Vlog Post - 10.09.2014

New Vlog post for October 9th, 2014.

Vlog Post - Weekly Updates, Moving, & Future Serials

Hooray! A new Vlog post. check it out. As always, any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms, please comment below!

Massive Updates (plus some minor ones, too)

Hey readers!

Wow, two new posts inside of a week? What's going on!?

I've been really busy setting the groundwork for my coming serial releases, and I wanted to share the results of all that work with you, my loyal blog readers. A lot of things have changed or been added, to here, to the Round 10 Website, and to my new central author website, and I would love for you to check out any and all of them. However, for your convenience, this post breaks them up neatly so that you can skip right to the ones that interest you the most.

The Candle Which Burns Twice As Bright...

Another play has come up in my area. Not only am I interested in auditioning, but it is a musical, which is part of my bucket list. It only seems natural that I should audition for it, right? I mean, I've hit up every audition that has been available since last April, so why stop now.

Unfortunately, I'm not as excited for this audition as I would've originally expected. So much so to the point that I am not even 100% certain if I will audition for it. While I have no doubts that it would be an amazing experience and it would be truly exciting and engaging, and I would meet new wonderful people and get the chance to work with others I already know and love within the local theater community, I can't help but wonder if I'm filling my plate too full already.

Zimildran Excitement to the Extreme!

I mean, look at that! How can this image not excite you? I guess the dinosaur junkie in me just gets giddy when seeing this image. Ramon is such a talented individual, and seeing him bring a specific, full world of my own design to life through wonderful art is, to me, breathtaking.

Zimildran has been going well, with the writing and development staying just ahead of our weekly play-test sessions. It is the culmination of almost everything that is at the core of my interests; dinosaurs, mysticism, intercultural diplomacy and conflict, with a dash of steampunk, all spread thickly over a thick base of cosmic horror. It feels wholly original, yet also like I've known it my entire life. Its ancient ruins, spiritual essence, and primal wildlife have stalked my dreams and sneaked into my writing over the years, and it is finally coming to fruition later this year. I am literally beside myself with excitement for this project to be finished.

I can only hope that this excitement holds true throughout the production of this book. It is already much larger than I ever expected it to be (130 pages and counting), and only continues to grow with each passing week.

Soon enough, in the next few weeks hopefully, I will post an excerpt of the world of Zimildran on the Round 10 website, giving you a bit more of a taste of the nature of this world, giving substance to the image above and a window into my imagination.

To Kickstart or not to Kickstart

While my personal experience with Kickstarter hasn't been the greatest (two failed projects in less than 6 months), I would be lying if I said I haven't considered using it again. A man with as many ideas as me needs all the help he can get when trying to turn those ideas into reality, and between Round 10, Zimildran, Dreams of a Dying God, and a certain other, unnamed gaming project, I have a lot of opportunities for help. Namely in the illustration department.

Start the Year with some (more) Self Assessment

Well here we are; 2014. Eight years after I graduated from high school, almost nine years since I started working at Target, and going on twenty two years of living in Brainerd. When I look at things like that, it's easy to get a little disheartened. However, with the way things have been going lately, I feel much more inclined to believe that they will only go upwards from here on out.

I am a published author. I am an independent game designer. While neither have been 'successful' from a sales standpoint, at least they're out there. I am a wellspring of ideas, and I find myself having to pull back the reigns when cataloging my aspirations for future projects. I want to start working on all of them right now, and I want to see them all through to fruition. If only I had a team of me's.

Experience Points - 2014 Resolutions

Happy holidays, readers! I hope your holiday week has been great so far, and that you have much to look forward to! As for me, I believe I have narrowed down my list of New Years Resolutions to the point of posting them for the world to see. The goal for my resolutions this year was to have a list that is not abstract, but is concrete, easy to track, and easy to measure how well I am progressing. As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms, please let me know!

Round 10 Core Rulebook PDF is available!

Yes, finally, the Core Rulebook for the Round 10 Role-Playing Game System is now available for digital purchase as a PDF from RPGNow. Simply click this link to go to the book's page!

The Print-On-Demand should be available by the end of the month, as formatting for PoD is more time intensive than I originally expected. However, until then, you can get exposed to the initial Round 10 experience, a 217 PDF document, for only $19.99!

