Eternity Publishing, established in 2005 is the company name used by me, Craig Cochrane, to sell my Roleplaying Game based books and pdfs. The name was a part tongue-in-cheek, part self-deprecating stab at my own procrastination in getting content released.
Eternity Publishing Artists: I am happy to have worked with both Joe Slucher; the fantastic cover artist on the full Vampire Bestiary (and future books if I have my way)…
…as well as the brilliant Peter Szmer, who does all the interior art in the Vampire Bestiary as well as the covers for the individual pdfs.
The goal of Eternity Publishing is primarily to cater for Epic and Immortal Level Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) gamers. However, I decided to start at the lower levels, building up from the heroic tier and working upwards. At the moment, our focus is on 4th Edition D&D (with subsequent conversions to 3E/Pathfinder). The plan, such as it currently stands:
- Vampire Bestiary: Mountain of the Cannibal God – ON SALE HERE NOW! See Previews HERE.
- Vampire Bestiary: Temple of Death – See Preview HERE.
- Vampire Bestiary: Castle Dracula – See Preview HERE.
- Against the Reptile God: The Serpent Riders – Some Thoughts on this project HERE.
Eternity Publishing 
Peter Szmer
January 12, 2011
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to enquire whether you would be interested in my artwork. I enclose a link with samples from my portfolio for your consideration
http://www.peterszmer.com/
I am eager to introduce my artwork because of my great interest and passion for drawing fantasy and horror images, creating graphic novels and designing book covers.I believe that my works show that I am capable of applying original thoughts to any given problem and prove that I am not dependant on mimicking styles.
As far as my education is concerned, I successfully completed five years of art education in Collage of Fine Arts. I feel that this education has played a significant role as I have studied there thoroughly Life and Architectural Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, History of Art, Silk Inking and Lettering.
I have also been doing some regular commissioned work for different clients, like Dark Hart Press, The Usherwood Adventures, From The Tomb, Avatar Art, Headless Hydra Games and Alluria Publishing which are all in the magazine and book publishing.Further more I also had some of my work published in From The Tomb magazine alongside a complementary article from the editor.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Szmer
Upper_Krust
January 14, 2011
Hi there Peter,
Can you send me an email: agooddesigner@hotmail.com
Or alternatively give me your email address here and I’ll send you an reply (I notice you have a contact option on your forum but I already wrote out an email and I am guessing copy and paste is going to mess up my formatting on that.)
Yours sincerely,
Craig Cochrane
Eternity Publishing
adamboustead
January 18, 2011
Hy mate glad you have found a good artist. Whish it was me but I can’t drore good enough for you. Please could you tell me ho wis creating the 3.5 aditions. Please let me know when you have published the vampire would like to se it even if I hope there will be a 3.5 adtion from it. Please could you tell me if ther will be any coel demons devels dragons and shape shifters my faverets comeing up soon and could you perhaps give me a sneek peack into what they will be.
Upper_Krust
January 19, 2011
Hi Adam mate,
Yes I am glad to be bringing Peter onboard.
Your own art would definately be something special Adam. 😉
The 3.5 conversions are being handled by a few people on the forums. But we can work out the details after I get the darn Vampire Bestiary completed.
I will email you when the book is finished.
There are certainly a number of shape-shifters amongst the various vampire entries…including Dracula himself. There will be demon-possessed Vampires called the Strigoi in the second Vampire Bestiary. I will have a big section on Devils within a forthcoming book, but better not let me get ahead of myself. Lets get the Vampire Bestiary on sale and then worry about things like conversions and later books.
paragon
February 4, 2011
Hey UK, I was a IH handbook presale purchaser back in the day, way way back in the day.
and I lost contact after a while during the update process.
I was just curious as the ascension IH I have is V 3.1 if there was another update after this or if this is the most current form of the book as it were.
thanks for any info
Upper_Krust
February 5, 2011
Hi there paragon,
Ascension v3.1 was the latest release, yes. It has all the completed text and about a quarter to one third of the art I had planned. I apologise for not getting the rest of the art completed. Its something I have been thinking about and then having a print release of Ascension, but I cannot say when that will happen at this point.
