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TRUE story of life of a game company, BGG and me.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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This list details the events that swept me into Adiken and the oddities that surround that. Update: 4/27/06 Item 17 added
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Posted Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:31 pm
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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It all starts right here. On BGG. I regularly came on to jump the pages and check reviews, but never registered. I used to look for games that suited my tastes by the advanced search.
I register on Aug 04 on a bored day at work and start asking a few questions here and there.
One day, the search spits out this new mass market thing called HeroScape. After a few minutes research, I find out it is to be released later that week.
Modular board. Minis. Fantasy. Fighting. Where do I sign up?
Well, that answer was easy. Toys R Us. Then I played this behemoth with streamlined rules and decided more people needed to know about it.
10/10/04, I write the third review for HeroScape on BGG, my first. And I rate it a 10. I then proceed to rate a few hundred other games.
BGG leads to some HeroScape fan sites.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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My comments on the HeroScape fansites are soon noticed by Craig Van Ness and his buddy Rob Daviau - the designers of HeroScape. I am invited to become a playtester for expansions, and start providing edited wording for unreleased characters.
Being I was a copy editor in the past and alpha tested some thing called EverQuest, they were happy to take my comments in hand, along with those of other playtest groups.
I had to sign an NDA, and I respect that still to not reveal more about secret moonlit meeting places and arcane formulas to compute character values.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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HeroScape: Modular board. Minis. Fantasy. Fighting.
Some guy on the boards found another similar product coming soon. Nin-Gonost.
Components were jaw dropping. Freakin MAGNETIC board? Rulebook unreadable. Game absurdly complex. Price ... $150? No thanks. You will NOT get my money.
But it wasn't my money. $100 from my mother-in-law for my birthday (2/15/05) moved me into the game shop.
See, Adiken is a Canadian company. And they invoiced in Canadian dollars. So a local store acidentally put the wrong price on their copy.
$85. Hmmm. That saves me $65. And I easily spend $85 on minis and collectables anyway, so what the heck. After all, its got a cooool wooden case, pewter minis, a whole lot of chrome.
Sold.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Now, Nin-Gonost is an odd beast.
NOT a dungeon crawl - but it takes place with orcs and knights in a dungeon. No levelling, no treasure, no equipment, no exploring. This is fatal and that's it. Go in and beat the snot out of each other.
Badly translated from French, the rulebook is a horror. "Figth Values" instead of "Fight Value". The rules include such mental convolutions as characters having a momentum so that if they turn when running, they probably fall, although you can attempt to nock a bow and fire while doing so.
It DOES, however, have the really cool terrain and a massively cool and misunderstood dice system. A TON of dice, but you only ever roll two. Modifiers modify the dice, not the die roll. This eliminates tons of calculations and makes for hyper fast fighting. If you can figure out the movement rules.
I wrestle with the rules and write a session report.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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The session report makes history.
No, really.
I got on that "Best Session Reports" geeklist for the first time with it. I wrote it as a pure adventure combat story. Having written tons of fiction in the past, this was no big deal to me.
But it got read by Arnaud Borne. Nin-Gonost's lead designer.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/61404
He flipped for it. Thought it was the perfect realization of this brutal but generic fantasy world.
I am contacted through BGG and offered the job of fleshing out the world of Nin-Gonost.
This is done by regularly writing Character Intros for all of the minis in their line. At least one a week for the new releases, but I'm given a free hand to do more.
We negotiate. They offer MORE than I ask. Well, OK.
Sorry, HeroScape, I have to leave your playtesting because I am now a paid employee of Adiken.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Alain Henner, President of Adiken calls me. His accent is thick and extremely French.
"Alo, Pau? Is Alain. We woo lie you to come upear to Canada. We ave a beeg projet."
He offers to get my family to Canada for a four day weekend, all expenses (and I mean food, hotel, car) paid to discuss the future of Nin-Gonost.
