The rest of this month and April are going to be really busy for me.  Papers are coming due and I started a new job, although it is only short term.  Life has been throwing curveballs at me to say the least.

One positive thing, my website at http://agesgaming.bravehost.com has been using more bandwidth than usual.  Traffic has gone up, which is a good thing.  Destroy All Evil is doing okay...I am going to cut up the D6 system and use it as a baseline.  However, I see some ways of changing it to suit my needs.  I hope everything works out for us and for all of the readers of this blog.

Just playing around with daz studio 2 some more.  The main point of this picture was to develop a unicorn horn for the stock horse in the package.  For whatever reason, I can't seem to get any bigger pictures on here w/o having problem with pixelation.  Also added one more picture 3-11-08.  Another picture 3-14-08.





 

No big deal here but I have been playing around this free core program called dazstudio 2.  It lets you manipulate 3d images and more.  The only real thing it can't do is actually create new images.  Anyway, if you want to know more, just google dazstudio 2 and it will let you in on stuff I am just learning about.

The main purpose is post what I have done and get some critiques.   Ack, not as big as I like but I hope the general idea behind the pictures are there.

        

Tags: 3d artwork, divinity, game designing, role playing game, rpg
Current Mood: accomplished

I will have to admit that their sale brought some customers my way.  It wasn't enough to retire on but I appreciate anyone that comes my way and wants to look at my material.  Some people may think I am evil but additional revenue is always a good thing.  Another good thing *knock on wood* is that my website has gotten more traffic over the last few months.  It seems like word is slowly spreading but I can't take credit for it.  Just doing the same amount of advertising after all.

As far as what I am working on, my main project is an game based on 80's horror television series.  Right now, I just changed my dice mechanic and I am creating filler material.  Of course, the serial numbers will have to be filed off but I hope that I can capture the spirit of genre.  In my opinion, they were interesting moralistic tales wrapped up in just enough violence to make them entertaining.  Cursed items, investigations, magic, and the inevitabe fights should bring entertainment value.  I mean, the stories were never Shakespeare but I hope fans of the shows will appreciate Destroy All Evil when it is done. 

No big whoop here but I wanted to let everyone know that there is going to be a sale on rpg PDFs from March 4 to March 6.  The smallest discount from any participating publishers is 25% off.  I made a product bundle in honor of this promotion.  There was also a benefit from 3/2 to 3/4.  Anyway, I am not the only one is who participating.  Check it at out either www.rpgnow.com or www.drivethrurpg.com

I am working on a new game under the guise of AGES Gaming.  Right now, I am toying with either the title Curious Calling or Destroy All Evil!  (This project is Pen and Paper; it is not a computer game!)  I got my inspiration from the TV horror series of the 80's and from movies like Fraility.  Additionally, some short stories like the classic "The Monkey's Paw" have given me some ideas as well.

The premise is pretty simple and the basic ideas are listed below.

1.  Each player has underwent an experience in which they can now sense evil in all of its forms.   They in the modern day where such ideas are rapidly becoming quaint. 
2.  Things can have inherent evil in them, creatures go bump in the night, places can be bad and there is a spiritual war going on.
3.  There is no right religion or philosophy but they are not in error either.  In other words, multiple rituals from different groups can solve the same problem.  (This doesn't jive with my personal views but I am essentially working on a work of fiction).
4.  The expression of evil is through corruption.  Every item, creature or person has been promised something and the players are called in to deal with it.  They are tempted in various ways.
5.  The hardest part, make all of this sound interesting to the gaming public.  Avoid a lot of complicated ideas, not because the players are slow but in order to make play easier for all involved.  Ironically, the average gamer is probably too smart for their own good.:)

So far, I have about 5000 words written up on it.  There is a really basic section on mechanics, chargen (character generation) and a list of items, creatures, people, places, organizations, etc (nothing in them really, just a working list).   The mechanics say the character measures their potential against themselves and then compares that result with anyone else who is there.  I am toying with the idea of more special dice but that is something further down the line.  All of the items, creatures, and place will have some values.  Right now, I have a corruption value and a malicious value.  Corruption is how quickly someone either uses the items, transforms into a supernatural creature or gives into the haunted house.  Malicious is how powerful the thing is, both in terms of what it can promise and the price for giving into temptation.  For NPCs, they will have different values although I haven't started, except to say they will have skills and attributes like the PCs.

