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Problem #41: What's Next?
92 Plays3 days ago
In our penultimate encore episode, Tracy and Kristian explore the prospects of life after crowdfunding. How to keep momentum going, How to sell product on-hand, and specifically, some of the thinking both large and small that might apply to your product's future--all through the lens of Tracy's personal experience with and future plans for Han Cluster.
Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ
The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com
Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Designing Problems RPG Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Designing Problems RPG Podcast, where we explore RPG development and all the intentional and unintentional problems we create along the way. I'm Christian Serrano. And I'm Tracy Sizemore. We're your hosts for this bittersweet question. And this week we're going to talk about problem number 41. What's next?
Crowdfunding Milestone Achieved
00:00:43
Speaker
What is next, Tracy? you you what what what's so What's on the horizon here for you? Well, first just and foremost, i've I've fulfilled, right? I got word. I got my stuff. This morning and yesterday or whatever, this morning for sure, that all...
00:01:03
Speaker
ah the rest of the world shipments have gone out. Nice. So, and even Guy Sargent in the UK, he got, he posted pictures and he got his home cluster stuff. And so that's only a matter of time for everybody else does.
00:01:17
Speaker
And i hope it before the end of the year, but we'll see. Cool. So once that that, that's a huge relief. All that, all the the initial crowdfunding, except for a couple of stragglers who haven't filled out their surveys yet or completed their credit card stuff.
00:01:35
Speaker
There's only like three of those people. But you you've done everything that's within your power. I've done everything within my power to send everything out. Right. The crowdfunding is for all intents and purposes complete. Right.
00:01:48
Speaker
Excellent. Yeah. And that's a good feeling. Yeah. That's a big relief.
The Role of Kickstarter
00:01:53
Speaker
it's ah It's like a finalization of this journey what the crowdfunding thing. yeah It is, even though it's not the end.
00:02:01
Speaker
um it is It is the end of that. And true true to its name, it is a Kickstarter. Like, I would not have been able to do this without... crowdfunding without people helping me.
00:02:15
Speaker
Right. I would not have an inventory of books. I would not have a book at all if I didn't have that. Yeah. That, that like kick in the butt, that, that infusion of capital to make it happen. Right. And so now I have inventory. I have books, I have maps, I have cards. They're, they're in, in this room with me as we speak. Right.
00:02:39
Speaker
So the first job is to revel in the accomplishment. Yeah. You know, I was going to say, cause you know what, a year ago we started with fear and anxiety, right? And this nervousness of what's going to happen. Is it going to come together and is it going to execute well?
00:02:57
Speaker
And now you're able to just kind of say it I did it. in It's done. Like really done. It's done.
North American Shipping Completion
00:03:03
Speaker
Really, really did it. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So how how do you celebrate that? How have you been celebrating that?
00:03:08
Speaker
ah Well, the it's weird that that that didn't really kick in. I didn't really feel it until I finished my North American shipping here. Yeah. um Where i felt like, my shoulders relaxed and...
00:03:24
Speaker
I stopped having weird dreams about fulfillment or crowdfunding or tier construction or whatever because I would have them. i so i Even up to the last minute, I i had packing dreams. I bet.
00:03:39
Speaker
You know, and now that's gone. Yeah. And it's weird. And I think I may have mentioned this last time that, that, that log jam of creativity is now cleared somewhat because that burden is off my shoulders. Well, you're not, cause you have to prioritize that. You don't have the bandwidth really to, you know, think on creativity and whatnot. yeah Yeah. And when I had to force myself, it was very hard. Right. You know? Right. And now I'm like, oh, yeah, cool. I mean, Mac, my friend Mac wrote a great 32-page adventure that I'm finalizing now and I'm starting to order art for.
00:04:19
Speaker
And that will be the next thing that comes
Post-Project Relaxation and Community Engagement
00:04:21
Speaker
out. Yeah. And we'll talk about that in a little bit. but But anyway, so part of the celebration is is just to sit back, relax, and...
00:04:30
Speaker
Enjoy this. Get some sleep. Get some sleep. Look out on on Discord and social media for people who've gotten their stuff and have taken pictures and done unboxing videos and done reviews and stuff like that.
00:04:46
Speaker
And hopefully they're all good and, you know, and then, and watch some movies and ah get a change of scenery, play some board games, whatever is not Han Cluster. Right, right. little while.
00:05:01
Speaker
Right. Cleanse the palate, so speak. Yeah. Yeah. But you're not like, it's, I would imagine you're not resting and on your laurels, right? Cause you're still, you got feedback, you got, you know, again, people who haven't, you know, filled up their surveys, you know, uh, people who might've issues with their shipment, you know, things like that.
00:05:20
Speaker
Um, how how, you just mentioned, you know, seeing the reviews and whatnot, how has the, how have those reviews or any feedback you've gotten,
00:05:34
Speaker
And, you know, affected your, I guess, mental state for lack of better phrasing.
Validation through Community Feedback
00:05:40
Speaker
Well, I mean, so far so good. Right. I mean, the I've not gotten anything ah negative yet. And that that may be a sign that it nobody cares. Right. right So there's there's there's that.
00:05:56
Speaker
But at the same time, like, I don't really want anything negative. I'll take it Yeah. i No news is good news, right? Right. But when the feedback has come in, it's been very positive. And I i expected it to be, honestly, because they're extremely high quality products. Like just looking at them and feeling them is very, very cool. And I would be surprised if somebody didn't feel that way.
00:06:23
Speaker
Right. What's inside them may be shit, but... The words are crap, but yeah the physicality of it is fantastic. But yeah, the the quality of it is very good. And so I'm like, well, over time, we'll find out if...
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah. If they they like what's inside. Right.
Impact of Reviews from Notables
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah. Once campaigns start getting played. Right. Right. and And I i expect i'll I'll get people who don't yeah love it on occasion. But but the ah there are a couple who gave me feedback who have already started reading it.
00:07:04
Speaker
And one of my friends, Angela Murray, who does the Gnome Stew podcast and blog, she was really kind of inspirational to me way back. You know, we kind of got to know each other because I go to cons. This is what happens. Yeah. And she's played in Han Cluster a couple times. She's played in my other games, both online and in person. She's a lovely person and respect her opinion.
00:07:32
Speaker
Right. yeah And so when she me at like 11 maybe,
00:07:39
Speaker
Nice.
00:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. Talk about validation. Yeah. I was just like, well, thank you for telling me because you have no idea how much yeah back and forth and hand wringing and worry went into trying to get this right.
