[Kinship] Mapping a Strange Place

Creating a map for a campaign is fairly easy, whether it's a city, dungeon, or a continent.  I usually start with a rough sketch, and work from there to a finished map.  Mapping the Town of Kinship is turning out to be a somewhat difficult endeavor.  Not the act of mapping, just deciding what to include. I want to keep the area map fairly simple.  The map of the town will have more detail.  Here's my first rough sketch...

I like the basic layout, but I will probably change a few things, add a few more locations, and add details.  I think I will have both a color and a black and white version.

I haven't decided on a scale yet, probably one inch equals a mile.

Kinship exists outside of the normal world.  It appears to be a small town in the USA, but it doesn't appear on any map of the USA, nor does it's evil sister town of Shadowvale.  Where is it exactly? Well, that's one thing I haven't entirely decided.  Perhaps it's in a small pocket dimension, or something similar.

I've still got many ideas for Kinship I need to capture, but the area map is a major goal for me.  I'll be working on it more tonight, and hopefully decide on a style.

[ NEWS ] The Heat Goes On...

I like ice tea, and due to the heat I've been drinking it non-stop.  However, the other day I got a little sick of it, and switched to Dr. Pepper.  That was a mistake, or rather the mistake wasn't drinking enough water.  So after doing some yard work for my dad, and walking to the bookstore, I became a bit dehydrated, well more than a bit.  I was drinking water, but this energy draining, death dealing heat is BRUTAL.  So I've been down for the count for a couple of days.  Feeling better, but I think I need to drink more water, and not walk for miles when it's 108 degrees outside.

My weekend will hopefully be busy, so probably no blog posts.  I'm hoping I can make to a barbecue and visit with friends I haven't seen in a couple of years.  That would be nice.  There's also a web comic convention in Dallas tomorrow that I may try to attend.

I've been thinking about the map done for the Town of Kinship.  Still trying to wrap my head around what I want it to be like.  I think I only need two or three maps, one of the surrounding area, and the town itself.  I've already decided on a sequel called, The Citizens of Kinship, which will go into much more detail about the people that live there.  I'll probably include stat blocks as well.

Are there any up and coming artists that would like to submit some work for The Town of Kinship?  I don't need that much, and I plan on doing some of my own.  I just feel that some variety would be nice.  I can only promise a copy of the book as compensation ( right now, things can always change ), as well as credit of course.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I am so looking forward to Winter!

[ Ideas ] The Trouble With Ideas...

I'm a very creative person.  I live to create.  Whether it's drawing a cartoon, writing, making a sculpture, or even painting a miniature, it's what I most enjoy doing.  Part of creating is coming up with ideas, and that's a problem.  It seems at times I have too many.  For instance, I've been working on Kinship quite a bit, ( well mainly learning how to use Open Office to create the PDF ),  and while writing or brainstorming, an idea will pop into my head that might not work for Kinship, but would work great for something else.
It seems it's either feast or famine, and I really don't want any of my ideas to rot on the vine.  Part of the problem is that it does take time to capture those ideas, and store them safely, back them up etc.  I really like using a computer, but I've had bad luck lately with hard drives.  I also find I'm more productive with my writing if I use the computer.  Handwriting, or using a typewriter, never seemed to work for me.  Anyone remember those, or even still have one?

Now that I think about it, I really want to try that program that types out automatically into the computer word processor whatever you speak into the microphone. I wonder what that would do to my productivity?



I have to be meticulous about back ups, and make back ups of back ups.   I've lost quite a bit of some of my writings in the past year, and yes, I had back ups, but I lost those also due to corrupted files.  It's annoying.  That's why I started making back ups of back ups.  I need a better system I guess.

Another problem is that once I get an idea I want to work on it, try to "flesh it out", whether or not it's a good idea.  This is the problem with having too many ideas, I don't want to get distracted.  I want to finish one thing before starting on another.  However, sometimes it's good to have multiple projects going.  When you hit a wall, taking a break to work on something else helps to "break the wall down".

I think tomorrow I'm going to write a post about a magical Quonset hut, and yes it's in the Town of Kinship.

[ Kinship ] Jenny ~ Bane of Vampires

The kids were at recess in the small park near the library.  Miss Leela was watching them play.  She noticed that Jenny wasn't playing with the other kids.  She was hanging by her knees from the monkey bars, and swinging back and forth.  Curious, Miss Leela walked over to see what was going on.

