Ahab a écrit :Clovis a écrit :By the way, what does "production values" mean exactly?
To my understanding, it means - much like you said - the overall quality of a game. To me, this consists of
- quality of writing
- fusion of game system and setting
- product quality in terms of physical condition/touchiness/processing of the books
- way of publishing/sequence of books/presentation of the setting
- degree of innovation (e.g. your multimedia approach)
- quick follow-up products (no long waiting times)
- quality of illustrations and continuity thereof
- translation
Oh, so it's not the game itself, but rather how well the team worked on it, and how they answered the Players' expectations. Good to know that we apparently rocked in that regard!
and so on. As I believe, you are foremost responsible for the latter point, let me say, that this is the best translation I've seen so far. I played Agone for a while, which is also translated from French to English, and after I read Esteren, I thought Agone wasn't half as well translated like you did. Same with Kult from 7ième Circle. So cudos on that.

Yaaaaaaay! Thank you very much for the compliment! As you certainly know, translating is easily thankless grunt work (even though I still consider myself very lucky to be the head translator for Esteren), so it's nice to receive such praise.
It's true that the translation of some games (and movies, books, comics, etc.) can feel a bit rushed or clunky. Hence why people would often rather go for the original version instead.
Clovis a écrit :We are well aware of the downsides of putting off the publication of Secrets, but we've made the decision to reveal the game's mysteries little by little, so that each gaming group may experience the discovery progressively.
Got to respect that. Making up my own "big picture" makes the game feel more like it is _mine_, if you get my meaning. I always feel the pressure of maybe not sticking to the canon, when I play in a strictly specific game setting. So that I get something wrong and lack consistency, when e.g. the group comes to the same town a second time, and I suddenly realize, I didn't stick to the books the first time. It's a little neurotic, I guess, but I simply feel more at home, when I come up with much of it myself. So I look forward to incorporating the treasure trove of secrets into _my_ Tri-Kazel.

Oh, I understand how you feel! I'm somewhat like that too, and that's why I'm terrible at running official scenarios: I can't help but want to stick to the plot and directives as closely as possible, which makes the game somewhat slow and awkward.
Anyway, the time of Secrets will come! In the meantime, keep brewing your own Tri-Kazel!
Clovis a écrit :The plot thickens!

You bet. This is going to be E.P.I.C.!

Extremely Potent, Innovative and Compelling?