Tortured Earth

Part of launching into this industry is the continual creation process. The development of Tortured Earth was a means to an end - the development of a framework in which a broad range of stories could be told. Now that the system is finalized, the process of storytelling must begin. Kevin and I are currently focusing on the development of one-shot adventures. These kits are retrofitted from the 2.0 Core Ruleset and give players a taste of the system without having to invest in multiple books. Other game systems have developed similar products for the same goal. The Rules Lite versions allow for replayability while the core books provide the full flexibility of the system. A creative GM will be able to adapt the Rules Lite version for homebrew adventures fitting in the world setting for which the kit was built. Currently in the editing phase are four such adventures. Two have been completed and are already in production and being distributed through the convention circuit. Eventually, t...

Rogers, Arkansas is an amazing place for gaming. The community is supportive, the convention was well attended, and the scenery was really nice. Overall, the convention was a huge success. The convention team is looking forward to attending next year's show and seeing how it grows! Getting to Rogers is another matter. Traveling as much as I do, I've become rather dependent on Google! Maps. The problem with Google Maps is the complete lack of road-hazard awareness. Google! faithfully calculates the shortest distance between two points and plots a course from where you are to where you are going. It doesn't matter to Google! if the roads are broad, expansive highways or stretched like noodles on the edges of ridges that pitch at impossible angles as you are barreling down the highway at 65 mph at 11 PM. The path we were directed on meandered between Oklahoma and Arkansas, giving us the most challenging roads both states had to offer. At one point, the road seemed to simply dr...

Since June of 2020, we've been refining Tortured Earth 2.0. The process hasn't been easy: making sure the document is clear and concise while maintaining a degree of interest. Rules must be checked in play tests, written, rewritten, examples created, and checked for compatibility with all other rules in the system.  The editing process alone has taken fifteen months to complete. Once the document is prepared, the fun job of finding a publishing house begins. For those not familiar with this little joy in the process, allow me to enlighten: each publishing house has its own set of standards and terminology. Aside from the standard publication jargon, setting margins, spine width, page counts, and all the other components required to produce a professional copy must be learned and sorted through.  Novelists reading this will recognize some of the heartaches. The main difference between the struggles of a novelist and a game developer falls in the degree of art associated with th...

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....

Image by Forrest Kidder Chicot State Park, Louisiana I'd like to begin with an apology.  Normally, I'm very focused on the blog and social media promoting our game and new developments. Christmas was a busy time - in both personal and business arenas. I've been writing, editing, and preparing. On top of it all, I'm now involved with a video game development business. Despite the excuses, I am sorry for pushing the blog to a back burner. This project is far from an afterthought. With all that laid out, here is the update: First, Sanctum Games is officially up and running. The company is now an independent entity with its first product available. I've met with the other owners and am impressed with the talent on board. The small company has its own programmer, sound personnel, and writers. Already, plans are being laid out for a new game, and the group is looking for ideas for a third. The edits are speeding along. The writing on the new game guide is not so much the ...

Despite the best-laid plans, there always seems to be some interruption that steers me away from my chosen path. Of course, such are the holidays. Family, friends, and plain ole' laziness conspire to provide tempting distractions from writing and designing. And it's ok.  Now, it's back to the mission: editing. The bombing in Tennesee has knocked out most of the internet in the Monroe region. I have a hotspot, so I shared it with Kevin to get some basic editing completed. We are reviewing the book's GM portion and making sure it aligns with the Player's Guide. Some elements were overlooked and are now being corrected. Due to the internet issues, Kevin is now taking a portion of the book and moving forward with grammar review and mechanical notations. I will branch off and start working on the creature manual. That will be rough at first. The manual has never really been reviewed. A few days ago, I started looking at the player species and found several structural and...

Source: Dakota Naramore, Abandoned Louisiana Today, we reviewed the first 13 chapters of the GM Guide. The goal was to make sure each was grammatically correct and mechanically sound. Although we covered 13 chapters, it does say something to the refinement of this review. It is nearing the final stages.   The process is actually sped along by various types of editing software, our ability to align the items we've written with those we are currently checking, and the nearly wrote familiarity with the document. Finding repeated information and previous references is far quicker than it was at the start of the process. Barring any unforeseen disasters, I'm hopeful we will wrap up the GM and Player's guides by the beginning of the new year. This leaves January and February to complete the Creature Portfolios and launch a Kickstarter. The ultimate goal is to have the source material ready by the opening of Convention Season and promote the new version of the game heavily over th...

Before I even begin this blog, I would like to open with, "I am old". So old, in fact, that I remember days before social media when you went out into the public and talked to people. Coaxed them into trying new things, sold them on the benefits of a new product, and even ran a demo or two to show off the highlights. Of course, the alternate to the dog-and-pony show would be the constant bombardment of advertisements in every available location. This is not the path I want to follow. For one thing, it is costly. Printing fliers, placement of ads, billboard space is all extremely cost ineffective for games and work best in a localized region. We are not going for a localized region. The other factor to billboards and posters is the expense of developing one. Sure, you could throw something together that looks half-decent. To make a good impression, you really need to hire a graphic designer - and Wowzers! That is costly! Online advertising is the alternative to the bill...

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 t...

I managed to pull into my driveway at 4am - exhausted and zombified. To be honest, the show wasn't what we'd hoped for. It wasn't a bad show. It just didn't have the edge we typically book for a second time. For those developers using shows as a means of promoting your product, the issue is this: shows have to entertain the attendees. Vendors, guests, and volunteers are there to make the event an experience. Young shows often cut corners by using available space to house vendors and skimp on the entertaining parts. Tea parties, game rooms, panel rooms, and viewing areas all require space and organization. To pull a good show off, it is often a collaborative effort among several volunteers willing to spend time and energy developing various aspects of the event. When these factors are eliminated, the show becomes little more than a traveling shopping mall. And therein lies the problem - you can shop online without leaving home. A couple of years ago, Tortured Earth wa...

The convention is off to a slow start. To be honest, it's a little discouraging. We were hoping to make a splash in a new area, sell tons of books, and make loads of new contacts. Although sales are lagging behind and book sales are non existent, we are making good contacts. It's definitely a situation in which we will turn lemons into lemonade. During the day, we made some amazing contacts and actually picked up a few pieces. David Sanchez will be the illustrator for our new Nosferato vampire. His work is labeled as "hyper realistic" and to be honest, it's amazing. His attention to detail is outstanding.  Due to the slow pace of the con, I found myself with a little time to wander around the convention. I was very fortunate to bump into Mr. Sanchez. As soon as he told me he was an artist, we started talking about art and style. It caught me off guard when he referred to his style as 'hyper realistic'. We chatted for a bit, then we part ways. When I finall...

As mentioned before, building interest in a new role playing game is hard. Larger companies control a large portion of the market and most of their fans are unwilling try something new. However, it is not quite as bleak as one might think. It requires taking a leap of faith. In developing your product, you know the game mechanics better than anyone. You obviously have faith in the product. You've survived the editing process. Now you have to convince someone else to believe in it. Consider this scenario: Our first game convention was a small convention in Springfield, Arkansas called GlitchCon. The convention had a following of roughly 500 people. It was a gaming convention, but had a strong party vibe to it. Due to an irregularity in table spacing, we were asked if we would mind having our booth placed directly in the gaming area. We found the arrangement ideal, so we accepted. On the Friday, I sat at the game table all day without running a single game session. A few curious a...