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August 30, 2006
Collective Experiences and a RunePunk Retrospective
Hello All.
I feel like the guy in that new movie coming out - Rush, is it? - where if I stop I die. I'm so busy working on so many things that the seasons have been rushing past my windows and I look up when I see the sun rise or set or I hear a splashing of that wetness I vaguely recall as rain.
When I get a chance, I want to sit down, chill out, and write about the whole business of getting my first RPG to market and the joys and pitfalls of dealing with artists, layout guys, contracts, IPs (intellectual properties), fanboys, haters, supporters, editors, freelancers, consultants, and even the writing process. Upon reflection, I understand better the running joke in the Industry.
Best way to make a million dollars in RPGs? Start with two. *ba-dump-bump* Thank you. I'll be here all night.
On the positive side, I meet some amazingly cool, creative people and get the opportunity to engage in some really brilliant conversations from time to time. Our industry does tend to have a lot of those and I have to say I've had the opportunity to talk with a number of people greener than me as well as talk on panels and never consider my time wasted. (Well, there was this one time, with this one guy, but I doubt he'd even remember it...) ;)
And, I'm offering no negatives. RunePunk is nearly in the can. I feel the fatigue and the weirdness and the stickiness on my fingers as part of me doesn't want to let go of my first born project. Although Iron Dynasty and Agents of Oblivion matured more rapidly, it is RunePunk that gets the credit for my development. I cut my teeth on RunePunk and never envisioned it growing to the depth and resonance it had when I began it. One of my thoughts is, I can crank out a city setting in no time, but it became oh, so much more than that. Along the way, I learned superior writing discipline and focus and a clarity to my writing that had always been there, but had grown a bit rusty from the lack of use (or misuse.)
I'm glad to have the opportunity to share RunePunk with the community at large in the near future and very much look forward to its continued growth and success. So, if you're reading here, you can rest assured that I'm gearing up for some nifty support material for RunePunk. Even as we expand our product lines, I shall not forget the idea that started all this madness.
Best Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 08:47 PM
August 21, 2006
GenCon Retrospective and Game Lust
Hello All.
I've got to say that this is my second GenCon in a row and as much as I enjoyed myself last year, this one was even better. I started to make a list of industry luminaries I got to rub elbows with, but thought better of it. That's not my style. How about some cool people I know that it was neat cutting up with and sharing a bit of conversation? Heh. You're not going to get that either. All I'll say is I got to go to my first Industry Party and leave it at that. I just opted out of name dropping. I typed a few names and then deleted them. It looked altogether too prententious on my monitor just now...so moving on.
The True20 Bundles were extremely popular. Those were where you could get all three of the T20 books available: True20 Adventure Roleplaying, True20 Bestiary, and the Worlds of Adventure featuring Agents of Oblivion. The games I ran for T20 were split between people wanting to check out the system and those here for the setting. All save one session was full, so I consider it a success. Everyone loved the system, my gamemastering style, and thought AoO was pretty cool. I explained to them that the Sanity system is something of my own creation and they'd be best served buying WoA if for no other reason than that and all my modern weapon conversions.
RunePunk, on the other hand, delights me with its buzz. All the games were sold and oversold. One session had fourteen people show up, eight of which with actual tickets to a 6 person game. I accomodated all eight of them and sat there for a moment, caught my breath, and said, "Okay, this might be daunting if it were not for Savage Worlds. This system can handle it."
I've got to say that everyone came to RunePunk specifically for the setting. A bulk of the players were absolutely new to Savage Worlds and I got one nice email that read as follows:
Hi Sean,
My two friends and I participated in the Runepunk Demo on Saturday morning (10am). I just wanted to say how much we enjoyed your demo and game mastering style. It was one of the highlights of the games we played over the three days we attended.
My friend Ian took pictures, and I'll get him to send those to you.
We went out and purchased the Savage Worlds core rulebook right after the session. If you ever need a group to playtest Runepunk (you're probably past that stage already), let us know. Otherwise, we'll be looking for it in the late fall/early winter as a welcomed break from our d20 sessions. I have a few players who are simply looking to do something different and SW Runepunk will be right up their alley!
