Tortured Earth

This week finds us in Gatlinburg, TN. We are attending Smoky Mountain Fan Fest. Tomorrow, I'll be sure to have images of the convention floor before everyone gets there. It has been years since I was last in Gatlinburg. The last time I passed through this area was in the late 1980's. The town situated along a two lane road with a few campy shopping areas on either side of the lane. Now, it's a bustling tourist center with all the trappings of a typical tourist town: Hard Rock Cafes', Ripley's Museums, and Bubba Gump's Shrimp.  As my convention team often complains, I am a bit of a tight wad when it comes to purchasing hotels. I pick the cheapest lodgings within an acceptable driving distance. Rarely will I book something above $125 a night and have been been known to book a few $40 dives from time to time.  For this stay, I book a place called Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. Hotels in Gatlinburg were out of my price range, largely due to tourist season. Fair enough....

Over the past two years, I've been purchasing green masters of various creatures found in our universe. Yesterday, I mailed sixteen of these masters off to have molds made and begin the casting process. For the average RPG player, this might seem like a natural progression for a company to make.  As the person organizing and managing Tortured Earth, it's a terrifying step into the unknown. Each figure is unique to our universe. The sculptor we've picked up, Dejan Pavlovic you are amazing, has patiently sculpted each of our figures in his spare time. With the COVID 19 restrictions locking down conventions, our revenue stream has been meager, at best. The collection of figures has been a slow process, but ongoing. For fear of damaging the figures, I've stored each in an insulated container in a room kept at 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, I packaged all 16 in a box and shipped it through the US Postal service to our caster to be incinerated during the mold making proces...

Oklahoma is a strange place. I know that sounds bad. That's not my intention. I've worked the convention circuit promoting Tortured Earth since the summer of 2014. In that time, I've traveled largely through the southeastern US, cycling among the coastal states. Convention attendees and vendors alike easily identify the culture of the convention and adapt accordingly. Typically, the spending habits are predicted based on the interest of the convention, the makeup of the community, etc. This simply doesn't exist in Oklahoma City. For nine hours on the return and each night at the hotel, we debated what the focus of the group could be, what items they would most likely be interested in, specialty items we could use to draw customers to our booth, etc. We just couldn't figure it out. The people are incredibly friendly, the attendees are very generous in their purchases when they do purchase, the organizers are super friendly and accomodating to both vendors and attende...

A big part of promoting your own game is finding venues and outlets to promote the product. This week, we are in Midwest City, Oklahoma at Twisted Lords Gaming Convention. Compared to other shows on our circuit, it's a smaller show solely focused on tabletop gaming.  These shows are rarely huge money makers for independent developers. Rather, these are networking and promotional events used to showcase new developments. Scattered among these tables are games ranging from quick board game-style gamest historical reaction games to epic roleplay scenarios. One fellow developer, Patrick Keith with Bombshell Miniatures , produces a wide range of science fiction figures. His system is definitely one we will be play testing later during the convention. His miniatures have incredible definition and are adaptable to a wide range of settings. Naturally, our interest in his line is for applications in our own game. However, his system seems robust and diverse. Another interesting sight at the...

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock The day I thought would never get here has finally arrived! The new books are finally in print. After editing what seemed like an eternity, and formatting for a lifetime after that, we are now in print. Currently, only two titles are available - with the third soon to be released: Tortured Earth Core Rule Book  Tortured Earth Supplemental: The Unofficial Account of Gavin Harris Tortured Earth Supplemental: The Travel Journal of Mica Greer (Releases on 7/16/2021) With the core books released, we now shift gears to writing modules and stories to expand the Tortured Earth universe. Over the next several months, we will travel through the convention circuit promoting the new books, writing new material and, hopefully, pick up a few new writers. A few items of interest: We will travel with Cactyys Totem and Chronicles of Ember to Arklatex Comic Con and host an independent gaming area.  Our convention schedule is pretty much packed. However, if you're...