Napftor

As mentioned a few blog posts back, I'm in the midst of a layoff from work. To help keep some money in the old bank account, I'm combing through my D&D stuff to see what might be worth something (and that I'm willing to part with).

One thing to surface was this: [Link]

If you're a Lord Soth fan (or know someone who is), please consider bringing this piece of at from my collection to yours. Heh, at least you know the seller!

After many weeks since its release, my Behind the Spells: Compendium is available in hardcover format here! But even though the softcover and pdf have been for sale since early July, there just haven't been the sales I was hoping for. I understand that this title is late since the 3.5 crowd is thinned but, darn it, it's a good book. The question is--how do we make the 3.5 crowd take notice?

Contest? Last night I thought about asking folks to submit one favorite PC/NPC mages or clerics from their campaign that Tricky Owlbear would then use as the creator of a future Behind the Spells pdf. The randomly picked winner would then receive a free pdf of the Compendium. But would such a thing generate more sales of the Compendium? Probably not although it might increase the book's exposure.

I'll have to keep brainstorming on a good ad campaign. Your thoughts are welcome!

Although not much of a surprise, there was a bout of layoffs at my job today. Regrettably, I was one of them. We're a small company (less than 50 persons) who manufacture pharmaceutical supplies (mostly for L'Oreal). Economy is so poor that orders are down enough to warrant this downsizing. I don't hold any animosity to the manager who gave the news (he did, in fact, look like a wreck). Still, I made friends during my last 9 months there and will hopefully be back before too long.

On the brighter side, there should be no problem applying for unemployment and maybe I'll just take the time off to work more on some Tricky Owlbear projects which have been on my burner for awhile. Here's to a hopefully fruitful number of weeks!

This blog may turn into more of a promotional blog than anything else but, for a rpg writer/company, what better site to have it at, eh? For those just meeting me, well met! For the rest, eh, nothing really new here yet. Here's a rundown of the professional face of me--Bret Boyd

I'm the President of Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. and sometimes freelance writer. We sell pdfs at Paizo, RPGNow, and YourGamesNow and now available is our very first print book--Behind the Spells: Compendium!

Below are my freelance writing credits since I entered the business in 2002 (hopefully in their entirety). There were some aborted attempts in 2001 but I threw my talents into a company which just couldn't find its footing. Glad I moved on when I did!

2002
Swords Into Plowshares (charity pdf) (Sean K Reynolds Games)--contributing author
Spells & Magic (Bastion Press)--open call submission
Relics & Rituals II (Sword & Sorcery Studios)--open call submission
Foul Locales: Urban Blight (Mystic Eye Games)--open call submission
Foul Locales: Beyond the Walls (MEG)--contributing author (1 of 3)
Raw Recruits (MEG)--contributing author

2003
Foul Locales: Behind the Gates (Mystic Eye Games)--contributing author (1 of 3)
Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns (MEG/Natural 20 Press)--open call submission
Guilds & Adventurers (MEG)--contributing author
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits (Bastion Press)--open call submission
Mist Elves (pdf) (Mongoose Publishing)--one of four main authors
Into the Green (Bastion Press)--open call submission
Encyclopedia of Prestige Classes (Fast Forward Entertainment)--contributing author
Encyclopedia of Villains (FFE)--contributing author
Deadliest Creatures Tome (FFE)--contributing author
Complete Monstrous Undead Compenium (FFE)--contributing author
Creature Collection III (Sword & Sorcery Studios)--open call submission
Denizens of Freeport (Green Ronin)--open call submission

2004
Arms & Armor v3.5 (Bastion Press)--open call submission
Complete Guide to Liches (Goodman Games)--additional design
Complete Guide to Dragonkin--author
Athenaeum Arcane: Treasure Chests (pdf) (Ronin Arts)--author
N.P.C. (Non Player Compendium) (pdf) (Adamant Entertainment)--author

2005
Complete Guide to Vampires (Goodman Games)--contributing author
The Dread Codex (pdf) (Adamant Entertainment)--additional design
Fell Beasts: Goblins (pdf) (Dark Quest Games)--NPC design
Suck Da Head, Squeeze Da Tail (charity pdf) (Dog Soul Publishing)--contributing author
Athenaeum Arcane: Substandard Magic Items (pdf) (Ronin Arts)--author
Athenaeum Arcane: Mallyate (pdf) (Ronin Arts)--author
The 11th Hour (pdf) (Ronin Arts)--author
Behind the Spells (pdf series) (Ronin Arts)--author (8 issues)
Vengeance in Freeport (pdf) (Ronin Arts/Green Ronin)--author

2006
Behind the Spells (pdf series) (Ronin Arts)--author (24 issues)
Parry and Riposte (pdf) (Dark Quest Games)--NPC design
Dungeon Crawl Classics #29: The Adventure Begins (Goodman Games)--contributing author
Temporality (Dark Quest Games)--author

2007 to present
Domains of Adventure: Museum of Infamous Heroism (pdf) (Highmoon Media)--author
Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. (formed company with my brother)--writing Behind the Spells and sometimes writing (mostly developing) the spin-off Behind the Monsters series (pdf) and coordinating most concerns of the company.

For those truly interested, my other blogs are my older freelance/regular life-oriented one--Freelancer's Rest--and my company one--The Tricky Owlbear's Nest.

For recreational gaming, I run two D&D 3.5 campaigns with a great group of folks and others run D&D, Traveller, Spycraft, and soon some good 'ol d6 Star Wars games too! We game in a furnished barn just behind Shartlesville, PA and can regrettably only get together once or twice a month. But when we do, much fun is always had as we game for, usually, 7 to 9 hours.

As to what I do outside of roleplaying, well, until last year I worked 15 years as a pharmacy tech at my local small drug store. Since then, I've been laboring as a microbiology lab tech at a small pharmaceutical company. Since lab work is slow, I double as QC spot-checker on the production floor. All in all, it's a pretty easy gig and only 10 minutes from my home. Speaking of my home, I'm not embarassed to say that I live in my parents' spacious and furnished attic at my tender age of 33. My siblings moved out long ago (brother and his wife life almost directly behind us and my sister and her family are in Hawaii because her husband's stationed there in the army). Life is good so who cares where I live, right? Besides us three, my grandmother and one purebred cocker spaniel named Jasmine also call this place home.