Weekend R&R: Pirates Guide to Freeport

Back at towards the end of the 3rd Edition line, third party game companies began to prepare themselves for the inevitable and the very real possibility that they would need to adapt for the transition of a new edition for D&D.  Wizards of the Coast confirmed rumors in the summer of 2007 with a launch the following year.  Green Ronin, who enjoyed success as a third party publisher of d20 material was well underway to making some changes and released a wonderful campaign setting book entitled the "Pirates Guide to Freeport".  It was also released in the Fall of 2007 and was based on the numerous d20 adventures which took place in the same setting.

Freeport is a chance to do some good ol' fantasy swashbuckling with a hint of a Lovecraftian twist.  It isn't the pirate theme that makes this book stand out on it's own though.  What makes this book great is that it is entirely system free.  It doesn't even have a light 'sprinking' of game system crunch ... it is genuinely and 100% free of any of this sort of thing.  Green Ronin decided to start a line of campaign supplements with zero rules in order for people to feel free to pick them up and use them for whatever game system they preferred.  In order to fill in and supply what could arguably be deemed as 'necessary' to successfully run the setting as was detailed in the book, they released a series of companions to the books.  For this particular book, they released a d20 version, a True20 version, a Savage Worlds version, and a C&C version (though the C&C version was only released as a PDF).

The book itself is concise enough and provides more than ample information to successfully run an extended campaign in the city of Freeport.  It povides a history and details life in the city and gives information of the various 'movers and shakers' and places of interest you'll find.  The book also gives a rundown on the various areas around the city but given that this is largely centered on the one island which is part of a small chain of smaller islands, it makes dropping this city in most settings relatively easy.  Most chapters deal with different districts of the city though and peppered throughout the material are plenty of adventure ideas to spawn countless hours of fun and exploration.

The book itself is very nice though the majority is in black and white with the exception of Chapter 2 (which is an overview of the city) and the inside cover which features a color map of the city itself.  I have to say that it is a shame that the rest of the book isn't in color like the second chapter as I think the color really makes the art stand out amongst these pages when compared to the rest of the book.  Then again, doing it this way probably helped keep the price of the book lower than it would have been had it all been in color.

My own experiences running Freeport thus far has been a bit briefer than I would have liked.  After countless adventures and brushes with curious events surrounding the village of Hommlet and the various perils and loss of life during the Saga of the Witch Queen, my campaign led to Freeport for a change of pace.  The players genuinely loved their stay there and this is where one player remarked my GMing style shifting from a 'Michael Bay' approach to a 'Hitchcock' vibe.  Maybe it was the Yellow Sign.  ;)  It was fun and, if that campaign ever picks up again (it's been on hold for about 18 months now), the players will resume their investigations and adventures in the city of Freeport.

I really did enjoy looking through and reading the book... the writing, art, and overall themes are just plain fun.  Get the Companion Guide for it, and you get the crunch with some interesting critters and magic to go with it which is basically just the icing on a really tasty piece of cake!

The book is a 256 page hardback with a MSRP of $34.95 though the Green Ronin site lists it as $29.95.  It's possible that subsequent reprints were less expensive or Green Ronin is simply discounting the price on their site.  Noble Knight Games matches this pricing though they have a used copy discounted another $5 off.  The PDF of it is $19 and both PDF versions and physical copies are readily available if seeking a copy.

Since the release of this book, Green Ronin has done a couple other sourcebooks in a similar, stat-less style -- Cults of Freeport and Buccaneers of Freeport.  I don't actually have either of this though I was tempted to.  Unfortunately, instead of an attractive hardcover, Green Ronin opted to do a softcover edition instead and, given that my time in Freeport was never meant to be 'longterm', I felt I had more than enough to go on with the main book, the companion, and plenty other of material I have from other companies which could just as easily be sourced from if I needed some inspiration.

M

Season 2 Finale of Game of Thrones

Simply put... was awesome.  But between that, blogging on and off this weekend, doing editing, layout out, and designing the new logo, my Weekend R&R Post isn't done yet.

And I'm tired.

I think I'm going to bed now.

