Bolthaven Folio #2 Is Available

On DriveThru and Itch.

Yes, I actually finished and released another zine! I wanted to get one published per quarter, and I squeaked this one out at the tail end of September. But I did it, art and everything.

Bolthaven Folio #2: Bard Bands (available at DriveThru and Itch) provides guidelines to let your bard characters collaborate and allow anyone with Performance training to help make their magic more powerful. If you really want to go crazy, you can run an all-bard campaign where your PCs can compose and rehearse Singles and play for a minute or more to make some epic musical magic.

All this magic happens in the same 4-page digest format of other Bolthaven Folio titles, so don't expect a fully-developed treatise on the nature of bardic magic or anything. It lays out a system and leaves plenty of interpretation room, especially with multiple bards blending and joining spells through writing Singles. If you want to power up your bard characters, give this one a read.

The Bolthaven Folio Series

As the number suggests, I've already released Bolthaven Folio #1: Forge & Fate (at DriveThru and Itch) back in June, which covers random components on the MacGuffin Tables and a system to randomize the effects of crafted items, both magical or technological. If you want to keep up with the whole series, keep an eye on the Bolthaven Folio Page, which shows everything that's been released and impending future publications as I figure out the next title. I'll try to release a new zine in the series every quarter, but life's volatility might interfere. Next one should be before the end of 2025, so stay tuned.

Bolthaven Folios has two issues now, so it's officially a series. Take that, self-doubt.

Art from Bard Bands: "Spotlight Awaits".

A Note On Art

Yes, it's janky AF. It looks like the work of an ambitious 10-year-old, which is roughly when I decided I wouldn't even try to draw any more in a fit of frustration because I couldn't make what I saw in my head appear on the paper in front of me. Yes, it's line art done freehand on printer paper that I scan in and barely clean up. It's not AI, as you can plainly see. I have to keep climbing the mountain of self-sabotaging negativity to even start drawing, and I speed through the process so I can end more quickly. But I'm improving slowly, and it's getting easier. I don't despise what I've created any more, and I'm finding glimmers of goodness in what I make. It's a journey.

Just don't expect polished drawings any time soon, and you won't be disappointed.

Sales of a couple of zines won't replace my missing day job income, though there might be some good news in the next few weeks on that front, but it'll give me a tiny bit of mad money and keep me out of trouble in the meantime. Hey, I'm having fun, and I'm learning about layout, publishing, art, and marketing. That can't be a bad thing.

Thanks for reading, downloading, and spending your time here. If you feel moved to rate, review, or comment, I welcome your feedback.

Until next time, y'all.