roleplaying games

Labyrinth of Souls Cover!

31 May 2016 Matthew Lowes

I’m very excited to reveal the rulebook cover for Dungeon Solitaire: Labyrinth of Souls! The beautiful artwork and design are by the game’s exclusive illustrator, Josephe Vandel. I’ve been so busy with the production process that I haven’t had much time to post updates here, but as we get closer to the end of this epic journey, I am more excited than ever to share this game with all our backers and then with the rest of the world.

I just ordered print proofs of both the standard and monochrome card decks. I’m super excited, but it will be a week or so before I get them. In the meantime, I’m putting in final corrections to the rulebook interior and will be ordering print proofs of that as well. If all goes well, we will be shipping to our backers on time toward the end of June. Expect a public release sometime in July.

The Tombs of the Whispering Worms

14 May 2016 Matthew Lowes2 Comments

Mark L. Chance has written an excellent adventure featuring one of my hand drawn maps. “The Tombs of the Whispering Worms” is a descent into madness for Swords & Wizardry or other old school fantasy games. The adventure was recently featured on TSRs blogsite Multiverse, and is available as a free pdf download.

Here’s an image of page 1 (linked to the pdf) and a high resolution unnumbered image of the original map. Hope you enjoy the whispering worms!

Dungeon Solitaire: Tomb of Four Kings, Revised Edition Released!

6 January 201626 October 2017 Matthew Lowes3 Comments

The new Dungeon Solitaire game, Labyrinth of Souls is funded and in production. And as another step to bringing the new game into the world, I am releasing an updated, revised edition of the original Dungeon Solitaire: Tomb of Four Kings! It’s available here as a free download.

There are no changes to the rules, but I clarified a couple rules, corrected typos, improved phrasing, and added suit symbols. Additionally, this new Tomb of Four Kings includes the winning game walkthrough, improved images, and a mention of Labyrinth of Souls in the back.

I will not be deleting the old pdfs, at least not immediately, since other websites may link to them directly. However, if you have links to the Tomb of Four Kings rules, please update those links to the newly revised rules. Or better yet, just link to this post, or to matthewlowes.com/games.

I hope you enjoy the new rules packet. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions about the rules. Send me your high score, especially if you get a perfect game (4/100). As far as I know, nobody has done it yet. It may be highly improbable, but it should be possible.

Free PDF Download

Dungeon Solitaire: Tomb of Four Kings

Revised Edition

Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter: Funded!

24 December 201527 October 2017 Matthew Lowes2 Comments

Absolutely amazing! The Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter has been a monumental success, with a total of 638 backers from all over the world and $23,363 in funding. And what an incredible result. Every stretch goal was fulfilled, adding a ton of additional content to the game and some extras as well. I am already looking forward to all the creative work to put everything together, and to shipping out rewards.

Thanks so much to all our backers, and to everyone who helped spread the word about Dungeon Solitaire. They really made this project possible. They made this funding campaign a huge success, and made the Labyrinth of Souls a reality!

I’ll be taking a short break for the holiday, and then will be diving into the process of putting the rulebook and card deck together. I have a draft of the core rules written, and Josephe has created a handful of cards already, but there is still a lot of work to do. All backers will get a fulfillment survey in the new year, and I’ll be sending out Kickstarter updates every few weeks to keep backers apprised of the process right up until rewards are shipped out.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the Labyrinth of Souls. You can reach me through Kickstarter, through the Contact Page on this website, or through social media.

Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter: 3 Days Left

21 December 2015 Matthew Lowes

There are only three days left in the Dungeon Solitaire: Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter! We have cleared nine stretch goals thanks to 350 backers and over $13,000 in funding so far. The latest stretch goal cleared adds an additional fully illustrated card to the custom tarot deck: The Lich! I’m super excited for this card, for the artwork Josephe creates for it, and for developing the rules that will go along with it. The Lich will be a boss monster, on part with The Dragon, with a special role in the Undead Hordes alternate rules for the game.

We’ve had an absolutely incredible campaign thank to all our wonderful backers, and with three days to go, there is still another stretch goal to reach for. At $14,000 we will add a digital Designer’s Notebook, in which I’ll share all my thoughts about the origins and development of Dungeon Solitaire, and about every aspect of the Labyrinth of Souls game.

With all these stretch goals cleared, all our current backers and everyone who pledges now will be getting a lot. Numerous additional game modes and alternate rules have been added to the rulebook, including a major rules expansion with Campaign Mode. A digital Labyrinth of Souls artbook will be included with all reward levels $15 and up. And all reward levels $5 and up will also receive a free pdf copy of Giant, a giant robot skirmish game that works great as print and play.

Many thanks to all our backers for making this project possible and for making this campaign such a great success! In these final days, you can help us reach that $14,000 stretch goal by spreading the word about Dungeon Solitaire and the Labyrinth of Souls! Share a link on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, or the social media of your choice. All your help is greatly appreciated!

Check out the Campaign Here!

Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter: Day 19

13 December 201527 October 2017 Matthew Lowes

So much has happened I don’t know where to begin. The Dungeon Solitiare, Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter has continued to clear stretch goals and gain backers at an impressive rate. We’ve released new card art for The Moon, and a number of concept sketches for upcoming cards. On Thursday we were chosen as a Kickstarter staff pick and have seen an increase of traffic as a result. We cleared the last of our initial stretch goals at $7500 early Friday and have gained considerable ground since.

Many thanks to everyone who has backed this project already and all who have helped spread the word. Clearing these stretch goals means all my highest hopes for what I wanted to include in the rulebook will now become a reality. It’s been really wonderful to see this level of support and backing. Josephe and I are both looking forward to delivering an exceptional game and gaming experience in the Labyrinth of Souls.

Everyone backing now for at least $5 is going to get not only the core Labyrinth of Souls basic, expert, and advanced game, but also a multitude of alternate and expanded rules added on by our stretch goals, including Campaign Mode! They’re also going to get a free pdf copy of Giant, my giant robot skirmish game that works great for print and play. And everyone who backs at the $15 level and up is going to get at least one custom illustrated Labyrinth of Souls tarot deck.

But there are still 11 day left in the campaign. We think we can get a lot more people in the Labyrinth, and we want to offer another reward to our existing backers. So with this in mind, we’ve added a $10,000 stretch goal: All rewards levels $15 and up will receive a digital art book by Josephe Vandel featuring the Labyrinth of Souls artwork in large format and in all its detailed glory.

Check out the Kickstarter here!

Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter: Week One

3 December 20153 December 2015 Matthew Lowes

In its first week the Dungeon Solitaire, Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter blew by its base funding goal, and then proceeded to clear two stretch goals. And we just cleared another one! We have released a newly completed image for the Knight of Swords, and made four updates to the Kickstarter. It’s been a whirlwind of activity, and I can’t stress enough how wonderful it has been to see the support and enthusiasm for this game.

Josephe Vandel will be creating all the exclusive art that will go into the cards and the rulebook, and he has been putting an incredible amount of care and detail into each piece he produces. We will be releasing more card art as the campaign progress and as new pieces are completed.

Already we’ve added Two Player mode and Megadungeon mode to the rulebook table of contents. And we just added the Dragon’s Lair, a fast playing version of the game that guarantees a dragon battle every time. The next stretch goal is the Undead Hordes, and there’s more … until we hit Campaign Mode, a major rules expansion, allowing campaigns over multiple dungeon delves.

A huge thanks to everyone who has backed this project already, and to everyone who has helped spread the word about the Kickstarter! Josephe and I are super excited by what we’ve been able to achieve so far, and we couldn’t have done it without you. There are still 21 days left in the campaign, and we are looking forward to clearing more stretch goals, and adding even more great content to the game.

Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter is Live

25 November 201525 November 2015 Matthew Lowes1 Comment

The Dungeon Solitaire, Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter

Last summer I wrote and released a little game called Dungeon Solitaire. The original game was called Tomb of Four Kings, and it used a standard deck of playing cards. Over the summer it gained some popularity. It got good reviews, some attention on social media, and I even got some fan mail. All this has been really awesome! And that game is still gaining steam as a free download on this website.

From the beginning though, I had the idea of expanding the game to use a 78 card tarot deck. When I had the opportunity to pair these new rules with an exclusively illustrated dungeon-themed tarot deck, the Labyrinth of Souls was born. This Kickstarter will support the creation of this new expanded Dungeon Solitaire game, with a rulebook and custom deck of cards designed and illustrated by artist, illustrator, and cartographer Josephe Vandel.

Check it out. There are great pledge rewards and stretch goals for backers, and there’s even a video of me talking about the game. I hope you’ll pledge your support, and help spread the word on social media, with your friends and family, and with any fans of gaming or tarot.

Russian Language Map Symbols

18 November 201527 October 2017 Matthew Lowes1 Comment

Many thanks to Andrey Makarov for creating a Russian language version of my reference sheets for dungeon and terrain map symbols. He went beyond a mere translation, enhancing the backgrounds, smoothing out the line work, adding color to the terrain symbols, and making a few small modifications of his own. The results are pretty awesome, and I’m excited to have this work reaching out to Russian speaking map makers and game players. Below you will find images of both and links the printable pdf files.

You can visit Andrey Makarov’s website at pnprpg.ru, and you can find my original English language reference sheets here (dungeons) and here (terrain).

Dungeons / Print Ready PDF

Terrain / Print Ready PDF

Terrain Map Symbols

27 August 201527 August 2015 Matthew Lowes2 Comments

“A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.”

— Jorge Luis Borges, The Aleph and Other Stories

pdf version – click here

I draw maps for working out the details of my fiction, for games, and for the sheer pleasure of creating imaginary places. A while back I posted a legend for my dungeon maps, and since then I’ve been working on this simplified set of terrain symbols for area and wilderness maps.

Maps excite the imagination. That’s why so many fantasy novels contains maps of their fictional worlds. The map itself is a link, translating the reality of a world into the imagination of the reader.

Above you will find my own key to my simplified symbol set. Below are few of my own recent maps, using this symbol set and a few variations. I’ve been working on a grid based layout, but these symbols will work equally well on a hex based map. Many more of my maps are posted on Google+.