Highmoon's Ponderings

Ever since I posted that I was going to start playing in a D&D/d20 Play by eMail campaign called West to the Empire I have not said anything else on the subject. It has been mostly due to real life stuff and my attention drifting to other things, but fret not, I have been playing and it has been awesome.

This is my first time playing pre-gen characters–Squire Fisner, in my case–and while, indeed, at first I had absolutely no attachment to the character, little by little that faceless pre-packaged set of stats has become MY character, Squire Argus Fisner, of the noble Fisner family of Argalis, novice in the Order of the Red Griffon, and now heir to the honor and legacy of his falled mentor, Sir Galwaith. I very much look forward to playing Argus a lot more.

Mark, our DM, has been doing a bang up job running this play by email game. The main problem is the lag time between actions, and at one point or another we all have been either waiting or causing the wait; it happens, it’s part and parcel of the format, you deal with it. One thing Mark has been doing that I am incredibly glad for is that, as a DM, he treats this as a narrative, so even though the technical part is a bunch of statement declarations and dice rolls being emailed back and forth, Mark takes the time to, every Action, weave all our disparate orders and rolls and whatnot into a narrative block of description that incorporates all the ambiance of our environment.

So, to summarize, it’s been awesome, and now we are heading back into the dungeon to begin the final act, and track down this minotaur that has been terrorizing the forest and villages nearby, and enslaving a tribe of kobolds to do its bidding.

You can check out the West to the Empire website Mark put together for our mutual benefit.

The website for The Golden Compass movie has this nifty thing where you create a profile and a daemon is chosen for you. Daemons are animal spirits that are linked to you, to your soul. It’s nice to see the use of the word in the context of its Greek origins.

So I created my daemon and I was given Ariel. At the moment, Ariel is the form of a mouse, but that can change. How? Well, if you know me well enough, you can also go and answer a few questions and help me find my true daemon. So, check it out.

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After a dismal start with only 278 words in Days 1 and 2, today my wife and I buckled down and caught up on our word count goal for Day 3. For me, that means I am at 2138 words, which is not too shabby.

Of course, that means I need to explain that our word count goals are very different from those of most people doing NaNo, who would be expected to be at somewhere near 5000 words. Because we both pretty much missed the first two days, we decided to divide 50,000 words by the remaining days of the month. In addition we also have to take out all Fridays in Nov. because with preparations for Shabbat taking precedence, we rarely have time to write on Fridays during the day, and after sundown it’s Shabbat, so no writing at all. That always puts us in a bit of a disadvantage when doing NaNo, since we have to up our daily word count to make up for the days we cannot write.

This year it’s even worse, since Nov. 30 is on a Friday, which means we have to have our 50,000 words done and tallied by the NaNo website that same Friday, Nov. 30, no later than 5:12 pm, when Shabbat officially begins. Yes, we are a bit crazy to attempt this, but here we go!

Inspired by Fred Hicks‘ many posts on the behind-the-scenes of running Evil Hat Productions, I’m gonna be taking a shot at “thinking out loud” about Highmoon Media Productions, at least from time to time. Starting now. 

Earlier this year, Bret Boyd queried me on an idea for a new series of products. These would be interesting, and sometimes quirky, locations in a world-neutral format and usable for a variety of games. I liked the idea so I told him to send me a small number of location blurbs, just to get a better grasp of what he had in mind, and what he sent totally sold me. When it came time to settle on the format of the series, we instinctively went with d20 because that’s just what we both do most. At some point, one of us mentioned the idea of going systemless, just having the products be all narrative (fluff, if you will) and letting the GM provide the stats. The reason was that, even though this conversation was taking place early this year, the scent of D&D 4th Edition could be felt in the air, even if we didn’t know what the smell was for sure. Green Ronin had already announced that their new Freeport book would be systemless with optional rules companions sold separately, admittedly in order to safeguard against a new edition announcement, and this gave us both a confirmation that the idea had merit and was worth pursuing.

Fast forward to yesterday, Nov. 1st (through no fault of Bret, for he sent all his work in months ago): the Domains of Adventure series from HMP launches with the first release, The Museum of Infamous Heroism. The main ebook release is 100% narrative elements, a series of descriptions of the location inside and out, with no stats whatsoever. In addition, we released the Rules Appendix – d20 for the Museum, which includes an area-by-area rundown of relevant stats for d20 wherever the main release alluded to a possible game mechanic (for example, adding stats for the building, describing a magical item, and the stats for the main NPC). My desire and hope is that we will be able to put out Rules Appendix for other open rules systems for each release in the series, thus widening the appeal of the product. Recently, Adamant Entertainment also launched Star System, a systemless series to support space opera-type sci-fi games, citing very much the same reasoning for the decision (though they aren’t doing rules companions of any kind, last I checked).

