome. Each monster had various quotes from academics and common folk. They displayed the world’s view of the monsters. I wanted to capture as much of that as possible. So with few exceptions (space reasons), the monsters within have quotes from research books, poetry, retired adventurers, the last thing an adventurer said, religious texts, and much more. Each of these reveals the inworld attitude towards each of these monsters. Some of these quotes are obvious references (like to Buffy, Ghostbusters, and Dune). A few are inside jokes bade by some of my previous characters or characters of my gaming group. Others are more academic in nature. We really feel this will help bring a new life to these monsters few monster books today possess.

Preorder your copy of the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the Shadow Plane at your local game store or goto our Retailer Locator to reserve your copy today.

The baby in her arm shrieked, and all Valdia could think of was how she was going to get down the cliff face while holding the child. If it were just herself, she could nimbly drop down, slowing her fall with clever grabs onto rocky outcroppings, but there was no way she could do that with a baby in one arm. If the baby died while she was rescuing it, she would be reviled and possibly run out of the town of Sheol.

“Never mind that without me, they’d fall prey to the undead hordes that roam Shadowsfall in a week’s time,” she muttered to herself. She could barely hear her low voice over the infant’s cries.

Valdia held tightly to the ledge leading to the cave with her right hand and felt carefully for her next foot hold. It had seemed so much easier climbing up. But then she’d been solo, intending to rescue the kidnapped infant from the clutches of ghouls. She didn’t know why they needed it, but she was sure that ghouls couldn’t want it for any noble reason. She had accepted the gold from the tearful parents and gone on her way.

She broke the rule of free climbing and looked down, hoping to see the next foot hold for her to step down. She didn’t know what she expected, in this land of eternal night, there was little difference between day and night. As she started to feel around with her feet for another foot hold, a boot settled on her left hand. It was carefully placed, the intent was clearly to trap, not crush.

Valdia hissed and looked up. A very tall man stood above her, watching her.

“What do you want, Father?” she asked.

Lavin, the vampire, gave her a closed lipped smile. “Just a moment of your time.” The pressure on her hand increased. She was definitely trapped; she couldn’t enter combat with a child in her arms, even she knew that much about parenting.

“All right,” she said. “You have that.”

He removed his foot from her hand. She thought briefly about running, but gritted her teeth. She was a woman of her word, and besides, he was much, much faster than she was. She pulled herself up to the ledge and kicked aside an ichor-coated skeleton to face him.

The baby wailed. She made a face at it, but she held it tighter to her body. Valdia knew that this little bundle of annoyance was ill-bred for surviving on this dark plane. The little warmth the dim sun provided was fading fast as it would soon set. The sky was already beginning to change from its deep purple color of day to the all-consuming blackness of night.

“I can think of a quick way to silence it,” her father suggested mildly.

“No, thank you,” she said. She pulled her cloak up and over her armor, then settled the baby against her shoulder. It let out a very loud belch and then made a surprised whimper. Instead of screaming again, it reached out and grabbed the handle of Valdia’s wartrident.

“I can see you get your nurturing instincts from me,” Lavin said.

In the blessed quiet, she said, “What do you want with me, Lavin?”

“You’re an admirable warrior, Valdia. I’ve been watching you; I don’t know many in Shadowsfall who could defeat you. But I do worry.”

She snorted. “You worry? That implies you care, and we both know that is a lie.”

He frowned. “Yes, you have a point. You are a product of me, however, and carry my reputation with you.”

“I hunt people like you.”

His pale face broke into a wide grin, displaying his fangs. “Yes, but you do it so well. I don’t care who you fight for, only that you do it well, not stupidly. As long as you are feared then I can call you my daughter.”

“You have no idea how little that means to me.” She tried to pull her trident from the infant’s fist, but it would not let go, and she figured it was keeping the little rat occupied.

“It matters to me. And therefore I must warn you to think about why you are here, and what you are doing.” He extended his long-fingered hand, palm up, to the carnage around them. Dead ghouls and one gigantic spider littered the shallow cave; one body smoldered over a fire, giving off a ghastly scent.

“As you said, parenting wasn’t your strong point. But humans usually want their children safe,” she indicated the infant on her shoulder, which had brought the handle of her wartrident to its mouth to gnaw.

“That infant has no parents,” her father said dismissively. “If you were a true vampire, you would have known this the minute you picked it up.” He leaned forward and made a big deal of sniffing the top of the infant’s head. “You could smell his mother’s milk on him, if he had a mother. He hasn’t touched his mother in weeks. See?”

He pulled the boy’s shirt back and Valdia could see the small brand on the back of the child’s neck. “They brand orphans?”

“Some brand unwanted, yes. Humans can be so barbaric. So if this child doesn’t belong to this woman, why did she send you here?”

“She could still be an adoptive mother,” Valdia protested.

Her father nodded. “Yes. She could. By all means, I could be wrong. But when you got here, the child was unharmed. Did you wonder what a ghoul would want with a human baby in the first place? Could he have been bait?”

They both looked around at the carnage, and Valdia shrugged. “If so, they needed a stronger force at this end.”

Lavin pointed down the mountain toward the village, and said, “Then perhaps the child was a distraction, to get you away from the village?”

Next up, we have and favorite of ours, the D66 Compendium. This book is filled with random lists of names of ships, planets, aliens, robots and more is ideal for a Traveller or any science fiction role playing game. Zachary Houghton commented how, “the [d66] Compendium should be a nice add to your game.” He ended his review by saying “It’s a good buy for Referees needing that little assist or who enjoy random charts geared towards the fun of the Traveller RPG.” Get your copy at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow.

This is the first story in the Shadowsfall Legends line. Download it today at DriveThruFiction, RPGNow, Paizo.com, Amazon Kindle Store, Smashwords, B&N Nook and more in the near future. Download today in ePub, PDF or your preferred format. Read it today on your computer, phone or tablet.

After we get the first Book of Beasts and several Traveller books available, we will be doing this with other books once they go out of print. While there are still copies available, these books will not be added for printing. So game stores and gamers that support their game stores, fear not.

Remember our Kickstarter project to a Shadowsfall adventure printed for Free RPG Day is going on right now. The more this project is supported, the more we copies we can get to you and everyone else worldwide. Support our effort today.