Pre-Order Deal Ends Wednesday 11:59pm

I got word today that the Grindhouse boxes will be ready on Wednesday, and the books that go into those boxes will be here Thursday or Friday. (Vornheim expected the following week)

You know that "Buy Grindhouse + Vornheim together, get the oversized Vornheim roll-on tables" thing? Ends Wednesday 11:59pm Helsinki time.

No, that die table sheet thing is not a huge thing, but it is a thing, and something that makes using Vornheim a little bit cooler and easier > being without something that makes using Vornheim a little bit cooler and easier.

So don't delay! Act today! Get crazay!

(and I sometimes doubt my marketing abilities... phaugh!)

Last Day for T-Shirts

11:59pm Finnish time tonight, the T-shirts come off the store and I place the order to get them made.

Get 'em while you still can!

What's Your Favorite Piece of Grindhouse Art So Far?

Need a bit of a pick me up. So, like the subject line says...

What is your favorite piece of Grindhouse Edition artwork so far? Hell, go wild and pick two! I'm curious.

LotFP to Release Stefan Poag's Exquisite Corpses

Conspicuous by his absence from LotFP projects until now, weird fantasy artist Stefan Poag is about to become quite conspicuous indeed as LotFP prepares to re-release his Exquisite Corpses project into distribution.

Exquisite Corpses is Poag's unique monster book for classic fantasy RPGs, in which tens of thousands of different monsters can be generated with the turn of a page, and hundreds of thousands of more variations made with a few additional die rolls.

To achieve this end, Exquisite Corpses uses space-age flip-book technology, like so:


The LotFP release will feature:

• New cover art
• 32 full color base monster templates on thick pre-perforated stock
• New interior art (the extent of which is still to be determined)
• Hardcover/Wire Binding: On the outside, it's a hardcover, including a spine. On the inside, a thick wire coil to allow the monster segments to be flipped while the book lays flat.

More News as We Make It, and Further Details as We Invent Them!

PDF Issue Fixed

Grindhouse and Vornheim PDFs should both be good for everyone.

More news later.

Update on the PDFs. I HATE TECHNOLOGY

Short version: I have updated, working PDFs for the Grindhouse Edition. People ordering now should be able to get them no problem.

I just have no idea yet how to get them to the people that have already ordered.

Stay tuned.

Long version:

whew. Been working on this two days straight. Between the time it takes to generate a new PDF of the books and upload them either to the server or send them to someone who's helping out due to my cheapest-possible internet connection, well, that's been my life since I woke up yesterday.

The basic problem? The PDFs were fine on their own, but it was only when combined in one larger file that fonts started to go all flaky.

The easiest thing to do would be to just put all the files separately into a ZIP file like I did for the Deluxe edition. But... some people at the time said that wasn't so convenient, so I looked for a one-file solution.

The likely suspect was the way the font was embedded. Apparently it was different for every file, and when the files were combined, *ffaaaaaaaarrrrrttttttttttt*

Had someone with more advanced software take the individual files and stick them together by some arcane technological wizardry. It worked as far as fixing the fonts and the gibberish, but it stripped out the bookmarks in doing so. No good. (data point: The fixed file with no bookmarks was 15mb less than the screwy single file, and the good files ZIPped separately, which are both around 65mb)

Then I used the handydandy "book" tool in my layout program, where different files could be added as chapters and it outputs one PDF. This worked like a charm, except it automatically renumbered all the pages, but not the individual Table of Contents for the three books. That was ugly, and not a good idea I don't think.

So I decided to just upload the ZIP file and to say hell with it. Sometimes, it's just too much work. I did time as a programmer for awhile last century, and I learned never overwrite anything. So I renamed the current download and created a new download attached to the Grindhouse product, loading the ZIP file into the new download. (hint: THIS WAS THE WRONG THING TO DO)

The problem was that the new download was not associated with the purchases already made - they were still pointing to the old download even though I'd disassociated them.

I said hell with it and went to bed.

Today, more fun!

I'm told that overwriting the current file would have been the right thing to do, but there's another suggestion to be made for a one file solution first.

It was suggested that when embedding the font, I was only embedding the subset of the font that was needed for the individual file, and so all the different files had different subsets, which created the bllarrghh.

So I remade all the individual PDF files, then combined them again! Success! Page numbering is correct! Fonts all look good! Bookmarks present! But, oh, 105mb. +40mb for fully embedding these fonts? What the hell?

Whatever. I'll upload it, people can deal with a large file after all this crap.

A funny thing happened though. After replacing both the original download thingy and the other download thingy so all customers would be working from the same file... the system automatically logged me out. Probably timed out.

When I log back in, the downloads are gone. There are now no files associated with Grindhouse, and no evidence that there ever was.

I'm informed that 105mb was way over the file upload limit for the server. Instead of canceling, it just erased all evidence that anything was ever there.

So I make a new download for Grindhouse using the ZIP file. It fits, it's associated, all new orders should now be able to grab that.

However, previous orders still have that original PDF with the font issues in their download area. Even though as far as the admin controls are concerned, it no longer exists.

