When 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. Add Comment Welcome to AnSR-entertainments.com... again. 01/09/2012
After 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:
One 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. A'n'SR is moving domains 12/31/2011
A'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. d12 Coins - A Fun, Free Game from A'n'SR 12/13/2011
Here 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 A'n'SR's Game Making Process 11/04/2011
One 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. 2012 A'n'SR -entertainments Goals 10/24/2011
Each year (if you've been reading our news blog you know), we gather together over lunch and decide what products we are going to release and when. It's tough, because Aaron has so many ideas, and Stephanie usually has a good reality check on production time and resources. As always, we try to have 3 products a year at minimum with a stretch goal or two. In 2012, we're going to try to take it easy since 2011 threw us so many curve balls. So, without further adieu, here are the 2012 A'n'SR -entertainments goals:
So, there it is, 6 gotta-do's and 3 optional goals for the next year. As we move closer to the end of 2011, we'll reveal more about the mystery game for 2012 and our long-term supplement plans for both it and WyshMaykers. Every October, we go off and plan what we want to do for the next year. It's a fun meeting, usually over a long lunch at a local restaurant. This year is no different. As it stands, here's what is on the list of considerations (in no particular order):
2011 in Review 10/10/2011
For A'n'SR -entertainments, we usually stop putting games out by October so we can plan for the next year and play a whole lot of games ourselves. As such, we like to take stock of how we did each year around that time. 2011 has been a great year of A'n'SR -entertainments. We have finally got our footing under us and are doing better than we had hoped. So that you can appreciate our success as much as we do, here's a look at what we set out to do, what we did, and what that means for us. It's kind of like the Steve Jackson Games Annual Report (which we greatly admire), but not as cool. ***The Goals*** When we began 2011, we set out with the following goals:
***How We Did*** As of right now, here is where we stand:
***Other Accomplishments and Incidents*** In addition to publishing 2 more -U- Options books than planned, we also we forced to make some updates to other things that were totally not on the schedule.
Overall, 2011 was a really good year for A'n'SR. We accomplished all of our golas for the year, which is a clear win. Sales wise, it was our best year to date (2009 being 2nd runner-up and 2010 being the lowest yet) with September and August being our 2nd and 3rd best months ever in our history. Product wise, it was the fullfilment of a lot of dreams and work began on the dream that really started it all, our game about [redacted]. WyshMaykers Designer Notes - Things We Tried 10/05/2011
In WyshMaykers, characters can make anything they can imagine come true with a wysh. When building the game a few things that we tried just didn't feel right, and no amount of Wyshing could make them work for the game we wanted to create. Here a few of the things that ended up cut out or re-worked for the game. ***Wyshing as a Stat or Ability*** WyshMaykers uses -U- the Game of Stories for its mechanical game base. In -U- anything that is not an attribute, a Study, or an Item is an Ability. When we first began, we made the power of wyshing an Ability. Since dots in an Ability could be used and added to an attribute when attempting that Ability, it gave players 2 chances (at minimum) to make a successful wysh (X + Wyshing Ability). When going through the game with that, it made wyshing feel a little cheap and the math of X + Wyshing + Studies or Items was more cumbersome than we liked. So... we nixed the idea of characters having that Ability. Less math, the better. Our next though was to have Wyshing as its own attribute along with Action, Thought, and X. We quickly found that X just wasn't getting used all that much as a lot of the social aspects of the game that X usually covers was being done by the players and not die rolls (guess we had very social players, huh.). Finally, we opted to use the core rule of -U- the Game of Stories that the X attribute stood for anything not Action and Thought... including wyshing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ***Colleges*** Wyshing is a pretty broad ability. It lets a person do anything they can imagine. One of the ideas we toyed around with was a list of subjects people could wysh about. Players would then have to buy a study in a certain area of knowledge and could only make wyshes about that part of knowledge. For instance, a character could have Water Wyshing as a Study; this would allow them to make wyshes only about water and things involving water. This, however, led to a lot of game-world questions and answers we didn't like. Who taught them how to wysh about that area of knowledge? Why did they get so limited? How in the world do you limit that? The questions got worse as we started coming up with the colleges of knowledge. In the end, we decided to allow characters to be able to wysh about whatever it is that they knew about. Much easier to jump in playing and a whole lot less questions to answer. Don't worry though, we will probably still use the idea in a later game. ***The Human Factor*** One of the things that we personally find intriguing is the normal people vs not-so-normal people conflict in games and fiction. The idea goes something like this: Super-powered individuals can do things that normal folks can't. So what happens when the super-powered people decide that normal folks are wrong? How does the normal folks protect themselves and regain control of their own destinies? Because we liked that idea, we played with an anti-Society of non-WyshMaykers hunting down those with the power of wyshing. The idea, however quickly fell apart, and the Setting did not really support the idea beyond a single campaign. Instead, we decided to just concentrate on the struggles within the WyshMaykers. To see what worked in the game, feel free to pick up your own copy of WyshMaykers ( http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=94202&affiliate_id=229603 ) | A'n'SR
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