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Messages - Ubbi

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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 09, 2011, 12:58:41 AM »
Huzzah!

There seems to be so much mystery or confusion about how stuff gets done in this hobby/industry -- writing, art direction, art, editing, layout, publishing, sales, distribution, the finances (publisher, freelancer, distro, retailer, etc.)  -- that I am always happy to be as transparent about stuff as I reasonably can.

In this hobby/industry, we really aren't competitors: it's too small for that. We're compatriots. (For the most part, playing DFRPG doesn't mean I'm not going to buy/play/run Gamma World or Fiasco or cribbage.)

And, frankly: talking/writing is how I find out what I think... So, discussing the whole process from cow to hamburger with Tate has been awesome like whoa for me!

This goes double for me.  As someone who's barely scratched the surface in this industry, it's great to get a look into the thought processes of someone as talented as Chad.

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DFRPG / Re: Question: Thresholds and Spells.
« on: September 08, 2011, 11:13:58 PM »
Or... just catch the house on fire.  The threshold isn't going to protect the outside walls of the house.

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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 10:21:15 PM »
Thanks so much for the behind the scenes glimpses, Tate and Chad! Quite fascinating to eavesdrop on.

I actually had the priviledge of participating in one of those Origins sessions last year. (Probably the one you describe as using a 'brute force' method to solve the problem. ;D) I got to play the Pure Mortal bodyguard. And I managed to intimidate a troll! (with help.) It was a great session. Definitely in the top two of all the games I played there––and I managed to sign up for so many different sessions of DFRPG that people were recognizing my face by Saturday. It was great!

Keep up the good work all you great folks in Evil Hats!

LML

Thanks,

And I remember you scaring the bejesus out of Caliban and the overall excitement of the table when you did it.  I think my favorite players of both sessions played the bodyguard.  You guys took things to a different level than those folks who had the more powered characters.

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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 09:05:59 PM »
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I probably should have left Sycorax as I originally intended but a little bit of under-confidence kicked in and I started thinking, "Well, he is the professional.  I'm sure he knows best."  So I didn't argue my case for leaving her as written.

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I have to admit that I like your version of Prospero and Miranda. 
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Here's one of the key differences, I think, between our drafts:
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I would have done the same thing in your situation. 

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I think this is where I have the hard time.  I can write a technical manual for software that even my mom can understand but putting down my thought processes on how I handle players in a game is a little harder.

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Aha! 2: Electric Boogaloo!

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As I said above.. this is where I lost it.  I thought I had a really good idea but apparently could not convey it to the editor in such a way as to give him the same confidence in the material.  It reflected back to me and I ended up giving him subpar material.  Luckily, it landed in the hands of someone who got what I was going for, even though it no longer showed.



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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 07:04:42 PM »
Not to speak for Fred, but only for myself as a nano-publisher, it makes sense to worry more about wordcount/pagecounts on a free PDF: it's taking up resources (writers, artists, editors, layout artists, publishers, money, time, sweat, etc.) for no direct revenue.

There's a good argument that free material can generate intangible assets like goodwill and "free" advertising (and I agree with that argument!), but measuring the actual bottom-line impact of intangibles is 90% a gut-feeling process.

Does that make sense?

Knowing how much work you and the other Evil Hatters had to put into this and the fact they got someone to do art, it's entirely reasonable to keep things lean and mean.

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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 07:02:18 PM »
    Cool. If folks want to see some "behind the scenes" discussion of how the RPG sausage gets made, here's your chance!

    I will be tagging all material from or developed for the published version of the casefile with SPOILER tags, just in case.

    Okay! Tate's original version of the casefile is quite different than the published one. It's more up-front investigative, over three or four scenes, where all the various clues eventually lead the PCs to the performance/ritual. Looks to work pretty well in that regard. Also, proto-Prospero is a sorcerer and worshipper of proto-Sycorax (a plague demon), and is purposefully trying to summon her.

    The published version's set-up is different (see below).
Oddly enough, the original adventure, which I ran at Origin's for the DFRPG release, was closer to the final published version than the final draft I turned in.  I'll come back to that.

As some of what's listed could be construed as spoilerish, we'll continue with the spoiler alert.

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And that is the first manuscript I turned originally turned in.   But, the editor felt it was too narrow and unbelievable.  He thought it should appeal to groups wanting to play their own characters and have the potential to be part of an on-going campaign.  From that advice, I added in a lot more investigating that could happen before the play happens.  I gave the characters more clues to find before the show that would allow them to realize something was up and prepare for it.  I stated up Sycorax and changed her from an outsider to a demon, as that was also suggested.  I added all of that together and that is the version that was passed on to Chad.

In all honesty, I didn't feel as connected to the new stuff.  I didn't feel it was bad but it wasn't what I'd ever had in my head.[/list]

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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 01:37:07 PM »
Tate Ricker, people. Give him some respect and love! WHOO!

(Major fist-bump, dude!  )

Your core ideas + my pedantic English major lit-crit crap = (maybe) something interesting and fun for people to roleplay with!

If you wanna, contribute here or on my linked (above) LJ post on "DVD extras" on your process, play, construction, and experience -- that could give different groups different play-style approaches to this casefile. (Note that we've already seen people posting -- positively! -- about the version you ran last year.)

Hey, you and I could even have a dialogue over the different drafts, if you're interested in that.

For example, your original draft is much more con-slot constructed; the draft I did is more amorphous. Draft 1 would give a satisfying play-thru in 4 hrs; draft 2 might play-thru (satisfying or unsatisfying; nothing is assured) from anywhere from about 2 hrs to 6.

So, it sounds like we could talk about pacing and stuff like that. If you want to, cool; if not, cool.

Chad,

I'm all for discussing the process the case file went through. I enjoyed creating and running it for the con and then attempting to flesh it out for you guys.  I'm not a writer by any means and would love to hear more of your process of expanding and tweaking my ideas.  Along with any suggestions you have for how to better plot out a story line.


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DFRPG / Re: New Free Casefile: Evil Acts!
« on: September 08, 2011, 01:44:12 AM »
Also, you can see some "DVD extras" for Evil Acts over here:

http://chadu.livejournal.com/788733.html

Hey Chad.  This is Tate.  The poor schlub who wrote the original manuscript.  It's great to see how you took my original fever-filled ramblings and actually made them coherent.  Great job on making something that I mostly had written down on napkins and food wrappers into something that actually works.

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