New Year's Resolutions

I actually did pretty good on my resolutions for 2010. There are only 2 things on that list that didn't wind up happening. I wound up dropping out of the Simian Circle Design Contest and I only published one item for sale, rather than the 2 I had hoped.

Slightly humbled (but only slightly), I bring you my resolutions for the year 2011.

Think smaller. As much as I would love to put out something big and huge like Beyond The Deadly Desert, it's a rather expensive proposition. Perhaps something smaller that will help bring money in to pay for the big projects. I've got the characters pack close enough to say it should be ready by February.

Other things on the todo list include an adventure scenario (another resource-light moneymaker) and Wicked Roads (tentative title for my Dark Oz sourcebook). Whether all of this happens this year is hard to say.

Also, I really need to get into stores. And the big key to that seems to be getting a strong grip on my manufacturing costs. Currently, my manufacturing cost at Lulu are nearly 50% of my retail cost. To get into distribution profitably, I need to fit my manufacturing costs into below 40% of my retail price. Lower than that if I want to make a significant profit.

I'd also like to do at least one more podcast this year, hopefully 2.

Also, I have had an idea to do a supplement for the Pathfinder RPG. While psionics rules have been in the D20 System for a long time, they've never really felt like psionics in any other media. So I've decided to come up with a feat-based model (not feat and skill, like some other attempts) that feels a little more like the psychics we read about in novels and see on TV.

More personally, I've got to get back in the saddle as a Game Master. I had a campaign fall apart for a number of reasons, including scheduling, work stress, and a few system issues last year. And with the other GM in my group getting hit by a car (he survived and is recovered and back to work and play), my own gaming life is running pretty low right now.

One campaign idea that I had would be GURPS Greatest American Hero. The characters in that game would be granted dorky looking supersuits and forced to master the powers they receive. I chose GURPS because it's the only system I'm aware of that has rules for sucking at your powers. I just need to finish building the home city and find some players to go in it.

Also, I'm interested in starting up an Oz campaign using AiO. While Skype sessions would make interesting podcast fodder, it may turn out that scheduling is enough of an issue that a play-by-post format would be better, allowing the players to contribute when they had time to do so, rather than on a set schedule.