The long awaited print-on-demand version of Chains of Asmodeus is now available on DM’s Guild.
And that’s not all! Chains of Asmodeus is also available on the Roll20 VTT. We hope you have as much fun exploring the Nine Hells online, as we did writing the book!
Finally, a huge “thank you” to DM’s Guild and Roll20 for putting in the hard work to release these two new ways to experience Chains of Asmodeus.
In our last entry we posted an image… teasing a new map without telling all of you what it was for. We had a few good guesses come in! But what was it?
Well… we recently posted an update and added several new battlemaps to Chains of Asmodeus! We commissioned John Stevenson, who has been the primary cartographer on all of Arcanum World’s past titles, to create these brand new maps to help visualize potential battlefields characters may find themselves in.
Buy Chains of Asmodeus at DM’s Guild and the following maps are now included:
The Agora
of Floating Knives
Characters might confront the amnizu devil, Orishada, in his floating palace
Swampy Lairs
Two suitably swampy lairs, to be found on Minauros. But what might be living within them?
Ice Caverns
Two more battlemaps provide ample space for combat on the colder levels of the Nine Hells
The Eye Market
Anything can be purchased in the Nine Hells… for the right price
Icy Fortress
The interior of a devil’s fortress, complete with a throne of ice
Mysterious Library
One never knows where combat might occur… even libraries are not safe!
We funded!
Thank you to everyone who has supported the Raiders of the Serpent Sea campaign. We are busy tackling stretch goals and are excited about the possibilities. We truly appreciate your support.
Early Backer Discount
The Kickstarter for our latest project, Raiders of the Serpent Sea, is now live. Check out the Kickstarter and make your pledge now to receive your early backer discount. We look forward to your support.
The free edition of the player's guide for Raiders of the Serpent Sea is now available!
You can download it from Modiphius.net, Modiphius.us, or DriveThruRPG.com. In the pages of this pdf you will find two new races and three class archetypes as well as background about the world.
The next step: if you would like to be notified when we launch please head over to our new page on Kickstarter. If you want to learn more about it first, there’s ongoing discussion at Brent’s website.
Today we are excited to announce that former BioWare designer, Brent Knowles, is creating a new roleplaying book under the Arcanum Worlds banner!
This adventure book will offer an epic quest through a new campaign setting and includes an array of exciting new player options. Heavily influenced by the design behind Odyssey of the Dragonlords, this roleplaying book will feature high quality character, monster, and map art. We look forward to revealing more of his book soon.
You can read more about Brent’s plans for the book on his website.
Sign up for our mailing list to be notified when the free Player’s Guide becomes available!
As of 8:30pm CST, April 16th, our Kickstarter is fully funded!
We cannot thank you enough for backing Odyssey of the Dragonlords. Publishing a roleplaying book has been a dream of ours for a long time.
Your support means so much to us. James wrote the following piece to explain exactly why that’s the case.
Or Why I Decided to Write Roleplaying Books
“When your hobby becomes your career, you want to spend your spare time doing something else.”
It was a year ago and I was miserable, despite being the head of the design department for BioWare – one of the world’s premier RPG developers. Twenty years ago, it was different. I loved my job so much that I worked 100 hours a week – not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I worked with a small team of writers and artists to create design documents that would morph into a game within just a couple of years.
In a period of five years, I was the lead designer on Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic. But those days are long gone. Video games now take five years, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and require teams of thousands to build. My job went from doing hands-on design for the story, the levels, and the mechanics to overseeing a massive department of designers and writers. It wasn’t as fun as it used to be. I didn’t feel fulfilled because I didn’t feel that my passions and talents were being utilized. Despite my position and the influence that came with it, I was depressed.
Which got me to thinking – how do I get back to doing what I love? What if I could return to what I did decades ago, but apply it to the pen and paper games that inspired Baldur’s Gate? It would be a way to give back to the community that inspired my career. Most of all, it would be fulfilling work.
From the age of 11 to 22, I put in an average of 50 hours a week into my role-playing game obsession. Doing the math, I think that means I put 30,000 hours into the hobby. It wasn’t wasted time as the game helped me through some of the hardest times of my life, introduced me to lifelong friends and was the gateway to my career as a game designer.
I thought I’d retired from game-mastering a few years after launching my first video game. When your hobby becomes your career, you want to spend your spare time doing something else. However, the 5th edition of the world’s greatest RPG pulled me back in. Not only was it the best edition of the game yet, but it was an excuse to hang out with my friends every weekend. Playing the game made me want to contribute to the pen and paper version in some manner. This book is that desire come to life.
Thank you so much for backing Odyssey of the Dragonlords. Your support means a great deal to me, personally.
— James Ohlen, 2019
