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February 16, 2010Streamlining the SiteDue to very infrequent use other than by the spammers, I have removed the message boards from the site. I apologize to those few who did use them for their intended purpose, but the amount of maintenance which had to be done was prohibitive.
I am also working on removing some outdated links on the site. If you find any links which are broken, please let me know.
I am working on restoring some data I lost after a computer failure, and as soon as that is done, one way or the other, I will begin updating the RPG Database again. Sorry for the lack of updates for the past couple years.
-Bobby
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December 29, 2007New forum designSpecial thanks to Eric Martindale of RolePlayGateway for updating the Message Board design to better match the rest of the site. The blue from the old design always looked odd, but I never had the chance to change it... Now it looks much better...
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July 09, 2007Back on TrackRegular visitors to the site no doubt noticed a severe lack of updates over the last few months. I have spent the last few days getting things back in order: getting the news up-to-date, clearing the spammers from the forums, working on the next RPG Database update, etc. There is still quite a bit to do, but you should be seeing things pick up around here.
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January 10, 2007Downtime UpdateWell, I have been doing everything I can think of the last few months to try to keep the server running on a more consistent basis, but it is still crashing at least once a day due to the strain caused by whoever is abusing the site. At this point, it looks like I will have to upgrade to a more robust server. I have found one that looks like it can handle the load, which I can afford on a monthly basis, but the set-up charges are still a bit out of my range (about $450 total). I hope to have what I need soon, but if anyone would like to help, I am putting out the hat, as it were. If you would like to make a donation to the site upgrade, you can use this PayPal button to do so:
Meanwhile, I am working on getting things back up to speed. I uploaded a small update to the RPG Database tonight, and will be trying to catch up on the backlog there. The art gallery is still going strong - David Leri joined a couple days ago, and there are a couple more new artists coming soon. Keep checking back; a lot of new content is coming soon.
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September 19, 2006DowntimeI apologize for the recent slow performance and downtime. Pen & Paper is currently suffering a denial-of-service attack, which is greatly degrading our server performance and causing frequent crashes. We are doing what we can to minimize the effects, but do not currently know how long this will last.
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August 07, 2006Off to Gen ConPen & Paper is currently getting ready to head off to Gen Con. If all goes well, I should have full net access from the hotel, so everything on the site should stay up to date. If things don't go well, though, you may not get any responses to emails until I return on Tuesday.
If anyone wants to meet up at the con, send me an email at bobby@pen-paper.net, and I can send you my cell #.
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April 29, 2006Industry News returns to Pen & PaperI have reconsidered the decision to no longer cover game industry news on the site. Ever since I made the announcement, I keep seeing things I would like to post about. So, you can now find the latest news on the Industry News page. I still do not plan on covering every product release announcement I receive, but you should start seeing some items of interest appearing there soon.
If you have a press release you would like to see appear on the site, you can email it to bobby@pen-paper.net.
Also, be on the lookout - our reviews section will be returning soon!
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April 22, 2006Flood of new gallery artistsWe have had quite a few outstanding artists join the gallery in the past month or so. Be sure to check them out!
Alex McVey is an illustrator whose work has been published internationally, ranging from album art to graphic design to book illustration. He has illustrated the works of Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale, Gahan Wilson, Gary Braunbeck, James Newman, Ramsey Cambpell, Richard Matheson, and many others. His clients include ad firms (Team Y & R), gaming companies (3AM Games, SJ Games, Fantasy Flight Games), and book and magazine publishers (Cemetery Dance Publications, Night Shade Books, Earthling Publications).
Andrew Johanson has been working professionally in the RPG field since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004. His work can be seen in products from Fantasy Flight Games.
Lee Carter is a full time concept artist for a videogame developer. He has worked freelance for a variety of Comic and RPG publishers, including Wizards of the coast, Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games, Green Ronin, Bizarre Creations, Arcane magazine, Mam-Tor Publishing and Boom Studios.
Pablo Palomeque has done illustrations for Goodman Games, Vajra Enterprises, Silven Publishing and The Inner Circle. Also, as a conceptual artist, he has done production paintings, sketch and conceptual design for movies, tv and commercials.
