Hello, and welcome to snows return a tabletop roleplay podcast. My guest today seeks that which has been born far to the east, illuminated by the light of the Rising Sun, a Wild Hunt of sorts. From early development to being fully locked and loaded twice over. My guest gives us more than just a token of remembrance for our scoundrel like lifestyle, presenting to us main gigs, side gigs, and a way to come out on top at the end of it all, from Ohio to work. How high can we go? We take to the skies with a mighty roar saw over the city trying to maintain our influence. Here to Table Talk about table top is founder, President, and possibly it because of linewidth Publishing's Bradley hailstone Bradley, welcome to the show. Hey, Adam, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Glad to be here. No, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on, especially in the midst of exciting Kickstarter that we will get to pretty soon. But before we go into all the things that are coming up, and are being worked on a little bit about yourself, please, how did you get into tabletop role playing games and games? across the board? Yeah, you
Bradly Halestorm:know, so it's interesting, my journey to get to this industry was interesting. both personally and professionally. I played a lot of tabletop games growing up. I think as most kids do, really kind of found my love for the medium and high school started playing magic started playing a major night, that miniatures game that was around there for a hot minute. And I really found my love of it, then kind of designed some tabletop games, just with my friends for you know, whatever, for fun. And but then, you know, I've always identified up until a couple years ago, I always identified tabletop games as sort of a not my go to hobby. It was a hobby of mine, but it wasn't my favourite hobby that that title rested with video games. I've always been a video game person dating back to. I remember being six years old and playing Street Fighter two with my brother and just really loving video games. And really, it was video games that helped me find my love of localization, which is what Lyon Wang is all about. We are a localization studio as well as a publishing studio, but it was video games Japanese video games that really got me into the love of translating and localising games for the western market. It wasn't until though probably 2015. At the time, I was working in localization for video games, localising Japanese visual novels, JRPGs MMO RPG, that kind of thing. I was. So I was working in games, I was doing a lot of typing. I was also of course, still playing a lot of video games. And I was using my hands a lot. And I say that because around 2015, I started to develop a pretty gnarly, repetitive stress injury. And it took me out of video games entirely for a long time. In fact, it's still not fully here to healed and that was six years ago. But initially, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't play video games anymore. I kind of felt lost as silly as that might sound. But I really did you know, my life kind of revolved around video games. Professionally, it's what I did for a living personally, it's what I did to unwind. And now all of a sudden, I couldn't do them to unwind anymore, because it just hurt my wrist to play too badly. So I realised I've got like, I've got to find another outlet, I've got to find another love. And that's when I remembered tabletop games, which I'd gotten away from for a little bit. I still have always played tabletop games. But at that point, they had very much been in the periphery. But it was in 2015 that I said you know what, let's let's get back to that. Let's see if I am as interested in that hobby as I once was. And I found out that I'm more interested in that hobby than I ever have been. And it was a really magical moment that was really kind of born out of out of pain and suffering many ways. I mean, this this RSI was pretty debilitating. But it gave way to my finding that I loved tabletop games. And that was 2015. And since then tabletop games have been my number one hobby. And now tabletop games are my number one profession. So I parlayed my experience and localization in the video game sector into the tabletop CEP sector and said, You know what? There are all of these fantastic Japanese tabletop games out there that are not being seen by the West. You know what I've I know localization. I know what goes into that process. I love tabletop games. Now, of course, I love Japanese games, Japanese culture. I should do something about that. And so the journey of linewidth began. That was December. of 2017 is when I made the company officially. And then in 2018, we launched our first project. So that's, that's me. I'm like a two minute nutshell.
