Red Moon Medicine Show

Building Steam

2012-02-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

Our various projects are moving along at a good pace. Here's what we're up to:

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Right now we're in the midst of crowd-proofing Don't Walk in Winter Wood with our backers on Kickstarter (which is very helpful, but sort of feels likes giving a speech in my underwear). We'll be sending the files off to the printer very soon. I estimate that we'll be shipping our Kickstarter orders in March, which means that we'll likely have the game ready for general orders sometime in April.

George did a fantastic job with the layout.

Unity Underground
For the last month or so I've been revising my Unity manuscript and doing layout for the gamma playtest release. I'm happy to announce that, if our eventual Kickstarter campaign goes well, we're now planning to publish the game as a boxed set. The core set will consist of three 32-page booklets and I'm just about finished laying out the first booklet. We're hoping to have the playtest docs up for download in sometime in April. The Kickstarter campaign will follow shortly thereafter.

Here's a mock-up of what the booklet covers will look like.

Layout work-in-progress.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

2012 Update

2012-01-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

Happy new year!

I'm excited about 2012 because Red Moon is finally going to have actual, physical products available. I haven't really had a game (of my own) on the market since around 2009 when KNRPG Productions fell apart. I can't wait to get our stuff back out there.

That said, here's what I'm working on right now:

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Aside from a bit of schedule slip (my fault, btw), the DWiWW project is going very well. George is currently working on the layout. We're planning to post an update/layout preview for our Kickstarter backers around the 15th and hopefully release the final pdf toward the end of this month. The print version will follow soon after, and both versions will be available for regular orders as soon as we've taken care of our Kickstarter peeps.

Unity Underground
I took a pretty long break from Unity to work on DWiWW, but I've started working on it again with fresh eyes. I had a few ideas on how to streamline the game and I'm currently working on implementing those changes. I'm giving myself until March to get the Gamma playtest document ready. I've also started working with Deseo to finish off the remaining art. Basically, the gamma will be a fully laid out, everything-except-the-art version of the game. The plan is to release this document as a free pdf while simultaneously launching the Kickstarter to fund the printing. This way you guys will be able to check out the near-final version of the game to see if it suits your fancy.

Other Projects
I've got a bunch of other projects in the pipe that are in various stages of development: Haunted Arms is a dark fantasy rpg (kinda similar to Diablo in setting and tone). Santa Muerte is a vampire hunting rpg set in post-apocalyptic Mexico (From Dusk Til Dawn meets John Carpenter's Vampires meets Rifts World Book One meets Japanese console rpgs). Both of these use and expand on the Run and Gun Engine (the system from Unity Underground). I've also kicked around the idea of doing a book of scenarios for Don't Walk in Winter Wood, but I think I'm going to wait for a bit, see how the game is received, and put out a poll to see if there would be sufficient interest.

Also, I almost forgot: a few weeks ago I put up new product pages for both Unity Underground and DWiWW. Hopefully, these are a little more streamlined and attractive than the previous pages.

More soon.

Creepy Campfire Contest Winners!

2011-12-05T17:55:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, sorry for the delay on this. We've been super busy lately.

We'd like to thank everyone who entered the Creepy Campfire Contest. It was a blast reading all the stories and quite difficult to pick the winners. That being said:

The winners are . . .

beyondtheautumns from week three.

Hermetic from week one.

J. from week one.

Congratulations if you're one of the winners! Drop me an email at redmoonmedicineshow@gmail.com, and I'll get you set up with your prizes.

Again, thanks to everyone who entered. We're still considering doing this again next year (though, if we do, it'll probably have a shorter running time).

Creepy Campfire Contest FINAL WEEK!

2011-11-28T17:27:00.001-08:00

[Check out the entries from weeks one, two, and three]

Cassie and I decided to hold a contest in celebration of the successful completion of our Kickstarter campaign for Don't Walk in Winter Wood. We're taking inspiration from the Anything Ghost podcast and the best thread ever to appear on RPG.net.

During the month of November, we'll be accepting real life spooky stories from anyone who'd like to enter. At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our favorites and the winners will receive an awesome prize package.

In the meantime everyone can enjoy the creepy stories and maybe get some ideas for their next gaming session. If this goes well, we plan to make it an annual event.

How To Enter
If you're reading this, you're eligible.

Submit a real life spooky experience you've had to the comments section below. This could be anything from a ghostly encounter to a UFO sighting to something just plain weird that you have no explanation for. It doesn't even have to be something that happened to you personally. If it's spooky and it's real, we'll take it. I'll put up a new post each week so that the comments section doesn't get too long. Non-entry comments and discussions of the entries are also welcome.

How to Win
At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our three favorite entries as the winners. The best entries will be both highly credible and bone-chillingly spooky. We're both pretty skeptical about the paranormal (I think I'm the more skeptical of the two), but we love a good yarn that has the ring of authenticity.

The Prizes
All three winners will receive an awesome prize package that includes the following:

Print + PDF copies of Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Print + PDF copies of Hell 4 Leather by Joe Prince
PDF copies of Pulp-Fu and Wyrd-Fu by Daniel Bayn
PDF copy of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
PDF copy of Pickets & Blinds by Kevin Allen Jr.
PDF copy of The Blue Wasp by Nash High
PDF copy of Red Mass by Daniel Moler
PDF copies of Annalise and Be Ashamed, Young Prince by Nathan Paoletta

Many thanks to our generous and talented friends who donated their wares for the prize package. Please click through those links and show them some love.

Have fun!

Creepy Campfire Contest: Week Three

2011-11-14T08:29:00.001-08:00

[Check out the first week's entries over here.]

Cassie and I decided to hold a contest in celebration of the successful completion of our Kickstarter campaign for Don't Walk in Winter Wood. We're taking inspiration from the Anything Ghost podcast and the best thread ever to appear on RPG.net.

During the month of November, we'll be accepting real life spooky stories from anyone who'd like to enter. At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our favorites and the winners will receive an awesome prize package.

In the meantime everyone can enjoy the creepy stories and maybe get some ideas for their next gaming session. If this goes well, we plan to make it an annual event.

How To Enter
If you're reading this, you're eligible.

Submit a real life spooky experience you've had to the comments section below. This could be anything from a ghostly encounter to a UFO sighting to something just plain weird that you have no explanation for. It doesn't even have to be something that happened to you personally. If it's spooky and it's real, we'll take it. I'll put up a new post each week so that the comments section doesn't get too long. Non-entry comments and discussions of the entries are also welcome.

How to Win
At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our three favorite entries as the winners. The best entries will be both highly credible and bone-chillingly spooky. We're both pretty skeptical about the paranormal (I think I'm the more skeptical of the two), but we love a good yarn that has the ring of authenticity.

The Prizes
All three winners will receive an awesome prize package that includes the following:

Print + PDF copies of Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Print + PDF copies of Hell 4 Leather by Joe Prince
PDF copies of Pulp-Fu and Wyrd-Fu by Daniel Bayn
PDF copy of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
PDF copy of Pickets & Blinds by Kevin Allen Jr.
PDF copy of The Blue Wasp by Nash High
PDF copies of Annalise and Be Ashamed, Young Prince by Nathan Paoletta

Many thanks to our generous and talented friends who donated their wares for the prize package. Please click through those links and show them some love.

Have fun!