S'mon
June 12, 2011
I’m disappointed that there is still apparently no 4e product available. Why not take several shortish sections from the stuff you’re working on and sell them as $5 pdfs on rpgnow? They can always be revised later for the finished product.
Upper_Krust
June 12, 2011
Hi Simon,
Yes its been a bit of a nightmare (on my part). That said I am almost finished (whatever that means) and I was about to send you (in about a week) the first 80 pages completed (with full art) just to get your general impression.
The art is almost complete, I think after this week only 4 more illustrations needed.
The two main problems with my writing are:
1) My annoying habit of constantly expanding the book I am working on because I have too many ideas. I basically turned a 48 page book into three 128 page volumes. Its crazy, but I just can’t help myself. I need to cut that out.
2) The second problem I have noticed is that if I get stuck on something, I’ll move on to another section, leaving the other part 80-90% complete. That creates these ‘minefields’ in the book where I’m either stumped or just not happy with something.
If I can’t see the finish line within a week or two I’ll divide it up into smaller pdfs. I mean the Cannibal section and Cultist sections are more or less completed. A 16 page Cannibal pdf (maybe $2.50?) and a 32 page Cultist/Thuggee Cult pdf (maybe $5?) could precede the (what would still be an 80 page) Vampire Bestiary.
So like I said, I’ll be able to show you the work in about a weeks time, then you can give me your opinion.
S'mon
June 12, 2011
OK, send me the work whatever condition it’s in in a week, and I’ll give you feedback! 🙂 But anyway as a general point, I think it’s a good idea to sell a variety of pdfs of various sizes; 256-page books are fine for print publishing and allow economies of scale compared to 32-page pamphets, but you can be a lot more flexible in pdf. 32 pages of high quality new 4e D&D content with art seems good value for $5 on pdf, printed 32 pp from most publishers runs in the $10-$15 range from what I’ve seen.
Upper_Krust
June 13, 2011
Hi Simon,
I appreciate the help.
The pricing scale I work to is typically:
15 cents per page for pages 1-50 (So 50 pages would be $7.50)
10 cents per page for pages 51-100 (So 100 pages would be $12.50)
5 cents per page for pages 101-150 (So 150 pages would be $15.00)
I also don’t factor in pages such as Contents, Credits and so forth into the pricing.
I think that seems pretty fair, especially when you consider I use a smaller font than most other companies so you get more text per page.
Plus I have also had to commission the art this time and thats got to be taken into consideration.
Looking over the work, with the Cannibals + Wendigo section I think that will be about 24 pages, while the Cultists + Wights will be around 40 pages. The Vampire Bestiary itself would have 60-70 unique pages but I might fold the Wendigo in there.
So probably…
– Cannibals pdf = $3.50
– Cultists pdf = $6.00
– Vampire Bestiary pdf (assuming 76 pages) = $9.95
MikePIC
November 10, 2012
I realize this question is probably answered elsewhere, but I recently stumbled upon your Immortal’s Handbook : Ascension and Epic Bestiary Vol. 1, there seems to be references to more product in this line but I can’t seem to locate any information on it. If it’s not too much of a burden could you please inform me of why?
Upper_Krust
November 10, 2012
Hi Mike,
I jumped from 3.5E to 4th Edition. Fell out of love with 3rd Edition.
I had plans for things like the Immortals Index (lots of pantheons detailed), Immortals Handbook: Grimoire (really epic magic) and more Epic Bestiary volumes for 3.5 but I just really started to dislike the system. Then 4th Edition came out and solved a lot of the problems I had with 3.5E.
Ironically I think most of the people who liked my work prefer 3.5/Pathfinder to 4th Edition, but if you are not having fun designing for a system and your hearts not in it then you just have to let it go.
That said I don’t like to dismiss those fans completely, so my idea was to work in 4th Edition and then have some help converting over to Pathfinder. The first Vampire Bestiary is in the process of being converted.
loungwhra
February 29, 2016
Eagerly awaiting the new Immortals Books…any update on those?
Upper_Krust
March 1, 2016
Howdy Ioungwhra, nothing in the immediate pipeline unfortunately. I have taken a (hopefully) temporary break from writing to work on some videogame proposals. I should have them wrapped up before the end of March. The outcome of those will determine how quickly I resume my writing.