I’m no stranger to risky products; my “flagship” line is Targum Magazine, a periodical targetting the ancient world and supporting three campaign settings by Green Ronin, probably the epitome of a niche-within-a-niche product. I also envisioned and commissioned DaVinci Labs, a d20 Modern/Future series that was supposed to be grand and vast, and has barely done well enough to warrant the prep time that was put into it, let alone the production time, money and effort. This is all fine and dandy to me, because these are products I would have liked to buy myself, which is why I went for them and continue to support them. Domains of Adventure falls in the same category: it is a risky product, but one I would have liked to see as a consumer. Domains, however, is the biggest experiment we have done so far, and has both the potential to be the most labor-intensive one, though the most successful line we do as well.

I mean, let’s be honest here, if it fails, all we’re out is a few hours of work; there has been just a minor financial investment in the product (for the map), so it’s not like I’ll be out on the street. It’s all about the idea, though. I’m really hoping that it takes off, that customers see the benefit of a systemless product that they can adapt to their own needs, and that, to boot, comes with free rules addendum that they can use if they are using a particular system (which is why d20 will always be the default and always be available immediately upon release of a new product in the line). I’m also hoping that I can get people involved and have a fan do a Rules Appendix for a rules system I do not have yet available, like RuneQuest or True20 (even though I can’t use the trademarked brand), or even some of the indie systems, like The Shadow of Yesterday‘s Solar System (fully available for free online) or FATE (though this is a bit harder since although there is a FATE 3.0 SRD taken from Spirit of the Century, there is no FATE 3.0 Core System yet to standarize how to use FATE in a fantasy setting, though it is coming). I’m a bit realistic (pessimistic?) and I know this level of fan involvement is unlikely, at the very best, though once can always find that one person who is really passionate and wants to help (very much like I found Mark Gedak).

So, here’s hoping that Domains of Adventure does well enough to warrant more releases in the series. I really would like to see that happen, not only as the publisher, but also as a fan. I hope to see fans embracing the concept and sending in Rules Appendixes for their favorite systems, including some of the indie ones, so that we can foster cross-pollination and unity.

In The Digital Front - Episode 06 we chat with Charles Rice of RPG Objects and Vigilance Press. Charles talks to us about being in the industry for a while now, niche markets, the revolutionary changes he has seen and still hopes to see, designing a new rules system and about the future of the market. Mark Gedak presents two reviews from Precis Intermedia Games and 0one Games, and Daniel adds some thoughts on the 0one Games product and its innovation.

Please feel free to discuss this episode on our forums or call our voicemail line at 206-350-4441.

Links:

• Guest: Charles Rice of RPG Objects and Vigilance Press
• Reviews: 
  • Review: Two-Fisted Tales Revised (Precis Intermedia Games) - Transcript
  • Review: Dungeon Tile Designer (0one Games) - Transcript
• Promo: Goblin - Gaming Broadcast Network
• Promo: RPGPodcasts.com

Download TDF - 06

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Highmoon Media Productions is proud to present Domains of Adventure: The Museum of Infamous Heroism. Nestled on the outskirts of a wealthy city district, this drab unassuming stone structure gives little outside indication of its contents. A bronze plaque above the double door entrance reads: “Museum of Infamous Heroism.” For over 35 years, curator Galdor Vorac has collected and preserved objects belonging to the most nefarious individuals throughout history. The museum is funded by donations from the city and from visitors. Vorac is the sole worker and proprietor and has committed all of the relics’ histories to memory. On days of pleasant weather, the human curator can be seen in the museum’s small yard giving historical lectures or answering questions about his newest acquisition. The Museum of Infamous Heroism is a 9-page ebook detailing a drop-in location for your fantasy game. It includes a general overview of the location, and area-by-area descriptions of the museum, its contents and curator. Rules Appendixes for open rules systems can be found the product page or the HMP website. Written by: Bret Boyd Cartography by: Lonnie Ezell NOW AVAILABLE from RPGnow & DriveThruRPG! Domains of Adventure is a series of systemless products showcasing interesting and unusual locations usable in a variety of games. By focusing on the narrative element instead of the rules mechanics, fans of a variety of rules systems can all enjoy the material and find use for it. To that effect, all Domains of Adventure releases feature additional support in the form of a Rules Appendix, featuring all the rules mechanics relevant to each main release, already translating the narrative elements into ready-to-use stats for a variety of open rules systems. Visit www.highmoonmedia.com/domainsofadventure for more info.