Cycles-RPG

That's the question that hurts !!! Initially, we were supposed to open by the end of june 2006, then september, then at the beginning of 2007. Obviously, trying to guess a date is quite a bad idea. So, let's say eventually.

Our main difficulty lies in the quantity of different tasks we're managing at the same time : the writing, the illustrations, the translation, the website, the design, the maps, the systems ... And if you have followed our little adventures thru this blog, you know that unexcepted task may always arise. That said, as of today, it is mostly the development of the website that slows us down.

But beware : the more we wait, the better is Avalanche. We now have more illustrations, the systems are coming, we now have some maps, more than 450 pages are already translated. Finally, we are aiming at the release of Avalanche as the best product we can acheive. We won't do things half way. Avalanche, when it is released, needs to be completed and impressive. We're ready to delay its launch to acheive that.

So, when are we going to launch this ? Let's cross our fingers and hope for the end of the year. But, if it is only during the year 2008, so be it !!! But, rest assure, we're planning some surprises for you on the way there by presenting a new version of the teaser and a new homepage.

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Quand allons-nous commercialiser Avalanche ? La question qui tue !!! Initialement, nous devions sortir à fin juin 2006, puis septembre, puis janvier 2007. De toute évidence, essayer de prévoir une date n'est pas une bonne idée. Nous dirons donc éventuellement.

La difficulté de prévoir une date provient du fait que nous avons de nombreux chantiers en parrallèle : l'écriture, les illustrations, la traduction, le site, le design, les cartes, les systèmes ... Et si vous avez suivi nos petites aventures sur ce blog, vous devez être au fait que de nouveaux chantiers ne cessent de se présenter à nous. Cela dit, aujourd'hui, c'est surtout le développement du site qui nous retarde.

Mais attention : je dois reconnaître que plus nous tardons, plus Avalanche s'améliore. Nous disposons de plus d'illustrations, les systèmes se mettent en place, nous avons maintenant des cartes, plus de 450 pages sont déjà traduites. Finalement, notre objectif est de commencer à commercialiser Avalanche avec le meilleur produit, le plus avancé possible. Nous ne ferons donc pas de demi mesures. Avalanche, à sa sortie, se doit d'être le plus complet, le plus impressionant possible. Quitte à retarder son lancement.

Qaund donc allons-nous commercialiser Avalanche ? Croisons les doigts et souhaitons que ce soit d'ici la fin de l'année. Mais, si ce n'est que courant 2008, alors qu'il en soit ainsi !!! Mais rassurez-vous, l'attente en vaudra largement la peine et nous vous préparons des petites surprises d'ici là par le lancement d'un nouveau teaser et une refonte de notre page d'accueil existante.

As I promised, a presentation on the history of the teaser.

The need
I had been present on the forge for quite some months, trying to explain what Avalanche was about. But speaking of a product without showing some kind of preview was becoming more and more difficult. I had presented some excerpts, but without continuity or illustrations and in a, somehow, poor translation (well, in fact, poor compared to what I have now). Finally, during the month of april 2006, Jake delivered me all the illustrations needed for the story of the dragon hunters. I was ready to start work on the teaser ...

The construction
The objective of the teaser, if I may recall it, was to present an excerpt of Avalanche to a community already familiar to its main concepts. Speaking of it, you can find this conversation over here. Once again, the Forge would prove to be a great ressource. Initially, I only built the teaser in a simple word format, putting the illustrations next to the description. Well, I was soon to discover that this wasn't enough. Far from it. The lack of presentation, layout, example of play would not allow a reader to understand what I was doing. In fact, our main mistake had been not to see the teaser as a product of its own. Not only did it need to explain Avalanche, but also be a window of our overall talent.
That said, here's the first version I presented.
Thanks to the precious contribution of Eero and Luke, we finally made it. Well almost. To be honest, after many (but many) hours spent on photoshop without any tremendous results, we decided to move the teaser into professional hands : Bérengère, one of our illustrator. And then, we did it !!!
We were now in possession of a teaser that looked very good and showed what we were capable of. All this work had been very instructive.

