1 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,280 Hello and welcome to the Weekly Scroll podcast. 2 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,440 My name is Ryan and today we have a very special guest with 3 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,640 us that is Stuart Watkinson of Lark Shire Press. 4 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,480 How you doing today, Stuart? I'm pretty good. 5 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:26,320 Thanks Ryan. How are you? 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:28,560 Good. Not too bad, you know, tired. 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,200 I think we both are. But we're getting there, you 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:36,280 know, a little colder than you, but but today we have you. 9 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:37,680 Well, let's get to that in a second. 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,320 We we. So we've been following each 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:40,720 other for quite a while. Honestly. 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,280 I think you might have been one of our like first followers like 13 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,800 way, way back in the time. So got to say, we really 14 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,640 appreciate that and we've been following your stuff for quite a 15 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,600 while too. So it's nice to nice to have you 16 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:52,760 on. Yeah. 17 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:53,560 No, that's cool. Yeah. 18 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:55,360 I'm. I'm I'm pretty sure I was one of 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,040 one of the first it's I always was really searching for 20 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,480 podcasts that did things that weren't 5 E so I sort of try and 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:09,600 follow as many of those podcasts as I can and your podcast popped 22 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,120 up and it was doing I I think some of your first reviews were 23 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,240 games that I was playing at the time and stuff like that. 24 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:16,280 So it all just worked really well. 25 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,200 Yeah. Cool. 26 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:19,040 Yeah. Like I said, it's nice. 27 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,560 It's nice to to I never, I never believe someone when they're 28 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:23,440 like, oh, I'm a fan of your show. 29 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,880 It's just I never will. So it's nice to to have someone 30 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,560 on the screen for a while. So Vienna. 31 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:36,120 So for those that might not know who Stuart Watkinson is, who the 32 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,800 heck are you and what are what are some things that people 33 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,760 might might have from you or or seen from you? 34 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,760 Yeah no worries. I'm I'm Stuart. 35 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,560 I'm from Australia. I'm a high school teacher most 36 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:53,040 of the time and a writer and I say game designer, but I I 37 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,040 really like other people's SRDS as opposed to creating my own 38 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,800 mechanics. I like filling in the blanks 39 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,280 with creativity. Something that you might know of 40 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,040 mine is Wretched Wasteland which was the first thing that I did 41 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,400 that wasn't 5. AI have done a number of 5E 42 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:17,640 things through the Dungeon Masters Guild and then in 2020 43 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,880 moved into mostly doing things that are not 5E. 44 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,680 So Richard Wasteland was a Kickstarter last year or the 45 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,320 year before last year. No, the year before in the 46 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,760 middle of the year. And another one might be like, 47 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:33,400 yeah, there you, there you go, you've got both of them. 48 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,920 There you go. Yeah yeah. 49 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:41,320 So that that's so funny thing that that original one, I only 50 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,840 printed twenty of those at my local printer here in I live in 51 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,840 like a small country town. That book that's cost so much 52 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,960 money to print, they were like, I was like, how much for 20? 53 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,520 And they gave me some ridiculous number and I was like, oh okay, 54 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 well, how much for like 500? And they were like the same. 55 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,840 It was exactly the same price per unit. 56 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,560 Oh, you've got them too. Look at you go, dude. 57 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,600 Hey, actually I told you I've been following your stuff as 58 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:07,680 long as you've been following. Yeah. 59 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,440 Well, so. So I've got most, I've got most 60 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:15,080 things, so, so yeah. Yeah, there you go. 61 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,840 So that's Winterbrook. Winterbrook is an adventure 62 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,000 which you can get unexalted. You might know me from that. 63 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:23,520 Actually, forget about those things. 64 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,160 Isn't that funny? And then zombies. 65 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,880 You may know me from zombies, that's I've forgotten the name 66 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,640 of that system. It's called What's So Cool 67 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,440 About? But you're a zombie and you're 68 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,840 defending your ancient temple, and there's all sorts of random 69 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,280 generated characters and stuff you can do in there and try and 70 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,560 defend your temple, which is mainly not really about 71 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,400 defending the temple, it's more about being a weird zombie. 72 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,160 This is I think this has got to be the first thing I got from 73 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:57,160 you and like this as soon as I opened up this I was like all 74 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,840 right this is cool. It's just the giant you're dead 75 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:00,840 page. I loved it. 76 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:02,240 Yeah. It's the the what's so Cool 77 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,600 system from Jared Sinclair. It's just this is I have a lot 78 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,440 of what's so cool. I don't even there's so many 79 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,440 because these super light systems like this lasers and 80 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,360 feelings stuff like that. They're just so easy to make 81 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,360 really cool things. But I got to say, probably my 82 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,200 favorite. Like, I absolutely love this 83 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:20,000 one. So. 84 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:24,920 That was my that was my first. I'd been playing a lot of mock 85 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,680 book if you can't tell by the layout of that thing. 86 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,120 So I that was my first guard, really just playing around with 87 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,840 layout and and and whatnot. I think I wrote that into the 88 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,440 layout. I don't think I had like a a 89 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,120 document with. There is nothing wrong with that 90 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,160 and anyone that says there is is a God damn liar. 91 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:48,720 Exactly. So they're they're the things 92 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:50,880 you might know me from. I'm also, I've also recently 93 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,520 started doing a a a sub stack about game mastering called The 94 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:00,240 Minimalist GM which is just my thoughts about jamming and and 95 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:04,440 what I've been doing lately. So yeah, oh and oh maybe you 96 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,440 might know me from Committee Quest podcast, which was a A5, a 97 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:13,000 actual play podcast that finished in around 2021 maybe, 98 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,400 which we didn't actually get to finish because everyone had 99 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,960 babies so it was just too hard to schedule out. 100 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,800 There you go. Well, I keep my genes in my 101 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,080 genes, but I. Got to keep podcasting, you 102 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:27,240 know? Yeah. 103 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,200 So that's that's where you might know me from. 104 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,760 Gotcha. So one thing you said, you 105 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,200 talked about putting stuff on the GM's Guild, DM, DM, DM's 106 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:44,000 Guild, copyright, DM's Guild, but moved away from that to 107 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,880 start doing your own things. And a lot of your stuff. 108 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,680 I know you did the What's wrong about zombies? 109 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:55,320 Is another SRD and whatnot, but a lot of what you write. 110 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,840 I mean, I know that Wretched Wasteland is obviously wretched 111 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:02,480 and alone from Christmaset, but rot beneath Winterbrook. 112 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,800 It's a system agnostic adventure module. 113 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,320 I know there was Log Dryer Press, which is a or log Dryer 114 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:09,960 which was a system agnostic setting. 115 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:12,360 And then the project we're gonna talk about today, which is 116 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,680 Abbott Trilogy, which is like a system agnostic, like adventure 117 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,320 and setting and things like that for that too. 118 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,080 What I know you just said that you kind of like writing in 119 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,720 other people's stuff more than like making our own mechanics. 120 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,120 But what really pulls you towards doing something that's 121 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:28,760 more assistive, agnostic for adventures? 122 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,560 Is it so that there's more options in the OSR, or just in 123 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:33,560 general something that's just away from 5E? 124 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,000 So firstly, it started as something being away from 5E. 125 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,920 So the thing that I found really challenging and conflicting is 126 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:49,800 writing in the in the Wizards of oh, in the in the Dungeons and 127 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:53,160 Dragons lexicon, and having to use a very particular structure 128 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,040 and having to write things a certain way. 129 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,600 It it just really felt unnatural. 