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Symbaroum: Yndaros – The Darkest Star expansion Released TodayFree League Publishing – Dec 14, 2018 11:06 GMT
The shimmering virgin white snow that had fallen during the night lay like a covering blanket over Yndaros’ filth, but he knew what hid underneath. Neither the snow nor all who toiled at scrubbing and decorating the streets in honor of the Duchess’ wedding could erase the true rot, no more than they could wash away the shadows… Rejoice, today the Symbaroum-expansion Yndaros –The Darkest Star created by Free League Publishing has released. Welcome to Yndaros, the aching heart of the realm, and the stage where episode three in the campaign Chronicle of the Throne of Thrones plays out. Symbaroum: Yndaros –The Darkest Star presents an epic adventure where the players’ wits, as well as the characters’ abilities, will be pitted against truly daunting challenges. The tabletop roleplaying book features resources for both the players and the Game Masters, describing a brand new setting and introducing new rules. Watch the Symbaroum: Yndaros the Darkest Star trailer here: Read about Symbaroum: Yndaros the Darkest Star expansion here:
SYMBAROUM: YNDAROS – THE DARKEST STAR Featured content:
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Category: Role Playing
PRESS RELEASE – 2019 Charity Partners Announcement, Upper Deck Holiday Catalog, and Gen Con 2018 Videos on The Fantasy Network
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RPG NEWS ROUNDUP: LIFE IS A SERIES OF RPG ARTICLES, PRESS RELEASE, AND GAMES
This week, I wrote, posted, or inspired (using that term as loosely as possible) several gaming articles as well as a stack of press releases across the RPG news world. Did I publish a ton this week? Not as much as some weeks, but I still was involved in games as a writer, as a reader, and, on Saturday, as a gamer. I wanted to chronicle that, yet what I’ve written is less a clever review of my week and more of my log of my RPG life events this week. One day I’ll reread this post and see how much and how little I did. Go, Team Egg’s Diary!
NEW ARTICLES:
For EN World, I contributed the “RPG Crowdfunding News 125” in which I looked at the Kickstarters for Torg Eternity – The Nile Empire, The Adventurer’s Prayer, Vindeon, Tegel Manor Returns!, Lost Hall of Tyr, The Vagabond’s Cyclopedia, and more. In the article, I dropped the first mention of the Kickstarter Zine Quest article that Sean Hillman (EN World) and I are planning to do. Since taking over this column from Angus Abranson four weeks ago, my editor, Mike Tresca, and I have searched for a format that makes these articles an easier read while distinguishing the work from my “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back” column on the Open Gaming Network. Thanks to feedback in the comments section of this week’s article, and a note from Morrus, EN World’s owner, it appears that next week’s article will be the finalized format we’re going to run with. I’m excited about that.
Add to that, this column is used as fuel for Morrus and Peter Coffey’s podcast, Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. They used last week’s article, “RPG Crowdfunding News 124,” to play their “Favourite Game in the World” (starting at 25:17) wherein Morrus gives a Kickstarter’s name and Peter Coffey guesses what the game is about. The results are determined by points but only failures Peter may cause the world to explode. It’s nice to see my work put to good use… or worldwide devastation.
As mentioned above, for the Open Gaming Network, I did another in my “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back” series. While I reviewed the Kickstarters for Into the Wyrd and Wild by Charles Ferguson-Avery and Low Fantasy Gaming – Deluxe Edition from Pickpocket Press, I also looked at Rogue Genius Games’ ALL Genius Guide Bundle! Over 100 Pathfinder 1e products from Owen KC Stephens (Starfinder Design Lead at Paizo Inc.) for $10 available at the Open Gaming Store until the end of the year. Lots of good games to choose from.
Beyond my regular piece for the OGN, I posted (but did not write) another article. Let’s start this story at Origins Game Fair 2018. There, I ran into Cubicle 7’s Andy Peregrine (Doctor Who RPG) and we talked about what games he’d discovered at the show. He shared Nomnivore Games’ Emberwind: The Skies of Axia, which is an epic looking game based in original mechanics. That was June, fast forward to December and Nomnivore Games is running a Kickstarter for EMBERWIND: a new breed of tabletop RPG. Andy, because he loves gaming and is happy to support the industry, did a review of Emberwind: The Skies of Axia to boost the current Kickstarter. It was an excellent gesture by him proving he is a gentleman as well as an RPG professional. However, writing is only part of the battle, so Andy asked if I could help on the publishing side. Being asked to help is an honor and I wanted to do the best I could by Andy, thus I was able to work with my editor on the Open Gaming Network, Kim Frandsen, and get his article published as “OGN Guest Reviews – Andrew Peregrine Reviews Emberwind: The Skies of Axia”. Not mine, but I’m still proud to have helped out and hope you give it a read.
Here on the Tessera Guild, it’s mostly publishing other company’s press releases [see below]. That said, last Friday I shared a piece I was proud to put together discussing, at the highest level, how EN World, the Open Gaming Network, and RPGnet fund their RPG articles (read it here). “Funding RPG News” looks at their ads, stores, Patreons, and crowdfundings to help illustrate how the articles we read are paid for and how you can be involved in bringing them to life.
Speaking of funding and Patreons, Morrus (EN World) started a new one that offers EN5ider adventures as One Page Adventure For DnD! I thought this was an interesting idea and when Morrus’ Patreon newsletter arrived, I decided I could lift it and make something of an announcement using it. With minimal edits, I turned the letter into a press release and put it up here. It’s gained some interest and, I hope, led to more fans joining Morrus’ latest Patreon.
PRESS RELEASE:
- SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons: The Cryptid Manual Coming to Kickstarter
- PAIZOCON 2019 BADGES ON SALE NOW
- GEN CON – 2019 Charity Partners Announcement, Upper Deck Holiday Catalog, and Gen Con 2018 Videos on The Fantasy Network
- Symbaroum: Yndaros – The Darkest Star expansion Released Today
- Kickstarter for MUTANT YEAR ZERO: ELYSIUM RPG – Three Days to Go Before Humanity Falls [NOTE: This Kickstarter has already ended.]
CONVERSATIONS:
I contributed some interview questions to Ed Jowett (Shades of Vengeance) to appear in an upcoming project. Despite this being our 6th interview (four at the Tessera Guild and one on the Open Gaming Network), he had exceedingly pleasant things to say about the questions. As ever, it’s uplifting to be told your work is good.
