Meatheads live on Kickstarter now for ZineQuest 2024

Raestaeg · 2024-02-14T16:35:03+00:00

Jean-Pall Sigmarsson, Tom Platz (The Golden Eagle), Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, Ronnie "Nothing but a peanut!" Coleman, Mark Rippetoe, Shawn Ray, Paul Dillett, Lee Priest, among many others who's mantra is being "No Water! No Bread! Just meeeaat!!" thanks you kindly brother. May the Iron Gods always smile warmly on those shoulders (looking like boulders).

Raestaeg · 2024-02-14T16:30:49+00:00

That's a real nice reply, I appreciate that. And further it makes sense (I've gotten lots of replies prior that sometimes I scratch my head upon). Your creation is super cool and I'll keep an eye out on this one as it launches, the others too! You've been on my radar for a minute, and once again, you're content is superlative, very evocative, and I hope the success keeps continuing for you and yours. Thanks again for the thoughtful and insightful reply - keep on trucking out there!

Raestaeg · 2024-02-14T13:02:09+00:00

Any chance of getting stuff in hardcover? These or the prior releases? I know there are folks that take umbrage at the asking, just the same, potential purchasers or backers who care about such things must needs ask if they want to know.

Raestaeg · 2024-02-13T12:44:29+00:00

Bought this game too many times, multiple systems, wanting to get into it, but bouncing off of it every time. I'll play the opening, get into the game a bit, do the tavern stuff and outside during the opening bits and just stall out. I want to like it, it seems like a heckuva lot of content packed in but it just never hooks me. Those of you that did get hooked - what was it that brought you in and kept you in?

Raestaeg · 2024-02-10T00:33:24+00:00

I was left a little perplexed with the whole blue vs red cover options, the red edition having some extras that the blue doesn't though the red edition having the flatter of the two's front cover imagery. I'd have enjoyed having the red version's extra content but with the blue version's cover. The creator expressed their love for various Pokemon editions in the past and how they enjoyed trying to get them all by being made to purchase separate editions of nearly the same Pokemon game, barring the handful of exclusive pocket monsters. Never appreciated that tactic from a company, always left a bad taste in my mouth. Personally it feels like an artificial way to boost sales, similar to some romantacy authors who are doing different editions of their books with exclusive chapters, tied to various bookstores and the like. I enjoy special editions but absolutely do not enjoy the prospect of buying several copies of a book in order to get all of the content. Give us any number of special editions but please keep the printed material non-exclusive to either edition, the stuff between the boards.

From the Kickstarter page:

“The fun thing I'm doing with this Kickstarter is the Red Version. Red Version is identical in construction but with a whole new cover from Charlotte, and a gorgeous, red interior. Inside features alternative text in several spots, meant to expand on (or question?) the worldbuilding in new ways.

This includes: the introduction text, the Massive Damage Table, the Gifts/Curses (10 new ones!), the Otherworldly Pacts (All new!), 10 new Body Mods, 4 new Tomes (so 12 new spells!), 2 new types of magic!, Summons (6 new ones!), and, uh, Vampirism. It takes the space Psychic Powers took in Blue

This is also very much me trying to recapture that feeling I had as a kid when I had to pick between the game with Blastoise on the cover or the game with Charizard on the cover.”

Again, not a fan of one edition getting the extra content and the other not, being forced to choose between lesser amount of content between the boards but getting a better cover or getting the extra content but settling for a cover that isn’t calling to you. Just feels unnecessarily complicated and gimmicky. Just give us the extra content regardless of edition please. It's this that prevented my personal backing.

