How am I Making Spell Saga™ 2nd Edition? (part 2)

Hi, I’m Todd Michael Rogers (hold for scorn). I am writing this on the desk I made from an IKEA headboard. My wife and kid are out of town for the next 10 days, visiting family while I finish launching Spell Saga and recording an LP with my band “Beset.”.

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(Here’s a clip from our first show back after the false-end to the pandemic).

(Sometimes the Instagram embed gets screwy so here’s a direct ( LINK )).

And I know what you're thinking: “Todd, I thought blogs were only for people who made vague promises of finishing a project, what gives?” And to this I say: how DARE you. This is a NEWSLETTER. And people with Newsletters are Finishers of Things. It’s part of the Oath of Self-is-now-Brand that all creatives took during the sunset days of our modern society.

4,000 years ago, a century-long drought caused the worldwide collapse of civilization. And here we are again: parched to the brink for media that will move us. The purpose of art has been poisoned. The methods have been corrupted. They did this: The people who forgot that art is a religion. That making and receiving are holy actions. They will prey upon your nostalgia! They will mutilate your childhood dreams!!!

Don’t let ‘em. Don’t become them.

Whether you are an artist, a patron, or both. Make cool shit. And support those that do.

Here’s me drawing on a makeshift desk, while the baby sleeps in her carseat on “vacation” (whatever that is).

I have been working on the same project for 15 months straight, from mid-pandemic, to our culturally enforced make-believe end of it. That project is called: Spell Saga™ 2nd Edition. And I’m going to tell you all about it. But first, a roadmap is needed, because this answer is going to be spread out across three separate newsletters:

WHY & WHAT (LINK)

HOW ( LINK)

HOW (You are reading this now!)

WHEN (Available June First !)

Carry is my favorite part of All our Uncounted Stars. He’s a poet and Paladin Hunter (with a Hunter Rank of #5 in all The Highlands!)

HOW (the releases might look)

1

Let’s talk about MVPs.

Part of my plan to create a multi-million dollar brand with Spell Saga™ is to harness some of the theories behind The Lean Manufacturing movement in Japan. I settled on this pretty early on in my research and the more books I read proved I was in good company. These books taught me that success is all about constantly testing, and knowing which parts of your business to fine-tune with those test results.

That’s where the MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, comes into play. The whole idea is to not put out a finished product because I don’t know what product I’m making. You're going to tell me. I have an idea, of course. And that’s what I’ll present to you. A Minimum Viable Product with no bells, no whistles, just a rough version of what I think you’ll like. Together, we’ll be able to test my ideas and even my graphic design choices, and we’ll be able to release shit a lot quicker.

Wardrobe and colors for Pock, whom you’ll meet next month in All Our Uncounted Stars.

2

Giving you at least three decks a year is of paramount importance to me. And we can do this by using MVPs and Split-Testing. For example, there will likely be more than one version of an MVP running at any given time. Your reactions to them will allow me to contrast and compare the best options for every release.

Each Deck will have a few months of fine-tuning in the above manner, and when we decide together the product is ready for mass consumption, it will go on sale, most likely in various states of media (more on that in a later post).

Test Icons for 2nd Edition. These are a direct result of players of all languages asking for game icons for the past 9 years.

But remember, Spell Saga™ 2nd Edition is more than just a card game. And to that end, my MVP is the entire website, with pieces of the experience (the tabletop novel, the lore section, etc.) being unveiled weekly throughout the next month or so. None of it will be finished, but all of it will be ready for you to enjoy. It is through your actions, messages, and comments that I’ll be able to build the best brand possible, quickly and efficiently.

See? You are absolutely integral to the successful enactment of these plans.

HOW (you’re going to do it with me)

3

Spell Saga™ 2nd Edition is already a full-time job. The problem is that it makes no money. So I have a shit-job™ as well. My partner has been incredibly understanding. And I’ve done pretty well: balancing art, family, and serving Pinot Blah-Blah over the past 15 months, but the constant workload is killing me.