I talked with Doug Cole about his Kickstarter, the Lost Hall of Tyr (2nd Edition): Maps and Print Run. I wrote about his project on EN World and, as I do, messaged him to point out the article. From that, we talked and he shared a lot of his work and plans for the project, his 5e variant, Dragon Heresy, and his custom, full-sized Viking shields (available via the Kickstarter). There’s a lot to this project and it’s worth lending it an eye (Odin One Eye would appreciate it).
PURCHASES:
Beyond what I wrote, I also bought a few items. From the Open Gaming Store’s Warehouse Clearance Sale going on during December, 2018, I picked up Rite Publishing’s Lords of Gossamer & Shadow (Diceless) softcover and PDF for 50% off – $20! Yes, diceless roleplaying! Why try diceless? You have not seen my rolls, if you had you’d know I’d be better off sans dice.
From Amazon, I picked up Kobold Press’ Creature Codex. (As of this writing, it’s $30.03 PRIME then you can take off another $5 then another 10% off. Original price is $49.99. Final price as of this writing is $22.03!)
I’m a sucker for monster manuals and bestiaries, I buy all of them that I can. This is Wolfgang Baur and company’s second monster manual for 5e and it’s a strong addition to the gaming table. Match it up with Kobold Press’ other MM, Tome of Beasts, WotC’s Monster Manual, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, and Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica, as well as Frog God Games’ Fifth Edition Foes and you’ll have monsters enough for the life of this system.
To further fill my monster appetite, I’m reading Power Up Games’ L’gat’s Tome of Amazing Creatures Volume 2. PUGs’ collection of 26 monsters for 5e touches on most every CR with original ideas for your table. What makes this project stand out is each creature’s depth and the creator’s quest to make this product accessible for disabled players. “[Y]ou will find a table listing all of the Named Locations from within the various descriptions throughout the book. Within this table, as well as the name and description, you will find sections relating to the different senses. This is an attempt to allow you as GM a way to make the world both more immersive and accessible to disabled players.” If you’re interested, try it out here.
As an added treat, under the Special Thanks, they mention the Tessera Guild (and myself). It made me feel special.
GAMING:
That leaves gaming this Saturday. Indy RPGing in the early afternoon, Adventures in Middle-Earth in the evening. Wish me good dice rolls!
PRESS RELEASE – PAIZOCON 2019 BADGES ON SALE NOW
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (December 12, 2018): Join Paizo at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in SeaTac, WA over Memorial Day weekend (May 24–27). Meet your favorite Paizo designers, developers, editors, artists, authors, and more for 4 days of amazing gaming, workshops, behind-the-scenes looks, and an entire ballroom filled with Pathfinder and Starfinder Society organized play tables.
PaizoCon 2019 also heralds the relaunch of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, plus its latest Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne. The Starfinder team will also have some secrets to share, and Paizo will definitely have some Pathfinder Second Edition reveals.
The Guests of Honor are Liane Merciel and Wayne Reynolds, with special guests The Glass Cannon Podcast.
Pricing:
- 4-day Badges are $75.00
- 4-day Kid Badges are $40.00
- PaizoCon Preview Banquet Tickets are $45.00 and include an exclusive commemorative item available only to attendees at the Preview Banquet and through auctions or prizes at select charity events.
- Purchasing a 4-day Badge (regular) and a Preview Banquet ticket together are $110 ($10 savings)
Learn more and register at PaizoCon.com.
About Liane Merciel
Liane Merciel is the author of critically acclaimed novels including The River Kings’ Road, Dragon Age: Last Flight, and Pathfinder Tales: Hellknight. She has also contributed to game materials such as Paizo’s Nidal: Land of Shadows, Faiths of Golarion, and other forthcoming releases. Liane lives in Philadelphia with two unruly mutts, her husband, and an extremely funny adventure toddler.
About Wayne Reynolds
Wayne Reynolds is a freelance illustrator with over 20 years of experience contributing artwork to the publishing industry. His work has appeared in roleplaying games, collectable card games, board games, and miniature designs. He has contributed cover art and internal illustrations for comics, novels, and historical reference books. Reynolds defined the look and feel of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game’s iconic characters, setting the gold standard for all of the art to follow. His superlative work has graced the covers of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Boxand numerous volumes of Pathfinder Adventure Path, as well as the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and every Pathfinder hardcover Paizo has produced since. Wayne continues to work with Paizo’s designers to reveal never-before-seen corners of Golarion, while his own in-depth knowledge of historic weapons, armor, and fighting styles brings the most exciting elements of the Pathfinder RPG to life.
About The Glass Cannon Network, LLC
Following the rules of the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs, The Glass Cannon Network endeavors to create weekly captivating epic fantasy stories accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike. Interweaving immersive storytelling with irreverent, improvised humor, the GM and players deliver the experience of what it’s really like to sit around a table rolling dice with your closest friends. Professional high-quality audio, complex and memorable three-dimensional characters, instructional elements designed to enlighten both new and veteran players, and a commitment to community-building among fans all combine to make The Glass Cannon an exciting and innovative voice in podcasting.
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® Roleplaying Games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases, to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – One Page Adventure For DnD!
I have just launched a Patreon for my One Page Adventures (which you may have seen posted on EN World [The Business of Emotion, or Croaking Sirocco], Twitter, or elsewhere). I will be creating one or two one-page adventures for DnD each month. These are adventures designed for one session of play, each being a standalone adventure with its own theme. Each adventure is contained on a single side of one A4/letter-size sheet of paper, and is available for download in PDF format. These will be available for free, but I really appreciate your contributions, as each takes many hours to put together, and so patrons will get them earlier.
ABOUT ME
My name is Morrus, and I run the RPG news website EN World. I also have a weekly podcast called Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk, and I am the co-founder of the ENnies. I also do loads of other stuff!
WHAT DO I GET?
You’ll get one, sometimes two, one-page adventures per month. I will be releasing these for free online in PDF format.