00:08:13
Speaker
Right. Right. You know, yeah and how much, um just how much work went into it. um And so that was very gratifying. Somebody actually read it and actually reached out.
00:08:25
Speaker
yeah And that's very, very, very cool. I don't expect that, a lot of that, but man, it's nice when it happens. Yeah. you know So I've been, I've gotten, and and the reviews have been good too. Like, uh, Savage Goose did one, uh, sort of an unboxing, ah extended unboxing. Yeah. And, he was very nice and very complimentary. And then i had some backers do some unboxing, which was really cool, you know, cause they're very excited to get it, you know?
00:08:55
Speaker
And Patrick's grand Grand Molotov did his and it was great because he had awesome lighting so you could actually see the sort of grandeur of the books. yeah And um it was just
Affirmation from Unboxing Videos
00:09:07
Speaker
cool. It's just cool to watch that. And I think it's's that that validates all the choices that I made early on.
00:09:18
Speaker
You know, like I'm doing the offset print and I'm getting the spot gloss on the cover. I'm doing the thing. And I'm spending big money for the art, for these covers.
00:09:29
Speaker
Like that, that validates all these choices. Yeah. and now I just have to capitalize on that. Right, right. You know, is is is like, okay, so hopefully the inside is as good as the outside. Yeah. And um i can get people to buy it um based on what it looks like and hopefully what's inside it. And ah now I just have to do that.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah. I have the inventory. I put in the effort. I did all the stuff. Now I have it. Now I have to, hopefully I
Engagement on Platforms like Discord
00:10:04
Speaker
can sell it now. Yeah. What I wonder is if, you know, once people start playing it, right. And they start talking about it, the Savage Worlds community is, it's relatively small compared to others. Right. Yeah.
00:10:15
Speaker
And, uh, you know, again, con games and things like that, people talking about it online. Um, you know, and I, I, I imagine there's a bit of a wave that can be ridden once that buzz starts to happen as, as people are playing it, experiencing it, GMing it, you know, talking about it, that will then also help, you know, facilitate sales, right? Like whether it's, um, you know, testimonials or um,
00:10:44
Speaker
you know getting involved in those conversations online and you know things like that mouth all that other word of mouth right right do you do you plan to um like let's say if people on reddit are talking about it do you plan to engage you know in those kinds of spaces um do you know to kind of facilitate conversation or answer questions or clarifications and I've certainly on the Discord, I would.
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah. You know, and that's a small space right now. And it's not the ideal space because the ideal is that you want to direct people to your own spaces that you own. Right. Right.
00:11:22
Speaker
Discord does the job that I don't want to do. And um I only have to check there. Yeah. You know, so if people have questions or people want to talk to me about Hawn Cluster, that is the place to go.
00:11:37
Speaker
um And um because I'm less engaged with Facebook nowadays, I do do it, but and I'll, I pay attention to it, but i'm I'm less engaged just because it's a social media platform with all this other junk that goes along with it. Right.
00:11:53
Speaker
Um, and other places I just don't, uh, I would rather work on creating more stuff than going out and spending all my time trying to engage. Yeah.
00:12:06
Speaker
Okay. Except for cons. and Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's face to faces. Traditionally I go to cons and I love to go to cons and so I'll run at cons and that's what I do. Well, that's where you get the human contact with yeah either, you know, people who have bought your game or people who are potentially going to buy your game. You know, yeah.
00:12:26
Speaker
So, yeah, I don't, i except for the for this Discord, I don't really plan to engage. Yeah, Publicly, I do want people to talk about it.
00:12:38
Speaker
And I certainly will look if I happen to know about it and all that. But at the same time, i can't be there for every conversation. yeah That's okay. Are you planning to of market the Discord to steer the conversation? Yeah, I've already even started like in the latest update that will go out tomorrow. Right. I say, everything's been shipped and we're done and look out for what's next.
00:13:02
Speaker
By the way, there's a Discord server. So I'm trying to get that out there a little bit more. cool Because that's the place where you can find me. just yeah that's that's i I spend my time in Discord. It's what I do.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so yeah, that's, there's that. And that's, that's, I think how I would engage with the feedback. And I try to say thanks to the people who have, who have gone out of their way. sometimes I'm, I'm terrible about it because I'm such a no news is good news type person that I don't remember to to thank people and to give them kudos and praise and, and or, or just appreciation, because I just don't remember to do it. I, I, I'm terrible about it Right. Right.
00:13:47
Speaker
Because I'm so used to not getting it myself or or not expecting it. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That doesn't mean they don't deserve it. Doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. Yeah. So you got your inventory. like what's what's What's your approach going to be with that?
00:14:02
Speaker
like what do you Yeah, well, I think the there's a couple of things. but the The plan is is solidifying, right? And part of this has to do with the feedback that I have gotten.
00:14:15
Speaker
um And my own feedback, my own post-mortem about what I did and and how I did it. So one thing is um the best way to sell an existing product is to make new product.
00:14:31
Speaker
o that's That's a universal truth. if if If Shane wants to sell Deadlands, the best way to sell Deadlands is to make a new Deadlands product. Right. Right. To get people into it to say, oh, I've heard about this setting for a long time. I've never really gotten into it, but there's this new Kickstarter out now. Maybe I should look at it. Yeah. Or I've never heard of this. What is that? What's it about? I've it. and What's this about? Oh, cool. Turns out this is a kind of a thing. yeah The original kind of weird West in RPGs, I should probably look at this. Right.
00:15:04
Speaker
And so Han Cluster, I want to be kind of the same way, right? is is The first thing, of course, is the 32-pager I mentioned before that I plan to do digitally and go out and drive through. I'm up just...
00:15:17
Speaker
I'm finished with the writing part, which is Mac wrote, wrote the, the initial adventure. I did the editing and added some additional material and it's ready. Yeah. It just needs art.
00:15:29
Speaker
It's in layout. Art is are the like the, the, it's spaced out for what art we're going to order. The spots. Yes. I've got placeholders for it all. Right. So now we just need to order the art and stick it in. Very cool.
00:15:41
Speaker
And, um, Should have done that before, but at the same time, like, nah, we're not in a big hurry, right? It'll go out probably February-ish, is and that's kind of good timing, I think.
00:15:53
Speaker
Because, hey, Han Cluster's still alive. There's this big thing um coming out for drive-thru in case you, you know, so that we can talk about it again and we can get on Savage Universe again and all drag Mac to...
00:16:05
Speaker
Talk about it because he's obscure, no one has ever seen him type person. But he will get on and talk about it with me. And it's a great adventure. It literally is great.
