Official ICE Forums
Iron Crown Enterprises => ICE News and Discussion => Topic started by: NicholasHMCaldwell on December 04, 2012, 04:43:58 AM
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This is our seventeenth Briefing and is the scheduled Briefing for December. Before I get into the Briefing proper, a quick thank you from myself and my wife for all the best wishes and congratulatory messages.
Print-on-demand and Shadow World (and more)
So in last month’s Director’s Briefing, I discussed the new standard colour option being offered by OneBookShelf and that we would be trialling this with the Shadow World: Land of Xa-ar sourcebook. Well, I received my proof softcover and hardcover versions of Xa-ar and I’m very happy too. Xa-ar is now available in both these formats from OneBookShelf. I’d suggest that you treat yourself for Christmas with a printed version of the book.
We are looking at creating a standard colour version of HARP SF Xtreme and once we have that, we will be posting sample pages so that you can compare standard versus premium colour for yourselves.
Dragonmeet 2012
For the first time in several years, I attended the Dragonmeet convention in London. This was a bit of a snap decision to attend, but the time seemed right to kickoff an ICE/GCP presence at conventions and Dragonmeet is a comfortable convention to ease back into the con scene. Aurigas/ICE were also attending in the form of John and Colin and they doubtless will be talking about their experiences.
Rather than simply attend, I decided that I would GM a game; I decided that since I knew HARP Fantasy inside out and had physical copies of the new rules (master proof copies), this would be the easiest game to run. I did consider HARP SF but I did not feel like rerunning any of my existing HARP SF convention scenarios and had not enough time to build a new adventure (which also ruled out RMU). I ransacked my collection of existing convention scenarios, decided that I had worn them out (and anyway they are all available in the Guild Companion magazine archives), and considered running Muck and Mire from the future TGA#4 but ruled it out because I’d not run it myself and a convention is not the right place to run an adventure for the first time.
Then I stumbled across the Deserted Village, which was a RMSS scenario extracted from my playtest campaign for Mentalism Companion back in the late 90s, and I had written it up for publication in Portals magazine (the predecessor of the Guild Companion) but Portals closed first and for reasons unknown I never published the adventure myself in The Guild Companion. Of course The Deserted Village was statted for RMSS, so four evenings of ruthless rejigging of the mechanical material and creation of six sample player-characters at 3rd level duly followed. All material was ready two days before the convention fortunately.
I met up with Colin and John at the convention and we had a wander around the convention, chatting with industry folks including Graham Bottley of Arion Games who had some softcover versions of Rolemaster Rome on sale at his booth, and seeing what was happening on the scene. I ran the Deserted Village in the afternoon gaming slot with five players (one of whom was Colin getting his first face-to-face RPG experience.) Various of the changes made to HARP Fantasy paid off in the gaming, such as the revised Turn Undead spell reducing the amount of havoc the Cleric could dish out in any one round to not-so hapless Zombies. For a few very tense minutes, it looked like the final battle was going to end in a total party kill. However, a couple of wisely used fate points, persistent archery by the ranger and thief against the witch’s henchfey, and a combo of Cleric heals Mage who casts a scaled Dispel Magic using the new targeted spell effect scaling option knocking out the witch’s +60 from maxed out Tree Skin, giving the Fighter the necessary edge to take her down in hand-to-hand combat, altered the odds and we had a total party victory instead. I think everyone had fun.
All being well, we (GCP and ICE) will be at Dragonmeet next year and indeed will have a presence one way or another at other 2013 conventions.
Lots for us to do, something for you to think about
I did manage to check through the AutoHARP software and it is now available in a beta format from our website and Sourceforge for you all to try and see. I have also received all of the interior artwork for the enhanced version of Loot: A Field Guide and have two of the five new covers for RMU now in hand as well. I and others on the team still have a lot to do in all of HARP, RMU, Shadow World and Cyradon, so while we’re deep in project work, there’s something we would like you to think about.
Many of the projects that we’re working on and indeed those in Public Playtest are obviously rules-oriented products, and core rules and key supplements are the heart of any game line and the bread and butter for any company. But they aren’t and can’t be the whole deal. Busy GMs need more than just rules – some need complete settings, some need ready-made campaigns that they can tailor to suit, some need ready-to-run adventures to plug a hole in their own campaign.
