Author Topic: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013  (Read 6490 times)

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Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« on: July 02, 2013, 04:06:45 AM »
Welcome to the twenty-fourth Director's Briefing and the seventh scheduled for this year. Rather than delay this Briefing, expect to see a short unscheduled Briefing to announce the release of HARP College of Magics in the next few days.

HARP Martial Law and AutoHARP Reminder

In case you have not heard, HARP Martial Law is available in pdf but the discount coupon enabling you to buy it at 5 USD rather than the normal price of 12 USD will only be valid until 10th July.
The coupon link is http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?discount=82058&affiliate_id=90949, so don't delay.

We have made some adjustments to the example style to darken it and are applying some residual errata corrections. I will send a note through the OneBookShelf system to let purchasers know when they can redownload the pdf - so you should check your settings to ensure that you can receive notes from Guild Companion Publications. The master print files will then be uploaded into the OneBookShelf system so HARP Martial Law ought to be available in print as both softcover and hardcover by the end of the month. The extra content that we added to the enhanced version combined with the different OneBookShelf binding specifications means that this version will be perfect-bound. No more staples!

Also speaking of introductory prices, AutoHARP Fantasy and AutoHARP SF will also come off their introductory prices, so if you want to snap up two more bargains, follow these links:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/115091/AutoHARP-Fantasy&affiliate_id=90949
and
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/115095/AutoHARP-SF&&affiliate_id=90949

Corporate Update

As this is the halfway point of the calendar year, this is as good a time as any to report that our accountant has crunched the 2012 income and expenditure figures and calculated the final outcomes. GCP Ltd. made a sound profit in 2012 and we have duly paid our corporation tax. As always, Aurigas and all our freelancers continue to be paid in full and on time. The company's profits are fully reinvested in the business, ensuring that we have the financial reserves to fund the design and development of new products across all of the game lines. The GCP business model is therefore continuing to work successfully, and we are typically in the top 2% of active publishers on OneBookShelf in any given month.

We are, however, still in the process of restoring the game lines to their former greatness in terms of sales because it's sales that make everything possible. When GCP took over the management of the lines, all of the product lines could be considered to be in a critical condition to use a medical analogy. I think it is fair to say that HARP Fantasy/HARP SF and Shadow World have moved out of intensive care and are now in a stable condition. For Shadow World, the early editions, Emer 3, and third-party sourcebooks to come, the prognosis for a full recovery looks good. For HARP, we have ongoing work on the Bestiary and I have been rebuilding relationships with freelance writers, who have legitimate grievances with the previous incarnations of ICE, and I am hopeful that this will lead to new HARP sourcebooks. Indeed, getting HARP back to a place where I am no longer named as the lead writer on every project is a positive indicator that HARP will also make a full recovery. Cyradon is receiving significant care and attention so that we can create a flow of supporting products - releasing the base book followed by nothing would simply put it back in intensive care. Which brings us to Rolemaster, which has not yet completed its RMU beta treatment.

The reason for that is simple - lack of time. No one who works for Aurigas or GCP is full-time. Everyone is essentially freelance with day jobs, and that includes me. So there are only so many hours in the commute, the evening or the weekend that I or anyone else can work on the products. This unfortunate reality is a direct consequence of the low level of sales that we inherited from the previous licensee, and until we get the sales back to preMjolnir era levels (say RMSS levels), the situation is unlikely to change. I’ve had to ruthlessly prioritise my GCP time to get each of the other lines into a better state and have stayed with those lines to ensure that they don’t have a relapse.

The good news is that I have the RMU manuscripts on my tablet PC and that due to a new job, I now have two hours on a train every weekday that can be used for GCP work. I’m looking forward to getting Rolemaster out of intensive care.

Until next time

Expect an unscheduled Director’s Briefing for the special discount for HARP College of Magics.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline PhillipAEllis

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2013, 04:24:56 AM »
Thank you, Nicholas!

I hope that you have a great week ahead of you,

Phillip
Formerly: ghyle.

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Offline egdcltd

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2013, 09:49:52 AM »
I'm curious about the third-party sourcebooks for Shadow World now. Any timeline on them as yet, or hints as to what they are?
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Offline Ynglaur

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2013, 03:55:59 PM »
Confirming that I will pre-purchase RMU given the opportunity.  I've been very impressed so far.

