Undercover Comics #1

[asphaltus]

Dec, 1946
Issue #0

You see it in your mind. The snow swirls about the first panel, obscuring the sidewalk and the uncaring passers-by. Then it closes in, and the focuses on the still silhouette standing in front of a door, a piece of paper in hand. Finally, the details become clear in the third panel. A tall and somewhat lanky

[] man
[] woman

with tired eyes and a perpetual frown (an identifier for New Yorkers, truth be told), reads a letter, eyes wide and disbelieving. The letter, or a portion of it anyway, appears on the wide fourth panel. There's no mistake, it's addressed to you -

[] Name

While some of sentences are so long that your eyes start to swim, the meaning is clear. Great Aunt Tilda, (long may she live) had made you the sole beneficiary of her will. You have just inherited 100,000$.

Gained Money: $100,000.

It feels odd, to go from scrounging for change poor to a relatively carefree rich in a moment. In the square yellow panel, a narrator would now introduce you, brushing away your twenty two aimless years of existence in a trite sentence. Just your average American - young and easily impressible, appears cynical but is deeply idealistic, passionate about a dream, but forced to toil in drudgery. The next panel would be focused on your eyes, with two words. Until now.

Now you were free to chase your dream. Whether it could reach it or not is another matter - but you were going to chase it. You were going to create the best comic book company ever.

***​

You sit at Richard's Lousy Diner, with Fred sitting across, intently poring over the multitude of documents that the lawyer had handed you.

"Well, it is looks legitimate," Fred says. "You really inherited $100,000, huh?"

"That's right. It's time to dig in." You didn't intend to set the bet, but after he had laughed in your face, it became sort of necessary.

"Okay, first of all, when I said, 'If you really get a hundred thousand, I will eat my hat,' I meant it as a joke. Second, the food here tastes worse, so stop complaining." Fred shakes his head disbelievingly. "It's really odd, you know? I mean it's like someone winning the lottery. You know it's someone, it's just not someone you know, right?" Fred hands backs the files to you. The food arrives – a messy looking pasta and coffee. There's a moment of silence as you both take a sip.

"Well," Fred speaks up after a while. "What are you going to do now?"

You raise your eyebrows. "Right." Fred exclaims. "Just checking if you had changed your mind or anything. You practiced a lot in school, I remember. Though you were only good at the –

[] Comic Writing (Coming up with an idea, making it into a plot worthy of a comic book)
[] Pencilling (Creating panels and making a rough sketch from the given plot)
[] Inking (Finishes the pencilled work, adding depth and shading)
[] Coloring (Add color to line drawings, and complete the art)
[] Letterer (Add in the words and the sound-effects, responsible for all text)

-part, weren't you?" He finishes.

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" You ask. "I'm going to create a company, not do the work myself."

"Spoken like a rich brat. Experience is always useful, and even you can help in the beginning. It only doesn't matter when you're truly successful."

"You think I won't?" You challenge the unspoken assumption.

"I think you have a long way to go." He counters.

You both eat in silence, lost in your thoughts. Fred worked at Ragamuffin, a publishing company. He knew how the industry worked, and presumably the people in it. And he was your friend since forever. All you had to do was ask.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" You say as you finish eating.

"If you're thinking why did we eat here when my friend is filthy rich, then yes."

"I meant a partnership."

"You know I would never say no." He smiles as you pay, then scrunches his brow in mock confusion. "Wait, there's one scenario. I guess if some other fool who is also a friend of mine suddenly wins a million dollars and asks me same question – for a movie company." He sarcastically finishes. "I might consider it then."

"That's too far." Movies were your sore spot. "Consider yourself demoted to a sidekick."

"Like Sancho to your Don Quixote? Alright! Now let's go chase some windmills, shall we?"

***​

 

[asphaltus]

Character Sheet​

Name: Emily Powers
Occupation: Comic Writer/Owner of 'Undercover Comics'
Traits:
Always Loved Them: Gain an extra higher step die when writing comic.s
Fan of The Classics: Gain Amateur Proficiency and extra bonus when writing Science Fiction, Horror or Fantasy Tales.

Friend & Partner​

Name: Fredrick Hanz
Occupation: Press house Manager/Owner of 'Undercover Comics'
Traits:
Got Your Back: Goes through a lot of minutiae to make sure the background stuff keeps working properly. Provides helpful advice during events.
Skilled Orator: Is a pretty good speaker.

Employees​

Name: Louisa Alcott
Occupation: Colorist/Inker
Cost: $7650
Traits:
I am the Brush in My Hand: ???

Name: Finn Leibeck
Occupation: Penciller/Letter
Cost: $9310
Traits:
One At A Time: ???

Other People You Know​

Alice Fitzgerald – Your friend who works at the library. Helps you research stuff.
Donovan O. Smith – A cranky old man who owns the Intellectual's Pleasure. Teaches you about marketing and stuff.

 

[asphaltus]

Money in Hand: $129,476

Creative Company Details​

Employee Costs: $16960/month

Translation Costs : $10,000/book
Simplifying/Changing Costs: $7000/book
Professional Artist For Cover: $2000/book

Publishing Details​

Comic Book Base Cost Printing For The First 100,000 copies
60 pages - $28,000
36 pages - $18,000
25 pages - $13,000
22 pages - $10,000
20 pages - $8,000
18 pages - $5,000

Paperback Books
250 pages - $18,000

Hardcover Books
250 pages - $38,000

For monochrome illustrations, add $2000 to the base price. (Book only)
For color illustrations, add $4000 to the base price. (Book only)
For adding quality paper, add $6000 to the base price. (Book only)
For adding quality binding, add $8000 to the base price. (Book only)
For every extra 50 pages, add $2000 to the base price. (Book only)

For every extra 100,000 copies, add half of the base price.

Distributing Details​

The Empire Distributors: Print a minimum of 100,000 copies. Gain 1d100 Unmodified Sales Die. Increase the size of your Genre Modifier Die. They will take a 10% cut of the profits.

Damien and Lindscott Distributors: Print a minimum of 100,000 copies and sell them directly for $25,000.

World Publication and Distributors: Print a minimum of 150,000 copies. Sell 50,000 directly for a price of $15,000. Gain a 4d25 Unmodified Sales Dies. They will take a 5% cut of the profits.

Advertising Details​

Not yet.

 

[asphaltus]

Mechanics
​

I made up the system for the quest from the scratch, so there might be some of tweaks down the line. Also, I'm not used to writing such guides, so the sentences might be a little unclear. If anything is unclear or you feel something should/could be changed for better, please don't hesitate to say it.
​

Jobs, Job Levels and Traits​

​

There are six relevant jobs:

Writer - The one who writes the plot.
Penciller - Draws the panels, the character art, the title page (basically everything).
Inker - Draws over the penciller's art to make it proper, adds shade and depth.
Colorist - Colors everything.
Letterer - Add the words and stuff.
Editor - Makes sure the finished product is not crap.