Like me, many of you keep copious notes on the adventures and campaigns that they have created for their own groups. As the core rules for RMU settle down and as more of HARP Fantasy line returns, there will be a need in the first instance for collections of adventures for Shadow World, Cyradon and Tintamar. We do have a number of setting-related and adventure products - TGA#4, Enya Lote, Caer Glais, No Quarter under the Crown, The Sirens of the Silence and Emer III - at various stages in the creative pipeline plus Ruins of Kausur and A Wedding at Axebridge to return. However we (and those busy GMs) will need more material. So for those of you who might like to try your hand at rpg writing, have a look through your treasury of campaign materials and/or muse upon new material that you might like to write.
For now, just rummage for notes and muse. We will get into specifics about what we need most urgently and the mechanics of product proposals next year.
Until next time
The next scheduled Director’s Briefing will be in January, so until then Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
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To be honest, the reason for not playing any ICE system at the moment is the lack of interesting worlds. I ran a Dark Heresy campaign for 2 years, the system is total crap but the world...
- Cyradon has some potential, but there is nothing in detail.
- Shadow World is too high magic for me and feels a bit unbalanced.
- Privateers is too one dimensional
- Tintamar is not developed and the 50m (did it change?) gate diameter also put me a bit off
- I do have all Middle Earth modules, but with RMU as it is the effort to convert might be too high
Also simple scenarios don't cut it. I can wing them on the fly. So I would be looking for something with very high production quality, Ptolus is a good example but also ME.
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- I do have all Middle Earth modules, but with RMU as it is the effort to convert might be too high
For me it's the same. I also have lots of the old modules and regularly use them in our sessions. But to me it looks like usage with RMU would involve quite some work. And unfortunately the same would probably be true for all the adventures for the RM system that can be found on the internet :-(.
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How hard would it be to get rights to make A Game of Thrones modules for RM or Harp?
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But A game of throne is licensed by FFG, right? I know they did some games based on this, but I'm not sure about RPGs.
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Excellent idea - that would put ICE well and truly back on the map almost as much as MERP did back in the day!!! :O
Mind you, now that the Hobbit is coming to the big screen after the LotR trilogy, whoever has the MERP license currently must be rubbing their hands with glee. There's no chance that's coming back to ICE at all is there?
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Excellent idea - that would put ICE well and truly back on the map almost as much as MERP did back in the day!!! :O
Mind you, now that the Hobbit is coming to the big screen after the LotR trilogy, whoever has the MERP license currently must be rubbing their hands with glee. There's no chance that's coming back to ICE at all is there?
I think Games Workshop currently has the Middle Earth license. And they're pushing stuff out like crazy for it...
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Licensed products are dangerous for a few reasons. Being allowed to do what you want with the setting is one problem, but royalties can make it impossible sometimes.
While Middle Earth is probably the most marketable gaming world next to Star Wars it is not the most profitable due to the agreement a company must come to with Tolkien Enterprises (not to be mistaken for the Tolkien Estate) to get the license. I know the profit margin was low enough for old-old-ICE that if the price of paper went up significantly after they priced the products they could actually lose money on their MERP products. They (Tolkien Enterprises) also pretty much pulled the carpet out from under the first incarnation of ICE (although I don't know as if they can be entirely blamed for ICE's demise in the bigger picture). They also have a bit of a 'reputation' and that's about all the further I am going to comment on that.
I think a Steam Punk setting could be a good goal. It's an up and coming concept and no license would be required (unless they wanted to use a specific authors material - Cherie Priest would probably be the best bet on that). Put out a "Steampunk Companion", mix Jules Vern and modern day Steam Punk ideas and you could create a setting that combines RM and SM in some ways.
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The good thing about having a license is that people who like the world/setting already are more likely to try out the RPG and when it's a hugely popular setting, it'd mean lots of sales. I hadn't thought about Star Wars but that'd make a great Spacemaster setting - now that Disney own it, I can't see them even thinking about licensing it out. :(
That's a great idea about Steam Punk! A license free setting and the Steam Punk trend doesn't seem to be slowing down!
It could be an all in one package of rules (being a sort of RMU Lite type thing) like the old MERP ruleset was or just as another RMU source book called 'Steam Law' or 'Steam Punk Law'. I'm thinking that it should be the former all-in-one option but with the ability of making use of the other RMU source books for extra detail.
