Reviewing the work thus far...

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Ok, so I'm gearing up to work on wrapping up the writing for Ruins of Undermountain III: The Deadly Levels. I'm moving in April, which limits my free time between now and then (you have no idea how much shit I have to pack and move!). I should have some. But...once I settle in, it will be a much more peaceful atmosphere and I'll have a chance to get more work done.

So I've been proofing the writing so far, to get myself up to snuff on remembering everything going on, on Levels 7, 8 and the sub-level. It's a good thing I've had some time off, because I've caught a few embarrassing mapping and writing errors. For example, on Level 7, I have two different areas labeled Area #H (one south of Room #19, another east of Room # 13). Only the former is correct.

Good thing is, these are the final quirks that need to be worked out to make it perfect. Catching any errors is vital. I want it to be perfect. So far, so good. I'll update more as updates are ready.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Just proofed all of Level 7, caught a few things that needed tweaking. Done! Currently almost done proofing the sub-level. These are final proofs, and really meant to simply catch any minor confusion or re-word any text that may be confusing. After not reading some of it for months on end, it's like reading it fresh, which is good. Then by the end of the week I'll go over Level 8 and proof what's written so far and then work on finishing the half of Level 8 that's left.

Wait till you guys see the two extra sub-levels that are being included as part of the Adventures Booklet!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

There is one bit of tedium left to do. I'm formatting Ruins of Undermountain III: The Deadly Levels identically to the original Undermountain. So for example, in the text for each room, monsters listed there are always written in bold...

"There are three carrion crawlers lurking amongst the refuse..."

Then at the end of the room description it gives a condensed stat block for the monster...

"Carrion Crawler (3): Int Non;AL N; AC3 (head and tentacles) 7 (body); MV 12; HD 3+1; hp 25; THACO 17; # AT 8; Dmg 1-2; SA Paralysis (save or 2d6 turns duration); SZ L; ML; XP 270 each"

So, I made all the appearing monsters in bold as in the original. I did do something not in the original which I find useful and I think others will as well - I also notated each monster to note where they originally appear when they appear in someplace other than the Monstrous Manual or the Monster Manual. For example, if the monster appears in the Fiend Folio, I list it as either:

(see 1st Ed. Fiend Folio)

or

(see 2nd Ed. MC 14: Fiend Folio)


I figured it's good to let the DM know where these monsters are found, since they're coming from so many various sources.

The tedium? I gotta go back and write those damned stat blocks for almost every monster in the product. I try not to do tedious crap like that while writing because it interferes with creativity. But god I hate writing stat blocks!

[McDeath]

Sounds like a lot of copy/paste the base frame then filling out the data per monster group in the encounter.

By frame I mean:
“Name” (#): Int ;AL ; AC; MV ; HD ; hp ; THACO ; # AT ; Dmg ; SA ; SD; MR; SZ ; ML; XP ; equipment etc etc whatever order it was in ROU.

In the end though, if nigh identical to the original format you’ll feel it a bigger accomplishment and readers will notice as well saying “Oh yeah! Read like the original. Hot damn!”

From cartoons to books to art inconsistencies tend to bug me. Listen, Bugs bunny sounds uh... wtf?!?!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Good idea, thanks!

Yeah, I want this to look like Ed Greenwood wrote it as a follow up to the original. Very, very few changes to any aspect of it are being made.

[McDeath]

Sounds great. Funny about art, since I was talking about it in another thread.... art is annoying. I’m slowly copying pixel by pixel an old appleII game graphics to tileset. It’s tedious and annoying. I don’t see how artists do this without going nuts.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Maybe that's why they're all nuts!

Finding artists is such a hassle. They all think they have some special skill that dictates they alone should get paid on a free product with no profits when no one else on that project is being paid, including the writer (ahem!) who has spent thousands of hours managing this monstrosity of a huge product.

Writing takes skill too, as does editing, proofing, layout, research, etc.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

So as I've completed sections, I've started adding them to the final manuscript in final form. Here is the outline:

Table of Contents

Introduction……pg. x
Published Works Detailing Undermountain….pg x
The Known History of Undermountain….pg x
The Layout of Undermountain…pg. x
Ways In and Out (Level 7, Level 8, Sub-Level)….pg. x
Gates of Undermountain……pg. x
Rumors of The Deadly Levels…..pg. x
General Notes on The Deadly Levels…..pg. x
Depths of Undermountain…..pg. x

Undermountain: Level 7 – Arcturia’s Abode
Core Rooms…..pg. x
Areas of Interest…..pg. x

Undermountain: Level 8 – The Slime Level
Core Rooms…..pg. x
Areas of Interest…..pg. x

Undermountain: Sub-level (Ah-ah! That would be telling! - H)
Core Rooms…..pg. x
Areas of Interest…..pg. x

NPCs of the Deadly Levels …..pg. x
Magic Items of the Deadly Levels…..pg. x
Spells of the Deadly Levels…..pg. x
Expanding Undermountain…..pg. x

Credits

Design: Halaster Blackcloak Original Maps: Halaster Blackcloak
Editing/Typography: Varl Production:
Interior Art: Special Credit: Clay Cook (Doirche)
Cartography: Govi Hines


Copyright…
______________________

Now, the total number of pages with the Introduction, Published Works, History of Undermountain, Level 7 (all of the material for it), the sub-level (all the material for it) and parts of Level 8 come to 173 pages. It'll easily crack the 200 pg. count when all of Level 8 is copied and pasted in. I suspect at this point that the absolute final product will top out at...ummm...

