Adept Press thoughts and projects for Sorcerer

Ron Edwards · August 09, 2010, 02:29:31 PM

More thoughts.

1. Finnish translation of the annotated version.

2. Annotations to be made available on the website, no charge.

3. Some kind of actual-play emphasis with instant-arrival access on the website.

4. Better links with a focus on independent role-playing publishing, and definitely some help on how to organize a links page so it's fun to visit and not a mess.

5. Art on the website. I need help with this too. I don't have most of the files or originals for the art used in the books.

Best, Ron

Ron Edwards · August 10, 2010, 01:33:36 AM

6. T-shirts. Maybe posters.

7. That cool coin-as-business-card the guy had at GenCon. I liked it a lot. But I'd like to use them in some utterly neat and fun way, and not in some stupid 1990s corporate way like "turn it in for a discount" or that even stupider 2000s way like "your tenth cup of coffee is free because we made a huge killing on your first nine and kept you away from our competitor across the street while pretending to be your friend." Which is less stupid only than the people who participate in it.

8. Little plastic/hard-rubber demon creatures. I have one from decades ago and have no idea who made it or for what; he has no lettering on his ass. I wonder how much he costs to make?

9. Serious in-store promotion, especially at the really good game store in Chicago. Probably regularly, with boot camps.

10. On the website, testimony from well-known gaming names? This is kind of cheesy, but the fact is, at GenCon this year even more than usual, people made a point of coming up to the booth and talking about how Sorcerer changed their role-playing, how the game broke open the design community, et cetera. I'm kind of torn between capitalizing on the "names" who are apparently willing to talk like this without prompting and staying focused on the "we are all gamers here, 'names' are meaningless" mind-set. The latter suits me better and will probably win, but money tempts me too.

10'. Don't try to talk me out of the 'names' thing. That will piss me off and make me want to do it after all. I am my only moral compass, thanks. I'm talking to you, Eero. And Raven. And Darcy. And ...

11. Music. Ages and ages ago, Peter Seckler did an electronic song called "Pig Iron Demon" for Sorcerer. Wish I had a copy. So, that aside, I should talk to Marshall or anyone else who might be interested in putting together an album. My God, this is so 1970s. I will never escape that decade. I even owned that sort-of "rock opera Spider-Man" album which was fucking lame. There was a song on it called "It's Such a Groove to be Free." Not kidding.

Best, Ron

Paiku · August 10, 2010, 03:30:50 AM

Cool, gettin' serious! For #8, check out the wide range of little rubber demon-like things available from Spawn, see if they don't suit your needs.

I love #11! I'm a (very) amateur bass player, and I've written exactly 1.0 songs. I'm sure you can find more capable people to work with, but if I can help at all then do hit me up!

-John

Finarvyn · August 11, 2010, 02:00:26 AM

Quote from: Ron Edwards on August 10, 2010, 01:33:36 AM
6. T-shirts. Maybe posters.

9. Serious in-store promotion, especially at the really good game store in Chicago. Probably regularly, with boot camps.

As to #6, I would love t-shirts. Every time I go to a game convention I make a point of wearing a t-shirt of whatever game I'm "into" the most at the time. I love gaming t-shirts! :-)

As to #9, which is "the really good game store in Chicago"? I'm from the western suburbs and occasionally venture north to a great game store in Mount Prospect, but I don't know where the good stores are in the city.

Ron Edwards · August 11, 2010, 02:16:05 PM

Chicagoland Games, or the "Dice Dojo," 5550 N. Broadway. The owner's name is J.P. and he's totally into showcasing independent games.

We live in the same area. It is stupid not to get together to play games. Send me an email.

Best, Ron

Ron Edwards · August 11, 2010, 05:15:10 PM

Oh holy crow, I keep forgetting to include this one: a mixed drink menu with Sorcerer themed drinks.

For those of you who weren't here back then, the Bartender! will provide some back-story and an amusing read. A few of the suggested drinks in that thread were good, but I'm thinking of running a new thread to arrive at some more concoctions to round it out a little, perhaps to include with a thematically-relevant Sorcerer game-idea/one-sheet.

A meet-up in a bar during GenCon, possibly with a reserved room and a pre-event notification to the bartending staff, might be kind of cool. Perhaps just before the DJA Award party?

Best, Ron

Marshall Burns · August 11, 2010, 06:12:18 PM

Ron,

I am 100% interested in doing Sorcerer music. Give me a call sometime.

-Marshall

Bret Gillan · August 11, 2010, 08:52:30 PM

I love this idea, especially the annotations. Sorcerer is a game I keep revisiting to play and run.