​

Every job has a level. The better your level, the more die you get to roll, and the better you are at your job. The main character has an extra die for the job chosen.
Leveling up happens automatically. There are two other options to get better leveled characters: you can pay for a special training course, or hire a better guy (both of which are not always available).
Higher leveled characters require more pay.

Every character also has traits; which is either obvious or hidden. These traits will give bonus or malus, which is added after rolling their level die. While the traits might be visible, the associated bonus/malus will not be shown.

Everyone's final values (with the exception of the editor) is added, and the overall quality of the work is determined.
​

The Creation Schedule​

We follow a month wise schedule at the beginning. Every month, you have 28 days in which to make a comic before it goes for publication (Yes, even February. March issues are slightly delayed.). You have certain phases in this 28 days, during which you can take action.)

Ideation Phase (1 day) -

In this phase you go tell your writer what to write, and your writer tells you what he wants to write, (and sometimes the artists tells you what he wants to draw) and after hearing out all their opinions, you give your final word, in a vote-by-plan like this -

[jk] Genre: Fantasy
[jk] Plot: Beat the evil guy who kidnapped hero's mother
[jk] Hero: Has a rad costume with a whip
[jk] Villain: A nazi guy
Along with a 10d10 - {4, 3, 2, 9, 5, 1, 7, 6, 6, 2}

The rolls serve a few purposes. Let's break it down one by one.
In a free-form vote like this, it may happen that no one agrees with each other. In that case, the plan with the highest total will be taken. Everybody has a chance! In case, you agree with someone's plan entirely, you can copy it and roll for it. The summation of both the votes will be taken.

Your rolls also determine how your ideas translate across to the character. There is a threshold value for every idea, and a minimum number of successes against that value to really get your idea across. Let me use an example -

[jk] Hero: I want a guy who shoots lasers from his eyes, has a hot girlfriend, and leads a rag-tag bunch of similarly powered people.

Right off the bat, you can see the character is quite removed from what any person would suddenly think of (even a comic book writer). Let's say this gets a threshold value of 9 (just for example). The character also has a lot of traits (lasers, hot gf, leader), which sets our minimum successes needed to 4.

Now, if you get no 9s, your idea fails (even if your total was highest). We take the next highest total and work with that.
If you get one 9, (1/4 success), the character gets only one part (hot gf, perhaps), and things move on.
If you get 2 9s, perhaps two traits will be taken, and so on.

You need to balance the quality and the no. of traits. A guy with a sword, a toupee and a baton, will have low threshold, but multiple successes required (lot of simple ideas) . A girl who grows stronger as the sun rises higher will have a high threshold, but low amount of success required (one complex idea).

The same applies to the plot, villain parts of the vote as well. Threshold values and successes required will be taken from only one person (so multiple voting won't make the expys more likely).

The ideation phase will get more complex later on, but the basic gist would remain the same.

After the results of the ideation phase are done, you can move onto the writing phase.

Writing Phase

Depending on the complexity of the idea, skills of the writer and so on, the writing phase varies from 3 to 7 days (or even more). The die value is rolled, and the final result is again brought to the player.
You can either discard the script and ask him to do it again, make minor/major changes, or move it further along the chain (or even go back to ideation phase).

Art Phase

In the art phase, you create a track for each script you have. A track requires you to assign at least one NPC to four jobs (Pencilling->Lettering->Inking->Coloring). A track takes 6 to 15 days (or even more), depending on number of pages. One NPC cannot be assigned to two tracks at the same time.

After a track is completed, the result is brought to the player, who can either pass it as it is, make minor/major changes, ask to do it again, or pass it along for publishing. (You can even go back to the writing phase and ideation phase).

Making Changes and Editor's Job

Making major/minor changes is trying to change an aspect of the work so that the hidden bonuses get applied (or debuffs removed). Doing it from the scratch is basically re-rolling (and applying new bonuses/maluses). In the beginning, the MC does the job, but after you get a lot of running series, you can get an editor. An editor automates this process. They won't let an work pass until it meets a minimum value, and ask for changes if they feel it can be improved. (Of course, an editor has his own traits... which may or may not play well with the work in question.)
​

Publishing
​

Every time you print something, you need to pay a flat value, which depends on the number of pages.

60 pages - $30,000
36 pages - $20,000
25 pages - $15,000
22 pages - $12,000
20 pages - $10,000
18 pages - $7000

The presses will also generate a fixed income every month for which the fixed value needs not be paid. There will be also chances to publish works of other authors/people/company, which also doesn't require the money.
​

Sales
​

The sales will be generated at the beginning of every month. You get declining sales from reprints every month (till it reaches less than 10,000). The sales will be generated with a 1d100 (with possible more die later on), along with various bonuses.
​

Costs
​

You'll need to pay your employees at the beginning of every month. Various events may also require money. Levelling up employees requires a one time payment and an increase in monthly fees as well.
​

Research
​

Research costs money, and the option appears during Creation Phase.
​

Other Events
​

We'll tackle them as we go along, okay?​

 

[asphaltus]

Dec, 1946
Issue #0 (2nd Part)

"I officially quit my work today," Fred announces as soon as he enters the small office. "So there's no backing out now." He flops down on the chair. "This place looks nice. You sure you got the right address?"

"I bought it myself during the War for a pittance. Still had to borrow money then, but at least it's all paid off now." You take a look around the place. While the office is barebones, it's close to –

[] A Public Library - Writing Research costs reduced.
[] A Fine Arts Institute - Colorists hired will be more talented than usual.
[] A Typography Club - Letterers hired will be more talented than usual.
[] A Publishing Hub – Sales will slightly increase. Publishing costs will be slightly decreased.
[] A Major Bookshop – Market Research costs reduced.

-and that is quite useful in your eyes. "So, this is the right place, partner." You take a seat behind the big office table, trying to familiarize yourself with the feeling. "What about your side?"
Fred places an envelope on the table. "That's all I managed to scrap up. I even had to visit Dad." You take a look at the receipt inside. "If you had to go fishing, you have my condolences. Here's mine." You place yours on the table.

Gained: $30,000
Gained: $20,000

"Well...." Fred draws out the word. "That just about cuts it." He reaches into his bag and pulls out a stack of papers. "Barnabus Publications." He begins to explain as you leaf through the pages. "The owner's Joseph Lewis Abott. Printed every variety of the Bible, along with some religious tracts and Sunday magazines. Sold very well too."

"And he agreed to do business with us?"

