tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55134910291670996882024-02-19T19:59:25.903-05:00Under SiegeA focus on gaming, miniatures, and the enjoyment of the hobby.Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.comBlogger538125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-20013035608626302162023-02-13T15:51:00.002-05:002023-02-13T15:51:42.257-05:00The Writing's on the Wall<p>It's been four years (to the day) since I last wrote something on this blog. It's been a weird and interesting trip. Here's the cliffsnotes version:</p><p>In late 2018, I launched a successful Kickstarter for my Ballista line of gaming supplements. Up to that point, Arcana Creations had started stepping up production both in terms of gaming material as well as launching our Arcana Elements imprint that did fiction and non-fiction books. We were also increasing our exposure via in person shows and conventions. Things were good!</p><p>In 2019, things got busier and since I also have a full time job, the first casualty of my busy schedule was this very blog. The shows were a greater success, fulfillment of the KS was finished, and we were doing more projects. We even signed on to help another indie-publisher to take a project off their hands in order to rewrite, do layout, and publish a small RPG title for them! Things were looking up and 2020 was going to be a FANTASTIC year.</p><p>2020 was fantastic alright... fantastically bad.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiik_QumRvLP-WW43BpbT930ByuBqYrBwH5GoWVyEz0MnwIzdrcOOGTRFNbAZSsTXB7eQ5n9D-X4cTCX3lWsYuGfAu5lwqk0rjADK7qm-MD6-kprS8ATtwGDmZSA9z3EddjLn1G_5MeDQjqbBz8A7URXdqPXewYckD8wKUV0MQws5pKvY6AODvu2gNqkg/s2250/a10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="2250" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiik_QumRvLP-WW43BpbT930ByuBqYrBwH5GoWVyEz0MnwIzdrcOOGTRFNbAZSsTXB7eQ5n9D-X4cTCX3lWsYuGfAu5lwqk0rjADK7qm-MD6-kprS8ATtwGDmZSA9z3EddjLn1G_5MeDQjqbBz8A7URXdqPXewYckD8wKUV0MQws5pKvY6AODvu2gNqkg/w400-h254/a10.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Licensed by Louis Porter, Jr. Design</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Covid hit and impacted the world and pretty much shut everything down in its tracks. Any momentum and growth we had was essentially lost with the pandemic. Plans to try and direct the flow of traffic from shows to an online store never happened. Everything got put on hold.</p><p>2021 wasn't much better and I lost my father at the start of that year. Having taken a year off due to the pandemic, I decided to start publishing things regardless but I wasn't in the headspace for it. We managed to publish two novels that year and started doing shows towards the end of that year as things were opening up more and more.</p><p>Realizing that the momentum Arcana Creations had eroded in 2020 and 2021, I increased the shows in 2022 but my circumstances changed once again and effectively, our base of operations moved from Montreal to a small hamlet about a couple outside of Montreal in the Eastern Townships. We bought an OLD house which gives me the space I needed but the tradeoff was the amount of work that we had (and still need) to do for it. The second half of 2022 has been predominated by the purchase, move, and basic renos.</p><p>At the start of 2023, things are looking GOOD again. Creatively speaking, I've gotten my spark back. I have have clearer picture of various objectives I want to pursue this year. Most importantly, a variety of projects that got stuck in limbo were becoming unstuck.</p><p>And then, Wizards of the Coast basically shit the bed.</p><p>While a lot of things have since been sorted out, the repercussions will be long felt for the tabletop industry. Some of my prior publications and current projects are being re-worked to avoid any future entanglements but I'm equally excited to do so. I won't go into too much detail about that whole OGL drama here but it's given me another kick in the pants with regards to some of my projects.</p><p>All that said, the past 4 years have given me some perspective on where I want to take Arcana Creations as well as what is feasible and practical to do. I've taken a couple steps back in order to move forward again and it seems right that I go back and start writing here again. I'm also been talking to another friend in the publishing space about partnering up and doing some joint projects together -- just like I did when I started out back in 2009.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="267" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tSQ3U7UAsW0" width="321" youtube-src-id="tSQ3U7UAsW0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>M</p><p><br /></p>Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-41690942391024067362019-02-13T21:12:00.000-05:002019-02-13T21:12:58.542-05:00Board Game Overload!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a kid growing up, I liked playing board games and cards. Up to the age of 12 or 13, most of this sort of gaming was confined to the likes of Monopoly, Stratego, and Risk. Then one X-Mas back in 1989, I received a copy of Axis & Allies and I marveled at the complexity of the game. There were so many different components and what seemed to be a large game board! I loved it and I equally enjoyed Shogun (also a Milton Bradley game) that another one of my friends had.<br />
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At that age, I had also started playing D&D. Because of this, Axis & Allies was pulled out 'once in a while' and really, all board games ended up sharing that fate. Things pretty much remained that way for years afterwards. If it wasn't D&D, it was another tabletop RPG.<br />
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About 10-15 years ago, I ended up getting roped in to play this game called Settlers of Catan along with few other board games that I had never heard of before. As it turns out, this was the beginning of some sort of board game renaissance! The tipping point for me was a game called 'Antike'. It is sort of a board game equivalent of Civilization were you compete against other ancient cultures for dominance. It is not overly complex but it isn't a game reliant on a 'luck mechanic' (as in dice or cards) either.<br />
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On my next trip to Montreal (I had been living a couple hours away at the time), I picked up a copy for myself, along with what looked to be a fun Tile-Based game called Drakon. My actual move to Montreal came less than a year later and once there, I made some new friends. I was introduced to (and acquired) games like Ticket to Ride, Shadows Over Camelot, Citadels, and a few others. Somewhat wisely, I decided to try and avoid games that were too alike in terms of game play and mechanics. Yet somehow, that didn't help much.<br />
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I remember a year or so into my new board gaming habit, Fantasy Flight was doing some sort of X-Mas promotion were I could get some games for $5 USD each plus what was almost reasonable shipping charges (BOY have things changed). The Canadian / US exchange rate was also a lot more favorable back then than it is now so it didn't take too long to acquire a bunch of new games in one fell swoop! I also was constantly on the look out for other deals and sales and I picked up quite a few other games that way. With all of that, plus the ever growing expansions for some games, it didn't take long for the cabinet that held my games to start overflowing.<br />
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The acquisition of all these games weren't the problem though...Finding the time to play them given everything else I had going on was. We had a couple of friends we routinely played various board games with -- almost on a weekly basis. But they had their own games and between us we had favorites that we kept revisiting. This meant there were some games that we have collectively owned for years and have never played!<br />
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I decided on a 3-point course of action: I decided at that point to greatly reduce the the rate at which I acquired games. I decided to try and focus on the ones I already had. And finally, I decided to try and sell some of the ones that I could do with out. Selling these off is harder than it should be because people want to spend as little as possible and because shipping isn't cheap! I did manage to part with a few that I knew wouldn't get played ever again for one reason or another.<br />
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For a few years, things were good. I rarely picked up a new board game as I didn't see the need. Sure, I had other things to sink cash into and, despite being a fan of various Kickstarter projects, I backed only TWO small board games in six years! That said, something happened in 2018 and I ended up backing SEVEN board game related projects last year. These have started coming in last Fall. Three of them are BIG ONES too and I need to find places for all these games soon. I also probably need to purge some older un-played or disliked titles -- even if I have to give them away!<br />
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I love board games and the social aspects of some of these games. I just don't have the time to play all of them and I don't think I ever will. The friends I mentioned earlier? They've reached the same conclusion. For myself, I think I need to refine the criteria for keeping games in my collection.<br />
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This gaming renaissance that we've been experiencing for the past ten years? Maybe those days are numbered as we all become collectively buried by the newest fantastic game. Kickstarter has certainly been a driving force for this too. Crowdfunding has both been a blessing and a curse and while it has allowed for many games to be made that wouldn't have been published otherwise. It also means many games will just come and go as dedicated board gamers just move on from game board to game board.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-29844104687195901792019-02-06T22:24:00.001-05:002019-02-06T22:24:49.714-05:00Where The Ground Crumbles Before Me...<br />
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Whelp... Getting traction on a blog can be challenging. Over the years, I've seen ups and downs.<br />
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Now as part of Google's shut down of G+, the first steps of separating the interconnectedness of things have been taken. I've always enjoying navigating Google Plus even if it wasn't a popular platform, it became one adored by many gamers such as myself. It was also an easy way to get people to glance at my odd musings on the blog.<br />
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Without it, I'm not sure how well it will fair but I hope it remains steady.<br />
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Guess I may have to share this on Twitter and Facebook more or consider other options.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-32980697612866371812019-01-27T23:17:00.000-05:002019-01-27T23:17:17.270-05:003D Printing & Sci-Fi Outposts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSatAKL-CWdBhaGviAeEMzXgU7rBLI0gHntsEWZFzWwTLKVePC4S2yP76IYmm-C3tMTjoGV32qbXa-iBvvT4Z6yt_lWYImqlRCriqLxhaCRc9xXJEFnBRRnn4-E4y22n-9uwVmR_-PDKob/s1600/5ed0bfb858292e73966d514503159f8a_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="700" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSatAKL-CWdBhaGviAeEMzXgU7rBLI0gHntsEWZFzWwTLKVePC4S2yP76IYmm-C3tMTjoGV32qbXa-iBvvT4Z6yt_lWYImqlRCriqLxhaCRc9xXJEFnBRRnn4-E4y22n-9uwVmR_-PDKob/s320/5ed0bfb858292e73966d514503159f8a_original.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have two 3D Printers at present -- a Prusa i3 Mk3 which I've owned since Spring of 2018 and a Creality Ender 3 which I put together during the holidays. Both have been working at printing up some goodies like some great terrain pieces I'm planning to use for Kill Team. Working with the Ender 3 has been a different experience than my Mk3. Let me say that I *love* the reliability of my Mk3 and it has printed countless of hours with a success rate (out of the box) of over 96%<br />
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When I bought my Mk3, it wasn't cheap. Because I needed to put it into production almost immediately and because I didn't want any possible downtime putting it together and dialing it in, I chose a fully assembled model. That cost me $999 USD plus and additional $100 USD in shipping. On top of that, there was customs charges. After the USD to CAD exchange rate, it was no small investment. Given what I got out of it, I don't regret the purchase and I would love to have another.<br />
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Realistically, this was not in the budget.<br />
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A newer printer (which wasn't on my radar when I initially bought the Mk3) was, and this was Creality's newest offering -- the Ender 3. As I mentioned recently, I managed to pick it up with a flash sale on Amazon making it already cheaper than it normally is (a little over $200 USD). In truth, I wanted to have a second 3D printer for a while but I held off on the Ender 3 for a few reasons:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Unlike the Mk3, the Ender 3 is not use a direct drive extruder but a bowden tube setup.</li>