The use
This teaser was meant to promote Cycles. But, as much as most people would admit it looked good, we were encountering real difficulties while trying to use it :
- The story of the dragon hunters is not really representative of the rest of Avalanche, since it is really linear. As to explain really what Avalanche is about, we would need more than one story.
- The material provided in the teaser is not enough explicit as how to use it. It is true that this story is not the most playable.
- The lack of systems, characters' sheets is a big problem.
- The example of play is not directly linked to the material.

What's next ?
Now that we know that we can come we a high quality teaser, and that we understand the problems with the current one, we are preparing a second version of the teaser :
- With at least two stories occuring at the same time
- With characters' sheets using at least two different systems (TSOY and d20)
- With more than one example of play
- With maps of some cities

And this new teaser should have more than seventy pages and be perfect as a promotion tool for Avalanche !!!

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Tel que convenu, une présentation du teaser.

Le besoin
J'étais présent sur the forge depuis déjà quelques mois, tentant d'expliquer du mieux que je pouvais ce à quoi correspondait Cycles. Mais parler d'un produit sans en montrer ne serait-ce qu'un extrait devenait de plus en plus difficile. J'avais bien présenté quelques segments, mais sans illustrations et sur la base d'une traduction anglaise assez pauvre (en fait, pauvre comparativement à celle dont je dispose maintenant). Finalement, au cours du mois d'avril 2006, Jake me livrait l'intégralité des dessins concernant les chasseurs du dragons. Je pouvais donc présenter un teaser ...

La construction
L'objectif de ce teaser, je le rappele, était de présenter un extrait d'Avalanche à une communauté dont j'avais parlé de mon projet. A ce propos, vous trouverez cette discussion ici.
Une fois de plus, the forge s'est révélé d'une aide précieuse. Initialement, je m'étais contenté de construire le teaser sur la base d'un fichier word, tout simple, les textes étant accompagnés des illustrations. Mais, comme j'allais le découvrir assez rapidement, ce n'était pas suffisant. En effet, le manque de mise en forme, de présentation, d'exemple d'utilisation ne permettait absolument pas de comprendre réellement ce dont Avalanche traitait. En fait, la principale chose que je n'avais pas vu, c'est ce que ce teaser devait constituer en lui-même un produit fini. Il se devait non seulement d'expliquer Avalanche, mais également être une fenêtre sur le professionalisme du produit final.
Cela dit, voici la 1ere version que j'ai présentée.
Avec la contribution précieuse de Eero et de Luke, nous y sommes finalement parvenus. Enfin presque. C'est à dire que, après de nombreuses heures à travailler sur photoshop sans résultats tout à fait au point, nous avons finalement eu recours à une professionnelle : Bérengère, une de nos illustratrices. Et là, nous y sommes parvenus !!!
Nous avions maintenant à notre disposition un teaser qui en jetait et démontrait de quoi nous étions capables. Tout ce travail a été très instructif pour nous.

L'usage
Initialement, ce teaser devait servir à faire la promotion de Cycles. Finalement, bien qu'il démontre certainement que nous disposons d'un savoir faire indéniable (dans l'ensemble, les gens sont d'accord pour dire qu'il a une bonne tête), nous rencontrons de graves difficultés dans son utilisation :
- L'histoire des chasseurs de dragons n'est pas la plus représentative d'Avalanche, puisqu'elle s'avère très linéaire. Je crois qu'il est difficile d'expliquer Avalanche avec une seule histoire.
- Le matériel fourni n'est pas assez explicite quant à son utilisation. C'est à dire qu'on ne voit pas directement comment l'utiliser dans le cadre d'une partie. Il est vrai que cette histoire n'est pas particulièrement facile d'utilisation.
- L'absence de feuilles de personnages, de systèmes, nous fait cruellement défaut.
- L'exemple de jeu qui est fourni n'est pas directement lié au matériel du teaser, ce qui est dommage.

Tout ca pour dire que faire la promotion de Cycles avec ce teaser n'est pas aisé.

