Press Release: Driftwood Publishing Purchased!

[Jake Norwood]

For Immediate Release:
 
 
July 26, 2004
Driftwood Publishing Purchased
 
Empire Games announced today the purchase of Driftwood Publishing and the acquisition of The Riddle of Steel Role Playing game line of books. Jake Norwood, the founder of Driftwood Publishing and author of the critically acclaimed The Riddle of Steel, will be staying at Driftwood as both a consultant for the game and a writer of future supplements. Of Beasts and Men author, Brian Leybourne, has taken over as line developer of The Riddle of Steel and will be putting the finishing touches on the much-anticipated Flower of Battle supplement, to be released this fall. Future products will be released on a quarterly basis starting in winter of 2005, and will include Sorcery and The Fey, the magical supplement for The Riddle of Steel.

 "After several offers, I chose Empire Games due to their clear dedication to the continuation of the Riddle of Steel line without compromising its integrity," said Jake Norwood. "This is a great step for Driftwood Publishing and the Riddle of Steel; one which heralds growth and development on a scale that was previously impossible."

"We are both very proud and honored to become the Publisher for The Riddle of Steel," said George Thompson, the new C.E.O of Driftwood Publishing. "The game has broken quite a bit of new ground within the gaming industry and we plan to build on that success."

"I'm very excited at the possibilities this development brings about," Brian Leybourne commented. "The merger of Driftwood's talent and Empire Games size, stability and enthusiasm can only mean great things for the future of the Riddle of Steel."


All Driftwood Publishing products are available at finer Game, Hobby, and Comic book stores throughout the world, or directly from www.theriddleofsteel.net
 

For any questions you might have about this press release please direct your comments to: Seneschal@theriddleofsteel.net or visit us online at www.theriddleofsteel.net

[Luke]

So, what's the real story?

Why sell Driftwood/ROS?

-Luke

[Claymore]

So, what's the real story?

Why sell Driftwood/ROS?

-Luke

Jake really needs to answer this for himself, but it has something to do with this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12075

The minute we read it we contacted him about buying Driftwood and keeping The Riddle of Steel alive and supported.

[shoplifter]

This IMO, is good for everyone involved. Jake gets to see his game continue on unimpeded, Empire gets to publish and the fans continue to see new material in Jake's absence.

[greyorm]

Ok...so who is Empire Games? Website? Background of company?

[Claymore]

Ok...so who is Empire Games? Website? Background of company?

Empire Games is the name of the parent company that purchased Driftwood Publishing. All publications will be handled by Driftwood Publishing at //www.driftwoodpublishing.com (page not up yet) and //www.theriddleofsteel.net We are working on an "about" page for the new company site. Stay tuned!

[timfire]

I guess this means that TROS can no longer be considered "indie"?...

[Claymore]

I guess this means that TROS can no longer be considered "indie"?...

By the Forge's standards, no. We have been in contact with Ron Edwards who has been wonderful to us regarding Driftwood and the Forge. We will be setting out our own forums at //www.theriddleofsteel.net but there will be a forwarding link to take you there from the Forge. Also, the entire archives will be saved. But we are not going anywhere yet!

We will still be at the Indie Game Booth at Gen Con this year. Of course at this late stage it would be impossible to get TFoB completed by that time, but we are should have official TRoS T-shirts available for purchase at the booth and on the website.

[deltadave]

Weee Ha!   Way to go guys!  

Hope this heralds well for the future of the Riddle and for Driftwood.

[timfire]

We will be setting out our own forums at //www.theriddleofsteel.net but there will be a forwarding link to take you there from the Forge. Also, the entire archives will be saved.

That's cool, especially that you'll be saving the archive. I do wish the continued success of TROS, it's a damn fine game!

[Brian Leybourne]

We will be setting out our own forums at //www.theriddleofsteel.net but there will be a forwarding link to take you there from the Forge. Also, the entire archives will be saved.

And the good news is that it's the same forum software the Forge uses (phpBB), so it'll be completely familiar to current forum users (but in a spiffy TROS color scheme).

Brian.

[Jake Norwood]

Yeah, I guess I should put a more personal face on all of this.

As George (Claymore) said, they made the offer shortly after I announced my long upcoming hiatus. I get offers to buy TROS pretty often, but I liked what these guys had to say, and the timing was perfect. While I would have to lie to say that handing over my baby wasn't a little hard, in the days leading up to it (and especially since), I've actually found myself happier and happier with the decision. This is currently the best move I could have made for the game. And I'm really looking forward to having more TROS books on my shelf--something I simply wasn't going to be able to do with any regularity at the rate we've been going.

For those of you that are worried that this means I'm retiring from the game world...it doesn't. I will continue to consult for TROS (I did about 2 hours of that this morning, in fact) and even write on future supplements and other TROS-related projects. I will also open a new "Jacob Norwood" indie company for all of the other projects I've been dying to get out over the last few years but haven't been able to due to the amount of time and effort that a game like TROS demands (look for Grit, Thirst, La Famiglia, Gods of War, etc, to be in development or completion about this time next year). This way you guys get the best of both worlds, I think. I'm certainly happy as can be about the arrangement. So I will see you at Gen Con next year (so long as I'm not getting shot at in Iraq...).

Jake

[Morfedel]

Geez, take several months off the message boards, and look what I miss!


BTW:  TFOB is actually in print, isnt it? Because I generally buy from other sources, such as Amazon.com, rather than FLGS (Because my LGS arent that F), and usually get a good discount; but I can't find TFOB offered for purchase anywhere except on theriddleofsteel.net.

[Lance D. Allen]

Morfedel,

These forums are essentially dead, man. Err, the Riddle forum, I mean.

The link in Claymore's signature is the location of the new forums.

http://trosforums.com

They're pretty much alive and well there, and you can expect a timely response to your question there. For my own experience tho', I picked up TFoB at my FLGS. However, my FLGS has been historically friendly to small press and indie games.