Okay, we've got a handful of project currently, and I thought I'd let all you guys know where we're at with each of them.
1) Of Beasts and Men - This is obvioiusly our first priority. We're collecting art (still) and preparing layouts and final editing. Expect it either here and on shelves in March (maybe April in your FLGS). Softcover. 128+ pages. Lots and lots of high-quality art.
2) A Hint at the Riddle (TROS QS Rules) - Playtesting is essentially finished (I need your reports, guys), and we'll be editing and doing layouts. I want this up before X-mas.
3) More Player Aids - There's a Chargen program, a damage table program, revised Master-Screen inserts and character sheet stuff, not to mention some really cool maneuver Quick Ref Cards...all going up this week or next.
4) Revamped Website - I'm really not sure why this is taking so long...expect it up sooner or later. I'll be tidying up the existing site more for now, along with the Player Aids next week.
5) Sorcery and the Fey - This one's been sort-of put on a back-burner at present. We're amassing copious notes for the Fey Section, and this Forum has been an excellent sounding board for the Sorcery section. I want to release these as seperate PDFs early next year and later as a combined print supplement.
6) The Flower of Battle - Summer, guys...summer.
7) Non-TROS stuff from Driftwood - Okay, so this is going to be more for fun than anything else, but I'd *love* to finish some of my other game designs and PDF them for cheap or for free. Those'll include THIRST, our controversial (I guess...) vampire game, Gods of War, my blow-the-hell-out-of-everything action game, and The Fires of Heaven, an angelic setting for Clinton Nixon's Paladin (//www.anvilwerks.com). They'll be done when they're done.
Just thought you'd like to know.
Jake
Quote5) Sorcery and the Fey - This one's been sort-of put on a back-burner at present. We're amassing copious notes for the Fey Section, and this Forum has been an excellent sounding board for the Sorcery section. I want to release these as seperate PDFs early next year and later as a combined print supplement.
NOOOOOO!!!!! Must have NOW, my precioussss!! Need more information on Spells, options on Vagaries, ways to turn aside the curse of Aging, must know if the nutjob in charge of Gelure really isss Dark Betrayer, musst know more about Fey and Siehe! *
gollum*
Just letting you know, some of us want those magic rules...
Well, Fanboy, that *was* spooky...
I've mentioned a few of the reasons for setting SatF back a little elsewhere on the forum (but I'm notoriously bad about posting links to stuff). Basically, we'd *like* to have it ready earlier, but it didn't turn out that way. You will find a lot of fascinating (and cool, and inane, and frustrating, and over-the-top) discussion of sorcery here. Have fun digesting it all.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodWell, Fanboy, that *was* spooky...
I've mentioned a few of the reasons for setting SatF back a little elsewhere on the forum (but I'm notoriously bad about posting links to stuff). Basically, we'd *like* to have it ready earlier, but it didn't turn out that way. You will find a lot of fascinating (and cool, and inane, and frustrating, and over-the-top) discussion of sorcery here. Have fun digesting it all.
Jake
Need TFOB and SatF, umh, like, yesterday! Will stop at nothing! Will take any means necessary! ;)
Great!
I'm looking forward to the QS rules, so that my lazy players perhaps can learn the rules a little...
Be careful with The Fires of Heaven though. Robert Jordan has written a book with the exact same name, and he can probably afford som kickass laywers.
Quote from: Jake NorwoodYou will find a lot of fascinating (and cool, and inane, and frustrating, and over-the-top) discussion of sorcery here. Have fun digesting it all.
Jake
"Over the top"??? This wouldn't be a reference to the thread about using magic as a thermonuclear device and destroying the world with a rock would it?
LOL
Brandon
Quote from: MokkurkalfeBe careful with The Fires of Heaven though. Robert Jordan has written a book with the exact same name, and he can probably afford some kickass laywers.
I don't think you can actually sue for the simple use of identical titles unless the original is so well-known, unique and distinctive that any re-use cannot be held to be a reasonable duplication of ideas.