"Let me finish. Abbott sold well, cause he set really low prices. Wanted to spread the word of our Lord to all, I guess. He was barely scraping by during the war, and then he went ahead and bought color printers for an illustrated Bible. Long story short, he's deep in debt, and is willing to sell." He grins at you.

"How's that for pulling my weight?"

"What's his price?" You impatiently ask.

"Fifty thousand." Fred laughs. "Which leaves us right where we started. Except I went ahead had a tour of the place. It's functional, barely so. We'll need to more money to make it up to standard."

"How much?"

He thinks for a moment. "Ten thousand dollars to make it not suck. Fifteen to fix most of it; only thing left would be the toners. Twenty to make it bring it up to standard. What to do you propose?"

"I think we should –

[] Leave it as it is (Greatly increased printing base value; reduced sales)
[] Invest $10,000 (Increased printing base value; slightly reduced sales)
[] Invest $15,000 (Slightly printing increased base value; no effect on sales)
[] Invest $20,000 (normalized printing base value; no effect on sales)


"Sure, let's go along with that." Fred agrees with you.

"But with this," You pause. "We're really a publishing company, now aren't we?"

"Three may make a crowd, but two doesn't make a company. We'll need more people."

***​

"Alright," You hand over your list to Fred. "These are the ones."

Fred reads the list seriously. "You know I can't tell how good any of them would be, don't you?" He hands them back to you. "You should handle the comic side?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Look over the presses, meet the people, get them working." Fred nods. "For the moment, I think we can manage it by selling the Bibles at a proper rate. Might even kick back some if the public feels particularly religious."

"I'll make my pick then." You say. "Don't complain later!"

"Wouldn't dream of it. But don't be too extravagant though," He says as he walks out the door. "One or two is fine, but any more might bleed us money more than we can make."

"I'll keep that in mind." You call out after him. But as you look over the list, you see it's going to be a tough choice...

[] Greg Mathews - A hopeful writer and penciller who wants to try his hand in the comic book industry. He is enamored by action oriented stories featuring mainly soldiers or hard boiled men. While his ideas seem interesting, his pencilling is that of a complete beginner. Cost – $8650/month

[] Louisa Alcott - A former worker of Disney studios, who quit when she couldn't bear to paint thousands of nearly same paintings everyday. Her skills lie in inking and coloring. (but mainly coloring.) Cost – $7650/month

[] Daniel Redman - A fiery youth with a somewhat forceful personality, Daniel boasts of being able to do it all. A quick test shows that while he can do it, he really shouldn't. A complete beginner in all aspects. Cost - $4000/month

[] Finn Leibeck - A somewhat stoic man, Finn has an impressive resume of being a creator of his own newspaper strip. He quit because his 'Boss got annoying', and applied here because, 'The job looked good.'. He has better than average pencilling and lettering skills. Cost - $9310/month

[]Emmanuel Foretta - A young artist in every sense of the word. Pretentious and angsty, but really talented in coloring, with good pencilling. Cost - $16970/month

***
​

A/N:I'll tally this and first vote together. Nothing's closed yet. Also, please vote for the employees in a plan format.​

 

[asphaltus]

***​

"Is that all?" You ask Fred, as both of you stare at the pages spread out all over the desk. "It's kind of a lot, isn't it?" You ask.

Fred looks at the pages, then looks back at you. "Is it? That's all I could think of right now."

"Well, nobody wrote this many names before." You pick one of the pages. "Let's start, shall we?"

"Zeus?" You point at the first word. "What's he got do with comics?" Fred looks to see if you're joking. "He's the main greek god, sounds imposing. What's wrong with Zeus?"

"It shows we lack imagination. There must be thousands of businesses named after Zeus! And, it places us at the rear end of the yellow pages, along with all other Zeuses. I don't like it." You state.

"Let's not be too hasty." He grimaces. He must have really liked that name. "What about the others?"

"Athena?" You stop at another. "Think that is already taken." Fred mutters a curse under his breath. "Aphrodite? Places too much emphasis on romance. Apollo - Wait, did you write all the gods?" You begin reading the first page completely. "Not all of them," He weakly protests.

"Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Hera, Hestia, Hephaestus, Thetis, Metis, Nike…, yeah, sure seems like you didn't." You place it away from the rest of the pile.

"Well, they are not bad names." He defends.

"They're all Greek Gods!"

"Hey, you said, 'write what comes to your mind', and I did!"

"Well, I didn't know you had such a love for Classical Greek!"

You both take a moment to stare stupidly at each other."Let's just look at the other names," You suggest after a while. "Yeah, let's do that." You pick up another page.

"Osiris. Horus. Thoth….."

***​

In the morning, you had a new appreciation for how much Fred cared about ancient gods and mythologies, and a realization about what he considers is a good name. You shudder at the thought if he ever had a kid.

But after a lot of back and forth, a lot of ancient greek, latin, germanic, celtic and nordic names and phrases later, you had both been convinced to choose one. Well, mostly it was he who needed to be convinced. You were the one who proposed it, after all. But ultimately, you did have a name for your comic book company.

[] Comic Company Name

And it was perfect.

***​

A/N: An update at a different time to attract new viewers. All votes remains open for 12 hours more. And please don't worry about tallying. If you voted earlier, and added only the new vote, it's fine. If you updated your vote, that's fine too. I'll look through each vote carefully (first quest, first vote after all), so that nothing is missed. And with this we end chargen.​

 

[asphaltus]

***​

Issue #0
Jan 1947

"Welcome one and all." You address the motley group of Fred, your new employees, a few friends, some acquaintances, and what you think is a random passerby who managed to wander in.

"Today officially marks the first day of our business," You pause meaningfully, trying to remember the words you had hurriedly written the night before. "- and I'm glad you're here to witness it. Whatever you see here -" You wave a hand at the newly made desks and chairs, the stack of beautiful white pages, the pristine typewriter and your heart can't help but soar. "-was achieved after a lot of hard work and – I won't deny it - an even greater amount of luck." Polite laughter. "Few of us are ever so lucky to have their dreams fulfilled, and I can't help but feel blessed to be among them." A light smattering of applause.

"But standing here, right now, I have to say, it doesn't feel like I have achieved my dream." You take another pause. "It feels like it is only beginning." Some thoughtful murmurs. "And hence I had a realization. You never achieve your dreams – you just replace them with bigger ones." There's laughter once again, but more genuine this time. "It's a lifelong journey that doesn't end. And in light of that, I want to make you all a promise. No matter the challenges or difficulties that I face, I won't stop pursuing my dreams. No matter how distant the goal may seem, I won't stop walking. No matter how futile the effort appears, I will still give it my all." You look around and nod. "And I implore you all to do the same. Thank you."

