Author: Phillip Melchers

 

You’ll have to forgive us for going under the radar as of late. We’ve both been cursed with a cold and thus, bed ridden as we are, have left it up to our two kobolds to quest for a cure.

In the meantime we’ve been trying our best to keep productive as we work towards crunch time. Though our blog may have missed a week, I assure you we are still trucking on. In fact, I don’t think I have a single fingernail left to chew as I come to realize we’re almost halfway through January. Added to this is the feeling that there is still so much to do. Oh, how does the time fly! Deep breaths, deep breaths…

Production on our KS promo video is well underway. For the first time ever our production team was finally able to meet to begin working on our shot list. We’ve decided to keep comedy on high during the writing of the script, and now it’s about finding the best visual way to tell it!  Here’s a little sneak peak of our work:

We’ve also managed another play test at TonTon Club in the meantime.  We met with Cherouq, Roos, and Jill for a quick game. To quote them directly, “Glassassin is vriendjes politiek,” a play on the Dutch political term for “cronyism.” We had to laugh. Remember folks, this is a social game – every action will be met later with an even more vindictive response.

Also, we’ve got our completed logo from MJ. Though arduous as the process was to get the logo to look just right, we’re happy to say that MJ’s work has really paid off. It’s truly awesome. Now we’ve got her penning out the characters next. Oh please tell me, you guys are as exited to see them as we are. Maybe we’ll start showing some pencil sketches if you ask us real nicely.  We’ll probably do it anyways, but asking nicely is a good manner to keep regardless. That’s right, here at BaRPiG we believe in proper etiquette.

Here is a sneak preview of her work:

Finally, we’d like to thank all of you currently keeping up with our blog and anyone else who supports us on Facebook, Twitter, and everyday life.  We’re hoping on hosting more events for you guys, maybe even some blind play testing, so please keep on keeping up with us.  Either way we’ve got plenty more coming your way, so…

 

Till Then Keep Questing You Fine BaRPiGS

 

 

 

 

From the very first moment we stepped inside of Spiel in Essen all I could think was, “Wow.” Though I have been to conventions before (Comic-Con, Fan –Expo, etc), I have never been to a place so enormously dedicated to games as Spiel. For us, who didn’t have a booth, we spent a single exhausting day wading through the crowds handing out business cards in full costume (Jonathan got to be the princess this time) while catching time to meet with developers and manufacturers.   Needless to say we learned a lot about the future of our product as the date towards our Kickstarter launch moves closer.

Of these developments, I think the most exciting thing for us is we are finally starting to see how the next evolution of BaRPG will form. Quite recently we had the chance to sit down with one of our friends and look back at all the different versions of BaRPG we have developed.  In doing so, we have been given the chance to really look back at our game to see how it is has changed. It was the inspirational moment we needed in order to recognize what needs to happen to change BaRPG into its next evolved form.

One of the biggest changes we are facing is changing our game from a drinking game into a game that can be played at anytime, anywhere, with a system that doesn’t necessarily require drinking.  Though a “drinking game,” will still be the heart of what we have developed, we also want to broker a peace treaty with all the livers of the world.  I wish I could be more specific, but everything has to be kept hush-hush as there is still much in development – including, I will remind you, new characters to play and maybe an expansion pack if you guys show us enough love.

On the other side of things, we have been speaking with various manufacturers to discover the best possible card stock for our game. As we met with various manufacturers at Spiel, we made sure to tell them that as an experiment we would be pouring beer over the cards to test them. Well after rigorous testing and 1 can of Heineken later, we believe we found the perfect stock for longevity. Unfortunately, we can’t promise plastic at this time, as nowhere in Europe is willing to produce them and they are just too expensive to produce elsewhere. We do believe however that we are close to finding the next best thing.

It’s an exciting time for us as we divert some energy from marketing back into developing.  It means our creative brains are away from generating advertisements and back into making the best possible game we can make. I’m biting my tongue here, as I feel limited in what I can say, but allow me the moment to Trump for a second when I say what we have planned will be tremendous, the best even, and that we have a fantastic plan, the greatest of plans. I know for now this puts a lot in the air, but keep checking with us as we work on our new developments.

