<![CDATA[A'n'SR -entertainments - News]]>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:23:02 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[A'n'SR's Best Month Ever = Free Book]]>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:41:06 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/04/ansrs-best-month-ever-free-book.htmlAnytime A'n'SR -entertainments beats their best month in sales, we believe we should reward those who made it possible with a free book.

With the release of Angels - the Game of Divine Stories, April 2012 has been the best month ever for A'n'SR game sales. To celebrate, everyone who purchased something from us in April will get our June release for free. It's a little way to say thank you for the great month, we hope you enjoy it.  

For those of you who purchased something, be on the lookout for a coupon by e-mail. For those of you who didn't, there's still time... or May.  

Thank you again. 
-A'n'SR

]]><![CDATA[Angels - the Game of Divine Stories Now Available!]]>Mon, 09 Apr 2012 07:29:37 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/04/angels-the-game-of-divine-stories-now-available.htmlGo ahead. Read the headline, again. Cool huh? We think it says it all. Angels - the Game of Divine Stories is now available for download exclusively at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow. If you like, you can check out a snippet of the game for free with the Angels - Essentials book... but you're going to want more. And besides, it's only $4.99.  

LINK:  http://www.rpgnow.com/product/101165/Angels---the-Game-of-Divine-Stories   

What you get:
  -  A tablet-friendly game book.
  -  A full Setting about the world of Angels.
  -  All the rules needed to role-play Angels.
  -  A whole Print2Play book of game sheets and records
  -  Our deep-felt thanks for your purchase.

Warning:  Angels contains references to Christian beliefs, Angels, Demons, God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell, fiath, hope, and love. If you are offended by such things, don't buy this book. ]]><![CDATA[Angels Delayed]]>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:06:19 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/04/angels-delayed.htmlAngels - the Game of Divine Stories was scheduled for a March release date. We were poised to release it, when the hard drive crashed on the PC that had all the final edits. Luckily, we back things up pretty regularly, but it put us back a little bit.   

Angels will be out in April. We ar
]]><![CDATA[Angels Designer Notes - Influences]]>Sat, 03 Mar 2012 09:17:17 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/03/angels-designer-notes-influences.htmlAngels - the Game of Divine Stories (coming March 2012) is a game where players portray the servants of God in a war for human souls. Even before making this game, the topic of God's Angels have always been something of a cool concept to us. So, for those interested, here's our list of blatant influences on the game world and general reading that helped shape our thoughts about these beings.  

*** In Nomine ***
Aaron has been a fan of Steve Jackson Games since he went looking for a game that he could GM a space game with for his players in high school. Stephanie has raised in a Christian home and church and believes in Angels. So, when Steve Jackson Games announced a game about Angels, there was something there for both of us. We started playing In Nomine the day it was released, met the author of the game at GenCon before it arrived in stores, and made it our go-to fun game for years. We have all the supplements, read every book 3 times, and even wore out a copy of the core rulebook. Eventually, we started moving the story forward in our games, blew up the world, started over again, and morphed it into something so non-In Nomine, we almost forgot what the original game was like. In Nomine is a very strong influence for Angels, and if you are familiar with both games, you will likely find a few familiar elements in it and some winks and nods to the great game that we spent so much time playing.

*** White Wolf Games ***
When we went looking for how to write the game book, we had a few options. We thought about doing it like our 2011 release WyshMaykers with a story telling about the world, but we couldn't get it to work right (we have lots of stories thought out of the deal). We thought about making it 3 book (rules, Setting, and Print2Play) each as a separate item. That didn't feel right. We even through about just putting the Setting book out as a supplement to -U- the Game of Stories. Finally, Aaron picked up an old Vampire the Masquerade book while going through stuff in the basement. From then on, he was determined that the book be a factual, "this is our world, differnetly" type style of writing and layout, with the rules being sectioned off a little more. This one worked... especially with the influence below.

*** Lucifer, the comic book ***
The Lucifer comic book from DC Comics / Vertigo Comics is one of the best representations of the character of Lucifer we hae ever read. No, really. He is a beautiful, blond, blue-eyed, selfish monstronsity that does as he wants in hopes to be his own being and not one of God's pawns. Mike Carey and Peter Gross nailed it, and we truely believe "L", as we call him, acts and look just like he did in the comics.


