So BARBAREN! will be in English, but not self-published

Frank Tarcikowski · January 22, 2010, 06:44:37 PM

Hi there,

Those of you who have been following BARBAREN! might be interested that it's finally going to be published in Engish (the German version was released in October). We are aiming for GenCon right now. We, that's me and my publishing partners. That's right, I'm not self-publishing. I do keep my intellectual property, though. I have licensed my work to the guys of Red Brick Ltd., who are publishing Earthdawn and Fading Suns as well as some smaller titles. They have taken care of editing, layout and illustration, I have authorized the final version. They will also be handling the translation but I will edit it. The actual publishing (printing and distribution) is organized by Red Brick's publishing partners, Prometheus Games in Germany and Mongoose in the US.

I'm not going to go into the details of the deal, but it's a fair one and I still have authority over any content published. Also, I know the guys personally and they do this more for love of the hobby than anything else. So I'm fairly comfortable with the publishing model, the good thing about it being that I didn't have to worry about anything but designing and writing, and did get a very professionally published book (and pretty, too. I sure hope the Pro-Indie line will see some more titles.

I mainly just wanted to share this, questions and comments are welcome. Hope it's a cosher topic for the Forge.

Best, Frank

Ron Edwards · January 22, 2010, 07:47:04 PM

Congratulations! I'm a customer.

Given your choice about publishing, it's perfectly all right to talk about why you chose to do what you did, but once that's established (and any discussion of it is also all right), then Barbaren posting should stay confined to Actual Play. Which I expect to see!

Best, Ron

Eero Tuovinen · January 22, 2010, 08:02:31 PM

That's quite excellent. I'll have to make a point of getting some copies of the game to retail around here, if possible.

I know you said that you're not going to go into the details of your contract, but that is the interesting part here. Specifically, I'm interested in the contract language over copyrights assigned to the publisher to make the publication possible. The devil is in the details in this sort of thing, after all. For instance, does Redbrick have an authority to reprint freely? Is the contract exclusive? Those are the interesting sort of things, I don't care so much for the monetary settlement you've agreed on.

Also, a question unrelated to the contract specifics: did you go through some sort of vetting/editing process before RedBrick accepted your game for publication? Did somebody read the game and decide that it's good enough for them? Do you have a sense for how high or low their threshold for publishability is right now?

Frank Tarcikowski · January 22, 2010, 09:47:46 PM

Hi Eero,

Being a professional lawyer myself, I'm rather confident I wasn't screwed over, plus, I know these people well and trust them. They can do reprints as they see fit, but I'll profit from those as well. The license to my intellectual property is non-exclusive, but I have no other plans for it anyway. The guys did a ton of good work making an awesome book out of it, so they more than deserve their share.

The game text was edited three times by three different persons. I ran a quick playtest for Dammi (one of the crew) at one point. I've read one of the other two titles, "Spielleiten" (Gamemastering), cover to cover and played the other, Western City, in various phases of playtesting. Forge regulars will find a lot of familiar concepts in those books. I recon they're both pretty good, though I'll have to admit I'm not entirely impartial here.

- Frank

Eero Tuovinen · January 23, 2010, 12:03:49 PM

I didn't think that you'd be screwed over, I was just curious about the exact nature of the partnership. Sounds good to me, akin to what you might expect in mainstream book publishing. Let's hope the game finds an audience!

Frank Tarcikowski · January 25, 2010, 05:31:03 PM

The German version has been selling quite well so far, for a hippie game. I've got two long reviews on websites and one in a fanzine, all of them full of praise, which by German standards isn't bad at all. Some of this is surely owed to having a professional publisher (as professional as they get over here, anyway). I guess a few adds in some Mongoose titles won't hurt either.

One thing just occurred to me: Is there a problem with the artwork in the US? It's got some bare breasts, severed heads and other distastefulness. I am very proud!

- Frank

Tim C Koppang · February 02, 2010, 04:15:40 AM

Quote from: Frank Tarcikowski on January 25, 2010, 05:31:03 PM
One thing just occurred to me: Is there a problem with the artwork in the US? It's got some bare breasts, severed heads and other distastefulness. I am very proud!

You should be! Will you run into some conservative types who won't buy the game because of the boobs and blood? Sure. But you'll also have an audience looking for just such "distastefulness." It all depends on your target audience. For example, I don't think the cover is any more risque than some other games out there.

Frank Tarcikowski · February 13, 2010, 08:25:57 PM

Yeah sure, that's just like in Germany. However, my European bias made me wonder whether there might be an Anti-Nipple-Law in America, or some such.

- Frank

Emily Care · March 10, 2010, 05:22:17 PM

Congratulations, Frank! I look forward to seeing the game, and hope the collaboration goes well for you. I think the Anti-Nipple Law got repealed at some point, but keeps being enforced by social pressure.

KeithBVaughn · May 01, 2010, 08:25:20 PM

Hi Frank, I won't be hitting gen con this year (poor economy and 3 years of horrid personal and professional luck.) I helped on the current edition of "Barbarians of Lemuria" by Simon Washbourne. Right now BoL has been picked up by Cubical 7. It's a Sword & Sorcery game and I'd recommend checking it out for the inevitable "compare and contrast" sales job you may have to do for potential customers.

The current edition of BoL has a french artist so boobs are there, not much blood though. Be sure to let us know where to buy an english edition when "Barbaren" comes out.

Good Luck, Keith

Frank Tarcikowski · May 04, 2010, 03:52:24 PM

Hi Keith, sure I've heard of Barbarians of Lemuria, I'm being told it's a classic. Haven't read or played it, though.

Actually GenCon 2010 is off the table for Barbaren because the translator did not deliver and doesn't reply to emails. Such is life. I'm glad I'm not in charge of this whole publishing stuff. If I was, it would never get done.

Best, Frank