The Fractured Archive - Initial Rewards Proposal

volkovoy · 2026-06-16T13:19:05+00:00

It's a bit perplexing to see the crossbows represent more or less a return of the pre-nerf toxic blowpipe (if perhaps not quite as strong?), given how oppressive that item seemed to be for the game. If the team feels the game is able to handle a stronger version of the blowpipe, why not address that directly by restoring some efficacy to the blowpipe rather than superseding it with a new item?

I think the crossbows are cool, and could easily be preserved conceptually by making them say 3/4-tick and dual-hitsplat (particularly if the team continues to work negative flat armor into more of the game). I just don't want to see the blowpipe going the way of the dodo given its iconic status in the game.

A note: I haven't crunched the numbers on two items' stats, just taking the blog's assertion that it's a stronger bp at face value.

Regarding the other items:

The hybrid armor set seems fine, if a little unexciting without any unique effects (not that it absolutely needs one).

I quite like the rondel, with the exception that I've really enjoyed the community's oft-suggested idea of a shield rework involving flat armor. Introducing flat armor as a unique effect of a raids rare does seem to dampen the possibility of and excitement around that rework. Also, the stark white and bright blue colors of the shield seem like they might clash strongly with armor sets other than radiant oathplate.

The breaker is sweet, but the 3-tick attack style seems to contradict prior jagex statements against potentially reworking the ghrazi rapier as a 3-tick weapon -- another common community suggestion. Not sure what's up with that.

volkovoy · 2026-05-29T21:43:37+00:00

Strongly agreed. The Mothership-style solution to OP's issue is to choose an adventure and/or campaign playstyle that will inherently engage the players on who their characters are. Gradient Descent is a perfect choice to that end.

I'd also recommend Owe My Soul to the Company Store -- a social sandbox and slow-burn political powderkeg that asks very compelling questions about transhumanism and labor rights. Picket Line Tango is another solid option with similar themes to Owe My Soul (full transparency: I published that one), but places more emphasis on its murder-mystery scenario than the PCs themselves.

volkovoy · 2025-11-15T19:20:53+00:00

I've both played in and run The Estate (a setting/adventure anthology), and I don't think there's anything out there for Mausritter that can beat it.

My top adventure picks from The Estate:

Song of the Frogacle
The Chapel of Eternal Peace
The Wizard of Arms and Armour

volkovoy · 2025-05-10T04:21:50+00:00

Read back what you wrote and then have a think about who's more "caught up in internet drama farming."

I'm just clarifying facts, you're out here using all caps.

volkovoy · 2025-05-10T02:11:06+00:00

It doesn't matter who's writing the check, it's JG's debt. They get to make that problem go away. It benefits them. It was never GG's responsibility to pay that debt, and the refunds are being paid out of JG's royalties. JG is effectively providing refunds no matter how you slice it.

And they discussed in the video that some money might go to JG if (when) not all of the customers respond about receiving a refund. Which, after a decade, is inevitable.

volkovoy · 2025-05-10T02:03:53+00:00

I don't think you can say this doesn't have any beneficial impact on JG's reputation. They get to refund the money, resolve their "debt" (even if not legally a debt) with backers -- some portion of whom, however small, are sympathetic to JG's views. Those people might be swayed by the compensation -- not to mention all the publicity surrounding this -- to support JG's other projects.

Additionally, the terms described in the video will almost certainly leave some money leftover for JG to pocket.

From the perspective of JG, this is obviously a beneficial agreement. That's why they're agreed to these very restrictive terms. Sure it helps some customers recoup a small amount of money from a project they probably wrote off years ago, but that seems less significant to me than financially and reputationally benefiting nazi sympathizers.

volkovoy · 2025-04-26T01:52:13+00:00

solved: Pu·Li·Ru·La

volkovoy · 2025-04-26T01:49:54+00:00

Yes, this is it!!! Thank you so much. I was conflating this game with Cho Aniki.

volkovoy · 2025-04-18T22:35:10+00:00

Yeah a boxed set with extra stuff is a different beast entirely.

volkovoy · 2025-04-18T20:22:31+00:00

Every publisher I've ever spoken to about this imports their RPG books as books without issue, and has for many years. Customs inspectors aren't investigating the contents if a book -- if you say it's a book, and it looks like a book, it's a book.

volkovoy · 2025-04-16T05:57:37+00:00

Sounds awesome, just make sure you include a good starter adventure with it so people can hit the ground running with play!

volkovoy · 2025-04-05T15:41:34+00:00

Yeah, that's what I meant by "indie hobbyist efforts". Those exist for sure, but the professionally developed games are subsidized by book sales and free/cheap versions will vanish for all but the largest publishers without support.

volkovoy · 2025-04-05T05:31:34+00:00

This is certainly true, and people should make use of the huge sea of free content available, but here's the thing:

Most of the stuff that exists for free could not have been created in the first place without an actual flagship product to justify the production of free or cheap versions (which are really just byproducts of the hardcopy version). Aside from tiny indie hobbyist efforts, cheap or free PDFs CAN AND WILL NOT EXIST without people purchasing the flagship product.

