Thursday, April 30, 2009

Eberron plus Spelljammers equals…

I mentioned this in a Twitter post so I thought I might talk about it here. I have been mashing up ideas, genres and setting of late. Just a little exercise that I have come to do that helps me strengthen my creative muscles. So I thought it might be cool if you see the latest mash-up collection I have put together:

Eberron + Spelljammer = Pirates of the Bronze Sky

Straying from the “standard' Western European flavor used in many other OGL settings Pirates of the Bronze Sky takes place in a setting based in "Bronze Sky", a fantasy version of a world of pulp action and fantasy noir, where the inhabitants make extensive use of magic in place of technology to create special flying sailing ships. Fantasy versions of zeppelin, sky pirates, airships, and even mechanical men called Bronze Men are common in place of traditional knights in shining armor.

Thank you Wikipedia.com. What would I do without you? Pulp, pirates, danger and flying ships. The quintessential definition of what is classic cool. Talk to you later…

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

For those who can’t get proof of their Blood Donation for Obsidian Twilight, Do this!!!!

OK an issue has popped up with some of the people who are trying to donate blood in Canada and not being able to get the sheet to prove you have given blood. And without the sheet you can’t get a free copy of Obsidian Twilight. Well I have come up with an answer for that. For CANADIAN blood donators only, please send me a picture of you giving blood. A simple picture of you giving blood on the medical table, all strapped up will do. This will handle the issue of no form. Thanks for the support!!!

Why you should always hire artist who make stock art over artist who don’t…

OK here is a little fact that most people and publisher will not say out loud, Artist in the majority can be prima donnas. Yeah it is true. Tons and tons of them are worst then the craziest diva you might ever meet. Why? It is simple, they are not working; they are creating art. To them creating art in nothing like work. Work is done by common people, while art is done by those who have a enlightened sense of things. Common people work. Those who create are special and unique. The worst part of this is that we (common folks) help foster this belief. But I am here to tell you, don’t believe the hype.

Artists are no better than you no matter who they might be or what they can do. It is said that most artist do not have a business mind set and I somewhat believe that. Art is very subjective and can have a lot of different meaning. In business, the only thing you have to really know is did this product make money or lose money? Yes or no? Simple and nothing subtle about it and a lot of artist don’t like or understand that. The reason that you should use an artist willing to sell tier art work as stock art is that they understand their artwork is commodity and not art. The artwork is a commodity that can be sold to make money and those artists understand that. If you want me to pay you to do artwork then you are selling me a commodity, NOT ART. And like any good shopper I want to get the most for my money of what I buy. Artist who think their art is too important to be sold as stock art, doesn’t understand what their art really is.

You might want to check out Anthony Cournoyer, Jeff Preston, and Bradley McDevitt. They all do stock art and are good artist who want to create artwork they can sell to make money.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Monte Cook’s Dungeonaday.com Covert Master Plan to take over…

Well maybe not. But I have been looking at Dungeonaday.com and SubHub.com (the service they use to deliver their subscription service) and I realized something. You could use this for creating magazines. And I don’t just mean basic online versions of magazines, I mean actual bookshelf magazines. The process works like this, five days a week you release 1,000 word articles on topic (for this sample we will be doing OGL material). You charge $8 a month for this. Over the weekend you collect the week’s worth of material and lay it out using InDesign or whatever and convert into a PDF. Based on 5K you should have at least 10 pages worth of material. The following Monday you place the PDF up for subscribes for free then sell it at RPGNow.com for $2.50.

At the end of the month you collect all the PDFs together, which should be about 40 pages worth. Now you approach OGL publishers and you tell them you will give them one free 1 page ad if they submit 1,000 words for next month’s magazine. You accept 24 pages worth of ads you now have a 64 page magazine. A 64 page 8.5 x 11 book will cost $7.10 which you will mark up to $9.99 and make $2.89 per each copy you sell. Best of all since you use Lulu.com they are free for you to print. Basically you have sold the same content in three different ways and earned income form each of them.