00:16:16
Speaker
so found Foundry module too. Foundry module is coming. Fantasy Grounds has already been released. right right So those are coming ah or or already out.
00:16:27
Speaker
And also I have plans because, again, part of the feedback I got and maybe not feedback, but my own feedback, my own post-mortem is I need, I think, to create a product with just some really short, easy, savage tales.
00:16:44
Speaker
yeah Because that way it's more accessible to more casual people who don't want to play the campaign. Or at the very least, just some one sheets that you can put out there, you know, for people to just pick up and run. Exactly. Right. Exactly. And ive I have several ideas for that. now Part of my, like,
00:17:01
Speaker
my like mentality shift is to stop teaching people how to play the game and just play the game. Right.
00:17:12
Speaker
Right. Because up to this point, I've been worried about how do I teach people about X bonding? You want to make sure they understand it the right way. Exactly. How do I, how do I yeah get them to understand these new mechanics that are really new that aren't in any other role-playing Yeah.
Transition from Mechanics to Adventure Creation
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. It's not like you're just like dropping and hacking, right? This is like a very different thing. It's just different. And and so part of the the immersion is to teach you how to do that. And that's the jumpstart did a very good job of that.
00:17:43
Speaker
The campaign does a very good job of it. And that was my entire focus for this whole time. But now I'm starting to shift into, to hell with these mechanics.
00:17:54
Speaker
Let's just make a fun adventure right and let the mechanics work themselves out. Like now that people know the mechanics, just let them use them right or not if they don't want to. right And so that was a mental block on my end is like, just write some small, short adventures where you're not trying to teach people about X bonding.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah. You know, where where you don't have to worry about that. It's just an adventure. If you want to use the X-Bond, great. It's not going to break anything. It's going to make it better.
00:18:26
Speaker
But I'm not having to mention it. Right, right. You know, and I've been very worried about that the whole time. yeah I'm like, well, I have to teach them. I have to show them, you know.
00:18:38
Speaker
Are you considering translating your con games ah into published material? Most of my con games have been translated into published material. already. Okay. Yeah. so Trinity's Mustang is already a savage tale in the book.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Ghosts of, or the, the ghosted clowns of Porso is already in the book. Okay. Okay. The shock adventure I ran, already in the book. Great. Drastator Calamity, already in the book, you know. Yeah. So it's already, those are already there.
00:19:07
Speaker
Nice. So i'm I'm wanting to create smaller, easier, more accessible. We can run this in two to three hours or whatever. Right. Or two sessions. Yeah, whatever. Yeah. yeah Or something. and And give the GM more freedom to do what they want as a savage tale. Right. A little more open-ended. Exactly. Yeah.
00:19:28
Speaker
I think that's important. i think too. And so I think that's my plan. Yeah. um And then the next big thing will be another crowd funder. And I plan to do a book about the soul system or or earth, what's going on on earth. Right.
Future Projects and Campaigns
00:19:44
Speaker
cool And that will be a whole, that's like that's the big stuff. There's the small stuff and the big stuff. And I think you have to think big and think small right um to to make this work. I think, I do. I think for this side. I think you're right. I think you're like, um you know, you're, you're You're following up with the small stuff, right? And then, you know, using that to kind of fill in the gap between the next, you know, what what you just released and the next big thing. Yes. Right. And then, so then, yeah, you're kind of keeping a momentum with, you know cadence, if you will, yeah for the product. Yeah. Make sure people know it's still out there. It's still being developed. So it gets old people back and say, oh, Hong cluster's still alive. Yeah.
00:20:29
Speaker
I should look at that. And then the new people saying, oh, I've heard about this Honkloster thing. There's a new thing. I should probably look at that. you know Now, the other part of this, too, is that you have, because a lot of backers, don't they don't go all in necessarily. right So you still have the adventure, the cards, the maps as separate products that you can still market to people who may have backed it or who have just, you know, if they're you know, buying now the the individual book, you know, the core book. Right. um So there's opportunity with that using the existing
00:21:04
Speaker
um cat ah inventory inventory to to market the setting and to keep it going, you know, kind of kind of upsell people a little bit, you know, so to speak. Right. And so far, I mean, it's i probably constructed the tiers too well in the sense that, but but really not, because this is exactly what I wanted, is most people are getting the all in everything. Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
even Even now as – It made sense to do that. Yeah. The way you set it up. As some of the new people who are coming in and buying now, they're buying the all-in. They're buying all-in physical.
00:21:41
Speaker
That's great. Which is awesome. Do you worry about having excess inventory then of the – well, guess not. if they're buying now – that those cards and the adventures and the maps and all that those those are all going to be used you know to to fulfill those orders yes yeah so i mean so it's not like they're just sitting there no it's it's not like a box set right yeah it's kind of like a box set and yeah what i mean is like a box mean like if you were selling box sets You'd be selling the box sets, not not what you're selling are the individual things. Yes. you know Which is good. Now I'm selling, yeah, the individual things, yeah but as a package. Right. And and and a discounted package at that, yeah which is partly why people are buying it. Yeah. It's still discounted. good you can strategy. Even though little more than it was at the at the crowdfunding. It's still cheaper than buying them individually, like ah by a lot.
00:22:33
Speaker
Right. Right. So um I'm still offering that. Yeah. And I may not offer that forever. Yeah. we'll see what happens. but um But yeah, I mean, I expect the cards and the maps will sell slower than the books do.
00:22:49
Speaker
Sure. And the adventure book will sell slower than the than the main book does. Right, right. um But... it's It's coming along. it's yeah I don't know. i yeah Like I say, the only way to sell this stuff is to write more stuff.
00:23:04
Speaker
So you're talking like, so yeah, so selling small stuff and big stuff, right? yeah Small stuff being the Savage Tales, big stuff being the book on soul. ah And that's going to be a campaign, another plot point campaign as well? So it'll be a source book slash plot point campaign for Earth.
00:23:20
Speaker
Right. Is it um sequential, like after the first one? No, the plan is concurrent. Nice. cool. very whatever you know the people in the Han cluster are doing the big thing, yeah curing the blinding with transcendence. They're they're getting together and they they just have the tools. They have the tools there to do that. Earth does not have those tools, but they have their own problems. right And so now we get to find out what what the heroes of Earth have been up to that's cool while the Hong Cluster people are doing their transcendence campy.
00:23:54
Speaker
So that's the plan. So that way the core book is still relevant. ah with the blinding and all those rules that are going on. And it doesn't have to be as epic a plot point campaign. So the transcendence is an epic plot point campaign.
