I Know It Has Been Awhile

 Greetings Adventurers!

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much in the last few months. I know, I know. Things here at Hydra Hobbies have been in a bit of turmoil. My father recently passed away and I'm now become the caretaker of his estate. This means my new job is to deal with all of the properties, investments, accounts, military vehicle collections and massive amount of STUFF my father acquired over the decades of collecting and thrift store blitzes. To say he was a hoarder is to put is mildly. Not only that I'm dealing with BOTH my grandparents estates as well. Included into my Dad's stuff is a house and a six flat apartment complex in Chicago which is thankfully being renovated by my brother who has recently moved there, which is one less worry for me. And yes he is de-hoarding that location as well.

To this end I have been hopping back and forth between my home here in Austin, TX and the properties in Northern Wisconsin and Chicago. By properties I mean four full warehouses and a home. All of which are full to the brim with stuff. Some junk but much of it a collection of very unique items. These include model trains (an over 50 year collection), full sized train memorabilia (yes, this includes a full sized caboose!), lots of tools, construction equipment, heavy machinery, and (the cherry on top) several military vehicles dating as far back as World War II (one of them is a full sized fully operational DUKW, possibly used on D-Day during the invasion of Normandy.) Oops! I forgot to mention the collection of militaria such as field gear, uniforms, hats, helmets, weapons and accessories, including many world war two era weapons systems (yes one of them is a non-functional 60mm Nazi mortar!) and other assorted military hardware.

I'm also helping take care of my Mom, who is blind and has mobility issues...after all she is 84. I'm helping her deal with all sorts of financial and tax issues as well as organizing/de-hoarding her house so that she can actually get in and out of it. This has been quite a job. To say I haven't had time to work on Hydra Hobbies projects is an understatement. 

For those of you still with me here I do have some HH news progress. The Dungeon of the Tormentor adventure has been fully edited and laid out with art and cartography. It is fully playtested and I recently got the cover delivered by the wonderfully talented Kennon James. It needs one last read through, some small tweaks and checks (for rules stuff) and some minor layout fixes (like adding the cover and getting the stupid page numbers to line up!) and it will be ready to go off for approval to Goodman Games, then hopefully off to the printer!

Here is the beautiful cover art as a teaser to wet your appetite for this crazy heavy metal inspired adventure. 

Next up is a PWYW supplement of a small village called The Hamlet of Tellos, for DCC of course, This product will be available on DriveThru RPG and is designed as a starting point for any adventure that does not include a town or city as a base to begin at. That one is written, fully laid out, has art and cartography and has had a deep pass from my wonderful editor, Ben Klima. Sadly, I have not had the time to incorporate his suggestions, fixes, and adjustments. I will need about another 40 or so hours to get that bad boy done and then off to GG for approval. 

In closing, Hydra Hobbies (ie Me) will be attending TFest gaming convention in Pflugerville, Texas this August 7-9. We aren't big enough for our own booth but we will be hanging out at the Goodman Games booth with my good friend Matt Robertson. I've been too busy to prep to run any playtests at the con but I will be playing in several games as a player at the Con. Stop by the GG booth and pick up a copy of  Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor. I'll be happy to sign your copy as well as chat with you about our upcoming releases and maybe even join you for a game, if I'm lucky enough to get a seat. If you haven't gotten your badge yet I suggest you do so today as the open game seats are rapidly filling up. I wasn't even in time to get a slot to attend Matt's game: Golden Idol of En-Tridar!

Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor PDF is on sale!

 Greetings Adventures,

Goodman Games is having a blowout 25% off sale of PDFs at Drive Thru RPG for Dungeon Crawl Classics and The Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor is included. So for a limited time, grab yourself a copy and while you are at it check out all the other products for DCC that are on sale.  Keep your sword sharpened, your holy symbol polished, and your spellbook handy, until next time!

The Gaming Gang Reviews Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor!

 Greetings Adventurers,

For various reasons I've decided to travel far into the north to a freezing city in the woods called Hayward, Wisconsin and take up an epic quest. Although it is April, snow is on the ground and the wind is freezing. Away from my network of roguish informants I was unaware until yesterday that Hydra Hobbies epic tale: Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor has been reviewed by our fantastic friends at The Gaming Gang. If you are interested please click here to watch the amazing Jeff McAleer take a deep drive and preview of our wonderful adventure available through Goodman Games and Drive Through RPG. 

For you megafans: our next adventuer-Dungeon of the Tormentor is written, laid out, edited, and proofread. The cartography is complete, artwork has been purchased, and preliminary playtesting is complete. We are waiting on the AMAZING Kennon James to complete an awesome cover and then its off to GG for approvals. Hydra Hobbies hope is to have it in print at the beginning of the summer. 

Well, I'm off to take a rest to gain the hit points I have lost today and hopefully my cleric (real life preacher Matt Lewis) will be able to heal my ability damage. Tomorrow it is back into the dungeon.

Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor is now out!

 Greetings Adventurers!

The time has finally come and Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor™ is now in print and available for $9.99 at several locations across Austin, Texas. Check out Rogue's Gallery in Round Rock, Game Kastle in North Austin, and the new store: Card Gurus in Pflugerville to pick up a copy. It will be available any day now on Drive Thru RPG and Goodman Games.

Gotta Put Our Logo Somewhere

 

Greetings Adventurers!

Well for some crazy reason just having our logo on google drive isn't enough for AOL. So here is our logo so I can use it across the internets. 

"The First Transport is Away!"

Greetings Adventurers!

Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor™ is now at the printer! Street date coming soon. Will be available from Goodman Games, some FLGS in Austin, Texas (more on this as it develops) and digitally from Drive Thru RPG. 

A little teaser. Our next product, Dungeon of the Tormentor, is currently written and laid out. It is now with the editor and we hope to get this one out to you in March! 

Goodman Games has Approved Our First Product!

Greetings Adventurers!

Happy, joyous news! The good people at Goodman Games have approved our first DCC adventure: The Tower of the Mad Mage Mazdor™ for release. Soon, it will be available through Drive Thru RPG. I will be sending it to the printer this week and hopefully by February there will be some physical copies available from Goodman Games, a few FLGS in Austin, Texas and maybe a convention near you!

I want to say thanks to the great people of the DCC Community who helped me bring this to life. Special thanks to my wife, Lana, for putting up with all my writing nonsense and to both Matt "Grape Ape" Robertson and Ben Klima for their support and editorial genius. Lastly, I want to mention something to the great Peter Mullen who created the amazing cover for this project: Thanks for taking the time to do a little piece of art for a small guy among the big fish. My appreciation knows no bounds.

Check out the products page for more info on our first adventure.