Award Logo Contest

I have 5 copies of Doll that I'm hoping to give away on Monday. Here's how to win one:

Create a logo for the Goatee Award, and email it to at gingergoatpress@gmail.com. (I created this award to honor people who record and share actual play sessions,  but I forgot to create an image for the award!)

The image should be  at least 150x150 pixels. It should contain the words "Goatee" and "Award." Otherwise, the design is completely up to you. The more creative, the better.

You have until Sunday night to email me your entries. You can enter as often as you want, but each person can only win once at most.

On Sunday night I will email the five winners to request their mailing addresses. On Monday I will mail the signed copies of Doll.

This contest is open to international folks as well.

What is Heroine?

It's been a while since I've mentioned my first game, Heroine, on this blog. I'm proud of this game. In case you haven't had a chance to take a look at it, I'd like to pitch it to you.

 

Heroine is a storytelling game inspired by books and movies like Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, Alice in Wonderland, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I love these stories about a girl who has serious problems to deal with in her regular life, but who gets whisked away to the Other World, where she has an unusual chance to be heroic.

 

Together with my editor, Paul Lyons - you may know him from his time as a host of the Podgecast- I wrote a game that creates a story like these. JR Blackwell created all the beautiful photographs for this book by arranging a photoshoot in an abandoned prison. On top of that, Daniel Solis did the layout for this book. That's right. Two Ennie-winning game designers helped me make this book beautiful, and I'm very proud of their work!

 

When you play Heroine, you and your friends can explore a girl's struggle to grow up. On the one hand, she has to overcome the magical challenges of the Other World. Will she rescue the innocents? Will she find her way through mazes and traps? Will she survive an encounter with the Antagonist who now rules the Other World?

On the other hand, she is trying to leave behind her fear, confusion, and selfishness, so that she can learn to be heroic. Will her time in the Other World teach her about being clever, daring, and kind? When she finally returns home, will the things she has learned enabled her to overcome her struggles in her regular life?

 

During each session of the game, one player plays the heroine character. The other players take turns narrating the story and playing one of the heroine's quirky, new companions. Each session of the game is a complete story. You may play several sessions using the same characters, or you may create a new heroine and a new Other World.

Purchasing Heroine

As with all Ginger Goat games, you can purchase Heroine via Indie Press Revolution, Drivethrustuff, or directly from me at gingergoatpress at gmail.com.

The 2013 Goatee Award Winners Are...

After reviewing all the submissions to this first annual Actual Play Festival, I'm pleased to announce the following two winners.

The Goatee Award for Best Recording of a 2013 game goes to Jason King and the other people at the Rolling Intentions podcast. Their second session recording of Brian Engard's new game Becoming is particularly entertaining in my opinion.

The Goatee Award for Best Recording of a Non-North American Game goes to Christopher Reed's group, who recorded a rather racy session of Graham Walmsley's Cthulhu Dark.

Each award winning group will receive the following games in pdf form as prizes:

Becoming and Rough Cuts by Brian Engard
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
Dude, Run! and 1%er by Robert Nolan
Heroine and Doll from Josh Jordan
Kiss My Axe and an accompanying adventure from Fraser Ronald
Project Ninja Panda Taco by Jenn Steen
Spark by Jason Pitre

Actual Play Festival Draws to a Close

Last night, with one final entry from Joe Maness, the Actual Play Festival drew to a close. Thank you to everyone who participated, either by spreading word of the festival, submitting a video, or watching one of the videos and encouraging the people who submitted.

We had eight submissions this year, which I consider a success. I plan on running the festival again next year. I bet we can get even more.

Because a video was submitted near the deadline, I'm going to put off announcing the awards until tonight. I want to make sure I have a chance to watch this last video. There will be two Goatee Awards given tonight, and each will come with a prize package full of several game pdfs. The first will be the Goatee Award for Best Recording of a Non-North American Game. The second will be the Goatee Award for Best Recording of a 2013 Game.