130 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,400 And when and then and then I can't remember what the 131 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,520 adventure was, might be one of Christmas sets. 132 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,320 Christmas sets had had a lot of impact on the things that I've 133 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,440 made which we'll talk about a bit today. 134 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,440 I can't remember where it was but anyway I ran this adventure 135 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:19,840 that had super minimal stuff and I was like this is heaps better. 136 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:21,800 I feel so much more comfortable at the table. 137 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,280 You know I've I've read I've read enough of this adventure to 138 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,480 know it but I I'm not every other encounter. 139 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,640 Returning back to my adventure module to to read through and 140 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:38,400 make sure I've got it right. You know like I I which I for a 141 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,920 bit of background I started D Ming only in 2016 I think 142 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,360 because a local group up here were doing Dungeons and Dragons 143 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,160 Anita DMS and I was like yeah sure I'll do that. 144 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,240 So we're doing adventurous league which for someone 145 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,200 learning were really good because they were really in 146 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:57,680 depth and gave you all the answers. 147 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:03,760 But once I sort of got the hang of things I found them really 148 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:09,880 constraining. So the idea of a system agnostic 149 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,800 adventure just fits better with me and how I like to run things 150 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:15,800 and hopefully how other people like to run things. 151 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,800 Yeah, I kind of came to a little bit late, too. 152 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,600 What's funny, when I was a kid I played a lot of Magic the 153 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:27,760 Gathering and I was reading. I feel like a douchebag when I 154 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,080 say this, but I was reading like higher level fiction to my grade 155 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,080 like pretty early. So my dad would just go to the 156 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,960 library and just pull home like in like 5th, 6th grade. 157 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:38,400 Just all these thick ass TSR books. 158 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,080 And then when I got old enough to kind of like get into that 159 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,880 again or start like I've read all this level of fantasy. 160 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,720 Let me go find these other level of fantasy or this other type of 161 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,640 fantasy. I was like, oh, I've read that 162 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,200 and that and that. And then I got D&D with 163 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,400 Forgotten Realms and I'm like, wait a minute, I've, I've read 164 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,400 all of this. I've read DRIST, I've read 165 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,280 Dragon Lance. I've read like every like like 166 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,080 Dragon Dungeon, the Dragon setting novels without ever 167 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,280 realizing it was a game. I guess I just never looked at 168 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:12,560 the ads in the back or something. 169 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,400 Well. I think that's really weird to 170 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,200 look at and if you don't know what that is, it's a hard thing 171 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,560 to decipher if you're a 10 year old or 12 year old kid. 172 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,640 Oh yeah, so then so when the five EI dropped in 2014, I I 173 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,160 became a a forever GM. So we've been going at it for 174 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:31,240 just a little bit and I felt the same way. 175 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,880 You know, I actually got to the point where I was I I started a 176 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:35,920 meet up because there was nothing in my in my area and it 177 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,560 got like 350 members. We were doing adventurously like 178 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,640 every weekend and everything. And then the pandemic hit, but I 179 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,360 was already kind of feeling exactly like how you were 180 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,360 feeling, where I was just like I I like gyming. 181 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,720 I love playing a game, but like why am I rewriting every 182 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,840 adventure and home brewing pretty much the entire system 183 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:54,440 before it? Kind of like, you know parse 184 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,360 into a different area. So it's it sounds it's kind of a 185 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,640 common, common occurrence with a lot of people, especially 186 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,320 heading into the pandemic being like I have time to do something 187 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,200 else. Yeah that's right. 188 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,600 And when you when you start exploring other other game 189 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,000 systems you're like oh OK this is this this this feels better 190 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,360 with me. This is these are these are 191 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,880 games that are made by people that have been doing D Ming and 192 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,320 and running Dun probably Dungeons and Dragons for a long 193 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,400 time and have and have have stripped those things away to a 194 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,320 bit more. Something a bit more that 195 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:31,600 includes the necessities, as opposed to all the stuff that 5E 196 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,240 has. Yeah, it's just like you said. 197 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:35,560 It's just a restrictive language. 198 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:38,360 I felt like, why is somebody why? 199 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,680 Why is everyone going to Twitter to ask these two dudes like the 200 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,960 insurance and outs of every single individual rule instead 201 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,000 of just being like do whatever you want, like, you know? 202 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,360 And that was kind of impetus. So it's good to hear that I was 203 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,520 not the only one in that. You also want the same way No? 204 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,200 You're. Not you're not alone. 205 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:03,120 So I know I mean you also said we're kind of switch gears a 206 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,840 little bit here. You know you started D Ming in 207 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,720 2016 and now you're doing a the sub stack for D Ming. 208 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,480 What was kind of the the impetus to want to not only be writing a 209 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,880 bunch of stuff but to do a sub stack for for G Ming? 210 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:24,320 I think I just wanted to write down my ideas. 211 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:29,000 I had AI had a really interesting experience in 2021 212 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:34,120 and 2022 where I ran a a W Marches style game and it was 213 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,400 like the best sort of game I've ever played. 214 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,160 It was so the players were so engaged. 215 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,280 The world just came to together really easily. 216 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,680 I did hardly any prep work. Most of the note keeping was 217 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:53,480 done by the players and it just felt like a much more balanced 218 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:58,600 type of gaming In in the past I've ran a lot of games where 219 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:04,520 I'm the the knowledge I I hold all the knowledge of of of the 220 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,760 of the table and it and it quite often would get to the point 221 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,280 where I would have to tell the players all the clues that they 222 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:14,800 have. You know, like these are all the 223 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,520 things that you've done and now you know, you know, like I just 224 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,760 it was really hard and very difficult to get. 225 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,440 So the idea of like building a world and then having characters 226 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,040 play in it and then them not caring about all this law you've 227 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:35,200 created. Whereas with this game that we 228 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:40,520 played, I gave them very minimal law and we only talked about 229 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:44,000 stuff that was interesting for them and they also had a big 230 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,680 share in in what came from that. Like for example they came 231 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:53,600 across this, it was a random table and they came across some 232 00:12:55,640 --> 00:13:00,160 werewolves and wolves and their reaction was standoffish but not 233 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,840 aggressive basically. So through this discussion and 234 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:08,640 some dice rolls they discovered that the they just wanted 235 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,080 knowledge. What the wolves wanted was 236 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:11,760 knowledge and then they could pass through the forest. 237 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,520 So they gave them a map, which I'd never seen a map before. 238 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,920 And so then they had given cartography to the werewolves. 239 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,920 And the werewolves then became like these cartographers because 240 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,160 they knew the land so well and then had never really thought 241 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,240 about. So, like, it was just super 242 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:28,880 cool. Like there's no way I could have 243 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,760 prepped for that to happen. And I sort of just figured, 244 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,480 what's the point of prepping for that to happen? 245 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,960 Like, I've got a loose idea of what what, what, where you're 246 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:38,160 going and what's going to happen. 