Saturday, December 29, 2012

New Rules & Magic PDF to Download! Updates!

Yeah, everything still seems to move at a glacial pace. But what is happening:

The new LotFP Grindhouse Rules & Magic PDF, art-free version, can be downloaded here. If you see issues with it, report them here (previous notes have not yet been addressed). New art to meet the demands of the new layout has been commissioned. Eric Lofgren will be handling that.

Kenneth Hite's Qelong is 95% done with layout and interior art has been assigned. Rich Longmore (Carcosa artist) will be handling that.

Vincent Baker's The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions is in layout. I hope to show you the Cynthia Sheppard cover art soon.

Kelvin Green has posted an update about his Horror Among Thieves here.

More info on Towers Two and Broodmother Sky Fortress as I receive it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

LotFP T-Shirts Now Available!

LotFP Flame Princess designs are now available from IPR! Size S-XXXL and ladyfit shirts size S-XL.

Here is the shirt design (by Jason Rainville):



It's a 7-color design screen printed on a red Fruit of the Loom 3930 model 100% pre-shrunk cotton 5.0oz shirt.

Here is a photo of the shirt hot off the press over at Liberated Images (the fine folks that have done all of LotFP's RPG shirts to date), taken on an Iphone dark and kinda fuzzy:


For those of you in Europe, I'll be getting a supply of shirts soon to sell directly from the LotFP store, and maybe I'll get a really nice pic of it on a halfway decent looking person posted.

(there's been a general restock of LotFP releases at IPR as well... first one in over a year!)

Buy the darn thing so I can do the other Rainville shirt design I've got sitting here. :D And Alfrey's wanting to do one too...

Now I need to think of some sort of cool reward thing for people that post pictures of themselves wearing the shirt.

(you can comment on this over here)


Monday, December 10, 2012

Tales of the Scarecrow PDF Now Available!

If you contributed to both the LotFP Hardcover and any of the July Adventure crowdfunding things, you should have gotten an email with a free link to Tales of the Scarecrow. Let me know if you haven't.

For everyone else, Tales of the Scarecrow is available in PDF right now! Buy it here. It'll be up at the LotFP store and other outlets soon.


The print version will be available when all the crowdfunding stuff ships. Copies will be very limited.

Now I know that those of you who were in for the Monolith/God crowdfunding were promised an Early Modern sourcebook. Good news is you're going to get it, and it's being done right. New cover art by Lane Brown has been done and Rich Longmore is in the middle of 15 new pages of art for it, with samples below. So it'll be more than a 16 page supplement. :D






Tales of the Scarecrow Reviews!

Dreams in the Lich House
They Might Be Gazebos!
Untimately

Sunday, December 2, 2012

LotFP Anniversary Week Sale! NOW!

From now until I get home from an overnight trip sometime on December 9, WE CELEBRATE! What do we celebrate?

  • December 6 is Finland's Independence Day (95!)
  • December 7 is my birthday! (38...)
  • December 8 is my wedding anniversary! (3? holy poop)

How do we celebrate?

  • 50% off all PDFs over at RPGNow!
  • 50% off the 2011 items still in print over at the LotFP Store! (Grindhouse, Carcosa, Isle of the Unknown print editions!)

(you can leave comments and questions here or email to lotfp@lotfp.com)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Tales of the Scarecrow: Released at Dragonmeet!

New release for Dragonmeet: Tales of the Scarecrow!



It's a limited run of 250 copies, cover by Jason Rainville and graphic design and interior art by Jez Gordon and written by James Edward Raggi IV. 8 pages of experimental horror, dread magic, and campaign-bending madness.

If you buy £10 or more worth of stuff at the LotFP table, you get it free, otherwise it'll cost you £3 (2£ for Gardening Society members - bring your card!). While supplies last of course.

(comment on this post here)

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Updates on Everything

The secret word for today is LATE.

Basically, to be able to ship anything out before Christmas I would have had to get it to the printer last week. Didn't happen.

The hardcover is still in layout, a process taking much longer than I figured. That's all my fault, my layout guy is doing a great job. The Rules portion has been completed and some new art to fit the new layout has been commissioned. Still waiting on the Magic portion of the book and that'll probably need some new art too.

You can download an art-free version of the Rules portion of the book here. Maybe we can catch an error or two before it goes to press, but if nothing else I hope you agree that the book is much cleaner and easier to look at now.

Ken Hite's Qelong adventure was turned in awhile back but playtesting has taken much more time than anticipated. Again, that's my fault. His adventure was much more wide open with unlimited possibilities (it's a sandbox/mini-setting really, very old school in setup) but since he doesn't normally work in this sphere of gaming I thought it would be more responsible and better for his reputation and mine to make sure it got decent playtime before release. Actual play has revealed some weaknesses in the presentation (not the actual stuff) and that's being taken care of. The time needed to be taken.

Vincent Baker turned in a Seclusium that was over twice as long as expected/required (yes I'm paying him more than originally agreed) so this is now going to be a hardcover book. Right now Vince is working on the revision suggestions I'd sent back to him (mainly presentation sorts of things) but it'll still need editing/layout/art.

Dave Brockie recently updated his status with Towers Two here. It's an adventure he had invented and run back in the day, and has been putting together the text for publication while on tour.

Kelvin Green's nearing completion on Horror Among Thieves and has been playing it along the development cycle and including rough design work as he's been working so when it's turned in, final production should be easy. We're also looking at including some of his earlier work as a bonus section for this book (yes he'd get paid more).

Jeff Rients has turned in the basic Broodmother text but not yet the maps so giving it some playtime isn't yet possible. This book will also be bigger than originally promised, as I've submitted a list of Jeff's previous work to him to be included with this book as a bonus section after the full-length adventure (yes, I'm paying him more for this).

Still waiting on Rob Conley's sandbox (based on the English Civil War if the cover art previously posted didn't give it away). The 64 page adventure I'll be sending to the larger July contributors is all written and just needs editing and layout (no art in this one).

There is a great possibility that the hardcover/Hite adventure will be ready at around the same time as the July adventures stuff. If that's the case, they will all ship together. No reason to spend the 5000€ or so extra just to have extra shippings. However, because shipping costs were factored in to both campaigns, if stuff from both campaigns ship together, people that participated in both will get a free brand new rules supplement that I'm nearing completion on.

