LPJ Design invades PaizoCon!

Paying attention to our fanbase is what is most important at LPJ Design...

While this is a business, it is not a dictatorship. I have people to answer to and they are call our fans. NOT our customers, but our fans and there is a difference. A few days ago I said that we would bot be doing Obsidian Apocalypse as a setting but as a adventure. Needless to say there saw some backlash.  The once pice of back lash was this comment on Facebook:

LPJ Design: @John: I dont want to create another setting and not really support it. I dont think making a setting that isn't supported a good thing. You spend your money and I don't want you to feel you wasted your money on a ”dead” setting.

John: I purchased Obsidian Twilight and already feel like i have, no offense.

OUCH! 

Now that hurt. The part that hurt the most was that it was true.  So this got me thinking, how could I make my fanbase happy with out doing somethign that would not be good for business.  So After a while a came up with a plan. I have decided to NOT to make this one complete setting, but FOUR toolkit setting templates that you can add to your campaign world. Which include:

• Hell on Abaddon: Angels and Demon have been brought to this world via the meteor and engage in battles all over this world. Exalted, Infernal & Genesai focused races for this setting
• Cthulhu-ese on Abaddon: The meteor is actually a prison from unusual monsters that breaks open and escapes to this world. Infernal, Lykian, Osirian & Raijin focused races for this setting (a la A Place Beyond Hell)
• Plague covers the world: A super powerful virus begins infecting, mutating and killing people of this world. Exalted, Infernal, Harrowed & Khymer focused races for this setting
• Undead Apocalypse: Undead raise due to the necromantic energy in the meteor.  Harrowed, Khymer, Osirian & Raijin, focused races for this setting.

This is MORE interesting to me as a 3PP of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, plus make it a book that is more useful than one lone setting.  So you kind of get the best of both worlds PLUS with a 16 page adventure written by [CLASSIFIED UNTIL AFTER PAIZOCON]!  So thank you agaon for helping me see the "light" and give you something that we BOTH want.  Thanks for the support of LPJ Design we are always grateful.  Talk to you later...

5-star review for NeoExodus Adventures: Undying Legacy of the First Ones (PFRPG)

Read the 5-star reviews for our Free RPG Day NeoExodus Adventures: Undying Legacy of the First Ones (PFRPG). Best of all you can pick up the FREE PDF version of the adventure, right here from RPGNow.com. Enjoy!! 

JP might be right…I know it sounds scary right…

Last week, JP and I were talking about Obsidian Apocalypse and he was giving me “feedback” on what he thought about it. (And when I say “feedback” I mean JP was cursing me out, yelling and point at me and calling me stupid and all kinds of names OR as all call it a typical Thursday.)   After this “feedback” meeting, I took some of his ideas to heart and I starter to work on them in rough draft form in my head. 

On Sunday while sitting down and making some notes of the Obsidian Apocalypse setting, a little voice in my head asked me a very simple but profound question: Why are you making this setting?  My first answer was the typical one of want to do another cool setting that people showed interest in.  Then my little voice in my head asked me an even better question:  Why was I focusing on Obsidian Apocalypse instead of NeoExodus?

And that is when it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I think I was using Obsidian Apocalypse as a distraction from my NeoExodus work.  I mean I have TONS of NeoExodus work to do, but I was placing all to the back burners for Obsidian Apocalypse. While Obsidian Apocalypse is exciting because it is the new shiny toy, NeoExodus is what I have been focusing on for five plus years.  Plus most importantly doe we really need ANOTHER campaign setting for Pathfinder? I mean there are tons coming out already for Pathfinder and no matter how exciting it will be, do I really want to build a complete support system for another campaign world setting? I barely have enough time for NeoExodus, why the hell do I think I have enough time for  NeoExodus and Obsidian Apocalypse?  So after all the thinking and contemplating, I decided that it is best NOT to do Obsidian Apocalypse as a campaign setting. I would be silly to a full blown setting for Obsidian Apocalypse. 

But then the little voice in my head said (As you can see my little voice is WAY TOO TALKITIVE) that since I have already paid for the writing and artwork, instead of making an OK campaign setting, why don’t you turn it into an  AMAZING one of a kind adventure. A kind of adventure that does homage to the original Ravenloft adventure where players get a taste of the setting with the adventure without all the baggage of what a campaign setting must have.  And with that, Obsidian Apocalypse is NOW going to be an adventure. We are still going to do the funding with kickstarter so all that says in play. Better yet, if one of my conversation at the upcoming PaizoCon goes well, I hope to announce that we be attaching a VERY WELL known name in the horror genre for Pathfinder to this adventure.

