Category: Houses of the Blooded

When we started designing the first Legend of the Five Rings CCG expansion (Shadowlands), one of the local LA players approached us. He was enthusiastic about the game, knew its subtleties well, and was also an artist. His name was Ben and when we saw what he could do, we jumped on the opportunity to use him. When his art came in, it was obvious he understood the game. He put easter eggs in every card that the players would understand. He was a fan and his enthusiasm showed in the art, making it some of the best in the set. Sure, some of the other artists had better technical skills, but Ben’s cards were always right on the top of the heap for the players and they looked forward to each and every one.

When I started looking for an artist for Houses of the Blooded, I wanted an artist who would understand my goals. I didn’t want someone with just the best technical skills; I wanted someone who would appreciate the ideas behind the game and be familiar with the subtleties. Someone who would get it.

Without a doubt, that someone was Storn Cook.

Storn is a talented artist–no doubt–but more importantly, he understands the game. That’s because he’s playing the game. He’s part of the Sons of Kryos playtest crew. And Storn gets it… as can be demonstrated by his first two pieces for the book.

My goal with the art–something Storn understood right away–was creating an environment. The moment the players see the book–not just pick it up, but see it–is when their experience with the ven begins. The cover has to intrigue them enough to pick it up, but it also has to be the first line in a long, epic poem. It has to hook them, but also has to show them–not just tell, but show–what they’re getting into here. Then, when they pick the book up, open its pages, smell the ink and the paper, hear the crink in the binding, see the layout and see the art… all of these things sell the book. A book isn’t just an intellectual experience; it’s a tangible one, too.

Storn’s art helps us reach that goal. We came up with an art list that made the book feel like a piece of ven archeology. Each piece is a sketch from an anthropologist’s notebook, complete with handwritten notes, observations and speculations. We get no direct look at the ven–just a peek through a dim glass. Peering back through time. The illustrations do not show you who the ven were, but who they might have been. A look at how they saw themselves.

Go check out Storn’s journal and take a look. Hot damn, we’s gonna have a damn pretty book.
 

The book will be 6″x9″. Two different covers (different styles for both standard softcover and limited hardcover). All purchases receive a free .pdf version of the game.

Standard Edition
Paperback edition
6″x9″
PDF of the book e-mailed to you

Limited Edition (Limited to 100 print run!)
Hardcover edition
6″x9″
Unique cover design/color with dust jacket

Limited Edition includes a Bonus CD:

Blood Opera: Romance and Revenge from the Ven Stage
Over 1 hour of music!

HotB PDF Reference Pack
PDF of the book
8″x11″ character sheets, reference sheets and other goodies

HotB Graphics Pack
Everything you need to build your own HotB supplement!*
InDesign templates
Graphic Elements
Ven “Rune Font”
(* Except body and header fonts; colophon included)

The Graphics Pack is what excites me the most. I’ll be opening up a page at HotB.com for folks to upload their own houserules, NPCs, adventures, sourcebooks. And there’s a plan for making those “peer reviewed research.” Yeah, that means official canon. And yeah, that means you can sell it.

More on that later. Spread the word.

I’ll be making an announcement about the pre-orders for Houses of the Blooded by the end of April. I’m still finalizing the last details. If all goes well, pre-orders will go live on May 5th (Discordia Day!).

Start saving your nickels.

This is NOT an official release, but something I want to share with friends.

I’ll be releasing a Standard and Limited Edition of HotB. The Limited Edition will look like this:

Limited Edition
Only 200 in print run
Signed and Numbered by the Author
6″ x 9″
300+ pages
Hard cover with dust jacket
Unique cover, distinct from the Standard Edition
B&W Interior

All orders for Limited Edition come with a bonus CD and bonus DVD

Bonus CD Includes:
Blood Opera: A Soundtrack of Romance and Revenge: 16 tracks, over an hour of music, selected from the ven opera house
PDFs of the book, character sheet and reference sheets
HotB Graphics Package: All the graphics and InDesign files (without text) released under Creative Commons

Bonus DVD Includes:
All episodes of the Game Design Seminar videos with intro music tracks

____

Package subject to change. Pre-order website up soon.

storn_cook has put up a bunch of sketches he’s drawn for the Sons of Kryos podcast playtest. Go check ’em out!

You can now directly download the Houses of the Blooded Preview PDF over at www.housesoftheblooded.com.

Needless to say, Daniel’s work never fails to impress.

If you’d like a copy of the 48 page preview, post a reply here or send me an e-mail.

It’s ready, made beautiful by the Mighty Mighty Daniel Solis.

If you’d like a copy of the 48 page preview, post a reply here or send me an e-mail.

The Mighty Mighty Daniel Solis again proves he’s the Montgomery Scott of the Game Industry.