(I can't remember how close MERP was to RM2 - could you make use of the other RM2 books with the MERP rules straight away or would you have had to remake your character in RM2 first to get the benefit out of them? I'm talking about same professions, stat bonuses, skill names, weapon tables, movement rules etc)
...As it happens, the Loari Elves in the Shadow World have a bit of a Steam Punk vibe going for them.
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http://www.pcez.com/~artemis/SLAmcandrews.htm
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Don't look too far, FFG (Fantasy Flight Games) has also some game license for both Star Wars and LOTR. I play some tabletop games, so I go to their web site sometimes. A game of thrones, Conan, Lovecraft, Battlestar Galactica, WarHammer (Fantasy, 40K), board games, card games, RPGs, etc. Their catalog is impressive! They even have print on demand stock! Those titles are out-of-range for GCP (IMHO).
But there are other worlds, like what about the Dragonriders of Pern? (Maybe too old?) The Dragon knight series (The dragon and the George)? Or more recently, The Fionavar Tapestry (from Guy Gavriel Kay)?
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I am not sure a license would boost sales dramatically. There are also good examples of worlds that have been generated without movies / books behind them and that are widely popular, i.e. GCP could develop their own setting. That's why I mentioned Ptolus, which simply shines though its high quality.
The major issue for me is that besides MERP none of the ICE settings looks appealing. Cyradon might be, but there is not enough material yet.
What I would be looking for is something that goes beyond the "evil vs. good / kill that sorceror over there" (ala Privateers). I.e. politics, intrigue, far reaching consequences, not so easy choices, ... And not too overpowered and complicated (ala Shadow World).
For example Dark Heresy: basically the players are evil according to our morals, but they need to be to defend against a bigger evil. Plus there is never a real victory.
Actually I might have given Defendi's Echoes of Heaven a go, but there hasn't been any news for years..
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Yes, I have to second that, I doubt that it is important to have an expensive licence. I think the issue is to have a world spiced up with a LONG campaign, to get people into the setting. In the old days most GMs had enough time to create their own worlds or at least own adventures, but today most of us have less time, because we are working and have families. So a lot of us need finished high end campaigns, which are able to fascinate both GM and players and tie us to the setting/world.
Echoes of Heaven was perfect in doing that! It was the campaign and the adventures, which explained the world and everything got clearer and clearer during the campaign! My players (and I) really loved it. Sadly the campaign is not brought to an end (only half of it was released), yet. But it was the most promising approach released for an ICE game.
Cyradon: Nice world and idea, but everything except of the outer frame is missing. Maybe it would be an idea to compile the adventures from Allen Maher and others to a huge starting campaign, released as a nice book with great maps and pictures (á la Ptholus). I think this could revive Cyradon, as I always felt it died shortly after its release.
Shadow World: I like it, and it is a wildy fleshed out world. But it also misses a campaign. So, to give it the potential to get new players into it, finish and release the Grand Campaign (maybe for RMU & HARP), so it can be started with L1 Shadow World Noobs and will bring them to L20 experts.
I think things like that tie players to a game setting and with the setting to a game system. I would really look forward to come back to GCP/ICE games, but as long as there is no material to play with, I will stick with RuneQuest and Glorantha.
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I totally agree that a strong campaign is what's needed to keep players interested and coming back for more... but how do you get brand new players to pick it up an ICE product in the first place instead of picking up a Game of Thrones board game by FFG or choose D&D or not choose anything at all?
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For Shadow World, there's a partial big campaign at present - The Grand Campaign. Now, if that were finished, it could be quite impressive.
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I totally agree that a strong campaign is what's needed to keep players interested and coming back for more... but how do you get brand new players to pick it up an ICE product in the first place instead of picking up a Game of Thrones board game by FFG or choose D&D or not choose anything at all?
That has do be done using Advertisments on RPG.NET, conventions and so on. ICE/RM already has a name in the industry, maybe not always the best, but it is known and a lot of people talk about giving it a try.
For Shadow World, there's a partial big campaign at present - The Grand Campaign. Now, if that were finished, it could be quite impressive.
