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Post by thegreyelf on May 15, 2020 5:51:59 GMT -6
Hey, folks, my "latest" is now on Kickstarter. It's a setting book for Dungeon Crawl Classics based on Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East trilogy. There should be a 5e version coming at some point, but I couldn't say when--these were quite literally written and edited three years ago. But it looks great, and I'm thrilled to see it coming to fruition at long last. It went live at midnight and is already nearly funded. Hope you all will check it out!
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2020 9:14:27 GMT -6
In on this. Not a fan of Kickstarter, gradually moved/morphed from DCCC to "Beyond the Wall" in my home games, but I like very much that GG is creating a new, oldschool-flavored setting book for their game. I know they did Lankhmar, a few years ago, but something like "Empire of the East" had been kind of missing, at least in my mind.
May we hope for an adaptation of "The Book of Swords", then, later down the line?
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Post by thegreyelf on May 15, 2020 10:02:16 GMT -6
In on this. Not a fan of Kickstarter, gradually moved/morphed from DCCC to "Beyond the Wall" in my home games, but I like very much that GG is creating a new, oldschool-flavored setting book for their game. I know they did Lankhmar, a few years ago, but something like "Empire of the East" had been kind of missing, at least in my mind. May we hope for an adaptation of "The Book of Swords", then, later down the line? Honestly, I have no idea. I was told expressly to avoid any reference to the Books of Swords becuase they only have the license to Empire of the East. That being said, the Saberhagen estate was over the moon about my conversions, so who knows? If they do cover the Books of Swords, it may well be a different author tackling it. I'm so busy with Troll Lord Games stuff right now I don't know that I can take on any other freelancing. I was working on one of their future 5e Original Adventures Reincarnated books (I can't say which one or any more about it) and sadly had to drop out due to just being too busy to put in the commitment they need. GG is an AWESOME company with amazing people and so cool to work with, but man, they put real and heavy commitment into everything they do. A project for them is very much all-encompassing. They pay well so it's worth it; I just don't have that kind of time as a staff writer for TLG and working on Elf Lair stuff right now. Regarding Kickstarter, I get where you're coming from. I wish it wasn't a thing, but man, if I had the time to explain the economics of why it's necessary...suffice it to say, you can blame the d20 crash for Kickstarter's role in the industry right now, and it's only going to grow unless something MAJOR changes in the current distribution model for game companies. |
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akooser
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Post by akooser on May 15, 2020 12:43:48 GMT -6
I backed this! Thanks for doing all the hard work.
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Post by Finarvyn on May 15, 2020 14:00:13 GMT -6
Regarding Kickstarter, I get where you're coming from. I wish it wasn't a thing, but man, if I had the time to explain the economics of why it's necessary...suffice it to say, you can blame the d20 crash for Kickstarter's role in the industry right now, and it's only going to grow unless something MAJOR changes in the current distribution model for game companies. Well, Goodman uses kickstart differently than many companies. While many groups say, "I have this idea and if I get enough money I will develop it," Goodman is more like, "we wrote this thing and it's pretty much done, but we'd like to gather the money to print it." I've playtested several Goodman products before they hit kickstart and I know that the guts of the things were all done long before they advertised to collect the money. They are as close to a lock as I've seen in any game company, and as Jason noted they are great people. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2020 2:03:33 GMT -6
