Heroes Against Darkness in Print Now!

After what seemed like an eternity (considering the speed of the POD process for Hero Kids), I finally took delivery of the proofs of Heroes Against Darkness hardcover and softcover books today from DriveThruRPG!

I won't bore you with any more of the trials and tribulations of the process, suffice to say that right now you can buy the hardcover and softcover books of Heroes Against Darkness from DriveThruRPG:

Hero Forge Games Products at DriveThruRPG

Everyone loves pictures, so here are a bunch of shots of the proof copies that arrived today.

POD Update

So I got in touch with Scott over at DriveThruRPG to find out whether I'd messed up the files for the hardcover of Heroes Against Darkness, and I got this quick response:

"No, that isn't normal at all. It should take about a week at the outside.  I'll send along an inquiry to our client rep over at LSI and see if she can track this down for you."

And like magic, today the print files are approved!   I've ordered proofs of the softcover and hardcovers, which I hope will arrive before Christmas.   Once I've checked them out I'll make them available on DriveThruRPG.

POD Progress - Not So Much...

So I'd love to have good news, but DriveThruRPG are going super-slow on processing the files for the hardcover POD edition of Heroes Against Darkness.

If I'd known it was going to be this long, I'd have ordered proofs of the softcovers, which have been approved for over a week now...

Anyway, I'm waiting for both to get approved, then I'll get the proofs.   At this stage it's clear the books won't be ready before Christmas.   :-(

Heroes Against Darkness POD Progress

In other news, I just uploaded the PDF assets for the softcover and hardcover print verions of Heroes Against Darkness to DriveThruRPG. :-)

Now for some waiting...

Heroes Against Darkness Print Version

Dear loyal reader(s),

I've been neglecting Heroes Against Darkness lately, but now that Hero Kids is out (go buy it) it's time for work to continue on HAD.   Today we're looking at the immediate future of Heroes Against Darkness, and the next post will be about plans for the future.

Heroes Against Darkness Print Version

First, I've had multiple requests (and not just from my mum) for a print version of Heroes Against Darkness.   I actually did a bunch of work on preparing a print version before I started work on Hero Kids, using Amazon's CreateSpace service.   The advantage of CreateSpace is that it can do interior color printing from my source (MS Word), while with OneBookShelf (DriveThruRPG) I can only get black and white interior without the background parchment texture (because they can't do full bleed with B&W).

I also got held up because I don't have a horizontal version of the logo for the spine or appropriate artwork for a wrap-around cover, like this:

However, the advantage of OneBookShelf is that it's way more discoverable than Amazon, and having the print version there will help my customers and I stay connected.   By the way, having customers is weird...

So screw those lame excuses.   I'll do a B&W interior version (without parchment), sort out the cover, and massage the logo into a more horizontal arrangement.

Anyway, it's coming next.

Advice for Publishing Your Own RPG

There's a thread over on RPG.net where a designer asks what to do now that he's finished his RPG.   That's all pretty standard stuff, but one of the responses was so good I'm going to re-post it here.

This is the response by Kevin Crawford, who's the designer of Stars Without Number and Other Dust.

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Here's the rough formula I used; it may not be the best formula, but it worked for me.

1)   Write a game.   Lay it out in a simple, clean two-column format with some apposite stock art acquired from DTRPG. Use InDesign if you have an educator's discount or a willingness to splurge for the best, and use Scribus if you want a free but less friendly alternative.   Plan for POD from the start.   It's simple to turn a PDF into a book if you've planned the layout from the start.   OneBookshelf's print submission guidelines will tell you what you need to do.
2)   Write a supplement or adventure for that game.   You're going to charge for this, because OBS is a business, and they need to make some profit off of at least oen product if they're going to be serving up your free game on their website.
3)   Get a publisher account set up with OneBookshelf.   This takes about 24 hours and is free.
4)   Load the game and supplement both as PDFs and as print files. Get the print proofs sent to you and have someone else look for problems too.
5)   Put the game up for free and the supplement up for a modest price.   Price the game POD at at least $25 and the supplement at at least $10 for anything more than 32 pages, and $15-$19 for larger supplements.   Price the supplement PDF at half the print cost, and bundle a free PDF with the POD.   Stay away from penny-ante PDF pricing; people who see $0.99 stuff tend to assume it's shovelware, rightly or not.
6)   Start selling.
7)   Customers who download your free products end up added to your OBS mailing list if they choose to accept emails.   This is why, after two years, there are about 6,500 people who'll take my emails.   These people are going to be your market, so treat them gently.   One email per month, tops, and make sure you've got something meaningful to tell them when you do.   Spamming customers is a guaranteed way to build hate.
8)   Continue supporting your game with freebie products to keep people interested while you work on paying materials.
9)   Abandon all life outside of your work.

There.   A simple nine-step plan to earning slightly less per hour than you'd make at Burger King, except without as much social status.

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I think that Heroes Against Darkness needs a print version, don't you?
Heroes Against Darkness - Game Rules.