One-page adventures are short and to the point. As an exercise in writing economy, they are distilled down to the very basics. Monsters and NPCs always use standard stat blocks references in bold (the usual 5E style), and area descriptions are kept to the bare minimum. For example, Two-Lips’ farm in the first adventure, The Business of Emotion, is described thusly: “Flower fields and a small farmhouse. TWO-LIPS, a gnome noble, directs a crew of six gnome commoners.”
HOW MUCH IS IT?
That’s up to you! Patreon is a “pay-what-you-want” subscription model. YOU decide what these are worth to you. I have suggested a couple of amounts – $1 and $5 – which should suit a range of budgets. But it’s your decision. What’s a one-page adventure worth? I would say, though, that a cup of coffee costs between $3 and $6 depending where you are in the world, and each of these takes me many hours to make!
And don’t forget, if you change your mind, you can cancel at any time. There’s no obligation!
WHO MAKES THESE?
Some of these adventures are converted from longer adventures I have commissioned from other writers elsewhere (you can see the original creator of each at the bottom of the adventure), while others I will write myself. The layout is my own work, as is the conversion and distillation.
CAN I SEE AN EXAMPLE?
Of course you can! Just scroll down and you’ll see links to the first two One Page Adventure. You can grab it for free, but I would really appreciate your support! If you like these, please do become a patron. You can pay what you want – every bit helps.
Examples on EN World: The Business of Emotion, or Croaking Sirocco.
Over on the Patreon there are already two adventures posted! Go grab ’em! And if you like them, please consider becoming a patron!
PRESS RELEASE – Kickstarter for MUTANT YEAR ZERO: ELYSIUM RPG – Three Days to Go Before Humanity Falls
| Free League Publishing |
| Kickstarter for MUTANT YEAR ZERO: ELYSIUM RPG – Three Days to Go Before Humanity Falls Free League Publishing – Dec 10, 2018 17:18 GMT |
When nations and authorities collapse, only the most basic human bond remains – family. While the world burns, the powerful dynasties build an enclave deep in the bedrock named Elysium I. But as time goes by, the Houses turn on each other and enclave workers begin to question their masters…
The Houses create a force of judicators, with the authority to strike against anything that threatens order in the enclave. You are one of these judicators. It is your duty to investigate crimes and impose the appropriate sentences. But your strongest loyalty is always towards your family.
It is end of the world as you know it – prepare for an experience where Judge Dredd meets Game of Thrones deep underground in MUTANT YEAR ZERO: ELYSIUM. When Powerful Houses struggle for supremacy and workers long for an equal and open world, what side will you find yourself on?
The third major expansion, fully playable as a standalone game, is set in the universe of the award-winning postapocalyptic MUTANT: YEAR ZERO RPG by Free League Publishing. With THREE DAYS left of the Kickstarter, Mutant: Elysium has raised over 90,000 USD. The crowdfunding campaign for ends on Thursday, December 13 2018 9:00 PM CET.
READ MORE ABOUT MUTANT: ELYSIUM AT KICKSTARTER:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-elysium-roleplaying-humanitys-final-fall
MUTANT: ELYSIUM FEATURES:
- ENCLAVE HUMANS – Mutant: Elysium introduces non-mutant humans as a playable class in Mutant: Year Zero.New rules for creating and playing enclave humans, including their web of contacts with rich and powerful allies.!
- ELYSIUM I – A detailed description of Elysium I, the mother of all Elysium enclaves, including a full-color map.
- GUARDIANS OF THE FALL – The complete campaign Guardians of the Fall, that will settle the final fate of the enclave.
- ADAPTING TO LIFE IN THE ZONE – An overview of how the enclave humans can adapt to life in the Zone, and join the mutants, animals and robots of Mutant: Year Zero, Mutant: Genlab Alpha and Mutant: Mechatron
- ART by acclaimed artists Simon Stålenhag and Reine Rosenberg
ABOUT MUTANT: YEAR ZERO – ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS
[ Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules. ]
“Mutant: Year Zero blew me away on a personal level. I did not know of its existence, and suddenly I realise that I am holding a masterpiece, probably the best post-apocalyptic game on the market.”-RPGNet
Mutant: Year Zero is the latest version of the classic Swedish tabletop roleplaying game Mutant, first published in 1984. The postapocalyptic game Mutant: Year Zero was named Best RPG at UK Games Expo 2015 and awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015.
The first major expansion Mutant: Genlab Alpha tells the story of the mutant animals.
The second major expansion Mutant: Mechatron introduces robots into the Mutant universe.
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds.
The post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon.The dark fantasy roleplaying game Symbaroum has earned several nominations and awards, including a Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards 2016. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying game Tales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game.
Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World.
We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign.
Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FriaLigan
Instagram: http://instagram.com/frialigan/
Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/FrialiganSe
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FriaLigan
PRESS RELEASE – SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons: The Cryptid Manual Coming to Kickstarter
On January 15th, 2019 Bloat Games will launch their 5th RPG Kickstarter for SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons: The Cryptid Manual. This will be the 3rd Kickstarter from the SURVIVE THIS!! line, created by Bloat Games founder, Eric Bloat, in 2015 and the 2nd in the Dark Places & Demogorgons series (Created by Eric Bloat and Josh Palmer). All of Bloat Games previous Kickstarters have funded, including their most recent Kickstarter, SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City, which funded at nearly $13,000.
Bloat Games will be using Drivethrurpg for both digital and physical fulfillment.
The Cryptid Manual is Bloat Games first exclusively Bestiary/Monster Manual type of product. However, instead of using the same monsters that find their ways into most Bestiaries, for the Cryptid Manual, Bloat Games focused on highlighting the creatures of Cryptozoology from all around the world. If you’ve ever wanted to run your players against a Big Foot, a Lake Monster, The Mothman or Jersey Devil, then this supplement will be a must have. While the Cryptid Manual was created for Dark Places & Demogorgon it can easily be used with any OSR game, with very little conversion needed by the DM.
The physical book will be approximately 90 pages, full color, digest size (6×9) and available in hard cover and softcover.
https://bloatgames.squarespace.com/cryptidmanualpressrelease/
Funding RPG News
Do you read RPG news? Like most of the games and accessories that make up tabletop roleplaying games, producing it is a labor of love, and by “labor of love,” I mean it costs money. If you click on any major media online news site, you’ll see walls of ads along with paywalls requiring you to buy a subscription to know what’s going on in the wider world. Reporting the news costs. Just like those websites, RPG news sites have costs that have to be defrayed including paying for the site, site upgrades, the journalists, the editors, any budget to cover conventions or specific stories, and more. Without bombarding you with ads (BleedingCool) or creating a paywall (ICv2), how is reporting the stories that impact your gaming table paid for? To answer that, I review three RPG news sites and how they keep the lights on. This is not an in-depth examination of their finances or records, instead this piece looks at the visible and public means by which they pay for their works.