Creepy Campfire Contest: Week Two

2011-11-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Print + PDF copies of Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Print + PDF copies of Hell 4 Leather by Joe Prince
PDF copies of Pulp-Fu and Wyrd-Fu by Daniel Bayn
PDF copy of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
PDF copy of Pickets & Blinds by Kevin Allen Jr.
PDF copy of The Blue Wasp by Nash High
PDF copies of Annalise and Be Ashamed, Young Prince by Nathan Paoletta

Many thanks to our generous and talented friends who donated their wares for the prize package. Please click through those links and show them some love.

Have fun!

Creepy Campfire Contest: Week One

2011-11-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

Cassie and I decided to hold a contest in celebration of the successful completion of our Kickstarter campaign for Don't Walk in Winter Wood. We're taking inspiration from the Anything Ghost podcast and the best thread ever to appear on RPG.net.

During the month of November, we'll be accepting real life spooky stories from anyone who'd like to enter. At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our favorites and the winners will receive an awesome prize package.

In the meantime everyone can enjoy the creepy stories and maybe get some ideas for their next gaming session. If this goes well, we plan to make it an annual event.

How To Enter
If you're reading this, you're eligible.

Submit a real life spooky experience you've had to the comments section below. This could be anything from a ghostly encounter to a UFO sighting to something just plain weird that you have no explanation for. It doesn't even have to be something that happened to you personally. If it's spooky and it's real, we'll take it. I'll put up a new post each week so that the comments section doesn't get too long. Non-entry comments and discussions of the entries are also welcome.

How to Win
At the end of the month, Cassie and I will choose our three favorite entries as the winners. The best entries will be both highly credible and bone-chillingly spooky. We're both pretty skeptical about the paranormal (I think I'm the more skeptical of the two), but we love a good yarn that has the ring of authenticity.

The Prizes
All three winners will receive an awesome prize package that includes the following:

Print + PDF copies of Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Print + PDF copies of Hell 4 Leather by Joe Prince
PDF copies of Pulp-Fu and Wyrd-Fu by Daniel Bayn
PDF copy of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis
PDF copy of Pickets & Blinds by Kevin Allen Jr.
PDF copy of The Blue Wasp by Nash High
PDF copies of Annalise and Be Ashamed, Young Prince by Nathan Paoletta

Many thanks to our generous and talented friends who donated their wares for the prize package. Please click through those links and show them some love.

The contest starts right now. Have fun!

Don't Walk in Winter Wood on Kickstarter

2011-10-01T04:58:00.000-07:00

We've officially launched our Kickstarter campaign for Don't Walk in Winter Wood!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/464014331/dont-walk-in-winter-wood

This is one campfire story we'd really like to tell, so please help us spread it around. Thanks in advance to everyone who contributes!

BobCon 2011

2011-09-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I'll be at BobCon this Saturday and Sunday with Don't Walk in Winter Wood and Unity Underground:

Saturday, October 1st
Don't Walk in Winter Wood
"The Curse"
10:00am - 12:00pm

Sunday, October 2nd
Unity Underground
"Resonance"
12:00pm - 2:00pm

I'm very excited. BobCon is my favorite local con and I wasn't able to attend last year due to a last minute change at work. Hope to see you there!

August Update

2011-08-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

August was a busy month. Here's what we've been up to:

Gen Con
Gen Con was great this year. All but one of our scheduled Unity Underground sessions went off. We met lots of new folks and had a few returning players from last year. Many thanks to everyone who played with us. Hope to see you again next year! Thanks also to Cassie, Shannon, and Aaron for the enjoyable road trip and all your help during the con.

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
Lots of progress on DWiWW this month. I'm excited to announce that the upcoming second edition will feature folktale contributions from Daniel Bayn (Wushu, Secrets and Lies), Jason Morningstar (Fiasco, Grey Ranks), Jeremy Keller (Technoir, Chronica Feudalis), Rafael Chandler (Dread, Spite), and Daniel Moler (Red Mass).

The pieces I've received so far have been fantastic. It's looking like the folklore section of the book will contain about three times the content of the original version. It's gonna be a massive stockpile of spooky material to creep you out and inspire your game sessions.

For my own bit, all I've got left to do is finalize the new scenarios for the game. I always struggle with scenario writing, so these have been taking forever.

Cassie and I have also solidified our publication plans for the game. We're planning to host a Kickstarter campaign this October to finance a small print run. I'm not sure if we'll reprint after the initial run is gone (it depends on demand), but the game will also be available as a PDF for the foreseeable future.

Unity Underground
I'm still working on the gamma version of the rules. There are some core issues that I've been wavering on and quite a bit of layout to finish. In other words, it'll be a few weeks before I'll have this ready to release. More soon!

July Update and Gen Con

2011-08-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

You'll notice that my blogging frequency has gone way down recently. That's because I'm trying to focus on finishing some of my big projects rather than splitting my energy between a bunch of different things. I'll keep the blogging to a minimal "monthly update" for another month or two, then I hope to increase my posting frequency and post more game-related content that goes beyond progress reports. In the meantime, here's the skinny:

Unity Underground
Right now I'm working on laying out the gamma playtest document. I'm essentially using this as a practice draft to figure out how I'm going to design the final book. As I mentioned in a previous post, the gamma document will be available as a free download as soon as I finish. I'd like to get one more round of feedback from you guys before I dive into the final version. I had half a notion that I would finish the doc before Gen Con, but that's not gonna happen.

In the meantime, I've been running games using the gamma rules and man are they an improvement. I can't wait to show them off.

We've also made a lot of progress on the illustrations for the book. Here's the map of Sector One (North America) by ENnie-award-winning cartographer Todd Gamble.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Todd was fantastic to work with, and I'm excited to say that we'll be working with him again for future books in the line.

I've also got an early sketch of the cover art from Carlos Ramon. I've had this image in my head for YEARS at this point, so it blows my mind to see it manifested, even in this early form (please ignore my crappy mock-up cover layout).

We've still got quite a few interior illustrations to work through, but I'd say we're at least turning the corner into the home stretch.

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
I'm still a bit behind where I'd like to be on Winter Wood, but I've written most of the new material and the original text has been given a thorough editing pass (thanks Brendan). I'm very happy with the new material, but I'd still like to add a bit more and do some additional playtesting. I really want the book/pdf to be a good value for people who already have the previous editions. I hope to have everything sent off to George within the next couple of weeks, but that might be slightly optimistic.

Delvers Fantasy Roleplay
Delvers is my current side project. It's basically my take on traditional D&D-style fantasy using the RAGE system (the same mechanics used in Unity Underground). I've got the better part of a first draft written and a fantastic illustrator on board for the project. I plan to put out free playtest pdfs for the duration of the game's development (starting with the alpha this time). Much more on this once I get Unity out the door.

Gen Con
Cassie reminded me to mention Gen Con as well. Three of our Unity sessions are full, but there are still plenty of spots open in the ones that aren't. We need help filling those out. Assemble your crew and pick up some generic tickets! Our event list can be found here.

That's it for now. Thanks, as always, for your interest and support!

May-June Update

2011-06-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

Unity Underground
The Unity beta test ended May 31st. We got some great feedback, which led to some fairly big changes. As a result, I decided that we could probably use another round of testing and feedback before the release. Right now, I'm working on the gamma playtest document, which will be released freely when it's ready. I'm also going to use the gamma doc as a practice run for the layout, so it will (hopefully) look a mite better than the beta doc did. I'll even be slotting in a few pieces of the final art. It should serve as a nice preview of what the final game will be like.

