GENCON

Well we missed it again. Nope, Board Enterprises was not at GenCon. The last time we were at GenCon, Magic the Gathering was just coming into its own (and pushing all us smaller guys out) and there were no kids at home to worry about. Now the kids want to go.
Truth is, GenCon is bad for business. Not all business, but defiantly ours. I’ve talked to some other small press guys who are delighted to plunge in with every other new product, but it really seems to be a storm. A “you can’t see the forest for the trees” kind of thing with so many new products flooding the shelves and internet that too many get lost in the shuffling.
We’re not being bitter, just maybe a bit cynical. We mentioned before that we don’t release products in August anymore, because getting lost is not something we strive for. Keep checking back here and you’ll see new things soon enough!
and Thanks! We appreciate the fact that you expend enough time to check out what’s going on here.

New Product Feedback

We’re looking for a little feedback (either here or at info@boardenterprises.com). Some of you are asking for more world building products instead of our more normal supplements that give more ideas, etc. Our first idea is Urban Developments (working title). This is basically city building 101. We’re going with a whole logic concept, which, let’s face it, doesn’t always work in fantasy. We see it in many ways as being a complement to Grain Into Gold. Is this the type of thing you’re looking for?

We get crushed during August by the glut of new GENCON products that flood the industry. Therefore we don’t release new products during August. Expect a more idea based supplement in September, and hopefully the base unit to Rhum shortly after. Then we’ll see what you seem to want more.

Delays

Sorry for the delay in postings. Real life some times interferes with games, even when games are the job. Anyway - we’ll be back on our normal posting schedule momentarily - have no fear. If you ever want to ask a question or contact us in any way, please use the info@boardenterprises.com email address!

Expansions

The question has come up several times: How do we expand Legend Quest? We can add more monsters - Not too earth shattering there. We can add more gear - both magical and mundane. Some of the magic stuff can be interesting. But to expand the characters, we need more styles of magic. The Book of Wishes brought beast mastery, dwarven enchanters and elementalists, as well as the enclave sorcerers. What’s next? well here are some of the things we’re working on:
Spell Dancers - by moving their bodies, they conjure up their magical powers, in a fashion similar to how spell singers bring on their magic (from themselves, the environment and the target). Their casting times are quite long and it is not the greatest attack magic.
Enclave spell dancers - tribal dancing used to cast the big spells. Actually this is based on some of the legends and beliefs of some of the tribes in the USA’s history, expanded quite a bit (OK distorted quite a bit). Right now, this is more of a defensive thing - the village women and children dance to cast protection spells over their village and their warriors.
Spell Smithing - (OK so we have a lot of spell ___, but taken in the context of all the styles of magic, it’s not too much, we hope.) Spell smiths are enchanters who do not write their spells on the item, they craft their spell into the item. Again, it is a way to get around the metal resistances as well as make the spells harder to dispel. Also - with this you can craft those wondrous magical limbs and such. Super powered magical arm anyone? (Yes please - golden!)
Arcanist - a sorcerer who works with the inner workings of magic itself. There won’t be big fireballs here, but he will be able to strip the power from an enemy’s spells and redirect them with ease.
Dragonbone - a personal favorite. Imagine a spell caster standing atop a huge pile of bones. Not just any bones, but dragon bones. He pulls the power from the bones themselves to cast his spells. OK - not exactly an adventuring style, but summoning dragon bone armor and a dragon bone spear from the pile, while using the power of the dead dragon to fuel excessively powerful effects - stuff of legends!

The downside - I have to figure out how to do these cheaply, because Legend Quest specific supplements don’t sell very well. I’ve been thinking it through and we’ll find a way to make it all happen!
Last note - Don’t worry! We’re working on cool things for the warrior types as well. Carrier attacks and blended moves, etc.

Cost of Goods

There’s a point that we make in Grain Into Gold that I don’t think we hit it hard enough. Where are all those prices coming from? There’s a simple formula. Think modern times - what does it cost to get your car fixed? Auto mechanic’s labor plus parts. What does it cost for the plumber to fix your sink? Plumber’s labor (possibly including a fee for the house call) plus parts. What does it cost for a loaf of bread in the supermarket? Baker’s labor plus parts (ingredients) plus transportation plus packaging plus middle man’s mark up. Now in the modern setting, you would have to include the labor of the marketing guys, etc., etc. The fantasy realm is the same. A loaf of bread costs parts plus labor, plus possible transportation plus packaging. For a loaf of bread, there is usually no packaging (the buyer simply puts it in their own basket), there is usually no transport (since the buyer walked to the bakery), and there is likely no middle man, though the baker might be including the cost of his taxes and other overhead in either his labor or an add on cost.
Does packaging matter? Even in the modern age, we’ve all heard that the cost of the cup that the pop at a fast food place comes in is more expensive than the pop itself. (That’s a yes.) In the fantasy era, a cloth bag to carry five pounds of flour will likely cost more than the flour. In some cases, the wooden keg the beer comes in might be more expensive than the beer. You can bet that these people are using the same packaging over and over if at all possible.
The transport situation was covered in Grain Into Gold, but not to my satisfaction. That’s where Coins of the Road will come in. Yes, I know it was likely promised some time ago, but things being what they are, it likely still isn’t going to hit the e-shelves in 2009. (Grain Into Gold is our best seller. People really liked it. To be honest, we’re working our tails off to make sure that it’s follow up is at least as good. That has been difficult!)
Anyway - when you’re figuring out what something cost - the simple formula will always be parts + labor.

Grain Into Gold Shameless Plug

It occurred to me in rereading the previous posts that not everyone who will be reading this has already read Grain Into Gold. That is a huge shame! So - Why would you want to buy GIG? Well, as you see from that coal and coke example, we get pretty detailed - not that detailed! We summarize how we got to numbers like that so you can see the logic, but not all the work. For those of you looking for a short cut, pages 69-81 of the book contain the charts. Yep, 13 pages of the costs of everything from a cow to a pound of beef jerky, from a beaver fur hat to a long sword, from a pound of wheat flour to the daily wage of a cobbler. Not only are these charts complete, but they are all based on the same system and they make sense! Grain Into Gold came out of a complete frustration in looking at yet another game book where an apple cost 1cc, but the apple grower would have needed to sell 200 apples a day to feed his family. While an apple grower might sell 200 apples during the fall, it seemed clear that his family would starve the rest of the year. Of course, the games weren’t written for the apple growers, but only for the adventurers. Grain Into Gold allows both of them to live in a reasonable and even sort of realistic economy, without crushing the game master under study notes the size of the FASB rules. (That’s Financial Accounting Standards Board - It’s an accounting joke - that’s why it wasn’t funny!)
So anyway - buy Grain Into Gold! Click here or here to find it.

Lycanthrope - Fletnern Rules 2

OK - I should know by now that I cannot import charts into this blog format. Let’s just give you the math:
Beagodon full gives a +70% chance of changing. Beagodon strongly waxing gives a +35%.
Tilliat full gives a +35% chance, while Tilliat strongly waxing gives a +20%.
Add the appropriate numbers (even if they’re -0-) to get the chance that the lycan will switch in an uncontrolled fashion.