July 2010

July 28, 2010
If any of you are at Gencon next week, look Greg up at the Paizo Booth (he has a limited amount of goodies! I am going on vacation for about 10 days, so will be offline and hiding w/ my family until August 8. Tsar 4 art is in, and Greg is about done with proofing the stats, so we anticipate a layout while I am away. I anticipate a big announcement shortly after Gencon. Still working on a few of the details, but its almost ready for prime time.
In other news, I am going to start offering print copies of the individual chapters of Tsar and our other books for direct sale. Quantities will be limited. So if you wish to have 32-84 page individual real-book versions of our products, they will be available soon.
More news in about 2 weeks.
Bill

July 22, 2010
I am not ready to bust open the pinata of news yet, but I do have some questions for all of you. What would folks think of a "book of the month" club, where FGG produced a 24-42 page book once per month, folks could subscribe or buy it individually, maybe save $2/book or so for annual subscription.The fees would/could look something like this for costs (including a POD shipped to US/Canada/Mexico or overseas (by column).

Monthly	$11.99	$15.99	$21.45
Quarterly	$29.99	$31.99	$40.99

Costs include shipping (hence the discount if we shipped 1/quarter instead of each month. Maybe PODs would normally cost $9.99, and e-books $4.99 or something, but you got both for $8.99 if you subscribed...Maybe PDF only subscriptions would knock $1 off each book.
TO BE CLEAR Prices are just make-believe; I need to validate costs first, but they are probably somewhere close to the mark. I also need to assess shipping costs.
What I am looking for is feedback "in general" on the concept. Should I just sell books 1/time or would folks like this to save a bit and make it easier to buy and sell? Let me know.
Bill

July 16
Oops--I messed up and missed 2 pieces of art in the Tsar 3 file. Its being fixed currently, and should be posted for subscribers and for sale here on Saturday night. As I am out of town until Sunday, Drive Through and Paizo won't be posted until late Sunday.
Much apologies for the delays.

In other news, I got the test proofs of Tsar 1 PODs from Drive Through this week. The color and quality of the Lightning Press print on demand was very good. I am not sure how long it will take to get these up for sale, but Tsar 1 will cost $9.99 as a print on demand module, with remaining volumes priced at $13.99. I'll get links for sale for the PODs as soon as they become available.
We have added an artist, Rowena Aitken will be doing cover work and interiors for us on a regular basis. her bio will be up soon, and she is incredibly talented. Go check out her portfolio at http://www.rowenaaitken.com/. Look at the Fantasy Art tab...wow.

Interiors are all sketched for Fane of the Fallen (by Ms. Aitken), and now the long process of grey-scale begins. Rick assures me the cover is on the way, and the maps and text are done and finalized. Interiors are in process for Splinters of Faith, and maps and text are done as well. As soon as Rick is done with the fane cover, its off to the races on Splinters.

Greg will be at Gencon, working at the Paizo booth, and he "might" have a few special items for subscribers and those who wish to become subscribers. If you are there, i suggest you find him.
Finally, a huge announcement coming in about a month or so. I can't disclose what it is yet, but I think you will all be very happy; I know we are.

July 12, 2010
Slumbering Tsar Chapter 3 is off to layout. I expect it will be posted no later than Friday. Thanks for your patience (Greg and I were derailed by PaizonCon) during the delay!

July 8, 2010
Just a few quick updates. Greg pinged me this morning to let me know he was proofing the Pathfinder conversions this weekend, and then off to Chuck for layout. Estimated release date of July 15 or so. We already previewed and approved the art. As asked a few other places, I have a question for you guys...what would the audience here think of one-night stand modules. You know, the play for 5 hours things. Plot/Mission, 12 encounters, couple maps, cool art. Maybe $5 pdf and $9 pod. 24-36 pages each.

What if we did a lot of them?
What if we did a few a year only?
What levels would be good/bad?
What if cover art was repeated to lower pricepoint?
What else would make these good or bad?
Please let me know what you think.