The Changes
Right now I'm knee deep in the gamma draft. Most of the changes are small things: terminology, tweaks to weapon stats, pruning the psychic powers, etc . . . The biggest change is to the way that the character classes work. In the new version, each class receives a very simple special ability that more strongly defines its role in the game. Some of the mechanics for these class abilities are totally new, while others were existing mechanics that were previously assigned to equipment. We've done a small amount of testing with the new classes and I think they're going to be a HUGE improvement. Of course, the changes are significant enough that I'll have to completely redo my character creation tutorial, but c'est la vie.

Here's one of the new additions:

The Brawler
Brawlers are street fighting name-takers who specialize in pummeling opponents with their bare damn hands. Many brawlers are accomplished martial artists, while others gain their skills through a hard knocks crucible of bar brawls and domestic disputes. They draw upon their massive strength and martial training to fist-frag their way through enemy ranks.

Class Ability: Brawling
Your unarmed melee attacks have a damage rating equal to your Strength stat.

I'm mostly proud of this one because I got to use the term "fist-frag" in a sentence.

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
All the unexpected revisions to Unity have left me a little behind on Winter Wood. I've still got some new content to write up and some playtesting to do. I hope to be digging through the dead leaves in the next couple of weeks.

That's it for now. Apologies for the gap between posts. I'll try to keep up better in the future. Thanks, as always, for your interest and support!

Unity Underground Tutorial #1

2011-04-25T08:14:00.001-07:00

I spent a good chunk of weekend putting this tutorial video together. I plan to do one or two more to give a good overview of how the game works. Enjoy!

Frag the Man at Gen Con 2011

2011-04-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Clint's extremely busy working on Unity Underground and Don't Walk in Winter Wood, so I thought I would give you all the skinny on this year's Gen Con events. Clint has signed up to run 2 games each day of the con. Event sign up starts May 1st. This year's registration system is much more streamlined. If you have your badge, you can pick the events that you want to participate in and save them to your wish list. Once registration goes live on the 1st you just submit your wish list and you're done.

Let's make sure one of our events is on your wish list. You won't want to miss the action-packed scenarios that Clint has planned! We will be running both last year's scenario "Give Up the Ghost" and this year's all new scenario "Freesco Firestorm." Without further ado, here's the important information:

Thursday, August 4th
"Give Up the Ghost"
Event ID: RPG1120328
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 4
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

"Freesco Firestorm"
Event ID: RPG1120329
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 3
Time 8:00 P.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

Friday, August 5th
"Give Up the Ghost"
Event ID: RPG1120322
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 4
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

"Freesco Firestorm"
Event ID: RPG1120325
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 1
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

Saturday, August 6th
"Give Up the Ghost"
Event ID: RPG1120323
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 4
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

"Freesco Firestorm"
Event ID: RPG1120327
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 2
Time: 8:00 P.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

Sunday, August 7th
"Give Up the Ghost"
Event ID: RPG1120324
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Pennsylvania Stn A :: 1
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Duration: 4 hours
Cost: $4

There you have it! Sign up for those games and help FRAG THE MAN!

April Progress Report

2011-04-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

A quick update on our current projects:

Unity Underground
The beta test marches on! We've received a bunch of great feedback, but I'm still hungry for more. Our google group has been pretty quiet so far, so I'm going to try to provoke discussion there with some specific questions that I have.

Right now I'm taking time away from my manuscript so that I can approach it with fresh eyes once it comes time for revisions. In the mean time, I've been fiddling with a new logo for the game:

Let me know what you think.

I've also been revising Unity's product page. I'm still trying to refine the pitch, but I think it's getting better.

Don't Walk in Winter Wood
I've finished with the revisions my old text and I'm currently working on writing the expanded content for the new edition. I'll be putting together some playtests once all the new material is in place. If you're interested in taking the new adventures for a spin, please drop me a line.

I also put up a product page for DWiWW with links to the game's various influences.

We Decided on a Printer
We're going to be working with 360 Digital Books for our initial print runs of Unity Underground and Don't Walk in Winter Wood. Their quotes for both projects were perfect for our needs. The quotes also allow me to estimate the cover price for both titles. Right now we're looking at $25.00 for Unity Underground and $12.00 for Don't Walk in Winter Wood. These are not necessarily the final numbers, but they should be in the same ballpark.

Kickstarter
We're planning to use Kickstarter to fund the initial print run of Unity Underground. Cassie and I have been discussing what sorts of premiums we might offer. Right now, we're looking at the possibility of doing (among other things) signed prints of Carlos Ramon's cover art and sets of custom Unity Underground dice. Let us know if you have any other ideas.

Secrets & Lies: A Biased Review

2011-04-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I received my comp copy of Daniel Bayn's new print edition of Secrets & Lies: Hardboiled Triple Feature. I want to be up front in saying that A) Dan and I are longtime friends and B) I did some editing and layout for this book. That said, it's a great book and I'm extremely excited to yap about it. If it seems like I'm straight up pimping here, that's because I am.

This edition of the game collects three of Dan's previously published pdf products: Secrets & Lies, Urbanimus, and Covenant (the rules and two settings). The physical product is a sleek, 110 page paperback with a classy cover illustration by Rodolfo Reyes. The black and white interior pages are well adorned with additional pieces by Mr. Reyes, as well as two full-page pieces by George Cotronis (I'm pretty sure he never sleeps), and a selection of thematically appropriate stock photography.

The game itself is Dan's best to date (which is quite an accomplishment if you're familiar with his oeuvre). The back cover copy describes it thusly:

"The core rulebook gives you all the rules-lite, player-facing game mechanics you need to run hardboiled games of any stripe, from murder mysteries to heist capers to revenge flicks."

It's a clever film noir rpg executed with Dan's signature minimalism. Player characters are defined by their Means (what they do), Motive (why they do it), and five attributes (Savvy, Moxy, Nerve, Guts, and Mojo). Finally, each character has a Crutch, which represents a relationship or vice that gets the character into trouble. All of the relevant information for your character easily fits onto one side of an index card.

Throughout the game, your character accomplishes his goals by taking "hits" to his attributes and relationships. When the shit hits the fan, the GM calls for you to "boil" the relevant attribute, which means that you roll a pool of six-siders equal to the number of hits that attribute has taken. If you roll any matches, bad things happen. This mechanic is extremely effective at ratcheting up tension over the course of the session and often seems to result in wonderfully tragic noir climaxes.

So, the rules are great, but the real value in this book comes from the rest of the material. It includes a heap of pregenerated relationship maps, which are essentially this game's equivalent of adventure modules. Each one provides more than enough intrigue for a satisfying night of gaming. Dan is a master of no-prep, pick-up gaming and the book is a very practical tool box for just that. It provides your game group with the knowhow to turn a stack of innocuous index cards into your own noir masterpiece without doing any prep-work beforehand.

Finally, we have the settings. Again, I'll go to the back cover for the overview:

"Urbanimus: A tech-noir world where medicine mechanics make deals with the spirits that inhabit everything from cellphones to storm drains.

Covenant: The inhabitants of an isolated town believe the world ended on October 31st, 1969. Proving otherwise will be a challenge. Leaving town alive may be impossible."

Both settings are very evocative. They possess a level of "I couldn't have thought of this myself" genre-blending that adds a great deal of value to the book. Covenant is my favorite of the two. The fog-shrouded Appalachian town of Covenant is a thick onion and each layer conceals more wonderfully fucked up secrets. I haven't yet used it for a game, but I plan to.