247 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,280 But all the the deep law comes out in other ways. 248 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:44,760 Yeah. So that that's kind of where 249 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,800 that came from. And also because I mentioned off 250 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,560 there that I've recently had a child and I'm probably not going 251 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:53,720 to play a lot of D&D this year or RPGs this year. 252 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:59,880 And so, yeah, it's just a sort of a therapeutic writing about 253 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:05,920 gaming for the next year or so. Yeah, that's where that came 254 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,800 from. So when you kinda did that pivot 255 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:14,160 from 5E into like different systems and whatnot, was there a 256 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,680 system you specifically like latched onto that you converted 257 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:19,200 into playing? Or was it just like your 258 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,680 variation of 5E? Or what? 259 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:26,240 No, no, we I I came across into the odd when this was before. 260 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:33,800 It is a yeah just listen to the previous last week's episode and 261 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:36,040 that was the discussion about into the odd was excellent. 262 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:43,520 So into the odd became the my go to I I run a a school D&D club 263 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,760 and so an after school club and I said to the kids look I'm 264 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,040 gonna I've taught like we had like 20 kids most of my rule 265 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,000 rules enough to play I said it when IDM when IGM I'm gonna run 266 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,080 into the odd you guys run 5E and so I just started running into 267 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,400 the odd and the kids loved it and I loved it and I really got 268 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,720 into it and from there I found can which I also really got into 269 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:13,440 and then I went back my brother picked well I sent a link to a 270 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,240 sale for dungeon crawl classics to my brother I've got a brother 271 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:20,160 who's about he's 12 years older than me so he like I think he 272 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,040 got the red box when he was 12 or whatever and so he's been a 273 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,520 big D&D guy his whole life and I'm like hey man I think you're 274 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,960 going to like this and he does and he's he's basically bought 275 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:34,720 up anything that was for sale in on land in Australia he's bought 276 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,280 and so that became the other one. 277 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,400 So mainly into the odd can and DCC those. 278 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,000 Are good ones to get into that I wish I would have found earlier. 279 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:48,560 Yeah same. Yeah. 280 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,640 Like into the ad's great. Like I I think it's just such a 281 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:56,960 a a simple fun system and you can and and that's probably also 282 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,760 where the system agnostic stuff came from because to do to do 283 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,120 the stuff in my adventures you don't need a lot of mechanics to 284 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:06,920 move through it. You just you know if if it's 285 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,200 dangerous or something tricky's gonna happen you just roll the 286 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,280 dice and see what happens. Yeah. 287 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,880 Yeah that is what's really nice about the kind of like not gonna 288 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,880 get the OSR or whatever whatever it currently is in the movement 289 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:24,560 now. But all of the kind of like post 290 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:29,800 2008 OSR stuff where outside of like pure OSC style retro clones 291 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,920 like everything just fits. Like Karen is a is a hack of 292 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:35,640 into the odds so it works really well. 293 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,360 But like you literally can do a quick conversion in like 4 294 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,280 lives. It's like if your HD is fours 295 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,840 instead of eights or if you're you know this one doesn't have 296 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,200 it to hit roll or whatever. You can play pretty much 297 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,800 anything across into the odd across Karen across nave across 298 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,360 pretty much all of the the pretty light system. 299 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:57,880 So it's really, it's really nice, system agnostic now is 300 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,000 really nice because exactly like you said, like if I know the 301 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,520 core dice rolls just go off, just do whatever rulings over 302 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,119 rules, et cetera, et cetera. So, mm hmm. 303 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,240 Yeah, yeah. It just works, man. 304 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,200 I just like it and it. Works. 305 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,920 So so the Abbot trilogy, the system agnostic Zine triple 306 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,280 feature you're writing right now for Zine Quest. 307 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,359 What was the why? What are we doing? 308 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,319 Like, what's going on? Just talk to me about the 309 00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:27,960 average trilogy. What are we outside of the 310 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,920 gorgeous covers? Like what? 311 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:31,720 What do we got going on with this? 312 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,000 So these three adventures, two of which were written quite a 313 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,440 while ago, so I did. I wrote one which was originally 314 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:45,560 called Demon's Bane in The Bitter Peak for Adventure Jam by 315 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:51,120 Chris Pisette. And that's that was written as a 316 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,680 5A adventure and I just put it on a website and it was free on 317 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,920 a website and I forgot about it. And then the following year 318 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:06,640 there was another adventure jam by Chris and I did a another 319 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,320 adventure called. I can't remember what it was 320 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:09,000 called now. It was. 321 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,600 It had a abbotsmoor had a much more convoluted name. 322 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,760 It was like the troll priest in the stinky swamp city or 323 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:20,160 something. Like it was a very convoluted 324 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,400 name. I had taken his their, their 325 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,080 adventure name generator Generator. 326 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,320 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where both of the names 327 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:31,920 came from. And I and I sort of tweaked them 328 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,560 and and whatnot. So those two adventures sat 329 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,400 there for two years. And then last year I was 330 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:38,480 chatting with Kirill the artist. But I'm like, hey, I got these 331 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,320 two adventures. I think I might do a Kickstarter 332 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:41,760 to turn them into something else. 333 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,200 And Kirill was like do a, don't do a double feature, do a 334 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,040 trilogy. I was like, oh, OK. 335 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,600 So then I started thinking about a third one, which is still 336 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,680 hollow. And so these three adventures 337 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,320 are going from three separate adventures into, well, two 338 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,880 separate adventures into three linked ones that can sort of run 339 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:08,680 as a as a campaign. And so essentially you you know, 340 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:12,080 it's it's all system agnostic they cover. 341 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:17,240 Abbottsmoor is a swamp setting. Bitter Peak is like a frozen 342 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,120 tundra and then still Hollow is desert. 343 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:25,680 And they all have science fiction and fantasy elements and 344 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,040 more fantasy with a few science fiction elements as opposed to 345 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,640 science fiction with fantasy. I know that doesn't sound like a 346 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,240 big difference, but. Oh, no, it is. 347 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:35,080 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 348 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:35,960 Cool. All right, good. 349 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:38,240 Yeah. I I realized while I was writing 350 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:40,520 this that I don't actually like science fiction with fantasy 351 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:43,120 elements, but I really like fantasy with science fiction on 352 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:44,360 it. So I don't know why that is for 353 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:45,800 me, but that's just where I'm at. 354 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,440 So the three adventures essentially it's and it all 355 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:57,840 centers around a the Abbot who is a a troll priest that lives 356 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,360 in Abbots Mall. Now this going forward, this is 357 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,440 going to be spoiler heavy. I'm just going to talk about 358 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,920 these adventures pretty in well as in depth as we want to go. 359 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:12,320 So if you are a player and you're like, I don't want to 360 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,360 know what happens in these adventures, you can skip forward 361 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:18,400 to when I talk about the Kickstarter so. 362 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,360 My memory is terrible so I won't remember anyway, so I'll I'll be 363 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:23,680 excited later. Good, good. 364 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:26,520 Yeah. So Abbott's more Abbott's more 365 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:28,560 starts in like in media res like you. 366 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:34,600 The the the idea being that so I I've ran RPGSA lot of times for 367 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:38,160 brand new people and whenever I start them in a town, it just 368 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,480 takes forever to get out of the town because they're excited 369 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,320 about going to see the the Candlestick maker or the magic 370 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,760 shop or the Tavern. And so I like starting starting 371 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,760 a new campaign sort of in the exploration location. 372 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,960 So this adventure starts in the swamp, and there are all these 373 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,480 ruins throughout the swamp. It's quite a large space. 