Now, if you're thinking "GRRRRRRR" at the tardiness of it all, take heart: All the printing and shipping expenses tied into these releases that I expected to pay in 2012? Since they won't be done until 2013, that stockpile of money I have to pay for that is going to count as profit for 2012 so I'll get taxed on that (and being self-employed I'll have to pay 2013's taxes through the year based on 2012's income) so this isn't just me having a party being late over here.There are real and very significant costs involved. (not to mention if the printer raises rates and if the post office raises rates - which they've already done since the crowdfunding efforts this year). Plus the crowdfunding effort for early 2013 - originally scheduled to start January 1 - to fund the Free RPG Day material has to be delayed until all the outstanding stuff is at the very least given to the printer, and I've already commissioned $2000 worth of art on that and the whole project's in danger because of the timing. None of this is your concern (none of this is going to break the company), just communicating to you that I'm not just jerking chains for the hell of it.

On the plus side, everything I've seen for any of the outstanding projects is in fact outstanding. I think taking the time to make sure it's all done right and the best we can is better than to shovel it out the door as fast as we can.

So I do apologize for being overoptimistic about the timing of everything - that's totally my fault - and thank you for you patience. We're all putting in effort to give you more than you were expecting. Awesomeness is coming.

(Tales of the Scarecrow is in the final phase now, should be to the printer Monday and available at Dragonmeet. Doing the small-run thing with this one, like Death Love Doom and Joop van Ooms, so it has a much shorter turnaround time. Will be 8 pages, a very short thing. Zzarchov's Scenic Dunnsmouth has basic layouts done and is in the art phase. I'm working on a rules supplement concerning magic and of course the Early Modern supplement gets ever closer to completion. Plus various people - most notably Zak with his Red and Pleasant Land - are hard at work on material to be released in 2013. We will rock.)

(comments on this post can be made here.)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Rainville's Cover for the LotFP Conley Sandbox!

Everyone who went in for $30+ in the July Adventures campaign is getting a Robert S Conley sandbox. Things are going a bit slower on all those than originally anticipated (surprise, surprise... *sigh*), but here's the cover for that sandbox exclusive by Jason Rainville:


Friday, October 26, 2012

LotFP Store 2012 First Snow Sale!

Snow has finally fallen in Helsinki, and that means until I wake up Monday morning, everything in the LotFP webstore is 33% off!

Use promo code LUNTA2012 (allcaps) when checking out.

LotFP Store

Thursday, October 18, 2012

New Cover Art for Upcoming LotFP Stuff


Cynthia Sheppard's new cover art for the Rules & Magic hardcover:

 


 Jason Rainville's new cover art for Kenneth Hite's Qelong adventure:

... and Rainville's new cover art for my own Tower of the Earthgazer which should be along very early in the new year:
 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Vornheim wins Technology award at IndieCade

Info here.

A Turnstyle column talking about the win here, and a previous interview with Zak with Turnstyle appearing on the Huffington Post (!) here.

Zak's reaction here.

As I write this there are six copies of Vornheim left in stock at the LotFP store, and a few hundred out there in distribution. Get one before they're gone!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Interviews on Geeky & Genki and RPG Circus

I've done a couple of interviews lately:

Last week's RPG Circus and the newly posted episode of Geeky & Genki's Gamecast.

The G&G interview is nearly 90 minutes and covers a lot of design philosophy, something I know people are wondering about after the latest releases... :)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Valley of the Lost Shell: Details on Kenneth Hite's LotFP Adventure!

Remember that May crowdfunding thing? For the LotFP Rules and Magic hardcover, and, as it turned out, a Kenneth Hite adventure?

Well the hardcover is in layout.

And it's time to give some details about Hite's adventure, Valley of the Lost Shell. Some quotes (from the not-yet-proofed text, mind) to give you an idea of what you're in for:

"The Valley of the Lost Shell is a classic 'exploration' adventure, set in a wet, poisoned sandbox. While the Cylinder is the focus of outside magic-seekers, and makes a convenient 'center of the labyrinth' for goal-directed players, the Qelong Valley is a setting first and foremost."

"Wherever they come from, story elements, once introduced, become part of a narrative in the players’ minds; Referees and players will find themselves almost unconsciously weaving further encounters into the ongoing story. A picaresque adventure – a series of dangers and incidents on the way to somewhere – is the likely result. This kind of adventure maps to general expectations of fantasy quest drama as well as to war stories like Valhalla Rising, Apocalypse Now, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (especially the “war over the bridge” sequence), all of which were among my models for this adventure’s design.

They were also among my models for the general “feel” of the adventure. I see the Qelong Valley as a land of steam, smoke, mist, fog – high grasses and low mangroves, like the Dead Marshes or Beowulf’s fen country. All of this grows not in a placid pastoral Olden Tyme, or even a gently corroded Dark Age, but in the path – or technically on the sidelines -- of a great and incomprehensible war. Houses and farms are burned, villagers gaunt and feral. Dogs whine over the carcasses of their masters, then tear out the intestines to feed themselves. Men kill each other for a handful of rice, or for a woman who can be beaten into cooking it. All around, sorcerous echoes and explosions ripple the skies, but as a constant drumbeat of vile thunder, not as anything aimed at anyone in the same country. The Qelong Valley has been poisoned by accident and forgotten by its killers. Only the scavengers remain, and the worms that grow in the corpse."

"If your campaign takes place on Earth or a close analogue, Sajavedra maps generally to Cambodia; the Qelong River valley specifically to the portion south and west of the Cardamom and Elephant Ranges."

Magical fallout, the elephant lich, the hundred-mile-long naga, the Lotus Monks, the insect-possessed myrmidons, and so much more... different than anything LotFP has done so far, that's for sure.

(...and it might be rushing things a bit to get this and the hardcover to print as originally scheduled in October, especially since this adventure needs some actual play time and the hardcover is going to be a pain to do right. Looking at early November to press so we may still be mailing out by the end of that month, plenty of time for you backers to get your packages by Christmas!

