I want to tell you a little story.
Once upon a time Kwickham emailed me and said that he wanted to publish his Aiorskoru game world and that I had blogged about it. He suggested that I could repurpose those blog posts, edit them into standalone documents and put them on RPGnow and maybe make a few Dollars.
So I did.
That got me thinking so I packaged up my professionless and level less RMC rules and put them on RPGNow, there is a link to them on the left here, and I get downloads of those every single week.
In another email exchange Kwickham was telling me about a game he has written and is still developing called ABS12. ABS12 is as simple a system as it is possible to get. There is just a single stat and the entire system runs on 1d12 rolls. This gives 12 possibles all of equal probability, there is no bell curve created by using added dice rolls. My part in the exchange was to describe a game I had often thought about writing but had never committed to paper. In a single email I laid out al the core rules with examples. That game became 3Deep, again see the links on the left.
I make a few Dollars a month from selling these documents on RPGnow and the other OBS sites.
I recently had an idea. I thought I could repurpose some of the blog posts here and create a Rolemaster Fanzine. It would take almost no time to copy ‘n’ paste a selection of blog posts into a word document and a quick editorial pass to resolve links into the actual addresses for people to use. So I did it. I created a RolemasterBlog Monthly as a PDF on RPGnow.
Then I thought PDFs are all very well but if you are reading it on screen you may as well read the same articles on the blog and that way you get all the comments and links too. The blog is a much richer experience in my opinion. Unless you love physical books that is.
So I make a print on demand version. This was the first document I had ever done the complete layout for print on including the cover design.
I have on my desk right now the first proof copy of the first edition of the RolemasterBlog Monthly, the Rolemaster fanzine.
This was a mile stone for me. To have a real physical book. I have noticed a couple of layout problems with the proof but I fixed them last night and I have uploaded the corrected print files.
Despite that, it is lovely and glossy and feels nice. At 36 pages (A5) it is no mammoth tome but then it is only intended to be a fanzine. Everything I learn in producing this I will apply to all future issues and so on.
I honestly hope to have the final print copy on sale (you cannot do free books on RPGnow) within 10 days.
With the actual launch I will announce it first here. If you love the touchy, feely experience from dead trees then I hope you like the RMB Monthly!
That’s a wonderful feeling, seeing something you created or were involved in in print!
It is really cool I admit.
Peter, you’re on a roll this month–I keep waking up and seeing that you’ve already posted something. We are definitely on track to get a blog/day this month!
So the April issue was the content from March? When is the May edition w/April blogs coming out?
In theory they will both be ready in about 7 days but I will stagger them slightly. How about 20th of May?
The April magazine is 36 pages. May’s is 40 pages. *IF* they become typical then we are looking at about 100+ pages each quarter.
I think the fanzine would be a better place for publishing adventures than the blog. The blog is too open. If we published an adventure with a real twist there is always the danger that if a GM uses it that his players will also have read it and the ending get spoiled.
A printed magazine will probably never have the reach of the blog but with adventures that is a good thing.
This is leading me down the “unique content for print only route”. It adds value to the printed book and makes it compliment the blog. It also ties into something you said about outside looking in. The blog is great for proposing alternative rules and such but the monthly could be a great place for publishing playable material such as NPCs, adventures or magic items.
Well lets use the fanzine/print/pdf channel for the 50in50 and we can just comment on the adventure of the day on the blog itself.
And then we’ll do “5 For 50”: 5 adventures for 50th lvl characters. I already have 3 outlined.
I would rather not muck about with the 50 in 50 project right now. As far as I am concerned that is going alone quite nicely. You have many already written up, I am trying to catch up with mine. Edgcltd is going to do the page layout and we are using his resources to produce professional quality products and his customer base to get the maximum reach.
The fanzine is still an acorn and we don’t know what sort of tree it is going to be. Since posting my comment above it occured to me that in the future it would be a great place to publish unofficial RMU professions especially with Hurin’s individual skill costs. GMs are more likelyto keep a book in their game notes than a print out from the blog. For something like a profession that people will need to refer to every time they level up or may consider when creating characters then the more tangible book works well.
Right now I haven’t really settled on what it is best for.
Regarding the 50 in 50 I would say that yes we publish via Azukail Games and then post a really detailed ‘book review’ on the post each day so people know what they would be getting in to. We can then link directly to the product page.