Why would you pay a GM to roleplay?

In case you're new here, I've been a professionally paid gamesmaster for over 30 years. I started when I was 13, I was paid to GM some guys, who wanted to play, had the books, but none of them wanted to GM. They paid with pizza. I hated the system, so I wrote my own. Since then I've worked over 10,000 hours as a paid GM, most of it between 2003 and 2013, because I did it full time.

So I think I know a little about the topic, so here's my opinion:

Don't pay your friends, but compensate a Professional.

There are currently about some major thoughts as to why people would/wouldn't pay a GM. Quite a few threads on reddit, roll20 forums and other locations around the web, there are very valid reasons why you shouldn't and very valid reasons why you should be able to.

Most people play RPGs because its an activity, like a board game, between friends. They get together, maybe have drinks, food, break out a game and play it. Just in this instance, its a roleplaying game, and they've been doing it for a few weeks or months. Typically, the GM of such a group, would be using a module, because prep time is limited, but often eventually, they've invented their own little world, and the players come back month after month, until the social dynamic of the group changes.

Just a round of beer with the mates.. and a DMs guide..

Should people pay for this?

Just like board games night, these people should contribute to the cost of the game, if there is any, you take turns bringing your game around to be played, each player has bought one or two games, so no one individual is paying for all the game.
Yet in roleplay, usually the GM has bought all the core books, used his Uni credit to photo copy character sheets, so its best for players to buy supplements they want to see in the game, or another approach is the players pay for the GMs share of the pizza, especially if he's making up the world and creating all the fun for the group.
Participate in the cost is what I'm saying here, buy and paint your own mini, photo copy the character sheets for them, buy your own dice, buy your DM some dice, make a physical contribution to the group, that's a decent way to contribute, yet consider it a gift, not a payment.

But people shouldn't pay the GM for this. Paying your friends for their time?

Roleplaying has become rather popular lately, the increase of players, due to movies and computer games in the genre, peaks the interest of some, but also like board games, we see the backlash of people being too involved in their phones, they crave being in a room of real people, socialising, away from others who are not of their ilk.

As such, there are a number of people who just don't know where or how they can get into RPGs.. and this creates a market. The vacuum of players with needs to play has outnumbered the people who can run a game, so much so that popular brands have set up cookie cutter plots with GMs to run them at local game shops. The main problem I see with this, the experience of the cookie cutter guilds and leagues is a far cry from what roleplay is really about. Its stale, dry and unrealistic in so many ways. Trying to untrain an initiate of that industrial machine, is so hard. Its damaging the industry as a whole.

Professional Gamesmaster at work in Calgary

So, we can see a market of individuals who have a genuine need for a Paid GM. This Audience of people, interested to get involved, but not sure how to go about it. Partly because of the standard social stigmatism of trying something new and being bad at it. Partly because you'd like to know what you're getting yourself into before making any kind of commitment and Partly because its cost effective to get someone to teach you the first years worth of experience, in 2-4 sessions. Its why people take classes in something.

Paying a GM "Teacher" is a plausible gig for this audience.

What about when they do join a group, what of the other players. In many social groups, there are people who are there, because their friends are there, they have less interest in the game, the plot and the world, than they do blowing stuff up, having a laugh and disrupting everyone else. If your whole group is just being socialable, as a group of friends, just hanging out, this should be fine for you. Yet there are scores of people who put up with these clowns, because of the same reasons that people who don't play but want to, a further niche are those who want to play, properly, but have to put up with the rest because they don't know how or where to find the real players.

A Paid GM, is like a nexus of core roleplaying. Like a course in Uni, you pay for the atmosphere as much as the information.

Over time, a GM figures out the players who are there for the game, who are there to play vs those who are just there. Often I've seen the GM focus their attention on that player. It unfortunately causes the person who has less interest, now that they're getting less attention, to be more vocal and more destructive, which can drive away the player that's there to play. A better solution is to bring that player to a better game.
I know I've cherry picked players to a special game, they get the real stuff, the good plots and adventures and equipment, because for them, its not just a scribble on a page, its a real cross over to an other world.
People pay to be in those games, I've had 6 hours sessions, where we got more done than normal groups do in months. On the other end, I've had groups play out a single day of events, over several weeks, because of all the cross talk, and off topic banter. 4 hours of roleplay, and all we did was ask the tavern keeper if he had a room and discuss grapple rules incase a bar-room brawl broke out.

People pay to have their sessions at regular intervals with like minded folks who are there to get their game on.

People pay a Gym to get focus on their physical health. They can do it all at home, sure, but with distractions, lack of space, lack of motivation, they just don't. When payment is involved, you want focus, you are motivated to turn up, to be there, to actually play, and get involved in the world you are playing in. and you don't want to be surrounded by chit chat and lolly gagging.

People also pay to avoid the riff raff and the ne'er-do-wells.

Now a problem that comes up, is that its not only the players who are sub-par. Some GMs do so, because they like the power trip, or they want to influence people, or they want to tell 'their' story. As often as not, on any GM site or service, there are GMs that are in it for the money and not the game. They might be very decent GMs, yet their focus is on  keeping their players and their income, more than on GMing a good story, this might lead to an increase in magical items, lower chance of death, any number of immersion breaking flaws.

So How can you tell if the GM is a decent GM or not. Some websites and groups, such as the Professional Gamesmaster Society has taken point, on a dialog of ideas and thoughts on the subject. The currently on paused Looking-For-Games-Masters site: http://www.lookingforgm.com/ had a nice ratings system, so you could give your GM some votes if he did a good job, or neutral if on par or sub standard.
This promoted GMs to be a little stricter in their play styles, but I think, given the play styles of the average GM, this is warranted. If a number of poor GMs are out there charging money and providing bad service, it could hurt the industry as a whole.

So yeah, you're also paying to have a decent dungeon/games master.

The Topic of ProPlayers has come up, a Pro Gamer group could try out new GMs, vetting them, so they can't hurt the industry. This is sorta how I see the ProGMSociety working, legitimizing the GMs to ensure a decent group of GMs are improving the industry of ProGMing, so players build trust and more games get played.

So Paying for the right GM, the right group, and a more professional experience, is kind on par with anything in life. You get what you pay for. If you're looking for a roleplay experience.

Now that's a cool roleplay room. I'd pay to play there..

There are some spectrums of the gamut of paid GMing to address:

There is of course the whole "Immersion, Experience and Entertainment" where the GM might have an assistant, colour print outs, maps, sound effects, lighting effects, props, miniatures,  a whole world with backstories and plots ticking along as the players enjoy their little adventure. This of course should be paid for, the extra work and effort to provide such a premium service, is justifiably costly. 

The other given reason people pay for GMs is the scarcity of GMs. While this seems to be the angle of the average paid GM, and I get it, supply vs demand, creates the audience for the paid GM, I think this is where the average "I don't think its right" person rails against. Surely some GM out there is looking for players for free? I think this is where my first point clashes:

"If supply is low, demand is high and people are prepared to pay me to GM, why shouldn't I? My group loves my game, surely other people will love my game and will pay me because I'm doing all this work for them?"

So, yes, if you don't have a local group, and you have a decent enough income, maybe paying a GM will suit your lifestyle.

Yet, there are GMs who should not be GMs, and they shouldn't be paid for it, but the same can be said of any profession. so when the supply is low and demand is high, people are going to pay for anything.

The world is not fair, there are great GMs who don't have the time to be great GMs because they have bills to pay, and either they don't think it fair to charge, and that's fair, yet they probably should, so we can bring the level of quality GMing up in standard.
GMing costs time, prep time, plus game time plus prior experience time. As much as some GMs say that prep time is minimalistic, In my opinion, I can guarantee that their game is so flawed and so broken, that MY immersion would be destroyed within 2-3 sessions.
Good GMing takes years of prep time & sometimes hours before a session, and if you're going to pay for it, might as well get the best. So look for a GM that has that pre-requisite 10k hours behind them (they say, it takes 10,000 hours of experience to be considered a professional)

To Sum Up, Against the idea:

• You shouldn't pay for the stock standard average "I just started doing this 2 weeks ago" GM.
• You shouldn't pay your mate to run your saturday games night sessions, but its polite to cover some of the expenses they go through to set up and run the game.

Yet for reasons:

• If you need someone to train you how to play..
• If you want to join a serious group,
• If you want a group that is on-time, always there and pay attention.

Yet in a pinch, and you gotta get your game on, If there are no groups in your social circle, and you abhore the leagues and guilds games...

That said, it isn't for everyone, There are a multitude of negative and positive reasons that people have for everything in life, expecting it to be different for roleplay, is folly.

Hmm, final note.. did the League & Guild system pop up because their respective system didn't want paid GMs and this was their solution?

p.s. apologies if anything has gone wonky.. Blogger has been playing up of late, seems google is slowly discontinuing it.

p.p.s. This is a Blog, its purely thoughts from my head, while I have researched some of these points extensively over the past few months and years, I'm speaking true from my personal perspective, but I'm not being graded by a professor, this is not a paid for journal, its just me, blogging.

Dungeon Delvers Twelve: Cataclyzm

Today, I thought I might just put it in writing, what I'm up to, what I'm developing and what you can see coming out of the EFRGames product line soon:

Dungeon Delvers Twelve: Cataclyzm

When I returned to Australia in 2012, I discovered something unsettling, The Roleplay game that I'd been working on for the last 25 years, had become outdated, outmoded. The Audience and Market for roleplay games had indeed increased, as I understood, but it had also changed.

While I have a few posts about it, <will post links later>, I'm not so stubborn to resist change. If the players can't handle accounting, math, science and are more focussed on narrative, then so be it.

So Dungeonworld, the Roleplay Game for Accountants, got shelved. Later in time, when this generation starts looking for more crunch, I'll dust it off, and print it up.

So Dungeon Delvers Twelve is the core mechanic, the Two-Twelve-Sided-Dice system, with some simplification, tweaking and the like, I trimmed the fat. I got a 1 page, convention set of rules, an 18 page core rules without any fluff, and got a 50 page cut down of the whole system.

So Now I needed a scenario.

Everyone talks about the Heartbreaker Fantasy RPG, So while that is my personal core, everyone else has done it to death, so the likelyhood anyone is going to see my fantasy core rules and even consider buying it, would be bupkis.

If I'm going to trim down my rules, change the core name, I may as well go for a whole nother aspect of genre.. but what?

I like minecraft, bought into it after meeting Marcus, should have invested, but that's another story. The Open world, Crafting gear, building locations, that appealed to me. but you are somewhat alone. This is the part of the game that gamesmaster love, they LOVE to create a world, and then have people walk in it.

The Problem is often that the system used, will reflect how the players are supposed to behave in the game. Most games focus on combat, looting, and the acquisition of power, While this plays a part in any RPG, its only a small part, yet the rules for many system are only focussed on that small part.

So, a wonderful, creative GM, makes up a great world, a great plot, and the players hack their way through it, because the system encourages it.ouch.

I asked myself this ages back.. why can't my players be something else, and I introduced the ability to be anything. Bartender? great! Shop Keeper? Great! The Local Lord, working out the logistics of his kingdom? a Doctor, discovering new potions, techniques or ways to heal people, why not a bard, travelling the land, delivering messages and lifting the spirits of those he encounters, or better yet, the nerd, the ultimate juxtaposition, by playing a nerd in a game build by nerds, for nerds. How about playing as a person who just wants to 'see' everything, and write it down for others to read about.

Add in Crafting, via the local blacksmith, and viola.. finally It seems like all the pieces have come together and I have a game that I feel proud of..

So what scenario would suit that? All of them.. Blargh.. ok.. so I need to focus on key points.

You can't escape combat, anyone doing a roleplay game that had zero combat would be shot down, because at the end of the day, the lowest form of conflict resolution, is win-lose. I hit you, your dead, conflict resolved.
Crafting is only really fun when you lack the final goods. If the local blacksmith sells weapons, why do you need to make them yourself. Sure, there comes a time when you're level is so high, that not even the most accomplished mage-blacksmith is good enough to make the ultimate blade-staff that you need, so you end up making it yourself.. with cludgy rules, tacked into the last chapter of the book.. ug!

So Crafting works better with scant resources, and even less local talent.

Medicine, a form of crafting, but then there is the human body.. Doctors are only useful when there are wounded.. which combat takes care of.. 

So It hit me, the Warrior, The Shaman (medicine man) and the Blacksmith are three characters that could fit together as their own little group.. As long as you have one of each, you can have a group without any need or backup required..

Lost? Stranded? in limited space?   The scenario works where we have : limited resources & technology, yet an abundance of opportunity to gather resources and invent the technology, a requirement to survive means a need for weapons, armour, potions and the like, and of course the need to fight, because the world is dangerous.. which often means young.

So I grabbed out my world building notes, and found what I was looking for. The Beginning of everything.

Cataclyzm, the time when all things began (and ended) A time where all great existing civilisations have come to a catastrophic finish and must start over. Some technologies might somehow survive, but for the most part its all gone.

Numinera and the Cypher system went down that path, they chose post apocalyptic, and look where that got them. Mad Max is very popular again, While I don't want to step on any toes (or risk law suits), there is nothing wrong with structuring the rules in a way that allows the players to choose that plot path for themselves. The Concept of a New beginning is rather Apt.

So Cataclyzm starts with players opening their eyes to a blank charactersheet, like the blank world around them, and are thrown into a situation where they need to make quick decisions. Each decision helps them to create their character, as they fight off an unnameable horror, If they kill it (yes, you can die in character creation) their survival instinct kick in and their hunger takes over.. They ravange the corpse, making their first meal in this hostile environment.