Snyders Return:There's a lot in there and a lot. A lot to inquire about. I mean, just just focusing on one thing, the line wing logo, is a is a mecca, sort of wears, what has been, what was the biggest influence to having that to signify linewidth? Yeah, so
Bradly Halestorm:I, when I was coming up with the name for lion wing, obviously, as you do with any company, you you create a whole list of names that you think might be a good fit for the message you're trying to convey, you know, brand identity is really important. So is brand recognition. I wanted people to recognise lion wing for what it was. And so once I settled on the line weight name, I thought, you know, I need I need and I want a mascot. I like mascots, I think they are immediately recognisable, but I think they can also say a lot about what you do that your name might not necessarily be able to. And so it dawned on me that some people might think of lion wing the name and a different way that I think of lion wing. So a lot of people here line wing and they think it think of it as sort of, in the literal sense, the wing of a lion, a lion with a wig. And that is not at all what the name implies. In fact, it was born out of this idea of my love for Gundam and mecha. Go figure, I wanted to pay homage to Mecca in the name because I love mecha anime. And I was thinking of Alright, well, how do I incorporate it? incorporate that into the name and I was thinking about Gundam suits. And I thought, well, what are Gundam suits? Exactly? Well, they're just like these attack wings. And I thought, well, attack wing is a good name for a company, what attacks and that's really kind of fearsome and strong and proud of alliances. And then that's when it kind of clicked like, hold on a second, Lion wing. I think I'm onto something. And so, but I realised that not everyone would make that connection. In fact, most people wouldn't make that connection. So I needed to hammer home, what the name meant, and also what we do. And that's when I decided all right time for a mascot. And the mecca mascot was the first one I thought of, and it was the last one I thought of, unlike the name where I went through multiple names. The the mecca mascot the glycemic is for is that was a one and done kind of thing where it's like, Alright, that's it. I don't need to think any further on this.
Snyders Return:That's amazing. And yeah, I imagine those more in tune with the fantasy role playing games, potentially, we'll put lion wing and mantic all together. In the Either way, it's a brilliant story and a way of sort of really sort of setting yourself apart. And you sort of carry that through with one of the products one of the Kickstarters that you've got, not the one I actually bought you want to speak about, but another one embryo machine. How's that? That sort of anime Mecca feel to it? I've watched a couple of reviews. Very good favourable reviews on YouTube. So you mentioned your love for Gundam you brought that into a few of the products you're you're bringing across to us bringing across to the Western audience. What's it been like sort of going through that process? And sort of taking an IP again, we'll get to the patkar is Roman in a moment, just generally, in a generalised way, bringing those IPS those products?
Bradly Halestorm:Well, you know, it's interesting. The tabletop games, despite being a$9 million industry is still a niche industry. It is become less niche, certainly over the past six years since I've been a part of it, and has become considerably less Naish in the past three years. Still a nice thing. You know, when I tell people what I do, you know, I'm like, I Well, first I say, like, I own a localization studio, and they're like, look at what, what do you do with that? I'm like, um, I own a board game studio. They're like, Oh, right, like my monopoly. And I'd like no, not quite like monopoly. So they're still the general public opinion of what board games are. Our space lining space is, is it's a niche of a niche. Where, where there has been great success of Japanese properties, making the transition over to the west in the in the realms of video games, movies, of course, anime manga. board games have been slow to catch up to find a fan base who is a into the types of board games that we produce, but then also into Japanese board games. You know, because a lot of not most but a lot of at least, our products. Look decidedly Japanese they have an anime aesthetic to it. That's part of the appeal of of our games is they have these gorgeous visuals, but they are visuals that not everyone is going to dig. Right? Not everyone's into that to that anime art aesthetic we are. But that means that we're already taking a small market and for us making it even smaller. So it's been interesting, interesting, you know, introducing these projects that are decidedly Japanese, and that occupy disparate corners of the market, because every product that we've done has been pretty different from the last, but that are also sort of niches or niches within their genre, you know, I look at embryo machine, which is, for all intents and purposes, a tabletop wargame. Now, when most people think of wargames they think of like historical wargames. And let me tell you, the historical war game crowd is not showing up for lion wing. They are not showing up for giant, bombastic, colourful, mecha battles. So right there, you know, embryo machine was an interesting experiment, because it's like, well, you know, is there an audience for this? I think there is I do a lot of market research. But to be honest, there's not a lot of companies doing what linewidth does. So our market research is small. It's a small pool of stuff to look at to decide like, Hey, is this worth investing a bunch of money in? So embryo machine was was one of those titles where it's like, we love this IP, I love this IP will will the English world love this IP. And you know, it did well for itself on Kickstarter. So there was enough of a market for it to surpass its its funding goal by about 300%. So yeah, we're dabbling in these products. But now that we are on our fifth Kickstarter, a fifth crowdfunding campaign, we've begun to, to finally start building our audience. And it's always been my objective and my goal for people to to be able to see a lion win game sitting on a retail shelf, and without ever seeing the linewidth name on it to say, you know what, that looks like a lion win game. And so while all of our games are quite different, and appeal to different crowds within the tabletop gaming market, they all sort of have a unifying theme visually even if they're different tones, even if you're looking at you know, modern day like pick Ross grohmann futuristic sci fi like embryo machine, or if you know, a fantasy like testament or Wild Hunt festival they all sort of have that line wing look and that's what I go for when I'm looking for a game is like does this game have the lion wing look? So it's been a fun process bringing those games over and adapting those IPS to a new audience? If not a little stressful because you just don't know where that I that audiences all the time.
