Author Topic: Director's Briefing - December 2019  (Read 3873 times)

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Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Director's Briefing - December 2019
« on: December 06, 2019, 03:33:35 AM »
Welcome

To the one hundred-and-second Briefing and final scheduled Briefing of 2019.

Dragonmeet 2019

Colin, John and I attended Dragonmeet in force, with some support from my family in the setup and takedown phases of the event. We attended and so did Haalkitaine in both hardcover and softcover editions. We sold many books and much use was made of the new handheld payment device. Colin talked to artists, both established and new. I spoke to freelance writers, both established and new, and to a fan who was up for running a game demo next Dragonmeet. The three of us also chatted about how we can improve our presence at gaming conventions more generally and we think we have a potential solution.

Shadow World

In chatting to people new to the systems and worlds of ICE at Dragonmeet, it nagged at me that we had all these lovely HARP products and all these lovely Shadow World books but the two did not intersect. Now granted Cyradon will return for HARP and other settings for HARP will arise, and Rolemaster and Shadow World maintain their symbiotic relationship, but it really is time we made it easy for HARP fans to tap into the wonders of Shadow World. With Subterfuge and Bestiary now at artwork stage, Beyond the Veil in an advanced stage, and the mechanics-heavy chapters of Something Wicked Something Wondrous equally advanced, HARP finally has all the muscles for Shadow World.

In the first instance, I would like to see the creation of a HARP Handbook for Shadow World. I don’t mean a Master Atlas, but a system handbook that details the additional professions, races, creatures, etc., the extra rules needed to effectively run HARP in Shadow World, and conversion guidance from Rolemaster stats to HARP. In the second instance, we might consider producing HARP stat blocks for existing Shadow World sourcebooks but we would not be reworking those existing Shadow World sourcebooks. In the third instance, we would in due course be able to add a HARP stats appendix to future Shadow World sourcebooks.

What do I think might be in a HARP Handbook for Shadow World? Not necessarily in this order -

1.   Mapping Rolemaster’s stats to HARP stats
2.   A Professions chapter which would both map Rolemaster professions to existing HARP professions and probably include new Loremaster and Navigator professions
3.   A Races chapter providing writeups for as many playable Shadow World races as possible
4.   Guidance on choosing Cultures for Shadow World with some possibility of additional cultures beyond those available in HARP Fantasy and Folkways
5.   Mapping Rolemaster skills to HARP skills
6.   Providing any additional talents required to support the Shadow World races
7.   New Spell Spheres for Loremaster and Navigator and any additional spells deemed necessary to reflect special Shadow World needs
8.   Customising the Cleric to match the religions of Kulthea
9.   Herbs and Poisons converted in terms of effects from Rolemaster to Shadow World
10.   Treasure conversions of standard Shadow World magical items (such as power point multipliers which already are toned down for RMSS)
11.   Creatures specific to Shadow World which are not in HARP Fantasy or HARP Bestiary
12.   Rules for handling Shadow World special circumstances such as Navigator travel and Flowstorms.
13.   And doubtless other things that I have missed!

Anyone interested in writing or helping to write the Handbook?

HARP Fantasy and HARP SF

Lots of lovely artwork has arrived for HARP Subterfuge with more still to come in. More art is underway for HARP Garden of Rain and HARP Bestiary as well. Currently HARP Subterfuge is leading in terms of most art already completed.

I am halfway through my editing sweep of HARP Beyond the Veil.

My queue is still HARP Beyond the Veil, Cyradon, Priest-King and RMU.

Until next time

As the next scheduled Briefing will be in the new year, all that remains for me to do is wish you a very Merry Christmas (or other holiday of your choice).

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd

Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2019, 08:59:57 AM »
I would like to hear more about the plans for the ICE presence at conventions. I ran the sole RM session (RMU) at GenCon last year, and it looks like I will be able to run another session or two this year, but no one on these forums ever responded to any of my multiple posts about running it. I asked repeatedly here if there would be any other RM sessions at GenCon, and never got even a simple 'No, you're it.' All I got was silence. This contrasts with the guys at the booth in Indianapolis, who were wonderfully supportive.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline Thot

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2019, 12:28:20 PM »
This reads as if Harp is the business focus now, with RMU potentially being pushed back further?

Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2019, 04:13:27 PM »
I would like to hear more about the plans for the ICE presence at conventions. I ran the sole RM session (RMU) at GenCon last year, and it looks like I will be able to run another session or two this year, but no one on these forums ever responded to any of my multiple posts about running it. I asked repeatedly here if there would be any other RM sessions at GenCon, and never got even a simple 'No, you're it.' All I got was silence. This contrasts with the guys at the booth in Indianapolis, who were wonderfully supportive.

I have flagged you to Colin and added you to our list of convention GMs. There will be support for GenCon GMs this year.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2019, 04:21:18 PM »
This reads as if Harp is the business focus now, with RMU potentially being pushed back further?

No, I became tired of explaining that we had the rules and sourcebooks of HARP on one side of the booth, and the setting sourcebooks of Shadow World on the other. Now that so many HARP sourcebooks are already published or are on their way, we are now in a much better position to create a HARP Handbook  (which is something I have indicated an interest in seeing in the past).

We also have a need to ensure that the HARP pipeline does not run dry after the current sequence of Subterfuge, Garden of Rain, Bestiary and Beyond the Veil reach publication, so that means commissioning more products now.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2019, 01:59:58 AM »

I have flagged you to Colin and added you to our list of convention GMs. There will be support for GenCon GMs this year.