Now let’s look at actual money numbers:

If you get a writer to work on this at a rate 1.5 cents per word (Not great, but good if you have never been published or you need some extra cash this month), this comes to $300. You purchase two Shaman StockArt stock art packages for $16. Then you need to find a layout person who works good, fast and cheap. You offer him $50 plus 5% of the PDF sales and everyone should be happy. So all in all this should cost you roughly $375 right out of the pocket. You break down total sales percentages as so:

  • RPGNow.com: 50% or 125 PDFs ($2.50 – $0.12 for the Layout Person – 0.88 for RPGNow.com = $1.50 each PDF sold)
  • Subscriptions: 35% or 16 Subscriptions ($8 each Monthly Sub sold)
  • Lulu.com: 15% or 19 books ($2.89 each book sold)

Now this seems like a lot to sell until you remember a few things:

  1. The RPGNow amount of 125 is spread of four PDFs not just one. (Remember these are the weekly ones that are being sold.)
  2. MOST IMPORTANTLY: The second issue that you do will FREE and not cost you anything!!! The advertisers provide you with the content from the next month. 24,000 words worth of content. You just repeat the 1K word for 1 Page offer again and keep on going and the rest is pure profit.

If you use SubHub to host the subscriptions that is an extra $97 you need to generate from this or use Yahoo for free. Now with the numbers I gave you, there are ways to cut cost and corners (You could do all the writing ala Monte or get volunteers for cheap or free to pad their writing resume; You could do the layout yourself like I would) but as you see it is possible to make money at this if you do a little creative thinking. Think about it. Talk to you later…

Monday, April 27, 2009

Color artwork of Calix Sabinus...

Here is the finished (well ALMOST finished) version of Calix Sabinus. Enjoy!



It is about the product, not the territory...

This litte scene from The Wire describe everything you need to understand when trying to deside what is more important: the territory or the product? You might want to start thinking like this for a while. Talk to you later...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

RPG Fans: Donate blood and get a free PDF copy of the upcoming Obsidian Twilight RPG

If you really care about something you should do something about it and that is how I feel about donating blood. Donating blood is simple, easy and most times painless and best of all can save someone’s life. Currently only 3 out of 100 people donate blood. Every 2 seconds in the United States someone needs blood. Since I am so passionate about donating blood, I have decided to give some of you an incentive on getting you to donate some of yours.

LPJ Design will give away a free copy of their upcoming patron project RPG setting, Obsidian Twilight, releasing October 31, 2009 to those people who make donation of blood to any local or national blood collection agency like the Red Cross (See http://www.givelife.org/ for more information) by October 30, 2009. All you need to do to get a free copy of the Obsidian Twilight RPG is to send us a copy of your donation via email to LMPjr007 (at) AOL (dot) com with your name, date you donated and where you donated (you can block out all the other private stuff that I don’t need to see). Then on October 31st when the Obsidian Twilight RPG is released, you get a free copy. It is that simple.

To be fair to those who already signed up for out patron program for the Obsidian Twilight RPG, if you donate blood LPJ Design will give you a voucher for $100 worth of LPJ Design PDF Products of your choice. If you personally can’t give blood, find a friend who can and ask him to donate for you. Hey what are friends for. Give Blood and get a free copy of the Obsidian Twilight RPG. Simple and easy. This may not be for everyone bit I hope you can take a free minutes out of your busy life and help.

Hot artist of the week – Butch Mapa

I have worked Butch Mapa on a lot of project from superhero to military to sci-fi to modern. Butch is a multi-talented expert in the area of artwork. He has done several stock art PDF of our Image Portfolio line and proves over and over that being talented and fast can get you a lot of work. My personal recommendation is that if you are looking for good superhero art work at a good rate, talk to Butch. Talk to you later…

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Are you trying to make the market bigger, or just grow your share?

Seth Godin had a wonderful piece on this a few days ago so it got me thinking about WOTCs plans with 4E. This is the quote that kind of made it simple for me:

“Getting new people to enter your market is hugely expensive. There's no way I can persuade a non-book buyer to start buying books...”