Snyders Return:And one of the games you haven't mentioned which which was another reason why I was so keen to talk to you is gun and gun the two player copies game the kickstart visuals and the again YouTube videos you can check this all out on YouTube and we'll get to your social media in a moment just sells it something so unique and looks looks great. And now I've seen some of your products through kickstart your website and things like that. I get the sense that I'd like to see products and go that sly wink and pick a few up myself like Kickstarter picker ask Roman. Before we go into that boat, would you like to tell everybody where they can find line? What maybe yourself if you so wish, Lion wing and all that sort of stuff you're you're working on putting out there?
Bradly Halestorm:Sure, yeah, you can find us on social media across the board. The name is L wing publishing. That's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. You can also check us out at lineman publishing calm in from there, you can find our discord, we have a pretty active Discord. That's been something that I've really pushed in the past year, year and a half is our Discord. I probably push the discord more than I push push our traditional social media, but you can find us at any of those outlets. And we are often times you know, promoting our stuff or kind of filling folks in on where we are with status updates, where things are in the production queue. Because we right now are essentially a Kickstarter company. You know, all of our funding has come through Kickstarter for all of our projects. We like to let people in on the process. You know what goes into creating a project from scratch, getting it through Kickstarter, getting it through production and into the hands of backers. And we promote that stuff through a lot of our social media through our Kickstarter campaigns. And I do a weekly stream that takes place on Wednesdays at 9pm. Eastern Standard Time. That's GMT minus five on Twitch, called lining talks, where I talk for about anywhere between an hour and two hours about all of our games, but I also talk about Japanese games and what it's like to be a localization company and the jab In the in the tabletop scene, and so you can check us out at any of those places. And we'd love to we'd love to
Snyders Return:have you absolutely I will make sure that links to all of those will be in the description below, you'll probably find me popping up on your discord in the not too distant future. So, focusing down as you said, your primary kickstart company wants people to come and see the inside. Shall we take a step inside the city and explore a picker? s Roman, a recommend for rogues. To someone that isn't familiar with the Table Talk, tabletop role playing game. And there is a distinction between the two that you make clear. What is it?
Bradly Halestorm:Yeah, so most Japanese RPGs are considered Table Talk RPG is not necessarily tabletop RPG. Now a lot of people are probably thinking, you know, what is the difference between those two and also, I've never heard of a tabletop RPG in my life. And that's pretty common if you're not familiar with the Japanese scene, but tabletop RPGs in Japan are different from their Western counterparts in that most of the systems are streamlined, 2d six systems with accessible mechanics, maybe some board gaming elements in its mechanics more so than you would see in a traditional Western trpg. And that are more focused on providing one shot experiences one shot encounters, then long campaigns that can be strung together over the course of weeks, months or years. And pick Ross Grove and Requiem for rogues. Our first foray into the trpg scene is absolutely the epitome of a Table Talk RPG, it's a 2d six trpg. It's narrative driven. So it's not combat heavy. You're not like moving miniatures. On a grid, you don't have any managers. Everything is is sort of theatre of the mind when it comes to combat and just kind of the game in general. It's an intentionally abstract type of game and yet has a very grounded sense of identity. And I'll talk about that a little later. So it uses this 2d six system. It's a super accessible system. In fact, I often say that if you've never played it trpg before and you'll want to, you should probably start with pick Ross Grover. And that's not me just like shilling a product, although it's me selling a product. It's also me trying to be honest with Hey, if you want to get into this genre, the genre is pretty daunting. And it seems pretty scary to get into it first, you know, you look at you look like you look at a Pathfinder robot. And you're like, really, I got to read 380 pages just to like get in the door. It's like, well, with pick Ross grohmann, you could probably read about 15 pages and get in the door. So it really epitomises that Table Talk mindset. Because not only is it accessible, but also features a lot of elements that people would be familiar with and comfortable with if they played board games. So pick a scrub, it has a lot of board gaming elements. In fact, we built it as a p VP Vgm game, it's player versus player versus the GM, where you're sometimes cooperating with your fellow Roques oftentimes competing against them, and all the time wondering who amongst the group is working with the GM as sort of a trader in the group. And so it's got this sort of social deduction, werewolf type elements to it that you probably don't see in your d&d is of the world. And that's where because it's a little PvP ash because you are competing for influence points to be the quote unquote winner of the game, people will see some of its board gamey sensibilities coming out. But I also remind people that despite the fact that picker is grabbing a lot of other, especially dogen or indie, Japanese TRP G's while they feature board game elements picker, s grohmann is an RPG through and through I don't want people to get the wrong idea that it's a board game wrapped in an RPG is clothing. It is an RPG. And it's where some board game accessories. Yeah.