***​

"That was a nice speech." Fred exclaims as you lean back in your chair. "Of course, I am a writer. That's what I do." You say. "You were good as well."
He waved it off. "I just repeated what Mr. Hatham used to say when he created a new division." He chuckled. "Heard it so many times that it got memorized. So, what's this?" He hefts a book from the veritable stack of magazines, periodicals and tradebacks that lies beside your desk. "Been studying lately?"

"Actually, yes," You reply. "You can't cut wood without sharpening the axe."

"You read them all?"

"Well, mainly the –

Choose 3 genres. Ranked-Choice Voting.

[] Fantasy
[] Science-Fiction
[] Superheroes
[] Military
[] Mystery
[] Spy
[] Romance
[] Horror
[] Classical
[] Comedy
[] Wild West
[] Write-in (possible QM veto)

-ones, cause I like them best." You respond. "And why be a jack of all trades when you already are a master of a few?"

"Indeed, oh wise one." Fred mock responds. "Do you have any other seeds of enlightenment, Great Master Powers?"

"Why, of course." You swat him with a folded periodical. "Wise saying number two: No one likes a sarcastic sidekick, Mr. Hanz."

***​

"I gathered you all here today -" You begin, when a voice interrupts you.

"Is this – Is this aboUt workiNg oVerTime?" The shrill voice with the odd inflections belongs to Louisa Alcott, your inker and colorist. She, as usual, looks like a nearly nervous wreck, about to collapse any moment. Her fingers are splotched with ink, are completely white otherwise, a somewhat incongruous detail which has always strikes you as ominous.

"No, Louisa, it's not," You remind her gently (you don't really believe she would cry if you raised your voice, but why risk it?). "Technically, you haven't even working yet. No, we are here to discuss your duties and responsibilities. Speaking of, where's -"

"ight." A soft voice, this time belonging to Finn Leibeck, your tentative penciller and colorist. In fact, he speaks so softly that you have never heard the first syllable of anything he says. Which is a disturbingly comical contrast to his huge body. " 'm here." It looks even funnier when he sits down next to anxious Louisa.

"And I am here as well!" Fred pips from behind you. "All present and ready!"

"Very well." You nod. "Shall we get to work?"

***
​

A/N: I really, really wanted to get started on the main thing, but somehow, it just didn't fit. I think I will update the character sheets along with the official ideation phase update sometime in the next 12 to 14 hours... so please look forward to it. The rate of updates will also slow down... can't afford to tally and write it in the same day. Looking at a 2 weekday + 1 weekend schedule.​

 

[asphaltus]

Issue #1
Jan 1947

A few weeks before...​

The first thing that catches your when you walk into William Taft Library is a bust of a rather odd looking Santa Claus on the counter. As you get closer, you see it's not Santa, but rather Taft himself with the distinctive hat. You admire it for awhile (even without a beard, it's flawless) before turning to the somewhat harried, irritated looking blonde who's glaring at you. "I won't let you borrow any books until you return them all," Alice shakes her head resolutely. "And I won't let you talk me into it doing so again."

You knew she absolutely would. Alice never seemed to remember anything for every long, and with a few minutes of gossip, you knew she would happily let you clear away a shelf and take it home. But it wasn't like you were always doing it.

"Relax, Alice," You put your bag on the counter. "Who do you think I am?"

"You really brought them back?" The dimples break out on her face as she smiles. "Gee – I really can't believe it!" She squeals as she puts them away. "You made my day, Emmy! Come on here!" You wince slightly as she pulls you into a hug. You're not much of a hugger, but Alice is the huggiest person there ever is. You're lucky though, this time she only holds on for a minute before letting you go.

"Can I now borrow some books?" You finally ask.

Ideation and Plot Research Unlocked! You can now visit the library to research new genres and other techniques for the ideation phase. Ideation Research takes time, so please schedule it carefully!

***​

The Intellectual's Pleasure is a little shop tucked in between 7th​ Avenue and Main Street. While there's books crammed in every nook and cranny inside, the comics are left unattended in the front, forced to share space with all types of newspapers. You pick one (Horrific Comics #16), and leaf through it.​

"You read it, you pay for it." Donovan Smith, cankerous old man and owner briskly walks into the room with a newspaper in hand and sits down by his spot without sparing you a glance. "What if I was the one who wrote it?" You ask your usual question.

"The only ones who can buy without paying can be the sitting president, a Pulitzer winner, or Bette Davis." He pointed to the ridiculous sign behind him, his finger landing exactly on the N of the No. "No other exceptions."

"Isn't she a little young for someone like you?"

"Love is not bound by age or causes," He folds down the newspapers and looks at you. "Now, I think you're here for a reason?"

"I recently became an owner of a publishing house." You explain, and he sagely nodes. "I have heard. What of it?"

"And I was hoping for some advice."

"Get some good editors. Pay your authors well. Don't publish more than you can pay for." He tritely replies.

"You know I will be publishing comics, right?"

It had been a point of contention between the two of you since the first time you came here. Donovan didn't believe that comics could be good literature, while you were ready to say that it was his biased old age views talking. The debate would continue for an hour or two, after which you both would grudgingly settle down.

"You might be the most adamant idiot I have ever seen." He huffs. "But I guess I did promise." He had been sympathetic to your tale of owning a publishing company on that day.

Initially, you had brushed him off as another old know-it-all. It was only later that you came to know that the man behind the counter was once the owner of Reimhart & Co, one of the biggest publishing and book selling companies in the country. Even though he disdained comic books, you had seen some eerily accurate predictions on what would be popular and what wouldn't. The man knew the audience better than any other guy you could ever find. It was the obvious choice.

You wait for a while. "Well?"

"Alright, the first thing you need to know," He pauses meaningfully and peers at you from the top of the newspaper. "If I am to really give my expert insight, I'll be charging consultation fees."

Market Research Unlocked! You can now visit the bookshop to find out the market trends and other events that would help during sales. Market Research costs money, so please budget it carefully!

***​

Fred is hard at work – which is to say, he is shouting really hard at others to work harder - when you find him. The printing presses were a sight to behold, a crowning achievement of modern science. Paper went in on one side, and after various pressing by some chemicals, comic books came out the other. It was simply glorious.

"What do you think of it?" He asks.

"It looks good." You understate your feelings somewhat.

"It could be a lot better," He enters the office and ushers you inside. The noises die down once he closes the door. "We're far from the standard level here, you know?"

"But we are fine for the moment?" You press.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," He agrees as he opens the door to shout at someone before closing it again. "Where was I? Oh, the bibles are always selling, but most of that money is used to keep the presses running. Nearly even operation. As for distributing the comics, I managed to snag a contract. Local area only, but at least we'll be making sales."

You frown slightly when you hear the news, but that's to be expected. While owning printing presses might make you a publisher, you still have a long way to go.

But you'll get there.

