Starting my own publishing business, FG Friendly

[Galach]

Hello everyone.

It is a looong time since the last opportunity I've had to be logged on FG Forums – my life is running on light speed; at least, this is how I feel for some time… lol. Anyway, for various reasons I decided to start my own business as a RPG content producer. I invested a couple of bucks on mapping/cartography software, in a Wacom tablet, and a bunch of courses in areas of expertise in which I have a lack of knowledge.

And, this week, I started to build my first module under the Red Crow Pub label: Saltjern Hul Valley. Rather than an adventure, this module will be like a “mini campaign setting”, and it will bring the following things:

- An Area Map showing the region of Saltjern Hul;
- An Area Map showing in detail the Saltjern Hus village, with keys for the most important areas;
- A small Floorplan Map for each one of the four mines you can see in the main map;
- Descriptions of all the keyed areas, containing features of the area and important NPCs who can be found around, in a system agnostic way;
- Adventure seeds and conspiracy ideas you can develop for this area;
- Description of two exotic traditions of the people living in the area;
- A lot of names based on Danish Language, and all of it packed in a nice PDF File and Fantasy Grounds Module.

Since this is my very first commercial module, I intend to “sell it for free”, using a “pay what you want” model. This way, people can have a taste of how my products will be without spending money but can also give me a reward in case they really like it. For the PDF file, I am intending to use Drive Thru as my sales platform – however I am not yet sure where I can put the FG modules for sale.

Here are some teasers of my work in progress (if you become interested, you can follow the news in my FB page (https://www.facebook.com/pg/redcrowpub/), while my site is under maintenance/rebuilding proccess). Any comments, critics and tips are welcome:


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[Targas]

Great art. Is it from an Campaign Cartographer annual, or self made?

[Galach]

Great art. Is it from an Campaign Cartographer annual, or self made?

Hi, Targas.

The art if from the new default style of CC3+ (it comes with the base product). However, I am using Photoshop to tweak things, since there are some things (like text) CC#+ isn't good at. =P

[GunnarGreybeard]

Nice. Are you building that all directly in FG or using the old hand coding of xml?

[Targas]

Hi, Targas.

The art if from the new default style of CC3+ (it comes with the base product). However, I am using Photoshop to tweak things, since there are some things (like text) CC#+ isn't good at. =P
It‘s been awhile I used the default overland style. Thanks for telling me. It reminded me being Mike Schley stle, though. :-)
The last overland map I did was using Herwin Wielink style. For Text, CC 3+ isn‘t that bad. The ToUM gives you some valueable ideas. You can e.g. draw text along curves. Maybe you want to raise the castle abit on a hill, having it so close to city houses? Bridges would imply streamlined travelling leading e.g. to open plaza‘s like market places. Just a suggestion, though.

[Galach]

Nice. Are you building that all directly in FG or using the old hand coding of xml?

For this module, I am building it directly on Fantasy Grounds. First, because this a a short module, second because I am creating the text in Word (and I am still deciding if I will pass it trough Scribus or MS Publisher), and it is just a meter of copy/paste things, so I id not judged it worth the trouble of messing with XML... :p

[Galach]

It‘s been awhile I used the default overland style. Thanks for telling me. It reminded me being Mike Schley stle, though. :-)

Well, right to the point - this style was created by Schley, and I had chosen it just because of that: it remembers the WotC official maps and I thought to be a good idea to put together something with a familiar look since I am just starting :p


For Text, CC 3+ isn‘t that bad. The ToUM gives you some valueable ideas. You can e.g. draw text along curves.

"Isn't that bad" sums it up pretty well - it is also "not that good"... lol Yes, it is possible to place a flowing and beautiful text right in CC3+, but more often than not, it is matter of try this, try that, until you get the desired result with effects and placement, so it is time consuming to make it just right. And even doing it right, if you are using TTF fonts, the CAD engine sometimes will not render the text in the exact way you drawn it, making it a bit larger or smaller in the export process. In Photoshop, I know exactly what result I will produce with each tool, and the process is much more organic for me.