Offline KacyCrawford

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2013, 11:37:48 AM »
Quite impressive

Offline fac

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2013, 05:19:43 AM »
What I miss in the current ICE as well in the previous is the lack of an schedule with some fixed dates, although I can understand this is not a real job, I think that giving a date it's helpful for customers. If I know Emer 3 will be issued November 2013 I will not ask until late November, or it could be generic as 4Q 2013, I do not mind.

But all new products seem to be in a sort of future limbo without any given date. I really think you could add a yearly timeline with the products you want to release and offering preorder for books that are almost finished.
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Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2013, 12:40:52 PM »
While I completely agree it would be nice to have solid time-frames given, I know exactly why a hard schedule is not provided (especially having worked in the industry).

You just don't know how long it will take, especially considering it is a 'secondary' job for everyone.  When you give a date and miss it that usually annoys most fans even more than being vague about the release date from the beginning.

I think having a 'queue' of what is to come next and updating the progress on the items is a VERY good idea.
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Offline Thom @ ICE

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2013, 02:55:22 PM »
For the queue you should be able to get the information from the newsletters and Director's reports, but if you would like just a short list of the projects that are well underway I'll review with Nicholas and John to see what can be provided.   Maybe we can create a single thread on the Official News pages (with no replies) that simply states something like:

HARP - Loot Re-release, Bestiary New Product
Cyradon - Cyradon Re-Release with HARP Enhanced Updates
Shadow World - Emer III
Rolemaster - Rolemaster Character Law, Rolemaster Spell Law, Rolemaster Arms Law, etc.
and onwards...

We won't give dates or indications of availability until they go through the standard countdown postings that Nicholas does, but maybe this might help you all see that there is a lot going on behind the scenes.  Thoughts??
Email -    Thom@ironcrown.com

Offline fac

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2013, 04:22:59 PM »
Thom

I do not think ignoring dates it's a good system, deadlines exist because it's easy to arrange things if you have a clear objective. Unless you mean that you have set dates but you're not informing to potential customers.

The standard countdown  it's not specially useful. If you take Emer 3, text was submitted by TKA 15Th January, if you look at director briefings this year, no mention about this product has been done until this newsletter early July when it's just mentioned without any reference to dates. In the meantime we got many updates regarding RMSS stats for Shadow World old books.

It's your business and I have no idea if this is normal or not. As a customer, I would say that when GCP took over ICE's management it was like fresh air coming, but this push has disappeared.
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Offline Thom @ ICE

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2013, 07:13:47 PM »
GCP definitely has internal dates, deadlines, and project reviews just like any other professional organization. My comment was indicating that the dates would not be publicly shared until they were close to launch as there are many factors that can delay a project and I believe Nicholas does not want to mislead customers about upcoming products. 

I'm sorry that you feel that the push has disappeared, but perhaps that's because you are not aware of all of the projects that are ongoing.  My suggestion (and it would really need Nicholas to agree to execute it) was to provide an open list of the numerous projects that have reached a significant point in their development so that you could see what the folks working for GCP are spending time on.  It would be more information than you have now, but it would not set any firm expectation of a delivery time frame.  Just something to keep the interest level up as the team pushes onwards toward publication.
Email -    Thom@ironcrown.com

Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2013, 08:43:38 PM »
What I miss in the current ICE as well in the previous is the lack of an schedule with some fixed dates, although I can understand this is not a real job, I think that giving a date it's helpful for customers. If I know Emer 3 will be issued November 2013 I will not ask until late November, or it could be generic as 4Q 2013, I do not mind.

But all new products seem to be in a sort of future limbo without any given date. I really think you could add a yearly timeline with the products you want to release and offering preorder for books that are almost finished.


Giving public dates that are then missed because a freelance writer, artist, layout expert, editor, playtester / proofreader has missed an internal deadline (and usually this happens for a perfectly good reason) or because a crisis has happened in another line that has meant I get tied up fixing it, would quickly cause our fans to get annoyed with us.

With regard to Emer 3, the text has to be edited and since Emer 3 is written by Terry, that means I have to be its editor. It also needs artwork which has to be commissioned and completed. The suggestion came to bring back a slew of Shadow World products with RMSS stats and some modest enhancements - it was clear to me that the workload for this could be distributed to people other than me and getting those books back asap would help Shadow World.

I am not averse to providing a big list of (most) of the products in the pipeline,  but I am very hostile to giving out dates. 