<li>The Ender 3 is has had thermal runaway protection disabled</li>
<li>No automated bed leveling</li>
<li>Issues with various parts due to cost-cutting measure</li>
<li>Frame is in separate pieces in the kit </li>
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The Mk3 has spoiled me in many ways but no printer is quite at the consumer level where you can press a button and 'go'. But I feel the Mk3 does get pretty close to this level of ease. It was a bit different when it comes to the Ender 3. As a kit, the Ender 3 isn't too difficult to put together but invariably, there will be issues if you aren't careful when assembling the printer as you need to make sure the frame is perfectly squared to the bed. Just a tiny variance can affect the quality of the print, even if it 'looks' straight. Some of the pieces used are a bit on the sub-standard side and some choices boggle the mind. The extruder in the kit is plastic and wear and tear is a valid concern. The bed is frequently warped which makes bed leveling a problem of course and, since you have to manually do this, it can be a frustrating start into the 3D printing hobby.<br />
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The biggest one for me was the issue with thermal runaway protection having been disabled for many of these earlier printers. Fortunately, this is ONE thing that has changed recently. Newer Ender 3's have been going out with this enabled. Experiencing thermal runaway when this is disabled is a sure way to get a fire happening and NO ONE wants that!<br />
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With the price being even lower than usual, I was able to order the Ender 3 as well as get a glass bed to resolve the possibility of the bed being warped and a metal extruder to replace the stock plastic one. At that price, it would have been possible to buy FOUR Ender 3's for the cost of my Mk3.<br />
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With that cost savings, there is a trade-off when it comes to convenience. Dialing in the Ender 3 seems more of an art than anything else sometimes and if it wasn't for previous experience, it might have taken me much longer to do. For the newcomer to 3D Printing, I'd would be happy to recommend the investment but I'd also stipulate that they need to sit through a lot of videos in terms of properly assembling one of these kits and how to properly set up the printer for optimal use.<br />
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BOTH of my printers are configured as they should be and right now I'm printing some Sci-Fi terrain. As it turns out, this isn't only for me -- a friend asked me to print up some pieces to replace his Space Hulk cardboard tiles. I've printed a couple of test pieces and I'm liking how they look so far:<br />
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The terrain is part of a larger set which I stumbled upon Kickstarter a few months back called <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedragonsrest/3d-printable-sci-fi-modular-outpost#" target="_blank">Outpost: Origins</a> by <a href="https://dragons.rest/" target="_blank">Dragon's Rest</a>. The models are extremely detailed and look fantastic! They were also great value given the price on Kickstarter though looking at their website, not everything that has been released to backers is available for purchase yet. I assume they will come when all pieces have been made available.<br />
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At this stage, I'm printing various pieces for different configurations. The first two (the red and silver) were only the beginning as I am looking to see how closely I can match the Space Hulk maps for tabletop play. Worse case... these are going to become part of terrain for Kill Team. ;)<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-1520392642902223722019-01-20T21:14:00.000-05:002019-01-20T21:14:46.063-05:00Operation: Kill Team<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizGp5qCzNyliH_ke-dmAnJlc9tH2JF3dkbxyF8S3vhy-XKMVUQVuZ9g42LmvihHGuTsNu9D5MAYtfk9qWmoMJGH_RGyRczjhE4bqnofSxrMQRVehFEG8xH3MXRPeNgPBoxVg1gsjhSIEp/s1600/killteam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="620" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizGp5qCzNyliH_ke-dmAnJlc9tH2JF3dkbxyF8S3vhy-XKMVUQVuZ9g42LmvihHGuTsNu9D5MAYtfk9qWmoMJGH_RGyRczjhE4bqnofSxrMQRVehFEG8xH3MXRPeNgPBoxVg1gsjhSIEp/s400/killteam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Well, there are two things that have recently happened that I'm tying together. Sometime back in August, I picked up the new Kill Team rulebook that was released by Games Workshop. Long time readers of the blog may recall that I've skirted the line with their company and their products before. Frankly, the frustrate me to no end and their business practices did have me cash out of 40K about a year after I got into it. One of the reasons I got into some of their stuff in the first place was because it was one of the Lord of the Rings kits that got me started into painting miniatures. For the record, it was a pack of Goblins of Moria. Their prices have also increased in the past couple of years and, in my opinion, some of their stuff is just too damned expensive.<br />
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Kill Team is a different beast entirely though. The investment you need is relatively small compared to other product lines they carry. Better yet, if you are someone who is a fan of Warhammer 40K, it gives you an inexpensive opportunity to play with other units outside of the usual army you happen to be fielding for your games at the time. I picked up the book and, while I still had some odds and ends to put together a Kill Team without spending another dollar, I chose to pick up something I wanted to try out and play -- the Tau.<br />
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Outside the Rulebook, the game doesn't need to cost you that much to play. The Core Rulebook is $40 USD where-as a team will typically cost you in the $30 - $60 USD range. Aside from terrain to game on, you actually don't need much of anything else to pay. Naturally there are plenty of ways to spend more money including boxed 'Kill Zones' which essentially give you terrain to play with but not all that necessary if you already have some or prefer to make your own!<br />
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The Tau happened to be inexpensive for me and I've always like the look of these units. I started painting my units (a non-standard scheme) towards the end of August. They still aren't finished and I haven't touched since the end of August either.<br />
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When it comes to terrain, I have chosen to print my own terrain. I have a Prusa Mk3 which has been in steady use since May of last year and, less than a month ago, I assembled a new printer. This was a far more economical option as I took advantage of an Amazon Prime Flash Sale and picked up an Ender 3 by Creality. It still needs a bit of work but it is printing well enough and I'm getting decent prints off of it. With the two printers now working, I've started printing pieces to make my own set of terrain to use in Kill Team.<br />
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First and foremost, I've been printing some sci-fi crates I found on Thingiverse:<br />
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https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1545267<br />
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I've got three printed now and I'm printing a variant with no doors. I also printed a whole bunch of these (they also served as some test prints for the new Ender 3):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1yWE67eNi2pHLGovy1Lss9_BkVhTBh-JJBeXvWHKoDFeoIu0f6n1SbPAC23wa4Nq2Lb04ncE3SGSnklQtzalaYQM0qhjQuQKOcfoLrVzaOYus1xFGTf1SJr_06DE5W7pXJwcp81FXtC_k/s1600/dc7dba66c2b51e0390c3d57ce318fe02_preview_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="402" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1yWE67eNi2pHLGovy1Lss9_BkVhTBh-JJBeXvWHKoDFeoIu0f6n1SbPAC23wa4Nq2Lb04ncE3SGSnklQtzalaYQM0qhjQuQKOcfoLrVzaOYus1xFGTf1SJr_06DE5W7pXJwcp81FXtC_k/s320/dc7dba66c2b51e0390c3d57ce318fe02_preview_featured.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2574636<br />
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But I'm also planning on printing a bunch of these for the terrain:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-A7Xp-y7KVcdiKtJmopIffYMKKAnyY4nexeD1s-Yu0CnAVJW1Z2qe9wheqpq1tmMXoLra3mqawkJcfhYm_ezaCNh_LJVIs1JM9Ia2WmVrSn-72NTQKg2Ee6G15y_KKkdfzQ-pmSxZFiA-/s1600/64317fa0e7d2787f5b392290862bb7a7_preview_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="628" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-A7Xp-y7KVcdiKtJmopIffYMKKAnyY4nexeD1s-Yu0CnAVJW1Z2qe9wheqpq1tmMXoLra3mqawkJcfhYm_ezaCNh_LJVIs1JM9Ia2WmVrSn-72NTQKg2Ee6G15y_KKkdfzQ-pmSxZFiA-/s320/64317fa0e7d2787f5b392290862bb7a7_preview_featured.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3059434<br />
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With some crates, barrels, scaffolding, and a couple other odds and ends, I think I've got the beginnings of something solid for terrain to do a few Kill Team matches on. Still a bit of printing to do and I'm going to consider a few more things to print to fill out a good sized area but, while some of this stuff is printing, I'm hoping to finally get back to and finish painting my Kill Team stuff during the course of the next few weeks.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-81210968881006872552019-01-15T21:28:00.000-05:002019-01-15T21:28:00.099-05:00Back to Basics...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifVpkWthY6emh7PTIR9K5ayWedZ3zQ_f7L0D9UR3NPLFvCooRyelGmbQB-c3wb2FsSZIiGcu3UuiLuGhEKmaaXryUkwwz_NfjKyglQmJ3OcHSLN5RlSaX0gFqw5AxW51e9ytI0YN8nIbm/s1600/treasue2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="352" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifVpkWthY6emh7PTIR9K5ayWedZ3zQ_f7L0D9UR3NPLFvCooRyelGmbQB-c3wb2FsSZIiGcu3UuiLuGhEKmaaXryUkwwz_NfjKyglQmJ3OcHSLN5RlSaX0gFqw5AxW51e9ytI0YN8nIbm/s400/treasue2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I don't know how it happened but I really lost track of the last few months on this blog. In fact, the past few years, this blog has been a bit of a symptom of a greater problem and posts have been few and far between. Naturally, I'm keeping busy and I constantly have projects on the go. All I need to do is look back at 2017 and 2018 to see what I've accomplished with Arcana Creations and its imprint, Arcana Elements.<br />
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When I first started this blog in October of 2009, things were vastly different for me. I just formed Arcana Creations and started working with John of Brave Halfling Publishing back when the OSR was still relatively new. I adopted Castles & Crusades as my FRPG of choice and I was running a regular campaign. At that point, I had already been gaming for over twenty years and I cut my teeth on a mixture of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D alongside the venerable BECMI D&D sets. With that, I had equal parts of fun with other diverse systems and genres from a variety of publishers.<br />
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In short... I loved gaming and, while there was a 'burn-out' of sorts after the shine of 3rd Edition wore off, it was Castles & Crusades that rekindled my love for the hobby and got me regularly gaming (both running and playing). More than that, the online community around this game (and others) were very engaging and I found myself getting involved with them. I was sharing ideas and participating in discussions. Those actions is what led me to doing a bit of work with John Adams and shortly after Arcana Creations was born.<br />
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Other aspects of the gaming hobby I had never explored such as painting and using miniatures became an extension of my hobby and, very recently, so did the world of 3D printing using FDM printers!<br />
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There were other changes along the way. New editions of various games have come and gone and some of my tastes have changed along the way. People have changed too and somehow, things got a lot more polarizing in the past couple of years. Circumstances and priorities has caused existing campaigns to be put on hold, or end altogether. More importantly that love and thrill I've once had is gone -- possibly robbed by a host of things that have plagued me personally or that I have simply witnessed or read about one too many times.<br />
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What does this mean and how does this relate to this blog?<br />
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In short, I've taken a step back in order to get a better look at what lies ahead in order to rekindle what is important to me.<br />
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Arcana Creations is still my main focus and I'm busy in fulfilling the recent Kickstarter campaign for Ballista. Things are going to plan on that end and I do enjoy working on that material. It's always very satisfying to see something come together culminating in some physical you can hold in your hands.<br />
