KhorasForum

I would encourage you to finish your game when you find time. I, for one, would love to see it.

As for the wider industry, let things unfold as they will. I'm not really even concerning myself with where the industry is going. I've looked at a lot of games and explored what I like and don't like. I agree the industry seems to be changing every year. And maybe my game will be seen as outdated and old-fashioned and won't connect with younger gamers today. And that's fine with me. I think the audience for my RPG will be quite small, but hopefully fervent.

So this is a weird one. I got an email from Copytrack the other night saying that their "client" claimed I was using a photo on the Khoras website without permission. They said to resolve the legal dispute, I would have to take down the photo and pay them about 400 euro. Oh, this was apparently in the courts of Germany.

Copytrack is real company, but the whole thing smelled of a scam. I did a little research and found a Reddit page where people were saying the same thing happened to them. Claims of copyright infringement of a photo, same client, same claim that it was under the rules and courts of Germany, etc. Most of the people in the Reddit discussion were saying the same thing... "it's a scam, fuck 'em".

That made me feel a little better, but I was still wary. The photos on the site have come from many sources. Some of them I took myself. Some are Photoshop work or AI generated. Some were given to me by friends from their vacations abroad. I've purchased many of the images at stock image libraries like iStockPhoto. As far as I know, every single photo on this website is legit and legal. However, I haven't done a great job of TRACKING where I got all the photos. This whole incident got me thinking that I should start getting organized and track the source of every photo on the site. And that's just what I've started doing.

This will be a long project, but in just a few nights, I've successfully tracked more than half the photos. iStockPhoto luckily tracks all your past downloads.

And it turns out, the very photo I was accused of stealing by Copytrack and their client was in the list. I have ironclad proof that I legally purchased that specific photo from iStockPhoto. So, yeah, fuck 'em. It is a scam. I think they probably do this to many websites hoping to scare the webmaster into paying them 400 euro or whatever they are claiming.

Despite having put this to rest, I'm going to finish this project. I'm going to slowly track down the source of every photo used on this site. It'll probably take months. Those that I can't track down, I'll replace with a new photo. But eventually, I want to have detailed notes on where every single photo came from. I don't ever again what to be accused of copyright infringement.

I watched the video and, yeah, pretty much matched my expectations. They absolutely were trying to make 4e feel and function like a video game. And that's precisely why I dislike 4th Edition.

I don't really have anything good to say about Mike Mearls or the last two editions of D&D so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and go back to work on my own game.

Yes, I have been building my own table top RPG for the last 3 1/2 years. I probably have another year or two to go. We did a lot of playtesting in 2023 and 2024. I'm pretty proud of everything I've built so far. It is very different from D&D. It shares a couple of similar rules, but departs from D&D dramatically in several key areas. I can't wait to unveil it to the world.

I don't expect it sell like hotcakes. I'm going to publish it on this website and on DrivethruRPG and maybe some other sites. If I manage to sell a few copies, I'll be happy. The point is that I'm building the game I've always wanted to play. And when all is said and done, that's all that matters.

To be honest, I don't play D&D anymore. I haven't played in several years. I am playing my new game exclusively. Really excited to finish it up and put it out into the world and see what people think. As I get closer to release, I will probably post more about it on the site here.

Also, that's why there has been so little development on the Khoras website the last couple years. Most of my focus has been on this new RPG. But the website is benefiting from some of the medieval research I've done for the game. I want the two to be fairly in-sync.

Anyway, thanks for posting the video link. It was interesting.

I appreciate that I've got at least ONE fan who pops in to the forum from time to time. I really do appreciate that, Tanis!

I remember Dr. Capwell from the Arrows vs Armor project (I absolutely loved that series) and I like him alot. He has been in several of Todd's videos. Also, I am familiar with Schola Gladiatoria and have seen some of his videos. I should watch more of them. Not familiar with Sandrhoman, but I'll check it out. I am always looking for new information channels. I do want to branch out more.

Thank goodness for YouTube and, more broadly, the whole of the internet. There is SO MUCH good information out there. I can't say enough good things about Modern History TV, Todd's Workshop, Schola Gladiatoria and others... they have all been so helpful.

Once I publish the game, I will be very interested in comments and feedback. Absolutely. I think it may drive a surge of activity here on the site as well and in the forum.

From time to time, I'll comment here in the forum about how things are going with the game.

If anyone is reading this, I'm 99% sure Sid6.7 died. I did some digging and found a web page that listed him under his real name as deceased. I'm not sure, but seeing as how his last message here on the Khoras forum was the night before he went into the hospital for heart surgery, I'm assuming he died on the operating table. If I learn any more information, I'll post it here.

He was an avid fan of Khoras. Even though he lived here in Washington state as I do, we never met face to face. I thought about contacting him and asking him out to lunch just so I could meet him, but I never did. I regret that now.

The internet is a strange place sometimes... it's possible to get to know someone online without ever having seen their face or heard their voice.

The forum here has been awfully quite for awhile and also I have not been doing much work on Khoras lately and I thought I'd explain why.