So I will return to writing, but if I have anything specific ready for release I will definitely make some new posts here to talk about it.
Marco
July 12, 2017
Hi Craig Cochrane,
I’m interested for:
– Immortals Handbook
Gods & Monsters;
– Immortals Handbook
Grimoire;
– Immortals Handbook
Epic Bestiary: Vol. II;
– Immortals Handbook
Chronicle;
– Immortals Handbook
Epic Bestiary: Vol. III.
Your first two book are wonderful.
Please tell me the price to buy them.
Thanks a lot
Marco
Upper_Krust
July 12, 2017
Hi Marco, thanks for the kind words. Glad you liked my two books. Sadly I never got around to releasing any more finished material for 3rd Edition. I did release a partially completed Gods & Monsters for free onto the internet you can download it here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?298468-The-Immortal-s-Handbook-Gods-amp-Monsters-(unfinished)
I basically fell out of love with 3rd Edition, it was just too needlessly complex at epic level despite all my attempts to condense elements to make it playable.
Marco
July 13, 2017
Hi Craig,
thank you very much. I will taste it calmly but from what I see it sounds spectacular.
I think that the complexity is inevitable for a rpg played at cosmic level with a gaming system that allows you to appreciate the differences between a common man and an elder one or even more powerful entity.
There are games that allow you to play divinities, however, only with the 3rd / 3.5th edition you can perceive the actual difference of power along with the tiring but fulfilling character’s growth, as well as the incredible variety of powers that a being of cosmic power can possess.
Certainly not a game for everyone but is a unique experience.
I also think that more ideas could be used as magical technological / sci-fiction weapons, super powers and super-psychic powers in an overall view of the omniverse.
Ancient civilizations also constituted by non-dead or even more biased creatures could have reached a technological and / or magical development so powerful to challenge even the oldest gods.
Hope you will reconsider. In that case I am available to help you and of course to buy your books.
Thanks again for everything.
Marco
Upper_Krust
July 14, 2017
Hello again Marco,
Designing for epic 3/3.5 is incredibly taxing and while I was initially very driven; the sheer amount of maths (the tedious stuff) vastly exceeded any amount of design (the fun stuff) I was doing and that started grinding down my resolve.
But I am very proud of the work and I am glad people like yourself really enjoy and appreciate it.
I agree many of the powers could be used in different genre’s – although the higher up in power you go the more all the genre’s converge (fantasy, sci-fi, superhero etc.).
I appreciate your offers of assistance and enthusiasm. IF I do start making 3rd Edition books again (and its unlikely) then I’ll be sure and announce it on this website. 😉
I can’t begin to tell you how humbling it is to have people (10+ years after the books were released) say how much they loved the Immortals Handbooks. Thanks so much.
Yours sincerely,
Craig Cochrane
(aka Upper_Krust)
Fred
August 20, 2018
Hey there Upper Krust,
I am a huge fan of D&D 4e (D&D 5e just didn’t do it for me and I’m no newbie I started playing THE game in 1977).
I am also a huge fan of your Vampire Bestiary (one of my favorite monster book)
I know there was plans to release Volume 2 and 3 and I’ve read somewhere these books were almost finished.
Since it’s been 7 years, I guess Volume 2 and 3 won’t see the light of day, which is good for vampires, but not for 4efans like me 😦
Would it possible to have access to the work you’ve already done (in web, pdf or any form you fancy)?
Cause your treatment of 4e monsters is unique and I want more
Thanks
Fred
Upper_Krust
August 20, 2018
Hey Fred,
I played a little 5E recently. While I prefer 4E my observations are 5E is friendlier to new players whereas 4E is more rewarding to those into tactics and character building.
Glad you like the Vampire Bestiary – thanks very much for your comments and for buying the pdf. Much appreciated.
Volume 2 is virtually finished (other than the adventure bit and some editing) and has been for some years. Volume 3 is about half finished.
Basically two things happened:
1. Sales for the Vampire Bestiary (after D&D split into 3E, Pathfinder, 4E and at the time 5E was just announced) meant initial sales were basically at the break even point. That really sapped my enthusiasm.
