Back down to art again

As of a few minutes ago, the text for my OSR coversion of Life of Rage is complete.  And, like the original version, all that remains is artwork.  This seems to be a recurring theme, and something that is a bit of a stumbling block for an independant (wannabe) game-designer like myself.

At this point, if I want to be able to charge a small fee for my original creations, I have one of two options.  I can either A) do the art myself, or B) commission the requisite artwork from a professional.

Option A is obviously the most cost-effective.  I work a day job that is adequate for covering the normal expenses of a full family.  So, finances are a major concern.  I don't have the kind of cash laying around to invest in something that could conceivably lose me money.  At this point, all of these efforts have cost me nothing except time.  Honestly, I'm a fair artist.  Not a professional in terms of ability, but I can get by.  And there are always a few shortcuts for a small venture like this.  So, this route is doable.  The main downsides are that it is very time-consuming, and that I am my own worst art critic.  So, I know that if I do the art myself, it will be a long time before this stuff is ready to be published, and even then, I will most likely be unhappy with the final product.

Option B has the downside of not being feasible at this point, due to the afore-mentioned financial constraints.  Art is expensive.  Good art is very expensive.  And I don't have the financial backing of an established RPG publisher.  I could crowd-fund, ala Kickstarter, I suppose.  But that adds the extra burdens of expectation and delivery.  And I'm kind of a coward when it comes to self-promotion and promising delivery.

Really, at this point, I have only one option.  So, I guess I ought to break out my pencils, pens, paper, and reference books, and get cracking.

Writing and whatnot

I am off of school this week, and I start my new class on Monday.  So, I keep trying to use the time to my advantage, and get some writing done.  I've worked a bit on some fiction.  But a lot of my time has been split between two RPG projects.

The first is the conversion of Life of Rage to OSR.  Mainly, it involved coming up with Orc classes that were comparable to the core classes in B/X D&D, but still having the proper Orcish flavor.  The first few were easy; Orc, Goblin, Half-orc.  It's the Shaman that was giving me trouble.  But, I think I have it figured out.  So, I can move forward a bit faster now.

Most of the rest of the conversion is done.  Fortunately, when I constructed the original version of the game, I kept the "setting" information separate from the mechanics, for the most part.  So, most of that information just got copied over as-is.  When it's all done, I will have to go through and make sure any references to the original system are edited to be for OSR.  But, other than that, there's not much else to do beyond filling in a few details (currently working on Shaman Spell descriptions).

My other project is a campaign based in an original world, using the Moldvay/Cook books, as well as my own Basic Arcana and some house rules.  I'm cobbling it together from a basic idea I used in a 3e game several years ago.  It's a cool story, with the properly epic feel, and a logical way for the character to know each other and adventure together already built-in.  Not sure if it will get played or not, but it's kind of nice to just be writing an adventure again.

As for currently active gaming, our long-running campaign resumes on Saturday, with part two (and hopefully, the conclusion) of our assault on the Frost Giants' Hall.  Norwegian princesses need to be more careful with those things marauding around the country-side.