- EN World (My work for them can be found here)
- Open Gaming Network (OGN) (My work for them can be found here)
- RPGnet
[Disclaimer: I freelance for EN World and OGN.]
EN World: Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG News
This site is one of the largest RPG news sites in the English-reading world, with content focused on D&D and Pathfinder, as well as other TTRPGs. The site is part of EN Publishing, which produced several well-funded Kickstarters including the recent success, Judge Dredd and the World of 2000 AD RPG.
How is EN World funded? The easiest way to see how the site makes a return is via ads. Like all of the sites that I’ll mention in this article, EN World makes use of game-related banner ads that generate revenue through views/impressions/clicks. Beyond that, there are more direct methods that fund EN World including contributions via Patreon. The following Patreons represent a variety of content from journalism to podcasts to games:
- EN World Patreon : Creating RPG articles. As a reward for being a Patreon, you’ll get to see some articles before they’re published on EN World.
- EN5ider : Creating D&D 5th Edition supplements and adventures at very reasonable rates.
- TRAILseeker : Creating Pathfinder and Starfinder RPG supplements while keeping costs low.
- EONS : Creating the official magazine of the WOIN roleplaying game system. WOIN is the EN Publishing house system, and the engine on which the new Judge Dredd and the World of 2000 AD RPG runs.
- MORRUS’ UNOFFICIAL TABLETOP RPG TALK (Patreon here, podcast here) : A weekly free podcast of the major RPG news bits from the prior week, a game of guess the Kickstarter, skits, and, occasionally, industry guests.
- One Page Adventures for DnD : Morrus’ newest Patreon “creating one or two one-page adventures for DnD each month.”
Beyond Patreons, EN Publishing’s finished content is available through DriveThruRPG here.
Clearly, there are many ways to support EN Publishing, but what’s the best way to support articles on EN World? Of those, the primary option is their EN World Patreon. Contributions to that Patreon go directly to funding the articles you enjoy on EN World.
Open Gaming Network
This site is the hub for John Reyst’s family of Open Gaming sites including the Open Gaming Store and his massive collection of SRDs for different games. What sites does John support? d20PFSRD, Starjammer SRD, 3.5e SRD, 5th Edition SRD, Swords and Wizardry SRD, Black Hack SRD, 13th Age SRD, d20HeroSRD, The Modern Path SRD, Dungeon World SRD, Traveller SRD, GumshoeSRD, FateCoreSRD, FudgeSRD as well as the Open Gaming Network.
With that many sites, the better question might be: how does he pay for all of them? Like the other websites on this list, the sites draw some revenue from game-centric ads. Beyond that, there’s a few other options:
- Open Gaming Store : A TTRPG-specific online store that allows vendors to sale their products while taking a small commission per sale. Any sale made via the OGS leads to revenue that keeps the OGN and SRD sites going. Currently, their rates are listed as “20% on digital (downloadable) products or 30% on physical products that WE ship.” [Source]
- d20PFSRD.com Patreon : This Patreon allows you to direct-fund the whole of the Open Gaming Network’s variety of sites and, at certain levels, provides you with discounts to the OGS and/or access to all of the d20PFSRD.com Publishing material.
- d20PFSRD.com content is available on DriveThruRPG here : There’s a mantra that’s something like, “Be where your customers are.” d20PFSRD.com Publishing could only sale through the OGS, but they want to be available to their fans so they decided to cast a wider net and appear on DTRPG.
With those choices, what is the best way to support the Open Gaming Network? Direct contributions to their Patreon ensure that they can continue to create new content for the games you love while delivering some RPG news. Alternately, if you’re not able to contribute monetarily, but still want to assist, the Open Gaming Network is looking for OGL/SRD transcribers and compensating them for their efforts. To learn the details, click here.
RPG.net
“RPGnet is the oldest & largest independent roleplaying site on the Internet. It was founded in 1996 by Emma Antunes and is now owned and run by Skotos Tech, an online game company.” [Source]
Like the prior RPG sites, RPGnet makes use of ads to support its content. Beyond rotating ads, RPGnet focuses on curating sponsors and patrons that fit with its culture and direction. These sponsors include some well-known game companies and services:
- Skotos Tech : “Skotos Tech offers a theater for multiplayer interactive fiction. It hosts a community of StoryPlayers, who enjoy playing in other people’s worlds, and StoryBuilders, who enjoy creating worlds for them. Skotos’ technology, in the form of the StoryBuilder Server, brings them together.” [Source]
- DriveThruRPG : “DriveThruRPG.com is part of a family of premiere online marketplaces including
RPGNow[closing soon], DriveThruRPG, DriveThruCards, DMsGuild, DriveThruComics, DriveThruFiction, and Wargame Vault. Together, we have been selling digital and print-on-demand comic books, roleplaying games, and fiction since 2001.” [Source] - Scabard : “A freemium website for organizing RPG campaigns.” [Source]
Beyond those sponsors, there are fan contributions gathered through their annual Indiegogo campaign. Until December 19th, RPGnet 2018 Membership Drive is live on Indiegogo allowing backers to contribute to improving RPGnet. Backing this campaign not only supports RPGnet, it can grant you a set of 10 RPG PDFs:
[NOTE: This crowdfunding campaign ended on December 19th, 2018.]
- Pelgrane Press’ Book of Ages for 13th Age
- Pelgrane Press’ Loot Harder for 13th Age
- Rogues Games’ Embrace for 5E
- Flying Buffalo’s T&T Adventures Japan for Tunnels & Trolls
- Legendary Games’ Legendary Planet for Starfinder
- Arc Dream’s The Unspeakable Oath #25
- Rogue Games’ 3e Colonial Gothic Rulebook
- Rogue Games’ Colonial Gothic Atlas
- Rogue Games’ adventure Flames of Freedom: Beginnings
- Posthuman Studio’s Transhumanity’s Fate: The Fate Conversion Guide for Eclipse Phase
- And a membership to RPGnet
What’s the best way to support RPGnet? Their Indiegogo RPGnet 2018 Membership Drive is your only direct option, and it ends on December 19th, 2018 so check it out here while you can.