*** The NOOK ***
Stephanie has a Barnes & Noble Color NOOK. She loves her NOOK. She reads a lot more on her NOOK than she does real books these days (outside of comic books, that is). Because her NOOK has allowed her to read more, we decided to cater to that. When we were designing a layout and fonts and whatnot for the PDF of the book, we loaded it on her NOOK and checked out what it looked like. 8.5 x 11 inches was too big for the page, especially with sidebars. So, we opted for a smaller size. In effect, the NOOK made the decision for us to make a tablet edition of the Angels book. We're working on how it will work for the Print On Demand side of things.

*** The Bible ***
Angels is non-abashadly a game about Christian ideals. It has the death of Christ being a major turning point in the war. It tells about the creation of the world from an Angelic point of view. It even goes as far as saying that if you don't know God, you go to hell. A lot of the philosophy behind the game world comes from the Holy Bible. Above all of the things listed above, the Bible had the the most influence on the game. Because of this, Angels is a game for mature audiences who can handle a a point of view that may not reflect their own. Of course, the great thing about role-playing games, is that you can morph them into whatever you want, or use them to explore ideas. Hopefully you'll do both.

Next Time: More about the biblical influences.



]]><![CDATA[A'n'SR -entertainments' New Role-Playing Game is...]]>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:05:20 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/01/ansr-entertainments-new-role-playing-game-is.htmlWhen A'n'SR -entertainments first started (in 2008), we made 3 games around a common theme. 1 game was a card game with character cards, ability cards, and dice made out of stickers and wood cubes. A second game was a customizable board game where characters progressed through stories via a series of events. The third game was a role-playing game about that world.

This was our beginnings. We had a lot of fun playing and making these games, but we made zero money producing them. The roleplaying game morphed over time, and what was once a single-Setting set of games became -U- the Game of Stories (our core RPG). We' have been using -U- to tell stories in this same Setting for well over 4 years now on a very consistant basis. In a weird way, this game and this Setting is what started A'n'SR -entertainments. It is the thing that we have been trying to do and get right and playtest more than any other game. Finally, we think we're ready to release it in 2012.  

In 2012, A'n'SR -entertainments is pleased to announce Angels - the Game of Divine Stories.  

Much like WyshMaykers, Angels will be released as a full game, with all of the rules (-U- the Game of Stories) and Setting information players and Story Referees need. We are in some of the final stages of art and content editing of the book now, and it should be on digital bookshelves by the end of March 2012. This is the game that started it all, and we hope you enjoy playing and reading this one as we have over the years. It has truly been a staple of the A'n'SR family for quite some time, and we couldn't be more excited about seeing it come to life after 4 years. 

P.S.:  We might still do the card game and board game idea one day.

]]><![CDATA[Welcome to AnSR-entertainments.com... again.]]>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:10:04 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/01/welcome-to-ansr-entertainmentscom-again.htmlAfter a little heartache and time, www.AnSR-entertainments.com is now back online and in its new home. This is a good thing. That's just one of the goals for 2012 crossed off the list. For those of you counting at home, here's the rest of what we have in store: 

  1. Make $15 profit to pay for the website (always a goal)
  2. Release the Print On Demand editions of -U- the Game of Stories and WyshMaykers core rule books  
  3. Release a new self-contained role-playing game that uses -U- the Game of Stories as its base game mechanics by the end of March 2012  
  4. Release 1 WyshMaykers supplement by the end of June 2012  
  5. Release 1 supplement for the new game by September 2012  
  6. COMPLTED - Move the URL AnSR-entertainments to this website (officially)  
  7. (Optional) Release a new edition of DiColumns (with a theme)  
  8. (Optional) Release a 2nd supplement for the new role-playing game  
  9. (Optional) Make a whole host of supplements for WyshMaykers and the new role-playing game for 2013 release. 

