Wednesday, June 5, 2024

I'm Number (3)1!

It may not sound THAT impressive, but I'm very happy that Stalwart is now number 31 in the most popular under $5 category on DriveThruRPG. Ever since RPGNow was hoovered up, I have not had a game appear on any top whatever list there, so it's been a couple-three years. I appreciate all of the support and enthusiasm for the game, and I'm having fun creating game content. I've added quite a bit already to both of the resources for Stalwart, and the size of the game's total 'content' has almost doubled in a few days...

It is a HUGE help, if you've bought the game, if you also post a review or at least give it a rating in stars. This is a way that the larger community sees that real people are actually looking at the game and liking it.

Parenthetically, I can see how the makers of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (and Who's Who in the DC Universe) had to struggle with timeliness and continuity - and I'm a one-man operation! For example, which 'Vesper' do I present? The one from the core rules of Stalwart Age, or the one that she became later in my Doc Stalwart novella, when she ascended to the throne of the Shadow Lands? Since comic characters are constantly changing (and then changing back), what is the 'iconic' version to include in the book? I want to sort of 'freeze the game world in time' for convenience, but I'm also starting to think about stories to tell with Skye Stalwart, and if that was to happen, then characters in the game world are going to evolve and change. Heck, Mikah has gone from a naive sidekick trying to figure out his powers to the Chronicle, Keeper of the One True Story. They are both "Mikah", but they are fundamentally different characters. I suppose that I'll just constantly update the World of Stalwart to be current to the newest release, but that may mean that some useful game content gets written over - unless I keep adding new character variations and evolution as they happen, keeping a record of the old ones. It's a living document with infinite space to work (I presume that Google Docs has no maximum page count), so I should be okay...

Thanks!  

13 comments:

  1. Stalwart World Handbooks could be collected/presented by the "Era" they come from, thereby making them a gaming resource AND chronological "chronicle" of the world.....heh....that sure doesn't sound like a lot of work.....(runs off at hyperspeed)

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    1. I NEVER should have allowed you to take hyperspeed. NEVER!

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    2. That is literally what Marvel had to do... 1987 update... and 1988 update... and 1989 update...

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    3. (Sends message back through hypertime) Yeah, those yearly updates were kind of crazy. I was thinking more of just focusing a few major "Eras" of the Stalwart U, like Young Doc, Veteran Doc, and now "Old(er) Man" Doc, ya know?

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    4. (I see you've already included Golden and Silver Age versions of Doc Stalwart in the World guide.)

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    5. Yes, but because in the silver age continuity there was a crossover with the golden age continuity for a time (Doc of Two Worlds Storyline). I've also decided that Matter the Grey is the mind of the Golden Age villain Professor Finro - so Doc's 'first' villain will be his daughter's 'first' villain, too. I like that synergy.

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  2. Oh, and: Review Submitted. :)

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  3. It's simple...you tell the stories you want to tell, then every few years burn down the whole universe and rebuild it in such a way that no one knows what has actually happened. And maybe change some costumes a little.

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    1. Brilliant! I cannot believe none of the big comic publishers have ever tried that...

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  4. Have a couple of parallel timelines running. That way you can accommodate anything you want. Stalwart U 1, Stalwart U 2, Stalwart U....

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    1. I'm kind of leaning that way... the World of Stalwart already has information on Earth A (the main timeline) and Earth B (the world of the original Doc, which is 'locked' into the 1940s). I also think I might go all Legion of Superheroes with Skye Stalwart and have her time jump to the 28th Century and work with a team of supers there in a future version of San Helios... I could bring in Synchronos the Time Lord and everything. Tempting...

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