Actual Play Festival Submission from Rolling Intentions Podcast

One of my favorite entries to the Actual Play Festival is this recording of Brian Engard's game, Becoming. The guys at the Rolling Intentions podcast submitted this early in the contest, but I only recently posted it due to some user error on my end.

Be sure to check out their podcast if you like what you see here. They're a bunch of nice guys.

Four days left to participate in the Actual Play Festival

Do you have an audio or video recording of your group playing a roleplaying game? Was it recorded in November or December of this year? If so, send the file to me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com, and you can win pdfs of 10 awesome games.

The top two recordings, as judged by me on December 15th, will receive the prestigious Goatee Award. Every player (including the GM, if any) in those two winning sessions will also receive these games:

Becoming and Rough Cuts by Brian Engard*
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
Dude, Run! and 1%er by Robert Nolan*
Heroine and Doll from Josh Jordan
Kiss My Axe and an accompanying adventure from Fraser Ronald
Project Ninja Panda Taco by Jenn Steen
Spark by Jason Pitre

Anyone can participate. I will post pretty much any game recording, whether or not it qualifies to be one of the two winning sessions.

Actual Play Festival has begun!

Actual Play Festival has officially begun! The festival runs from December 1st to 15th. It is a celebration of gaming groups who record their sessions for other people to see or hear. There will be awards at the end of the festival for the best recording of a new game and the best recording of a non-North American game.

We are still accepting submission of new sessions! You can send me an audio .mp3 or a video .mp4 of any session you recorded in November or December. You can submit more than once! All submissions will be posted on Youtube here.

Here is one of the first submissions.

PWIW for Doll Audiobooks in English or Swedish

Have you already listened to the beautiful audiobook versions Dan Hull made for Doll and Advanced Doll? Well, now you can pay what you want for them on Drivethrurpg or RPGNow.

That's great, you might be saying, but can I listen to Doll in Swedish? Thanks to my friend and fellow game designer, Wilhelm Person, yes you can! I've made his audio translation available as a pay-what-you-want download as well.

Doll and Advanced Doll Now Available in Print

Good news! You can now order print copies of Doll and Advanced Doll from Indie Press Revolution. Electronic copies are available at IPR and at DrivethruRPG. The audio version is also available at DrivethruRPG.

LARP Playtesters Wanted

Ginger Goat is developing a LARP based on our storytelling game, Heroine. This game is for 3-8 players.
If you would like to join the open playtest of this game, please email gingergoatpress@gmail.com. No LARPing experience is necessary to join the playtest. We would like both experienced and new live action gamers to play the game.

Actual Play Festival Submissions are Rolling in

I've received the first two submissions for Actual Play Fest! A gaming group just sent me their recordings of a Fate Core game in a Changeling setting AND a hacked game of Ross Payton's Base Raiders. Both games sound interesting, and I look forward to checking them out.

I will post these, along with all the other entries, beginning on December 1st. Meanwhile, start sending in your session recordings (even if you also plan to release them elsewhere.)

If you are considering submitting, but haven't recorded your game yet, I look forward to hearing from you. Let me know if you need any help or encouragement from me. As always you can send submissions or questions to me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com

Flash Fiction

The wicked marionette’s eyes leaked thick tears like the crusted, yellow drool of a dying wolf.

“Daddy, daddy,” it droned. “Up, daddy, daddy.” But this was not my child. My child rode with his mother to the safety of the church parking lot.

No, this was not my child. The marionette reached its hands toward me. By the cracks and black mold covering the palms of those hands, I guessed this imp to be much, much older than me.

I removed two rattan sticks from my satchel, and twirled them in a steady figure eight. This was not my child. I would not be disciplining it for what it did to the people on the busy street behind us. There would be no time outs, no spankings, no forgiving hugs.

“Want cuddles, daddy?” The marionette tilted its head and tried to hug me.

I took a deep breath and delivered a San Miguel strike to the creature’s stringy shoulder.

(Image by Marco Prelini)

The Walking Eye Interview

Here's another video for people interested in participating in the Actual Play Festival.