That's all for now.

 

 

 

Tags: forums, game designing, hobbies, hobby, role playing game, rpg

I recently ran into threads which make anti-publishing and anti-charging statements.  This isn't a problem to me except for the dissing of people who choose to charge and/or use traditional publishing methods.  Rather than rehash the points, I'll just post the link and make a couple of comments.  http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9130

It is was one of those threads where some people agreed and some disagreed.  The people that disagree either didn't read all of my comments, wanted to play word games with me, or insert words in my mouth after I answered questions.   There were also some intelligent things said on both side of the issue.  In other words, it was a typical thread:)

Current Mood: amused

I posted at two rpg forums regarding this free pdf called Cursed Life.  The threads are at  http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=378459 and http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9077.  The posters offered good opinions on where to go with it next.  The options have boiled down into the following two options.

1.  Add more material such as npcs, adventures, artwork and more rules and then sell it as a print option.

2.  Keep the core book free and sell the supplements.

Realistically, I will probably keep the core PDF free and sell a print copy of it.  I'll probably just keep the B&W artwork in it and sell the core book print version for cheap.   I will sell the supplements, both PDF and print.   This method will be different than the one I am using to sell my other rpg line, Divinity.  

It is being sold pdf only for right now and I am selling the core book and supplements for that line.  The Cursed Life line selling method is a bit more experimential, at least to me.  The free version already has hundreds of free downloads but I also know they do not translated to a one on one sale.  In fact, for every print or pdf sale, there will be 30x to 100x more.  Therefore, thousands of copies need to be downloaded before selling the print copy and going any further.

The download link for Cursed Life is at http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=51686 or http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=51686.  If you are new to buying PDFs, feel free to try this rpg out.  It is being offered for free.  

I know, more links but here are the links for the main store sites.  They do a much better explaining themselves than I do.  www.rpgnow.com and www.drivethrurpg.com.  

Until next time...

Tags: ages gaming, cursed life, design, game designing, games, role playing game, rpg

I  discovered that I was able to actually get onto www.story-games.com  This site is devoted to indie rpgs in all of the various ways they can be viewed.  Additionally, I actually found a site that is trying to become a playtest area, www.playtesting.co.uk.  Two more awesome places for discussing games and talking about how to make them better.  The first site must have changed their admission policy because I wasn't able to get on them before.  The second site, to my knowledge, isn't exclusive although they seem to have games with a narrative bent.  

At this point, I'll go ahead and tell the other sites I use when talking about rpgs.   I go to forum.rpg.net and I also to www.therpgsite.com.  The first site has a stronger area for publishers to go to and discuss the actual creation of games while the second one gives you a very honest opinion from a player's perspective.  That said, both sites cross-pollinate, even though some over at www.therpgsite.com prefers the "hands off" approach to moderation.  Therefore, I get very different flavors from each forum instead of vanilla forums.  

There are some other good ones but I don't frequent them a lot because of time management.  For instance, www.enworld.com is a very good for "d20 people" but I don't create games using that set of rules.  Posting there is a less efficient use of my promotion time.  Other sites have a much lower membership that doesn't justify a lot of time in them.  

I have limited partnerships with a few other rpg publishers.  I have "friendly" status with http://basicroleplaying.com/ and I have cross promoted with www.arcnusmagicus.com  http://www.sanestudios.peregrinedruids.com/, www.legendaryquest.com and www.rpglinks.net/ There are some rpg news sites that I use to post announcements about my own products.  Those sites include www.gamingreport.com , www.gamewyrd.com , http://www.rpgnews.com and www.onebookshelf.com

My next goal is to join www.yourgamesnow.com.  This site sell PDFs of rpgs but they use a co-op method for selling their games.  Anyone who wants to sell there has to be voted in by the present membership.  I also want to trade links with other websites because that can raise the exposure for both parties along with increasing their rank in the search engines.  Finally, all of the above have to thank me for talking about their sites now.:)

P.S. I barely skimmed the surface about the available website, blogs, forums, etc. devoted to rpgs.

Tags: ages gaming, divinity, role playing game, rpg, rpgs
Current Mood: thoughtful