World of Stalwart Volume I

The World of Stalwart Volume 1 is now up for sale as a PWYW download. And just... wow. I LOVE it. It has:

• 110 entries
• 66 characters (5 expert tier, 21 paragon tier, 18 super tier, 10 legendary tier, 7 titanic tier, and 2 ultimate tier... along with 3 entities).
• Snapshot descriptions of about 1/3 of the 260+ issues of Doc Stalwart (it's a lot of story). 
• 66 illustrations (!)
• All packed into 54 pages.

Also, believe it or not, I'm already at work on Volume 2. I didn't even get to mention Aegis Prison and its controversial history... or the Stalwart Legion from the 28th Century... or the War of the Gods (between Olympus and Asgard that leads to the creation of the New Eternia)... or the TriUne of Id the All Knowing, Oculo the All Seeing, and Omeg the All Powerful (and their eternal conflict)... so I have a LOT to still write about.

I found my groove with this... and I think I have two more such "World of Stalwart" books (of this scale) in me before all is said and done... which would be pretty amazing. By that point, I think I would have covered all 260+ issues of Doc's adventures, and every character who had appeared in his book. Then I can get back to writing 'new' adventures starting from 261... and Skye Stalwart... and maybe another spinoff.

I ALSO have an idea for how I can publish adventures for you to take your own unique characters on that would be scalable to various tiers and also within the 'official canon' of the game world... so you'd be playing in 'official' storylines in the comic world... I'm going to be very busy this summer.

Rolling Forward

First of all, this is unapologetically a riff on Mr. Freeze. This character, and particularly his presentation in the New Batman Adventures, is perfect. So, I just ripped it off. Sue me. (No, I don't mean that LITERALLY, DC Comics... jeez).

Second of all, I'm starting to see this project as something of my magnum opus. It's the most complete game I've designed, in the most complete world I've created, with a complete novella that supports it. I'm thinking that EVERYTHING (so the three game books, the novel, and a bunch of other stuff I make during this summer) is going to end up in the Ultimate version of Stalwart. I'm thinking of trying to do something bigger with this - a Kickstarter or a real solicitation or something. I don't know yet... but the wheels are turning.

I think this is the book that I carry around with me for the next ten years and say to people, 'here's the best thing I ever made'. I want to do everything I can to make this as special as I can.

Character Concept: Rochambeau

I mean, if your game doesn't have a super villain named Rochambeau, is it a game you really should bother playing?