That's great to hear. Thanks so much!
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline Jenkyna

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2019, 10:25:24 AM »
In the first instance, I would like to see the creation of a HARP Handbook for Shadow World. I don’t mean a Master Atlas, but a system handbook that details the additional professions, races, creatures, etc., the extra rules needed to effectively run HARP in Shadow World, and conversion guidance from Rolemaster stats to HARP.

To me this seems like a good idea. It increases ShadowWorld exposure, which in turn should help fund new ShadowWorld books. That benefits Rolemaster players too. Not a HARP player, although I have thought about buying a few of the books like the bestiary to mine for ideas for Rolemaster games. If you do this it would be nice if the conversions could be designed to go both ways.

In the second instance, we might consider producing HARP stat blocks for existing Shadow World sourcebooks but we would not be reworking those existing Shadow World sourcebooks. In the third instance, we would in due course be able to add a HARP stats appendix to future Shadow World sourcebooks.

My feeling is you need HARP stats for Powers of Light & Darkness, and the next iteration of the Master Atlas. Beyond that I think a handbook that includes conversion rules is sufficient for all the other existing SW books. If someone really wanted to do the conversion of existing material, maybe a HARP stat sheet could be made available as an additional download for purchasers of the books.

Offline Grinnen Baeritt

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2019, 03:23:18 AM »
Is there going to be an equivalent conversion Handbook for Rolemaster? (Or better still a mix of both)... Like a English/French Dictionary? (i.e. both methods covered in the same book?

The thing is, this is the sort of thing that needs to be made freely available, as a PDF, or an on-line resource.

It seems to me that if the aim of RMU was to unify RM2/RMSS players, that all the effort put into that could be lost, in what appears, at least, to be a continued emphasis on increasing coverage of Harp, rather than focusing on a "close to completion" RM project.     

Offline grodog

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2019, 12:01:42 PM »
Colin, John and I attended Dragonmeet in force, with some support from my family in the setup and takedown phases of the event. We attended and so did Haalkitaine in both hardcover and softcover editions.

Do you have any updates on when we'll be able to order print copies of Haalkitaine and its poster maps, Nicholas?

Allan.

Offline Thot

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2019, 12:36:59 PM »
I'll outright say it.

Maybe what the people were hinting to was NOT that you should offer more support for the rather unknown HARP, but that you should put some printed copies of RoleMaster (a name that still has a lot of power in the world of role playing games) alongside your Shadow World books.


Offline tbigness

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2019, 02:50:57 PM »
No word on RMU in the Brief.... Is there a stall out there.... We are hungry for the debut of RMU...
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Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2019, 04:25:05 PM »
To put it in perspective: The Rolemaster forum here has about 50k posts (not counting Shadow World's 10k or RMU's 15k+); the HARP forum has less than 15k.

One would never guess that from the briefings though, which seem to focus far more on HARP than RM.

I can't say anything about sales of course, but it does seem to me that the priorities might not match the market's interest.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline Finlos

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #12 on: December 13, 2019, 07:50:04 PM »
It seems to me that most of the work on RMU is finished and they're waiting for C&M to get sorted out and catch up.  They're working on other projects in the meantime to keep books selling.

I am under the impression that when C&M does get sorted out (hopefully soon!) that RMU will quickly rise to the top of the queue so they can get all the books into our hands about the same time.

Offline Peter R

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2019, 12:40:42 PM »
Since 2011, using DTRPG best seller ratings as a guide, we have these sales figures.
HARP between 2001 and 4000 units sold
RMC Character Law between 501 and 1000 units sold
RMFRP core book between 101 and 250 units sold.

These numbers cannot take account of all the people who have owned their books for decades.
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Offline Thot

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2019, 12:57:54 PM »
Since 2011, using DTRPG best seller ratings as a guide, we have these sales figures.
HARP between 2001 and 4000 units sold
RMC Character Law between 501 and 1000 units sold
RMFRP core book between 101 and 250 units sold.

These numbers cannot take account of all the people who have owned their books for decades.

If RMU finally comes out next year, we'll have something to compare. RMC shows its age, despite its vintage beauty. RMFRP is really over the top complex in places (I will use it in my next campaign, but with greatly reduced number of skills and simplified combat) and only improved compared to RMC in a few details.

Right now, comparing HARP sales to RMC und RMFRP sales is apples to oranges.

Offline netbat

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2019, 03:39:02 PM »
I for one am glad for the movement on HARP. From my perspective RMU sucked all the momentum and action out of HARP, so it's nice to see the things that we expected 11 years ago moving towards completion.
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Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2019, 04:32:03 PM »
Good point though Peter. The sales make clear why there is the interest in HARP.

I do still think the posts suggest that RM has the greater potential in the long run.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline technobabble66

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2019, 08:34:59 PM »
Out of interest, would text books be released as both hard copies and PDFs?
I’m referring to both HARP and RMU, though my interest is mainly RMU.

When it finally comes out, I’d be very keen to get both hard and soft copies of the RMU texts - both are very useful for pre-session and session needs.

Offline jdale

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2019, 10:17:25 AM »
Since these books are produced as print-on-demand products, there's no reason not to produce them as hard copies. The normal process is that they are released as PDFs first, which allows a few weeks to catch any issues, typos, etc, after which they become available in print as well.

I agree with you about the utility of both formats.
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Offline Peter R

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Re: Director's Briefing - December 2019
« Reply #19 on: December 15, 2019, 03:00:14 PM »
It costs maybe $30 to set up hard and softcover Print on Demand products from the PDF. It is a no brainer to make both formats available.
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