374 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,240 It's a hex crew where dice are used to. 375 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,680 You roll the dice onto the map and it randomly generates where 376 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,080 these locations are. And then depending on the number 377 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,880 on the dice, that's how many explorers are in that space. 378 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,280 And explorers are just your generic explorer who are there 379 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,640 doing whatever. They have an impact on that 380 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,000 location. And it's not a very nice place. 381 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,360 You know, there's there's crocodiles and leeches and 382 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:29,040 mosquitoes, and there's something going as you meet more 383 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,880 explorers, you see that they're getting impacted by whatever's 384 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,680 happening here. And there's a few main MPC's 385 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,920 that are the the Abbott's followers who you encounter and 386 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,680 fight. Maybe befriend, perhaps, but 387 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,760 they're not very nice, so they're probably not going to 388 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,400 befriend them. I don't know. 389 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,880 Who knows what they're going to do, And it's so that adventure 390 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,600 uses. What was it called? 391 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,320 I wrote about it the other day. So for that adventure jam, it 392 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:05,480 was about including this list of stuff that was written into at 393 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:10,600 the start of one of the original D&D adventures. 394 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,560 So here we go, Sorry I'm reading from something. 395 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:22,040 Now for the rules outlined for dungeons in a classic Dean Dean 396 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,360 module. B1 Search for the Unknown by 397 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:30,400 Mike Carr. And so there are 120478910 398 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:35,000 things in there that and then these include one way secret 399 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,960 doors, illusions and magic mouths, a wind corridor, a room 400 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:44,240 of doors, a water pit trap, all these sorts of things. 401 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,440 And so it was kind of creating this was like I found these I'm 402 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,720 using Dyson Logos's collection of apps and they're they're then 403 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:58,600 they were originally like Lich crypt mounds, but they're now 404 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,000 spread out in this swamp and each one sort of aligns with 405 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,640 that. I don't think I get all of them, 406 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,520 but I think I get most of them. I'm sort of going through them 407 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,360 at the moment. And so there's some pretty harsh 408 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:14,280 stuff in there like you know, the magic mouth, which you know 409 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,280 is a thing that in in, you know, you disappear from. 410 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:22,560 I've got three of them instead of one, but those two of them 411 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:23,920 lead to the other two adventures. 412 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:29,320 So you might jump into a desert or you might jump into a a 413 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:30,800 frozen cave or something like that. 414 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,160 So yeah, Abbott's more as a hex crawl through a swamp and 415 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:41,200 culminating in the monastery where you find a group of rat 416 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,600 folk who worship and help the Abbot. 417 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,080 And then you meet the Abbot. And then Abbot is a powerful and 418 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:56,640 strange and sort of menacing troll that has found this 419 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,480 ancient God and is working on something that they're not 420 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,160 telling you about. And they want you and your your 421 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,920 party to go out into the world and find things because none of 422 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,320 his followers are brave enough to leave the swamp. 423 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:12,560 And the thing that's happening throughout this is you're 424 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,600 finding all this weird science fiction stuff. 425 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,640 Like there's there's some, there's a laser gun in there, 426 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:22,760 there's teleportation devices, there's all of this high tech 427 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,320 stuff in these ancient ruins that the the characters are 428 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:26,960 finding. And then and then there's the 429 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,440 Abbott who's got this other strange God that they worship. 430 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,240 So that's that's Abbottsmoor. Now Abbottsmoor could actually 431 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,120 be played on its own, It's just a one shot. 432 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,400 You go and you fight the fight, the Abbot. 433 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,480 That's the end of the show. However, if you choose to take 434 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,280 on the quest that he has, he leads you on then to Bitter 435 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:51,560 Peak. And Bitter Peak is originally 436 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,120 had started with A Town and it had like this whole storyline 437 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:58,680 about a a missing dwarf and it was written for 5E. 438 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:03,520 So like they had like this all this 5E stuff that you sort of a 439 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,080 standard in 5B adventures to have X amount of hooks and a 440 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,040 certain reason and a storyline that's happening. 441 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:16,920 And just today actually I have gone through that and pulled all 442 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,400 that out and have changed that completely. 443 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,520 Oh sorry, did you did you say you have like the the artwork 444 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,360 there? Is that a thing that you have 445 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,120 available? Is that does that play through? 446 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:31,520 Yeah, cool. I do. 447 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,480 Yeah. So there was one and then we 448 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,600 our, our one of our Co hosts, Hunter did not make it. 449 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,920 So this new one isn't. But I will. 450 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,520 I'll pull that up and we'll throw that up on stream here. 451 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:43,920 Real. Quick. 452 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,440 Yeah, cool. So while Abbot's more is like, 453 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,800 it's dangerous, but it's not really a survival thing, you 454 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:53,440 know? Like, each hex is only about 455 00:25:53,440 --> 00:26:00,320 four hours to move through. It's it's just more dangerous 456 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:04,600 than exploring weird things. Bitter Peak changes into a bit 457 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:09,080 more of a survival, surviving in the in the in the cold wasteland 458 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,640 trying to get to the bitter peak which is a mountain. 459 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:22,640 Make that a little smaller. And there. 460 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,160 We go. I'm just gonna hide me and you 461 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,360 can talk about Abbots more. Cool. 462 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,720 The art on these, I do have to say, is absolutely astounding. 463 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:39,280 Yeah, yeah. So Bitter Peak was actually a 464 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:44,760 piece that was done along like two years ago when I wrote that 465 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:51,160 adventure by Kiril Chengov, who is an artist in Europe, in 466 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,640 Belgium, who also did the artwork for the interior artwork 467 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:59,120 for Wretched Wasteland. And they I was like, look, I 468 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,080 want simple colors, This is what is included. 469 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,720 And there's those 33 adventurers in the tundra and it was awesome 470 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,560 and I loved it. And I had this artwork just 471 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,760 sitting there doing nothing because I didn't actually do 472 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,200 anything with that adventure. So when we decided to put them 473 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,480 all together, Carol was like, well, what if the three 474 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,640 adventurers are on all three covers? 475 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,760 And And then I was like, yes, and what if those adventurers 476 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,000 are a rival party in your, you know, throughout these 477 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,040 adventures? So in Abbotsmoor, there's 478 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:35,600 there's like evidence of other adventuring parties, not just 479 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,200 like the explorers, but there's evidence of other adventurers 480 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,560 that had been there. And, you know, really, there's 481 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,480 not enough to really go on. You can just tell that hey, 482 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,840 someone's been through this really specifically, and then a 483 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,880 couple of the other NPCS drop hints about the other, the other 484 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,240 worthy group that came through. And then the Abbott says 485 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,440 something as well. So you get this idea that 486 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,080 there's there's these three, there's another adventuring 487 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,600 party in Bitter Peak, Bitter Peak. 488 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,840 There's a chance to do a random encounter with them, but you 489 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:08,240 don't necessarily meet them. And then in still hollow there 490 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,160 at the town when you get to the town. 491 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:17,040 So I decided to remove the town from Bitter Peak just because 492 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,800 that it sort of ended up having like still Hollow and bit of 493 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,760 paper, both town exploration and boss thing. 