2002-09-18 - 9:16 a.m.
Just a couple of quick pieces of good news...
First of all, Jaime has uploaded the .pdf character sheet to RPG Sheets (under d20 Systems: Official sheets), so that should be handy for those who want the nicer sheet but don't want to download the large Paragon .pdf package. I imagine it may also generate more exposure for the game, since RPG Sheets seems to be very popular.
Second, Paragon and Vancouver: 2020 have another new mirror: Complete RPG. Complete RPG is one of the sites on my "visit regularly" list, so I was quite flattered when Eric asked me if they could host the files. If you haven't checked out Complete RPG before, you should definitely do so now -- it will keep you busy for a while!
2002-09-17 - 4:09 p.m.
Well, both Paragon 2.0 and Vancouver: 2020 are out there, and this project has been pretty much wrapped up. I have scattered a few announcements to that effect around the net and encourage you loyal readers to do the same. Beyond that, there's nothing left to do now but wait for the reviews, as the saying goes. I have had a few letters already, all favorable, so we're off to a good start.
For me, the final stage, in a project like this, is always to sit back and figure out what I learned from the experience. Looking back over the past few months, I would have to say that there were three big lessons (plus lots of little ones):
1) Avoid editing "open source collaborative" projects (i.e. ones in which there are lots of people contributing, without any real "screening" process, and you don't know most of the people involved). That doesn't mean that I won't ever work on any collaborative project like this again. Those involving people I know (including some I just met working on V:2020) are fine. Heck, I might even be willing to work on an "open source collaborative" project with people I don't know -- but I won't ever run the show again under those conditions. Frankly, it's just too big of a hassle. Don't get me wrong: V:2020 turned out very well, and I'm proud of the work we did on it. But that "we" turned out to be a much smaller group of people than the "sign up list" originally implied. I had hoped to get a lot of people contributing a handful of characters, to make this a real shared universe; instead, I got a handful of people contributing a lot of characters and a lot of people contributing nothing but unkept promises. A disillusioningly large number of people, who swore up and down that they wanted to be involved in the project (including one who was instrumental in talking me into it), never actually lifted a finger to help out and contributed not a single character. From now on, when I'm running the show, I stick with people I know and trust. BTW, despite how this may sound, I'm not feeling bitter. After all, the book turned out well, and the reduced number of people probably gave it more internal consistency, when all is said and done. I'm just being practical and saving myself future anxiety.
2) Don't allow projects to linger over the summer. Actually, I already learned that lesson a while back, from previous projects, but I obviously needed a refresher course. The problem is that internet related stuff tends to die during the summer months. People get busy, take off and forget what they were doing when they return, dive into new projects, etc. In terms of V:2020, we lost several of the regulars, over the summer, and gained only a handful of newbies, only one of whom actually ended up contributing to the project. In retrospect, I can't help but wonder if extending the deadline at the end of June was a mistake. Of course, starting the whole project just before summer probably wasn't a brilliant move, either, but that just happened to be when the last version of Paragon was finished, so... Anyway, from now on, I make sure that things are set up so that they can cleanly wind down by the end of June.
3) Charge a buck before you give anything away for free. Okay, I'm just kidding about that one. Paragon always has been and always will be a freebie. But I sometimes wonder how much that has hurt its distribution. Does that sound silly? You would think so. But over the last few weeks, I have received several letters from different people that make me wonder. They all start off much the same way: "Paragon is great -- I wish I had downloaded it before spending money on game X!" Now, that's very flattering, but, after seeing this a few times, I got kind of curious. I mean, Paragon is well-known, easy to find, and completely free. It's not even an especially large download, if you go with the .doc version. Short of driving up and hand-delivering it, I can't think of any way I could make it easier for people to get their hands on it. So, finally, I asked some of these people: "Why didn't you just take a look at Paragon before laying out cash on an unknown?" And, you know what? With only one exception, the answer in every single case was: "Well, I figured since it was free, it couldn't be all that good."
...tonk...tonk...tonk... (sound of head hitting monitor screen)
So, here's what I'm thinking. I figure if I charge $1 for the book, the distribution should double. $5 and my name will become a household word. ;-)
Anyway, that's enough with the introspection, already. On to other things. Which brings us to the obvious question: what's next?
Well, first off, let me state, categorically, that Paragon 2.0 Final really is Final. There will be no 2.1, no matter what. This is not to say that there will never be any new Paragon resources -- it just means that, if there are any, they will be in separate supplementary booklets. In this respect, I am mainly watching out for the many people (well over 1000, as of the last version) who may be getting tired of downloading the same book, with minor changes, several times in a row (not to mention those poor souls who have actually been taking the time to print it). I haven't actually got any complaints about that, yet, but I want to quit while I'm ahead. Paragon the game will certainly go on, but Paragon the book is finished and will never be expanded again.
As for specific, Paragon-related projects, I have one in the works, but I have no idea when it will be finished or even if it will be released publicly at that time. Paragon: Apocalypse (tentative title) will be a sort of homage to the original Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, and similar post-apocalyptic games I used to play, many moons ago (I'm showing my age, again). I had the idea back in the spring, when I realized that it would be relatively easy to create a d20 version of these games using Paragon's Power system (much easier than it would be without such a framework). I forgot about the idea for a while but then remembered it again when I saw Omega World in Polyhedron. (To be honest, I haven't actually read it -- the price of the magazine just shot up to $12.95 in Canada, which is a little too dear, IMHO. Ooops! So much for lesson #3!). I jotted down a bunch of ideas around the middle to end of August but then had to put it on the backburner to work on V:2020 and other things. Now that I'll have some free time, again, I'll probably settle back into it.
I have also been tossing around another project idea with a few of the regulars, but it is very tentative. Basically, it would be a rules expansion for Paragon, with all new feats, powers, etc. created by people other than myself. V:2020 was, of course, a collaborative project, but the Paragon system has always been strictly my baby. This supplement would open things up a bit. I even have an appropriate name for it: Paragon Unbound.
Now, having said all of that, I'm frankly a little leery about taking on this particular project. As I mentioned earlier, V:2020 has soured me a little on the whole idea of editing an "open source collaborative" project. So, that leaves me wondering whether I really want to start the whole cycle over again, this time with new rules (which would be even more complex). I guess we'll just have to wait and see. If a lot of people send stuff to me, on their own, without me having to watch over their shoulders, then perhaps something will come of this over the next few months. If not, then I don't think I will initiate the project myself.
Finally, I have a few other non-Paragon non-d20 RPG projects on the backburner, including some that got temporarily pushed aside by Paragon. These may or may not make an appearance on the blog. You'll just have to keep an eye on this page, if you're curious. ;-)
P.S. If you are diving into this in the middle and feeling puzzled, make sure that you click on the Older button to check out the very first introductory post. The Paragon rules and Vancouver: 2020 sourcebook can be found at RPG Hoard. If you want to comment on this page, just click here, or press the Contact Cwylric button, to the left, to send me an email. Remember that the kermode.net address listed in older versions of Paragon and Vancouver: 2020 is no longer active, so please use one of these two methods to get in touch with me, instead.
