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Character Queue is an ongoing series where we dive deep into our pregenerated characters that we made as part of our introduction to our BEOWULF:Age of Heroes roleplaying game. We were fortunate enough to fund sculpting and casting these characters, so not only do they appear in character sheet form but as professional miniatures as well.

Our character today is The Wolf-child.

“She just stared at us. The wolves beside her waited patiently. I got the sense that she must be deciding something and if it went poorly they would attack. The bird on her shoulder also stared silently at us. Finally, she lunged forward and grabbed the meat from my hand. It took all I had to not flinch.“

Continue reading “The Wolf-child”

Today’s the official observance of Martin Luther King Jr in the United States and to celebrate the occasion we thought we’d take a look at a famous person of colour from the period of BEOWULF Age of Heroes.

Hadrian or Adrian of Canterbury was a prominent North African scholar, born in 637CE who came to England in roughly 669 (after some adventures in Frankia). He had travelled from Rome with his friend Theodore of Tarsus, in modern-day Turkey. Hadrian was sent on this journey by the Pope to accompany Theodore who was taking up the archbishopric of Canterbury.

Hadrian became Abbot of the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury, and set about instituting a new respect for learning and study, paving the way for the importance of Canterbury in the Christian Church.

Not only was Hadrian of Libya well versed in religious matters, but he was a prominent scientist and teacher, who travelled all over the islands of what is now the United Kingdom, teaching those he met.

A hundred years (or thereabouts) later, King Alfred references Hadrian as a wise and learned man, and he sought to emulate him in furthering his own quest for education and learning.

After his death, Hadrian became a saint, and we’re not long past his feast day of January the 9th.

Check out more Hadrian facts at wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_of_Canterbury (and naturally in the spirit of Hadrian of Canterbury, find a book or two about him!)

Happy MLK day!

With the release of the Handimonsters Annual this week, we asked Jacob about some of the design inspirations behind the monsters, especially the connections between monsters. This week, he talks about some of the more subtle, earlier connections. Next week he’ll dive into the bigget categories like Dungeon Constructs and the Wildfolk.

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I came up at the tail end of 1st Edition (D&D) and most of my later high school and college gaming was squarely in the days of 2nd Edition. This was the high days of Settings and, though we more often played in our homebrew world, it seemed like each of us collected at least one setting (one friend collected Dark Sun, another loved Planescape, etc.) and we all shared the ideas around. My setting of choice was Ravenloft. I loved the Gothic horror stuff, especially when it was time for the Halloween one-shot each year, the limits of the demi-dimension and the ‘easy to enter, hard to leave’ aspect.

Continue reading “Handimonster Themes”

Hello! Happy New Year! We hope you managed to get a peaceful break over the festive season. We’re back at work and are all hard at it making the very finest books and accessories for your gaming table. It’s all happening this week, so let’s get into it!

Handimonsters Annual is out!

The Handimonsters Annual 2022 is out now in PDF and for pre-order in print! Collecting a year’s worth of unique 5e monsters from www.handimonsters.com, this US Letter-sized, full colour softcover is on the webstore right now for pre-order, or in PDF at DrivethruRPG. It’s a gorgeous book.

The Triple Serpent

The next adventure release for BEOWULF Age of Heroes is the final one unlocked by our mighty Kickstarter backers. Written by the Uber-talented Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, The Triple Serpent takes our Hero to Ireland, where they must unravel the mystery of the serpent troubling a local hall and church.

This week we unveiled the cover, and Jon gave us the low-down on painting it in a blog post here.

Poster Prints

Thanks to the success of the Whale Road poster, we’ve decided to make prints a regular thing. We have 3 initial designs with which to tempt you in A3 size – the BEOWULF cover, and “The Valley Hall” by Jon Hodgson, and “The Abandoned Shipyard” by Paul Bourne from the forthcoming a|state. We have a mix of numbered open edition and limited edition prints. We’ll let you know when you can grab them!

a|state Coins and Compass

Recently on the blog, we took a look at the amazing a|state compass and coins made by our friends at Campaign Coins. These aren’t just beautiful accessories – they’re used in the games of a|state and The Three Coins. Learn more in the blog post.

While we finish up editing and layout of the a|state second edition PDF, late pledges remain open. But not for much longer! Grab a late pledge now!

Ralph’s art book

Last year Handiwork Games helped our friend Ralph Horsley make and kickstart his art book. We’re currently weathering the storms of global logistics in the time of Omicron, but books are on their way to our UK fulfilment partners right now. We’ll have a bunch of copies for sale in our webstore in the coming months. Keep your eyes peeled – it’s a very finely crafted book full of absolute delights for any fan of fantasy art!

BEOWULF Art Book

The BEOWULF art book is out! Pre-ordered copies are winging their way to customers, if they haven’t already arrived! We put this together as a thank you for our US backers, who’ve been incredibly patient with getting their books last, thanks to the global shipping excitement of last year. And of course it’d be a shame if we didn’t share it with everyone.

This cute little square book is packed with our favourite art from BEOWULF, along with analysis and behind the scenes commentary on each piece. Grab yours and get a free PDF version right now. Or just grab the PDF.

What’s this?