The preview version/proofread version just arrived for KS backers. Keeps looking good.  For the long-term evolution of our hobby, projects like this one are valuable, because they keep oldschool-oriented D&D from becoming "a trip to the museum". They make campaigns like we like to run "sellable" to modern audiences through their very defined context. People might not be into any kind of D&D, and still play in a EotE game because they liked the books or the overall setting. The same goes for Lankhmar, Manly Wade Wellman's Gothic America, and so on that Goodman Games have done recently. I think there's great potential in projects like that one going forward. As to the EotE book, let's be clear - Jason is not getting any kind of "stable bonus" from me; as a principle, I do not do that. If this book was in any way bad, I would pull no punches. But it is not! It's a pretty detailed, standard format DCCC game manual, and, at first glance, it's a solid base to run a game based on the classic novel series. Now, I doubt it works as a full stand-alone - DMs will have to be acquainted with the novels first. But if that's not freaking common sense, I don't know what is. The book/booklet could be said to be a bit short, at around 100 pages, but the truth is also, the novels are probably not deep enough to warrant a 300-page tome, especially if we're talking about EotE alone, without the later follow-up novels. Overall, I'm already pretty satisfied with my purchase, and can see myself buying more Saberhagen-DCCC treatments, if we are going to get any. That said, I hope that GG and the Saberhagen estate get an agreement to use the "Swords" series, and the entirety of the "Airdhe" sequence for a supposed follow-up book. |
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Post by thegreyelf on Sept 6, 2020 6:08:14 GMT -6
The preview version/proofread version just arrived for KS backers. Keeps looking good. For the long-term evolution of our hobby, projects like this one are valuable, because they keep oldschool-oriented D&D from becoming "a trip to the museum". They make campaigns like we like to run "sellable" to modern audiences through their very defined context. People might not be into any kind of D&D, and still play in a EotE game because they liked the books or the overall setting. The same goes for Lankhmar, Manly Wade Wellman's Gothic America, and so on that Goodman Games have done recently. I think there's great potential in projects like that one going forward. As to the EotE book, let's be clear - Jason is not getting any kind of "stable bonus" from me; as a principle, I do not do that. If this book was in any way bad, I would pull no punches. But it is not! It's a pretty detailed, standard format DCCC game manual, and, at first glance, it's a solid base to run a game based on the classic novel series. Now, I doubt it works as a full stand-alone - DMs will have to be acquainted with the novels first. But if that's not freaking common sense, I don't know what is. Thank you, Sir! The book/booklet could be said to be a bit short, at around 100 pages, but the truth is also, the novels are probably not deep enough to warrant a 300-page tome, especially if we're talking about EotE alone, without the later follow-up novels. Overall, I'm already pretty satisfied with my purchase, and can see myself buying more Saberhagen-DCCC treatments, if we are going to get any. That said, I hope that GG and the Saberhagen estate get an agreement to use the "Swords" series, and the entirety of the "Airdhe" sequence for a supposed follow-up book. Yeah, the length was pretty much mandated by the contract, but as you say, the books don't give a great deal of detail unto themselves to flesh out, and the idea was that since it's a license, fans have probably read them (or should if they haven't yet). Also, I think you meant "Ardneh" sequence. Aihrde is Castles & Crusades  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2020 0:10:23 GMT -6
Hehe, yeah, "Ardneh". I just recently bought "Ardneh's Sword", the final entry in the series - but I didn't get to start it yet, and my memory especially of the EotE series is considerably foggier than I'd like it to be. One of the doubtless pleasures that will come with the new RPG is the fact that it will allow me to revisit the books. ...And, who knows, maybe, in a few years, a book on the "Swords" series will follow?  |
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Post by thegreyelf on Sept 8, 2020 8:50:14 GMT -6
Hehe, yeah, "Ardneh". I just recently bought "Ardneh's Sword", the final entry in the series - but I didn't get to start it yet, and my memory especially of the EotE series is considerably foggier than I'd like it to be. One of the doubtless pleasures that will come with the new RPG is the fact that it will allow me to revisit the books. ...And, who knows, maybe, in a few years, a book on the "Swords" series will follow? Fun fact: we didn't have the rights to Ardneh's Sword, only the first three books in the trilogy. I honestly have no clue if a Swords series license will follow, and if it does I'm not sure I'm the one that will be writing it. Now that Elf Lair is taking off, I may not have space in my calendar to deal with TLG, Elf Lair, and more work for GG. I'm just glad to have my name on a Fred Saberhagen-licensed book! |
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