A Special #DinosaurDay Announcement

Todd Crapper Dinosaur Project , , , , ,

Yes, Happy #DinosaurDay, everyone! As museums, libraries, and teachers who actually know their way around social media are sharing some of the exciting discoveries made in palaeontology, we wanted to take a moment to announce our next big project. It’s quite different and more ambitious than anything we’ve done before.

Cover for the Dinosaur Project: The Gobi Expedition playtest.
Cover for Dinosaur Project: The Gobi Expedition, an upcoming free playtest version of the full game.

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing a free public playtest for our upcoming family RPG, Dinosaur Project. Designed using a simplified version of the GUMSHOE system, you are a team of dinosaur scientists from a future where their prehistoric ancestors were never wiped out. Using your imaginations, features, skills, tools, and your field of study at Mesozoic University (as well as a time machine, of course), you’ll journey back to the age of the dinosaurs and report back with your findings. Along the way, your scientists will learn something about themselves and discover how they can learn from the past.

Designed by Todd Crapper and Chelsea Hamilton, Dinosaur Project: The Gobi Expedition will soon be available for everyone to playtest until September 30, 2019. By year’s end, we’re also hoping to launch a Kickstarter to fund a boxed set for the Dinosaur Project RPG, including 10 pre-written expeditions and a collection of dinosaur and scientist cards to create a variety of characters. Over the coming months leading up to our Kickstarter, we’ll be sharing some of the mechanics and cool facts we’ve discovered about these amazing creatures.

You can read more about it on our freshly excavated Dinosaur Project page.

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Are You Ready To Make A Deal?

Todd Crapper Fragments , , ,

When 2019 started, The Deal‘s mechanics were under review and things were moving forward with it as our third Fragments game originally due to release around this time. Yet after a very successful game at BreakoutCon in Toronto this past March, the decision has been made to go all-in.

Today, we’re pleased to announce The Deal: A Live-Action Roleplaying Game of Poker will be going to Kickstarter this Spring. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more details on this project and everyone’s invited to check out our webpage for The Deal as well as catch a preview for the Kickstarter page.

The current cover for The Deal: A Live-Action Roleplaying Game of Poker. Coming to Kickstarter in Spring 2019.

What is The Deal? It’s a live-action roleplaying game (or a “larp,” as the cool kids call it) where four players take on the role of strangers gathered together for a high stakes game of poker. As they actually play poker, special cards known as Twists & Turns introduce plot twists as the strangers discover one of them is blackmailing the others. Nothing will remain the same when this game is done as the strangers discover some of the deepest, darkest secrets even their loved ones don’t know.

The Crappiest Sale is on DriveThruRPG Riiiiiight… NOW!!

Todd Crapper General ,

Go, go go! From today (Thomas Crapper Day) until February 3rd, all Broken Ruler Games’ products listed on DriveThruRPG and their affiliate sites are 50% off for all PDFs and 25% off for a print copies. It’s the most comprehensive and heavily discounted sale we’ve ever done and just like so many other big sales based on holidays, it has absolute nothing to do with its namesake date.

Click here (not on Thomas Crapper’s face) to head on over to DriveThruRPG.

Well, maybe there is a connection to…. nah, that’s a stretch. What are the odds BRG’s owner & publisher is related? There’s gotta be a lot of Crappers in the UK. That’s like their version of Smith, right?

We’d also love it if everyone reading this shared it on their own preferred social media channels and feel free to get creative with it. Play up on the family name with tweets like, “Don’t flush your money away!” Or “Broken Ruler Games has wiped their prices down to 50%.”

Just click here to visit our DriveThruRPG page before February 3rd.

(Please note DriveThruRPG’s sites will be down on Monday, January 28th for site wide maintenance so we’re making what’s called a “soft launch” for this sale today. Once the site is back up and running again on Tuesday, we’ll be making a bigger push.)

Measuring Success in 2018

Todd Crapper Measuring Success , , , , , , ,
Ah, isn’t this how we all imagine RPG publishing?

Hello again, Broken Ones. What’s this? Two new posts in a single week. Since we’re not launching anything new this month, you might be wondering what kind of madness this is. Fear not, for this is but another chapter in my ongoing tradition of sharing our sales results for the year. Why? To help those who are also trying to break into the industry or simply want to feel better (or worse?) about their own results.

