New Lulu PDF Trial

As I mentioned, there will be issues involving the current crop of Stonehell PDFs available on Lulu starting in the middle of next month. I've been making the necessary changes behind the scenes to (hopefully) allow for an uninterrupted availability of those files. To make sure all is working as intended, I'll need a little help.

If you have a moment to spare, could you please download Stonehell Dungeon Supplement One: The Brigand Caves to your computer, mobile, or whatever medium you use to view such files? Please use the link in this post. This is not a new edition and is theoretically identical to the original. However, you may wish to save it in another location on your device so as to not overwrite your current working version just in case there is a problem.

Let me know if there are any issues in downloading or reading the PDF. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Nevermind

After successfully running the PDF of Stonehell Dungeon through the eBook Wizard, I’ve since downloaded the converted file to discover that it was converted into…a PDF.

When I originally uploaded my PDFs, there was no eBook category available to list them under so I chose to label them as digital files (others who put PDFs on Lulu prior to my own may have done the same). It seems that Lulu is using the term “eBook” in a generic sense and not a specific format for tablets, Kindles, Nooks, etc. I’m both relieved and puzzled at this, but unless there are other factors I’m unaware of, I don’t think there will be a problem down the line.

Stay tuned to be safe, however.

Strange Things Are Afoot at the Double Ell

I received an email yesterday from Lulu.com informing me that they “must retire certain products and services that have not proven to be as popular with our community of customers as we initially thought they'd be. As a result, we will no longer be offering your Multimedia for sale on Lulu.com.” Maybe you got one too.

The short of it is that Lulu will no longer support and sell digital projects such as CDs, DVDs, images, and (here’s what affects me) “digital files.” This means that all the various PDFs I have on Lulu will removed after September 18th. This confused the hell out of me at first, but I now see that they're trying to push these projects into an eBook format.

Lulu offers a free eBook Wizard service to convert PDFs and other files into that format, and it seems that I’ve successfully managed to convert the two PDFs I’ve used as trials. I’ll admit that I’m not quite up to speed on the differences (if any) between PDFs and the various eBook formats and readers so I’m not certain what this going to mean down the line. In a perfect scenario, all my PDFs will convert, you’ll be able to read them in whatever format you choose, and I’ll just have to alter the links to the new eBook versions and we’ll all get along fine.

The worst case is things go all pear-shaped and I have to stop selling my books via Lulu completely, which would likely mean that I start investigating other options like going through RPGNow or perhaps even another game publisher.

I’m not going to sweat this too much at the moment as I’ve got other irons in the fire and a few months to worry about it, but I thought I’d bring it up now to keep you all abreast of possible changes in the future. If you haven’t bought or downloaded any of the various Stonehell PDFs but keep meaning to, my suggestion is to do so before July 19th, which is the date when the first wave of alterations to the Lulu Marketplace will begin and prohibit the editing of currently offered digital files. After that, I can’t be confident what will happen over there at Lulu.

You will all be informed as more on this develops.

One Hell of a Bookend

Again, let me extend my thanks to everyone who helped me get to this point. I remain honored and very much humbled by your support.




In case you're wondering, the award has an encumbrance of 80 cn.

I Beg to Differ

I wanted to point this out because I’ve been seeing it a few places online now and it just needles me. Maybe you’ve see it too.

I’m referring to the ads for Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale, a new title for the Xbox. I’m not one for console gaming, but it’s not that there’s a D&D video game which irks me. It’s the fact that they use this quote as part of the advertising campaign:

That’s pretty much the most asinine statement I’ve heard in recent weeks. OK, I’ve vented; back to lighting candles and not cursing the darkness. Sorry about that.

Promos & Discounts

No, really, I’m taking the summer off. But before I get back to work on SH2 and myriad other projects, I wanted to let you all know that the now-award winning The Dungeon Alphabet remains available in hardcover at many online venues including Amazon, Amazon UK, Noble Knight, F-Shop, and other discerning venues. The PDF can be purchased via RPGNow and Drive-Thru RPG.

In related news, I somehow missed that this was announced over at the Legends & Labyrinths development blog, but here it is: The Dungeon Alphabet tables will be incorporated into the L&L rules in a piece of cross-company synergy. You’ll still need a copy of the DA to get the full use of the tables, but they’ll hopefully help neonate referees design their own subterranean nightmares to inflict on their players.

Finally, before I get back to work, Lulu is having another 20% off sale, so this is the perfect time to stock up on print or PDF copies of Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls or its second supplement, Buried Secrets. Just plug TOP305 into the designated field by June 13th during checkout to enjoy a fifth off the cover price. Buy extras and put them under windshield wipers at the mall parking lot or make them into decorative hats that makes Paree say “Oui!” this summer.

"The door opens and you see this!"

I never heard of Shrek the Sheep until his passing, but now that I've seen a picture of him, I want to include a monster based on him in Stonehell 2. He looks like some sort of coral-encrusted beastie or maybe a laboratory-bred "brain sheep."