In the Works

[Christopher Ashe]

Well there's supposed to be an in-the-works section up there in the Articles part of the site, but I haven't updated all of that yet, so I thought I'd drop a line and give a little insight into what's going on with me as a writer these days.

I've been hearing more questions about Book of Races lately and let me assure you, I am working on it. Thing is, putting an advertisement for a book that has yet to be written is a tricky animal and those of you out there who fall into the writer category will likely understand this. Seven13 has always been a fickle animal to keep as well. It flows when it wants to and lately it has not been Book of Races that has been flowing.

What I'm working on today is Last Days. There are a few of you out there who have heard that title kicked around here and there by now. Last Days was the campaign that was actually the progenitor of seven13 and CoE. It's an apocalyptic game, not a post-apocalyptic one. You are the character, no creation here, only translation of yourself to the game system. Now here comes the cool part:

I'm doing this one for free.

Yep, that's right folks - Free game from Broken Doll. Now, I wish that I could tell you this one would be printed, but I don't have the cash to throw into that. It will be a PDF, but will include new rules expansions for seven13 and new insight/tie-ins to CoE, though it definitely does not need to have anything to do with CoE if you don't want it to. As far as artwork, I'm not sure yet. Doing this one for free will mean a lot more stock art and stuff of my own design than all of the cool works you see in CoE. I'm doing Last Days because it was a hell of a good campaign and I've already seen it run many times without my involvement and do well. So I'm working on a full version of it. I'll keep you updated on how that one is going.

Until next time, I'm always up for insight into what you want from the site or any questions you have or anything in general - let's get some people back in this community.

- Ashe

[Christopher Ashe]

Since I was talking about Last Days, I decided I'd give all of you a bit of a taste of it. I am a firm believer in the hook, that intro you put in a book that abstracts enough to keep the reader turning toward the next page, especially in a role-playing game where the reader knows that, eventually, that next page will have rules on it. So, here's a hook for Last Days, a first draft mind you, that I whipped up in the last 20 minutes or so:

Last Days

She’s dead.
There isn’t really any other way I can say it in my head. She didn’t pass away, she didn’t go to the clearing into the path now, the angels didn’t take her to heaven. The girl in my arms is dead. There isn’t a mark on her. She was not killed by some looter or rioter with a shotgun or knife and she was untouched by the plague that started all of this. She didn’t open up her wrists or decide to ease the pain of this unsure existence by taking a heaping dose of .50 caliber Asprin. I think, actually, that it was insulin shock. I’m not really sure, I’m not a doctor. In the grand scheme I’m not much of anything. I’m twenty-six years old and I work a dead-end job as a pizza delivery guy, not for a major chain with corporate tie-ins either. This girl is beautiful. She’s young, pretty, probably in junior high and her worst worry more than likely was who she was going to go to homecoming with or maybe a math test. There are two mounds of earth in the back yard, unmarked and another small one nearby. Judging by her house, she’s buried her parents and a baby sibling, likely a boy from all the powder blue in the room. All that by herself, maybe thirteen years old. Half my age and I couldn’t have done that. She was stronger than me, she was tougher than me and she’s dead.
I can’t get that line out of my head. There’s an empty syringe here, unopened from its package. That’s probably why I deduce insulin shock, Watson. I doubt this girl did all of this riding the white pony, no sir. I’ve been by the pharmacy, there’s nothing there but dietary supplements and bodies haphazardly fallen near the shelves, grasping for NyQuil or FluBuddy that isn’t there. While this little girl was taking care of dying parents and a baby brother, dying, choking on their own mucus, I was running like hell from my life. Now she’s here, in my arms and she’s dead. I was holding her when it happened. This girl died smiling at me, or at least in my direction. Maybe because I’m the only person she’s seen for a week, the feeling is mutual after all. I found her like this, shaking and alone. She never said a word and neither did I. Now I can’t, because, that’s right friends, the little girl is, in fact dead. Kaput. Kicked the Bucket. Bought the Farm. Gone to the last Roundup, if you’re from Texas. Apparently I have a few other ways to say it after all.
I, however, am alive.
I don’t feel like I deserve to be. I didn’t spend those last days working triage at some overflown hospital or caring for my dying loved ones or even going vigilante on the rash of looters - they all died anyways. No, I was running like hell (the roads were too clogged to drive), wondering what was wrong with me. Imagine that one, the world is crossing the Stygian Ferry en masse and here I am, apparently immune to the whole shebang, wondering what’s wrong with me. Because I don’t deserve to survive. I’m nothing special, I’m nothing all that useful. This girl did. She deserved to survive. She did amazing things, if only in the last month or so. I see a corpse I still lose my appetite. This is a two-story house we’re in. This little girl dragged bodies down stairs and worked them into the ground. She has marks on her hands from the shovel. What am I going to do? I’d like to say I’m going to cry over this girl, that I’m going to work that earth and bury her. Hell, all I’ve managed thus far is to close her eyes underneath those thick glasses she’s wearing, but only because the lenses magnified them and it was creeping me out. No, I’m going to eat whatever food she has in the house, salvage anything from the folks that I can and move on. I’m not alive, really, I’m surviving. It’s what I’m good at, I guess, once it comes down to it, and maybe that’s my curse. There won’t be any .50 caliber Asprin for me, either. I’ll hit the highway by tomorrow, keep looking for a motorcycle that runs and try to find somewhere in the country. I’ve got that down. I wish I could tell you there was more than that, but there isn’t. Like I said, I’m no one special. If I’m lucky I won’t get creeped out in a second and drop this dead girl on the ground on my way to the kitchen. If I’m real lucky I’ll be back on the road and out of the suburbs by nightfall, because things come out at night kids - I have no idea what they are and no interest in finding out, but there are a lot less bodies these days. That’s as far as I’m willing to think on it. I think maybe that makes it worse, makes me more of a villain in my mind, that whatever is out there might bind this girl tonight, but it’s late afternoon and I don’t have teh time to bury her. I don’t have the strength to. I’ve never been good at putting people down for a dirt nap, I don’t attend funerals. I don’t remember any lullabies and I don’t know any Avril Lavigne songs to sing to this one, if that was even her thing. Maybe she was a classic rock girl. I’d sing Don’t Fear the Reaper, but that one creeps me out. Because I do fear the Reaper and I’ve been seeing a lot more of him lately. I aim to be gone before he comes calling.
I set the dead girl against the soft rug near the television, the place where I found her. I kiss her on the forehead - I don’t know why, I just do. I’ll drink her Diet Dr. Pepper and eat her Chef Boyardee and hit the road before the night brings the fears out and try not to wonder if she’ll be there in the morning. By then I’ll be on the road north, it’s starting to get hot these days.
I survive. It’s what I’m good at.