What does this mean for my other writing projects? Well, Elephants in the Living Room is postponed. It is still my goal to get it out before Christmas, but now with Round 10 making noticeable headway, my drive and effort is more easily placed in that venue. My other, mentioned-but-not-elaborated-upon, writing project is also postponed, likely until early 2014. My apologies to anybody who has been waiting for either of these, but my guess is that those individuals are few and silent. However, if you are waiting on those, then feel free to check out Round 10 until they release!

All jokes aside, I have always been one to undertake more projects than I can adequately finish in a reasonable time. And so I end up, weeks later, finding that I've over-committed and under-delivered. My apologies, but Round 10 has been almost 3 years in the making, and the excitement of it finally hitting digital shelves is too much for me to ignore right now.

As always, feel free to leave your feedback here. Check out the Round 10 website, Facebook page, and get the Quick Start Guide for free. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope to only continue to deliver quality written products to all of you, be it in the tabletop gaming venue or the digital creative writing venue.

What is a Writer who doesn't Write?

Wow, browsing the Vlog posts is an interesting pass-time. It's like a facial hair gallery. Anyways, it's been a while since I made a text post, so here's my attempt at channeling my inner writer. Who, as you may well know, I am trying to bring out again.

My focus for my future has changed, yet again. This blog was started to help follow my drive for teaching and becoming an English teacher. However, with certain circumstances these last couple of months, mainly my financial situation, the educational hoops, jobs changing, family emergencies, theater productions and closing in on Round 10's final stages of production, my drive and desire to teach has been curbed in light of what is more readily viewed as 'real life'.

This Big Lake Has Got Me Feeling Anxious & Lazy

Decided my post today would be a poor attempt at poetry. Sorry about the scheduling delay!

Alright, it's time to clear away those temptations and dust off those notions, ignore your hesitations and challenge your devotions. Shake up those foundations you let settle, look back on your creations right down to the letter. You let your distractions get in the way of your plans, you've been looking at the downside so let's start again.

Lefts and rights, ups and downs, keeping your head through the smiles and frowns.
A walk under the sun isn't always so bright, but strolling under the moon doesn't always feel right.
A pocket full of plastic still comes up short but creative success is attained with support,
so tighten the belt and sharpen the number two, push uncertainty aside, you've got work to do.

The world's unlocked the door and cracked it open some more, but your shoe's all scuffed because you've been here before. Your art is a chore and your ego is sore, you're in the big leagues now but you're too chicken to score. And after all this, what's it really for? Pride? Honor? Principle, or something more? Would anyone notice if you closed the door? In a market full of Cores, who needs one more?

You have been here before. But this time is different.

You're lost, aren't you? There's no rhyme to your reason, you hang on too tightly and then change with the seasons.
You make up your mind with the certainty of weather and you tend to fall apart after every get-together.
But finding happiness in life begins with a thought, and if you refuse to smile then you've already lost.
You're not going to give up before you even started, afterall, you've seen worse, and even when you departed
from this path for which you packed you backtrack to the fact that this has always been your knack, no matter how abstract, exact, or sidetracked the fact of this track is that it's about your impact, not your plan of attack.

So the next time you're tempted to turn your back, or worse to simply let yourself drift off-track,
do us all a favor and snap yourself back. This far in the game you can't afford to slack.
I know it'd be easier with a little more change, and I know it'd be nicer if you could share the stage,
but choices and terms led you to this point, and whether alone or not you shouldn't disappoint.
You've made promises before, now it's time to see them through. Not to your family or friends, you only owe it to you.

Don't second guess me on this. You know I'm right. Forget the cold apartment and the flat sheets at night.
One fish at a time if you're going to fry 'em right. Even if there's bigger fish out there, this one's in sight. You've been going too long on catch and release, and now the sun is going down and you still need to eat.
So reel this in with patience, stay true, and you'll be fed for the night and tomorrow's brand new.
One fish at a time is my advice to you, and who knows? Maybe someday that fish will find you.

The Round 10 Quick Start Guide is now available - for FREE!

Check it out at RPGNow.com! As always, let me know about your questions, comments, concerns and criticisms! You can contact me for Round 10 information at the Round 10 Website or by emailing support@round10rpg.com.

