OPEN QUEST IS DONE!!!!

Off to  for final editing and then layout by me. Should be out first couple of weeks of April

My plans for SQ have altered slightly in the last couple of days so as I’ve been working on the final draft.

Its been a hard slog getting SQ done and while I still like D100 games I realise that its more for nostalgia sakes, and that I don’t really want to support it with as much vigour as I did a year ago. I could go all emo here, lets just say its not the sort of game I want to run or write for on a regular basis.

So the plan is to get SQ out and make it completely OGL. Once again the adventure and setting will switch away from the Shattered Lands back to Gatan. This way other people can take the rules in its entirety and create their own versions of SQ or simply make compatible supplements. For my part I’ve got a couple of Free adventures half done which I am happy to finish off and release for free under the OGL. There probably wouldn’t be an official SQ Companion, but I’d be happy to set up a wiki to support any additional rules/spells/monsters etc.

Neil Ford who regularly champions SQ at cons has recently been mentioning SQ in the same breath as Retro Gaming recently, and I think actually this is a good way to go. I’ve read what the Retro Gaming community has been up to and there isn’t a good RuneQuest retro clone. One of the nicest complements I’ve had, which came from Keary (so its likely to faint praise) is that I’ve recreated RQ2

One last thing about SQ. I’m renaming it ‘OpenQuest’ . Some people are already calling it this and SimpleQuest as a name has caused some confusion with people new to BRP, are surprised its not a simple straight forward fantasy system, when in fact its merely a cut down and simpler version of BRP.

As winter comes to a close we find D101Games in good shape and me in positive mood.

Hearts in Glorantha issue 2 is selling steadily which is nice. Costs have been covered by sales and a new sponsorship deal that I’ve made with Patriot Games of Sheffield   Issue 3 is shaping up nicely, cover done, artists are getting assignments and 40 pages have already been submitted.  Best of all because I’ve now reached the confidence level that HiG pays its ways I’m letting it out into the shops – Leisure Games and Patriot will both have Issue 1 & 2 on sale at the end of this week!!!

SimpleQuest is on its way to Graham for a final no holds bared editing session. Simon Bray has delivered the last of the art. All that’s left for me is to bash into shape the introductory adventure and setting next week.  Fingers crossed should be done the end of the month

Work has finally started on the final draft of Monkey aka The Metal Monkey Edition (because it will be polished and robust).

This happens in three stages

1. The Bronze  Monkey – an internal version of the complete that goes to the Mighty Monkey Army for comments, and then off to Mark Galeotti for final edit.
2. The Silver Monkey – the laid out version, which will go tot the MMA for comment and after tweaking magically becomes….
3. The Gold Monkey – The final version of the game.

Other stuff continues to bubble away under the surface, but this is the stuff I’m focusing at the moment.

I’ll be moving the more official announcements over to the D101games website and more specifically the forums. I’ll be using this blog as more of a place where I think out loud, perhaps giving a bit more commentry and behind the scenes.

Couple of relevant posts on the forums, that you might find interesting.

• State of D101 games 2009
• Gloranthan Adventures announcement
• Tales from the Firebird call for contributors

Broadly speaking I’ve started 2009 on a real high. After a brief period of feeling a tad down, I’ve really come up and at ‘em.

Hearts in glorantha issue 2 is out, and by all accounts is being received well. Its paid for itself and its proved it self to be self sustaining. Already got some submissions promissed and really looking forward to seeing issue 3 come together by June/July. Its very satisfying seeing the improvement from Issue 1, which I still love dearly, and holding the two issues side by side.