Well, obviously, this sounds like a setup to a bad horror movie: Buy game, write report, get hired, now go to a foreign country for some secret project ... never to be seen again.
I literally call the hotel to verify everything has been paid before we leave.
Well, it was. I had been writing for them a few weeks, and they were happy.
So was I.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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That's me on the right at the Adiken offices. My son Spencer is the little dude. Alain Henner at the head of the table. Just left of him, Arnaud Borne. Far left, Pete somethingIdon'trecallrightnow, the art director.
Adiken was founded by Alain using a grant from his father, who was a very prominent manufacturer of helicopters in Europe.
With over a million dollars in capital, rather than find a place to cast miniatures, he bought the machines to do it all. The plastic injection stuff, the pewter cast equipment, the CAD systems to run it. In the long run, this would save fortunes.
The first trip up, Spencer cast the very first Malgaroth figure. This meant a lot to him. He knew the story I had written (it was the first) and he thought the guy was coolly evil. I detail his casting process at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/67442
Oh, if you're interested in the stories, there's a few dozen at www.adiken.com, just click around the miniatures and many have plotlines.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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The project they want me on?
The Campaign Book.
This will be something like 200 pages, with new rules, new characters, and The Campaign.
Cool, what do we have so far?
Alain puts three handwritten looseleaf sheets on the table.
That's it.
There's no book.
I'M supposed to write it. In 2 months.
Oh, and I get to basically make the world whatever I want.
Well, if that's the case, I better get cracking...
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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The idea was massive. A series of scenarios, all interconnected in a tremendous which way book. Some choices would be based on the player decisions, some would be on the results of a given scenario. A massive scenario tree was designed, stories crafted, characters fleshed out.
And we're not talking a little work. This is a novella. 120 pages of fiction, all tightly tied into these wild scenario ideas I develop. I give them all of the stories and pertinent guidelines, they playtest the scenarios.
Nin-Gonost was purely combat based. I am adding a whole new strategic plotline level to it.
In the end, very few characters will survive. This will lead to another series of characters and new campaign book each year.
Job security.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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What new characters do I want? Whatever I want, they will design. Yes, that IS my wife. At about 75% completion of the book, they are so floored by the work I have done that they give me complete creative control of the project. Whatever I want, I get.
Stories I write get painted into beautiful paintings by famous D&D artist Jeff Easley. I swear I am brought to tears.
I get to define what Nin-Gonost really means. It was mentioned in passing as meaning "Fortress Of Tears" in antique elvish. I create the complete definition. Nin-Gonost is a fortress built around a fountain. Elves cannot cry. They traded it for their extended lifespan. That fountain runs with every unshed tear an elf never cried. Hence the Fortress Of Tears.
I mention some of the rules in the base set need tweaking.
"OK - rewrite them. Its yours. After the Campaign Set."
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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By the way, I do marketing for my living. $150 for a game? No. It will not sell.
Now that I have seen the factory, I work out with Alain a new introductory set. I plan down to the half penny what needs to be included to get people to play this game and entice them to buy more.
The basic rules become Dungeon Clash, which is my re-interpretation of the basic rules and redesigning of several of their castings to be made cheaply.
No magnetic map, though. Not for $39.95.
I am not happy with the final product. The rules I worked on were edited and layed out poorly, and things like turn sequence are left off. The map, while beautiful, is basically a full color tiny poster. Agreed, we want people to buy into the system, but it is not really what I wanted.
I had created a way better game than had made it to market.
Oh well, so goes the publishing business.
HOWEVER - this new $40 miniatures game sells HUNDREDS of copies in the FIRST WEEKEND of release.
My point is proven.
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12.
Board Game: Tai Chi
[Average Rating:6.50 Unranked]
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Alain puts me incharge of marketing. As part of that, I insist they have more games. My games. Tai Chi is to be the first, as it is fairly cheap to produce.