The Characters then work out what they are doing in this world, who they were in the old world, and if any of their skills might match their new lives. They find others in a nearby settlement, join and begin to work together. As survivors of the horro from ouitside, they are revered as heroes, and the support of heroes is the survival of all, as such the viallge itself, becomes a character that the players interact with.

The gamesmaster plays as the village, when the heroes are returned and resting. The GM makes choices for the village and the players now are the GMs of the village. The GM can take on the roles of the Merchant, Leader or Knowledge Keeper, while the GMs take on the roles of the villagers, their needs, their wants are now part of the fabric of the game.

Through crafting, logistics and game mechanics, woven within the story, now the GM gets to play too, and together, they stand a chance to build a new life after the Cataclyzm.

[quest plot] The Disappearing Few

Every now and then an Idea for a game pops into my head, When I'm in bed or near my desk I have a notebook, I prefer to flesh it out when I have time, yet with a full time job, part time gigs, children, family commitments, etc etc.. Many of these ideas will never see the light of day. Whats the good of all these ideas if they just stay locked in the notebook.
So From now on, as I have ideas, I think I'll just shared them, maybe you'll be sparked for your own ideas, maybe you can use this one. Please, if you do use it, just a shout out that you were inspired from here, so others may come and use the ideas too.

So, for the first Idea:

The Disappearing Few

The Concept is this: You roll up several NPCs for a village, Once done, pick one each as your "group of friends / the heroes, Flesh out their characters, roleplay a small side quest that explains why you think of yourselves as the heroes of the village, and then begin the plot.

Nightmares have begun in the village, no-one rememberes specifics, only that they did not sleep well, witnesses say they tossed and turned, then when people started to discuss this, they realise that two members of the village have not been seen in days or weeks. This is not uncommon, as people on the outskirts might only visit the village once a week, sometimes once a month, but something feels off.

The Heroes investigate the home of the missing person, and nothing is to be found.

Another small quest, rats or bugs or forest creatures imposing on farmland, meanwhile another person has gone missing,

The Heroes investigate the home of the missing person, and nothing is to be found.

Another small quest,but this time, the heroes spot a villager wandering into the forest, they give chase, but lose them in some thickets. Returning to the village the partner of that villager asks, have they seen them, they just wandered off in the wee hours of the morning, they haven't seen them since.

The Heroes begin to realise, the village is under some kind of curse, nightmares, people wandering off, never to be seen again. What should they do?

Its the end of the Growing season, its harvest time, the heroes have their daily chores to take care of too, now with missing villagers, its going to be harder, people will need to pick up the slack, else the village will starve next winter.

Players now need to assign the workload to the rest of the villagers, as they continue to dissapear and the villagers depend on the heroes to make decisions.

If they Try to determine where they have gone, they lose precious harvest time, If they stay up late to 'watch' they lose sleep and are ineffective the next day, Each time a new villager goes missing is only when everyone is asleep, or at least asleep on that side of the village.

Stress to the players, people who wander into the forest go missing all the time, its not safe, so trying to follow one of them will as likely lose the whole group of heroes.

The Blacksmith, Leatherworker and Shaman of the village can prepare Armour and or weapons if the players assign them to do so, at the cost of repairs to harvesting equipment, and Protective powers.

This could be the kind of setting I'd put the game in.. 

The Players have to balance the Harvest, Sleep, and occasional defensive measures for normal forest denizens.

Once the Players have armed themselves enough to go into the forest, AND harvested enough food for the village that winter, (incase the heroes never return) then they may do so.

This could be a board game, where the end phase is the players going into the forest, matching stats against the enemy and winning (or losing if they are unprepared)


It could be the 'backstory' for your heroes.

It could be a roleplay scenario for a few weeks,

It could even be the plot of a movie, TV show, Story, Book or something entirely different.

I was thinking of calling it "Grimms Forest: Nightmares" and having it as a Forest Based board game with turns, combat and a final battle. Each round of "forest denizens" could be creatures from the Grims fairy tales or just were-versions of everything like the Grimm TV show,

Maybe its set in the Grimm Universe...?

Cold Dice and Flat Line Statistics

I've read a few articles about the good and the bad of d20 games, I've seen and heard the cries and  laments of their players, yet People still come back for more?

Cold Dice and Flat Line Statistics 

Roll yours stats, quick before they melt!

I'm not saying the idea of a Flat system with a chance at cold dice is a bad system, there is not enough evidence to say that definitively. Yet if the evidence continues to present itself, then what conclusion can I draw?

I read several forums of people discussing their games, the most common problem I see are two ends of the spectrum. My dice went cold, I hate this game.. to My Dice are Hot, WOOT, Love this game.

When did dice rolling become the reason to play? When did it ever stop? 

Statistically, The chance of rolling above a 16 on a d20 is 1/5, while decreasing to a 15 does increase your odds 20%, to a 1/4, if your attempting to break free of a hold-person spell, the chance of failing 3 times in a row is down to 42%, so almost 60/40.. but that's if the GM lets/makes you roll every round.

I know when I was a kid, I might have asked for a stealth roll every combat round, or a climb roll every 10 feet of rope, But as I matured, I don't even ask for a basic roll, unless there is a reason why a roll is suddenly needed.. 

If I attempt to climb down a rope, in real life, I know I have some basic chance at climbing down a rope, so if I do things carefully, I'll do it. If I'd never climbed down a rope, well, ok, different story, and if I go to climb down the rope and suddenly there is a reason I need to climb down fast, then I might slip, so again different story.

So it should be for game rolls, unless the character has no skill, no fall back stat of at least 60+%, then why roll, just say, ok, it takes longer or short, but you're safe, you do it.

If you don't, if you obey the dice and not the logic, you get strange scenarios, For me this spoils the game, fights break out over the bad ones, so you have to 'bend the rules' to save your game, but vice versa, if the strange scenario is funny, or allows your heroes to do some bad-ass awesome yet bu*****t moves, then that's supposed to be fun, so leave that in?

Cases in Point:

I saw a guy, in a game, his character perched on the roof, ready to fire an arrow, he crit fumbled (not a thing, except everyone does it) so instead of firing the arrow, the bow hits him in the head, he rolls for balance, crit fumbles again, so not only does he fall, he catches his buttons on the gutter, slicing open his jacket effectively reducing his armour by a few points, now falling to the ground, he tries to grab at a rope (washing line?) and crit fumbles a third time, the rope rips from the wall, bringing down bricks and plaster, compounding the damage, he dies as he hits the ground from 3 floors up and large parts of the building crush him. 

Haha, the text, it sums it up so nicely..

...from shooting an arrow..

I mean, what are the odds? 

Except we know.. 1/20 x 1/20 x 1/20.. so this means that typically, with a DEX of 13 (they are archers, who makes an archer with a dex less than 13) out of 8000 archers on rooves, 400 will crit the target!..4800 will hit the target, 2400 will miss and 400 will accidentally strike themselves in the head, causing them to fall from the roof, 260 of them will catch the roof edge and live while 120 will plummet over, and 20 more will half rip off their own armour and plummet to their deaths.. of them 13 of them will grab at the rope and catch it, 6 of them will miss and hit the ground, maybe death occurs, and that 1 guy, pulls the wall on-top of him, 100% death.