Overall, I'm very impressed by the Hardboiled Triple Feature. I like game books that have a lot of practical, gameable, "this-book-will-be-dogeared" material and this one delivers in spades. It manages to stand out even in the presence of other great, small press noir games (such as Greg Stolze's A Dirty World and Seth Ben-Ezra's Dirty Secrets). All in all, it's a steal for $15.

The book is available for purchase here, and you can find some freebies and additional (less biased) reviews over here.

Another Walk in the Woods . . .

2011-04-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday ended our Last Chance Sale for our older products. In the midst of the sale, I was contacted by my friend George Cotronis who's an extremely talented visual artist/layout guy. He asked if I would be interested in re-releasing Don't Walk in Winter Wood if he did all new art and layout for it. Now, I had just said my goodbyes to DWiWW and was ready to let it go, but offers like this don't come around every day. So, after thinking about it for ten seconds, I replied to George and let him know that I had just crapped my pants.

So, I'm happy to announce that George and I are currently working on a second edition of Don't Walk in Winter Wood. In addition to George's all new art and layout, this new edition will be expanded with rules clarifications, new legends, and perhaps one or two additional adventures. It will also get a fresh editorial pass and other general pruning.

I plan to release the new version in PDF as well as a limited-run print edition. I'm shooting for a Fall 2011 release.

An early draft of George's new cover.

Wait a minute . . . YOU THIEVING BASTARD!
My only concern in working with George to make a newer, sexier version of the game was that I was in the midst of taking people's money on the pretext that it would no longer be available. In recompense, those of you who doled out $2.50 for Winter Wood during the sale will get a special deal: once the new version is finished (which will be a while yet), you'll get a free upgrade to the new PDF. I've already collected your email addresses from Drivethrurpg's Big Brother database. If you'd like me to use a different address or you are the one guy whose address was hidden, please contact me with your info.

Last Chance Sale!

2011-03-10T18:27:00.001-08:00

At the end of this month I'm going to be taking my older games Roanoke, Don't Walk in Winter Wood, and Urchin out-of-print for good*. Until then all three titles will be available at RPGnow/Drivethrurpg for HALF PRICE ($2.50 each). That's three cool games for the price of a fast food outing!

My goal is to wring one last sales spike out of these puppies to put a few drops in the bucket toward the funding of Unity Underground.

*I'm actually thinking about releasing a revised and expanded version of Roanoke with upgraded production values (including interior artwork), but I'm not 100% sure that will happen.

Upgrade

2011-03-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

Red Moon just received a beautiful new logo courtesy of Ms. Abigail Larson. I decided to upgrade the blog to match.

We've also got a new Facebook page, which is thirsty for "likers."

In other news, the beta test for Unity Underground is going well so far. Big thanks to those who have already provided feedback. If you don't yet have a copy of the beta document, you should amend that by joining our google group or dropping me a line. We're very interested in getting your feedback, so don't be shy.

Right now I'm in the middle of researching printers and deciding on the format for the Unity book. I'm fairly sure that I want to go with a 5.5" x 8.5" (digest sized) softcover, but I'm still undecided on a lot of the details.

Unity Underground BETA!

2011-01-30T21:29:00.000-08:00

I'm very pleased to announce the launch of the beta playtest for Unity Underground. Starting now, we're looking for anyone out there who's interested in reading/playing the game and providing feedback.

If you're interested in taking a look you've got two options. You can either join our google group or email me personally (make sure to mention the beta test in your subject line). I'll gladly send out the playtest document to anyone who asks.

The beta period will officially end on May 31st, 2011.

Let the fragging begin!

No Go For BobCon

2010-09-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Some bad news: I got called into work at the last minute and I'm going to have to cancel my scheduled games for BobCon 2010 this weekend. I want to apologize to everyone who signed up for one of our sessions. It's a real drag to have to bail on you at the last minute.

Hopefully we'll be able make it back to BobCon next year. Again, I'm very sorry about this.

BobCon 2010

2010-09-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

We'll be back at BobCon this year. I'm running two games on Friday, October 1st:

Delvers Fantasy Roleplay
First, at 2:00 pm, I'm running a playtest of Delvers Fantasy Roleplay. It'll be the first time we've taken Delvers to a convention and I'm really excited about it. The scenario, The King of Thieves (AKA Palace of the Rat), is a traditional dungeon crawl as seen through the lens of a Tarantino revenge flick.

Unity Underground
Then, at 6:00 pm, I'm running Unity Underground with an all new scenario.

Convention Info
BobCon runs October 1-3 at the Cove's Clubhouse:
8221 N. Overland Drive
Kansas City, MO 64151

Unfortunately, because of my new work schedule, Cassie and I will only be able to make it for a single day. We wanted to make sure to get at least one day in because we had so much fun last year. BobCon has a great atmosphere and lot of friendly people.

Anyway, if you're local or passing through KC this weekend make sure to stop by and roll some dice.

Gen Con Report

2010-08-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

We're back from the glorious chaos that was Gen Con Indy 2010. We had a fantastic time. So many awesome things happened that it's hard to recount them all, but here are some of the highlights:

Unity Underground
I ran four sold-out sessions of Unity Underground which went very well. We introduced a buttload of people to the game. If you were one of those people, thank you! We had a blast playing with you.

Me, running Unity for XENA!

A ballsy hacker riding a lawbot like a rodeo bull.

Design Matters
We were partners this year in the Design Matters booth, which featured an outstanding roster of independent titles, including Daniel Solis' Happy Birthday, Robot! (which sold out on the third day of the convention), and Danielle Lewon's Diana Jones Award nominated Kagematsu, which won Indie RPG of the Year.

We also helped our buddy Chris Perrin sell and demo his game MECHA, which had its print debut at the con. The print version looks great and it was exciting to see Chris' baby finally come to fruition.

Thanks again to Nathan, Kevin and the rest of our DM comrades for making our booth experience as wonderful as ever. We love you guys.

Inspiration
One of the great things about Gen Con is that it's sort of a perfect storm of awesome, passionate people and creative new ideas. I always come away feeling inspired and re-energized for my own projects. This year was no different. As soon as I recover from my post-con exhaustion, I'm ready to hit the ground running with fresh ideas for Unity Underground, Delvers Fantasy Roleplay, and the rest of our projects. First on the docket is the Unity Underground beta document, which should be ready for release very soon. Keep an eye out!

Underground Update!

2010-05-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since our last update! I've been super busy with a variety of things, but here's a quick update to keep you in the loop:

Friday nights at Game Cafe
I've been running games of Unity Underground at our friendly local game store since the beginning of April. At first we had trouble finding players. In fact, I was just getting ready to shelf the idea when our word-of-mouth campaign finally paid off and we got a sudden influx of interest. We've now built a group of 6-10 regular players. The games have been an entertaining blur of gunfights, genetic research facilities, giant robots, high speed helicopter chases, big explosions, and plenty of wacky hijinks.

Here are some shots of the action:

The calm before the storm . . .

Some of our early adopters.

The story behind this is hilarious. Let's just say it led to a rules change.

Me, GMing with hawk-like focus.

Running these games has been a great test of the system and a great number of ideas and improvements have been incorporated as a result. I'm really happy with how the game is evolving, and I'm still having a blast running it.

The Unity Underground BETA MANUSCRIPT!

I'm almost done write the beta draft of the game. In fact, I've been "almost done" for several weeks now. I haven't done a lot of writing in the past few weeks for a variety of reasons. Part of it, I think, is a subconscious terror about releasing my baby into the clutches of others for painful but invaluable feedback and criticism. No worries. I'll get over it.