00:24:09
Speaker
The earth one will be smaller plot point campaign. And I think that's cool. Right. Yeah. I think that, I think that's ideal. Where do you where do you see <unk> yourself getting the, the because you know you you you want to keep products coming out to keep the line alive and keep people interested and to keep selling your your inventory.
00:24:32
Speaker
But we've we've talked about the idea of like expanding into other media, you know, whether it's comic books or, you know, one day a movie or whatever, you know, who knows. Where and how do you see yourself having the bandwidth to then start approaching that or trying to tackle that?
00:24:52
Speaker
I'm already trying. Yeah. I'm already
Expanding Han Cluster into Other Media
00:24:54
Speaker
trying. I mean, I can't help myself. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's less to do with the fact that I want to sell and make it big and more to do with the fact that I want to do it.
00:25:07
Speaker
Like a card game. A card game. I definitely a card game. Definitely. I've I've already got notes. And I've already got plans on on how that a play play loop will happen, what what how it will work, how um the basic deck construction will work and stuff like that. it'll you know and And the idea that it'll be a standalone product, very much like...
00:25:36
Speaker
doom town you know like it won't be the same as doom town but it'll be its own like this is a self-contained thing like doom guard that gonna have to get a million expansions in order to you know right right but there there could be expansions but it won't be this huge yeah living card game like marvel champions or or right right you're even constantly selling boosters and stuff right yeah The infinite ah yeah treadmill of card releases. yeah But I do want to do it. I've already got notes for a card game. And um I want to do some sort of book about Haley Preston. Like I still want to do the history of Haley Preston.
00:26:18
Speaker
Maybe nobody cares, but I care. well Yeah. Well, again, you know, going back to how why you did Haunt Cluster. Yeah. You did it because you wanted it out there. Yeah. So, yeah, why not?
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think I'd cool. I think I can do it well. And I think i i really do. i really do. i believe in myself. But to i'm um I'm a good writer. I i can do this. Right. You know, whether it's going to be anything anybody else wants. I don't know. But doesn't matter.
00:26:47
Speaker
It doesn't matter. and And that said, I know those aren't money makers or at least they may not be right now. They may become that. I don't know. But the only way they can become that is for me to have passion for it and do it despite whether it's going to make money or not.
00:27:03
Speaker
So, so I hear you saying that you're doing it, right? But how, like, how are you doing that? And the new material, a little bit at a time, you know,
00:27:15
Speaker
i mean ah When I get a bug up my butt, I start working on notes for the card game and then I get intimidated and I get completely like, oh my God, I don't know how to do this. yeah Then I stop and I go work on something familiar for a while and say, okay, I can work on this adventure. I can do this layout stuff that I can do.
00:27:35
Speaker
This is easy. And let my mind percolate in the background about how to do this card. Right. We've talked about that. Like do some kind of work associated with it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah. And same with Haley is, is it's, I've started it. Um, but there are some tricky, tricky things about that, about, about that, that I get, I worked on it and I go, Oh man, this is too dark.
00:28:04
Speaker
Okay. I need to stop for a second because this is not quite the vibe I'm looking for, but I don't have it right now. So I'm just going to have to put it down let it, and let it,
00:28:15
Speaker
You know, and that's kind of how these things start. They start slow yeah they build momentum as you go. So once you've got past a certain point, you can start to say, okay, this is now my primary focus. Right.
00:28:28
Speaker
Right. Well, then you also, you know, you you get new inspirations, you go back and make changes, you know, all that kind of stuff. Right. It starts to to sort of snowball in a positive way.
00:28:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But I do want to do it. And I have, I have people, I have Daryl who's willing to help me with the card game. We've, we've brainstormed about it. That's really cool. know So I don't know. And I also have another adventure that I'm kind of in the middle of working on. It's on the back burner right now, but um there is something coming that I think might happen.
00:29:02
Speaker
And that's with my friend Dot Moore. So we'll see. We'll see. Yeah. Yeah, like you mentioned already that you're, you're you know, you got Mac working on the adventure and you're brainstorming with Daryl on the card game.
00:29:18
Speaker
So, you know, looks like you're you're really kind of pulling people into this space now that was previously yours, right? Exclusively yours. I mean, sure, you know, you float things by Daryl, you know, help you out or whatever, but but not actively working on development per se, right? Like, or or whatever. Yeah.
00:29:40
Speaker
How does that feel? Does that feel weird? does it do you feel like that's something you're ready for are you kind of adjusting? like I feel like i feel like i have to be ready for it.
00:29:50
Speaker
okay Partly because I need help in order to continue, I think, unless unless I just want to go to snail's pace forever. Right. And that's speaking to not just writing this stuff, but like you said, doing the card game, doing the books and all that. So you have to be able to delegate. Yeah, I have to be able to at least. Right. Yeah. And and let let those ideas come. And right now it's all still filtering through me. Right. But sure part of it I knew when I was working on the initial books was like I had to do those
00:30:22
Speaker
books there was nobody else who could do them because no one else would get get the setting the way i wanted it to be and now that those have been done and i've established what this setting is now i can let somebody else play in that playground yeah and like i said mac did a great job he he i i he had i was like i have a couple of random stupid ideas for Savage Jails. And he said, oh, i want to do that.
00:30:51
Speaker
I want to do the ghosted ship, the ghosted starship. Yeah. Right. I'm like, okay, go do the ghosted starship. And he wrote something that I would never have written myself ever. Yeah.
00:31:02
Speaker
and But it fits. Really great. yeah Yeah. It's really great. And the stuff the stuff that needed some input from me, ah it just needed some input from me. And then we just, we made it, we smoothed it out so that it was Han Cluster, right?
00:31:17
Speaker
um It was Han Cluster before, but now it's it's integrated with the rest of the stuff that I did. right Well, like earlier, you know, before we were recording, we were talking about, or you were talking to me about how as you're working on some of this new material, how cool it was to have this book yeah that you can reference even yeah and remind yourself or look things up. And, and, and it gives a sense of consistency and, and, you know, just like, yeah,
00:31:45
Speaker
you trust the work that you did, right? It's indescribable. Yeah. And so with that, it's like, now you got other people being able to do that, which is even cooler because yeah they're making, they're playing in your sandbox with this book that you made. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's humbling and weird because it's like, they're, they're pointing out stuff that I wrote that I'm like, oh yeah, I guess I did write that.
00:32:08
Speaker
Right. I guess, yeah, it's an interesting interpretation of that. Have you had the, uh, why did I write that? No, like no, yeah, you're right. That's, that's in there. That's right. yeah And, um, but it is, it's so cool because I'm working on Max Adventure and I'm adding some of my own material to it to give some backstory, uh, fill in. Nice. And I'm referencing my own book.