ISBNs and Barcodes

Just purchased the ISBNs and the barcodes for the Round 10 Quick Start Guide and the Round 10 Core Rulebook, meaning that the QS Guide should be available for free download within the next few days! Meanwhile, work on the Core Rulebook is nearing completion, though the June release date may be a bit ambitious, and it might have to get pushed back to July, simply to ensure it is complete and ready to go.

I've gotten a few questions about what sort of programs I am using for putting the book together, since I am self-publishing. I started using simple Microsoft Word for the rulebook, and after it's first draft was complete I moved it into Scrivner for basic layout editing and revising. Scrivner is great for layout work, it's cheap, and it allows me to achieve the look I want with the pictures I have. For the cover I've used Photoshop Elements to put together the images that were made by my illustrator, logo designer and typographic artist, as well as adding in the cover credits and (now) the barcode.

Not really much to report on other than all of that. I've been spending a lot of time both on Round 10 and on my schoolwork, as we're approaching the end of the semester. Blogging may be dropping down a bit for the next week or two, so I apologize to my more regular readers. Please, bear with me!

Beyond the Horizon Radio: Round 10 Interview

About two weeks ago I received an email from a supporter of Round 10 who also happens to be running a gaming podcast called Beyond the Horizon Radio. He voiced his excitement at seeing how far Round 10 has gotten, despite not meeting its goals as a Kickstarter campaign, and said that he would love to conduct an interview with me about Round 10, it's development, and the impressions of he and his gaming group from their play-test session.

I, of course, happily agreed. Any and all support is most welcome and appreciated, and the more I can get Round 10 out there and in the eyes of the public, the better off it will be. He was kind enough to send me the questions for the interview, and I am excited to partner with him and discuss what Round 10 can bring to the gaming industry.

The episode's air date is still up in the air, but we will be recording the interview this coming Wednesday (05.05). My only concern is that his podcast is set up only as a direct streaming site, only offering content for the limited time that he plays it (generally on Saturdays from noon to 3:00pm for live shows, and Sundays at a similar time for a rerun of Saturday's show). While it's definitely a system that works, I'd love for the episode, or at least the interview, to be available for download to be listened to at a time that's more convenient for the listener. I may connect with him and see if I'd be allowed to record the interview and post it on the Round 10 website and Facebook page, with his permission.

Regardless, I'm excited for the publicity, no matter how big or how small!

Round 10 Soft Release Info

The Round 10 Core Rulebook is growing a bit more each day. These last couple of days saw some additional work from my illustrator, Ramon Bunge, come in and continue to wow me. I took the opportunity to play around with the book's layout and toy with where various illustrations will go. It is my goal and my hope that the book will be ready for distribution by June 1st at the earliest!

With this in mind, I should also start focusing on the Round 10 Quick Start Guide, doing some final edits and getting that ready for digital distribution by May 20th. The Quick Start Guide will present the rules in a succinct and easy-to-learn, seven page format, along with a pretty cut-and-dry adventure and six premade characters. It will be the stepping stone into the greater Round 10 experience, and will be available for free download from the Round 10 website and RPGnow.com, so keep your eyes peeled!

I'm debating on the prices of the Core Rulebook. The physical copy's price is sort of out of my hand; it all falls on what Lulu.com or Createspace.com will charge for each printing (probably in the realm of $40, since it is almost 200 pages with full-color artwork), yet I'm still a bit up in the air on the digital book's price. I don't want to charge too much, since it was never my intention to make substantial money off of this game, but at the same time I don't want to undercut the work that's being put into it. I'm thinking a PDF of the book could go for around $15.00 at standard price. It seems a bit high for a digital download, but at the same time the Core Rulebook offers so much information that there is no need to purchase anything further.

Zimildran is even further from having a determined price, but I'd say in and around $15.00 for the digital book. I'm even entertaining the idea of running some sort of online deal when you purchase the Core Rules or Zimildran to get some sort of discount on the other product, encouraging the purchase of both items.

Of course, the marketing stage of multiple products is still up in the air, but it's exciting to think about, at the very least!