Something brand new just arrived at Handiwork HQ. Could it be something to do with the fabled companion game to the Forest Dragon Farmer? Could we be on the brink of uncovering the secrets of the Pie Man?

Links

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Here at a Handiwork Games we love an accessory, and we pride ourselves on creating very beautiful things that enhance your (and our) gaming life. We’re also careful to make sure they are all entirely optional, our fancy kit is all easily replaced by things you already own. 

Just before the festive period we were delighted to receive these samples of our a|state coins and compass ahead of the main production run. As ever our friends at Campaign Coins have outdone themselves with the sheer quality of these metal alloy tokens. 

Deigned by a|state co-creator Paul Bourne, the compass is styled as an in-world artefact. Denizens of The City might well have one of these in their pocket to help orient themselves amongst the canals and back alleys. It’s a truly attractive souvenir of the campaign, and a piece of The City, the setting of a|state.

Continue reading “a|state coins and compass”

As part of our Kickstarter for BEOWULF Age of Heroes our mighty backers unlocked a series of PDF adventures. The very last of these is The Triple Serpent by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, and we’re finishing up production of that adventure right now – it should be released this month!

Jon has been painting the cover to this adventure, and he takes up the story with this look at the process.

Continue reading “Painting The Triple Serpent”

Handiwork Games is proud to announce the release of the inaugural Handimonsters Annual in both print format (64 full colour pages with heavyweight full colour perfect-bound cover) and PDF. The book collects dozens of monsters that were originally developed as part of the Handimonsters Patreon (www.handimonsters.com).

Development and design of the monsters is led by the amazing Jacob Rodgers (Adventures in Middle-earth, BEOWULF Age of Heroes, Ruins of Symbaroum and many more), whose work for 5e games has earned many award nominations and several victories. He has been ably assisted by Jon Hodgson (Adventures in Middle-earth, BEOWULF Age of Heroes, The One Ring Roleplaying Game and many more) and other guest designers.

The tremendous art for Handimonsters is provided by the incredible Scott Purdy (BEOWULF Age of Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder and many more) and the stunning Jon Hodgson (Dungeons and Dragons, The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Warhammer Historical and many more). Layout is done by the prodigious Paul Bourne (a|state, BEOWULF Age of Heroes, The One Ring Roleplaying Game and many more).

The first Handimonsters Annual collects dozens of monsters with challenge ratings from 1/4 (the subterranean knackers) to 20 (the majestic Dragon of Dreams). Each monster is a unique and fresh creation and this is the first time they’ve ever been collected together in a single volume. They are available for purchase at the following links:

https://handiwork.games/product/handimonsters-annual-2022-free-pdf

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/383231/Handimonsters-Annual-2022?affiliate_id=267183

Character Queue is an ongoing series where we dive deep into our pregenerated characters that we made as part of our introduction to our BEOWULF:Age of Heroes roleplaying game. We were fortunate enough to fund sculpting and casting these characters, so not only do they appear in character sheet form but as professional miniatures as well.

Our character today is Ibn Uthman.

“We have travelled far across the sea, through the storm, having heard that your kingdom is beset by woes. My name is Ibn Uthman, a traveller in these lands. I would speak with your lord and find out more of your troubles” – Jon Hodgson (from the backer playthrough of the Serpent of Glennreddin)

Once a trader and writer, Ibn Uthman was exiled from the lands of his birth for using his prodigious ability with words most unwisely: a tangled financial dispute with a Northern King means that returning to Baghdad and his old life is no longer an option for Ibn Uthman. Resolved to explore the North, Ibn Uthman has found himself far from home.

Telling a tale or two seemed to please the people of these freezing Northlands, and they enjoy his melodious, strange-sounding voice, and his songs from afar. His ability to spin a story has grown with the miles he’s travelled. 

Uthman is faithful to the One God, though his version seems somewhat different to those of the Northerners.

Available as a single STL file or as part of the precast miniatures set.

Play as Ibn Uthman in The Hermit’s Sanctuary, our ENnie-nominated introductory scenario for BEOWULF: Age of Heroes, available for free (PDF version) or in print!

Hello! Jon here.
Just a very brief, slightly exhausted blog post to say a huge thank you for all your amazing support throughout 2021. We’re all slowing down and stopping work over the next couple of days. Jacob is finishing up BEOWULF backer dispatch right now. Scott’s been finishing up some client work, Paul’s been hard at work on a|state (late pledges close very soon!), and I’ve just made BEOWULF Digital Pack Seven live.
Grab that as a wee Christmas present to yourself. You deserve it.

Our webshop will remain open over the festive period, but orders will be processed weekly until the New Year. We’ll pop a notice on the store to this effect.

We’ll be back with a crowd funding campaign for a print collection of BEOWULF Adventures, we’ll have the Handimonsters Annual and the BEOWULF Annuals out, we’ll be delivering a|state in PDF and thereafter print (gosh what a book that will be!). We’ll be unleashing The Forest Dragon Farmer on the world, as well as a couple of things we’re not ready to talk about yet.

Thanks again for all your support, while it’s ben a very tough year for everyone, we feel very lucky to be able to do what we do, and blessed to have such a great community growing around us. We hope you have a very safe and restful festive season, however you’re choosing to celebrate. And here’s to a hopeful New Year.

Take Care!
Jon