Highmoon's Ponderings

I’m super busy getting ready for my trip to Seattle, so I won’t be doing a long post about this. Short version: the GSL sucks and I don’t see Highmoon Media using it to produce D&D 4e-compatible products in the near future. The license is horribly restricting in what I can and cannot do, reference, or develop, but the dealbrakers are the clauses dealing with OGL conversions (6.1, 6.2), with beyond-termination limitation of my GSL-released products (6.1), and the draconian sections dealing with litigation and damages (10), especially the one where you waive your right to a jury trial for any legal proceeding dealing with the GSL (19).

There’s more stuff that annoys me about it (like the fact that the license seems to put a clamp on anything I develop for 4e/GSL to be used solely for that or not at all), but it will have to wait for me to break that down further.

Honestly, I feel they should just have closed the whole game. I know some folks with use this GSL to release products, but in general, it feels like a forced participation in the idea of Open Gaming, and only in the most bitter of ways.

Wizards of the Coast continues to become a company that I more and more do not want to support with my dollars.

I miss very much the Wizards of the Coast of the Peter Adkinson years, but that’s a different post.

Highmoon Media Productions is proud to present Domains of Adventure: The Havenmine Gauntlet.

Situated in a high butte near the bend of a river canyon, Havenmine, named for the predicted security of its lofty location, is anything but safe. A few years ago, when chasing a vein of garnets and other precious gemstones, a house of diligent small folk and a tribe of ambitious kobolds met in a most awkward of situations. After many battles, both the gnomes and kobolds began to fortify their halves of the mine, carving the stone to fit their guerrilla needs, the series of traps and chokepoints known as the Havenmine Gauntlet.

The Havenmine Gauntlet is a systemless 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 gauntlet, its challenges and traps.

If you would like The Havenmine Gauntlet with Rules Appendixes for open rules systems, click below:
Rules Appendix Options

• d20 Fantasy

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.

Now Available from RPGnow.com in Systemless and d20 versions!

Wolfgang Baur’s Kobold Quarterly magazine and Highmoon Media Productions have teamed up to produce and release a special edition in Highmoon’s Domains of Adventure line, the Havenmine Gauntlet, written by WereCabbage Adam Daigle, with art by James Keegan.

Describing the “neutral zone” between warring clans of gnomes and kobolds, the product features seven rooms full of devious traps and wicked challenges for any party that braves the dungeon. This special product will be released as a bonus to all current Kobold Quarterly subscribers as of April 18th, 2008. It will also be sold by Highmoon Media Productions via RPGnow.com and DriveThruRPG.com.

“I am excited to finally release this joint project,” said Highmoon Media Productions owner Daniel M. Perez. “I’ve been a fan and subscriber of Kobold Quarterly since the moment Wolfgang announced it on Open Design, and I jumped at the opportunity to give something back to that community. Without a doubt, one of the easiest and most enjoyable collaborations I have been a part of.”

Domains of Adventure is the series of systemless products showcasing interesting and unusual locations usable in a variety of games. Domains of Adventure releases feature additional support in the form of a Rules Appendix that translates the narrative elements into ready-to-use stats and mechanics for a variety of open rules systems.

Domains of Adventure: The Havenmine Gauntlet will be released to Kobold Quarterly subscribers first, along with the Rules Appendix - d20, and become available to the general public one week later.

Subscribe to Kobold Quarterly: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/KQStore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

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ABOUT HIGHMOON MEDIA PRODUCTIONS Founded by Daniel M. Perez, Highmoon Media Productions is a Miami Beach-based publisher of gaming products producing support material for the popular d20 System, including Targum Magazine, a magazine supporting Ancient World campaign settings. Learn more about Highmoon Media Productions at www.highmoonmedia.com.

ABOUT KOBOLD QUARTERLY MAGAZINE Kobold Quarterly is the leading RPG magazine for fantasy gamers. It offers playable, fun articles by the industry’s best, including Ed Greenwood, Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, and Wolfgang Baur. It is available in print and PDF forms, and features contributions from gamers around the world. Learn more about Kobold Quarterly at www.koboldquarterly.com.

ABOUT WERECABBAGE PUBLISHING The WereCabbages bring together more than thirty of the most successful and promising RPG writers, artists and cartographers. The Cabbages are a one-stop shop for RPG publishers, whether they need an experienced team to complete a large project or a single author or artist for a special task. Learn more about the WereCabbages at www.werecabbages.com.

Media Contact: Ed Healy – ephealy@koboldquarterly.com Daniel M. Perez – daniel@highmoonmedia.com

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.

Highmoon Media Productions, in association with Green Ronin Publishing, presents Targum Magazine - Issue 04. Welcome to the fourth issue of Targum Magazine, the magazine in support of Eternal Rome: Roleplaying in the Age of Gods and Emperors, Trojan War: Roleplaying in the Age of Homeric Adventure, Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era and all Ancient World campaign settings. In this issue you will find the following articles:

• Ostraca: The Extra King by Spike Y Jones - Exploring the Biblical mystery of an apparent extra king of Israel.
• Kalevala Mythos by David Schwartz - The deities of this epic poem from Finnland for your d20 game.
• Era Spotlight: The Time of Akhenaten - Part 2 by Scott Bennie - The concluding article bringing you a mini-gazetteer of Egypt in the time of the monotheistic Pharaoh. 
• Legions vs. Hordes by Spike Y Jones - Bring the might of the Roman Empire to the Biblical/Homeric Battlefield Resolution System.
• Free Paper Minis from Arion Games.
• Testament: Official d20 v3.5 Update - Part 1 by Scott Bennie, Christopher Heard and Spike Y Jones - Update your Testament game to the v3.5 rules of the d20 System with this official guide. Part two will appear in the next issue.

Come adventure in the lands of the ancient world today! NOW AVAILABLE from RPGnow!

Highmoon Media Productions is proud to present Liber Sodalitas: The Pathfinders of Talus. While most gods are honored by a formal church and clerical order, Talus, the god of travel and safe voyages, prefers the service of his Pathfinders. The organization was founded over 200 years ago by a group of caravan guards who were saved from bandits and other perils on their journey by a priest of Talus. Upon arrival at their destination the priest disappeared, though not before he had imparted much of the wisdom of Talus to the guards. Today, Pathfinders are found everywhere, aiding travelers as cartographers, guides, protectors, and explorers. The Pathfinders of Talus is an 8-page ebook detailing a drop-in organization for your d20 Fantasy game, complete with history, tenets, organizational structures, ways of joining, and ready-to-use NPCs. It also includes the pathfinder prestige class, two new spells and two new feats. Written by: Martin Greening, with James Gabrielsen Artwork by: Anthony Cournoyer NOW AVAILABLE from RPGNow & DriveThruRPG!