More Feedback Needed

[jamesmishler]

Okay, we now have a number of print and PDF products out there for people to read, use, and hopefully enjoy.

I've gotten some specific feedback on each of the various products, but now I need more feedback, specific and general.
Font and Columns: On all products, we have determined that the three-column Garamond font works best, usually in 10-point, though in PDF products we go with 12-point (page count is less of an issue). For Encounter booklets we are going with two columns with explanatory text in 10-point Garamond and actual encounter lines in 8-point (yeah, it's tiny, but more encounter tables can be fit, plus you do not read the whole text, just the line of the text associated with the encounter roll). This is, barring massive changes, the final form for all print and PDF products. It enables us to fit the most on every page, where with print that really, REALLY counts, though again with PDF-only products we go up on the font size.
Covers: All print products henceforth will have full-color covers, in the style used for other Castles & Crusades products though with a different trade dress. PDF-only products generally will not have covers.
Art: PDF-only products will have minimal if any art; it just does not pay. For every additional page of art I can charge an additional $0.25 per product, and that does not even pay for itself. Print products will have interior art as time and space allow, but in this case, text space is far more vital. In cases of print versions of Monster & Treasure books, however, art will be central to the product (see below).
Editing: We will have a professional editor working on these products beginning with the Southern Reaches Gazetteer. So reviewers will have to find something to complain about rather than my low ratio of typos.
What I do need to know is more along the lines of what more do the Wilderlands and Castles & Crusades fans WANT...
Monsters & Treasures of the Wilderlands 1 has sold quite well, best in fact of all the PDFs. So I know you guys want more monsters and treasures, and I know you want them in print, too. Ideally I will have one M&T PDF per month; the print format I'm still undecided on. I'm kicking around the idea of having all art for every creature be 1/4 page, four per page each set like a card, all on pages separate from the descriptions so that the art can be copied (for personal use) and the copies cut up so that Judges can easily show players what the monsters look like. Kind of like what they used to do in the old Arduin books. As each M&T PDF will be 20 pages going forward (16 monsters 1 per page, 3 pages of treasures, and the TOC/OGL page), with 16x 1/4 page illustrations of monsters all on four pages in the center, a 24-page print product is a possibility. What do you all think of that?
Barbarians of the Wilderlands 1 has not sold well at all, spectacularly poorly in fact when compared to the Warrior-Mage and Sorcerer materials that were given away free. So I think for now there will be no more time spent on alternative classes... Barbarians 2, with NPCs and war-parties and such for Judges, will see release eventually, as most of it is done...

As for the only specific Wilderlands adventure/source materials I have available to date, the preview of the Valley of the Dead Queens included in the 2008 Wilderlands Jam, such commentary as has been reveived has been positive, but I need much more feedback on this material. Those of you who have picked it up, please let me know what you think. Does the Sandbox Module format work for you? Do you need more detail or less? The first complete Sandbox Module, AGP00105 Huberic of Haghill, will release in print and PDF after the Southern Reaches Gazetteer; there will be a preview in the third issue of the Fight On! Old School Gaming (System Free) fanzine, the whole issue dedicated to Bob Bledsaw. There you can get a further preview of the Sandbox Module style.

So monsters and treasures, classes, adventure/source material... let me know what you want more of, and what specifically of that you want! Also, I'm gearing up toward the first true adventure module (i.e., dungeon crawl only) from AGP; the Judges Guide to Western Karak (the first District Sourcebook); and the next issue of Adventure Games Journal. So let me know what you want to see out of those as well!
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James Mishler

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

[dachda]

I am one of those few (apparently) who bought Barbarians of the Wilderlands 1. In fact that is the only wilderlands product I've bought. I loved it as it provides for easy adoption into my non-wilderlands campaign, and into any C&C setting. I'd love to see Barbarians 2 as well. My basic reason for not buying the other wilderlands stuff is time and money. No time to run a wilderlands campaign, when my players just started UW and i've got a bunch of Aihrde setting stuff for later. No money as my gaming budget is limited. BUT after seeing the high quality of the Barbarians, I am very interested in any of your stuff I can adopt to the settings I'm already using. So I have the M&T on my to-buy list, and would love to see your re-working of the classes in future stuff. (I know you said it doesn't sell well for you, but I loved Barbarians).

Anyway there's my two cents. Hope it helps.

Oh, and I love a full color cover page for my pdfs. I always print them out and get them spiral bound, and having a cool cover page makes them look all the better behind a clear plastic cover sheet.
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Sir Dachda McKinty,

Margrave and Knight of Portlandia
Castles & Crusades Society

[Plaag]

Still have not read the Wilderlands Jam but I'm all for print products, even if I have to wait for smaller PDFs to be created before they are combined into a print product. Text/columns/etc do not really matter to me as long as I can read it.

ShaneG.

[Omote]

I have to mirror some other comments about the subscription. More importantly, while the material that has come out so far is really great (all around), I would love to see a more steady release schedule of products already announced. Over the past year, I think there were like 20 different products mentioned (not officially announced), but only 5 of them have been released. Before you go on mentioning all of these new products you have in your head, we really need to see the stuff that was promised.

Personally, I'm not that interested in Castles & Crusades products that much. I'm more interested in seeing Wilderlands of High Adventure products that are usable for the Castles & Crusades FRPG.

AGP seemed to be formed on the notion of continuing the Wilderlands, I'd like to see that happen. HOWEVER, if you decide that the Wilderlands route is not financially viable, then over to Castles & Crusades you go.