My personal business strategy is to get the people who don’t want to covert to 4E and still want 3.5 & OGL material (basically Paizo fan base). So I am looking to grow my share. Being PDF publisher give me the ability to cover a niche of niche and cover it very well. It talks a lot of food to feed a whale (WOTC), so any major change in the food supply (like a recession or depression, not enough interest in a product or line) can really affect them. Talk to you later…

Friday, April 24, 2009

How to start your PDF Publishing empire for only $50…

People keep asking me the question, “How do I get into the RPG publishing business?” and I keep saying, “Just do it.” And then people get either confused or upset. So I am going to break it down PIECE BY PIECE what you need to do to get started on you PDF publishing empire for only $50:
  1. Find a writer or write it yourself: If you are not a good writer, then hire one. There are a lot of people out there who want to write. It is better to get some who is passionate about working with you then someone who does it for the money only. At this point, pay only ½ a cent up to 1 cent a word for your writers. You are poor and starting out so that is all you can afford. Just tell people the truth and more often they will be willing to work with you. At this rate you can spend $30 and get 3,000 to 6,000 words (roughly 6 to 12 pages finished). TOTAL SO FAR: $30
  2. Editors: Forget them!!! You can afford them. Right now you are only just trying to get your name out there. TOTAL SO FAR: $30
  3. Get some stock art: Forget getting a “real” artist, you don’t have the money in the budget for it. Go to RPGNow and get some of Shaman’s Stock Art. Why should you get Shaman’s Stock Art? First off it is cheap; for $8 you can get several (like 5 to 6) good pieces of art. Second it’s in color. Color artwork helps sell PDF products better. Third, you don’t have to use every piece of stock art in this product so you will save money for your next product. TOTAL SO FAR: $38
  4. Do cheap layout: Find someone who will do layout work cheap. I personally can layout 10 pages a hour (meaning in is correctly designed and formatted and looks great) but on something for a starting publisher just do simple and clean (look at my True Arcane Story line for what I mean). Find someone to do it for $10. They will do the layout and convert it into a PDF for you. Hey it is not a lot of money, but this should not take longer than an hour to layout and for a guy who knows what he is doing (like me) it is like getting free money. TOTAL: $48

So you have $2 left over and you can go down to Wendy’s (or In-n-Out Burger if you are on the West Coast) and grab something to eat as a symbol of creating your first RPG PDF product. Congrats you are now a PDF publisher. Now you have to get your PDF online to sell. We will talk about that another time. Talk to you later…

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Calix Sabinus 2.0 sketch

Here is the newest sketch of Calix. As you can see we have made some changes and modifications. I can't wait until we get the color version. Talk to you later...

Why my company is named Louis Porter Jr. Design and NOT Exile Studios...

When I first got started into thinking about having my own business I thought about all kinds of cool names I was going to call the business and there were tons of them. The one that I finally settled on was Exile Studios. It is how I felt at the time (living in Baltimore away from friends and family) so it fit very well. But then, I read something from Donald Trump in which he said, “Put you name on everything you do. When people talk about you company they will be talking about you.” Simple and pure genius. You get to brand yourself and the business at the same time. Here is a little test: What are the names of the head people at White Wolf? How about AEG? Green Ronin? RPGNow.com? Palladium? Pinnacle? Valve? Bungie Studios? NC Soft? Apple? Well I am sure you got Apple, but just think about how much power a name carries. Why shouldn’t your business carry your name? Talk to you later…

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Looks like Obsidain Twilight might be getting competition from WOTC...

With the rumor going around that WOTC will be releasing Dark Sun for 4E, I guess This is a good time for Obsidian Twilight. I here is sample of the layout I am doing for the special add-on project we are doing for the setting. We have a new race that was created to to get people interested in the setting. So as you can tell everything is moving along as expected and the release date of October 31 still looks good. More to come. Talk to you later...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Green Ronin is NOT a PDF publisher and here is why…

Green Ronin is a well respected and loved RPG publisher. Their staff is top notch and some of the best minds in the RPG industry and publishing business. Fans have supported their various gaming line in local retail stores for years. They have won awards in the field of RPGs and proved themselves to be a great RPG publisher and a top company to retail stores. And that is why Green Ronin is not a PDF publisher.

