Prima Nomina, Price Tag, Jams
So, this blog evolved well from its initial idea.
Since then, not only has cramOS started some good playtesting, but I got a fun project into the Appx N Jam, made a supplement for Into the Odd for playing as skeletons, and hey, even made a One-page Jam RPG called Prima Nomina, born out of this post.
It has been a vastly creative-intense month; but the thing about Creating is that unless you got the time to go Using it, it becomes just more stuff around.
And it bears saying: I didn't have the time to test any of those ideas, except for the desert bots, which we are currently able to play during a short break from my current Daggerheart campaign.
And I mean, that's life, right?
Vacations are over, time is again limited to get everyone together to play at all, imagine playing all these ideas for my own playtest.
On the other hand, I could sit on these projects for the time they took to cook, leave them in the fridge, gather a table in the intervals of 2 concomitant campaigns. Maybe I shouldn't allow anxiety take the reins! In 5 months I will probably have a much more tested and true idea, surely.
But then again, in three months my life will radically change... this blog exists so these thoughts become words become real... I have the solo fun time to do write and layout but not play... seems weird not to do it.
Until I slapped a price tag on something.
Then it felt like "an untested product" - which it was.
Prima Nomina was price tagged at 5.20 USD for two reasons: 1) I think this is a good idea that would play in a good game; 2) because I wanted to see how that went, both from me and the TTRPG world; 3) 5.20 is a funny number since a deck has 52 cards.
Personally, I don't think it changed how much I wanted it to work out compared to others - that is to say, I obsess about it for the entire day. Something about knowing people enjoy something I think is good really pulls my strings.
What I mean is, I was as interested in its launch as any of the other ideas.
The reaction from the community, however, felt reasonably different. A little more reservation to recommending a product, not a resource. And it makes sense, right? You are telling someone to buy something, not get something for free. People don't really know me that well even.
Even through the use of community copies and giving those for free, I did feel less excitement over it all.
Does this mean no one got interested?
The unexciting answer is; people were normally interested, as any other release I made. Sure, Skeleton Crew had more downloads or views in the first days, but it's a much more palatable concept (a Into the Odd suplement) than a full set of rules that requires an actual full entire set of rules to learn and play.
Similarly, Alchemist's Hollow Bride had an entire different context to compare, and cramOS had a reasonable interest amounted; it may be comparing apples to oranges, but if the expectation was a lesser interest to match the community's interest, that didn't really happen after all.
But, community has really being a highlight of this whole experience.
With the Appendix N Jam, it is fair to say I was eventually regretful to participate. So many high quality adventures, ideas, that I felt quite small and amateurish in my silly mansion of weird animals.
Until the voting started.
This - right here - is it. This has made this weird blog, these weird games and ideas, this habit of writing all collective.
Suddenly it became about this sharing and reading and getting excited and realizing all these different projects of pure passion and dedication. All these 300+ people, throwing their ideas into this timeconsuming piece of art together, then coming together and saying "hey, I see you did this to connect to that, I see you".
That's pretty damn cool, right?
Anyway, if you ever felt like getting into a Jam was a waste of time, shake away your rationalization and try it.
Up next, a post about my favorite Jam Entries from the hefty 60 submissions I read.
And Prima Nomina will now be free.