All of the products so far have been good, or better. My personal favorite AGP products is a toss up between XXXI, or AGJ#1. Both of these products are filled with great info, and a lot of world information. I would have voted for the Map #18 The Southern Reaches (because it is a spectacular map), but I will leave it out because it is not a "complete" product if you will (still waiting for the Gazetteer). The 2008 Wilderlands Jam is great too, but I won't include it as the best as it is the combination of a few products. Barbarians I, while cool doesn't interest me as much because I have my own style of barbarian I have gone with, but that is just me. M&T1 is cool as well, better then Barbarians I, but for the same reason I've developed a lot of my own magic stuff.

Frankly, I'm just looking for more Wilderlands Gazetteers and world info, and some of those sweet, sweet maps.

All the best Jimbo.

-O
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Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[Mike Frank]

I am in agreement with the comments on the subscription. These things were supposed to come out every two months right? Some slippage is o.k, but it's been several months, and all I'm seeing is other smaller stuff getting shot out.

That being said, I DID buy some of the PDFs. Content of the M&T I is excellent. However, I did not like the layout. Splitting stat blocks between pages was irritating. Adding more white space would be great. The Barbarian pdf was good, and I know you don't think artwork is worth it, but it you DO decide to go with some artwork, change it up a bit. While Peter's work is good, it would be nice to see some other styles.

[dunbruha]

Omote wrote:
Frankly, I'm just looking for more Wilderlands Gazetteers and world info, and some of those sweet, sweet maps.

Ditto! I love the campaign world info, and the maps. I don't need any more monsters or treasure or classes. Just more Wilderlands goodness!

[Treebore]

Plaag wrote:
Still have not read the Wilderlands Jam but I'm all for print products, even if I have to wait for smaller PDFs to be created before they are combined into a print product. Text/columns/etc do not really matter to me as long as I can read it.

ShaneG.

Your a land owner and NPC in the Jam and you haven't read it yet? Shame on you!
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[Melan]

I am interested in products that are...
small (meaning: better 16 superb pages than 64 mediocre ones),
modular (meaning: usable in most wilderlandish campaigns, as a whole or in parts),
immediately applicable (meaning: better something in the spirit of the Wilderlands I can put on my table and play with than something focused on expanding "canon"), and
available (meaning: actually out there instead of in a "coming really soon" status).

Modules focused on small dungeons, lairs and such are very interesting to me - I could use something like that right now in fact - while something called "Barbarians of the Wilderlands" - no, I don't think so. And again, better a hard-hitting 16 page module in our hands than a 128 page monster Acaeum 2020 will get into debates about whether that thing actually existed. Learn from Tegel's lesson...

So there.

[Akiyama]

I will be buying Monsters and Treasures at some point, but not Barbarians.

My opinion - you can't have too many original monsters and treasures (stress: original), but you can easily have too many character classes. I think the only new character classes I've ever got excited about, out of the dozens I've seen in print, were the original UA Barbarian and the Houri from White Dwarf. New character races can be interesting, though.

Personally, I would prefer to see more largish products, such as the Adventure Games Journal, modules and gazetteers. Little pdfs are fine, but they are like tasty snacks, while the bigger print products are the more satisfying meals (I am typing this while waiting for my wife to cook supper).

One specific thing I would like to see - a while back James Malishewski (Grognardia) mentioned the idea of a guide to high-level D&D play, by which I think he meant something other than beating up on dragons and demons i.e. "politics". I thought that was a great idea, but he hasn't mentioned it since.

[ludyee]

I feel I pluncked down a hefty sum of money for a subscritption to print material and that print material was the focus of AGP. PDFs are not my interest though making them available as supplements to the printed material is understandable.

I have yet to purchase a single PDF as I have no idea what they are in relation to my subscription. Will the material eventually show up in a print product included in my subscription? I have no idea.

I am a bit put off that the focus is to continue creating small PDFs instead of meeting subscription obligations. The PDF effort must be delaying print products promised. Regardless of licensing issues, an obligation to subscribers remains to be met. I am trying to remain patient, but with each PDF release I get a bit hotter under the collar.

Eric.

[maasenstodt]

James, I thought I'd mention a couple of thoughts on the Valley of the Dead Queens project as I've seen it presented in Wilderlands Jam.

First, I like the sandbox you've created, particularly the environment of the Dead Queens' Plateau and the Field of Fallen Stars, but I'd make one recommendation. In your description of he Stenchfields, you say:

Quote:
Save for Brimstone Point, there are no ruins of note, as all others were destroyed when the plains were shattered and the land overturned.

I would advise against such hard statements, as I think they might discourage GM creativity a bit. By simply adding a single word, "known", to that sentence (i.e., there are no known ruins of note), I think you keep all the flavor of your original description while providing GMs with a hook to use for adding in an adventure of their own or another module. When one is creating a sandbox like this, I think those hooks add a lot of value to the product.

Second, as a big fan of XXXI, I really like the association this area has with Tell Qa and would advise you to play that up. Of course, you don't want to make XXXI a necessary product to use Valley of the Dead Queens, but by creating interesting connections between the two, you can ferment additional adventuring ideas as well as cross promote your products.

Third, while your writing is excellent, your maps, while functional, are less than inspiring. I don't know how feasible it would be to have Peter Bradley put together maps for this project in the same vein as his other WoHA work, but I think such maps would add tremendously to the overall quality of the work.

I hope that feedback helps.
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