Yes, I know that. But it would need a lot of work to make it something you can use to learn more about Shadow World. Even the finished parts require work as it only contains an overview. It's only a skeleton, at least that was my impression after checking it.
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For Shadow World, there's a partial big campaign at present - The Grand Campaign. Now, if that were finished, it could be quite impressive.
Yes, I know that. But it would need a lot of work to make it something you can use to learn more about Shadow World. Even the finished parts require work as it only contains an overview. It's only a skeleton, at least that was my impression after checking it.
I agree, it does need a fair bit of work. It's possibly only about a third done at most, but it could be a great introduction once finished. I'm sure that some people have fleshed it out a bit, so it might be possible to get it up and running quicker.
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What about reusing good worlds from other game companies that are not tied to a big license? Wouldn't that be a "win-win"?
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That has do be done using Advertisments on RPG.NET, conventions and so on. ICE/RM already has a name in the industry, maybe not always the best, but it is known and a lot of people talk about giving it a try.
Over the years, since the first ICE went under, that vast majority of game store owners say the same thing when I mention Iron Crown Enterprises... and that is "Didn't they go bankrupt?" One of the biggest issues they faced was a lack of visibility. I'm not going to get into my opinion of their efforts on that front, but suffice to say ICE is not "known" to too many. I am pretty much 99% certain one of the newest ICE's goals is to go to GenCon as that will provide the biggest single thing they can do to get their name out there, but they need a nice polished product to do it with. Until they have that product there's not a whole lot of point in putting loads of effort into advertising.
I do think it would behoove them to start gathering information on the major game stores in each state (county, province, etc) in the mean time. This would likely fall under the new marketing guys umbrella (sorry, can't remember who you are!). Start doing research online to find the best stores in each state and/or start asking people here what the best stores are near them. There are fewer and fewer over the years, but hopefully there's at least a couple GOOD game stores that are RPG oriented in most states. We can provide a list of stores, but then ICE needs to start reaching out to them themselves in a professional capacity - and one of the first things said needs to be "Some of our fans/customers have passed your stores information to us in order to... blah blah blah." Make them aware that people who live near and likely been in/shopped at their store are interested in ICE products. Of course this then leads to the fact that there really needs to be something physical ICE can provide them, so some kind of arrangement needs to be worked out there since most of the product in on a print on demand basis now. Of course this assumes they want to try to get the product out through brick and mortar stores, which I feel is a requirement at the moment. Online gaming are becoming more and more an online purchase business, but the stores can still be very important... and for more reason than just having your product on your shelf. They are a gathering point and an actual gaming location if they are a full on RPG store.
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I'll address game worlds in my next post.
Regarding visibility and a solid, polished product, I see what Cory says and agree with it up to a point.
Simply, there are a number of strategies that can work together. One is the social media angle, which is really getting a conversation going. Part of that is already happening: we have the facebook pages, but there doesn't appear to be as much conversation there as there could be.
Another is, as Cory points out, the gaming stores. These are, yes, more than just stoores, they are loci for gaming to happen in, and the physical hub for real gaming communities. And this is an area where the gamers have excellent potential as gaming ambassadors: we can go to our stores, organise games, events, even keep ICE noticed. (It's all part of the word-of-mouth effort that can complement ICE's efforts.)
A third way is to have the con presence. Here, a mixture of players and staff can work. Nicholas has written of his successes, and it inspires me to want to do likewise.
I am sure we can sit down, at some point, and brainstorm other ways of getting ICE and its products visible again. And, as they say, the best time to start getting your platform going is when the work you're doing is just a twinkle in your eye.
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Regarding game worlds based on existing material (eg. books) -- what about basing them on material in the public domain? For example, say we were interested in horror gaming, we could work on a sourcebook that opens up the world of Dracula to a significant degree, maybe even incorporating other of Stoker's books. As a reader of Stoker, and as an RPGer, that would interest me.
So: where there is that possibility, it could be an option to look at it. The campaign worlds that result may not be bigger than Ben Hur: they may turn out to be Ben Hur. :)
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Oh yes, a store presence is needed and I was assuming that was the case in my scenario for random gamers in the shop noticing and picking up an ICE product.