Round 10: The Persuasion

My third and final speech of this semester, which will be delivered on Monday, April 29th, has to be persuasive in nature, with the intent to persuade the audience to act, feel, or think in a specific way by the time the speech is finished. Since I spoke about tabletop role-playing with my frist two speeches, I originally planned to describe the benefits of actually participating in tabletop role-playing. And then I realized I was already doing this with my previous speeches, talking about how RPGs can increase small-group communication skills, organization skills, creative problem-solving, and working with a team.

And then it hit me: why not just give a 10 minute infomercial on Round 10?

This seemed almost too good to be true, too easy to work. I asked the instructor if I could basically do a 'shameless self-advertising' speech, and he said "as long as you can work in the persuasive elements, it will work."

Here we go, then.

So the speech will be about Round 10, and why the audience, as first-time players of an RPG, should choose that as their introductory system. I will go over Round 10's simple set-up, it's focus on openness and how it fosters creativity, how it fits to accomodate the game you want to play rather than force you to play its game, and how it will be supported in the future by interesting, original and memorable settings and expansions. I will touch on Zimildran, on Otherworld, and on other ideas for the future. I'll bring up Facebook, Twitter (@Round10RPG), the Round 10 Website (even if it's still under construction), and this blog. Hopefully my enthusiasm around this topic will be enough to at least garner one or two additional supporters.

The Illusion of Progress

This past Sunday was an interesting day for me. It started off with me visiting my parents briefly, I vented some of my frustrations and discussed upcoming events with them, and then headed into town to pick up groceries. I returned to the apartment, started my laundry, and sat down to work on my research paper for my Interpersonal Communication class. It promptly started snowing, and heavily, outside, and I knew that I was confined to the apartment for the remainder of the day.

I finished the paper within about an hour, spent some time talking with my roommate about our summer plans, graduation, and other topics, and then sat in front of my computer to work on Round 10.

And I sat there, and stared at it, yet couldn't bring myself to type anything out. Nothing was coming to me. Here I was, the whole evening ahead of me, a mountain of time that could allow me to make tons of progress on Round 10, and all I could do was stare at the document blankly.

And then Monday came around, and between classes, in the matter of an hour and a half, I started and finished three different sections in the rulebook, fingers hammering away faster than they had in a while. Yet I did this in the college cafeteria, rather than my own kitchen as was the case on Sunday.

I realized that the change of environment was what did it. It offered a change of pace, a change of scenery, which dramatically affected my writing. I realized that, as I have mentioned in previous blog posts, that I am fearful of my own stagnation in life, and the simple change of scenery was enough to kickstart my writing juices, oil the gears in my creative mind, and get more work done than I had seen in a long time. It was an illusion of actual progress, with me fooling my creative brain with the idea that I was in a different place, at a different time in my life.

That simple illusion, that simple head fake, was enough for me to temporarily forget about the stresses of the direction and pace of my life and to focus on the task at hand - my writing.

Here's hoping I can continue to make it work.

Round 10 Development Update

Most of my recent posts have been encompassing emotional reasonings, thoughts and ideas about the direction my life has been going, and the relationships I've been cultivating throughout the past few months. I understand that this blog was originally started with the intent to talk about the creative process around my writing, the journey I'm making in the self-publishing world, and the pursuit of a career in education. If you've been keeping up with my posts through all of this other, off-topic reflection, then I thank you. If you have found a level of annoyance in my posting inconsistencies, in my lack of discussion of the proposed, original topics, or in the general disorganized order of my posts, than I apologize, but know that every post in this blog is about things that are important in my life and that float in and around my mind on a daily basis.

That being said, I will spend this post talking about the state of the Round 10 RPG and my plans for the near future.

Round 10 RPG Core Rulebook - Overall Progress
Writing: 85% finished
Artwork: 76% finished

Ramon Ignacio Bunge, my wonderfully talented illustrator (who you can find on DeviantArt), is currently working on the last two black and white illustrations and then will jump into a final full-color image that I decided to add to the list last-minute. The pictures are turning out really well, and you can see all of the work he has done so far at the Round 10 RPG Facebook Page. Here is a taste of what he has done so far for the book:

As far as the writing goes, I've got to finish up the GM's section (genre-specirfic tips, running a scenario, running a campaign, and creating your own items, enemies, and settings), and fill out the remaining reference sheets (generic enemies, vehicles, ships), and then the writing will be 100% finished.