Oh, and I hope to have one or maybe two more adventures going to press with this stuff. Have your wallet ready. We've only begun to get Weird.)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Vornheim Almost Out of Stock

I have less than two dozen Vornheims in stock here at LotFP HQ.

Because there are still hundreds of copies available through distribution in the US, I'm not reprinting any time soon. (also, for that same reason, North Americans can just as easily mailorder from a place in their home country as from me).

However, you EU people that have been thinking about getting a copy probably shouldn't wait much longer because it might be a bit more of a pain in the ass for you to get a copy before too long.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

190+ Packages Sent Out

Everyone who signed up for the God that Crawls IndieGoGo or ordered in the past 48 hours, your books are in the mail.
A nice increase from last month's Monolith shipment!
Weird Fantasy rages on!

(The hardcover is in layout, I have a ton of stuff in the works, plus there's Hite and Brockie and Green and Rients and Baker and Zzarchov's stuff to come, all penciled in for THIS YEAR. Cross them fingers!)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

God that Crawls, Joop van Ooms, Poster, NOW AVAILABLE!!


The God that Crawls (Print/PDF and PDF-only versions), The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (Print/PDF and PDF-only versions), and the poster of the full Ooms wraparound cover art are all on sale in the LotFP store NOW!

(If you were a Monolith/God that Crawls IndieGoGo contributor, you should have gotten an email from me with the title "THE GOD THAT CRAWLS Link." If you did not, contact me before ordering anything from the store!)

Also, all non-LotFP items in the store are just 5€ each (4€ if you a Gardening Society member). That's a 75% discount in some cases. Get them out of my house! I need space for all the new stuff coming in this year!

A bit of bad focus and lighting (each picture is from the same spot on the same table to give you an idea) but this is the physical format of The God that Crawls:


The Magnificent Joop van Ooms Reviews

Cradle of Rabies
Dreams in the Lich House
Grognardia
How to Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying
Obskures (German)
Save vs. Total Party Kill
Ten Foot Pole 

The God that Crawls Reviews

Atomic Array (interview)
Big Blue Die
Dreams in the Lich House
Playing D&D with Porn Stars (disclaimer - reviewer has been published by LotFP)
Ten Foot Pole 
Unofficial Games (disclaimer - reviewer will be published by LotFP in the near future)
Untimately

Friday, September 14, 2012

GDF5 Goof Replacement Crit Cards!

So the print GDF5s that went out with Monolith have a bad layout goof on page 2.

(the PDFs for sale do not have this error; if you were sent the early errorfied PDF from before they went on sale to the non-contributors, let me know)

To make up for this, all you supporters who got the physical copies of GDF5 with Monolith will get a make-up thingy in your God that Crawls shipment: A full color gloss-laminated A6-sized card with the "Natural 20s" chart on one side, "Natural 1s" on the other.

Just got them back from the printers and they look swweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Still looking like Tuesday for receiving The God that Crawls, and The Magnificent Joop van Ooms and its accompanying poster are here ready to go on sale alongside it.


Monday, September 10, 2012

The God That Crawls is delivered from the printer Sept 18!

Or so they tell me, sometimes they're a day off.

So get ready, everyone... this time it's a more standard dungeon adventure but it's not any more comfortable a ride than Monolith...

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Tracon = Success!

More sales this year than the past two years combined... and 80% of this year's Ropecon's take. Not bad.

6 Death Love Dooms remain. I printed 225 about six weeks ago, and thought I was printing the unsellable. Not bad.

The God that Crawls should be back from the printer within 2 weeks, and The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (and the accompanying poster of the cover art) will go on sale when the God goes live.

Those that pledged for the God will get the opportunity to order Joop with no shipping costs, same as the Monolith/DLD arrangement.

When those go live, I will also be holding a sale on the non-LotFP OSR products in the store, because I'm finally getting my crap together to make another big order from the US.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Tracon 7 - This Weekend in Tampere! BE THERE!

LotFP will be at TRACON!

The new release is The Magnificent Joop van Ooms, and I also have a poster I'm selling with it. The regular price for each is 7€, but at Tracon you can get them both for 11€.

I'll also have Monolith and Death Love Doom (all remaining copies are coming with me, so I've taken it off the LotFP store for now), plus all the older releases like the Grindhouse box, Vornheim, Carcosa, and Isle of the Unknown.

I'm also clearing some stuff out in preparation for a new overseas pallet I have planned, so I'll also have with me non-LotFP adventure modules with the special price of 5€ each - that's 50%+ off a lot of these things.

I'll see the Finnish gamers tomorrow and Sunday, and the rest of you I'll talk to again on Monday!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Magnificent Joop van Ooms off to the Printer!





It's another "limited edition to debut at a convention" thing. (One thing I can say in favor of digital POD vs offset press is quick turnaround time!)


Those at Tracon in Tampere this weekend can get it hot off the presses, and the rest of you can get it once The God that Crawls goes on sale.

Oh, there will be posters too.

Friday, August 24, 2012

God that Crawls to the Printer! + Updates!

(LotFP will be on holiday starting this afternoon. Orders placed through the store will not be shipped until September 3.)

God that Crawls is at the printer. But it will NOT have the Early Modern Supplement included; there's too much to do there involving new rules and research to do fun stuff that need actual play to see if they work and just kinda skipping that would be a BAD IDEA, and at the same time it was going to overshadow the actual adventure. It needs to be a separate book. So no reason to delay the already-completed GtC any more.

Monolith/God contributors will get this Early Modern book FREE as if it was part of their core contribution when it's ready. The idea now is that it will go to press alongside the hardcover and Hite's adventure and Zzarchov's adventure.

(The firearms rules will go up as a free PDF sometime this coming month when I have the marbles to get that together. The rules for them are a wee bit more complicated than for crossbows - concerning reload times mainly, but there's a character sheet redesign in the works so all the info will be at your fingertips during actual play.)

This creates a bit of layout complication as well, as the sponsors page that was going in the back of the Early Modern book now needs to be in the God that Crawls section which means a piece of art that was there (that was commissioned after the first layout was done) either gets bumped completely or... we're going to have something on the inside back cover. The pic attached here is that very piece (by Jason Rainville).