00:32:33
Speaker
I've got it on the, on the desk with me and I'm opening it up to look at gear and to look at, lore and to look at the way the Envy worked and on Earth and all this stuff to yeah f throw in some teasers of what's to come from this yeah yeah from that I hope to include in the future books. Yeah, exactly. right um It's so cool.
00:32:56
Speaker
And it's like, okay, how do hyperspace chases work in the Han cluster? Well, turns out I have a book that I can look it up. Good thing I wrote that. Okay, that's how they work. Great. Let's do that.
00:33:07
Speaker
right I don't have to reinvent the wheel. It's already done. It's done. You know, and that's very, very cool, especially when you're finding that things aren't breaking.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Because you didn't screw it up. It's surviving contact. Yeah. Yeah. Right. That's pretty cool. Okay. That's how that works. Great. Yeah. Let's do that. so So pulling people in, I mean, that's in and of itself is also a task because now you're managing people to some extent, right? You're you're coordinating, you're, you know, collaborating and coordinating things. Yes.
00:33:39
Speaker
Right. um So that's, yeah, that's interesting because that, you know, that's that's more work, but at least you're offloading a lot of work too. Yes. If you can find people who are. Yeah.
00:33:52
Speaker
Who are on board and willing to do that work. Yeah. And ah and understand what you're trying to do. Right. um Then great. That's the hard part.
00:34:03
Speaker
Right. That's the really hard part. It's not just anybody. it Because... I feel like that could be an episode unto itself, like that relationship management. Yeah. I mean, I'm starting small and i think that's okay.
00:34:19
Speaker
You know, I'm starting with people who are really have shown a lot of passion for it and yeah who have been with me yeah ah for a long time. Right.
00:34:30
Speaker
And that's, I think, smart. Yeah. I'd rather work with my friends than, um, yeah Bring in strangers and cause friction because yeah it doesn't work out. Right.
00:34:43
Speaker
with You know what I mean? Yeah, because when you're working with friends, you you know each other's, you know, thoughts patterns thought patterns and idiosyncrasies and, you know, even just emotional cues, right? like Yeah. So, yeah, that makes things a little smoother, I guess.
00:34:59
Speaker
I think so. Yeah. I think so. i mean, it it yeah. I think so. I could be wrong about that, but other people might... I contradict that right because if you work with your friends, maybe they won't be your friends anymore. But that that said, I'm not worried about that.
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i choose I choose well enough that I'm not worried. Yeah. So along with the new creative work though, you still you still have the business of selling yeah what you've put out.
00:35:27
Speaker
So i guess I guess speak to that a little bit. like how what What's your vision for that? Well, in addition to, you know, the next book sells the old books and in addition to the passion of wanting to expand to different forms, books, comics, or board games or card games or whatever, getting help and all that stuff. I still need to sell the stuff. And i i feel like I can't, ah even though backer can remain indefinitely.
00:36:01
Speaker
right Right. I can point people to the backer kit store to buy this stuff forever. Yeah. um I feel like I need to have my own storefront. Yeah, I would agree with that.
Establishing a Personal Storefront
00:36:12
Speaker
And just for professional purposes and all that of stuff now, and I don't know, we we probably talked about me selling on Amazon, but the thing is, i think it's probably too expensive to do that for me, um even though that would get me a lot of take care of a lot of the problems. yeah Right.
00:36:32
Speaker
But there are other ways. And what it means is you have to pay shipping. Whoever is going to buy from you has to pay shipping. they They're sure so used to not having to pay Amazon that it it, that's become a problem. Right.
00:36:45
Speaker
Right. But you can, you can offer incentives though, like spend more than blah, blah. Yeah. Yes. The more stuff you buy, the cheaper shipping is. that's That's how Pinnacle works. It's like if you buy $200 worth of stuff, your shipping is going to be not that much more yeah than it would be for $10 worth of stuff.
00:37:05
Speaker
Right, right, right. Because that's the way shipping works, you know. Yeah. And also because I have a partner in the UK, um... People who are ordering internationally have a little bit easier time ah than if I was shipping from here. And we talked about that last time. But I think I want my own storefront and there are several options for that that I'm still exploring.
00:37:31
Speaker
So I've talked to people who know about WooCommerce and I've irish actually already started messing with it. It's really actually works pretty well so far, but I'm also need a point of sale thing, meaning I need to go to a location at a con and sell stuff. So I can't use WooCommerce for that. I got to go to something that has a point of sale like Square or something like that. Right.
00:37:55
Speaker
There are other options apparently um that, again, my friend Dot has pointed me toward and she's saying, talk to your bank because with a business account, which I have, a lot of banks have options for point of sale and online storefronts.
00:38:11
Speaker
And so there's a place, there's a thing called Evalon that my credit union uses. so I'm going to talk to my credit union about that. And apparently that's cheaper than Square. So it depends. I don't know yet But I am looking into it and within a month or two, I'm hoping to get something established on honcluster.com with an actual storefront. And really the hard part is with WooCommerce, the hard part is getting a Stripe account and getting that all set up. But I already have that set up.
00:38:44
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. Because Backerkit forced me to set it up. So I have the Stripe account. Stripe takes care of all that stuff. They take the credit cards, they take their fees, they You know, there's the clearinghouse that transfers the money to my account.
00:38:57
Speaker
They do that stuff. There are others that do it too, like Avalon or Square. Yeah. But either way, like I've got the Stripe account. So that's the hard part's done. i could still I could easily set up a WooCommerce store, but I'm still thinking about what what I want to do.
00:39:13
Speaker
Right. So... um I don't know. Those are the options. Yeah. But I feel like I need to have it so that I can say, go to honcluster.com. That's where you get this stuff. And honestly, i mean, direct sales is the way you're going to make the most amount of money for per sale. Yes. So it's almost a necessity in that regard. Otherwise, you're giving 30, 40, whatever the standard is. Yes. You know, for using somebody
DriveThru RPG's Non-Compete Clause
00:39:39
Speaker
else's platform. For a drive-through. Yeah. And the thing is about, and this is an important thing to know Drive-thru is non-compete clause, meaning that there are two tiers on drive-thru. One is the I'm not selling my stuff anywhere else tier, which is the 30%.
00:39:55
Speaker
And then there's the, oh, I'm also selling on other platforms. So drive-thru takes a little bit more in that way. Other platforms, according to DriveThru, does not include your website.
00:40:10
Speaker
Oh. It includes Itch.io. Right. It includes other big platforms like that, but it does not include your own website. That's good to know. So that's that's important to know, right? And so I can still sell on drive-thru, keeping the the tier that I have.
