An Introduction

The First (Hopefully) of Many

Hello and welcome to the introductory instalment of The Lost Post, the blog and newsletter for Lost Path Publishing. These articles will hopefully appear on your screens every Monday if I can keep up a certain level of resolve. I started Lost Path Publishing last year as Loverboi Games, attaching it to the ‘brand’ (for want of a better word) I and Tom, my partner, had created for our Twitch channel where we play video games and chat. We still stream there, although life gets in the way and we’re currently on a bit of a hiatus as we just got our first dog last month and, like all puppies, he’s a bit of a handful, though very well-behaved for his age. His name, for those interested, is Strider and he’s a wonderful little munchkin though, being a Dogue de Bordeaux, won’t be little for very long. As I was saying, when I started making games and selling them on Itch we were trying to boost the Twitch channel which has taken a bit of a backseat in recent months. Therefore, still wanting to do something creative and with Twitter making its messy descent down the drain, I rebranded Loverboi Games as Lost Path Publishing so as to hopefully cover more than just TTRPGs and maybe include more than just my own input. With this has come The Lost Post, something I can put a bit of creative energy into whilst also writing other things. So there you go, you’re caught up!

Intentions For The Lost Post

Lost Path Publishing will hopefully be home to TTRPGs as well as other forms of creative writing and design. The Lost Post will be a platform, set apart from the current instability of social media, to promote and discuss the work published there. However, I will also be using this as a space to discuss things that I have been thinking about.

Something I deeply dislike about social media is, oddly enough, posting. It feels like walking down a busy street, everyone hurrying on their way with their own interests and concerns, and then shouting my thoughts out loud. A blog, I feel, is more like being at a party, sitting  in a room with friends and friends-of-friends, and having a chat. I don’t feel like my opinion is uncalled for or abrupt here. Also I can write in a longer format, which is nice. I’m enjoying this cup of tea that’s accompanying my short writing session. In fact, I’ve just popped the kettle on again. 

So, in the coming months, you can expect some reviews and discussions on the things I’m currently enjoying. I would like to talk about the design of Ghost of Tsushima, which Tom and I have collectively sunk about 130 hours into in the past month and neither of us are halfway through. I also would love to do a piece about Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees’ beautiful 1926 novel about a man going on an unexpected adventure on the borders of Faerie. I just finished my second read-through and I want to do a third soon as my book club is looking at it in a few weeks. The last thing I’ll mention here is that I would love to write something about a game of Dungeons & Dragons that I’m playing, run by my friend who’s done an incredible job of actually having us on track to finish a campaign. This will be a first for me at least and I’d like to mull over the rarity of this occurrence at our table and also simply reflect a bit on the story and the fantastic work that went into it. 

Plans for Lost Path Publishing

I am not currently writing any games, though I would like to change that before Christmas. Something I am doing is working on a
fantasy novel about a corrupt pardoner and a disillusioned old soldier coming into conflict with a theocratic church-nation. It would be nice to discuss this more fully in a future instalment of The Lost Post and also have it available to read once the first draft is done. It was meant to be a NaNoWriMo Project, but my November has been a bit hectic and it might have to be stretched out, although I would like to commit to finally writing a proper novel. 

I’m aware that maybe some of the folks reading this might not be overly familiar with my work, or might be familiar with the work but have forgotten that it’s mine what with the rebranding and all. So I’ll do a quick recap of what’s available. As it stands there are currently two projects available to download from the Lost Path Publishing Itch page. One is a solo-roleplaying game made for the Wretched & Alone system. Get your tumbling-block tower out from the board games cupboard, pick up a pack of cards while you’re at it, and try to escape a faerie queen’s realm before her hunters ride you down on one of the twisting, darksome roads of The Treacherous Realm. The other is one for fans of MÖRK BORG, though with a little work it could probably be reworked to suit your favourite OSR ruleset. Made for the  MÖRK BORG Album Crawl: Jam Session 2: Album Crawl Rocks the 80s game jam and inspired by Blue Öyster Cult’s Cultösaurus Erectus, your players’ scum will find awaiting them a host of unsavoury lizard-folk, unsettling Hungry Lads and the unprepared Marshall and his Marshals. Unleash upon them all the scaly horrors of the Lair of the Lizard Cult. 

To Wrap This Up

This has, frankly, been super enjoyable to write. I’m looking forward to writing some more subject-specific posts, but it was cool to do a little introduction without any kind of word limit. Thank you for reading and keep an eye out next week for another stray letter from The Lost Post.