New Books Available!

There is still (probably) time for you to order PoD from Amazon and still have it arrive by Christmas, and I’ve just put out 3 new books you can get there.

Home? (2nd Edition) – A revised and corrected version of my novel “Home?” featuring a new cover in a smaller, easy-to-carry size.

RPG LTE: Swords and Sorcery – BETA – A print version of the beta available on the “Downloads” page for those who prefer that or would like to support the idea with your dollars (though it is basically being sold at cost because it is a beta)

Stickies: The Collection (10th Anniversary Edition) – All 250 Stickies comics (and even some fun extras) collected together in glorious full-color for this volume on the 10th anniversary its inception.

If you like what I do, please consider buying a book; I love it when physical copies can reach new places.

(If you are short on cash because of the holidays but still want a book, you might want to wait until early next year when I hopefully {it’s not like I usually over-commit myself or anything} will be setting up an online store separate from the Amazon one where not only my books, but many of the other cool ephemera I have created will be available.)

-Austin

RPG LTE: Swords & Sorcery Beta Release

I have written a small Role-Playing Game. RPG LTE: Swords & Sorcery is a light, 5-page (for basic rules), easy-to-learn, and hopefully very intuitive fantasy Role-Playing Game. I’ve made a few posts already about how and why I ended up writing this game, so this post is simply the “official” beta release. The game is fully playable and working, but not every aspect has been extensively tested. Certainly any feedback would be appreciated, and updates will be forthcoming.

Core Rules (Beta) (PDF)

Game Mastering (Beta) (PDF)

Monsters (Pre-Made and Made) (Beta) (PDF)

Character Sheet (Beta) (PDF)

I hope anyone taking a look enjoys the game, and if all goes well the system can be adapted into more themes and genres as time progresses to allow it to be enjoyed in as many ways as possible.

-Austin

Board Game Creation Blogging Part 5 – Rethinking and Downsizing (w/ Making an RPG)

Where I last left off this series I was failing at Kickstarter, which was actually quite some time ago now. I’ve made two household moves and published a dozen books (of my comics) since then, among other things, so it’s kind of crazy coming back now. I definitely re-evaluated my position and have been looking into why I was unable get my game off the ground. I have made several games (and game-related items) since then, but they need some more polish before I blog about them.

I had mentioned at the end of my last post that I would be working on a smaller game; one that could more easily be kick-started for next time. And I have been (I’ve got a couple of good ones), but I thought as I was working on them, “why not go smaller? Or with less cost?” It was a hard thing to think about, especially since I’m a bit of a stickler for components (I want them to last a long time). I didn’t want to create a game that used a PoD service like the Game Crafter or one that was print-it-yourself as both of those would be “less than perfect” (don’t get me wrong, GC is a great product. I use them, and what they’re doing is really cool, but it’s a bit more expensive than I would like for the quality). It then occurred to me at some point (I will have a separate post about it) that a type of game that I would be interesting in making and that could be downloaded and printed by people easily was a role-playing game.

I had recently started trying to get more into role-playing, and since most of the major books are huge, intimidating messes (and I mean that in the best possible way, they are endearing messes) I went looking for short, simple RPGs online. And I found quite a few (22 is the number I currently have printed off in my binder, and that’s not counting all of the ones I found online). Most of them ranged from 1-10 pages, but one seems the most common length. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that I can understand would come from both writing and playing a “single-page” RPG. But none of these were exactly what I wanted. I wanted mechanics that were slightly more “intuitive” but still something you could “sink your teeth into”. I believed there was and is some room for something closer to my “perfect” version of a role-playing game, so I set about writing it.

bookcoverimage-rpglte

It took me far longer to do that than I had anticipated, but that was because it ended up much longer than I had thought. Not the rules, necessarily: they’re only 5 pages (though a bit cramped at around 7,000 words), but the “everything else” that comes with making an RPG. I’ve ended up writing 27 pages full of stuff for it, and in my excitement to get my ideas down I was writing some of the later pages before finishing the “necessary” pages, which would be: rules for playing the game, rules for running the game, and some pre-built enemies to go in the game (a “3-book” structure if you will, a-la D&D but with only 5 pages for each section). My plan was to put these “core rulebooks” up online and maybe a few “supplements” (1-page extras) after that, then combine them all into a book that would be the “beta” for the game. Hopefully. people would then play it and I would be able to gather feedback and write some extra stuff for the “first edition”. I still hope to do that, but I did it a bit backwards and finished the book first (it took me far too long to write this post), so now that it’s already out in the wild (though at the moment only purchase-able through me personally) I will be putting the PDFs up for download on the dragoncompany.org site.

Core Rules Beta (PDF)

Game Master Guide Beta (PDF)

Monsters/Bestiary Beta (PDF)

Beta Character Sheet (PDF)

I’ve been using a print-on-demand service to print my comic books for a few years now; so going with them for the beta version was a simple choice. Even with them being PoD I don’t anticipate the print version of the beta getting a wide release. I think it is good and playable, but I’d like to add a little more polish before putting it up on Amazon like my comic books. Also the PoD service only does paperback books, and I do hope that after I’ve put the contents up online and gathered some feedback and done some more playtesting to get everything collected for the first edition in a hardback (or likely both formats, as I want the game to be as accessible {inexpensive} as possible), not just to look like other RPGs but because I like the feel and longevity of a good hardback. In any case I’ve put the beta files up, and I hope you use them, play the game and let me know what you think.