Watch Well Games: Issue #20
Spend quality alone time with Nyarlathotep. "Make a game with me" starts now.
In Today’s Issue:
Welcome to our community newsletter! I’m K.J.* I opened the Notes section to the substack. Hope to see you there.
For now, here’s what I have for you today:
Miskatonic Repository best-selling author Lee Wade shares his thoughts on playing and writing RPGs.
“Make a game with me”: Let the fun begin.
Schlau (Light in Darkness Gaming) offers readers a free map pack for a limited time.
*I’m K.J. - hobbyist writer, creator, long-time GM, and player who loves supporting others in the RPG community. I also playtest and proofread scenarios. I enjoy playing bass guitar and eating dark chocolate but not simultaneously.
I started Watch Well Games at the end of 2023 to build a community around the hobby we have in common - RPGs. Join me as I share about what I learn along the way.
An Indie Writer’s Story
by Lee Wade, best-selling author of “Alone Against Nyarlathotep” and “Legacy of Lombard House”
As a long time fan of classic ttRPG, I, like so many others, have spent countless hours creating all manner of adventures, locations, maps, and characters. Originally, lucky enough to have had an enthusiastic young history teacher in the 80s & 90s who recruited pupils into an AD&D club. I’d been inspired by the whole dungeoneering fantasy setting and actually read the Lord of the Rings.
The lack of mainstream fantasy media meant the world of our young gaming minds was filled with our own fantasy, rather than things we had watched. This in itself allowed for more originality in our ideas rather than being influenced as heavily as it probably is today.
However, it wasn’t just the adventures and settings I had fallen in love with. It was the amazing RPG books and mechanics of the rules themselves.
I filled page after page, with maps, mechanics, systems and ideas. All of it garbled into so many projects of passion that I cannot even remember most of them. I collected RPG rule books and consumed them.
They were more engaging than any schoolwork and took over my focus. I’m probably a pretty obsessive person and at the time my energy was limitless when it came to gaming. Computers were still in their infancy, so more kids were looking for what RPG or boardgaming was offering.
Visiting the local indie game store was like walking into a wonderland crammed with goodies that I couldn’t afford.
Which was probably a good thing. Eventually I still managed to bag second hand rulebooks and systems that would appear in a bargain second-hand box in the back corner of the shop.
I’d played all manner of games and many of them I’d got heavily into, from AD&D (1st ed.), WFRPG, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, GURPS, TMNT, MERP, Traveller, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Call of Cthulhu, Revised Recon, Mechwarrior, KULT, Paranoia, Vampire, Mummy, Chill, and West End Games’ Star Wars RPG.
I’d also hammered wargaming and boardgaming, buying Citadel and Grenadier minis and playing WFB 2nd/3rd editions, Rogue Trader/40k 1st/2nd editions, Battletech, Silent Death, Star Warriors, manowar, Adeptus Titanicus, Diplomacy, Civ, Advanced squad Leader, all manner of Avalon Hill simulations, Harpoon, Necromunda ‘95, and many, many more.
The whole era of my youth was about TTRPG or gaming...then real life happened. People moved away to university, and I went into the workplace and had a family.
Eventually I ran out of people to play with, and my hobby time moved into combat sports (look up Hunteering).
Yet I tried to keep hold of what table top stuff. I had left and moved the boxes from one house to another. Occasionally I would get things out and attempt to play them with my sons. However, it seemed I couldn’t compete with consoles/PCs or digital media no matter how hard I tried. My sons grew up and got their own complicated lives and moved out.
Work became a battleground and I lost my actual vision in one eye from what doctors told me was stress. I knew I had to make a change and a big change from what they warned me. I didn’t want to go blind.
Once the pandemic happened, I was happily made redundant and decided to take a drastic move. Selling or giving away everything I owned, I threw some boxes in the bin and a little voice in my head told me to go back and check the contents...indeed it was all my old minis and books. I saved them from destruction.
Getting an old friend to look after them, I set off in a motorhome to tour the country with no larger a plan than that.
Waking up in amazing wilderness locations and going where the wind blew, I immersed myself in unwinding. My stresses were gone for the moment. I had decided to take a single RPG book with me on the road and it was Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu 4th edition.
It was the one game that had perhaps retained my interest the most. Getting it out, I decided I would try to write a game and run it online during the lockdowns of 2020/2021. This was something I and friends could do while confined to their houses due to legislation.
Wondering what sort of “creature feature” to write, I thought, to hell with it, why don’t I make it include several? Guessing this was a one time deal, to get people interesting in a revival, I had the time to invest in such a project and give it my all. The aim was to create the best campaign that I could. I had spent decades exploring the North Yorkshire coast and its many inspiring locations. I’d worked on a farm there as a youngster and trained with the National Trust. I’d spoken to locals around that area who knew of legends and rumours. It was perfect for a 1920s Classic setting.
So I put my heart and soul into trying to make something good that was filled with detail, puzzles, and twists.
This returned me to those years of drawing maps, designing mechanics, and plot lines. They had served me well and given me the power of hindsight, to appreciate what I had liked from the forgotten brainstorms all those years before. I had no idea about online gaming and ran the lockdown Call of Cthulhu saga using social media as a daily play by mail. People could type at anytime, and I’d give some kind of response/gameplay. It worked really well, and I could form separate chats for parts of the party who happened to explore by themselves.
The game played for a few weeks, before it ramped up in intensity and drama to the finale. It had been a great success. Both gave the participants a daily escape from their lockdown lives, but it also gave a new lease of life for my imagination.