(God that Crawls is mean to players in a completely different way than Monolith is - it's a dungeon adventure where the players do not set the pace of exploration at their leisure, but it does also contain a couple paragraphs of me taking the piss out of the idea that you're supposed to follow game material like a Bible in the spirit of the "time paradox" bit in Monolith so if you didn't like that bit then get ready because this one's sillier. BTW I've added no new content to the God since Monolith came out so some of the stuff that seems like it might be a reaction, isn't, but they were originally supposed to be released together so...)

Writing is complete for the next mini-module, The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (about an NPC and his lair and his works and plot hooks to work him into a campaign). It's up to everyone else to get it together while I'm gone and hopefully that goes to press September 3 so it's ready for Tracon. It will go on sale to the general public with God that Crawls, with the same arrangement as Monolith/DLD. There will also be an A1-size poster (or perhaps a poster flag if that company gets back to me...) of the cover art (by Rainville, and the prelims are looking fan-fucking-tastic) available.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Q&A on #rpgnet Tonight!

I'll be answering questions in chat starting 9pm Eastern time (4am Finland time!).

"(If you haven't used IRC before, the easiest way to get there is probably via www.magicstar.net, clicking on "CHAT NOW" and typing "/join #rpgnet".)"

(see their full schedule of RPG author Q&As here; of note is John Berry of Hulks & Horrors in the 7pm Eastern slot tonight)

(that channel is no longer officially connected to rpg.net so don't be afraid! :D)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

160+ Packages Sent Out

Everyone who signed up for the Monolith IndieGoGo or ordered in the past 24 hours, your books are in the mail.

It's been a busy couple days... forgive me if those of you due tracking numbers don't get them until tomorrow. I need a breather.

I'm glad I finally have a couple of adventures out there. It's been two years since I've had my own totally new stuff out there. I finally have definite things to point to and say "This is what I mean by Weird Fantasy." An identity that's different than the other games out there using the same base mechanics and the final word in the argument about whether these games can really do things that don't feel like they're 1980. There are no limits, creatively or commercially.

Sold 79 Death Love Dooms the first 24 hours they were on general sale (in addition to the 25 sold at Ropecon so less than half of the print run remains), not bad for an adventure that's basically had no info about it released beyond "it's icky!"

Monolith is the most-played adventure I've released and has been in the works for over a year, and I think it's the best and most distinctive thing I've done to date. Really went all-out to make sure the presentation was absolutely first class.

You guys give these things the word of mouth they deserve... I've got loads to do. I want ten more things out by the end of this year (God, small adventure for Tracon, small adventure for Dragonmeet, Hite's adventure, the hardcover, the 4 adventures that got funded, Zzarchov's, oh yeah plus the 2 exclusives from the adventure campaign and the new non-exclusive... that's more than ten).

aaaackkkkkkkkkkkkk.


Monday, August 6, 2012

Just Heard from the Printer

Monolith will be delivered early next week. I'll have it and Death Love Doom on sale the next day in print and PDF.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Recap and Analysis: The Adventure Campaigns

It's over.

("Thank fuck" say most of you who have been bombarded with updates. I do have two new modules that should be in stock and ready to sell next week, so take that breath of air between blitzes while you can.)

4 projects funded. 15 didn't.

To the people who contributed to Vincent's project, and for the higher levels of Brockie's, give us a few days to ready the procedures to get your PDFs or shirts/posters/tickets to you. Things have been nuts here.

To those two people in for the Collectors hardcover option: I'll take care of you. Give me some time to think of how, but "ha ha, fuck you, you paid $450/$500 for 4 adventures!" is not how this is going to be handled.

The Final Totals (see day-by-day totals here):

$7545.00 The Seclusium of Orphone by Baker and Sheppard
$7050.00 Broodmother Sky Fortress by Rients and Robertson
$6623.00 Horror Among Thieves by Green
$6601.00 Towers Two by Brockie

$3221.00 We Who Are Lost by Kreider
$1680.00 Of Unknown Provenance by Curtis and Sterns
$1620.00 The Unbegotten Citadel by Cook and Lofgren
$1270.00 The House of Bone and Amber by Crawford Earl Geier
$  920.00 Machinations of the Space Princess by Desborough and Phoenix
$  740.00 The Depths of Paranoia by Steen and Rainville
$  690.00 Strange and Sinister Shores by Bingham
$  650.00 Normal for Norfolk by Seppälä and Longmore
$  645.00 Escaping Leviathan by Alfrey
$  540.00 The Dreaming Plague by Vuorela and Makkonen
$  500.00 The Land that Exuded Evil by Miller and Aitken
$  470.00 Red in Beak and Claw by Särkijärvi and Rainville
$  460.00 Pyre by Pett and Syrigos
$  350.00 I Hate Myself For What I Must Do by Pohjola and Sammallahti
$  340.00 Poor Blighters by Sparks and Sparks and Allen

Total Contributions: $41,915.00

How Are You Feeling, Jim?

I'm feeling good. 4 out of 19 isn't so great, but we drew over $11,000 in the final 36 hours so it was a strong finish and we ended up so far ahead of where I thought we would as of Friday.

And the authors themselves can be thanked for that. Rients funded without any gimmicks, but Baker, Green, and Brockie did things that made their projects stand out and here we are. (Cook, Kreider, and Steen did as well, but they didn't catch on for whatever reason.)

What Happened?

There was one key assumption to the whole thing:

Each author's fans would follow them to their adventure here.

Or, "The byline is more important than the brand." That assumption led to:

Those fans would sufficiently fund a enough projects to a point where people who wanted a bunch could swoop in with the high-dollar perks to finish them off and get a big bunch at a discount.

... and the more adventures that were involved, the bigger that discount could be. And the bigger the discount, the more people would go for it!

And that's why there were 19 adventures.

Oops.

 Couldn't You Have Gone With Less Adventures?

A smaller number of adventures would not necessarily have been a bigger success. Rients and Baker, the first two to fund, were last-minute replacements. They weren't even supposed to be part of the whole thing! I thought Green would only ever fund as a knock-on effect of a dozen other people funding first.

Basically, my popularity radar is so dysfunctional it's not even funny. (I also thought Isle of the Unknown would be way more popular than the hardcover Carcosa because it was brand new, as another example.) So less adventures up for grabs might have ended up with less appealing writers doing it.