The Fires of Heaven was a fairly common phrase before Jordan used it, and I'm pretty sure was the title of at least one other book before his.
On the other hand, the Tolkien estate could probably sue me if I tried to call my book about a fan club for telephone noises
The Fellowship of the Ring.
Besides, Jordan's making enough money from WoT that he'll have no need to sue a small independent over a .PDF supplement.
Quote from: MokkurkalfeBe careful with The Fires of Heaven though. Robert Jordan has written a book with the exact same name, and he can probably afford some kickass laywers.
Not to mention that there isn't even a drop of similarity between the two books (his and mine). That also frees me from any such violations.
As an addendum to the above list, I forgot to mention the
errata sheet, which will also be going up with the player aids.
Jake
hey, i had a question about the master screen...
well the tri fold thing listed over at... i think citizingames (or something like that) shows room for 6 pages... well only 1 of the pages from the master screen thing is a pic (im currently downloading the other pics).. thats 5 pages of info... im guessing at least 2 pages would go on the outside?
or do you know if they have the D20 style screens..... that have 4 panels, and room for 8 pages... i looked for some stuff, but they seemed to only have the tri fold, and they were out of stock
I personally put the 2 sorcery pages on the outside of mine, so that PC sorcerers can get to it quick. I also tend to use mine as a quick reference more than a screen, as I generally have nothing to hide behind the screen (rolling my dice in public, for example, scares the hell out of players 'cause they know I can't cheat).
AFAIK, they only come in 3-panel version.
Oh, and we have a new masterscreen download that'll be up soon, and which is about 3 Meg smaller.
Jake
that'd be nice...lol, course i still havent finished the extra pictures thing... good thing im using getright
i just hope they hjave some screens soon, im probably going to get one fairly quickly....
i also dont use them to hide my dice, i tend to use them alot for quick reference, especially for things that are a pain to find.... like finding the poison saves, for d20 games.....lol
or the amount of damage a peice of paper can take before it croaks.....lol
Update:
The QS Rules are done. We're having some idiotic problems with Adobe and the Fonts that's slowing us down, but if we fix that the final thing (version 1.0) will be up tonight or tomorrow. Hurrah.
Jake
what exactly does QS mean?
Quote from: prophet118what exactly does QS mean?
Quickstart. Abbreviated version of the main rules that work basically as a teaser to get people interested in/hooked on the main product. Also useful as sort of a "training wheels" for the full-out system.
Looking forward to seeing these myself. :)
i shoulda figured thats what it meant...lol
well hopefully it does help get people addicted....lol
Just added:
*Brian's updated Combat Sim
*Gene Ha's groovy condensed damage tables and his maneuver cheat cards*Stephen Barringer's excellent QuickStart Rules
*Mark Winkleman's Errata with my notes.
Go to www.theriddleofsteel.net/support
Jake
Hey Jake,
Were you going to put my damage table reference program up there too?
Just curious.
Brian.
Brian-
I will after the break. Forgot about that one...
Jake
Quote from: Jake Norwood
6) The Flower of Battle - Summer, guys...summer.
sigh... Ive been waiting for that since I first saw the game.. Now I have to wait even longer? :)
Yeah...
it's like this:
TROS is doing well sales-wise and compared to the industry (yay)
But the industry isn't doing that well, and not all of our customers pay on time (go figure)
So there's a lull in budget for expansion. TFOB is also going to be a *big* book, which means not cheap, hence the weight. I could get it out sooner, but it would be crap.
OBAM *is* really cool, though.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodOBAM *is* really cool, though.
Jake
When is this supposed to be out Jake?
Quote from: Jake NorwoodOBAM *is* really cool, though.
Jake
Speaking as one of those fortunate enough to have seen it, I think it's the best book I have ever read ;-)
Brian (that's a winking smiley, if case you didn't know).
OBAM will be out around Early April, although maybe not in stores until a tad later. We'll see...
