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Updates:
1. The print files for the dead-tree versions are at OBS/DTRPG waiting to be approved. I think they are pretty good. The black-and-white grayscale is not quite as eye-popping as the color version, but I guess that is always the way that goes. Price points are as I posted earlier: $29.98 for the B&W hardcover and $49.98 for the color. Except, and this is a big exception, the color is softcover at the moment. I have an email in on this, but the color hardcover version seems to not be an option over there. I'll keep working on this and let you know what comes up.
2. Sales continue to be good. It's really gratifying, as I'm sure you can imagine! Now, it's time to start considering the first supplements. No time frame promises! But let me know what you'd like to see. Right now I'm thinking I'll release the con modules as pdfs for a few bucks each, and then a larger supplement with a little bit of everything: monsters, combat styles, spells, setting info. In my head I'm calling that the Book of Wonder but that might change. Maybe the Alchemy-Punk Almanac... hm.
3. I'm going to put up some basic info on the mini-living world con campaign under the "Game" menu at the top of the page. That's for tomorrow night, I think. Looking forward to Mepacon next weekend. Anyone going? Should be a lot of fun! So far there's a grand total of zero people signed up for the SK games, but I'm not too worried because that's the case for most of the RPGs there. We should get enough players, and I'll try to do a post-con write-up a week from tomorrow.
4. Anyone want to try some play-by-post 1-on-1 combats? I'm a little leery because things like Inspirations, multiple areas, movements, simultaneous initiative, etc. would be lost. But I'm thinking it might be so much fun that leeriness goes out the window. :) Probably we'd say one area, one Inspiration, 5/3/3 Body/Mood/Armor, some stuff like that.
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Glad to hear that sales are doing well! I just finished reading the pdf and can't wait to test some things out. I personally would love to see some of the adventures and anything you have in the works for the first supplement. Especially some more World info. But really what more can you ask for if your going to include monsters, combat styles, spells, and setting info =)
All that said, I would be interested in testing out some play by post combats. If there is room for a noobie that is.
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1) Also glad sales are good. Best of luck and prosperity to you and your new family.
2) What I would like to see? Well you asked so I will offer up a wish/ideas list. Of course several of these could be pulled together into a single offering, theyre just ideas...
* A start or at least low level adventure written up and presented on this website. This was one thing missing from the book IMHO. It would be nice to see how the author puts together an adventure particularly the approach to preparing for scene order play.
* Some pdf modules on DTRPG, each with some follow on hooks to get best value from them.
* A greater detail world book, going into more depth in one or more areas. With some additional local fauna
* A simple PDF of the variant fighting styles such as the crossbow one to make it easier for players.
* I think there is scope for a book dedicated to magic, more styles, more spells for each style, wild surge affects, crisis surge tables and ideas for adventures.
* There is certainly room for a compendium covering advanced rules and extra support in each section. You could mine SBK 1 for some of those things that were left out in SBK 2.
* A set of generic combat maps, a Zeppelin, castle walls, room with a balcony, sewers, roof tops, mountain track etc. ready to pull out and use.
3) I would be up to try a PBP fight. Could be fun but I am off to USA end of the week so I will have to wait for return.
4) I would be happy to offer my services with your next project if there is anything i can help with.
Chris
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Not been a frequent poster here, but since I found the game I have very much liked what I have seen and encouraged other people to check it out. To add my thoughts on Frank's list of points:
1. Very pleased to hear sales are good. I think DTRPG have a POD outlet on my side of the pond so I will be picking up a copy of the rules when they are available. I don't know if you are aware of Bits and Mortar, but if you haven't already considered a print + pdf bundle option then it might generate a bit of custom - no use to me as I'll have bought the pdf, then the rulebook!
2. I played in (and contributed to) a long running living campaign. I won't name it; if you know about these things you'll be able to guess which one I mean. Suffice to say it had a great storyline, and a fair bit of high quality product support. But frankly it was hopelessly badly run. There was a sizeable fanbase at one point, a number of whom contributed and offered to help with the campaign running. The creators (perfectly reasonably from the point of IP) turned down most offers, and through a series of bad decisions (IMO) turned off a large part of their fanbase. They released their adventures for free which I think was a mistake - Paizo have a price point for PFS mods; my suggestion might be to release a couple free as 'tasters', then start selling them at a few bucks a pop as you suggest. All helps generate a bit more revenue.
And there seem to be a few people on here already who have proved willing to contribute excellent ideas; tap into them. If you have an overarching plot arc you don't want to reveal, keep it to yourself but if there is a potential team of people who will help contribute material, help out with ideas as a sounding board, and act as ambassadors for the game, grab onto them!