Allen Douglas is an award winning artist who has been working professionally as a freelance illustrator for more than 12 years. Clients he has worked for include Tor Books, Penguin Putnam, Random House, Harcourt, Dorchester Books, Holt Rinehart & Winston, Bookspan, Fantasy Flight Games, Realms of Fantasy, InQuest Gamer magazine, Eden Studios, and Iron Crown Enterprises.
Henning Ludvigsen is a Norwegian digital artist with basic traditional art education and with 12 years of experience in digital art, design, and illustration. He is currently working as the Art Director at a computer game development company in Greece, and is working on personal projects and commissions during his spare time, plus illustrating trading card games for Fantasy Flight Games.
Natascha Roeoesli, born and raised in Switzerland as the daughter of two photographers, is now currently living in Greece and working as a Freelance Illustrator and Concept Artist for gaming companies, as well as for private clients and Authors/Publishers since late 2005.
Aleksi Briclot works in the videogame industry as a concept artist and art director. He is also an illustrator for books, RPG books, magazines and a comic book artist. His work can be seen in products from Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf.
You can also see new work from Rick Sardinha, Mark Evans, and Anne Stokes. More coming soon!
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April 19, 2006Palladium Books needs your helpKevin Siembieda of Palladium Books has issued an open letter asking for help getting the company back on its feet. He will be doing a special edition print called "A Megaverse® United” and selling it to try to recover from a major financial loss.
While I was never a huge Rifts® fan, I will always have a soft spot for the TMNT RPG. Tank, the shotgun-toting armadillo, was created about two decades ago, and is still one of my favorite characters from any game.
Anyway, the point is, if, like me, you have ever enjoyed one of Palladium’s games, you might consider trying to help them out. You can find the post with all of the details here.
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April 13, 2006The message boards have returned!After a fairly thorough testing phase, I have brought back the Pen & Paper Message Boards. I was able to import most of the data from the old boards, but the old passwords do not seem to work. If you had an account on our old boards, the first time you log in, you will need to use the "I forgot my password" link below the log in button. This will email you a temp password that you can use to log in. You will also need to re-upload or re-select your avatar if you had one.
Please let me know if you encounter any problems.
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March 29, 2006Vote on the 2005 Pen & Paper Fan Awards!Voting for the 4th annual Pen & Paper Fan Awards is now open. Please take a moment to vote for your favorite products and industry professionals from 2005. As always, the voting is completely write-in - no pre-selected nominees are being imposed on you.
The ballot can be found here.
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March 26, 2006RPG Database update and new gallery artistWe have started the process of catching up on the RPG Database submissions. all of the submitted information for creators has been added, and we are starting on the submitted products. There are over 350 products in queue, so if you have submitted something that does not appear yet, please be patient. It will appear soon.
We also have a new artist showing work in our gallery. You may have seen Daarken's work in recent products from Wizards of the Coast and Fantasy Flight Games. His digital paint style is beautiful, so be sure to take a look.
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March 24, 2006Risen from the ashes...As many of you may have noticed, we experienced a prolonged period of downtime. After some investigation, it appears that Pen & Paper was the victim of a malicious attack. It is not known exactly how the hackers gained access to the server, though there are a couple of likely possibilities. Fortunately, there were backups of all of the site content. As the security of sections of the site is verified, those sections are being brought back online.
There will be some changes around here, however. We are going to be concentrating on the core components that have made Pen & Paper successful. The RPG database and art gallery will remain, as will some of the related items, such as the upcoming product release schedule (updates to that coming soon). Items which will not be returning are the industry news and forums. I realize this will disappoint a number of people, but they are currently not practical for the site. Pen & Paper simply does not have the manpower to adequately cover industry news. Other sites, such as GamingReport, do a much better job at this than we ever could. The forums are being removed due to serious security vulnerabilities in the code we were using (this is one of the possibilities as the source of the attack). If we can find a robust, secure forum codebase, and there is enough demand, the forums may return at a later date.
I believe these changes will improve the site overall. With the time saved by not covering industry news and moderating the forums, there should be more frequent updates to the RPG Database. Be on the lookout for several new artists showing their work in the gallery as well. And feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions on making the site more useful to you.
Bobby Hitt
Pen & Paper Editor
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