Last night I interviewed Allegra and Kevin from The Walking Eye podcast about their show, tips and encouragement for game groups interested in recording actual play for the first time, and about Kevin's plea that people steal The Walking Eye show format.

 

 Some of the highlights from this interview? We talk about the value of editing your audio with free programs like Levelator. Allegra encourages you to pick a game that excites you for your first recording. I drink a beer. A cat jumps on Kevin's modem.

What is the Actual Play Festival?

The Actual Play Festival is a celebration of gamers who record their play sessions and post them for other people to hear (and, sometimes, see.) The Festival takes place December 1st through 15th.

You can participate by watching sessions on Youtube, by telling people about #ActPlayFest on social media, and by encouraging the people who submit actual play recordings.

However, the best way to participate in Actual Play Festival is to submit a recording! Send an mp3 audio file or an mp4 video file of your group playing a roleplaying game to gingergoatpress@gmail.com. I will upload everything to my Youtube channel, so everyone can enjoy it. You can submit a recording of any session recorded in November or December.

And there will be prizes! Several game designers, including me, have offered to give electronic copies of their games to the two groups with the best recordings. These prizes, and the accompanying Goatee Award for Best AP, will go to the group with:

• The best recording of a game published in 2013
• The best recording of a game originally published outside North America

 Any questions about the festival should be addressed to Josh Jordan at the email address above.

Jason King Interview

This evening, I interviewed Jason King from the Rolling Intentions podcast. He gives tips for people interested in recording actual play of their gaming group, and he hints at his upcoming entries for Ginger Goat's Actual Play Festival.

Doll and Advanced Doll PDFs and Audiobooks

We are pleased to announce that both Doll and Advanced Doll are now available as PDFs and as audiobooks on DrivethruRPG!

Audio Books!

We've just sent audio versions of Doll and Advanced Doll to Kickstarter backers who qualify to receive them.
We're now accepting orders for the pdfs or the audio versions from everyone else, too. If you are interested, email gingergoatpress@gmail.com

Three More Games Added to the APF Prize

I'm pleased to announce that three more game designers have offered copies of their games as prizes for the Actual Play Festival. Daniel Solis, Fraser "Accidental Survivors" Ronald, and Jenn "Jennisodes" Steen have offered games to the two groups that win at the end of the festival.
Prizes now include:

Becoming and Rough Cuts by Brian Engard*
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
Dude, Run! and 1%er by Robert Nolan*
Heroine and Doll from Josh Jordan
Kiss My Axe and an accompanying adventure from Fraser Ronald
Project Ninja Panda Taco by Jenn Steen
Spark by Jason Pitre

The two gaming groups who submit the best audio or video recording of a qualifying RPG will win the Goatee Award AND pdf copies of these games for each person playing in the video.

All RPGs or story games released in 2013 or originally published outside of Canada are qualifying RPGs.

Submit actual play recordings to me by December 15th. I will do my best to post all of them on my Youtube channel. That way we can all enjoy each other's games. I will even post videos that aren't in English. (I won't post audio recordings not in English because I have no way to confirm that it is indeed an actual play recording.)

*Brian and Robert would like me to warn you that some of their games contain naughty language. I'm not really worried about it, but consider yourself warned.

Even More Prize Support

Even more prizes being added for Actual Play Festival! The two winning groups will be getting a lot of games. I plan to announce details this week, but I have at least two new game designers willing to participate.
Start planning to record an actual play now, so that you can send it to me between December 1st and December 15th. Any actual play session occuring between now and December 15th is fair game.
Any rpg not originally published in North America is eligible.
Any rpg published in 2013 is also eligible, wherever it was published.

Prize Support for Actual Play Festival

Brian Engard, Jason Pitre, and Robert Nolan have donated gaming pdfs to join my copies of Heroine and Doll as prizes for Actual Play Festival. However, they've just agreed to go one step further. Not only are we offering pdfs of seven games to the two winning groups, we are now going to give each person in the group their own copy of the pdfs!