As she got closer she heard Jenny speaking, no she was almost chanting'

'Something bad is coming, something bad is coming...oh hi Miss Leela."  She stopped swinging and dropped to the ground.

Since Miss Leela became the teacher in Kinship she had learned that Jenny had almost supernatural premonitions.  "Jenny... what...?"  A sudden boom of thunder interrupted her question.  Then dark clouds rolled in.  Very dark clouds.

"EVERYBODY INSIDE!"  Miss Leela began rounding up the kids.  'HURRY!"  She heard the town's emergency siren started blaring.

Once inside Miss Leela did a head count.  All the kids were inside.  "Okay, kids everyone get in their seats..."  The she noticed that Jenny was packing her backpack.  "Jenny?  What are you doing?"

"I have to go home now... something bad is coming."  Jenny was wearing the Cross she made in arts and crafts, out of popsicle sticks, white glue, and pink glitter. The lanyard was made from purple yarn.  She turned on the flashlight she had pulled from her pack.  "It's getting dark."

Miss Leela made her decision quickly.  "Jeff go with your sister."  Jeff was standing at a window.  His eyes wide open he turned towards his teacher.

"Oh cee... double oh... el... COOL!  I get to go home early!"  He grabbed his pack and ran for the door.

The crash of thunder rattled the library's windows, and the lights flashed off and on a few times.  Some of the younger children screamed.

"JEFF!  Take care of your sister!  Everybody CALM DOWN!"

***

Walking down the gravel road towards their home, Jeff and Jenny noticed a dark figure standing in the center of the road.

Stopping, they aimed their flashlights at the figure.  It moved  blindingly fast and was suddenly standing before them. "Hello children..."  The man was tall and pale, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans.  His black hair was long and greasy looking.  His feet were bare and grimey.  Shining their lights in his face they saw his blood red eyes.

Then he smiled, showing a pair of gleaming fangs.  "I'm soooooo hungry..."  Raising his hands, the fingernails grew longer.

"Jenny, RUN! Run into the cornfield!" Jeff threw his flashlight towards the vampire, who easily batted it away.

Jenny balled her fists and put them on her hips.  "I'm NOT afraid of a stupid, stinky, icky, vampire!"

"No Jenny run!"  Grabbing his little sister's arm he tried to pull her along, but she wouldn't budge.  "Come on! Vampires are bee a dee... BAD!"

Reaching for Jenny the vampire snarled, "Oh you will be afraid, but not for very long.  I'm going to drain you, suck you dry until there's nothing left but a papery corpse."

"What's a papery corpse?" Jenny backed away raising her Cross before her.

The vampire stopped, looking puzzled.  "Never mind, is THAT your defense? You made that yourself.  It has NO POWER OVER ME!"  Moving almost faster than they could see, the vampire grabbed the Cross,  intending to crush it into splinters.

The vampire sensed the power too late.  The instant his hand touched the Cross he convulsed in pain.  Howling,  his hand, and then the rest of him burst into flame.  The vampire collapsed into a pile of smouldering ashes.

Jeff's turned toward his sister.  "Wow, that was cool."

Jenny shrugged, "That's the power of pink glitter."  Walking around the pile of ashes, she started humming.

"WAIT!"  Jeff opened his pack, and pulled out a plastic baggy that had held his sandwich.  He started scooping the ashes into the baggy.

Stopping and turning around, Jenny made a face when she saw what he was doing.  "Eeewww.... what are you doing?  Is that for another one of your 'speriments?  Boys are so weird...."

"Maybe... hey was this the bad thing that was coming?"  Jeff stowed the bag in his pack after writing "vamp ashes" on it with a black marker.

Jenny looked up at the dark, stormy clouds.  "No... something worse is coming... something much, much worse."

"Well, let's go home then.  Maybe mom will let us bake cookies."  Jeff started walking.  "HURRY!"  Jenny followed behind him, giggling "And we can have a TEA PARTY!"

Jeff groaned, "Nooooo...  oh the horror... the horror..."

[ Kinship ] The Town of Kinship Book

©2011 Frank C. Anderson, Jr.

I've been busy working on The Town of Kinship Book.  The picture above is the initial cover mock up.  I was trying to come up with an idea for the cover when I thought about creating a town seal, and then a motto.  So I thought why not put the seal on the cover?  I think it looks good, but I may make a few changes.

I really think the seal came out fairly good, but I might work on it a little more.

