I just finished the soft launch of my series, and am pleased to read overall positive reviews. I was very worried because the ending has so many twists, I wondered if I pushed things too far. But the 3,500 or so readers are digging it, so it’s a happy closure for me.
Having uploaded the last chapter of my web novel, I’m looking forward to an uncertain future. I’m supposed to be hooking up with a small press publisher to produce audiobooks, but without any contracts signed, it’s impossible to know if they really want to move forward with my work. They expressed interest in having me ghostwrite novels, but so far, we haven’t agreed on anything concrete.
I’ll follow up with the publisher next week because I need an income. Focusing on my series for four years has depleted my savings, so I find myself facing a point where I won’t be able to develop books/board games full-time. It’s a shame because my board game is absolutely banging right now, and I’m close to a point where creating final art makes a lot of sense.
The Book of Dungeons deck-builder achieves a lot of what I set out to do years ago. It has a very light rulebook for an RPG and has a quick set-up time. The teach takes 20 minutes, and it takes a little over 2 hours to play. For an RPG with so much design space, this is remarkable, and I’m proud of its current state. There were many times I felt like abandoning the game would simplify my life, but cutting down the design to its essentials kept the project on course.
Writing the rulebook helped me hone the game’s focus, and it’s weighing in at 8 pages which I’ll expand to 12 once I add artwork.
The game innovates a number of things that plague deck-builders. The starter deck doesn’t feel weak, and deck destruction is integral to the gameplay. All the monsters feel different and the PvP aspect isn’t mean-spirited.
The wound system especially adds depth. Wounds are actually fun to manage so healing becomes important. In other RPGs, taking hits isn’t particularly fun, and it usually means players can’t perform their character to the best of their ability. In my game, making a character get by with wounds feels like cheating the system—a positive activity!
When something shakes loose in the future, I’ll update my blog.