La suite
Maintenant que nous savons que nous pouvons produire ce niveau de qualité dans nos réalisations, et que nous comprenons ce qui fait défaut au teaser actuel, nous en préparons une deuxième version qui contiendra :
- Au moins deux histoires se déroulant en parrallèle
- Des feuilles de personnages pour au moins deux systèmes (TSOY et d20)
- Plus d'un exemple de jeu
- Des cartes des villes

Et attention, ce nouveau teaser devrait faire plus de soixante dix pages et être apte à nous aider réellement à faire la promotion d'Avalanche !!!

Edit on monday april 16th : I've just finished Bedora today and I'm adding it. All the main cities are done !!

Vacations week. For the last five days I've been telling myself to write down an article about the teaser, from its original needs and creation, discussing its weakness and use. But, since the beginning of the week, I've been working like a crazy man on the maps of the three main cities of the lands of exile. I had for objective to finish them by next monday. Well, we're friday and this is done !!!

My article about the teaser will have to wait until next week. Doing those damned maps is definitly a crazy job. I must admit that I'm not very good at those kind of tasks normally, but I found out that this is quite fun. I'm using a software called campaign cartographer, which is definitly easy and intuitive to use ; after a short period of getting used to it.

I still have to put some notes on those cards, but since I'll have to do it in french and english, this means I'll need two different files. Please note that the resolution used for their presentation into this blog is very bad (420 x 315), and does not allow you to see any details. But those cards will be soon available on the main page of the website in their full format (1600 x 1200).

I tried to generate very different kinds of cards, since I'm still experimenting, and there are more of those to come from my part.

So, here they are:
- Carcandas, the southern capital
- Caennyas
- Raijuvak, the northen capital
- Bedora, the city frozen in an icy prison

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Edité le lundi 16 avril : je viens de terminer Bedora que j'ajoute ici. Toutes les villes principales sont maintenant complétées !!

Je suis en vacances cette semaine. Depuis cinq jours, je me dis que je dois écrire un article sur le teaser, de sa nécessité à sa création, en y présentant ses faiblesses et l'usage que nous en faisons. Mais depuis le début de la semaine, je travaille comme un anarché sur les cartes des trois principales villes. Je me suis fixé comme objectif pendant mes vacances de les compléter. Et bien, c'est fait !!!

Mon article sur le teaser attendra donc la semaine prochaine. C'est vraiment un travail de malade faire ces cartes-là. Je dois reconnaître ne pas être très doué dans ce genre de taches normalement, mais je me suis vite pris d'un malin plaisir à réaliser ces cartes. J'utilise comme logiciel campaign cartographer, et je dois dire que c'est bien agréable et conviviale ; après une première étape un peu laborieuse de l'apprentissage de la prise en main.

Il me reste à annoter ces cartes avec des informations d'Avalanche, mais je devrai le faire en anglais et en francais, ce qui nécessitera de créer deux fichiers. A noter que la résolution utilisée pour leur présentation sur le blog n'est pas très bonne (420 x 315), ce qui ne permet pas de voir tous les détails. Ces cartes seront bientôt disponibles sur la page d'accueil de notre site dans leur réel format (1600 x 1200).

J'ai essayé volontairement de créer trois styles de cartes différents. J'en suis encore un peu à l'étape de l'expérimentation et il m'en reste de nombreuses autres à faire.

Les voici donc :
- Carcandasse, la capitale du sud
- Caennyas
- Raijuvak, la capitale du nord
- Bedora, la cité enfermée dans une prison de glace

First article of a new category, Actual Play (aka AP), which is there to present factual examples of play session. After all, this is the final objective of any rpg creation.

I've cross posted at the forge and you can find the discussion here : [Avalanche using TSOY] - Battles, battles and more battles ...

You'll notice that I don't master this master, yet. But, I'll come to it very soon I guess.

Here's the original description :

Well, continuing our adventures (and playtesting) of Avalanche. So, here it goes ...