Oh! Speaking of which. We are planning to release the beta version of the game in PDF format to interested parties. We're going to be looking for people who're interested in playtesting and/or just giving us feedback on the manuscript. I'll post more information about how you can get involved as soon as I finish.

That about covers it for now. More soon!

Gen Con 2010

2010-04-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

We'll be at Gen Con 2010 in full force. Here's a rundown of our activities:

Unity Underground Demos
I'm running 4 Unity Underground games over the course of the weekend:

Design Matters
We're sharing booth 2100 with a cadre of amazing independent publishers. This year's line up includes:

Nathan D. Paoletta (Carry, Annalise)
Kevin Allen Jr. (Sweet Agatha)
Gregor Hutton (Best Friends, 3:16)
Epidiah Ravachol (Dread, Time and Temp)
Elizabeth Shoemaker & Shreyas Sampat (Blowback, Mist Robed Gate)
Tim Koppang (Hero's Banner)
Daniel Solis (Do, Happy Birthday, Robot!)

We're incredibly lucky to be involved with such a crazy awesome group. I'm not yet sure if we'll be selling anything ourselves this year, but there are a couple of products we might have.

After Hours
If anybody out there would like to meet up for some after hours gaming, drop us a line! We're also discussing meet ups over on our Google Group.

That's it, I think. Hope to see you there!

Femme Gamer

2010-04-05T06:58:00.001-07:00

I was recently asked to start writing for the blog: Femme Gamer. Here's what it's about (as taken from the "about" page):

We are females.
We are gamers.
We are writing about gaming.
This site will always tell the truth and never pull any punches.
Where the big sites must please the PR people, we will always tell you what’s really on our minds.

Head on over there to check out all the introductory posts and see what is really going on inside the minds of female gamers!

Friday Night Roleplay @ Game Cafe

2010-03-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Starting this week we're going to be running games (including Red Moon's games-in-development) every Friday night at Game Cafe in Independence, Missouri.

This week's game is Unity Underground.
Our plan is to start out with low commitment one-shot games and eventually build groups for more extended regular campaigns.

If you're in the area make sure to stop in for a game. Anyone is welcome, whether you're a gaming veteran or just getting started.

We're also looking for GMs who'd be interested in running games each week. Hopefully, we can grow this into a bigger community, introduce people to new games, and have a good time while we're at it.

MECHA is Migrating!

2010-03-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I've got an important announcement regarding the future of MECHA.

Over the last year or so of my work on MECHA (as the editor/graphic designer/publisher/promoter), I've learned that I simply don't have the time and energy to juggle multiple publishing projects at once (like I did before Cassie and I had our son, Dade). After some introspection, I decided to talk to Chris (the creator of the game) about the possibility of transferring the publication of MECHA to our friends over at Heroic Journey Publishing. Chris was open to the idea, and we were able to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement. Therefore, from this point forward, Heroic Journey Publishing is now going to be taking over the publication of MECHA.

This arrangement allows me to go back to working exclusively on my own games and officially marks the end of my experiment with publishing other people's stuff. (Turns out, my own stuff keeps me busy enough.) Right now, I'm directing all my creative energy toward Unity Underground, which will now be Red Moon's flagship release.

I've very thankful that Mark, Chris, and everyone else at Heroic Journey have been able to give MECHA a home, and I'm excited to see what they will do with the game.

You can see the super-formal version of this announcement, as well as future updates about the release of MECHA at Heroic Journey's website.

After Action Report: RagnaroKon

2010-03-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Cassie and I attended RagnaroKon over the weekend. It was a first-year con, but pretty well attended and very well organized. We were signed up to run two sessions of Unity Underground, neither of which got off the ground. We did, however, manage to do some good networking that may lead to some cool opportunities in the future.

A sad, lonely, unloved Unity Underground demo.

While our lack of demo attendance was disappointing, Cassie and I had the whole day to ourselves (Dade, our 2-year-old son, was with his grandparents). We had a great time trolling around downtown Columbia and hanging around the convention. We learned how to play Dominion (which was awesome) and sat down for a one-on-one mini-playtest of Delvers Fantasy Roleplay, which is a D&D clone that I've been messing around with that uses the same mechanics as Unity Underground.

Cassie played a human fighter named "Esme" who was on a quest to retrieve her magical sword from a mad gnomish wizard and his legion of "robo-gnomes."

It. Was. Awesome.

It was a classic, high-fantasy comedy of errors centered around poor Esme who ventured into the wizard's dungeon time after time, only to be repeatedly knocked unconscious, stripped of all her metallic belongings, and put back into the bushes by the robo-gnomes (as if she were yesterday's garbage). The wizard would then replace the robo-gnomes she'd killed with new ones made from the equipment she'd lost.

How many times have the robo-gnomes rolled you for loot?

The mechanics worked so well for this little pick up game that, of course, I'm now going to have to produce my obligatory D&D rip-off sometime after I finish Unity Underground.

The lair of Wizard Warzer and his dreaded robo-gnomes.

Anyway, we had a great time despite our demos not going off and we'll definitely be going back to RagnaroKon next year. Maybe Esme will finally defeat the robo-gnomes and reclaim her magic sword... but I doubt it ;)

We'll see about that, missy . . .

RagnaroKon

2010-03-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Cassie and I will be at RagnaroKon on Saturday (March 6th) running two sessions of Unity Underground. I'm excited because we just got a bunch of awesome new miniatures to use in our demo games.

Anyway, our first session runs from 10am-2pm. Session two is 6pm-10pm.

Hope to see you there!

Join our Google Group!

2010-02-25T05:43:00.001-08:00

Hey everybody,

We've got a slew of announcements coming up, so I'd like to encourage anyone who watches this blog to join our new Google Group. We'll be using the group to make announcements and to discuss our upcoming games.

You can join using the form over in the right column or by dropping us an email at redmoonmedicineshow@gmail.com.

Vision Con 2010 Schedule

2010-01-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

It's con time again! Clint will be in Springfield, MO this weekend attending VisionCon. Here's the schedule for his games.

Friday January 22, 2010
Unity Underground 10pm

Saturday January 23, 2010
MECHA 10am

Unity Underground TBA (sometime that evening)

Sunday January 24, 2010
MECHA 10am

Here are the specific details for the con:

Badges
3 Day pass at the door: $40.00
1 Day pass (ages 17 and up): $25.00*
1 Day pass (11-16): $20.00*
*One day pass is only good until 9pm*

Location Information
Clarion Hotel
3333 S. Glenstone
Springfield, MO 65804

If you are in the area, come by and join in a game!

Progress Report

2009-12-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I updated, so I figured I'd pop on and let'cha know what I'm up to.

MECHA
I'm still working to finish my edit of Chris' MECHA manuscript. I'm so close to being finished that I can taste it, but I've still got some work to do. I feel really bad for Chris who's been waiting for it for a long damn time. Anyway, MECHA is still very much on the front burner and it will still be our next big release. I'm not going to make any predictions on when that release will be. It will be done when it's done.

Unity Underground
I just finished a large-ish revision of my playtest manuscript and last night we started our "internal beta" playtest. So far, things are going extremely well. I couldn't be more happy with how the game plays. Our current tests are all about fine tuning the details and filling in conceptual gaps in the setting. Once we finish the beta campaign, I'll be revising the text again and arranging a public beta for anyone out there who's interested.