July 5, 2010
I hope everyone had a great holiday. We had a huge party, and lots of fun with high explosives, beer and beef. I finished the draft of my article for Kobold Quarterly this weekend, and my next one for Knockspell is taking shape. Speaking of Knockspell, Jon sent me a load of books last week, and I have to say I am very impressed by Blackblade Publishing. Anyone who is into old style D&D really should check these guys out. They are what I always wished TSR was back in the day. Check out their store at http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/?page_id=10 .

Saw a few more interior pieces for Fane this weekend, they are shaping up nicely.

July 1, 2010
Final art for the third chapter of The Slumbering Tsar Saga was approved today. This means the whole will be off to Chuck for layout after the holiday with an estimated live date of July 15, 2010. Look for it then!

Greg will be at the Paizo Booth at Gencon. We haven't figured out what yet, but there may be some sort of promo material there with him. Here are some teasers for the two new books. I hope you enjoy them. Maps are done for Fane (Sardinha, Robert is busy w/ Tsar) and almost done for Splinters. Rick says he is getting there on the covers as well. Interiors are coming in for approval (all due final 8/15/2010 for layout). I'll get page counts and pricing out as soon as I know what it is. These books will be sold as pdfs here, DTRPG and at Paizo, and as print on demand at DTRPG.

Fane of the Fallen
All is not as it seems when a large scale orc raid preys upon the city of Brookmere. PCs are sent to parlay with the orcs believed to be responsible, and after many exciting battles and investigation, the characters learn of the masterminds behind the attack, a faction of murderous elves bent on the destruction of the kingdom. Can the characters penetrate the foreboding Harwood Forest and defeat the denizens of Castle Novgorod? Or will they succumb to the fallen elves and their depraved succubus goddess?

Fane of the Fallen™is a d20 adventure of epic proportions, designed to take characters from 13th-level to 18th-level. Fane of the Fallen™ introduces the Kingdom of Myrridon, a mini-campaign of grand scale, and the fallen elves, a new race of murderous beings seduced by evil.

• Uncover the dark secrets of the fallen elves, and confront them and the demonic forces they consort with in dozens of unique and exciting dungeons.
• Fight 17 new creatures, and discover 14 new magical items making their debut in this adventure.
• Save the kingdom from evil forces and be hailed as a hero in the songs of bards for ages to come.

Estimated Retail Price: To be announced
Estimated Page Count: To be announced
Authors: William L. Christensen
Scheduled Release: Fall 2010
Splinters of Faith
Ancient Evil Awakens

In a long-buried tomb, a grave robber restores a death-cult leader to life, and his cloud of evil spreads across the land. Left behind are the broken Scepter of Faiths and a litany of shrines to restore the weapon. But the evil one and his minions wait to destroy any who try...

Temples of faith, bastions of evil
Splinters of Faith™ is a collection of 10 adventures for characters of levels 1 to 15 that can be played individually or as part of an epic campaign to restore the Scepter of Faiths. Adventure in 10 fully detailed temples such as the Shield Basilica of Muir or the dwarven city of Anvil Plunge, and conquer the nightmarish Nether Sepulcher to restore the balance of good.

• Ten complete adventures for low- to high-level characters, usable separately or as a massive linked campaign.
• Eighteen unique temples (10 fully detailed) ready to drop into any campaign world.
• New monsters and magic items to discover, and ideas for further adventures.

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.

Website development is ongoing ... stay tuned! The next chapter is expected to be released soon. We are waiting on final art and Chuck promised me a layout copy for editing this weekend!

In the meanwhile, missing that out of print Necromancer Games Module? Never got a chance to buy the low print run K series while they were in stores (less than 400 of each in circulation)? Need a spare copy of an out of print adventure to replace your dog-eared copy? Well, you are in luck! I purchased all the backstock from White Wolf, Kenzer and Troll Lord Games. My garage IS the warehouse. I am pleased to offer limited quantities of Necromancer Games backstock at current market prices from my ebay store (http://stores.ebay.com/Necromancer-Archives/). Sorry, some items are priced far beyond original retail, but they are very rare and even I have very few copies. Some other items are below original retail as well.