00:40:28
Speaker
And if I sell on my side, as long as I don't undercut drive-thru, which we talked about last time, right basically sell them at the sell the digital products at the same price, right then I'm good.
00:40:39
Speaker
You know, and I make more money that way because I don't have to pay that commission. I also don't have to pay the 10% to Pinnacle for anything outside of drive-thru.
00:40:50
Speaker
So it it makes me more money if I sell my own stuff on my own site. You know, I have to have the overhead of of of having the store and deal with all the tax stuff and deal with all that other junk that you have to deal with. But i'm going to have to deal with that anyway.
00:41:06
Speaker
Right, right. but even through the store anything sell physically i've got to deal with that yeah so yeah might as well have my own storefront true true so that's the plan i do want to do it uh probably within the next month or two um to get that set up and then really start okay pointing people to hon cluster yeah and make that a destination as i should have done already but you know, I'm worried about getting this all fulfilled and doing all the stuff. I'm in person. I think that's a fair prioritization. i mean, you know, that's, that's, yeah. Once everything's settled, then yeah, then you can build that out or you know, delegate to somebody who can help build that out for you while you're dealing with all this. Right.
00:41:50
Speaker
So, yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's intimidating, but at the same time, the more you do it, the less intimidating it is. Right. At some point it's like, well, if I, if I screw this up, man I'll figure out,
00:42:02
Speaker
what I did wrong and I'll fix it. Right. Right. I mean, see it's the only way to go. Right. I mean, well, yeah. Learning through, through the process, through the mistakes, through yeah all of that. Yeah.
00:42:15
Speaker
I was so worried about making mistakes and, and I think that's common. I think that's, that's partly what people prevents people from doing anything is that they're so worried about yeah screwing it up.
00:42:26
Speaker
And after a certain point, you're just like, well, look, I did it. I may not have done it perfectly. Next time I'll do it a little better. Right. And that goes for everything. That goes for paying your, your, your, your point of sales tax. It's, it's, it goes for figuring out what online platform you're going to use or what crowdfunding tools you're going to use or how you built your tiers all that stuff. Well, look, you got through it, right? Yeah.
00:42:53
Speaker
Let's do it better next time. And it'll be much more relaxing because you realize you can screw up and still be okay. Yeah, like we um mean we even talked about that with the crowdfunding is like if you're in the middle of a crowdfunding exercise and and or exercise in a, you know, campaign.
00:43:08
Speaker
And if it's there's something off with it, it's okay to say, hey, we're going to put a stop right now and we're going to regroup and we're going to redo this. Just don't do that too often. yeah But that's okay to do that because youre you are, again, learning in that through that process of you know how to do it right. And then you take the opportunity to then do it right.
00:43:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. and you I mean, you... You want to look right. and You want to look professional. So that pressure, that stress is legit. Yes. But at the same time, it's like, well, look, if I mess it up, I mess it up. Right.
00:43:42
Speaker
You know, what are you going to do? Yeah. And, you know, if you're if you're fortunate enough to have connections with people who have done this, you know, and you can reach out to them for help and advice and, you know, what lessons did they learn? Right. Yes.
00:43:54
Speaker
So kind of like what we're doing here. Exactly. that's right That's part of the point, I think. I mean, this is very anecdotal, but it's also, I think, so useful to have somebody who's just been through all this. Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:08
Speaker
to talk about what they dealt with. Right. I think, I think that's useful. Yeah. I think so too. I think that, I think so too. So, yeah, I mean, like I say, as you as you as you go forward, you get better at the boring
Learning from Experience in Business
00:44:22
Speaker
stuff. Yeah. I mean, you you get better at the business decisions. You get better at what what art management looks like. You get better at how to structure your products in the future. yeah You get better at taxes, you know.
00:44:36
Speaker
And even if you messed it up before, you get better at it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, and the even the let's say, let's take art, for example, or, you know, other writers or whatever, you know, you've established relationships, right? You know who you can trust and who not to go to. Right.
00:44:53
Speaker
So that eases, you know, some things as well. It does make things easier. Yeah. You're like, okay, I can, there's a reliable person here or there's a reliable art studio that I can go to or an artist that I can work with, you know. Because reliable offset printer.
00:45:09
Speaker
Yes. There's a reliable offset printer that I can go to and get this done. yeah That's a relief. Yeah. You know, like sometimes that'll mess up or whatever. and sometimes ah stuff happens, but at the same time, like the more of those contacts you have,
00:45:26
Speaker
the easier this gets. Yeah. Yeah. And when you're just starting out and you don't know anybody and you don't know anything and you're trying to figure it all out, it's terrifying. incredibly daunting.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know. Oof. And I get that. I've been there
00:45:46
Speaker
So you' you've made the choice. I mean, this has been a choice you made a long time ago, given, ah but you've made the choice to continue with Honklester, right? That this is something you want to you know, you have more ideas, you have more products, you have this thing that you want to evolve and grow.
00:46:04
Speaker
i hope so. Yes. I hope I have the stamina for it. Yes. And that's great for people who bought in, right. They're going to get support. I think, you know, they love the setting. They're going to get support for it. I've seen a lot of settings though that also come out where it's like, it's like a one-off. This is just a one-time thing.
00:46:22
Speaker
you know, do you, in your opinion, cause I know this, this is subjective in your opinion. Do you think that's, that does more harm than good? Or do you, or do you think that's, um, I don't know how to, how to phrase that.
00:46:36
Speaker
Is that a valid thing to do? A valid approach, I guess, as a publisher? I mean, I think so. If yeah again, it comes down to what you're passionate about. If you're not passionate about it, um,
00:46:50
Speaker
trying to, like I say, unless you're making lots and lots of money, don't push yourself without passion because it's just going that's a road to depression and failure. That's true. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:47:07
Speaker
And i I ask because I can imagine somebody who has like, I just have this one idea. i just want to put this one idea out there and then I want to move on to my next idea. And by imagining somebody, I mean you, i've had I've had that thought with other projects. i'm like, oh man, it'd be cool to do this, but I don't know that I want to invest in supporting that you know for however long. like i just I just want to put out the one thing.
00:47:30
Speaker
And then there's others who are like, oh yeah you know i want to do this, and then I want to do a second campaign, and I want to you know i have all these ideas. um But like there's, know, like I said, there's, there's some, some other smaller ideas. I'm like, and I say smaller, not in size, but smaller as in like, yeah, I just want to do the one concept. I want to this. Right. Yeah. You know, but is the expectation going to be from, you know, people who've, who've purchased that setting or that campaign?