 

Till then, Keep Questing You Fine BaRPG’rs

One of our top comments made about our game is, “It breaks the ice in a dorky way.” In fact, we loved this comment so much that we put it on the cover of our beta back. It’s something that expresses one of my favourite parts of our game, or of any game rather, and that’s the social element.

For example, yesterday we went to the Brouwerij ‘t Ij again to play our game. What started off as a game to be played among our group of 4 quickly expanded into a full group of 7 as our usual Drmunk antics caught the eye of another table. BaRPG thus escalated into it’s usual chaos.

Admittedly this meant that our game was lagged a bit by little bursts of distraction as strangers met with strangers. Moreso as more people came to join us. Soon enough the numbers became way more than our little game could handle. Not exactly the way we expected the night to go, but hey, the more the merrier.  

By the time we did eventually have a winner, everyone seemed to be getting along quite nicely. Of course after the brewery closed we decided to keep the vibe positive with some burrito followed by a Beerio-Kart party at our place.  Who knew that one little game could result in us hosting a spontaneous house party on a usually quiet Tuesday night.

However,  it’s not just about the people you meet while playing any game, but rather, it’s also about the deeper social network you can find while developing a game as well.

This brings me to our next story. Last weekend marked the official release of Revenge of the Dictators. To celebrate this developers Black Box Adventures hosted a party in Sittard, Limburg on Sunday and had invited BaRPG to come along.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event as it gave me the chance to meet a lot of other developers – developers I will be talking to again this Thursday at Spiel in Essen.

After the event, Black Box Adventures invited us out for drinks at their local pub. It was good to chat with them and even better to be given the opportunity to pick their brains. We were very grateful to  any advice they could offer, and offer they did.

In reflection, this proves just how kind the game developing community is. I think for most of us, game developing is a hobby and so it isn’t really about the prospective business as much as it is about creating. This generates a really open air when it comes to talking with other developers, who’ve experienced a similar story and who are for the most part are excited to see others succeed.   In thinking of business I’m reminded of 80’s villains who manipulate their way to the top – but that’s just not the way it is here in game-dev world.

Anyways, as I mentioned before our next big target is Spiel, where we will be spectating but not fully participating, since we don’t have a booth. This is good because it gives us the chance to mingle around a bit without fully worrying about BaRPG. Quite honestly, I’m looking forward to the people I will get the chance to meet.

 

Till then, keep questing you fine BaRPG’ers

 

Phil & Johno

 

First of all, we have three upcoming events to interest you. First, this Saturday we will be at Roest in Amsterdam as part of their Oktoberfest. For any Amsterdamers reading this, look for the two/maybe three people in costume, because YES! we have costumes now. After that, on October 2^nd we will be at TonTon west, as part of their After Birthday Hangover celebration. Finally, we’ve been invited by our good friends from Black Box Adventures to attend the release party of Revenge of the Dictators. 

Anyways, moving on…

Well it’s official. We’ve leveled up as marketeers.  Like most, we started BaRPG at level  1, novice, our only charm, a door to door, or rather, table to table technique as we roamed around Europe in hopes of developing interest in our game. This brought us to level 2, adept, as we sold our product to retailers and began discovering venues to host events. Finally, bing-bing-bing! we’ve grown to level 3, sort of more adept, as we roam towards the Mountains of Social-Media Marketeering.  Though our stats seem right for the job, it doesn’t stop this particular part of the AD-venture from being any more imposing.

For this endeavor our playground has been North America, the continent most receptive towards our game so far (looking at you Europe/UK!).  After releasing a set of image-based ads on Facebook, we even started getting some responses, so much so that it inspired us to make our first full video commercial.  Sadly the commercial wasn’t as successful at grabbing new attention as we had hoped and instead worked well with people who had already visited our page.  Despite these results, I think we’re still more stoked in having made an actual commercial. Like, for us, that’s pretty damn cool.  We’re feeling more professional by the day!

Despite the arduous appearance of the Mountains of Social Media Marketeering, I think we’re making our way just fine. However these mountains must be taken slow as patience is our most effective tool for learning. Here’s to hoping that we find the best possible route, after all our whiteboard only has so much room.

Finally, though a little off topic, Phil has managed to have his short story, “One In Nine” published by The Writer’s Arena.  The story is available here and its judgment can be read here. Not really related to BaRPG but hey, show him some love anyway.

