Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu)

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu)

@explodingcongee.itch.io

I run games, do funny voices, design graphics, and sometimes write modules.

13 followers40 following6 posts

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Har·bowoputra
@diceless.club

EVERYONE PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT OUR NEW GAME IT IS BEAUTIFUL AAAAAARGH You play as a translator of divine language, translating newly revealed verses of God. Three competing noble Houses want to steer your translation to legitimize their claim to power. DICTUM demo out now on itch! 🔗⏬

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

It's convention season again here in the Indonesian scene 🙌 Here are the list of games that we will have for a TTRPG con that my friends and I are organizing! This one will be the biggest Indonesian TTRPG con! 2 days and 14 games!

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Explorers Design
@index.www.explorersdesign.com.ap.brid.gy

3 pricing models for freelance graphic designers and artists in rpgs.

explorersdesign.comDesign Hireling: Pricing Models# Filthy lucre. A designer's life. What do you charge for your work? How do you get paid? What's your rate? These are the questions I whisper to myself while exporting files and writing emails. The answer? Not enough, too late, and too low. I criminally undervalue my work. The perk and curse of having a full-time job—I treat Freelance Me like a miserable little homunculi. You will do the work for dirt cheap and _you will like it._ Massive caveat going in—today's article is for me. Follow along if you like. Do as I say, not as I do. You know the drill. ## What's my goal for pricing? Allow me to don my mercenary persona. The most important thing for pricing is to make my life better. Ideally better than the average coder, insurance salesman, and—if possible—consultant. It's a tall order, but thankfully with a meager pay and a clean soul, I think we can scrape it. The goal of pricing is to: * **_Make enough to live._** Not survive. I can survive with a shopping cart and tarp. I want to live in a house with book shelves and a fridge redundancy. * **_Live more than I work._** No more than 50 hours a week. Ideally, I'm working so few hours, my neighbors start to wonder if I'm Stephen King's kid. * **_Design cooler stuff._** It's unintuitive, but the really cool clients and projects pay a premium for people that cost an arm and leg. They hate having limbs! These things mean one thing—value pricing. Do not charge people for the cost of your time and tools, but the value it brings to their project, business, game, clout, soul, etc. Frankly, whatever the famous designers say about value to clients is kayfabe. It's about value _to_ _you._ Clients either pay or kick rocks. * * * # What are the different pricing models? They keep inventing new ways to get paid (most of them to get paid less). There are at least three worth knowing as a freelance designer in games: hourly pricing, unit pricing, and flat rate pricing. ### Hourly Pricing Hourly pricing is when you charge people for your time. The most common increment is hourly, but in advertising I know people with day rates. It depends on the company and business. In creative advertising, you spend a lot of time sitting on your hands waiting for client feedback, so agencies buy out your day. Thankfully, we're focused on rpgs, where the illogical and mad spend their energy on monsters and collecting new blackletter fonts. It's a good method when the project scope (what you're being paid to do) is fuzzy. A common predicament in bigger offices. If it's going to happen anywhere in rpgs, it'll be in the Isengard Orc Pits of Hasbro. When working with smaller companies and creators, the pricing method is usually flexible. **Pros:** * **_Every hour is golden, baby._ **It doesn't matter if the client changes their mind, the project runs over budget, or the game never materializes. The hours you work are the hours you charge and get paid for. * **_Everyone understands hourly._ **It's what the guys and gals working at the Ford Motor Company are doing right now (while singing, surely). No one is going to be confused by a contract with an hourly rate in it. **Cons:** * **_Speed is incentivized._ **Clients want their art, logos, and layout yesterday. When you charge hourly, you're pouring gasoline on a fire that's already crisping your doorstep. I hate negotiating timelines with coupon clippers. * **_Payment chasing is more frequent_. **Charging hourly doesn't mean billing hourly, which means you're vulnerable to getting stiffed. The good news: most clients, especially rpg clients, are sweethearts. It's the no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing clients who see hourly rates as a license to steal. * **_Forecasting hours can be awkward._** You constantly have to update the client so they're not surprised by the bill. And then they're surprised by it anyway. Especially when all they did was change everything last minute—why should that change the time you need? ### Unit Pricing This is the one everyone in rpgs knows. Being charged by the word or page. It's a great way to get paid for your work and not your time—so if you're efficient, you can re-invest your time completing other jobs or doing nothing at all. Not bad! Unit pricing is super common, too. Publishers like MCDM and others use it. **Pros:** * **_Easy to quote and charge._ **Clients do a lot of the leg work on unit pricing, which means your job is mostly to ask questions and check their estimates. In well-oiled operations, they already know how much they're expecting and have the money set aside. It's your job to say yes or no. * **_Efficiency is rewarded._ **The faster you work the faster you get paid. If you finish an 8-hour job in 2 hours, it's good news for everyone. You can re-invest that time into another gig or assembling the new Downton Abbey lego set. **Cons:** * **_Negotiations are slim._** Most publishers have a rate and that's it. There's no wiggle room or opportunity to haggle. Maybe you'll get an advance, bonus, or a small bump—but most of the time 15¢/word is the ceiling. Some shops pay as high as 25¢/word. Unit pricing treats the creative like a commodity—nameless. * **_Thinking isn't accounted for._ **Complexity, craft, and perspective will get you repeat work, but they won't necessarily factor into your rate. That makes unit pricing clumsy for rpgs, where projects of few words and pages often hide a mountain of labor. This was always true of publishing—but game