Ugh...Star Wars (Fantasy Flight Games)

I am NOT gaming tonight...by my own choice. There were two, perhaps three interested folks (and the usual no-shows, illnesses, and "goin' to the movies" responses) but my wife is pretty darn ill right now and that trumps things for me...especially considering she's off to Paraguay again on Sunday and needs to rest up before then.

[yes, she'll be missing the Super Bowl. I'm thinking of taking a pass on the Harbaugh-Extravaganza myself...but then, what kind of American would I be?]

Which is too bad because, while I've got the Legendary Might game somewhat tightened down (you can download the one-page micro-version here), what I've REALLY been working on the last couple days (very passionately might I add) is my D&D Mine edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Corrected a few over-sights (like not confusing the risk mechanic with different die pools) and figuring out a new name that actually corresponds to the game setting. Yes, it has a specific setting. No, it's still only half-baked. Yes, there will probably be people that hate it...I don't care, I like it. A lot.

But none of that's what this post is about (nor is it about the half-dozen D&D topics that keep popping into my brain...need to keep a list). Instead, just wanted to tell people I had a chance to peruse Fantasy Flight Game's brand spanking-new Star Wars:Edge of the Empire Beginner (boxed) Set down at Ye Ol' Game Shop tonight. I even got Tim to let me tear off the shrink-wrap and plunder its contents.

What can I say? I didn't buy it.

And not 'cause it's expensive or anything. The box game is a standalone for $30 and includes a huge set of dice (important, as they are non-numerical, and of varying sided-ness), a 48-page rulebook, a 32-page adventure book, and a random assortment of tokens and sheets and maps. I flipped through it a bit, but didn't actually sit down and read it with a discerning mind, so take my words with a grain of salt.

It looked ugly.

I mean, the package and the contents aren't literally ugly. They are well produced with beautiful artwork and layout. And the words that were being mouthed at me from the pages...something about being abstract so as to allow the game to be cinematic with a non-binary (i.e. non-straight success/failure) mechanic all seemed to be a step in the right direction. Hey, at least the system didn't resemble Death Watch.

However, what it DID look like was an experimental-style, slickly-produced, narratavist-wannabe (indie-style) game. With a proprietary dice-mechanic (based on the special dice included with the game). And that, while taking a few pages from Saga (D20) Star Wars (observe the "talent trees"),  was still messy and incomplete (um...no Jedi?) with no mention of such being intended for the final "core"rule book (instead, FFG's on-line press release seems to indicate three separate, standalone core books will be issued with the third book...in a few years...being released to deal with the Jedi).

*sigh*

Anyway, I didn't get it, despite the price and the subject matter. And I am still on a D&D kick right now, so you probably won't hear much more on the subject anyway. But with all the space opera musings/postings I've been making lately I felt I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention I had a chance to skim it. A chance to skim it and then to put it all back together and shelf it.

Ugh, I am tired...I may just go to bed early tonight.
; )

1st Prototype Box

Well, after an initial outlay for a bone folder, exacto knife, and yard stick, I was able to create my first box.

That's it, so far...not much more to report. Well, except I need to find some better adhesive than Elmers Glue. Rubber cement maybe?

Oh, yeah...and it turns out the whole "label on box" thing was...um...inaccurate. I don't know where the hell I got that idea. My wife assures me it was NOT from her. Hmmm...

Anyway, I'm tempted to pick up some more poster board from Staples and just practice making boxes while watching play-off games tomorrow. A pack of ten 22x28 sheets will make ten boxes and costs $5.50 or so. I'm sure I can find a use for 'em later, right?

Ugh...I need to do some writing. I'll get back to y'all later.

A Bunch of Random Stuff

Wow...I've got so many thoughts blazing through my head right now I'm a little overwhelmed with where to begin. For having "a day off," I sure have expended a lot of mental energy this morning!

No writing yet, though. Ugh...I am NOT putting stuff off, I'm just getting all my other ducks in a row, answering emails and such, while eating a big, traditional English Breakfast at the Four Spoons. I am a great believer in Lincoln's philosophy, "if you only have eight hours to chop down the tree, spend the first seven sharpening your axe!"

[of course, this is sometimes at odds with my loved ones. My wife would say, "if you start chopping now you'll probably get finished in six hours!" while my brother would spend NINE hours sharpening the axe, bargaining for more time by saying he'll do the cut job for free]

Point is, I'm not actively TRYING to procrastinate, folks. Though I did get a little side-tracked by Jim Mora's firing as the Seahawks head coach. Ugh...the play-offs start this weekend! I've got work to do!