 

I think this is the better move for Obsidian Apocalypse in the long run. I am “planning” for this adventure to be between 32 to 48 pages in length with fantastic new artwork. So be sad there will not be a Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting, BUT be VERY GLAD that we are going to do a adventure that will go down in the legendary chronicles of Pathfinder adventures.  Once again thanks for your support of us and this change.  

Well I guess JP can be actually right, once and a while. But so it a broken clock. Talk to you later…

Image Portfolio Platinum Edition : Storn Cook

Image Portfolio Platinum Edition : Storn Cook: Image Portfolio Platinum Edition : Storn Cook

Over 600 downloads of Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG) in 18 hours...

Apparently I didn't know post-apocalyptic survival horror would be THAT popular but it is. Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG) download number are rocking upward. I might even say that it whas gone viral. So just in case you don't know OR haven't seen, take a look at our FREE download for Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG) at RPGNow. Better yet, we have already received a 5-star review for this PDF. SO I guess I will say that Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG)has been a success. Thank you for everyone's interest and stay tuned in to the other cool plans we have for this upcoming kickstarter project.

 By the way, since you are already reading this, swing by out Facebook page and like us if you can since we are have a drive to get to 400 like. Every little bit helps. Thanks! Talk to you later...

T-minus 2 weeks to PaizoCon...

I am very excited to say that in just two weeks I will be on my first trip to Seattle were I will get the opportunity to show off all of the coolness of LPJ Design, specifically NeoExodus, to a large group of Pathfinder fanatics at PaizoCon. I missed last year’s PaizonCon due to my wife’s cancer, but this year it looks like its all systems GO and I cannot wait. I have shipped off everything to Paizo for the con. My flight and hotel room have been confirmed and everything is looking good. I just have to put together one last sample book of what are plans are going to be with Obsidian Apocalypse. The best art of this will be the first time that JP and I are actually going to meet face to face. So expect high level of foolishness to come out of this.

 Plus I will be talking to several freelancers about upcoming projects and I will be picking up a few things for me from the other 3PP there. Of course I will be talking to some of the member of Paizo for business issues (Liz Courts will be getting a few free drinks from me) and that VERY, VERY secret project that I would like to announce. So I am excited to go. Good times ahead. Talk to you later…

Obsidian Apocalypse: Bestiary of Armageddon Contest Update

Don't forget, there are only 30 days left to turn in a monster or template for the Bestiary of Armageddon Contest! This is the BEST chance you will get to becoming a publisher game designer and writer. If you want to be a game designer, here is your chance! Check this link for more info!

The Websites that Keep Me in Business...

A lot of people ask me what I use to do” this” or “that” on my company. So I decided just to make a small list (This is a short list of what we use. Our full list has a lot more things on it that are for more advanced and further along companies) of the services that LPJ Design make a blog post on it to let everyone see what we use that helps keep us running smoothly and efficiently. Hope this helps you.

• Blogging: Blogger 
• Digital Sales (ePub): CreateSpace 
• Digital Sales (PDF): Paizo, RPGNow 
• >Digital Sales (Various): PulleyApp 
• ePub Service: CreateSpace, Lulu 
• MircoBlogging: PayWithATweet, Twitter, TweetDeck, Twuffer 
• Money Funding: Indiegogo, Kickstarter 
• Online Ad Selling Services: Project Wonderful 
• Online Shopping Cart: BigCartel,  Paypal 
• Payments: Paypal 
• POD Services: CreateSpace, Lightning Source, Lulu
• Social Media: Facebook, Google+ 
• Travel Service: Kayak 
• Video Editing: Windows Movie Maker 
• Video Recording: YouTube 
• VOIP: Skype 
• VIOP Recorder: None 
• Web Analytics: Google Analytics 

Talk to you later…

Obsidian Apocalypse: Bestiary of Armageddon Contest Update

Don't forget, there are only 35 days left to turn in a monster or template for the Bestiary of Armageddon Contest! If you want to be a game designer, here is your chance! Check this link for more info!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season 5 Trailer