Green Ronin is a RPG Publisher who makes PDFs, but they are not PDF publisher. They do love PDF sales, but they are not it core focus of their business. The problem that most people seem to forget that there is a distinct difference between what a RPG Publisher is, and what a RPG PDF Publisher is. While they are very similar in just about every fashion, but here are some points that specially separates them:
  1. RPG Publishers what to sell to retail locations who in turn sell to consumers. RPG PDF Publishers want to sell direct to the customer. Simply put, RPG Publishers is Barnes & Nobles; PDF Publishers are Amazon.com.
  2. RPG Publishers put together manuscripts that are sent layout then to printers who print them. The RPG company pays for the print run, the printers sends them to the RPG warehouse that ships the product out to their distributor for sale. PDF publishers put together manuscripts that are sent layout then PDFed and uploaded to sell online. In some cases the create of the PDF can be done for free by the use of free PDF creation programs like CutePDF or PDF 995.
  3. Due to printing cost, RPG Publishers need to do larger page count products to make the product cost effective, since the large the book the more you can charge. While PDF Publishers can do this also, they can also take a larger book and separate it in into smaller individuals PDF products. Green Ronin seemed to do this with their Advanced Race Codex series.
  4. Pricing is normally the real difference between RPG Publisher and PDF Publishers. Often RPG Publisher will use the guide of 50% of the printed cost and that is the price PDF version. Originally the “accept” pricing structure for PDF was 10 per page, but that has changed over the years but pricing for PDF fall in the range of $2 - $8 each.
As I said before, Green Ronin is a RPG Publisher who just happens to make PDFs. Their main goal is to get the physical product in to retail stores. Monte Cook with Malhavoc Press is a PDF Publisher, who just happens to make books. Monte started off testing the PDF waters with The Book of Eldritch Might and went on to do collected bookshelf version of his PDF products with Sword and Sorcery and now with Paizo. Monte’s main goal is to get the information out to the fans no matter the format. DungeonADay.com is a great example of that.

Now with all this said, Green Ronin has release M&M Caper #1: Little League, the comments of Marcus King during the WOTC PDF fiasco more than proves they are fans of the format and see it future potential to help them become a stronger company. Adamant Entertainment, Malhavoc Press, Rite Publishing even LPJ Design are PDF Publishers. Green Ronin is a RPG Publisher who makes PDFs. Remember, there is a difference. Talk to you later…

Monday, April 20, 2009

Hot artist of the Week: Andrew Hou

If you have picked up a Paizo book in the last few years, there is a good chance that it had a piece of Andrew Hou work in it. A solid professional artist, with all the talent in the world best describes him. If you are looking for some one to bring you product to the next level, then you shouls be contacting Andrew for work. Talk to you later...

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Follow us on Twitter and save money...

If you follow LPJ Design on Twitter you get a special coupon to save OVER 66% off the price of Sidetrek Adventure Weekly #01: Blood on the Waterfront and purchase it for only $1. This is for a limite time so don't miss out. Follow us and save money. It is a Win / win in my book. Talk to you later...

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The monstrously powerful immortal vampiric lich lord known as Calix Sabinus reigns supreme in Obsidian Twilight...

This is the first sketch for the vampiric lich known as Calix Sabinus who rules the Setting of Obsidian Twilight. And you did read that right, I said VAMPIRIC LICH!!! So how crazy does that sound? We made some changes to this inital sketch Bigger wings, wider mouth) so I guess when it is all come out you can judge it correctly. Just enjoy the good artwork.. Talk to you later...

