Author: Venger Satanis

High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing. Also found at Venger's old school gaming blog. Age: Almost 42. Favorite Films: Star Wars, Heavy Metal, The Godfather, The Thing, Alien, Conan the Barbarian, Zombie, The Terminator, Hellraiser, Herbert West Reanimator, Planet of the Apes, Flash Gordon, Vanessa, Escape from New York, Krull, Clash of the Titans, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and many others... Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream: Classified. Interest in Roleplaying Games: Started when I was about 10 with the D&D magenta box.

My Kickstarter Process, Revisited

I’ve just completed my 13th Kickstarter. It’s a location-based adventure called Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport. So, just wanted to dispense a little more wisdom from my wealth of crowd-funding experience. You can read my previous article here.

The following is a checklist of things you should keep in mind before you kickstart an RPG project of your very own…

  • Assuming you’ve created an outline for what your gaming thing entails, break the parts down into bite-sized chunks. For instance, if you know that you’re going to need a random table for determining exotic uses of guano, set a day aside for that. The introduction? That’s going to need a day. Same thing with every new monster, magic item, piece of high-tech gear, spell, etc. By “day” I mean at least a solid hour of uninterrupted writing time. If you can’t devote at least an hour of time to your project each weekday, then maybe you shouldn’t be launching a new project?
  • Find art early! Sometimes, I wait until the last minute and that can be a painful, stressful prospect. More and more these days, I’m getting out there ahead of time, looking for artists and artwork. Since I’ve been doing this awhile, I have 3 or 4 artists I regularly use. I’ll usually send them an email a month or two before I need their illustrations, asking their availability with some general notes about what I’m looking for, art-wise. Above and beyond that, I’ll lurk on artist hangouts like DeviantArt.com where there’s tons and tons of galleries full of interesting stuff. If I find something I like, I’ll contact the artist and ask if they’re willing to license a specific piece for $25, $50, or even $100 if it’s something super special or full-color.
  • Towards the project’s end, get feedback! This could be in the form of playtesting, proofreading, reviews, or gaming friends. If I’m in unfamiliar territory (like when I was writing my vampire RPG Blood Dark Thirst), playtesting is a necessity. If it’s a one-shot scenario, playtesting is merely a good idea. Typos happen to the best of us, so I ask Kickstarter backers if anyone wants to look the document over before I send it off to layout. Invariably, I get a few people who offer their (free) proofreading services. Even if they only find one little mistake, that’s a win. I also try to showcase bits of content on my Draconic Magazine site. These little previews give me a chance to see what people think of a particular random table, NPC write-up, optional rule, or whatever it is I’m trotting out for the gaming public.

Hope this helps! I look forward to hearing from you. So, if you’re about to launch a new crowd-funded project, keep your old pal Venger in the loop. And good luck! 😉

Play your character like an effing boss!

There are a lot of RPG players – way more than Game Masters. So, it was high-time that I wrote a little something for those on the other side of the screen. Recently, I came out with a short PDF called Play Your Character like a Fucking Boss. It’s a follow-up to the successful How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss.

In the spirit of playing a character like a fucking boss, what follows is a fun list of possible character actions, words, and accomplishments that can gauge your players’ raw quotient of awesome in a given session. For ease of play, download this sheet, print out a few copies, and then hand them to your players.  During the session, players put a check-mark next to each entry that they’ve done, said or experienced. At the end of the night, total up the point values next to each item and see how they did. Continue reading “Play your character like an effing boss!”

Part of my Kickstarter Process

I’m currently engaged in my 10th Kickstarter campaign at the moment. It’s a project called Trinity of Awesome Returns!

A lot of people have asked me about what all goes into my Kickstarters; like, how do you get from the initial idea (step A) all the way to fulfillment (step Z)? Well, as you can imagine from the space between the first and last letters of the alphabet, there’s a lot that goes into it. This article will focus on the beginning of the process. Step A, if you will. Continue reading “Part of my Kickstarter Process”

Anticipation in your Games [mature]

Creating a sense of anticipation is a worthwhile technique no matter what genre or artistic vehicle you choose. However, this blog post is about erotic anticipation (I can get away with using the word “erotic” here because I haven’t gotten to the really sleazy parts yet). I’m talking about my own space opera RPG Alpha Blue, specifically. Although, any game can benefit from occasional titillation. Continue reading “Anticipation in your Games [mature]”

An Adventure Template

Venger Satanis[This template will be included in Universal Exploits, an upcoming supplement for Alpha Blue. Kickstarter happening now]

Few Space Dungeon Masters out there are as free-wheeling as myself. I like to have a general idea of what’s going to happen or maybe a few key random tables at my fingertips, but that’s pretty much it. I don’t do much planning – especially for a “space sandbox” RPG like Alpha Blue.

And despite that – or possibly because of it – I frequently find myself adhering to a particular formula. I mean, I’ve only watched, like, a trillion hours of sci-fi movies in my lifetime. When I was 5, I had pretty much every word of Star Wars memorized. Eventually, certain concepts absorbed into my weird geek brain, becoming second nature.

Is a formula absolutely necessary? Hell no. Is it a good idea to be familiar with a formula that works, you know, just in case? Absolutely. Even stream-of-consciousness can benefit from having structure. Besides, this formula has a lot of play. By that, I mean it’s open-ended enough to accommodate thousands of ideas… millions! Continue reading “An Adventure Template”