The context
We had not been playing for a while now : almost ten months (since my child was born) !!! For one reason or another (seven to nine weeks of vacations in France tends to complicate those kind of things) we didn't have the chance to play. Well, now we're back again and ready to play on a more regular basis for the coming months !!! It was our second session using the solar system and our 18th (or so) overall session.

The game in itself
Last time we played, we left the game at the beginning of a big battle : the PCs were entering into a catacomb, as other militaries were there to hunt down a great menace. The good news was that the players didn't have to take any political parts ; since the last time we played was so long ago, they had to take their time to put all the pieces together.
It turned out we played more than three hours of battles !!! We had never done that before ... Overall, we played two days (also a first) into the calendar.
It was quite fun : a good game to restart. By the time the session was over, they had put back all the pieces together ...

About Avalanche
We did almost nothing concerning the plot (so few days into the calendar), so we didn't learn much about Avalanche. That said, here's a couple of things that came to me :
- They were facing a very strong foe. In fact, they wouldn't have stand a chance confronting him directly. It reminded me that the "levels of strength" of the proganists depict in the plot are various. Sometimes, the PCs are strong enough, sometimes not. It is for them to make the call ...
- The pace is [i]so slow[/i]. At the end, they were trying to figure out what to do next. They are aware that if they stay in this city to continue the hunt, this will take much time. Their primary objective (I'll come to that later) is to save the king. To acheive it they have a deadline of less than a month and much ground to cover. I don't think they'll stay in this city.
- The impact of things happening in the world. Previously, they chose to go south as other main characters (Theobald) went north. At the end of the session, they heard news (rumors, maybe ?) from that region. They had not been there for the last month. Their reaction was immediate : "Ho no !!! Maybe this won't go as we planned. They are making mistakes. They will be in trouble soon ..." Giving their knowlegde of the world (they traveled a lot and know many characters), even if they choose a different paths, they also try to be kept informed about other plots, almost ready to jump into them if needed. That's cool. Well, that's what I'm looking for.
- We debriefed after the game about their feelings toward the "cycles" problematic (they started with no memory of who they are) : everything seems fine according to them. They have so much on their hands that this goes into the background. Still interesting to them, but in the very long term.

About the solar system

This is the right choice
We're getting into it, and pretty deep. I still find it amusing and somehow strange. For instance, the first time we came to throw dices, we negociated about the results and not the intent !!! We realised it soon enough. Repeating myself here from other posts, but this all make so much more sense !!!
Otherwise, strange as it is, the session was almost constitute of battles, but still, TSOY worked out pretty well. The pace is fast and I find it more exciting than the usual hit points system of d20. And note that never the PCs chose to break down the pain and they realised it is pretty risky : once you're into it, it goes very fast !!!
Last thing maybe : I kept the battles to a minimum. The PCs affronted "archetypes" of adversaries. Once they would have defeated them, they would not fight them again. This seems fine with everyone ...

Keys
For one reason or another, the first time we played, the PCs didn't have keys. A big mistake. So, at the beginning of the session, we chose keys for them.
I like not giving the xp to the players, it's great !!! And they are really encourage to hit those as it is their only way to progress. Well, by the end of the session, they made between 7 and 15 xp each, which seems like a good advance.
I think playing without keys doesn't make much sense I guess ...

Playtesting
I'm currently working with Eero to make an adaptation of the solar system for Avalanche (to be honest, Eero is doing all the job, I just reread and help ...). Eero came with a problematic and a solution, so I playtested it ...
The solar system, as it is build with the keys, doesn't necessarily encourage group adventuring, as PCs might be tempted to split any group as to hit their keys. But Avalanche is maybe best suited for group adventuring. So, Eero is trying to come up with some kind of mechanics to encourage this.
Here's an example :

Secret of the Party Quest
The character's adventuring party takes on a side quest, which may modify or extend the goals of the party. The character and his whole party is considered to have the Key of the Quest for the quest in question, except that it cannot be bought off by any other character. Each character may only have one Secret of the Quest at a time, and the Secret is removed when the player opts to buy off the Key.

