Comments on supporting Shard

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    • Comments on supporting Shard

      I am hesitant to leap straight in to trying to sell Players and GMs on our game when it still carries the dead on the vine reputation that it does in Austin because of it's lack of new material or public announcements about it's development direction, Without some solid and realistic assurance that the upcoming Magic and Martial Arts book will have a solid release date that they can eagerly wait for while they explore the material of the core rulebook.

      Just a weekend or two ago I bumped into a former manager of Austin's biggest venue for RPGs and he chastised me as an extension of Shard Studios ( which I actually am not an employee of, but have been seen to assist at demos for ) for not doing more with the IP. Of course I let him know that Scott and Aaron are working on the next book but he was understandably skeptical because he was advised there would be a release a year ago or more.

      There are hurdles to overcome to be sure, but I hold out hope that Shard will live on and grow. In my opinion, it's nearly gone long enough for Shard Second Edition to be created and released. This time with better art, a considerably more streamlined rules system and a vastly more fleshed-out setting. i would love to see each nation of Dàrdünah get it's own little supplement book, The Isvarate of Tishinia, The Amin of Sustruum and so on. With detailed maps of each country and scads of story hooks specific to the area. As well as detailed dossiers on the top Sunborn lines in that nation that shape it's internal and international politics.

      And a separate Suthra Guide devoted only the the alien, arthropodic and insectoid fauna of the Shard world. Describing their ecosystem and their contributions to or hindrances to , Janah society.

      Also I've said this before and I'll say it again. There are complete versions of the World Guide and Magic and Martial Arts book for the previous generation of Dardunah before it was called Shard. Release that material online as free or pay .PDF files with complete explanations that the material is not wholly compatible with the canon rules as they have been published, but proving that immense thought and work really has gone into this game and is just being refined for public release. I know fans of shard would jizz in their pants to suddenly have two whole new books to play with. Even if they have to do conversions in order to use them.

      The fact that doing this would surely cost a few hundred thousand dollars does not escape me. Maybe it's time to sell this to a parent company with the resources to finish the product.
      "Daggra" means "Enemy" in Tibetan.
      "Chora" means "Thief" in Sanskrit.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Ghorüm ().

    • RE: Comments on supporting Shard

      The reality is that there will be no new Shard supplements unless they can be properly funded. Fortunately, there is Kickstarter. :)

      If new supplements are to be released, they will almost certainly have to be delegated out to various companies and freelancers. Scott is incredibly busy with full-time employment and I am incredibly busy with writing and self-publishing my fiction.

      That said, I am very close to heading up a Kickstarter to publish a Savage Worlds version of Shard (The Savage World of Shard). But all I am doing is creating and running the Kickstarter and writing the checks for all the folks who will be employed to make it happen (assuming the KS makes its funding goal).

      I'm in talks with Savage Mojo to do all the layout and design needed to get the book ready for publication and to find a writer for all of the SW conversions that will be necessary. I'd also commission a new cover and a bunch of new art for the interior of the book. I'd serve as a editor-in-chief and project manager once all that is done and would make sure the books got printed and sent off to Studio 2 who would distribute.

      But this only happens if the KS gets funded. So the good news is that everyone involved with getting the product ready will get paid! Yay! If the KS does not get funded, the project simply does not happen. So I would suggest a similar path for any new Shard RPG material. Do them as Kickstarters. If they get funded, they happen and all the folks involved get paid.

      Crowd-funding has made this a great and exciting time for RPGs. Running crowd-funding campaigns is hard work but it sure beats the alternative of not getting new products out at all.

      -Aaron
    • RE: Comments on supporting Shard

      I understand that we would all LOVE to see more "SHARD" material on the shelves, but that does not mean that what IS available is not a really good product. In fact, the core rules-book which has been released is a trove of ideas just waiting for a creative-minded GMs to put their own spin on things, (without the constraints having too many publications often bring), having general rules allows the Game Master the freedom to customize a particular area based upon his/her needs and to draw upon the character types they find most suitable for the story line.

      As for the supplements,... HELL YES we would love to see them, but in the meantime take advantage of the freedom to draw upon your own creativity using examples of historic kingdoms and characters from your favorite books. AND don't forget... there are lots of strange and freaky creatures walking around on our planet right now, which could be adapted to shard with a little ingenuity and the handy character generation tools at the back of the book! Its not just for PC's you know! After that go a step further and decide what part they play in the ecosystem and how they affect the things around them... This allow GM's to avoid the trap of monsters just being viewed as a set of stats and special powers, and instead makes them true creatures of the world.

      As for the "dead on the vine" reputation, I will only say that the things the general public has seen do not hold a candle to the things yet to come! but patience is called for, as Shard is a small company without the man-power to crank things out like larger companies. Think of it as a local coffee house that may not have the glitter of Starbucks but which offers things larger chains overlook... Sometimes its the places with out enough staff, one bathroom, two tables, and mismatched chairs which offers the BEST product, and it just needs dedicated customers to be persistent and bring in new people until everyone sees WHY.

      As a person who has visited both large chains and local shops....the smaller local ones get my vote every time! :D
    • These are the realities of small press publications, unfortunately. Funding is the key. Crowd funding efforts have revitalized mainstream interest in games, and I think a more aggressive strategy towards that end should be pursued by the authors of Shard. Tim Schafer, Monte Cook, and the nice people at Evil Hat have all effectively enhanced their careers and achieved critical acclaim via Kickstarter.

      In the meantime, we as fans have the responsibility of LOVING this game. We're the ones who have to make its presence known and drum up interest. Online games, fanart, fiction, fan pages and campaign playthroughs are all in our court. We can facilitate games with free online services like roll20 or even Skype or Google Hangouts. We can playtest our own supplements and relate to Scott and Aaron what we've found to work and what we've found to not work.

      Small press publishers rely more on their fans than do larger companies. Why wouldn't they go for a Savage Worlds splat? Any marketing is good marketing. The SW community is one of the most active out there and Savage Worlds is generally accommodating with their IP. This is a good move.

      If we're really jonesing for some Shard goodness, why not make it a community effort?