Moe Lane's Blog, page 140

How much SHOULD I price the RPG for?

I’m trying to calculate best costs for the PDF and print version of the FERMI RESOLUTION worldbook for the Backerkit (sign up for notifications here). I’m just not sure what the numbers would be. Assume roughly 144 pages, softcover, color interiors but not the special paper; it’s a complete game, with plenty of professional-grade, non-AI art.

How much would you buy that for? And how much would you spend for the PDF?

Tweet of the Day, I Wish I Had Written This edition.

This is the sort of thing that James Lileks would call a labor of hate:

The guardian really went in on the Snow White Dwarves pic.twitter.com/1HGltGNzKl

— Disparu (@disparutoo) December 4, 2024

Via @alexthechick.

The first eight minutes of KRAVEN THE HUNTER.

You know, KRAVEN THE HUNTER doesn’t actually look that bad. Very… player-character-y, though. How it goes when you’re about six levels better than the people you’re fighting, and all that.

Mind you, I always enjoy those missions. It’s like you’re giving back to the community, you know what I mean? And there is a certain charm in hitting the bad guys far, far too hard to be fair.

12/03/2024 Snippet, CALL OF THE MOON-BEASTS.

Skating around the issue!

Patreon!

Tobias could dimly remember a time when he liked to be proved right. Those days were as dead as… a lot of things. Anyway, he found figuring out the right answer considerably less pleasant when all of the potential answers had been horrible anyway. He also purely hated making Abbie have to process the impossible. It felt like a betrayal, or possibly even an attack. But what could he do? Gravitational and environmental anomalies were an engineering issue. Somebody would have to deal with this intrusive mess.

He told himself later that it could have been worse. Abbie didn’t vomit, have a panic attack, or start bleeding from the nose or ears. She just wouldn’t make herself look at the anomaly, once she had worked out the exact dimensions of the effect. She also stopped bothering to use her scanner, after its first attempts to analyze the area produced nothing but feedback and cacophony. “Forget about shutting it down, sir,” she told him. “I can’t know how.”

Tobias understood her word choice perfectly. He was already restraining himself from giving the room another long look, or visit. Or maybe he would just move in, and ignore the universe until it finally got around to killing him. Keeping his distance was the smartest answer. “Understood. Is the effect, ah, fluctuating at all? Getting bigger, getting smaller?”

The Fermi Resolution Worldbook RPG project is a go!

Today I talked with the guy who’ll be doing the layout stuff, and we set up a schedule for work and payments. Now all I have to do is get the Backerkit up and running. The current plan is to publish through DriveThruRPG; I’m reviewing the details now, but it looks like I can get them to do distribution of both my digital and print rewards.

Note: this project will not launch before February of 2025. You can sign up for notifications here!

Eldritch Elf!

My HPL Historical Society Secret Santa loot. Very cool stuff from some local artists, which I always appreciate. It’s nice to support individual crafters.

Eldritch Elf! Very cool local artist stuff. cc @hplhs pic.twitter.com/haOL29aFMB

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) December 3, 2024

Working on the RPG this morning.

There was some stuff that needed a first draft generated, and now it has been. I’ll be having more talks about this with a layout guy this afternoon. Expect to see some Backerkit info coming up in the near future, in fact.

Patreon!

Again, first draft. I won’t need a polished version of this until January at the earliest.

What is this book?
The Fermi Resolution RPG is a standalone campaign book using the GUMSHOE rules. GUMSHOE is a games engine originally created by Robin Laws which has been designed specifically for investigative campaigns. While there are rules for combat, fighting is not the primary focus of a GUMSHOE campaign. Your players are more likely to be solving mysteries, exploring abandoned facilities, and interacting with other people for resources and information. All of which, admittedly, can sometimes require combat rolls.

No other books are needed to play in this universe, but check out Pelgrane Press (https://pelgranepress.com/2018/02/14/...) for more GUMSHOE games, and my own site (https://books2read.com/ap/8V1GKr/Moe-...) for the original books. At the time of writing, the Fermi Resolution universe features three novels and two short story collections, with more works planned.

How do you play this game?
GUMSHOE is a game of information and resource management. One core principle of the game engine is that players should never have to rely on random chance to solve a mystery; having the right Investigative Abilities will automatically give them the Core Clues they need for their investigation. It’s still up to them to figure out what those clues all mean.

