It is Halloween season, and though the raiders of the Serpent Sea don’t observe the day itself, I am pleased to reveal that I have recently had the pleasure of working on a fiendish campaign guide set in the Nine Hells. As many of you have probably already noticed, a new Arcanum Worlds book called Chains of Asmodeus was recently released on DM’s Guild, and I’m hanging out a bit in the credits for that.
How can this be? Well, in addition to creating projects of my own, I am a contract game designer. Over the past couple of years, this contracting work has sustained me financially (the money I raised from the Kickstarter for Raiders of the Serpent Sea was used to purchase the fabulous artwork, pay the various contractors, and handle printing, shipping, and handling.)
Most of the work I do as a contractor is behind-the-scenes stuff and not anything I can ever talk about publicly. However, some projects I’ve been involved with do eventually become known to the public. For example, I contributed a few monsters and stores to Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy, which was released a couple of years ago. That journal was a fun excursion and let me rebuild several classical monsters that hadn’t yet found their way into the fifth edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game (including the archdevil Mephistopheles, who may or may not have been involved with a much earlier videogame project).
Now with Arcanum Worlds Presents: Chains of Asmodeus, I’ve had the chance to revisit the archdevil of Cania and all the other archdevils of the Nine Hells! The book is both a sourcebook to the Nine Hells and a fun adventure that spans all levels of the Nine Hells. I had the chance to work on the monster design and to help with organizing and editing the writing of James Ohlen and Adrian Tchaikovsky (who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors). I also did some rewriting and fleshed out a few adventure areas.
What was more interesting this time around was that I received writing and creature feedback from the design team at Wizards. Their Wisdom (Insight) was invaluable, and I believe their feedback has made Chains of Asmodeus a significantly stronger product. I learned a lot (some of which I wish I had known prior to Raiders!) All in all, it was a fun experience, and some of the cool ideas that James Ohlen and Adrian Tchaikovsky dreamed up are going to result in loads of fun at the TTRPG tables of many players. The artwork and page layout are also spectacular; I think this is the most attractive Arcanum Worlds book to come out yet.
Anyways, in addition to the source material on the Nine Hells and the high-level adventure, there are dozens of new creature stat blocks, including all nine (plus one) of the archdevils. There are also additional magic items, a temptation and corruption system, and Tiax the Mighty!
(All proceeds from Chains of Asmodeus go to the Extra Life charity!)
Recent Comments