The Forbidden Blurb

Since I last posted about it, work has continued on the Forbidden Isle of the Nightstalker. Progress has been less than swift in recent weeks because of other larger projects (Road of the Dead and the Dread Thingonomicon) that both required my attention.

In any event, one of my tasks this week was to write the adventure's blurb. That might not see like a big job, but it is. The blurb is critical for exciting potential buyers and for setting the scene.

I've crafted two version of the blurb:

1. Think of the one-liner blurb as the adventure's elevator pitch. In one sentence it sets the scene and tone for the adventure.
2. The full adventure blurb follows the three-paragraph structure I favour for blurbs. This longer version will appear on the adventure's product page, back cover and so on.

The Adventure One-Liner

A mad priest’s blasphemous pursuit of the greater good lures the characters to a hidden prison-tomb dug into a lonely island amid the ebon waters of a cursed lake.

The Adventure Blurb

The backwater village of Thornhill is a dismal, dreary place. Its folk—superstitious, backward peasants—have little to do with the outside world. Sometimes, though, the outside world intrudes on Thornhill and its folk.

A century ago, a vampire came to Thornhill. Crusading adventurers destroyed the beast, but not without great cost. Before its destruction, the night-stalker infected several villagers with its terrible curse. The survivors could not bring themselves to slay their fellows. Instead, they imprisoned the vampire’s spawn in a hidden tomb to await a cure that never came.

Now, a mad priest’s blasphemous pursuit of the greater good lures the characters to a hidden prison-tomb dug into a lonely island amid the ebon waters of a cursed lake.

What Do You Think?

What do you think? Do those blurbs excite you beyond all measure or do they leave you cold? I'd love to know!