I don't want to teach you to suck eggs as you have plenty of experience in the industry, but think of the implications if the living side takes off. Nothing will annoy people more than burning through the adventures and waiting for new content. Communicate with the fanbase (another failure of the other campaign), if there is to be an overarching plot, do something like an annual campaign summary so new players (and people who miss out or can't make it to cons) have somewhere to pick up from. If you want to concentrate on sourcebooks to grow the brand, let other people help out with adventure writing.
3. Good luck with the cons. The idea of having start-up material on the site is good and may help recruitment.
4. I'm up for trying some combats; in fact I was going to ask if anyone who feels confident enough of the rules would consider running a full on pbp - any takers?
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No shortage of things to do, it seems! :) That's awesome as I love doing this. I'm sure some other people will jump in with ideas, too, but here's what I'm thinking at the moment.
On supplements: Sounds like an adventure - especially a beginning one with a sample set-up for scene-order play - are a popular idea. I've actually never written up a scene-order play mod for publication. The con stuff I have for this Friday and Saturday is in a version that's not exactly publishable, although my plan was to get it that way eventually. Maybe I'll move that up from the back burner.
On the living campaign: Yes! Email me if you want to be on the Grand Campaign Council (I just made that up now... I'm sure we can think of something better). I have ideas but frankly I'd love to share the work. Keep in mind, as I'm sure you all know, that this is a mini-living campaign. We're not talking LC/LG/LFR numbers here. When I say sales are good, I mean that in addition to paying for the website, and the cartography and artwork for the main book and now pre-funding a supplement, there's a little bit left over for a few toys for my daughter, dinner at Applebee's, etc. I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon. :)
So the fan-base isn't LC/LG/LFR size... yet. And I'm well aware that my available time is a limiting factor in the game's growth. So yes, please email me about the mini-living campaign. I don't want to bite off more than we can chew, but let's see what we can come up with.
POD: Apparently color hardcover is running into issues over at DTRPG. We'll see what happens. Also, I'm working with them to see what discount might still be possible for people who already have the pdf.
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I think mini-supplements would be a good way to go. Very cheap ones, perhaps with little to no art... and then when all is said and done, a print edition that combines all of the content with the originally included art plus maybe a few more pieces.
As for the content itself... I'd like to see some Styles, Talents, Species and maybe even Classes; all of which aren't tied specifically to the SK-setting. Perhaps a modification of existing items to branch out into other settings?
/*~Matthew Miller~*\
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This is my dream list
1)I'd like more info on magic with few new spells. I don't want the endless list of spells like D&D. I want magic with flavour e not fireball n234. I'd like a magic school based on arts like song magic or paintings or magic based on mirrors
2)More variant of the combat school like Free shield. For example Court sword is a good start to make Historical fencing school.
i want few new schools.
3) more info on the setting. I'd like to see Npc with good story. i'd like to have the same format of legend of five rings 1ed with roleplaying tips like the description and help to roleplay
4)An adventure but very sandbox.
5)few new monsters and talents.
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POD news?
IC
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POD news is GRR. The one thing that DTRPG hasn't been able to be very helpful on. The printing company has rejected my files (both cover and text) because of formatting errors. I'm trying to figure out how to get them right. At the moment, it appears the only way is to go back through and re-set all 300 pages. It's just cut-and-paste type stuff, but still. Not fun. I am working on it, though.
Happier update #1: Next weekend I'm going to be at ARCON in Oswego, New York. Stop by if you're around! I'd say join one of the SK games, but - happily! - they're all full. Well, last I looked one of the games has one player slot open, but it's probably gone by now too. So, it should be an awesome weekend of SK coming up!
Happier update #2: I'm pushing hard to get The Dragon Scroll in publishable form very soon. So that will probably be the first supplement. It's my "go-to" intro SK adventure (I've run it at cons before). I'll probably also include a few new items in it and maybe some new sample spells. Basically, I'm following the idea of mini-supplements. There won't be much original art, and the page count will be just what it needs to be and not a page more. But the quality will be high, and the price point low.
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The Dragon Scroll sounds great. It would be great to have an intro adventure to get people into the game.
Also, anymore thought on the 1v1 play by post combats? I am still trying to learn the game and some more example combats to read (or participate in!) would be great. Didn't know if it was something you wanted to organize or you were just encouraging us to throw down on the forums.
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A couple of quick updates!
First, WarLokk - I still think that the forum tournament idea could be a ton of fun. I haven't had the time to organize it, but I'm not sure it needs organizing either. :) Feel free to throw down! After this weekend, I will definitely participate and maybe help organize.
