A new request... proofreader wanted

Dear fellow bloggers. I've just finished the illustrated and revised Dark Dungeon starter set for publication, and I'm looking for a native english speaking proofreader. And possibly playtester, if you like - there's a full adventure included.

In exchange for your effort, you'll naturally get my eternal gratitude, honorable mention and the final pdf for free :-)

Here's the current cover (which I also painted, just like all art inside).

UPDATE: Dear fellow bloggers I'm impressed! Thank you for your fast response - for those who read this late, I'd love your help for future products. I'll post again when the time comes.

Pick #81: Really Ancient Dice...

Okay, so James already pointed at this one in his Grognardia, but it's worth saying it again. You thought the roleplaying dice looked funny? That they must have magickal origins? They might have. The four-sided die for example is really, really ancient. And I don't mean 1973 with that. I don't even mean it looks like a little pyramid. I do mean the Royal game of Ur. It's a 3600 year old racing game remniscent of backgammon.

On the other hand, maybe it was the first role playing game... ;-)

Just in case you're as amazed as I was, here's some more dice history on the awesome dice blog.

Pic is courtesy Wikipedia.

Some Sample Art: Cover Work in Progress

Some Sample Art: Still Alive!

Here's another two samples of the upcoming rulebook.

Guess that in my time zone I should have been sleeping by now.

Some Sample Art: Knights and Orcs

Update: This was some time ago... and I redid the whole book in color by now. You can buy The World Beyond in hardcover (real nice) or pdf if you like, or just enjoy the pics ;-)

Original post:
Over the last few months real life took over a bit, but last saturday I managed to do some lay out work for my upcoming illustrated, commercially available Dark Dungeon core rules.  Here's a few samples of what it's starting to look like. Hope you're as enthousiastic about it as I am!

Pick #80: Old School Hack, or D&D Pretzel Style

Possibly this one needs no introduction to you, as this one won this year's ENnie award. I'll chance that.

Old School Hack is an easy going, beer and pretzel style take on what 1981 D&D might have been. What it might have been if the designers would have hated intricate dungeon mapping, three digit math, and rulebooks heavy enough to knock an Umber Hulk out. Instead they would have loved sweets, easy rules, fast paced combat, a cheery atmosphere, comic style play, and a cooperative group spirit.

One of the nicest touches of the system I think, is the awarding of awesome points. These are a sort of luck points, or fate points, as many systems know them. But in this case players may also award them to eachother, for cool play moments. Also, the game master can deal out more nastiness, while giving more awesome points to compensate. Awardable awesome points are kept in a bowl, possibly as sweets or other edibles. To me it's a refreshing system mechanic to find in a dungeon delving game.

Old School Hack beta 1.0 is available for free, and worth to give a spin in your group. Be sure not to eat your awesome points before you use them though. If you want, you can read some interviews with writer Kirin Robinson here and here - or have a look at the Red Box Hack inspiration for this game by Eric Provost. And despite his busy private life, Kirin intends to expand on the game soon. Which seems an excellent idea to me.