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Beyond that, I have three hobbies that are interconnected (for me) where I need to devote time they deserve for me to properly enjoy them. I have HUNDREDS of miniatures to paint and so many models I want to print up (and then paint) -- all for my game. Above all, I want to come to a place where I'm comfortable at running a small and carefree game. I don't know when this last part will actually end up happening but it's the goal.<br />
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And... I want to write about it and share my experiences as I try and rekindle my love for this hobby. This is where 'Under Siege' comes into play. I used to enjoy writing reviews... sharing my opinions... and so on but sometimes that is the hardest part. I'm hoping what I end up doing and going through will help others who are also juggling a full time 9-5 but struggling to find time to devote to their hobby after all their other commitments are out of the way. Just as important, it's about a routine which I need to try and set down to get things moving again.<br />
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Anyway, I'm hoping for a lot of good things related to the hobby in 2019 and I'm eager to share this experience as well as other things of interest I happen to be doing or come across.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-34668615790116705672018-10-24T23:06:00.000-04:002018-10-24T23:06:16.852-04:00Ballista Adventures: Final 48 Hours on Kickstarter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnWCSFtKuvdFqVrRNFhjtt9XkFw-oiI0_jOpLdR7ComB3OPKQN7wRBotcazuVq45lieseb7vSRKiQGWd57kk7riUhDDkSpLBXXrRXLdfU6rqqvmJyBOhrw6-vSn9AhDrLhCLdm90B7fa1/s1600/Ballista+Adv+Fey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnWCSFtKuvdFqVrRNFhjtt9XkFw-oiI0_jOpLdR7ComB3OPKQN7wRBotcazuVq45lieseb7vSRKiQGWd57kk7riUhDDkSpLBXXrRXLdfU6rqqvmJyBOhrw6-vSn9AhDrLhCLdm90B7fa1/s400/Ballista+Adv+Fey.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Well, I've been busy the past few weeks managing this Kickstarter and trying to get the word out. It's finally paying off and the campaign has fully funded about 24 hours ago (give or take) and we are currently still climbing -- albeit slowly. CA $3500 might have been a bit ambitious but, it also wasn't a single product but a product line I've been trying to fund. Plus it wasn't a dedicated 5E product which a lot of people love to throw money at.<br />
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However I think the concept behind Ballista is striking a cord with some people. Hopefully, the word will continue to spread and I really want this to be a great product and this line be the first few titles of a series which will end up having many more.<br />
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As it stand right now, someone going for the all print bundle gets SIX small modules to them for about CA $60 -- that is with shipping included. After the USD exchange, that works about to less than $8 per module *AND* you get the PDF versions of that complimentary. I like to think that's a pretty good deal as it stands but I am also understandably biased. ;)<br />
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If you prefer a digital only format, CA $22 gets you the same six adventures and this works out to a little less than $3 USD per title.<br />
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I love the support I've gotten from my fellow gamers and I am thankful for it.<br />
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So... if you want to check out the Kickstarter, you can do so <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/ballista-adventures" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Oh... and here's a cover of the fourth module in the series:<br />
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M<br />
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<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-12113294049872433272018-09-21T22:16:00.000-04:002018-09-21T22:16:19.678-04:00Ballista: Two Never-Before-Published Titles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When Arcana Creations started out around 9 years ago. I had ideas, spare time, and was inspired. It's been an interesting decade with many rough patches. There have been highs and lows but one thing that I kept on saying up to the start of last year was that I was a 'hobby publisher' at best. Earlier on, I didn't even want to be known as a publisher! Rather... I was happier being recognized as a 'Studio' doing work on existing projects. You see, almost 10 years ago, Brave Halfling Publishing was doing great work and John from BHP was very encouraging to a few people. Some have gone on to do even better things but Arcana Creations stumbled a bit earlier on.<br />
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In those early years, I have been given manuscripts for scenarios that have not yet been published though TWO of them have most of the work done on them and were a very short way from actually seeing the light of day. I also have others beyond that but I'll get to those later.<br />
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One of these two which will be making an appearance is an adventure scenario by Bill DeFranza entitled, <i>Hide in Plain Sight</i>. Unlike the other three modules, there is just more content in this adventure which could easily be broken up in two parts. It is undergoing a new round of edits with a very basic level of tweaks since the scenario was originally written with Castles & Crusades in mind. Now, it is getting a Ballista makeover.<br />
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The other module being produced that has gone through full editing and is in layout is Todd Pote's <i>Mystery at Morfurt</i>. Like Bill, Todd has been an early support of Arcana Creations and he presented what looks to be a straight-forward and fun scenario. I've recently been in contact with him regarding a map in order to finalize the content for the module.<br />
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Both of these still need art and they need to be finalized but, everything should be finished up before the end of the year. And, it is only taking THAT long because between now and the holidays, I do have my full time 9-5 job and a couple of small shows that I am doing.<br />
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I mentioned other content too and I do have more to publish for Ballista. However, being a big fan of Kickstarter, I know that over reaching can be problematic and over promising can just kill a great idea. Aside from a COUPLE of surprises I'm holding for the Kickstarter starting this weekend (should be tomorrow but might actually end up being Sunday), I'm keeping things 'finite'. I'm also giving myself EXTRA time for fulfillment. If by some chance, the campaign being launched becomes WILDLY successful, we'll be able to handle the volume and TWO-THIRDs of the project is already complete!<br />
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Arcana Creations have brought two projects to Kickstarter. Both were small and only one successfully funded. Both were for the Arcana Elements imprint publishing fiction and non-fiction. The first delivered early. The second still got completed without funding but was kept to a very small print run sold at shows. Had it funded, it would have been ready to go out to backers within a month of the end of the campaign. The intent is to do no different with this campaign and deliver on time... if not earlier.<br />
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Once that is under way, I'll be happy to launch more titles... perhaps another small batch in 2019. :)<br />
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M <br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-33436388087978852492018-09-19T22:01:00.004-04:002018-09-19T22:01:57.027-04:00Ballista: A Trick on the Tain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bshCIaBjRyvZ6bZGXgwLlH8os61e9W5iiv-ZvCOo-u3CxXXWTIqJiVePfeAa306qa5mPh3WWfcTZ-9oouEaZImDyLfFmr28oHlyCjFxfflDxFgOZO4SY5c6OvBK6NM7_KvpOD94GljeR/s1600/Tain+Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bshCIaBjRyvZ6bZGXgwLlH8os61e9W5iiv-ZvCOo-u3CxXXWTIqJiVePfeAa306qa5mPh3WWfcTZ-9oouEaZImDyLfFmr28oHlyCjFxfflDxFgOZO4SY5c6OvBK6NM7_KvpOD94GljeR/s320/Tain+Cover.png" width="213" /></a></div>
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The third adventure in the Ballista Adventures line is A Trick on the Tain. Like the first two, this was a module originally published for Castles & Crusades and this version has also seen changes between that version and this new Ballista version. Where as the Skerry scenario was primarily a local-area overland scenario, and Ramat was primarily a dungeon scenario, A Trick on the Tain takes place over a broader region and can be classified as a wilderness adventure. In this case, the adventure takes place in the tundra.<br />
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As a location-based adventure, there is enough material and ideas in the pages of the module to get you going but it also leaves plenty of room for a creative GM to flesh out. The region could easily become the home of many other adventures as the players explore this wilderness. James Maliszewski from the old Grognardia blog had this to say about it when he reviewed the original C&C version back in 2010:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It's also a good example of the old school design philosophy, leaving many aspects of the adventure open to referee interpretation rather than providing a definitive answer to every question that's likely to arise. I appreciate that and think it only adds to the module's utility, although some will no doubt disagree, expecting a published module to be completely self-explanatory.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
His full review on the original C&C version can be found <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-trick-on-tain.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </blockquote>
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He did go on to say that he didn't think it would have as broad of an appeal to everyone but I do believe it is an underappreciated gem. It was also a gem that was still a bit on the rough side that got a Swords & Wizardry conversion done for it a couple years back.<br />
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In preparation for this new version, a new round of edits where made. Material that was at the end of the module and the appendix was cut for this version. However, all that material critical to the actual core of this adventure has remained. It is my hope that we will revisit this region and expand on the material in the near future.<br />
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At this point, there are two more titles I want to present which are unpublished adventure scenarios which, along with the three already discussed, will be part of the upcoming Kickstarter launching this weekend! Expect a post about those two in the next day or two.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-682373527569506552018-09-15T20:08:00.002-04:002018-09-15T20:08:19.722-04:00Ballista: How the Base Rules Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfA51ulkfN7HrVUUFWVeyziCkBjkrkDTPO4ZBxC3eDyETNIrbTXHqBpm1tYpSVBIowb9kcghqvXpDRGLXtZn7qIh6FGyj2JyqhWBMwHNemk86RJ46j7HQd4VQTARn04GuTo-f-fjiPA54/s1600/canstockphoto21065637.tif" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfA51ulkfN7HrVUUFWVeyziCkBjkrkDTPO4ZBxC3eDyETNIrbTXHqBpm1tYpSVBIowb9kcghqvXpDRGLXtZn7qIh6FGyj2JyqhWBMwHNemk86RJ46j7HQd4VQTARn04GuTo-f-fjiPA54/s320/canstockphoto21065637.tif" width="320" /></a></div>
So... you picked up a copy of a Ballista Adventure and you have dice in hand along with some characters. What next? If not using one of the many existing systems compatible with the Ballista line, each module also includes a basic set of rules which can be used instead.<br />
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As the rules included in these books are not meant as a replacement for other systems, you won't find rules to create actual characters. Some books in the line will offer some pre-generated characters and there are other online resources that can be used to meet this need. Naturally, characters from any d20 system derived from the world's most popular Role Playing Game such as Swords & Wizardry or Castles & Crusades will easily fit the bill.<br />
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Beyond that, if someone prefers to use their favorite system instead, more power to them. Nothing in the line should be an impediment from doing so. Others may wish to mix and match various rules for their own home brew campaign.<br />
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The rules included on the inside cover as separated in seven sections. They are <i>How to Use This Book</i>, <i>Attributes & The Game</i>, <i>Understanding the Encounters,</i> <i>Battle, Damage</i>, <i>Bonuses & Penalties</i>, and finally <i>Magic & Miscellanea</i>.<br />
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The first section is a simple and basic introduction but the second is far more significant. It covers the six traditional attributes and how to go about deal with saving throws or skill saves. A target number is determining by added a base value and a difficulty level rated on a scale of 1 to 10. A player would roll a d20 plus relevant attribute modifier and character level.<br />