Publishing Events Unlocked! There'll be new publishing events from time to time.
Distributing Deals STILL LOCKED! The QM hasn't managed to figure them out yet! But they'll be here someday...
Advertising Deals STILL LOCKED! Is the QM just showing off mechanics but didn't bother to create them? Surely not...

***​

And now, back in the present.

"As I was saying," You begin anew. "We'll have to decide what kind of comics we'll be printing next month."

"I know the answer to that one," Fred pips up from behind. "It's got to be an anthology, right?"

"'S right." Finn nods his head. Louisa just seems lost. It's true, though. The answer was an obvious. Every comic book publisher had begun with an anthology issues. With a variety of stories, they could see what worked or didn't, try out new characters, and appeal to many readers at once. Later, once they figured out their strengths and weaknesses, they could print the series.

"Then the next question would be: how many stories should we include?"

"Shouldn't we figure out the number of pages first?" Fred asks.

"Oh, right." You think of it. Most of the big publishers kept it at 60 pages, but recently, there was a new trend of 36 pages. There were rumours that even Atlas might switch to it. Anything less than might leave a few people wanting. But it wouldn't matter if your business failed, would it? After some thinking, you say "Why don't we keep it at -

Please vote by Plan! (Money in hand: $85,000)
[] 60 pages - $30,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 36 pages - $20,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 25 pages - $15,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 22 pages - $12,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 20 pages - $10,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 18 pages - $7500 (base publishing cost)

"I think that sets a fine balance between cost and quality.". Everybody nods in agreement. Wait – are they going along with it cause you're the boss? But then Fred should have spoken up, right? You vow to get to the bottom of the matter later.

"Well, with that m-many pages," Louisa speaks up, "we could do a- at least three stories!"

"Well, one major story and two small ones, yes." Fred assents.

"'An be equal too." Finn points out.

"Or two major stories?" You think. Hmmm, this was proving to be a tough choice.

Choose the number of stories you want to publish, and assign them the pages!
Pages ≥ 18 means a main feature!
18 > Pages ≥ 11 is a major feature!
11 > Pages ≥ 5 is a standard feature!
5 > Pages is a minor feature!
Please vote by Plan!
[] No. of pages (from before)
-[] {Main Feature} No. of stories, and the pages for each
-[] {Minor Features} ….

After some discussion, everybody once again agreed with your decision. Is this what it meant to be The Man? You could get used to it.

"Well, now all's that left is the stories themselves." You continue on. "Anybody has any opinions?"

"I li-like Jane Austen…" Louisa interjects, you suppose, for the sake of interjecting. Finn just nods broadly as if to show he's fine with anything. Fred is the one who comes to your rescue. "You're the sole writer in here, so you should be the main contributor."

"Well, I'm good with Science-Fiction, Horror and Fantasy…" You muse. "So I guess I'll be suggesting based on that…"

Ideation Genres Set the Same As Personal Genres due to Jobs Matching! You can research more Ideation Genres at the Library, but Personal Genres will be developed when you level up!
Ideation Genres have a lower threshold and no. of successes required!
Personal Genres get a bonus when you write stories based on them!

You can vote for any genre with the format -
[] Genre:
-[] Plot
-[] Protagonist
-[] Antagonist
And roll a 10d10. If you are voting for a Ideation Genre (i.e., Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror), you get an extra voting bloc (and again roll a 10d10).
[] Genre:
-[] Plot
-[] Idea (Extra Idea about Setting, Theme, etc)
-[] Protagonist
-[] Antagonist

***​

A/N: A few requests. Don't give too much complicated stuff right of the bat. Too many tropes spoil the broth and whatnot. Also consider the time period and whether the concept would exist or not. Second, I hope the differentiation about Ideation Genres and Personal Genres are clear. Third, if you have any suggestions/questions, feel free to go ahead and ask. Next update will be sometime on Sat/Sun. I had the character sheets typed out, but then some site error ate it up. It'll be out soontm ​, I promise.

Also, I have a few questions: Does anyone know a good dice roller site, one that stores results and you can perhaps display them here (except the in-thread one, obviously)?
Second, do you guys prefer to make/see all the rolls of the MC, or should I do it in background and show it to you narratively? (Personally, I prefer the second one, but I might change if a lot of people disagree. You won't be seeing the rolls of your employees in any case. You'll figure out the bonuses too easily, and I prefer a much more narrative based explanation system.)

 

[asphaltus]

"Alright, I think I have a few ideas."

"Let's hear them all." Fred smiles, the sort of smile editors who deal with a lot amateur authors might have.

"Well, first of all -" You pause, thinking of how to word your vision in a proper sentence, "-a spaceman crash lands on a planet."

"Typical." And there he goes. "Let me finish, okay? He crashes because the evil undead aliens damaged his ship while chasing him."

"Wait – they're undead and aliens both?"

"No… they're undead looking aliens." You decide after awhile. "Rotting, evil looking rotten beings. Like giant apes on legs. Well, anyway, he crash lands on the planet, and get this – it's a fantasy land."

"What kind of fantasy are we talking about?"Fred interrupts you once again. "Greek, Nordic, or the general medieval Europe with magic?"

"Medieval with magic." You briefly consider the ideas of a different fantasy world, but then discard it. You don't have enough knowledge about them. Perhaps after some research…

"Anyways, he crash lands on the planet – and so do the evil Trolls. They are fighting and there's a witch who interrupts in somehow."

"In favor of the space man, or the space trolls?"

"Well, first she helps out our astro-man, because space trolls think her of as an enemy. But later, after spaceman is about to fix his spacecraft, the witch turns against him cause she wants his magic."

"Magic?"

"The spaceship and his technology."

"Ah. That's clever. You want to point out that advanced technology would appear similar to magic, right?" Fred, as usual, states out something simple yet elegant that even you hadn't considered. Well, maybe you had considered it, but it was still nebulous and vague, lurking in your subconscious until he went ahead and put into words. And now that he has, it all starts to take shape. The Witch would cast a fireball and Spaceman would launch his force field… and both would be amazed.

"The space trolls seemed like a kind of weak link," Fred continues on, "-but you use them in the first few pages, make it clear that is science fiction, before switching them over to the fantasy, and introducing the Witch fighting them." He pauses there. "That could be a problem. Space trolls versus the Witch already somewhat gives away our idea."

"I think so too." It's clear now. "The trolls fight Astro-Man and damage his ship. He crash lands onto the planet. The Witch thinks he is a Wizard with a magic device and decides to pretend to help him look for parts for his ship and he accepts because he thinks she is just some farmer and they continue on together – UNTIL!" You take a breath. "Until they find the missing part, at which point they fight. The Witch thinks Astro-Man is a Wizard, while he thinks she's using some kind of sufficiently advanced technology." You conclude with a flourish.