I'm really not that good at Latin, and had to use an online resource to translate the town motto, which is Embrace the Mystery.  The closest I could get was Amplexo Mysterium, well, I think it's close.  I could have used Carpe Mysterium, but I didn't really like it.  In fact carpe doesn't really mean seize in Latin.  It's correct definition is pick, pluck, cull, or gather.

I thought about using De Brevitate Vitae as the motto given the nature of the Town of Kinship.

[ Kinship ] A Zombie Ate My Homework... AGAIN!

Miss Leela, was taking attendance, which didn't take long.  Not many kids attended the Kinship Public School.  Today they were meeting at the Kinship Public Library.  Most of the kids hated having school at the library, because they say it feels "haunty".  However, after there was an "incident" in the school science lab, which led to the sheriff having to declare the building off limits, they didn't have many choices.

Only one of her students wasn't at school.  This always worried her.  So many things could happen here in Kinship.  She tried her best to warn, and prepare her students, but some things you can't prepare for.  She pondered calling the sheriff, but then she saw the student walk in.

Jeff, walking in breathless and sweating profusely, was carrying a sawed-off shotgun in his right hand, and his lunchbox in his left.  He set the shotgun and lunchbox on the nearest table, and took off his backpack.  Then he sat down in a chair, wiping the sweat from his brow.

None of the other children who attended school gave him much notice.  Miss Leela walked over and picked up the shotgun, opening it at the breech.  It was unloaded.

"Now Jeff you know we have a ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY here at school."

Shrugging, Jeff pulled out some paper out of his pocket.  It was damp, stained, and somewhat shredded.  He started to try and smooth it out.

"Jeff?  What's the policy about weapons?"  Crossing her arms, and raising her eyebrows, she waited.

"I didn't have time!  I didn't want to be late again!  I know the policy!"

"Okay, just load it.  So what happened?"  Miss Leela had a good idea what happened.  Poor Jeff's bad luck again.

"Well, I was walking down down FM 666, and then all of a sudden a zombie lurched out of a corn field.  So I stopped, and pulled my shotgun out of my pack.  It snagged my homework, and the wind blew it towards the zombie.  Well, the zombie caught it and shoved it in his mouth...chewing and slobbering...stupid zombie..."

"So you're telling me a zombie ate your homework again?"  Miss Leela, trying hard not to laugh, put her hand on Jeff's shoulder.

"Yes, a stupid zombie ate my homework... AGAIN!  But I got it!  I gave it both barrels. KAPLOW!  Blew it's head right off.  Then I got what was left of my homework...THAT was icky..."

"Okaaaaaay, well I'm glad you're okay.  So there was only one zombie?"

Still working on smoothing out his homework, Jeff replied,  "Yeah, only one, otherwise I would have runned away.  F... A... S... T... FAST! So do I get extra credit?"

"For what?"  Shaking her head,  Miss Leela walked back to the front of the class.  Sometimes that boy didn't seem right in the head.  Then again everyone who lived in Kinship seemed a little odd at times.

"For ZOMBIE DISSECTION!  I took pictures to!  With my digital camera!"  Grinning, Jeff held up his homework,  "Hhhmm... not too bad... UH are we going to have SHOW and TELL this week?"

"Well, write a report tonight, and uh... show and tell?" Miss Leela's jaw drops.

Everyone in the room jumped when Jeff's lunchbox, a much coveted A-Team lunchbox, started rattling...

One Hundred and Fifty.... WOOT!

I never would have believed I would have made it to 150 posts.  I also have 61 followers, gaining one in just the last couple of days.  So... Hello, new followers!  I don't know who you are because whenever I try to look my followers don't show up.  They're invisible.  The follower blog box is empty!  I need to figure out what's going on.

I found a couple of cool websites that highlight gaming rooms and the gaming tables. The Ultimate Gaming Table is cool, but not sure it's the "ultimate".  Another one can be found here on the Agyris website.  I really like the message delivery system.  The table has a lot of character, but to me it seems a little high.  Every player does have their own area, so that's a plus.

Over on Rather Gamey , Arkhein has started a writing project, Vayniris: The Scattered City.  I've already got my story idea, and once he comes up with some guidelines I plan on getting started.

I hope everyone has enjoyed my Kinship series, it's not over, but I'm giving it a bit of a break.  Eventually, I will be creating a PDF, but I have lots more work to do before then.

Here in the Dallas area we've hit the 100 degree mark for the 25th day in a row.  It's 102 degrees right now.  There was a new record made today also, the highest low temperature since they started keeping records.  The low today was 86.  Ouch...  Yesterday, the temperature hit 106.  Double ouch...