Ostensible Cat

I'm sure by now just about everyone who reads these old school gaming blogs has heard that the Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign is over.  Four projects were successful in funding.  I offer a most sincere congratulations to all of them.  There are lots of folks that are going to be debating the outcome of this and I think it is most worthy of discussion.  But right now, I want to talk about my campaign, Strange and Sinister Shores.  It came nowhere close to funding.  I had hoped it would do a lot better than it did, but I also realized that I was competing with a lot of folks with more street cred than me.  Frankly, I'm honored that I was asked to the game.  I realize that to stand on equal footing with some of the other campaigns would have required more salesmanship from me than I was able to do or even felt comfortable in doing.  Having said all of this, I do think that Strange and Sinister Shores has some merit and I'm committed to fully developing the proje

Delve! issue 1 has received a first review.  Fellow old school blogger Brendan over at Untimately has penned his thoughts on my first foray into the game design, er, *ahem* game.  I definitely appreciate the thoughts and am going to play around with the spell format that he suggested.  Delve!  issue 2 is in the works.  I haven't done much with it yet cause I'm too busy livin large off the proceeds from Delve!  issue 1 and chillin in the Italian Alps.  Actually, it is a nice, much needed vacation with the family.  Here in a bit I'm going to do a video interview with Ed Healy of Gamerati fame.  I'm going to be discussing Strange and Sinister Shores and probably Delve! my art and whatever else we get around to.  Well, that's all for now.  Gotta go prep for my interview!  

A religious order seeks to utilize an ancient artifact to plumb the mysteries of the universe and touch the face of god. An explosion destroys vast tracts of land in a remote region of the Grand Duchy of Ostregoth. A Grand Duke seeks answers for the tragic event. An intrepid explorer seeks to win glory but never returns. An aging patriarch seeks to veil the truth to preserve the tenets of his faith. A fanatic seeks to expose the truth and bring down the establish order and usher in a new age. An unscrupulous tradesman seeks to capitalize on tragedy. A reality from beyond our own manifests in the devastation. A tale of conspiracy, greed, hubris, misplaced faith and insidious horror unfold in a remote wilderness.   Factions conspire to bring about their own agendas and utilize the unwary for their own ends .   Strange and Sinister Shores offers the opportunity for players to explore an environment warped by a misguided sense of faith, steeped in plot and intrigue, and sh

OK, so I just sent out the contributor copies of Delve! today.  I'm working on creating a stock of print issues.  I've still got two things I need to do until I'm ready to distribute hardcopies.  1)  I'm waiting on some card stock to arrive for the covers and 2) I still need to get to the Italian post office to send out the postal rate test copies.  Ultimately, I'd like to send some stock to Noble Knight Games to make them available there.  Ambitious?  Maybe.  But ultimately I only want to print so many copies and move on.  That means I'll probably only solicit issue 1 for 1 month and send a set amount to Noble Knight for sale.  But, while you're waiting or in lieu of a hard copy, Delve! issue one is now available at RPGNow .  The PDF version is bookmarked and there is a computer format bookmarked version AND a printer ready digest booklet sized version so you can print your own.  Either way, Delve! is out there in the world and I'm getting geared up for

For some reason I mentioned my interview with Jenn Steen but didn't post the link.  Here is where you can go to hear me being a total geek.  Daisey has been gone all week which always causes a sense of disorientation and she just returned home yesterday so perhaps I'll be back to normal soon ;).

My interview is up for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Great Campaign .  Being as this is my first opportunity for you to get to hear me vocalize about why you should care, the interview is not just about Strange and Sinister Shores, but about Delve! and about me.  I know that I'm not a household name like some of the other folks on the list, so I felt getting folks to understand where I'm coming from, who I am and what I do would get folks to care more about why the should support Strange and Sinister Shores . So, having said that, why should you care?  Well, much like Delve! and the artwork for which I'm primarily known, I am putting myself and my love of gaming, horror, sci-fi, history, comics, movies, and all of my various influences to bear for this.  It's difficult for me to be eloquent when talking about me and my projects.  It's not something that I'm comfortable about doing.  But I DO LOVE THIS STUFF.  I hope that comes across.  I hope that

So today marks the thrird birthday of the Blog Ostensible Cat.  It is sure a fun ride and great to connect with you fine folks out there.  I don have to come clean on something though.  Folks have asked how we accomplish all of our creative endavours around here.  Well, this horrific scene reveals the truth behind the conditions here at Team Bingham HQ: In all seriousness (well, OK in partial seriousness) I went to the Post Office today to find out what shipping on Delve! would be.  I think the final price for you folks Stateside is gonna be $5 with shipping.  That's 35 pages of game content and art (actual 44 pages but there are 9 pages of non-game stuff like cover and OGL, etc).  For you folks in the UK and elsewhere, I still need to swing by the Italian Post Office and check the prices.  I still am working on the PDF so I can sell Delve! on RPGNow.  That should be forthcoming.  So what's left then?  I'm going to get myself a new laser printer in the next couple of

I'm done!  Well, not exactly but the art for delve is done, the layout is complete, a few more edits and I should be good to go.  I printed out a mockup today and it looks good.  I have some card stock for the covers and I'm going to go get myself a laser printer to take up the print duties.  I've registered on RPGNow and I'll do pdf copies through them.  I'm going to go to the post office tomorrow and see what shipping costs will be to ship Stateside before I settle in on a price.  The first issue has lots of art and new spells, new monsters, a new unique demon, a new school of magic (pathognomancy), new magic items and more with the whole weighing in at 38 pages (actually 44 but I'm not counting the cover and OGL).  So, stay tuned, I'll probably be announcing the print version sale soon.  For the pdf copy, I've got a little tweaking to put in bookmarks and the like and to get it into a more friendly format for folks who like to view pdfs on computer r

So, I mentioned a little while back that I was participating as a writer/artist for an upcoming crowd funded Lamentations of the Flame Princess project.  Well, the time has arrived!  Strange and Sinister  Shores is my contribution to the campaign (check it out here ).  What is it about?  Here's the flavor text from the campaign: The night of the hell born star, still oft remarked upon five years hence in the city of Ostregoth. A night when the sky was brighter than the sun at the height of summer and the ground swelled and heaved like the seas in a storm with the very city walls still bearing the scars. Sir Gustav Klemt, with letters patent from Grand Duke Ruprecht IV and an expeditionary force of thirty men provisioned for three years set forth to learn the fate of the 120 men, women and children of fishing village Tunguk on the great lake of Bykaal and the nearby monastery of St. Georg of the Chalice. That was four years ago. Not one word has been heard of the Klemt