This was/is a classic novel by Lord Dunsany. You can download it from Project Gutenberg and read it if you like. I would never normally create a Cut Up Solo book for it because, where I live, it is not in the public domain. This is one of those books that is in the public domain in the US, but not here in the UK.
But!
I made books to order for my solo patreons. Many of these can be sold, but some I can never sell without risking a lawsuit. I created solo rules for the Alien RPG, Lord of the Rings (before Strider Mode was released), and the Dr Who roleplaying game. All of which could get me into a lot of trouble if I were to try to sell them.
Now, Lester Smith asked me for a Cut Up books for The King of Elfland’s Daughter, and as I wasn’t selling it, I had no problem. The same goes for anyone else that wants a specific Cut Up book. I will happily make them to order.
Because Lester is an American, I assume, he could just be living there, he can happily sell that cut up book. That was the offer, and so although I am then author, Lester did a lot of the layout and presentation for this one, and Lester Smith Games is the publisher. I am not losing out as I get a royalty as the author, so we are all good.
Lester is rather prolific, and I understand why. One of the cool ways of building up your own game system is to keep releasing new content for it. The more you release, two things happen. Firstly, you are more likely to reach people looking for a very specific type of game, or genre. If you can create a good fit for twenty genres or niches, then you can reach 20 times more people than if you just tried to fit the single niche.
If you expand your core game into all these niches, what you also do is expand the usefulness of your core system. If I can play dozens of different styles of game with your one core system, then why bother learning something else? This, turned on its head, is one of the great struggles for the indie game designer. So many D&D players will try and shoehorn D&D into genres it was never designed for and doesn’t do particularly well. D&D is great at super-heroic fantasy, but mediocre at best at dystopian cyberpunk. However, if the players never play a dedicated cyberpunk game, they will have nothing to compare it to.
Lester Smith Games have four game systems in their stable.
The Bookmark No Hit Points game, which literally fits on a bookmark. The six-page D6xD6 RPG and the d4ce system. What Lester has done is adapt the King of Elfland’s Daughter setting and content to all of these game systems. Extending the functionality of every one of them.
You can now get all four books, the three system game books and the Cut Up Solo book in a discounted bundle.
- Cut Up Solo: The King of Elfland’s Daughter PDF and zipped spreadsheet;
- d4ce rpg: The King of Elfland’s Daughter (a stand-alone rules set);
- D6xD6 RPG: “The King of Elfland’s Daughter” setting chapter; and
- The King of Elfland’s Daughter source bookmark for the Bookmark No HP RPG.
Looking at what Lester has done, I should really emulate this by creating a 3Deep, Bare Metal Edition, and Save or Die iteration of each cut-up book just to expand the functionality of my own stuff. Too many opportunities and too little time.
This link will take you directly to Lester Smith Games, and you can check out the individual systems if any of them piqued your interest.
DriveThruRPG.com – Lester Smith Games – The Largest RPG Download Store!
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