Possible Site Change to Final Redoubt Press

/

I think that I want to make FinalRedoubt.com a site that a gamer needs to visit on a daily or a weekly basis.  To do this, I’m thinking daily or weekly free content.  Possible content could include adventure ideas, pre-written encounters, npc hooks, GMing tips.  What would drive you to a site to read up on gaming?  What do you need?  What do you want?  Obviously the simpler the content, the more frequently I can produce it.
So this is a question for all gamers.  Tell me, what would help improve <em>your</em> game?

An Open Call to Gamers

/

First of all, I’m uploading episode 7 right now.
But onto the purpose of THIS post.  I had bad news from Alliance yesterday.  Evidently, Critical Matters, our critical hit book for 4th edition, has become unporfitable for Alliance to floor for me.  Alliance is the biggest game distributor in the country.  Flooring is a type of distribution where they keep you book on stock but only pay you for the copies that they sell.

The problem is, almost no stores know about this book.  When you see threads about 3rd party books for 4th edition, the book is almost never mentioned.  It’s a great book.  It makes combat more exciting, more interesting, more vivid, more dangerous, and often funnier.

But because of a series of advertising problems, no one knows about it.

So, this book might not be available gamestores after March.

This might be your last chance to get it in stores.  It’s certainly one of the last chances for stores to find out about it.

If you want this book, and would like to support Final Redoubt Press.  Call or go to your Friendly Local Game Store right away.  Ask them to order you a copy.  In two months I’ll need to make the decision between paying to ship all the remaming stock to my house or having Alliance destroy it.  At the very least, we can save me shipping.

This is for sale in my store, but I’ll only link the PDF version.  If you play the world’s most popular roleplaying game and want a physical copy of this book, please have your local store order it.

http://www.finalredoubt.com/store/product39.html

Publisher:  Final Redoubt Press

Book:  Combat Essentials 1:  Critical Matters.

Thanks.  I’ll leave you with the marketing text from the product.

Critical Matters

Criticals are great. Criticals are fun. Everyone loves getting a crit. However, crits can also be boring. They’re just damage. Character can’t bleed to death or break a bone or lose a limb. They have no cinematic impact. They can never be spectacular.

No more.

Introducing Critical Matters, a complete Critical Effects system. We know you like to keep your game moving, but we also know you don’t mind leaning forward in anticipation as you wait to see what the critical is. Would you rather say, “That’s twenty damage,” or would you rather say:

“Blow to collarbone leaves foe with a bruise, a –2 penalty, and the need for strong drink.”

“Point slides into upper abdomen, nicking several important organs and arteries. That’s the whole shooting match. Foe has 8 rounds to wonder how bad it is before he dies. Stunned for 7 rounds. Use the last one wisely.”

“Neatly remove foe’s head. You have just enough time left in the attack to strike a pose.”

“Thunk. Wait for the pain. Wait for it. There it is.”

“Hack cuts foe’s neck. Doesn’t hit anything too major, but there’s a lot of blood. Foe is dazed for 1 round as he works out that he’s only bleeding every hour.”

“Point slices foe’s spine. He collapses, paralyzed from the waist down. He nudges his legs, as if to restart them. Stunned for 1 round, dazed for 3 more. Bleed every round.”

“Blow chips off a piece of the foe’s xiphoid process. The foe feels a slight discomfort under his sternum. Foe has 10 rounds of movement until death. Any round when he doesn’t move his chest doesn’t count. Every round where he moves causes increasing discomfort. –1 per round of movement.”

“Pound foe in the stomach. Foe seems uninjured but foe receives a –1 penalty next round from the pain. The penalty increases one every round until it hits –10, then it drops one a round every round after that.”

“Blow to foe’s spine causes a –2 penalty from the searing pain. If not magically healed, the foe will be able to predict rain.”

“Blow is so devastating that foe’s arms are only technically still attached to his body.”

Muscle Relaxants are Fun for the Writing in the Blogs.

/

Apologies if my typos spike.
Yesterday Carolyn sent me another draft of 7.  There were still some major audio typos in it.  I sent her back notes.  I think she said she’s at her computer again tomorrow.

