Thursday, August 22, 2013

A Little Late News

As some folks have already realized (judging by the purchases), two of the PDFs for Five Ancient Kingdoms went live yesterday (August 21). I would have let folks know sooner than this, but I was busy spending quality type with my child, eating pizza and watching episodes of American Ninja Warrior before the bath and bedtime ritual. You know how it is.

Anyway, better late than never.

Volume 1: Men and Mettle is available for $4.99. That's a pretty low buy-in to see if the system looks like something that piques your interest. Volume 2: Magic and Monsters provides the info on the magic system (a bit different from Vance...as with combat, I went back to CHAINMAIL as a foundational base) as well as the requisite "bestiary" for a game of this type. Of course, I bothered to provide a Monster Cosmology to explain why we have the monsters listed (spoiler alert: not based on Tolkien). Volume 2 is the same price in PDF as Volume 1 ($4.99). Between the two, you'll have everything you need to participate in the game as a player (the third book provides the info referees need to run the game).

Personally, my preference is that people will order the print copy of the game rather than download the PDFs...they are, after all, designed to be used at the table in-play. I realize that some people are simply purchasing these as a matter of "curiosity;" a look at one man's version of D&D Mine. Fine and dandy: this whole project was started due to my frustration with the stupid-ass-ness of "D&D Next" and the belief that ANYone could write "a new version of Dungeons & Dragons." Despite the use of Chainmail, despite the specific setting, despite the lack of "armor class," most folks should easily recognize many familiar parts of their favorite fantasy game...in fact, some parts of it may be more recognizable than what you find in the latest editions of D&D. Other things, well...

Look, folks, this is not my personal attempt to conquer the fantasy gaming market from the power players. I wanted to show what could be done, given a little work, some public domain art, and MS Word. If people play it, I'll be elated...that's the reason it's in the format it is. That's the reason I sell it in print with dice. But if people will only use it to inspire themselves and write their own game rather than sit around waiting for Hasbro to gouge them with D&D Next followed by editions 6th, 7th, and 8th...if you'll just do that with my little game, then I'll be well and truly satisfied by the exercise.

One person folks; I'm just one person. The thing turned out pretty good for just one guy (and a couple-three proof readers). And I'm not the first or only person to go this road.

Links posted below.

BOOK 1
BOOK 2

7 comments:

  1. I bought it for two reasons, one was to see D&D Yours and the other is I thought it was an neat idea to thumb through. I liked it. Thumbed through it and it has some great ideas I want borrow.

    Where did you get the dice? There is a game or two brewing in my own head and would like to know where I could get them if they are cheap enough.

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  2. I'm very interested as always JB. I'll be ordering a copy once my gaming coffers get a new boost. So don't sell them all before I get a chance. Otherwise, good luck with your game. I know I'm looking forward to getting a copy.

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  3. @ Dragolite:

    I have 'em made for me at Chessex. I order them in bulk (duh) so they're cheap for me...not sure how much they'd be in small quantities.

    @ Tim:

    If they continue to sell well, I'll probably be getting another print run. I'm really trying hard to peddle this one locally (sold half a dozen to my local game shop...they're flying off the shelf even at retail price!) to get more print copies "in circulation" and you'll probably be okay if you order within the next 30-60 days. If that doesn't look possible, I might be willing to set one aside for you.
    ; )

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  4. Only having a hard copy means that I’m actually less likely to use it. Indeed, I’m using The B/X Companion PDF, but my copy of The Complete B/X Adventurer is not getting used.

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  5. Sweeeet! Will be purchasing RSN. Is the third volume still in the pipeline? What of the adventure?

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  6. @ Deadstop:

    As of the moment, Book 3 and the adventure are still pending approval. I'll let folks know when they're ready.

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    Replies
    1. Okay, thanks! Their approval process is longer than I expected. I guess we just don't hear about it for most products, so they just seem to pop up without our noticing the time they spent in the pipeline.

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