The good news is that it's started and should be up tomorrow evening (all going well).

In this week's R&R, I've decided to talk about Green Ronin's "The Pirate's Guide to Freeport".  In the meantime, have youselves a good evening and a good week ahead and I'll catch you all soon.

Signing off...

M

New Arcana Creations Logo

Since I'm looking at revising the tradedress I have been using (and also sorely need to revise the website), I decided to also revise the Arcana Creations logo.  The fruits of my labors today:

I'm happy with it -- I hope other people like it as well.

M

High Cost of Kickstarters

I know I've alluded to this yesterday and it is something I mentioned briefly in the past and while all these Kickstarter efforts are proving a boon to hobby publishing and a plausible and solid alternative to POD productions, there are some that give me second thoughts when I consider the costs to get in on some of these efforts.

While some can be arguable justifiable, one of the latest, albeit already successful efforts which just started is for Traveller 5th Edition.  Given the history of this game, fans have every reason to be ecstatic about the news and release of an 'ultimate edition'.  However, the least expensive way to get a copy of the game is on 'CD ROM' as well as some cool but relatively insignificant swag (the Traveller dice are pretty awesome).  But the cost?  You end up paying $51 for what is essentially PDF material.  A physical copy of the book is TWICE that!  And then there's the shipping.  Looking through the Kickstarter page (HERE), aside from the picture of the hardcover, I couldn't find an actual page count though, judging by the picture, it looks to be a dense book.  I'm not even suggesting that it isn't worth the price either -- especially at a high page count but efforts like these also seem a bit prohibitive and, given that this product doesn't exactly exist yet, there is a bit of faith involved when pledging this amount of cash!

How would you feel if you pledged a higher than average amount for a book only to receive this book but find out it was published via Lulu or some other POD service?  I know I would be annoyed though others may not really care.  To be clear here, I'm not suggesting that Mark Miller is doing this either and his project is one I having nothing but respect and admiration for.  Whether or not I end up scrounging $125 for a hardcover copy myself is a different issue entirely.

Of course, the Traveller 5 project is not the only high cost, yet highly successful Kickstarter.  Frog God Game's "Rappan Athuk" (details HERE) also has a $100 entry tag to benefit from a hardcover copy however, the amount of swag is quite nice.  Admittedly some of this swag was added after the launch since it has already raised 4 times the original goal with a month still to go!  On the other hand, a PDF copy is $40 and this project promises to be massive (having already seen versions of this before for 3rd Edition).

Other notable projects include the one recently ended by Lamentations of the Flame Princess which, while meeting it's most basic goals, fell short of the ambitious set of bonus goals which would have led to the funding and creation of a host of new modules.  It was an interesting effort on Indiegogo but, I believe it was a bit flawed from the outset.  At the most basic goal, the objective was to fund a hardcover version of the LofFP RPG (well, the Rules & Magic  books anyway) and huge stretch goals which would have seen production of a whole bunch of new adventure modules for the game.  One problem was the 'entry level' to be eligible for those goals.  At $110, you would get 4 copies of the book plus copies of all the bonus goal modules that would be funded -- shipping included.  Now that is fantastic value but a problem for people who just couldn't see the benefit of 4 copies of the rulebooks.  You need to keep in mind that many who would be interested in the project might already have a copy of the rules as part of the previously released box set and the draw here may have been the bonus goals anyway.  I certainly don't fault Jim for his decisions with the project and he's explained the rationale behind this well enough.  At the end of the day though, even if the cost breakdown per rulebook was below the $30 mark with no additional costs to concern oneself with, I think some people were just looking at the total price tag for something they may already had access to.  On the other hand, the entry level to get in on the rulebook itself was only $30 -- a fantastic deal and one I'm so very glad to have taken part in.  I've seen (and praised) the work LotFP has put out before given the quality hardcovers he has managed to put out in the past.  This is one book I will be very excited to receive and have on my shelf.  I think one other thing that may have caused some issues was the implementation, the discontinuation, and subsequent revival of what was called the Digital Faith Pack.  I agree that, since it was initially added after the fact, the benefit of this package would really be dependent on the success of the overall campaign and it made little sense to have it if only the rulebook was going to be funded.  However, given the way that Indiegogo functions and that payment is collected upfront, I have to wonder what might have happened if it was implemented a tad differently and never removed.  In any event, his primary goal was met but the bonus goals fell short (save for the first bonus module).  I am happy to say that his new July Grand Adventures Campaign initiative just announced on the forums (but not on the blog yet) sounds promising and a great way to get one (or more) LotFP adventures into your hands for those who may have been disappointed with the Hardcover campaign.