Bolstered on by this I’ve announced another Fanzine, Tales from the Firebird for Mythic Russia, Mark Galeotti’s game of Medieval Russia powered by HeroQuest (version 1.5 if you are wanting to be pedantic). I had a great time supporting its release and playtesting it using a couple of scenarios based round the Crusades of the Teutonic Knights in Lithuania, so my write ups along with another scenario and a homeland write up for the Hanseatic League (German Merchants in medieval Prussia) by CJ Bowser are going to provide a solid 60pages. Plus as well as some awesome public domain artwork to pull on we’ve got Pete Town , one of the artists from the Mythic Russia rulebook on board as well. Its mainly an excuse to get stuff off my hard drive, but I’m hoping that its release will fire up the embryonic Mythic Russia fan scene to create more stuff to support this fine game.

SimpleQuest is now at the stage were its a big 200 page monster which needs me to do a big internal edit, before darkening  ’s door again. Its almost there but it needs a consistancy check and some of the rules holes filling in.  Its the end of a very long haul and to be honest there’s been times when I’ve nearly called it a day. Thankfully I’ve had some awesome support on this one which has kept me going.

Monkey is firmly in playtest, I’ve got two external groups playing it and one actively feeding back. The rules are going to get a full top to bottom revision, with an aim of making the English clearer and the rules more consistant and robust. I’ve got a definite plan for Monkey and a definite goal for getting it done for May, even if it means other projects have to be put on the back burner.

Some of my blues skies stuff is coming out of the testing dept into the full light of day.

I’ve got the green light from Greg Stafford to publish a back log of six years of HeroQuest adventures as an another irregular publication called ‘Gloranthan Adventures’. This is immensely satisfying after serveral Gloranthan publishers have dropped the ball on these over the years. Finally I’m going to get them out there in the way I want to do them. Its a real vindication of what I’m doing and a massive releif that I finally ‘own’ and have the right to publish works that I’ve worked hard to create.

Been talking to   about doing supplements for Wordplay in the second half of the year. Not going to say any more than that yet (MUST GET MONKEY DONE FIRST!!) but its all going to be Mega Gaming Fun stuff

In business stuff I’ve looked at getting out the ghetto that is Lulu.com, and into retail and perhaps distribution but for the time being I’m happy with the modest distribution that I’m getting via Lulu. Its paying the costs and making me a small amount which will pay for art and production costs of future d101 books. I don’t need d101 as an income stream, but the golden rule is that it shouldn’t lose money. Which happily it isn’t

Its been a while since I’ve even looked at the draft for Monkey, the revision just before this year’s Furnace and even longer since I’ve done any work on it. Heck most of the draft was written over a year ago.  Sure I’ve done a ton of playtesting since then, but its now time to take a serious look at the draft with the aim of moving it significantly on. Having the general goal of writing the narrator’s advice chapter and setting chapters hasn’t motivated me much to get it finished. Ok so I’ve had HiG & SQ on the go, but both those things are now nicely ticking over so there’s no excuse not to get on with Monkey.

So I’m taking the draft, plus some feedback I got on the current version and a couple of my refference books on Holiday with me next week. The aim is not to write reams of new text, but more to have a general mull over the text and;

1. Work out whether this is the game I want to run now. I think the Con games I ran over the last year proved to me that its the game I envisoned over a year ago – which was satisfying then. Is it satisfying now?
2. Can it be streamlined and made clearer ?  I want the text to be as clear and unambigous as possible. To many game I pick up waffle on and I know I do in certain places in Monkey.
3. What my goals are with it.  Is this going to be a book I support adnasuem or a single self contained realease. Do I want to get it into shops or I’m I just happy selling it through Lulu.
4. A To Do list which breaks down exactly what I need to do get it published.

If any of the Mighty Monkey army have any suggestions of things I should think about and look at make comment below!

I plan to duel stat my Shattered Lands series of books, of which the Setting Book and the setting/adventure Life and Death will be the first releases, using both SimpleQuest and WordPlay.

This came out of the realisation that although me and my home group like traditional D100 based games like SimpleQuest we also when the mood takes us like our funky modern narrative games like Wordplay. This way we can play in the Shattered Lands which ever style of play tickles our fancy.

Like Hearts in Glorantha all the books will be affordably priced and both SQ and Wordplay will have free pdf versions available by the time SL comes out (Spring 2009)

Further information.

