I can’t get it out of my HEAD

Now, the only thing I know about Gaunt’s Ghosts is their unit writeup in the various Imperial Guard Codex’s for WH40k.

But, knowing only that - I would do it with Carry.

IPR now providing preorders.

Carry Cover. Oh yeh, and preorders.

Here’s the final cover.

Also, preorders are now open, from now until July 17. Details here. You can order via paypal, or through Indie Press Revolution, soon as Brennan gets it up for me. There will be linkage.

Carry Preview Thang 2

So Mark Vallinatos is a badass, and turned up some more photos, one of which blew the previous Carry cover photo out of the water. So here’s the new cover, also with a tweaked logo that I like more.

Also, here’s a shot of an interior spread.

Oh! And I got this call from the folks at DexCon. Now, the original plan was that I was only going to be able to be there on Saturday and Sunday, due to some work I had lined up. Well, the project fell through, so I will be able to be there the whole time (woot). Anyway, I originally scheduled one game of Carry for Saturday night. Well, apparentely the organizers think that there will be enough demand for “more serious and different” games that they asked me to run two more sessions, which I, providentially, will be able to do. So there are now sessions of Carry on Thursday, Friday & Saturday, all 8-midnight. Check out all the other awesome Indie events here.

I look forward to teh awesome.

Indulging In Futurism

My predictions?

The changing role of the distributor will be the main pressure that changes how games get into the hands of customers. Distributors will begin dropping RPG titles that don’t turn them a profit, concentrating on other hobby gaming things (CCGs, collectible minis, etc). Only the biggest publishers (WotC, maybe WW, maybe SJG) will be worth carrying - and I bet that those will start looking more towards mainstream book distributors, to expand their market. Hobby game distributors will either fold, or re-constitute themselves as only carrying high-turnover products. More services like IPR will spring up, each serving a different facet of the market. The FLGS will either begin talking directly to those kinds of services, or directly to publishers, or just stop carrying RPGs in general. Publishers will take advantage of direct contact with retailers and customers to more closely tailor their print runs to their audience, hopefully taking more time to create good product, resulting in happier customers and healthier, smaller, businesses. D&D will continue to do well, carried in bookstore chains and supported by its online iterations as well as the pen-and-paper game.

I hope to look back in 10 years and wonder why everyone got so bent out of shape over this crap.

One Of Them Preview Thangs

So this is the current cover for Carry. You can click on it to see it larger. Thoughts?

What Is Indie?

For better or for worse, “indie design” has become synonymous with “the Forge.”

It’s the same in music. “Indie rock” has become a label for a particular sound, not for the quality of being released without a deal with a record label. I’m willing to bet that, for most of the people who actually pay attention to such things, saying “I’m an indie game designer” is pretty much saying “I’m a willing participant in the Forge community,” with the heavy implication of “I agree with/follow ‘Forge Theory’”.

My point here is not to say “indie is the new mainsteam” or “the Forge is a bunch of wankers,” or whatever. My point is that, these days, it seems to me that the indie label is a marketing concern. There are people who will buy your games because they identify you as part of the Forge, and there are people who will specificially not buy them for the same reason.

So, if you read my last post, then you will see my concern with calling that rubric the “Indie Designers Guide to Game Design.” Not to mention that lacking creator ownership doesn’t mean that it doesn’t apply to you, or something.

So…whats the most accurate way to express it? The Modern Designers Guide? The Small-Press Designers Guide? One Dude’s Guide? The RPG Design Guide?

Second question. Would there be a point to such a project? Or is there something about going through the design process the way the majority of us have (really liking RPGs, tinkering with mechanics, stumbling across small-press games, designers and competitions on the internet, getting feedback and doing a bunch of reading) that would be lost in it?

Thoughts?

Taking A Break

I’m taking a bit of a break from the whole online gaming scene. I’m moving into a new apartment, trying to get my life together, and have multiple projects (including getting Carry press-ready) on my plare, and I just don’t have the energy right now to keep up with the blogosphere. If for some bizarre reason you feel the need to get in touch, drop an email to n(dot)d(dot)paoletta(at)gmail.com. May all of your gaming be awesome!

