Alyria announcement

[GreatWolf]

(reposted from the Gaming Outpost for those of you without access)

Okay, here is the promised Alyria announcement. Actually, this encompasses the future of Alyria production, so here goes.

Item 1: As I look to the future, I anticipate wrapping up the Dreaming Out Loud column around the end of October. There are several reasons for this, but the most important being that I will have said just about everything that I want to say by that point, and I don't want to waste your or my time yammering when I could be doing something more productive. Actually, that leads well into Item 2.

Item 2: Once the Dreaming Out Loud column wraps, I plan to begin working on the manuscript for Alyria. The entire column means squat if a real live game doesn't show up at some point. :smile: However, due to anticipated production costs, personal time constraints, etc. I do not anticipate a final hardcopy product until the end of 2002 at the earliest. This is just too long for any of us. This, therefore, leads to Item 3.

Item 3: I plan to write the Alyria manuscript in sections, beginning with the rules and then continuing on to detail the various setting elements. As I complete a section, I will release it to the Gaming Library. They won't be pretty, but they will be fully functional, not just "demo" rules. As a matter of fact, I would hope to have the rules beta up and ready to go no later than January. (This depends on how smoothly production goes for Sugar & Spice, BTW.) In this way, I hope to accomplish a few things:

--ensure that a timetable is set for the continued production of the game (therefore ensuring that it gets DONE)

--gain playtest feedback on the product from those who have followed the game's development

--try to catch dumb errors BEFORE going to press, thus ensuring a higher quality product when completed

Any questions?

[Paul Czege]

As I complete a section, I will release it to the Gaming Library. They won't be pretty, but they will be fully functional, not just "demo" rules. As a matter of fact, I would hope to have the rules beta up and ready to go no later than January.

Sounds awesome. I'm warming up my moon dice.

Paul

[Ron Edwards]

Seth,

Excellent! This is just what I've been hoping for.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Yep, thanks, Seth, for putting the information here. I for one find it much easier to get at here.

Oh, and thanks for the stories. I hadn't seen those yet. Really superb stuff. You keep whetting our appetities; can't wait for the actual game.

One thing I worry about some is how I'm going to keep all the poetry you put in the setting into play when I finally do get to run it. I'm really not sure if I'll be able to do it justice.

:smile:

Mike

[GreatWolf]

On 2001-08-30 17:41, Mike Holmes wrote:
Yep, thanks, Seth, for putting the information here. I for one find it much easier to get at here.

Oh, and thanks for the stories. I hadn't seen those yet. Really superb stuff. You keep whetting our appetities; can't wait for the actual game.

Thank you.  Glad that it is of assistance.  :smile:

One thing I worry about some is how I'm going to keep all the poetry you put in the setting into play when I finally do get to run it. I'm really not sure if I'll be able to do it justice.

Just the other day I reread http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/03/23/wizards/print.html">John Tynes' article on the rise and fall of Wizards of the Coast at Salon.com.  Everway was mentioned (in part two) and Daniel Gelon was quoted as saying, "It'd be a great game if we could pack Jonathan Tweet or John Tynes into every box to actually run it for people."

I'm hoping to avoid that problem.  :grin:  Here's hoping that I can pull it off.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey Seth,

I consider Gelon's comment to be a total cop-out. If Everway had been written to facilitate successful play, instead of appealing to New Age googly-moogly ...
If it had not been grossly over-produced such that it cost $40 ... If WotC had not dropped all promotion and support of the game in favor of its newfound candy (Magic) ...

Then, vagaries of the distribution chain aside, Everway would now be one of the most cherished and popular RPGs (for players, never mind anyone else), much like Amber or Marvel Super Heroes.

People always blame the creators or the audience when a product's design and distribution are badly handled.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Seth,

I think that my earlier comment may have been out of line. That is to say that I think that given the distribution of authorial/directorial power as you've designed it (or at least as you ran it at Origins) that I don't have to worry as GM. The real question will be whether or not the players will go with the flow. You'd mentioned something about a chapter that delineated this stuff, but what about players who just aren't any good at making stuff up. I've got a few of 'em, and I worry that they won't be able to get the idea of making up plot, other than may be obvious from your setup map method (even that might be precarious). Is this game not for those players, or will there be some method included to try and hook those players into all the neat Alyria stuff? Or is that a GM responsibility.

That'd be an interesting perspective. Give almost all directorial power to the players and leave the GM as a sort of coach to help the players on their way. Is that what you're after?

Mike