Players also have General Abilities which are used in situations where the degree of success or failure is important, like seeing how well someone disarms a trap, rides a horse, or swing a sword. The rating of an Ability determines its pool size; pools can be used to ensure success on a dice roll. Once spent, pool points can only be refreshed at certain points in the adventure. Determining when to spend pool points is a critical component of the game.

Finally, while the world of the Fermi Resolution is adventurous, it is also a dangerous place that is particularly dangerous to the solitary adventurer. GUMSHOE is not a system that rewards moody loners who are alienated from everyone, including the other party members. Part of the character creation process includes an explanation as to why player characters are out adventuring in mixed company, and the game encourages cooperative play and eclecticism.

GM Tips
The Fermi Resolution RPG mostly can be run like any other fantasy RPG, but there are some specific points that are GUMSHOE-specific:

Strictly speaking, there are no advantages or disadvantages in the game. Physical appearance, gender, social status, reputation, and other attributes are at the discretion of the player and the GM.GUMSHOE rewards eclecticism, particularly in parties. Whenever possible, have the players design their characters with an eye to making sure that all Investigative Abilities have been taken by at least one character, and most of the General ones.Player-characters start out competent. Even a rating of one in an Ability implies a decent amount of expertise. Uncontested or routine Ability use should not be subject to rolls.There is a difference between an Ability’s rating, and its pool. The rating always stays the same, but the level of its pool fluctuates. Pool points are used to boost the chance of success in an Ability check, but the Ability can still be used even if the current pool is zero.Investigative Abilities trigger Core Clues automatically. Their dice pools are used to get extra information, at the GM’s discretion.General Abilities are for contested rolls. They can also sometimes be used as Investigative Abilities, if the GM decides that simply having the Ability is enough to achieve success.Core Clues should never require a roll. This game engine was expressly designed to eliminate scenarios where a critical piece of information had to be denied the players solely because their dice hated them that night.The rate at which Ability pools can be refreshed will have a direct effect on game pacing. If players know that they can count on regular refreshes, they will spend pool points freely. If they know that refreshes are few and far between, they will save their pool points for emergencies. “GM discretion” is usually a code phrase for “We couldn’t think up a rule for this,” but this genuinely feels like a situation where the GM and players need to decide which system is more fun.GUMSHOE is an investigative game. When in doubt – and particularly when they are stuck – encourage the players to get more information.It is perfectly fine to simply tell the players, “There is nothing left to find in this scene.” Some GMs recommend printing a sign, and waving it when appropriate.

12/02/2024 Snippet, TIMMY AND THE BAD PLACE.

Not as much done as I’d like, but I’m still feeling my way in this story.

Patreon!

Timmy wasn’t surprised that Frostvale Pines was really clean, especially the parts that were supposed to be dirty. The worst parts of the town didn’t smell bad at all, and were one good sweeping from being pristine. The people were different, too. No bad breath, no skin problems, nobody skinny or too fat, and everybody’s teeth gleamed. They all looked like they were from what Timmy remembered of TV, but they would, wouldn’t they? Everybody sounded the same, too. Even the bums — who looked like everybody else, except for a couple of smudges on their faces — talked like they went to college.

He’d been warned about that ahead of time. It wasn’t a glamour, or anything like that. The rules were just different here. Things either didn’t break, or were really easy to fix.

What surprised Timmy was that he wasn’t resentful about how nice Frostvale Pines was. He was sort of expecting to be, since he’d grown up rough and everything, but the town just wasn’t real enough to be worth getting mad over. It’d be like getting mad at a play.

Pre-ordered: @exjon’s SINK THE RISING SUN.

Jon Gabriel, an old buddy of mine from the Before Times, has written a book! SINK THE RISING SUN, a World War II submarine novel. No supernatural or fantastical stuff in it, but I pre-ordered it anyway.

Also: Jon’s a brave man. I personally quail at the thought of writing a historical war novel. There are just too many people out there with opinions on the smaller details, and they look upon new historical fiction writers as fresh meat…

#commissionearned

Self-Tweet of the Day, This Is Apparently Real edition.

(H/T: @iowahawkblog) The thing is, I don’t know who should be more offended (and possibly contemplating a trademark suit): DC, or Mattel.

It's the Malibu Barbie Batmobile! https://t.co/IRl3bGGCPJ

— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) December 2, 2024