Stalwart Team Up #1

Having just seen Deadpool and Wolverine, I'm jazzed for superhero team-ups, even though this one has virtually nothing to do with that one. But hey! It's superheroes teaming up! Huzzah.

Your weekend starts now! Head on over to DrivethruRPG and get yourself a copy. I promise it has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine. To be fair, pretty much everything has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine, but still... 

Scratching an Itch (.io)

Thanks to a suggestion from the Marvelous Matt Jackson, I now have a page on itch.io for Stalwart. Is it set up properly? No idea. Is it going to generate traffic and interest? Nary a clue. Is it going to tear a hole in the space-time continuum that leads to the eventual end of all life in this universe? Gosh, I hope not. I would free pretty bad about that. 

Is it one more place where the collective consciousness of humanity may be able to intereact the fruits of my creative loins? Uh. Yeah. I guess so. Though that is a weird way to put it...

It has a message board/community option, so that seems really cool if there are actually real human beings who actually go there and use it and stuff. I've never been there, but it seems like some of 'our people' (as in people who play old-school RPGs) hang out there, so it might be worth linking up with. 

Your mileage may vary. My mileage may vary. There may be no mileage to have variance within. 

I guess I will know when I know.   

Of Foolish Consistencies

I remember as an undergrad being struck by Emerson's quote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Not only is it okay to change your mind, but people who hang on to something too far past its natural end are foolish. Sticking with something just because you said you were going to is just plain dumb.

In some ways, I've tried to live by that. And in some ways, getting my books up for sale and building a readership on Amazon seems to be starting to come under the foolish category. I've read about how there's a glut of material there, and breaking through is really hard unless you are in romance (or *ahem* adult fiction) categories, and I don't think my book qualifies there. I realized that the Doc Stalwart book link for an ebook is broken, and cannot be fixed. No idea why. I can only sell it there as a softcover, and in the three years it has been for sale, I have sold exactly two. I'm grateful for those two sales... but, um... yeah. Not exactly setting the world on fire.

The first issue of Stalwart Team Up is in my publisher list, but it's marked as 'blocked', with no additional information. It could be that I'm still in the approval process (which can take a few days I guess), but it doesn't say that... it just says blocked. 

I think my people are on DriveThru. Maybe I should just stay there with them.

I'm circling back to simply putting the whole thing in one package - the comic story of 4-5,000 words, and then the 6-8 pages adapting it to the game. It's a pay-what-you-want download anyway, and this makes the books feel more substantial and in line with the others in the game so far (since they are averaging around 14-16 pages), and this would put the book well over that. I can fret a little less one month if I don't have as much subtance to add to the game (hey - here are three new characters, but the set pieces don't need maps and there is nothing else to add to the game really this time around)... I feel like it makes for a tighter package, and a cleaner presentation to the consumer (that would be you). My big concern was that, even with different coloring on the covers, there would be some (rightful) confusion for you all over which version of the book you are getting. 

And, if I ever get the whole Amazon thing working, I can always cross post the entire same package there (with the game material in the back), and if I get a few extra sales and more visibility out of it, all the better.

I'm going to start tinkering with the packaging. I'll let you know what I end up with...

The 'Best" Story

I have the first three issues of Stalwart Team Up written, and I’ve realized something about the format. I get to tell the best story for each of these characters, or at least a really iconic one. I don’t think this is necessarily the BEST Doc Stalwart story, for instance, but it’s one I really like. I got to write a different perspective for Doc. I love how the story I have written humanizes him more and brings a hint of tragedy to his whole story that is not present in the stories I’ve already written about him. Most of my stories are about the amazing things Doc has been able to do. This story, on some level, is about the things he never got to do. The small fights he never had time to take on, but that were still important. For me, it answered the question of “if you have Superman, why do you need anyone else?” Now, I know. I’m really happy with the answer.

As far as issue 2, it is, far and away, the best possible Condorian story I could ever have written. I absolutely love it. I have no need to write a Condorian novel (or even another Freedom’s Four story), because I found the perfect story to tell about both Freedom’s Four and Condorian, within the world of Tipo… I cannot tell you how much I love this little story. The fact that it expands the game world out in a nifty way is icing on the cake.

As far as issue 3… it is not necessarily the best Twilight Archer story, but it is absolutely an iconic sort of Twilight Archer story. I like how much it feels different from the first two issues, because he’s such a different character. It's also a very traditional sort of street-level adventure, which the other two are not.

My original thought was that I’d get to play with different genres by telling stories featuring different characters, and that is true, but I didn’t think about how the tone and themes would subtly shift as different characters came into and out of the narrative.

I also feel like the stories thus far have the right balance of character, moving the story forward, and action sequences. I’m very pleased with the story I’m telling so far. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all think of it. They also feel very rooted in the existing comics universe; I’m not doing a lot of world building; the world is already built, and now I’m just shining a flashlight into corners of it and examining those corners more closely.

