Trollbabe on Lulu?

[Yokiboy]

Hello Ron,

I would love a book of Trollbabe. Unfortunately, living in Sweden, it's not as simple as taking my PDF down to the local Kinkos and having it printed and bound. Why not make it available on Lulu.com in its current state?

TTFN,

Yoki

[Ron Edwards]

(Disclosure: Yoki asked me this already by PM, and I figured it was a topic of general interest and asked him to re-post it here.)

I've wanted to revise Trollbabe for about three years. It needs a re-write, with a little bit more hand-holding. There have been a number of stall-outs, ranging from others accomplishing the same goals with other games, to other priorities (e.g. the Ronnies for a while), and a general distrust on my part about the way indie-design culture was going in 2005-2006.

It also needs a new layout, which Matt and I discussed a couple of years ago; the current one is great for the PDF but a book will need a bit of shifting. I'd like some more illustrations, some of which Ed Heil provided, geez, three years ago I guess. I think the cover is fine the way it is. Unusually for me, I think the traditional full-page size is appropriate for the game, but I'm not sure how thick it'll end up being. I'll probably include a couple of the more straightforward comic strips, with the artists' permission.

Anyway, all of this donkey-work is a lot of No Fun, and the project has been bumped to third place at least five times. Even though I know it'd be a pretty good seller. Also, Lulu is a sweet deal compared with my options four years ago, and well-suited to Trollbabe as opposed to, say, Mutual Decision.

At the moment, I'm a bit more positive about it in my mind, because I think the merits of the game are still relevant to game design culture. Those of you who were around in 2002-2003 know that Trollbabe was one of the most influential designs of its time, helping to inspire Dogs most obviously, but also PTA, The Shadow of Yesterday, and others. I'm convinced that the inspiration isn't carrying through to the next generation of games inspired by those, so if I can bring out whatever it was in Trollbabe that hit readers and players so hard, then it can be a really powerful new text.

So the chances for a new Trollbabe are high this year. I will say this: please don't try to reassure or prompt me; I am a stubborn fuck and dislike encouragement of that kind, however well-meant. That's one reason I'm not going to do a ransom-type or pre-order deal, which is not a criticism of those tactics, but an acknowledgment that they don't work for me.

I appreciate the inquiry, though, Yoki - you may have provided just the right level of interest at the right time to get me moving.

Best, Ron

[Yokiboy]

Yes, I had already PM'ed Ron this question. Which made posting it here feel a bit odd, as I already knew the answer. I can compare it to our first attempt at using Kickers, when we actually played out the Kicker in full, as if following a script, rather than commence play where the Kicker left off. Surreal.

Alright, so the current PDF layout is not conductive for a book version. From your PM I thought that perhaps the need for new art meant that you had lost the rights to use the original art, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks for the answer Ron,

Yoki

[GreatWolf]

Yay!  Cool news!

Now I will proceed to ignore you so that you will finish this.  <big cheesy grin>

(BTW, I can empathize with the No Fun part.  Completely.)