IMaybe you want to raise the castle abit on a hill, having it so close to city houses? Bridges would imply streamlined travelling leading e.g. to open plaza‘s like market places. Just a suggestion, though.

These are great ideas, and I loved them! I will try to work in those changes later today. Thank you very much! :)

[Erin Righ]

Looks great, Galach! It is, unfortunately of no use to me as I don't play 5E, but if you do a Pathfinder Version, I could definitely be talked into throwing a few bucks at the project!

[LordEntrails]

Be aware, if you are going to distribute through the DMsGuild you don't need any licensing agreements or anything. But, if you want to distribute through any other outlet, you need to contact SmiteWorks ([email protected]) to figure out selling your products through their store or licensing for selling through some other distribution channel.

Good luck :)

[Galach]

Looks great, Galach! It is, unfortunately of no use to me as I don't play 5E, but if you do a Pathfinder Version, I could definitely be talked into throwing a few bucks at the project!

Don't worry, Erin. I am building it on CoreRPG and since I will not rely on rules in this module, it will be only a mater of tweaking the XML file to have things working on both rules systems.

[Galach]

Be aware, if you are going to distribute through the DMsGuild you don't need any licensing agreements or anything. But, if you want to distribute through any other outlet, you need to contact SmiteWorks ([email protected]) to figure out selling your products through their store or licensing for selling through some other distribution channel.

Good luck :)

I won't be distributing it through DM's Guild because I don't want to be limited by it's 5e, Forgotten Realms/Ravenloft "boundaries". I want to build things using a system-agnostic approach and, when necessary, including one or two appendixes describing how things would work in this or that system. Basically, I want to provide small adventure areas, with maps, npcs and - if I find an artiest who wants to give this project a shot for a share of the sales - portraits and handouts so the DM can build it's own story on this "frame product" .

About FG modules, it is certainly not a final requirement, but since I am a big fan and advertiser of it, would be awesome to be able to have these products shipped for it. Especially because I am assuming a policy to share for free a part of each module I build (like a map of one of the areas, complete with all relevant text) and I think something like this could help to make FG more popular - at least here in Brazil (something like "hey, this month's module of Red Crow Pub teaser for Fantasy Grounds is ready, let us check it!").

Certainly, I need to discuss this with Smite Works, but first I will put more "meat" on those "bones"... lol Anyway, thanks for the tip and the wishes of good luck :D

[Erin Righ]

Don't worry, Erin. I am building it on CoreRPG and since I will not rely on rules in this module, it will be only a mater of tweaking the XML file to have things working on both rules systems.

Sweet, let me know when you get a PF Version done

[Galach]

After some thinking and toil, and while I am working on the "main project", I had decided to do another "market survey", this time actually publishing something, and Shiny Bits Vol. 1: The General's General Store" was born.

For the sake of being quick and easy, I published it under DM's Guild (sorry, Erin). I wasn't expecting much but, in the end, I am receiving great feedback and some opportunities to other business had already developed from this simple file. and, even being "pay what you want", I had already earned some bucks with it in less then a week, so I would call it a win... hehehehe

Anyway, I would like to share it with you and know what you think. Future modules will be more complete, but this one have anything I plan to build, just in a very small and limited scope: visual identity, writing style, module tone, etc.

I am already alert about the typos, misspellings and other grammar issues - a very nice member of DMs Guild is helping me to correct them, through nicely commented feedback files. They will be corrected this weekend, but if you find something screaming "this is very wrong" (be it in grammar, style or rules-wise), I would like to know.

Well, no more talking. The link is here: Shiny Bits Volume 1 (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/240119/Shiny-Bits-Vol-1-The-Generals-General-Store)

Edit:
It is a GREAT feedback indeed
1st Line - PDF file, shared last Sunday;
2nd Line - FG Module, posted about 4 hours ago...


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