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.

New Year's Resolutions

I am the Warden!!

Seeing as it's Christmas Eve Eve (yeah, that's right!) and 'tis the season for being with friends and family, I'm going with the assumption this will be the last post of 2011. Odds are I'll be right back online Monday, but let's play it safe, shall we?

2011 was the first full year of development for the Optional System and it's been an amazing experience thus far. But I've rambled on about this before. What I'd like to do now is write down some New Year's resolutions for the Optional System in 2012 in a non-binding yet highly encouraging format.

Publish Killshot: An Assassin's Journal
While my initial plan was to produce Redpill as the initial OS production, the Warden needs money. Plus, this mini-game has really started to take off and just screams for release. Some of the additions/alterations made to produce a smaller, faster version of the Optional System has lead to some dramatic changes to the core rules and I can't wait to click my DriveThruRPG bookmark and find Killshot's cover on the home page.

An Unexpected Bonus

I am the Warden!!

Finding the right playtesters can be a grueling exercise. Some send you excited emails eagerly awaiting the opportunity to test out your game and are never heard from again. Others seem to take the role seriously for the first little while until you start asking for follow-ups and read replies with nothing more than "Meh, it's OK." The remaining 10% take on this responsibility as requested and provide you with detailed accounts of their playtest and recommendations on what they found strong and lacking.

And then there are the few, the proud, the truly dedicated. The ones who treat playtesting like becoming godparents. I'm so proud to say Killshot has a table full of those playtesters.

I received an email last night from Brandon Neff and his wife, Cherie, who happens to run an acrylic printing business in Utah. They have taken the liberty of doing more than just reading, reviewing, and playing Killshot. A lot more.

They're putting together a 12" long Killshot logo. What you see here is the first step and from what I've been told, the completed version has been assembled with all the gory blood splatter and is on it's way to Canada. This is fucking awesome and will become a proud addition to my office - the space has already been set aside. Infinite thanks to Cherie and Brandon for this incredible gesture and I can't wait to hold that sucker in my hands.

Redefining the Pass Option

I am the Warden!!

Received an email last night from a playtester last night regarding the Pass option.

"This is listed as an automatic option. It was mentioned earlier that it cost nothing. Is this correct?"

By this, he wonders if the Pass option automatically costs an option because it is... well, an automatic option. According to my own rules, automatic options always cost a Team one option, yet the purpose of the Pass option is to freely allow Teammates to pass the Edge back and forth to each other at no cost.

This is one of the dangers in designing a truly original game and presenting it for the first time to outside players. In my head, the whole concept makes perfect sense and has nothing but clarity when I read it, but that's never the case when others absorb the same material. Defining this particular option has always been a tricky issue and I think it's now time to address it once and for all. The Pass option is a fundamental component of the Team mechanic. Without it, a Team cannot function as intended.

Grab your screwdrivers, people. It's time to make some adjustments.