Beyond the Core

I am the Warden!!

A thought occurred to me while brushing my teeth last night. What happens next with Killshot? Let me clarify, work still continues on the initial rule book, Kickstarter fund, playtesting, all that, but when all of that is done and ready, what's in store for assassins everywhere? Aside from writing more jobs (AKA published adventures).

Presumptuous though it may be, a good publisher needs to consider the future long before it ever happens and I'm not a fan of one-shot products with little to no support. So long as there are enough people warranting the work and money required to produce quality products, I want to keep popping out Killshot goodness. And I'd like to make sure those fans aren't waiting a year to get them. And I need to do so within the confines of being a one-man operation.

Publishing additional jobs of increasing complexity is all fine and good, but I'm a rules guy. I have more fun developing new material within the original concept - expansions - than adventures. So assuming Killshot does well enough to make a "sequel" possible and affordable, what should I work on?

Ready On The Set, People!

I am the Warden!!

Everything is as ready as can be to start filming Killshot: Proposal, the short film for Killshot's Kickstarter drive. Small revisions have been made due to the inevitable events marring any production, particularly the introduction requiring the exterior shots of a car falling on perhaps the coldest, stormiest day of the season thus far yielding nothing more than a whiteout shot of headlights pulling into a driveway and a booming wind canceling out all sound. Nevertheless, the key scene is all indoors and ready to start shooting once night falls.

While my anticipation eagerly wants to spill the beans on what Killshot: Proposal is all about, I'm going to leave all of you in the dark. Suffice it to say, at no point and time do I ever look into the camera and speak to the audience directly. It is truly a short film designed to compliment the Kickstarter drive and invoke a tone fitting with a game like Killshot. That's all I'll say.

Tomorrow will be an in-home playtest of Killshot with the Renfrew Road Crew (hmm, maybe I should tell them that's the name I've given them). A special playtest, I might add, as I'll be recording the game to post on the Broken Ruler website as a demonstration of the game for all those interested parties out there with a little extra cash in their pocket. To add a little infamy to it all, the Renfrew Road Crew consists of Fraser Ronald, designer extraordinaire from the Accidental Survivors podcast, and Kieron O'Gorman, artist extraordinaire. It's not a publicity stunt either, both of them are my two regulars for this monthly session (though I was really hoping Nick Dumais, player extraordinaire, would be here as well, but such as it is).

If everything goes according to plan - or doesn't stray too far as to screw everything up - the Killshot drive should be up and running on Monday. Those of you curiously interested in the project can find details on the Broken Ruler website, such as a 5-step guide to the Optional System and a working copy of the Killshot playtest draft.

Until then... I am the Director!!

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Smash On Your Dashboard

I am the... um, Warden!! Yeah, that's it.

My lawyer's gonna be pissed if he ever finds out about today's post. To that end, there will be many details I'm not going to get into nor will I enter the blame game on how it all got to this point. As this is my personal blog, what's written here is intended to be more than just Optional System updates, design theories, and other gaming related material. It's about the mental exercise of crafting sentences to form coherent thoughts, something I'd never would be an issue until at least 20 years from now.

2012 is supposed to be a big year for me, the Year of Bouncing Back. No more sitting on the sidelines watching the world go by, it's time to grab hold and hitch a ride again by taking a more active approach to my therapy and my career. The first couple of weeks were productive, yet bogged down by medical appointments and family visits (not that I'm complaining, they all serve a purpose, but made it impossible to set down a solid week of work). This week was to be my first "full week" of work in the retooled office I hope to call Broken Ruler HQ. Yesterday had something else in mind.

You Got Lawyers In My Creativity!: The End of Redpill?

See the guy on the left? That's SOPA.

I am the Warden!!

As I look to the left at the number of posts I've made this week and find a big, fat zero (my apologies to all the big, fat zeroes out there - I meant no offense), I wonder just how lazy I've been this week. Then it hits me I haven't been lazy at all, just busy, and that's alright. Still, posting to the blog is much like having lunch in the break room with the rest of the staff; everyone wonders how heavy your workload is or thinks you're just being rude.

Two matters have been on my plate during this short week, three if you consider a nice visit with my parents early this week. First has been putting together the Kickstarter proposal for Killshot and second has been reading as much information as I can on this SOPA crap and how it threatens Redpill.

Climb to the Summit

For the past 15 minutes, I've been staring at my monitor, mentally juggling how I plan to attend Game Summit next month. Will I go solely as an attendee covering the con for Roleplayer's Chronicle or will I step it up a notch and bring a little Killshot with me?

While I could cough up the $90 to attend  for the entire weekend, find a place to stay, all that, my original goal was to take advantage of the Game Designer's Lab (a new addition this year) and interview as many of them as I could. Research, my goal was research. Grafting myself to a table could jeopardize that.

There's also the matter of spending the next month rushing to get a table ready while I'm also working on getting Kickstarter funding started (application's sent, just waiting to hear back), get Broken Ruler's website up and going, and continuing to build up Killshot through various revisions and the like.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying the importance of cons in promoting work. Two years ago, I went during my Emerald Press days to promote/playtest EONS #1: The Endless Vault and it was a blast. The difference here is starting out too public with improperly tested rules can do more harm than good. Hence the massive spotlight something like Kickstarter can help out with - more playtesters!

So why can't I make up my mind? Because the kid in me loves the frosting.

Kickstarting Broken Ruler

I am the Warden!!

Over the holidays, I made two big decisions about my work. One, that I needed to start taking it seriously ASAP so I wouldn't go mad from all this waiting for medical crap. And two, to put Killshot's money with my mouth is and put it up on Kickstarter to try and raise some awareness and extra cash to do it up right. Nothing crazy, I'm merely thinking in the $500 range and see what goes from there. Anything I get will go towards paying for original artwork; while I have more than enough stock art, being able to populate it with something new and original to suit the type would be supreme.

That means having a website to go to. I've only been playing with it a little bit tonight, but thought there was enough to post a link here. What the hell is a blog for if not bragging about everything you're working on? Click here to check out the Broken Ruler Games blog and feel free to become a fan or just bookmark it. I'll be making all my Killshot updates on there, many of which will have significant impact on how the Optional System sees the light of day in the future.

The Future of RPGs: Learn to Embrace Innovation

WARNING: Today's post is in response to Ryan Dancey's comments on EN World regarding the past, present, and future of the RPG industry. If you hate reading posts by outsiders with no direct experience, then you are gonna detest this one.

I am the Warden and I wish you a Happy New Year!!

Timing aside, there are many reasons for those of us passionately trying to break into the industry to consider its future. And I don't mean our place in it, I'm talking about it's "survival." I put that word in quotes because I don't believe it'll ever truly go away, but there will be time to get into that later. For now, I want to talk about something few seem to consider in this business and any other, for that matter.

Innovation.

Every goddamn post I've read on the possible future of roleplaying games talks about numerous factors - marketing, distribution, audience, growth, age, technology, and more - yet none of them consider the possibility that the future of RPGs depends predominantly on the innovation of the games available. Seeing as the majority of these posts (or at least the ones I've read) focus on D&D, it does seem as if everyone warrants this entire industry's success on one company's results, even when those results are being questioned by the impact of another very close to home. The consensus seems to be if D&D and/or it's resulting d20 brand should fail, the entire market will collapse.