For a little more on their philosophy, here’s RPGnet’s thoughts on ads from their Indiegogo campaign:
Though ads and affiliations pay some of our costs, we are picky about which ads and ad networks we use, so that we can maintain high-quality ads that are likely to be of interest and that won’t distract our readers. We’ve opted out of high-value ads that include audio, that expand, or that are placed as interstitials between pages. We forbid dating ads, gambling ads, gold-farming ads, political ads, and certain other categories of advertising.
As a result, we occasionally ask RPGnet readers to become members, in order to help support the community. We’ve done this on a somewhat ad hoc basis in the past, but now that crowdfunding has matured, we’ve turned to IndieGoGo for our annual RPGnet Membership Drive.
We hope that you’ll join us, and help to support the RPGnet community.
PRESS RELEASE – PAIZO AND GLASS CANNON EXTEND PARTNERSHIP
PAIZO AND GLASS CANNON EXTEND PARTNERSHIP
“A couple things are gonna happen…”
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (December 6, 2018): Paizo Inc. and the Glass Cannon Network are pleased to announce that their licensing partnership has been extended another three years. This includes both The Glass Cannon podcast for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Androids & Aliens for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.
“Our whole enterprise began out of a love bordering on obsession for Pathfinder and the adventures that Paizo puts out. We are thrilled to be extending this partnership at an exciting time in the industry as tabletop RPGs continue to explode into the mainstream and technology allows people worldwide to take part in a shared gaming experience with us on an almost daily basis,” said Troy Lavallee, CEO of The Glass Cannon Network.
“We’re excited to continue adventuring through GCP’s imagination as they bring our Pathfinder and Starfinder Adventure Paths to life through their gifted storytelling,” said Jim Butler, Vice President of Marketing & Licensing at Paizo. “We look forward to working with Troy, Joe, Matthew, Skid, and Grant as they continue their foray into the Pathfinder and Starfinder universes.”
The Glass Cannon Network includes The Glass Cannon Podcast, Raiders of the Lost Continent and their Glass Cannon Live! Tour where they play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventure Paths Giantslayer, Ruins of Azlant, and Strange Aeons as well as Androids & Aliens, their Starfinder Roleplaying Game Dead Suns podcast.
The Glass Cannon Network Patreon page at http://www.patreon.com/
Learn more and find links to Glass Cannon Network podcasts, blogs, events, and store pages at https://glasscannonpodcast.com
About The Glass Cannon Network, LLC
Following the rules of the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPG systems, The Glass Cannon Network endeavors to create weekly captivating epic fantasy stories accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike. Interweaving immersive storytelling with irreverent, improvised humor, the GM and players deliver the experience of what it’s really like to sit around a table rolling dice with your closest friends. Professional high-quality audio, complex and memorable three-dimensional characters, instructional elements designed to enlighten both new and veteran players, and a commitment to community-building amongst their fans all combine to make The Glass Cannon an exciting and innovative voice in podcasting.
They recently signed with Paradigm Talent Agency to represent them as they embark on a cross-country tour. Joining a client roster that includes A-List acts such as Coldplay, Imagine Dragons and Ed Sheeran, the New York-based podcast company is ready to bring their unique brand of live role-playing game entertainment to cities all around the US. After kicking off their tour with a sold-out show in Los Angeles this October, dates will soon be announced for stops in Portland, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and more in 2019.
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® roleplaying games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – Forbidden Lands RPG Released Today
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Forbidden Lands RPG Released TodayFree League Publishing – Dec 06, 2018 13:20 GMT
Brave adventurer, Free League Publishing today announced that the Forbidden Lands RPG has released worldwide on the 6th of December 2018. All rogues, raiders, treasure hunters and scoundrels may now enter the land beyond the mountains. The Forbidden Lands RPG is a retro-fantasy game and a brand-new take on classic tabletop roleplaying. My dear friend, have you heard that the curse is gone and that the Blood Mist has lifted? Forbidden Lands can now finally be reached. Do you dare to travel into the unknown lands with me? Just imagine, it is an unexplored realm filled with treasures left behind… A magical journey into the unknown awaits us. Will you join me in the hunt for ancient treasures and fight whomsoever gets in our way? Let us leave this wretched reality and build a new world for ourselves on the ruins of the old. What say thee, do you want to be one of the first raiders of the Forbidden Lands? If it will be dangerous? Of course, but what does it matter, friend? Together we laugh in the face of danger and make our mark on that cursed world. Together, we will survive long enough to tell the tale. But we must hurry, before the others take it all… Watch the Forbidden Lands Trailer: Read more about the Forbidden Lands RPG: [ If you have a review copy request – please email: boel@frialigan.se ]
Forbidden Lands RPG Raiders & Rogues in a Cursed World In the sandbox survival roleplaying game Forbidden Lands, you and your friends will be playing raiders and rogues bent on making your own mark on a cursed world. Discover lost tombs, fight horrifying monsters, wander the wilderness and build your own stronghold to defend. Forbidden Lands is a legacy game, in which your actions will permanently change the game map, turning it into a living chronicle of your adventures. The unique rules for exploration, survival, base building and campaign in the game play can easily be ported to any other game world. The tabletop RPG Forbidden Lands was named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. The crowdfunding campaign raised over a quarter of a million dollars and was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017. With art by the internationally acclaimed artists Simon Stålenhag and Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström, scenarios by esteemed game writers Patrick Stuart, Ben Milton and Chris McDowall and game design by Free League that created the award-winning RPGs Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon, Symbaroum and Tales from the Loop.