• Shattered Lands
• SimpleQuest
• Wordplay

After a enforced absence due to recovery from Furnace and a ton of work to do at my day job, its time to get back on the D101 publication machine and work towards getting things out. In a focused, razor-sharp, merciless sort of way.

So here’s a quick update on where I’m upto with various D101 projects.

SimpleQuest – This needs finishing off. Currently I’m mulling over the Magic chapters, since I recently realised this is what I love most about old RQ/BRP, not the combat or the skills system but the three basic magic systems (Battle, Divine and Sorcery). Problem with SQ magic as it stands is that it inherits a quite functional but bland list of spells. I intend to spice it up and fill out a few holes this weekend. Then its incorporate all the rules changes that came from feed back

After the weekend expect a new preview – the character sheet for the game and perhaps the spell lists.

Then some dedicated destructive playtesting with my home group in a short campaign I’m calling ‘Things to do when your Undead in Inzom’.

Hearts in Glorantha - contents in the can currently being proof read by the lovely  and  , John Ossoway has provided a lovely cover and its a creature feature with Harpies, Ducks, Dragonewts and Jack O’Bears oh my!  Lots of nice b&w art by some new artists. So your’s truely here needs to sit down and put it all together over the coming month – for an early Dec release.

Monkey - rules now in external playtesting. I need to start my final research for the settings page. So this means imersing myself in the novel and other sources of Chinese Mythology.

Shattered Lands- Obviously SQ core comes first, but I need to work out what the book is going to contain. Serious hardcore writing after XMAS.

Life and Death – Done and dusted. Now need to go through it with a fine comb and nit pick. Then pass onto someone else to do the same.

Ok so I could be accused of being biased here, but we set Furnace to be the ultimate small RPG con and this year it really sunk with me in that we had reached our goals and we are here to stay.
The only bad bit for me is that the whole experience whizzed past me.

I’d personally like to thank the Collective Endeavour: Iain, Neil and Andy for setting up shop once again. Every year you guys keep on getting more and more professional and it showed. There was a good selection of games being run and on offer. I was chuffed to bits that Duty and Honour sold out bar one copy

My own Furnace experience was a bit hectic, but I think this year I’ve learnt to chill out and enjoy the fruits of my labours.

Partially to promote Hearts in Glorantha but mainly to have fun we had a Gloranthan games track where we had three gms running easily accessible Gloranthan games of various systems – a simple homebrew, SimpleQuest and HeroQuest 2. We filled all but the last Sunday game – which fell victim to the fact about twenty people left after lunch to go home.

I took time out from running to play in the same Saturday night game of Reign as Tim. The Gm was on the ball and once I got my head round the setting (which is deliberately weird) I got into the narrative. Less certain about the rules system which involved rolling large numbers of d10 and making groups of dice. It struck me as a bit too random, my character nearly got killed by a herd of demon possessed cows because even though I was throwing 7 or 8 dice and not making a single pair!!

As Neil already said in his report I also ran Monkey on Sunday afternoon – a game which the players really made fun (Monkey to my delight is very player centred ) and Neil and his mate Andy provided some really good feedback for after.

Room D101 was less focused than at Continuum, but Neil and Ginger Matt ran a game of SimpleQuest and Monkey respectively, but I did have a table set aside for selling HiG and the ‘Cheeky Monkey’ version of Monkey inbetween sessions. Final scores on the doors three Cheeky Monkeys (to people who played in the games) to seven HiG (one of which was sold to player, six went to Jim at Patriot Games). Next year will probably be a big one for D101 at Furnace since we’ll have more books out by then – at least three issues of HiG, SimpleQuest + one supplement (which is going to be Duel stated with Wordplay) and off course the one everyone is waiting for Monkey!

As usual lots of ideas came whizzing through my brain as a result of thinking where to next and from chats I had with various folk at the con, which I’ll go through the more concrete ideas in a seperate post.