The box place turned out to be a dud (they had nothing in the dimensions I want)...at this point it appears I will be making my own. Heading out to a supply shop today, and will be deriving a template from my old TSR boxes (yes, I still have some for whatever reason...God knows I'm a packrat and these poor things are crushed to death at the bottom of a large box of papers and whatnot...no B/X boxes, though, unfortunately). Something to do while watching football.

First art submissions received...o boy o boy o boy. So far so awesome. Will be working on lay-out today as well, and will also be turning my "reading .pdf" into a printable mock-up.

Speaking of the .pdf...have received feedback from the Doctor, and he thinks it's great, though he seems to have missed the point as he tells me, "dude, I think you should publish this!" Dude, what the hell do you think I'm doing? He does not read my blog, so he seems to have missed this little detail.

Interesting side benefit...the Doc appears to be an excellent target sample for feedback. As his only reference to B/X is through Labyrinth Lord, he is able to address the game in how it works with LL. He asks why I bothered to duplicate many of the spell lists from LL, for example (because the early level spell lists of both are based on B/X...I don't bother describing the effects of these low level spells, but I include the entire B/X list). He likes the monsters and magic items included. I am hoping for more feedback on some of the system stuff as he gets deeper in his perusal. He likes the lay-out...yay!

Talked to Joel, last night...he's going to send me some artwork. He's doing the World of Warcraft thing these days, god help him. Oh, well. We'll see if he's up to some painting.

Oh...and a new interested party wants to submit art, and may have been wrangled into doing stuff for my module. Better get that done.

Figured out how to configure my scanner/printer and download the necessary software onto my computer last night...made my first run at scanning and it worked great! I am so excited! My wife will be so proud that I did something technical all by myself!

: )

Yesterday, I posted some thoughts on adventure design, which in analysis seems to be an overall negative critique of the length of the design. Sorry for the negativity; doesn't mean I don't love and continue to use these adventure modules...just think maybe they need to be used in a slightly different way. I want to address this more at length later, and in addition want to post about something from this awesome article on Prokopius. The awesomeness is NOT the lambasting of the thief class...it is the adventure design implications that are worth the read. Check it out.

Picked up Wormwood a couple days ago. Damn you Palladium! As with Rifts Russia, in re-reading this gem, I see so much squandered potential. I don't think I will ever play another Rifts game again, but damn if I'm not going to riff on their ideas for my own private games (due to Palladium's policies, I will probably NOT be posting anything to this blog in the near future). However, let me just say that Wormwood makes an EXCELLENT setting for B/X or OD&D and I fully intend to use it as such. So there!

All right, I got quite a bit to do today (including cleaning the yard of my dogs' leavings...man, this is the one time when Seattle rain makes life suck!). I'll be checking in later!

Have a great Friday everyone!

So My Wife Can Make Boxes…

I feel so ridiculous. I sometimes forget that while my wife is both artistic AND crafty (especially when it comes to dominoes!) she is also extremely arts-n-craftsy (not the same thing as the former two). In discussing my Companion project on the way to the airport this morning, turns out she knows all about constructing boxes.

“It’s easy,” says she. Ugh!

Again, this is my own dumb-dumbness that has led me to waste a bunch of time. I never bothered to broach the subject because…well, frankly “interested” is not the adjective I’d use to describe my wife’s relation to the project. “Tolerant” might be better, possibly even “supportive.” But an enthusiastic collaborator? Well, not really.

But she’s getting better (I think MY enthusiasm might be a bit contagious). She’s even offered to do some artwork for me (yes, my wife does a bit of everything), though when I asked her about this three or four months back she was very reluctant on the subject. Now though, she’s willing to give it a shot (she doesn’t do fantasy art and says she’s “terrible with noses” but is willing to wing it).

Oh and yeah, the box thing. Apparently, putting together paperboard boxes is the height of simplicity once one has a template to mimic, which is easy to come by (pull apart an existing box you like). As far as doing the cover art, her printer at work can do large labels that can be cut and folded over the box top…there’s even a tool you can pick up at the Paper Zone that can be used to curl the label under, making the box look very professional…or so she assures me (and I’ve learned to trust my wife over the years).

So box issue solved, apparently. I’m still planning on checking out the Specialty Packaging place today, but now it seems I can move onto bigger fish to fry…like the cover, for example. My wife pointed out to me (again, this morning in the car…should have talked to her earlier!) that the cover is NOT a simple matter of doing a color print on 11x17 card stock (my original plan). For one thing, printers need margins and unless I plan on doing a “white” background (I had NOT intended that), I will need to have the cover professionally printed and cut to the correct specifications. Oh boy.

On the other hand, she now seems on board with paying to do a print run…oh boy!