FORBIDDEN LANDS RPG BOXED SET CONTENTS:
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. The post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon.The dark fantasy roleplaying game Symbaroum has earned several nominations and awards, including a Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards 2016. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying game Tales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game. Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign. Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com |
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PRESS RELEASE – Holiday Gift Guide from Free League Publishing
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Holiday Gift Guide from Free League PublishingFree League Publishing – Dec 04, 2018 13:15 GMT
The Holidays are coming, a time to enjoy with family and friends. We think you all should try and relax, cuddle up in comfy chairs and go on fantastic adventures together. Enter deep dungeons and dark forests, travel into space and beyond and explore the alternate 80’s to solve mysteries together. Simply put, just have a magical time with your loved ones. Do it all in your own pace, in between unwrapping gifts and eating lots and lots of candy. Have a cup of hot cocoa with cream on top while being on strange quests in wonderous worlds together in tabletop roleplaying games. Here is a list of gifts that you can enjoy with your friends and family. Because that’s what we think the Holidays are all about. We wish you a magical journey into the unknown. All the best, HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE:
FOR THE ADVENTURERS: FORBIDDEN LANDS ROGUES AND RAIDERS IN A CURSED WORLD Are you a brave adventurer that wish to enter Forbidden Lands? Do you long for a magical journey into the unknown? The time has come to make your mark on a cursed world. Wander the wilderness, discover lost tombs, fight horrifying monsters and build your own stronghold to defend. Forbidden Landsis a brand-new take on classic fantasy roleplaying and will release worldwide the 6th of December. The tabletop RPG Forbidden Lands was named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Link: http://frialigan.se/en/games/
FOR THE MYSTERY SOLVERS: TALES FROM THE LOOP ROLEPLAYING IN THE ’80s THAT NEVER WAS [ Five-time Gold ENnie-award winner – including Best Game & Product of the Year] “RPG Tales from the Loop lets you channel Stranger Things and ET.” – The Verge “Tales from the Loop could very well be the RPG phenomenon of 2017.” – Geek & Sundry Step into the amazing world of the Loop and encounter the fantastic machines and strange beasts that have come to haunt the countryside. Escape your everyday problems and solve mysteries, you will become a part of something meaningful and magical – but also dangerous. The award-winning Tales from the Loop RPG is based on the work by acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag. The retro futuristic art captures the spirit of Swedish 1980s suburbia and have spread like wildfire worldwide with a unique atmosphere that is both instantly recognizable and utterly alien. The art book Tales from the Loop will be a TV-series at Amazon Prime in a near future. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Read more: http://frialigan.se/en/games/
FOR THE SPACE TRAVELLERS: CORIOLIS – THE THIRD HORIZON [ Awarded the ENnies Judges’ Spotlight] “The game’s authors describe it as ‘Arabian Nights in space’ and it fulfills that brief marvelously.” –RPGnet Do you wish to crew a space ship and travel to the space station Coriolis set in a remote cluster of star systems? You will explore the ancient ruins of the Portal Builders, undertake missions for the powerful factions and partake in the game of political intrigue. Whatever your calling is, together you will make your own fate. In the end you might even discover the truth about the mysterious Emissaries and the threat of the Dark Between the Stars in the sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon. Trailer for Emissary Lost: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Read more: http://frialigan.se/en/games/
FOR THE BRAVE HEROES: SYMBAROUM A WONDEROUS WORLD OF DARK ADVENTURES [ Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards ] “Symbaroum excels in every single aspect of game design: the setting, the rules, the layout, the art.” –RPGnet Explore vast forests in the hunt for treasures, lost wisdoms and fame. Visit the barbarian clans to trade or to plunder their treasuries. Establish a base of power among princes, guilds or rebellious refugees or survive encounters with trolls, dark-minded Blight Beasts and undead warlords. But whatever you do, never ignore the warnings spoken by the wardens of the forest: tread carefully and do not disturb the ruins of old, for the dark deep of Davokar is about to awaken in the dark fantasy game Symbaroum. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Link: http://frialigan.se/en/games/
FOR THE POSTAPOCALYPTIC PREPPERS: MUTANT: YEAR ZERO ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS [ Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules. Nominated to Six ENnies.] [Winner Best Roleplaying Game UK Games Expo ] “Probably the best post-apocalyptic RPG on the market. Full stop.” –RPGNet Of course, the world ends. It was always just a question of time. When it’s all over, nature invades the ruined cities and winds sweep through empty streets. Yet life remains. In the Ark, you and the other survivors have found a haven. You are the spawn of humanity, but not human anymore. Your bodies and minds have incredible powers, but you are twisted, mutated freaks. And now the safe days are over. Food is running scarce, and the fight for what’s left is turning violent. It’s time to venture out and explore the Zone. You have no choice. This is the beginning. This is Mutant: Year Zero. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Link: http://frialigan.se/en/games/
FOR THE 80’S FANATICS: TALES FROM THE LOOP – ART BOOK “Incredible paintings of sci-fi suburbia will make you wish you were Swedish” – THE VERGE “If you’ve got a geek in your family who needs a Christmas present, this should be it. They’ll love you forever.”– NPR BOOKS “The hangover of an abandoned government science programme. Dinosaurs show up too in this quiet war of multiple worlds.” – The Guardian In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop. These are its strange tales. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Link: http://frialigan.se/en/store/?
FOR THE 90’S FREAKS: THINGS FROM THE FLOOD – ART BOOK “Things From The Flood Is Gorgeously Creepy And Strangely Human” – NPR BOOKS The Loop is now closed. Your life is returning to normal when the pastoral countryside is suddenly flooded by dark water from the huge abandoned underground facility. Rumors are spreading in your classrooms and in the schoolyard, stories about the flood and how it has brought something with it. One thing is clear: the past is not ready to be forgotten. In Simon Stålenhags artbook Things from the Flood, the stories of Tales from the Loop continue, memories of a childhood infused with strange machines and weird creatures from other dimensions. In Things from the Flood, Stålenhag moves his focus the ’90s. These are tales of the trials of youth, of schoolyard hazings, of first kisses, of finding yourself – and robots.
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com |
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PRESS RELEASE – Update Your Favorite SRD for Fun & Profit!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATE YOUR FAVORITE SRDs FOR FUN & PROFIT!