Fred asks. "But how does it end?"

"Well – the Astro-Man somehow wins, and then he flies away, ruminating on his strange experiences." You explain with a confidence of an author who has the entire story clear in her head. Writing it down is merely a formality now.

Plot Gained: (Science Fiction/Fantasy) The Magic of Astro-Man
Major Idea Gained: Sufficiently Advanced Technology and Magic
Major Idea makes it easier to create similar plots.

***

"What about -" You begin again. "-a race?"

"There are elves, gnomes, trolls, goblins," Fred lists them off. "Which one you want?"

"No, I meant, an actual race, with cars and stuff."

"Seems interesting."

"BUT-" You interject. "- it's set in space, from one end of the galaxy to another, with spaceships."

"I sort of supposed that when you said it was a space race." He appears thoughtful. "From one end of the galaxy to another, so it's pretty far. Instead of being about focused on speed, it's about endurance. Go on."

"And the hero would be a poor sort of guy, in it just for the money, and the other racers race against him." You explain further

"I know what a race is, Emily. So what's your story?"

"Well, the other racers would try to sabotage him, and he would be left behind, but still manages to win by preserving on till the end."

"Wait, so they are all racing on a space-track or something? That would make it difficult it catch up, especially when you consider that he won't have a good car from the first place, right?"

"They don't need to be on a space track, they can chart their own separate courses," You object, "that way he can still have a chance of winning, right?"

"So how would the sabotage happen?"

"They'll do it before the race."

"So the challenge is to fix it in the middle of nowhere, which he would eventually do. But that point, it kind of loses the race aspect, doesn't it?"

You hate to admit it, but he's right. "I guess... maybe?"

"What you can do is make the length shorter, perhaps a lap of the solar system, and somehow the other racers knock him off course the solar track," He explains, "You could then make him come back – I don't know, by finding a secret dangerous shortcut, or get some extra fuel from the asteroids… What do you think?" He narrows his eyes when he looks at you. "Wait a minute – you didn't think of anything beyond having space-cars and a race, did you?"

"I kind of had the idea for the poor hero." You say, but even that sounds hollow.

"Well, I guess you could make a story out of the things I said," He says, "but if you really want to make a story about racing, at least read up on it, will you?"

Plot Gained: (???/Science-Fiction) Race For Stars

***

"Alright, a classic for once. Graverobbers-" Fred raises his eyebrows slightly, but you ignore him, "-in Victorian England, chance about a body with the eyes and organs missing." He leans back in his chair. "And now they've stumbled onto the activities of a pagan cult ritualistic sacrifice to bring their Dark God to Life."

"Is this some weird mix of Poe and Lovecraft?"

"Well, mostly Lovecraft." You confirm. "Does this end badly?" He asks. "Well, sort of. They run away in the beginning, but because they are drunk, they alert the cultists who knock them out after a short fight."

He sighs. "I guess they end up being the sacrifices?"

"Yeah. Tied up with everyone chanting, and somehow one manages to free himself, trips over candles sets the whole place on fire, and catches a teeny glimpse at the Lord of the Depths beyond before it all turns to black. And then, the next morning, when the constabulary arrive, they find nothing but a rotten stench of dead fishes with odd looking pinkish scales…" You lower your voice dramatically at the end. "Well?"

"Instead of the usual zombies, undead or ghosts, I liked that you went with Lovecraftian inexplicable terror. And the story's good too."He pauses. "Yeah, I think it's fine. Or even better, maybe. I am not a horror expert."

"So you have nothing to add?" Your victory over him today looks rather hollow.

"You say like it's a bad thing." Fred chuckles.

Plot Gained: (Horror) The Grave Terror

***

"A fantasy tale this time, and yes, it is set in some medieval magical world," You answer his obvious question before he interrupts, "about a cocky farmer who must save his village from a horde of… creatures."

"Creatures?"

"Well, something of a cross between a goblin and a troll. Let's call them Troblings, no, Trobs? Troks? Troks." You decide. "Well the Troks attack Erdin's village, and now he has to save it."

"And he's just a farmer? Not secretly a prince or anything?" He asks "No, it's not like that." Yeah, that wouldn't fit the story. You didn't know what did either, but that was hardly the point.

"But he trains with a sword or quarterstaff or something?"

"No to that either." Is that

"So he is just a cocky farmer? What's he so cocky about – growing the biggest pumpkins?"

You were about to say no – when your brain somehow magically produces the missing inspiration that ties the whole story together. "Yeah, he's the best farmer in the village." The idea guides you the way. "His grows the biggest pumpkins, his crops have the biggest harvest, the plants never rot or catch a disease. He is just a magical farmer."

"Ah…" He realizes it quickly. "So, he's a druid?"

"Yep. A druid." That name is a lot better than Earth-Mage. You're secretly glad that you didn't say it out loud now.

"So why hadn't he realized his powers earlier?"

"Cause he was too proud." Your answer is immediate, but only after you say it you realize how wonderfully it feels. "He was too egoistical and self concerned, so he couldn't hear the wisdom of the Earth." You have it in it's entirety. "But as he watches his farm burn down, he feels the pain of the land, and realizes there are somethings greater than himself." You pause. "Now, awakened to his powers, he goes on to face the Torks, who contrary to expectations, are not completely evil, just led by a bloodthirsty chief who they are all forced to follow."

"Why?"

"They are tribal people. Whatever the chief says goes."

"Ah, alright, go on."

"When Erdin defeats the…" You try to think of a name, "the Scarred Chief, the previous chief, who is also a druid, takes over the position, thanks him for his service, and ensures a peaceful coexistence between Man and Tork."

"Love it." Fred calmly states just .

"What?" He has never said those words that easily before. "You do?"

"I am a little biased towards fantasy stories with odd heroes, touching origin, skilful twists with a surprise ending." You are certain he stopped just there to heighten the tension. "In short, a great story. And you said just that."

You beam at the praise. "Well…. I am a writer, after all."

Plot Gained: (Fantasy) A Great Farmer
***

"What about Communists IN SPACE?"
"Fighting a war against USA IN SPACE?"
"Well, no. They just fought a common enemy and now think that the other has got too strong."
"Wow. Nobody has heard of that before. But tell it anyway."
"There's a space captain, and his battleship-, I mean, space battleship, is being sabotaged."
"So it's something of a mystery set with a political background in a science fiction setting?"
"Sort of." You say.

"Look, mixing things up is all fine and dandy, but," Fred sighs. "you got to be proficient in them both before trying them out, otherwise it just doesn't work. And just because you set a mystery story with science parts make you good at writing them, would it?"

"At least the science parts would be good." Your defense seems lacking. "And the genre just simply covers a wide range of things, so it's not my fault I get a little carried away."

