August 8, 2016August 8, 2016/ Fraser

Designated Marksman for Starship Commandos

Starship Commandos should be out soon. It is in the final stages of layout right now. It’s going to be 6X9 or digest size. Right now, we’re looking at 47 pages, which means it may be possible to put out a very thin book. I have to look at the cost per copy to see what the price might be, but the PDF will be out first.

To give you an idea, here’s the character that’s presented in the book. It’s different than what has been presented before because the game uses the mechanics from Riggers. The way Riggers runs is pretty much perfect for Starship Commandos.

So here is Sgt. Sara Cooper, the designated marksman for the 121 Marine Special Armour and Tactics squad.

Sgt. Cara Cooper, Designated Marksman

Concept
Scout d8

Traits
Physical d10; Mental d12; Social d20

Training
Stealth d8, Awareness d10, Marksmanship d10, Athletics d12, Survival d12, Tracking d12

Harness
J25S Long-Range Reconnaissance
Stealth d6; Long-Range Sensors d8; Indirect Fire Support d10

Flaws
Disconnected, Unconventional

Pivot
Never the Innocent (Cooper will not target non-combatants, Ever)

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014/ Fraser

Starship Commandos – LC-427 the Landing

MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor from Halo Nation

Here’s a quick rundown of what happened in the first playtest for Starship Commandos. For those not in the know, Starship Commandos has the PCs as specialized troops in the far future who utilize power armour. This is as much for my gaming group as for your entertainment, but I hope it sparks some curiosity and maybe some inspiration.

The PCs are attached to 121 MARSAT (Marine Special Armour and Tactics) with the 71st Fleet Special Purpose Force as part of the ground combat element of the 7th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the Command Support Vessel MARLOW. On anti-piracy patrol in the Tau Ceti system, the MARLOW is diverted to the Asterion system (Beta Canum Venaticorum) for a possible support to civilian authorities operation. LC-427 (also known as Logan’s Cross) has gone dark – no signals, no transmissions and they haven’t broadcast their no-fail signal for three days running.

On planetfall, the PCs learn that the MARLOW’s ARVs (autonomous reconnaissance vehicles) have all been neutralized by EMPs created through electro-static discharges (ESD). While it might be natural, it sure looks like a coordinated attack, and so MARSAT is sent down using landing pods (atmospheric entry person torpedoes) to secure a landing site. Further ESDs bar the use of landing craft, and so a follow-on security detachment is sent down also using landing pods. The site secure, MARSAT advances on the civic centre (city hall) to seek survivors.

On the way, MARSAT uncovers a collection of bones, lacking any tissue or garments, beneath a building that has a signals relay tower on it. Triangulating all known ESDs, the team traces the events to buildings with signals relay towers. Sending their own ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets, they discover more bone pits in the basements. Investigation uncovers biological residue very, very similar to native species similar in size to racoons and squirrels, however other information leads the team to believe the beasts that undertook the killing and eating ranged in size from a large tiger to a rhinoceros.

Further, short range sensors uncover a flow of energy beneath them. Scanning for further such flows, they plot them and expect they will intersect under the civic centre.

Reaching the civic centre, the team uncovers a mainframe and server centre beneath the building that is awash in glowing green goo. They also discover an area the size of an aircraft hanger beneath the building that is not identified on the blueprints. The lieutenant decides to lead MARSAT into the unknown area.

The unknown area turns out to be a laboratory with a bio-hazard containment area. Inside that area is a container of glowing green goo.

Sundown, and the xenomorphs come out to play. Sensors detect movement burrowing toward the building while the team’s ARVs witness an attack en masse on the landing site. The security detachment loses more than half its force before barricading in the terminus of the off-line orbital elevator and calling down an orbital bombardment, destroying the surrounding area.

MARSAT is trapped in a lab as the xenomorphs advance. A fight ensues during which a marine accidentally initiates an ESD which leads to an EMP shutting down the team’s power armour. At about the same time, a grenade is dropped. Blood, terror and lots of damage ensue for 30 seconds while the armour reboots, and then the team destroys the xenomorphs.

They are left out-of-breath, cut off, and more than a little nervous.

You can read more about Starship Commandos here.

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014/ Fraser

Starship Commandos – Getting it Done

Reporting in from the first playtest of Starship Commandos. It went very well. It was mostly story until the last 30 minutes, when the crew met their first xenomorphs. It just so happened one of the team triggered an electro-static discharge of immense proportions that created an EMP and the team faced the xenomorphs during the 30 second re-boot of their power armour.

Oh, and someone dropped a grenade.

