[IMAGER]http://www.anubium.com/name%20copy.jpg[/IMAGER]It's time for another Friday Five. This week, J. Lloyd, president of Anubium is under Krug's spotlight.
Give us an overview of your product line(s).
[bq]Anubium doesn't actually have product lines, per se. We have resisted a uniquely line of similar products in order to resist easy categorization. Any businessperson can tell you that this is probably a bad thing, but our business model isn't necessarily the norm. Instead of product lines, we release two types of products: Adventures and Sourcebooks. To date, we have three adventures-The Toad God's Treasure (TGT), Office and Affairs of Love (OAL), and Fraught With Lies (FWL)-and one sourcebook-The Goy. The adventures are generic and can be set in any world, really, but they do attempt to appeal to certain thematic elements. TGT is a dungeon crawl, OAL is a Shakespearean play adapted to a desert milieu, and FWL is the first chapter of series involving intrigue and investigation (with heavy elements of dungeon crawling). The Goy explores the rigid culture of a new humanoid creature.
We continue to look for adventures that focus on nontraditional elements or themes, and our new line of Sourcebooks will be exploring new worlds-traditional medieval kingdoms; new settings-adventuring in the void of space; and new class options-such as Dark Arts of Necromancy.[/bq]
Tell us at length about your most recent project (upcoming or just
released).
[bq]Our current project, Dark Arts of Necromancy (DAN), is wrapping up. Editing is ending, and all that's left once editing is finished is layout. The sourcebook uses a great deal of open content from FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES, which is something I'm excited about. By open content, I don't mean we just copied-and-pasted text straight from FFG's books; on the contrary, we explore their original ideas of devoted classes and legendary classes to offer a core necromancer class, which I think is much better than any option offered in the Core rules. We offer a class that is "pure necromancer" from the start, and we support it with prestige classes, feats, spells, and magic items.
This aspect of the industry-the reuse and reinterpretation of "public" material-has been left largely untouched. With DAN, we hope to encourage others to journey down this road to see what sort of exciting concepts and material can be extracted from great "public" material.
Besides that, we have a few more projects in the works. I'll only hint at them now: Broken-roleplaying in the void of space; Evolution of Sin-a collection of creatures and templates based on the Seven Deadly Sins; and Kingdom of Myrridon-a kingdom that you can place in your ongoing campaign.[/bq]
What is your main target audience and how much of a spread beyond
that do you feel is likely, first for your line(s), then for your most recent?
[bq]We have a broad category within the narrowly defined d20 Fantasy subsection of the d20 System rules. We hope to branch of the d20 System using the OGL to explore alternates to the d20 mechanic. When and where this will happen is still up in the air, though it may see the light of day in the Harbinger project that continues to go forward. Our draw within the d20 System subcategory pertains to adventures thus far, but we hope to offer more source material for gamers too. We are branching out with the help of more freelance writers, who feel compelled to offer material that expands our company's horizons.[/bq]
What is the main thing about your company that makes you most proud?
[bq]Three things come to mind (I know, most means but one thing, but I'm equally ecstatic about several things): first, ANUBIUM is successful-the roleplaying community knows who we are; second, the quality of our PDF products is on par with many professional companies; and lastly, our company is truly supported by freelance writer/gamers.
In terms of the dollar amount we have to invest in our work, we are nowhere near the size of print companies that make roleplaying their livelihood. But the great thing about our products is that we've shown you can make products comparable to those offered by print companies without investing resources into huge infrastructures. We take open submissions for completed or near complete works, whatever aspect they might explore in the d20 Fantasy realm, and work with the author to shape it into an interesting product. So, just the fact that we survive by being a forum for writers all across the roleplaying community is tremendously satisfying. Granted, the pay is worse, and the limited publication schedule prevents us from releasing three or four products a quarter, but the fact that we succeed at mastering the challenge is something that makes me proud.[/bq]
Where do you see your company one year from now?
[bq]We'll still be around. Maybe a larger print company might pick up a few of our products in order to offer them to a wider audience. Whether or not that happens, we will still be here on the Internet, plugging away, making great d20 products as an alternative to the bigger players in the field.[/bq]
Give us an overview of your product line(s).
