Update on LotFP Activities

The forthcoming LotFP adventures are no longer imminent. But that's good news.

I've taken the first steps acquiring a business license and being official with this whole thing. I have appointments and classes tomorrow and Thursday this week, where I'll see what administrative hoops I need to jump through. I have also discovered that there is a grant that businesses started up by foreigners can receive. The application process for that takes 4-6 weeks, but business activity is not supposed to start until after the application is processed. And who knows how long the actual business registration nonsense takes.

Of course I'm going for it.

Here is the status of projects in production:

Death Frost Doom is 100% written, edited, proofread, playtested, and cartography and layout are complete. Well, sort of. Doing the layout last night revealed two holes to be filled in the layout. Laura's been good on quick turnarounds for these smaller projects so hopefully I can get a couple illustration to put in there and then this really is 100% done.

I have a preliminary agreement for distribution through a major mail-order vendor, but I need to send them a sample copy before this is finalized. I will send that copy as soon as I get this last illustration and will announce that deal (or never speak of it again :P) as soon as they receive their copy and make a decision. I will also be sending another sample to a pdf vendor I want to use.

No Dignity in Death: The Three Brides is 100% written and playtested. It still needs editing and proofreading and the cartography is not done. Six art pieces have been completed for it, and the prelim sketch of a seventh piece has been approved. After editing and proofreading I will do a quick layout to see where (if?) holes need to be filled and commission any needed art at that point. The People of Pembrooktonshire supplement (to be released alongside the adventure as an optional add-on) still has a lot of work to be done on it but if I have to wait 4-6 weeks to present anything, it will be finished by that time.

Insect Shrine of Goblin Hill is still the most problematic. The core of the writing (Gorsamfeld Inn, the Insect Shrine, and the Goblin lair) is done, but several "side adventures" are in half-written form (I advertised a 64 pager, so a 64 page mini-campaign is what I plan to deliver). Getting the business grant means I could pay off the artists immediately and remove the financial barrier to release, but the project has been so tumultuous with poor planning and inconsistent periods of work. Finishing the writing should not take so long, but so much needs to be playtested (are you up for it, Skypers?). Cartography still needs to be done, and this is a very location-intensive adventure. Yet if I have those 4-6 weeks or more of not filling orders or doing anything but creative work (and attending business classes...), it is entirely possible that Insect Shrine could be released at the same time as the other two adventures.

Of course, it's possible that my grand plans fall through and whoever runs this business grant program will take a look at Green Devil Face and say "Nope, this breaks the rules, no grant!" Green Devil Face is not what I'd call business activity (I make in the neighborhood of a quarter off a 3€ sale of an issue), but we'll see what the bureaucrats say about that. It's already been on sale for two months (selling 77 copies between the two issues, by the way) so it's too late to do anything about that anyway!

If for some reason the wait time becomes irrelevant (faster answer, win the lottery in the meantime), I will simply roll out what I've got as it's completed.

I've also got a lawyer coming over tonight for a "business dinner." Unfortunately he's not an IP specialist, but I'll take the free legal advice I can get and at the very least he can point me in the right direction. You see, I don't want to "brand" and "market" my efforts using euphemisms but if I'm going to make this an official business venture, I'm going to be a bit careful and do it right.