For those of you interested in the inner workings of indie RPG publishing, it’s time for another instalment of Measuring Success, my ongoing financial presentations for Broken Ruler Games. Rather than go quarterly or bi-annually, I’ve decided to keep things simple and go with annual presentations for the near future due to my very busy workload. And because of that very busy workload and in the interest of expanding on the meaning behind the numbers, I’ve decided to forego most of the writing for this year’s presentation and instead record my take on 2018’s results.

So here goes. Below are the Broken Ruler Games sales results for 2018, including quantities sold by product type, gross and net sales.

PRODUCTSALESGROSS $NET $
Killshot: The Director’s Cut40$223.39$138.26
PDF39$203.40$132.21
Hardcover B&W0$0.00$0.00
Hardcover B&W + PDF1$19.99$6.05




Killshot: An Assassin’s Journal9$0.00$0.00
PDF9$0.00$0.00
Softcover B&W0$0.00$0.00




Killshot: Direction1$5.00$3.25
PDF1$5.00$3.25
Softcover B&W0





Killshot Files #036$3.95$2.57
PDF36$3.95$2.57




Killshot Files #112$22.91$14.89
PDF12$22.91$14.89




Killshot Files #211$36.27$23.58
PDF11$36.27$23.58




Ironbound138$1.40$0.91
PDF (PWYW)65$1.40$0.91
Blessed and the Damned73$0.00$0.00




ScreenPlay643$138.84$77.06
PDF639$103.60$67.34
Softcover POD4$35.24$9.72




Dial M for Monster626$21.90$14.24
PDF626$21.90$14.24
Softcover POD0





Fragments619$57.00$37.05
Duel (PDF)619$0.00$0.00
By The General’s Hand (PDF)38$57.00$37.05




High Plains Samurai: Legends1800$91.50$22.56
PDF1793$0.00$0.00
Softcover B&W4$39.41$10.33
Softcover CMYK3$52.09$12.23




High Plains Samurai RPG34$435.00$273.29
PDF31$330.00$214.50
Softcover B&W3$105.00$58.79




TOTAL3980$1,073.43$631.24




Killshot Directors Kit (Bundle)9

The Ultimate ScreenPlay Bundle 9

IPR Sales$276.01
IGDN Convention Sales$315.85
TOTAL$591.86
ALL SALES COMBINED 2018$1,223.10

It’s important to note we participated in two charity bundles this year (the Puerto Rico Charity Bundle and ConTessa), which skews the sales to dollars ratio as we obviously didn’t actually make any money off those products.

And here is BRG’s overall results since I launched this company in 2012 with the past three years provided in detail. The total includes everything since day one.

PRODUCT2015-162016-172018TOTAL
Killshot: The Director’s Cut$140.08$75.42$138.26$1,688.43
Killshot: An Assassin’s Journal$5.95$0.00$0.00$22.64
Killshot: Direction$4.18$0.00$3.25$20.43
Killshot Files #0$3.98$2.90$2.97$9.85
Killshot Files #1$11.67$4.81$14.89$112.85
Killshot Files #2$33.47$12.27$23.58$130.21
ScreenPlay: The Rehearsal Edition$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
Ironbound$37.72$5.25$0.91$43.88
ScreenPlay$260.01$111.44$77.06$448.51
Dial M for Monster$0.00$40.08$14.24$54.32
High Plains Samurai$0.00$0.00$295.85$295.85
Fragments$0.00$0.00$37.05$37.05
Killshot Directors Kit (Bundle)



TOTAL$497.06$252.17$608.06$2,864.02

Those annual totals have been divided up to showcase how they accounted for the overall percentage of BRG’s product lines and total earnings. For example, the total sales for Killshot equaled 8.19% of its overall earnings since the product was launched.

PRODUCT2015-162016-172018
Killshot 8.30%4.47%8.19%
ScreenPlay57.97%24.85%17.18%
Ironbound85.96%11.96%2.07%
Dial M for Monster
73.78%26.22%
High Plains Samurai

100.00%
Fragments

100.00%
TOTAL17.36%8.80%21.23%

Now for the analysis paralysis and this is where I’m going to save all of us the trouble of reading through my various thoughts on these numbers and record them for you. Feel free to scroll along as you listen (I tried to keep myself to a reasonable duration) and ask any questions you may have in the comments below.