Because honestly, could anyone have predicted Kelvin Green drawing over four times the money Monte Cook did? I can't believe that now. I thought Cook was the shoe-in for "will fund first and fast." I thought I was so fucking brilliant and amazing for getting him on board.

But the paying audience disagreed.

Likewise, I thought Michael Curtis, who has Stonehell and the DUNGEON frickin ALPHABET under his belt, would be the far-and-away OSR leader, especially after Maliszewski and the ACKS crew dropped out. But Rients outdrew him more than 4-1. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

There is the theory that certain people are more likely to get their stuff out there anyway... The thinking: Curtis, for example, always has projects going for publication, so if he has a good idea it'll show up eventually. Rients, on the other hand, hardly ever publishes anything, and not on a  professional level, so this might be Our Only Chance to get it!

I would have thought the opposite: "Oh, Curtis and Cook and the other frequently published writers have their own shit to do, no reason they'd do anything like that'd resemble what they'd do for LotFP. Rients could post whatever he wanted whenever he wanted since he's not got a steady stream of RPG work to do."

So maybe it's a good thing I threw a whole lot at the wall to see what would stick, because I'm generally pretty clueless.

Did the Target Amount Need to Be That High On Each Adventure?

No, it didn't need to be. I could have hardballed negotiations with each and every writer and artist and had adventure goals starting from $3500 in some cases.

But if I was going to kickstart (heh) my business by building a catalog on the backs of these people, I was going to make damn sure they were going to be compensated decently for it. These aren't really even top writing rates, just much-better-than-average in RPG-land (or WOW HOLY SHIT for most in OSR land). Brockie and Green are going to get quite decent piles of cash when they turn their adventures in, and Baker/Sheppard and Rients/Robertson will be splitting quite decent piles of cash. And they all deserve their piles.

I suppose a lot more could have succeeded if I'd negotiated shit rates for the talent. But fuck that. Paying people well makes me feel good (and makes the wife think I'm crazy and never going to be able to afford to buy her that mansion :D).

So What Happens to the Unfunded Projects?

I have to say that a lot of people got attached to their projects as the month went on. I got attached to some of them. Some of the authors have their own publishing imprints.

I think, sooner or later, at least a dozen of these things will see the light of day. Not on the original production schedule, and not with the same financial security a funded project would have afforded the creators (and for those that will not be published by LotFP, not half as cool in their presentation - sorry guys)... but I don't think a lot of the authors will leave them alone.

If any of those are released by LotFP down the line, Gardening Society members will get double their usual discount.

Any Other Questions?

Ask in the comments, on the LotFP message board, G+, or wherever. People were watching how this whole thing would do, and I think there were lessons to learn.

I'm glad I did this.

You've done your part. Now it's time to get our noses down and get all our shit done.

LotFP Crowdfunding Will Return in 2013 for the
FUND A HUGE "FREE RPG DAY" PRINT RUN FOR LOTFP
campaign.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Last Campaign Update (Promise!) - Your Last Chance!




Towers Two. FUNDED.

Next is Anna Kreider's We Who Are Lost. Grab Bag contributors get an original piece of b/w art, Faithful get color.

Do we have one more miracle in us?




3 hours left as I write this.

If you want the Conley sandbox, exclusive to these campaigns, you need contribute $30 to a funding project.

The higher perk levels have been turned off on Broodmother and Seclusium and Horror and Towers but are still live on Lost:

$100 Grab Bag on We Who Are Lost means, if it funds, you get all four adventures, Conley's thing, and an adventure from me.If you want to be more supportive, the Faithful levels gets you my 64 page adventure plus a booklet of other stuff with Zak cover art, neither of which will appear outside of this campaign.


The Final Day

The top four which have special offers attached. Start with Kelvin's give what you can, and let's see if we can't knock off one or two of these. 21 hours left.

We Who Are Lost: Anna Kreider's Offer!

Seems everyone's getting into the "here's some extra stuff if you fund this!" craze. These authors are excited!

The new deal:

For Grab Bag level contributors, Anna Kreider will do a custom finished black and white ink character illustration. For anyone who contributes at The Faithful or higher, she will do a finished color character illustration. Backers will receive signed originals.



26 hours left for everyone. Let's get another one or two of these done, yes?

Monday, July 30, 2012

Monte Cook's Unbegotten Citadel: Free Ptolus PDF with Grab Bags or Higher Perks!

37 hours, $4900 to go.

Monte Cook has just told me that every Grab Bag ($100) level or greater contribution on his project gets the Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire PDF if it funds. That thing costs $60 on its own!

To review: For that $100, if Cook's project funds, you get:

Monte Cook's Unbegotten Citadel
Jeff Rients' Broodmother Sky Fortress
Vincent Baker's Seclusium of Orphone
+ up to three other adventures should any fund (working on it...!)

"3.PF" edition conversions by Owen KC Stephens in PDF format for the above adventures
The Ptolus PDF
A sandbox setting by Rob Conley in print and PDF
A 8-12 page new Raggi adventure

 Plus two fans have offered up personal items for Grab Bag contributors to help this along, check with them for terms and all that stuff: Here and here.







That's Two.. 48 Hours Left... the next THREE!

Over $2000 in less than 12 hours... you guys rock.  ROCK, I say.

I have to say that out of all the pitches I got in the beginning, it was Baker's that excited me the most and it's his that I most wanted to see funded. So I'm very HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY that you guys made it happen. w00000000t! (Baker's extended his offer to everyone who contributed to his campaign regardless of when, by the way. I'll email everyone after the campaign ends and we'll get that going.)

Now then... 50 hours left.



If you haven't yet contributed, I'd say the $100 Grab Bag is the "optimum" perk to go for on the next projects. You get up to 6 adventures that fund (which realistically means you get everything that will fund from this campaign series barring a major miracle) in print and PDF and the Conley sandbox.

We need 123 of you to go in on these projects at that level (assuming nobody else contributes).

Let's do it.

I'll sweeten the deal a bit. You get a Raggi-penned adventure (probably 8 or 12 pages) in print + PDF as a bonus with a $100+ contribution (and this is retroactive to the higher contributors to the already funded projects). It won't be exclusive, but you won't pay anything more for it if you go in at the Grab Bag level on a funded adventure.