Erik Weissengruber · August 11, 2010, 08:55:08 PM

I make bizzare lo-fi recordings in my basement. Perhaps if a Sorcerer GM wants to have the soundtrack for incipient psychosis, they might be of use.

Banjo derangement
http://www.archive.org/details/HauntedGrandfatherClock_Erock

Dream gone wrong
http://www.archive.org/details/Goatlegs_DrErock

Industrial/acoustic noise
http://www.archive.org/details/Whitenose_DrErock
[I really gotta pull the hiss off of this track]
- the rhythm track was composed of beating heart sounds from a "help your baby sleep" DVD and mp3s of gibbon cries

Erik Weissengruber · August 11, 2010, 08:57:18 PM

Actually, playing Whitenose and Haunted Grandfather at the same time is very disturbing

Motipha · August 11, 2010, 10:21:51 PM

As one of the regulars running Indie games at Chicagoland Games, I totally support the boot camp idea. hell, I know a number of people who are raring to go for Sorceror, but there's just too many games we haven't played at all that need some loving too...

That aside, All of these idea's are great. One of our hosts on the podcast plays/writes black metal, so I'm sure he'd be happy to contribute to a musical album.

All of this sounds awesome. Especially the Finnish translation. And the list of drinks. But mostly the Finnish.

Ron Edwards · August 12, 2010, 02:02:42 AM

I found it! I forgot, this is the internet, and you can go clickety-click and find ~~naked chicks~~ Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Super-Hero! I gaped, I remembered, I cringed, and then I kind of loosened up about it.

This Comics Alliance blog link not only provides reasonable commentary but also three of the songs! If you don't dance in your seat listening to "Spider-Man," you have no soul. The percussion goes really-fast chickita-chickita-chik at one of the breaks, and the chorus goes "oh na na, whoa-oh-oh na na." It sounds like a cross between Jackson Brown and Jesus Christ Superstar. And check out those bells on Peter's bottoms on the cover!

After thinking about it, I find being trapped in the 70s vastly preferable to the alternative.

Who else had this thing back in the day? No cheating, I mean really owned that record when it was pressed and sold in stores.

Um ... but all you weirdos with your electronic Lovecraft are welcome too. Is there some way to hybridize that stuff with "whoa-oh-oh na na?"

Best, Ron

P.S. You're off-topic! Ahhhh, fuck off, moderator. I saved it with the last sentence.

Courage75 · August 12, 2010, 02:12:23 AM

I'm totally behind a new edition of Sorcerer. I've been wanting to get hard copies of Sorcerer and its supplements for ages, and an updated edition would be a world of awesome that I'd purchase and be eager to put to use ASAP. Maybe even ask Judd Karlman if he wants to contribute some new material for his excellent Dictionary of Mu setting?

A Sorcerer soundtrack would be awesome, as long as it didn't have music that would enhance rather than hinder what goes on at the table. It sounds like a few people are already happy to jump in on this, which is great!

The drinks list sounds alright, although I'd put it as a fairly low priority - a bit of fun to put on the website as a free PDF or some such. Also, I'd make sure there were enough warnings on it to dissuade underage drinking, just in case.

I agree with Eero on the website thing - it is probably the best way to reach new people, which is vital for any product.

As for the merchandising stuff, it sounds cool, but I'd want to see how well it would sell before I committed to something like this. Perhaps start with a small run and see how that goes? To my mind, the emphasis should be on the game.

Anway, that's just my five cents.

Courage75 · August 12, 2010, 02:15:23 AM

Quote from: Courage75 on August 12, 2010, 02:12:23 AMA Sorcerer soundtrack would be awesome, as long as it didn't have music that would enhance rather than hinder what goes on at the table. It sounds like a few people are already happy to jump in on this, which is great!

Sorry, that should be "as long as it had music that would enhance rather than hinder..."

James_Nostack · August 12, 2010, 04:29:10 AM

Hi Ron,

Regarding the OP, what are your goals? And what hat are you wearing?

Because some of the ideas sound like business-man marketing / branding stuff, and other ideas sound like, "Hey I'm a grown-ass gamer dude with a publishing company in my garage - how cool is that?!" And the goals of gamer dude may not be the goals of business-man dude. But as general principles I'd stay away from gimmicky gamer swag, and I'd make sure that you've got your infrastructure in place, and able to scale up, before you make a big push to expand the audience.

Regarding Spider-Man, you have enlightened me. Holy shit. On the other hand, a friend just unloaded a box of comics from the mid-70's on me. The advertisements for Spalding basketballs on the back cover is so ridiculously nostalgic to me.

Also, I have a theory that the mid-70's monster comics were a big influence on the general vibe of Sorcerer.