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline egdcltd

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2013, 05:08:23 AM »
I would like to see a list of upcoming products, maybe in an approximate order (not date) as to when they will be released, with, preferably, a status next to them - writing, layout, proofreading etc as relevant.
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Offline fac

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2013, 05:10:08 AM »
Thom: It's interesting what you said that maybe I'm not aware of all ongoing projects, but I should be aware, and you have to provide the means to be sure we/readers/games are informed.

Nicholas: I do not mean fixed dates, but if I understand well your role as editor, probably you have to decide which release goes first so there is some order, for me it has little sense to read your briefing if we never got a glimpse of when it's going to be issued. Of course people can miss deadlines, but your system is assuming that because it could happen, it will happen and it's better to not give any dates.

I have a question quite straight. What is ICE releasing until the end of the year? I do not mind about fixed dates, and I understand some things could move to February 2014.  Just what are you going to publish in the second half of 2013.

Please believe me, I do not want to be just criticizing, I'm giving my opinion as a customer. I think it would be better to give some flexible list, I use Thom list as an example;
2 Half 2013
HARP - Loot Re-release, Bestiary New Product
Cyradon - Cyradon Re-Release with HARP Enhanced Updates
Shadow World - Emer III

1 Half 2014
Rolemaster - Rolemaster Character Law, Rolemaster Spell Law, Rolemaster Arms Law


Also opening preorder for upcoming books with some previews has sense for me.



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Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #13 on: August 08, 2013, 06:49:31 AM »
Thom: It's interesting what you said that maybe I'm not aware of all ongoing projects, but I should be aware, and you have to provide the means to be sure we/readers/games are informed.

Nicholas: I do not mean fixed dates, but if I understand well your role as editor, probably you have to decide which release goes first so there is some order, for me it has little sense to read your briefing if we never got a glimpse of when it's going to be issued. Of course people can miss deadlines, but your system is assuming that because it could happen, it will happen and it's better to not give any dates.

I have a question quite straight. What is ICE releasing until the end of the year? I do not mind about fixed dates, and I understand some things could move to February 2014.  Just what are you going to publish in the second half of 2013.

Please believe me, I do not want to be just criticizing, I'm giving my opinion as a customer. I think it would be better to give some flexible list, I use Thom list as an example;
2 Half 2013
HARP - Loot Re-release, Bestiary New Product
Cyradon - Cyradon Re-Release with HARP Enhanced Updates
Shadow World - Emer III

1 Half 2014
Rolemaster - Rolemaster Character Law, Rolemaster Spell Law, Rolemaster Arms Law


Also opening preorder for upcoming books with some previews has sense for me.





It isn't a case of "could happen that deadlines are missed", it does happen. It is also the case that 50% of the people who start work as a writer on rpg products fail to complete or bail at some point, and this has been my experience from the very first module that GCP published  a decade ago.

These aee the realities.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline intothatdarkness

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #14 on: August 08, 2013, 11:18:23 AM »
Look at videogames...even with dedicated, paid staff working full-time, most ambitious projects slip release dates (or get shoved out full of bugs). It is what it is. Even with a "P500" type system release dates remain unclear at best.
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Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #15 on: August 08, 2013, 12:02:26 PM »
With regard to preorders,, we do not want to do them. Mjolnir's HARP Limited Edition product was done as a preorder and the failure of Mjolnir to deliver what they had promised, with people waiting for years before they received something resembling thr original product, even though placeholder copies were issued,  had a tremendously damaging effect. Fans stopped buying print versions of Rolemaster and HARP products.

We are still suffering from the aftermath of that debacle as we have to persuade fans to try print again through the new OBS/LS route, where we know the books will be printed and they will be shipped.

So no preorders - we will happily take your money but only when the product is ready to sell to you.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #16 on: August 08, 2013, 08:05:38 PM »
I think they realize RM and HARP are never going to support a full on company where, at least, the primary staff are dedicated full timers making their 'living' off of it (maybe when they start retiring and don't have to work...).  I'm also not so sure selling the computer rights is going to help Guild Companion Publications... because those rights, I believe, would be sold by Aurigas Aldebaron?  It might allow AA to help GCP along though.  However, at what point does profit become an issue there?

Although, for good or bad, I really can't see GCP putting things out much more slowly than Mjolnir was.

