Highmoon's Ponderings

Paizo Publishing announced today the release of their new Pathfinder RPG, based on the d20 3.5 SRD. They have just released the Alpha Playtest PSD for free, and intend to release a free PDF/$24.95 print Beta Playtest in August 2008, with a final hardcover product for Gen Con 2009.

Let it be known that this day is the day whence the road of D&D officially split in twain.

With this announcement, Paizo has flicked a giant finger at WotC (“Basing the Pathfinder RPG on 3.5 also allows Paizo more control over our destiny than simply following along with the latest edition and the newest licensing changes.” -Erik Mona) and provided the rallying point for all the 3,5 fans out there who are simply not interested in D&D 4th Edition.

I just downloaded the file and will look through it. I obviously want to know about 3rd party support, but I’m sure it will come up soon enough without me having to ask.

All in all, excellent news, and a fitting continuation to the “interesting” way 2008 has been developing so far.

Highmoon Media Productions is proud to present Heroic Moments #3: St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Special Edition).

A joyous parade celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, a jealous Celtic goddess seeking revenge, and a gigantic, nightmarish creature straight from myth. Can you save the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and its spectators from certain doom?
Also includes two new powers, a new Origin, and a bonus appendix with two ready-to-play Celtic-themed heroes.

Heroic Moments is the aschan series of single action scenes for four-color superhero games. This series is designed to be dropped seamlessly into any existing superhero campaign. No prep: just a set-up, some bystanders and a villain for your heroes to clobber.

NOW AVAILABLE from RPGnow!

Heroic Moments uses the free 4C System of marvelous superheroics.

Come and join the conversation at the HMP 4C System Forum.

Highmoon Media Productions is celebrating Ireland Day with a special day-long sale.

Our Bardic Lore line is on sale for 50% off!
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=216_4013?affiliate_id=17008

The rest of our catalog is on sale for 20% off!
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=216?affiliate_id=17008

And we are releasing a new Heroic Moment for the 4C System themed for St. Patrick’s Day.
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=216_4403?affiliate_id=17008

Enjoy the day, and celebrate all things Irish. Erin go bragh!

In the last couple of weeks I have engaged in two different experiments with Highmoon Media Productions. Since we won’t be doing any D&D 4e material this year, and I want to be careful about how much time I spend on 3.5 material that may be possibly obsolete (or at least harder to sell), I figured I might as well give some things a try and see how they panned out, perhaps open up some new options for the company. So far my experiments have been… interesting. One has certainly done well enough for me to consider it a success, the other I’m still trying to figure out.

Experiment 1: Domains of Adventure
I started this line to provide system-independent locations, coupled with Rules Appendixes for various open systems (d2o, RuneQuest, etc). I published the first product for sale on November 1st, and offered the Rules Appendix for free as a download from my site. Since 11/01/07 it has sold 21 copies, i.e. really poorly. Of those, 14 were sold before March 2008, specifically before the GM’s Day sale that just ended. Right before the GM’s Day sale began (on March 2), I decided to add the Rules Appendix (now d20 and RuneQuest) as free products available through RPGnow, if only so I could get an idea of how many of those were being downloaded, and to see if by offering the mechanics for free it encouraged people to purchase the fluff material as well.

As I mentioned, the product has sold 7 copies since March 1st, all of them during the March 3-7 period of the GM’s Day sale. During that time as well, the two free products have been downloaded 249 times (133 d20, 116 RuneQuest). That means that I sold one Domains of Adventure product for roughly every 35 free downloads of the Rules Appendixes. Ouch. Now, I had never put out a free product, so I do not have any previous context of the number of downloads for a free product; I know it’s a lot, but this is only from hearsay. I expected the Rules Appendixes to be more downloaded than the paid product, but I guess I was naive in expecting a better free-to-paid ratio.

Now, this does mean that I have a large number of new customers in my mailing list now (not sure how many exactly though, as I have no easy way to correlate how many of them have purchased from me before) that I can target directly for my next products, and especially for any new Domains of Adventure (a new one is coming out in a week or so). I will also see if I can convert some more of those free downloads to paid customers with a coupon, though in my experience this rarely works out.

So, I’m not sure how well this experiment turned out. I have a mind to take off the free products, but I haven’t decided yet. I know my next DoA product will NOT be sold the same way as the first one. This one I will pre-package with the Rules Appendix and sell each combo as a separate product (the d20 version, the RuneQuest version, etc) and see how that goes. I could also sell the fluff part and the Rules Appendixes each, and put together a bundle for each rules system, but I want to avoid the exponential proliferation of product entries in my vendor page.

