After an 8-month hiatus coinciding with the collegiate academic year, Joel Teply Productions is now in active development once again! Things to watch for this month include the long-awaited introduction of the Computer Conversions line of products, as well as an expansion of the current Chests, Crates, and Barrels line. Also, several fantastic new mods and independent games have been brought to my attention over the past eight months, and I will be initiating contact with them soon as to expanding the possibilities of the Computer Conversions line, as well as (hopefully) introducing a potential new line of Products, Two-Ways-To-Play, an Open-Game License set of miniatures gaming rules to allow fans to play tabletop versions of some of their favorite computer games, from strategy to first-person shooters.

RPGNow.com has paired up with DriveThruRPG.com to create a merger between these two market leaders in the electronic delivery of pen and paper roleplaying and miniatures products, books, supplies, and supplements. You can read the press release here. This means customers can now view and purchase Joel Teply Productions products, as well as those from myriad other publishers, from either venue thanks to the unified code system shared by both.

With the upcoming release of Chests, Crates, and Barrels series 1, Medium Driftwood Crates, Joel Teply Productions is looking for ideas on future extras to be made available for free download for this product. What would you like to see as contents in your crates? Insertable counters for swords and arrows? Hay-packed dragon eggs? Traps? Please drop us a line at custom_requests@joelteplyproductions.com and tell us what crate contenets you'd like, and we'll make them available for you, free of charge!

The first installment in the Chests, Crates, and Barrels series, Medium Driftwood Crates, will be available on August 4, 2006 from the Edge at RPGNow.com, under accessories/3-D Buildings/Terrain. Relatively sturdy containers constructed of light driftwood scavenged from along rugged coastlines, few adventurers expect to find wealth hidden in these makeshift crates...but what better place to hide contraband than in plain sight? Just make sure to remember that more lurks in crates than just silks and bananas....

Derek Warner has decided to postpone any decisions to license Copperhead: Retaliation for D20 conversion at this time. Here's hoping that things settle down for him soon so he can consider extending his excellent mod from the pixels of the computer screen to the fantastic dynamism of the roleplaying table!

Mr Ian S. Frazier, head of Team Lazarus, has graciously granted Joel Teply Productions permission to recreate the exquisitely designed locales of Team Lazarus’ mod Ultima V: Lazarus as cardstock creations in a new line of products to be known as Computer Conversions: Ultima V-Lazarus, architecture inspired by Ian S. Frazier and Team Lazarus. You can find out more about the Ultima V: Lazarus mod here. Look for the first installment of this new series in mid-August, the Keep of the Eternal Flame!

Joel L Teply Productions Online is shifting to a merchant account. Please be patient as products and demos may take some time to become available.

Joel L Teply Productions has officially become a member of the Edge at RPGNow.com! RPGNow.com is the premier online shopping mall for role-playing game needs: rule books, modules, fiction, paper miniatures, software, soundtracks and more, and the Edge is a proving ground for smaller publishers. Hundreds of publishers, from big names seen in print to small-press innovators, have come together there to make sure you can get what you want, when you want it, all via easy downloads, as well as a print-on-demand service to make hard-copies available.

I am currently seeking permission from the makers of the Ultima V: Lazarus mod for Microsoft Games' Dungeon Siege to recreate the incredible towns and locales they have crafted so well for the computer as paper models, so that roleplayers can enjoy them both on and off the computer screen. You can find out more about the Ultiuma V: Lazarus team and their Dungeon Siege mod here.

License negotitations with Derek Warner have begun for Copperhead: Retaliation, a mod for Microsoft Games' Dungeon Siege. Under Wizards of the Coasts’ Open Game License, I am asking his permission to create a D20 Modern Sourcebook detailing the Copperhead: Retaliation universe so roleplayers can enjoy his stunning mod both on and off the computer screen and to create a separate line of papercraft models for the structures introduced in Copperhead: Retaliation to enable both roleplayers and miniatures wargamers to recreate fantastic battles and adventures in the environments introduced in Copperhead: Retaliation. You can find out more about Derek Warner's Dungeon Siege mod Copperhead: Retaliation here.