]]><![CDATA[A'n'SR -entertainments Domian changes moving well]]>Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:56:51 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2012/01/ansr-entertainments-domian-changes-moving-well.htmlOne of our 2012 goals was to transfer where our website was to avoid and wxtra $72 dollars a year of stuff we didn't want. We're dead in the middle of that process. So, if you see some mess around the website, we apologize. ]]><![CDATA[A'n'SR is moving domains]]>Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:44:31 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2011/12/ansr-is-moving-domains.htmlA'n'SR -entertainments originally created the domain AnSR-entertainments.com over at OfficeLive from Microsoft. One of our goals for 2012 is to move that domain name to officially point to this website (we like Weebly.com's services a little better, sorry. Today we have begun that process.

So, for those of you attempting to find us via www.AnSR-entertainments.com, that address will be in flux for the next week or so while we cancel and move it to here. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience.
]]><![CDATA[d12 Coins - A Fun, Free Game from A'n'SR]]>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:49:53 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2011/12/d12-coins-a-fun-free-game-from-ansr.htmlHere is a great little 2-player betting game that you can play with 12 coins and a twelve-sided die (a.k.a. a d12). We call it: d12 Coins.  

Set-up:  
Have each player bring 6 coins of equal value to the table. Place all 12 coins tails-side up in a row and number them 1 through 12. Each player chooses "evens" or "odds" for the game. Choose a player to start.  

Playing the Game:  
On their turn each player rolls the d12 and turns over the coin of the corresponding number. If they roll their own number (i.e. the evens player rolls an even number), then they can opt to not turn over the coin. When a player has all of their coins heads-side up (all of the even-numbered coins for the evens player or all the odd-numbered coins for the odds player) the game is over. The winning player takes all of the heads-side up coins as their winnings. The other player takes the tails-side up coins.  

Enjoy this little game, and be on the lookout for a very expanded version of this game using twelve-sided dice, coins, and more.   

-A'n'SR

]]><![CDATA[A'n'SR's Game Making Process]]>Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:49:04 -0600http://www.ansr-entertainments.com/1/post/2011/11/ansrs-game-making-process-part-i.htmlOne of the big things we've been working on this year is our new role-playing game. We're going to release it in March of 2012. We've been working on it all year this year. While we're at the end of the process (including playtesting), we thought we'd let you in on our process that seems to have taken shape in developing our role-playing games. With WyshMaykers and this new one almost under our belt, a definite best practice and process has been solidified. 

*** The Overall Flow *** 
Making a game is basically like running a project in an office job, only more fun. You come up with your requirements, you determine your resources, you delegate or hire whatever it is you need to make the dream happen, and you work a lot on the follow-through of the plan. Beyond that, it is just details. 

*** The Requirements *** 
The primary requirements for any role-playing game can be simplified into 6 basic things: The game system, the setting, the art, the flavor text, the format(s), and the playtesting/editing. Sometimes there are a few extra considerations, but most stuff falls into those six. 

*** The Resources ***  The next thing is the Resources. We're small fish, and the only money we use to fund our games (for now) is money made on previous games. One day we may do a kickstarter project, but for now, what we have works for what we want to do. That being said, we have a limited pool of resources we trust and use. Primarily, we do everything in-house. Aaron does the art (he's getting better, honest) and the first pass of most of the writing. Stephanie does some of the writing and the (brutal) editing. Everyone (Aaron, Stephanie, family, friends, and whatnot) helps in the playtesting, with Stephanie being the lynch-pin in the process. So, beyond the sweat-equity put into our games, there are very little outside resources. 

*** Making it Happen ***  Once we know what we want and know who's working on what, we begin the longest part of the process, making it happen. It usually comes in phases with the rule being made (or altered), a quick playtest using a skeleton of the Setting, then Setting writing and flavor-text writing happens (with playtesting going on during the writing to flesh out things). Then an artless 1st draft is reviewed for editing. Then, the art begins to get drawn while more playtesting comes about. And Finally, the cover and the art are placed in the book with the final editing comments. All the while, we are making sure we stick to the core idea of the plan, and make sure we follow-through on the original plan. Quite franly, we'll probably do an entire post about this later. 

*** The Release ***  After all the work is done, we finally release the product on the date specified by the project plan. This is the fun part. It is great to see the sales come in, the comments on the boards, and even do a little promotion of the product. It is also in this part of the game that we look for ideas and things that people want to see next in the line or as a supplement. ]]>