Push/Pull….?

I don’t find the push/pull conversation particularly interesting. This fact is starting to bug me, as it seems like a ton of the designers that I like & respect are getting very excited by it. So, either:

1. I don’t get it, and haven’t yet found an explanation that connects to my feeble brain.
2. I totally get it because it’s part of how I play and think about RPGs anyway, so it’s like reading discussions about how, say, plays and films are like TOTALLY DIFFERENT man, WHOA!
3. I think I get it, but I think that it’s basically reformulating the basic process of roleplay, which is something I’m a little burned out on thinking about.

Number 1 just means that I’ll eventually stumble across something that’ll make it click. Number 2 means that hey, cool, now I have some new words to communicate with. Number 3, though - well, let me take a quick stab at #3.

To recap: the dynamic process of roleplay is that of collaborative creation mediated through the exploration of a fictional space. The players are audience/participants of this exploration, with each individual exploration “pendulum” swinging back and forth from audience to participant depending on the specific makeup of the fictional space.

Now, according to Mo,

Push is an assertion of individual authority.

Pull is a directed solicitation for collaborative buy-in and input.

Push and Pull slot in really nicely, actually - its the different ways that a/p’s move the pendulum of exploration! When you are on the participant end, you can Push the pendulum of others either way (audience participant). You can also Pull the pendulum of others from audience to participant, but I’m not sure you can really Pull from participant to audience (audience –> participant).

Very simple play examples!

[Push A-->P] I am a wizard in D&D. I use my Charm spell on another players character, who now roleplays his characters attraction to mine.

[Push P-->A] I am a wizard in D&D. I use my Lightning Bolt spell on another players character, who fails his save and takes enough damage to take him out of the fight. He has to wait until he gets healed or the fight is over to get back into the game.

[Pull A-->P] I am a wizard in D&D. I raise my arms and threaten another players character with magical death unless he does what I want.

[Pull P-->A] I’m not sure about this one. Maybe something like spending plot points to put myself in someone else’s scene, but I think thats more of a Push. Some help here?

So if I’m totally mangling Push/Pull (#1!), lemme know.

Games? What The Eff?

Look.

What I do, it’s not a game. It’s not a story. It’s fucking roleplaying. It’s its own thing, it has its own tradition, its own conventions, and its own processes. It’s aesthetics are unique, and its product is irreproducable. It is not contained within the tradition of art, or of narrative, or of game theory. It has lessons to learn from those, but it is not bound by those lessons. It is something that is powerful, meaningful, and even stupid in its own right, and not because of its relationship with other forms of entertainment. It does what it does better than anything else. It’s audience is legion; it’s marketing is barely tapped; it’s potential is endless. It is collaborative creation mediated via the exploration of shared fiction. It’s facets are many, its proponents are vocal. And its fun as fucking hell.

Thats all.

Updateyness

So I finally did a little cleaning up around here, updated all my side-bar links and added new ones. As always, if you wanna do a blog link exchange, leave a comment either on the “Add Your Voice” thread, or on this one.

So, Vincent is, as always, is full of wisdom. Carry is now subtitled “A role-playing game about War.” I might even go down to “A game about War,” but I dunno.

[EDIT] After some thought, I’m pretty sure the title is going to be:

carry. a game about war.

I’m going to work on a logo today - it’ll be sweet. [/EDIT]

I hope to have my Timestream thing done by next week, but I need to change the title on that one, too.

I had a dream about Timestream last night. I think I subconsciously worked something out, and might actually start working on a second edition, or at least an updated set of Aspects and Techniques, because of it. Time (heh) will tell.

Oh - and if you don’t follow the Forge, I’m officially on board for GenCon. Woooo!

[EDIT] Oh yeh! Make sure to check out Game A Day every so often. I have been posting stuff there, I promise![/EDIT]