AGP Update March 2007

[jamesmishler]

As there have been some questions about the status of AGP and the Wilderlands of High Adventure, I figured I'd post an update.

First off, as is obvious to anyone who was at the Gen Con presentation or who has seen the AGP schedule posted elsewhere, I am way behind on everything. Unfortunately, my day job dropped a whole new series of projects on me, without taking away any of my already extensive other duties, and, as the day job pays for things like rent, food, and occasionally, games, the day job came first.

So Im behind, way behind.

At this point Im no longer going to be making any projections for release dates or even what the product schedule looks like, as things are just too higgledy-piggledy to determine any of that.

This I will say, though.

#1: AGP will participate in Free RPG Day. Our offering will be a 16-page town booklet, Imperial Town of Tell Qa: Northern Bastion of the Falling Empire, a town seting along the lines of the classic Modron setting, but filled with even more goodies. It will be FREE to those who attend Free RPG Day festivities at their friendly local game shop. Note that I am still working out ways to get this to our Canadian and European fans, and to those who do not have an FLGS. Im putting my money where my mouth is on this one, and supporting our retail partners. I hope you will, too.

#2: I previously announced that there would be two lines of products, Wilderlands of High Adventure and Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Unfortunately, with the much reduced release schedule Im dealing with, and to eliminate confusion between the two prospective product lines, I have to go with one or the other. Im going to go with Wilderlands of High Adventure. There are several reasons for this:

A: To properly write entirely new, official Wilderlands of High Fantasy products that fans would count as truly official, I would have to essentially publish Bobs campaign as-is, as most fans believe that, If it isnt from Bob, it isnt official. Well, unfortunately, Bob doesnt have the time to write like he once did, and though he turns out all sorts of great ideas, he doesnt have the time to finish them himself. Also, he has no notes referring to his campaign from 30 years ago; its all locked up in his head, piled under 30 years of experiences. We have to face the fact that what Bob released with Judges Guild in the day is, essentially, all we are ever going to see from his personal campaign, unless someone can take the time to sit with him for several weeks, at his home, and dig out the stories from his memory. I would love to do that, were I a millionaire and had the leisure, but I unfortunately do not. Ive tried to work with him over the phone and online, but the effort to results ratio just does not pay off. And rather than spend all my time and effort on working with Bob to get one product every couple years, I need to be able to get more products out in order to make this all worth my time and effort. Otherwise I should be spending my limited free time with my girlfriend, who misses me very much when Im cooped up in the study writing...

B: I frankly dont think that Wilderlands of High Fantasy products will sell as well as Wilderlands of High Adventure products; Wilderlands of High Fantasy is geared exclusively to the classic fan, while Wilderlands of High Adventure can appeal to both the old fan and new Castles & Crusades fans, as well as to modern gamers in general. It is simply a matter of putting my efforts and money into something that is going to at least give me some sort of return. Though through using Print on Demand I am cushioned much from the vagaries of inventory, I still need to see some sort of return for the time I put in. I cannot simply do this on a break-even basis and I need to make this work as a source of secondary income. So I have to go with what I believe will sell more copies; it is purely a financial decision. Were I independently wealthy, this would not be a concern. If this doesnt work, it means I need to start going to night school and learn a whole new trade, as the game industry isnt going to be able to pay my bills full time soon youve all seen where things are going there.

C: That all said, everything that I publish for Wilderlands of High Adventure is still approved by Bob Bledsaw. So while the Wilderlands of High Adventure is not the primary Wilderlands reality, its as darn close as you are going to get. It will be a classic swords and sorcery setting, with blood and guts and demons and sorcery and the whole nine yards, never you worry.

D: The Wilderlands of High Adventure will take into account Bobs science-fantasy history; it will be presented in such a way that the Judge will be able to decide whether it has truly hard-science elements or more fantasy. It will use the 5-mile hex, in order to be able to be used by the fans, and will present additional information, where needed, for use with the 15-mile hex. It will use most information provided in the Box Set as is, though certain elements of the history will change to meet my own campaign history. It will use the larger continent as developed by Bob, and the expansions thereto will be developed directly from Bobs notes.

E: Essentially, the Wilderlands of High Adventure as presented will be more classic-style than I intended; I will seek to channel Bobs creativity and make it as much like Bob would have as possible. Friends of Bob rejoice (not you, Oh Children of Eris, I mean the OTHER Friends of Bob).

#3: Wilderlands of High Fantasy will still be for Castles & Crusades; nothing has changed there.

#4: The first product after Tell Qa will almost definitely be Ravaged Ruins, as much of that is already completed. It will probably be 64 pages, and include ruins, Benevolent and Malevolent Character Modules, additional shops and encounters for the City State of the Invincible Overlord, notes on the Social Class and Level System, and of course, new monsters and magical items.

#5: After that, things get a bit more muddled. Maybe the Psychic book, with classes, abilities, races, monsters, treasures, and so forth, or it might be an adventure module, or possibly the Continental Gazetteer. I dont know yet.

That's really all there is to say at this point.
_________________
James Mishler

Main Man, Adventure Games Publishing
jamesagp1@gmail.com
http://adventuregamespublishing.blogspot.com/
http://jamesmishler.blogspot.com

[Omote]

Now that's a good update! We wish you the best on this endeavor. And honestly, I can't wait. 8) 8) 8)

...........................................Omote

FPQ
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[serleran]

One must admire and respect someone who has the wherewithal to be frank and honest about the state of the union as it were, and let us know what is up. So, Hail! James, and may you find the time and energy, and creativity to bring this to pass. Sounds like its the sort of stuff I always hoped wuld be made... at least, the demon-wise

[sieg]

JM,

...if you need some freelance writing assistance, feel free to PM me. My module writing has hit a bit of a snag (working on other TLG products now) so it'd be nice to do the occasional adventure/town setting.
Either way, best of luck and I look forward to the settings!
_________________
Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school.- Tim Kask, Dragonsfoot

[Tadhg]

James, thanks for the update. I think you know that you have a lot of supporters here and we look forward to seeing any and all of your material!
_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[Omote]

serleran wrote:
Sounds like its the sort of stuff I always hoped wuld be made...

I have to agree 100% with this statement. WoHA, and your statement, are what many of us have hoped for in C&C. The full treatment with a great swords & sorcery campaign setting, is one of many things C&C is all about.

Bring on the adventure!

....................................................Omote

FPQ
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[simontmn]

jamesmishler wrote:
As there #4: The first product after Tell Qa will almost definitely be Ravaged Ruins, as much of that is already completed. It will probably be 64 pages, and include ruins, Benevolent and Malevolent Character Modules, additional shops and encounters for the City State of the Invincible Overlord, notes on the Social Class and Level System, and of course, new monsters and magical items.

Sounds good - I can definitely use this in my C&C Wilderlands PBEM, which centres on freelance adventurers in the Roglaras. I'd have preferred 15 m/hex as that's what I use, but no big problem.