There's definitely things that need to be done before any effort is put into licensing something but I think it is a viable option to think about - but earlier comments about using license-free 'worlds' is an excellent idea as it saves money on the licensing but also means more purchasers from the people who already love those established 'worlds' and who wouldn't have normally bought ICE rulesets (Rolemaster, Spacemaster, HARP etc) otherwise.
The horror and Steam Punk ideas are great and they're both very popular subjects. As to actually creating those things, I remember Nicholas asking for writers in another thread. ;)
(I'm saying that these things could be good move personally - I am merely a contractor and this no way represents the will of ICE. I realised that last paragraph didn't sound right)
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I think you'll find that specific themes is what's wanted.
I am pretty much 99% certain one of the newest ICE's goals is to go to GenCon as that will provide the biggest single thing they can do to get their name out there, but they need a nice polished product to do it with. Until they have that product there's not a whole lot of point in putting loads of effort into advertising.
I totally agree with Cory here. If you haven't got anything shiny to show apart from a game system...what's the point? I like the idea of a steampunk setting, heck you could even have a steampunk horror setting!
As I've said before, ICE needs to branch out in other areas of the gaming industry such as board and card games etc. But I can't see this happening until they recruit a game developer. It may be fine that they have a RPG designers team but you'll find it's a whole new thing to develop board and card games. A big IP license I don't believe is totally necessary to grab new customers. Do it through a novel. Take the above example of a steampunk horror setting. Approach a willing author and run the idea with them to produce a cracker of a story, then use that as a basis for the official RM game world. Then you can always expand it to board and card games. This is probably harder to do than I make it sound.
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D-Punk, that would be interesting.
MDC
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Thre could be room for developing material based around, say, the weird fiction of William Hope Hodgson. I'd love to see a campaign set in the world of The Night Land with its end-of-the-world strangeness, for example. It's a thought....
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There could be room for Cthulhu-Punk :)
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There could be room for Cthulhu-Punk :)
That's a fun genre, but it's been done before. I actually ran a game myself for a while.
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That's a fun genre, but it's been done before. I actually ran a game myself for a while.
Even if taken more literally...
"I say, Wingate, that shoggoth has a large safety pin through its, er, amorphous appendage...." :)
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Lots of interesting points in this thread.
Some random factoids - Green Ronin has the rpg license for Games of Thrones, Cubicle 7 is publishing The One Ring (the current Middle-earth licensee).
It is extremely unlikely that GCP or Aurigas-who-are-ICE will be returning to a Middle-Earth license. (I do not say impossible)
Licenses from non-rpg media can be expensive, impose constraints on what can be done, be difficult to manage, are essentially temporary and are not guaranteed to make a company rich.
Licensing other rpg settings is similar but on a lesser scale. There are other rpg settings that I like enough that I could be tempted to get a license for GCP, but we do have five official settings already to work with - Shadow World, Cyradon, Tintamar, Privateers, and the pre-SilentDeath Imperium - and they have first priority in getting developed.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
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Licensing other rpg settings is similar but on a lesser scale. There are other rpg settings that I like enough that I could be tempted to get a license for GCP, but we do have five official settings already to work with - Shadow World, Cyradon, Tintamar, Privateers, and the pre-SilentDeath Imperium - and they have first priority in getting developed.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
You may not be able to answer this as of yet... but is the intention to continue supporting all of the existing settings at some point in the future if reasonably possible or do you foresee dropping one or more of them?
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There could be room for Cthulhu-Punk :)
Why did Cthulhu cross the road?
Because he was safety-pinned to a chicken.
:o
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Licensing other rpg settings is similar but on a lesser scale. There are other rpg settings that I like enough that I could be tempted to get a license for GCP, but we do have five official settings already to work with - Shadow World, Cyradon, Tintamar, Privateers, and the pre-SilentDeath Imperium - and they have first priority in getting developed.
<<Q deleted>>
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Why did Cthulhu cross the road?
Because he was safety-pinned to a chicken.
:o
I couldn't help myself, but had to laugh. :)
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Lots of interesting points in this thread.
Some random factoids - Green Ronin has the rpg license for Games of Thrones, Cubicle 7 is publishing The One Ring (the current Middle-earth licensee).
It is extremely unlikely that GCP or Aurigas-who-are-ICE will be returning to a Middle-Earth license. (I do not say impossible)
Licenses from non-rpg media can be expensive, impose constraints on what can be done, be difficult to manage, are essentially temporary and are not guaranteed to make a company rich.