I’ll revisit this one after I release the next DoA product and I have some more data to chew on.

I’ll talk about my other experiment in the next entry.

I don’t know if this was an expected development of the Open Gaming License way back when it was created, but I have to admit that it has been an interesting one to witness, and a fun one to benefit from and partake of. I’m talking about so-called retro-clone games. These are games created using the open content in the SRD/MSRD to recreate the rules of old roleplaying games from the 80′s and before. These games are built on the premise that rules cannot be copyrighted, only the particular expression of those rules can. So these games grab the original rules, strip them down to the essential mechanics, and rewrite them using legally open existing material. So far these games have been garnering a steady following, especially as people learn to identify the new name with the old equivalent they recreate/are compatible with.

Here is a list of the retro-clones I am aware of, as well as the general description of the game they recreate:

1. OSRIC (Old School Reference & Index Compilation) - This game recreates 1st Edition fantasy rules. It was the first of the retro-clones, and when it came out it created a flurry of activity as people tried to figure out if it was legal. Once it was determined it was, it became, and remains, the most widely supported of the retro-clones. OSRIC opened the door for the rest of the games created in the same spirit. OSRIC is published via the OGL.
2. LABYRINTH LORD – This game recreates Basic fantasy rules, the kind that came in a box (whether with art or of a solid color). From what I’m told, this one clones more the Moldvay version of the Basic game; I grew up with the rec box version and LL seems to be compatible with that as well, so no problem there. There has been some support for LL so far, but it hasn’t reached the level of it’s advanced companion. Labyrinth Lord is published via the OGL.
3. GORE (Generic Old-School Roleplaying Engine) – This game recreates basic percentile-based rules, the kind used for a game about Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. I hardly played with these basic roleplaying rules growing up, but I know they have been the go-to rules for a whole lot of gamers (including Ken Hite, who spoke about it in a recent podcast). There are two adventures out for this game, one highlighting the fantasy application of these rules and one more on the horror side. GORE is published via the OGL.
4. 4C SYSTEM – This game recreates marvelous superheroics rules from the 80′s. Developed by Phil Reed and Michael Hammes of Ronin Arts, and funded by a number of fan patrons, this game showed a lot of support and promise when it was first announced – and then it languished in oblivion. The development coincided with Phil’s return to SJG, so it took a lot longer to complete than originally anticipated. By the time it came out, the fickle internet had all but forgotten it. The game has now apparently been rediscovered, and new products are coming out for it (some published by me, though I’ll talk more about that in a separate post). 4C has been released into the public domain, and you can get an at-cost print version as well as the PDF.

If you know of another retro-clone out there, let me know and I’ll add it here. So, what do you think of these retro-clones?

I woke up this morning to this:

This is the funeral for the eight Jewish students killed in Jerusalem overnight (for me in the US).

Today is Rosh Chodesh (the first of the month of) Adar II (it’s a leap year, so we have two Adar). Adar is a month of joy, of happiness, especially now that we are on our way to Purim, our happiest holiday. How am I supposed to be happy now? How am I supposed to be happy when I see eight children (one was 26, the others between 13 – 15) killed simply because they are Jews? From where can I gather simcha?

I am angry, and torn, and in pain. The only crime these children commited was being Jews in a religious school studying in the library. Will this ever end?

Baruch Dayan Emet – Blessed is the Judge of Truth/Blessed is the True Judge. That is what we say when we hear that someone has died. G-d, only G-d, knows why this had to happen, why now, why them. We do not understand it. We tear our clothes in mourning, and cry to heaven. In reciting the prayer for the dead what we do is laud G-d, for He is the one who knows, and our consolation. It doesn’t make this any easier.

I want to rage, to scream, to shout horrible things at those responsible for this, to curse the young man who took these lives, to condemn his soul to damnation with every fiber of my being. But I won’t. That will only hurt me, my soul, and those of the deceased. It’s virulent energy and there’s enough of that in the world. I do rail against the mindset that rejoices in this attrocity, the mindset that could very well target me one day, simply because of who and what I am, a Jew. But I will not go down to its level, hard as hell as that is right now.

As I prepare for Shabbat today, I will keep these eight souls in mind. I will recite psalms for them, and light up a yarzeit candle in their memory. I will find joy somewhere in this, because I know that it will help to elevate these eight souls up to the Throne of Glory.

G-d help us that we may find peace in our time, amen.