In our FINAL, extra-long episode, Kristian and Tracy are joined by community member and SWAG author, John Doom, to talk about letting go of your projects once you finish them, and then we answer some questions people had from our discord server. Goodbye everyone! And thanks for listening!  The discord server will remain open, so come join us! Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

On our penultimate episode, Kristian and Tracy tackle the topic of feedback and criticism. How to seek it, how to take it, and how to give it. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Kristian and Tracy meander through the topic of genre, but more specifically, how to facilitate creating the stories you want to tell. Though we use genre as a medium to do that, we also use other tropes, mechanics, and even expectations (whether we meet them or subvert them) to not just tell, but SHOW our players and their heroes what our game is all about.  Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Kristian and Tracy invite virtual table top guru, developer, and overall awesome guy, Chris Valentine to talk about the promise and perils of virtual table tops. The discussion ranges from what's out there, what's possible, what's doable, and what perhaps is too much. We talk about VTTs from a designer's perspective, and what we need to do to get our work into module format, how they get developed for the various platforms, pricing, and more. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Kristian and Tracy are joined by the amazing Karl Keesler. Karl is a graphic designer by trade, and has been the designer for several PInnacle Entertainment books for Savage Worlds, including Pinebox Middle School, Lost Colony, Holler, Deadlands, the companions and many more. He also created the trade dress for Han Cluster, and for Kristian and Jen's upcoming Campaign Cartomancy. We talk to Karl about the purpose and importance of creating a cohesive look for your product, how to approach and communicate with a graphic designer, and a few other tricks and tidbits. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Darrell Hayhurst joins Kristian and Tracy once again, this time to talk about creating archetypes for your setting. Who are the characters who inhabit and accomplish things in your setting? How do they do it? And why? Archetypes can jumpstart a player's immersion into your world, and doing it well takes a number of sometimes conflicting factors into account. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

Kristian and Tracy are joined by Darrell Hayhurst in what will be two sister episodes. This week we talk about tailoring your rules to your setting. How to make them work together, compliment each other, and reinforce the intent and theme of the game. The rules of the setting can make a GMs life easier, while also immersing players into a particular world simply by interacting with what the rules of the world encourage them to do. Most of all, we talk about how to make them fun. Next week we'll continue the discussion as we explore the creation of archetypes. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

Tracy and Kristian tackle the daunting problem of getting your project to the finish line. Executing that last 10% is many ways harder than the first 90%, and this is just as true in game production as it is in project management or engineering. After discussing the problem in depth, Tracy and Kristian have some valuable tips you can employ that can help make that final 10% easier. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week Kristian takes center stage as he and Tracy talk about creating a web presence for your brand. Tracy admits all her failings in this regard, and Kristian gets on his soapbox about not using social media as your company's primary residence on the web. We offer some tips and action items to provide focus to your efforts and maybe make this difficult endeavor a TAD less daunting... but no promises!

This week, Kristian an Tracy follow on from last episode and talk about playtesting your game. When do you start? What does "fail faster" mean? What is most and least valuable about the process, when is it best to participate yourself, and when should you just shut up and watch? Everyone does it differently, but this is a look at the subject with no assumptions and fresh eyes as we try to justify our answers with real-world experience.

This week, Kristian and Tracy discuss the sometimes (but not always) contradictory goals of creating a game that we think will sell, versus creating the game we want to play. It's a nuanced topic and in our weird industry of creating "experiences," trying to find a balance between these two goals sometimes leads to difficult and risky decisions. The Han Cluster PreOrder Store! - https://han-cluster.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Tracy and Kristian deep dive into the seemingly endless decisions leading up to and during crowdfunding. Tracy discusses the Han Cluster BackerKit campaign in terms of everything from choosing the platform, to deciding on the offering, to setting funding goals, to creating pledge tiers, and much more.  There's multiple reasons behind EVERY decision, and this is just an introduction to some of them. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Tracy and Kristian Tracy talk about what SHE experienced BEHIND THE SCENES leading up to and during her crowdfunding campaign for Han Cluster, including the breaking out of a full-blown trade war in the middle of the funding period. We pull back the curtain completely on some of the most difficult and stressful aspects of bringing a design project to the marketplace. This is the moment when time, money, sweat and tears all come together in a culmination of discovery: Do we have viable product or don't we? There is no easy way to go through this, especially as a new creator, and since this podcast aims be honest and inform, we wanted to give a fair warning about how difficult this can become so that you can go in with your eyes wide open. At the same time, since we want to inspire as well, we also want to impress that there IS a payoff to all this, you just have to take the leap to get to it. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