So there was a lot of blood, a lot of bad dice rolls, and a lot of fear. In the end, everyone survived. But, boy, it really did get Aliens there for a bit.

There are going to be a fair number of changes to the system. Not how it works, but some of the specifics, like how many dice are rolled and success level target numbers. I’ve also figured out lethality and how it can be dialed up or down.

So, very much a success.

You can read more about Starship Commandos here.

May 26, 2014May 26, 2014/ Fraser

Starship Commandos: An Example Character

In case you were wondering where I was putting my energies since the Nefertiti Overdrive Kickstarter failed to fund, I’m actually working on a quickstart package for Nefertiti Overdrive which I hope will lead to a second and successful Kickstarter. Also, I’m working on Starship Commandos and A Team of Losers, which I’m in the midst of getting ready for testing with my group.

Just in case you are interested, you can see an example character below. How does the game work? It’s pretty simple. Here are the basics – the very basics:
1) The players state – in whatever order they prefer – their character’s intentions.
2) In the order of the players’ choosing, the players gather dice provided by their characters’ Qualities and roll those dice. The player may add a bonus from one applicable Element.
3) The result of the roll is compared to the Success Level.
4) If the result of the roll is 6 or lower, one of the Qualities the character used is lowered by one die type and the character receives either Damage (if Physical was used) or Stress (if Mental or Social were used).
5) If the result of the roll is 7 or higher but lower than the Success Level required, one of the Qualities the character used is lowered by one die type, and the GM narrates the failure.
6) If the character succeeds, the player narrates the outcome, which follows from the character’s stated intention.

And the character:

Sgt. Cara Cooper, Designated Marksman

Traits
Mental d12; Physical d10; Social d8

Training
Scout-Sniper d12; Long-Range Reconnaissance d10; Undercover d8; Lived Experience d6

Harness
J25S Long-Range Reconnaissance
Stealth d12; Long-Range Sensors d10; Indirect Fire Support d8

Elements
Quiet Professional +3; Hunter +3; Patient +2

Pivots
Guardian Angel (Cooper won’t let her team go out without her – she needs to protect them), Buy the Farm (She’s always talking about the farm in the country she’s going to buy when she retires), and Never the Innocent (Cooper will not target non-combatants, Ever).

Primary Equipment (17)
Mk 19 Mod 0 enhanced battle rifle, Effective range is 1,500 m. Wt: 5 kg. Magazine 40 cartridges (40 shots) with removable suppressor (2)
J22 personal protection weapon, Effective range is 90 m. Wt: 1 kg. Magazine 15 cartridges (15 shots) with removable suppressor (2)
J25S Long-Range Reconnaissance Harness (grey), including body armour, helmet with head’s up display and flashlight, load-bearing equipment, tactical radio, hydration system, personal data device, and watch

Accessible (total weight 12)
Bayonet (1); Chemlights, 5 (0.5); Field Pack (1.5); First Aid dressing and pouch (1.5); Flex cuff, package of 25 (0.5); Fragmentation grenades, 4 (2); Identification Tags (Dog Tags); Iodine tablets; Lensatic Compass (0.5); Magazines, weapon 6 (3); Magazines, sidearm 2 (1); Multi-tool (0.5); Notebook and pen

In Field Pack (total weight 15.5)
Ammunition, weapon 150 rounds (2); Ammunition, sidearm 50 rounds (1.5); Canteens, 2 (3); Clothing, two changes (1); Meals, Ready to Eat, 6 days (4.5); Personal hygiene kit; Sleeping Bag (2); Sleeping pad (0.5); Weapon Cleaning Kit (1)

June 17, 2017June 17, 2017/ Fraser

How Starship is Commandos?

Starship Commandos is very explicitly inspired by the movie Aliens and the novel Starship Troopers. Recently, an individual had a bit of a disconnect between the perceived nature of those intellectual properties and the game. Basically, the interlocutor saw mortal threat as an important part of both inspirations, whereas in the default mode of Starship Commandos, there is no threat of PC death.

My response is rather lengthy, but as a TLDR, I guess I would just say that the PCs are Ripley and Rico in those pieces of inspiration, and the survival of those characters is never – in my opinion – in question. I would further opine that observation has led me to conclude that players do not invest in characters when they expect those characters to die, that the way players build characters in such situations changes. I explicate a lot more for clarity below, but it’s a bit of a slog.

This isn’t to try to claim that my way is the correct view, just that this is how I interpret the media properties and link that to my game design.

