Fabled Environments and the Savage Bloggers Network are excited to bring you the Fabled Environments Map Giveaway Contest. The rules for entry are simple.

How to Enter

Pick one or two maps from Fabled Environments’ current catalog with which you’d like to run encounters or an adventure. In 250 words or less submit a summary of the encounters or adventure. Submit your entry via email to contact@savagebloggers.net with the subject “FE Giveaway Entry” (or just click that email link).
Entries must be submitted by September 8, 2015!

Prizes

Three entries will be selected to win one of the prizes below.

First Place Prize

The first place winner will receive a copy of the full Fabled Environments Current Catalog – 7/15 Bundle.

Second Place Prize

The second place winner will receive a copy of the three Fabled Environments Kickstarter maps below:

• An Average Modern High School
• An Average Modern Shopping Mall
• An Average Wild West Town

Third Place Prize

The third place winner will be allowed to choose one of the Kickstarter map packs among the second place prizes above.

And for Each of the Three Winners…

Each of the winning contestants will have the opportunity to write up a one-sheet adventure based on their submitted summary to be published by Fabled Environments with full credit to the authors!

Questions?

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to use the email link above to reach us.

The Savage Bloggers Network Podcast has migrated off of SoundCloud and is now being hosted using Blubrry, WordPress, and PowerPress. Keen observers might notice that the entire SBN website has been migrated from Blogger to WordPress as well. This move brings both the updates from the main SBN web site and podcast content into a single home. For you, our loyal followers and listeners, the change should be transparent. (If you encounter any issues, please let us know!)

Why the Move?

Initially, I thought it would be easiest and more cost effective to host the Savage Bloggers Network on SoundCloud. It worked well for a little while, but I began to notice some features lacking from SoundCloud, and it seemed that its developers had a strange sense of priorities when it came to hosting podcasting. There are also rumors of SoundCloud facing some issues with generating revenue and funding as well as legal issues with the major music labels, ads being inserted in the service, and a subscription model coming up for listeners. As a result, I began to have concerns about hosting the podcast on SoundCloud because the service in general seems to be having an identity crisis.

I also found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with Blogger’s limitations. It was easy to migrate the site because it wasn’t deeply integrated in the Google ecosystem with Google comments and such. Additionally, it wasn’t the ideal platform for hosting a podcast. After doing some research, it seemed Blubrry + WordPress + PowerPress was the best combination.

Special thanks to the Gaming and BS Podcast for their promo code so that I could easily try out Blubrry without any additional cost.

Ron and Kristian have a lot of fun recording each episode of the Savage Bloggers Network Podcast, and they certainly don’t do it for the riches gained. Quite honestly, as time has passed, they pretty much do it for two reasons:

1. It’s cool to find things that are being created for Savage Worlds by fans, licensee, and publishers alike
2. It gives them an excuse to hangout once a week, which they like doing.

That said, there are costs associated with producing a podcast–mostly hardware, software, editing, and hosting.
Blubrry’s small hosting is relatively inexpensive at $12 per month, but the more shows we do (like Simply Savage), the higher the cost of hosting. Before those files can be uploaded for your savage ears to listen to, they have to be edited, exported, and tagged appropriately, which takes time to do it ourselves or money to pay someone else to do it.

Additionally, the software landscape is ever changing. We’d like to explore new products and services that can potentially streamline our production cycle. For example, using a web-based service for multi-point recording might be in our future to do better interviews.

None of this is to imply that the Savage Bloggers Network Podcast is intended to cost you money. We’ll still produce these episodes for everyone to enjoy freely. The purpose of this Patreon campaign is solely to help us offset the cost in a sustainable way so that we can continue bringing you highlighted content from the Savage Worlds community every week as well as interviews and savage advice on running and playing the game.

Your patronage helps us do it all faster, better, and more, and with that, we thank you for helping us keep it fast, furious, and fun!

Last night the SBN hosted its first ever Hangouts on Air with guests Clint Black and Ron Blessing discussing the recent change to the Shaken recovery rule.

[Note: We had some technical issues early on as well as some hosting n00b issues (forgot to enable Q&A prior to the show), but everything smoothed out before too long.]

If you missed the show, you can catch them on the SBN’s new YouTube as well as a podcast feed. Keep reading for more details and links.

YouTube

With the Hangout on Air comes SBN’s new YouTube channel. This episode could be the first of many to come, so be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel and follow the Savage Bloggers Network on Google+ for future HoA events.

Podcast

For those who want an audio-only podcast version, the content is available on the SBN Podcast.

Future Episodes

If you have any ideas for future episodes, feel free to drop a comment here or on Google+.