I've also talked to an illustrator who's interested in working on the Unity project and I'm extremely excited about his work. More on that soon.

Other Projects
I've added another project to the "super secret" pile (bringing the total to 3). Two of these involve licensed media properties and one is just for fun. I want to wait until things solidify before I run my yapper about these.

In addition to my Red Moon projects, I've also been helping my good friend Dan Bayn with the editorial duties on his awesome hard boiled noir game, Secrets and Lies, and its accompanying Urbanimus supplement. If you haven't seen S&L yet, make sure to check it out.

Conventions
VisionCon is next on our schedule. I'll be there running our usual slate of MECHA and Unity demos. I'll post our specific game slots once we're all signed up. Hope to see you there!

Underground Influences: Music

2009-11-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a music lover. Music has more influence on my game ideas than any other source of inspiration. Unity Underground is no exception. Unity has been heavily influenced by music since its inception. Here are a few of the artists/songs that put me in the mood to frag the man:

Rage Against the Machine
This one is fairly obvious. I was listening to Rage a lot when I came up with the idea for Unity Underground. I hope that the game captures the same rebellious spirit.

Muse
Whoa. These guys absolutely rock. This song, Assassin, is pretty much the Unity Underground theme song:

"War is overdue
The time has come for you
To shoot your leaders down
Join forces underground"

311
311 is my favorite band. Their 1997 album Transistor is probably my favorite album of all time. Aside from being completely awesome musically, the lyrics touch on a variety of Fortean subjects (everything from psychics to UFOs and free energy research). I've wanted to incorporate the feeling that Transistor evokes into a game for a long time, and with Unity I've finally found a place for it.

Souvenir's Young America
I discovered S.Y.A. right about the time that I started working on the current version of Unity Underground, and their music became my mental soundtrack to the game. It evokes thoughts of post-apocalyptic desert landscapes (perfect for the wilderness areas of the UU world). I've been using their album An Ocean Without Water as the background music for our playtests.

G.A.M.E. Report

2009-10-20T19:47:00.001-07:00

I had a great time at G.A.M.E. over the weekend. I had no idea what to expect going in, but it turned out to be a great con. Friday night was a bit slow, and there wasn't much of a crowd for RPGs. Traffic really picked up on Saturday and Sunday and we ended up getting in a couple of really good games of Unity Underground.

I also had the opportunity to meet and hang out with Mark Oberle, a freelancer for Palladium Books, whose work includes the recent Nightbane Survival Guide. Mark and I had a great conversation about games and game design (which was cool because we have very different views on a lot of things) and I ended up playing in a couple of games that Mark ran. All in all, it was a lot of fun. Mark was an awesome GM and a really cool guy.

G.A.M.E. was one of the best first year conventions that I've ever seen, both in terms of attendance and organization. It has a massive amount of potential and I predict that it will grow to be one of the major conventions of the midwest. I'll certainly be going back next year!

G.A.M.E. Weekend

2009-10-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

This weekend Clint will be attending the G.A.M.E. Convention in Springfield, MO. Here's the run-down on the schedule.

Friday October 16th
Unity Underground 7:00pm - 11:00pm

Saturday October 17th
Unity Underground 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Unity Underground 6:00pm - 10:00 pm

Sunday October 18th
Unity Underground 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Address
Springfield Exposition Center
635 St. Louis Street,
Springfield, Missouri 65806

Price
3-Day Pass:
(Fri, Sat, Sun) $35

1-Day Passes:
Friday $15 • Saturday $20 • Sunday $15

12 and under are free with PAID Adult Admission.

Age Requirements:
16 & up - On your own
13 to 15 - Adult in building
12 & under - Adult within reach

Registration opens at 9:30AM.

After-action Report

2009-10-04T15:21:00.001-07:00

North Kansas City Gaming Convention and BobCon were great! We ended up running about 16 hours worth of MECHA and Unity Underground over the course of the weekend. Here are some snapshots of the action:

Friday Afternoon MECHA!

Fragging the man in Unity Underground

Up bright and early for another round of MECHA

Our heroes are outnumbered!

Footage from our Saturday night Unity session:
The cell plots an attack on a Union security checkpoint.

Big thanks to everyone who played with us! We received a lot of helpful feedback and encouragement. It was a great weekend of gaming. We've got more local cons coming up in the next few weeks, so if you missed out this time around we hope to see you at G.A.M.E. or KC Game Fair.

Conventions This Weekend

2009-10-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

Quick reminder that we will be attending two local cons this weekend. If you're in the Kansas City area, come play some games with us (or just say hi). Here are the specifics:

Friday October 2, 2009
North Kansas City Gaming Convention

MECHA 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Unity Underground 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Address
7010 N. Cherry St
Gladstone, Mo 64118

Cost
$7.50/day or $10.00 for Friday and Saturday

Saturday October 3, 2009
BobCon

MECHA 10:00 am - 2:00pm
Unity Underground 8:00pm - 12:00 am

Address
8221 N. Overland Drive
Kansas City, Mo 64151

Cost
$10/day at the door
3-Day Registration only $25 at the door

Hope to see you there!

Similar Games

2009-09-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

There's nothing new under the sun . . . especially the RPG sun. Here are my thoughts on a few games that are similar to Unity Underground in premise.

Ray Winninger's Underground
Underground is probably the existing game that is closest to Unity Underground in concept and premise. Many of my previous attempts to write Unity were thwarted when my morale faltered after looking through Underground. I felt like Ray Whatshisname had beat me to the punch. Two things have allowed me to get over it and do Unity anyway: 1) I don't actually like Underground that much. It's got some great ideas, fantastic artwork (if a bit over-the-top for my taste), but the overall package doesn't really interest me at all. 2) I just don't care anymore. RPG premises are a dime-a-dozen and adding my little game to the pile doesn't hurt anything at all.

INFLUENCE FACTOR: Medium

Shadowrun
Many people, when I describe Unity Underground to them, say: "You mean like Shadowrun?" To which I say "no . . . not at all really." Shadowrun's setting is an interesting blend of William Gibson and J.R.R. Tolkien, neither of which is a visible influence on Unity. The idea for Unity has never really been influenced by Shadowrun at all (except for earlier versions which had Shadowrun-esque computer hacking rules). I was always more of a Rifts guy as a youngster.

INFLUENCE FACTOR: Low (though there are many similarities)

Misspent Youth
Misspent Youth by Rob Bohl is a contemporary indie-game-in-development that has a vaguely similar "stick-it-to-the-man" premise. Fortunately, it's an entirely different type of game. Rob's approach is firmly planted in the Forge/Story-Game school of game design (Unity, while influenced by that school, is much more traditional). MY also has a really neat setting/adversary creation system (as opposed to Unity's fixed setting). It looks like it's going to be a great game, but it's not really my cup o' tea.

INFLUENCE FACTOR: Low

Covert Generation
Another indie game about young kids sticking it to the man. I don't actually know that much about Covert Generation, but it looks to be sufficiently different from Unity that it doesn't bother me. It looks much more like the precursor to Misspent Youth that to Unity.

INFLUENCE FACTOR: Low

Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk 2020 also has a lot of elements that are similar to those in Unity Underground. I've never actually played it, but I know that a lot of people really like it. I've occasionally described Unity Underground's genre as "cyberpunk without the cyber." While Unity does have a few nods to the theme of human augmentation (mostly in terms of genetic engineering and neural implants), it's not a center-stage issue in the game.