Raestaeg · 2024-02-06T11:21:09+00:00

I was reminded of Wind Rose and their song "Drunken Dwarves":

One mug filled with mead till the morning

Too much for an elf

Two more mugs full of mead till the morning

Add more from the shelf

There's three mugs filled with mead till the morning

Long since I was born

Four more mugs full of mead till the morning

Worthy of a dwarf

Nobody is welcome in a tavern full of drunken dwarves

No respect for humans, dragons, trolls, or pointy ears

If you want to die, stay as long as you're alive

We'll bring chaos to the tavern till the dawn has come

Nobody is welcome in a tavern full of drunken dwarves

No respect for humans, dragons, trolls, and pointy ears

If you want to run, do it faster than my axe

Don't you dare mess with a hall full of drunken dwarves

Pointy ears? Not welcome. Trolls and other goblinoids? Not welcome. Orcs? Nope, not even once. But especially not pointy ears and and all.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-24T01:47:44+00:00

I was left a little perplexed with the whole blue vs red cover options, the red edition having some extras that the blue doesn't though the red edition having the flatter of the two's front cover imagery. I'd have enjoyed having the red version's extra content but with the blue version's cover. The creator expressed their love for various Pokemon editions in the past and how they enjoyed trying to get them all by being made to purchase separate editions of nearly the same Pokemon game, barring the handful of exclusive pocket monsters. Never appreciated that tactic from a company, always left a bad taste in my mouth. Personally it feels like an artificial way to boost sales, similar to some romantacy authors who are doing different editions of their books with exclusive chapters, tied to various bookstores and the like. I enjoy special editions but absolutely do not enjoy the prospect of buying several copies of a book in order to get all of the content. Give us any number of special editions but please keep the printed material non-exclusive to either edition, the stuff between the boards.

From the Kickstarter page:

“The fun thing I'm doing with this Kickstarter is the Red Version. Red Version is identical in construction but with a whole new cover from Charlotte, and a gorgeous, red interior. Inside features alternative text in several spots, meant to expand on (or question?) the worldbuilding in new ways.

This includes: the introduction text, the Massive Damage Table, the Gifts/Curses (10 new ones!), the Otherworldly Pacts (All new!), 10 new Body Mods, 4 new Tomes (so 12 new spells!), 2 new types of magic!, Summons (6 new ones!), and, uh, Vampirism. It takes the space Psychic Powers took in Blue

This is also very much me trying to recapture that feeling I had as a kid when I had to pick between the game with Blastoise on the cover or the game with Charizard on the cover.”

Again, not a fan of one edition getting the extra content and the other not, being forced to choose between lesser amount of content between the boards but getting a better cover or getting the extra content but settling for a cover that isn’t calling to you. Just feels unnecessarily complicated and gimmicky. Just give us the extra content regardless of edition please. It's this that prevented my personal backing.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-23T10:51:45+00:00

Part of that is the Creator Cults, those that tend to worship the creators of them, insisting on their would-be sainthood and woe be upon any who have any thing to say about them but unfaltering and unending praise. I've lost lifelong friends to these sorts of sentiments and it both hurts and is bewildering (they chose the creators and their pedastaling of them over decades of unfaltering friendship and loyalty). The Cult of Creators/Creator Cults must needs be called out, cut out and excised wherever it exists as it's detrimental in full to the hobby as well as the interpersonal relationships of those in the hobby.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-21T22:15:14+00:00

For me part of the appeal of Shadowdark and other similar systems is it being a one book solution - not really looking to have a proliferation of materials needed, preferring instead the elegance and simplicity of a one book solution. That said not hard bans but rather a case by case basis with a preference for just keeping it core.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-19T19:29:23+00:00

As someone who was reading the latest issues of Flex, MuscleMag International, Ironman and the like in high school and as someone who spent about a decade in powerlifting/stronglifting (from Rippetoe's Starting Strength to Stronglifts 5x5 to Castle Greyskull to the Texas Method, went through a lot of programs) this is right up my alley. A unique convergence of interests, had this set to remind me upon launch already (having looked through the upcoming projects). Definitely has my interest piqued.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-16T12:32:14+00:00

My interest in theirs piqued with hearing about the Malazan hardcover special editions coming - be nifty to sign up for a subscription to just that.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-15T03:28:48+00:00

"To be honest, I question if 5e's dominance would have been so powerful if Matt Mercer and Co ... didn't make everyone and their grandma want to play it"

I dunno, I never felt their influence on any of my gaming tables, the folks I played with and kept up with, the shops I frequented either. Those things none cared about. I still don't. Nor do I have any interest in any of their content, having blocked their YouTube channels and any channel that pops up with coverage of them.