This is the In the Mind of Mad Man Manifesto, and this information is not for everyone…

I think this needed to be said and so with that, here it is:

The In the Mind of Mad Man Manifesto:

  1. This blog is a knowledge source created to provide information, experience and knowledge to those who are interested in learning about, developing or starting their own RPG-based PDF publishing business from the ground up. This blog will provide you with strategies, directions and tactics which I have employed to help make Louis Porter Jr. Design a highly profitable, successful and competitive PDF publisher in an incredible aggressive market. This information is not for everyone but it is for the people and fans that are seriously looking into creating their own RPG-based PDF publishing business and avoid many of the basic troubles that can stop and kill a business.
  2. This blog is a marketing resource for Louis Porter Jr. Design where we can tell you about all the upcoming products, projects and ideas that we have planned for the business. This information is not for everyone but it is for the people and fans that have supported us by purchasing our products and spreading the word of our products to others.
  3. This blog is a meeting place for like-minded people who want to do everything they can to shake up the status quo of marketing and advertising to those entertainment niches. The blog, In the Mind of a Mad Man, focus on several entertainment niches including comic books, RPGs, animation, movies, cult TV show, video games, music, and even some times other blogs. We are here to see what works in the world of marketing advertising and how we can use those same materials in our marketing and advertising attempts to make us more effective. This information is not for everyone but it is for the people and fans who want to be different and unique in telling their story of why they do what they do to the world.

This is everything and all we do here at In the Mind of a Mad Man. This is the reason that we exist. We want only those who really want the knowledge we are giving out to come along. Like I said before, this information is not for everyone. Thanks for you love and support. Talk to you later…

Friday, April 17, 2009

Pay writers and artists what the RPG market will bear...

A few days ago I wrote this, and yesterday I go this response from a well known writer who has done work for the top companies in this industry. Read it here:

I saw on your website that you pay up to .02/word, and I know that advertised rates and negotiable rates are often different. I was hoping for a bit more. A recognized name can bring with it some sales, and that’s always the wager: Do the extra sales make up for the difference in pay rate? The XXX sold its first 10,000 copies in six days and went to reprint twice. A lot of people read or have read Dragon or Pyramid. My name’s not Greenwood or Cook, but some people do look for it. You, of course, know best what works for you. In any case, I enjoyed selling Haven: City of Violence when I was a retailer, and I’ve wanted to work with you for years. If you find yourself producing something along these lines for print and have the budget for it, please drop me a line. Until then, best of luck.


This kind of letter comes off to me as a "You need me" letter. He told me why he was qualified (and his is), he told me about his previous sales (which are true), he even tried to butter me up at the email (proving he is a good writer). Here was my response to it:

Our maximum rate for this project is .02/word. Since PDFs sale are very different from actual book sale, the most we will sell PDF wise is 100 copies so we have to keep that in context since we are primarily a PDF based company. The only people who seem to break this rule is Monte and Wolfgang where they will sell in the 300 - 400 copy range. Name recognition doesn't really have that same effect on PDFs. Sorry.

See, he made the fatal mistake. He assumed his bookshelf sale would translate into PDF sale and usually, they don't. Why? PDFs are a nich inside of a niche. They don't sell much so you have to keep cost down to make sure you make a profit. This is the thing, if writers and arttists were craftier they will take a lower rate and ask for a percentage of the sales. See when you ask for a percentage over a flat rate you are saying to me, that my name is such a draw and people will be interested in it it will be a better deal for us both.

Most publishers would not turn that down due to the high win / win factor; if the PDF does well the publisher gets more money and the writer gets more money. If the product tanks well the publisher will suffer lower losses and the writer doesn't get the reputation of "being overpaid" for what they got. The person should get paid what the market will bear and in this setting the market will bear a maximun of $.02/word. Think this sounds rough to artists and writers, try being the publisher. Talk to you later...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Maybe four races for Obsidian Twilight are enough races…

While I have created six races for Obsidian Twilight, I have only thought the original four races (Exalted, Harrowed, Khymer and Osirian) really “came off of the page” for me and were very natural fits for the setting. I always wanted to have six races for the setting as I did with NeoExodus: A House Divided. It seemed that it was the right thing to do. But the more I tried to created a fifth and sixth race, nothing I liked came out. I kept getting ideas but nothing really fit very well for Obsidian Twilight. So now I am wondering, do I need to do the other two? I down know. I like the race and maybe that is all we need. I guess I will have to see. Talk to you later...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Well it looks like Obsidian Twilight has a cover artist…