INFLUENCE FACTOR: LOW

In Summary
Looking back over this post, I find it interesting that many of the games that are the most similar to Unity Underground have been the least influential on its design. I guess I never really thought about it before. At any rate, any rpg vet can tell that this is certainly not a comprehensive list of games that are similar to Unity, but it's a pretty good summary of a few of them. Perhaps I'll scrounge up some more titles and throw up "Similar Games Part 2" at some point in the future.

Underground Influences: Rifts

2009-09-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of posts that I'll use to talk about various games and media that have influenced the design of Unity Underground.

Rifts
The most direct influence on Unity Underground comes from Rifts by Kevin Siembieda. Rifts was the first role-playing game that I ever played and it has profoundly affected the way that I've thought about games since.

In many ways Unity Underground is my second attempt to create an homage to Rifts (the first being Empire of Dust).

So, what's cool about Rifts that's worth incorporating into Unity Underground?

1) A Strong Premise With Great Villains
The Coalition: A powerful regime of pro-human, fascist, pseudo-Nazis who hate psychics, magic-users, and extra-dimensional beings.

Your character: a psychic, magic-user, or extra-dimensional being.

The Result: A great built in premise (even though it's not overtly stated as such). The Coalition also makes for a great sympathetic villain, because their pro-human fascism is arguably justifiable given the situation they are in (humanity is beset by evil extra-dimensional monsters). The Coalition is the direct model for the "Union of Man" in Unity Underground.

2) Gear Porn Galore
Rifts has great gear porn. A big part of character generation was digging through the different rule books trying to find the coolest energy rifle or transport vehicle (all lavishly illustrated) . I really like game settings that have a well defined material culture. As I see it, a well wrought equipment list can provide a lot of insight into a setting. Character equipment informs the reader about the feel of the setting in much the same way that a clay pot can inform an archeologist about day to day life in an ancient civilization. Plus, comparing the finer points of various speculative firearms just good old-fashioned nerdy fun.

3) Fantastic Artwork
I saw a forum post somewhere that said something like "Rifts is an art book with rpg rules scribbled in the margins." That's actually a pretty good description. The entire series is packed with great artwork (I particularly enjoy Kevin Long's stuff). The artwork is really the selling point of the game. Even though the rules can be a bit questionable, you are compelled to play because everything just looks so damn cool.

4) Good old fashioned fun
Rifts is fucking gonzo. It was created before the time that rpgs took themselves too seriously and got all artsy and pretentious. Rifts is inspiring because it delivers the entertainment factor that I want my games to have. It's ridiculously over-the-top, unbalanced, and often ridiculous, but at least it's not boring.

5) Kevin Siembieda
I have a great respect for Kevin Siembieda, the creator of Rifts. Not only is he the architect of the formative rpg of my youth, but he is a great example of the type of creator that I want to be. Kevin is barraged by a choir of naysayers every time he scratches his ass, and yet he takes it in stride and just keeps on doing his thing. He has always stayed true to his vision, for better or worse. In short, the man has balls. From my perspective in the small-press rpg scene, which is plagued by identity politics and creative conformity, he's a refreshing example of a passionate, unapologetic creator who trusts his gut and isn't afraid to diverge from the cool kids.

It's not all daisies and sunshine . . .
Of course, my opinion of Rifts is not 100% positive. In fact, I really don't enjoy playing it any more (trust me, I've tried). The system (or at least the common interpretation of the system) essentially boils down to rolling dice for no reason while the GM decides what happens next. A lot of the setting elements make little or no sense and the rules differ greatly depending on which book you happen to consult. While I've got no beef with anyone who still plays and enjoys Rifts, my personal taste has gone in a different direction. Most of my game design ideas stem from frustrations with existing games and that is certainly true in this case.

In Summary
Unity Underground is very much an homage to the elements of Rifts that I like. If you're a fan of Rifts (or at least see some truth in the points raised above), I think you'll also find something to like about Unity.

SETTING INFLUENCE FACTOR: Very High

RULES INFLUENCE FACTOR: Very Low

Have memories or opinions about Rifts? I'd love to hear them. Feel free to drop a comment.

Introducing: Unity Underground

2009-09-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Unity Underground is my major game project at the moment. I've had a slight aversion to open design in the past, but I'm going to give it a whirl on this one. I'll be posting all kinds of information about the game as well as feature articles on its influences, design philosophy, and other related topics.

My goal with these posts is to create awareness about the game, solicit feedback, and give potential customers/players an in-depth glimpse of the game before they drop hard-earned cash on the final version.

Long-winded disclaimers aside, here's the rundown:

History
I've had this game in my head since I was in high-school (1999 or so). I've half-designed about six versions of it over the years. At one point, Empire of Dust was going to be Unity Underground. It's an important game for me and I want to pull out all the stops to make sure that it totally rocks.

Premise
Unity Underground is a traditional role-playing game set in a near-future dystopia in which the world's sovereign nations have been assimilated into the Union of Man, a totalitarian world government led by the charismatic president Mason Gate. The players create characters who are members of The Underground, a group of militant freedom fighters dedicated to the overthrow of the Union and the re-establishment of Democracy. While the premise sounds very politically charged it is presented not as a political diatribe, but as a tongue-in-cheek excuse for the players to engage in lots of sci-fi action and adventure. Think Star Wars meets Rage Against the Machine.

System
The game utilizes the RAGE engine. RAGE (Run and Gun Engine) is a system that I created to capture everything that I love about traditional, action-oriented role-playing games and distill them to their essence. While I created RAGE specifically for Unity Underground, I'm really enamored with the system and will probably incorporate it into a variety of future projects. For anyone who's familiar with my Epiphany Engine games (Bizenghast and Empire of Dust) RAGE covers a lot of the same territory although it is lighter overall, less exceptions-based, and less focused on "simulation." It's a rules-light game with task resolution based on a linear d6 "roll-under" mechanic. It can support a variety of modular meta-game currencies (more on those in a future posts) and, most importantly, it satisfies my ever-present desire for mechanically relevant gear porn.

As I'm developing Unity Underground, I plan to simultaneously create a RAGE Core Rules Document that I will keep updated with material from all of the various games that use the system. This will allow players of any of the RAGE-based games to customize their campaigns with a bevy of optional rules and sub-systems. I've wanted to do a multi-game "generic" system for a while now, and my previous attempt (Epiphany Engine) has taught me a lot about the potential pitfalls of such an endeavor.

Format
I've produced a number of single book games in the past. With Unity, I plan to try my hand at developing an entire series. How long the series lasts depends mostly on how long my enthusiasm holds out (and if enough people are playing to justify the release of additional material). The series will be designed very deliberately not to be a "supplement treadmill," but to allow each book to be very complete in-and-of itself while providing new angles on the Unity Underground universe. The series will NOT contain any kind of meta-plot. Instead, the supplements will contain a buffet of ideas (new character types, equipment, vehicles, and factions) for players and GMs to draw from, as well as new premises, which will detail entirely new ways to play the game (from the point of view of different factions, etc . . .).

Current Status
I'm currently using an early draft of the manuscript to run playtests at home and at local conventions. The game is improving steadily, but it's already shaping up to be exactly the game that I wanted to create (which, I've found, is often more difficult than one would think). I plan to post drafts of the manuscript here once it's in a slightly more presentable form.

So there you have it. Join me, and together we will FRAG THE MAN!

It's Con Season in Missouri!

