My thanks to Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern for bringing this news to my attention.
Here is the story straight from Fiery Dragon:
The Jeff Freels Transfer Fund
When the Fiery Dragon crew gets together to play a fantasy or sci-fi or post-apocalyptic rpg, we pretend we’re amazing individuals with crazy histories and mystical abilities. We use our imagination and pretend the impossible is possible.
And then you deal with someone like Jeff Freels, the blind artist, and you quickly redefine what amazing abilities are. Jeff is a guy who came to us through the Tunnels & Trolls community, and his art captures the feel and magic of that game perfectly.
Now, whatever challenges our characters may face in our fantasy roleplaying games, Jeff is certainly dealing with issues that are just as difficult and facing them as bravely as any warrior. Jeff needs a kidney transplant.
He’s created a page on his website that gives the details of his situation and his plan: http://www.jeffwerx.com/tf.html. Inspired by Jeff’s courage, we’d like to help him raise money for this worthy cause.
Fiery Dragon will be donating a portion of the proceeds from every digital and direct sale (from our website) of all Tunnels & Trolls products sold in 2012. We’ve just released CASTLE OF THE DEAD, a T&T Solo Adventure that features Jeff’s artwork, and we’ll be re-releasing the latest version of the Tunnels & Trolls Roleplaying Game rules and additional adventures throughout the year.
Together we can enjoy a great game and help a great cause. Thanks for your support.
Wow! That's really great news. I was planning to buy a new copy from Shippy, but I'd rather get it from Fiery Dragon instead.
ReplyDeleteanem kram from Trollhalla
I'm glad that Fiery Dragon, as one of the legitmate, licensed publishers, will be making the work available (as opposed to a publisher that has no license or permission from the original designers and developers and artists who did the work in the first place). AND Fiery Dragon is supporting Jeff as well? That's a win on every count.
ReplyDeleteAnem Kram, Shipman is NOT a legitimate source for T&T material. You should NOT do business with him. There is in fact a boycott of his company by the T&T community.
ReplyDeleteHis rights to use the trademarked name Tunnels and Trolls have been revoked. It has also been shown that he steals artwork and writing in 'his' publications. I can say this as someone he has stolen from. He has recently been copying posts from this blog, putting them in 'his' magazines and trying to sell them for personal profit. That is illegal. He also sells scanned and printed pirated copies of books; again illegal. If you purchase something from him you have no idea what you are going to get. He habitually tries to sell items that are freely available (like TrollsZine) and sells other items at ridiculous mark-ups (+50%). He shows nothing but contempt for his customers.
If he were doing these things with TSR or WOTC products you can believe he'd be shut down in an instant. But of course, he has also stolen art and written material from old TSR and Games Workshop publications such as the OD&D books and Gamma World.
If you purchase from Shipman you are hurting the Tunnels and Trolls community, it's creator Ken St. Andre, legitimate T&T writers and artists, and the RPG community as a whole. You are inhibiting the production of new material. If you want to see new and better T&T material, do business with those people listed on this blog (and in a future post).
For more details on this issue please go to:
http://geek-related.com/2009/12/11/outlaw-press-aka-jim-shipman-is-a-big-crook/
http://stardust-publications.com/outlaw-press/
http://mxyzplk.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/outlaw-press-covers-comparison-part-2.pdf
http://geek-related.com/2010/01/07/outlaw-press-thieving-update/
http://geek-related.com/2010/01/19/outlaw-pressjim-shipman-sinks-to-demented-pathetic-new-lows-in-art-theft-scandal/
http://geek-related.com/2010/02/03/further-jim-shipman-warnings-sigh/
http://geek-related.com/2010/08/13/jim-shipman-of-outlaw-press-still-actively-committing-evil-acts
http://geek-related.com/2010/09/08/jim-shipman-gets-told/
http://geek-related.com/2010/10/14/outlaw-games-resurfaces-to-rip-you-off/
http://www.bakabanashi.com/arp/oldblog.php?id=349
http://falckart.blogspot.com/2009/12/stolen-art.html
There are many, many more. Perhaps this may require a new post?
Disclaimer: All of the information in the links above is freely available on the web and a matter of public record. It is used here for educational purposes.
ReplyDelete