Robot Viking

Scott Fitzgerald Gray has a bunch of high-profile RPG writing credits under his belt, including the 4E version of the classic Tomb of Horrors. He recently did an interview with one of my favorite gaming blogs, The Id DM, that touched on the necessity of being a renaissance man in the gaming business, how awesome [...]

I read Gary Ray’s Quest for Fun blog frequently. I find his insights into the world of the game store very insightful. Last month I was reading one of his posts (Adventure is Key) and it brought into crystal clarity a number of ideas that I had in my mind. It made me change a [...]

Gamers tend to be a tech friendly group. This means a game company needs to use all the tools the internet has to offer to best promote their company. Having a website or blog is the bare minimum. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are also highly important. However, a game company needs to [...]

As a one person publishing company, it is really easy to burn yourself out. On a typical day, any publishing company has to coordinate with contracted writers/editors/artists, keep an open eye for new talent, layout new products, promote upcoming and existing products, keep up-to-date on things like forums, blogs, competitors, and news in general, handle [...]

This week saw some incredible announcements in the gaming industry. Monday, Paizo and WizKids announced they were doing pre-painted plastic minis of random heroes and monsters. Then Tuesday, Fantasy Flight finally announced they got the Star Wars license as many of us had previously guessed.

It’s a been a tumultuous year for D&D. Last year’s Gen Con presentations were full of big ideas and a release schedule packed with ambition, including the beginner-friendly Essentials line. Eleven months later the release schedule has been trimmed, long-time Wizards’ employees have been laid off, and Essentials appears to have crashed and burned in [...]

While you can never tell a book by its cover, you can definitely sell a book by its cover. It’s one of the earliest things that you need to share with game store owners when you’re trying to convince them to carry your book.

Most of my time lately has been spent getting ready for (and recovering from) PaizoCon. Without a doubt, I had more fun there than at any other con I’ve attended, and I was working the whole time. Attendees say it was even more fun for them. We played games, hung out with a lot of [...]

Earlier this week the Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference to Kingdom Building hit game store shelves. This past Friday, I ordered its first reprint. That’s right, I am reprinting the book before it hit store shelves. That is how fast this book is going. It was the largest print run I had [...]

Today I’m looking at what makes a license valuable. I’m not talking paid licenses for settings like The Walking Dead or the Marvel Universe of Superheroes (that is for a different day). Today I’m just looking at free system licenses. D&D 4E, Pathfinder, Traveller, and Savage Worlds just to name a few. What makes some [...]

I’m currently in the final stages of getting the Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference for Kingdom Building ready to go to the printer. There is a lot of work involved in that. Getting all the edits in, making sure the artwork looks good on the page, arguing with my editor over one [...]

Good day everyone.  As a publisher the one thing I hear over and over again that customers want is print book, yet more and more PDF books come to market and never become a print book. If you’ve ever wondered why that is, this post is going to attempt to answer that for you.

Greetings! This week, the GAMA Trade Show is going on in Las Vegas, Nevada so let’s start with a look at what a gaming trade show is like.

As a professional writer, I’m keenly aware that business models and consumption methods for written media are in a state of major flux right now. It’s interesting to see some real numbers that provide a hint on the direction things might be headed in. This missive from DriveThruRPG’s Steve Wieck on the effects of price [...]