As to the request for dates, there's no way I'd give dates either.  At best, BEST, I'd give the current order of intended publication and First Half or Second Half of a year for time frames.  As Nick said, you cannot rely on freelance projects being done when they are targeted to be... because they are freelance.  Aside from those who just don't follow through, life also just has a knack of getting in the way.  Despite the claims from people here that they won't get mad there are lots of others who will throw a fit over it.  It's not worth the negative impact.

My friends and I used to joke that you take any computer game release date, then add three months to that as the best case scenario.  Only Blizzard Entertainment proves us wrong (and they have a budget likely larger than most 3rd world countries income).  What happens in those game projects forums?  Horror, mental anguish, gnashing of teeth, unbelievably terrible geeky suffering... it's a PR nightmare, even if it is a bunch of whiny 15 year olds who can't imagine getting out from behind the computer.
- Cory Magel

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Offline fac

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2013, 05:20:06 AM »
I understand all the reasons given, but as a customer of ICE I still miss more information that the tips given. I want to remark that this is not a critic, as I know well how the edition business works, I can be completely wrong.  I'm writing about my perception as a customer.

An example I like to share, I always liked BRP system and when I bought the last RQ edition I discovered it was released by a company of two people (Design Mechanism), they seem focused and give some generic dates like "end 2013" that make easy to know what is in the works.

Now I have a better picture of what you are doing, and I would be happy if you can change things a little bit.
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Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2013, 12:54:48 AM »
I understand the desire - I often want to know when something is going to be available as it can impact other choices I want to make.  Something as silly as "I want to buy that computer game and mine can't handle the requirements needed, so I want to buy a new one, but only just before I buy the game....".  There's a good number of industry related topics that, when I reply/comment, I'll mention that as a customer I think "X", but as someone who understands the industry I think "Y".  They're often opposing opinions unfortunately.  I may not like it, but I get it and often even agree with it on a professional level.

Happened a lot when I worked for WotC... the customers could be vicious, but they just didn't understand what was going on behind the scenes and in many cases there's no way that the company was going to explain it in any real detail, often times because they just couldn't between unknown factors and legal factors, but also because once you started to try and defend yourself it often just made matters worse (usually because the person complaining had NO idea what it takes and isn't really interested in learning).  Don't get me wrong, I don't just stand behind those I work(ed) for blindly - but I often understand exactly why they do or do not do something that isn't popular.  I would explain things to some of the more reasonable professionals I dealt with, but there were many that I just didn't even try.

I can't imagine fully committing myself to something and simply not following through, with no excuse other than laziness.  To give you an idea, our book (the Channeling Companion) from proposal to publication (on the shelf) was a full year.  That was a fast turnaround.  Figure a month proposal/talking, about five months writing time on our end, about another month for changes, then five months for ICE to get it printed and out on shelves - and that was the first incarnation of ICE that had a full time staff and us, the authors (two single fairly carefree guys with no outside life making demands on our time), doing what is considered a fairly quick job with absolutely no delays.  We even had a college professor do an editing pass for us before it even got to ICE.  Not to toot our own horn, but it doesn't get much better than that for a freelance job.  Now imagine someone who may not be as good at writing (needs more edits), has a wife, kids, house and yard, a more demanding career than we had at the time, to say nothing of things that just 'go wrong' along the way.  Even if they have an excellent work ethic that doesn't guarantee a thing.
- Cory Magel

Game design priority: Fun > Balance > Realism (greater than > less than).
(Channeling Companion, RMQ 1 & 2, and various Guild Companion articles author).

"The only thing I know about adults is that they are obsolete children." - Dr Seuss

Offline PhillipAEllis

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Re: Director's Briefing - 2nd July 2013
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2013, 01:23:26 AM »
I hear what you're saying, Mr Magel, and can back it up with anecdotal data from outside the gaming world. I can state that I am still waiting to hear from one small press publisher about an accepted poetry manuscript as to when it will be published, and that was accepted over four years ago now.

I'm more than happy to see a list of products in order of projected appearance for each of the various gaming lines. I say that as it will give me an idea of what's being catered to, and where I can propose items. So, for example, if I saw little being worked on for HARP SF, and if I had the time, I would likely propose something for them.

Anyway, Nicholas, it's up to you, not me, to determine what you'll share with us, and I feel & think you're doing a great job thus far, so feel free to drop me a line whenever I could help out, and I'll do what I can do to help, whether it be proofing, indexing, writing, or whatever.
Formerly: ghyle.

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