494 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,000 And so instead of that there's just like this. 495 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,840 I don't know if you've been hiking, but sometimes when you 496 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,680 go hiking on your way out you you there's like these huts that 497 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:40,280 are set up for for for like for hikers to stay in and you can go 498 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,480 and stay in them overnight and sometimes they're free. 499 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,520 There's a lot of them in New Zealand and I think I think in 500 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,160 Canada we did it as well. But you stay in them and they're 501 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,880 just sort of simple huts. And so now at the start of 502 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,440 Bitter Peak you're you're like it starts, you're in this Hut 503 00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,960 and there's these other people that are also heading out into 504 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,240 into the waste to do exploring or passing through or whatever. 505 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,000 And then you go out into the frozen tundra and it's pretty 506 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,680 awful. There's you know, there's Yetis 507 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:19,760 and and frost giants and ice Dragons and not very nice stuff. 508 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,920 And eventually coming to the bitter Peak where the Demon's 509 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,160 Bane is and the Demon's Bane is. All these rumors talking about 510 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:32,280 Demon's Bane being a sword that is used to kill, kill demons and 511 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,520 and defend the realm. But when you get to the top of 512 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,040 the the Bitter peak, it's actually a person who's got a 513 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,960 job and they're like, hey you're here to replace me. 514 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,440 Cool. So who's staying. 515 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,320 And so that's kind of the ultimatum that's given to the to 516 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:54,680 the party and the yeah, there's a few things that are that are 517 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,520 connected to the quest as well. And then comes still hollow now 518 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,040 still hollow is the is the the desert adventure which rumors 519 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:07,960 say there is a a God that is trapped underneath the sand out 520 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,000 in the deep desert. And the God is the the reason 521 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,200 why the desert is strange and ever changing. 522 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:19,920 So the party start in a town called Maps Edge which is, as 523 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:21,520 the name suggests on the edge of the map. 524 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:27,000 And it has. This is where you finally meet 525 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:31,200 the the rival adventuring party who have exactly the same goal 526 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,240 as you. And there's there's the idea 527 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,640 with this adventure is that whilst the other two have been a 528 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,800 lot of doing and and moving through things and exploring and 529 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:47,160 and whatnot, this gives a bit of time in town to meet, hang out 530 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:52,720 in a Tavern to to meet other MPCS more more MPCS to have a 531 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,920 bit of respite before heading out into the desert to try and 532 00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:04,040 find the God. And I I watched a lot of June 533 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,760 when I was growing up, the movie June Dune. 534 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:13,200 And so there's a lot of that influence in this adventure. 535 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,600 There's there's sand worms and there's there's giants, 536 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:23,600 dragonfly things that you can fly on and other sand density 537 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,200 related things. However coming to the end where 538 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:31,400 where you you come to this half covered ruin when opening the 539 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:36,600 door you enter essentially an elevator like a a modern day 540 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,320 elevator and there is a very long period as you're descending 541 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:48,200 into the into the earth and the it's sort of a because it's just 542 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,600 a room and I didn't really want that to be like hey you're 543 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:55,360 sitting in a room and now and now you're at the end that's got 544 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,720 a heap of like social interaction questions and 545 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:03,880 reflection questions for GMs and players to ask each other about 546 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:05,120 where they're at and what they've been doing. 547 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,320 Because throughout these three adventure adventures they've 548 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,400 seen some pretty unusual stuff. Now some of them will be 549 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,680 carrying science fiction weapons some of them will have magic 550 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,360 items well what I think are magic items but actually pieces 551 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,560 of technology. So it's just a bit of a a bit of 552 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:25,360 downtime after some desert exploring before they they go 553 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:31,680 into to meet the the God the God who is trapped at the end and 554 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:40,320 the God is essentially a computer an AI from an ancient 555 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:47,440 science fiction civilization and that's where the the I'm I'm 556 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:49,280 sort of I'm actually still writing this bit so I'm not too 557 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,800 sure whether that's going to be a a full on social encounter or 558 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,200 if that's going to have a a combat element or if there's 559 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,720 going to be like a a bit of a puzzle there I don't really know 560 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,600 but it's an AI and you know this a lot of this came out of my 561 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,400 just my thoughts on on AI at the moment and how it's sort of 562 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:13,360 becoming a everyone's marketing everything as being AI. 563 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,520 And I'm like, well, two years ago you wouldn't have said it 564 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,200 was AI, you would have said you had new technology. 565 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,040 But now AI is this buzzword. It's just. 566 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:26,880 Buzzwords cuz it's not AI, it's just a slightly better like yes 567 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,240 no like algorithm which cracks me. 568 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:30,600 Up. Yeah, yeah. 569 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:35,760 And there's a lot of discussion online about AI and writing and 570 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:41,280 art and how. No, it's just how, like, I'll be 571 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,240 honest and sorry for anyone that loves AI, but how awful it is 572 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,840 that that instead of using a, you know, instead of using 573 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,520 technology to assist us in our mundane things, people are using 574 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:57,320 it to take away our soul. You know, like the thing that 575 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,720 makes us human. Like people don't do art because 576 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,200 they just want to make money. They do art because they want to 577 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,400 express themselves. But it's why people write words 578 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,400 like that's anyway. No, I think that. 579 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,320 I think. That's it real quick and say I'm 580 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,639 not sorry. If you love AI, you can go fuck 581 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:15,159 yourself. OK, cool. 582 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:16,719 Yeah. Good. 583 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:23,360 Yeah, it's really in my work, like, as a teacher, the idea of 584 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,840 AI comes up all the time. And I'm just like, why are we? 585 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,120 Yeah. Anyway, it's I think until. 586 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,000 Yeah, I'm not gonna get into that. 587 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,840 That's where I'm at and that's where I'm at mentally with what 588 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,360 are we going to do with this AI machine that they find at the 589 00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:43,199 underneath the desert. And that's essentially the the, 590 00:34:43,199 --> 00:34:47,000 the, the story parts that that come up in in those three 591 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,920 adventures. However, there's a lot there 592 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,679 that's random and there's a lot of encounters that are random. 593 00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:56,000 There's a lot of interactions that'll be random depending on 594 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:01,400 on what carry, what the party are carrying, what what items 595 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,360 they have, what people they've interacted with. 596 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,840 Yeah, you know, that's one thing that I really loved from the old 597 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,880 Fallout games is that if you rolled into a town wearing a 598 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,440 certain thing, or if you had a certain item or if you had a 599 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,440 certain person with you, that would impact the reactions that 600 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,160 happen when you get there. So that's that's stuff that at 601 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,920 the moment and today and and this week especially is the fun 602 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:29,280 thing I get to do is I'm taking these three adventures that were 603 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:33,360 essentially on their own and weaving them all together and 604 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:35,640 finding all the connective tissue that puts them together 605 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:40,840 and and and like it's actually today was pretty cool. 606 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,920 I had like three Word documents open and as I was going through 607 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,600 one and writing something else then adding a bit to the third 608 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,240 one and so it's been a fun writing day today. 609 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:56,320 Yeah. So that's the adventure sounds. 610 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:57,320 Awesome. I love this. 611 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,040 I, I, I know there's a word for it. 612 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,360 I mean if it's science, fantasy or whatever, but I my personal 613 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,520 vernacular, I always call it Future Past. 614 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:15,320 Where like we're so far in the future but we keep in like keep 615 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,000 in like running into these objects of the past. 616 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:22,720 But we're in this like less technologically advanced feature 617 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,720 and keep running into more technologically advanced pieces 618 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:29,120 of the past. And then people, like, people 619 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,160 can read that, right? You can read Gene Wolf and be 620 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,440 like, oh, clearly that is this like advanced piece of like 621 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,320 science fantasy. But somehow our our brains right 622 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,520 now can't go man. Maybe people were good at math 623 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,160 and could build the pyramids. You know, like, you know, sort. 624 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,120 Of Yeah. Exactly right. 