mechanics are another level of complexity on top of pacing, structure, and editing. ### Flat-Rate Pricing Let me spoil my position on pricing. I think creatives, especially graphic designers and artists, should opt for flat-rate pricing. This is the model where you put a price on the final result or set of deliverables. That's what the client wants and that's what they buy (usually with a deposit up front). Flat-rate pricing is the perfect model for well-defined projects and scopes. Think: logos, book covers, art, and finished books. The better you get at designing, the easier it will be for you to estimate the time and resources to make it, then you charge the client what it costs to get that thing _made by you_. Value-based pricing. **Pros:** * **_Everyone knows the price._** The client knows what they paid for, and you know what you have to deliver to get paid. There might be some bugbears along the way, but you know the way out of the dungeon. * **_Efficiency is rewarded._ **Clients are explicitly paying for a result, not the hours, which means you can be efficient without it impacting your income. This is the secret to working fewer hours for more money. * **_Value-filled pricing._** Flat-rate pricing doesn't have a ceiling or throttle the way unit pricing does. If you can prove your value to the clients that can afford it, you can charge that value. **Cons:** * _**The scope must be protected.**_ Your flat-rate lives and dies by what you quoted in the project scope. Any work you do that wasn't quoted is work you're doing for free. When clients add deliverables to the project without paying for it, that's called "scope creep." When _you_ add deliverables to a project (because you're such a nice fella), that's called "scope seep." * **_You get paid the rate no matter what._** If a project takes longer than you expected or costs more than you quoted—you eat that time and money. Clients like flat-rates because they're predictable. With flat-rate pricing, you're betting on yourself to get the job done. You assume the risk. * **_Clients might suffer from sticker shock_** A price tag is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's predictable. On the other, it hides nothing. A lot of designers complain of clients getting cold feet. Personally, I think the sticker shock is good. The client that backs out of a flat-rate project was likely to dine-and-dash on the hourly model, too. ## What about royalties? Royalties are unreliable in tabletop games. I'd avoid them. The market is too volatile, the audience too small, and the companies too lean to manage them. Hollywood studios and book publishers are outliers. They have accountants and infrastructure for managing royalties—and it's still not seamless. I think its better to negotiate other benefits, like bonuses for reaching certain benchmarks in crowdfunding campaigns, merchandising rights, or the ability to own the work and renegotiate after an allotted time has passed. These terms don't tie your income to the long-term success of your clients (which is largely outside of your control, anyway). * * * ## The next question about pricing models... What do we charge? That's where things get complicated. It will depend on where you live, how experienced you are, and what kind of work you're doing. Certain industries pay more. Others (like rpgs) pay a lot less. Regardless, I think everyone's rate should be competitive, which is why I have a follow-up in the hopper for later. In the meantime, here's what we have to think about: * What does an average income look like in our area? * What are our current expenses? What do we need to get by? * How many hours do we want to work a day, week, and year? * What do we charge per hour to meet our goals? The secret to being a design hireling is decoding your rate. That gives us a baseline to build everything on top of. Even flat rates—which free us from hourly pricing—still need an hourly rate to make rough estimates. But more on that later. If you have any thoughts or ideas about pricing, sound off in the comments below. * * * ## Paying my Joesky Taxes Talking business is a violation of the Joesky Tax. Here are some hirelings. **Gunter Kindle.**_An uncommon but harmless puppet of Lusterdale_. Grows his nose when yelled at. An endless supply of torches. "Need a torch, sir? Is this the right spot, sir? Am I talking too much, sir? Have I been a bad boy, sir?" _Free._ **Barkus.**_A common but hardy porter of The Oakfens._ Ox stare at him open-mouthed when he passes. When he crests hills, people see the backpack first. Clinking. Groaning. Like ropes on a ship. 2 crowns a day plus meals (10 total). **Golda Scribner.**_A common and mostly harmless limner of Sunsound._ Can create a near-perfect likeness of anyone, even people she hasn't met. Costs 2 coros. Always accentuates whatever feature the subject is most sensitive about. "Perfect." **Barny Sees-It.**_An uncommon but harmless wererat of Sunsound._ He keeps a lookout for anything "fucky." Only two-feet tall. Should be discrete. Wishes he never got bitten by that guy. "Shit's pits. I miss being a rat. Fucking pants..." **Freda Mücker.**_A common but hardy stablehand of Buttershire._ Gentle like a rock slide. A horse once kicked Freda. That horse broke its legs. When she walks into stables, horses tell themselves they'll never complain again. 1 coro a night per steed. **Mario de Pinette IV.**_A common and harmless naturalist of Bogford Guild._ He's excited to pay you brutes a crown a day for the opportunity to study slimes in the Hollers of Infinite Pain. Expert in monstrosities. Hobbyist in surgery. Worried parents. **Mister Barber.**_A legendary and dangerous intellect devourer of Pikeaux._ His white gloves tickle the air in front of him. "300 crowns and I'll unlock his memories over a nice dinner. 200, if you bring a bottle of port." * * * ## Additional Reading How to Promote Your WorkHow to reach out to blogs, pods, and media outlets, and the 5 things creators can do to promote their work in a more community-minded way.Explorers DesignClayton NotestineHome - The Graphic Artist GuildSince 1967, we’ve advocated for the Graphic Arts industry and offered robust resources for graphic artists intent on growing their businesses.The Graphic Artist GuildFreelance, and Business, and Stuff (Ebook Only) - HoodzpahA freelance business book for all you creatives looking to start your own business! Contracts, pricing, invoicing, etc. by Amy Hood and Jen HoodHoodzpah * * * Explorers Design_is a production of Clayton Notestine. If you liked this article, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing._

