Super Deluxe Sorcerer edition?

[quozl]

I'm just wondering if you'll ever do a new edition of Sorcerer, written more for the mainstream, and maybe combined with your supplements.

With all the talk about mainstream lately, I was wondering if you had something in mind for your flagship product.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jon,

Nah, I think Sorcerer will probably always be its little self as is, with the body of support material on the internet as a kind of secondary text. I moved on to Trollbabe for the game that's intended to be the "get it got it play" one.

I like the idea of a making a few more helpful PDFs, like a rewrite of the Apprentice and a Combat Monster booklet, and maybe a few How-to-Play's like the Art-Deco melodrama trimmed down a bit.

One of the most overriding reasons for this, bluntly, is cost. Adept Press just beggared itself with the cost of the second printing, to the extent that the third supplement just became vaporware (I plan to fix that, but as of yesterday, that was the status). I'm a little guy with a little company, and I tend to think next-step for sure, and possible-steps beyond that, and not at all beyond that.

Best,
Ron

[Seth L. Blumberg]

the third supplement just became vaporware

Gaah! Say it ain't so!

I plan to fix that

Fix quickly, man.  You're breaking my heart here.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Seth,

I'm trying, but $4200 off the top from the poor li'l Adept Press business account is a hell of a meaty chunk. I'd planned for this to happen completely in the absence of other publications, which was a good plan, and I might have to stick to it.

Possible solutions include:

- Good money on the reprint sales, which will finance the third supplement's printing without pain - but this would certainly push the publication date later into 2003 (I see the money way later than you might think, when we're talking about bookstore sales)

- Going for PDF with the third supplement for a while, just as with the others

Best,
Ron

[GreatWolf]

Ron, I feel your pain on the financial side.  Really.

I do think that a PDF "How to play" guide is a GREAT idea, especially if it included a pregenerated relationship map and characters.  The entire text of the guide could explain the GM prep work and give the result of that prep.  The section on character creation could give both the characters themselves (including game stats) and explain the logic of why the different choices were made.  In this way, not only are you condensing a lot of your Sorcerer prep guidance into one document, you are also providing a free "campaign" setting.  (I put campaign in quotes, because I know that the average run of Sorcerer doesn't usually extend beyond 6-8 sessions.)  It could be a great resource for starting Sorcerer players and GMs.

And, if done properly, it could even double as the new Apprentice rules.  Include just enough information in this quickstart guide to allow someone to play the given campaign.  This deals with your earlier concern about the old Apprentice rules: namely, that they failed to convey the true essence of Sorcerer.

I don't think that this is a unreasonable project, and I think that such a guide could function as a marketing tool and a beginner's guide simultaneously.  Plus, I'm sure that even the veterans out there could benefit from having all the advice that you've given compiled into one location.

Hopefully these are helpful thoughts.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Fabrice G.]

Hello,

re: third supplement...argghh !  But I fully (well maybe not so fully as I'm way off being a rpg publisher) understand your position about this.

re: what Seth said ...
I think that an introduction on how to prep could be just great. It could serve the new sorcerer gm and the good ol' veterant at the same time. Beside, more than being just for the gm, it would be a nice reading for all the players. A little like what was done in Nobilis, where the sample campain is for all to read.

Take care,

Fabrice.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

If someone would, on the basis of their experience with Sorcerer and pulling from any and all threads here at the Forge, like to write such a play prep document, that would be spiffy.

As for the third supplement hassles, I have been thinking. One of my goals in life is never to feed Adept Press funds from anything but game-related profits, and so it was tricky, but I am a cunning, cunning guy. It looks like Plan A is still on.

Best,
Ron

[Tim Denee]

You haven't sold your body, have you Ron? As much as I want to see the third supplement, I don't think that's the right course.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Tim,

I'm cunning, not desperate. Expect a third print supplement, folks. Nothing to see, move along, move along.

Best,
Ron