We have been talking about it for a while and we have made a gentleman’s agreement in place, so I can finally announce it. It is my sincere pleasure to announce the cover artist for Obsidian Twilight is Mr. Gonzalo Ordonez Arias AKA Genzoman. As you can see his artwork falls very much in line with the ideas and concepts that I wanted to present with this setting. I am planning for Obsidian Twilight to be released on Halloween 2009 with an adventure called All Evil’s Eve also being release around the same time. I can’t wait until we start releasing sample information on Obsidian Twilight. I think people will be pleasantly pleased. Also remember you can still sign up for the Patronage Program with Obsidian Twilight and get you copy way before any one else. So don’t delay because this will not last for ever. Talk to you later…

Monday, April 13, 2009

OGL Fantasy Writer Needed

Louis Porter Jr. Design and Devil’s Workshop is looking for writers to contribute to its OGL Fantasy RPG PDF gaming lines. The qualifications for the freelance writer positions are that the writers must have an advanced understanding of the D20 Fantasy rules as stated in the SRD. You can be an experienced long term writer or a first rookie, it does not matter to us. We just want people who are looking to do great work. If you would like to gain employment with LPJDesign or Devil’s Workshop please send samples, resume and/or your references via e-mail or a website to Louis Porter Jr. at LMPjr007 (at) aol (dot) com. If you would receive additional info please see the web site at www.lpjdesign.com.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A company trying to flex their muscle agaist me...how cute!

I got ths response int he mail today from the e-mail I sent out about the new One Day Sale becoming WOTC Doesn't Love PDFs Weekend Sale:

I am as unhappy with wizard's decision as any gamer out there. I think overthe past couple years they have made some very dumb decisions but Iconsider your "WOTC DOESN’T LOVE PDFS WEEKEND SALE" as the height ofunprofessionalism. I am CCing this to Sean Fannon at OneBookShelf and if there is no censuring of your company's bad taste I will withdraw my own product line.

I always like people who stand behind what they believe and want to do things based on these beliefs. It shows courage, gut and conviction. But what makes this litte part VERY FUNNY is that this company has ONLY ONE PRODUCT IN THEIR PRODUCT LINE!!!!! And that product has a 2 of of 5-star review on it from one of the staff reporters. LOL!!!! Well I hope this decision doesn't cost him his "product line". Since I did not want to directly embaress him, I left his name off. I thought it was the least thing I could do. Talk to you later...

Friday, April 10, 2009

Drunk at the PDF discounting wheel...while on the BangBus...

It is simple save 25% off most ore PDF from RPGNow.com!!! Buy them so I can say off the mean streets of Miami. There is only so many times I can drive the BangBus the way it smells. Jesus you have no idea of the smell. Talk to you later...

Here is the official release e-mail:

[LPJDesign] ONE DAY SALE is now the WOTC DOESN’T LOVE PDFS WEEKEND SALE
This weekend Friday, Saturday & Sunday, April 10 to 12, in response to WOTC “Fear of the PDF”, we at LPJ Design are changing our One Day Sale in the WOTC Doesn’t Love PDFs Weekend Sale! We at LPJ Design have been at PDF publishing even longer than even Monte Cook, Green Ronin and Paizo, so we know how important our customer’s support to the PDF movement has been. So for this Easter weekend, most of LPJ Design over 400 PDF products will be on sale at 25% OFF their normal cost at RPGNow.com. Get some great stuff, support the PDF industry and remind WOTC that the customer is all ways right all at the same time. Happy Easter. See us here: http://lpjdesign.rpgnow.com

What happened to Sidetrek Adventure Weekly 3: Empire of Tears?