My push using CreateSpace…

Over the last few days and weeks I have been making a push to get several LPJ Design books listed on CreateSpace which in turn gets us listed on Amazon.com. I currently have six books in various degrees of completion at CreatSpace with four so far available for sale directly atAmazon.com.  I really like CreateSpace easy of work to get my products to go to print. I have been enjoying this more than I thought possible.  In addition I also plan to have many of these books available at PaizoCon in July.  I just wish they offer hard cover books too, but you can not get everything you want out of life.  With all this going on, this look like it is going to be a bust next few months for the company.  Talk to you later…

We want you to “Like Us” on Facebook…

This is really simple and to the point but we want you to Like US on Facebook.  The simple, but true reason, is we want to know if we are giving you the content you want.  The real problem with RPG publishers and publishing is that we live in a “bubble” of sorts and we don’t know if our marketing plans or advertisements are really getting to you.  We do put ads in lots of place, but do you really read them? We think we know what are marketing is going to do, and people tell us they do, but we don’t really know.  So I have decided to just plainly come out and ask you to Like Us on Facebook.  This tells me without a hint of doubt that you actually like what we are doing and want to hear from us.  I like Facebook for the interconnectivity that it has. I like Facebook for the ease of passing more information from person to person on our plans and samples of our work.  I think we have done a good job of creating compelling content, and we want to you share it to others who might be interested in what we are doing. If you haven’t yet, I hope you take a second out to and go to Facebook and Like Us as soon as possible. Thanks again for your interest and support.  Talk to you later…

Obsidian Apocalypse: The Iconic headshots 2nd round

You saw the first round of head shots for our iconic of Obsidian Apocalypse and now I wanted to show you the updates that were made and the 2nd round of head shots reviews. Not a lot of changes but some where very important as you can see. Hope you enjoy. Talk to you later...

Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon available this week...

Here is a little some thing to get you interested in what is going to happen in this setting and for the upcoming Kickstarter project. You can expect to see it some time this week, but best of all it is COMPLETELY FREE!!! Start saving your money Pathfinder fans, Obsidian Apocalypse is going to be the biggest Kickstarter event of the year. Talk to you later...

Obsidian Apocalypse: Bestiary of Armageddon Contest

So I have been inspired by King of the Monster Contest by Open Design/Kobold Quarterly and I have decided that Louis Porter Jr. Design is going to do a contest for the upcoming ObsidianApocalypse kickstarter which we are calling the Bestiary of Armageddon Contest (so you know we ARE trying to kill PCs with these monsters / templates)!!!  This contest is giving you a chance to monster / template design where the fans of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game get to test their skills and abilities designing amazing monsters / templates that will be judged by many LPJ Design staff members.  Those wanting to prove themselves as game designers will be able to create monsters / templates to fit into the upcoming Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting and even the original Obsidian Twilight setting.

OK this contest works like this:

• Your monsters / templates submission for Bestiary of Armageddon Contest MUST BE sent to no later than Friday, July 20th, by 3 PM EST.
• Send your submission to LMPjr007 (at) Gmail (dot) com with your full name and contact information should be in the body of the email (not in your attachment).
• The file must be submitted as a doc, docx, or rtf attachment. No any other format will be accepted!!!
• The monsters / templates submission must be designed for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game with the essence of the monsters / templates should work well within world of post-apocalyptic survival horror setting of Obsidian Twilight or Obsidian Apocalypse.
• The monsters / templates submission will be 800 words or less and contain 1 full stat block and the fitting fluff text and lore to flesh out your creation. The monsters / templates can be any kind or level, just make sure they are interesting and terrifying to PCs.
• And most important: If you cannot follow these simple rules, THEN YOU WILL NOT WIN! Follow the rules and be a success! We WANT you to win!

JUDGING THE BESTIARY OF ARMAGEDDON CONTEST
All submissions that meet the criteria will be entered in the contest and we will be judging your submission on ability of game design, clear writing and making monsters that are actually scary. The 10 best monsters / templates will be published on LPJ Design Website and LPJ Design Blog and be voted on by the public. Out of the 10 monsters, the top six with the winning votes will be invited to be included in the Obsidian Apocalypse Bestiary.

PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS

The winning monsters / templates will have its portrait commissioned and be published in a successful funding of the Obsidian Apocalypse kickstarter.  In addition, its designer will receive a free print or PDF copy of the Obsidian Apocalypse in which the monster appears and of course professional writing credit in the RPG industry.

