12/17/06
I admit it, I?m an idiot.
I was planning on releasing this morning (Sunday) at 12:45 AM (that?s when the 60 days were up on the HERO approval). You?re supposed to set up your products on RPGNow, upload your files and give them 24 hours to approve them and combine the file and the product. I did that Friday night, because when things are falling off the new release list, if it has multiple products on the same day, the product entered last is the last to fall off.
Here?s where the idiot part comes in. I assume that having a day off means you work on the computer 18 hours. That?s what *I* do. So it didn?t even occur to me that 24 hours might only apply during the business week.
Anyway, I suspect they?ll approve Monday morning, and even if they have something wrong, they?ll just tell me to fix it (that?s what they did with Product 1 when they took issue with me categorizing the product by the most popular category on the site as opposed to the highest page count in my bundle). I?m GUESSING they won?t get to it before I go to bed for the day, so I suspect the product will be live for purchase on RPGNow Monday night. I?ll put it up on Final Redoubt as soon as send coupons to the volunteers.
So. That?s out of the way.
As for the play test, we?re doing all right. I got a big laugh at the disaster at the end of Act One, so I need to change that text a little bit. The politics are causing just the kind of dissent that I wanted in the party. The players hate the guys I want them to hate, like the ones I want them to like, and are uncertain about the others. This might take a lot of notes in the adventure, because I think I need to give the GM about three-five paths through the middle of the adventure to suit the group and keep from railroading them. *My* group came up with a solution to one problem I didn?t foresee, and that will make it harder for the party in episode 6, but hey, if they?re clever enough, they get what they want, even if it hurts them later.
This weekend, from Friday Morning at 10 am to Sunday about the same time I got 4.5 hours sleep in two naps. So going into the play test Saturday night I was at something like 33 hours with only 3.5 consecutive of pillow time. I begged off running because I was so tired it was causing chest pain (not the heart attack kind, the stress kind), but about 8:30 the food coma from dinner wore off and I ran for two hours. We got done more than I thought we would and ended on a nice cliffhanger for the Christmas holiday. It?s theoretically possible we?ll finish next session, but as there are nineteen encounters left, all in a running rush, six of them containing big, challenging battle sequences, I don?t think we?ll finish until two sessions have passed. I?ll be happy if we complete Act Two.
Then one of the couples in the group gave me Expedition to Ravenloft for Christmas, and as you might guess from an early favorite adventure thread on another part of the Ironcrown board, I don?t think I can keep myself from offering to run that (the original is one of my favorite adventures of all time). In fact, I have a way in my head to leverage it into a big campaign where I?d run all the adventures in that 2nd edition Ravenloft campaign (called convergence, or something?). I don?t think I?ll try to dominate the game group that much, but I?ll probably run Expedition to Ravenloft with that in mind (if the players feel like going through it) and then if they want to do more, I have about three to four years of material on my shelf. I?d have to throw the d20 xp system completely out the window just to get it all in.
Oh look. A tangent.
Okay, so enough about Christmas (I also got a Sea of Words which is a nautical dictionary based on the Patrick O?Brien novels. I?m so excited.) No really. Enough about Christmas.
Product 3 is coming, but more slowly than I?d like. I?m still way ahead of the publishing schedule, I?m sure, but I?m about a week behind where I?d LIKE to be (severe sleep deprivation didn?t help.) Right now I?m on page 31/39. I think the Dwarf section will mostly be finished tonight (there?s a fair chance I?ll finish it but not have time to edit, grammar, and style check before bed). I?m guessing it will end at 35 pages without art. That?s right where I want it to be. Why? Let?s talk page count theory.
I have a book in the works on the other three races (the Humans are covered by their own nations and in the campaign setting pretty well, and the dwarves here). Assuming about 7 pages on the front end of that one and fifteen pages per race, I have a 52 page book without art. Not bad. If I run short, I?m still looking at at least 37 (ten per race), but 52 is right around where I expect. Then there will probably be professions and/or training packages at the end (translation: prestige classes for d20 <prepares noose>). Anyway, with that in mind I can?t, under any circumstances, short the Dwarves. Everyone loves Dwarves.
So the first 9 pages of the book are business (title page, two TOC, two maps, 3.5 ?hey what kind of book am I reading and how do I use it?? pages. Then comes the section on Dwarves, but there are about 8 pages of history of Uzar?g from the Dwarven POV. I love that, but I doubt I?ll have anything so specific historically to talk about in the race book. I expect any histories there will be minor, not enough to count on. So that has me starting the real stuff on Dwarves on page 18. So I have to get to 32 to feel like I?ve really given them their 15 pages. Looks like I?ll go over a bit, but I might have more NPCs as well because of the whole diaspora issue, so that?s a good thing.
Next will come Orcs. I?ll try to bang them out in less than 10. They aren?t appropriate for general player character use, so I?m not worried about them getting less coverage. Then there?s the Land, which I hope to deal with in 5-10. Then rules, which I?m shooting for 4. So that puts the book between 49-59 without art. Probably over 80 with (I?m just guessing, this one is art heavy) plus a 10 page map book, like one of those map tile products. That?s assuming I don?t go long in the other chapters, which is possible.
I?m very tired.
Anyway, just thought I?d update you. I?ll let you know the moment Product 2 is up.