"Well, I think a handy rule would be to remove all the science fiction elements, and see if the story still works. If it doesn't, or the story is worse off, then it falls under science fiction. If it works fine, then it's not. Simple, right?"

You think over it for a moment. Yeah, even the other scientist idea seems mostly a blend of spy and mystery set in space. Maybe you could come back to it later, once you got the hang of the genre?

***

"You know I dreamt up a fantasy world?"
"What kind of fantasy world?"
"I don't remember it… just that were a lot of creatures, attacking strongholds of each other."
"Sounds riveting."
"I'll be sure to write it down in my dream diary next time."

***

"Oh, I have one with aliens. They have taken over the entire Earth, making people work, and our hero would be the one of the last members of the Resistance."

"That's terribly bleak, isn't it? And also, how are you going to make it interesting?"

"The aliens aren't actually that evil." This time, you could easily fill the blanks yourself. "They give everyone vacation and pay, and you can do all other human stuff in your free time. Everyone lives in a perfect world, with food, shelter, education. There's no crime and poverty."

"Wait – if they could do all that, what do they need us for?"

"Brain power." You say smugly. There was a whole essay about it in one of the magazines. "The machines aren't capable of abstract thought, so the aliens need us to solve problems."

"What kind of problem would be that?"

"Transcending dimensions? Preventing a collapse of the universe?" You wave your hand dismissively. "Anyway, they give us problems, and what they do with the answers is unknown. Wouldn't be alien otherwise."

"I get it. A utopia where you don't have freedom, or a free world that with all its dirt? And how does our protagonist would fight back?"

"The aliens are quite evolved, but very few in number. They live in huge black towers, looking down on our civilization. And our heroes are fight back with a suicide plan to bomb them."

"Do they get to meet the aliens?"

"Indeed." You raise your finger. "The aliens, being highly evolved, couldn't rationalize a suicidal attack, which the Resistance had successfully counted on. As the count down happens, the aliens, ask why?" You whisper the last word. "After giving equality to all, why would humans still try to overthrow them?"

"And what is the reason?" Fred leans in.

"It's simple. Equality." You take a few moments to admire your brilliance. "Equality is inequality itself. The people who work harder should receive more, while the people who don't should receive less. Everybody is different, so why should they receive the same amount of resources? And with that monologue, the bomb explodes – and the story ends."

"Brilliant…"Fred says after a long time. "That was really… brilliant." Yeah, even you were quite overwhelmed when the plot had revealed itself to you. He continuously praises you for a few minutes, while you modestly accept his compliments. Of course, Fred being Fred, still managed to throw a spanner into the works. "I mean, are you sure you don't want to send it to a magazine or something? I mean, it's such a great story, and all you want to make is a comic?"

Your reply to that is a kick to his shins.

Plot Gained: (Science Fiction) The Equal Utopia
Major Idea Gained: Equality means inequality.

***

"Another fantasy, this time in an Arabian nights setting. A clever sorcerer plays a game with a evil djinn to win a magic carpet."

"Let me guess; with riddles and tricks? Are you good at that type of stuff?"

Well, you hadn't specifically looked into the oriental world, you were reasonably certain you could pull it off. How hard could it be? "I can do it." You state.

"Fine, then." He says.

"That's it?"

"Well, these types of stories are only as good as the puzzles in them; aren't they?" Fred says. "As for the characters, saying sorcerer and djinn is enough. One or both would be wearing a turban, the other would appear out of the desert in shape of a cloud…" He trails off there. "I mean, you are good at fantasy, so I guess you could do it well. Read a few books on them and you'll be even better. As for now, all you need is some puzzles or puns that the modern American understands and you're set."

"You really like Arabian Nights, don't you?" You say sarcastically.

"There was a guy who believed he was the modern Scheherazade back in our old offices. I was his editor." He looks at you with hollow eyes. "I swear, I must have read stories of more than five thousands djinns, princess, the hellion thieves, scorpions, the cave with a magic keyword, clever daughters, stupid merchants, witty advisors, and adventurers pillaging in the eastern high seas." Then he snaps back. "So trust me on this one. Make some good puzzles, throw in some magic words, let the good guy trick the bad guy in the end… and you're done."

You open your mouth to say something, but he forestalls you. "Done." He repeats.

Plot Gained: (Fantasy) The Riddling Sorcerer

***

"Captain Jack Helsing-" You begin dramatically, but even here Fred is quicker.
"Is this another attempt based off on Captain America? Don't do it."
"It's not based -"
"We can't afford to be sued, especially now -"
"It's not based off on Captain -"
"And they will sue, cause that is their prize -"

"IT's not based on captain amerICA!" You shout. Deep breaths. Calm yourself. "I am past that phase, okay?" You explain. Fred still looks at you skeptically. "I'm listening." He finally says.

"Captain Jack Helsing dressed in full military uniform, doesn't have a shield, and instead of punching Nazis, he will kill Vampires." You leave out the part where they might have allied with Hitler. That would be too close to Captain America's territory.

"Only Vampires?" He questions.

"Only Vampires." You solemnly say. "No Nazis."

"Still think the Captain part leaves us too vulnerable. What about calling him Special Operative? Cause of the supernatural and all that?"

You are loathe to let the Captain go, but Fred's right. With some trepidation, you think of the words Special Operative Jack Helsing. It doesn't sound too bad, but it still rankles. "I am still calling the team Paranormal Corps though." You warn Fred.

"So their job is to fight Vampires?" Fred asks. "Vampires, and all other paranormal stuff. But yes, mainly vampires."

"So how do they fight? I am guessing they use modern weaponry, with perhaps holy water grenades…?"

You hadn't quite considered that part, but it seems right. "Yeah, they enter the manor which they have reports is the lair of the vampires, and then shoot with the …silver bullets and the grenades, cleverly evading their traps while showing the old bloodsuckers the power of the new age." The slick line easily rolls off your tongue. You got to use it for dialogue for one of the team somehow…

"I guess you do know the horror part…" Fred says, "What about Helsing's team?"

"Well, there's Helsing, and the other soldiers… and one of them would be perhaps an Irishmen -what?" You ask when you see him staring at you.

"I meant about their roles." Fred sighs, "Forgot that you don't read any action stories. Right, don't name the people on the team, make the Irishman a sidekick, give the leader of the vampires a name, and I think we have a story."

"I know about army stuff, okay?"

"What's the difference between a second lieutenant and the first lieutenant?"

"One of them has a higher rank?"

"Which one?"

…..

Plot Gained: (???/Horror) The Guns of Helsing

***

"Our universe is at war against an evil side, and one guy from Earth gets drafted on to fight for the good side."

"Ah, must you always present these complex plots?" Fred's ready with his sarcasm. "Why does only he get drafted again?"