8000:1, and yet, snipers around the world, performing missions, practice tasks, war-games, the real odds of such ridiculousness would be on par with winning the lottery.

The Player, also a GM, took it in stride, thats the game. Well done to him, yet 80% of players would call shenanigans, argues the stupidity of it all and probably -redact- the scenario to something else..

Yet Counter Point: Different Game, similar system, Same player, Aims his Arrow down a corridor, hopes to bounce the arrow off the ground at speed to enable it to achieve x2 distance in order to hit the BBG at the end of the corridor, 500 feet away, He NEEDS a modified 20 make the first bounce, and the second roll to make a hit, (with mods, needs a 17+) Yet rolls a 20, GM announces the arrow bounces off the teeth of a nearby statue, the to hit roll is also a 20, not only does it bounce a second time to attain distance, it maintains its speed enough for full damage, last roll, again, a 20, critical, through the eye socket of the bad guy, killing him, and taking out his chance at escaping and returning in subsequent adventure, players shout with Joy, .. Whoa Whoa.. can the GM call shenanigans? Nope.. its done.. Game Over Man, Game Over...

The "Problem" is, that this is a game, and you WANT fun, exciting, amazing things to happen to your characters, Yet, when the same math, the same odds, KILLS the characters.. they cry foul..

My dice went cold, I hate this game.. to My Dice are Hot, WOOT, Love this game.

If you develop a game with more realistic odds (I did) You also take away the upper chance of that awesome moment, If you include some special mechanic for the awesome (I also did), you by definition add in a special death mechanic. You can't have it without, because players soon realise they can't die, and become bored with the game (I've seen that one played out a few times) or the GM does..

So how to include the awesome death, awesome kills? 

That's the million dollar question. Only recently I tried something new.. and so far, play testing suggests this might work.. more news to come...

The Snowflakes take down D&D

I saw this on Twitter the other day:

How do you explain to young players that DungeonsAndDragons stands against racism (which it does, there are wonderfully inclusive illustrations across the 5e books) while codifying "racial traits" and foregrounding race as a determinant of ability? Will 6e change language used?

Um what?

Will D&D eventually get taken down by snowflake propaganda?

Now While the reply was no, It did prompt the thought, what if it could? 

Being sexist is no longer acceptable (was it ever?), and yet many plot points, interaction in stories, conflict and resolution is based around sexist issues.

Racism is a big no-no, yet again, classifying a group of "friends" and "enemies" based on your own race, friendly races, not friendly races and downright annoying races, is again, conflict & resolution.

If you took the conflict and resolution out of stories, do you even have a story?

"Johnny went to the Dungeon of Doom, which was decommissioned due to snowflake laws no. 17 & 19, He walked casually through the interesting caves, the safe catacombs, viewed traps that were triggered and locked behind large perspex walls, and eventually arrived at the final chamber where a lovely necromancer awarded him a trophy of participation, and suggested he purchase a "I survived the Dungeon of Doom and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" t-shirt."

Never ceases to amaze me that any idea, someone has thought of too

Its unlikely to happen, but I can see whole armies of snowflakes petitioning and boycotting products because they allow violence, sexism, racism, exploitation, slavery, all the standard fantasy RPG tropes. Sure, I think certain rules in FATAL went overboard, and as the industry shifts towards crunch lite games, and the backlash of crunch-heavy niche markets, games like that are cludgy, outdated, yet have a niche/cult audience, more too them.. but banning it? Ha!

What next?

If you've seen Black Mirror (in particular Season 4, episode 2) we might be looking at a dystopian future where kids are over protected by the state, and suffer horrendous psychological damage, or alternatively, our grandchilden grow up in a world bland yet peaceful, where everyone has a healthy productive life, without any struggle.. and crave it through secret underground clubs that roleplay a distopian past, where people struggle to go to work, play archaic games on weekends and write blogs of angst in the evening..

Who Knows....

{Old Drafts} Why Buy a Game?

{Old Drafts August 2015, as part of my "drafts Cleanup"}

I look at the Mobile Games market, they're evolving faster than other markets, because of the ease of entry, the numbers of people entering the market, the consumers and their attitudes, So its a micro cosmos market to study.

The Whole Freemium model, Get in for free, play the game for free, and either hit a brick pay-wall, pay or quit, or quicksand of skill, and you need to either master the game or pay to get back to the ease of playing, or the game is still free, but you can buy a cool hat for your character, or asking the player, Hey you've been playing for over 20 hours, you obviously like it, why don't you give something back to the creators.. 

So I look at myself, and ask: Why don't I pay for these games? I'm a games developer, I went to Uni for 3 years to study games design, and yet I can't bring myself to pay a cent for a single game so far? How am I going to understand how to get someone in the market to pay for my game, if I won't buy someone elses.. Am I such an outlier?

Back up a step, I played computer games for years, but only paid for a handful of them, in the beginning c64 games were easy to copy, then later, learning to hack a game was a skill in itself, which got me into computing, then later I found it more interesting to make games than to play them.. I actually only like to play games that in themselves are problem solving games.

In Roleplay, I couldn't afford games as a kid, so I played my own, I borrowed books from friends, read them, took notes, and returned them, didn't ever run them, let along buy them.. So how can I expect someone to fork out money for my RPG if I won't for someone elses?

Well, I have to be an outlier I guess.. I'm not a consumer, I'm a creator. So I can't use my own thoughts and feelings on being a consumer to judge the market with..

So Back to Mobile, What would it take for me to buy into a game.. and then it hit me.. Minecraft, the last game I bought, in 2009, I bought in for two reasons, A) because I thought it was going somewhere that no other game had gone, and B) because I could create something that lasted.. 

 ------------


The General Thought was: If people don't want to pay for a mobile game, why don't they, and when they do.. why do they?

The Mobile market is a micro-cosmos-market that we can study, because its a persons free time, they usually have to 'connect' to the net (or connect to people) to play, people wont just pay for anything, but after they get interested enough.. they pay for something in game.

I don't know if I'd pay for GM up front, I'd need to see the "product" and see that indeed it is better than average.. because average is free. Maybe once I'm in the game, I might consider paying, but once I'm in for free, I sorta feel like I'm in already..


-----------

Giving it for free vs Paying for it.. I'll come back the crude version at the end..

Players aren't just the consumers, they are contributors too, so Its actually harder to ask them to pay, You don't have a one way situation, sure the GM runs 80% of whats going on, but without the players 20%, its hot air.

I compare it to teaching a language, as a tutor, often. I need the student to want to be there, want to learn, do their homework and participate. I'll prepare the lesson, which can take as much time as the lesson itself, and which sux if they don't turn up, but at the end of the day, my skills are needed for the student to learn, because they want the skills in the language.