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<i>Understanding the Encounters </i>breaks down the stat block and details how each part impacts the game where as the following <i>Battle</i> section quickly covers the order of combat in relation to this information. <i>Damage</i> is the logical continuation of both previous sections and informs the reader on how to proceed.<br />
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Of course, anyone who has played a similar role playing game before will already know how all of this works. Even the following section isn't particularly 'new' given the multitude of other systems that use a similar mechanic. Greatly popularized in 5th Edition and utilized to great effect in other games such as Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition), Ballista advocates the use of bonus and penalty dice in the game to avoid stacking additional numbers to a skill, save, or attack roll in a veritable escalation of numbers.<br />
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<i>Magic & Miscellanea </i>is a quick and dirty way of running magic without the need of a Vancian-type of, fire-and-forget, spellcasting. The GM will need to determine challenge level, taking into account the scale of the desired effect, which the spell caster will need to roll for in order to success. This taxes the spell caster (in the form of nonlethal damage).<br />
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The rules are very basic but, in their own way, complete enough to run a game. They represent an easy set of guidelines that can be used instead of a rule book -- especially if the participants are experienced gamers. In time, a bit more will be offered, if only to provide some interesting options for the campaign YOU want to run.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-75171753323624842992018-09-11T22:26:00.001-04:002018-09-11T22:26:03.380-04:00Ballista: Layout & Stat Blocks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5QLfYTPWwVLg0Ry0QJxrkrR0Mme0LyC-2BWy5JyKIWS3h_WUVLqgYFQmHx5qOkcmwwnQBJh69ZJ1OTLVJymfTestbqv_RIlayQ34LhIsgoMXZU395K71DB7EXx-RCJFGadlTCIujnluP/s1600/cubes-160400.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1276" data-original-width="1600" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5QLfYTPWwVLg0Ry0QJxrkrR0Mme0LyC-2BWy5JyKIWS3h_WUVLqgYFQmHx5qOkcmwwnQBJh69ZJ1OTLVJymfTestbqv_RIlayQ34LhIsgoMXZU395K71DB7EXx-RCJFGadlTCIujnluP/s200/cubes-160400.png" width="200" /></a></div>
One of the things I have come to be very happy with when I began the layout work for this Ballista line of adventures is the approach I took in breaking down the information and the nature of the stat blocks. I will not claim this as some sort of break through, but a clean and uncluttered layout and ease of access to find and use this information was of the utmost importance to me. Cleanliness is next to godliness, or so they say, and now that I have three titles complete with another two on the way, I am appreciating the final result more and more.<br />
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Naturally, it won't be for everyone.<br />
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The layout for any of the adventures produced in the Ballista line is such that a page has a two column set-up but the size of each column is different. The smaller column found is found on the exterior edge of the page and is intended for the creature stat blocks, relevant item stats, or hazards such as traps. This information is concise in nature but complete and are in an italicized font to further distinguish it from the text in the column next to it. The larger column on the page is the text of the adventure itself. Any tables found in the adventure (random encounter tables for instance) are also in the main body but the table itself is kept fairly minimalist in style.<br />
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When the main body of the text makes reference to a monster or trap, you can find the stats for that along the side of the page. If a particular creature is used frequently in the following pages, repetition is kept to a minimum unless they reappear in a different section. At most you may have to flip back a page or two to easily find what you are looking for.<br />
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Here is an example from the Secret of Ronan Skerry:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtTdUZwFyj6S2HECmmbSgyIIHsXVThwjv0ND-Z_nHr_X71YswXNZjYrt9YhCNObqofgFiemAsMqgdC7LtVXiBF7DMk00RiH9ISliSjnDpG129W2HyF3ZRo0N5992-Za7OgZLW7o87gldU/s1600/skerry_pg4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtTdUZwFyj6S2HECmmbSgyIIHsXVThwjv0ND-Z_nHr_X71YswXNZjYrt9YhCNObqofgFiemAsMqgdC7LtVXiBF7DMk00RiH9ISliSjnDpG129W2HyF3ZRo0N5992-Za7OgZLW7o87gldU/s640/skerry_pg4.png" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The Stat Blocks themselves represent an attempt to bridge to popular d20 systems together for the principal purpose of ensuring compatibility with Swords & Wizardry and Castles & Crusades. This is possible since both games are streamlined and simple in their approaches. As such, you'll find the Stat Blocks in Ballista which contain both ascending and descending armor class numbers as well as Save type or, to borrow the terminology from C&C, prime attributes. Beyond that, the Stat Blocks are detailed enough to run the encounters along with which ever preferred ruleset you choose to play with the Ballista material or the base Ballista rules themselves.<br />
<br />
They all follow a simple format providing the name, Size, Movement, Saves, Hit Dice, Armor Class, Attack, any other Special info and Spell Resistance if applicable. Several examples are found on this page due to the accompanying encounter table and, Ballista tries to keep things relatively simple and in the GMs control. For example, if you consider the Giant Spider listed on the page is poisonous, it will does not inform the GM of the effects. Instead it relies on the GM to decide on the outcome should a character be bitten (and fail their saving throw vs poison). It is *YOUR* game after all.<br />
<br />
As you may have also noticed, on the page, you have text in bold (in brackets) regarding checks. Not all systems, or even GMs, will need this sort of thing but it is there just in case. CL refers to Challenge Level which is always measured on a scale of 1 to 10 in Ballista.<br />
<br />
The intent behind all of this is to keep things simple and VERY compatible to other existing and popular FRPGs even if we use both Swords & Wizardry and Castles & Crusades as a baseline for certain things. It just makes things easier and, given that Swords & Wizardry Complete has been made completely free in electronic format, and you can find a fairly complete set of starter rules for a game like Castles & Crusades, it seems foolish not to use these as references when they are so readily available.<br />
<br />
M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-61019542501882923802018-09-09T23:34:00.000-04:002018-09-09T23:34:01.484-04:00Ballista: The Ruins of Ramat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7YEsF9ok34GReXw2kHdpvIwGy1LB96O3fUPeMvHnAb0UiJ_XhoRul4ynIpoCX9URHjRpEMXvNgTB9RqGfcf7V7acpMEooYOYciPJQaEuLYGSwjhGU7Y_vxyjwk4faGsoy_z1g23D9XGOk/s1600/Ramat+Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7YEsF9ok34GReXw2kHdpvIwGy1LB96O3fUPeMvHnAb0UiJ_XhoRul4ynIpoCX9URHjRpEMXvNgTB9RqGfcf7V7acpMEooYOYciPJQaEuLYGSwjhGU7Y_vxyjwk4faGsoy_z1g23D9XGOk/s400/Ramat+Cover.png" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
The second in the Ballista Aventures line is The Ruins of Ramat. As far as I know, no other published modules have undergone quite as many versions as this one. In simplest terms it is a, 'by the numbers' module making it a great introductory adventure a quick side adventure which would easily be inserted in an existing campaign. When Brave Halfling Publishing put out this scenario back in early 2009, an 'Original Edition' version was released alongside a Labyrinth Lord version. Brave Halfling Publishing went on to produce a version for Dungeon Crawl Classics a few years later.<br />
<br />
During this time, Arcana Creations produced a version where the map was revamped and expanded for Castles & Crusades in the Fall of 2009 and also produced a PDF version for Swords & Wizardry in 2013. This makes a total of FIVE versions of the Ruins of Ramat.<br />
<br />
The Ruins of Ramat has always gotten generally favorable reviews over the years and I've run it more than once for different people. The last time I ran it for a group of newbies, it was also nearly resulted in the party getting themselves killed due to a series of bad decisions and unlucky rolls. I do think it is a solid and fun little adventure and could be the cornerstone to a regular game. The scenario isn't without its criticisms however. While some people appreciate the tone and the fact it is also 'child friendly', this same approach has been met with some people rolling their eyes at the adventure's premise. James Maliszewski from the old Grognardia blog wrote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>One of the nice things about the adventure is that how easily it could serve as a child's introduction to fantasy roleplaying. As presented, the characters are asked by a little girl who's lost her dog to find him, after a clawed creature came up out of the ground of Witch Hill and snatched the canine. Melodramatic though it may be, it's precisely the kind of hook that would grab my nine year-old daughter and I can't imagine she's alone in that regard.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
His full review on the Original Edition version can be found <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-ruins-of-ramat.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</blockquote>
<br />
I am in complete agreement with Maliszewski but I felt that doing a new version for Ballista also presented an opportunity to finally address some of the problems people perceived with the adventure over the years. My solution was to add additional but OPTIONAL content to the new version of Ramat. It can be ran without integrated any of the this optional material and the end result will be true to the nature of the original adventure albeit based on the slightly expanded version previous published for C&C. However, the optional content helps answer some questions and builds on the mythology that was already present in the adventure as backdrop. For instance, it explains how Witch Hill is currently a threat as opposed to just being accessible and yet somehow undistrubed all this time. More importantly, it can lead to a bigger and expanded threat as it casually throws aside the concept of a storybook happy ending involving a child and her dog. The added material is not much but it makes a different and I feel it makes for a tighter story which puts it more in line with some of the sort of material I enjoy running.<br />
<br />
It remains a short adventure and, while keeping it to a 6x9 format, we kept the page count to 20 pages by including a bunch of basic, pre-generated characters. Between this, and the basic rules printed on the inside cover of the books, all you need is add some dice and you are good to actually PLAY this adventure without the need for ANYTHING else!<br />
<br />
In other words, you can get a game going for you and your group of friends for LESS than $15 USD (covering the cost of this book and a basic set of gaming dice).<br />
<br />
My next post will cover more about the layout and the stat blocks used in the Ballista line. <br />
<br />
MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-39920214707537495652018-09-06T23:19:00.000-04:002018-09-06T23:19:04.057-04:00Ballista: The Secret of Ronan Skerry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrxTGD5lESbH402KOSJByMyZ69W4Heic56syf44qDuSeVNRL1ib-UVInlEFjOXerbh-simEt3lsjdeceDDmihPEo9AzdQDiN1_9ik8XKiR3rsRiZ9U5hoNkMRoPcX5XMftrUsvJChc8vi/s1600/Skerry+Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNrxTGD5lESbH402KOSJByMyZ69W4Heic56syf44qDuSeVNRL1ib-UVInlEFjOXerbh-simEt3lsjdeceDDmihPEo9AzdQDiN1_9ik8XKiR3rsRiZ9U5hoNkMRoPcX5XMftrUsvJChc8vi/s400/Skerry+Cover.png" width="266" /></a></div>
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Two nights ago, I started talking about Ballista and basically gave a broad-strokes description of what this new line was going for. Tonight, I'm talking about the first release in the line which helped shape the layout for the rest of the line.<br />
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The Secret of Ronan Skerry, written by Michael Davis, was the first Castles & Crusades module I worked on that was released in the summer of 2009 as a Brave Halfling Publishing publication. Originally released as a digest module, it was followed by a full-sized second printing a few months later. Work for the second printing marked the beginning of Arcana Creations. Most copies of the first and second printing sold well initially and remains a favorite of mine when I consider the body of Castles & Crusades adventures now available today. It only seemed fitting that the first title in the Ballista line would be this one.<br />