This text copyright 2007 Broken Doll Studios. All rights reserved.
(and all that)

- Ashe

[ThePainter]

Hi Ashe

What can I say but very evocative, you managed to capture the mood of an apocalyptic setting extremely well :) Now if only I could work out a way to convey that feeling to my players in a game setting. Actually that shouldn't be a problem (at least not as yet), things haven't gone quite that far in my game ... yet!!!

At any rate, it all sounds very interesting. Did anything ever come of the Last Days setting and the Book of Races? Anything published, or are they hiding in some part of the site I haven't visited yet? I'm a new visitor/poster and so there's lots of the site I haven't investigated yet due to limited time :(

Ho, hum! Well I suppose that I should go away now and put my nose back to the grindstone; players to annoy and NPC enemies to create/draw up for the game later this evening. There could be a fight; one of the group managed to get himself captured by a bad guys ... silly player :rolleyes:

[Christopher Ashe]

Well Last Days is a pet project that I do a little work on here and there and BoR is the one I'm actually supposed to be working on. Problem is, putting in 50+ hour weeks at my day job and having my kids full time is really kicking my ass, so I haven't written much of anything, which is depressing, it being fall and whatnot. Not to mention I'm in the process of buying a house. So once all of that pans out perhaps I'll have time to do something again. I will keep you updated - It's good to see people on the site again.

- Ashe

[ThePainter]

Hmmm! It certainly seems like you're having a busy time at the moment. I don't have any issues with kids, or buying a house, but I still manage to get swamped and run out of time :-( At any rate, I hope that everything works out for you and that you eventually manage to find time to do the important things ... like RPG's!

Yes, I got the idea that the Book of Races was a (potential) forthcoming publication. I'm looking forward to it eagerly! Having more information concerning the nature and culture of the various races can only enhance the game. And it's something that my players have been requesting! I do, unfortunately, also understand that while authors may have a timetable, the book itself may have other ideas. Here's hoping that the information will start to flow soon ... and that you will have the time to put it all down too!

Last Days? Well, that just sounded interesting! I hope to see something/anything come of it - keep working. I've only once ran a game set in a post apocalyptic background, and even then the societal breakdown was largely over and society had largely re-ordered itself by the time we played.

All I can really say is keep up the good work, and that there are some who are interested and appreciative!