625 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,760 But I, I, I love those elements. There are, there are some really 626 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,400 great more spoilers, just some really great fantasy books that 627 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,320 I really enjoy like that. Like the Broken Empire series 628 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,320 from Mark Lawrence does it. Like I said, Gene Wolf does a 629 00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,480 lot of that. You're like, you know, hundreds 630 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:03,600 of pages and you're like, oh wait a minute, maybe that's like 631 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,320 maybe that's us like way in the future and our technology is 632 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,400 these giant things they keep running into. 633 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,200 So I really, really enjoy that style of fiction. 634 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,480 So it sounds great, like this. This sounds really neat. 635 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:15,600 I'm excited for the computer at the end of what you decide to 636 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,160 do. Maybe it's just yes, no 637 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,320 generators in combat or or social encounter puzzles, all 638 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,120 determined by the way that you interact with the the interface. 639 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,480 But. Yeah, it sounds really tracking 640 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,560 you the whole time. Like the end of an RPG where you 641 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:33,480 get the story spat out you based on what all your choices were. 642 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,320 When Neo meets the Architect, you get to be that I have seen 643 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,400 all the screens, you know. Yeah. 644 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:43,760 That's super neat. Super excited for that. 645 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,680 So that was a question that's like one of the two questions I 646 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,520 wrote down as we were going. I also wrote Gene Wolf, which 647 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:54,440 got to talk about him enough. How much is written and you just 648 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,920 kind of answer that it sounds like one was written a while 649 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:59,400 ago, the bulk of one is done and you're just kind of getting 650 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,320 towards the ending of the other and then just kind of making 651 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,320 through lines or? So two of them are completely 652 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,920 written and I am just doing an editing phase and that's like 653 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,600 adding bits and pieces that make them fit. 654 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,680 And then the last one is almost finished. 655 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:19,480 Actually I've done everything except for the AI machine, which 656 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,520 and basically just because I'm at a bit of a roadblock there. 657 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,360 And my thinking was that if I go back to the other two adventures 658 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:33,040 and see all the little bits that I've already added, that might 659 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:37,160 spark something there. And I think, I think I do know 660 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,200 what I'm going to do already, but I just haven't put it down 661 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:41,400 yet. So the writing, the writing's 662 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,840 basically done, except for the last major encounter and some 663 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,160 connective stuff, which though, the connective stuff, I'll 664 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,880 actually finish this week. I've got a couple of days up my 665 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:55,120 sleeve, which is good. And then yeah, it's just artwork 666 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,920 and layout, which is, which is essentially what the Kickstarter 667 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,160 is for. So the Kickstarter is about get, 668 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:05,040 you know, paying, paying Carol to do art, and then me putting 669 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,840 the layout together. That's great. 670 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,400 I mean, that's where. So as someone who's backed quite 671 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:16,000 a few Kickstarters, one or two or three or four or 500, it's 672 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,800 really great when people have at least most of the writing done. 673 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,720 Like the number of people I've seen get burnt out and basically 674 00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:28,600 just be like, I can't do this anymore because they wrote a 675 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:30,880 premise or maybe it's a beginning part and then life 676 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,160 happens and it puts them behind and all this other stuff. 677 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,600 Like if if everything that you can do is done, which is most of 678 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,720 the writing, and you can just be like, I'm just waiting for 679 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:43,080 layout and art, that's a Kickstarter that I'm much more 680 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:44,960 likely to back. So it's really great that that's 681 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:50,040 where you're at because once you give it to professionals who do 682 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:52,200 the layout and the art and that's what they do, then 683 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,200 they'll get it done and give it to you and then you get the 684 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,440 project, so. Exactly right. 685 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,240 And I've been in the same, the same spot, and I I personally 686 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:03,160 probably wouldn't unless there was something huge. 687 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,440 I probably wouldn't go to Kickstarter if I hadn't had most 688 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,040 of the writing done. I don't I I've said before that 689 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,560 Kickstarter, when you Kickstart something, you're sort of paying 690 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:18,560 for a promise. And you know, the promise is 691 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,880 that there'll be 3 adventures with art and I will have my my 692 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,320 side that I need to do is the writing. 693 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,400 And that'll be done before the Kickstarter launches. 694 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,200 But I've, you know I've worked with Kira before and and they're 695 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,320 just excellent. So we've got, we've given 696 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,680 ourselves enough time to sort of work through that. 697 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:39,320 So yeah, that'll be, that'll be cool. 698 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,400 So good, good segue into the Kickstarter. 699 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,080 So what's what's, what's the deal with the Kickstarter? 700 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,440 So first of all, what what are the dates of the Kickstarter? 701 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:52,920 When is this actually going to be going through? 702 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,520 And it's for Zenquest. It is for Zenquest, so it's 703 00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:01,320 gonna go 1st of February and for 21 days, so three weeks flat, 704 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:06,160 which is I think that Thursday to Thursday pretty much and 705 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:10,000 well, Thursday, yeah, I think it's Thursday to Thursday, so 706 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:13,400 three weeks. We're looking for two and a half 707 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:20,360 $1000 which is Australian dollars to cover artwork, layout 708 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:23,120 and printing. Shipping will be on top of that 709 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,800 and shipping at the moment is either gonna go through come out 710 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,760 of Australia cuz that what I've noticed is that Australian 711 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,240 shipping's better than like cheaper, sorry not better 712 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:37,400 cheaper. However if this is really 713 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,040 successful I've spoken to a few other parties to be like hey if 714 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:43,560 you're in America would you be able to do the the the 715 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,920 distribution in America and could you be able to do the 716 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,560 distribution in in Europe? Based on my last Kickstarters 717 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,440 those two spaces were the were the largest. 718 00:41:52,760 --> 00:42:01,720 So we'll see where that where that lands and I yeah so that's 719 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:05,320 when that's starting. We've got a few tiers we're not 720 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,960 going crazy with the with the with the reward tiers there so 721 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:14,480 you'll be able to buy just one. Now all these prices are, I'll 722 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,800 give you both actually cuz I'm I've done everything in 723 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:19,960 Australian. But so if you wanted to get just 724 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:24,880 one PDF of one of these, it's $8 Australian which is about $5.30 725 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,840 US. And then that's just one 726 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,760 adventure in the probably use back a kit or something and 727 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:33,520 you'll be able to pick which one you want to do then. 728 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:39,120 And then if you wanted to get all three adventures in 729 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:47,480 digitally that's $15 which is about 12 dollars, $10 US. 730 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,920 That's a steal right there. Yeah, yeah. 731 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,280 Well, my my thinking is that if you support at the Kickstarter, 732 00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:59,160 you are your ground level. You're making this thing happen 733 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:04,000 and then and and and because of the people who back this, it 734 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:05,800 becomes something that other people can buy. 735 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,520 So these prices don't stay the same when they when they leave 736 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,720 Kickstarter. They got not a lot, but they go 737 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:19,800 up a little bit and then we have Oh no, sorry, I've got that 738 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:20,720 wrong. Learn adventure. 739 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:28,080 That's one that is one print for 15 AU. 740 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:34,680 All three PDFs is $21.00 Australian, which is $14.00 US 741 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:36,800 for all three adventures. So still, pretty good still. 