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

If the way you play TTRPGs is basically how a lot of people play, then you shouldn’t go “woe is me” when someone challenges or debates you simply because they play differently. afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/a-ttrpg-play...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devA TTRPG Playstyle Rant (A Short Blog Post)Here's a short blog post. More of a rant. If the way you play TTRPGs is basically how a lot of people play, then you shouldn’t go “woe is me” when some...

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Zedeck Siew
@zedecksiew.bsky.social

🚨INDONESIA STRONG ALERT🚨 So much good shit in here!

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

These are the blogposts made for the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon, from 17th of August to 10th of September. I used the opportunity to rally the Indonesians and international TTRPG hobbyists to create gameable blogpost related to Indonesia. Enjoy! afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG Blogwagon ROUNDUPLinks to all the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon blogposts

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

These are the blogposts made for the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon, from 17th of August to 10th of September. I used the opportunity to rally the Indonesians and international TTRPG hobbyists to create gameable blogpost related to Indonesia. Enjoy! afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG Blogwagon ROUNDUPLinks to all the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon blogposts
Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

17 August 1945 is the Independence Day of Indonesia. I'm not celebrating that. I am celebrating the Indonesian TTRPG scene and any Indonesian TTRPG stuff by calling for an Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon! afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG BlogwagonA Blogwagon for Indonesian-related TTRPG stuff

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Munkao
@munkao.bsky.social

Gossip-godlings: Extroverted deities so addicted to human drama, they pivoted to govern over secrets, scandals and stories.

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

Replying to @isaacisafraid.bsky.social

duar.bearblog.dev/toko-merah/ by @explodingcongee.itch.io This one is written in Bahasa Indonesia. It talks about Toko Merah, The Red Shop, in Jakarta. It has a random event table based on the history of The Red Shop.

duar.bearblog.devToko MerahBlog ini adalah bagian dari Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon The Orange fruit came first, and the color was named after it. Kota tua Jakarta atau Batavia la...

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

SpicyTunaRPG
@spicytunarpg.bsky.social

Liquidation is live!! Wade through the flooded stim and capture the target. This one's going to a new lab. Plus if you missed any of our most recent Mothership books, you can get them here. The Hands That Feed, Broadcasting Violence!, Carved Like a Covenant and more.