If you're feeling generous and helpful, there's still the Faithful level perks. The big thing there at this point is getting the exclusive 64 page Raggi adventure (that will be released in abridged form down the line, but never in that 64 page form) and the booklet with the Zak cover art.

Who's next? Only a few hundred bucks separates the next three in line, so I present them to you:



The gimmick: Even if Kelvin's project doesn't fund, all funders get it for free anyway! Details here.

There are a few examples of Kelvin's writing floating about. His Horror Comes to Haddonfield won "Best Horror" in the 2011 One Page Dungeon contest. A Rough Night at the Dog & Bastard won "Best Relationship Map" in the 2012 One Page Dungeon contest. And he wrote the Call of Cthulhu scenario Dinner with Susan.

He is also a frequent artistic contributor to Fight On! and has submitted a number of magic items to that publication.



Kreider is the author of the Polaris supplement Thou Art But a Warrior and a frequent contributor to the Gaming as Women blog under the name wundergeek.



The extra perks: $50 gets you a signed T-shirt and poster, $75 gets you those and 2 tickets to a show and you get to meet Brockie (full details on the campaign page, add $15 for extra shipping charges if you're outside the US). You get all the benefits of the $30 level (adventure in print and PDF, Conley sandbox) with those perks as well.

Brockie is the lead singer of GWAR, a novelist, and an old-school gamer who started in the 70s.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Vincent Baker sweetens the deal!

From Vincent Baker:

"Holy crap friends! This is so close!

63 hours to go, $1360 left to raise.

From this point on, every new backer gets a free PDF of their choice of one of my games. Every new backer at $30 or more gets their choice of two!

- Apocalypse World (including all 6 Limited Edition playbooks)
- Dogs in the Vineyard (moral brinkmanship in a West that never quite was)
- kill puppies for satan (the one that started it all)
- In a Wicked Age (my beautiful, flawed Sword & Sorcery game)
- Murderous Ghosts (my newest and, at this writing, the most accessible rpg there is)
- Poison'd (a blood-soaked pirate game of ambition and betrayal, for adults, please)

We can do it!"

He is also taking questions about his games here.

(Note that this is Baker's own offer and the fulfillment of these will be a matter between Baker and the particular contributor.) 

Saturday, July 28, 2012

That's One.

And now I have to worry about giving the Faithful and especially Collecting Faithful value for their contributions.

We have work to do, people!

Next Up:

Does Baker have 73 fans willing to spend $30 to get a work by Vince Baker, cover and interior art by Cynthia Sheppard, and a sandbox supplement by Rob Conley? I THINK HE DOES.



Dark Horse Pick:

Does Dave Brockie have 57 fans who would want an adventure by him, plus the Conley thing, plus a signed T-shirt, poster, and 2 tickets to a GWAR show? I THINK HE DOES.



PS. Hammers of the God is now out of print. :)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Campaigns End on the 31st

LotFP's insane Grand Adventure Campaign is in its home stretch. There's a long way to go to get the adventures are funded, but there's still plenty of time if you're willing to get on board.

First, what the whole thing is about:
  • 19 adventures by 19 different authors all up for crowdfunding in separate campaigns at the same time.
  • Each adventure will be 32 or 48 pages, depending on the length of the adventure submitted by the writers and layout needs of the adventure.
  • The adventures are for the LotFP Weird Fantasy RPG, but as LotFP is a second-generation "retro clone," the adventures will be easily compatible with all the other retro clones and the original games they are based on. Fans have also told me, to my amazement because this was never intended, that they have used LotFP adventures with games like D&D 3.5, 4e, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu/Runequest/Stormbringer and other BRP games, Warhammer Fantasy RPG 1+2e, the Warhammer 40K RPGs, Rolemaster, Shadow of Yesterday, and probably more I'm forgetting. YOU CAN USE THESE ADVENTURES!

The point of doing 19 adventures at once was to offer discounts for getting multiple adventure bundles. Those are still an option for those of you feeling confident or generous, but forget about that right now. Just look at individual adventures, and what the lower contribution levels get you for each adventure should they fund:
  • $10 gets you the adventure on PDF. Layered, bookmarked, linked, the whole shebang.
  • $20 gets you the print version of the adventure shipped first class from Finland, plus the PDF.
  • $30 gets you the print version of the adventure shipped first class from Finland, plus the PDF, plus an exclusive print + PDF sandbox setting by Rob Conley (Majestic Wilderlands, Points of Light 1 & 2, etc.) that will not be available in any format anywhere except as a bonus item in these campaigns. You also get a bonus "What I Would Do With This Adventure in My Campaign" sheet by James Edward Raggi IV.

Even if any particular adventure had $0 pledged on it (and all have a lot more than that), it would only take 200 people to get an adventure funded at the $30 level. Me, I think for example Monte Cook has 200 fans that could gain enjoyment and game value out of his adventure and the bonus sandbox that comes along with it. The same holds true for each and every author. We have plenty of time to get this done. (As I write this Cook still needs 167 at this level to fund. Jeff Rients needs 21.)

So why should *you* participate in this?
  • You are putting money into the creator's hands. Over 50% of each adventure's $6000 goal goes directly to the writer and the artist. Plus money to the editor. And the layout/graphic designer. LotFP won't make a dime until after these are printed and put into general sale for all the non-diehards who didn't jump on the campaigns.
  • Each author gets "final cut" on the adventure. You're getting what Jeff Rients wants to do. What Kelvin Green wants to do. What Anna Kreider wants to do. LotFP will provide editorial input but the writer has final say, and sets the tone for the artwork.
  • You are getting old-school oriented stuff into stores and the public consciousness. LotFP now goes through Impressions to reach distribution, the same company that Goodman Games, Pelgrane Press, Troll Lord Games, Goblinoid Games, and more uses to reach retail. The $6000 goal includes a large enough print run to go into distribution, so supporting these campaigns means we can get names like Jeff Rients, Michael Curtis, Kevin Crawford, etc on (more) shelves and taking up gamer headspace and making sure the Old School way is right in peoples' faces.
  • You can get names like Vincent Baker, Monte Cook, Richard Pett, and Mike Pohjola, not known for their traditional publishing credits, to not only apply their creativity to our games, but also show them there's interest and money here. We can show them it is in their interest to be more interested in making cool things for us.
  • COOL ADVENTURES! HELLO!