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The adventure itself takes place on an island and is largely overland and geared towards a party of lower level characters. In it, the party is called upon to investigate the disappearance of a group of monks who man the lighthouse on the other side of the island. It's a simple, fun, and very well done and had the distinction of being very well written making it a great choice to iron out the details with the layout. It is also not a very well known adventure scenario since it was done first with specifically C&C in mind. I'm really hoping that the new line will give this title renewed interest<br />
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This book as well as the rest of the line is in a 6x9 inch format book. So it's a bit bigger than a digest sized module but smaller than a regular sized adventure module. Page count for this book is 20 pages which matches the page count of the full sized version originally made for C&C but much smaller than the 32 page digest book originally released. The biggest difference between this version and the full sized C&C version is the Appendices that have been cut from the C&C version. The text of the scenario is essentially the same (save for minor editing). This format makes using an electronic version on a tablet ideal. A 7 inch tablet is serviceable with an 8 inch tablet being great.<br />
<br />
Regarding the 'cut text', since the Ballista format is both generic and simplified, there is little need for extraneous fluff text or gaming crunch tailored to any specific game system. This helps keeping the page cut down in a smaller page version of the scenario. The quick rules included to play this adventure (as well as all Ballista Aventure releases) are included on the inside cover of the module. But I'll go into detail of these rules as well as the stat blocks and layout in another post before the launch of the Kickstarter.<br />
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The retail price for this module is $12.50 CDN which works out to about $10 USD. Pricing will be better during the Kickstarter campaign as well. All modules are printed in Canada at a local printer I have worked with for about a year now.<br />
<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-34830482265588256272018-09-04T22:42:00.000-04:002018-09-04T22:42:28.397-04:00What is Ballista?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1sv4THzEOFUEsgGcp4GN1qR1o9C5Z5hNEEB8fPCcESCoZQ3WsSFeqpvFBdYZfjcroqi0MNr7XTSYEBjc4T3mp5wRLwY6aGR71OuszTCF4suUKmkhDydUex9DMzD2oXYidutjXpBMwlH6/s1600/Ballista+Logo+One+Outline+Inverse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="1600" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1sv4THzEOFUEsgGcp4GN1qR1o9C5Z5hNEEB8fPCcESCoZQ3WsSFeqpvFBdYZfjcroqi0MNr7XTSYEBjc4T3mp5wRLwY6aGR71OuszTCF4suUKmkhDydUex9DMzD2oXYidutjXpBMwlH6/s400/Ballista+Logo+One+Outline+Inverse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Anyone who has read my blog on and off over the years (and remembers) could explain it away in different ways. I had to look myself and talks about Ballista goes back to 2011. So many things have happened in this gaming landscape in that time period. It was... at first a periodical. Then, as I worked on creating content for the first issue of that periodical, I stumbled upon something really cool. The idea became the Ballista Rules Companion and I scrapped the periodical and decided to just re-purpose some the material for this. Then I proceeded to build up... tear down... and build up a system and framework.<br />
<br />
Before all of that... I had a different idea. The idea was basic enough and it was FAR from an original concept. I had already produced a couple of adventure modules for Castles & Crusades and was looking at converting some of these to Swords & Wizardry. Given the similar roots that these systems shared with so many other like them thanks to the OGL and the SRD, I mused that a condensed set of rules could be included in just a few pages at the back of the module eliminating the absolute NEED for a rule book. So... I essentially went back to that idea and build from there. So...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<b>What is Ballista?</b><br />
<br />
<i>Ballista is a new line of adventures and gaming material
published by Arcana Creations. The books in this series is all about providing
a basic, rules-light, gaming experience making it easy to get into and start
playing.</i><br />
<i> </i>
<br />
<b>What it is not.</b><br />
<b> </b>
<br />
<i>Ballista is not a new game. Instead it uses a distillation
of elements found in the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game whose
roots stretch back to 1974. The material is simplified and streamlined in order
to maintain compatibilities with many other rule systems that share the same
familiar gaming heritage.</i><br />
<br />
<b>What rules do I need?</b>
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Very little. Each adventure module has some basic rules
written on the inside cover of the booklet and others also have pre-generated
characters. If you are familiar with any old school fantasy role playing game
or newer games that derive from them, you can refer to those rules. Two
excellent games to consider are </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Castles
& Crusades</span><i> published by Troll Lord Games as well as </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Swords & Wizardry</span><i> published by Frog
God Games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both companies offer free
versions of their games in electronic format.</i><br />
<i> </i>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<i>However, as long as you have characters in hand, the rules
summary and suggestions provided in a Ballista book are all you really need to
play.</i></blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point... we have three titles ready to go with another two on the way. Since this is a NEW line, I wanted to have a small selection to start with as opposed to just one or two. As such, the first three titles have been previously published for a different system though there have been some changes beyond a simple 'conversion'. In the next few days, I will showcase each of these titles as well as to illustrate what ties it all together as a new line. A Kickstarter to launch the line will be starting in less than a couple of weeks.<i> </i></div>
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M</div>
Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-65445746074967459802018-08-26T15:42:00.000-04:002018-08-26T15:42:36.668-04:00Enthusiam Only Goes So Far...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A little over a month ago, I was exhausted but still somehow buzzed from all the excitement that was Montreal Comic Con. I didn't realize how tired I actually was though! So, I took a bit of time for myself and did just a bit of work on various Arcana Creations related projects. Then GenCon came around. I didn't go to GenCon this year and the last time I went was three years ago. Even if I didn't go to GenCon, thanks to social media, I was able to experience a some of the excitement through others that manage to go.<br />
<br />
Sadly, there was some ugliness that happened there and a bunch of my respective feeds got cluttered with this crap. I remember a time not so long ago where the biggest divide were regarding which editions of D&D you prefered and played. Things have gotten a lot darker politically speaking.<br />
<br />
It wasn't all doom and gloom but I 'switched off' for about a month and took it easy... at least as much as working a hectic 9-5 job can permit anyway. I started assembling and painting a Kill Team for one of Games Workshop latest offerings as well as 3D printing some terrain for it. Got around to playing a couple of games like <i>The Island of Eldorado</i> which ended up being a lot of fun. Also finally got around to seeing a couple of movies like <i>Antman and the Wasp</i> which was a lot of fun!<br />
<br />
The time for 'play' is winding down and I really have to start thinking about our next show in about 8 weeks. Some things have to be re-stocked and a bit of prep needs to be done. I also need to see about running a game or two at the event (time permitting). Should be good and I'm looking forward to it!<br />
<br />
More importantly, it's also time to start writing about the new Ballista line this week as I intend to launch the Kickstarter campaign for the line in less than a couple of weeks!<br />
<br />
STAY TUNED!<br />
<br />
MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-66153010378218325692018-07-16T22:24:00.000-04:002018-07-17T20:34:59.132-04:002018... Halfway Done<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
It's been a few months since the last update and I'm happy to say that almost everything so far has come to pass with the exception of one thing (more on that later).<br />
<br />
The first fair we talked about that happened around Valentine's Day was not all that great of an event for us. While we enjoyed meeting the people that were there, horrible weather conditions, and a poor choice of venue worked very much against us. The silver lining was that we really lose any money -- just precious time.<br />
<br />
The Beltaine fair at the beginning of May was a great success. While very small in scale, Arcana Element's release of <i>Quebec's Distinct Paganism</i> was a great success and we ended up selling much of our initial print run of the book. The group that sets up the fair does a couple of these each year and, so far, we've always exceeded expectations and we're looking forward to participating in the next one they set up planned closer to the end of the year.<br />
<br />
While we attended those two conventions, we opted against doing the Festival Draconis gaming convention that happened earlier this Spring in Montreal. I was interested but as I made various enquiries about it, I learned how disorganized it really was with little to no support for anyone actually interested in vending at the convention. It did not feel like it was worth the time and energy to participate. That isn't to say that I wouldn't be interested in doing it next year but, my whole approach would have to be different.<br />
<br />
And then came the 2018 edition of the Montreal Comic Con.<br />
<br />
This was something of a gamble for us. Unlike other conventions Arcana Creations appeared at in the past, the price of participation as a full-fledge vendor dwarfed table costs of other shows. However, the size of the potential audience did as well. For what it was, it's almost *too* big. Add to that the fact that we were showing a few new things -- the success of which could have gone either way. Leading up to the convention, I confess I lost many hours of sleep and I feel like I'm still recovering a bit.<br />
<br />
I went in with low expectations and set a 'minimum' threshold needed to consider doing it again the following year. I was very pleased to see that, halfway through the three-day event, we managed to cross it. What we took in paid for the booth, the deposit for next year's booth, and even paid for our additional expenses and costs incurred that weekend. It wasn't quite a break even when factoring everything in but, it was close enough given the visibility factor to both Arcana Creations, and the new things we brought to the table so-to-speak such as our new Ballista line.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBNr08mFaC-DxpMp7BqhNs_B0xVcckbFODCSs8MmMkG7qCGSAE1GGpf4Oqz3vzMM9flB8Sct8qokEYis-wsXNDBD625NOslehV8jtw7hFSG4VK-tqJgZQQvk20XBHVHg_Eh228KorUDl4/s1600/20180706_121616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcBNr08mFaC-DxpMp7BqhNs_B0xVcckbFODCSs8MmMkG7qCGSAE1GGpf4Oqz3vzMM9flB8Sct8qokEYis-wsXNDBD625NOslehV8jtw7hFSG4VK-tqJgZQQvk20XBHVHg_Eh228KorUDl4/s200/20180706_121616.jpg" width="150" /></a>The Montreal Comic Con is where I decided to do a 'soft-launch' of the new gaming line and, while sales were a bit low -- not unexpected at this show, the reactions were very positive. I was initially hoping to have 5 or 6 releases ready for it but three of those remain in production and should be finished up in next 4 to 6 weeks. We did have three titles ready for it and Arcana Creation's original launch titles have been updated for the new Ballista line. These are, <i>The Secret of Ronan Skerry</i>, the <i>Ruins of Ramat</i>, and <i>A Trick on the Tain</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The line's OFFICIAL launch is happening soon and will be made possible through Kickstarter. But before that happens, the remaining titles will be finished and proofs will be IN HAND before the campaign even launches. For those who followed our previous Kickstarter, <i>Mother of Mortals</i>, you know that we release when the final project is just about completed in order to deliver EVERYTHING promised ON TIME if not EARLIER. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS with this new crowd funding campaign being planned.<br />
<br />
