DriveThru RPG and RPGNow continue to gradually roll out their Print-On-Demand service to customers week by week, but by now many of you should be able to order the book. Even better, you can get it for the thrifty price of $14.95. That's a $5 savings over the original release, and that doesn't even include the $5 coupon offer!
I just got my copy in today. For those of you who care about such things, I thought I should detail how it differs from the original print run. (Or how I think it differs. Due to some mismanagement, I never received a copy of OVA. Strange, sad, but true! Anyone who has a mint copy laying around I'd be glad to pay a premium for it! *laughs*) Err...back to the topic.
The advertisement for webcomics and the original feedback form have been removed.
The original ISBN has been removed and replaced with the DTRPG/RPGNow logos.
The print quality is good, but not great. Flat areas of color have a splotchy effect, images are not as sharp as they could be, and there is no bleed on the pages. Bleed is what allows artwork and graphics to reach the edge of the page, and without it you may see a thin white border on some of the pages.
These things are part of the reason I'm offering the book at the reduced price, but trust me, it still looks good, and I imagine many of you wouldn't care about the difference. It beats tracking down over-priced secondhand copies, I'm sure!
Unfortunately it's true: OVA has missed its promised release date. While the text itself is mostly complete, art acquisition has been slower than anticipated. I'll be forgoing a new release date, but progress is being made, and I'll be doing my best to keep everyone in the loop.
But what about that second part? Well, the good news is that the original OVA, which has been out-of-print for years, is available once again through DriveThruRPG and RPGNow's new Print Program! The service is currently open only to beta testers, but each week they will be adding the feature to a batch of customers until the program is rolled out to everyone. Keep checking OVA's product page to see if you're one of the lucky ones!
But wait, there's more! No, it's not a free set of knives or a handy vac, but even better. Every customer who purchases either the OVA PDF or Print-On-Demand book from December onward will get a $5 off coupon good towards the Revised Edition of the game. It's my apology to everyone who has put off purchasing the game in anticipation of the revised book. Hopefully this coupon will ease the wait!
That's OVA's new release date. I know this comes as a disappointment to many of you (or an inevitability already expected by WT Forum goers), but it's only in the interest of making sure that OVA will be the best RPG it can be! Using a single artist has been a bigger time-sink than I expected, and there's been quite a few pitfalls along the way, but everything should progress smoothly from here on out.
Just so today isn't completely devoid of good news, I have also updated wiseturtle.com with its new look! Eventually the site will feature subsections devoted to each game made by Wise Turtle Publishing, but for now, it's just a preview of things to come.
Hope everyone is doing well in internet-land, and thank you for your continued interest and support.
Anyone who has seen their favorite local gaming shops close or the RPG section of Barnes & Noble steadily dwindling knows firsthand that it's not a good time for RPGs. The truth of the matter is, if you're not Dungeons and Dragons, your product isn't moving, and that's a scary market to be entering after some years away.
So I've decided to embrace that and radically shift OVA to the d20 system. Fret not, I'm not abandoning all that made OVA great, just applying it to the shell of the new 4e d20 system. Your favorite Abilities and Weaknesses return, but in slightly edited form. They're now Aspects, and are intrinsically linked to the new Background/Class system.
At character creation, Players pick two archetypes for their character: Background and Class. Background represents the characters' upbringing, personality, and natural adeptness. Class represents training, vocation, and skill. When you gain a level, you get to choose new Aspects based on these choices: At odd levels, one from your Background group, at even one from your Class.
For example, Yuu might have the "Kid" Background and the "Monster Trainer" Class. Aspects from Kid include "Intuitive", "Quick", and "Game-Logic" while those from Monster Trainer include "Sic'em" and "Animal Empathy." Each Background and Class also has built-in negative aspects, eg. "Ageism" and "Competitive." Voluntarily taking other negative Aspects will grant free positive Aspects, and even better, you can pick them from other Backgrounds/Classes.
I've been working on this tirelessly for the past few months, and I'm really excited about it. And the good news is the release date should remain the same. I know it's a lot to digest, but I hope you all will become as excited about this change as I have. Even if you aren't, please comment and let me know!
OVA will be celebrating is 5th anniversary this year on February 12. So you can look at this as sort of its 5 year, 5 month, 5 day anniversary. On the issue that you cannot actually include months and days in the nice definition of anniversary – I think we can let it slide.
But don't abandon this blog just yet, dear readers. While the weekly update may be gone, I'll still be peppering this place with news, artwork, and other OVA-inclined content. Be sure to add this blog's RSS to your reader of choice so you don't miss a thing! Thank you all for your readership and support.
Here we are, nearing the end of this blog's weekly updates. In fact, there is only one more left: Next week you will finally discover OVA's fabled release date!
With the release of the Revised Edition looming, I can't help but reminisce about the beginnings of the game I created. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, learning the skill sets required as I went. I picked up how to use Quark through trial-and-error, conquering all its idiosyncrasies and adventure-game-like unintuitiveness. I concreted my knowledge about a confusing print industry, with all the fiddly dpis, weights, and measures that entails. It was a lot to learn in a short period of time, but I loved every minute of it. Well, maybe not every minute, but you get the idea. It was an experience that not only resulted in my first published book, the same that many of you have already read and enjoyed, but one that has intensified a love of typography, of books, and of design. Without OVA it's pretty certain I wouldn't even have my day-job as a graphic designer.
It's hard to believe nearly 5 years have gone by since then. I might use InDesign now, and the industry I broke into may no longer be the strange, mysterious place that invoked a childlike bewilderment and wonder. But somehow, all the feelings are still there. OVA was the culmination of decades of playing games and dreaming of making one of my own. And even with a new coat of paint and a baker's dozen of patches, refinements, and fixes. It's still that game. My first that I dreamed about many years ago.
Karis was the first character I wrote up for OVA, and somehow it's fitting that she's the last design revealed here. She's still the same hot-tempered bounty-hunter we know and love, just a little bit cooler in every way. Arasuni on the other hand is quite a change in more than one respect, but he is actually much closer to his original concept.
I originally wrote OVA to be friendly to anime fans. Considering that it is an anime RPG, that made a good deal of sense. However, I think I made the errant assumption that someone who likes anime will automatically know how to create a story that conveys the same flair and oomph of the medium.
I plan to rectify that with an expanded Game Master's Section. While the same advice for running RPGs will remain, expect to see a lengthy discussion of common anime tropes and plot devices, along with a crash course on some of the more pervasive elements of Japanese culture. It's not an exhaustive discourse, but it should serve as a sufficient introduction, as well as a useful quick-reference for ideas. More in-depth discussion of specific genres will be left for the (eventually) forthcoming Genre Books.
So Readers, is there any information you feel is essential for a proper anime campaign? I hope the New Year is treating you well so far!
Saspar is a master of one thing, and that's the use of his magical gun. Despite his blindness, he is an unparalleled marksman, and his spell-powered ammunition makes him a fearsome foe. But at heart, Saspar is a sad and indifferent man, following orders only because that's all he knows how to do. His narrow focus also makes him oblivious to the affections of his partner Acacia...
The OVA Role-Playing Game is an adventure game where you and your friends can take on the roles of your favorite anime heroes and heroines. All you need are pencils, paper, some dice, and a little bit of imagination. Save the princess (or prince!) from a fire-breathing dragon, tackle invading squardrons of giant robots, or find true love amid campus hijinks – it's all up to you!
This blog is a preview of the upcoming Revised Edition of the game. OVA has actually been published since 2005. More information on the game and links to purchase the PDF version of the original book can be found here.
The new edition is slated to be released at DriveThruRPG and RPGnow early 2014.
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