So this is 2018!

I am really excited about 2018. We have a new ‘thing’ to look forward to and that is Nicholas’s Singularity. You should read the Directors Briefing for more.

Since November 2014 I have tried to post every Monday and Friday, sometimes I have missed a day but more frequently we and I have posted much more often. For 2018 I am moving my Friday post to Saturdays. The focus of this Saturday post will be publications. We have the 50 in 50 adventures in conjunction with Azukail Games. These tend to be released on a Saturday. In addition there is the Monthly fanzine which from this month’s issue will have a regular Shadow World section. To start with it will mostly involved serialising Brian’s downloads. I am 99.99% certain that I can twist Brian’s arm to write some new and unique Shadow World content going forward.

The next exciting thing is the new RMU play test game I will be running. I am using RPOL for hosting it. I created the game this week and I will be contacting the players later today to get their usernames so I can add them to the game. I am hoping this will be a rich vein of content for the blog. It has to be the rpg equivalent of “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” It is one thing to be talking about what we think of this or that rule in RMU but to be actually playing it puts our money where our mouth is, so to speak.

So all that remains is for me to wish all of you a great 2018.

9 Replies to “So this is 2018!”

  1. Let’s hope the singularity doesn’t suck all of ICE’s time and resources into it! (Any more than RMU already is doing.)

    1. I think that is the intention. As soon as they have a finished manuscript all resources will be funnelled into RMU to get it to market.

      I have complete faith in JDale to deliver. The real challenge will be in marketing. I really do not know how much marketing experience any of the ICE team have. In addition there is the challenge of formatting and layout. The RPG market these days are all based around single volume games as a core and then expansion companions. Conan (http://bit.ly/ConanCore) for example is a 452 page core book, ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG – Core Book is nearly 700 pages (http://bit.ly/ZweiHander)!

      I have doubts that very many people are going to risk $100+ on a system that has a poor historical reputation.

      RMFRP (http://bit.ly/RMFRP-pdf) was a single volume system so it can be done. I think many more people will be prepared to spend $20-$30 on a single volume RMU just to see what the fuss is about than will spend out on a full set of rules having never played the game.

      1. ZWEIHÄNDER – the RPG that’s Deal of the Day so often I wonder if anyone has paid full price for it.

        You’re right, marketing a complete, multi-book RMU system will be difficult. I hadn’t really considered that many systems these days are single books, even though I won quite a few of them.

        5E and Pathfinder are multi-book systems, yet they aren’t really comparable. Rolemaster no longer has the traction it has in its heyday, where it could possibly go up against D&D systems. Plus, Pathfinder has the Beginner Box – a complete system in a box, even though it lacks what you’d get from the Core Rulebook and Bestiary (which are what you need otherwise, unless you use the web) and 5E has free versions.

        1. When RMU first went into Beta ‘lite’ versions were all the rage, now it is the single book core system. Let’s face it who is going to read the best part of 1000 pages just to write a review for a blog? And without those blog reviews the amount of ‘buzz’ you can create is significantly reduced. It is not just bloggers, but also youtubers, those with significant twitter followers and facebook communities.

          1. Yes, even though I tend to review almost every RPG supplement I read (mostly because why not) I doubt I’d be willing to shell out $100 for a 1,000 page system just to do that. Even though I have read, and then reviewed, some pretty substantial books – Ptolus is probably the biggest to date – that’s still a lot of reading and rule books are much drier and less fun to read than supplements.

              1. It’s not what I’d call a big earner (pennies so far), but it doesn’t really take that long to write a review of a supplement you’ve read, so I think why not do it?

                1. Thinking about things more commercially then reviews without audience is almost pointless. I write for another blog and there when I write about a game or supplement I can drive half a dozen sales through each OBS affiliate link. September was a good month and I only earned $17 in referral commission.

                  1. I have never even earned close to that amount from the affiliate program. I could earn more from the reviews elsewhere, but I was just trying to rapidly create content for a site and wasn’t directly considering them commercially. Awriting a couple of hundred or so, perhaps I should have…

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