2. I was struggling with the adventure portion of the book and I wanted to add a short adventure to the Vampire Bestiary 1. For whatever reason I just couldn’t get it ‘over the line’.
The few years following the Vampire Bestiary release I was working on some video game proposals and was SO close to landing my dream job as a video game designer you wouldn’t believe it – I was basically told in an interview I had the job, but then events (at that company) conspired that very week to mess that up.
The last 18 months I have been working on a comic book with a great artist from the Philippines. The plan is to have that finished for early next year and do a Kickstarter or Indiegogo for it.
I might consider doing some sort of Crowdfunding for a printed version of the Vampire Bestiary Volume 2 (and maybe 3 as well). If I thought I could get maybe 50 backers that would be enough to make back the costs of commissioning the art.
Fred
August 20, 2018
4e got a bad rap when it came out, bad timing, too different, killed too many sacred cow, videogamey, the year of Gygax death, etc.
But I have a feeling, the early detractors (like I was, big time) are just starting to see how well it was designed, how easy it is to customize. I would not be surprised to eventually see a 4e OSR movement…
For myself, DMing since I was 9, I just love those 4e monsters (post mm3 of course).
I have never been part of a kickstarter but if you did one for the Vampire Bestiary, I would gladly join.
Good luck!
Fred
Upper_Krust
August 21, 2018
Hey Fred,
I think the biggest problem with 4E is that its unnecessarily rules bloated with its list of powers (hence I Revised the 4E Fighter and Wizard class on this website).
I also think the official 4E adventures were very badly thought out – I reviewed a few here myself.
But I think the strengths of 4E outweigh the weaknesses and its a great system for expert players. Its the Advanced D&D to 5E’s ‘basic’.
I’ll start a thread on ENWorld tomorrow about a possible Crowdfund for the Vampire Bestiary. If I can get a few people interested I’ll definitely do it. I have a few cool idea including an Appendix of new monsters people can suggest (such as 4E updates of my Epic bestiary monsters)..
Maxon Adams
July 24, 2020
Im inquiring to speak with Craig Cochrane about his work with the Immortals handbook.
Upper_Krust
July 24, 2020
Hi there Maxon,
how can I help you?
William
December 29, 2020
Allo again…
Small questions regarding Orichalcum…
You have Orichalcum listed as having 15 virtual size categories, yet pure Orichalcum weapons only have 7 virtual size categories. Is this an error?
Shouldn’t an Orichalcum dagger gain 13 virtual size categories by being made of Orichalcum (15 VSCs) vs. Steel (2 VSCs)?
Also…the weight increase. I’m assuming it’s based on the +232 you gain to strength or being made of Orichalcum in the case of Orichalcum body?
If this is the case…then shouldn’t a dagger made of steel and Orichalcum that has 7 VSCs be made of 46.7% (rounding up to the nearest singular decimal) Orichalcum and 53.3% steel? …and thus weigh (very) roughly 600,000 lb. if assuming x7.87 for iron and x10,000,000 for Orichalcum?
If not, then why do pure Orichalcum weapons only gain 7 VSCs, while pure Orichalcum creatures gain 15 VSCs?
I currently use 15 VSCs for both creatures and weapons as it somehow makes more sense. The only problem is I’m unsure if the minimum strength should be increased to match (which I’m currently doing), or if it should be halved as you have it in the charts.
Upper_Krust
December 29, 2020
Hi William,
There must be a reason for this (because my Neutronium material table works the same) but I cannot remember what that reason was.
https://www.immortalshandbook.com/freestuff15.htm
Its probably something tied to Density/Strength.
William
December 30, 2020
Could it be that you were maybe thinking that objects made of said materials would be only roughly half as effective if wielded/worn by fleshy creatures?
Admittedly, an Orichalcum dagger would have far less follow through if used by a fleshy arm instead of an Orichalcum arm. …or it could be a typo followed by a copypasting of the same typo on the subsequent charts?
I might implement a VSC alteration to the charts if the VSCs, rather than purity, are what’s in error. Kinda like the following: 3 VSCs, 5 VSCs, 7 VSCs, etc. up to 15 VSCs at pure Orichalcum. Then modify the damage/armor multipliers to match.