Looking to get back on the horse, I decided to use the games social media page to retrospectively turn the sprawling adventure I had written into a published scenario.
Discovering Miskatonic Repository, I realised it was achievable and could maybe even fund part of my lifestyle with a passive source of income.
Due to my situation, I had the time and head space to write something I deemed of a high enough quality. Still not knowing anything of modern online gaming platforms, I was recruited by a developer to help prove/improve/playtest their new RPG app and paid to run games.
Running several more playtests of my creation proved they were all successful, and players kept on coming back every Saturday night for months. It gave me confidence to see the huge project to the end. Along the way I taught myself to use publishing software and illustrate, as I simply had no budget, but all the time in the world.
Once released the scenario quickly made it to SILVER Bestseller but sales petered out despite all 5 star reviews. I wondered why.
After stepping back and studying the market, I realised just how much competition there is these days and well over 1000 releases on Miskatonic Repository alone.
So I studied the market further and realised you were lucky to make it, as a regular scenario. Lost in a sea of varying quality of Cthulhu adventures, I looked for a niche.
That is when I had an epiphany moment: the solo scenarios numbered only 5 and had all managed to be good best sellers. Seems solo games are a more likely purchase for both newcomers and forever Keepers - a game that they can play without all the issues of finding a good group and organiser. I had found my niche.
I wanted to make something greater than the previous solo games, something far larger. I realised this is exactly what people want, but doesn’t exist…yet.
So I spent another 6 months on the project and converted my Silver Best Seller to a solo version. Surely it can’t be that hard?
How wrong could I be? To allow a true sandbox approach to the whole campaign and avoid the linear funnel that many game types adopt requires real ingenuity. No wonder no one has really made something this large and complex before. Without having all the time at my disposal, this would have taken me years if working a full time job too. Nor would I have been able to have had the depth of focus this would require if distracted by a more typical lifestyle.
Now the project is complete and ready to launch, I hoping to see other people enjoy the fruits of such labour. Will it be a success and reach my goal of selling enough to be “print on demand?” Only time will tell.
So what advice can I give to you indie game writers out there who have made it this far?
Don’t be too ambitious, as it all takes a large amount of time to go from idea to working publication.
Don’t have too little ambition, or your project will not stand out from the sea of similar works.
Try to be original, regard the overall plot/idea.
Teach yourself publishing software or be prepared to pay well for an editor.
Use public domain art if you cannot draw. Avoid AI art.
Make notes and try to be organised (it is easy to get lost in a long RPG project).
Focus on trying to keep things simple for the reader and avoid overly complex mechanics.
Try to play test it several times, and reread several times looking for errors.
Don’t expect to become a Best Seller straight away. Half of products don’t sell.
Advertise. Use trailers and teasers in the right places. This is what gets you actual sales. Out of sight is out of mind.
Make sure it has a good cover. This is the face of your publication, and it affects sales.
Network where you can. If people help you, then credit them and return the favour.
Accept criticism and be flexible.
Accept you can get writers block and will need to take breaks from a project.
Make sure you do return to a project, as a long time away causes you to lose your vision and makes it hard to pickup where you left off.
Don’t give up.
If you have the creativity to pour into a new project and even if it doesn’t sell well, you have sated your creative urge and can take pride in your contribution, to the gaming world.
Indie game writing is a cool pastime, but you have to be both talented and lucky to make it. Yet, unless you try, you never will.
Keep on writing x
Note from me, K.J. - Thanks, Lee, for sharing your thoughts! I cannot emphasize how enjoyable both of Lee’s best-selling Call of Cthulhu scenarios are. I highly recommend them both. (Disclosure: I playtested and created the character sheets for “Alone Against Nyarlathotep.”)
Want to know more? See my review for “Legacy of Lombard House” on the product page in the Reviews section.
A brief interruption
The Watch Well Games Creators Spotlight bundle
16 creators. 13 Pocket Quest games. One bundle that’s easy to grab up and dive into. More content = more gaming.
“Make a game with me” Starts Now
Starting today, I’ll begin working on making a game in front of you the audience.
First, what is all of this? Very much an experimental experience, this will hopefully be an interactive, game-making journey where YOU can participate if you fancuy the idea, giving input on a rules-lite, pocket ttRPG. You can also just lurk and be amused by whatever happens - or doesn’t.
How long will it last? It’s too early to tell. Let’s enjoy the journey before appreciating the final destination, shall we?
Anything else? Probably. We can address that in future “Make a game with me” sessions.
So, where do we begin?
I’ll start at the WHAT.
To determine what type of rules-lite RPG we’ll make, we want to decide on a few of the primary details (knowing these may need to change if playtesting proves it so).
What we need to decide on for Week 1:
genre and setting (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc.)
major themes and basic lore (because this can be a lot, I’m combining these two for now)
solo or group (or other???)
base randomizer for generating situations, events, challenges, and obstacles (dice, cards, etc.)
basic resolution mechanics
character creation
character development and growth
This is enough for now, as we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Something manageable that can be finished is better than a lofty idea that never bears fruit.
Limited Time Offer: Free Map Pack from Schlau (Light in Darkness Gaming)
That’s all for now! Remember:
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I suggest the game setting could be virtual reality. With characters being AI that has become self aware.
I will suggest a D10 system of some form offers plenty of variation and skill levels l, whole modifiers are less powerful than smaller dice systems.
I suggest stats should all be rolled (D6+1), but the total of all stats is looked up on a table. The lower it is them the more "programs" the characters recieves that are specialised skills that can be used in lou of stats in very specialised fields/tests
Hope that helps KJ