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Zenopus Archives: Holmes Basic website & blog - updates
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sauromatian
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:58 pm

The ridges around the eyes of the Sutherland dragon look to me like a person holding their thumbs & forefingers in circles around their eyes. Based on the position of the remaining fingers, it is someone leaning backwards, so that you see their head upside-down.

Zenopus
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Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:47 pm

Interesting observation, sauromatian...

* * * * *

A few days ago I put up another sheet, a "Rolling Up An Adventurer" reference sheet on character generation. Includes a bonus sheet with my take on "Swanson Abilities".

Read more & find the download link here:
ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: Holmes Ref: Rolling up an Adventurer

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Zenopus
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 6:54 pm

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is currently on sale at DMs Guild for $1.59 as part of their current "Play It Forward" promotion.
Many other items are also on sale (20% off) as part of the site-wide sale that lasts through this Saturday.

ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is on sale this week

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Zenopus
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 1:10 pm

I am pleased to announce that a dungeon map is now included with the Ruined Tower of Zenopus adventure on DMs Guild!

There are actually two map files: a DM's and a Player's version. These are png files optimized for use in Roll20, but are also printable. These should be available to everyone that has already purchased the adventure.

Read more here:

Zenopus Archives announcement of the new map

BTW, the included dungeon map will also serve just as well in Roll20 if you are running the adventure with any form of old school D&D.

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Zenopus
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:39 pm

A few links of interest for the Holmes aficionado:

Collector's note: The original publisher (Space & Time) of Holmes' 1986 D&D novel THE MAZE OF PERIL is now selling it via Amazon for $9.95 plus shipping. These are the remaining copies of the original printing.

ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: Original Printing of The Maze of Peril on Amazon

* * * * *

Holmes Basic and the Monster Manual are prominently featured and plot pivotal in the 2019 graphic novel SUNNY ROLLS THE DICE:

ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: Holmes Basic in Sunny Rolls the Dice

* * * * *

Last month, Chris Holmes, son of J. Eric Holmes was a guest on the SAVE FOR HALF Podcast, talking about NTRPG Con 2020:

Episode 26.5: North Texas RPG Con with Chris Holmes | Save for Half podcast

Chris was also on the APPENDIX N BOOK CLUB podcast back in April discussing Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core, a cross-over with the Pellucidar series that his father wrote a sequel (Mahars of Pellucidar) to back in the '70s.

ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: Chris Holmes on the Appendix N Book Club podcast

* * * * *

And today, the newly resurrected GROGNARDIA has an interview with Chris Holmes!

GROGNARDIA: Interview: Chris Holmes

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

brute
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Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:36 pm

Book ordered! Thanks Z!

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

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Location: Portown

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:09 pm

I recently discovered a forgotten recording of J. Eric Holmes giving a science lecture at Worldcon in 1978! It's almost an hour-and-a-half long.

Read more here and find the link to download and listen to it like a podcast:

Frontiers in Brain Research: Audio of Holmes' Neurology Lecture at Worldcon in 1978

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Zenopus
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Posts: 1702
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:24 pm

I recently released an updated version of the pdf of The Ruined Tower of Zenopus adventure (5e Conversion) on DMs Guild.

There are two main additions:
1. A full-page illustration by Chris Holmes, son of J. Eric Holmes...!
2. A printer-friendly dungeon map.

All previous purchasers should be able to go back & download the updated pdf. As a reminder, a separate Roll20-optimized dungeon map file was previously added to the product.

Click here to read more & See a preview of the new pages

Click here to go directly to the product page on DMs Guild

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:29 pm

Is it available on DrivethruRPG?

This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

Zenopus
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 1:37 am

Just DMs Guild. One has to use that site if using their IP/settings. The 5e conversions of old TSR modules are all there. I also expanded the material and provided notes on integrating it with Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

If you have a Drivethru account you can use it to log into DMs Guild as well.

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

JasonZavoda
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 2:37 am

"You get more with a kind word and an excruciator than with just a kind word."

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:30 pm

Zenopus wrote in Zenopus Archives: Holmes Basic website & blog - updates:If you have a Drivethru account you can use it to log into DMs Guild as well.

Thanks. I didn't know that. Picked up your module and added it to my reading list.

This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1702
Joined: Sep 03, 2003
Last Visit: Apr 29, 2024
Location: Portown

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:35 pm

Thanks, mbassoc!

* * * * *

Just noticed that DMs Guild is having a Cyber Monday sale, and The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is included, so it is currently only $1.59. Sale is on for about 16.5 hours more.

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMs Guild

DriveThruRPG is also included in the sale, so lots of the classic TSR D&D products are also on sale in PDF and/or POD.

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Zenopus
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:27 am

Two updates:

(1) The Ruined Tower of Zenopus recently achieved Platinum best seller on DMs Guild. Read more here.

(2) The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave, the Holmes/OD&D adventure being serialized on the blog, has returned after a hiatus with a new area description!

Click here to see Area #7: Dry Storage

It features the following art by Lore Suto of an unholy symbol of Dagon:

Find previous installments by following the links on the map in the post - you can walk around the entire dungeon that way.

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Last edited by Zenopus on Sat May 15, 2021 1:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

sauromatian
Sage Collector

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Location: Far Harad, Texas

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:43 pm

Zenopus wrote in Zenopus Archives: Holmes Basic website & blog - updates:It features the following art by Lore Suto of an unholy symbol of Dagon:

[ Image ]

Have you ever seen pictures of when some small animal swallows an animal that's too big for it & the prey that's being swallowed struggles so much that it partially bursts out of the predator's body? If this happened to a person swallowed by a large fish, & the person survived & were washed up on shore, would such person become sacred to followers of Dagon? I need to know so I can play it correctly for my church's RPG group.

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

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Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:13 pm

sauromatian:

:lol:

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Last edited by Zenopus on Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1702
Joined: Sep 03, 2003
Last Visit: Apr 29, 2024
Location: Portown

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:14 pm

*bump*

It's Holmes Day 2021!

On the blog, a "new" photo of Holmes, plus my "Holmesian Highlights" of the past year:

ZENOPUS ARCHIVES: Holmes Day 2021

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Last edited by Zenopus on Mon May 17, 2021 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1702
Joined: Sep 03, 2003
Last Visit: Apr 29, 2024
Location: Portown

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:21 pm

The next installment of The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave dungeon has been posted!

South of the Grotto lies a water-filled cavern, lit by an eerie glow from under the water...

Area #8 - Reef Cavern

Zenopus Archives website & blog: Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic D&D. Holmes Ref: Reference Sheets for Holmes Basic Referees, also compatible with OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement

Last edited by Zenopus on Mon May 17, 2021 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

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