SpicyTunaRPG@spicytunarpg.bsky.social

Liquidation is an alien asset procurement mission in an abandoned and flooded stimpak lab complex. 20 Locations split into 4 sectors, specialized loadouts for bringing in the target, + more. Bring it in alive. Written by @dgchapman.bsky.social and edited by @chrisair.itch.io for Mothership.

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu)
@explodingcongee.itch.io

Just published a devlog of my Appendix N. submission - Craters of Kerameikos. It discusses the main inspiration of the module itself, recent happening that moved me to write this, a little rant about the current situation here in my country, and inspiring words for you to be a creator!

explodingcongee.itch.ioThe Terrifying and Magnificent Forces of Nature - How Craters of Kerameikos came to be"Mother nature is terrifying" This sentiment has been at the back of my mind since I learned about the eruption of the Krakatau Volcano as a young child in primary school (and I learned of it through....
Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu)
@explodingcongee.itch.io

Just published a devlog of my Appendix N. submission - Craters of Kerameikos. It discusses the main inspiration of the module itself, recent happening that moved me to write this, a little rant about the current situation here in my country, and inspiring words for you to be a creator!

explodingcongee.itch.ioThe Terrifying and Magnificent Forces of Nature - How Craters of Kerameikos came to be"Mother nature is terrifying" This sentiment has been at the back of my mind since I learned about the eruption of the Krakatau Volcano as a young child in primary school (and I learned of it through....

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

Guest blog post written by my wife, Citaaticat, for the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon: 81 years of Indonesian Independence and The Politician afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG Blogwagon: Justice on the 81st (by Citaaticat)Guest post from my wife about The Politician
Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

17 August 1945 is the Independence Day of Indonesia. I'm not celebrating that. I am celebrating the Indonesian TTRPG scene and any Indonesian TTRPG stuff by calling for an Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon! afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG BlogwagonA Blogwagon for Indonesian-related TTRPG stuff

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Zedeck Siew
@zedecksiew.bsky.social

🚨INDONESIA STRONG 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽 ALERT🚨

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

17 August 1945 is the Independence Day of Indonesia. I'm not celebrating that. I am celebrating the Indonesian TTRPG scene and any Indonesian TTRPG stuff by calling for an Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon! afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-t...

afraidofencounters.bearblog.devIndonesian TTRPG BlogwagonA Blogwagon for Indonesian-related TTRPG stuff

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Har·bowoputra
@diceless.club

We published our first one-page, GM-less tabletop RPG! A storygame with tarot cards where you ask forgiveness from a departed loved one. Leave one empty seat for them. Original idea, editing, and proofreading by @catsumu.monster. Layout and graphics by @explodingcongee.bsky.social.

harbowoputra.itch.ioLate to Say Sorry by HarA storygame with tarot cards where you ask forgiveness from a departed loved one. Leave one empty seat for them.

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

It hasn't been 24 hours and Habeeb already made illustrations for the Dark Sun Shadowdark PCs 🤯 Habeeb plays a Halfling Wizard. @zedecksiew.bsky.social plays a Dwarf Psionicist. @diceless.club plays a Mul Gladiator. Two others play a Half-Elf Minstrel and a Thri-kreen Ranger.

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

Ran the first session of Dark Sun using Shadowdark last night. Now I've run Shadowdark several times in the past. But at this point in our lives, me and my players are too Bastionland/Mark of the Odd-brained that we ditched Shadowdark's combat initiative and used side-based initiativev instead 😆

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Har·bowoputra
@diceless.club

been thinking about a diceless RPG where each player only hold 1 token: you either have it or you don't maybe the token pool is total player -1, so not everyone can hold a token at the same time

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Afraid of Encounters (He/Him)
@isaacisafraid.bsky.social

Road trip to Bandung for an Indonesian comic event. Launched the first comic book that Cita and I made, The Corrupted, a prequel to Oddipelago, our upcoming weird fiction colonial period Indonesia TTRPG setting/adventure. We got nominated for Best Comic, Best Story, and Best Newcomer 🥹

Exploding Congee (Mardhi Lu) reposted

Created Wrongly
@creativewronging.bsky.social

Replying to @creativewronging.bsky.social

23. Craters of Kerameikos by @explodingcongee.bsky.social A pointcrawl across a dangerous fog-choked island-in-a-crater for Into the Odd ☄ Incredible maps & layout in this one, as well as some badass public domain art! This one seems particularly lethal, but has a risk-worthwhile treasure horde

explodingcongee.itch.ioCRATERS OF KERAMEIKOS by EXPLODING CONGEE💥A point-crawl adventure of geological marvel, written for Into the Odd

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