We’re very excited to be moving towards our next goal. In which we say Kickstarter certainly seems like a viable target.

 

Till then Keep Questing You Fine Drunks,

Phil & Johno

Jonathan and I had just finished walking the 4daagse in Nijmegen when a most inconvenient disaster hit our website. The timing couldn’t have been more off. With the past four days spent walking a total of 55k each day, we weren’t exactly properly energized to deal with any major problem. Still, it is as Forest Gump once said so effectively, “Life is like a box of chocolates…” For sanctity’s sake, that’s the quote I’m going for. I know there is a more fitting quote I could use, but I’m a gentleman, and my mama always taught me not to swear while blogging.

We can’t be 100% sure what happened to our dear old website. What we suppose happened involved our previous free webhosting server having some kind of update that knocked out our website. Comparing our story to other stories we found on Google, this doesn’t seem to be so far off. Dang.

Anyways however it happened is irrelevant. Fact of the matter, one day our website was there and the next day it wasn’t. Fortunately, Jonathan and I had been talking about re-working our website and so this misfortunate provided us the perfect opportunity to do so.  All this meant was that we would have to spend all day wracking our brains trying to remember how well our past selves prepared us for webhosting Ragnorak. Luckily, as it happened, pretty well.  Most essential information was saved, so really it was just a cut and paste job from one host to the next, paid host.

In return for our efforts, we now have a brand new website on a much more secure host. Not only does this host offer back-up, but it also comes with other fun new features, a lot of which we will be implementing as we prepare for the next step in BaRPG’s development.

In the meantime, this Friday holds another big event for BaRPG here in Amsterdam. TonTon Club West has been so kind as to host a BaRPG tournament for us, giving us another chance to show off our fantastic game. It’s looking to be a fun event.

 

Till then, keep questing you fine drunks.

-Phil

 

Our contact from game’s shop Subcultures, Rodger, smiled widely as he welcomed us into Kopi Susu on the Borneostraat. “I’ve been very curious about your game, I’ve read a lot about it” he said. The cafe was filling up with gamers, and soon tables were covered with Settlers of Catan, Sheriff of Nottingham, and another prototype game The Darken, brought in by fellow game developer Joost.

We found ourselves a table of three intrepid adventurers, and soon Simon, George (read “the Kiwi”), and David were quickly learning the ropes of BaRPG. Three rounds in Simon doomed himself, when his defense to the PaleAleDin was a confidently stated fact that he wasn’t a witch because he could float… “Ducks float too”, David answered, and then everyone else’s defense became “I’m not a witch because I’m not Simon”.

The interesting thing about this evening of BaRPG gaming was that Phil and I trialed something we had been toying with in our minds for the last few weeks. We removed one of the Vengeful Livers from the item deck. The result was a much quicker game, with steadier level progressions and faster use of other vindictive cards.

After our game and a little Cash ‘n Guns distraction our table was approached by Osiris and Anke, interest in the craziness they had seen. Phil and I asked the other three if they were willing to explain the game instead, and David took the lead. We sat by and watched as the group of 5 quickly got settled into a brand new game. After 4 rounds we left them to enjoy BaRPG, whilst Phil went to talk to fellow developer Joost, and I began a game with two other interested players, Wouter and Ayisha. Both BaRPG tables were frequently erupting into laughter soon after, and I saw the best Drmunk chain ever; A series of differently timed and placed claps that continued to escalate ridiculously.

Kopi Susu announced last rounds, and our games came to an end. We handed out business cards, had some finishing chats with everyone, and left the quaint cafe on the street corner of the Borneostraat, reliving the fun tales we had seen as we walked into the cool summer’s dusk.

What’s next? Ton Ton club in Amsterdam can’t wait to host us for their very own BaRPG night on Friday the 29th. Event details are on our Facebook calendar, so come round and experience some crazy fun for yourselves!

In the meanwhile we’re going to be a little quieter than usual. Phil and I are embarking on the Nijmegen 4 Day Marches this coming week. From Tuesday to Friday we’re going to be treading 55km each day for a grand total of 220km. It’s the 100th edition, so a big thing, and with our other two friends we will be raising money for Cancer research. We promise to get back with our tales and updates on BaRPG from next weekend on.

So, until then, keep questing you fine drunks!