Jake
Jasper's written a spreadsheet-based CharGen assistant. It requires MS Excel to use, and it's pretty cool. Check it out.
www.theriddleofsteel.net/support
Jake,
Any further thoughts on releasing any of the rules on PDF? If OBAM iscoming out in early April I'm in Australia and not likely to see it until June. Thats another six months! Not to mention the other two books. what can I say, I'm exicted about the game, am playing it but don't want to wait.
Now this is just a thought but with regards to the pdf this is what I was thinking. Maybe something along the lines of an advanced order. We pay you for a copy of the game at whatever the retail price is plus postage as well as a little extra for the pdf. Now this would mean I'd get the rules now, you'd get the money now and then you'd send me a copy of the printed book once it's published.
Anyway there is no harm in asking :).
Aaron.
Aaron,
If you order the book when it comes out (either from Jake or from one of the online places), you'll have it just a couple of weeks later. There's no need to have to wait for it to hit your local shops.
Brian.
Quote from: Brian LeybourneAaron,
If you order the book when it comes out (either from Jake or from one of the online places), you'll have it just a couple of weeks later. There's no need to have to wait for it to hit your local shops.
Brian.
Thats true but its still a 4 month wait then huh Brian? I'm guessing you don't think much of my idea, and thats fine, it was afterall just a thought from a fan. I just dont like the idea that much that rules and info that will greatly enhance my playing experince exist but I have to wait 4+ months before I can see it.. Thats 8 or 9 gaming session that miss out. i'm afraid i'm just a product of the instant culture mentallity!!! hahaha..
Aaron.
Quote from: AaronThats true but its still a 4 month wait then huh Brian? I'm guessing you don't think much of my idea, and thats fine, it was afterall just a thought from a fan.
I wasn't trying to insult you or anything Aaron. And yeah, I can understand where you're coming from, also being a fanboy. I was just pointing out that you'll only get it a little later than everyone else.
Plus, Jakes said once or twice that he may consider selling it online as soon as it comes back from the printers, even before he ships it off to shops and distributors. I don't know if that's still on the books etc, just something he mentioned that he was thinking of.
As for PDF, I would think that the size of just the appendix (30 MB!) of the first book on the web page would have put you off :-)
Brian.
p.s: Would it make you
really jealous if I mentioned I was reading through OBAM just a few minutes ago? Sorry, couldn't resist - you being an Aussie and all :-)
No insult taken Brian. As I said it was just a thought...
Quote from: Brian Leybourne
p.s: Would it make you really jealous if I mentioned I was reading through OBAM just a few minutes ago? Sorry, couldn't resist - you being an Aussie and all :-)
New Zealand isnt a big place to hide Brian.........Sleep well.....See you soon...?
All the best
Aaron..
I have *finally* added Brian Leybourne's truly awesome Damage Table program (holy crap, Brian--I hadn't even compiled it until today, I've been so busy...this program rocks!).
It's a must-have for TROS fans.
http://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support
Jake
Aw man, now my heads too swollen to fit through my office door :-)
Seriously though, it's just something I knocked up because I thought it would be useful for ME, only afterwards thinking about tidying it up for the webpage. I find it bloody useful, but of course it's of limited application unless you're a GM who has a PC or laptop nearby while running a game, as I like to.
The most difficult part was calculating mouse zones so that the program would know what zone you were pointing at on the picture. It turns out that it was good experience though, because I was able to use that newly learned skill to good use in the charafcter generator I've been (slowly) working on - instead of just typing in your nationality, it brings up the map of Weyrth and you can mouse-over the picture, seeing information about each country as your pointer touches it, and then you just click on your selection. It's pretty cool really :-)
Don't know when it'll be finished though.
Brian.
That sounds damn cool, Brian. We oughtta put all this stuff on a CD one of these days and send the proceeds to ya.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodWe oughtta put all this stuff on a CD one of these days and send the proceeds to ya.
