June 2010

June 29, 2010
A few site updates before I go blow stuff up this weekend. First, PaizoCon was a blast, and Greg and I had a great time hanging out with Lisa, Erik and the other folks form Paizo. The events were great, and Greg's DM ability was sorely tested by the "Mess with Greg's Game" event involving Paizo's new GameMastery Card Deck "Plot Twist Cards". Highly recommended for a crazy game time. In other news, I will be writing a regular article in Kobold Quarterly (http://www.koboldquarterly.com/), so support your local little lizard and tell them the frog sent you!
I am also writing a regular column in Knockspell Magazine, and old school quarterly published by my friends at Mythmere Games (http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/?page_id=10). These guys are Indie press at its best. They produce some of the best old school stuff out there (even a white 3 book box set!) and deserve our support.

Since much discussion has happened many places in the past few weeks, I wanted to officially post here to clarify what we are doing w/ Slumbering Tsar subscriptions. I already priced and figured out the printing through lightningpress to do the hardcovers. All prices do NOT include shipping. Too many fans in the UK, Finland and Western Australia to set a price for a 800 page book. Shipping outside of the US will likely be about $38 (flat rate) for one book or $52 for 2-3 books, so find friends to share shipping! Canada and Mexico are cheaper. This is the best shipping deal I have found so far--I just hope we don't exceed the 20 pound limit!

Only the subscriptions get the hardcover limited edition; signed and numbered by me and Greg. Extra hardcovers are still $125 each. Ping me if you want several and maybe we can work something out (bill@talesofthefroggod.com).  If there are extras (yes I am printing several extras) they will go to the first "X" people that order all of the loose chapters DIRECTLY FROM MY WEBSITE (not DTRPG, not at Paizo, just from me). After that, the hardcovers are going to cost a lot more, since printing 1 costs a fortune and printing 200-300 costs a lot less per unit. I am going to discontinue the $125 soon. When I close subscriptions (in October), anyone who is not up to date w/ chapter purchases WILL NOT GET A FREE HARDCOVER. The reason is simple; its print costs, so I have to have an accurate count for the initial (main) print run. Honestly subscriptions are the way to go. I will happily convert prior purchases to subscriptions when I end subscriptions (e.g. if you have paid for 3 chapters, I'l refund you if you buy the subscription deal). This refund policy will last EXACTLY 1 calendar month from when I end subscriptions (again not DTRPG, not at Paizo, just from me). To be crystal skull clear--to get the limited hardcover you must buy from this site.

There are lots of new ways to buy individual chapters . Pdfs are sold 3 ways (me (here), paizo (http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/f/frogGodGames), dtrpg (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/account.php). POD softcovers of each chapter will be sold at DTRPG (only) for about 12 or 13 bucks for each chapter. I expect PODs to be live in August. I have copies of chapters 1-2 ordered for proofing as I write this!

Since Lisa Stevens spilled the beans at Paizocon (after many beers and because I had many beers and told everyone at my table), I am pleased to announce that the Limited Editions get an extra chapter otherwise unavailable. Even more reason to subscribe.  After the subscription copies go away, so does the bonus chapter, forever, and its not in the pdf set. I did the same thing w/ Rappan Athuk Reloaded...I should probably have reprinted it, but did not because I said it was a limited edition.
In future news, I'll have one small and one very, very large announcement coming soon. The hints are riddles. The small one involved gold twice, and a troll and a wolf, and the large one totaled 10, when looked at as three and 10.5 when looked at when looked at as 4 minus one. See if anyone can solve those riddles. I am not sure what the prize will be yet, but I am sure I can think of something.
Talk to you all soon!
Bill

June 6, 2010
Updates, and lots of them. First, as most of you already know, Slumbering Tsar, Chapter 2, The Ghosts of Victory is up and available for download (subscribers) or purchase. To get second chapter, subscribers go to http://www.aplusdownload.com. Click on menu option called Buyer. Your login is your email address and password was sent when you subscribed and downloaded the first chapter.
Chapter 3 is in the works and on schedule, and the maps are in for Chapter 4.

As an additional option, we have made all these books available through Drive through RPG, and will soon be offering print on demand softcover books as well as electronic copies through DTRPG (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=48/). There is one catch with purchasing through this new venue. If you buy chapters from them, you will NOT receive a copy of the hardcover book after purchase of all 14 installments. So subscribe now! If you buy direct, our writers and artists take home more pay, and it allows us to do thing like print hardcover books for you.

That being said, not everyone wants a 600-700 page hardcover, so this venue offers a different format (32-50 page modules) that may be desirable by some. Heck, some people want both. So more options is just more good!

In other news, and due to the fantastic response from all of you, I am pleased to announce two additional titles that will be released this year. There may be 1-2 more announcements regarding products, but I am not ready to tell you about those yet. I will hint that one involves something you breathe and the other is a collaborative effort between two guys who have earned two Gold Ennies for previous adventures. Maps are done, covers are in process, and files are edited. I contracted interior art just last week for both of these books!

The first book, scheduled for release in September/October as a pdf and a month after as a POD (through DTRPG) will be Fane of the Fallen, by Will Christensen (of long time Dragon Magazine fame). The details of this mini campaign, retail price and page count will be posted soon.
The second book, scheduled for release in October/November as a pdf and a month after as a POD (through DTRPG) will be Splinters of Faith, by Gary Schotter and Jeff Harkness (hardcore Necromancer fans!). The details of this mini campaign, retail price and page count will be posted soon.

Last bit of news for the day is that Greg and I will be attending PaizoCon in Bellevue (suburb of Seattle) WA from June 18-20. Look us up if you are there! They are actually letting me DM some society games (the Pathfinder equivalent of Living Greyhawk)…let’s hear it for Team TPK! Those brave enough to face my dice may take home a few extra goodies…but beware, I am not your soft new-school DM (and I guess death can be permanent for society characters…oh the dilemma). Seriously though, Paizo is doing a great job of keeping OUR game alive, so show up and support them if you can. I’ll be running a few 0e games, and Greg’s calendar is full of hosted and open table games.