I've mentioned this a couple of times in the Spotlight section this year, but thought I'd take this opportunity to elaborate on what I'm doing.

So, for those of you who don't know, the World of Khoras was originally created as a D&D campaign world and it still functions as that. I and friends still game in it. However, over the years, I grew increasingly frustrated with the D&D game. I have a whole host of complaints about the D&D game. It's historically inaccurate, the game has a lot of logical contradictions, it's overly complicated and so on. Don't get me wrong... I loved D&D and played it for DECADES. But as I got older, I have grown to want a better game.

So after years of thinking about it, I finally took the plunge in late 2022 and started building my own game. A roleplaying game (RPG) specifically, like D&D. Throughout all of 2023 and 2024 I have devoted a good chunk of time into building this new game system. And after more than 2 years,  the bulk of the rules are done. I'm actually quite proud of it and can't wait to share it with the world. It's going to be awhile yet, though. There are 15 chapters planned. The first 12 chapters are finished and polished.

I am currently working on chapters 13, 14 and 15. However, those 3 chapters are going to take a very long time because they will be quite long. Chapter 13 is Priests and Religion and will include a detailed description of several Khoras religions. Chapter 14 will be a compendium of magic items. Chapter 15 is the bestiary. All 3 of those chapters will be long and take time. I expect to be working on this game for at least another year.

One of the things I'm trying to do is incorporate a bit more realism into this game. I have been following several YouTube channels for years and some of them have been absolutely invaluable to my research. Modern History TV (featuring Jason Kingsley) and Todd's Workshop (featuring Todd Cutler) have both been an absolute gold mine of accurate medieval historical information. Todd Cutler, in particular, conducts a type of "experimental archeology" by recreating medieval weapons and armor and actually testing them. I have incorporated a lot of that data into the weapons and armor of my game. And Jason Kingsley has been a wealth of information about medieval culture, knights, horses and more. I'm a huge fan of his. In fact, I'm currently reading his book "Leading the Rebellion". I highly recommend it.

One of the reasons the game is taking so long to build is become I'm doing a lot of research to get things right and research takes time. But it pays off.

I and some friends have been playtesting the new game system, on and off, for the past two years. I figure I need another 12 to 18 months to truly finish the game and market it. I'll be selling it online at various sites.

Now, work on Khoras has slowed because this game is taking a lot of my time, but Khoras has also benefited from much of the research. I am making numerous changes in the site to match up with the game. I am in the process of converting a lot of weights and prices and such to be more historically accurate. These changes in Khoras are subtle, but needed. And they will continue for the next 12-18 months, right along side work on the game.

So, if anyone is reading this and likes Khoras and wants work on Khoras to continue, don't worry. Khoras is not going anywhere and will continue to grow and evolve. But this RPG is important to me and is taking priority, at least for awhile. And Khoras is benefiting from a number of "spin off technologies" as it were.

I may make other announcements about the game as I hit certain milestones with it. And I'll definitely let everyone know where and when it's available.

I have no grand ambitions with this game. I don't expect to sell many copies. I'm basically just building the game that I want to play. I hope others like it too.

Merry Christmas to you as well!

Thanks!  Hope you like it.

I probably should have mentioned this before Halloween (since it's origin is tied to Halloween), but anyway, after SEVERAL years, I have finally finished the Pirate Song! Go check it out in the Tales section.

I'm actually pretty proud of how it turned out. And I'm really glad simply to have finished it. It sat on the Khoras website, half finished, for YEARS. Man, it feels good to have it done.

That's all.

Wally (or Cruzan or sid6.7) or whatever I should call you 

Are you ok? It's been a month. And we haven't heard anything. Do please jump online here and post and let us know that you are ok. Four weeks of silence after heart surgery has me concerned.

Hope you post here soon,

David

I had some technical problems with the forum and had to do some updates and patches. It got a bit tricky and the forum was down for several days, but it looks like everything is working again and we are back online.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

I'll be thinking of you and wishing you the best.

Do jump on the forum here and let us know you're ok afterwards (when you can). We'll be waiting for you.

All the best,

David

It's fine with me. Go ahead and post a link.

Sid6.7,

I'm so sorry to hear about all of your troubles. My goodness, you certainly have had a rough year. My condolences on losing your mom. I also recently lost a parent, my dad, a little over a year ago. He was also 85. It's tough to lose a parent at any age. You have my sympathies. I'm glad your last day with her was a good one.

I hope your October heart surgery goes well and that you are able to recover quickly. Take care of yourself. I'm also in Washington. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

David

That's good information. Thanks. I'm glad to hear that people are comfortable converting. Even so, I'm now thinking of just including both metric and imperial. It may be unnecessary, but it may occasionally save someone the hassle of having to look it up. I want to make the game as easy as possible for everyone.

Temperature hasn't come up yet. It's mainly distance (miles vs km) , length (feet vs meters) and weight (pounds vs kilograms) - those three come up repeatedly. I think I'll probably stick with miles rather than leagues and pounds rather than stones.