Jake
Any chance of doing that? And for thsoe expensive to publish books too? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd buy a pdf/CD and a hardcopy. That way i can use it on the laptop, and have something for the players to look through.
Simon
By the way, just grabbed the TROS quick start. Excellent work, and it certainly did its job. Once the budget loosens up, I'll be ordering a copy of the full meal deal.
Best,
Blake
There is now a d10 die-pool probability calcluator, courtesy of Tony Hamilty (Durgil), a www.theriddleofsteel.net/support
Jake
There's more new stuff on the Page.
(1) There's a QuickStart Character Sheet by Richard Fortuna [tunaman9000@yahoo.com] up now at www.theriddleofsteel.net/support
and
(2) There's the early draft of my current Pet Project, La Famiglia, up for viewing as well. It's not currently linked anywhere on the site, so go straight to it at //www.theriddleofsteel.net/otherstuff/lafamiglia.htm
There's a discussion going about it in the Indie Game Design forum.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5284
Jake
Quote from: Jake Norwood(2) There's the early draft of my current Pet Project, La Famiglia, up for viewing as well. It's not currently linked anywhere on the site, so go straight to it at //www.theriddleofsteel.net/otherstuff/lafamiglia.htm
Hey Jake. I tried to take a look at
La Famiglia, but no good.. I keep getting an error message.
Gah...damn site...
I posted it in full on the thread in indie game design.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodGah...damn site...
I posted it in full on the thread in indie game design.
Jake
Thanks Jake!
We updated the Character sheet download to match what's in the book, and replaced the Sorcerer's reference sheet with Ben Moore's more functional one.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodWe updated the Character sheet download to match what's in the book, and replaced the Sorcerer's reference sheet with Ben Moore's more functional one.
Jake
Cool, thanks.
So is OBAM still on track for early April?
Quote from: Jake NorwoodWe updated the Character sheet download to match what's in the book, and replaced the Sorcerer's reference sheet with Ben Moore's more functional one.
Hey Jake, you uploaded the wrong ones. I just emailed the newest ones to you so you don't have to hunt around for them.
Doh! That's so me...
Jake
J'ai returné.
So, what's this I hear about OBaM coming out as an early birthday gift for me? How thoughtful! You really shouldn't have...
Quote from: WolfenSo, what's this I hear about OBaM coming out as an early birthday gift for me? How thoughtful! You really shouldn't have...
Believe me, Lance,
nobody is more keenly awaiting this book than me :-)
And welcome back.
Brian.
Of beasts & Men- is a pdf version going to be released, or just a hardcover?
And any sort of a release date?
Here's the current schedule. OBAM is released in print 4 months from right now. I know I've been saying that for a while, but next week I tell the distributors so, and so it *has* to be true. In truth, though, I'll make the print version available on-line as soon as I have them in my hands--that'll be much sooner. It will probably be paperpack.
The PDF version...I'll have that out in April, I believe.
Jake
That reminds me, on the cover of OBaM.. Did you decide to go with the awesome border effects (so that the picture looks like you're looking into a crystal or some such) that you have for TRoS-main and the cover art for SatF? I really hope so. Unity of design like that really brings something to a line of products, in my opinion.
while it's never too late to change it to the crystal effect, we actually dropped it for a number of reasons on this cover.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodHere's the current schedule. OBAM is released in print 4 months from right now. I know I've been saying that for a while, but next week I tell the distributors so, and so it *has* to be true. In truth, though, I'll make the print version available on-line as soon as I have them in my hands--that'll be much sooner. It will probably be paperpack.
The PDF version...I'll have that out in April, I believe.
Jake
Egads Man! July? That is crazy talk. Well guess OBAM will be a B-Day present for my wife. So I take it SATF and TFOB are pushed back in turn?
Well...yeah. I'm still planning on One of the next 2 supps out near the end of summer. The problem is 1st money and 2nd time. I have really limited (or negative, even) supplies of both. It's not lack of desire or of things to write, I assure you!