Transcribe OGL Content for the Open Gaming Network
Interested in being paid to add Open Game License (OGL) content to the Open Gaming Network’s SRD sites? The Open Gaming Network is looking for transcribers to copy OGL content onto our SRD (System Reference Documents) sites. You’ll pick your favorite OGL system, such as 5e, Pathfinder, Traveller, and many more, then select from a list of products that need to be uploaded. In exchange for updating these tabletop RPG community resources you’ll receive:
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- A PDF copy of the book that you selected from the Open Gaming Store
- Open Gaming Store credit equal to the value of the book the content came from, upon completion of adding said content
Owen KC Stephens [Starfinder Design Lead at Paizo Inc. and Founder, Lead Developer at Rogue Genius Games] shared these thoughts about this job, “I think it’s a fine idea.” He continued, “I once had the temporary job of entering phone book names and address and numbers. It was spectacularly boring–but I could do it from my home, at my pace, on my schedule. So yeah, you can pay reliable people to do this kind of work. And it’s possible there’s a way to leverage connections to 3PP and freelancers who want exposure to get the reliable people, while also paying those folks.”
Sound good? Then go to http://account.opengamingnetwork.com/manage/editrequest, register to get a username (log in using the password “xyzzy”), then message John Reyst via the Fans of d20pfsrd.com Facebook group, or email him at help@opengamingstore.com, and he’ll work with you to choose which site and book you can add content for.
The 100% FREE reference websites making up the Open Gaming Network’s SRD sites are d20PFSRD, Starjammer SRD, 3.5e SRD, 5th Edition SRD, Swords and Wizardry SRD, Black Hack SRD, 13th Age SRD, d20HeroSRD, The Modern Path SRD, Dungeon World SRD, Traveller SRD, GumshoeSRD, FateCoreSRD, FudgeSRD as well as the Open Gaming Network, and Open Gaming Store
Additional requirements: Some HTML knowledge is useful but not required. The sites are all hosted on WordPress. We have some tools that may speed up these assignments.
What is an Open Game License (OGL)? “A royalty free copyright license [originally] developed by Wizards of the Coast.” [Taken from “Open Game License: Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.0 — January 26, 2004“] Unique OGLs have been developed by other companies to cover their original game mechanics.
What is a System Reference Documents (SRD)? “A comprehensive toolbox consisting of rules, races, classes, feats, skills, various systems, spells, magic items and monsters compatible with the d20 System version of Dungeons & Dragons and various other roleplaying games from Wizards of the Coast.” [Taken from “System Reference Document: Frequently Asked Questions“] Additional unique SRDs have been developed by other companies to cover their original game mechanics.
What is the Open Gaming Network? A family of websites owned by John Reyst that cover tabletop roleplaying game information, news, publication, and distribution/sales. Learn more here.
PRESS RELEASE – Join Ulisses North America’s latest Kickstarter for Torg Eternity: The Nile Empire!
Join Ulisses North America’s latest Kickstarter for Torg Eternity: The Nile Empire!
Battle against High Lord Mobius and his terrifying shocktroopers across a realm of thrilling heroics, dastardly villains, and the heightened action and drama of pulp serials!
Join the ranks of the heroic Mystery Men with new archetypes and character options!
Start your adventure with the Fires of Ra campaign module, the shorter Delphi Missions, written by various unlocked celebrity authors, or the just-announced Relics of Power: Act 1, a reboot of everyone’s favorite classic Torg campaign!
PRESS RELEASE – HELP DEVELOP NEW STARFINDER RPG CLASSES IN THE CHARACTER OPERATIONS MANUAL PLAYTEST
HELP DEVELOP NEW STARFINDER RPG CLASSES IN THE CHARACTER OPERATIONS MANUAL PLAYTEST
Explore the galaxy with new science fantasy themed classes:
the biohacker, the witchwarper, and the vanguard!
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (December 3, 2018): Today, Paizo Inc. launched the worldwide Character Operations Manual playtest of new playable character classes for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Players are invited to go to StarfinderPlaytest.com, download the free Character Operations Manual Playtest PDF, roll up some characters, and run them through their paces!
“This is our first opportunity to add new classes to Starfinder since the game’s release in August 2017, and we need your help to do it! Try out these new classes in Starfinder Society scenarios, Starfinder Adventure Paths, or your own adventures. Then tell us what you and your friends thought of the experience. Paizo needs your feedback to make the classes in the Character Operations Manual the best they can be,” said Starfinder Creative Director Robert G. McCreary.
This playtest focuses on three new classes for the upcoming Starfinder Character
The playtest will run until January 16, 2019. Feedback surveys on StarfinderPlaytest.com will be open throughout the playtest.
There are plenty of ways to participate in the playtest. Starfinder Society organized play will also open up the playtest classes via the use of custom created characters that operate much like pregenerated characters during the playtest.
Players can engage with other players and designers on the Character Operations Manual Playtest forums, discussing the new classes and possibilities for the future. While Paizo wants to focus on actual play feedback, they are interested in hearing all ideas about the classes.
Players can also join Paizo on their Twitch channel at twitch.tv/officialpaizo.
About Starfinder
Set thousands of years in Pathfinder’s future, Starfinder is a science fantasy roleplaying game designed to bring you a whole new universe of adventure. The world of Starfinder puts you and your friends in the role of a ragtag starship crew exploring the mysteries of a strange and exciting universe. Play alien races both new and familiar as you explore the mysteries of a weird galaxy. Uncountable worlds are waiting for you and your intrepid crew! Explore the Starfinder Roleplaying Game at paizo.com/starfinder.
