This past weekend, Alec and I locked ourselves into the Silvervine offices and methodically knocked down the final list of design tasks. By the end of the weekend, we had something that passes for a book. Alec, design guru that he is, is currently doing some final tweaks and proofing to make sure things look great.

I’ll post some previews when I get some spare time, and shake this sickness that I’ve been suffering from, but until then check out the newest additions to the SVG offices. Now, onto assigning some ISBNs and lining up some proofing copies, then plenty of fluids and sleep.

- JA

Here is a little preview art for the mini-adventure for the Reisja stones. The design on this is a quickly done mockup, but the excellent pictures are by Rochelle Simpson.

Here is a little preview art for the mini-adventure for the Reisja stones. The design on this is a quickly done mockup, but the excellent pictures are by Rochelle Simpson.

Here is a little preview art for the mini-adventure for the Reisja stones. The design on this is a quickly done mockup, but the excellent pictures are by Rochelle Simpson.

I don’t think I’ve shared this little beauty yet . . . It is the core crew of the Crimson Armadillo, done through our Player Picture Project.

The beautiful art was done by Andrew McIntosh. The characters of The Captain, Burke, and Ziggy the Ogre were played by Jason Pisano, Akira Barnes, and Brandon Grinslade.

In other news, there are Silvervine Bandannas on the way . . .

One of the biggest sticking points for completing the Silvervine Core Rulebook has been finishing the writing on the world of Cyrus. Cyrus was the reason that Silvervine got started in the first place, and it has always been Matt’s baby. Since I was tasked with writing it up as an RPG game world instead of a world that was the backdrop to his in-progress novel, I’ve always had an odd relationship with it.

On one hand, Matt isn’t your typical gamer and had lots of unique ideas for the world. Back in those days I hadn’t been exposed to a lot of the non D&D games that I’ve come to love today. Things that matt proposed for the world I always had a hard time integrating into my idea of what tabletop gaming was.  The more I did though, the more I came to embrace many of the more unique points of Cyrus.

On the other hand, Matt isn’t your typical gamer and never had as much exposure to what kinds of things have become cliche’ in games. A lot of elements that could be found within the World of Cyrus were cases of parallel development to concepts found in many other fantasy settings. I’d shake my hand at the heavens every time I would mention the latest thing to come out of a brainstorming session and one of my friends would tell me about how that was like a tribe of werewolves in White-wolf, or how a group of Elves in forgotten realms had similar qualities to a tribe of Elves in Cyrus.

continue reading »

So I’ve only got 14 pages left to outline for the 80 page Cyrus section. The outlining is actually the biggest step. It is where I take all the conglomerated Cyrus information and decide what is actually going to make it into the final book. With a large bullet point list of things that I want to include, detailed with Setting Information, Adventure Hooks, Cool Factors, NPC names, and lots of other stuff, the remaining writing is easier. It is looking really good at this point and I’m feeling great about how Matt’s world of Cyrus is shaping up. We are pushing hard to have a final sellable book by Origins this year, but I’ll make no guarantees. We’ve been six years in the making and playtesting and I don’t want to have a half-assed product out there with my name on it.

Also, to whet your whistle, here is a bit of preview art, done by the incredibly awesome Avery Liell-Kok.

In it you can see the Rings of Cyrus, an idea of Matt’s that I wasn’t totally sold on until I saw this video:

Here are a few of the pictures that have been completed in the end of 2009/beginning of 2010 SVG rush. We have 2 more slots open and a few submissions left to go through. This is your last chance to get your character featured in the pages of the Silvervine Core Rulebook. We may redo the PPP down the road for other books, but this is your ground floor chance.

Click an image to see it full size.

How to get your character in the Player Picture Project -

• Make a character with our Quick Character Creation Guide, then fill out and email us a copy of it and the Player Picture Project Release.
  
  Email us here.
  
  Feel free to use the excellent excel character sheet made by Jeremy Lotze.
• Make a character at one of our convention appearances.
• Have a signature character in one of our extended playtests, or start up your own extended playtest.