Do you and your friends want a bunch of the hottest new indie roleplaying games? All you have to do is record yourselves playing EITHER a roleplaying game published in 2013 OR one published outside of North America (OR both, I suppose.) Then submit that recording to me so I can put it on this site, or at least link to it on this site. The best two recordings will win the Goatee Award, a coveted honor that I just made up. Goatee award winners will receive the seven pdfs as their reward.

Not sure you can record your friends playing a game? Well then simply enjoy all the actual play recordings that everyone else is submitting, and please spread the word about Actual Play Festival. The more recordings we have, the more fun it is for everyone.

Actual Play Festival

I love listening to actual play. It's a great way to figure out whether I would enjoy a game, and it's a way to feel like I'm gaming when I'm driving to work or shopping for groceries. So I've decided to run a sort of contest/online convention to celebrate actual play. I'm calling it the Actual Play Festival. It will run from December 1st to 15th.

All people have to do to participate is to record audio or video of themselves playing a new or non-North American game and send it to me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com. (I will repost video on the Ginger Goat Youtube channel, and I'm trying to figure out a place to repost audio.)

 

Stay tuned for more information, but, for now, here's the elevator pitch: Actual Play Festival is an online collection of fan-submitted actual play recordings hosted by Ginger Goat. The festival runs from December 1st to 15th, and it will end with awards and prizes donated by Josh Jordan, Brian Engard, Jason Pitre, and Robert Nolan.

Ryuutama Kickstarter is worth a look!

Andy Kitkowski, the author of the forthcoming Heroine of Heiankyo supplement, has launched a Kickstarter to translate one of his favorite Japanese RPGs into English. Ryuutama looks like a fun game. I'm going to go back the Kickstarter right now.

Happy Halloween

My friend Robert Nolan at Creepy Doll Studios has created a special multiple-doll expansion for my #DollRPG ! It's not specifically Halloween-themed, but it's even scarier than regular Doll, in my opinion, so I'm releasing it today for free. Happy Halloween from Robert and me. Here's the pdf.

Digital Copies

Kickstarter backers who have purchased digital copies of Doll and Advanced Doll should receive an email today with a link to their copies!

Doll Is at the Printer!

Doll and Advanced Doll are at the printer! My contact at the printing company says that they will finish printing in 2-4 business days. The company is local, so it should be easy for them to get them in my hands once they are done. After that, I mail them to you. If we're lucky, that means I get to mail them out this weekend.
If any backer would like me to include extra copies of Doll and Advanced Doll in your shipment, let me know in the next three days. I will give you a one-time exclusive price of $2 per extra set (that's one of each of the three cards) as a thank you for backing the Kickstarter. We can arrange payment via Paypal.

Heroine of Heiankyo - Coming Soon

I would like to officially announce Ginger Goat's next project, Heroine of Heiankyo. This pdf-only supplement for Heroine features a mytho-historic setting in Heian Era Kyoto. This is by far our most complete setting book. Owners of Girls Elsewhere will recognize the general format of the book, but this single setting is the size of all those in GE combined. We have companions; antagonists; locations; new Injuries, Divides, and Chapter Templates; and more authentic ancient Japanese names than you can shake a kendo practice sword at.

Andy Kitkowski, translator of Tenra Bansho Zero and of the forthcoming Ryuutama, has written this new book for us. Julio Matos, whom you might know from You are the Resistance, is doing layout. Timm Henson is creating some art. Jeremy Morgan and myself are splitting the editing duties, though I may add a third editor depending on how Doll treats my schedule. We intend to release the book by the end of the year, though it may be ready as early as November. We are editing the third draft right now, and Timm and Julio have both started making the book look beautiful.

Oh, and did I mention that this supplement will be free. {Drops mic, and walks away.}

Doll Update

Good morning, folks. It looks like I forgot to publish my last post, so I have quite a bit of news for you about the Doll Kickstarter.

