Saturday, January 28, 2012

Wothlondia Rising!

I wanted to first inform people that even if you do not have an eReader, there are free apps everywhere for iPhone, tablets and the like. There is also a 
FREE KINDLE APP for the PC right HERE!

I have a series of short stories about to hit the eReaders on both the Kindle and Nook for the low, low price of 99 cents! I wanted to share all of the teaser information with my fans, readers and anyone else that is interested in the Realm of Ashenclaw!
Cover to short story one by the amazing William Kenney!

I also want to thank very kindly the gracious folks who contributed to the series, including fellow fantasy author William Kenney, who provided my amazing illustrations and to Stephanie Dagg, for making me sound as though I can actually put together complete sentences! I'd also like to thank Mr. Jason Russell for having the patience to aid me in the whole process.

Keep your Eye on Ashenclaw for more info as to the release dates…. Without further ado, I give to you the teasers…

Wothlondia Rising is a series of short stories set in the original fantasy setting entitled the Realm of Ashenclaw. This series of short stories details life altering, significant events from the past that shape the course of these important characters, setting them on the path that will alter their lives forever!

Distant Familiarity is the tale of three legendary figures in the history of Wothlondia, who are attempting to recover an ancient evil that was stolen away from them. Tiyarnon the High Priest, Rolin Hardbeard and Nimaira Silvershade set out to recover the artifact that has forever altered their former companion Sadreth, turning him into an unclean lich! Can these ancient heroes find and recover the item before it is reunited with its former host?

A Rose in Bloom recounts the thrilling events of a young Rose Thorne, not yet a woman, who is trying to find her way in the city of Oakhaven. Orphaned and discarded, she finds refuge in a kind madam at a local brothel and eventually meets a man who is more than she bargains for… 

Maturation Process is the telling tale of the high elf, Elec Stormwhisper, who lives in the overbearing shadow of his Father, Keryth, and who is trying to find his way in life. Treated as an outcast and feeling alienated from his own people, he exiles himself for a decade, finding a friend in a strange place and begins to accept his own unique destiny. Will this young and inexperienced elf ever find his true calling?

Tears of Blood is the amazing recount of the attacks on the region of Stonehill by the ancient and malevolent undead that are known as Blood Rot Zombies! Saeunn and the barbarians of both Chansuk and Greymoors must find a way to stop the undead infestation before they spread their miasma all across the face of Wothlondia! It is a tale that will forever change the young barbarian woman in more ways than one…

Strength of Faith is a tale that places a young acolyte of The Shimmering One, Garius Forge, on a path that tests his spirituality and also places him face to face with a demonic presence that has the power to alter the face of Wothlondia forever! Will his reverence and devotion to his deity be enough to overcome this horrible demon?

Reflections is an exploration into the true classifications of self-image. This short and sweet tale tells of the half-ogre barbarian, Orngoth, who begins to realize the true picture of what he is and where he comes from. During a raid with his ogre barbarian kin—the Ironskulls—Orngoth has an impromptu meeting that could forever change his own destiny. Will he see his true self in time or will he continue down the path of reckless endangerment?





See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase my full length novel, Covenant of the Faceless Knights, the short stories: Wothlondia Rising, and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Artwork provided by William Kenney!

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2012 unless otherwise noted.



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Homage or Lack of Creativity?

With the constant re-hashing of old movies and songs, TV shows and the lackluster mediocrity of reality TV, I fear that we are a society that has all but ceased moving forward…especially when it comes to creativity. Now, don’t misconstrue my point—I know almost everything has been done before—but I mean…everything?

I look at the way things are now and see many of the same things over and over. Television is a breeding ground for watching people do silly things with a few ‘finding talent’–type shows mixed in. (Do people really not see this and if so, are we OK with it?) If we are not careful, you might come home from work one day, turn on the TV and watch a show about the person who sits next to you at work, watching them do whatever it is that he or she does all day…or is that already happening?


I am a fan of seeing old stories rehashed with newer technology, because let’s face it—that’s pretty cool. But, it has its place. If you watch and respect classic movies, such as Jaws, you really respect the filmmakers for having the creative ability to create a real sense of fear without actually showing the shark for about three quarters of the movie. Would I like to see a more realistic shark? Sure. But I don’t know if it would have been done the same way today with all of the technology behind the scenes.

Putting a creative spin on an old song or movie or TV show is cool every once in a while, but I am tired of advertisements showing me scenes or commercials for an upcoming movie or TV show that I watched back in the 70’s or 80’s.

My real alarm is that we are not encouraging our future generation’s creativity. Encouragement is integral for a young man or woman to grasp an idea by its proverbial horns and run with it. Do it and do it to the best of your abilities, I say!

Technology is a both a blessing and a curse. If it is used to make jobs less strenuous and more profitable—fine. I get it. But instead of using them as an aid, I fear that they might be used as a crutch.  So, with all that being said, what is your take on seeing media rebooted? Is there a lack of creativity coming our way? Is the future really just a repeat of the past?




