LADY EIGHTY-SEVEN CAMPAIGN BOOK

As many of you know, I have been working on a game called Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, and that allowed me to set aside the Lady Eighty Seven campaign book and come back to it. And I also just released Strange Tales of Songling. This has been good. Sometimes having time away from a project gives me new ideas and insights when I return to it (and it allows me to look at what I have with fresh eyes). 

I am now moving back into regular work on the Lady Eighty Seven book. For those who don't know this is a setting supplement and campaign book inspired by Historical Figure, Lady Eighty Seven, who created a criminal shadow empire during the Song Dynasty. It is still set in the Ogre Gate setting, but I built a sect around Lady Eighty Seven and a campaign concept. Those who read my Sons of Lady Eighty Seven blog posts or listened to the play sessions on the podcast will be familiar with the concept. 

The Lady Eighty Seven campaign book will provide an overview of Fan Xu prefecture (a region in the south of the empire). It will also include a campaign seed centered around Lady Eighty Seven. While it will be similar to a book like Ogre Gate Inn (which provided information on Li Fan), it will be structured more like my own campaign books. So things will be organized, to my eyes, more conveniently. For example there will not be an NPC chapter. Instead NPCs will be placed in their sect entry or in the location where they are most likely to be found (i.e. The Four Uglies, will be found in the Southwind Manor Entry, which is where they reside). Personally I find this easier because it produces less flipping back and forth (which is important when you have multiple characters from the same sect fighting the party). Hopefully Gamemasters won't find the change too jarring. I will also include campaign notes and provide adventure ideas in the appendix. 

The Lady Eighty Seven book will have a very large number of NPCs in it. Also, because we released the Bedrock App which includes all published Kung Fu Technique descriptions, the NPCs in the book who have martial arts, will have techniques from all the Ogre Gate Books. In the past I have been reluctant to give NPCs in a new book, a technique or two from the Sects of the Martial World or one of our other supplements (because it seemed like an unfair way to pressure GMs to buy books they might not want). Now if you see a Kung Fu technique from Ogre Gate Inn and the Strange Land of Li Fan in the Lady Eighty Seven book, all you have to do is open the app to read the technique description (you do not need to buy Ogre Gate Inn). 

We started another campaign using the Lady Eighty Seven material, with Kenny as GM (Kenny people may know from Wuxia Weekend or the Lady Eighty Campaign Podcast). This is giving me a better perspective on the book as I work on it because I get to be a player (usually I am the GM when I make Ogre Gate games). I GM'd several Lady Eighty Seven Campaigns already and I am enjoying seeing things from the other side of the table.

I realized there was room to grow the book more. Initially I just wanted it to be 100 pages. Then I was planning on 190 pages. But now it is looking it will be longer. I am still deciding whether to have it as a 300 page book. 

I produce books more slowly now than in the past. Which is actually good in my opinion (the longer we take on books, the happier I am with the end result). I just started ordering the art, and intend to do a handful of pieces at a time (the maps I already have, though it is possible I will make more if I need them). 

Look for updates in the weeks and months ahead.