First of all, we funded. You can see more details here, but the final amount was over 1300% of the basic goal. Thank you so much to all the backers. You funded Doll, Advanced Doll, audio books of both of those, a short story anthology with several authors, and a 20% raise for everyone working on the project except me (Josh Jordan.) Your support allows me to make this game and other future games better than I would have made them on my own.

Currently, Doll and Advanced Doll are in layout, and the audio recording has begun. I expect to receive drafts of some of the short stories by the end of the week. I hope to be able to print the game by the end of the month and the short story anthology a few months later.

Those of you who have earned a doll or puppet may be glad to know that I have all my supplies and that I've started cutting fabric for the first few dolls. My goal is to ship these out by the end of December.

Dolls, Stories, and More

This post was originally released here, on the Doll Kickstarter page. Check it out! We have less than a week to go.

Thank you all so much! Doll has funded at over 1000%! We have surpassed the $2,500 mark and unlocked the larger short fiction anthology. This e-book anthology will contain stories inspired by Doll. Everyone who pledges $10 or more to the Kickstarter will receive a copy of this anthology. It will contain stories from Allegra Selzer, Filamena Young, Jared Axelrod, PK Sullivan, Ryan McSwain, and the author of Advanced Doll, Tobie Abad.
Today I want to talk about the next two stretch goals, in order to encourage you to continue spreading the word about Doll.
There is a secret stretch goal at $2,750. It involves the story anthology, but I'm not going to announce what we're adding unless we reach that goal.
Then there is the $3,000 goal. At this level, I will give everyone involved in Doll, except myself, a 20% bonus. This includes David Hill, who is doing layout, Tobie, who is writing Advanced Doll, all the authors in the short story anthology, and possibly my wife, if anyone receives one of her Heroine dolls (which will be brilliant, by the way.) I firmly believe that I am getting these folks' help at a bargain price. If we reach this goal, I will gladly give these people a bonus. They all deserve it.
I would also like to announce that I will use any profit this Kickstarter raises above the $3,000 level exclusively to fund free projects from Ginger Goat over the next six months. For example, if we reach $3,200, I will put all the profits from that extra $200 toward a free Heroine expansion. If we raise $5,000, I will use all the profits from that $2,000 to pay for art, layout, and writing for even nicer projects. All of these projects above the $3,000 will released for free to the public.
Thank you again for all your support! We've already reached more players than I ever imagined. Please continue to spread the word about this Kickstarter. We have less than a week to go.
Cheers,
Josh Jordan

Doll Actual Play Videos

There are now two Doll actual play videos available. Here is one of them

And here is the other

Call for Writers!

I'm posting a call for writers interested in contributing to a short story compilation in honor of the Doll RPG. The Doll Kickstarter has funded more than double its initial goal in less than 24 hours, and while I have some additional stretch goals in mind, I would really like to add work from some other creative people.
I am looking for people interested in writing 500- to 2,500-word short stories featuring a sentient doll, puppet, marionette or other toy. This toy does not have to be evil, but as per the RPG, it must have some reason to at least occasionally lie to kids. I'm accepting stories for whichever age you'd like to target, child through adult, (though I admit I have a distaste for cliched profanity.) I will pay $.04 per word upon the completion of the story or the Kickstarter, whichever comes second. Because the Kickstarter only runs until September 29th, the deadline for interest letters is September 21st. The final draft of the story, assuming we hire you, is not due until December 6th.

What should you do if you are interested? Email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com. Mention your name, your writing experience, and whether I might already know you from somewhere. (You may include a link to one of your short stories or novellas, but there's no guarantee I will have time to read it.) If I think you are a good fit for this project, I will email you back within 48 hours.

Thanks,
Josh

Doll Kickstarter

The Doll Kickstarter is live! Get a physical copy of my second full game for only $4. You can find it here.

Doll is a storytelling game for two. One person plays a child, the other plays a doll who sometimes lies about important things.

Thank You, Indie Treasure Trove Buyers

The 1,001st customer just purchased the Indie Treasure Trove. Thank you all for your amazing support for our games. I know I speak for the other authors when I say that we are feeling overwhelmed.
I would encourage each of you to reach out to the author of your favorite game in the bundle, and tell them what you like about his or her game. We love to hear from you. Thanks again for all your support!