Right now I see two viable paths to working on Spell Saga™ full time. The First Path is of course the eventual sales of the finished products. I have no doubt that everyone’s design help and the lessons learned from Paper Engine will eventually bring in good money for all my hard work. But that is an untested theory, and sales are a bit down the road from now.

In an act I’ll be sure to regret, let me share this picture of me posing as Pock in my daughter’s room. I hav to be in my underwear to see how the muscles work : (
Remember ya’ll, art ain’t cool!

4

Here’s an ITEM card sketch for a Mechanical Ostrich. This is from a future release called The Discordant Shore.

Let’s talk about The Weatherguard.

The Second Path is only a vision, but I think I see the way to get there. Fans of Spell Saga have been referring to themselves as The Weatherguard for almost a decade now. I think it’s time we do something with this and create a way to guard against the bad weather of production and design…

My plan is to combine old-school mail-in fan clubs with the subscription plan of a streaming service. We’ll call it Drip Donation. I have untested theories for how to do this, and we can start testing them soon. Let’s say, next month?

Patreon sucks. Kickstarter sucks. All the platforms suck. Because they miss the point entirely.

I imagine a future where fans of a certain work might feel obligated to keep that work alive. To take care of the person making it. Hell, let’s say a project is finished, and the artist didn’t sell it to Disney. How do they survive? We can take care of them.

Another so-called vacation. This was on a beach in California, while I play tested an early build of The Discordant Shore. No, I’m not a drug addict. My daughter picked these pants out. And I would do anything for her. Including drugs.

Drip Donation is a form of applause. It is a physical manifestation of the hopes of the consumer, and the belief they have in the work. It is people taking into their own hands what artwork will continue to survive. It is an act of solidarity with the artist because they made something that moved you. And the gift is given for two concurrent reasons: you wanted to thank them and you hope to be moved again.

We have been wired by the greed of others to give money for more shit. For extra shit. But Spell Saga is free. It will always be free. And I don’t mind sending people cool surprises or exclusive perks, but paying for goods and services misses the point entirely.

If I never bought another comic book in my life, I’d still be happy to send Brian Michal Bendis, Jeff Smith, and Brian K Vaughn a dollar a month each. Just imagine if all their fans did this. For no other reason but to support the artist whose work supported the consumer at one time or another.

It’s a theory. I don’t know. We’ll try it. The truth is there’s just no way to make Spell Saga™ 2nd Edition without a constant stream of income. But I’ll do my best.

ADDENDUM A LA HAZARDS

5

Another ITEM card sketch. This time for a shield from The Discordant Shore. You can take the kid from the manga section, but you can’t take writing words and phrases all over objects from the kid’s memory. This is a big thing in Spell Saga 2nd Edition. I just really like the idea of self-obsessed rockstars and drunk little creatures writing messages and graffiiti all over the shit they kill each other with.

It’s been five months since my wife nearly died of Covid. We were vaxxed, boosted, AND careful. But now I have some strange form of long-covid. I have an inhaler with me at all times, and arthritis in my knees and fingers where I didn’t have any before. I lost three months of progress to illness and injury. And I can’t remember certain words.

But I am on the mend! Some days are worse than others. And my slight debilitation is only more fuel to get the Continual Donation plans up and running, to get away from a very physically demanding job where I am more than likely to catch this shit again. I do hope these ailments won’t affect any of my plans, but it would be irresponsible not to mention it.

The pandemic isn’t over. Wear a mask. N95 or kN95. Covid might not kill you, but a secondary infection--even a toothache!--could be a death sentence if your body is busy fighting off this shit.

Hail, Weatherguard. Hail, Minstrels, and more: I wish us all the best.

Tune in next week for WHEN we’re going to do this.

-mE.

PS

Spell Saga™ will always be free! But I make this project alone, wasting hours that could be spent providing for my family. In short: I am poor and lonely. A nice email or donation to my Venmo @SUBHEATHEN is often the best part of my day (you are of course free to decline the offer).