So... the only thing that has been pushed back a bit further was the C&C release of <i>Shaman of the Mire</i>. Best intentions only take you so far but the lead up to Comic Con as well as the lead up to the release of <i>Quebec's Distinct Paganism</i> before it demanded much of my attention and overrided plans for this C&C release. It's still coming... along with a Ballista version of it as well. However, I won't be predicting any release date for it at this time as I am still sorting out the rest of the planned releases I had.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUAqCoX3eCkBKmxzNBPIqW5cXyFrHOxDsW8hZDxYNtfFvtAL76huDkqhPp4LmbrVrohWXOzExdwuOK2wkIZAHsa4W_OBRxbn3dgXghXVhwOr33kbNtHXP60245q12RkPts0LPTE3FD3xX/s1600/20180707_154501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUAqCoX3eCkBKmxzNBPIqW5cXyFrHOxDsW8hZDxYNtfFvtAL76huDkqhPp4LmbrVrohWXOzExdwuOK2wkIZAHsa4W_OBRxbn3dgXghXVhwOr33kbNtHXP60245q12RkPts0LPTE3FD3xX/s200/20180707_154501.jpg" width="150" /></a>The other big bit of news contributing to our Comic Con success came in the form of a geniune Prusa i3 Mk3 3D printer. This tool was a veritable workhorse in preparation for the convention. In the weeks leading up to the con, the printer was printing up all hours of the day. Alongside with our affordable dice we sell, we started selling what I've called 'Dungeon Essentials' -- 3D printed objects which are inexpensively priced for use in your game alongside other 28-30mm miniatures. We started of with simple packs of barrels and crates and will be expanding this to other packs in the near future. We also became an authorized/licensed printer for Fat Dragon Game products and sold two particular models at the show. One of these sold out too!<br />
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The plan is to eventually offer a handful of printed goods online on arcanacreations.com as we step up to do an online store revamp to accommodate the various new additions in the coming weeks.<br />
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In the coming days, I will be writing a fair bit more here since Comic Con is behind me and I plan on giving a lot of info on what the new Ballista line consists of exactly before the Kickstarter launches. It's been a good 6 months so far this year and I'm hoping for even better in the months ahead.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-33350785103306585092018-02-04T22:18:00.002-05:002018-02-04T22:18:52.660-05:00Arcana Creations 2018: The Year Ahead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A bunch of things happened in 2017 and more is planned for 2018!<br />
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First off, lets talk about the shows. Not everything has been confirmed yet but we things are taking shape and are as follows:<br />
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Our first event of the year will be in Ottawa, Canada at the small <i style="font-weight: bold;">Goddess of Love Valentine Psychic Fair Fundraiser for Animals</i>. Ok... I didn't come up with the name and it's seems pretty far removed from the typical venue you might expect to find us. However, it's small enough, not hard to get to, and ultimately it's for a good cause. I can pretty much guarantee our table with be the ONLY table selling anything remotely gaming related and the rest of the fair will have all sorts of things. This fair is <b>NEXT WEEK</b> on Sunday, February 11th, 2018 at the Bronson Community center and runs from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.<br />
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Our second event that we still need to confirm is <i style="font-weight: bold;">Festival Draconis</i> in Montreal. Festival Draconis is best described as a gaming 'meet-up' as opposed to a convention. It seems less formal than a typical convention but people can sign up to run and play in a variety of table-top RPGs. Unlike a typical gaming convention, there isn't much vending but there are a handful that will. It is a 3 day convention starting on the evening of March 2nd, 2018 and runs all day Saturday and Sunday held at the Cegep du Vieux Montreal. If we do go, we may end up only going on the Saturday of the convention. Details to be finalized in the next couple of weeks.<br />
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Our third event is at the <b><i>Montreal Beltaine Fair</i> </b>on Sunday, April 29th, 2018 which starts at 10:00am. It runs to 5:00pm and is located at West Island Curing Club. It's a smaller craft fair and the focus is 'storytelling' for this year's event. Arcana Creations will be launching a new title through the Arcana Elements imprint at the fair entitled: <i>Quebec's Distinct Paganism </i>which is an ethnography on the Montreal Pagan community.<br />
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Our fourth event and our biggest will be at the <b><i>Montreal Comic Con</i> </b>being held at the Palais des Congres during the weekend of July 6th - 8th, 2018. We are planning to have the official launch of the Ballista gaming line at this event.<br />
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Our final confirmed event for the 2018 is slated to be <b><i>Can-Con</i> </b>in Ottawa. The convention is held at the Sheraton located downtown during the October 12th - 14th weekend. If you are a fan of science fiction, fantasy, and great Canadian literature in general, stopping by is a must! Arcana Creations will be one of the sponsors for this years' convention.<br />
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Beyond the October date, we are planning to do an additional fair or two just before the holidays as we did in 2017 but those dates for the events have yet to be finalized.<br />
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For everything else, as already mentioned, we have some releases that are finally seeing the light of day. Via the Arcana Elements imprint, we will have <i>Quebec's Distinct Paganism</i> as well another (unconfirmed) title for Can-Con. For Arcana Creations proper, the launch of Ballista is something that had many false starts and changes over the years but we are excited to finally see it come to fruition. But before any of that happens, <i>Shaman of the Mire </i>for <i>Castles & Crusades</i> will be available in the next few weeks.<br />
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With all of these projects, no firm decision has been made whether or not we will be using a crowd funding platform to help with the production with any of these. Since the beginning, anything we did decide to crowdfund was developed to the point of being practically ready for production. Star Rover, our second, but failed Kickstarter, still ended up being produced and will be made available for purchase on Amazon in the coming weeks and we have had advance copies for sale direct since the last show we did at the end of 2017. It is likely that the planned Ballista line will be crowdfunded via Kickstarter or Indiegogo due to the scope of the project.<br />
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We still have many plans but it won't be till much later this year before we are able to determine what we will pursue next and what we may drop. With all things, we thank you all for your continued support.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-41551511293059605772018-01-14T15:38:00.000-05:002018-01-14T15:38:09.883-05:00Arcana Creations 2017: A Year In Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The year of 2017 was an interesting and busy time for Arcana Creations. Did I meet all the personal objectives set for it? No... we did fall short of a couple but nothing got dropped. Things are just taking longer to come out. So, where did we meet or surpass expectations and goals and where did we fall short.<br />
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In 2017, there were a couple of releases and a successful Kickstarter which helped us shift gears. Earlier in the year, we released our first fiction novel under our non-gaming imprint, 'Arcana Elements'. The title of the book is 'Mother of Mortals' and this was successfully Kickstarted to bring in the funds necessary to produce rewards for backers as well as a small print run to sell directly at shows and events. The Kickstarter success was attributed by the simple fact that it had a modest goal and the first proofs of the book were already in our hand. We also delivered EARLY on our commitments.<br />
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With new product and things finally moving for Arcana Creations, we also began to do smaller shows and conventions. Sales of 'Mother of Mortals' at the shows were good and the books has gotten positive reviews. Between the shows and other projects, we decided to keep the momentum going with a second novel, Jack London's 'The Star Rover'. While not a new title, being in the public domain and not as well known as his other works, we felt it a good match for the stuff we wanted to produce. Like our first novel release, we went to Kickstarter to secure funding and, again, we launched in the proofing stage of the book. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter failed (more on that later) but despite this setback, we still brought in advance copies of the book to sell in December.<br />
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On the gaming front, we re-embraced our love of Castles & Crusades and committed to deliver 'The Shaman of the Mire'. For the benefit of the shows and conventions we were doing, we brought in some stock from Troll Lord Games as well as some other gaming odds and ends and some inexpensive dice (because everyone needs more dice). Gaming sales have not been as strong at the shows we have done but these were not focused on gaming so much as other things.<br />
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Of course, the primary reason for all of this is to branch out and get a bit more exposure and possibly lay a more solid foundation to build from. We have continued making some contacts and despite things still being a bit touch and go from project to project and show to show, it's making a positive difference.<br />
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But we also stumbled. The focus on the Arcana Elements imprint and various shows (while working a full time job) meant some projects got pushed back and set aside and this blog was updated way less than I hoped to.<br />
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'Shaman of the Mire' was the first casualty of this followed by the (re)launch of our own gaming line. A sizeable book which I originally hoped to be out in the last quarter of 2017 was instrumental in these delays and, in the end, it had to be pushed till 2018. We are back on to finishing 'Shaman of the Mire' and other pressing gaming releases. As for that second Kickstarter... why did it fail if the first one did well enough? The biggest problem was timing. I wanted to have a short campaign and I wanted to close the campaign by the end of November. Being Canadian, I somehow forgot about Thanksgiving and Black Friday that happened within a week of a campaign that was little more than a couple weeks in length. That hurt the campaign as much as recent changes to advertising and promoting things on social media (notably Facebook). It ended up being something of a disaster which took away time from other pressing projects.<br />
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As for the blog... at the end of the day, I don't have the time or energy to be very active on the blog so I don't expect that 2018 will be terribly different on that front. It will still be a place for news with updates for Arcana Creations but less musings, thoughts, and reviews. Hopefully, when I caught up sufficiently with the backlog of work in my production queue, I can get back to it as well as some of my other hobbies like painting miniatures.<br />
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Up next... What's planned for 2018!<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-85557858112698745582017-10-15T00:08:00.000-04:002017-10-15T00:08:21.150-04:00Can-Con 2017... So Far.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I first did Can-Con as exhibitor, Arcana Creations was still new-ish. It was a small convention in Ottawa but an interesting one. With the cost of the table, and a friend who also had a few books to sell, we split a table and decided to go for it. The good news was that I sold enough to cover the costs of my portion of the table. The bad news was that this was ALL I made and the table wasn't that expensive to begin with! Since we had come in to Ottawa from Montreal, we also had to factor in things one does when coming in from out of town to a convention such as hotel stay.<br />
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To be fair, the experience wasn't horrible and I still had fun doing it.<br />
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Since then, a couple things have happened. Over the past few years, I decided to come in as a regular attendee and in that time, I witnessed it grow. It is STILL a small and fairly intimate convention but there was a remarkable difference in attendance, and more importantly, traffic and the number of different vendors at the con. The other thing that shifted is a broader appeal to what was being presented. More people coming in are looking at the gaming books and, since we have also released our first novel under the Arcana Elements imprint, our table has generated a fair bit of interest to appeal to a greater number of attendees.<br />
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For me, I also realized that I am spending more at this particular convention as well. My first Can-Con a few years back had me purchasing a single book. I ended up trading for another book at the end of the show with another publisher/author.<br />
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Now, with a day left to go, I already picked up eight books and I'm still eyeing a couple more! However, unlike my first Can-Con, I honestly have doubts I will have any copies left of 'Mother of Mortals' to trade! The novel has sold REALLY well today.<br />