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodHere's the current schedule. OBAM is released in print 4 months from right now. I know I've been saying that for a while, but next week I tell the distributors so, and so it *has* to be true. In truth, though, I'll make the print version available on-line as soon as I have them in my hands--that'll be much sooner. It will probably be paperpack.
The PDF version...I'll have that out in April, I believe.
Jake
Looks like April is going to be a good month.. Can't wait!
Chris
April is going to be an expensive month, for me.
Good, too, mind you... but gah
Quote from: Jake NorwoodWell...yeah. I'm still planning on One of the next 2 supps out near the end of summer. The problem is 1st money and 2nd time. I have really limited (or negative, even) supplies of both. It's not lack of desire or of things to write, I assure you!
Jake
Still the thing with not getting all the money from the distributors eh? I mean TROS obviously sold well, we are all a testament to that :)
Yeah...the whole industry is really a mess. I'm treading water (as I think all of the "successful" companies are), but I'm not gonna be crossing the channel anytime soon.
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodYeah...the whole industry is really a mess. I'm treading water (as I think all of the "successful" companies are), but I'm not gonna be crossing the channel anytime soon.
Jake
That is unfortunate, but I am glad you are still treading and not sinking :)
Just keep doggie paddling, and imagine the day when you'll actually be able to live off of Driftwood Productions, and all that training as a linguist can just be a hobby.
Quote from: Jake NorwoodYeah...the whole industry is really a mess. I'm treading water (as I think all of the "successful" companies are), but I'm not gonna be crossing the channel anytime soon.
Jake
Anything we can do about that. I'm not exactly going to buy another main book, and in my gaming group the culture is to only have one copy of anything (just seems to happen that way).
That being said, after the effect the main book had on me, I do feel I owe it to myself to own OBAM as well. But beyond this?
I was thinking of going to my gaming store with a 'Customer recommendation', ie a very small note on the good points of TROS, so they could put that near the books to attract more attention to it (it means sales for them, too). But I'm sure they'd ask why am I doing it, whats in it for me? 'Uh, because I'm a big dork that liked this indie book and want it to be bigger?' sounds kind of weak.
Quote from: NoonAnything we can do about that
TROS is already doing pretty well. Unfortunately, it's doing pretty well
for an RPG (an Indie RPG at that) and the RPG industry has sucked since the mid 80's boom. The D20 thing has re-energised the industry a bit, but what it has really allowed is a lot of publishers to peddle a lot of crap (which would otherwise have never seen the light of day) which sells really well because it has the D20 logo on it. There's going to be a backlash, and soon. It's also not doing a lot for non D20 stuff. That's all IMO of course.
If you're serious about helping (and this applies to all of ya, of course), then probably the best thing you could do is to approach your FLGS and offer to run a demo game or two. Most stores are really happy to let you do this, because it gets foot traffic into their store, and while people are there they're more likely to spend money because they spot something they like. It's good for TROS because hopefully the players and the people who just happen to be in the store at the time who see you playing will all like the game/be interested enough to buy copies of the book. This gets TROS more into peoples minds, and so on. Everyone wins. This is 1000% more likely to sell copies of the book than people seeing it sitting on the shelf along with 300 other RPG books, even with a written recommendation from a fan attached (although that couldn't hurt, admittedly).
Essentially, it's the old "you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on..." thing. If people are seeing other people enjoying TROS then they're thinking about it. If they're thinking about TROS, they're (hopefully) interested in it. If they're interested in TROS, they're playing it and telling their friends, and then Jake gets rich and gets to retire and have bikini vixens suck his toes.
[Less serious mode]
Also, you should all buy 2+ copies of OBAM each and tell Jake how fantastic it is and that he should get me to write more books
[/Less serious mode]
Brian.
Quote[Less serious mode]
Also, you should all buy 2+ copies of OBAM each and tell Jake how fantastic it is and that he should get me to write more books
[/Less serious mode]
If its half as good as you keep teasing us it is, I will. Heck I have to do something to keep my 2 copies of the core book company.
