Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2022-01-05

The Void of Absolute Nothingness, an "undesirable" Soul burn result, was sold for 10 ETH in January 2022, by Tim Smith/Bitvargen.

Elf opened this first Wizard Wednesday of 2022 with a shout-out to the Total Void of Absolute Nothingness, which was purchased by Tim Smith/Bitvargen for 10 ETH. Additionally, the legendary Wizard Merlin (540) was purchased for 69 ETH around the same time, by the individual who also became known as Merlin after that.

Magic Machine Updates

• Souls animations for riding on Ponies are being created. Magic Machine wants Souls to be an equal partner among the Forgotten Runes tokens.
• The pony animations themselves are also in production. Ideally, Elf would like to have both walk and gallop animations done for the ponies.
• Familiar walk-cycles are also still in production - some previews have been shared recently. Familiar turnarounds are already available to download.
• MM shouted out the Webb3 project, saying that they are easy to work with, and constantly shipping. They didn't need hand-holding to integrate the Wizard walk-cycles into their game.
• Elf shouted out the hyaliko project again, saying that he loves their aesthetic and feels it is similar to the work he did, pre-FRWC.
• MM is working with Ozzz to create an updated Book of Lore cover. MM said that they are thinking to regularly update the cover art, perhaps once per quarter.

  

  Bonzo would later interview Elf in a future episode of his Youtube show (May 2022).

Interview with Tim Smith

Tim came up to the Twitter Spaces; he wanted to talk after acquiring the Total Void of Absolute Nothingness. He felt that the piece was unique, with a great name and concept that he relates to. He said it reminded him of his screamo/emo/hardcore metal background in his past. He thinks that this "character" could be part of future Wizards' stories as they ponder the meaning of existence.

Although during this WW he mentioned that he didn't want to share the chart due to being too "monetarily focused," later Dotta did share the chart, which contains many household names with significant merchandising revenues. (August 2022)

Tim had previously managed hard rock bands, helping them with tours and collaborations. Later, he moved more into electronic genres of music and managing DJs, and he felt that the collaborative spirit blossomed. Collaborations, remixes, sharing samples - it was a very nice dynamic. And now, Tim loves the level collaboration happening between artists and collectors in the NFT space, and also within the FRWC community. Elf said he loved the DJ analogy - in FRWC the community is sharing ideas, remixing them, riffing off each other. Bearsnake mentioned that a FRWC band needs to be formed.

Bonzo's Youtube Show

Elf shouted out Bonzo's Youtube show on Forgotten Runes. Elf has loved what has been produced so far, but he hopes that future shows feature members of the FRWC community.

Bonzo came up and mentioned that he plans to have Bambam come up to read lore. And he'd like to interview Cult members, without killing the mystique around some of the personalities.

Wizard DAO Update

Dotta wanted to discuss the concept of the DAO. The initial vision that he has, is to have an organization that enables even more lore and art building. The first version would have 10 multi-sig holders from the community. They would make decisions around the wallet. And eventually, FRWC-holders would vote on larger matters.

It would be good for the DAO to have funds available to help new Cult members afford commissions to tell the story of their Wizard. Dotta stressed that this was NOT a "transfer ownership of the project to the DAO" situation. Magic Machine is still fully committed to the project. This is more about helping the community develop their characters.

Dotta also talked about the role of a "loremaster" who would enable things like reviewing new submissions, ensuring NSFW guidelines are followed, and even striking lore from the Book of Lore, if necessary. This doesn't have to be connected to the DAO, but it could be.

How does the DAO get money? At first, Dotta imagines it would use donations at first. After that, an auction house format could be used, where NFTs are auctioned, and the proceeds go to the DAO. A Wizard marketplace could also be created, with royalties from the marketplace going to the DAO. Finally, in the long term, the DAO could be the recipient for Wizard commercial royalties from the show, and from other holders after they exceed the royalty-free cap (imagined to be around $5 million at the time of this WW).

Dotta invited anyone with interest to contact him. Dotta expected to be on the multi-sig wallet at the beginning, but hopes to move off of it by this time next year.

2022 Roadmap Discussion

Elf said that there were 3 pillars for their 2022 strategy:

1. IP/Franchise/Traditional Media
2. NFTs
3. On-chain tokenomics

Elf focused on item #1 for now. The official animated show trailer is in production, the comic book's production is well underway, and Bearsnake has been working on sourcing more merch opportunities.

Bearsnake talked about how merchandising has been a key component of the revenue for many of the largest media franchises, citing Hello Kitty as one example. He feels there is so much opportunity for Forgotten Runes to go beyond an "NFT project", and Magic Machine is thinking about how anybody can be a member of the community, regardless of whether they own a crypto wallet. Magic Machine sees this as a potentially multi-generational franchise, where the children of holders and the founding team would also be fans.

Ryan Zurrer from Dialectic came up and talked about his views on the value proposition of Forgotten Runes. Elf mentioned that there is a funny story behind how Dialectic (which owns a sizable stake in FRWC tokens as well as multiple rare tokens) got involved with Forgotten Runes, but said they'd need to get permission before elaborating.

Lore Reading

This week, Dr. Slurp read lore about his Soul, Hunted Stag Muntjac of the Haze (7387).