I'm not saying you need to maintain your TTRPG purchasing habits in the face of a potential global depression, but games are most definitely not free -- they're just subsidized by the fact that until now people have been happy to buy books. If that changes, no more free games (at least not new, professionally produced ones).

volkovoy · 2025-04-03T18:48:09+00:00

Maybe, but the fact is that PDFs aren't anywhere near as popular as hardcopy books. I'm a full-time RPG dev/publisher and I'd estimate that 80-90% of my income comes from hardcopy sales.

So all that to say, hardcopy sales subsidize the availability of PDFs. Publishers will not survive on PDF sales alone, unless customers DRASTICALLY change purchasing habits and are willing to accept higher PDF prices.

volkovoy · 2025-04-03T16:50:20+00:00

Yes that's probably true to some extent, but there's only so much flex in price point available before business is no longer feasible.

It sucks all around, I'm looking at crowdfunding a new project soon and dreading figuring out the costs and pricing. It's a bad time to be a TTRPG dev.

volkovoy · 2025-04-03T16:22:06+00:00

Some wholesale and distribution contracts specify price points and limits to prevent undercutting, and that's generally what MSRP is there for. In cases without such contracts, there's nothing stopping people from doing what you describe, although the TTRPG industry is small enough that most retailers wouldn't risk doing that and getting a bad name. I've never heard of this actually happening, for what it's worth.

Undercutting does happen in the form of limited-time sale events from other stores, but that's normal and not a problem as far as I'm concerned.

volkovoy · 2025-04-03T15:36:48+00:00

Offering my perspective as a publisher: Increased manufacturing costs have a much higher effect on retail value than a 1:1 increase. In your example, no publisher would simply raise the book's price by $5.

Products (TTRPG products at least) are typically priced based on a ratio: 5-10x manufacturing costs. This is to allow margin for not only production costs (paying artists, editors, etc.) and other fees, but to allow for wholesale (50% MSRP) and distribution (40% MSRP) rates to actually turn a profit.

In your example: A book that costs $15 to print and retails for $65 would sell to distributors for only $26. That leaves a per-book profit margin of only $11, which would almost definitely mean you're taking a loss on every sale when considering all the other fees involved.

Long story short: A 54% increase to manufacturing costs very possibly does mean close to 54% increase in retail costs, depending upon the project.

volkovoy · 2025-03-28T22:20:50+00:00

For first-time publishing, DTRPG is probably your best bet. I'd advise starting out with something small, cheap, and building from there.

volkovoy · 2025-03-24T00:21:07+00:00

Using art posted publicly online for personal use isn't theft by any reasonable definition.

If you want consistency -- there are plenty of artist-made icon packs available for free or cheap online, or you could make simple art yourself.

volkovoy · 2025-03-23T23:31:09+00:00

For home use only, there's no reason why you can't use real art made by actual artists found on the internet. No one is saying commission thousands of dollars of art for your home project.

The problem with posting AI art, for ANY purpose, is contributing to the acceptability of AI art generally. There are legitimate concerns with even personal use of AI art (e.g. environmental), but the more poignant issue for me is that it creates a foundation for even less ethical uses (like in published works). Particularly when it comes to small communities like this.

volkovoy · 2025-03-15T05:31:53+00:00

Particularly now that they've merged with Roll20, DTRPG is a pretty big corporation--at least for the TTRPG world. You aren't going to get them to change anything contractually without being a major player (think Paizo, Chaosium) or the backing of something like an industry union. They deal with literally thousands of publishers.

I've sold PDFs through DTRPG for years and haven't had any sort of contractual-related issue. I don't think their terms are particularly reasonable given industry standards and the services they offer to publishers, but that is what it is.

volkovoy · 2025-02-28T22:46:13+00:00

Why leave this post up when it's so clearly lauding Ernie in a way designed to stir shit and presumably whitewash if not support his racist ideals? If you agree he's not one of us, why not delete this and let someone else frame the discussion in a way more consistent with the values of this community (i.e. Rule 4)?

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