In regards to theme, it is my opinion that while Alien was absolutely survival horror in a science fiction setting, Aliens was not. To me, the question is not will Ripley survive but how. Elements of horror are woven into the story, and that helps to escalate the stakes. The lack of supplies provides the same, while also setting in motion the ticking clock aspect of the plot. The xenomorphs are horrifying and their use of humans in their life process is horrifying, and in this sense the movie is a monster/horror movie. But all of the Alien movies have attempted to approach the subject matter from a different angle and provide a different story – although Alien Resurrection came very close to mimicking some of the themes of Aliens – and rather than survival horror, Aliens seems much more an action movie with horror trappings.

For me, survival plays even less of a role in Starship Troopers. It has aspects of a coming of age story but I read it as an investigation of a militaristic society. I believe the story uses the alien threat as a backdrop to discuss civic engagement, public service, and the military as a focus for both. Again, this is Johnny Rico’s story, and I don’t believe there is much fear as one reads the novel that he might not survive.

So, for me, survival and threat was not a chief theme in either of the identified inspirations. Both included military responses to alien menaces, and that’s what I took for Starship Commandos.

Still, what about the threat of death as a means to build tension? I believe that when adapting intellectual properties to RPGs, one is generally dividing up the role of a single heroic protagonist (in this case Ripley or Rico) into the PCs. The novel/movie focused on just James Bond or Jason Bourne, but in the game, the PCs embody different aspects and competencies of the character. In the novels/movies, the protagonist generally has plot immunity, and in my RPGs, that extends to the PCs. One expects Ripley to survive because it is her movie (something that was not clear in Alien, which allowed it to play much straighter as survival horror), and this extends to the PCs. The PCs are all Johnny Ricos rather than one Johnny Rico and some supporting players.

The threat to the PCs in Starship Commandos is much the same as it is to Ripley and to Rico – there are narrative elements that can be considered a threat, but death is not an obvious outcome.

And this leads me to the death of PCs and the investment of players. To my knowledge, there are no real studies on how players react to RPGs, so we all base our assessments on our own experiences and the experiences of those whom we know. As such, I have no data, only anecdotes. What the anecdotes have led me to believe is that in RPGs with high PC mortality, players build mechanical PCs – PCs built for tasks within the mechanics of the game. They may initially infuse their PCs with personality and backstories, but the effort to do so declines with the repetition of creation. It is my belief that one does not invest in the fifth character of a campaign in the same way as one does a character that been part of five different adventures – or five different stories. One does not identify as strongly with and so one is likewise not as invested in the PC’s story.

I have not noted nor witnessed tension at the game table lessened due to the removal of death as a threat to PCs. I received strong evidence of this during the playtest of Starship Commandos, in which the players knew that their PCs had plot immunity but were nevertheless freaked out and extremely tense when they finally did encounter the xenomorphs. Just as with watching Aliens or reading Starship Troopers, it was the build to the scene rather than its mechanics or specifics that fed the tension. I have seen the same when I have run Nefertiti Overdrive, which very explicitly has no mechanic for PCs to receive damage (there is a method to degrade their ability to succeed but not to “harm” them – and this was specifically part of the design philosophy).

So, very long-winded, but I hope it gives some insights into some of the design decisions made in Starship Commandos and how that might run contrary to expectations.

You can find Starship Commandos here.

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016/ Fraser

Featured Commandos

This might be a little too “inside baseball” for many, but bear with me.

One Book Shelf owns both Drive-Thru RPG and RPG Now – the two primary sources of RPG e-product. As a publisher, one gets a certain number of “Publisher Promotion Points” based (I believe) on one’s sales. One can spend PPP on various services, one of which is the Feature Product Message which is a kind of in-site advertisement.

I ran a message for Starship Commandos on its release. It has cycled through all its impressions on both the front page/homepage and the category page. The click-through rates were very interesting.

The Drive-Thru RPG homepage click-through percentage was 68.28%, while the same on RPG Now was 0.32%. That’s a pretty stark difference and I have no idea what it means, but it surely means something. Here’s the thing: category pages were also starkly different from the DTRPG homepage. The category page at DTRPG had a 0.24% click-through while the same at RPG Now had one of 0.08%.

Again, I have no idea how to interpret this, but that click-through at DTRPG is insane. I don’t know how many sales come from which source, however no matter where the sales are coming from the turnover is a bit sad – of the 1,719 clicks I’ve only sold 23.

So, am I doing one thing right and another thing wrong? Some kind of gremlin in the reporting system? Complete anomaly that means nothing?

I haven’t a clue . . . which is part of my problem as I try to sell stuff. I’m about as good at marketing as I am at water polo (hint: I don’t play water polo).

