James Raggi said in a recent post that I have "taken [an] absence away from the scene." I'm assuming he means that I have taken a hiatus from Goblinoid Games, but nothing can be further from the truth. He also mentioned that Labyrinth Lord wasn't my #1 priority, which is only partly true. Goblinoid Games, as a business, is second to graduating with my Ph.D. this summer (I haven't spent the last 14 years of my life in college for nothing!) and finding a job, but I do take it very seriously nonetheless. It just doesn't pay the bills right now, even though it is generating a significant income that will allow Goblinoid Games to grow in coming years. So to clear up any confusion I just thought I'd post an update on current Goblinoid Games happenings. I've been busy with a whole bunch of things, many of which actually are for Goblinoid Games, so if there are periods when I don't post as often on forums or blogs this shouldn't be construed as me taking an absence from things. Things still continue to happen behind the scenes. So let's do a first quarter report for 2010.
1) We just released our 5th monthly Labyrinth Lord Society Newsletter, which began in January. We're continuing to get a great variety of contributions from Society members. Thanks everyone! The LLS has been a major priority as an effort to build a tight community around Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, and now Starships & Spacemen. We're up to almost 200 members and growing each month. Of course this couldn't be done without all of the hard work of David Macauley (Greyharp), the LLS organizer, who keeps things running.
2) So far in 2010 Goblinoid Games has released the very well received Advanced Edition Companion. The AEC entered distribution last month and is selling very well in distribution and POD alike.
3) We purchased the rights to Starships & Spacemen, which is in preliminary development for a second edition. The original book was redone (by me) by scanning the original book and then recreating the original layout. It was made available in PDF and POD format. It has sold more copies now in the last month with Goblinoid Games than it sold in the last 6 years it was available from FGU. The second edition is looking promising!
4) In addition, I recently finished working with four new authors, and we have three new Labyrinth Lord modules and one Mutant Future module all written and in various stages of playtesting and editing. This will come out interspersed throughout the rest of 2010. We also have several other authors with manuscripts in various stages.
5) We struck a deal with Otherworld Miniatures for licensed Labyrinth Lord miniatures. Look for those starting this summer!
6) The ball is getting back to rolling for a campaign supplement that will be for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion, which I have been working on slowly for a few years now. I'm bringing in some other talent to help me get this project out the door. It is mostly all written, we just need some final fleshing out.
7) Labyrinth Lord has sold through two print runs in distribution, and I'm now ordering a third. I continue to build direct to retailer relationships as well.
So, if that is what you call a hiatus, man, I'd like to see what I could do if this was a full time job! ;-)