WIP: In the Shadows of the Southwall

WIP Map for the Shadows of the Southwall Region

Updates on Core Rulebook: Playtesting is still churning along. Layout phase 1 is done, but more trade dress is being worked on, which means a lot more layout work is to be done. And of course as things get re-written for playtesting that means more changes. But, its a book, y'all! More on that soon enough. Oh, and did I mention the cover is almost complete? So looking forward to getting that into your hands.

Announcing: In the Shadows of the Southwall

The first supplement for Of Hearth & the Harrowing is coming! This 32 page region supplement will cover the Shadows of the Southwall region in detail. It includes:

• 20 Hex Descriptions, each with something for the heroes to find

• An adventure site with a dozen locations for the heroes to explore: The Ruins of Helniss Manor

• 4 Named NPCs for the adventure site.

• Encounter Table for the region with tons of details for each overworld random encounter.

Principle writing for the supplement is underway. I'm currently about 2/3rds of the way done with it. Then playtesting will proceed (many of these hexes have been playtested already at cons and in my playtest group, so these tests will focus on the adventure site).

You might be thinking, "Jared, the core rulebook isn't out, why are you writing this? Get back to the core rulebook." The truth of the matter is, since the writing of the rulebook is 95% complete (barring playtest revisions) it will be quite some time before all the art for the core rulebook is ready, and since I'm not an artist that means my creative time shifts to the next product in the line.

So why 32 page supplements?

Simple, they are smaller to produce and will get product into your hands. If I did an entire quarter of Eragion or all of Eragion as a book it would be way too big and you would be stuck with a corebook and no lands to explore for a long time. Or I could hold the core rulebook until that was all ready, but lets face it, there will be a chunk of the consumers that are not interested in the lands books and just want the core rules. Why make them wait?

A bunch of small reasons all add up to me deciding to make the Eragion supplements in the style of Harn or Goodman Games, a bunch of small supplements that do not cost a lot, but that we can later gather into larger supplements for those that want the big books.

What other supplements besides this regional supplement format should you expect?

• Settlements: Rivinda, Navirre, and especially Estiranta will be getting a full 32 page (or maybe larger in Estiranta's case) supplement.

• Larger adventure sites: If the ruins of Helniss Manor take up a third of a 32 page supplement its a medium to small adventure site. Locations like the 'Dark Fortress' will end up being a full 32 page supplement themselves (if not larger, we will see that depends on many factors.

That's all for now. Hopefully next blog post will be about the core rulebook cover process! I can not wait for you all to see it.