That is easy, it is called the U.S. economy and you can find it in a state of depression. Empire of Tears was going to be my last non-setting based OGL adventure series. I think the idea and concepts of adventure paths was a great idea and doing both S.A.W. 1 & 2 taught me a lot about that process. I did make some mistakes when I did these series (the original price of the subscription series was to low; the number of artists who flaked and had to be replaced) but I did lean it is possible to do it right if you plan well in advance. So now I am thinking, we me back working again and the economy moving in a better direction should I think about doing Empire of Tears again? Well I am thinking about it. I have to see if I have the resources to really do it right. With the first adventure being named “Obey or Die”, you can kind see why I have to do it right from the start. Talk to you later…

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Dragons of NeoExodus, Here is what I know so far...

It isn't much, but htis is what I have been working on so far:
  • There are 10 dragons (2 Dragon Lords and 8 specific dragons) for the NeoExodus setting. 5 of the are good (All the stellar named dragons), 5 of them are evil (All the combat / attitude named dragons).
  • Bezmiar, the Infinity Dragon (Good) - Breath Weapon: Maybe a temporal effect. Something like you age 200 years per blast. Something like that.
  • Tyre, Sidon & Shaitan, the three headed Armageddon Dragon (Evil) - Breath Weapon: Not sure, but Shaitan has heads and when is roars all within 100 feet save verse deafening, fear, ect.
  • Eclipse Dragon (Good) - Breath Weapon: Not sure
  • Fury Dragon (Evil) – Cone Breath Weapon: Hellfire (Half the damage is fire damage, but the rest is evil energy from the lower planes which is not affected by resistance to fire - evil creatures, creatures native to evil planes, and creatures immune to death effects are not affected by the profane energy).
  • Nebula Dragon (Good) – Line Breath Weapon: Not sure
  • Frenzy Dragon (Evil) – Line Breath Weapon: half shadow energy (cold damage) type / half positive energy.
  • Sidereal Dragon (Good) – Line Breath Weapon: Not sure
  • Tempest Dragon (Evil) – Cone half chorine (poison) gas / half corrosive (acid) gas. Creatures within a cone of chorine gas must succeed on a Fortitude save or take 1 point of Constitution damage per age category of the dragon immediately and another 1 point of Constitution damage per age category of temporary Constitution damage 1 minute later.
  • Twilight Dragon (Good) – Line Breath Weapon: Not sure
  • Wrath Dragon (Evil) – Cone half acid / half disease (DC: XX, Infection: Contact, Incubation: Immediately, Damage: 1 point of Constitution damage per age category of the dragon. In addition those that fail their roll suffer from the effects of Slimy Doom - Victim turns into infectious goo from the inside out. When damaged, character must succeed on another saving throw or X points of damage per age category of the dragon is permanent drain instead.)

More to come...

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The LPJ Design logo is dead, Long live the LPJ Design logo...

This weekend I redesigned the LPJ Design logo. I have used the Skull logo for about 15 years, and I just got tired of looking at it. I was done when I was in a different point in my life. This new logo is what I am about, change and acceptance. So say goodbye to the skull and Hello to the star. I will miss you. Thanks for everything. Talk to you later...


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Wayne Reynolds and the cover of Obsidian Twilight...

I was thinking about getting a REALLY good artist for the cover of Obsidian Twilight and then I thought may be I should get Wayne A. Reynolds to do it? I mean he is doing all that work for Paizo, WOTC, even new up-and-comer Rite Publishing is using him. So then I wonder...is he the right person for the cover. Then I think, maybe Jim Lee would be a good too. Time will only tell. Talk to you later...

Green Lantern: First Flight - Trailer

See it here first!!!

First WOTC, then Mongoose...