Snyders Return:Yeah. So you mentioned is 2d six, it's Table Talk. And so breaking down, maybe into a little bit more of the roads themselves. You mentioned it's it's got these very entry or gateway sort of style gameplay. What kind of rules can we embody when when when we go to Kickstarter and back this project?
Bradly Halestorm:Yeah, so pick Ross grohmann. In its subtitle, a requiem for rogues is all about sort of like being an antihero. I wouldn't say that players play villains, but they certainly don't play heroes and pick rask Roman, and that's part of why I was so interested in In this game, because it sort of takes the concept of creating a character, you know, playing the good character, or what have you, and tips it on its air a little bit, because the setting for picker is grohmann, which takes place in this place just called the city, that's capital C city, which is this Metropolis that exists within and also apart from Japan, it can't be located on any map, you have to get past the gatekeeper and tell them why you want entrance into the city to even get into the city. And so it's it's this place of sort of, to steal a phrase that we might be aware of sort of where scum and villainy hide and go to live out their life, unobserved by the traditional laws of society. And so everyone in the city is a bit of a scoundrel. And that's how you survive in the city, the scummy are the better, the more you can kick someone down for your own gain, the better row you are, the better citizen of the city you are. And I dig that about the game because you can be whoever you want in the city, you can, you can be as dastardly as you want, you can be sort of the shining beacon of hope amidst all of this darkness amidst all of these other scumbags. You can be that character, you can be somewhere in between. What I really like about the game is what I just touched on before, you know, when you play the game, before you can even like get into the game proper. You as the character have to tell the GM who will be playing as the gatekeepers of the city. Why you want into the city. And I love how the game right out of the gates tells you tells you it has players, hey, you've got to decide. And you've got to tell the rest of the group why you're here. Why do you want into this place? That is not a nice place to be? There's territory wars, there's people drowning in sin. It's a place for the wicked? And why in the hell would you want to come to this place and you as the character have to tell the rest of your fellow Pixar as your fellow rogues? Why you're as bad as the next person? Or maybe why you're not like anyone else. And I like having to just have that opening a part of the game flow.
Snyders Return:Yeah, absolutely. And sort of once in and trying to build the influence this sort of player versus player versus GM. Without sort of delving too deep into the coach mechanics, is that in a structured rotation, or is that more freeform,
Bradly Halestorm:each player has it has a turn it on a turn, you can do a number of things. So to use your word there, there's structure to a player's turn. What you do within that turn, you have options. Yeah, and I, you know, hearing that there's like a structure and things you can choose from things you can do in a turn might sound limiting to folks, but it actually is just there to sort of guide you to give you options. How do you want to interact with the rest of the players? How do you want to interact with the city? How do you want to interact with, you know, whomever the GM is, is controlling and so there is structure to the grid to the game, and yet at the same time, it's a very, like, just open system. Yeah, so before bringing the game over, I watched a lot of actual plays of Japanese players. And I guess you could say this about most RPGs but it felt especially pronounced watching folks play picker ask that is no two games felt alike. The only similar qualities that games had, were in fact that at the beginning of every game players were gonna have to tell the GM why they wanted into the city and that every game there was going to be some kind of trader hiding amongst the group. And that was it but how how the action or lack thereof was handled between those points in between the end of the game and there's a quote unquote winner was so vastly different. And I thought to myself after watching it enough these like this, this is the game I want to play. You know, I've jokingly said to, to the folks in our discord and in various streams of ours, like I'm mostly just localise and publish games that I want to play and if other people happen to like them as well, that's that's a bonus. But I'm mostly just localising these games for me. And so it you know that that concept was, was never truer than with picker escrow. And as I was watching these actual plays, like, this is the game I want to play. And if I want to play it, that I'm going to I'm going to do something with this. I don't know if there's a market for this kind of role playing experience, but I know that there's at least one fan and it's
Snyders Return:according to twitch note, we'll touch on that in a second. According to Kickstarter, there's well over 200 fans you know, currently over $50,000 backed and, you know, incrementing Well, hopefully until the end of the Kickstarter and and fastly strips away from that number and keeps going up. But if someone, and you mentioned there some astral plays that you watched if someone wanted to watch an example from a well known team, presenting pengurus, Roman, is there a way for them to watch an actual play from a Western creator?