Tracy and Kristian finally get into some of the nitty gritty of laying out your book and other products for an audience to consume. Though this is primarily a high level overview of how layout programs (like InDeisgn and Affinity) work and "think," it's also a dense exploration of everything from basic concepts to best-practices as you move from the word-processor or note-taking ecosystem into the the brave new world of product layout (or you just start there, like Tracy, cuz she's "crazy!"). This is an episode you might revisit multiple times as you level up your game, and we'll definitely revisit the topic in the future. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Kristian and Tracy explore some of the roadblocks that can get in the way of our creative selves. These may include the world around us, external pressures, or our own inner demons. We have an honest discussion about what we do to keep going, how our creations themselves can be our voices for change and a advocating for a better world, and the little tricks and tips we've learned to keep our minds healthy and our work productive without killing ourselves. The Han Cluster on BackerKit! - https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/ede-sol-games/han-cluster-optimistic-sci-fi-rpg?ref=podcast-link Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week, Tracy and Kristian talk about the strategies and challenges of building your audience, not only for your game, but for you as its creator. We cover some of our own anecdotal experience navigating these tricky waters, emphasizing not the marketing and hype of it, but the benefit of nurturing genuine relationships when you're able. We talk about both being authentic to yourself and ways to protect yourself. And we even talk about cultivating that small group of engaged people around you who can help widen your net to a much larger audience with their enthusiasm.

This week, Tracy and Kristian take some time to decompress. With Han Cluster's crowdfunding and all the anxiety and excitement that comes with it in full swing, we look back on our big projects with an informal discussion of how they started, how we solved certain problems, and ultimately how they turned into run-away freight trains we could no longer control. In all seriousness, this episode tangentially explores topics of creativity, motivation, perseverance, the struggle against those who want to tear you down, and both the rewards these things can bestow, and the toll they can take on those of us who can't help ourselves. We hope that maybe you'll see a little of your own experiences in ours, and maybe that shared connection is enough to keep us all going. The Han Cluster on BackerKit! - https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/ede-sol-games/han-cluster-optimistic-sci-fi-rpg?ref=podcast-link Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

This week Tracy and Kristian are joined by Jodi Black, President of Carolina Game Tables and lead editor at Pinnacle Entertainment. We dive into the complex but rewarding world of running your own business (particularly as it applies in the US, since that's what we're familiar with). We talk about the different business entity types from Sole Proprietorships to C-Corps, what might be right for you, and how you can start small and think big. We dive into the benefits that setting up a proper business entity offers, and even touch on the challenge of collecting and paying sales and use taxes for products. This is a dense episode with a lot of information, but it's okay to start small and grow.  DISCLAIMER: We are not accountants, lawyers, or tax professionals and none of what's said in this podcast should be considered professional advice. We encourage you to form your own team for this purpose. As your business grows they become invaluable. Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/ Carolina Game Tables: https://carolinagametables.com/ Small Business Administration: https://www.sba.gov/

This week, Tracy and Kristian are joined by Darrell Hayhurst, creative director at Pinnacle Entertainment, to talk about a fascinating problem in RPG design. How much can you change your world-state during the course of your adventures or campaign? Can it evolve? Or should it remain static. The answer, as always, is, "it depends." There are advantages and disadvantages of each, and it's not an either-or choice. It's a continuum. Regardless, It's a problem that's worth contemplating both from the designer's perspective and the player's. The Han Cluster on BackerKit! - https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/1fa4354f-a958-4f84-94b5-4431314573a2/landing Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com [https://hancluster.com/] Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/

In this episode we cover one of our most requested topics. Tracy and Kristian are joined by Jenn Ellis of Twogether Studios to demystify the art of art direction. We cover a number of different aspects, including how to find artists and get them onboard with your project, the different ways of communicating with them, the options you have when contracting with them, the revision process, and how to minimize the damage when the art you get back doesn't align with your vision for the project. Finally, it's important to remember that commissioning original art for your project can be the most thrilling and exciting part of the process. It can inspire you when you're at your lowest, and the artists you work with are partners that can take your project to new heights, both commercially, and emotionally (also, by "Palette, Tracy meant "Canvas"... duh!). Join our discord!: https://discord.gg/Bc9dvuzZYJ The Han Cluster® Role Playing Game Website: https://hancluster.com Immaterial Plane: https://immaterialplane.com/ Twogether Studios: https://www.twogetherstudios.com/