-Josh Jordan

Heroine is a part of the Indie Treasure Hoard

You can pick up an electronic copy of Heroine as part of the current Bundle of Holding, the Indie Treasure Hoard. This bundle includes Sorcerer, Annalise, Dog Eat Dog, and other games. Pay what you want, but you have to beat the average price in order to receive the games marked as "Bonus."

If you have been meaning to pick up any of these games, help all these authors out and do it now. This deal ends on September 10th.

Updates to the Blog

I've made a few updates to the blog, like fixing the "Where to Buy" links. Let me know if you have any problems with readability in the new format. I'm happy to tinker with the site more.

Doll Playtest

Over at Ginger Goat, we're busy preparing Dangers Untold, the Heroine LARP, for playtesting. Meanwhile, Doll is ready for playtesting today. Doll is a two-player, twenty minute game about a child, a fickle doll, and parents who might be evil. If you would like to playtest either game, but especially Doll, comment below or email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com

GenCon BS!

I had a great time at GenCon this past weekend. It was a very busy time, and I met several awesome people. Two people I met were Rob and Mike, formerly of the Bear Swarm podcast. I've listened to many episodes of the Bear Swarm, so it was fun to meet these guys in person.

Their current podcast is called BS! Radio. They say some nice things about Heroine and about me on their latest episode. Go check it out, and give those guys some well-deserved attention.

http://bs-radio.com/2013/08/21/the-bs-podcast-episode-7-gencon-overview/

Girls Elsewhere Books Available

Girls Elsewhere books are now available for preorder, both directly from me and from Indie Press Revolution. If you wish to order directly from me, please email gingergoatpress@gmail.com

If you plan to be at GenCon, I will have copies of both books on hand, as should the IPR booth. If you buy something from me at GenCon, or play Heroine with me, you will receive a limited edition Heroine button. (While supplies last...) Tweet me @joshtjordan or find me at the Games on Demand booth.

Proof for Girls Elsewhere

I just ordered the proof for Girls Elsewhere from the printer. It should include three character sheets by Julio Matos that are not in the PDF. If everything goes as planned, I should have both books for sale at GenCon. The Indie Press Revolution booth should have them, too.

Observations of the Fox Reviews Heroine

Michael reviewed Heroine back in May, and I noticed this morning that I failed to link to the review on this blog. You can find his review here, at Observations of the Fox. He says some good things about the book, which I value even more knowing that he isn't a fanboy for story games in general.

Ludicrus Gaming Reviews Heroine

Andy at Ludicrus Gaming has posted a thoughtful review of Heroine. It's clear that he spent time looking carefully at the game. Thanks, Andy.

It's my understanding that he will review Girls Elsewhere in a couple weeks.

Heroine Hack: Soap Opera Companion

Hang around me long enough, and you will hear me complimenting Levi Kornelsen. In particular, I've mentioned before how much I like his Soap Opera hack. This plug-in motivates players to add melodrama into their game in order to re-fuel in-game currency.

Here is a way to use this hack in your Heroine game. These rules give the Companions an alternate way to gain Drama Points
The Companion move Get In Trouble is replaced with Gain a Relationship. See the hack for description of this move. A Companion who gains a relationship automatically gains 3 DP. She does not need to roll 2d6. When you gain a relationship, you add drama and distraction to the story, so the Heroine has more to think about than simply accomplishing her goal and defeating Challenges.
The Companion move Remember a Way Out is replaced with Escalate a Relationship. This move costs 2 DP. You can escalate relationships as often as you have points to do so. When you escalate, you take a relationship to the next level, and this decreases or distracts from the negative results of the Challenge at the end of this chapter.

Companions may form relationships with the Heroine, with NPCs, or with each other. Each Companion may have more than one relationship. Companions who have relationships with each other do not have to have the same relationship. Peter might consider the Wolf his Anathema, and the Wolf might consider Peter his Exemplar.