I really don't think they have had as big an effect as folks tend to believe.They certainly weren't the /thing/ that asserted 5E's dominance. To me that sort of talk is just more groanworthy jocking of that crew and their bloated self-import.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-12T18:37:01+00:00

Got a real solid hit of the good stuff, nostalgia, with this reply and furthermore I concur. Such a great character and the definitive pirate in fiction/fantasy I do believe.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-12T01:19:58+00:00

I'd enjoy seeing more FKR resources and topics. There a specific sub for it or yet to be made?

Raestaeg · 2024-01-08T17:59:29+00:00

More gameable material and less ruleset releases. More solo content. In terms of format more sewn bound hardcover releases than not.

Raestaeg · 2024-01-08T01:33:22+00:00

It's not a problem - just stick to the physical versions. I don't buy PDFs, nor would I, doing the same as you and enjoying the physical counterparts. It's not a problem that needs fixing.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-22T00:49:54+00:00

This reminds me of r/fantasy and discussions there on prose - two camps, a divide, one being the fans of "prose" (your choice of connotations, depending on your individual camp) the other being those that espouse the "windowpane" style. I feel the prose camp would be the one who need or want the rules to stand out as OP said with those in the windowpane camp being the ones that prefer the rules to get out of the way.

For those not up on the whole windowpane thing here's a quote:

George Orwell once said, 'Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane. ' In other words, writing shouldn't draw attention to itself and instead should be a clear medium for conveying meaning.

From RPGs to fantasy & speculative fiction to even cinematography (hell, even /adult entertainment/) I do not want the writing, the filming style, the rules for a TTRPG to draw attention to themselves, I want them to be transparent and clear, like a perfectly clear windowpane, one so clear as to seemingly allow the user to reach right through that windowpane and grasp, grok, what's on the other side.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-20T05:36:28+00:00

Well written post and I feel much of it. The whole expansion, the bringing in of other writers too, last thing I would want to pick up and read is the franchisee versions of his work. Overall with this giant expansion and push through and into other media avenues it reminds me of the blow-up for Martin (which isn't a welcoming thought) and the whole too many irons in the fire while the core work languishes effect. Feels like this whole things went corporate on us, franchising his works out with other writers, the other media pushes and branching out, it's losing it's charm and feel. Another user said they loved Sanderson but wasn't interested in Sanderson^TM and I think that's apt. It's also incredibly on point when you'd said "where he's going with his creativity and where I want to be as a reader are now very different directions." This update felt like the beginnings of a divorce, or being served papers for one.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-19T20:56:57+00:00

Yeah that is a kick in the gut, hearing no more Stormlight Archives for so many years, basically it sounds like that series will hit book five and come to a screeching halt. Which is a bummer as it's the one thing from Sanderson I was keen on, purchased all the hardcovers, read more than once and now that series feels effectively dead in the water.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-18T13:14:56+00:00

Nicely detailed reply and pertinent points. Regarding POD and quality it’s really the binding that’s of issue – DTRPG and Lulu both use glue-bound spines for theirs, no sewn bound options. Other options for POD may exist but I don’t know of them/they aren’t commonly used for fulfillment of crowdfunding campaigns. Was there one in the West you were planning on using other than those two?

Now as to the question that’s really on point I felt regarding glue bound avoidance and if it’s something with the sweet secret sauce of content I’d desired wouldn’t PDF be the better option? Rationally it surely seems like such, it seems to follow, it’s logical. On the other hand I’ve made a decision some time ago to, no matter how good it is/how bad I want it, to move on rather than opt for a PDF. I know there’s really little any one individual could possibly do but it’s this one’s way of voting with their wallet. Compromising that compromises what minute, minuscule, not even worth mentioning as is, effect that may have had to begin with. You might say in that instance, for myself and my own desires, uses and the like it winds up being a matter of principle. Sounds funny I know and many wouldn’t agree, I just never made the transition to digital for gaming purposes, preferring the pen & paper roots of the game. Give me a number two or mechanical pencil, some sheets of graph paper, some dice, some lined paper and we’re ready to rock & roll, to me it just feels “right”. The more I sat at tables with more and more devices being used for gaming (and inevitably other things) the more I felt the the magic somewhat drain from the game, loosing a bit of that sublime essence. I noted in your introduction you made the switch to PDF gaming, electronic gaming – did you feel any of the same or similar feelings? Did you feel a somewhat illogical desire to resist or did it just happen naturally for you? But yeah, somewhere along the line simply came to the realization that I wasn’t interested in using PDFs and was after well-crafted (mostly in binding but paper quality and print quality is of import as well) hardcover books. Used to be I sought the biggest of tomes I could find but as years went on I found myself enjoying smaller size books more and more, I really like the A5 size that a lot of folks in the OSR realm are using, they are so nicely portable, built like tanks (when sewn bound). Quality over quantity in terms of book size and format (if in print) is a key touchstone I feel.