ADDITIONAL CONTEST RULES

1. The contest is open to all. So PLEASE submit to it!
2. One entry per person. The entry must be your own work, which has not been published previously, is not being considered for publication by any other publisher, and is original and does not infringe upon any copyrighted material.
3. All entries become property of LPJ Design.
4. By entering this contest, you authorize the use of your name and likeness without additional compensation for promotion and advertising purposes in all media.
5. This contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws where applicable.
6. Louis Porter Jr. Design Inc reserves the right to withdraw or terminate this contest at any time without prior notice.
7. All decisions of Louis Porter Jr. Design Inc and the contest judges are final.

Obsidian Apocalypse: The Iconic headshots

So with any good setting you need a group of icons that really help define the look and feel of what they typical player character might be in this setting.  With that we have our first image of the Obsidian Apocalypse Iconics. Here is the name of the iconics:

• Amon Al Zebadiah (Exalted)
• Anid Dada (Genesai)
• Caria Sir Lykas (Harrowed)
• Korax al-Moab (Infernal )
• Elsu Istas (Khymer)
• Silverclaw (Lykian )
• D’nar Kriks (Osirion)
• Marcellus Shaok (Raijin)

While these is a rough draft and of course there will be changes, you can see where we are going with the update to the original Obsidian Twilight setting. 

Obsidian Apocalypse: Color test for Asi Magnor

Here is the latest update to the Asi Magnor image. A little color makes him even more scary. What do you think? I think Obsidian Apocalypse is going to be even more incredible than I think it is going to be.  Talk to you later...

Obsidian Apocalypse: Second draft sketch of Asi Magnor

So you can see that we picked #2. We think it give more power in the images.  This looks like it is going to be a great image. Talk to you later...

Obsidian Apocalypse: Sample page layout test

Some sample page layout I am working on. Just trying to make sure we get the right look. What do you think about it?

Rough draft sketches of Asi Magnor for Obsidian Apocalypse...

Since the original art for Asi Magnor was not the one I wanted to use in the Obsidian Twilight, the first thing I did when assigning new artwork was getting Asi a whole new character design for Obsidian Apocalypse. And with that, here are the four sketches from our artist to choose which one we like. So Pathfinder RPG and Paizo fans, which sketch do you like the best? Let us know! Talk to you later...

Lucas & LPJ on Printing with CreateSpace

ZombiU - E3 2012: Debut Trailer

Watch Dogs - Game Demo Video [UK]

This is the best trailer I have seen for a D20 Modern world that I wouls want to play it. MORE PLEASE!!!!!!

Obsidian Apocalypse: Five Artists now onboard…

We are took another step in the direction to helping make ObsidianApocalypse an amazing success with the signing of FIVE artists to work on this project, including several of the original artists who worked on ObsidianTwilight.  This is the part of designing a world that I love the most, the visual appeal of the Obsidian Apocalypse setting.  I feel that people do judge a book by its cover and I want to make sure that we have the best looking cover (and interior artwork) possible. When the artwork for a campaign setting is right, it only helps make the work MORE believable and real.  We want Obsidian Apocalypse to be the most visually striking and appealing artwork dealing with such a powerful subjects and genres as post-apocalypse and survival horror. Both of these genres have been built with iconic images and we also would like to capture that feeling with our setting. 

While we will be using some artwork from the original Obsidian Twilight setting, we will be updating a few of the original drawing to give them more impact such as the character design of Harrowed race and Asi Magnor for example.  Plus the addition of more headshot portraits and half page images only help make this project a greater success. I would like our artwork and graphic design to rival that of Paizo’s.  I hope to release an Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon starter book very soon so people can get a taste of what we have done and what we have planned and give you that first glimpse into this amazing setting.  Talk to you later…

Iconics for Obsidian Apocalypse

One of the most important thinks I have learned from workingwith JP on NeoExodus is that Iconic characters for the setting always help sell the setting.  Paizo and Pathfinder learned that right from the start with their iconics in all of the artwork for the setting to only help reinforce their importance.  So with an idea that good, I copied it for NeoExodus and now I am doing it again for Obsidian Apocalypse. Each of the races will have an iconic based off of the racial images.  Right now I plan to us the classes: Alchemist, Barbarian, Fighter, Inquisitor, Monk, Rogue, Sorcerer and Witch; but you never know if we might change our mind in the final version. But at least you can understand where we are planning to go.  Obsidian Apocalypse is going to be a quantum level advancement over the original version so thanks for your support.  Talk to you later…