[My Idea] An update my Periodical RPG model

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I'm working on a new model for releasing RPG's.  It all came about thanks to the Ronny contest last year.  So, thought I'd give you guys an update on DL-Quarterly.  If you haven't read my first post on this, you can check it out here.  I'm going to break this post up into three parts: Setbacks, Milestones, and Looking Ahead.

Setbacks:

As with anyone who's gone through the RPG production process, there's always something unforeseen that happens to foul things up.  For some it can be a natural disaster (like a hurricane).  For others it can be the loss of a job, a divorce, or a move.  For me, it was a computer virus.  Somehow, I got a really nasty virus while downloading a patch for Adobe Reader.  Within hours my hard drive was filled with spyware and advertisements of every sort.  There was no choice to replace and reload windows.  My anti-virus software couldn't do anything.  The process of fixing it is taking longer than I'd like, but it will eventually get cleared up.  It's definitely slowed me down and prevented me from updating my website.

Milestones:

I have a couple milestones to report.  My printer contacted me and said I'd have the proofs by Tuesday (I actually expect them on Thursday or Friday).  This is great because some miscommunication between us delayed the printing of Cutthroat by two weeks.  I wasn't sure I'd get them any time soon.  But the good news is, if the proofs look good, I'll have my books by the first or second week of December. 

The second milestone concerns subscriptions.  So far I've gotten enough subscriptions to pay for half my first print run.  I'm going small this time (my experience with Ember Twilight has taught me to do that).  So my costs are low.  But I am very happy with the interest I've received and hope to get a few more before the release of the games (which is probably 3-4 weeks away). 

Looking Ahead:

One thing that is still uncertain is how many "back issues" I will sell.  I really haven't had anyone ask me about them, so I can't say if there is any interest.  The cost for a back issue is definitely greater than what the book costs in a subscription, but personally, I'd rather sell subscriptions.  I'll have to see how that goes.

Second, I'm narrowing down the list of games I want to do for the second year of DL-Quarterly.  The release for those games is well over a year away, but in RPG development terms that's not that long.  I hope to line up some really good playtesting for these and I'm really excited about these designs.  I'll make an announcement about the probably in the second quarter of '07.

Finally, I hope to get all the charactersheets for all my games uploaded to the Divine Legacy website as soon as my computer is fixed.  With the games being half size (5.5"x8.5") I think people who play the game will appreciate being able to print off the charactersheets rather than trying to copy them from out of the book.  I would do quickstart rules for the games, except each takes less than 15-20 minutes to set up.  To me, that's pretty darn quick.  But I'll be looking to do what I can.

All feedback on this and inquiries are welcome!  Appreciate you reading :)

Peace,

-Troy

[Ben Lehman]

Troy:

Count me in as one person for back issues.  I'm not interested in getting games-in-general, but I am interested in specific games (Hierarchy and Holmes and Watson).

yrs--
--Ben

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Further Update:  I called my printer today.  I didn't receive my proofs on schedule so I wondered what was up.  The manager said that my cover was the wrong direction on the PDF and that I needed to rotate it 90 degrees so it would print off propperly.  Ugh.  Would have been nice if the emailed or called me with that information.  So...this goes out to all you aspiring game publishers out there, THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS!  Producing a game (especially in print format) is hard work.  Everyone's experience varies, but I don't think there's a single independant publisher out there who'll say it's easy.  Be prepared for setbacks, frustrations, and headaches.  But also for rapture, fulfillment, and pride.  It all goes hand-in-hand.

Peace,

-Troy