Upper_Krust
December 30, 2020
Hi William,
your guess is as good as mine at this point.
Changing the damage/armour multipliers would make them: x2, x4, x8, x16, x32, x64, x128 (the last for 100% Orichalcum).
William
December 31, 2020
Noted and thank you for your input and time.
Upper_Krust
December 31, 2020
Hi William,
if I can remember why I will email you. Have a Happy New Year amigo.
William
January 24, 2022
Hey there, Krusty. 🙂
Is cosmic appropriate for this, or should it be transcendental? I can see it being either, or possibly even just divine if your realm were small enough. I’m using it for a deity who uses his realm in a manner similar to Ra’s Solar Barge.
Relocatable Realm (Ex)
Your Godly Realm is highly mobile.
Prerequisites:Wis 70, Godly Realm.
Benefit:You can freely relocate your realm
as an Immediate nonaction at will.
This functions as if your realm is a Genius
Loci (E.L.H.) of your size and has all your
mobility options (inc. (Ex)/(Sp)/(Su) (inc.
sprouting appendages as necessary)
).
Special:Your Godly Realm does Not expand while mobile. It only expands while stationary.
Upper_Krust
January 24, 2022
Hey William,
cool idea.
I think it depends upon the definition of relocate. Personally I think “Mobile Realm” as in one that can move would be Cosmic, but one where you can just relocate it as in teleport/plane shift would be transcendental.
Let me think about it (slightly pressed for time right this moment) – may even be Divine/Cosmic.
William
January 24, 2022
I made a typo.
Relocatable Realm (Ex)
Your Godly Realm is highly mobile.
Prerequisites:Wis 70, Godly Realm.
Benefit:You can freely relocate your realm
as an Immediate nonaction at will.
This functions as if your realm is a Genius
Loci (E.L.H.) of its size and has all your
mobility options (inc. (Ex)/(Sp)/(Su) (inc.
sprouting appendages as necessary)
).
Special:Your Godly Realm does Not expand while mobile. It only expands while stationary.
Essentially it moves by sprouting limbs, burrowing, flying, etc., if your character personally can move that way. I figured cosmic since your realm is a part of you, or vice versa, but far more massive.
Transcendental I can maybe see for things like planeshift, teleport, superluminal, etc. …but again it’s literally a part of the deity, so it might seem obscene, but cosmics also include things like Doppelganger, and this is like a very limited use of Doppelganger in reverse.
Your realm is mimicking you basically.
The trade off is that your realm doesn’t expand at all while it’s moving around because its connection to the fabric of the universe is being messed.
Anyway, it’s easy to see why this one is difficult to place in terms of its power.
It also kinda reminds me of The Crawling City that The General of Gehenna rides around in.
Busy? Work or projects? Fun stuff I hope. Everyone needs a bit of fun now and then. 🙂
Upper_Krust
January 25, 2022
Certainly there is precedent. Yeenoghu’s City, Ra’s Solar Barge (which may be bigger on the inside – much like the TARDIS), the Crawling City of the General of Gehenna.
Given those beings are of Demi-Greater power I would say its only a Divine Power to have a mobile realm.
Busy with work-work last night. Although today I did get sent the 56th illustration by the artist for my upcoming book today. Its actually my spin on a very familiar epic monster. Getting tons of the art wrapped up this past week, although that always slows down the writing so I need to find a good balance with that (It takes me 2-3 hours sorting out the layout for the artist to get exactly what I want)
Still a lot of work to do on that though – I’ll reveal more about the details when I am confident a release is imminent.
William
January 27, 2022
I’ll make it divine for basic Genius Loci type mobility (sprouting legs, flying, etc.), and cosmic for planeshifting/teleporting.
I’m definitely looking forward to reading your new material and seeing the latest artworks. Fascinating stuff.
Upper_Krust
January 27, 2022
Hey William,
I think Divine/Cosmic sounds about right.
I think people will really enjoy the new material. I’ll have some previews when I am very confident of the release date. But still a lot of work to do before then, but it will be worth it.