Quote from: ValamirIf its half as good as you keep teasing us it is, I will. Heck I have to do something to keep my 2 copies of the core book company.
Heh.. actually, I only ever said that
I thought it was fantastic, which is hardly surprising since I wrote it (well, most of it).
Is it really any good? You'll all have to be the judge of that. I fucking hope so. I can't wait for/am deadly afraid of the eventual consensus when you guys finally see it. :-)
Brian.
I wasn't sure I was going to buy it, but after looking at some of the artwork and hearing some of the cool stuff that's in there...well now I just have to buy it. I really can't wait to try the pack rules out on some players.
Ive seen some of brians work, its good, should be fun.
Hey y'all. I'll be posting some of the artwork on the website this week if you nag me about it. It's *good.*
Jake
Quote from: Jake NorwoodHey y'all. I'll be posting some of the artwork on the website this week if you nag me about it. It's *good.*
Jake
I vote you put up some of the artwork I didn't already see :-)
Brian.
Hey, I'm a senechal for the riddle of steel, and this is the first time visiting this forum. Does anybody know when the "Of Beasts and Men", and "Sorcery and the Fey" is supposed to be out? I can't seem to find any info. Gen Info: I love the system and so do my players.
Quote from: kakitaryouHey, I'm a senechal for the riddle of steel, and this is the first time visiting this forum. Does anybody know when the "Of Beasts and Men", and "Sorcery and the Fey" is supposed to be out? I can't seem to find any info. Gen Info: I love the system and so do my players.
Uh.. try reading this thread and it'll tell you about OBAM anyway :-)
SATF has been delayed for a while, and is likely to come out in two separate parts next year.
Brian.
Quote from: kakitaryouHey, I'm a senechal for the riddle of steel, and this is the first time visiting this forum. Does anybody know when the "Of Beasts and Men", and "Sorcery and the Fey" is supposed to be out? I can't seem to find any info. Gen Info: I love the system and so do my players.
OBAM: June 3rd. SATF...got me. TFOB will be out sooner, though. This year (fall mabye?), if I have my way (which I never do...).
Jake
Ah damn, sorry, my bad. When I said "try reading this thread" I though you had posted in the OBAM thread, not the general progress report thread.
What can I say, I'm an idiot. :-)
Welcome to the forum. Don't take my example as gospel, most of the folk around here are not as thick as me...
Brian.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm actually rather thin. And I imagine Jake's got a fairly athletic build as well, being a swordsman and all.
...err, and welcome to the Forum.
Thanks for the info Jake. I'll wait as patiently as humanly possible or as a two year old with ADD.
Quote from: Brian LeybourneQuote from: NoonAnything we can do about that
TROS is already doing pretty well. Unfortunately, it's doing pretty well for an RPG (an Indie RPG at that) and the RPG industry has sucked since the mid 80's boom. The D20 thing has re-energised the industry a bit, but what it has really allowed is a lot of publishers to peddle a lot of crap (which would otherwise have never seen the light of day) which sells really well because it has the D20 logo on it. There's going to be a backlash, and soon. It's also not doing a lot for non D20 stuff. That's all IMO of course.
For what it's worth, I stopped playing RPGs for years (since I was a kid) and was re-introduced through D&D 3e. After research for a bit and reading the QS and the boards here, I went out and bought TROS today because I've been looking for something to address some of the numerous shortcomings of d20. I know, anecdotally, that other people came back to gaming through 3e as well. Perhaps d20 does serve as a "gateway drug" to at least a small number of people?
Well, if that's the case then hopefully they don't waste too much time/money on 3e before they learn about the wide world of actually really good RPG's out there (not only TROS, but TROS certainly included).
And welcome to the forum.
Brian.
Thanks for the welcome Brian. I'm going to get back to reading the book now. The next phase in my evil plan is to convert the rest of the gaming group... ;)