By 2007, we were doing great things. We published The Beast Within by Mike DeSanto and Jerry Blakemore wrote Skinwalker.
The Beast Within starts with a strange auto accident that leads to a murder investigation. This adventure featured our Fear Effects rules. When we were playtesting this one, Preston was acting as our Game Master and I remember playing Jackson Green. As we investigated the evil corporation that was turning people into monsters, we had a massive fight in a long hallway, ran to the elevator, shooting to keep the enemies at bay. When the doors opened, we rushed in and hit the lobby level and as the doors closed, Preston surprised us by playing the Girl from Ipanema as the elevator music. We laughed and fell out over it. When the doors opened, the fight started once more to escape the building.
So much fun!
We had some great art provided by Nicole Cardiff and Kim Feigenbaum.
Skinwalker was a great adventure that introduced Irish Druids living deep in the Big Thicket and some more great art. It was a classic supernatural investigation with a frightening antagonist. It was so much fun to play and really fit the Pinebox genre of horror.
We had also partnered with several other Indie companies to produce Modern Dispatch, a small production to showcase our work with some sort of adventure each issue. We worked with some great companies and designers including Ronin Arts, RPG Objects, and Adamant Entertainment. I think this is truly where Preston and I learned to write. When you have a deadline you have to hit on a regular basis, you truly can work on your craft as it’s literally is get better or die!
Our first dispatch included a write up on Mayor Red McCoy, his secrets, and plot ideas; City Councilman Manuel Travis, and an article on Pinebox City Hall (Address 401 Hickory Ave). We then included a short adventure called “On the Steps of City Hall.” This also included a detailed map of the Pinebox City Hall.
The next one introduced Morten Decourt, the owner operator of the Pizza Barn and who is secretly in the National Witness Protection Program. It includes the Pizza Barn with details and an adventure called “Just a Few Questions” and a map of the Pizza Barn.
We wrote many others as well, and they truly inspired us for what would come next.
Another interesting development at this time was that other companies began to sell through us. We were truly becoming an online publisher. One of the first to work with us was Dirty Unicorn Games and the awesome folks at Fabled Environments. We later took on the products from a few other companies and were in the place where we could have grown into something larger.
We also produced a fantasy adventure, and then produced an amazing d20 item called Steamworks (again, written by others and produced by us).
But there was a problem. All of this work came at a hefty price. We all had day jobs and were trying to keep up with the demands of publishing on the side. Many of partners had gotten busy with real life, and it dwindled down to largely Preston and I doing the writing. We were frankly getting burned out. Doing the publishing is not as fun as simply being published. Working contracts, finding artists, editors, playtesters, overseeing other people’s products, and providing assistance definitely took away from our own creative projects.
Preston and I decided to focus on East Texas University and let that be our final contribution to gaming. It was gonna have everything plus the kitchen sink. We started writing on it in 2007. It took seven years to see it actually come to print.
I’ll talk about that next time….
