mrgroknroll
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Mild mannered middle-aged male mammal.
Posts: 58
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Post by mrgroknroll on Sept 28, 2024 14:23:25 GMT
A discussion over at the Mythic discord server about publishing stuff made me wonder: Are there any plans by Biohazard Games or Gallant Knight Games to support Blue Planet: Recontact after publishing?
Like trying to actively build a community or publishing more things or opening up the world for 3rd party creators?
Because ongoing support and an active community seem to be key for long-term success for small publishers.
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Post by Pawel on Sept 28, 2024 15:41:41 GMT
A discussion over at the Mythic discord server about publishing stuff made me wonder: Are there any plans by Biohazard Games or Gallant Knight Games to support Blue Planet: Recontact after publishing? Like trying to actively build a community or publishing more things or opening up the world for 3rd party creators? Because ongoing support and an active community seem to be key for long-term success for small publishers. My understanding is that once the printed Moderator's Guide and Player's Guide books get shipped to the backers, production will shift towards the remaining Kickstarter rewards. Things like: the Wormhole and the World of Hurt (each of those at 20K words) print-on-demand books, four GM aid apps and the Storm Surge mini-campaign. But yeah, hopefully we'll get to learn the more distant future for the Recontact line too!  |
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Post by lupmet on Sept 28, 2024 17:20:55 GMT
I think they would need to build a community as mrgroknroll says, this forum is dead three out of four weeks, the Discord is more traffic but a chat has its own set of issues for longer discussions, and so on. (For whatever it's worth; personally I think this forum system should serve as a buoy sinker, but I digress.) |
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Post by Pawel on Sept 28, 2024 17:26:27 GMT
I think they would need to build a community as mrgroknroll says, this forum is dead three out of four weeks, the Discord is more traffic but a chat has its own set of issues for longer discussions, and so on. (For whatever it's worth; personally I think this forum system should serve as a buoy sinker, but I digress.) Well, I know little about marketing or community management, so I'll refrain from commenting - I know Jeff isn't much of an online person, so quite some time ago I offered to assist in keeping an eye on the Biohazard forum. I seem to recall dedicated Discord plans in the past - but this was a long time ago and things may have changed. I think, for now, the entire focus is on pushing the books through the finish line. Looking forward to what the future will bring! |
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mrgroknroll
Full Member
Mild mannered middle-aged male mammal.
Posts: 58
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Post by mrgroknroll on Sept 28, 2024 18:37:21 GMT
Let's see how well the core books are received. Maybe someone influential will review them positively as well. Who knows?
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Post by lupmet on Sept 28, 2024 18:40:08 GMT
I think, for now, the entire focus is on pushing the books through the finish line. Which I think is the correct prioritisation, but I was talking about what about after that. ☺️ If Jeff isn't a online person, which certainly doesn't surprise me given that I if ever saw him on the Blue Planet mailing list, never here and he doesn't seems to be bothering much with the Discord, I think he needs to find someone who is. I think the game has a great foundation, once everything is delivered, to build something, but it needs dedication and a plan for the long haul. The Athena project wasn't finished in one day neither were Haven built in such a short time! There were some quite amazing web sites 20 years ago, I miss the script exchange, and we have a good basis in the Blue Planet Wiki. Ensuring there is a good forum place, and active help with writing and hosting the wiki would be a bood start in my opinion. Also market the forum, there has been very little – if any! – marketing of this forum for the backers. Why not highlight some thread here or on the Discord in each monthly newsletter? That was a missed opportunity! |
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Post by neil on Sept 30, 2024 10:13:35 GMT
I host the wiki, so ask away if you have questions or comments about that. (Pawel and I discussed the posts in Undercurrents here, and decided that not moving them to the wiki would be better for activity on this forum.)
As for "marketing", yes, it's a challenge. We could run the game at conventions (physical or online). We could start an Actual Play series on Youtube or some other streaming platform. After that, I'm out of ideas!