Bradly Halestorm:There is. So Web DM just broadcasts their actual play of the game last night, we have a video of that actual play up on our campaign page, they'll be posting, they meaning Web DM will be posting the actual play to their YouTube, either today or tomorrow. And so that is a great depiction of a Western group playing the game. Now we have another actual play hitting the 31st. So next week, I think that's next week, time means nothing anymore, right? So but I think the 31st is next week. And we have another group who is going to be running through a session of the game. We'll be posting that on our Kickstarter as well and of course, through our, our socials. And so you can start with Web DM, it's a great two plus hour experience, where they teach you how to play the game, but you also see the game being played. And I think that'll really sell it for folks. The cast that Web DM assembled for that, that AP was really great, diverse cast, great group of characters that they created great interactions between the characters, great humour, great moments of suspense and intensity, it really kind of highlighted all of the key elements of the game. And you know, as a, as someone who's publishing the game, like that's, that's the kind of video you want produced. You never know if that's what you're going to get you hope you do. But you never know. And that but you know, fortunately for us, that is what Web DM produced, it's a great way to check it out. Check out how the game is played the flow of the game, how its board game, the elements in traditional RPG mechanics work and how they sort of coalesce. Because when you read about picker as grohmann, I mean, it's part of what attracted me to it. It's sort of like wonderfully weird in its premise, like you read its mechanics. And you and I have often heard people say, like, that is a weird game, how does all that stuff work together? And I have to constantly say, like, trust me, it does, it doesn't sound like these distinguished disparate parts would ever come together to create a core product that feels cohesive, but it does somehow. And I think that really is a testament to the pedigree of the design group behind it. So the folks who designed this game, a group str, is a Japanese Dojin circle, which is essentially just like saying a Western indie studio, who have produced I think 10 books all together. About half of those are commercial releases, and the others are self published or indie projects. picker, s Groban, though, is their most popular product. Even amongst their commercial releases, it is their most popular product, despite being a dogen release an indie release. so popular, it's in its fifth edition. So I, I would say it's probably the most popular indie RPG, there'll be someone out there who points to some other game, so I'll rest on it is one of the most popular indie RPGs out there. And I think that's because all of its elements work together really well to create an experience that is going to feel familiar for folks who are a part of the scene and also very different from most, if not all other RPGs you'll have a chance to check out and I like that kind of thing.
Snyders Return:So do I which is why I backed it. However, for someone else that wants to follow in my footsteps or be inspired by your words. And these these unique mechanics you've mentioned when they come to Kickstarter and and look to pledge them back. What sort of tears? Yeah, tears are there for for people to sort of get behind what's what's going to excite them.
Bradly Halestorm:So we I think we're offering five tiers right now, not counting the retail tier five tiers. It was important, and always has been in all of our campaigns. And you can go back and you know, the internet doesn't lie, you can go back and look at all of our Kickstarter campaigns. We've always priced our stuff super competitively. Listen, we've all got hobbies. And if if you're privileged enough to have disposable income, you probably want to spend that disposable income on a variety of things, not just tabletop games, and certainly not just on mining products. And so I recognise that, you know what, we're not the only thing people are interested in. And so let's create a buy in that is not cost prohibitive. Let's allow people to buy our games at a fair cheap price and that gives them more money to do whatever the hell they want with. buy more board games, for instance, because a healthy board game industry means a healthy lining, right, so it's all circular. For progress, Groban we offer, I think it's our lowest buy in yet at $25, we'll get you PDFs to a variety of, of items that we're offering in that $25 tier, but then we scale up from there, knowing that, you know, some people, they're not going to want a PDF, they're gonna want a physical product. And we've we've got you covered, if that's you, we've got a hardcover book, or we don't, we don't offer a softcover for this such as hardcover. You know, you can throw 40 bucks, you grab your hardcover and all your PDFs. Or if you want to kind of take it to the next level, you can grab our foil stamped leatherette book with red gilded edges of a black ribbon marker and our translation notes in the back of the book. After the credits, you can grab that for you know, a little bit more. And then if you want to kind of go all in, we've got like a collector's box set that comes with a box to store a custom dice that we're offering a custom dice tray. The box features exclusive art that's not featured anywhere else. It's hand numbered. In that tier comes the game soundtrack. Because if you've looked at any of our previous projects, I like to compose soundtracks for all of our games. So you grab the soundtrack, you grab a signed postcard from the design team. And so we really wanted to be able to offer different levels of, of items for folks, you know, because fandom comes in all shapes and sizes. And some people are like, you know, what, 25 bucks is good for me and other people are like I want whatever the top dollar is, that's what I'm doing. Because there, there are people out there, they won't even look at what's in there. They're like we're highest here. That's mine. And I have been known to be that person sometimes. And so we wanted to be able to offer entry points for a variety of folks at a variety of price points.