[bq]Anubium doesn't actually have product lines, per se. We have resisted a uniquely line of similar products in order to resist easy categorization. Any businessperson can tell you that this is probably a bad thing, but our business model isn't necessarily the norm. Instead of product lines, we release two types of products: Adventures and Sourcebooks. To date, we have three adventures-The Toad God's Treasure (TGT), Office and Affairs of Love (OAL), and Fraught With Lies (FWL)-and one sourcebook-The Goy. The adventures are generic and can be set in any world, really, but they do attempt to appeal to certain thematic elements. TGT is a dungeon crawl, OAL is a Shakespearean play adapted to a desert milieu, and FWL is the first chapter of series involving intrigue and investigation (with heavy elements of dungeon crawling). The Goy explores the rigid culture of a new humanoid creature.
We continue to look for adventures that focus on nontraditional elements or themes, and our new line of Sourcebooks will be exploring new worlds-traditional medieval kingdoms; new settings-adventuring in the void of space; and new class options-such as Dark Arts of Necromancy.[/bq]
Tell us at length about your most recent project (upcoming or just
released).
[bq]Our current project, Dark Arts of Necromancy (DAN), is wrapping up. Editing is ending, and all that's left once editing is finished is layout. The sourcebook uses a great deal of open content from FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES, which is something I'm excited about. By open content, I don't mean we just copied-and-pasted text straight from FFG's books; on the contrary, we explore their original ideas of devoted classes and legendary classes to offer a core necromancer class, which I think is much better than any option offered in the Core rules. We offer a class that is "pure necromancer" from the start, and we support it with prestige classes, feats, spells, and magic items.
This aspect of the industry-the reuse and reinterpretation of "public" material-has been left largely untouched. With DAN, we hope to encourage others to journey down this road to see what sort of exciting concepts and material can be extracted from great "public" material.
Besides that, we have a few more projects in the works. I'll only hint at them now: Broken-roleplaying in the void of space; Evolution of Sin-a collection of creatures and templates based on the Seven Deadly Sins; and Kingdom of Myrridon-a kingdom that you can place in your ongoing campaign.[/bq]
What is your main target audience and how much of a spread beyond
that do you feel is likely, first for your line(s), then for your most recent?
[bq]We have a broad category within the narrowly defined d20 Fantasy subsection of the d20 System rules. We hope to branch of the d20 System using the OGL to explore alternates to the d20 mechanic. When and where this will happen is still up in the air, though it may see the light of day in the Harbinger project that continues to go forward. Our draw within the d20 System subcategory pertains to adventures thus far, but we hope to offer more source material for gamers too. We are branching out with the help of more freelance writers, who feel compelled to offer material that expands our company's horizons.[/bq]
What is the main thing about your company that makes you most proud?
[bq]Three things come to mind (I know, most means but one thing, but I'm equally ecstatic about several things): first, ANUBIUM is successful-the roleplaying community knows who we are; second, the quality of our PDF products is on par with many professional companies; and lastly, our company is truly supported by freelance writer/gamers.
In terms of the dollar amount we have to invest in our work, we are nowhere near the size of print companies that make roleplaying their livelihood. But the great thing about our products is that we've shown you can make products comparable to those offered by print companies without investing resources into huge infrastructures. We take open submissions for completed or near complete works, whatever aspect they might explore in the d20 Fantasy realm, and work with the author to shape it into an interesting product. So, just the fact that we survive by being a forum for writers all across the roleplaying community is tremendously satisfying. Granted, the pay is worse, and the limited publication schedule prevents us from releasing three or four products a quarter, but the fact that we succeed at mastering the challenge is something that makes me proud.[/bq]
Where do you see your company one year from now?
[bq]We'll still be around. Maybe a larger print company might pick up a few of our products in order to offer them to a wider audience. Whether or not that happens, we will still be here on the Internet, plugging away, making great d20 products as an alternative to the bigger players in the field.[/bq]
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