As a GM, I need the players to want to be there, want to play, do their own form of homework (character backstory, thoughts on what they want from the game) and participate.. I'll prepare the world, the background plot, the simulated environment, sometimes twice as much time as playing.. and while yes it sucks if they don't turn up.. we just continue the next week (worst is enough players to make it work, but the critical player isn't there) My skills are needed for the the players to have the enjoyment... but and this is the crux.. but, what do they want from the RPG session, that they can't get elsewhere, or for free? There is no clear understanding in skills or experience that will help them in the future.. so they don't compare it to a lesson, instead its considered just a fun activity.. 

------------------------



I can only compare it to the mobile games environment.. hundreds of thousands of games, for free. Hundreds of hours of artists and programmers to make these games, and one in ten will earn any money, one in a hundred will break even on costs, and one in a few thousand will make some money.. Studios come, make 2-5 games, if they hit the right audience with the right ideas with the right timing, they make 1 game which pays for all their costs for the time it took to make the 2-5 games, then they are broke and out. Many Studios don't get past the 2nd game, they don't make a cent from either their first or second and they struggle to make a third and they can't afford to make it any better, because artists want money and costs and costs and down the drain they go..

Rarely a game gets audience, ideas, timing and market penetration all together, jackpot, and they either go on to make more games, 100,000 companies and one gets to survive a few more years. Its all about economics.

An Indie game, by a westerner needs 10,000 players to pay $1 (profit) to the developer to cover costs/minimal life expenses. It takes 6 months full time artist & programmer (or split between more people) to make an average mobile game. 

Indie Games, and Indie Mobile Games have more developers coming to market than consumers are picking up smart phones and joining the market. Each Indie Dev needs 10,000 new consumers to discover his product, to allow the market to break even. 

Then add in, that a Romanian Developer can survive on $250 a month, he only needs 1,500 players to cover his costs, he can make a slightly crappier game, maybe even spend 4 months making it, and he's set.. but the smart ones, spend 6 months, grab their artist and programmer friends and make a slightly better game, and takes 20,000 players from the market, so there goes 2 indie developers in the western market.

The Market shrinks, so prices shrink, 

Is the Indie RPG Market headed the same direction? will a few thousand writers make games, some getting a few hundred sales? some getting none? one in a 100,000 actually breaking into the 'big leagues'?

Is part of the problem, that more indie writers are coming to market faster than people interesting in mobile games?

===================
2018 Review: How does this relate to RPGs, Are more RPGs hitting the market than people willing to buy them? I know some GMs who buy everything that interests them, even if they don't have the time.

I think I read that 1400 new RPGs were released since 2015. Even if 1/12th of that match the genre you're interested in, that still means you'd need to playtest every weekend a new group, with new rules for 2 years to find out which of the 116 published games work best for the scenario you are making..

Maybe I should review all the RPGs, and provide the results as a paid product? "Comprehensive list of all RPGs til 2018.. 2020, since It'd take me two years to research and include them all.

While I never included a title, nor conclusion to this wall of text.. I think I could say that maybe people go to D&D because there is too much choice, not enough clarity.. maybe the market needs some clarity.. 

{Old Drafts} Roleplay worlds vs Novel Worlds

{As part of my "Drafts Cleanup" } Roleplay worlds vs Novel Worlds

Roleplay worlds need balance because players will test it

Novel worlds usually only have the protagoinist attempting that thing.. once, so the author can balance through story control.

Story Telling roleplay therefore, has to, by its very definition, railroad the players into doing what the Storyteller wants.. to ensure balance.

{An old draft about this thought. saved in April 2015. I never bothered to take it further.. maybe when I have time in the future}

Catch Up Posts for this Blog.. Prelude

It came to my attention that I have saved the drafts of now, over 50% of my blogs, which surprised me as I was hovering about 20% for some time.. which either means one of a few things: A blog about blogging & drafts & random thoughts

I'm being blocked in my creative process or something more..

I Often write topics that come to me, with the intention that I research the topic, fill it out, add some snappy thoughts, scrub out the crud and publish it.. as often as not I just post as I write, so its raw thoughts. I've never felt that a Blog should be a carefully crafted journalistic masterpiece. I'm no journalist, I failed English in Year 10. I have always read a blog as a person, writing their thoughts, into a website that in hope, people will read. Nothing more.

So when I write, I sometimes I ask myself.. would I want to read about this?

And too I ask.. Do I want someone to read this?

I stop for a few normal reasons,.. I have to confirm what I've written is legit.. if I'm going to quote from a rulebook, instead of using my memory, I'll check that I was right. Sometimes, my memory of an event is different than the reality.. this might become its own blog.. why would I remember that D&D fall damage is 1d20 per 10 foot? but often as not, if this is the hinge of that blog post.. and its wrong.. then its not a blog post...

So I have a few dead ends..

I might stop because I think there is more research to be done on the topic, maybe I want my point to come across as more solid, by quoting others that have said the same thing or have similar points, but research takes time, if I get bogged down with life, I might forget to come back to a topic.. and if I have a few other thoughts pop into my head before I finish..then it drifts to page two of my blog posts.. and I forget that its there..

So I have a few open thoughts...

There are posts that I start, then the media posts the same thing.. so I ask myself.. is it important for me to talk about something to bring up my 2 cents, if my 2 cents are the same two cents as someone else? this is one of those.. Hmm, moments.. Maybe the reader won't read that other post, vs maybe the reader will say.. I already read this, and the post was a week earlier than mine.. is that just a rehash of the same thoughts? I would personally not want to read a rehash, and it might cause negative thoughts for me (and therefore my readers) if I posted it, so I will avoid it...

So, there are a couple of blog vomits

And there are posts that I start, and then ask myself, am I blogging or am I ranting? These ones have topics that have riled me up, but during the process of writing, I've become more angry, not less, and I look back over the words and say, I think I have a topic, but its buried under all the bile, that I don't want people to read this.

So there are some bubbling volcanoes

But the Ones that have started to worry me more, are the ones where I poke at the beast, the SJW territory, the area of the net that, if they even read THIS post, I fear that some repercussions might come at me..

Then I read this: Unhappy DM blog and thought.. Hmm, well maybe, just maybe, those topics are not so taboo anymore..

Anyway.. my time to post has been reduced with life, so I thought why don't I just grab those posts, clean them up, add to them and post them.. with the Caveat, that I pre-warn people that what they're about to read might be outdated or trigger happy, and I could save alot of time except maybe the research titles)

Blogging allows you to 'put the date' back in time, which I considered, but this also messes with the timeline, so that people won't see them as new posts.. and they'll largely go unnoticed.. which might be a good thing?

Any thoughts?

[personal] The Dungeon Shed

Due to circumstances, my 'office' needed to be relocated.. Here is my story

The Dungeon Shed: Building a new Dungeon

   My mother in law was due to arrive in 6 months, my 'office' had, for the most part, become a dumping ground for everything in the house. With a baby on the way and a 3yr old in between your legs every 5 minutes, It got harder and harder to sit down and do anything in anything. 