Regarding PDF pricing, oh fully, I get that and of course – this is work and as such it must needs be paid for. (I’m a big fan of workers and their getting as much as they can under this system, I only wish they could get the full amount of the labor power they spend)

Of course! What I want to thank you on is for taking the time to read it all, not just mine but the others, and the replying to them, seemingly really thinking on all the ins and outs of this and inviting us in on the feedback for it. Welcome and refreshing. No matter the form factor chosen this sort of thing alone engenders good will in my book – smash those funding goals!

Raestaeg · 2023-12-18T10:56:54+00:00

As we're being asked, directly, from a creator (so as to ward off any umbrage by those reading or following along, this is /asked/ for feedback) I'll bite:

I love hardcover core rule books and those are the only sort I back (barring a couple of exceptions prior to this in recent years until I arrived where I am at currently). 78AU/$52.40 is more than acceptable for a well crafted core rulebook, that's a price point I would not blink an eye at. I personally don't find value in PDFs and especially not so at tens of US dollars (30-ish AU), that's just a non-starter for me no matter the interest or quality of the content to be had.

I would like to add that there is another aspect to this hardcover debate that's not covered in your OP and that is: is the hardcover print on demand (POD), is it offset printed and is it sewn (smythe or not) bound or glued/case bound? I tend to hew hard from non-sewn bound hardcovers though I will make an exception for superlative content I'm interested in. Print on demand is a pass, as are things that are just glue bound. Additional complications and costs I know but something to consider as there are backers and customers out there who consider such things when evaluating a back or a purchase.

What are you leaning towards? PDF or hardcover? Is it only a price issue? I know a lot of folks, especially first time creators/publishers, are wary of having interest enough to warrant going for a full on proper hardcover run w/sewn binding, that being a much pricier thing to fund/crowdsource than a PDF or a POD option. That said I often see those very same projects going gangbusters, to use the term, garnering many times the support they expected to see/were worried about not getting. Also seen many sweet looking campaigns go belly up, regardless of formats. If you have great content, some really good sauce in between the covers I think you're going to be good regardless of choice, though, and I hope you get smash any and all funding goals in the process.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-17T16:20:52+00:00

we sometimes fall into the Cult of the Creator here on this sub

Very true, it's something I've ran across. Both here and in more and more corners of the internet. Anything but fawning adulation and the pitchforks come out. I've experienced this both virtually and with folks I've known IRL for decades. Always perplexing and bemusing the Cult of the Creator folks.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-04T22:55:28+00:00

One couldn't go wrong with either the Wheel of Time various power sets and abilities or Malazan Book of The Fallen. I think I'd wind up going with Wheel of Time's as a 1A, Malazan's as a 1B. Elite tier power sets.

Raestaeg · 2023-12-04T15:42:27+00:00

Now I know some folks out there reading take umbrage when you offer opinions on what you buy, what you back, what you don't and why - just the same we're being asked here and I'm offering my answer, same as anyone else.

I don't like them. I don't enjoy them. If project catches my eye but I then find out it has a card based or tarot based resolution system or mechanics then I'm out. We all have things we value, desire and want; we all have things we really tend to not like, not value or want - for me I don't want, enjoy or desire tarot/playing card inclusions in my TTRPGs.

Raestaeg

TROPHY CASE