742 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:38,800 Pretty good. Yeah. 743 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:40,720 And then we're going to have an early bird price called the 744 00:43:40,720 --> 00:43:48,280 scoundrel, which is $36. This is for this is $36 for the 745 00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:53,720 three printed zines and PDFs, which works out to about $24.00 746 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:55,520 US. So it's very, very cheap for 747 00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:58,560 that early bird. OK, but there's only seventy of 748 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,800 those. And then the full price is 749 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:08,160 $42.00 for all three, which is just under $30.00 US for all 750 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:11,920 three. Printed and digital, but not 751 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,200 including shipping. And that's so and then we'll 752 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:22,320 also have a we have also set up a gaming store retail tier where 753 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:26,200 you can get 4 copies of each for about 120. 754 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:33,960 So yeah, keeping it simple, we do have a couple of, we do have 755 00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:38,040 a couple of stretch goals. We're not going too crazy. 756 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:44,200 I have seen a number of kick starters get inundated with you 757 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,720 know they they they get you know like some people have their 758 00:44:47,720 --> 00:44:49,720 experience they've got their stuff sorted they're all ready 759 00:44:49,720 --> 00:44:54,280 to go. Whereas others have been like, 760 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,000 Oh yeah, we've got this stretch core now. 761 00:44:56,240 --> 00:44:58,840 Now we're, you know, we're floundering and I I really wanna 762 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:03,080 sort of have this out printed, delivered before the end of the 763 00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:08,000 year. So the first stretch goal is for 764 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,600 an overland travel pamphlet. So this is using some of my own 765 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,160 sort of simple rules and random encounters traveling between 766 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:19,640 these locations and it's just like an A5 folding pamphlet that 767 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,520 has all the transportation stuff there. 768 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:26,360 And then the next one is a a world map that Carol's gonna 769 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:29,360 make that includes those three locations. 770 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,560 It also includes Larkshire and Winterbrook from my other 771 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:38,160 adventures on that map. And then some unnamed places 772 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:42,000 that you you know as you're playing can can name them with 773 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:45,640 your with your table. And then from there it's just a 774 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:47,560 revenue split. So once we've we've paid for 775 00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:51,200 everything the revenue split will go between myself and and 776 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,400 Carol. And most of my revenue from this 777 00:45:54,400 --> 00:46:00,560 will be going into Live Shire Press which is you know creating 778 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:06,400 more stuff over the next year. With the idea being that you 779 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,960 know, over this year all my writing will be going to some a 780 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:14,120 a new project and the the layout and distribution stuff will 781 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:21,400 finish off this Kickstarter. That's such a great layout for a 782 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:23,160 Kickstarter right there. Cuz I know you've Kickstarter 783 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,920 projects before, cuz I do. I do have this guy right here. 784 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:37,000 The the the wretched wasteland with the bookmark and But to 785 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,160 have something that is, I mean incredibly, reasonably priced 786 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:43,120 like that's crazy, and I have read your writing before it is 787 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,280 fantastic. So I highly, highly recommend 788 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,480 grabbing pretty much anything that large our press puts out 789 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:49,400 from now on. Not pretty much all of it. 790 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:53,520 It's great, but that's extremely reasonable price. 791 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,680 I mean, if it does ship out of Australia it will be slightly 792 00:46:56,680 --> 00:46:59,160 pricey. I have bought stuff from 793 00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:02,400 Australia before, but even then it's going to be a lot less than 794 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:03,520 you would think for a lot of stuff. 795 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:06,120 So not only is it reasonably priced, like the stretch goals 796 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,840 are incredibly you're not having to do another scene, which means 797 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:11,400 you don't have to talk to printers as much. 798 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:13,200 Again, like doing a pamphlets. Not too bad. 799 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:17,320 The world map sounds fantastic. So reasonable stretch goals, 800 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:20,920 reasonable funding goal, pretty straightforward. 801 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:25,320 Possible distribution. I mean that it's like you said, 802 00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:28,600 so many people can get bogged down and like having 10 stretch 803 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:29,840 goals. Now they have to get two more 804 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:31,360 writers. They have, they basically have 805 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:34,000 to write as much as they wrote the first time or they had dice 806 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,720 or they had this or that. Like it's really, it's really 807 00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:41,000 good to hear that you have an incredibly reasonably, like 808 00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:45,440 fundable, attainable, deliverable goal that's almost 809 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:47,640 completely written with fantastic art already. 810 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:49,840 So this is, these are the Kickstarter's where I'm like, 811 00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:52,200 yes, I'm going to actually get this and it's not going to be 3 812 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:53,760 years and it's going to be good, you know? 813 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:57,200 Yeah well that's I mean and I I totally understand how it 814 00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:01,040 happens even even Rich Wasteland was was probably two or three 815 00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:05,680 months later than than what I had anticipated but that's just 816 00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:09,720 how how the cookie crumbles and and you know on the shipping 817 00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:13,280 like that's going to be we'll see how that goes it it's sort 818 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:18,640 of at the moment it's like at at current prices and that's the 819 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,400 other thing like if if something horrible happens with Australian 820 00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:25,480 shipping and and we the prices get out of control I'm obviously 821 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:29,360 not going to continue with that but at the moment it's about 13 822 00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:34,800 to $18.00 US depending on on weights of things. 823 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:40,440 So you know, that's just the world we live in unfortunately 824 00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,480 at the moment is that shipping costs money and far more than 825 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:48,200 than it ever did before, which it's just really, it's really, 826 00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:51,440 really disappointing that that's we're still in this space where 827 00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:54,560 shipping around the world is so expensive. 828 00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:57,200 Yeah it's just it's getting worse and worse. 829 00:48:57,200 --> 00:48:59,360 You know. I mean yeah it's getting from I 830 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:02,800 was talking with who was I talking with Alex T from 831 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:06,400 Blackout just about how crazy And and you know cuz they do a 832 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:08,640 lot of Kickstarter stuff but end up putting a lot of stuff on 833 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:11,720 print on demand because it's cheaper to just get print on 834 00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:14,680 demand using the Europe store or the American store then 835 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,640 sometimes to ship a whole pallet across and and the shipping 836 00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:21,600 thing is just a concern for out of Europe when England you know 837 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:25,560 kind of did their whole Brexit thing and and whatnot like just 838 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:28,440 things got crazy. What boat crashes and things are 839 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:30,880 ruined forever, you know? I know, isn't it wild? 840 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,200 Yeah, it just it just shows how fragile everything is. 841 00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:37,520 But look, that's so. Reasonable I mean $13 plus the 842 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:41,400 the total cost of the zines in general is still a great price 843 00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:44,600 you know comparatively to you know because I would pay easily 844 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:49,120 that much for for three like tied together adventures and you 845 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:51,400 can be playing that for months and months and months you know 846 00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:53,920 so that's that's really realistically, I mean even with 847 00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:57,200 13-8 dollars shipping or if it's more than that incredibly 848 00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:59,120 reasonably priced. So you know. 849 00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:03,200 Well what what I found was that the the the cost of the cost of 850 00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:07,360 printing in Australia it's is cheaper than because with 851 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:09,640 Richard Weiseland I had initially thought that I would 852 00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:13,120 get it all printed in England and then sent because that was 853 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:16,520 distributed through Soul Muppet and then sent there but it was 854 00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:21,200 at it was like and some of it I did do like I I suddenly did a 855 00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,880 split on that and I I printed some here but the printing that 856 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:27,760 I did here was was was cheaper than the the the printing in in 857 00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:34,480 in England so like it's and and it's still it's still pretty 858 00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,920 much at the same price So when I did all the costing for this I 859 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:41,920 was like Oh no this is still pretty good and you know we'll 860 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:43,800 but you know we'll see we'll see how we go. 861 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:46,640 I'm pretty I'm pretty happy with this with this collection of 862 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:48,520 adventures. I'm really happy with Carol's 863 00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:52,400 artwork. Like those three pieces are just 864 00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:57,320 they they're like because they're they're different colors 865 00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:01,280 they they're clearly different but they are they're just they 866 00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:06,080 just linked together so well and and that being and just those 867 00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:10,840 images being the catalyst for having this idea of a of a rival 868 00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,640 adventuring party was really cool. 869 00:51:13,640 --> 00:51:17,400 It's really cool. Yeah, it's they're gorgeous 870 00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,600 pieces. I mean, they're all over your 871 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:21,600 Twitter page as well. They're all over Kirill's page 872 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,240 as well. There's they're fantastic. 