One of the most stressful factors to owning a small business at this time is the uncertainty of what's next. Granted, there is never a real certainty as to what's next in the business sense. When starting an independent anything, the unexpected tends to become the norm.
As a teacher, we are waiting to see what happens with the new president. The possibility of another shutdown looms as a real possibility. The only bright spot in that plan is promise of a potential vaccine. On the game developer side, a shutdown would be devastating. Conventions have become the primary means of promoting our product. Online venues are simply not as appealing as meeting in person for both ourselves and the attendees.
Although online forums do exist as a means of facilitating role playing games, there seems to be a product specific preference towards larger companies. I have noticed there are options in which an independent company can use these systems in a generic manner. Drawing players to these forums will be a challenge, but we've faced those before.
What's the plan for Tortured Earth? Keep on working.
At the moment, we're still in the editing phase of our 2.0 version. Tonight, we worked on potion creation and attachments. Overall, it was a productive evening. Once the editing is completed, and the books are ready for print, I'll redirect my energy toward the development of a podcast and module creation.
As odd as it sounds, those actually go hand-in-hand. The goal for the next phase of world expansion is the development of a wide range of campaigns. Fantasy, horror, and science fiction being the core of our developmental focus. Blending the genre in apocalyptic settings is almost a given at this point.
Another project I plan on tackling is the development of roleplaying adventures for younger children. At the moment, there is a huge gap in age ranges for stories relating to our industry. A line of short, entertaining stories for younger kids would make for a fun change of pace. In terms of roleplaying opportunity, there are a few really good games which actively engage children and help develop critical thinking skills. Early playtests with young children have produced good results and high interests. The opportunity to explore a whole new demographic could be appealing and writing the adventures should be fun.
In short, our plan is to keep moving forward. Produce everything we can and hope when things begin moving towards the normal mark, we'll be ready to resume business as usual.
Thanks again, guys!
K. B. Kidder
If you are checking out this post for the first time, you may access our website by clicking here: Tortured Earth
Character species released for review: Allorn, Dwarf, Elf, Eoceph, and Goblin.
Combat Creatures released for review: Braunach, Faeda, Fetid Hound, Minotaur, and Wolf.
If you are interested in the creature development process, you may submit your own creatures by filling out the following form. We will review the forms before publishing the creatures to the website. Creature Creation Form
If you would like to see what Tortured Earth looks like, the GM portion of the rule book is available as a free download on the Tortured Earth Home Page. Tortured Earth Beta GM Guide
And finally, I have created a Tavern Generator and Loot Generator. Both are free downloads and can be adapted to a wide range of story settings. Both are written in Excel. If you are using a tablet, you can download a free version of Excel and operate it live at the game table.
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