Starship Commandos at Drive-Thru RPG (where it’s most popular!)

July 9, 2014July 9, 2014/ Fraser

A Team of Nefertiti Commandos

I wanted to pop in and give an update on what has been happening on the RPG front over here at SEP.

NO_G+cover-photo I’ve received back the edits for the Nefertiti Overdrive Quickstart. I will be amending the text and then sending it to layout. I am expecting one more piece of art before it gets published, which should be happening around September.

The first playtest of Starship Commandos wrapped up. The system has changed in that I have adapted the original damage and stress system that I was planning for Nefertiti Overdrive. Nefertiti Overdrive evolved into something very different, and that system was never used, but with Starship Commandos, it fits really well.

A Team of Losers is going to be a pulp action-adventure game with the first adventure taking place in 1936 Manchuria, creating a mix of Supernatural, the Losers, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Good, the Bad, the Weird. It is going to use the system of Starship Commandos and adapt it changing the Harness to Equipment.

Here’s a version of Pulp Sara Cooper for A Team of Losers.

Sara Cooper, Marksman

Traits
Mental d10; Physical d8; Social d6
Training
Marksmanship d12; Survival (temperate) d10; Scout d8; Lived Experience d6
Elements
Quiet Professional d10; Hunter d8; Patient d8; Exceptional d6
Equipment
Scoped Winchester Model 1894 Lever-action Rifle d12; Mauser C96 Broomhandle Auto-loader Pistol d10; 30m braided rawhide lariat d8
Pivots
My Word Is My Bond (Cooper keeps her promises and fulfills her contracts), Buy the Farm (She’s always talking about the farm in the country she’s going to buy when she retires), and Never the Innocent (Cooper will not target non-combatants. Ever).

April 20, 2020April 20, 2020/ Fraser

Sales 2019 Per Venue

This was originally posted on my Patreon. If you dig my work, please support me there.

Last time I shared the sales for 2019 (with info on second to fourth quarter, since I had already shared the first quarter sales on SEP). Now let’s look at the numbers for each sales venue.

I have not included convention sales, as I did not sell at any conventions in 2019. I am the absolute worse salesperson for my own stuff, and unless one of my friends is hawking my wares (thanks Jason and Josh!) I don’t even bother any more. I might have one or two spare books of the game I am running, but I always get flustered when talking about price and taking a person’s money. I suck at this.

The component that should jump out is how few sales I make on Amazon. Yeah, not surprised. How would one even find my stuff there unless one was specifically looking for it?

IPR will no longer be carrying my stuff, which I completely understand when you look at those numbers. The thing is, even with those low numbers, the monthly revenue was not much lower than that for Drive Thru, through which I sell a lot more. That’s because IPR sells mostly print. And there are costs associated with print—not just shipping costs, but inventory costs when money is tied up in physical copies that are not actually valuable unless someone wants to buy them. Production, shipping and customs swallowed up almost half of my revenue from IPR for 2019, so the actual profit from that revenue stream is actually pretty low.

A new stream that is happening in 2020 is itch.io, which is so far doing better than Amazon, but is not on track to replace IPR’s revenue. It too, however, is an e-product venue, meaning the only costs are the actual production of the games.

I shouldn’t even get into revenue vs. profit, because that’s kind of sad. But quickly: conservatively, I spend about 8-10 hours a week working on RPG material. Based on 2019 numbers, removing money spent on the Sagas of the Sea Peoples Kickstarter, I got paid between $1.08 and $1.35 CAN an hour for my work on RPGs.

If you include in the costs associated with preparing the Sagas Kickstarter, I lost over $1 CAN each hour I worked on RPG stuff.

Ouch.

Anyway, the sales numbers for 2019’s sales venues.

Sales Through Amazon (all sales are print products)
Arcane Kingdoms
For Simple Coin, 1

Other
Nefertiti Overdrive, 3

Sword’s Edge Systems
Kiss My Axe, 1
Sword Noir, 1

Indie Press Revolution Sales for 2019
Other
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome (Print), 1
Nefertiti Overdrive (Print), 5
Nefertiti Overdrive (PDF), 1

Sword’s Edge Systems
Kiss My Axe (Print), 1
Kiss My Axe (PDF), 1
Sword Noir (Print), 3
Sword Noir (PDF), 1
Sword’s Edge (Print), 3
Sword’s Edge (PDF), 1

Sales Through Drive Thru RPG for 2019
Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day (Modern Dispatch 113), 4
Khorforjan Gambit, 4
Qalashar Device, 4
Raid On Ashkashem, 5

