The Grinning Frog

The Grinning Frog was born in the dark days of Covid back in 2020 but the spiritual origins go back a lot further. 

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My name is Stephen Hart and I founded the company having lost my job due to the pandemic. With a niche skill set and a remote location, my old career was over, and with bills to pay and a future to ensure for my family, I had to come up with a new one.

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Having spent my whole life playing games (thanks mum and dad) and having forty years of roleplay experience, writing game content for a living was something I'd dreamt about. Indeed, I'd already been dabbling, in my spare time, with selling small pieces of content via a few websites prior to Covid.

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But could it work as a full-time job?

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Turns out, the answer is yes.

 

Which is a bit like saying that when you play Doom on Ultra-Violence mode, all you have to do is be good at the game. It takes a little more than that, and you are going to get pretty battered in the process.

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But you know what? It is my dream job.

 

Every day I, and the team, get to craft new RPG content, and new games into which we can pour our passion for close calls, dramatic moments and difficult gaming decisions - do you save the priest, rescue the child or steal the supplies?

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We love games - and that's the long and the short of it. And when I say we, I mean myself, Ryan my colleague and right-hand man, Jane our professionally qualified editor and the small team of volunteers who chip in with ideas, content, play-testing etc.

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We operate out of an office near York, England, which is a big improvement on the spare bedroom where it all started back in 2020!

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Our first book won an ENNIE Judges Spotlight Award, we were then nominated for another ENNIE the year after. And that's fabulous, because it says that people who know their game content think highly of ours. Lovely feedback to get. But honestly, it's the hundreds of repeat customers, and the dozens upon dozens of positive messages that we get from gamers that is the most positive aspect of all.

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We couldn't have survived, never mind grow as we have, without our customers and we always remember that. Several have become good friends, and many others are cherished acquaintances via email and messages.

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We are always open to feedback, positive or otherwise, and we strive to continually evolve as an Indie game publisher so that we can produce content that people can be entertained, inspired and game with positively.​

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We've come from dark times, but the future is bright.

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Stay safe and keep gaming!

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Stephen Hart

Chief Wordsmith