Measuring Success 2018.mp3Download

Coming Soon: The Crappiest Sale of the Year

Todd Crapper General , , , , ,

Hello, Broken Ones, and welcome to 2019. It’s been quiet here on the website. A little too quiet. After dealing with some family matters in the last couple months of 2018, BRG is back in the swing of things with our first big event of the new year.

We’re calling it the Crappiest Sale of the Year.

UPDATE: Check out this post from Accessible Games on the Sale… plus these very kind words on our work creating games for everyone to enjoy.

http://www.accessiblegames.biz/friends-sale/

It just so happens that Sunday, January 27th is Thomas Crapper Day and we’re just drawn to doing something to mark this day. Not sure why. There’s just something about this infamous and yet-unknown engineering hero that speaks to us. From January 27th to February 3rd, we’re going to have some huge discounts on all PDFs and PODs (print-on-demand) products on DriveThruRPG, RPGNow, and all other OneBookShelf affiliate sites.

But we also need to get the word out and that’s where we could use your help. We’ll be doing what we can to get the word out and any shares, retweets, likes and more will help get the message out there. Plus we have this swanky graphic to go with it, so feel free to download and share to your hearts content.

What a handsome, familiar looking fellow.

You can find all of our games listed here on DriveThruRPG.

High Plains Samurai’s Core Rulebook On Sale Now!!

Todd Crapper High Plains Samurai , , , ,

HPS_CoreRulebook_cover_July2018_final
Click here to buy your copy at DriveThruRPG!

We were once a beautiful world, young and fertile. Nothing but hope and opportunity lay before us. We were the chosen ones of our creators and lived a lavish lifestyle. Until the All-Father revealed his jealousy of the love his children gave to their creation and not him. His wrath nearly wiped us out. Now we are the enslaved and oppressed in the Five Cities, or those risking it all in the Wastes. But there are some who call no place home. They wander between all places and live by their own rules. Will any of them rise up to become the mysterious heroes we need

Broken Ruler Games is pleased to announce the release of the High Plains Samurai Roleplaying Game‘s core rulebook in softcover, print-on-demand, and PDF. After six years of development, this high-octane action story game of gunslingers, samurai, barbarians, gangsters, and steampunk in a post-apocalyptic world of superpowers is ready to challenge your Writers with everything you need to start telling original stories in the One Land.

After a successful Kickstarter in 2017, HPS has already gone on to receive a Gold ENnie for High Plains Samurai: Legends as Best Free Game of 2017. With the new core rulebook, you’ll be able to run all the one-shots and campaigns you desire in this improvisational storytelling game where the dice determine complications, not success or failure.

With the HPS core rulebook, you get…

  • Complete rules for playing the High Plains Samurai Roleplaying Game

  • Create original characters of every type, from leads to extras

  • Build and expand on the Five Cities and the Wastes

  • Apply character roles to give your character a code of honour

  • Gain new perks from your homeland to help define your character’s background

  • Explore the history of Chaos’ Wrath and its aftermath

  • Discover the key initiatives for the One Land & meet its major characters, including every warlord and Black Scorpion

  • An advice chapter for all players, Directors and Writers alike

  • Tips on playing evil characters seeking to destroy the One Land

You can discover more about HPS at highplainssamurai.com, including the Atlas of the One Land, our ongoing series of actual play recordings, additional advice from the game’s creator, and so much more. The High Plains Samurai Roleplaying Game is available now at DriveThruRPG, RPGNow, Amazon, and will soon be available through IndiePressRevolution.

Welcome to the Tales From The One Land

Todd Crapper High Plains Samurai , , , , ,

TalesOneLand_SM_1000x500_August2018

As we prepare for the full launch of the High Plains Samurai Roleplaying Game, tales of intrepid heroes fighting back against tyranny have already begun to spread. Wanderers riding the Salvation tell of a lone warrior defending his favourite bar from a local gang seeking access to the tunnel running under Serenity Falls.

Tales From The One Land is a series of actual play recordings (both audio and video) revealing the action-packed excitement of HPS. Each session provides new players creating their own personal exploits with original characters and improvised storytelling to reveal one shared version of the One Land… a kind of HPS cinematic universe. For our first release, Todd and Vince (editor on HPS) sit down for a Session 0 to create a lead character, discuss the mechanics of the game, lay down some formats, and create some key initiatives. Enjoy and keep your eye on the High Plains Samurai website for future instalments.