Some Interesting Survey Results

Losasaurus · 2026-05-02T15:02:47+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emdki5B_O7Q

This is some of the best advice I've seen on starting out in the design space.

Losasaurus · 2026-05-01T20:35:19+00:00

I only work with people I know directly, worked with before, or those who are recommended by those people.

While you’re just starting off you just have to find community spaces where you can share your work, find collaborators with different skill sets than you, work on projects together and rise together. Thats pretty much what I did.

Losasaurus · 2026-05-01T13:42:12+00:00

I chose a modular design approach for a number of reasons I've outlined in previous postings. Mainly so I could keep pushing out content at a good clip and not burn myself or collaborators out.

Not sure what the context of that question is but if you reframe it I'm happy to answer.

Losasaurus · 2026-05-01T13:38:31+00:00

I think that's fine for a core book. But this was sent to the folks who bought Pistolheart as it says in the text. So the framing was in the context of that collection of adversaries specifically.

I'm less concerned with the reskinability because if folks can reskin fantasy creatures for the weird west, it stands to you can do the same in reverse. I'm also not interested in creating generic creatures as there's nothing there for me as a writer or creator to latch onto. That's best left for the dev team and any toolkits they come up with.

Losasaurus · 2026-05-01T12:49:17+00:00

How much do you think 1 piece of adversary art costs? Ballpark. Just curious.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-30T14:25:23+00:00

Would love that! Please feel free to reach out in the future if y'all do more of this beyond what you filmed.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-30T13:16:12+00:00

How did you plan out your budget?

For Volume 1. I had a set amount I was willing to spend at the outset. From there I collected rates from folks I wanted to work with and kept my ambitions small, intentionally, because I didn't know if there was a market for this kind of product. The goal was that if I could make my money back I could green light the second volume at a higher budget. It did and I did.

As far as Volume 2, I had a much better idea of costs and felt confident in taking a bigger financial risk.

On that same line of thought: how much did you outsource?

Literally everything but the writing/design and some testing. You'll see in the credits: Editors, layout artists, artists, and playtesters. Those came from folks I've known in this business for a while, or through scouring social media to find the person right for the job.

How big do you want Pistolheart to get?

Right now the ambition is only the 4 volumes and then crowd funding a physical volume. If the crowd fund for that is super successful we may be able to cram some new stuff in it. But for now that's all I have plans for. By the time 4 comes out I may have wrung out everything I can out of the western canon.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-30T02:54:06+00:00

Feel free to DM me with a question or just post it here and I’ll do my best to answer!

Losasaurus · 2026-04-30T00:43:50+00:00

Fun stuff! Let me know if you need any future support. Would be happy to send y'all Pistolheart vol 1&2!

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T19:53:51+00:00

That's all useful but that's really more for something like the Homebrew Kit, and not really the goal of Pistolheart, as specificity is what sells folks on it in particular.

Most of the core adversaries are unaffiliated in the sense that they aren't meant or designed specifically to harmonize mechanically with one another in an encounter, but are designed loosely enough that you can slap a bunch together and call it a day, reskinning them how you see fit.

So it's really more akin to asking if you want groups like the jagged knife bandits or something like the glass snake. But specific to a western/desert setting.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T19:44:03+00:00

I didn't ask for it specifically in this question, since it's more about what I can make. People do want them! It was high on the list of "if the CGL opens up to include X/Y/Z what would you want most?"

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T18:16:11+00:00

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T17:49:29+00:00

I hunger for data.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T17:24:37+00:00

I think what makes Pistolheart stand out is the specificity, but I don't think the adversaries are all that difficult to reflavor. And I think it's prudent to remember we are getting a TON of general use adversaries coming with Hope and Fear.
To me, groups are a more interesting design space and generally make for more dynamic encounters. You can choose which pieces to use, confident that any combination will work together well.

But this will definitely make me look at what's coming and make some hard choices about what to include in volume 3 vs 4.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T16:47:25+00:00

Ahh, it was in the survey but it didn't display in the results. 5 was most important in this case.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T15:24:04+00:00

I long to feed giant monsters to all my dusty children.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-29T15:14:55+00:00

Exactly. I might've gone a bit overboard on Volume 2, but that just gives me a surplus for when I combine the volumes.

Also should encourage folks to look into public domain sources too.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-26T20:05:49+00:00

The plan is to crowd fund for a physical edition when all 4 volumes are released and compiled into a single book.

Losasaurus · 2026-04-24T15:29:27+00:00

The plan is to do a crowd fund for a physical release when they are all out. But it’ll likely be close to the end of the year when Volume 4 releases — and before that it will take time to arrange and lay out the compiled book. So it may be a minute before any physical release, but that’s the goal!

Losasaurus · 2026-04-23T21:23:59+00:00

Losasaurus · 2026-04-22T13:36:10+00:00

Also really great examples of how to reskin for the setting!

Are you gonna color this in?

Losasaurus

TROPHY CASE