I was going to writer a blog about Mongoose selling a 32 page book for $29.99 PDF to people who want to learn about the PDF business (even though they actually sell to stores first and for most and just sell PDF for the "extra cash", while myself and Gareth have been actually PDF publishers who sell exclusively PDF as our main source of income) but the WOTC fiasco of the PDF-gate has me LMAO over all this. You can't stop digital piracy, you can sue people and make you customers made, but you are not going to stop it. But what you can do is embrace the people who legal purchase your product and help spead more good will to them. This is how I am doing it here at LPJ Design:


ONE DAY SALE -- SUNDAY APRIL 12th
This Sunday, April 12 we are having our monthly ONE DAY SALE. All Louis Porter Jr. Design and Devil’s Workshop products will be on sale at 25% OFF their normal cost at RPGNow.com. Since Wizards of the Coast has instructed RPGNow.com to suspend all sales and downloads of Wizards of the Coast titles at RPGNow.com, fans of D&D with money in your pocket looking to spend, now is a perfect time to try Louis Porter Jr. Design products. If you put any of our products on your Wish List from us, then Sunday is the day to buy it. Only this Sunday! Only at RPGNow.com! See us here: http://lpjdesign.rpgnow.com . Talk to you later...

Monday, April 6, 2009

WOTC lays the hammer down on Copyright Infringement!!!!


Read about it here!!!

Would Anyone Use The 4th Edition Rules If They Were NOT The Dungeons and Dragons System? -- Good Question!!!

I saw this on another blog and the first thing that came to mind for me was: Are you a sheep or are you a lion? In a community that contanstly informs others how independent they are, there is a lot more sheep other there in the world of gaming then I thought. Talk to you later...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Hot artist of the week -- Anthony Cournoyer

Anthony Cournoyer is an amazing artist that I had the pleasure working with on the creation and development of NeoExodus: A House Divided. Anthony is reseponsible for 85% to 90% of all the art for the setting. In the last year Anthony has gained en more popularity and has done work flo lost of great RPG companies. SO if you are looking for a great artist who is a good worker, go and see Anthony and tell him I sent you. He will take care of you. Talk to you later…

Heretics are the new leaders...

Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get in font of their tribes, who create movements. The marketplace now rewards (and embraces) the heretics. It's clearly more fun to make the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it's profitable, powerful, and productive to do just that.
From page 11 of Tribes written by Seth Godin

So I guess you will have to ask yourself, are you follwoing the status quo or becoming a heretic? Anyone who reads this blog knows where I stand on this. I just hope other people can follow the same path and do what is best for them, no matter what ever it is. Talk to you later...

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Six months without an update at the Werecabbages website...WTF????

Everyones know how I feel about the Werecabbages and the quality of work they do. If you don't, I think they are perfect and great to work with. If you are not using them, then you should. BUT...there is on thing that really pisses me off about them. They have not updated their website in 6 months. Do I really need to say more than that? Talk to you later...

Friday, April 3, 2009

Monte proves me right...

I wrote this a while ago, then I commented about it on EN World here and now I get this little announcement by Monte Cook. I like it when I see thengs happen way before they do. I makes me feel good that I paid attention to all those business marketing book I purchased. Talk to you later...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

If you think Monte Cook's Dungeonaday.com is a smart buisness idea, then figure this out...

So I have an idea, and I want to hear what some people think about this. Please understand this is just an exercise in business thinking, NOT A I HATE MONTE RANT. Personally, I like Monte a lot and he has done a lot of great stuff for the acceptance of PDFs into the larger RPG market. So lets not start that crap. So here we go:

Dungeonaday.com has created an impressive little niche for itself in the RPG industry of recent and to be a forward thinking good business man, I do little exercises to "keep fressh" and on the cuttign edge of business and marketing. So I came up with this little idea and I wanted to see what other people might think and to get their opinions.

Here goes: I believe Dungeonaday.com works so well because the concept of Monte Cook writing it. Monte has a lot of fans and could build up a solid following doing this. This was a great idea to generate money for a business (Hell it is so good, I wish I though of it.)

BUT.....................

What if some one else did the same thing as Dungeonaday.com but did it FOR FREE and used banner ads or RPGNow Affiliate store to generate money like EN World? What if it was a Freemium site? What of effect would this have on a site like Dungeonaday.com? Now, here is a interesting twist to this: What if Paizo used this format to do their Pathfinder Society program? How would that change "Living Campaign" business? Talk to you later...