I'm debating if I should look into getting a professionally done layout for the character sheets and enemy sheets, but something tells me that a simple layout for those would work just fine. I'd rather spend time on the book's layout as a whole, ensuring that it reads well, has a proper and complete index and table of contents, and that it flows together well.

I'll likely be getting the Quick Start Guide up on the Facebook page and on RPGNow as a free download in the coming weeks, giving any interested parties the opportunity to get their feet wet with the rules system before the full game hits digital shelves.

I'm toying with the idea of posting weekly video notes on the Facebook page, an idea that has hit a wall simply because of my lack of adequate recording equipment. I'm also debating about posting some of our play-testing audio recordings for interested parties to hear, and get an idea for how the game plays. And finally, the Round 10 website is coming together, slowly but surely, and should be up and running for the public soon enough.

If you are one of the interested parties and you know of anything specific you'd like to see on the Facebook page, please let me know! I'm open to all suggestions.

Funding My Future

As I near the completion of the Round 10 Core Rulebook (which is more or less on schedule, thankfully), I start to turn my eyes to the Zimildran Setting Module, the second Round 10 product that will be produced. I can't help but think back to when I thought Kickstarter would be a good idea to get this project off the ground. Countless other independent RPGs have been funded through Kickstarter, why not Round 10?

My goals were ambitious with the first Kickstarter project. $4,000 as the goal, it would go towards funding the Core Rulebook and the Zimildran Module as one singular book, and it came quite close to its goal. Only about $500 away or so. Since it was close but not complete, I decided to try again, this time with a slightly higher goal (partly because I wanted to get more artwork, but also partly because I'm an idiot) and put it up for another month.

This second time was abysmal compared to the first, and so I stepped away from Kickstarter and decided to fund it all personally. It slowed production time down considerably, but it also gave me the extra time I needed to really dig into the rules and what the Core book offered, and expand upon that.

As I start to think about the second book, Zimildran, I begin to consider going the route of Kickstarter again. Images of the Kickstarter Project Page with a name like "Zimildran: A Low-Fantasy Setting from Round 10 Role-Playing" pop into my head, and I get excited. I think about possible rewards I could set up for potential backers, such as prints of the original artwork, artwork posters, free role-playing books, and maybe even offering to run a game for their gaming group via Skype. There are a lot of options, and I feel it may be worth exploring again, once the Round 10 Core RPG is finished.

I just can't get ahead of myself, and should probably post a more realistic goal. If that works, then perhaps I'll look at a more professional, fully illustrated Deluxe Edition in the future, or something, a production more akin to what I would like to see. If my Kickstarter experience has taught me anything, it's "start small".

Fleshing out Zimildran

I've been toying around with a lot of creative ideas around the Zimildran Module for my roleplaying game (see my Current Creative Projects page for more information). Even though I should be devoting most of my time to the Round 10 Core Rulebook, I can't help but think about the excitement the world of Zimildran gives me, and I know I have big plans for that book, when I get around to actually finishing it.

One thing I know I want to do is to flesh out the world of Zimildran more than simply what is presented as the roleplaying game. My original plan was to release a series of short stories for digital download, all based around characters in the Zimildran universe. Follow the gunslinger and bounty hunter Erik as he hunts down dangerous carnivorous dinosaurs in the wilds of Ukinda. Learn about the backstory of the Snowmarcher Hrothgar, and how he became an exile of his people. Uncover the mysteries of the druid-like Wardens, and find out what part they play in keeping the Elder Gods at bay.

All of these ideas and more flood to me, yet at the same time I feel like piecemeal fiction, while great, isn't entirely scratching the itch I have for bringing this world to life, and so another idea came to mind.

Rather than releasing something alongside, or just prior to, the Zimildran Module, why not create something original and insert it into the Module itself? Suddenly, ideas for a short comic book, an illustrated story that would grace the first few pages of the Module, complete with beautiful art and a compelling, if short, story, sprang into my head. I love this, although this would mean delaying the Module even further while I save up the money to pay an artist for the additional pieces.

Decisions, decisions. I should really just focus on tightening up and finishing the Core Rulebook, since without that there is no Zimildran Module. But God knows I can't keep my inspirations quiet all the time.