Week's Beginning

Monday was a good day, got a great deal of administration done. We are still winding down from Troll Con and other events have kept me from processing the sales and registration data. I managed to get the done and unpacked the boxes to boot. Mark was secretly hoping to keep them packed for Gencon I suspect, but none of that for me. ha. Ran some invoices, paid some contractors, balanced the books, billed some venders and outsource printing jobs. Writing assignments for the CKG went out to Robert Doyel and Mike Stewart.

I tackled the final format of James M. Ward's Towers of Adventure. Jason Walton sent the final art over, fast and sharp as usual, and the box needed its final touches before going to the press. It should make the show with little problem. The picture presented on the website is not the final by the by. That is a picture of Nulak Kiz Din's Towers, the picture for Towers of Adventure is even sweeter!

Also put a wrap on Book 5 of Upper Works and saw it to the print shop.

The afternoon saw me formatting the Monsters & Treasure 2nd printing for release in electronic format. Doesn't take long but kind of a pain to do. I released it on RPGNow shortly after it was complete and then turned my attention to the long neglected Paizo.com site, uploading 13 different files that should appear in the next few days.

Did a little shop cleaning at the end of the day and scheduled an interview for Tuesday night (that's now).

Today was almost entirely devoted to Crusader and Gencon. The proofs of #11 came back and I wanted to change some stuff around. So there's been a lot of scrambling all day, rewriting on my part and cleaning off a new monster to get it in the magazine. Jim and Liz reacted to my about face on several items and formats in good sport and its all being affected. Crusader is my baby and I get a little particular about it as I don't about other things.

The Gencon paper work isn't too much but things need read, filled out, signed and faxed or at least put in the convention folders so we will have them at the show. More filing of course.

Peter has been hammering away on various gencon related projects and Mark printing like mad. Tomorrow promises to be a bumpy day I wrecken!

Thanks for Playings
Steve

Saturday Postings

Friday was a day wholly devoted to emails as my account had mounted to some 636 unanswered emails. By days end it was down to 390. It was actually relaxing, especially considering the week's tangle of business. Mark had a more interesting day, he took the truck to pick up about a ton of paper and bring it back. When he arrived at the paper warehouse it began raining...not a cloud in the sky here...so he was stuck for awhile. Eventually he got the paper loaded and headed back dodging small rain bursts. We've learned if you drive fast enough in the rain most blows off the items in the bed of the truck (Todd and I did this at O-Dark-Thirty one night coming back from Origins. It began to pour, we were in the middle of no where with no tarp and lots of product. We drove like madmen to escape the downpour until we found a truck stop awning to duck under. He was listening to Cheech and Chong and I don't know if that was worse than the rain or not).

On Mark's return trip from the paper men he tried to drop the wraps off for several boxes we are producing but Patrick, ex-navy chief box maker, had locked his shop up and headed out. The woman there wouldn't let Mark in despite his pleas that he needed to drop some stuff off. Ha! That'll larn him. I helped him unload the paper over at the Shop, and it was a hell of a task in the grueling heat, but a welcome retreat from the office and this computer.

I generally try to take the weekends off, but generally fail. Updates are turned over to Brian the Webmaster on Sundays and these are usually not written until Sunday.

But today I was determined to not meddle in Trollish affairs, but Peter defied me. Sitting in Tulsa OK at Conestoga Con he sought after something to occupy his time. He wanted to lay out Shades of Mist and hollered at me. I took a few hours to go over Cory's edits and put in some small changes of my own. The book passed the first playtesters thoughts and looks to be good to go. I turned it all over to Peter this afternoon. The playtesters will run it through the mill work and get back to me with small corrections.

I suspect it will be print ready by mid-week at the latest and for sure out the week of Gencon.

I'll now wander off to find my book, The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. I've never read this, nor his more popularly known Last of the Mohicans, but I have found the read very relaxing, if a bit slow. The main character, Deerslayer (Hawkeye), is truly the template for a hero.

I do have to say this has been one of the most surreal weeks in TLG's history. So with that in mind here's a little music for you that I think sums it all up!

Thanks for Playing
Steve

Hell Bent to the Tower's Top

If you haven't noticed it yet,the Troll Lord Games homepage has undergone a major face lift. Brian Kowalski, our inventive webmaster, has spent many, many hours laboring over a new, more efficient design for our homepage. He's created a new product viewer, streamlined the news section and modernized the look and design. A special thanks goes out to Brian, Aztecman on the boards, as he has really put the effort in to the website these past several years, expanding and growing it to meet both our needs and to make the whole site easier to navigate.

Hail Brian Master of the Web! Trollzah! Trollzah! Trollzah!

With this new website we'll endeavor to get updates out in a more timely manner.

I need to take a moment out to apologize to the United States Marine Corps! Apparently the photograph we had up on the site, the one linking to the military support page, had a picture of Marine wearing his insignia backwards. I hadn't noticed it before, though a close examination proved the truth of it. But thank you to Gunny Sergeant Brian Deming for pointing it out to us. The picture was promptly replaced. I would offer the Marine Corps "beers on me" but that would get very expensive very fast.

Its been over a month since I updated this blog and there is a deficit of information out there. But we have been working like madness to bring the Upper Works up to speed so that it makes it out in July. Jeffrey Talanian, Peter Bradley, Cory Caserta and Jason Walton have done an amazing job in bringing the final pieces of this project together and their work and labors would, I think, make Gary proud.

LGGC IV was a good show! Attendance was down just a bit, but the show was one of the best. The porch party was moved to the Legion Hall and the crowd swelled all night until we had over 50 people gathered about gaming and chatting. The hall was a constant buzz of gaming goodness with C&C, LA and AD&D dominating the playing field. I didn't see any 4e, though I was hoping for a look see at how it played. I ran a fast paced game for a bit on Saturday and the gang did a sound job of adventuring through the Darkenfold! Joe Goodman was good enough to join us and played one tough gnome fighter who rode the shield of a greater orc while pounding its head in. Sweet stuff. A thanks out to Frank Mentzer, James M. Ward, Tom Wham and Tim Kask, all great guys who went out of their way to participate and help grow the show. And a special thanks to Gail Gygax who made a wonderful ham and turkey for the feast at the Legion Hall. I'll post more later but good times were had all around.

We have more news coming, exciting news I think that may help propel the game you and I have built these past years into the general pit fight that is our common hobby. This will be around the Gen Con time frame....that's assuming I get my end of it done.

I'm really just babbling at this point and need to sign off. Hope you enjoy the new page and look to the post man cause Crusader 10 is at the printer now!

Thanks for Playing
Steve