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 soon
tm , 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.)