The first issue should be up on Amazon in the next day or two (once it moves through Amazon’s pipeline), and I’ll release the RPG adaptation (which is already done) as soon as that goes live, so you can get them at the same time. I think I’m going to stagger releases to once a month going forward, just so I can place things through the school year and have some updates to keep releasing. I might even wait until August 1^st at this point (which is only a week away), because then I can get on a ‘monthly’ release schedule that I can maintain. Getting two or three more of these done and ready to go before the end of summer is a reasonable goal and will give me a way to keep publishing and supporting my game for the foreseeable future, which is vital to its continued growth and success.

I still envision a ‘complete rules’ as a collection that includes all of the books so far along with some extra material that would be a single pdf and print book release… but that’s definitely on the back burner right now. I think that I’m in a position to let the game grow organically for a little while, and maybe build a stronger following, before taking that next step. I’d LOVE to do a Kickstarter, but I’d also want to have a big enough audience to support that, and enough reason (i.e. new material to add) to make a collection like that worth everyone’s time and money.

Taming the Muse... Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

I had a plan. I really did. I wanted to build Stalwart Team Up by fleshing out a general narrative structure, playing through the scenario, posting notes, and then using those notes to compose the actual stories for publication.

My mind decided it didn't want to do that. Instead, I have already written the first two and over half of the third issue, and have yet to pick up any dice. The stories are just naturally fitting together, and the 'team up' model is giving me a very organic progression from one partnership to another. The first three issues feature Doc Stalwart, Condorian, and Twilight Archer, and I already know the plot of issue 4, and the character who will appear, Microbe. 

It looks now like I will get the first three stories done and up for sale, and then get to the work of adapting these into game supplements. I suppose the order doesn't ultimately matter, as long as there is a synergy between the paired releases. It is helpful to have this in mind as I write, because it is challenging me to write sequences that are also viable as game-based scenarios. 

This is a different process from when I was writing Doc Stalwart stories before. For those, I was entirely focused on the characters and the story I wanted to tell, and if an entire issue was two people sitting in a room talking, then it was. It didn't much matter that there were set pieces and interesting combat sequences for actual play. Now, this is a factor in my thinking, and the stories have a little more action and move a little quicker as a result. 

I've also drafted a chunk of the first game supplement for this, and realized that I can build this as three scenes with two cut scenes between, a prologue and an epilogue. So, a structure of four story-based situations and transitional cut scenes (layered with roleplaying) with a three-act structure of combat/encounters nested inside. This feels like a very workable model. Ultimately, I am giving myself freedom to deviate from the comic in the game adaptation because I want there to be a bit more action. For example, I add a sequence where Trash Talker and some Goonsquad members take part in an armored car heist. This is nowhere in the story, but is a side quest that gives the players another enounter before the big fight at the end. 

The only other challenge I see is with covers - I want the books to have the same covers (so you know that they are telling the same story), but I want it to be clear for you all which one is which. I have added a label of either 'for the world's niftiest superhero rpg' or 'a superhero story' at the bottom, so you know which is which. I think that should suffice. I also changed the banner color on the stories as well from yellow to dark red just as another visual indicator.

Your Membership Card

I know that not all of you were able to attend this year's New Years Day Comicon ("Welcome 1984 with comics, toys, and more!"), but wanted to make sure you still got your official Stalwart Society card. It was printed in the back of the limited edition Mighty Doc Stalwart #250 that was only available at this convention (and which sold out of all 500 signed copies in record time), but I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to get one of these. Cut it out and carry it proudly!

 

Stalwart Team Up Mechanical Idea

I've got the first issue for Stalwart Team Up written, and I'm almost half way into the second, with idea threads already in place for the next two to three. I am very proud of how I'm capturing comic book action and combat, writing character-driven narratives, and bringing things to a satisfying conclusion. The first issue is a tight little story, and I think I have a model in place I can replicate.

I have started to think about how this can be effectively adapted into an adventure, and how this might mechanically emulate what I've written. The Marvel FASERIP system had Karma, which was a great way to emulate the roleplaying, character-based things that happen outside combat that have a direct bearing on what happens in combat. Peter did the right thing and helped Aunt May carry in the groceries, and because of this he has just enough strength left to lift the debris that traps him.

And I was thinking a simple rule tweak for solo play would emulate this very well, and would echo how the story is working so far. It's hero points.

Rather than starting the 'issue' with your full allotment of hero points, you start with 1. You can 'earn' up to your full hero point bank in the leadup to the final battle. If you stop to help the old lady, or hold the door, or do some other relatively minor (but still noble) thing, you get to add a hero point to your bank. There might be more opportunites than your actual hero points to earn them, but the idea is that the better you 'role play' a heroic character leading up to that final battle, the more resources you have to draw upon to be successful.

Again, this is utilizing a mechanic that is already in the system in a new way, allowing me to emulate comic book 'reality' in the game in a way that feels like it's appropriate. It's a great little mechanical tweak that will make solo play much richer, I would think. 

I'm looking forward to testing it out. It's a little odd to have the whole story written and then retroactively build the game experience to get there, because I had assumed I would do this process in the other direction, using the actual play as a way to brainstorm ideas to put into the actual story. I guess that the process matters less than that I get to the finish line, but I still find it interesting the way it's evolving.