Unfortunately, the one thing I neglected to talk to her about was getting the scanner synched with my Mac so I can start uploading my own art pieces. However, in texting her (prior to her plane’s take-off) she assured me that I should be able to do this myself if I can download the software on-line (huh? “Download?” Wha--?). Maybe I can get her to walk me through it tonight…

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. In Mexico, this is celebrated as “Wise Men Day,” when children leave out their shoes for the Three Kings to bring them gifts (this is as close as they got to American Christmas/Santa until the last few years). I am a fortunate man to have such a loving wife that can shower me with the gift of her knowledge. Man, I hope I can use the next few days to good advantage!

Salud y felicidades, amigos!
: )

MS Word...You Son of a Bitch!!!

Ugh! Word processors. Microsoft word processors. THIS is why I wanted a Mac. Unfortunately, I am too comfortable with Word and too lazy about learning Pages to actually use my Mac processor...plus, no Mac at the regular work place (where I might occasionally jot some ideas or do a touch-up) so MSWord is the convenient medium for my writing projects.

But, O does it bite sometimes!

After close to 5 hours I FINALLY put my B/X Companion together in a semi-finished form...well, a readable form anyway, not a printable one. I had written in chapter by chapter so it was saved to various files (though with universal formatting except for the charts and such), so putting it together into one 64 page document (well, 62 pages with a couple blanks for artwork) was a necessary next step...not to mention headers and page numbers.

O You Bitch!

Finally, though it's done and ahhhhhh...it looks so nice. Almost good enough to print out. Oh, but not quite yet... Urk! I hate delayed gratification!

: )

Had a "team meeting" today and spent the entire hour drawing some fairly inspired (for me anyway) sketches, some of which may well make it into the Companion. Not that I intended to get all "Siembieda" on everyone, but the thing needs sprucing...till the submissions start pouring in, my own artwork might have to stand in. Time to get the wife to teach me how to use the scanner.

I have mentioned I am techno-challenged, right? : (

Anyway, threw the document into a .pdf file and am emailing it to the good Doctor (he who shall be doing maps for the accompanying module). He will be the first person besides myself to read its mysterious pages. Pros: he's excited and likes D&D. Cons: he knows shit about B/X (well, he does own Labyrinth Lord, having been hipped to it by Yours Truly, but it's Not The Same, you know?). Oh and he and I don't always see eye-to-eye on things. Ah, well...I need some feedback and he wants to read it. Plus, he's probably too broke to buy a copy.

Mmm...let's see, other good news? Yes, actually. One of my co-workers is a bit of an entrepreneur on the side, and I hit him for a place to buy boxes. Turns out he knew one: an arts-and-crafts kind o paper company specializing in packaging that's near my work and sells boxes for $.23 a piece. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! It's open till 6, so I'll be checking it out after work tomorrow. : )

I'm starting to get a good...scratch that...a GREAT feeling about this project, and it's kind of scaring me a little. One of my reasons for calling this blog Blackrazor is the soul-sucking properties this hobby can have on a person. But now I find myself confronting a different kind of void...one where I've never before ventured...private enterprise! Ha! Again, not that I plan to quit my day job or anything, but I AM having a tremendous amount of fun. I see why Gygax thought this beat the hell out of selling shoes....

; )

Damn...How Hard is it to Buy a Box?!

So, here I had mucho plans for writing work this evening and I've blown several hours surfing the net looking for a box company.

Oh, I did go down to Kinko's as well and price out how much it's going to cost to print up my book. Yes, yes I could probably do something cheaper, but this will work...at least for a prototype. In fact I should probably start working on getting a working mock-up printed just to see how the thing is gonna' look (and truth be told, I kinda' want to hold it in my hands, finished or not!).

: )

But boxes, sheesh!...you know, a while ago I was fortunate enough to find a couple copies of the Holmes edition Basic set in the used section of my local game shop, both still in their original boxes. Heck, I've even got a copy of Deluxe Hero Wars, still in the box (it was purchased used as well) and IT has more the dimensions I want for my game. But where does one buy boxes?

And I mean, cheap-ass boxes. After two hours of surfing, I seem to have found a couple places that will print up boxes with your own design/dimensions/logos, but they want orders of at least 1500. Let's be totally realistic here: if I sell 50 copies, I'll be doing well. If I sell 100, I'll be ecstatic. But never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that I'd need 1500 boxes (maybe if B/X play takes the country by storm? Nah).

Is there a way to buy plain boxes, print up paper covers, and paste 'em on? I mean really, free time IS at a minimum, but so is cold, hard cash. I don't mind doing "self-assembly" while sitting around watching the On Demand TV.

Looking over Dungeons & Digressions own little retro-box set, I certainly don't want to go crazy with spray paint (my lungs have taken enough abuse over the years). But I'd still like to know how he got the LL images on the box. I know Kinko's doesn't do boxes (I asked).