Licensing other rpg settings is similar but on a lesser scale. There are other rpg settings that I like enough that I could be tempted to get a license for GCP, but we do have five official settings already to work with - Shadow World, Cyradon, Tintamar, Privateers, and the pre-SilentDeath Imperium - and they have first priority in getting developed.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Great to hear what is going on. 5 Settings is a lot but I can see them being pruned down to 4 easily for 2 fantasy and 2 Sci Fi. That does leave open some source books for the stuff in the middle of the pack.
MDC
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Talking about settings, how do we feel about third-party settings for the games, in addition to the house settings? Myself, I'm excited by Rolemaster Rome, and that gets me excited, as well as the fantasy side of the games. Give me a good Spacemaster GM though and I'm happy to adapt.... :)
Back to the point: yes, having a solid core of settings is integral to the game. And part of that means continued, material support in terms of supplements and adventures. However, it can also be a drawcard to say that the system is open to licensed, third-party settings in a way rarely seen before the advent of the OGL. To what degree, then, is this beneficial? To what degree is it desirable? Is it a strong element of the ICE platform, or does it detract from its brand identity?
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Back to the point: yes, having a solid core of settings is integral to the game. And part of that means continued, material support in terms of supplements and adventures. However, it can also be a drawcard to say that the system is open to licensed, third-party settings in a way rarely seen before the advent of the OGL. To what degree, then, is this beneficial? To what degree is it desirable? Is it a strong element of the ICE platform, or does it detract from its brand identity?
No, it doesnt detract, but so far there have been several attempts to do this and all failed at the end. Echoes of Heaven, then this old man gang (don't remember the exact name) with the post apocalyptic one, also Rome is amongst those imo because a single book is not enough. I.e. any setting needs to be driven by GCP itself, otherwise it won't work.
Concerning Nicholas post: assuming that there will be a rework of Spacemaster at some point, I would suggest to drop Privateers in the process. Would save a lot of effort and as said, I am not a fan of the one-dimensional Privateers universe.
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For the avoidance of doubt, the fact that we have five official settings to play with does not mean that GCP only has five settings.
For instance, Aaron Smalley (nod to Aaron) is working on No Quarter under the Crown, which is based in his world of Aernth, for which we have already published City of Archendurn and Dun Cru. Subject to his real-world commitments, Aaron will probably send further manuscripts GCP's way in the future. What we won't be doing is opening up a wish list for Aernth modules. If someone wants to collaborate with Aaron on writing an Aernth module, talk to Aaron. Likewise I'm not going to chain Aaron to a wordprocessor and make him crank out X Aernth modules per year.
Whereas Terry and I expect to have a wish list for Shadow World modules to be written by people other than Terry. (Because if we don't, I will end up chaining Terry to a wordprocessor). Likewise for the other official settings.
For other settings/source material, like Aernth, which we might call "unofficial" settings/campaigns/modules, I might try to assimilate them into a main setting. An example here is Chris Seal's current work in progress, Caer Glais (nod to Chris). With a bit of joint thinking, Chris and I were able to see ways in which Caer Glais could be adjusted to fit into the Shatterings of Cyradon and have links to the rest of the Cyradon/Mithra mythos. So opening up a different part of the world, a different style of adventure, and allow Chris to press on with his good ideas.
An alternative option, for when integration (like Caer Glais) or occasional publication (like we are doing with Aernth) does not make sense, is the all-in-one setting book or the limited set of books. So if someone comes to us with a proposal for a steampunk setting or a dark faery setting or whatever, and if it is good enough, we might well put them under contract to write it, but such things are not on GCP's mandatory projects list or project wish list, so we're not actively seeking out people to write these sort of products. Yet.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
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No, it doesnt detract, but so far there have been several attempts to do this and all failed at the end. Echoes of Heaven, then this old man gang (don't remember the exact name) with the post apocalyptic one, also Rome is amongst those imo because a single book is not enough. I.e. any setting needs to be driven by GCP itself, otherwise it won't work.
Cloven-Fruit-Games are nearly ready with AfterWorlds.