Not all Necromancer Games books are available (nope, no copies of Abysthor!), but most titles, even all of the K series and the "Mother of" hardcovers are. This is the last repository of Necromancer Games inventory on the planet, and when these books are gone, or if my garage floods, there will never be any more of them. All copies are factory sealed case mint condition. I am open to bulk orders at a discounted rate for some products (contact me).

Update 4 pm PST
OK, I got the download files working for the non-subscriptions...my web guy is not back until tonite (soon), and there is no way I am posting for sale files to non-subscribers before I post for the 50+ folks that just sent us $125. News again as soon as I can get it working. No one told me ftp stuff could be so complex. I am gonna have to drink more.

Update
I am still working on this--still anticipate everyone will get the chapter 1 download today!

We greatly appreciate all the support so rapidly..wow, sales of the subscription are coming in very fast. Frankly I was expecting less response this rapidly. In response to this, Chuck stayed up all night and finished final layout on Chapter 1. I edited the legal page, so as soon as he wakes up and changes my tweaks, I will post it up for sale, and to all you subscribers. Ten days early!

Keep the feedback and questions coming. Since we are going to operate as a patronage company, our only concern is what you guys want. Spread the word and get folks to try out at least Chapter 1--I think they will see the value of what we are doing and sign up. Keep in mind, more orders and more customers lowers the price point of the next book or series, so the more patrons we have, the less everyone has to pay.

I'll post here and everywhere else as soon as I get the first book chapter up!

Update at 4 pm PST. Subscription sales are now LIVE!

Ok, we tested the paypal links last night, and there are still some code glitches. The web developer is working on them and will get back to me today, so I am optimistic that we will have this up and running for the weekend (apologize for the delay). Chuck finished layout on Chapter 1 yesterday, and we are currently proofing it, so that might actually be early! It looks fantastic (IMO) and I am sure you guys (and gals) will be very pleased with the first installment. More news this evening I think.

Many questions have been coming in about why or why not to buy a subscription vs. the monthly option. Its true the price difference is not great, however, a subscription is really the only way to ensure that you get a signed copy of the hardcover.

Greg and I will sign only the copies that we personally pack and ship. This will be done once (as soon as Chapter 14 is complete and we do the main print run), What this means is that some of you who order monthly orders "may" be included in the initial print run, but there is no guarantee.

In about 6 months (exact time tbd) I will close out our discounted program, and anyone who is not fully subscribed will have to pay the higher price for the whole series ($169.99).

There are good reasons to subscribe. First, it lets us pre-plan art and other costs. It lets us get print runs set up ahead of time, and saves us money, and most importantly, time. What this does for you is allows us to add more art, fly Greg to Seattle to sign the books, and ensures that you get your book faster (no extra time waiting for the printer).

I won't punish folks who cannot do the subscription option (that's a lot of money up front), but I do want to try and reward those who do.
Bill

Based on a few emails, and to clarify, if you buy ALL the subscriptions monthly (the $9.99/issue price), you also will get the hardcover book at the end (you just pay shipping)...I just am not quite sure how to track who did this, so you MUST retain your order receipts, as I have not figured out an elegant solution for this and may have to process orders manually.

COMING SOON

Coming May 15^th to Frog God Games Slumbering Tsar: The Desolation, Part 1 —The Edge of Oblivion in pdf format for the introductory price of $2.00. Subscriptions will be available as soon as this e-challenged old toad can figure it out (a few days).

Each month following, the next chapter of The Slumbering Tsar Saga™ will be released for the low price of $9.99. A subscription option is available to ensure that you don’t miss a single installment. Upon the release of the final chapter, the whole will be available as a hardcover print adventure and is included as part of the purchase price for those how purchase all 14 installments of the series or for a one-time purchase price of $125.00 (includes hardcover). Non subscription hardcover books will be available for $169.99 (when we are all done) at Drive Through RPG (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com) . As soon as Slumbering Tsar Saga™ is complete, look for our next release!
Don’t miss out.

Our Products page http://talesofthefroggod.com/products lists these and other deals related to this epic adventure!

You have waited long enough for The Slumbering Tsar Saga™. Now it is waiting for you.