00:47:57
Speaker
Hey, are you going to support this, you know, and then be upset if you don't? I think there is that expectation. Yeah. Whether we like it or not. But there's also ah relief in knowing that this is it.
00:48:13
Speaker
Right. This is the only investment I have to make. there's Yeah, that's true. you know what I mean? Like, oh, good. If I get this, I'm done. Right. I don't have to worry about whatever's next.
00:48:24
Speaker
Right. I guess that's that's the difference between, like, say, a a core book for a setting versus, like, a campaign book. Right? Because, the like like, Necessary Evil, when that first came out. Mm-hmm.
00:48:36
Speaker
it was a set, it was a, it was a setting core setting book and a campaign and it was sort of one and done. Yeah. That was it. And know, there's some supplemental material and whatever, but there wasn't a, it wasn't like an ongoing that's public. Well, now it is. Right. years But that was years later. Right. It was years later. I think, yeah you know, I'm a big fan and I think that Shane agrees with me on this. And I think that Daryl agrees with me on this. I'm a big fan of,
00:49:05
Speaker
When you put out something, ah make it complete. I don't like, ah for example, when people, this is not my style. My style is not to say I'm going to put out a chapter at a time and I'm going to get feedback on that chapter.
00:49:23
Speaker
And then I'm going to take that feedback back and then work on chapter two. it doesn't work for me. No, no, no, no. I'm not a fan of that. I have to finish. There's a holistic view that needs to be applied to me. Right, because inevitably with me, if I did that, would released a chapter and then another chapter and say it's going to end up being five chapters. Right. By the time I'm into writing chapter five, I've realized all the mistakes and things I would want to fix from chapter one. Chapter one, yeah. but And so that's why I don't do that.
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah. That's why I said, okay, Han Cluster, we're going to finish this. This is going to be a satisfactory ending. Right. um A complete setting.
00:50:09
Speaker
Right. not a Not a, oh, wait until you see this. bla blah bla No, no, no. This is complete. Right. But... i don't I'm not afraid of saying, okay, that worked. That was successful.
00:50:24
Speaker
I completed a story. Now, where are the hooks or where are the entry points where I can expand on that universe? Right, right. After now that I've finished it.
00:50:34
Speaker
paul like Like salt, right? You know, there's a whole other earth-based thing
Plans for Earth-Based Campaign
00:50:40
Speaker
to explore. Yes. Right, yeah right. And I really didn't have that in mind when I was writing this. All I was writing was like, look, Earth is out there and I'm pretty thorough about Earth. I'm pretty thorough about what's happening there, but that's not the focus. The focus was the Han cluster. It was always the Han cluster. yeah And so um now I can focus on that, but I never intended to when I was writing this. I intended to create a functioning, complete setting,
00:51:08
Speaker
and a complete campaign right that did not rely on what happens next so it sounds like too then that let's say you're in a situation that you don't know whether you're going to continue this or not right because maybe maybe you you are passionate about it but it doesn't do that well but people people don't latch on to it right and then you might decide okay i i'll move on to something else But it's just a good idea in general to to your point, produce the thing as, as a whole.
00:51:41
Speaker
Right. I think so. Yeah. There are some people who can do that. I, I, I can't. Cause if you leave gaps or you feel you've openings that, know, like unfinished business, right. Like, like lost, you know,
00:51:56
Speaker
For those who did get invested and you decide, nah, that didn't work out. I don't want to do that anymore. You know, that, that, that sucks for them. Yeah, it does.
00:52:06
Speaker
Because that happens all the time. Yeah. Where, whether large and small, right? There's, there are writers out there who have written five chapters of a thing yeah and stopped. Yeah.
00:52:18
Speaker
Because they lost interest or the people weren't giving them enough feedback. That's what drives me crazy. Yeah. Give me more feedback and I'll write more. Tell me how much you like it and I'll write more. I'm like, no, no, no, no.
00:52:31
Speaker
Finish it. Right. Then I'll read it. Right. But the thing is, some people can do that. Charles Dickens did it with with great expectations. Yeah. He wrote in a periodical way. Right.
00:52:41
Speaker
He wrote it in periodicals, chapter at
Delivering Complete Stories
00:52:45
Speaker
a time. Yeah, right. How the hell did you do that? And make a cohesive, act i like classic, amazing, like Great Expectations is a classic. Right.
00:52:56
Speaker
So I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how people do that. I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I have to finish. I have to finish. It's just the way I am Yeah, that makes sense. But doesn't mean it's the right way.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But I am a big fan of, look, let's do the apocalyptic epic campaign and finish it. And if there's something else beyond that, I'll figure it out later.
00:53:21
Speaker
Right. Right. I'm not leaving the door open. i'm not The door is open. The door was open. But I'm not i'm not deliberately leaving something hanging for a next product. Yeah.
00:53:35
Speaker
Yeah, there's, like you said, there's things that could be latched onto, you know, or expanded on, but it's not, you're not leaving it on unfinished. Yeah. This story is complete. Yes. Yeah.
00:53:47
Speaker
Yeah. And that, and and that gives you this the, the wiggle room to make decisions later on about whether to continue supporting it or, you know, honestly, if it's not a sustainable product line, you know, dropping it.
00:53:59
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. And you didn't you didn't disappoint your people by giving them a half-assed, half-finished product. But that's that's me.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and I also have a weird, i don't know i don't know sometimes I like setting, like what where're where the the material that's put out, the only material that's put out is just setting material and character options and things like that. And that can be really fun, like, you know because then you let your imagination go wild. You can do whatever you want. You don't have to worry about ruining the the campaign. Yeah. you can mess up the world however you want.
00:54:34
Speaker
um But then other times I'm like, this is a great concept, but I'm not quite sure how to run with it. And that's where, you know, having published adventures and such come into play.
00:54:47
Speaker
So I guess it's it's another thing to consider then is does your setting if you're just going to be doing a setting thing is it clear enough and you know we've used the the the phrasing of like knowing what the player characters are are supposed to do in this world right is that clear enough You know, how, they how, how are people supposed to interact in this world?
00:55:12
Speaker
Um, because again, sometimes it's like the the setting might be, these are really cool ideas. That's a great history, interesting geopolitical situations, but what do I do? What's my role?
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah. That that's left unfinished. I've been vocal about that, about my opinion. Yeah. But that doesn't mean I'm right. Not for everybody. Some people really do just want the setting material and they want to go with it. Yeah. And that's great.
