GenCon Procastination but Spacers(TM) Progress

Luckily, due to a slower work volume than usual this Summer, all of my events for GenCon are written up to the point that I want them to be. Being roleplaying scenarios there never is any sort of real end to writing them, except maybe when they're published. At least for me, though definitely not most big game producers-- yeah because 30 editions of Brandname(TM): the RPGening never gets old.  So like I figured as my GENCONGenConGENCON itch starts happening, which it has, just ask anyone at work, I'd be doing some pregenerated characters, maps, and whatnot. But as usually, I am not.

I am being productive though. Spacers(TM): the 24th and 1/2 Century AD (working title because I don't want to use the real name publicly yet) has been getting a lot of attention. I am almost done with the final scenario of the last segment of the work. Then things will go into "post-production." That means cobbling together some of the dozens of pages of astronomical notes together with the RPG parts, getting those parts edited. A science checker would be nice, but I doubt I'll find one. The art is about 70% done. And then I plan on making some maps. It really is not that far down the calendar before I release my first Spacers(TM): Universe source book.
Okay. Folks reading the blog here for a while know that I used to talk about the imminent release of Spacers(TM) for over fifteen years. In 2010, I published my T&T-variant home brew rules which I had used for my campaigns and conventions scenarios starting in the late 90s. For whatever reason in '16 I remastered the hits into my Red Bat version. For less than a handful of years, I have been talking about the release of Spacers(TM): Universe. A work where about every type of space-based Science Fiction Roleplaving (SFRPG) I could conceive of would be covered. It would be the SFRPG to end all SFRPGs. Well, my brain is just too big. After the last couple of years or so of trying to get all the parts together into something like 400 pages, before art and graphics and whatnot, it just struck me as.. as not me.
 Mind you, I've noticed that big company SFRPGs dealing with rather specific settings have tonnes of pages and they get lots of attention. That is at least at first. But everyone having bout a ton and a half worth of print or a PDF taking up 2/3s of all the space on their Kindle reader them are not playing them. When I have seen the blockbuster "support material" played, less than six tables have about two to four players at them. Economics tells me that when I can get two to eight players at one to eight games at any convention with about 20 pages in the core rules, sometimes just enough is more. More bang for the buck maybe, but still more. I suppose it is a question of passion.

At the same time, using notes from years past and the newest write-up for this year's GenCon, a series of PDF scenarios for my repeat NPC/PC villain Count Vulgarr from various Crawlspace sitdowns, is coming together as great releases for the Summer season. Do you have your daily dosage of schlock horror role-playing for the beach? I have just the thing for you.

Ah. Summer time. And the living is easy. At least for the written parts that has been worked on forever already that is.