Anyway, I found a little company here in Seattle called Universal Paper Box that, Lo and Behold, actually advertises game boxes on their web site. But I'm guessing they, too, are going to want a large pre-order. I don't know yet, but as I won't have a chance to talk to them till Friday, I'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, if any of you cool cats have some pointers or insights for me, let me know.

In the meantime, new game theory and other "fun" posts should be returning shortly (I hope). Hmm...should probably jot down a few ideas for posts tomorrow.

; )

So Where's This Companion, Anyway?

Yeah, it’s written, proofed, edited, and formatted but it ain’t done. There are a few things that need to be added before it’s complete, and I’m NOT just talking art.

First off, it needs both a table of contents and an index. Unfortunately, I’m kind of holding off on these until the art gets added, as I know page numbers are going to change and I don’t want to have to do the whole thing twice. On the other hand, I can certainly get the base topics and contents typed up withOUT the page numbers so they’re ready to go…but I just haven’t done so. This is a bit of laziness on my part (or under-prioritization around the home front); however, I anticipate having a bunch of free time in the next few days for buckling down and getting this done.

Second off, let’s talk art. So far I’ve been contacted by three folks that are interested in submitting pieces and I’ve emailed a couple others that expressed interest earlier last month. Right now, I’m waiting to get stuff back.

For me, this is the most challenging part of the program: waiting. I’m not paying folks so I can’t impose deadlines, but man, I’d like to get this thing out no later than February. However, as with the Contents and Index there are still proactive actions I can take while I wait.

For one thing, I dug out my own sketch book, and damn it I’m going to try my own hand at some illustrating. We had dinner with some (non-gaming) friends the other day and when I told them about my project, they were fairly excited. The wife has self-published a couple publications herself, and gave me several pieces of advice on the process, especially with regard to the art (like having interns from the Art Institute clean-up the jpeg line drawings for free). I am now carrying my sketch book with me at all times, and will work on drawings during my breaks.

For another thing, I haven’t got on the cover art yet. I’ve got to hit up my buddy, Joel, and I just haven’t taken the time to do so. HIM I might need to pay, but it will be worth it to get a full color cover for this baby. But I need to talk to him, and that’s another thing I’ve been slacking on.

By the way: does anyone out there know how the hell to get in contact with Erol Otus? I mean, I might as well shoot him an email and see if he is at all interested in doing a sequel to his original covers of the Basic and Expert sets. I have no idea how much he’d charge for such a project, but it’s worth asking…I know he’s done work for other Old School game product, but I couldn’t find a web address for him (his official web site seems to be “under construction”). If anyone knows how to contact/contract The Great One, please comment here or email me at bxblackrazor AT gmail DOT com.

All right SO…contents, index, art, what more is needed to roll this out to the public. Well, shoot…I wanted to keep this under wraps because it might fall through, but now that it’s starting to pick up some momentum: um...my intention is to release this thing as a box set WITH an introductory adventure module.

Ugh. I grimace as a I look at that sentence. Especially, as I should probably make life easy on myself and release this as a pdf download. However, I want a module! I’ve written before (more than once) that the introductory modules packaged with the Basic and Expert sets (B2 and X1) were incredibly helpful in INFORMING play. Plus it’s more bang for your buck, pure and simple.

So, I’m working on a module for inclusion; I’ve already got the basic outline, some new monsters, and some ideas for using the new material presented in the Companion. I will be doing my best to keep the adventure from falling into the pit traps of TSR’s latter day modules (specifically the linear plot lines and kill-kill-kill attitudes). My buddy is going to do the maps, and shoot…I have such a conflagration of inspiration right now, I hope I can churn out the text by the end of this weekend (the Seahawks are done for the season…thank goodness!...and my wife will be out of town on business). Ambitious? Sure. Unrealistic? Maybe…but I’ve got to wait for the art anyway, right?

Regarding THE BOX: in my mind’s eye I see a much slimmer box than the one used for the original Basic, Expert, and BECMI sets. This is due to the fact that I am simply packaging two slim books (I will NOT be including dice or crayons). This may be the silliest idea of the whole project, and if worse comes to worse I’ll just shrink-wrap the Companion rules with the module. But I would like a box for this opus. And I know that on one of these blogs, somewhere, there was a discussion on “putting together your own box set” where some dude re-created an original boxed game (though I think using a retro-clone). I haven’t been able to find that post again (I think I saw it back in August or September…why didn’t I bookmark it?!), but somewhere there must be a company that makes boxes. After all, where do all the boxes for board games and such come from? I sure as hell don’t know!

Welp, that’s about all the updates I can give at this time. Again, I’m shooting for a February release. Price will be based on my costs plus shipping and handling, but I’m not looking to make money off this thing. My goal is to just get out to people in a form that…well, in a form that I wouldn’t mind buying myself. It’s pretty neat…I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

: )