Ballista: The Secret of Ronan Skerry

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.

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.

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

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 Page count for this book is 20 pages which matches the page count of the full sized version originally made for C&C but much smaller than the 32 page digest book originally released.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.

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.

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.


M

What is Ballista?

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.

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...

What is Ballista?

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.
 
What it is not.
 
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.

What rules do I need?   

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 Castles & Crusades published by Troll Lord Games as well as Swords & Wizardry published by Frog God Games.  Both companies offer free versions of their games in electronic format.
 
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.

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.

M

Enthusiam Only Goes So Far...

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.

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.

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 The Island of Eldorado which ended up being a lot of fun. Also finally got around to seeing a couple of movies like Antman and the Wasp which was a lot of fun!

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!

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!

STAY TUNED!

M

2018... Halfway Done

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).

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.

The Beltaine fair at the beginning of May was a great success. While very small in scale, Arcana Element's release of Quebec's Distinct Paganism 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.

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.

And then came the 2018 edition of the Montreal Comic Con.

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.

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.

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, The Secret of Ronan Skerry, the Ruins of Ramat, and A Trick on the Tain.


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, Mother of Mortals, 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.

So... the only thing that has been pushed back a bit further was the C&C release of Shaman of the Mire. Best intentions only take you so far but the lead up to Comic Con as well as the lead up to the release of Quebec's Distinct Paganism 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.


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!

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.

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.

M

Arcana Creations 2018: The Year Ahead

 A bunch of things happened in 2017 and more is planned for 2018!

First off, lets talk about the shows.  Not everything has been confirmed yet but we things are taking shape and are as follows:

Our first event of the year will be in Ottawa, Canada at the small Goddess of Love Valentine Psychic Fair Fundraiser for Animals.  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 NEXT WEEK on Sunday, February 11th, 2018 at the Bronson Community center and runs from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.

Our second event that we still need to confirm is Festival Draconis 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.

Our third event is at the Montreal Beltaine Fair 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: Quebec's Distinct Paganism which is an ethnography on the Montreal Pagan community.

Our fourth event and our biggest will be at the Montreal Comic Con 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.

Our final confirmed event for the 2018 is slated to be Can-Con 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.

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.

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 Quebec's Distinct Paganism 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, Shaman of the Mire for Castles & Crusades will be available in the next few weeks.

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.

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.

M