Some of the adventures have extra perk options:
  • Kelvin Green's Horror Among Thieves has a special deal going... we're publishing the adventure whether or not it funds. If it doesn't fund, everyone who contributed automatically gets their money back at the end of the campaign but when it's ready we'll send you the adventure for FREE anyway.
  • Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus of GWAR)'s Towers Two has a T-shirt+poster deal at the $50 level and that plus GWAR concert tickets at the $75 level.
  • Aeron Alfrey has art prints available at the $40 level and that and a poster at the $75 level.
  • Jennifer Steen is fresh off her successful Project Ninja Panda Taco kickstarter, and the $30 level for her Depths of Paranoia adventure also includes a mini Princess Ninja Panda Taco

The full adventure list is here.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Death Love Doom: Released at Ropecon!


20 pages + detached cover with map, this is the same format as Hammers of the God/Death Frost Doom/Tower of the Stargazer, etc. Written by me.

Limited to 225 print copies (and out of that come the couple of review copies that get sent out, awards panel copies, library copies, etc., so probably 200 available for sale).

It will be released at Ropecon this weekend, then goes on sale to the rest of you the same time as Monolith does early next month. The print version will be an LotFP Store/Convention exclusive. It will not be made available through distribution or Noble Knight or whatever place you might order LotFP stuff from. The PDF version will be available from the regular vendors, but I bet it gets banned from those sites before too long.

It's basically a pseudo-historical haunted house kind of thing. It involves the Duvan'Ku. The adventure went from first concept to print in two weeks (yay team!), including playing it. Was planned to be 8 pages, ended up at 20. Probably rough around the edges, but things I work on for 6+ months still have typos and shit so probably no big difference there. 

The first thing done was the art list. I decided to turn the "sick and twisted" up to 11. Then I built an adventure around the imagery. Seriously, if things bother you, skip this one. Crossing the line was first priority. I had artists turn down the job because of the content.

Kelvin Green was the masochist that was willing to take the art job on. Here's what he had to say about the project:

If I'm lucky, you know my work already. If not, google me. The kind of thing I like to draw and the kind of thing James Raggi is known for writing are quite different in tone, so when he asked me to contribute to Death Love Doom, yes I was surprised. Very bad things happen to men, women and children in this adventure, and he wanted me to draw these very bad things? Me, with my cartoony, clean-line style?

Yet that is what I did. It's not the kind of thing I've drawn before, it's not the kind of thing I've ever thought about drawing before, and I may never draw its like again, but all of that is what made me agree; to do James' extreme descriptions justice in my own art style would be a challenge, but we don't grow if we don't challenge ourselves. That seems pretentious, but it's true; I didn't enjoy drawing some of this stuff, but I'm glad I did. I expect there to be a debate about the content, and my part in it, and I welcome that debate. I've learned much about my strengths and limitations as an artist and I've also learned much about my attitudes towards extreme and explicit art, and I will be happy to discuss all of it, because it's an important discussion to have.

Layout/Designer/Cartographer guy Jez Gordon (MR SECRET SANTICORE) had this to say about his involvement (prefaced, at Jez' request, by our opening conversation on the matter):

Raggi: How busy are you the next two weeks? I had the wild hair of an idea... I need a series of illustrations... gore/porntastic.

Gordon: How fucked up are the illustrations? as bad as the zombie fisting the disemboweled woman?

Raggi: At least, yeah...

Gordon: Zombiefistwoman is just over the line for me in terms of yuckfactor, and that's just looking at stuff. actually drawing that level of gross...

Raggi: I'm actually thinking the zombie fisting might be kind of tame compared to some of the ideas I have.

Gordon: (looking at Raggi's list of goregasm): Oh.

Raggi: If I get someone else for the art, would you be willing to do the map and layout?

Gordon: Yeah I think I'm just a little too uncomfortable with this one sorry... But send me through the map details and i'll get started tonight.

And that's how I ended up designing Death Love Doom, but not illustrating it. I was bummed that I had to turn it down, but I kept mulling over how I didn't want to spend hours and hours giving form to these horrid visions. I tend to get a little haunted by horror, it creeps into my eyeballs when I'm falling asleep and likes to party in my brainpan. So I had to say no. And it was the right thing to do... As it was I'd be thinking about some of the stuff that's in Death Love Doom when I wasn't working on it, and just feel... sick. Bits and pieces of it are hardcore. So yeah. It's not for the faint of heart, or weak of stomach, or those who think about the children. Because you really don't want to think about the children. Really. You don't.

I got through the horror by focusing on the historical aspect, and worked to reproduce as accurately as possible the location - a 17th century merchant's house outside of London. I drew heavily on the architecture of Fenton House (big thank you to James Stuart and Duncan Young for the surveillance - Hampstead is just a too far from here to make the day trip) and married that with the needs of the adventure. How far way can a scream be heard? What are the mechanics of 17th century plumbing? The sleeping habits of coachmen? Why I love doing real-world rpgs, you always learn a little bit more...

So would I do it again? Yep, you bet. As horrible as the subject matter is, it's make believe. No one was harmed in the making of this fantasy, and the fact that I still feel off thinking about some of what's in Death Love Doom is an indicator that this level of horror can't be normalised. It was, and remains, sickening.

And so it should.

... or maybe we'll get lucky and people will leave it alone if they don't appreciate this sort of thing and we won't have to play Outrage Theater again. Or maybe we're making a mountain out of a molehill and we're not actually hitting that unpredictable squicky outrage button at all. One can hope. Well, maybe you can. I'm not too hopeful. No matter how plainly I warn or how loud I yell "SICK SHIT IS HERE" somebody's going to buy it and then get very angry because there's sick shit there.

But, you know, fair warning: THERE IS SICK SHIT HERE. As part of what turned out to be a pretty good and effective adventure.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Final Push: Robert S. Conley Sandbox added as Extras, Princess Ninja Panda Taco

9 days left. Still plenty of time to get lots of stuff done if you want to.