Say 250 + for the core material alone (outlined above), plus 36 pages of monsters, maybe 12 pages of spells (assuming 3 per page written out), another 15 pages detailing the 36 new magical items, and then maybe 12 pages for NPC material, plus the adventure booklet at about 50 pages and we're looking at a total of 375 pages of material!

To put that in perspective, the original RoU had a 32 page adventures booklet, 128 pages of the campaign guide, and 16 pages of monsters for total of 176 pages. We're going to more than double that page count!

Wow. This is crazy!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

That's typed single line-spaced, font type Palatino Linotype size 10, with 1" margins on the sides and 0.9" margins top and bottom.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

All the final proofing of the material mentioned thus far is done, and I've knocked off a handful of more rooms for Level 8. Oh, is Level 8 deadly!

The adventure booklet will detail 3 minor sub-levels including one called The Level of the Damned. It's a tribute to my original UM gaming group, and quite challenging and interesting.

Here's the rooms left to write (although I have extensive notes on some of them and those just need the final polisher write up done):

Rooms#

1
2
3
6
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20H is done)
21
22
23
24
26
27 (A-E, F is done)
32
33
35
36
37
38
39
40
42

A total of 31 more rooms and Level 8 is FINISHED!

Of those ,17 rooms are planned out in various degrees of detail. I am making it a goal to have all of Level 8 finished by the end of spring, then the adventures booklet done over the early summer. Then all that will be left is detailing a few more NPCs, compiling the extra text stuff (ways in and out, rumors, etc) into the final manuscript, and BANG! Done! Got Govi working on the last tweaks of the maps for Level 8 and the sub-level, so those should be done by the end of summer at the latest hopefully. All I need then is the art, so I'll have to find an artist by early summer and pay him. All that's left after that is the final conversion to PDF format and we're releasing this massive dungeon crawl!

I think the likelihood of an early Xmas present for everyone is becoming a very strong reality. I'm VERY inspired to get this done!

[McDeath]

AWESOMENESS!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Thanks! Can't wait till it's released!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Update for May 23rd:

I completed Rooms # 10, 11, 12, and 14. That leaves:

Rooms#

1
2
3
6
8
13
15
16
17
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20H are done)
21
22
23
24
26
27 (A-E, F is done)
32
33
35
36
37
38
39
40
42

A total of 27 more rooms and Level 8 is FINISHED!

If I only complete 2 rooms per week (I'm trying to pace that as the minimum average per week), the entirety of Level 8 will be done by mid-August.

The 3 adventure booklet mini-adventures are planned, but not written, so give it about 2 weeks for each. That's another 6 weeks so that brings us to the end of September. Another 2 weeks to polish up the NPC write ups, and another 2 weeks to proof read 250+ pages. November we should be done for sure. So yeah, it's looking like we can get this out by Xmas or maybe hold off and get it out as a way to start the new year (might lose its impact if released during the busy Xmas season).

Hang in there! Closer by the day!

[McDeath]

Looks dang good. Having a schedule and keeping is a good idea. Lord knows i get distracted on my own scheduled. I am learning more about old spreadsheets window excel2007 version (yeah im not online so i dont have that newer 365 which is nicebut online crap annoys me).

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Small setback a week or so ago. I rarely get sick, but man did it hit me hard this time! Overworked I guess. 103+ degree fever for a few days. Ouch!

Good news is I recovered very quickly and tonight I just wrapped up Rooms # 42A - #42F - a special area that contains a tribute to my original Undermountain players who first explored the dungeon with me. I've incorporated some of them as NPCs the DM can either use or declare dead and discover the remains of, though two of them are definitely intended as NPCs on this level - one good, one evil. Tough rooms to write!

That leaves these rooms to detail:

Rooms#

1
2
3
6
8
13
15
16
17
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20H are done)
21
22
23
24
26
27
28 (A-E, F is done)
32
33
35
36
37
38
39
40
42

Of those 28, 14 are already planned and partially detailed, just needing to be fleshed out and finalized. I'm hoping to polish off 4 more rooms minimum by the end of June. This new apartment is awesome and very conducive to writing. Lots of peace and quiet now compared to the last few years at the old place.

If I wrap up 4 more rooms this month, then I can even go at the slow pace of 1 room per week and still have everything wrapped up by Christmas.

New Year's Day 2020 is looking like a very exciting day for Forgotten Realms and Undermountain fans!