See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Photo from Stock.xchng.




All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios 2011 unless otherwise noted. 


Friday, January 20, 2012

Sample of Artwork





I have been lucky enough in my brief stint as an author and novice social media enthusiast, to meet some pretty amazingly talented people. One of these people happens to be a fellow author, William Kenney, whose debut novel, A Dream of Storms, is available right now on Amazon for 99 cents. Go buy it! Seriously…it’s a buck!

Not only have I chatted with William and read some of his engrossing writing, but I have realized that he is also an amazing artist. So good in fact, that I commissioned him to produce some Realm of Ashenclaw artwork to use in upcoming projects. What he has produced has blown me away. I am going to receive quite a few drawings from this talented man, but I wanted to give you a taste of what we at Ashenclaw Studios have been privy to seeing over the last week or so from Mr. Kenney.


Elec Stormwhisper riding the giant eagle, Adok ~ by William Kenney



A feast for the eyes, really…


William can be reached at any of these sights below or via this email: williamkenney_author@yahoo.com





See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Artwork by William Kenney

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios, LLC 2011 unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Pushing Forward with the RPG Supplement

Since 5e D&D is not coming out anytime soon, late 2013 at the earliest is our guess, I am announcing that Ashenclaw Studios is still going to release the 4e adaptation of my Realm of Ashenclaw RPG supplement. Instead of giving the people a full-fledged brand new and complete character class though, we are intending to give the already completed Heroic Tier versions of the Hermetic Warrior (the name has not changed; 4e striker class design) and the Forrester (an essentials Ranger-Defender build).


Play testing is still going on and we have a few new monsters that we think everyone will absolutely love. The supplement will include a map, brief descriptions of a good portion of the land, new monsters, new themes, a few new feats and the two above mentioned classes. It will also have some fantastic sketches inside! I have an artist on board that is just blowing us away with his interpretations. The supplement is going to be available mostly as a download, but I am looking into possibly doing a print version, but have not decided for sure yet. We think that we have something really cool to share with the gamers @a very fair price (still undecided exactly, but under $10.00) and have provided enough information to allow any gaming group to run with the ideas and interact with the landscape!




See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Photo from Stock.xchng.

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios, LLC 2011 unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

D&D 5th Edition is Lurking…

How does that make you feel?

Me vs. Troll...


D&D is in another state of flux. What is this I am talking about? See the official announcement here on the WOTC site. The message boards have been filled with rumors, players that are annoyed, upset, and even those that welcome the new changes, whatever they may be. According to Mike Mearls, the head of Dungeons & Dragons development, this statement and many others were made and will hopefully be adhered to as a promise moving forward. Only time will tell. Here are his comments regarding the current edition:


“The announcement of a new D&D doesn't mean that 4th edition is now a lame duck. Wizards recognizes that the game still has a very loyal following, and pledges to continue supporting 4th edition during the testing cycle of the new edition and beyond. "We plan to continue offering people access to tools like the D&D Character Builder and the D&D Monster Builder to support 4th edition," Mearls said. "We're also exploring ideas for conversion tools so that some of the 4th edition characters and content will be playable with the next edition." In other words, Wizards vows it's not replacing 4th edition, but merely adding another layer of rules that will cater to the people unhappy with the latest edition's changes.”
The whole article can be found HERE on Escapist Magazine.com.


Everyone has been talking about this on message boards, including a very good Forgotten Realms author you may want to get to know named Erik Scott De Bie. On his blog, he spoke of the ways he would go about implementing a ‘new system. If you missed that, it can be found here on his BLOG.


I really love Erik's ideas and feel that he has given it a ton of thought. My feeling echoes pretty much everything he stated, including more novels per year AND most importantly, making the new edition be a building block on top of the current 4e rule set. Perhaps additional rules that simplify combat for those who want to speed it up and even retro-fit some of the realm-specific ideas in so that one could convert the current version to any edition of the game. Asking a lot? Maybe, but in this fast-paced video–game age, any RPG is going to need a shot in the arm in order to compete.

Can you please all of the gamers? I highly doubt it, but I would love to see them try. That's all for now. We all have a ton on information to absorb. In closing, I hope that it brings gamers together to enjoy a more broad-based, loose-fitting system that everyone can enjoy.





See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

New Map of Wothlondia

Here is the latest map of the continent, as finely detailed as we can bring it to you at the moment. I am hoping to have a color version done sometime in the near future. For now, here is what we have. Enjoy!

CLICK ME


Map artwork by Gary Vanucci and Nicholas Titano, copyright 2012 Ashenclaw Studios, LLC.





See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!



Distant Familiarity Free Excerpt


In preparation for things to come and it being Sample Sunday and all, I wanted to give my readers a taste of something new that I am working on. The name of this short story is entitled Distant Familiarity. This is part of a free short story that will be available very soon as a download. More later on when and where.

