Maladomini PDF Release

Hey there. It’s been a minute.

Over the holidays I managed to finish up Maladomini, which had been languishing since August. I had planned to do a second, smaller adventure (similar to the Gristle Moor in Minauros) that fleshed out one of the small factories on Baalzebul’s plane. But, seeing as how my time is limited now and the muse wasn’t talking, I opted to pare back a bit, polish up what I’d done, and add some table support for exploring Malagard instead. This means Maladomini is about 6 pages lighter than the other Hells published to date.

Still, I think this installment offers a bunch of good, highly useable stuff. My favorite bits are the new insect-inspired devils, Baalzebul’s garden (which is a fully detailed adventure for character levels 11+) and the play notes for the Sanctum of Glefing.

Other cool stuff (IMHO) is the Phlegethon River, Adventure hooks for Druaga, Maglubiyet, Belial, Tiamat, Baftis, Moloch and more. These notes and hooks, I think, really help connect Maladomini to previously published layers (Avernus, Stygia) while also pointing to forthcoming material in Dis, Caina, Phegethos, etc.

Completing Maladomini is, for me personally, a huge, huge milestone. I’m not going to get into why, but suffice to say this project was interrupted by horrible real world challenges, many of which still persist. Getting Maladomini out the door is a relief, because I think the material in it is really good and I didn’t want to see it lost to time. Getting Maladomini published in digital form also means that I’m technically over the hump.

There’s already an inDesign doc for Nessus. So being at or over the half-way mark is mentally beneficial, both in terms of personal satisfaction, relief and additionally in terms of visualizing the remaining work ahead. I can almost imagine finishing all nine Hells, which I’ve had doubts about from the very beginning.

I’ve been told I shouldn’t air such concerns, but it’s part of my process. My track record has been good so far, but life throws us all curve balls. I’m not new to ambitious projects, but every ambitious project is still ambitious. Ambitious is synonymous with precarious. We cannot know the future.

Therefore, I will continue as I can until I can’t.

That’s the only promise I can make.

With regards to Maladomini, my initial upload of the materials included a referencing error, wherein page number references were still in “XX” format. This is typically the very last thing I do before publication (search and replace all instances of XX with correct page numbers).

Needless to say, I got a little ahead of myself on this one. I noticed the error almost immediately, fixed the missing numbers, and re-uploaded the .zip to Gumroad. But if you were too speedy, you might have gotten the version where the numbers are omitted. It is my assumption that if that’s the case, you should be able to re-download the .zip file and your problem will be solved. Most people, however, should not be affected.

Lastly, of course, is the question about physical copies. I’m not back to business as usual with regards to independent publishing endeavors. My time is still extremely constrained by duties not previously on my plate and only the holiday break made things temporarily “better” in this area. I still don’t have a clear path to better quality prints of the Hells, but it is something I’d love to tackle in 2025. Then again, who knows? Maybe there’s a future where all nine live in one massive physical book? That might also be a terrible idea. I’m kicking thoughts around and will let you know when and if those thoughts become actions.

Here we are, at the end of an admittedly brief post. Happy New Year! I hope each of you has a good one. I’m so grateful to all of you for supporting me. The Discord always cheers me up. When Zoranu, Korro Zal, and others share play reports it’s just pure fun to read. I did not anticipate people would engage so much with the setting I’ve offered. Stuff like that means a lot.

As always, if you love the material, write a review and share links. I’m niche of a niche. Every word helps. Thanks again for picking up the supplements. It has a noticeable impact at a challenging time. Thank you. Really. Thank you.

Peace, and happy gaming.

to be continued…