...aannnnndddd... manually adding a new product to an existing order in admin does not associate the download with the order for some reason, so that's not a solution either.

And that's where we are now.

Everyone is going to get correct and working PDFs, no matter when they ordered. Exactly how that is to be accomplished is still unknown. It would be damn embarrassing to have to send RPGNow coupons to everyone considering I have this new shiny store, but if it comes to that, it comes to that. You'll get correct and functional PDFs with your print order dammit.

My web guy has tools available to him that aren't on the admin control panel, and there are still a couple tricks to try.

Vornheim's PDF seems to be OK except for one single page (the neighborhood building roll-on chart). Hopefully when that's fixed I'll just update the file in the existing download associated with Vornheim and that will be that. Hopefully.

All other PDF files in the store are fine.

These issues did not affect the PDFs that went to press - they've been checked. And were never combined into single files in the first place.

I'm off now to drill holes in my head and hope that the blood spatters on the wall in patterns that inspire a solution to all this.

First 100 Combos are SOLD

Figures the last one went literally minutes after I went out for the night.

Yeah. Everyone pre-ordering combos still gets the oversized Vornheim sheet, and the actual box and books of course.

Tomorrow I have actual gaming to do, Monday I'll get to that PDF font issue.

Updates on Things!

First off, WOW. Thank you guys. This is CRAZY.

Announcement: A typo in Grindhouse has been found. thanks so much. I remember the days when I had to get it back from the printer before finding one. :P

By my rough count, and I may be off by one or two, but there are seven Rulebook Combo Offers left to be had.

Yes, there are issues with the PDFs, what with me being all cute and selecting seldom used fonts. That'll teach me. I won't be able to sit down and take a good look at the issue until Monday. In the meantime, there are threads for the PDF issues for both the Grindhouse and Vornheim books in the LotFP Forum. If you have an issue that's not listed there, describe what your issue is in the appropriate thread. When the issue is fixed, of course you can re-download it.

Any other questions or issues, email me or put them in the comments.

Discussion of content or art or anything like that, to the forum!

(Breaking news: Sucker Punch may be the worst movie I've ever seen!)

I'm off to bed... 5:30am... blleehh!

Grindhouse Edition and Vornheim and Shirts: PRE-ORDER IS LIVE!

LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing Grindhouse Edition is a horror-fantasy game with everything you need to play in one box. Tutorial, Referee, and Rules & Magic books totaling 360 pages, plus character sheets and dice. Contains new and revised material and tons of new artwork by top talent.

Vornheim: The Complete City Kit by Zak S is both a mini-setting describing locations seen in the I Hit It With My Axe webshow and a general fantasy city playing aid. 64 pages, hardcover.

PDFs of these releases will be available to download as soon as the order is completed at no extra charge. (The Grindhouse PDFs seem to have a technical issue - this will be taken care of early in the coming week - but you can still download it and take a look at the art in the meantime)

The first 100 people to pre-order both the Grindhouse Edition and Vornheim will receive an extra Rules & Magic book (168 pages) at no extra charge.

Everyone who pre-orders the Grindhouse Edition and Vornheim will receive an oversized chart of Vornheim roll-on tables.

These offers end when the printer notifies me the books have shipped from the printer in Keuruu. I will update this blog when that happens. Might be a week from now. Might be two. Who knows?

Also for sale are Grindhouse and Flailceratops T-Shirts. Orders for these will only be taken until 11:59pm April 7 Finnish time. Only those ordered during this week, plus a few for the artists and a couple for me and my wife, will be made. Be part of the fun when people start posting pictures of themselves wearing their new shirts. :D

Because the shirts will likely be delivered at a different time than the books, be careful about pre-ordering them within the same order - if you do that I wait until everything arrives before shipping. Also, depending on what and how many of whatever you order, non-EU customers may find it advantageous when it comes to shipping costs to place multiple orders rather than just one big one. Feel free to fiddle around in the shopping cart before placing your order.

I had previously mentioned a big discount when ordering copies of the Grindhouse Edition for your whole group. That is still happening, but not as previously described - that shipping weight trick I talked about couldn't happen with the way the store software is set up, so instead I just made the discount on the boxes themselves a bit deeper to compensate.

*phew*

Yeah, I talk a lot.

The big link for pre-ordering: HERE

(YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANTED TO PUT A RICKROLL THERE)

The Plan For Today

2:50pm: I take the store down and activate the new releases. All the info is in there and has been tested (hopefully enough) to make sure all is in order. At this point if you try to log onto the store you'll get some sort of "Undergoing Maintenance" message.

3:00pm: As soon as the blog announcement posts announcing that pre-orders are open, I'll hit the button and the store will be live.

And at that point I hope we all get what we want.

I will be monitoring the situation (and so too, hopefully, will the web guy) until about 6pm. Then I get ready and go to Night Visions and won't be back until about 4am. Before I leave I'll update how many orders have been made, but if there really is a big rush I may not be home to post when the first 100 are already spoken for.

I feel like I'm giving a war speech. :D "Good luck gentlemen."

(all times are Helsinki local times)