This Guy Walks Into A Tavern... Cover
Ronson on Sept. 24, 2009
Okay, here's the story about this comic. I was sort of wrong in Tuesday's description, because it was so long ago.
“This Guy Walks Into a Tavern…” is a 10 page story telling the tale of Brindle and Aanlonar many years into the future. These were the mortal followers of Ronson during the “Going Home” story, and I wanted to revisit them. I always thought it would be fun to spin the Brindle/Aanlonar story into it's own series … something like the fantasy version of “Cheers” (Elf Only Inn did this, kind of, but that was more about chat rooms). But I don't have any time for it.
Anyway, I wrote this original story for the Drunk Duck anthology “Drunk on Laughter” … which was put on hiatus when Drunk Duck was sold to Platinum. Somehow, when I plotted the whole thing out, I ended up with only 9 pages. This is bad when you think all new stories should start on a right hand page and end on a left hand page. So I added a 10th page at the last minute … just a little added ending to the original story … no big deal.
Well, the Drunk Duck Anthology was held up a full year after it was supposed to, and I decided to put this short story into “The Gods of Arr-Kelaan: Short Stories Volume One” instead of waiting for the anthology.
But there was a problem. This short story sort of breaks my rule that short stories should be self-supporting. I WANTED the reader to have some understanding about Brindle and Aanlonar before starting it. So I threw away the 10th page and wrote a little introduction for it after the cover for the printed work in “Short Stories Volume One”.
Anyway when the actual anthology was actually going to print, this story was more than a year old, and so I decided to write a new story called “The Point of Some Return” … which will be printed after this story ends.
Some time later, I built my store system and learned how to sell PDFs, which allowed me to add that 10th page.
So here it is, officially the last black and white short story I ever plan on doing (We'll do it in color and grayscale it for print if we have to, but we won't color using shades of gray) presented in it's entirety for you.
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THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR BOOK ORDERS!
I now have enough to print 100 books, and any of them bought at this point will actually make money for Rubber Mallet Comics! Yay!
There are a few 7-book bundles left, if they aren't bought before 9-28-09, I'm breaking them up and will put them back in normal circulation.
The PDFs for the Consequences Trilogy will be available on 9-28-09, and will cost $5 each.
Ronson at 2:01PM, Sept. 25, 2009
I have considered it, but there are two things that prevent me from doing so: 1. I have no time or expertise for it. 2. Long ago it was agreed that Len (who created the Arr-Kelaan setting for role playing) would always have control over the gaming end, and he's been very busy for a very long time with about a million other things. We actually haven't spoken much in the past year, because we both get bogged down with other things, and at least for me I never think of it at the same time as I have some free time.
Rohano at 1:38PM, Sept. 25, 2009
Faster, Paypal, faster! I can't pace fitfully forever! In the event that someone else gets the last bundle, congratulations. In the event that our banking industry doesn't fail me, my condolences to whoever I beat out for the books. Also, I have to ask. I know you don't claim ownership of the setting as it applies to D&D, Mr. R., but have you considered getting the material and people together to release some gaming material in the retail market? Splatbook PDFs are a hot market for any edition of the game and I'll wager reaching out to the gamers would not be detrimental to the success of the comic - in fact I think you'd enjoy finding more fans.
seventy2 at 1:37PM, Sept. 25, 2009
i forgot about those 2.
Ronson at 10:59AM, Sept. 25, 2009
There are 2 bundles left, by the way. :)
Ronson at 10:58AM, Sept. 25, 2009
Sijo: Yes, it's meant to be a bit funny. Though I don't think you'll find this story goes out of any bounds that I've already established for humor in GoA. It does lack the gods for the most part, which some folks may not like, but it's only for a month. Rohano: What I will probably do, if I can figure it out, is add tiered discounts so that the more you order, the larger the discount. Because this print run was going to be so expensive, the bundles are actually about 25% off the cover prices ... when I do tiered pricing, I think it'll max out at less than 20. I haven't figured it out just yet, but buying more will save people money.
Rohano at 9:32AM, Sept. 25, 2009
Will you be doing another every-book bundle in the future, maybe after the next couple issues? This would be important to collectors who may be looking for multiple editions or for people who want to give the entire collection as a gift to another fan.
Sijo at 7:38AM, Sept. 25, 2009
You seem to be the kind of comics creator who truly worries about being fair to his clients, Mr. Rowles. There are too many "if the readers can't follow my story, that's their problem" writers these days in comics and I think it hurts the business. So on that point, let me thank you. So is this going to be an humorous story? Somehow I suspect somebody is going to be very disappointed. That could be funny- or not, depending on how it's written. We'll see...
ghostrunner at 11:36PM, Sept. 24, 2009
XD