   My blog (maybe you noticed) slowed to a crawl, I was attempting to write things down when I thought of them, but my blog list is more drafts than published.

   My painting was shelved, my art, shelved, my maps, on pause, since I had clients to organise for, I couldn't just halt that, so I somehow managed to make the time to complete some of those.

   My programming, well that was already on crawl status.. its so true, when you work in IT, you just don't want to come home and code anymore. My gaming map projects, my angularJS animation projects, even my Angular PHP Express project, nick named "eky-phpang-zuboing" from monty python. Paused.

   Worst of all, my gaming, game-mastering and rules writing, were on a slow burn, I could of course get online to write the google docs, but as discovered before, Google docs starts to slow down at 30 pages, and at 50 pages, becomes a real crawl. Like my life.. 

Impetus

   So, Mother in law on her way, she needs a place to stay.. look honey, yo're not using all that 'stuff' can you pack up and make room for a bed at least?

   Creative juices kick in, My shed, its a decent 7m x 3.25m sized room, until this moment I just 'put' everything in the shed, making it hard to find anything, suitcases, boxes for equipment that need to be packed up periodically, like heaters or fans, or the moving day boxes, or that old table, the old fridge that could be used for extra needs..

Initial problems

   The no.1 problem is Australian Heat. No.2 Problem is Rain, No.3 problem is that its a rental. No.3 is easily dealt with, I request of the owner permission to add plastic sheeting to the walls to protect my goods. success. Next, request permission to add some insulation to protect my goods in summer. success. But then I hit a few road blocks.

   Height. I'm 6ft+ There are roof poles that are 6ft. so everytime I go in the shed I need to duck. often. Also, wet floor. the previous renter left some large slab pallets 3m long, 1.5m wide, to keep their stuff 'above water' If I stand on these, I almost hit the roof, let alone the roofing poles.. 

Day One

   So, I have a look at the floor of the shed. Dolomite, easy to dig, I figure, hey roleplay game, how about we have a working bee, one weekend, and you help me dig out my floor, and I'll run some gaming sessions when the room is done.

   5 weekends later... Seriously, I miscalculated the soil, the workforce and the sheer workload.

Day One Delays

   So, Having everything IN the shed, that needed to come out, took an hour and a half for 2 guys. Since the team was late, it was me and my sidekick. Once the team arrived, we took out the pallets, both of them, and cleared the shed. The team, god bless them, brought pickaxes and shovels.. as jokes. We needed them.

   After 4 hours of work, and a 1 hour lunch break, light was beginning to fade, in the eyes of the workforce. So After digging down 10cm, 3m sq, we put the pallets back, then all the gear back, and we opened some beers, and declared it a day.

Conclusions of Day One

   I'm old, I can't work like I used to, so I'm glad I had 5 young lads that were willing to put in some effort, and yes, 5 workmen, $100 each, it would have been done in an hour or three, but I thought of it as good team building exercise, partial share in the workload = partial share in the fun when its built.

Just wished it would have been done earlier.

Between the days

I work, 50 hours a week, so coming home to work on the shed was not something I was keen to do, but it needed doing, I had now at this time, 5 weeks til grandma arrived and I had to put everything from the office, into the shed, computers, miniatures, paints, everything, and it needed a safe environment. So I took Mondays off for a month.

   On Mondays, I stapled up plastic sheeting, cardboard insulation panels, put in the wiring, all needed to be 'temporary' if need be (but what landlord is going to want to rip out a 'room' which gives their property extra cred + likely increased rental income).

Day Two

   Team was delayed, didn't arrive til lunch, stopped early, dug maybe 2m sq. But we did discuss the idea to roleplay a scenario, where they played as themselves, having been sucked into a portal buried under the shed.

   To their defence, we hit some huge rocks, some cement blocks just shoved in the whole which was the floor of the shed, it took some effort to get them out.. but THAT gave me an idea on how to make the floor even more water proof.

Week Two

   I did some measuring, and figured out how to place the cement blocks under the pallets, so they would be 'raised' above the soil, leaving a gap so water wouldn't seep into the pallets over time and become a mess.

Day Three

   Lost a few of the team to social commitments, my wing-man was there, on time, mental note to award such behaviour, extra sessions of roleplay, etc 2m dug.. sad..

Week Three

   With a few mathematical calculations, based on how long it was taking to dig, I put word out that I needed some extra help, Uni Students to the rescue! despite my back, I dug 10 buckets extra to prep for the pallets.. still wasn't enough.. argh

Day Four

   The Team makes a minor comeback, We manage to get a palette in place, the wrong place, and lopsided, but closer to the mark than anything before..

Week Four

   Perfectionist just doesn't allow for errors, using a crowbar I raise and re-dig all the slabs re-position all the holes, and get that first palette in place. As it turns out, if I hadn't, I would have been seriously suffering now.. now its 3mm too high on the wrong side of that palette. Bearable, barely. back then, it was 2cm too high and slanted to one side by a few mm too.. argh that would have made everything out of whack, and the floor would not be flat. I'd say lucky me, but just plain perfectionism.

Day Five

   Having prepared most of the holes.. most of the work, I just needed the guys to come back and put in the two palettes. but, it needed a dash of digging first.. 2 hours it seemed.. but, despite the time, and the lack of enthusiasm, we managed to get the floor in. YAY!

Week Five

   Now to move furniture. Two tables, 8 boxes of RPG gear, several board games, several boxes of stuff, its in the shed.. Grandma arrives in three days, wife apologizes for not trusting that I would do what I said I would do

What happened next?

   Well I took each weekend after that, to put down plastic sheeting, then some masonite to nail it all into place (and stop any dice from falling between the palette panels) I have yet to actually finish that process, but I got the room in a bearable state.

   Unfortunately, after putting everything on pause to get the shed to a place that could 'store' my gear, I did not have the time to make it a place I could use the gear. as much as I attempted to set up my laptop, gear, etc, with summer coming on... (see below)

Conclusion

   Yes, a cash injection of $500, could have done it far faster, but for that matter, I could have spent $5000 and had the whole thing redone from scratch as a gift for my landlord, but this has been an interesting experience, and I for one enjoyed it (even if my back still doesn't) for the moment, I have a 6x3 interior shed/room that will get used on moderately cool to cold days. I would do it again, because Its fun to build things.

Now, I can maybe start getting back to my normal daily tasks, get some work done in my shed, temperature permitting, and when I can, I can blog about it all. 

p.s. I might put together a short video of all the things that were done, stage by stage, maybe it'll be of interest to someone somewhere.