~Johno

This week marked BaRPG’s first jump into the UK market. After meeting with Hugh from Rules of Play in Cardiff, Wales we were invited to showcase BaRPG at one of the shop’s gaming events which took place at The Urban Tap House last Monday.

Finally, we were given the chance to bring BaRPG across the channel and in terms of geek culture there seemed no city more appropriate than Cardiff, which in hosting two major BBC sci-fi series (Torchwood and Doctor Who), has turned itself into a regular geek Mecca. Heck, the city even has the first shrine dedicated to the death of a fictional character: Ianto Jones from Torchwood.

 

I’ll admit, we too got lured in to experiencing a bit of this culture ourselves at the Doctor Who Experience, which for the record, was way better than anything either of us was expecting.

 

But before we adventured through time and space, we had the previous night dedicated to introducing BaRPG to the Welsh. All in all we had three games played, two of which were close to being a full table! Not only did we get the chance to meet some great people, but also to see some amazing plays. In my observations I will say this, though the Welsh may not be right for rhyming (Ginstrel power), when it comes down to sieging a castle (Barbarian power)…well that’s when the real dragon starts to come out.

The final game of the night was won by Jonathan. This victorious play involved a chain of items eight cards long! Truly epic.  Whereas, play of the game goes to Phil (another Phil), who charmed (Pintcess power) a lady from Leeds by referring to her as “The Queen of the North.”

 

All in all, we’re happy with our first visit to the UK. We will certainly make plans to cross the channel again soon. Maybe England? Maybe Scotland? Maybe we’ll head to Ireland (Hi MJ!) Or maybe, just maybe, we’ll head to the sometimes all too overlooked Isle of Man. Who knows!

It was our very first true blue BaRPG event. The kind people at Roest had helped us reserve table space for at least 10 people, and were keen to see how our game would pan out. Invites sent out, notifications placed on couchsurfing and meet-up networks, and we were good to go! By 17:30 we had set up a table near the entrance, hung up the banners, and had spare packs at the ready. A quick bite to eat later and we met our first couchsurfers to arrive to the event. They were quickly followed by others, as well as avid gamers from the Amsterdam Board Game Meet-up group. By 7pm we had about 20 people sitting at now two different tables, with three packs of BaRPG out, pointing, laughing, running across the bar to touch ridiculous things, and ordering ever more pitchers of Kornuit beer. We even live-streamed the first few minutes on Facebook (check out our page for the video of me explaining the rules to my group!)

We also saw some new amazing moves being played. On my table our group actually exposed what almost became a logic loop in the item cards; A cloak was played to steal a turn, which was countered with a slender glove to steal the cloak, which in turn was taken and immediately replayed using the unknown elixir of bar top spills (you still following? This one stumped us for about 2 minutes and 5 sips as well!). Essentially the player, Marianne, had to immediately play the recovered slender glove on the elixir of bar-top spills, and put that in her hand again. The question became whether that action would then render the slender glove inactive, thereby re-instating the effect of the cloak of douchebaggery. A bit of thought later, the answer was simply ‘no’; the elixir allows you to re-use a used, and therefore discarded item, but it doesn’t cancel the former effect of that item. Nice try though!

Our full 7 player game lasted 2 hours, and Couchsurfer Eishaan took the win with a final, hard 6 roll of the dice, with no one able to stop him with any cards. Epic, haven’t seen that for a long time!

Meanwhile, Phil’s group began an action chain under the Brewids power which was quickly becoming a drinking game of chicken. The first action was to take a sip. The next person added taking a second, longer sip as the next action. And the third person in line made his added action downing the rest of your drink. Surprisingly, it lasted about 6 goes! Fair deakin to that group, pretty epic use of the Brewid! The third group constituted some of our friends who came as well, and knowing the game took other new players under the wing.

4 hours, 4 Pintcess charms, 6 races across the bar, and I-can’t-remember-how-many-beers later we wrapped things up. It was a great night, everyone had fun, and plenty of people took a pack home with them to play with friends. We’re chuffed, and were even asked if we could repeat the event on another Tuesday. Plans are looking like a pretty good yes, most likely in August! We’ll be announcing those on our social channels in due time, and probably live-feed a good hour of gameplay just for kicks! On the subject of social media channels, we’ve passed 100 followers on Twitter!

