The Grinning Frog just got fatter

How do you show that someone has joined your company without showing a picture of the person? All I can say is, I used to have a clear view of those pictures on the wall!

I am delighted to announce that The Grinning Frog has expanded, we welcome none other than Furgar Thundershield, A.K.A. Benjamin Hart into the business.

To explain, Furgar Thundershield was/is the name of his main DnD character in a very long-running 4e campaign that is still ongoing (admittedly, on hiatus just at the moment). Ben was also credited under that title in various books and games that I've released since The Grinning Frog began. I think I might have actually used his real name once or twice as well. So, in other words, you've possibly seen his name(s) around.

Within the business, we've had various growing needs - game testing, content creation, marketing, postal assistance and so on. I've tried different solutions but the reality was that more hands in the office, more often, was the only solution.

The fates then smiled, and circumstances prompted a conversation about 'working on the family farm'. Like any good Dungeon Master, I tossed the conversation out as a part-test/part-bait/part-amusing comment. It then sparked a full and frank conversation followed by a weekend of clarifying the business needs and Ben's skill set.

And he's onboard. In fact, he's been onboard since the beginning of March and I know that some of you have already come across our new posts on Reddit and Instagram. I'd have posted this update sooner but I was flat to the boards catching up from February when I was pretty ill - and honestly, getting a new person onboarded actually does take time! Even when it's someone as well versed in what we do as Ben - whose contributions to The Frog stretch back to when I was drafting out content prior to the company launch.

I'm hugely excited about him being on board. This makes us a three, +1 person, company as Jane, our retained editor is definitely with us always. (Ben has already heard her voice message to me that started 'I can see what you are saying, but I'm sorry, you are completely wrong...' Yes, maybe I should have listened to it first before I said 'hey, check out this message from Jane, you can learn how we work together.')

Tasks have been divided internally, with Ryan focusing more on the fantasy content, Ben the sci-fi, me on everything and Jane looking over all our shoulders and fixing our mistakes.

That team, plus our irregular posse who chip in from the sidelines, who help proof, game test, idea discuss etc makes me so happy - and incredibly positive about the future of the business.

And speaking of the future. We are back on track with the return of The Oracle (yes, really - see here) and our next game campaign is on the verge of launching!

Rage at the Moon is my love letter to the classic Fighting Fantasy interactive gamebooks. I've been wanting to write a full-length version of one of these for such a VERY long time and now I have (well, I'm still writing it at the moment):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegrinningfrog/rage-at-the-moon

The full background can be read via the above link. In short, you have been bitten by a werewolf and must make a choice between embracing your new condition or rejecting it. I'm aiming for circa 400 paragraphs and around 200 pages of content.

Fully illustrated of course - in colour to add a little bite to things!

The campaign will go live this week (i.e. before the end of March)

This is a really personal campaign for me and it would be amazing to see people supporting it - also Ben ain't cheap, he won't work for coffee and doughnuts like me, he demands actual money. The cheek of him!

I'll end there, I think that's enough news for one article - those links again:

The Oracle

Rage at the Moon

And, if you see new content from The Frog online, feel free to like, share, reply and chat, we love to chat. Also, if you want to reach Ben directly, benjamin@thegrinningfrog.com will reach him. For the record, I deny every story he tells about me unless I sound really cool in the stories and then yes, those ones are definitely true.

Until next time, keep gaming.

Stephen