Your PC is hanging by his wrists, suspended from the darkness by chains.
There is a gaping crevasse below you.
There is an enraged dragon in the crevasse.
Next to the pit is a mad wizard monologueing about how he has exacted his revenge on you at last.
And you have no idea who he is, how you got here or why you aren’t still back in the tavern sipping your ale.
What do you do, hot shot?
The already classic XDM adventure: Quest for the Tavern is now available on our secret online store! This adventure will not be available in stores for a few more months, so if you are as anxious to recieve your copy as you should be, you need to click the links to the Schlock Mercenary The Bookstore (and other stuff) and order your copy sent direct to you! (They may even have cheap, damaged copies they’ll sell you if pristine MIB condition isn’t your bag and you hurry!)
Where else are you going to find an adventure that features critical background exposition delivered by your players using sock puppets? Get yours today!
Curtis Hickman and Tracy Hickman are currently working on the the first (or second) XDM Adventure. Tentatively entitled “Quest for the Tavern”, this exciting new adventure designed especially for the XDM XD20 Gaming System will be premiering this summer and especially at the Gencon Game Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
A long-standing argument between Grandmasters Curtis Hickman and Tracy Hickman has been on the issue of map graphics. Tracy prefers to create what he believes are beautiful and highly functional maps in ProFantasy’sCampaign Cartographer 3. Curtis, a profession motion graphics designer by day and XDM Grandmaster by night, looks upon his father’s efforts with a kindly disdain that the young reserve for old people who think their graphics are ‘super cool’ and ‘far out’ but in actuality are flat and boring. So we present to you a ‘preliminary test map’ design as rendered by Curtis for the first (or second) Official XDM adventure for your consideration. We welcome your praise and constructive comment on the associated Forum Topic we’ve created for this map sample.
One of the biggest challenges thus far has been whether to call this adventure the first or second official XDM adventure. Last holiday season, Tracy Hickman released the online adventure ‘”Assault on Santa’s Workshop” which is still available here for download on the XDM website. “Assault on Santa’s Workshop” thereby became, in some XDM minds, the first official XDM adventure released to the public despite the fact that it remains a ‘work in progress’ to this day. On the other hand, “Quest for the Tavern” is the first published complete adventure module that XDMs that does not bear the rather intimidating phrase ‘some assembly required.’ We understand that many people, including ourselves, run into this same issue whenever asked about the number of our favorite ‘Star Wars’ movie: do you respond with #5 or #2 even if you’re referring to the same movie?
In the spirit of XDM, we’re going to make a judgment call and say that “Quest for the Tavern” is the first official XDM adventure — because it is the first XDM adventure we’ve written that we may actually get paid to write. That seems like as good a rule as any.
I arrived at Dublin Airport with eight copies of XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery in my checked luggage intent on bringing enlightened role playing to the good gamers of Ireland. I was immediately confronted with three ‘queues’ — green for citizens of Ireland, blue for non-citizens with nothing to declare and red for non-EU citizens with goods for sale to declare. Upholding the ages-old lawful traditions of the XDMs, I dutifully (no pun intended) followed the red line only to discover that there was no inspector at all IN the red queue.
With calm bravado, I shifted my baggage into the blue line — and thereby smuggled my eight copies for resale into Ireland! The Irish would have XDM regardless of the hazard involved! I walked calmly down the ‘nothing to declare’ line and was soon inside sovereign Ireland with my XDM books prepared to sew the seeds of gaming revolution in that great country.
After being met, however, by the committee members from Leprecon, I had not been in the country more than half an hour before I announced to them that I had braved distance and customs inspectors to bring them XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery books…
Whereupon one of the committee members said, “XDM? Oh, it’s marvelous, I just finished reading it last night.” Whereupon her friend reached down into her backpack and pulled out a copy of XDM they had purchased at a local Dublin Game Store.
Break… Break… flash traffic… Stand by for a secret message from the XDM Masters!
29/8/5/4/2
Check the ‘Secret Messages’ page for updated information on the Decoder Disk and then apply this solution to the ‘Crypter Alpha’ page on this site for access to the communique!
The Grandmasters of XDM — minus only Grandmaster Frank who was conspicuously absent — met in secret conclave today at the Bangkok Grill in Orem, Utah to finalize the Phase II Operational Plan for XDM conquest of the RPG gaming world. Grandmasters Tracy Hickman, Curtis Hickman and Howard Tayler, joined by Grand Mistresses Laura Hickman, Lani Hickman and Sandra Tayler (also the publisher/editor of XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery) officially formed the quorum and expressed their joy that no one had mentioned the meeting location to Grandmaster Frank.
On the table — in addition to the Chicken Satay, obligatory sticky rice and Massaman Peanut Curry — were the secret plans for Phase II of XDM. Phase I included the publication of the official XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery core book and its spectacular release at the Gencon Gaming Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was accomplished by the Grandmasters with glorious results. Giddy with their success, the Grandmasters then unanimously (among those present) put into motion Phase II which should carry XDM forward with hobby game store releases starting in October. The arrival of XDM among game stores will be supported (secretly, of course) by promotional items and new online releases and activities here on the secret website.
While the exact plans are secret and cannot be revealed even to our loyal XDMs at this time … you need to know that many of you XDMs who are participating in the online forums and website will be chosen by the Grandmasters to help us design and execute some new directions in Xtreme Gaming. You select XDMs will receive your communications and instructions via a secret decoder disk … just as soon as Grandmaster Tracy designs one.
All of this will take us into Phase III after the first of the year … and the second wave of XDM official merchandise, including the ‘Franchise XD20 Shield’, an all new and original XD20 adventure by Tracy and Curtis Hickman as well as other secret products too cool to mention. (1) If all continues according to plan, Phase IV will then be prepared for fall of 2010.
(1) On the other hand, since Grandmaster Tracy had surgery last Monday to break up boulder-sized kidney stones and is currently on pain medication, the exact magnitude of how good his ideas were at the secret meeting may need to wait for a few weeks until his head clears and he is allowed again to operate heavy machinery.
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Check the ‘Secret Messages’ page for updated information on the Decoder Disk and then apply this solution to the ‘Crypter Alpha’ page on this site for access to the communique!
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