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Any way, on the strength of the numbers for the first two days of sales, I have already committed our attendence for Can-Con 2018. Ballista will be up and going by then so Arcana Creations will newer product to sell on top of the fantastic gaming product we already support and Arcana Elementas should have about three more books added to the roster! Maybe even a follow-up book to our very first release if we are lucky. :)<br />
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Here's hoping our final day of sales end up doing just as well, if not better, than the first couple. :)<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-43238130807707921112017-10-01T22:13:00.000-04:002017-10-01T22:13:19.526-04:00A Six Month Hiatus -- UPDATES!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been six months since I last updated the blog and by the looks of it, my various posts have still gotten a decent amount of traffic during my absence. To my loyal readers as well as seekers coming across the blog by chance, I thank you.<br />
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Things have continued to be eventful and I have been busy since the Spring.<br />
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The first novel released under the Arcana Elements imprint I've set up was successfully crowdfunded and delivered ON TIME and the feedback we've received on it has been very positive! Two more books are going to added to the catalog by the end of the year. One is an academic work of non-fiction and the other is a great novel presently in the public domain. During the next week or two, I will be making specific announcements on what these two books are exactly and provide other details regarding their respective releases.<br />
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As for Arcana Creations, on the gaming front, things are continuing to progress albeit at a much slower pace. I have fallen behind on a couple of my goals as my time is demanded elsewhere. I still need to finish up the Castles & Crusades adventure, <i>The Shaman of the Mire</i> as well as finish up the long overdue <i>Hide in Plain Sight</i>. I am also revisiting previous releases like <i>The Secret of Ronan Skerry</i>, <i>A Trick on the Tain</i>, and <i>Ruins of Ramat</i>. I also have a couple more things up my sleeve. When looking at this previously released material, I made the decision to re-brand these adventures as well as the new releases going forward.<br />
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My commitment to Castles & Crusades as well as Swords & Wizardry is still there but these will now all be published as part of the <i>Ballista</i> line of adventures Arcana Creations will be focusing on. These are going be compatible with both these games as well as other similar FRPGs that share common ground with these two systems.<br />
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This isn't the first time I've talked about <i>Ballista</i> and I guarantee that it won't be the last. The idea of it has also changed considerably over the past few years too. This time, a fair bit of headway has been made in the past few months and I've come to a point that I feel secure enough start talking about it again.<br />
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Lately, the big push for Arcana Creations have been the upcoming shows for both CanCon in Ottawa as well as a local Yule Fair in Montreal. This means getting more stock and all the necessary preparations to vend at this two shows. I've also taken the Arcana Creations website down to set up an online store. It's still down but all that will be remedied in the next few days.<br />
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CANCON is happening on October 13th-15th, 2017 in downtown Ottawa and Arcana Creations will be there selling some gaming material as well as Arcana Element's first release, <i>Mother of Mortals</i>. We will have an introductory selection of various products from Troll Lord Games (Castles & Crusades, Amazing Adventures, and Victorious) as well as our publishing partner, Brave Halfling Publishing. There will be other gaming odds and ends and plenty of dice. There may even be a pick up game or two during the weekend if we are lucky enough! :)<br />
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You can find out more about CanCon <a href="http://can-con.org/cc/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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The Montreal Community Yule Fair will be taking place on December 3rd, 2017 though is a small scale event hosted by the Crescent Moon School of Magic & Paganism. I don't have too many details to share yet but both new releases by Arcana Elements will be available for that show as well. With any luck, the first Ballista module will be there as well supported by much of the same product we will be showcasing at CanCan in a couple of weeks.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-52746383082942708582017-04-03T22:28:00.001-04:002017-04-04T13:12:05.476-04:00Castles & Crusades: A $15 Players Handbook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I need more time to actually relax and enjoy myself. Castles & Crusades has been my go to FRPG for years now and I realize that it's been a over a decade since I've picked up my first Players Handbook for C&C. The book has gone through multiple printings and is gearing for a 7th print run right now on Kickstarter. In some ways, the book has changed a lot over the printings ... but not so much in terms of the actual content. You can gather a group of players each with different printing and still be on the same page as far as rules are concerned. It's a rules light game that is a good balance of what I was looking for.I love this game a lot.<br />
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I'll write more about the how the game feels mechanically in a couple of days. For now, I want to talk about the evolution of the Player's Handbook.<br />
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It started off as a booklet in a white boxed set. Before Swords & Wizardry had their white box and before other various OSR clones did their own white box tribute, Troll Lord Games did it first with their white, collectors edition box. Three booklets in a box containing all the basics you needed to play! It was a proof of concept as no one at that time had used the SRD and the OGL to recreate d20 version of the D&D game that was a nod to the classic versions of D&D that many people grew up with. Sure... it was rooted with a slightly more modern system design with ascending armor class and a unified d20 mechanic to resolve a variety of challenges, but it was so elegant when unhindered by the mountain of skills and feats and a requirement of miniatures that Third Edition forced you to contend with.<br />
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From there, the first printing of the Player's Handbook was made possible and... well... never had I seen a more abysmal display of layout and editing in a 'professionally' released gaming product. Had I come across Castles & Crusades in that guise, I would have closed the book and walked away. It was a more complete game and on par to contain some of the things one became accustomed to seeing in first edition AD&D. Unlike the booklet that had the four core classes... the PHB had 13 classes in all... from Assassin to Wizard! A much greater and detailed selection of spells as well as an array of demihumans to choose from.<br />
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I was one of the lucky ones though as I came upon C&C with the 2nd printing of the PHB. The text was basically the same but it was finally laid out correctly and pleasant to flip through. Both 1st and 2nd printings where black and white and printed on white paper. A good stock that took pencil (and ink) well which made some people happy. The game was new so there were errors and mistakes littered throughout the book. I have met more than one person that marked up their books accordingly. I was not one of those people.<br />
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The cover artwork began to change slightly with the third printing but the biggest change was the paper. It went to a higher quality but thinner stock of paper while retaining the black and white look. There were LITTLE variations to the text and the most significant change was to the poison tables. The thinner stock also meant the books were slightly thinner as well. Many loves this new printing but others didn't care for it as much.<br />
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Up to this point, the books have also remained at a bargain selling at $19.95 a book. You could get the Players Handbook and the Monsters & Treasure book for the same price (if not cheaper) than the current 3rd Edition PHB!<br />
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The next printing was a big thing for Troll Lord Games though and they were making a concentrated push to expand the game. All books in their main line were getting reprinted and all sported the same dark olive green trade dress. The 4th printing of the PHB also represented the most changes in any of the printings. New material was added and a couple of classes got revamped. Notably, the Barbarian class moves away from being a berserker to a regular barbarian befitting a variety of cultures. The Monk on the other hand moved away from an oriental themed influence to a slightly more western one. There were new spell and multiclass options also presented in the volume. The book also saw a $5 price increase.<br />
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The 5th printing was another big step even if it was a bit of a misstep. It was the first printing of the PHB which would see color and the art and pages all got colorized. Have you ever seen a black and white movie that got colored after the fact? It doesn't always work out does it. The same thing happened here. Some pages and pieces of art looked good while others looked worse. It was significant nonetheless and, aside from errata, no content changes happened here.<br />
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The last printing is probably the finest printing we have to date. It is also full color but TLG went back and made sure the color was done perfectly. It got an expanded page count but not so much because content, but because they chose to make the font slightly bigger and more legible. The font had always been on the smaller side for these books but the new look is bigger and crisper and suits the book very well. Some of the text was clarified a bit and a lot of errata was corrected. The book has a $39.95 price tag if I'm not mistaken but, given the quality of paper, color, and increased page count, no one should be surprised. In my case, I treated myself and made sure my copy was a leather copy.<br />
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I've owned easily a couple dozen players handbooks for C&C books over the years and often gift copies or even sell some of them second hand. I've kept my third printing, fourth printing, and definitely will be keeping my sixth printing. I like to see the book getting arguably better with each printing but I honestly figured that the 6th printing would be my last printing.<br />
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The current kickstarter is for the 7th printing and they got me by offering a collector's cloth edition with my name embossed on the cover. That sounds nice and I'm of course happy to support them.<br />
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Why should you support them? How does $15 for a full color hardcover sound? That's right, they are planning a deep print run and, at the same time, want to thank current fans and supporters that might already have the books to allow for an inexpensive upgrade. They also think that $15 is a great incentive to buy the game to see if they like it. In other words not a lot of risk.<br />
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And there are stretch goals and add-ons to consider.<br />
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If it sounds like you might be tempted, I invite you to check out the current Kickstarter campaign <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/castles-and-crusades-players-handbook-7" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-30978089766476996332017-03-22T20:49:00.000-04:002017-03-22T20:49:17.581-04:00The Day After Your First Kickstarter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTEX0pyW7R-Oyu6lYqyEqmn5H2Vc8pWXgMOZOF_IvNJKlCiKldxeaRFJFAB-TyS8r_Svjcs-KcCquA5Hv8sN9GWEyxpLfTUyLk0tquKfmBJuBWIdRrtVYKBSbmbXxxdF-58eq_fm5ke3Y/s1600/MoM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTEX0pyW7R-Oyu6lYqyEqmn5H2Vc8pWXgMOZOF_IvNJKlCiKldxeaRFJFAB-TyS8r_Svjcs-KcCquA5Hv8sN9GWEyxpLfTUyLk0tquKfmBJuBWIdRrtVYKBSbmbXxxdF-58eq_fm5ke3Y/s200/MoM.jpg" width="128" /></a>Kickstarter has been around for awhile now and many people flocked to it thinking it a great way to make some money quick. People have seen many great Kickstarters come and go of varying degrees of success too. There are the ones with happy endings, there are the ones which are painfully late, and then there are the spectacular failures. As a backer, I have backed well over 100 campaigns now and MOST of those have had happy endings. A couple have languished in a special kind of hell and will likely never see the light of day. In other words, you win some and you lose some. Regardless, there are MANY lessons to take in.<br />