Next on the agenda, our trip to Cardiff. Our bags are almost packed, we’ve folded a handful of extra boxes for sale to take with us, and the good people at Rules of Play can’t wait to see us unleash mayhem at the Urban Tap House. Neither can we!

Until then, keep questing you fine drunks!
~Johno

First of all, quick shout out to The Writer’s Arena for inviting Phil to participate in their upcoming August challenge. Wish him luck as he gears up for whatever challenges waits. For more information, we encourage you to visit their website.

Speaking of Phil, he is finally feeling much better. As stated before he had recently caught a particular nasty strain of gastro. We’re talking four long days of high fever, stomach pain, and excessive fatigue. As Johno noted, a good way to reduce weight, maybe, but for Phil (blessed by his Shaggy like metabolism) it felt more like he was becoming the perfect embodiment of a low-level dungeon enemy.

Ah well. With that business over, things can now get back on track. So let’s start with some catch-up.

Phil’s time in Belgium was certainly rewarding enough. Starting in Bruges, Phil was given the chance to re-present BaRPG to one of our early play testers, Iris Hoogendam. For our first night, as an employee of the Bauhaus in Bruges, Iris was able to grant Phil a table to demonstrate our product. Between games of football (soccer), Phil was able to demonstrate the game to a group of Australians. The table remained up till about close to midnight. After that Phil packed it in to go meet Lee (his travel companion) who was spending time visiting her friend, Marriaan. The following morning, Marriaan was nice enough to drive Phillip and Lee to Zomerspel in Merelbeke just south of Ghent.

 

With Zomerpsel being BaRPG’s first convention, we can certainly say that it was quite the learning experience.  Not only did we get the chance to network with the game developers behind Deerlord (from Gent) and Dictators (From near Maastricht), we also managed to have our BaRPG reviewed by local Dutch reviewer Bastiaan from Nox’ Spellenzolder.  Plus by the end of the event, we even managed to get a full table together. I think this was the first time we played with veteran table toppers and let me tell you the results had more cards flying than a training camp for Gambit wannabes.

 

Today we are hosting our next event at Roest in Amsterdam. This is our first time exploring with Facebook advertising so it will be interesting to see the results. Hopefully we’ll make some new friends to help join our cause. What exactly that cause is, we’ll be sure to fine out…

 

Till then keep questing you fine drunks.

-Phil

This wasn’t supposed to be the blog post you’d expect right about now. It’s been just about a week since we ‘premiered’ BaRPG at Zomerspel, which was a smashing success! Phil did all the leg work there with our dearest friend Lee (Johno had to jet another planeload of peeps across the skies above Europe), and really he should be telling us all about their adventures…

but Phil is down for the count. We’ve both been hit with a nasty stomach bug. I got the brunt of it about a week ago, and low and behold Phil’s been hit now too, hard.

He’s got some great stories and amazing pictures from Zomerspel however (shout out to the Deerlord and Dictator guys!), and I don’t wanna steal that thunder from him. Our next blog will be his, all about Zomerspel.

So what’s been happening since? We’ve been selling a couple more packs through online sales, mainly again to the US. One of our customers even gave us a little insight into how he found out about BaRPG, which was revealing and insightful towards our marketing campaign.

In the meantime event planning continues. We’ve got a great thing going with Ton Ton club in Amsterdam, basically a great mix of a 80’s style arcade and gaming cafe/restuarant all in one. They’ve now got two copies of BaRPG to lend customers. The last pack they had
played with was so successful, someone decided to take it home! We’re loving those kinds of stories, naturally not because we endorse theft or that loss to Ton Ton club, but more because it shows us people really like the game! Enough to steal it! How’s that for success?!

Our gaming night in Cardif draws nearer too, and Phil and I both have a feeling that’s gonna be a turning point for us into the UK market. And a recent stopover to visit friends in Brussels brought our attention to the Brussels Games Festival over there, something we’re now also working towards getting up on the calendar.

First things first, next Tuesday it’s Amsterdam Roest and our very first, all ours, just ours, gaming night. I’m looking forward to it and after this post I’m gonna be a social media spammer in getting it up into the searchlights. So, once again, Zomerspel review is coming… just gotta nurse my babe back to health.

Until then, keep questing you fine drunks!

~Johno