00:55:39
Speaker
There's a way of writing that setting material so that you can go with Right. That you're giving enough hooks, that you're giving enough information to the GM. You're doing the work for them to the point where they can do that work, complete the work. Yeah.
00:55:52
Speaker
But I'm a big fan and i think a lot of people in the Savage Worlds community, because we've been sort of trained, yeah um of being able to pick up a plot point campaign, read yes a chapter or two and start running it. right Right. Read a couple chapters. We're busy.
00:56:12
Speaker
yeah I don't want to have to do the work. I'm paying you to do the work. Right. You've got a session coming up in two days. You can open up the next plot point, read through it.
00:56:22
Speaker
You get gist because it's it's it's pretty tight in the writing. You get the gist of what's supposed to happen. you know, it's not like this long scripted 300 page book.
00:56:33
Speaker
Right. know, and so, yeah, that makes it makes a lot easier. And that you're right. That's a long history that Savage Worlds has had with with having that model.
00:56:44
Speaker
Yeah. And specifically because it was designed to target people who have busy lives. They have kids, they have jobs, they have families, whatever it might be. Or obligations in general. I want you to do the work for me. don't want to the work for you. I just need to be able to pick it up and run. And yeah that's when I read something i wrote and I go, okay, so if I'm reading through Hollow Oak or whatever. Right. And I read it and I get excited because I know what to do. Yes. And I know...
00:57:12
Speaker
I, I, I, I like, it's telling, it's doing all the work for me. know, I, I, I know what to do. I know how to run this adventure. Awesome. That means I can run the adventure. Right. And it doesn't, it doesn't take any work. I practically can read it in one night and run it the next day. Right.
00:57:29
Speaker
Right. That's the whole point. Yep. But when you've got something that doesn't have those that adventure, those hooks, like, you know, the the the the systems that really thrive on this, like Blades in the Dark or yeah or even Apocalypse World to a certain degree with with their settings. Yeah. like you have moves that are going to try to guide you in what they do. And that that's the whole point. They're doing the work for you. Right. But at the same time, for me, it's harder because I have to do more work to make a cohesive like story. Right. Right.
00:58:06
Speaker
Not that I'm trying to dictate a story, but I'm trying to, guide the players so that we can collectively still tell a satisfying story. Yeah. Well, it's like a sandbox kind of setting versus a, you know, here's a series of events that are happening and the players have significant roles yes in those events. Yeah. And they can change the outcome of, of how those events unfold, all that other stuff. But right.
00:58:30
Speaker
You know, I, I don't know. I'm, I'm a big fan of that. i'm I'm very vocal about that. I may be in the minority. Right. Right. No, I, I'm, I'm, I'm in the same lane. So, yeah.
00:58:42
Speaker
I think a lot of Savage Rules players are. Yeah. Which is partly maybe why Savage Rules is in the minority. Yeah. But I don't know. I'm not sure. Who knows? But I think that that's kind of the only way we know how to do it. Yeah. So. Yeah.
00:58:55
Speaker
So all all that to say that ah if, uh, You know, the two options are continue the line, produce more material, give people material to work with, you know, so they know how to interact with the world.
00:59:08
Speaker
Or if you are going to do, you know, if you're like, I'm done with this project. I did my Kickstarter. I did my fulfillment. I'm onto this next great idea. I want to go chase.
00:59:19
Speaker
Just make sure that the product that you just came out with was designed in a way that it feels complete. Yeah. I would encourage that yeah if you can. Right. I would do that anyway, even if, even if you weren't, even even if you are planning on continuing, finish it. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think if, if you don't, you run the risk of losing favor from the people who supported you.
00:59:44
Speaker
Yeah. You know, they're going to, they're going to feel like they can't trust investing yeah and in you. so That's what I think.
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah. But I've always been that way. I'm like, I'm a big fan of finishing when I start. say I'm a big fan of a completed thing. I've had times. Frustrated as ah as ah as a consumer. Yes. Halfway in and then stop. And I'm like, yeah I'm, I'm to the point where I'm not going to even start your story until you finished it.
01:00:15
Speaker
Yeah. Or even if you did just come out with like a product, I'm going to wait to see if there's any supporting material before I invest, you know, depending on the nature of the product, of course. Yeah. Right.
01:00:28
Speaker
But if it's supposed to be like, this is just a core setting and yeah, we're going to do all these adventures. And then you're like, you disappear or you put out some other product that you spent the next two years on. And I'm still sitting there like, well, where's my adventure?
01:00:40
Speaker
You know? Yeah. then yeah, I like waiting till to see if there's going to be more content. Yeah, I hear you. I mean, so like Dune with Modiphius, they came out with their core book and had no adventure, nothing.
01:00:55
Speaker
And I'm like, come on, man, how do I know how to play this? Right, right. Like they came out with with with adventures, but it was years later. Yeah. I mean, were talking like at least just a year before their first...
01:01:09
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's not like they said, this is it. This is everything you have and all you need. it's like, here's the start of a new product line. You're like, okay. like Great, but I'm going to buy this book and I'm not going to know what to do. and or i'm it's going to be too much work for me to create something that's an adventure in here until you've released something with a campaign. yeah That's how I feel. I could be wrong. No, I – But I'm just like, oh. Even if I'm a fan and I know the lore – I still need some guidance on, you know, what is the, how do I, how do I express the feel of this thing? Right. How do I capture it through the mechanics that you've written?
01:01:52
Speaker
You know, proof of concept, proof of concept. If you haven't done that work to prove that the yeah the game works. That's a good point. The only way to do that work is to create an adventure and run it. Yeah. Great way of phrasing that, I think. And if you have done that work, then you're crazy not to put it into publishable form because that's a lot of work. It's like, why not? If you haven't done the work, then well, okay. yeah All right. Well. i i Yeah, I think we covered it. Yeah.
01:02:24
Speaker
Again, a very anecdotal yes the Tracy show. And i'm I'm sorry about that, but I know think there's value. I think there's value to it. yeah No, I think I i like these kinds of conversations because it's, you know, it's exploring spaces that people don't talk about, you know? and And so I think, I think it's worthwhile and I think people still, you know, get a lot of value out of it.
01:02:44
Speaker
So I know I do. Cool. Yeah. I think, I think so too. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you for listening to the Designing Problems podcast. We want this to be more than a podcast. We want it to be a community. If you'd like to engage directly with us, share your creative triumphs, your roadblocks, or simply interact with a cool group of supportive people, we have our own Discord server.
01:03:04
Speaker
Please come by, join the discussion, and share some inspiration. Until next time, keep designing your problems because you're bound to solve a few along the way.