2009-09-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've been extremely busy setting Red Moon up at local cons! Who knew that Missouri had so many cons going on within weeks of each other? Here's the skinny on where we're going to be running games in the next few weeks:

North Kansas City Gaming Convention

Friday October 2nd
MECHA 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Unity Underground 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

BobCon

Saturday October 3rd
MECHA 10:00 am - 2:00pm
Unity Underground 8:00pm - 12:00 am

G.A.M.E

Friday October 16th
Unity Underground 7:00pm - 11:00pm

Saturday October 17th
Unity Underground 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Unity Underground 6:00pm - 10:00 pm

Sunday October 18th
Unity Underground 2:00pm - 6:00pm

*MECHA sessions TBA

Kansas City Game Fair

Thursday November 19th - Sunday November 22nd
Games TBA

Come out and play some games with us!

What's in the works?

2009-09-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This is the first in what I hope will become a more frequent string of progress-related blog posts. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, so I'll partially be using this post to organize my thoughts on our various projects.

Project 1) MECHA
Chris Perrin's game, MECHA, will be the first major release for RMMS. We've been playtesting this game for a long damn time (two-ish years with a few breaks thrown in) and I'm really happy with how it's shaped up. I'm currently editing Chris' manuscript, which is taking forever because I'm a slow editor and I have a few too many things on my plate at the moment. With the playtests going as smoothly as they are, Chris and I are really trying to concentrate on getting the elements of how WE play into the text. I'm hoping to get MECHA out the door as soon as possible, but I'm also obsessed with making sure that the final product is of the highest possible quality (both in terms of rules design and book design). For that reason, I'm not going to "officially" announce a release date or anything. It'll be done when it's done.

By the way, if you haven't picked up the MECHA Quickstart Guide yet, please do (it's free!). It's just small taste of the overall game, but it's probably enough to see if it's going to be to your taste. Also, interested parties should check out Chris' development blog, which contains more information as well as Chris' own thoughts about MECHA and other games that he's working on.

Finally, I want to extend a big thanks to everyone who's given us feedback on the Quickstart Guide so far. It's all been very helpful. A particularly large thanks goes out Shaun Taylor and his clan, who've been playing the game a bunch and generally helping us to promote it. Shaun has already come up with a FREAKING AWESOME conversion to use MECHA for Exalted warstriders. I'll definitely be posting that up once the game is released.

Project 2) Unity Underground
Unity Underground is a game that I've been kicking around since 1999 or so. It's a role-playing game set in a near-future dystopia where the world has been taken over by the Union of Man (a brutal totalitarian regime). Players take on the roles of members of the Underground, a resistance movement that is fighting to bring the Union down. It's basically Star Wars meets Rage Against the Machine, set in a slightly sci-fi version of our own world. We're about six sessions into our internal playtests, and things are going great. I have very big plans for the game, and I plan to start blogging about its progress quite frequently. I've recently been inspired by the team behind Diaspora to open up my design process (to some extent), and post up plenty of content to give people a really good idea of what the game is like, and to generate feedback well in advance of release. You'll be seeing a lot about this one in future posts.

Projects 3) and 4) Super Secret Projects of Doom
I'm generally hesitant to be secretive about projects that I'm working on (to me it seems sort of silly for a small press outfit . . . it's not like we're Bungie or something), but in the case of my other two projects, there are decent enough reasons to keep my yapper shut for the time being. One of these projects involves a licensed property and the other one is too early in the works to really mention. So, in summary, you can expect a couple more announcements in the near future.

The Website
You'll notice that the website's still pretty bare at the moment (the forum isn't up, etc . . .). I'm going to take my time with it. The skeleton of the site is in place, and I intend to add and activate things as they are needed. The message boards, for example, will probably remain inactive until we release MECHA (and thus give folks something crunchy to talk about).

Older Games
Likewise, I fully intend to make all of our older titles (Roanoke, Urchin, etc . . .) available through Lulu, but at the moment I've got bigger fish to fry.

And with that, you're pretty much caught up on RMMS' current plans and projects. As I mentioned, I plan to start updating the blog more frequently so stay tuned!

Welcome!

2009-08-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to our new site! In case you're wondering what all this is about, Red Moon Medicine Show is the small-press game publishing imprint of designer Clint Krause and his friends. We used to be called KNRPG Productions and we're still going to be publishing most of the same titles that we did under that name (in addition to some new ones).

Our older games are temporarily out-of-print so that we can update and re-brand them. So if you're interested in Roanoke, Urchin, or The Bizenghast Adventure Game you'll have to wait a bit longer for them to be available.

Speaking of availability, our games are now going to be available at two venues: our Lulu store (where you can order physical copies of our books) and our RPGnow store (where you can purchase PDF downloads of our books). We're still fiddling with our storefronts in both of those locations, so if things look a little sloppy, that's why.

Chances are, if you're here right now, it's because someone told you about our MECHA Quickstart Guide, which is a FREE pdf demo kit for MECHA, our forthcoming role-playing game of giant robot anime. The full version of the game is not out yet, but we're in the late stages of production and hope to get it out before the end of the year.

So please click around and make yourself at home. Grab a copy of the Quickstart Guide and play it with your friends. Feel free to drop us a line about your experiences, we'd love to hear any feedback or questions that you may have.

Gen Con Quickstart Errata

2009-08-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

DAGNABBIT!

If you picked up the print version of the MECHA Quickstart Guide from the Design Matters booth at Gen Con, we've got some important errata for you.

Some dubious character *ahem* messed up the Hot Shot mecha configuration that appears in the character profiles for Hawk (the player character) and the ADF Grave Hound NPCs. The Hot Shot configuration should read:

"Hot Shot: Spend a point of overdrive to re-allocate any number of Defense dice to Attack dice until the beginning of your next turn."

The PDF version of the Quickstart that's available for download has had this problem fixed. The errata only applies to the print copies that we sent off to Gen Con.

Sorry 'bout that!

About Us

2009-01-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

Red Moon Medicine Show is the game publishing imprint of Clint and Cassie Krause. We specialize in table-top role-playing games and other obscure pastimes. When creating these games we follow a philosophy that we call "patient creation." We like to take things nice and slow and make sure that anything bearing our name is packed to the gills with as much attention to detail as we can muster. Our eclectic influences result in games that are a blend of old-school nostalgia and cutting edge game design.

Clint Krause is a daddy, a writer, and a game designer. He's been involved with the small-press RPG scene since about 2004. His credits include a thorough mix of game design, writing, editing, layout, graphic design, and art direction on the following products:

MECHA (2010), Heroic Journey Publishing
Covenant (2010), Daniel Bayn
Urbanimus (2010), Daniel Bayn
Secrets and Lies (2009), Daniel Bayn
MECHA Quickstart Guide (2009), Red Moon Medicine Show/Heroic Journey Publishing
Empire of Dust (2008), KNRPG Productions
Messiah: Ashcan Edition (2008), KNRPG Productions
The Bizenghast Adventure Game* (2008), KNRPG Productions
Urchin* (2007), KNRPG Productions
Roanoke (2006), KNRPG Productions
Twilight Memoirs (2005), Chaosium Inc.
Sanctum: The Great War (2005), RPG.net
Winter Wood**(2005), Magniforge
Don't Walk in Winter Wood (2005), KNRPG Productions
The 3fold System (2004), KNRPG Productions
*Based on a licensed media property
**Independent feature film

Cassie Krause is an elementary school teacher and mother. Cassie handles Red Moon's logistics, convention schedule, and checkbook. As if that wasn't cool enough, she writes articles for Femme Gamer, a blog about women in gaming.