I am flown to DragonCon in Atlanta, and have crowds at our booth. Dungeon Clash is selling like crazy, the boxed set flies off the shelves. Tai Chi is demoed and we accept preorders. I play the new Campaign Rules for hours and hours each day and people gladly fork over $150 for the box, plus maybe $100 more for minis. The Con organizers are stunned at the amount of people showing up at our Dungeon Clash tournament. The game plays in under 30 minutes, so the turnover is huge. It was basically Dungeon Clash with extra dice for each player and a magnetic board for prettiness (Of course the dice and board would add $50 to your purchase price, but at a con, the money flows freely). 16 tables running.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Then things went wrong...
My latest trip to the Canadian office reveals that, sure, I met MY deadline for the Campaign Set.
No one else did except Jeff Easley.
The scenarios are not tested. Some still going massive rebalance issues. The miniatures not crafted. Cards not designed.
And, due to a corporate merger, my dayjob is deemed redundant - I am fired from my career.
I call Alain in a panic. I am made the US distributor for all things Adiken. This was planned for the future, but is rushed into high HIGH gear. My garage gets loaded with literal tons of pewter miniatures and I spend my days calling retailers for reorders.
Adiken becomes my full time job between writing/designing, marketing and orders/shipping.
I assemble about 25 people nationwide into the demo team. The game needs to be played to be bought - otherwise it sits on shelves.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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I insist to Adiken that the rules will STILL not carry this game, they need to be redone. Torn apart and redone. There are rules problems, readability issues and more. Considering reactions at DragonCon, they agree. I am to redesign Nin-Gonost. The only restriction is that I use the existing components.
Well, I almost do. I throw out the magic system and revise it completely. I redesign every skill, much of the basic rules, and the flow of play.
This is Nin-Gonost: The Core Rules. From 128 pages to 32 color ones.
Read and enjoy. There's a damn good tactical game very few people have ever played in here.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=13683
As long as the campaign book is not printed, I am going to rewrite all of the expansion rules to fit this as well.
Late 2005.
Alain Henner's father dies.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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With the death of Alain's father, he flies to France.
For months.
Adiken begins to collapse. I cannot get answers, and soon I cannot ship product.
The Campaign set is put on hold. Tai Chi has not gone beyond its limited run. Alain is destroyed by the death of his father. Unfortunately, due to the financial ties, Adiken feels the death as well.
This is not the place for further details surrounding this event.
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Today.
I no longer answer the phone as "Paul at Adiken". I have a new day job (less than 4 miles from home!).
And Adiken is exploring options for mergers and partnerships with several very large mass market companies. I am included in that deal, if I agree to be and if it becomes reality.
Here's the info from the last Adiken catalog at this time:
Nin-Gonost rules rewrite: Available only as download
Campaign Set: I've been done for months. A complete intricate novella that I spent a sleepless month creating. The physical components have not yet been created. I don't know the status of the actual scenarios.
Tai Chi: Man, if you have a copy of the initial few, hold onto it until for some reason its worth a fortune.
Spyyr: About 50 people played this 3D abstract strategy game at DragonCon. Although it was met with great enthusiasm, without that factory under my control, I cannot manufacture it.
Quest For The Nose: Maybe 20 played this. Its a funny little fantasy card game, but I don't know if I'll ever bother taking it further.
Barony: Picture a Civ game played with no board, only books. The prototype played was unillustrated. Not sure of the future of it.
Journey Of The ArcLight Transit: Sci-fi Nin-Gonost. This exists only on my laptop at this time.
If any merger occurs, these things may see light of day. I truly don't know.
It would certainly be nice to get paid for this stuff...
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Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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This week, www.adiken.com no longer comes up.
Last I heard is that it was up as a sales tool to prospective interests in the company.
There is a massive reorganization occuring right now, but I'm not sure to what end. Only time will tell.
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Posted Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:08 pm
Wheaton
Illinois
Long Island
New York
Black Earth
Wisconsin
Franklin
North Carolina
Tempe
Arizona
That IS a story.
My FLGS has some and I was looking, and know organized play wasn't happening, but the minis are nice.