Snyders Return:Yeah, definitely. memory serves on a tough to open up my Kickstarter pledge. I'm pretty sure it went from the hardcover which I'm looking forward to definitely the PDFs on that. So I can take it and run it and enjoy it. And sort of bringing all these these elements together. And I'm presenting this game, the Kickstarter, once the Kickstarter finish, let's get that important key date out.
Bradly Halestorm:Sure. It'll be two weeks from tomorrow, which I think is the ninth of September, it'll wrap up at 7pm. Eastern Standard.
Snyders Return:After that point, are you doing late pledges or anything after that?
Bradly Halestorm:Yeah, so we utilise a pledge manager as our post campaign, late backer software. We've done that for most of our projects. And so if you if you can't get in while the campaign is live, you know, worry not because we are going to be running and keeping open a late pledge option until the games get on the container ship and are sent from China to to their various depot's for distribution. So you've still got time, if you're like, Ah, you know, I can't make that work financially or like I'm on the fence. And I don't think I'll have decided, by the time the ninth of September rolls around, well, you know, we've got you covered there. If you decide you want to get it.
Snyders Return:Absolutely, again, link to your Kickstarter and all the way. If it's up on YouTube, which it should be by the time I get this edited and put out I will put a link to the Web DM actual play as well. So people can sit, enjoy absorb it. If someone goes on the Kickstarter and thinks, you know, I just want to see what a sample of the books like maybe maybe have a quick scan of the rules. Is there anything that they can sort of preview on there?
Bradly Halestorm:Yeah, for sure. So we offer a 17 page sampler, that'll get you a little bit about the setting. A little bit about the mechanics, you'll get to see a lot of art, you'll get to see various character classes called MC cod gigs and pick Ross grohmann. And so we really tried to kind of offer the very definition of a sampler like a little bit of everything and so you'll get 17 pages of that I think it gives you a good idea of like what the kind of game it is. Honestly, pick Ross Groban is one of those sort of like unique projects where you open up the book or physical or digital, and you see its first page and you're like, Okay, I know what this game is like. I really think it's one of those games that you don't even have to read the mechanics even though the mechanics are fairly unique. I think you can just look at the styling, the layout, the aesthetic and visual presentation, it just get an understanding of the vibe and it's kind of like, Okay, I think I get what this game is going for. And so we thought that what we offered in the sample kind of gave you a whole litany of things to decide like alright, I know what this game is and yes, it's for me or no, it's not
Snyders Return:been the the artwork and I do actually have it open on a separate screen. somehow managed to get a second screen in the The artwork within the book just as you say it without reading the word you can, you can feel it off the page what the game is trying to portray. And I love that I do like playing the old crunchy game, but when the book tells you without words, what you're in for, you've got me pants down. So now it's really good.
Bradly Halestorm:So you know, it's funny that you mentioned that I I've, I've said many times. It people probably groan when I say this. The first thing that I look for when I'm looking to decide like, What game are we going to bring over next is a game that looks good. Because this is where I will upset people. I won't play a good game, if it looks bad. But I'll play a bad game if it looks good. And that, oftentimes is a deciding factor, when I'm looking at which games to bring over from Japan, like what is the game that caught my eye? All right, that looks good. All right. Now I worry about the mechanics. So I'm sure you know, as someone who's picking these games, I'm sure I pass over tonnes of games that are like great games. But they didn't capture me when it came to their visual presentation. And because of that, I never gave it a chance. Now whether or not that's the right or wrong way to do business or to play in this hobby. I don't know. But it's the way that I do business. And it's the way that I play in this hobby and pick rest Groban is that game where you can just flip through, see the art and say like, oh, that like this is for me, I get the vibe, or you flip through it, you're like, Oh, this is not for me. It you'll know pretty quickly. If this game is for you just by looking at the art.