873 00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:28,840 And yeah, the the, the three different color things in one of 874 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,200 the promo images, I haven't put it up, but one of the ones you 875 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:34,120 sent me, there's like the the fetid, the frozen and the 876 00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:36,320 Fickle. Those are that's great tag lines 877 00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:38,680 for like the fetid swamp, the frozen tundra and like the 878 00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:40,760 fickle desert. That's fantastic. 879 00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:42,720 I mean, there's really great tie insurance. 880 00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:45,520 And realistically, I mean as far as like Adventure Locations, 881 00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:50,040 those are such fantastic vibey places to be when you have the 882 00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:53,960 the swamp, the Frozen Peak and then the desert. 883 00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,160 There's really great takes across all of that. 884 00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:58,720 So I mean, again, the project sounds great. 885 00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:01,880 Now that I got spoiled for the story, it sounds even better. 886 00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:04,800 So really sorry for this one. Excited to get it. 887 00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:07,600 Yeah. Cool, cool, cool, cool. 888 00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:08,160 Yeah. Thank you. 889 00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:12,920 I'm really excited. And the story that I've talked 890 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:16,920 about is only what is only part of the elements that are in 891 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:18,680 there. There's so much more that that 892 00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:21,680 could happen and your story might not play out that way 893 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,040 because that's. How that's. 894 00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:27,040 Not 5E. That's how gaming goes. 895 00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:30,800 That's exactly right. That's exactly right, Yeah. 896 00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:36,640 Yeah, cool. So, so yeah, I mean for Large 897 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:40,200 Cherry Press going forward from here, I know you said that a lot 898 00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:41,760 of what's gonna come from the Avat Trilogy. 899 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:43,640 Anything extra is gonna be funding towards putting out 900 00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:46,080 other stuff. Do you have things on the 901 00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:50,120 horizon past Avat Trilogy, or are you kind of focusing mostly 902 00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:52,480 on that right now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 903 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:54,320 I'm always tinkering at something. 904 00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:58,320 Last year I spent a lot of the year coming up with my own game 905 00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:02,720 that uses Mark of the Odd into the odd game which is post a 906 00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:08,040 science fiction or a science fantasy post apocalyptic game. 907 00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:12,080 And then we played a lot of that and it and it really turned more 908 00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:15,200 into a skirmish game as we played with like a bit of 909 00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:19,520 role-playing. So I'm I'm, I don't know where 910 00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:21,680 that's gonna go. I don't know if that's gonna get 911 00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:24,440 stripped down and become a bit of a little mini skirmish game. 912 00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:28,360 We we played a lot of The Lord of the Rings battle companies 913 00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:31,280 last year and that that had a clearly had an impact on my 914 00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:34,800 writing cuz I was like Oh yeah look I'm just making Lord of the 915 00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:41,080 Rings rules here for my game but and then so that's that's a 916 00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:43,160 thing I think that's probably gonna get stripped down and 917 00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:49,240 become like an into the odds skirmish game and then and then 918 00:53:49,240 --> 00:53:52,360 the other bits in there that are taken from that are gonna go 919 00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:58,520 into a solo or Co-op game using a different system in the same 920 00:53:58,520 --> 00:54:01,160 world I think. But we'll just see where that 921 00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:02,360 goes. I sort of haven't. 922 00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:04,760 I've let that sit for a bit through the last three months 923 00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:09,200 I've been focusing on on this project and and yeah so that's 924 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:11,280 that's probably what's gonna come in and and and I'm also 925 00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:14,120 doing fiction writing so there'll be there'll be some 926 00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:17,400 fiction coming out this year from like shy press as well 927 00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:21,240 nice. And then more more blog posts 928 00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:25,120 about GMA games and. Yeah, yeah, blog posts will be 929 00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:28,560 coming weekly or fortnightly depending on my week and my 930 00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:34,240 fortnight and and then I think the there'll be a game design 931 00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:36,960 like regular game design posts as well. 932 00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:40,320 I usually whenever I do a big thing with a with a a game or a 933 00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,680 system that I've been working on I'll I'll usually do a blog post 934 00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:44,240 as well which get on the website. 935 00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:48,920 Yeah. So like Sharp Press is is it 936 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:50,440 actually And you like shot just for those. 937 00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,160 Anyone that's been following me may have noticed that I've 938 00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:55,760 changed from Stuart Watkinson on everything to like sharp press 939 00:54:55,760 --> 00:55:01,200 and that was like a that's a really weird relieving thing. 940 00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:02,960 I was like, Oh yeah, no, look I really wanna. 941 00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:05,200 I think I wanna put things under something else that isn't my 942 00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:06,880 name. And then I I did all of that and 943 00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:11,200 I was like, it's not me anymore. It's this, it's this, it's this 944 00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:13,080 thing. And then it was really quite a a 945 00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:18,320 good feeling to to take myself out of the limelight. 946 00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:21,400 So whilst the website isstillstewartwalkinson.com that 947 00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:25,400 will change to like Shire dot press soon but everything will 948 00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:27,640 be linked so that it all goes to the same spot. 949 00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:31,920 Well, and Speaking of stewartwalkinson.com log, try 950 00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:35,200 press all of that, your sub stack, everything. 951 00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:38,600 Where can people find all of what you currently have now and 952 00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:40,120 where they'll be able to find it in the future? 953 00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:43,040 Yeah so the best spot is the website cuz that links to 954 00:55:43,040 --> 00:55:44,920 everything. But if you search for the large 955 00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:47,880 Shire press on each you'll find me there. 956 00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:52,840 If you search for me on threads or Instagram or Twitter or 957 00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:54,880 Facebook you'll find large Shire press stuff. 958 00:55:55,520 --> 00:56:00,120 If you search my name on the Dungeon Masters Guild you'll be 959 00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,360 able to find all the other DM 5 E stuff that I've written as 960 00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:05,600 well. Yeah, so they're the main 961 00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:07,680 places. Instagram, threads and Twitter 962 00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:11,000 are my main spots. And then also sub stack which 963 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:14,000 you'll find at those places. Gotcha. 964 00:56:14,200 --> 00:56:16,600 All right. Listen, Stuart, again, really 965 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:19,800 appreciate you being here, appreciate you being a fan for 966 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,520 as long as you have. And and again, we're we're a fan 967 00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:25,400 of yours as well. So it's been really great to 968 00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:28,520 talk to you finally have you here on the show and I can't 969 00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:30,440 wait for the Abbott trilogy to come out. 970 00:56:30,440 --> 00:56:31,920 So thank you so much for being here. 971 00:56:32,520 --> 00:56:34,200 No thanks. Thanks for letting thanks for 972 00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:35,040 having me. It's been awesome. 973 00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:36,800 Cheers. Yeah, absolutely. 974 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:42,080 So, so that is us for today. Make sure you on February 1st, 975 00:56:42,080 --> 00:56:44,320 what every everyone we talked to you throughout the month and 976 00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:46,720 throughout all of Z Inquest 2. We're going to make sure we keep 977 00:56:46,720 --> 00:56:49,200 dropping links, keep dropping all of that throughout the time. 978 00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,040 So this won't be the last time you hear about the Abbott 979 00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:54,480 Trilogy, but definitely want to go to the Kickstarter right now. 980 00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:57,520 We'll make sure that's in the links below and save that page 981 00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:00,000 so that you can back that on February 1st when it drops. 982 00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:02,760 So, yeah. So you will be hearing from Lara 983 00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:04,520 Shire Press again here on the show. 984 00:57:04,520 --> 00:57:07,320 I am sure. Again Stuart, thank you so much 985 00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:08,400 for being here and everybody out there. 986 00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:10,440 Have a wonderful day. Bye see. 987 00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:11,480 You later.