PDF Project: The North

[Hotrod]

Glen Evans and I have jointly created and submitted a digital-only project to Palladium. The focus for this project is providing GM's with useful tools for running their games. There are two parts to this creation:

The first part is an interactive PDF map of the Great Northern Wilderness. It's similar to my Great Northern Wilderness map, but in this version, you can select which layers you want displayed (icons, labels, borders). Additionally, there are some new features like an elevation map and a gridline layer that weren't in my original Great Northern Wilderness map.

The second part is a companion PDF book to go with the map. This PDF expands on the Wolfen Empire book, ties it in with the Bizantium book/upcoming Lopan book, and includes some new content meant to help GMs make better adventures and reduce the workload of preparing for a session.

Glen Evans showed this at Open House, Kevin mentioned it there, and Glen has mentioned it a few times in passing here on the boards, so I thought I'd post a bit more information for the community. Where it goes from here is in Kevin's hands. You may see none, some, or all of this published on DriveThruRPG some day.

[kiralon]

That would be great, hopefully it sees the light of day. Palladium needs more digital content.

[Veknironth]

Well, it's about time Palladium joined the 21st century and started thinking digital! Good work.

-Vek
"Not that I don't enjoy the books."

[Whiskeyjack]

That sounds like an awesome project Hotrod! I've been churning an adventure idea for an area of the disputed lands involving the Wolfen starting to build a line of defense against the East and "officially" claiming a section of the disputed lands. An interactive map would make it much easier.

[Hotrod]

That sounds like an awesome project Hotrod! I've been churning an adventure idea for an area of the disputed lands involving the Wolfen starting to build a line of defense against the East and "officially" claiming a section of the disputed lands. An interactive map would make it much easier.

What I've made is more of a customizable map than a truly interactive one. You can turn layers on and off, but you can't change or move the layers (not with a standard PDF reader, anyway). That said, I might be able to do up something like that. It might work better in my Eastern Territory map than my Northern Wilderness one, as the Northern Wilderness map doesn't include all of the Eastern Territory.

[zyanitevp]

That sounds like an awesome project Hotrod! I've been churning an adventure idea for an area of the disputed lands involving the Wolfen starting to build a line of defense against the East and "officially" claiming a section of the disputed lands. An interactive map would make it much easier.

What I've made is more of a customizable map than a truly interactive one. You can turn layers on and off, but you can't change or move the layers (not with a standard PDF reader, anyway). That said, I might be able to do up something like that. It might work better in my Eastern Territory map than my Northern Wilderness one, as the Northern Wilderness map doesn't include all of the Eastern Territory.

I cannot wait to see this become published!

[Veknironth]

Well, there might be some people who have their own maps based on their campaign ideas, but I predict that more detailed and interactive maps will be welcomed with cheers.

-Vek
"Hurrah - first!"

[kiralon]

Well, there might be some people who have their own maps based on their campaign ideas, but I predict that more detailed and interactive maps will be welcomed with cheers.

-Vek
"Hurrah - first!"

Truly, I made my own Ophids, LotSW, ET, Lopan, Phi and western empire, but have slowly integrated them as they arrived, which is being done even now, as Hotrods maps look good up on the walls around the rpg table.

[Reagren Wright]

Okay I had to talk to Kevin at GenCon 2018 to get the official word on this project of Will (Hot
Rod) and mine because we sort of ran into a snafu at the Open House 2018 but now everything is
back on track. We can't say much accept we are going to try to get into the hands of Palladium
Fans a very cool digital map and story/travel guide about the GNW.

I will also announce beside this project and Lopan which is a holding pattern while we get more
material through the pipeline such as Garden of Gods. We will really be focusing on other
books and more books. I am also working on some other smaller fantasy material. Smaller books
with a specific focus on stuff. Adventure material. Lots of positive feedback from people at Gen Con.

[zyanitevp]

Okay I had to talk to Kevin at GenCon 2018 to get the official word on this project of Will (Hot
Rod) and mine because we sort of ran into a snafu at the Open House 2018 but now everything is
back on track. We can't say much accept we are going to try to get into the hands of Palladium
Fans a very cool digital map and story/travel guide about the GNW.

I will also announce beside this project and Lopan which is a holding pattern while we get more
material through the pipeline such as Garden of Gods. We will really be focusing on other
books and more books. I am also working on some other smaller fantasy material. Smaller books
with a specific focus on stuff. Adventure material. Lots of positive feedback from people at Gen Con.

Looking forward to it!!

[Reagren Wright]

Well time for an update. Stuff that was going to be
In Lopan will be moved to this project. So when I
finish Lopan I'll be back on this project.

[zyanitevp]

Well time for an update. Stuff that was going to be
In Lopan will be moved to this project. So when I
finish Lopan I'll be back on this project.