New Perk: All $30+ contributors on funded projects will get a sandbox supplement by Robert S. Conley (Majestic Wilderlands, Points of Light 1 & 2, etc.) in print + pdf format. This is exclusive to this campaign and will not be available in any format afterwards.

Also remember that the Grab Bag level allows you to choose which adventures you want (up to 6).

All adventures come with an "OGL 3.PF" conversion in pdf by Owen K.C. Stephens.

Plus some campaigns have unique perks:

As discussed in yesterday's blog post, if you contribute to Horror Among Thieves and it doesn't fund, you will still get the adventure anyway at no charge. See the notes on the campaign page for details. If you guys could spread the word about this one...

Jennifer Steen has an added bonus for $30+ contributors to her Depths of Paranoia adventure: Princess Ninja Panda Taco! Fresh off her successful Kickstarter for Project: Ninja Panda Taco, she'll be doing a mini-supplement about an evil mastermind trying to destroy the world. Cover art on this by PNPT artist Brian Patterson.

GWAR fans should jump on the extras Dave Brockie is offering as part of his Towers Two adventure: a new $50 perk gives you a signed shirt and poster, $75 gives you that plus 2 GWAR concert tickets and a meeting with Brockie himself. Those might be worth it even without the adventure being involved...

Aeron Alfrey's Escaping Leviathan has a couple unique perks: The $40 level gets you quality prints of some of Alfrey's previous LotFP work, and  $75 gets you that and a poster.




Sunday, July 22, 2012

Horror Among Thieves: If You Contribute and it Doesn't Fund, You Get It FREE




Kelvin Green’s gone nuts and he’s infected LotFP Central!

If Horror Among Thieves does NOT fund, LotFP will still be publishing the adventure. It won’t necessarily be on the same timetable as if it were to fund, but we’ll put it out.

Anyone contributing $10+ to the campaign will get the adventure PDF, WHETHER OR NOT THE CAMPAIGN FUNDS.

Anyone contributing $20+ to the campaign will get the physical book, WHETHER OR NOT THE CAMPAIGN FUNDS.

That’s right, if the campaign doesn’t fund, you get your contributed money back at the close of the campaign, and you will get the stuff anyway when it’s published. (Note that if it doesn’t fund with this campaign, books will be shipped 2nd class and it does not include any of the campaign extras.)

Spread the word. Now there really is no excuse not to fund this thing.



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Adventure Campaigns Updates and New Perks, The Madness Continues!

Got about two weeks left. Still lots of work to do.

Time for more incentives!

Two new perks on Dave Brockie's adventure Towers Two:
$50 gets you the Adventure + Extras plus a GWAR shirt and poster both signed by Oderus Urungus!
$75 gets you all that plus 2 ticketsto a GWAR show, and a chance to meet Dave Brockie and get your picture taken with him.(transport to the show of course not included, not valid for festival appearances)

That $75 perk is nuts. Grab it.

Two new perks on Aeron Alfrey's adventure Escaping Leviathan:
$40 gets you the Adventure + Extras plus 5 A4-sized prints of some of Alfrey's previous work with LotFP. See below for the pieces.
$75 gets you that plus an A1 size poster (594 × 841mm) which will function both as both an art piece and a map of the interior of the Leviathan.



Jennifer Steen has been helping out with the campaigns by interviewing ALL THE DAMN PEOPLE it seems, about their non-LotFP projects and gaming life as well as their LotFP adventures. She's got her own adventure up for grabs, The Depths of Paranoia

Here are the interviews she's done so far (more to come most days of the week until we're done!):

Vincent Baker
Johnathan Bingham
Kevin Crawford
Kelvin Green
Richard Pett
Mike Pohjola
Jeff Sparks
Ville Vuorela
.. and me!


But Jenn's also Kickstarting her own game, Ninja Panda Taco. Three days left, 85% funded... go get it done!

Kelvin Green has made a bombshell announcement about his adventure Horror Among Thieves:
"Whether or not this campaign makes its goal, anyone who contributes at least $10 will get a pdf of the adventure; if the campaign is a success, the full weight of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess design and layout team will be thrown behind it and you’ll get the fancy pants edition detailed on the campaign page. If not, then I’ll be putting it together myself and it won’t look half as good, but you will get the full text and all the art, all the content just as if the goal had been reached. That’s my small way of showing my thanks to you for showing your support."

Vincent Baker has posted four videos answering questions about his adventure The Seclusium of Orphone:






Anna Kreider has made a long post here about her adventure We Who Are Lost.

Jeff Rients' adventure Broodmother Sky Fortress continues to be the superstar of the campaigns. Did you see the video he made talking about it?



More news soon I hope...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

General Purpose Update (Of Special Interest to Brazilian Readers!)

I was interviewed by Marcelo Dior about LotFP and all the craziness I'm involved with. Listen to that here. That interview includes a from-Brazil-orders-only coupon code for 25% off on any LotFP order through July.

I've contributed four monsters and a short essay to the This Just In From GenCon crowdfunding effort to raise money for new equipment for their GenCon coverage. Check that out here.

The Monolith from beyond Space and Time has gone to the printer.

Crossing fingers but I am working to have an 8-12 page short-run adventure ready for Ropecon. Planning to print 225 copies and that's it.

The LotFP big July adventures thing keeps chugging along. Jennisodes has so far released interviews with Richard Pett, Ville Vuorela, Vincent Baker, Johnathan Bingham, and Kevin Crawford, with more to come. (oh yeah, and with meeeeee)

Interesting that there has been a huge surge in Gardening Society Memberships that can only be connected to the campaign, but they haven't all then put money down. It seems a lot of people are taking a "wait and see" attitude. As long as you don't wait too long...

I'm participating in the Indie+ online convention, specifically in the Social Responsibilities of the Self-Publisher panel at 7pm Eastern time Friday/tomorrow (that's a change from the original 10pm time). Emily Vitori and Christopher Helton are also on the panel and it will be hosted by Chris Tregenza.

(Alex Mayo will be running Death Frost Doom during that convention as well. 9pm Eastern on Friday/tomorrow. Sign up here!)

More news soon...