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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Trollbridge storefront on Lulu

Not good at announcements...So, instead, I'll just blather on about things as per usual.

I've started a Lulu Group storefront in order to make fan product material for Tunnels & Trolls available. I've started it, but it is not mine alone. I don't know how to explain exactly how this came about, as it was more-or-less an emotional reaction to the recent Outlaw Press fiasco, followed by some further research.* But the result is that members of Vin's Trollbridge will always have an outlet for material they produce,** and there's such a wide variety of ever-changing (and persistent) AWESOME there... members of the Bridge, along with other authors that produce T&T material on Lulu.

There's debate about whether this venue is the best choice out of all the options around, and it may be that the store front is torn down and rebuilt somewhere else someday - as it is a grassroots venture, there's not telling what will happen... but for now, this can serve as a waypoint for distribution. I don't expect that there will be a whole lot available before the beginning of next year - but there are two very good free PDF solo adventures available right now (by Trollbridger jongjungbu), and more may trickling up. We are also gathering our resources and planning some regular periodical publications.

So, yeah, not good at announcements. Thanks for reading!

* I will try to provide summary for those interested. It is with mixed feelings, because Outlaw Press has been the biggest 'market-presence' for Tunnels and Trolls for a while, arguably the most meaningful one... so this episode has produced both anger at the responsible party and the fear of watching a house of cards we've visited crumble... so anyway -

- Someone gets on RPGnet questioning the art attribution on a product put out by Outlaw Press. Starts here.
- That thread continues to grow, wherein a WHOLE LOT of the art comes under scrutiny. Some of the artists take note and post also, claiming that they had no idea their art was being used. Last page as of (Dec. 2)
- When I say a WHOLE LOT, I mean a WHOLE DAMN LOT - like almost everything! I spent a week watching this thing grow and grow, the revelations become more and more damning... ugh - court of public opinion, etc, etc - I've never submitted anything to Outlaw Press because I disliked the copyright policy - and never had anything of mine stolen by him (that I know of!), so I have no dog in the race.
- There's more hijinx (to be vanilla) that Outlaw has pulled over the last few years, and I'd like to reserve this space for a future edit of a hyperlink list.
- While this is going on, other people who've felt that Outlaw Press had taken liberties with their material came forward and talked about it - and research on the boards and such showed that they'd often brought these issues up at the times they occurred... much gnashing of fangs, pulling of forelocks, etc. The event becomes a kind of a wake up call...

** I dread words like 'always' and 'never'. The assumptions here are 1.) as long as lulu's around 2.) as long as the Trollbridge stands 3.) as long as the internet holds up and 4.) as long as we all can keep our gentleman's agreement to never utter the name of That-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named (that's Hastur, btw...).

5 comments:

Timeshadows said...

From Ken,

"Because of continuing complaints, and because of the way James Shipman has failed to handle the situation, I feel compelled to ask Trollhalla members to have no further business with him. Whether you continue to buy things from Outlaw Press of not is up to you, but as of now, tvp will no longer be given for O.P. purchases. The link will remain on the left for a while, as it is a good quick way to see what is heppening or not happening at Outlaw Press. At some time in the future, the Outlaw Press link will come down.

James, if you're reading this, I'm asking you to discontinue publication of anything with my name on it, and return all rights to me. Others may ask the same with my approval. I know I can't force you to quit publishing older material, or stop publishing material that may be in the pipeline, but any further publication of my work or anything dealing with Tunnels and Trolls in any way is expressly forbidden and considered unauthorized. I hereby reclaim copyright and control of all my work, and urge others to do the same."

Ragnorakk said...

Heavy, huh?

Timeshadows said...

Yeah.

"You are not permitted to view this group, but you can find many other Lulu groups to join here."

That's what I read upon clicking through on the link you've provided.

Help?

Ragnorakk said...

Ooops!
I think I fixed it up right in the post now... thanks!

James said...

This whole thing with Outlaw Press has really made me feel ill at ease, both as a fan of T&T and as a former customer of theirs. I'm glad that somebody else is establishing an outlet for fan-made products, as publishing through Outlaw Press would almost certainly give any up and coming talent a black eye.