Hi Folks,
As many of you know, I not only write books, but also design games. In fact, from 2006 to 2013, I owned the game publishing company, Lock 'n Load Publishing. I recently read a disturbing blog post detailing some nifty ideas by the new ownership (which is great), but also some rather shady implications about the company under my tenure (which is less than great). Following the reading, I decided to put down some
facts, clarifications, and a wish concerning LNLP. My desire is not to get into a flame
war, but rather clarify publicly, what has been said in public.
1. I am deeply upset by the Lowry's blog post found here. http://clubfantasci.com/lnl-publishing/ .
No one spoke to me concerning the article prior to its release. I spoke
with David Heath concerning the post last night (October 21st). David
states it was not his (Lowry's) intent (Lowry is a LNLP employee so I
assume his writing is approved by Heath) to throw me under the bus. I
believe Heath, but that said, the post, and Lowry's subsequent comments
on CSW about the "new" owners create a fiction that seems to
point to "things were not so good under Mark, things will be
better now".
2. I sold LNLP lock stock and barrel on March 25th, 2013. Let me repeat
that. I sold LNLP on March 25, 2013. Not a week ago, not just before
Lowry's weekend at LNLP, not six months ago, not a year ago. If Lowry
wishes to explain the chain of ownership, he may. Suffice to say, I
sold the company in March of 2013. I'm still employed with the company
as a designer.
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| The "old" LNLP. The new digs are much nicer. |
2. I think LNLP did pretty well under my ownership, The company
released 61 products in 6 years. That includes boxed games, ziplocks,
downloads, and books. As part of the sales agreement, I was
responsible, completely responsible (including the counter and
proofreading mistakes), for bringing home America Conquered, Desert
Heat, Space Infantry New Worlds, and Eisenbach Gap Deluxe. With the
exception of those four titles, LNLP has only been able to publish one,
new boxed game, and one new magazine in 19 months. Some of that lack of
movement is due to tooling up with the new printing gear (a great
idea). Some not.
3. I'm honestly not sure how many awards we garnered between 2006 and
2013. I'm going to guess it was in the neighborhood of six to seven,
let alone the nominations, which were in the dozens. Basically, we made
a lot of games that I loved playing. We were very lucky that many of
you loved playing them too. We were exceptionally lucky that many of
you helped, for no other reason than to help.
4. I screwed up. Yeah, I bet that's news, right? Three games that I can
think of (America Conquered, ATZ, and Warparty) were over a year late.
Other games, such as Swift and Bold, the original Eisenbach Gap, and to
a small extent HoB and IDD had flaws. I'm sure there were others... not
trying to dodge anything. I made mistakes; I think I tried to make them
right. I know I never stopped trying, but I also know that most of my
games garner an average of 8.0 on BGG, so... seems like they aren't
completely deplorable.
5. I don't think there was a lack of communication when I was at the
helm. Yep, I whined about cross posting in several different locations.
Never would have been able to do as much as I did without a lot of help
from you guys, but I attempted to keep you current, and I was brutally
honest. I would give you my best guess on delivery dates, and then
explain why I always missed them. After delivery dates and production
schedules were no longer in my hands, it was no longer my call, nor my
place to comment on them. I do know that in general, David Heath has
been very concerned with product delivery and is working to bring OOP
games back, and hiring a PR rep, such as Lowry certainly seems like a
positive step.
6. Finally, the wish. My "inside" friends tell me there has
been grumbling concerning the company's sale. That somehow I've abandoned
LNL, NAW, and WaW fans. Taken the money and run, so to speak. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Given the opportunity. I'll continue
to design and grow the systems (along with folks like Ralph Ferrari,
Matt Lohse, Jeff Schulte, and others). Lock 'n Load solitaire is the
tip of the iceberg, there's also a multiplayer version of WSR, LNL
minis, and the upcoming V2 rules for NAW, which will be published with
Stalin's Triumph. Keep in mind, that these are designs I'm working on,
but I can't set their publication dates, or even if they get published.
My wish is that you understand I'm as passionate about game design as I
have ever been, and I'm eager to help David Heath move LNLP forward.
What I am NOT eager about, nor will I tolerate, is the falsely
conceived impression that this edition of LNLP is built on the ashes of
some lesser version.
Bottom line, I'm proud on LNLP pre-March 2013, I hope to help David
Heath make the company as good as it once was.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver, he is the author of World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. They are all available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell?
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Comments
Thanks for the support. I think we can make this all work moving forward. I just wanted to make sure the facts were set straight for those who cared.
Best,
Mark
Dennis Felice
"It seems I have upset a few people with my article that was written and posted BEFORE my working with LnL Publishing as a contractor. I am not an employee of LnL Publishing as previously misreported.
My article was not poorly researched and I stand by it 100% first all. But it wasn't about Mark Walker. It was about LnL Publishing and where it stands today, what it shared with us as its future and its history on the issues I barely mentioned. That history includes David Heath, Jim Crabtree and Mark Walker. I stated that Mr. Heath recognizes these issues that they need to improve upon and took responsibility for it. I in no way mention Mark Walker, implied he didn't make great games or didn't have an impact in the war gaming world. However, the issues still stand on lateness of product, lack of communication, quality control through out the history of LnL Publishing. These issues are posted everywhere over the internet to include all the history of LnL not just the previous ownership. Since Mr. Walker at one time owned LnL Publishing, the issues were his responsibility at the time of his ownership and he is captain of his ship whether or not (this applies to David Heath as well) it was his fault. I specifically kept it very generic, because I know not every issue was specifically fault in particular especially when it comes to getting product from overseas and to not point fingers and post every issue I came across to not offend anyone.
As to Mark's comment about me not running it by him or that it was approved by Mr. Heath has no merit. I didn't have to run my article by anyone including him or Mr. Heath as I was not working with LnL Publishing at the time and I don't want outside influence in my articles. Mr. Walker was not an attendee at the summit, I have not met or ever talked with Mr. Walker so of course I would not seek is approval. The article was based on what I knew at the time and what was presented to me at the summit, discussions with people in the industry, reading the forums, videos on YouTube and reviews. LnL Publishing had absolutely NO involvement in the writing of that article. Nor should it have any involvement. It wasn't meant as a fluff piece and certainly needed context as to the struggles it is having versus the direction I felt was positive and exciting."
My only comment is... I have no idea what that means. Okay, it's not my only content. A bit of research into the industry would have revealed that all game companies have problems with timely delivery, not just LNLP. Nor did I try to duck any responsibility Mr. Lowry, just pointed out what a poorly researched and lopsided article it was.
As to employment... well, you might want to check with David Heath. He told me that he hired you to handle PR.
Could you drop me an email, please? markatmarkhwalkerdotcom thanks!
To the same extent, I enjoyed Lowry's article and it was intriguing to see what as in development. In truth, the article didn't need to cast stones for any reason and it would've achieved its purpose.
What I read in Lowry's post didn't seem to contradict any of the good or bad. He seemed to be trying to bridge the gap between typical retail exceptions (Amazon -- everything the world has to offer in less than two days) and the random Internet grousing that accompanies every devotion. I can see why that may be useful -- newcomers sometimes rely on those impressions for important, initial purchase decisions.
That said, he probably won't realize his objectives. He's not going to make the trolls happier (like trying to proving a negative) and most adults looking for things on the Internet know to take the positive and negative with salt. LnL's challenges are also not over -- Heath probably isn't a miracle worker. This makes expectation management such as this troublesome at best.
The only real path, IMO is progress -- keep making and releasing the best products, as best they can. The track record does and will continue to speak for itself.