Aussie Summer & an Iron Roof

   32 outside, 38 inside, with the door wide open and the fan blowing air into the shed. I buy a portable airconditioner, set it up, plug it in, and shut the door.. in an hour its 39 inside.. aircon is overheating, it can't cope. Why? iron roof. I burnt my finger checking the temperature of the ceiling of the panel that is unprotected, un covered and heat radiating into the shed. a quick googling suggests that's 60.c+ its only 32.c today but my roof is 60.c!

   So my plan is to construct a 'layered roof' transportable (maybe) I'm thinking perspex and bamboo, both free or cheap from the right destruction yards/locations, if I can deflect 50% of the heat, I think it'll be worth it, just need 14 panels of the stuff and some inexpensive but durable joints....  

   

 

Example of Game: The Fall of Forttown.

In my newest Campaign, a Westmarches style game (well, my normal style, but most people call it west marches) I trialed a simple little project game to get some 'numbers' on whats going on. In my last post, I showed the turn by turn for 3 turns, so you could understand how simple it was to 'create a history'

Now, for your ( and the players playing this campaign) pleasure I present to you:

The Known History of Jesem South and Fort Jsemby

Not much is know why and how the world ended, except from some stories told by a small group of surviving adventurers known as "The Boomers" or if you believe them north folk in Fort Jsemby, maybe the world ended because of them.
Gone now 100 years, There was a Battle between the gods, and Two gods known as The Spider Queen and the Lord of Blood, defeated the Greater gods of War, Fire, Earth and Wind, they defeated the Gods of Battle, Healing, Life and Rebirth. Once defeated, smaller gods fleeing in their wake, called upon their followers to come together and build a mighty wall.
One warrior, known as Bob, The High Priest of the Gods of Bears, known as Klarg, used his mighty bear shape to shield the city of Forttown. Then him and his High Advisor, "TBA" advised the town to build almighty walls. They summoned Elementalists, to raise great walls around the city, and protect it, because they knew that the great Plague was coming.
Soon after The Spider Queens minions cursed all that stayed outside the walls, and were sacrificed to the Blood god. Their bodies rose up again as mighty warriors and besieged the town. But due to the foresight of Klarg and an unnamed god, The town survived long enough to summon the Lady Grey.
The Grey Lady, known well as the priestess of healing, came to this town just in time, she had come to save the last of Humanity. She brought a powerful spell for the mages to cast known as "Purity of the Gods". With this they were able to hold off the undead army, just long enough, so that the mighty heroes could defeat the Spider Queen and the Blood God.
Unfortunately for the world, the Heroes perished, and all the land lay cursed. The Lord of Blood cursed all those creatures of blood to fight against the living, with exception to Fort-town. While the Armies of Undead fell, the cursed ones remained.
For several months, Refugees of the world seeking shelter, discovered that Forttown survived, At first it was the few survivors of Middlehelm, Durnshine and Breylake, all reporting that their cities had fallen, their dead raised up and marched on, Middlehelms dead strove south, Durnshines dead boarded boats and sailed to the Islands, and Breylakes dead marched north into the deserts.
Months later, survivors from Beltayn, travelling with the gypsies, managed to arrive, reporting that the city held on, but recently fell to hordes of sun scorched undead coming south from above. They ranks included the fabled desert raiders on strange beasts, accompanied by Sand wyrms and Eefreets.
By the years end, a few Elves and Dwarves had arrived at the city, but the elves perished to their diseases, they spoke of undeath reaching all the way across the scarbourough mountains across the snowy tundra of Ruasha and the Northern Peaks of Keltaya.

All was lost. 

The Blood Forests, Home to a range of bloodthirsty native flora and fauna

<<from his point forward dear reader, I must remind you that the only information here is that known by the characters as general lore, Yet, over time, I encourage the players to submit their stories to be included later>>
The Towns Heroes gathered, they decided to travel out into the lands, help what people they could, back to the city. While many new small caravans arrived in the first few weeks, after a month, not a single caravan arrived ever again nor did the heroes.

Worse, The river, the lifeblood of the city, began to show signs of disease. At first a few dead fish on the shores, then the fish disappeared, and then people swimming were attacked, by the fish. Soon enough bodies began to be spotted in the river, but when poles were brought to fish them out, they moved. The undead were simply floating downstream from what ever had befallen them.

The Seperation

Map upside down.. oops

Soon enough the undead, crawling from the river shores, became a larger problem. Heroes were unable to take care of the problem fast enough. The undead used the bridges moors to crawl up and enter the town at night.

After  a particularly vicious battle, the city council met, and decided that the bridges needed to be separated from the towns. As people fled for the side they wished to stay on, They destroyed the bridges at each end, leaving the centres hoping to repair them later.

A Tale of two Cities

Now, as separate cities, each was responsible for food, health care and their own defences. Each town formed its own smaller council, its defence leadership and its own advisors from the few magi and priests that remained. It has been said that they should have made the decision for all magi to stay on one side and all priests on the other, to devote more work to differing goals, rather than have two whole sets of people working on the same problems without proper communication.. but 20/20 hindsight will always have the answers.
While the bridges allowed the undead to crawl up at any time of year, save the coldest winters when ice trapped them below the waters, it was only when the water levels dropped that the undead would wade out onto the shores of the old wharfs, would the townsfolk notice that this too would allow the undead to enter the town.
In the first High Summer, as the waters receded, thousands of bloated bodies started crawling from the rivers depths, to the shores and clamber up the beaches, The stench was overpowering, the undead numbers in the tens of thousands, the riverbed was a graveyard of monstrosity. Hundreds of townsfolk were called to fight back the undead, while others, less able, dug out the beeches and replaced them with walls.
The South side of the city, had the most beaches, and irrigation for its farms, So that summer, the south side of the city was inundated with undead. It took a bear, a spirit bear of great power, and size, to come to the rescue. The bear, guided by the high Priest of Klarg, pushed back the undead, giving the townsfolk the time to make the repairs, and build the new walls. His High Advisor " Joined the townsfolk, and took charge of the construction, his knowledge of undead, stone and building lore, combined with the Dwarves of the city, managed to construct great stone structures, worthy of Dwarven mines (or so the Dwarves said, and they still stand to this day)
The North side, had the fortune to already have the great wharves, which were built upon a natural wall, combined with the extensions built long ago, few undead managed to climb its shores.
The Council of the south, decided to build farms closest to the river, while the Northern council, with advice from their magi, built farms as far downriver as possible. The reasoning was, they could use some magi, and the priests of the Lady Grey, to bless the water and cast purification upon the water, allowing the water to become cleaner, the further it got in town, while it entered town from the west gate at its most poisonous.
Neither could have foretold the events to come, that may have given them cause to change their minds.
Either way, houses of the poor were destroyed first, they were given rooms in the empty houses of the rich, and some established themselves as new 'families' in the years to come. The Land was tilled, and winter, food stores were at last beginning to look healthy.
Year after year, the Bear God dealt with the undead clambering their way up the beaches and farms, while the Great Architect summoned walls to protect the city, while in the north, they had their existing great houses to hold up in. It took almost 15 years to seal off the waters, but in that time, over half of the city was lost.

