Here's the video:
Although the US print size is a little smaller than I remembered I really love the format. It's very handy, the paper is nice and the colors on the cover are excellent (and the map on the back also is a beauty). All in all the test print is really great. So I'm happy with that part.
The difficult thing now is the logistics of finishing the project as I'm running out of time and I fear there is nothing I can do with it. Here's the status:
- I'm finished writing the first draft.
- I need to do a lot of proofing as I tested the rules from a jumble of papers and sheets and writing the rules over a period of more than a year probably didn't help either. Thus I fear that right now there are a number of inconsistencies and mechanical problems that exist in the rules set and need to be weeded out.
- I need to add a lot of images to the pages. I have quite a bit of whitespace in order to have enough room for all kinds of cool images. I love art and I have a huge collection so this will be fun but it also will take time.
- I need to get the external proofreaders involved. While I had considered to do a public proofreading I'm right now more in favor of a first closed proofing run with a small circle of people (you still can apply either by getting into contact with me via Facebook or by email to creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com - just let me know why you think you'd make a decent proofreader). Everyone who ends up being a boon to the project will get a print copy of the ADOM Lite RPG (but I decide who was a boon and who wasn't ;-) ).
There is one issue that keeps bothering me: finances. By now most of the money from the campaign has been used up and what remains will get eaten by taxes in the next couple of weeks (we are talking about a bug chunk in the area of about 10.000 EUR). Part of that is retrievable once a tax year closes and costs have been accumulated but if I don't manage to create the costs by the end of 2013 I will get back some of the money mid 2015 at best - which means that by now I'm using up my savings to fund the rewards. Which is ok for me - no need to complain here as I'm solely responsible for being so late and thus for getting into these problems. I just felt that the community should know about some of the implications of a crowd funding campaign (and I'm still annoyed by some of the pricks that clamored about the huge amount of money I was asking for before starting the campaign - these idiots really know nothing… and I wonder if any of their cheaper projects they over to mention ever delivered - but that's another topic for another day).
Nonetheless I right now feel that I will take that financial hit as it makes no sense to hurry out a totally shoddy version of the rules now. Bad luck for me I guess. Let's hope that next year we are going to pick up Steam (pardon the pun) and come to a state where Team ADOM can be financed over an extended period of time and we can turn ADOM into a true marvel - then all the pains easily will be forgotten.
And while we are at it (click here): Don't forget to vote for ADOM as the Roguelike of the Year 2013 (voting doesn't work with mobile browsers - please use desktop mode). I mean: we are the only roguelike game that soon will sport a print RPG and we changed from pure ASCII to an amazing graphical mode and we now have more and more great musical support and in a short while tons of new quests and features will start to roll out. I guess we deserve to win this year. Always allowing TOME to win is kinda boring, isn't it ;-) ?
Good job, Thomas. Can't wait for the moment when I'll get this shiny book in my hands. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm also drooling for mine, a couple of questions though.
ReplyDelete- Where should I send my address, is there some site or something?
- I would like to buy more than one, how do I handle the payment for additional copies?
Or are these details still work in progress?
It was meant to just be a reward for the crowdfunding campaign, but I have to ask (especially since people seem to be eager to buy (mulitple!) copies) - have you thought about selling the RPG? It seems like a great way to raise more money for ADOM - or at least recoup the personal cost of printing it. And even though I'm getting one already, I definitely buy a couple extra for birthday/Christmas presents. (I have a lot of nerdy friends)
ReplyDeleteThe main problem here is that I promised that the copies created during the crowd funding campaign would never again be available. To add collector value to them.
DeleteOh that's easy: make ADOM II Lite RPG and sell that. :P
DeleteIt's not entirely a jokular idea though. If anything, half the reason people are into ADOM Lite at all is that it's ADOM—a universe they care about—and not just some random pen-and-paper RPG. This way you create something that is both relevant to ADOM universe again, and not ethically bound to a small group of people (who in the existing case realistically underpaid the costs of its creation). Some of the costs can be mitigated by having experience with the original ADOM Lite as well as being able to work at your own pace rather than something dictated by the specifics of tax management, as well as introducing more people to ADOM and thus, potentially, increasing the amount of donors/paying customers. Hard to realistically gauge the demand for something as niche as that, though, and probably requires the actual game (ADOM II that is) to be in any significant state of production.
Listen to moozooh and bear this in mind going forward---there should be multiple forward-leading paths in the future.
DeleteWell, I can understand that. :) I personally don't really care if other people have access to it, but even for the collectors - why not make a modified version (i.e, different cover, slightly different content) for selling? That way us crowdfunders still have our unique, collectable reward, but there's a mass produced "plebian" version to actually make the RPG popular and add *value* to the first edition. A first edition, signed Huckleberry Finn sells for millions of dollars not just because it's rare, but because there have been millions of Huckleberry Finn books made and it's popular enough that a first edition means something.
DeleteLikewise, as a recipient of the ADOM Lite RPG, I'd much rather get a unique, signed first edition and then have 20,000 people have later editions, so that 10 years down the road one of those 20,000 people actually want to pay me loads of money for my first edition.:) If there are just some 60 or so total, then nobody really hears about it, and it becomes forgotten and mostly worthless.
So I think it's perfectly ethical, and I'd wager most of us who donated would agree with it. So long as you made something to make the 1st edition obviously distinct. (like change the cover for the rest of the editions like I mentioned, if that's cost effective)
Thomas, I for one am a collector and when I saw limited edition ADOM Lite RPG that will never be available I had to get it. However I am not a greedy s.o.b. and honestly - who am I to question you making the RPG publicly accessible to all. If anything I should be happy because we are a very unique fandom after all.
DeleteADOM players and enthusiasts are from the old days. We have all these fancy graphics and amazing opportunities now when we talk about computer games while I still play ADOM, and always will be. Without tiles. Remembering all the sleepless nights I pulled when I was a teenager to play this game. Remembering the joy of getting an internet connection and finding your website and your e-mail. Then finding you on facebook and being able to talk to The Creator himself. These things are invaluable.
Everytime I talk to other ADOM fans there instantly is this spark of connection like you have so meny things to talk about and everyone has this findness for each other. I'm not sure how to explain it, but that's how I see it.
Getting back to the point: I am speaking for my own, one of the lucky folks with Seeker level secured but I think many if not all will agree - we don't mind the RPG going public and available for all. To make our versions unique you could write a short dedication with your signature on it, emphasizing that this one copy comes from the Indiegogo campaign. Everyone should be happy then :)
PS I'm a bit tired, hope it makes sense.
You could have the first run be the limited edition numbered copy (you could even sign them, if there weren't a lot sold) with your graphic seal, and then another run later that is a generic non-collector public edition.
ReplyDeleteIf I may give an opinion about the handbook, the margins a little too narrow.
ReplyDeleteAnd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA. Vertical video? You should take care of details in order to give good image.
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, the margin problem is one of stuffing too much content into too little space. Point taken.
DeleteThanks also for the video pointer - I'll improve next time ;-)
The other thing is large white areas. it just looks wrong. You could put some simple drawing instead, but don't leave page empty.
ReplyDeleteBut it looks really god. Pity I missed Seeker :/
Fourth bullet point in the text is exactly about that :) The whitespace you see is reserved for even more cool artwork.
Delete