I was chatting with Graham Bottley of Arion Games at Dragonmeet and he has plans for additional Rolemaster Rome products but they need RMU to stabilise first.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
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Cloven-Fruit-Games are nearly ready with AfterWorlds.
I apologize for calling them "old man gang", that's how I had them remembered. Don't know why.
I was chatting with Graham Bottley of Arion Games at Dragonmeet and he has plans for additional Rolemaster Rome products but they need RMU to stabilise first.
Cool. As a setting I think Rome could potentially reach the level of Middle Earth. It's all there, from big threats to politics to warfare. Even low magic is credible (Druids,...). What is missing is
a) Production quality
b) More books. What might work is to focus on one period (like ICE did with ME: 1640 TA) and start with one area, e.g. Gaul shortly after Caesar's conquests. Or Rome during the split into east and west, or...
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With Rolemaster Rome, the "default" setting is 24 BC, with scope for expansion along any other period of Roman history. There may well be sourcebooks that cover these other periods (I'll talk with Graham about this if you want, as I plan on contributing material over time).
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With Rolemaster Rome, the "default" setting is 24 BC, with scope for expansion along any other period of Roman history. There may well be sourcebooks that cover these other periods (I'll talk with Graham about this if you want, as I plan on contributing material over time).
What I think would work best if you stick to one time period and build several supplemenets based on that.
The main pain point of the ICE customer base is in my opinion lack of time since we all have reached a certain age where family, jobs, other hobbies,... need to be balanced with the passion for RPG. Personally I think Rome has the potential for a GREAT setting, but having rules and some info is not enough to play. Especially when it is not only about developing a plot, but also trying to stick somehwat close to historic reality.
What I would need is: for a specific area detailed maps, adventure hooks, fully fledged NPCs and how they interact, politics and threats on a grander scheme,...
For example you could take Gaul: just pacified by Cesar's armies. Germans and Celts are still in the neighbourhood. So lots of potential for intrigue, saving the Empire or dealing another blow against that Southern aggressors.
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For instance, Aaron Smalley (nod to Aaron) is working on No Quarter under the Crown, which is based in his world of Aernth, for which we have already published City of Archendurn and Dun Cru. Subject to his real-world commitments, Aaron will probably send further manuscripts GCP's way in the future. What we won't be doing is opening up a wish list for Aernth modules. If someone wants to collaborate with Aaron on writing an Aernth module, talk to Aaron. Likewise I'm not going to chain Aaron to a wordprocessor and make him crank out X Aernth modules per year.
In reading some of the posts here I'm thinking that some of the other ideas that I've had for the World of Ærnth would be worth trying to turn out as quickly as possible (due to the fact that the "No Quarter under the Crown" is intended as a detailed campaign for moderately high level characters), so that there is more lower-level material for this setting (which BTW, has been built my more than just me, as there has been help from many others in developing this world over the last 25+ years).
There has been extensive work done on the Channel Cities portion of the setting (as well as a few TGC articles in the early days of the GuildCompanion.com) that I could pull together to provide for a slew of lower level adventures/scenarios relatively easily. There are a couple of longer campaign plot-lines set within the Channel Cities that have been used to move characters from low levels up to moderate levels in the various past campaigns.
Someone had mentioned political intrigue? That was the driving force behind the development of the Channel Cities back in the late 1980's, which combined with the Archendurn Kingdom were the starting point for the entire Ærnth setting. Several thousand hours of thought and effort went into the design and history/background of this city to create an environment that has similarities to ancient Rome in the economic power that it holds over the rest of the world, but yet has even more potential political intrigue due to it actually being five cities next to one another, each with its own (and different forms of) government and economic strengths.
Unfortunately the Channel Cities is freakin' huge. Approaching 400 pages with the small bit that I've so far imported into the master digital document that I started a few years ago to try to consolidate the many large ring binders and index card boxes, with having pulled in less than 20% of the material that has so far been developed for it. With hundreds of hand-drawn maps of taverns/inns, details on a couple thousand businesses, more than a dozen underworld guilds in addition to the scores of artisan guilds that have been at least partially detailed, and the several thousand NPC's that have been detailed so far to populate this large metropolis. And unlike some of the past commercially released city setting (can't recall off the top of my head which TSR product it was that I had purchased back in the mid-80's that was so disappointing as to cause me to start this project) with claims of a million people but a map of less than a square mile) a lot of thought and effort went into actual population densities as well as proportions of the many different types of artisans that such a city would actually need to support itself and its economy (as well as the trade that would be needed to support the huge food influx to support such a population).