To date, I have backed over 25 campaigns in the past 6 months and I do think that it is a bit of a boon to our hobby but the higher pledge amounts to access some of the 'basic' material continues to give me pause.  Even so, there is no greater satisfaction of being able to accomplish one's vision and Kickstarter and similar efforts are a benefit to those who continue to dream.

M

BHP Kickstarter Announced!

Since Arcana Creations is affiliated with Brave Halfling Publishing, there are many things I hear about weeks and, in some cases, months before they happen.  One of this things is the new line of 'Appendix N Adventures' line which BHP is doing for the DCC RPG by Goodman Games and the kickstarter that was being planned for it.  Now I love the DCC RPG and it's a gorgeous tome and I've always loved the DCC line of adventure modules, owning most of them with the exception of that 4th Edition phase.  I've seen a few things and I've talked to John about this new line and can't help but be exited about it.  If you've seen and love the look and 'feel' of the DCC RPG, I think it's safe to assume you'll like this new line as well.

The best things about this:

1) At a mere $5, you snag yourself a PDF of the first adventure, "The Ruins of Ramat" for the DCC Game.  Handy if you're the type already lugging around the large DCC RPG gamebook.  ;)
2) At $10, you get the a physical copy of the adventure plus a PDF copy, a Supporters Poster, and shipping is included (including international).
3) At $20, you get all the above PLUS a limited edition of a new adventure (never to be released electronically or retail distribution).  The best part is that anyone who pledges at this level gets every single bonus goal reached.

Now, you may be wondering why this is such a big thing and, despite my praises and scorn of various Kickstarter efforts, why I think this is a good Kickstarter.  It has nothing to do with my friendship and partnership with John and everything to do with the original goals and spirit of Kickstarter.  The goal of this particular Kickstarter is to help launch the line.  The line will be launched one way or the other but the reality is that it can be expensive to do.  A bunch of resources have already gone in to cover the artwork and other work that has already been put towards the project to make this a reality.  The first release has an extremely reasonable goal of a mere $1000 to help with publishing and production costs.  As of right now, a day into it, half the goal has been reached.  It is the bonus goals which may turn out to be extremely interesting.  Each bonus goal reached goes towards the production of a new module in the line.  At $20, you already get the first module plus the limited edition adventure and really, given shipping is included, you've easily covered your initial investment since I don't know how this kickstarter will not meet its basic goal.  But at a simple entry level of $20, you potentially get another 3 modules (all destined to be released in distribution) and a box to keep them in.

In short, these are very accessible goals and additional funds all go towards the product line and, at $20 -- all very achievable.  Naturally there are higher tiers, some which are clearly geared towards the collector while others are geared towards those looking for something more 'unique'.

I have to say that I really am happy to see how this Kickstarter is set up and, while I applaud other efforts, it's nice to see that this one is very accessible to those who want to support the project but can't afford to pledge too high an amount in order to get a physical copy of a product or, is otherwise, a bit impractical.

Anyway, check out the link to the Kickstarter found HERE if you're even remotely curious.

A couple of last points: Don't play the DCC RPG?  The material is easy enough to convert pretty much 'on-the-fly' and it shouldn't present any problems if you are using a different system.  Wasn't the 'Ruins of Ramat' already released for other systems?  In short, yes but the content is not the same from previous releases either.  The C&C version which Arcana Creations put out was much expanded from the 'Original Edition' and first version of the scenario.  This version is similarly changed as far as the dungeon layout is concerned and there are differences in the art as well (which looks absolutely awesome).  The main points are the same and given the nature of the adventure, it makes for a perfect 0-level adventure for the DCC RPG.

M