Key of the Quest
The character has a quest he has committed to.
1 xp - Investigate about the quest.
2 xp - Act towards the quest.
5 xp - Make significant progress in the quest.
Buyoff - Fulfill the quest, or abandon it.

Now, that's something I really wanted to playtest, so I gave the secret and key to the each member of the group. But which quest ? That's the funny part.
First of all, we agree that a quest is not to be understand in a strict Avalanche way. It is not necessarily a [i]story[/i]. It could be a subplot, or quite franckly, anything ... The big dilemma for the players was : "do we go for a long term quest, that will probably last all the way to the end, or a smaller one, and rechange later ?". For instance, they could have chosen a quest related to their sudden appearance into the world (cycling), that would last until the end.
They decided to choose a small one : the quest to save the king of Carcandas. Well, that's not a story, not even a subplot. No one cares about the king ... except the PCs now !!! I don't know exactly why, they got into their mind that the king would be assassinated on his birthday. I guess you could see it that way. He'll need rescue, that's for sure, but things are not exactly as the players think they are. Anyway, this seems to me like a viable quest, so that's fine.
But what would happen if the PCs come to choose a non viable quest ?

They hitted that key only once during the session, for 2 XPs. They "discovered" that the ones who are helping the guys they were hunting are also the ones that would try to kill the king. Major information from their point of view. But it's not exactly like that. I chose to let them take the XPs (anyway, I don't manage that anymore) and let them believe they were right.

Talking with the players about this key, they find it very nice and very coherent with Avalanche. That way they would be able to hit keys altogether. Now, they told me that this key wouldn't have prevented them to change plots all the time. They think it is very useful to the DM. Given the numbers of plots they can take part in, this key may help he DM for his preparation. I guess they are right.

A quick question : what would prevent PCs to choose a very small quest for a short period of time and then come back to the other ? Once they leave a quest, can they retake it afterward ?

Questions
We've came across some difficulties and interrogations about the use of Solar system. So, here they are :

Case study 1 :
A pyromancer is using his magical power to attack two undead in front of him. His intention is to hurt [i]both[/i]. Now, he throws his dices, got three success. I throw the resist for the undead, one success and none. Now, how do you attribute damage ? Three to each (thus two and three) ? Three among them, at the caster's discretion ?
We did the last option, the mage having knowledge of the score of the resist of each undead.

Case study 2 :
Three PCs are forcing a blocked door. Level of success needed is 4. According to the rules, we start with the PC with the strongest ability score and then "report" his success level as bonus dice to the next one. We throw the first dices, 4 successes. Then, the door is open, right ? No need to report the success ? Seems to us that this works that way ...

Case study 3 :
The group are fighting a golem. The mage and an archer are quite easy to manage, but the other PCs (let's called them A, B and C) pose us some problems as they were all three fighting the golem in close combat.
The intentions of A, B and C were to damage the golem.
The golem's intention was to hurt B.
Now, how does this work exactly ?
- A is attacking the golem. We assume that the golem would resist normally. Does it need to specify this as an intention ? Can it spend dices from a pool for this "action" ? If A has less success than the golem, do the golem does some damage to A ? If A has, let's say, 3 more successes than the golem, does he damage it for 3 or does he transfert those three dices to the next player ?
- A is attacking the golem. He only got 1 success more than the golem. Knowing that the golem reduce one damage, can A transfert this damage as a bonus dice to B ?
- If the intention of the golem was to hit all three PCs, how would that work ?

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Premier article d'une nouvelle catégorie, Actual Play (aka AP), qui a pour vocation la présentation d'exemples factuels de jeu. Après tout, toute création de jeux de rôle a pour objectif de jouer.

Vous m'excuserez, mais je n'ai pas la patience de traduire ce que j'ai initialement écrit en anglais, et encore moins la conversation qui s'en ait suivie.

Vous trouverez la conversation en question ici : [Avalanche using TSOY] - Battles, battles and more battles ...

Si ca vous intéresse, vous verrez que je ne maîtrise pas encore complètement ce système. Mais j'y arriverai.