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mrgroknroll
Full Member
Mild mannered middle-aged male mammal.
Posts: 58
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Post by mrgroknroll on Sept 30, 2024 15:47:36 GMT
The only other idea I currently have is pitching it to some established Actual Play group that is doing different systems. Like AltHaven (which includes the Streampunks).
Although it could be that this would require some kind of sponsorship. I have no idea if this is always the case, though.
I would love for Eric Campbell to GM Blue Planet in an acutal play.
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Post by Pawel on Sept 30, 2024 15:54:16 GMT
The only other idea I currently have is pitching it to some established Actual Play group that is doing different systems. Like AltHaven (which includes the Streampunks). Although it could be that this would require some kind of sponsorship. I have no idea if this is always the case, though. I would love for Eric Campbell to GM Blue Planet in an acutal play. As a person who's never watched any of those (I am perpetually puzzled by the world of streamers and watchers of streamers) I'd say: whatever you do to spread the Whalesong gospel would be fantastic. I might not comprehend how the modern TTRPG scene works, but obviously the more popular BP is, the better!! |
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Post by lupmet on Sept 30, 2024 19:45:14 GMT
As I interpreted the original question was "what are the plans of Biohazard?", how I interpret the thread so far, the answer is "None". I think the best way is to make sure there is a community around the game that can introduce newcomers and support everyone, so in no particular order: - Ensure there is a forum were people can discuss, it probably has to be several different kinds as people have different tastes. A web forum and a discord is a good start. These places have to be advertised, that is, in each Kickstarter update there should be a link to the forums. No one should need to hunt and dig for the link, it has to be in their faces. The forums has be officially official, that is Biohazard has to say "these are the official places". It should not be "ooh, some people hang out over at…". There has to be persons present there who are official representatives, and who are active in rules discussions etc. This is all about building critical mass and have the forum be self sufficient. It would be good if some people could be recruited to GM actual play-by-forum there, just to get people involved and up-and-running.
- Wiki and similar platform with both user contributed and official material. Copyright have to be sorted out so people can copy information to the wiki from the books. Even if Biohazard does not want to write themselves, they at least should be fact-checking every once in a while. The hosting should be the responsibility of Biohazard, not on a single individual who might loose interest or pays out of his own pocket.
- Some kind of community license so people know what is permissible in terms of doing when writing their own adventures on DriveThruRPG or on websites etc. Actively help with promotion of good BP websites, maybe time to resurrect the web rings? Purpose is to get people to create material for Blue Planet.
- Ensure there are various kinds of sheets readily available; form fillable character sheets, sheets to keep track of adversaries during combat, quick guides to combat etc. It will require a lot of work but will also help a lot. A combat sheet done in a spreadsheet maybe?
- One place to direct newcomers for help and information, a central hub so to speak. The answer to any question should not be "google it", but "check the Warehouse of the Yellow Lagoon, they got a link to that resource". This could be the wiki-esque platform above.
I think sponsoring actual play podcasts are second priority, there are 1657 backers, if 10%, that is 165, of them can be made into an active community we have something to offer any new recruits. I don't know if any other groups are active but I would believe that active backers here and on Discord might be … 1%? Let's face the facts, what should we say to anyone that says "I heard about Blue Planet on The Trending Podcast, I'm interested, what now?" – can we say anything else than "good for you, hope you have fun!"?
No not end on a very negative note, I would like to say that my point is that Biohazard should reach out to 10-15 people that are interested in helping out with this and these should then discuss what to build and how – and then act on those plans. That group need to form and start working before the books arrive, we are in haste…
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Post by Pawel on Sept 30, 2024 20:09:34 GMT
As I interpreted the original question was "what are the plans of Biohazard?", how I interpret the thread so far, the answer is "None". I think the best way is to make sure there is a community around the game that can introduce newcomers and support everyone, so in no particular order: - Ensure there is a forum were people can discuss, it probably has to be several different kinds as people have different tastes. A web forum and a discord is a good start. These places have to be advertised, that is, in each Kickstarter update there should be a link to the forums. No one should need to hunt and dig for the link, it has to be in their faces. The forums has be officially official, that is Biohazard has to say "these are the official places". It should not be "ooh, some people hang out over at…". There has to be persons present there who are official representatives, and who are active in rules discussions etc. This is all about building critical mass and have the forum be self sufficient. It would be good if some people could be recruited to GM actual play-by-forum there, just to get people involved and up-and-running.
