I would be posting the full text for my adventure "Playground of the Damned" today, but instead my blog is blacked out.
I am a content creator and occasional writer of fan material. My blog would most likely be destroyed by PIPA/SOPA, so I am urging people to speak to their congressfolk to stop these horribly damaging bills before they get a chance to become horribly damaging laws. That is all for today.
A role-playing and writing blog.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
End of the Kickstarter
Well, the Kickstarter for Black Bottom Hollow ended unsuccessfully. Thanks to everyone who contributed or shared information about the project. This isn't a failure--just a setback. Anyone who didn't get a chance to read the prologue is welcome to do so. It's still online:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-5OPhhQeRkhZjYwMjFkMjktZTI5Ny00NjFmLWI5NWUtMTQyNWMyNTg5YzNl
Here's to the future!
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-5OPhhQeRkhZjYwMjFkMjktZTI5Ny00NjFmLWI5NWUtMTQyNWMyNTg5YzNl
Here's to the future!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Edition War II
Meant to post about this yesterday, but was so worried about beginning-of-school stuff that I didn't get a chance.
D&D 5th Edition has been announced, and right on time from my predictions a few years back. When I was playtesting D&D 4th Edition a few years ago (no, really! look in your book! I'm in it!), my group told the designers that there were significant holes in the system, that the fluff and flavor didn't feel like D&D anymore, that it did too much to throw away the legacy of the game, and that once they started adding new mechanical options it was going to be tough to continue balancing the game--and tougher to make those options distinct. Now, we're getting word from the new design team that all of those concerns, which were basically ignored at the time, were all pretty much right on the money and are driving concerns behind the creation of the 5th Edition game. Oh, and of course that they're kind of getting murdered in market share by Pathfinder.
Monte Cook and Mike Mearls are both working on it, so it's bound to be awesome. The game might well turn out to be the best version of D&D ever. The problem is that it will also probably have all of the same problems with the economic end of things that 4th Edition has: Wizards going for a quick buck instead of the long haul. Making money now instead of building the fanbase and enjoying their loyalty is very much the Wizards of the Coast way of dealing with the game, and the biggest part of their profit motive is based around short-term hobby gamers instead of lifestyle gamers.
Paizo, on the other hand, has taken their magazine subscription model and turned it into a very strong way of doing business as a gaming company. While Wizards is talking about an "open playtest"--which was one of the big draws of Pathfinder--that alone won't nearly be enough. They're going to alienate their 4th Edition fanbase without necessarily regaining the trust of the people they abandoned when they moved away from 3.X Edition. Their quick-money, quick-turnover way of doing business doesn't win them any points for customer loyalty, and Paizo has very much cornered the market in "customer loyalty" right now, so I wonder how Edition War II is going to pan out.
Meanwhile, Savage Worlds continues to chug along merrily, wondering why everyone over in Otherplacia is fighting amongst themselves. ;-)
D&D 5th Edition has been announced, and right on time from my predictions a few years back. When I was playtesting D&D 4th Edition a few years ago (no, really! look in your book! I'm in it!), my group told the designers that there were significant holes in the system, that the fluff and flavor didn't feel like D&D anymore, that it did too much to throw away the legacy of the game, and that once they started adding new mechanical options it was going to be tough to continue balancing the game--and tougher to make those options distinct. Now, we're getting word from the new design team that all of those concerns, which were basically ignored at the time, were all pretty much right on the money and are driving concerns behind the creation of the 5th Edition game. Oh, and of course that they're kind of getting murdered in market share by Pathfinder.
Monte Cook and Mike Mearls are both working on it, so it's bound to be awesome. The game might well turn out to be the best version of D&D ever. The problem is that it will also probably have all of the same problems with the economic end of things that 4th Edition has: Wizards going for a quick buck instead of the long haul. Making money now instead of building the fanbase and enjoying their loyalty is very much the Wizards of the Coast way of dealing with the game, and the biggest part of their profit motive is based around short-term hobby gamers instead of lifestyle gamers.
Paizo, on the other hand, has taken their magazine subscription model and turned it into a very strong way of doing business as a gaming company. While Wizards is talking about an "open playtest"--which was one of the big draws of Pathfinder--that alone won't nearly be enough. They're going to alienate their 4th Edition fanbase without necessarily regaining the trust of the people they abandoned when they moved away from 3.X Edition. Their quick-money, quick-turnover way of doing business doesn't win them any points for customer loyalty, and Paizo has very much cornered the market in "customer loyalty" right now, so I wonder how Edition War II is going to pan out.
Meanwhile, Savage Worlds continues to chug along merrily, wondering why everyone over in Otherplacia is fighting amongst themselves. ;-)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Mistborn
Now that the holidays are over, I'm back!
Recently, I picked up the Mistborn RPG from Crafty Games. I'm frankly floored. It's simply amazing. I'm a huge fan of the Mistborn novels, and getting to meet Brandon Sanderson earlier this year was a real treat for me, but the game is really good on its own merits. A big chunk of the book is dedicated to the setting and to the setting's very unique magic system, but the core system is solid in and of itself. The game basically sets difficulties from 1 to 5, the player rolls a pool of 2 to 10 six-sided dice, and matches sets of at least the target number succeed. Rolling 6's doesn't count toward success; instead 6's are "nudges," which you can spend to get better results from a success or reduce the penalties of a failure. The system is pretty narrative-driven, which I've been getting more into lately, so that's a plus.
"Does that mean this blog will stop being primarily about Savage Worlds?" you ask. No! Still, Mistborn has won enough of my love that I'm seriously thinking about using a hack of it for the steampunk game I'm planning right now instead of SW, which makes it the first game I've considered using over SW in a couple of years. I'll give some more info once I get to playtest it a little.
More coming soon! Happy New Year!
Recently, I picked up the Mistborn RPG from Crafty Games. I'm frankly floored. It's simply amazing. I'm a huge fan of the Mistborn novels, and getting to meet Brandon Sanderson earlier this year was a real treat for me, but the game is really good on its own merits. A big chunk of the book is dedicated to the setting and to the setting's very unique magic system, but the core system is solid in and of itself. The game basically sets difficulties from 1 to 5, the player rolls a pool of 2 to 10 six-sided dice, and matches sets of at least the target number succeed. Rolling 6's doesn't count toward success; instead 6's are "nudges," which you can spend to get better results from a success or reduce the penalties of a failure. The system is pretty narrative-driven, which I've been getting more into lately, so that's a plus.
"Does that mean this blog will stop being primarily about Savage Worlds?" you ask. No! Still, Mistborn has won enough of my love that I'm seriously thinking about using a hack of it for the steampunk game I'm planning right now instead of SW, which makes it the first game I've considered using over SW in a couple of years. I'll give some more info once I get to playtest it a little.
More coming soon! Happy New Year!
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