Saturday 21 June 2014

Evolution, Evolution, Evolution

It seems I get my best ideas when my brain suddenly decides to work working overtime when I have to be up early.

This is in addition to a lack of sleep.

One particular train of thought was making Alyeska into a continent in it's own right rather than just a region, a little like an Arctic Australia or more actually Northrend from World of Warcraft. This would expand the content in Frozen Skies and gave GMs and players more room to explore as well as more options for adventures.

Things are shaping up as follows;

*East Alyeska:- This would be the area I've already developed and begun sketching out a map for, though most folk would simply call it Alyeska as explained below.

*West Alyeska:- More commonly called the 'Wulf Lands' due to the fact its overrun by the wolf-like beasts called Wulvers. The only people in this area tend to be stubborn homesteaders, the LRDG style Alyeskan Outriders and the Wulfbane Commandos.

*New Gwentia:- The main area of settlement on the continent, as such the more civilized part in sense of having running water, electricity, radio and telephone communication that more often than not actually works. It is still stubbornly a frontier region, though one thats becoming more and more tamed with each passing year. It is also under siege by the Wulvers migrating from the Wulf Lands.

Now this would entail a rewrite of parts of the current draft of Frozen Skies, though ultimately if it helps improve the content then so be it.

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Post-Expo Report

For the past couple of years I've had a stand for my indie RPG company Utherwald Press at the Diceni show here in Norwich, genuinely had a positive result and so decided to up my game a bit to help get more exposure.

So I got a stand at this year's Expo.

Few things I learned from doing Diceni certainly helped, least in making sure that I was prepared as I was going to be. Certainly next year if I attend again I'll probably try and stay at the Hilton (to at least simplify carparking, etc) and try to have a few more things to sell than just Alyeskan Tales and a free adventure.

Yes there were problems with queues for the food court and the no show of usherettes, though this seems to have been a failure on the part of the hotel rather than the Expo organisers.

Still I got to meet people in person whom I've only spoken to online, made a few contacts, sold 11 copies of Alyeskan Tales, had only gods know how many copies of my free adventure go, and I've got 40 odd emails to send out that I've barely started doing.

All and all not a bad first time at the Games Expo, though next year I'll see about actually running a game and hopefully having Frozen Skies.