Second, this weekend - Can't wait! We should have some great games at ARCON right here in Oswego, NY. All the SK games are sold out, but come on by anyway. There will probably be some no-shows, pick-up games, who knows - lots of fun on tap.
Third, POD success! Finally. My color, softcover (hardcover is unavailable in color through DTRPG right now) book should be arriving for me to proof any day. As soon as it looks ok to me, it'll go on sale. The cheaper but hardcover B&W version still hasn't been approved by the printer. I need to cut-and-paste about 250 more pages, I think, and then that one will be ready to go too.
Fourth, Dragon Scroll - I hoped to have it PDF sale-ready by this weekend, but alas, it's not. Soon, though, soon!
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Got to try out the game at ARCON's first slot and despite not having a clue about the game or world, and it being a very low crunch game (I'm a RoleMaster, HackMaster guy) it was a lot of fun and I'm planning on picking up a copy in the next month or so (Dead tree only for me).
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Glad you liked it! I had a ton of fun too. I must say I've run that adventure a few times, but no one has ever done it quite like that. Awesome stuff (and not just the "almost" romantic encounter on the roof, though that was a shocker!).
Just so everyone else knows, malachdrim's roleplay was inspired. He had the whole table applauding. After the social encounter whooping he put on the Headmaster, I'm not sure I'll be able to play Headmaster Sheldrake the same way again. :)
As soon as the dead tree version gets to me so that I can make sure it's not, like, printed on newspaper quality newsprint or something, I will be making it available. Finally, thanks for understanding about me being a little late! (My daughter is already feeling much better, thank goodness.)
Ok, one more note. I just checked Gen Con. Apparently all the Spellbound Kingdoms games (I'm running four) are already sold out - almost. There are three slots left for Saturday's game. Should be some good sessions out in Indy.
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What is the ETA on the softcover availability?
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I was holding off on purchasing SK, till I saw what sort of support it would have in the future. Sadly, the reviews and threads on RPGnet pulled me in. So far in my light skimthru, I am very impressed. YcoreRixle wrote:Updates:
1. The print files for the dead-tree versions are at OBS/DTRPG waiting to be approved. I think they are pretty good. The black-and-white grayscale is not quite as eye-popping as the color version, but I guess that is always the way that goes. Price points are as I posted earlier: $29.98 for the B&W hardcover and $49.98 for the color. Except, and this is a big exception, the color is softcover at the moment. I have an email in on this, but the color hardcover version seems to not be an option over there. I'll keep working on this and let you know what comes up. I love big, beautiful, eye-catching RPG books and would pay 49.98 in a heartbeat for such. YcoreRixle wrote:2. Sales continue to be good. It's really gratifying, as I'm sure you can imagine! Now, it's time to start considering the first supplements. No time frame promises! But let me know what you'd like to see. Right now I'm thinking I'll release the con modules as pdfs for a few bucks each, and then a larger supplement with a little bit of everything: monsters, combat styles, spells, setting info. In my head I'm calling that the Book of Wonder but that might change. Maybe the Alchemy-Punk Almanac... hm. I actually came here to post about the availability of the adventures you run at cons. I would pick these up in a heartbeat. Being somewhat new to the hobby, any advice on running things would be considered priceless. A GM book would be great or even a small PDF (GM primer?). Maybe filled with a "101 Adventure seeds" or "Novels and films that inspired SK. YcoreRixle wrote:3. I'm going to put up some basic info on the mini-living world con campaign under the "Game" menu at the top of the page. That's for tomorrow night, I think. Looking forward to Mepacon next weekend. Anyone going? Should be a lot of fun! So far there's a grand total of zero people signed up for the SK games, but I'm not too worried because that's the case for most of the RPGs there. We should get enough players, and I'll try to do a post-con write-up a week from tomorrow. I would love to be able to sit in on one someday. I look forward to devouring anything posted. YcoreRixle wrote:4. Anyone want to try some play-by-post 1-on-1 combats? I'm a little leery because things like Inspirations, multiple areas, movements, simultaneous initiative, etc. would be lost. But I'm thinking it might be so much fun that leeriness goes out the window. :) Probably we'd say one area, one Inspiration, 5/3/3 Body/Mood/Armor, some stuff like that. I would be interested in seeing/joining or perhaps initiating something like this once I am more familiar with the rules. I hope that SK will translate well on a virtual table top (such as www.fantasygrounds.com/ or http://rptools.net/) since that is the only method by which I can do any sort of gaming anymore. I hate living in a small community.
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