- Wiki and similar platform with both user contributed and official material. Copyright have to be sorted out so people can copy information to the wiki from the books. Even if Biohazard does not want to write themselves, they at least should be fact-checking every once in a while. The hosting should be the responsibility of Biohazard, not on a single individual who might loose interest or pays out of his own pocket.
- Some kind of community license so people know what is permissible in terms of doing when writing their own adventures on DriveThruRPG or on websites etc. Actively help with promotion of good BP websites, maybe time to resurrect the web rings? Purpose is to get people to create material for Blue Planet.
- Ensure there are various kinds of sheets readily available; form fillable character sheets, sheets to keep track of adversaries during combat, quick guides to combat etc. It will require a lot of work but will also help a lot. A combat sheet done in a spreadsheet maybe?
- One place to direct newcomers for help and information, a central hub so to speak. The answer to any question should not be "google it", but "check the Warehouse of the Yellow Lagoon, they got a link to that resource". This could be the wiki-esque platform above.
I think sponsoring actual play podcasts are second priority, there are 1657 backers, if 10%, that is 165, of them can be made into an active community we have something to offer any new recruits. I don't know if any other groups are active but I would believe that active backers here and on Discord might be … 1%? Let's face the facts, what should we say to anyone that says "I heard about Blue Planet on The Trending Podcast, I'm interested, what now?" – can we say anything else than "good for you, hope you have fun!"?
No not end on a very negative note, I would like to say that my point is that Biohazard should reach out to 10-15 people that are interested in helping out with this and these should then discuss what to build and how – and then act on those plans. That group need to form and start working before the books arrive, we are in haste…
Those are all excellent ideas - I applaud your initiative and organisational powers. Honestly, I'm in awe, if not little intimidated (because apart from dwelling on this forum, I'm a face-to-face only RPGer with no ties to any larger community). I've reached out to Jeff to give him a heads up that this discussion is taking place. The next KS update is tomorrow, I believe. It's probably gonna be Alan again giving us news, but let's see what that's gonna be. |
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Post by lupmet on Sept 30, 2024 21:12:29 GMT
I applaud your initiative and organisational powers. I'm a long time GM – and it might show I work as a project manager…  |
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Post by Pawel on Sept 30, 2024 21:14:03 GMT
I applaud your initiative and organisational powers. I'm a long time GM – and it might show I work as a project manager… A useful set of skills for a GM!! 🤩 |
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Post by lupmet on Oct 2, 2024 7:39:00 GMT
I've reached out to Jeff to give him a heads up that this discussion is taking place. The next KS update is tomorrow, I believe. It's probably gonna be Alan again giving us news, but let's see what that's gonna be. Looks like someone listened… 😏 |
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Post by neil on Oct 3, 2024 8:25:37 GMT
I think the best way is to make sure there is a community around the game that can introduce newcomers and support everyone, so in no particular order: (snip) No not end on a very negative note, I would like to say that my point is that Biohazard should reach out to 10-15 people that are interested in helping out with this and these should then discuss what to build and how – and then act on those plans. That group need to form and start working before the books arrive, we are in haste… These are great ideas, but... "Biohazard Games" is "Jeff in his very limited spare time". Gallant Knight have several other games to support, and don't provide forums and wikis for any of them. We're not dealing with a WotC-sized company here. I think if we want to see any of these things, it's up to us (the fan community) to create it. As for the ten to fifteen interested people ... we're here. On this board. Let's get cracking! |
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