So guess what I'm wondering is if I should look at starting to try to turn out (and if so, how to organize it) materials covering the Channel Cities portion of the Ærnth setting (in addition to the other smaller modules that I've been hoping to get to that are set in or near the Archendurn Kingdom that have been on the back burner for years now). With the intention of having more lower-level adventures to lead up to the "No Quarter under the Crown" campaign module that is currently being worked on. Although I suspect Nicholas (from his previous post) probably want's me to keep plugging away at the current project before putting too much effort into other projects.
And as Nicholas mentioned, the setting was designed with the intent of being a group effort, so if anyone else has any ideas or is interested in producing adventures set within the setting, be sure to get a hold of me.
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I think an important question is do you have the rights to the collaborative work?
MDC
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The intent behind the collaborative nature of the setting so far has been that by contributing to the setting the contributor retains primary copyright, but that aspects of it can be used by other contributors via referencing the original contribution. As an example if someone wanted to create an adventure module that detailed some aspect of the sewer system (or some business or merchants estate or some such location) in the city of Martelain (or any of the other four cities) portion of the channel cities they would be able to and pull in background material that I've already contributed to, the setting covering the underworld guilds that use the sewer system, history of the city and ties to locations that I or others have already detailed as well as existing street maps of the many "districts" of the city (as long as it fits with the feel and existing info about the city of Martelain). As long as they reference the origin of the setting and acknowlede the contribution of others, the majority of the work originated with them, and it is approved as being part of and fitting with the setting, they would be able to collect any royalty payments based on it being published through ICE.
Likewise if someone wanted to write an adventure module covering one of the several religions that exist within the setting that, would be fine as well, again as long as it does not counter or contradict the work that myself or other contributors (Aran Mull and Dale Maxwell both contributed to some degree to the religions, in addition to what I've written so far) have already developed. But again, they would need to agree to allow other contributors to reference and build off of their contributions in the future, so that the setting as a whole can continue to grow and develop.
If someone has an adventure idea (small one-shot or even a larger campaign type of extended plot-line), but needs a world to plug it into, the entire globe of the planet is roughly mapped out, so they could let me know what they are thinking for an environment and topography and there is a good chance that we could find someplace within the existing world where it could fit (a fair portion of the continents are only roughly mapped out and thus can be changed if needed to fit), as long as the feel and theme of their idea fits with the feel of the world without contradicting anything else that has already been developed so far.
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I think the magical bullet is settings where material is released regulary...
Personally I gave up mostly on Shadow World because of the style of the high magic items. When every treasure is designed to be over the top the material get hard to reuse. Still...my point here is another thing.
The rate of new things in the released material was the other important factor when made me give up on Shadow World. Terry alone can not produce material quick enough and the question of overrunning the time line is a real problem in my book. Describing the world in greater and greater detail is good for the true fans, but for us that only are slightly interested in such details (i.e. they are hard to reuse) the fact that the time line is stuck until Terry finished with the whole world or gets around doing the Grand Campaign is a show stopper to many customers because it makes the causal reader feel like there is no real progress.
IMHO one of the great problems here is the Grand Campaign that turned out to be too large bite to handle, but IMHO still blocks real progress with Shadow World. I did actually reused most of the material from the Grand Campaign in my game are there are some pretty good ideas there, but I think the best that could happen to Shadow World would be if Terry officially eradicated Grand Campaign from ever becoming canon and promised that he would continue to provide materials and idea that can be used in an upcoming climax, but that he intentionally leave it to individual GM to design the actual climax and will just push it forward. That would give GMs using Shadow World more openings to come with material that Terry can approve.
The same goes for Cyradon that is designed pretty much around about what happens in this new place, but never got the continuation of material hinted in the beginning. It takes a rather special GM mind to devote to such a setting where you don't get answers but only got help with beginning of the campaign (that often is the easiest to do if you go totally solo).
It is IMO dangerous to develop setting material that ties down into events at a singular point in time that will be released in a upcoming book. People think about such events as the metaplot for a season of a television show and will expect their regular fix that progress towards the climax.