Snyders Return:Yeah, definitely. And you're saying about knowing whether a game is for you. And oftentimes you're always told to sort of trust your gut and go with that gut feeling. And and I think you've got yourself what you clearly have, because it's been backed beyond it's it's sort of lowest cap, if that makes any sense. Clearly, there's a love and an interest, the support from people like Web DM, who have so many eyes on their channel, they are fantastic creators. As you said they've they've really sort of put together a great show. I was watching it not too long before we started chatting. So I could sort of understand that rotation and a couple of the mechanics that you've mentioned. We've alluded to you mentioned there checking out different games maybe passing over a few so depending on contracts NDA is whatever other administration you may be under. What's next for line when publishing what what's coming beyond this current Kickstarter? Sure. So
Bradly Halestorm:you know that the best part about running a company is you can decide when you care about indies and when you don't. So we've got some we got some, we've got some stuff coming out. So we are booked through mid 2023 with projects Wow. So we're lined up for basically the next two years with various projects. Now our next project is it's an oddity in that people already know what it is. Most of the time we don't reveal our projects until we are getting ready to launch it on Kickstarter. So normally we reveal a project the Kickstarter page goes up at the same time that we were revealed the project so that people can go to that Kickstarter lander page hit that little button that says like notify me upon launch and then we're good that's part of that's part of how we market that's part of our marketing strategy. But our next project we actually announced over the summer because it was supposed to be the Kickstarter that we launched in the spot that pic Ross Grogan was ultimately launched in and then pick rest grow and was supposed to take its autumn or q3 spot this fall in so we our next game that we'll be bringing the Kickstarter will be happening this fall, q3, autumn, whatever, where do you want to put on that period of the year called main Knight saga, which actually will be also a first for us while picaresque robot is our first foray into TRP GS, may night saga will be our first foray into a euro game. So now, it is a euro game with a very, very animated aesthetic. It's about it's essentially a school simulator of girls learning to become what are called made knights, which are these these folks who protect the realm, they go to school to become and learn how to become these protectors. But it's a school life simulator, you know, you're controlling a character, they're going to class their, their stats change depending on which classes which class lectures you attend, which one just skip what your extracurricular activities are What missions you go on all of this stuff affects your stats, which ultimately play into how you obtain points. And you know, the the player with the most points wins the game. So may Knight saga will be our first year Oh, that'll be this fall in then, for 2022, we've got some sequels planned for Kickstarter, we have at least one more trpg coming, that'll most likely be in 2022, it could be 2023, we've got some projects that we can sort of shift as you get a little closer toward the end of the year in 2022. But we've got, we've got about eight or nine projects lined up, they don't carry us through the next two years. So there's stuff on the horizon, all of our games, we I try to not do the same game twice. In terms of like the same game, occupying the same genre space, I'm in the sequels, but I never really want to release like the same type of games, it's like, well, if you want that type of game, just play that go play this other game that we have. And I also try to make sure that our games you know, I try to make sure that this game pick us from it doesn't feel like our fall Kickstarter, and I try to make sure our font, Kickstarter doesn't feel like our winter Kickstarter, and our winter Kickstarter, like our spring Kickstarter. And so we've got eight or nine projects, and I think there's a lot of variety in what they'll offer both both aesthetic, aesthetically, and mechanically, and I'm really excited about what we've got. coming on, you know, once you've established yourself as a company, it does open you up for bigger contracts, for some licencing opportunities, some established IP opportunities and adaptations, that kind of thing. And so I'm excited for what the next two years hold for us, because we've done a lot of work to kind of build our fan base, get us to a point where, where we're sustainable, and I really feel like 2022 is gonna be that year where we kind of see the fruits of our labour, we're already seeing that. Although we, you know, the company launched its first project 2018, we really didn't get off the ground until 2020. And so 2020 will have built our ourselves up over two years, and it'll be an exciting time 2022
Snyders Return:with some of the phrasing you've used in that I'm also very excited for your 2022 and beyond. So yeah, not it all sounds amazing. And, and like, my wallet will not like me very much. But if that is a personal issue. So not to worry on that one. But before we sort of bring this interview to a close, is there anything that we haven't touched on that you you'd like to sort of bring to the fore and sort of go into in detail, something I may have not touched on as yet,