The story tells of the events that occurred just prior to the prologue from Covenant of the Faceless Knights, detailing what happened to the three former heroes now turned High Council members: Rolin Hardbeard, Nimaira Silvershade and Tiyarnon, the High Priest. As always, I hope you enjoy this brief excerpt!





.... He watched as the other two mounted their steeds. Then the gates of Oakhaven swung wide to allow them passage. Moments later all that remained of their presence was a cloud of dust, which quickly dissipated in the cool breeze of Winter’s Veil. A new year was coming in Wothlondia and Tiyarnon hoped that 66 P.A. would be an even better year than the last for the citizens of Oakhaven, and for the whole of Wothlondia. 

 The three of them traveled for hours heading south along the River Divide, whose current ran in a southerly direction hundreds of feet below them. The river was used by many to bring goods and services to other towns for trade along its banks. The three bridges that crossed the River Divide, including Nature’s Pass, were at extremely high points where ships could easily pass beneath them.


Nimaira repeatedly used her significant magical abilities to propel the horses forward at increased speeds for several minutes at a time to hasten their pursuit. This, of course, made Rolin feel very disgruntled. To him it was bad enough to be obliged to ride a horse at all, let alone having it run at two to three times its normal speed for minutes on end! The dwarf did not like it at all—not eighty five years ago, and certainly not today!


 Tiyarnon and the others concluded that the priests had not taken the northern bridge, as the guards or patrols outside the city would have spotted them and reported this as being the case. Eyewitnesses explicitly expressed that the group headed south out of Oakhaven the evening before last. And they most likely would not have crossed the southernmost bridge. They would be too exposed to detection as the south was barren and known to be full of wild beasts roaming those open plains. 


This all meant that they had to have traveled over the River Divide at Nature’s Pass, which would have had them passing directly through the heart of Amrel and close to the forest elves who made their homes there. The elves of Amrel would have certainly noticed the acolytes within their domain, although such a route would have also given the travelers cover.  No one—humanoid or otherwise—passed through Amrel without King Dorinthal’s knowledge, for his eyes were vigilant and ever-present. 


Tiyarnon confidently spurred his horse further south toward the elven-made bridge, hoping his theory proved to be sound.



See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Photo from Stock.xchng.

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios, LLC 2011 unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Roll Playing vs. Role Playing?

First of all...Happy New Year everyone!

Secondly, the winner of the 'How much would you pay for an eBook' poll was by far the $2.99 to $7.99 slot with 61% of the vote and the $8.99 to $12.99 slot coming in second with 29% of the vote. Just in case anyone was following and wanted to know the results!

Thirdly, I have a new subject for you to discuss for you RPG gamers out there--Roll Playing vs. Role Playing! Here we go...

Is there room for both in your game? I think so. I have often asked myself if the game master or dungeon master of your RPG can satisfy both. After much consideration, I have concluded that with the right preparation, yes, it can be done. I would always first and foremost cater to what your players want to do with regards to play style. Do they enjoy hack and slash, puzzles, role-playing, problem solving, etc? You as the referee of the game would know this best if you play with friends. I as the GM/DM would often find that I wanted my players to get involved with the storyline one way or the other before unleashing any type of combat on them as I believe that a firm understanding of a specific goal is important--especially if you spend a good deal of time preparing something for them to enjoy. I feel that any of us can cater to his or her players’ desires for the most part, while still being able to fit them into the environment or setting that you envisioned.

I have played with players that enjoy both the role-playing aspect and the combat of the game. The majority of my players have enjoyed the combat the most. They want to put themselves into the role of hero and save the day, using their swords and sorcery to down the evil-doers. And who doesn’t? It is what drew me to comic books, sci-fi/fantasy novels and role-playing games in the first place….

There are also a good amount of players who want to solve the puzzles or riddles or who want to be the ones who solve the mystery set upon them in order to go through a passageway or advance further into a dungeon. There are also tests that can put players into a situation where they have to figure out what makes a creature/villain tick or what his/her/it's weakness might be in order to resolve the issues.

These tests can be a good deal of fun as well and I implore any of you gamers out there to try to experience them all. All of it is designed for one thing that I think we can all agree on: no matter what school you hail from, games are designed to give you an escape from reality and to share some time with friends or with people of like mind. So, no matter what game you play, no matter what genre you play in and no matter what style you choose, make sure you are having fun!
 
As always, please feel free to share your thoughts with us and comment on what kind of games, play style or genres you enjoy most! I look forward to your posts. Have a great week everyone!



See you in Wothlondia! Cheers!

Please visit MY HOME PAGE to enjoy an extended reading experience, see direct links to purchase Covenant of the Faceless Knights and to see what else Ashenclaw Studios, LLC has in store in the future!

Photo from Stock.xchng.

All maps, names and content copyright Ashenclaw Studios, LLC 2011 unless otherwise noted.