Thank you again,
Kelly Davis
(Overwrought player)
That's what it's all about. Makes the trips and the demos worthwhile.
I made some new friends and networked the nights away and had a blast doing so. During the days, I ran lots of games and had a blast doing those too!
Thanks to all of you I came into contact with for receiving me so nicely and making the trip so delightful. It's good to be back home, however, writing, designing, and otherwise toiling away. If I don't see you before then, I greatly look forward to crossing paths with you at GenCon 2007!
I will definitely get up my cool list of games I came into contact with/and or purchased within the next couple of weeks if at all possible. It'll go back to those encountered at Origins. So many games, so many times. Nods to a few go out now, however.
Artesia: The production quality rocks. The art rocks. The few pages I've managed to squeeze in to read rock. Good job, Mark!
Deleria: This game by Phil Brucato is just plain cool. We shared a panel at Origins and his game sounded neat. I admit I initially thought it was a larp, which I don't do, but it's a unified game system that can handle LARPing, RPGing, and some other -ing, if memory serves partially correctly. It's cool urban fantasy. I've only got to flip through it, but don't let the cover throw you off. This seems to be very much in the vein of Gaiman and the passages I read flowed like Lord Dunsany himself had ghostwritten them.
Dread: Ready for a cool concept for a horror rpg? Using Jenga, that's right, as a task resolution game mechanic. It won the most innovative game at the ENnies and after talking with one of the designers, I snagged it. I have only recently unpacked it, however.
The Edge of Midnight: I came into contact with this thanks to Studio2. It's got a nifty new resolution mechanic that I like and the warlocks and gaunts seem neat, but I've skimmed through about fifteen pages, read maybe half that, but what I like I've seen, and will revisit this one definitely after RunePunk wends its way to the printer.
No more. I've got to get back to working on my own stuff, but check these products out if you're looking for a bit of cool.
Game on!
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 07:06 PM
August 07, 2006
Crickets Chirping and Best Intentions
Outside of my window, I hear the crickets of summer. I don't usually hear them. I can't recall hearing them all summer, maybe they're just complaining that summer's at an end and negotiating for a few more weeks.
After all, who couldn't use a few more weeks of summer? Or at least a few more weeks in which to hit some deadlines? Honestly, this summer has rushed by and I've been super busy with all the work and dealing with everything else life's thrown at me.
I know I'll be looking back at this year and go, wow, RunePunk and Agents of Oblivion got going in earnest in 2006. (At least, that's the plan.)
As of now, I'm hoping to at least get some more eyelid time tonight and examine everything with fresh eyes in the morning. On totally non-game related news, my long time friend, Kean Anthony, is going to be having a kid sometime around March. He got around to telling me last week. (He's been trying to reach me, I've just been out of pocket a lot.) I went to a class reunion which ended up having no real impact on me one or the other except to remind me of some of the foolish things I did in my youth and to see a few good old friends, such as Eric Houston and Kirk Davis. Explaining what I'm doing now seemed to delight everyone and they felt that I had found my proper place.
That it hit before GenCon, however, really cramped the weekend and I'm trying to maintain the "things happen when they happen" mentality, despite wanting to rush them sometimes.
And I wonder why my work sometimes leans to the darker, grimmer side of things despite my best intentions?
Take care!
Regards,
Sean
P.S. Again, thank you all for your support and consideration, it really keeps me motivated! :D
Posted by razorwise at 07:57 PM
August 01, 2006
GenCon is Next Week???
What the---
for some reason, I thought I had another week or so...I've been so head down working and writing I'm out of touch with about everything around me. I'm even dreaming of editing and doing layout work. When I get to the computer, however, I'm every bit as excited about RunePunk as I was from the beginning, even more so, and I'll be glad to have it out there...
That being said, the next project cranking up in earnest is Agents of Oblivion and I've been orchestrating particulars on that and doing the business side of things in the background. I've got demos to run next week and I'm sure I'll have a good time at GenCon, but I have so much work to do here, I wonder how I'll get it all done in the time frame I'm shooting for.
Oh well, wish me luck!
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 10:19 PM