"Cause he got lucky." You say. "So he joins this force of good guys, with lots of different aliens, and he gets new powers to fight the evil."

"So basically give him cosmic powers and set him loose? Aren't they afraid he'll use it against them?"

"No, they can take it back whenever they want." You say. "And he was carefully chosen, so no, he won't use it against them."

"That's quite reassuring when you say it like that. So what happens next?"

"Well…. He fights the bad guys along with his team-mates on a planet, and then leaves."

"Okay, this sounds a lot like a feel good story about drafting up and fighting the bad guys in space world war two. Is there a clever idea or interesting alien coming?"

You think for a while. "I am sure there will be one, but I can't see it yet."

"Until then, let's put this idea on hold, shall we?" Fred says.

You acquiesce. You're going to have come with some specific scenarios if you want to take this idea further….

***

"You know, I think I could come up with a small ghost story if we can't fill in the pages."

"It shouldn't come to that, surely?"

"Eh, you never know."

Gained Plot: (Horror) A Small Ghost Story

***
You have 8 plots! Assign them to pages and features.
[] 60 pages - $30,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 36 pages - $20,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 25 pages - $15,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 22 pages - $12,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 20 pages - $10,500 (base publishing cost)
[] 18 pages - $7500 (base publishing cost)
Pages ≥ 18 means a main feature!
18 > Pages ≥ 11 is a major feature!
11 > Pages ≥ 5 is a standard feature!
5 > Pages is a minor feature!
Please vote by Plan!
[] Plan Name
-[] No. of pages
-[] {Main Feature} Genre, with Plot
-[] {Minor Features} Genre, with Plot

***
A/N: Never again. DO YOU HEAR ME? Never again shall I write so much!

But now that I have, what's a few more words, eh? I think the update clearly covers which ideas worked and didn't, and along with the reasons as well. If you have doubts, you can ask me, and I'll answer. All the plots with ??? and another genre meant that you lack knowledge of the genre in question and since genre-mixing isn't introduced yet, your plan gets a high threshold. (Yeah, later on, you can select two or more genres. So keep your ideas close, it will have its day once again). The DOTA thingy gets automatically high threshold (what's a batrider? At least take something from the lore).

DS's idea went quite complex, with mostly politics with a dash of sci-fi, instead of the opposite, and I hope I reflected that properly. Almost of the plot explanations are varying in length and quality, cause that depended on how the dice worked. I wanted to show how your ideas changed to form in Emily's brain, but in a few cases, it became too much/too less talking, so I tried to make it even wherever possible. The length has nothing to do with the plot generated, I assure you.

Okay, now my brain's short circuiting. I'm going to update it now and go to sleep.

Also, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR, wherever you are.

 

[asphaltus]

Issue #1
Jan 1947

24 days left.

"We'll go with 36 pages." You say. ''And the main feature will be The Astro-Man, followed by the the Equal Utopia and the Great Farmer as major features. And as for the writing –

Choose Writers
[] Writer Name
- [] Plot Name

"-I'll do it myself."

***​

You have practiced writing scripts before. Even sold a few of them to a few publishers. But this time, you're writing for your own company. It's exciting and nerve wracking at once. And there's an important decision to make before you can get started. You'll have to decide the style of the script that you and your company will follow.

Primarily, there are two types of possible scripts. In one case, the writer herself makes the panels, creates and fills the dialogue boxes, and gives a rough outline of where everything goes before handing it over to the artist. Although the writer must possess some sense for the visual flow, otherwise it would result in a subpar work.

The other would be to submit the script in a plot format, and let the artist use his imagination to fill out the panels and draw the artwork. Of course, now it's upto the artist to fill in the dialogues and the words, which he may not be good at.

A third way is use to a three way process. The script is written, the artist draws the art, and then it goes back to the writer so that the boxes could be filled. A long and cumbersome process perhaps, but the only method where you got the best of both worlds.

Or perhaps you could decide on a case by case basis. Nobody said you had to decide now, did they?

In the end, you decide on:

[] Writer Focused Approach
[] Artist Focused Approach
[] Back-and-forth Approach
[] Decide On a Case by Case Basis
[] Write-in

***​

You look over the finished scripts. Both the Magic of Astro-Man and the Great Farmer came out quite wonderfully. The Equal Utopia though, seems somewhat too wordy,… perhaps a little too preachy? It's hard to objectively look over your work, and harder even to find what's lacking. But you could confidently say it was slightly inferior to the other scripts. Now, the remaining question was… what to do with it?

Astro-Man quality is better than average, bordering on great.
Equal Utopia is slightly worse than average.
A Great Farmer is better than average.

[] Leave it as it is.
[] (Plot Name) Make minor changes (reroll two dice, add it in place of the others if higher) (Time taken: 0 days)
[] (Plot Name) Make major changes (reroll four dice, add it in place of the others if higher) (Time taken: 1 days)
[] (Plot Name) Rewrite it completely (reroll all the dice) (Time taken: 3 days)

***​

And you have the rest of the month to look forward to as well.
You have currently 3 finished scripts for 1 issue.
You have currently $85,000 in the bank and 24 days left in the month.

[] Visit the library – get some more ideas
-[] See if you can get some new ideas. (3 days; gain understanding about a new genre)
-[] Learn about possible writing techniques. (3 days; gain understanding about topics and ideas)
-[] Just talk to your friend. (1 day; gain ???)

[] Visit the Bookshop – see what Donovan has to say
- [] Learn what's selling and what's not. ($1000, 1 day, gain knowledge about genre modifier to sales)
- [] Learn about how the market works. ($1500 cost, 1 day, gain knowledge about sales modifiers)
- [] Try to pry some secrets of the business. ($2000 cost, gain ???)

[] Talk to Fred, he looks like he might have something to say. (Publication event start, 1 day)

[] Talk to Louisa, the nervous colorist. (1 day, gain knowledge about her trait)

[] Talk to Finn, or at least speak while he simply listens. (1 day, gain knowledge about his trait)

[] Fix your presses. ($5000 required, lower publishing costs even more)

[] Create artist team
-[] (Penciller) Name
- [] (Inker) Name
- [] (Colorist) Name
- [] (Letterer) Name

Assign teams to plots
[] (Team Name)
[] Plot Name

For the present, there is only the default team. Louisa Alcott is the inker and colorist, while Finn Leibeck is the penciller and letterer. All plots will be assigned to the default team.
[] Advance to the Art Phase (3+1d8 days, gain complete draft)

[] Generate some more ideas (1 day, get new ideas)

***​

A/N: Sorry about the delay, was busy with new year and stuff. Will try to make up for it the next week. Short update, mostly choices (not enough though). Vote by plan. Vote closes in 18 hours.​