Bradly Halestorm:nothing other than localization is an interesting business. It is it's a challenging business. And to reiterate something I said before, it's super niche. We as a company could not exist without people turning out to our Kickstarters and spending their hard earned money on our projects. And like, I never lose sight of that, like we would not be doing the things that we're doing, we would not be able to do the things that we're doing. And we wouldn't be able to do the things that we're going to do in 2022 and 2023. Without the people who have supported us thus far, you know, we're in a weird corner of the industry, with not a lot of people, both in terms of customers, but also fellow companies, there's only a couple of us doing this. And each of us who are in that small corner kind of approach things a little bit differently. And so, you know, lining is I say lining is the only company doing lightweight games. It's a small corner, but we wouldn't be able to exist without people showing the passion that they have. It's been so cool to see people like, be excited about our stuff. You know, 2022 really brought this into focus, like with as with as bleak as the world picture has been. I mean, realistically for a while, but 2020 and 2021 really brought it into focus, right? Like, sometimes it feels like the world is devoid of fun. And so it's never been lost on me either that like we it really any company, in this industry, have an opportunity to provide people this chance to have fun. And I think that's important. I think that the social interaction of board games is important. I think the board gaming medium as an art is important. I think board games as an outlet to either forget about the world, or think about the world in a new way through the conduit of a game. is vital to us as people. I mean, that sounds kind of like it sounds like hyperbole or exaggerated to say, like, oh, board games are vital. But I guess I would say that as someone who is in this industry and has spent a lot of time in it, and has spent a lot of money on it, um, you know, because I don't, I don't, you know, I came to this industry, self funding everything out of out of my pocket as as a localization out of there. And as a social worker, because I was doing both of those jobs at the same time, neither of which make money, let me tell you, I'll be the first to tell you if you're not aware. And so I've put a lot of myself into this industry. So I have seen it in this way that I didn't see it before. And that is like, this is a really important industry to be a part of. It's an important industry to be a part of, and the way that we're a part of it, where we're expanding fariz Designer designers and fariz products, by way of localization, we're expanding their audience, we're allowing those products to get out of just Japan. I mean, plenty of designers can do just well having their products only in Japan, but it's like, you know, there's some cool stuff that people aren't playing, like if we can play a part in helping the rest of the world see that because we have localization experience. And now we have a lot of board game localization experience, and I want to, I want to do my part, and I want to pay it forward. And I want people to see this really cool stuff coming out of Japan, because it's not always the same type of stuff that you're going to see coming out of other parts of the world. And I think that's important that various cultures get represented in the larger stage. And you know, if I can play even a small part that I wouldn't be a part of that. And so I just want to say thanks to everyone who's checked out our stuff. So far, thanks to everyone who's taken a chance on us and believed in us. And thanks, everyone who showed up for the pick Ross Groban, Kickstarter, because let me tell you, a Japanese trpg is about as deep as it comes. I can't think of anything else that's more nice than that. And yet, here we are, we've blown past two stretch goals, we, you know, obviously, we've met our funding goal. And the trajectory for progress growth is looking good. And that's really exciting. If nothing else, then because group str gets the recognition I think they deserve because they were an awesome team doing awesome stuff. And now more people are going to be able to play their stuff that couldn't play it before because of the language barrier. So thank you to everyone. Who's, who's back that project.
Snyders Return:Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I guess all I can say to you is thank you as a company. And thank you, Bradley for agreeing to come on and discuss the Kickstarter and your wonderful company, and all the hard work you're doing to, to open the world up in that respect from a localization standpoint and creativity standpoint. So thank you so much for joining me. Thanks. Appreciate it. And they can't let you go without all this. Should we say, whetting the appetite for future releases? I'd love to have you back on the show in the future if you'd be willing to join me about future releases? Absolutely. This
Bradly Halestorm:has been as easy a conversation as it gets. So I would love to come back on. Perfect.
Snyders Return:Thank you very much, until we get the chance to speak again, Bradley. Thank you. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the show, then go to WWW dot Snyder's return.squarespace.com. Alternatively, you can find us over on Twitter at Return Snyder. We have a link tree link in the description of this episode. And if you want to support Come and join us over on Patreon and we also have a Discord server. Please leave us a review because we'd love to learn how to improve the channel and provide better content out for for those who are listening until we until we speak again. Thank you