If you give these alternate rules a try, or if you have any questions, email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com or reach out to me on Google+.

Draft Swap

Do you have a game that's in the early stages of design? Like me, do you have a project that is something more than an annotated elevator pitch and something less than a playtest-ready game? If so, consider doing a Draft Swap.

A Draft Swap is an agreement between two game designers to spend a fixed amount of time working on each other's game-in-development. No money changes hands. No contracts are required. The two designers simply agree on a minimum amount of time to spend developing the other person's game and a deadline for completing the Draft Swap.

 

Gabe, a first time author with a lot of board game experience, offers to Draft Swap his rules light shopping simulator, Flea Swap Spree. Sasha, an experienced game designer, agrees. She hopes Gabe might add some sort of board-gaming element to Maple Autumn, her cooperative story game about leaves falling from a tree. Gabe and Sasha agree to spend at least one hour writing additional rules and designing additional elements for each other's games. They set a deadline of two weeks.

 

There are three additional rules for a Draft Swap:

1. If you publish or otherwise release your game after it has been Draft Swapped, you must credit the other game designer as collaborator, editor, developer, or some equivalent title.

2. You should strive to do three things for the other person's game. You should add at least one design element that you think it is missing. You should try to add to whatever fun elements are already there. You should make the game easier to playtest, which usually means clarifying the existing rules.

3. You should not ask the original designer for help. You must work on the Draft Swap alone. (If you don't understand something about the original designer's notes, ask it on the first day of the Draft Swap.)

[Rolling Intentions Podcast] W/ Josh Jordan - Heroine Video Special

Yesterday I played Heroine with Jason from Rolling Intentions and Bug from Once Upon a D6. We had a good time. I actually played the Heroine character, which is rare for me.
Please check out the video if you are curious how the game plays out. This is a good example of a light-hearted session inspired by MMORPGs. Warning: we get silly.

Rolling Intentions Interview

Check out this episode of Rolling Intentions. I had a great time talking to Jason about Heroine.

 

 

Confession about Actual Play

Rolling Intentions recently posted an Actual Play recording of a session of Heroine. They did a great job, both with the recording and with using the game to tell an entertaining story.
But I have a confession to make. I had a lot of anxiety listening to the recording. I had to pause it and listen to something else three or four times. I absolutely could not get through the recording in one sitting, even though it was only 75 minutes long.
This has nothing to with their recording. I was having strange feelings listening to someone play my game in a way that was completely outside of my control. I've read AP reports of Heroine before, but there's something different about listening to the session moment by moment. I felt like I was a parent watching my child's first day of kindergarten from the other side of a one way mirror. I wanted to be able to help, but I knew it was time to let her stand on her own. I know that sounds pretty dramatic, but I'm being honest. I was much more emotional listening to it than I expected to be.
Ultimately, I'm relieved that the guys had a good time with the game. If you like AP recordings, I encourage you to check out their podcast. But if you are a game designer, be warned that it can feel pretty intense the first time you listen to someone else play your game.

Heroine Actual Play Recording by Rolling Intentions Podcast

The guys over at the Rolling Intentions Podcast have posted their actual play (AP) recording of Heroine. If you enjoy listening to actual play like I do, please go check out their site.

Heroine: Girls Elsewhere

Daniel Solis sent me the initial layout for Girls Elsewhere today. This is the second Heroine book. It contains alternate settings submitted by several other game designers.
The book is looking great so far, and I'm excited to be able to share it with you soon.
All the backers of the Heroine Kickstarter who received a pdf of Heroine will also receive a pdf of Girls Elsewhere. I also intend to sell hardcopies and pdfs to the general public. The tentative release date is July. Stay tuned.

Heroine Photoshoot

In case any of you have missed it, here is a link to photographer J.R. Blackwell's blog about the photoshoot she did for Heroine.

http://jrblackwell.com/2013/01/14/heroine-photoshoot/

Printing Update

The first print run of Heroine is almost complete! If things stay on schedule at the printer, all the Kickstarter copies should be mailed tomorrow. (Those backers who are also expecting a token bag or boxed set may have to wait a few more days for me to package things up.)

