View From the Bushes

I didn't post on Saturday because I didn't get around to it. I didn't post on Monday because I was tired of making excuses for why the adventure wasn't done, which if it was a good reason on Monday was an even better reason on Tuesday. Basically, the adventure will be done when it's done. The guy I have wiring it up assures me that that will be tonight, but fate has not been kind to him. He also thought it would be done last Saturday, but calamities too numerous to mention have befallen him in the last two weeks, so I'm through with making predictions, it will be done when it's done. Now obviously that's not what you wanted to hear, and it's not what I wanted to say either. You deserve an explanation so that's what you'll get, though don't blame me if it's long and boring.

I've alluded to this several times in previous blogs, but essentially the pace I set with DireKobold was unsustainable, for lots of reasons. First publishing a Xenogenic adventure is probably at least 3x (probably closer to 5x) as tough as publishing a "flat" adventure, and I was publishing three a month, essentially the same pace as Dungeon magazine, which has a staff of at least of half a dozen, but doing all the work by myself, while working my day job and trying to raise four kids six and under. Your two thoughts are of course, "You were insane" and "That's not your subscribers fault," both of which are undeniably true.

Of course, the plan was that eventually it would start making a profit and I could use that profit to pay some poor college student to help me "wire" the adventures. After four months of working 90+ hours I realized that I needed help, even if I wasn't profitable, if the business was going to survive. Based on that, I went through about a half dozen people trying to find the right mix of independence, computer savvy, D&D knowledge, reliability, cheapness, etc. Unfortunately, and especially with my limited budget, I'm still working on finding that person. Which is one of the reasons why I've given the guy who's currently helping me so much time. Of course, meeting a reasonable deadline is ultimately my responsibility not his.

It was also unsustainably financially. I was paying huge sums every month to authors, artists, cartographers, advertisers, conventions, employees, etc. and during my best months I was only getting a small fraction of that back. In retrospect I probably should have charged more from the beginning, but maybe that wouldn't have worked either… Regardless, I could only continue at that pace for a limited time before breaking the bank. At the moment there is still a reasonable amount of capital left, so before I run the bank account to zero on an unsustainable plan, I would like to leave some money to see if I can come up with a sustainable idea.

Along with the two perennial villains of time and money there are a host of other issues which have conspired against me, which are too banal to waste any space on.

So the upshot of all this is the restructuring which I announced several months ago, though to my shame I haven't been as forthright as I could have been. Even though I would love to continue publishing three adventures a month and improve with each adventure it's simply not possible, and I have known this for a couple of months. My plan is to change the publishing schedule and the nature of the publishing such that I can continue to run DireKobold for many, many years. So why have I procrastinated?

Well, first off, no matter what I do people are going to be disappointed, and though intellectually I know that I can't be afraid of disappointing others, on an emotional level I keep thinking that if I am patient enough that something will come along, solve all of the issues and let me keep everyone happy.

Secondly, I want to make sure I get it right this time. I don't want to have to go through this same agonizing process again six months from now.

Finally (though this is closely related to the first point) I have all these deals, agreements, plans, commitments, etc. which have to be worked into whatever changes I decide to make. Foremost among these commitments is all my current subscribers, but it also includes my commitment to finish out Wil Upchurch's Adventure Path, my commitment to publish a Midnight adventure, and other commitments I'm not at liberty to divulge.

So where does this leave the site? Well, for starters because of (well-founded) public outcry I'm posting this before I've 100% (I'm like 90%) decided on the plan, so I can't tell you everything but I can tell you this:

1- For those subscribers who are unhappy and just want out (generously pro-rated) refunds will be offered.
2- After the next adventure, DireKobold adventures will be sold individually for between $5-$12 (depending on the length) and released about one every month or two (once again, depending on the length).
3- In general, the adventures are going to run longer, have more setting info and more new OGC.
4- Subscribers will not have to pay for the adventurers individually, but rather they'll get them for free.
5- At some point, the face value of the new adventures will vastly exceed the amount of money a subscriber has paid (especially since we're going to stop renewing memberships) at which point current subscribers will have to start buying the adventures individually just like everyone else.
6- Stand alone Xenogenic NPC's and encounters will be released once a week (starting this Saturday), to help fill the void between adventures.

Like I said, this isn't 100% finalized but it should give you a much better idea of what's going on and what the future holds for DireKobold. I apologize for my short-sightedness and the delays and hope that you'll continue to enjoy DireKobold.com. As always, feel free to comment here, post in the forums or e-mail me directly.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross