Cursed Empire - Q & A's on game design

[leonidas300]

Dear members and guests,

I'm posting to answer questions people may have on the Cursed Empire game as well as provide any assistance to other people out there who wish to get their own game in print and market it.

This is following a great deal of trial and error I can assure you!

Chris

[Luke]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for stopping by and offering to share your experiences. I recommend that you pop into this forum, Actual Play and even Conventions and look for threads with in questions or queries that you feel qualified to answer.

Folks are always stopping by with inquiries about self-publishing rpgs and I'm sure you could offer some good advice.

-Luke

[Polaris]

Greetings,

Thank you very much for your willingness to share...:)

I will be first to ask a few questions...

1.  So we all have a point of reference, what is Cursed Empire?  Is it a card game, board game, RPG...?

2.  How much of it did you do in house (as compared to hiring freelancers for it)?

3.  Did you have experience in the RPG industry prior to trying to self-publish (can an outsider from the industry do what you did)?

4.  When you designed the Cursed Empire was it designed with marketability in mind, or is this mostly the publishing of a game/campaign that your gaming group plays?

Rather than this coming across as 20 questions, I will let you answer these.  I will undoubtedly have more, and I hope that others get as much benefit out of this as I.

Sincerely,
William Andersen
ComStar
http://www.comstar-games.com
http://www.comstar-media.com

[leonidas300]

Hi William,

sorry I haven't got back any earlier, here we go:

1.  So we all have a point of reference, what is Cursed Empire?  Is it a card game, board game, RPG...?

Ok Cursed Empire is a brutal dark heroic fantasy roleplaying game set in a world torn apart by civil war.

2.  How much of it did you do in house (as compared to hiring freelancers for it)?

The 1st books were done 95% by me but current books are a 50% freelancer, 50% me publication. The range has drawn some excellent new talent in and some people are better at some things than others (there are currently 9 books in print: 4 x 1s Ed and 5 x 2nd Ed with 2 more 2nd Ed coming out)

3.  Did you have experience in the RPG industry prior to trying to self-publish (can an outsider from the industry do what you did)?

I think that an outsider can as long as they do their homework and get advice/feedback from a broad enough spectrum of people. I am a gamer at heart but in fact stopped the hobby for 10 years then came back into it with my game.

4.  When you designed the Cursed Empire was it designed with marketability in mind, or is this mostly the publishing of a game/campaign that your gaming group plays?

Marketability really came in with the 2nd book and very much so with the 2n Edition products. 1st edition has a real indie feel to it with fan art etc. this has had a qwerky appeal but prduction values had to be raised considerably to compete on a book shelf in some remote hobby shop. The game is non D20 and has a very strong theme to it and its own image and brand through the design and art.

Well there we are, I've hopefully got this started.

Chris

[Judd]

1. What's your spheel?  What do you tell gamers when they stop by your booth and ask what makes your game special?  Has that shpeel changed since first edition?

2.  Do you have a demo?  If so, what is it and if not, why not?

3.  What was the process of making the game?  Was it your homebrew for years and you decided to give it a go, did it start as a commercial venture?

[leonidas300]

Here we go, sorry for the delay.

1. What's your spheel?  What do you tell gamers when they stop by your booth and ask what makes your game special?  Has that shpeel changed since first edition?

Ok, the main concept is as follows: Cursed Empire is a dark and brutal heroic fantasy RPG - what the hell does that mean? Well that the setting is gritty, gothic at times with subtle undertones of the heroic era of Ancient Greece. Combat is designed to be graphic and versatile (weaker foes can vanquish stronger opponents, much stronger ones at times) as well as being pretty damn deadly. I always find that this promotes roleplaying over pure hack and slash. You can hack but you can get slashed! The game itself opposes waring factions/guilds/orders of a fallen empire with over 85 different ones to choose from from the 5 books currently in print. Through the Points of Renown (PR) system, players are encouraged to roleplay heroically if they wish to gain fame and glory, some players may prefer to skulk in the shadows and as such not care about renown. This is a great double-edged sword as the higher the renown, the higher you end up on the hit list but the more glory and support/sponsorship you get from you temple/faction etc. Magic is unique with the optional Rune Cards that canm be used for bluffing spell power and real time spell casting, whatsmore players can create their own spells through research or on the fly. I can detail this further if required. The setting is oppressing and grim with the old orders trying to maintain the old code of the Empire and new power hungry brutal organisations after the scalp of their foes. It is not rare to see imperial knights wearing their forefathers armour (circa 300 BC technology) against hardened southerners wearing 12th Century armour. This is a game of oppositions and contradictions. Creatures get their own back as they become components of myth and legend again, they are much deadlier than other games which makes their encounters all the more rewarding. I have had tremendous feedback on this as players fear the loss of their character once more.The main foes a player will meet are other similar characters. Finally, the Darkun is my personal favourite as they are designed to go with a bang. they are religious death commandos who only crave the glory of their faction. Players who choose to generate these characters will send them to certain death. Their life expectancy is 23 for a human. The PR awarded goes to the temple so MT's (Master of Tales) can assign a certain number of these PR to a new character from the same cult. Players end up progressing a faction through a series of characters and NOT an individual character as opposed to a knight for example. They are deadly assassins who break and make the rules and have to join one of the 11 subfactions who also don't get on amongst themselves although suuposed allies against the Empire...lots of fun there: a common mission: use other darkuns to complete the mission them slay them if they oppose your ideals!

2.  Do you have a demo?  If so, what is it and if not, why not?

The best demos we can do are actually playing the game. The conversion rate is 7/10, i.e. 7/10 people will purchase the game after having played it. However I am planning a demo pdf to assist in getting the flavour for this.

3.  What was the process of making the game?  Was it your homebrew for years and you decided to give it a go, did it start as a commercial venture?

The game used to be home brew and my pals (over 20 playtesters) always said that I should market it. This is a serious commercial venture even if I do this part time, with over 20 cons attended in 4 different countries, 4 1st Ed books out, 5 2nd Ed books out (the Thargos Atlas is due out in weeks) and a graphic novel out next week (Blood of Heroes) which doubles up as a supplement with full stats of the main characters. There are also over 40 minis in the range.

Hope this has been useful.

Chris