My gosh after the flurry of activity that was Continuum, my aren’t we quiet round here.

Well there’s a reason for that Continuum and attendant nonsense burnt us out, oh yes it did our precious.  It hurts our eyes with all its loudness and beating of chests about RPG releases and running of games. Nasty little hobbits.

Joking aside Autumn/Winter of this year is me consolidating D101 Games, finishing off stuff, getting some of the practicalities sorted out (like sorting out a bank account for the swag I earnt at Continuum) and generally pulling all the disperate threads that make up the d101 tapestry together so I’m not streatched thin.

So here’s a brief update on what I’m working at.

Monkey – Had a good round of playtesting recently, lots of small changes to add into a revised playtest document that will be out for Furnace (18-19th Oct).  Early next year I’ll work in earnest on the background and settings chapter – which I plan to be immersive and rich and well worth the purchase of the book even if you don’t like the system.

SimpleQuest – Finally cracked the Monster’s chapter (which is about 25% of the book) today so well on for SQ Zero Revised for Furnace. This is what it says on the tin, the rules updated to take in a ton of feedback from the good folks at Basic roleplaying Central and Sceaptune Games and of course my lovely editor Graham Spearing.  After it Furnace I’ll finish off the example setting (about 10 pages worth of a Dark Ages Europe type setting) and adventure, both of which are already 75% done.  Hopefully out by XMAS if not very soon afterwards.

The Shattered Lands  & Life and Death – Kinda on the self until SQ Core is out. But the good news is L&D is written and SL is about 50% done. After SQ core is out I’ll finish off the writing do the revisons and get an Artist on board. Already have an artist for the interior and have a good idea of who I’d like to do the covers.

Hearts in Glorantha- Well on the way to getting issue 2 done before XMAS. Tons of stuff submitted and I face the uneasy one of do I split the content across two issues or go for a bumper issue 2?  Its all good though.  Issue 1 has done modestly well the two months its been out. Sales wise its sold about 100 copies, with it being an even split between Pdf and Print sales. I need to do more to push it is my main lession though, so you should eventually see the Pdf in the usual places (RPGnow etc) and perhaps availble via shops or some mail order outlet like IPR or Leisure games. Need to nail my distribution. But its going well so far.

The premier issue of Hearts in Glorantha is now available via Lulu.com in both print (£5) and pdf (£2) versions

Get a copy directly from our Lulu storefront

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1049551

In this issue

Godfall- an encounter and mysterious cult in The Wastes with RQ3 stats by John Ossoway

Prologue Method of Character Generation for HeroQuest by Newt Newport

Aweke – Flora Glorantha by Stuart Mousir-Harrison

Homeland: Kralori for HeroQuest by Mark Galeotti

Karia, Gazetteer, Mythology and History for this land in the Eastern Wilds of Ralios by Newt Newport

Rymes and Ribbold Royale, two Kings and One Queen of the Durlurz by Stewart Stansfield

Fixing the Wrong, a HeroQuest Scenario by Newt Newport

Using a Charm, a Kolat shaman speaks by Greg Stafford.

Mythology and Glorantha Feature including
Two very useful and unique ways of creating myths on the fly
Tale Theft by David Durham
Location Mythlets by Jane Williams

Backed up by two pieces of fiction that show myth in play.
Lookout Hill by Jane Williams
The Seduction of Tarahelela by Jeff Richard

Hearts in Glorantha is a licensed fanzine for Glorantha, which covers both the 2nd Age and 3rd Age of Glorantha. Both d100 (RQ2/RQ3, Mongoose RuneQuest, BRP) and HeroQuest systems are supported. It aims to produce a diverse set of articles in each issue, written by fans old and new of the setting. The emphasis being on material that is usable in your games. Two issues every year, Summer and Winter.

I am aiming to have the next issue out by Dragonmeet UK in early December.

Submissions, both articles and art, to newt@d101games.co.uk