The Rise of ePublishing

I was really disappointed when Hasbro discontinued PDF sales. It never occurred to me that they would do something so stupid, unfortunately the only PDF I bought was the 1st edition DMG. I had planned to buy more, but TOO LATE!

There is money in my bank account that would be in Hasbro's bank account now. Thanks Hasbro!

Every product ever published by TSR/Wizards should be for sale as a PDF on Kindle, iBooks, Smashwords, RPGnow, wherever! Each title may not mean a lot of money, but cumulatively that's hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars not flowing to Hasbro.

I guess I can't be too hard on them, many traditional publishers are having a hard time coming to terms with the new market. Random House is only just now starting to get a clue. The Kindle is cheaper than ever, the iPad is ridiculously popular and represents the future of computing for most people, and we RPG fans would just be happy to have all of our precious little books all on our devices of choice for instant viewing and enjoyment.

I have my old-school collection on my iPad, and that's the only rulebook I need to bring to the game table, with some paper, pencil, and dice and I'm ready to go.

If anyone doubts the power of epublishing they only need to look at new and upcoming authors. Amanda Hocking makes more than most of us will in a lifetime, and she's never been published by a "real" publishing company. All she does is sell her novels on kindle for 99 cents a copy.

What I am saying my friends is the OSR has a future. And it is ePublishing.

Petty Gods Cover

By now most of you have probably already seen the preview of the Petty Gods cover over at Grognardia. I appreciate that most people seem to like it.

When starting this cover I was trying to choose between three different ideas. Should I do a bunch of petty gods front and center? Or perhaps I could show Azwa (the petty god I illustrated for the interior) turning a fighter into stone? Or should I show some intrepid adventurers in a world filled with petty gods?

As you can see, the third idea is the one I chose. There is still an homage to Azwa in the great stone head in the background. But, if you look carefully you may notice lots of faces of petty gods hidden amid the things of the world. The story is quite simple, I hope you enjoy it.

Inspirational Image of the week

Original drawing for Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits by Jim Roslof

Jim Roslof

Pray for Jim Roslof. Word is he is gravely ill. He art directed some of the greatest art in the history of D&D.

Leaf Nosed Dragon

Another card preview for the Dungeoneer RPG. This is a Leaf Nosed Dragon. They can be found in the heights of the Shadowhaven mountains, though they occasionally reside in deep forests, particularly when brooding.

Here is a detail of the illustration:

Yep, I flipped it for the card. Many of my illustrations are done digitally, but for the Dungeoneer RPG I'm trying to do as many in real paint (acrylics) as I have time for. This one is 10"x14" acrylic on Arches hot press watercolor block.

Character Sheet Sampler

A Dungeoneer RPG character sheet. Human Warrior at 1st level with 1 melee, 0 magic, 2 speed, 6 life, 7 peril, 8 glory. His culture is "Ancient" and his calling is "Renown".