[McDeath]

That's awesome news. Congrats. I'm hoping i avoid the annual summer flu. Seems it usually hits me. Maybe if i stay outside i'll be fine. Ive been biking and hiking a lot so maybe that'll save me; except i keep attracting ticks. Tough bastards.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Careful with the ticks! Don't want to get lyme disease!

Well, tonight I am finishing up Rooms #1A-1G. A mind flayer enclave of sorts. Very tough rooms! I should be done before bed. That's another major room complex done. If I can get more days like today (and it's been easier to do lately), this thing may be done by the end of summer or early fall!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Working on the Room #3 complex and it is tough!

Some of these rooms are getting hard to write. I'm starting to regret having so many rooms with multiple sub-rooms (#3A, #3B, #3C, etc) because it's definitely harder to write those than it is to write single room!

But it'll be worth it!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

I wish I could knock off more rooms per week, but considering lots of these rooms are actually complexes with 3-6 rooms connected (#3A, #3B, #3C, etc), the work is coming along fine. As I catch details to change to monsters or anything else, that slows it down a bit but will make it all the more polished. I CANNOT WAIT to compare Ruins of Undermountain III: The Deadly Levels to that 5E crap they slung out, with empty broom closets and 1HD monsters guarding Halaster's level.

All I can say is, heads are gonna explode! This project has become an homage of love for the original box set. So many hints, rumors and suggestions given there have been faithfully executed here. It's really going to be a treat to release this!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

I'm stuck taking a couple days off writing.

A small handful of rooms had to be re-designed. A few to fit the writing, and a few because they're just too damned huge/overly-connected/complex. What happened was I did outlines of major huge rooms like the undeveloped rooms on Level 2. But they're not workable as rooms. They need to be split up, re-designed into writable rooms. I should post an example image. But for example, Room #37 was so complex and interconnected that I had to label it #37A - #37L! That's 12 sub-rooms of a room. And guess what? Each sub-room is it's own room, right? That means writing 12 rooms for that one room. Just too, too much. So, a few days making map changes. The good thing is, doing the maps generates insane amounts of inspiration and ideas for the handful of rooms not as yet planned.

So, the maps will look better and the writing will be easier. A win/win!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Whew! Just got done this evening finishing Rooms #3A- #3G! Good lord, they were difficult! A very dangerous complex area with tons of details.

Also finished Room #1A - #1E. Another very complicated area with mind flayers and a lot of neat surprises!

That's actually a total of 12 rooms counting each sub-room (#3A, #3B, etc).

So, the update...

Rooms Left to Write

Rooms#

2
6 (A/B)
8
13
15
16
17
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20H are done)
21
22
23
24
26
27
28 (A-E, F is done)
32
33
35 (A-C)
36
37 (A/B)
38 (A only, B is finished)
39
40 (A/B)
42

A total of 26 more rooms and Level 8 is FINISHED! A lot of those rooms are partially developed, so the pace is going well. Wish I could speed it up, but it's getting very difficult after writing a total of 64 Areas of Interest and 85 Core Rooms (combined so far - the sub-level, Level 7 and Level 8 ) or a total of 149 areas/rooms! And many of these rooms aren't single rooms. There are tons of room "complexes" such as:

ROOM #3A/#3B/#3C/#3D/#3E/#3F/#3G

If you count each part of the room complexes as their own rooms (which they are - each is a fully developed room), there are a total of 231 fully developed rooms/areas!

Yeah, it's a challenge! Sometimes I need to do something unrelated just to recharge the creativity cells in my brain!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Should be finishing Room #33 tomorrow (Wed.), then fleshing out and hopefully wrapping up Room #33 (a hot mess is all I'm saying! ) on Thu/Fri.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Actually, I have two cool competing ideas for Room #33, so I have to decide which one to use there, and which one to use elsewhere. However, Room #32 was finished today, so one more room down!



Tonight I may give the rooms a break and work on one of the 3 mini-adventures that are being included in the Adventures Booklet part of the product. I'm inspired!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Got some wicked elemental evil-doing going on in Room #2, which is almost done and probably will be finished tonight!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Ok, Room #2 is finished! Closer and closer. I've noticed it's getting harder and harder to create the rooms. My schedule has been chaotic and I've been a bit tired, but it feels like I need a break to recharge, which I hate to do. I'm really anxious to get this done. That's part of the problem - wanting to get it done makes it harder to relax and write creatively. I have a few other adventures I've been itching to start working on as well. And it's just hard sometimes given the massive scope of this particular release to come up with one new thing after another. "Just" 25 more rooms is a lot more than it sounds like!

We'll see. The next few days are work one day, off the next, work one day, off the next. I may use those few break days to do something else and recharge, then on my 2 day weekends focus more on RoU III. Sometimes it really recharges me taking a break to do something else. Also, I love to read old adventures and other published modules because they seem to spike my creativity.

Even if I only average one room per week, I'll still wrap up all the room descriptions by Christmas or New Year's Eve. With 2-3 rooms per week, even sooner. I'll keep you all updated!