I also have extra copies for sale for anyone who doesn't want to wait and buy it on Indie Press Revolution. If you are interested, email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com

I'm wanting to post pictures on this blog of you holding your copy of the book, so I'm thinking about sending a special pdf to the first few people who email me pictures of themselves holding a copy of Heroine. (The pdf will be an alpha playtest version of another game I'm working on.)

A well-thought-out review of Heroine by Michael Wenman

Here's a link to an interesting review of Heroine. I appreciate that Michael takes the time to mention who he thinks would enjoy the game and why.

Proof Copy Has Arrived

Look what came in the mail today. Everything looks good, so the printer will start the full print run ASAP.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1080999837/heroine/posts/475798

Character Sheets

I've released some character sheets for Heroine. You can get them here.

EDIT: I've fixed this link as of 05/09/14. Shout out to Mamading Ceesay for pointing out that the link was broken.

Audio Book!

The audio book version of Heroine is ready. Kickstarter backers should receive an update with links to the audio files.
If anyone else would like to buy a copy of the audio book or the pdf, you can email me at gingergoatpress@gmail.com. The audio book and the pdf are $8 each or $12 for both.

Proof Copy of Heroine

The printer tells me that the proof copy of Heroine has shipped and should arrive at my house tomorrow. Assuming all is well, I expect to approve the print run ASAP. You can expect a picture of me holding the book with a goofy grin on my face.

I'm ordering the proof copy of the physical book from the printer right now. It's my understanding that I will have that copy within a week. Assuming there are no formatting errors that crop up, the next step is to print the book!

For those of you who have missed it, here is the cover of the book.

Heroine PDFs Released to Backers

I've begun sending PDF copies of Heroine to Kickstarter backers. All backers who have filled out their surveys can expect an email today.

Backer Surveys

I've sent out surveys to all of the Kickstarter backers in order to get contact information. This means we are very close to sending out the PDFs and printing the physical books.

If you are a backer, go fill out your survey. If your contact information changes between now and the time you get your backer rewards, contact me ASAP. I want to give your your book!

Double Deal Friday: Deal Two

This second deal is for parents, cosplayers, or photographers:

I would like more photos of heroic girls for the second Heroine book. These don't have to be professional photos , they just need to be in focus, decently lit, and feature an adventurous/heroic girl.* (Also, girls of any race or body type are welcome. Diversity is awesome.)

If you submit at least three original photographs  that fit these criteria, I will send you a free PDF of Heroine. All submissions should go to gingergoatpress@gmail.com

I plan to use photos submitted to illustrate three or four of the settings in the second Heroine book, Heroine: Girls Elsewhere. If I use any of your photos, I will credit you, send you a PDF of  H:GE, and send you a free physical copy of Heroine. I will post all other submitted photos (that meet a minimum quality standard) on my website, with credit to the photographer and the subject, if you like.

Photos of any heroic girl in any setting are welcome. However, the following would be particularly useful:

• Astronaut on a strange world
• Martial Artist
• Wilderness Explorer
• Telekinetic on the run in the big city
• Modern or steampunk Alice in Wonderland
• Sword and sorcery

*"What's a girl?" you ask. "What age?" I am open to your definition.

Double Deal Friday: Deal One

I'm offering two deals this Friday to encourage contributions to Heroine: Girls Elsewhere. Here's the first one:

If you are interested in making a character sheet for Heroine, point me to a sample of your work. I will then send you a free PDF of Heroine.

Out of all the character sheets submitted, I will put my favorite in the second Heroine book, and send that designer a free physical copy of Heroine. I will post all other submitted character sheets (that meet a minimum quality standard) on my website.

Wearing my big boy pants

Today I took another step toward feeling like a legitimate game publisher. I signed a contract for something Heroine related. What the contract was isn't important. What's important is that I put on my big boy pants and did it. We are now one step closer to putting my book in your hands. I hope you are as excited as I am.