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In my case, I took a lot of things to heart when I put together my first Kickstarter to help fund the 'Mother of Mortals' novel. The first thing I did was not start a crowdfunding campaign before the book was finished! I only launched when I had the proofs in hand. That being said, they were the first proofs and a whole lot of corrections have gone in and I'm getting ready to send the files in to get a second set of proofs done. In other words, these additional corrections were done by the time the campaign ended last night!<br />
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The campaign made it's goal and the goal was deliberately set to be a modest one. $2,500 in Canadian Funds which works out to just under $1,900 USD. Arcana Elements, the imprint I set up under Arcana Creations for the publication of fiction and non-fiction is an unknown and $2,500 was a bit of a stretch but I had a good mix of tiers and this ultimately helped fund the project. Shipping charges were factored in the campaign as well and since the reward fulfillment has an anticipated quick turnaround, there shouldn't be any surprises. Since the majority of the rewards are being drop shipped, shipping costs were also kept relatively low too.<br />
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Advertising. Well, while we made our funding goal, if it wasn't for the collector's level tiers, I don't think we would have been as fortunate. I really hoped for more backers but, as an unknown publisher of fiction released a work by an unknown novelist, I can't complain either. Family and many friends help support the project but we did make some new friends as well and, if they really like the book, they are the some of the ones that may come back to the next one and bring a few more friends with them. I opted to limit financial investment towards advertising because I didn't see much use for it on social media. Facebook proved VERY frustrating though. While the initial cover art we released before the Kickstarter was shared and received many interactions, the moment I had a Kickstarter link, I quickly realized that only a FRACTION was being exposed to that post. Clearly, Facebook is interested in your advertising dollar. I did some paid advertising just to see if it would make a difference and it looks like I didn't end up losing money doing so but the net results would have been the same had I saved that money instead. It might make more of a difference if I dropped some serious cash but that is well beyond the scope of the projects I've been doing.<br />
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Now that the campaign is over and since the money won't be transferred to me for at least a couple of weeks, I can rest a bit. I will need to set up the surveys and begin gathering information and do a bit of work for the collector's hardcover (mostly set up the dustjacket) in the next week or so but, I think I can rest a bit and start thinking about other projects in the queue.<br />
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This Kickstarter has been quiet compared to other larger and fast paced ones but, between my regular 9-5 and getting the book finalized and running the campaign, I'm still pretty tired... but happy too.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-9552331566798153602017-03-11T21:11:00.000-05:002017-03-11T21:11:17.048-05:00Kickstarter: 10 Days Left for Mother of Mortals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/mother-of-mortals-a-tale-of-the-nepheleid" target="_blank"><img alt="Mother of Mortals Kickstarter" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbPYQLn6Cm2Wl9xyVTiRhf6E6_TlAsyFI9ihDFJ_-Pp06B-_gUnKs2SPCKlqp89K86gTU7Y70MO_DCzn4TF33XyDvS-hDA3Bv7m23HRBw8TOUsbYX39gz4oh7kDBgupYrF_wbndiosCst/s400/KS-Cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As of right now we 88% funded! And we still have 10 days to close the funding gap (a balance of $285!!). I am pleased to see this. Still a ways to go and, obviously it would be nice to exceed the funding goal as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLK92fPiJasCSTG2dmor0AitLVQtRYmMlDCYprZnAbAHJhWnV5OgZDXbOKMkzhh3p71lP2kjHiiBmiJmH-bbdXUNerNbOGe077gAubdObqwZGMFqepvBS0S9m1yQRbjZInZkUsNy_QeRgs/s1600/88mph_black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLK92fPiJasCSTG2dmor0AitLVQtRYmMlDCYprZnAbAHJhWnV5OgZDXbOKMkzhh3p71lP2kjHiiBmiJmH-bbdXUNerNbOGe077gAubdObqwZGMFqepvBS0S9m1yQRbjZInZkUsNy_QeRgs/s1600/88mph_black.jpg" /></a></div>
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So... where are we at with the book itself? The second round of edits / fixes are being implemented and should be done in the next day or two. An additional chapter is being put in based on some of the feedback we received as well and this should be in place during the course of the week. All in all, we are almost ready for a second (and likely final proof) before the softcover trade goes into full production. The limited run of hardbacks we are doing will then undergo a similar proofing process before they are ready for production. Thankfully, the interiors are pretty much identical for BOTH.<br />
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If you haven't pledged but you think you might be interested, I encourage you to check it out <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/mother-of-mortals-a-tale-of-the-nepheleid" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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If you want to read a sample, you can read the first chapter <a href="http://www.arcanacreations.com/EXTRAS/Sample.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Most importantly... please share and spread the word! :)<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-58024750287701355152017-03-06T22:44:00.000-05:002017-03-06T22:44:09.664-05:00The Essense of D&D and Skills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighn2bAFfGODir-4jVR91pU5QG28DRtOBGWW96ty74kVl6c5vsbWbd0Ri1vOGuB-zKbwbZ1WpKNAnnaec3XkS2jiRWA32uLIcPmYAy1f7wxARcc5j_ks9GV60QBRRjKVnqIAS1u6mrTvKL/s1600/zzhzxrdsezxj7r8wtsyl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighn2bAFfGODir-4jVR91pU5QG28DRtOBGWW96ty74kVl6c5vsbWbd0Ri1vOGuB-zKbwbZ1WpKNAnnaec3XkS2jiRWA32uLIcPmYAy1f7wxARcc5j_ks9GV60QBRRjKVnqIAS1u6mrTvKL/s400/zzhzxrdsezxj7r8wtsyl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Lately, when I've been talking about the essence of D&D it's really about what is part of that D&D experience we all share when playing. Given that the game is essentially the granddaddy of tabletop role playing games, many things inherent with the system can be found in other systems and game that have come out over the years. If we consider core mechanics and game 'functions' from one flavor of D&D to the next, there are some common points found in ALL them. Again, these same things are even present in the newer retroclones and other games clearly derived or heavily inspired from it.<br />
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Armor Class, a 'Vancian' method of spellcasting, Hit Points, and class-based level advancement are core pillars to the game. Efforts have been made to 'fix' perceived problems and many different games try to do so and sometimes become their own thing. One thing D&D is not is a skills oriented game.<br />
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When the game first was making the round in the 70's, there was really no system of skills. However, as a precursor to second edition, both the Oriental Adventures book and the Dungeoneer Survival Guide introduced the concept of Non-Weapon Proficiencies. More was done with this in the Wilderness Survival Guide which helped to flesh the material out further. By the time it was decided move on to a second edition, a system of weapon and non-weapon proficiencies was finalized.<br />
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Here's the thing though... I don't really remember using or relying on this very much when I did play second edition and this was basically the system my friends and I used in conjunction with the older AD&D material and some Metzer era D&D sets. We also didn't use things like weapon speed factor either. Weapons proficiencies did matter though and was a lot more relevant to what we needed for the game. The only skills routinely used were the Thief skills which had it's own percentile sub-system.<br />
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Third Edition represented a shift. It took the class skills away and put them all into a list to be chosen from during character creation. Some classes had more points to spend on skills than others but the list was not exactly short, and there were different costs depending on your class and what you wanted to take. Then there was something called 'synergy' between skills which affected other things. It was more book keeping but it was generally liked and yet, by Fifth Edition, the skill list didn't only get smaller but the amount of skills one could select from got severely cut down.<br />
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If we consider some of the games derived from D&D like Swords & Wizardry or Castles & Crusades, we find that there is no 'itemized' skill system during character creation aside from maybe some class skills like one would expect to find with the Thief / Rogue. These two games have become favorites of mine, in part because of the streamlined simplicity and philosophy of these games. These systems are not burdened with an extra level of depth by shoehorning a skill system. Just like Original D&D, a skill system isn't really needed for this to play well.<br />
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Lately, I've been playing some Myth & Magic (a much maligned and failed Kickstater to bring out a retro-clone of second edition). It's fun but that's because it brought the right pieces together for someone who played second edition for years. It too has a skill system which feels like a good compromise between the second edition proficiency system and third edition. There are many skills to chose from to give plenty of variety and choice. However, the more I play, the more I wonder if such a system is all that necessary when compared to, say.. the mechanic used in C&C. Myth & Magic does fill the need of creating (on paper), a character which is more detailed in terms of character makeup. But again, is it strictly necessary?<br />
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So... on THAT note, apparently Troll Lord Games has sold out of their 6th print run of the Player's Handbook. It's a great game and apparently they will fund the 7th printing via Kickstater in just over a weeks time (March 15th). It is still my 'goto' FRPG that scratches that 'D&D itch'. I imagine pricing will be much like their last printing which means $29.95 USD (a full color hardback) but there are always a few perks by doing this via the TLG Kickstater and, given this is a flagship product, it will be quickly funded, developed, and shipped. I'll report more on that when it launches.<br />
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Finally, and speaking of Kickstarters, as I have mentioned before, our first published novel, <i>Mother of Mortals</i>, is currently being kickstarted! Feel free to check it out and spread the word! The first chapter of the novel is being offered for free via a link on the Kickstarter project page. You can find the Kickstarter <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/mother-of-mortals-a-tale-of-the-nepheleid" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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MMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-6099844969076924662017-02-28T23:47:00.000-05:002017-02-28T23:47:34.365-05:00Mother of Mortals NOW ON KICKSTARTER !!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/mother-of-mortals-a-tale-of-the-nepheleid" target="_blank"><img alt="Mother of Mortals Kickstarter" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTZJtLCH4iNE5wbVSoiFHC1JNB_EDV5mNbXGs4dMuvJn7v7iE75r-tyoBAIQBKKiV3JTSSVRq3qo_HQtSzcqRKiRNG4uMBp3z0vDK-6nvVQOIqiqdVqr_Oq05NFJdomErUWFJkCpf3kksL/s400/KS-Cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Good evening to all of you... it is my pleasure to announce that the Kickstarter Campaign for <i>Mother of Mortals: A Tale of the Nepheleid</i> is now LIVE!<br />
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You can find the Kickstarter <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcanacreations/mother-of-mortals-a-tale-of-the-nepheleid" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Remember that pledge levels are all in Canadian Funds which means the advantage of a stronger US dollar will make a difference.<br />
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Rewards start at $8 CAD for an electronic copy of the novel with the regular physical copy going for $20 CAD.<br />
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More details in the days and weeks to come. This is a three week campaign.<br />
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M<br />
<br />Moriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.com0