Personally I was hoping this was going to be released even before Lopan- oh well.

[Hotrod]

Well time for an update. Stuff that was going to be
In Lopan will be moved to this project. So when I
finish Lopan I'll be back on this project.

Personally I was hoping this was going to be released even before Lopan- oh well.

The customize-able map is essentially complete and has been for a while. I may make a few minor refinements to the geography (the woods are a bit too solid for my tastes). I also may need to adjust the number and placement of some tiny islands in the Inland Sea. These kinds of adjustments are pretty easy and quick to implement.

The companion PDF book is the big hurdle now. We have a complete 90-page draft laid out in Palladium's style with most of the essential supporting artwork complete and placed. In its present form, I'd put the quality and polish of the current draft somewhere between a "raw preview" and a finished product. Both the writing and the supporting artwork need work before they're ready for Kevin to seriously consider publishing it.

As Glen indicated, the biggest factor holding us back at the moment is the need to keep this product consistent with upcoming books. What gets published in the upcoming three Inland Sea books will have a significant impact on what we're putting in this PDF book. Already, a couple of sections need to be rewritten, and we may need to rewrite or revise material throughout the PDF book depending on what Glen does with his Lopan manuscript and what Kevin approves.

The second factor that may slow this down is, well, me. We're trying to produce a complete product by ourselves that Kevin will be able to publish without needing to add more writing or artwork. While I can make passable maps, icons, simple objects, and heraldry, Palladium art traditionally features characters, scenes, and creatures, all of which are outside my artistic skillset. If Kevin decides to make major revisions or add in more original art, that will likely slow things down.

[Reagren Wright]

Will hit the nail all right. New material has to be incorporated and improved upon since the material that was going to be in Lopan now had to be moved here. I seem to be on track on where I want
to be as I finish this revisions and return the completed back to Kevin, so I can start working on the North again. Revisions are never a setback just an opportunity to improve upon a
completed work.

[The Dark Elf]

Well time for an update. Stuff that was going to be
In Lopan will be moved to this project. So when I
finish Lopan I'll be back on this project.

Personally I was hoping this was going to be released even before Lopan- oh well.

Definitely Lopan above all else!!

[stormlordrising]

any update here?

[Hotrod]

any update here?

Since last week, I've drawn a new Iceborn magical object, and I've started work on a small city map. Both are meant to go with adventures that are already written up and shouldn't be affected by anything that gets published in the Lopan book. That's about the extent of the details I feel ok sharing. We can't give a lot of specifics on the manuscript we're writing, because every single component will have to get Kevin's OK, and it's better not to build expectations/hype until we have a clear picture of what's going to make the final cut.

[BBeast]

that's great!

[Hotrod]

Minor update: I've made some progress on the city map (a very different type of project for me). After playing around with trying to show a somewhat-realistic look at what the city would look like in winter, I realized that covering everything in snow makes it harder to tell where stuff is. Deep thoughts, I know, but sometimes I get so worked up at the small scale that I lose track of the big picture.

So the city map will be showing the city in summer, not winter, even though the adventure it's made to go with is set in winter.

Art is hard.

[Reagren Wright]

Revisions to Lopan completed and the manusript resubmitted. Now I'm back to finish some things on this project that have to be altered
because of some changes that occured with Lopan. I think it will be relatively quick.

[zyanitevp]

Minor update: I've made some progress on the city map (a very different type of project for me). After playing around with trying to show a somewhat-realistic look at what the city would look like in winter, I realized that covering everything in snow makes it harder to tell where stuff is. Deep thoughts, I know, but sometimes I get so worked up at the small scale that I lose track of the big picture.

So the city map will be showing the city in summer, not winter, even though the adventure it's made to go with is set in winter.

Art is hard.

Can't wait to see this!!

[Hotrod]

Thanks! The city map is looking ok now, so I'll probably throw in a few labels and move on. That will have to wait for a few days. I hit a minor snag a couple of days back; the charger port on my laptop broke. A replacement charger port is coming in, and I have a friend who can solder it into the motherboard, but until then, art is on hold.

I have another machine I can use for writing, though. Glen just finished revising his sections, and I need to do some revisions on mine, as well as work up a couple of NPCs.

[Hotrod]

Little update today: I drafted a couple of dungeon maps, which were the last visual elements I had on my to-make list. While I plan on making revisions, all of the artwork for this project is drafted and polished enough to show Kevin.

Writing-wise, there's some more to do, mostly with revisions and adding a few NPCs.

[Reagren Wright]

Finished all my revisions. Now take a break until after my birthday so I can start working on the Palladium Fantasy project I was working on
before I had to revised Lopan. Hoping to get this project done before March if I'm lucky.

[zyanitevp]

Well, looking forward to this.....