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 4
For Simple Coin, 4
Gifts of the Elder Gods, 2

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section, 2
Covert Forces Redux, 3
Blood and Guts 2: In Her Majesty’s Service, 3

Fifth Edition
Abyss of the Black Cloud, 3
Abyss of the Crimson Cave, 5
Cult of the Abyss, 9

Other
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome, 5
Daughter of the Sun: A Nefertiti Overdrive Adventure, 4
HeadCrushers, 6
Hispania Ulterior Motive: A Centurion Adventure, 6
Judged: A Nefertiti Overdrive Adventure, 4
Nefertiti Overdrive, 3
Questions of Loyalty: A Centurion Adventure, 8
Starship Commandos, 5
The Wall, 6

Sword’s Edge System
Crossing the Millers: A Sword Noir Adventure, 4
Face ‘Splosion: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3
For A Few Swords More: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3
HardCASE: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 6
Kheufer Scrolls: A Sword Noir Adventure, 5
Kiss My Axe, 7
Lawless Heaven: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3
Six Stood Alone: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 6
Suffer the Witch: A Kiss My Axe Adventure, 3
Sword Noir, 14
Sword’s Edge, 8

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020/ Fraser

Sales for 2019

This post was originally presented on my Patreon.

So, it’s been awhile and I have been very bad about releasing sales data. To be honest, not sure if anyone is actually finding this useful. If you do, please let me know. I’m happy to do this, but I’d rather not be shouting into the wind.

So here we go – nothing too special and not really any messages in the numbers other than “this is what a pretty normal quarter looks like for SEP.” I’ll post later about he different venues and types (PDF vs. print).

The one important thing to note about 2019 is that it was a year without high-profile projects. For SEP, a high-profile project is one for which I run a Kickstarter. Kickstarters not only help fund larger projects for which I need assistance (like editing, art, layout, or sensitivity consultation), but also provide exposure to SEP to people who otherwise might not find it. This usually leads to a spike in sales.

While that spike is welcome, it doesn’t balance out the effort for and stress of a Kickstarter.

It also important to note that a lot of the effort that usually goes into monthly releases was focused on Sagas of the Sea Peoples and its Quickstart. I’m not including data on free products because they really don’t provide any useful information–at least not for SEP–but the Quickstart saw about 400 downloads.

These numbers, then, are a pretty basic year. And the numbers over the years have remained pretty consistent per title, which means an increase in revenue is really only facilitated by releasing more products, which my Patreon helps me do through motivating me to produce something almost every month.

Without further ado, the numbers for 2019

Sales for 2019
(Second to Fourth Quarter in Parantheses)
All sales venues

Albenistan
Albenistan: Election Day, 4 (2)
Khorforjan Gambit, 4 (2)
Qalashar Device, 4 (2)
Raid On Ashkashem, 5 (3)

Arcane Kingdoms
Arcane Kingdoms, 4 (4)
For Simple Coin, 6 (4)
Gifts of the Elder Gods, 2 (2)

Covert Forces
Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section, 2 (1)
Covert Forces Redux, 3 (2)
In Her Majesty’s Service, 3 (2)

Fifth Edition
Abyss of the Black Cloud [released Sep 2019], 3 (3)
Abyss of the Crimson Cave [released Aug 2019], 5 (5)
Cult of the Abyss [released Jul 2019], 9 (9)

Other
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome, 8 (5)
Daughter of the Sun: A Nefertiti Overdrive Adventure, 4 (4)
HeadCrushers [released Jan 2019], 6 (4)
Hispania Ulterior Motive: A Centurion Adventure, 6 (5)
Judged: A Nefertiti Overdrive Adventure, 4 (4)
Nefertiti Overdrive, 17 (8)
Questions of Loyalty: A Centurion Adventure [released Oct 2019], 8 (8)
Starship Commandos, 5 (4)
The Wall, 6 (1)

Sword’s Edge Systems
Crossing the Millers: A Sword Noir Adventure, 4 (3)
Face ‘Splosion: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3 (2)
For A Few Swords More: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3 (1)
HardCASE: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 6 (4)
Kheufer Scrolls: A Sword Noir Adventure, 5 (4)
Kiss My Axe, 10 (8)
Lawless Heaven: A Sword’s Edge Adventure, 3 (2)
Six Stood Alone: A Sword’s Edge Adventure [released Feb 2019], 6 (5)
Suffer the Witch, A Kiss My Axe Adventure, 3 (3)
Sword Noir, 22 (11)
Sword’s Edge, 12 (8)