The sound quality is less than great.  It sounds a bit like there’s wind in the background when I’m talking.  Still, you can listen to it, and 8 had almost no troubles in comparison, so I think we’ll just push on.

I've Heard a Draft of Ep 8

/

There were a couple times in it when I heard a bit of something in the background, but it was a solid recording, or at least solid after Carolyn was done with it.  I think it’s going to be solid.
I haven’t heard a second draft of 7 yet, but I believe Carolyn is scheduled to get home tomorrow.  I expect substantive communication will resume at that point.  :)

What's Next?

/

While we’re waiting on Death by Cliche, I thought I muse a bit on what’s next.  I know I’ve charmed all of you with my comedy, but I haven’t actually written much comedy.  I was thinking about taking the Echoes of Heaven short stories, starting with Ulcer, and serializing them.  They tell a complete story, one that problaby barely qualifies for a novel’s word count (certainly novella).  If you like them, I might start the Echoes of Heaven novel.  It’s serious as well and I think it’s one of the best things I’ve done (it would be hard to judge it compared to my book that’s sitting on an editor’s desk at Tor right now, of course).
So how do you feel about some serious fiction next?

A Delay

/

I haven’t gotten a draft of Episode 7 yet.  Carolyn says there are more than the usual amount of sound problems.  She hasn’t given me a really good idea of where we are with it, but she was going to try to get me a draft by tonight.  That didn’t happen, so the problems must have taken longer to fix than she expected.
So.  Here’s the best case scenario I think is achievable.  She gets me a draft tomorrow while I’m at work.  I come home and listen to it, spot all the editing “typos” as we call them.  Then I give her that list.  Tuesday she corrects them and gives me a final draft while I’m at work.  I listen to it that night, do the ID3 tags, and post early Wednesday morning.  That’s the best scenario, not a promise.

I know she’s been working hard on it because she goes on vacation this week and she wanted to get ahead before that.  We’ll keep you posted on how things develop.

Death by Cliche--Episode 6

/

At long last.  The sixth episode, almost 11 hours late.  :)
I apologize for the delay.  Carolyn hasn’t told me why the delay happened, but she does these the week before they release, so she had to do this one over Christmas Eve and Christmas.  I don’t know her plans for New Years.  <cough>

The episode proper starts at 2:32, for those of you who are sick of hearing the party introduced.

Mirrors:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

Update

/

Some of you are probably wondering where Episode 4 is.  Monday is our official update day, I’ve just been posting earlier than that.  This time we discovered some sound quality problems with the last two chapters (we did that recording during a storm).  After deliberation, I decided that while the quality is a bit less than other posts, it’s not bad enough to have a significant negative impact you listening experience.  I’ve decided to post it as is.  We might rerecord it later, but I decided that giving it to you with just a little noise was better than delaying.
Expect the post in about 25 minutes.

Final Redoubt Press

/

Just a reminder.  If you like Death By Cliché, and you’re a gamer, you’ll love our serious gaming products.  Go to finalredoubt.com to see what we have.  Check out one of our short stories (start with Ulcer), or pick up The Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting in the game system of your choice.  If you’re a 4th edition player, then Critical Matters is a must.  I’ll leave you with quotes from reviews of The Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting.
“. . . if I had to recommend one single line that didn’t make the list, this would be it.” —Jeramy Ware, 2007 ENnies Judge

“. . . Stunning . . .” —Nicholas Caldwell, www.Guildcompanion.com

“. . . Fantastically interesting . . .” and “. . . I’m calling it 4 1/2 stars and rounding down.” —Andrew Branstad, RPGNow Staff Reviewer

Update on Print Version

/

I did some research today.  I’ll probably need to use Lulu or a like service to produce a print version of Death by Cliche.  We don’t have the kind of vast market that allows the big publishers to produce mass market paperbacks (there’s a reason they are call “mass market.”)  So right now the two possible versions appear to be:
Trade Paperback:  $14.99

Hardbound: $29.99

I’ll keep you apprised if anything changes.

Right now the book is back from the editor and in proofing.