A Time for Tears

Water had become scarce, The Wells of the city were somehow still clean, but the river, the source of water for thousands of people, was a brown bloody mess, limbs still floated downstream on a daily basis, touching the water now suicide, as it quickly consumed your soul and your body became one of the undead.
Bodies were now to be cremated, and the ashes mixed with the soil for healthier growth in the farm. 90% of the town was reduced to an agrarian life, the few cows, sheep, pigs and horses that remained, were under stick guard for breeding, and only the oldest were slaughtered for meat.
Luckily there were some folk who knew how to clean water, without the need for magic. One Dr Arthur Mometer discovered that boiling the water in a closed pot, until the pot became almost red hot, would destroy the blood and return the water to normal. Also that the fat of animals could be used directly as a soap, without additives, to clean off the blood rain. This helped people to survive the coming years.
Not much was recorded from this point on, some references and histories were burnt in the great attack of 1008, but what has been found is recorded here.
Sometime around 20 years after the Seperation, Some young folk found the scrolls and parchments of the Guild of rangers, and secretly started learning the skills taught by them to travel, unseen, unknown in the forest, and snuck out to see the world. Not much is known about their adventures, but 3 days after they left, they appeared at the north wall, running for their lives, exhausted, chased by what seemed like millions of undead, clutching a heavy book. The book contained several spells for mages, some of which thought lost forever, prior to the end of the world, let alone as a result of.
The Great War Barracks were built in 950, and A warriors guild was formed to deal with undead that appears from time to time, but also to exit the city and cleanse the ruins of old Jesem.
The High Priest, traveled north on boat, blessing the waters to hold back the fish, and dealt with an army of undead that managed to sneak in the east gate. but unable to return, he established a church in the north to hold back their undead that gathered at the walls. Many of which were the ones chasing the rangers.
So the North, realizing that gathering intel from outside the walls, a good thing, developed the Adventurers guild, it was mostly volunteers, those that studied with the Rangers Guild or had magical talents not suited to Healing magic, would form small parties, and push through the undead shanty town that hugged the walls, and break out into the wild unknowns. Often they'd return, requiring many purification spells to survive, but with knowledge of the outside.

What Lay Beyond

Like a wall of thorns, the Undead circled the city, claimed the heroes that returned. If only the Undead could be cleansed. With the help of the city, magi would be trained the clean the undead, to purify its waters, to burn back the forests of death, to free to city, and its survivors would be great heroes.
Klargs High Priest passed away soon after, and a day of remembrance is celebrated by the south, As is the High Advisor, his day of remembrance is celebrated by all of the city, as he went on to found a college and pushed for the wharfs to be opened so communication would improve the towns abilities.
Furthermore, In a Last Attempt to secure the Library South of the City, The Grand High Librarian and High Advisor, Cast a “Encastlemet spell” to surround the area, before the spell got halfway, it petered out and the Librarian Died. The Wall is known as “Riley’s Wall”

Slowly.. Markets were being built in the cities to allow the flow of goods and services, Blade bottomed boats were built in the wharfs to transport people and clear the water of undesirables, while food was grown both sides, it was grown differently with distinct varieties, South side food is a interesting alternative, while North side food is considered by the young folk to be exotic and upper class.

The Real growth began after. South side City doctors discovered a new cure to the Blood rain, and they were able to clear the streets faster. soon after, discoveries in magic allowed the purification magic to improve, also as more mages were being recruited, the water as it left the city was almost drinkable, after boiling twice and adding mint leaves to get rid of the taste.
Against advice from the north side (or maybe in spite of) An Adventurers guild was set up in the south side city too. There, there is a shrine to the Bonners.
50 years on, the year 983.. The South Side Barracks are finally officially established, Training is now sponsored by the council and veteran Warrior / Adventurers are permitted to exit the walls and fight the undead in the surrounding lands. On the north side, the Council of Guild masters is established, boosting internal trade regulations and setting a minimum standard of living for all.

Soon after with Metal Scavenging taking place in the nearest empty buildings, better weapons are being forged in the cities. The North decides to devote itself to armour, and the south, to weapons.
A Lesson is vigilance, whilst the adventurers were able to 'exit' their city, burn off the diseased shanties and villages, and return to their clean, safe lives, they often ignored the lessons on safety and thoroughness, and as a result, awaken an undead behemoth, which follows them back to the city. In a panic, the Last Elementalist scoll is used, to make the ground beneath the creature into mud, temporarily, it sunk, but only up to its knees before the spell wore off, trapping the creature only metres from the wall

In an effort to increase the powers of Klarg, the new High Priest of the church of Klarg begins the construction of a great Cathedral, with the help of the ‘royal family’ and some secret hidden cash reserves, it gets built, while many deem it unworthy, as soon as the capstone is placed, a Enormous (like 100m tall & wide) Klarg Bear appears in spirit form, All undead are repelled from the walls, by kilometers. Artisans manage to forge lighter chain-mail after long forgotten lore is rediscovered. The North finally builds its own Wharfs, so Large Barges can transport People, Carts and Goods across the river.. They need to be rebuilt every few years due to the wood rot from the tainted water, but it’s the only way for the North and South to begin repairs as one city, instead of two.
For the first time in decades, undead are spotted inside the walls, a breach, the walls crumble and hoardes swarm into the city, hundreds are slaughtered, some rise up as undead, but for which side? Internal conflicts aroze from the news, was it the undead somehow being controlled once again, had Hekatte returned to finish off the world? The city is devestated, while the breach is controlled the wall has been opened, and other undead will wander in, seeking the smell of life.
So a Party, Two High Priests of Klarg & The adventurers guilds from both cities form a small army and not only push back then Undead that breach the city, but push outside the walls and annihilate all undead for miles, with Holy Lights, Smites and such
The North Built a Hospital and Improved all medical supplies to both sides of the city, In a desperate need to transport soldiers and medicine across, a second Wharf is built, doubling the flow of goods south.
For the longest time, the citys population was stable, people are having many children, some born with defects from the Blood, but more often than not, children survive to their teen years, but with soldiers, ongoing battles and the never ending threat from he blood disease, it plateaued, yet now, in 1021 Population has stabilized and shows growth. The Mages have improve on their Purify Spell further and have increase their ranks by a lone hero that comes from the north. He brought information.

Soon after, Artisans begun work on the underground caves, accessing minerals from an old iron mine. There are some natural, non undead creatures down here, some are reportedly being used by the aventurers guild, and while illegal, children often sneak down into the caves.
 The Academics studying the Information brought by the foreign mage, have deciphered its abilities. By “Dangling” a special device in the water, they can purify more effectively, If they can Claim the Bridge & small Fort to the north, they’ll be able to purify the water before it gets to the city.
The city blows the emergency horns, calling back all adventurers, and holding a specialized meeting.  Light has appeared at the end of the tunnel, They have a goal, its going to work, but only if we all work together. The City is going to expand.