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® Roleplaying Games in homes, at conventions, at their favorite local game stores, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players can also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish their adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – Epic campaign for Mutant: Year Zero revealed in the Elysium Kickstarter – The Grey Death
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Epic campaign for Mutant: Year Zero revealed in the Elysium Kickstarter – The Grey DeathFree League Publishing – Nov 28, 2018 14:30 GMT
A new power is rising in the Zone. A disciplined fighting force, calling itself the Army of the Dawn, has recently seized land and established outposts in the Zone. Who controls the Army of the Dawn and what are they truly after? MUTANT: THE GREY DEATH is an epic campaign for the award-winning tabletop RPG Mutant: Year Zero where mutants, animals, robots and humans must set their differences aside and work together to face a threat that could change the Dawnworld forever. The adventure has been added as a brand-new stretch goal that is part of the current Mutant: ElysiumKickstarter by Free League Publishing. The Grey Death adds an over-arching metaplot for Mutant: Year Zero and the stand-alone expansions Genlab Alpha, Mechatron and Elysium and brings them into a larger narrative. The adventure is written by Michael Petersén, one of the original game writers of the first Mutant RPG and is an homage to a classic campaign published in the 1980s. If the stretch goal is reached, backers of Mutant: Elysium will get The Grey Death as well, in PDF or as a printed hardback book. Read more about the Mutant: Elysium kickstarter: Watch the Mutant: Elysium trailer here:
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PRESS RELEASE – Kickstarter launched for MUTANT: ELYSIUM RPG – The Final Fall of Humanity
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Kickstarter launched for MUTANT: ELYSIUM RPG – The Final Fall of HumanityFree League Publishing – Nov 20, 2018 13:10 GMT
When humanity falls, when nations and authorities collapse, only the most basic human bond remains – family. While the world burns, the powerful dynasties form a covenant called Elysium. Deep down in the bedrock, they build the enclave named Elysium I, designed to weather the long atomic winter. Decades later, Elysium I is a gilded prison, a lonely outpost in a sea of quiet destruction where fear and suspicion grow unchecked… Prepare for the end of the world as you know it. Today marks the launch of the kickstarter of MUTANT: ELYSIUM. It is the third and final major expansion set in the universe of the award-winning postapocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game MUTANT: YEAR ZERO RPG created by Free League Publishing. MUTANT: ELYSIUM AT KICKSTARTER: MUTANT: ELYSIYM KICKSTARTER TRAILER: MUTANT: ELYSIUM is fully playable as a standalone game and tells the origin story of the enclave humans, the last torchbearers of human civilization. In the huge underground enclave Elysium I, powerful Houses struggle for supremacy, oblivious to the looming threat that could bring humanity’s last bastion on Earth to its final downfall. Get ready for the final fall of humanity!
ABOUT MUTANT: ELYSIUM MUTANT: ELYSIUM, with art by acclaimed artists Simon Stålenhag and Reine Rosenberg and created by Free League, completes the Mutant: Year Zero quadrilogy of roleplaying games telling the full story of the postapocalyptic MUTANT universe. The stand-alone expansion, which also introduces non-mutant humans as a playable class in Mutant: Year Zero, includes:
ABOUT MUTANT: ELYSIUM – THE STORY In Elysium I, the Houses turn on each other and enclave workers begin to question their masters. After a violent confrontation, the ruling Houses create a force of judicators, with the authority to strike hard against anything that threatens order in the enclave. You are one of these judicators. It is your duty to investigate crimes and impose the appropriate sentences. But never forget that your strongest loyalty is towards your family. You are the true heir of doom. When humanity sets foot on the surface again, it will be your House that leads the way into the new dawn. Your lineage. Your family.
ABOUT MUTANT: YEAR ZERO – ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS Mutant: Year Zero is the latest version of the classic Swedish tabletop roleplaying game Mutant, first published in 1984. The postapocalyptic game Mutant: Year Zero was named Best RPG at UK Games Expo 2015 and awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015. Watch the Mutant: Year Zero trailer here: Praise for Mutant: Year Zero: Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules. “Mutant: Year Zero blew me away on a personal level. I did not know of its existence, and suddenly I realise that I am holding a masterpiece, probably the best post-apocalyptic game on the market.”-RPG.Net Playtest Review “The book and supporting products are high quality and it uses unique, quirky mechanics that really bring its themes of desperate survival to the forefront.”-The British Fantasy Society “If you are into post-apocalypse RPGs you definitely should give Mutant a chance!”-Stargazer’s World “Mutant: Year Zero is an exceptional roleplaying game, and if you’re the least interested in this kind of entertainment you should buy it immediately.” -The Piruett sf and fantasy blog “This RPG is f***ing great and I recommend it to new gamers and veterans alike. Giving this game anything but the highest grade would be insane.” -The Kryokinesi gaming blog “The rules support and create campaign play. Intrigues start, threats arise, opportunities and challenges appear, without the GM having to make it all up.” – The Fenix gaming magazine [ If you want review copies or have interview requests, please e-mail: boel@frialigan.se ]
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. The post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon.The dark fantasy roleplaying game Symbaroum has earned several nominations and awards, including a Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards 2016. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying gameTales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game. Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign. Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com |
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PRESS RELEASE – R&R GOES AWRY IN THE NEW STARFINDER SIGNAL OF SCREAMS ADVENTURE PATH
R&R GOES AWRY IN THE NEW STARFINDER
SIGNAL OF SCREAMS ADVENTURE PATH
Explore science fantasy horror in “The Diaspora Strain.”
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (November 14, 2018): Today Paizo Inc. released The Diaspora Strain, the first volume in the Signal of Screams Adventure Path for the award-winning Starfinder Roleplaying Game. The 64-page volume, whose adventure was written by Chris S. Sims, is the first of three volumes in a horror-themed campaign to overcome a creeping madness. It is available for purchase at paizo.com and retailers worldwide at an MSRP of $22.99 for hardcover and $15.99 for PDF.
“Horror relies on turning the normal into the threatening. The expected becomes terrifyingly other. This adventure takes that idea and runs with it, tapping into the id of the Starfinder galaxy while paying homage to other great horror stories, such as Alien,Oculus, Poltergeist, The Shining, and more. Heroes in this adventure will find their senses turned against them. They won’t know what’s real. And that means their reactions to what they sense will also be untrustworthy. They won’t be able to solve a lot of their problems by shooting first, turning even the action-hero norm of Starfinder on its head. Horror also isn’t about winning. Therefore, my hope is that players not only enjoy this disturbing journey, but also reach the conclusion with a sense of relief, grateful to have survived,” said Paizo Developer Chris S. Sims.
The Diaspora Strain also includes a new corruption system by Jason Keeley and advice for running horror campaigns in the Starfinder RPG by Epidiah Ravachol, author of the incredibly popular indie RPG Dread.
Signal of Screams Adventure Path
Elysium is a lie. While relaxing on a posh asteroid resort, the heroes are beset by a plague of madness and horrible transformations. After dealing with its unfortunate victims, they learn these tragedies are part of a plot engineered by an insane scientist trapped on the Shadow Plane. This scientist has used funding from an amoral corporation to craft a mysterious signal that will spread pain from world to world. As this corruption begins to infect the heroes, they must stop the transmission at its source to save themselves—and the rest of the galaxy!
The Diaspora Strain begins the Signal of Screams Adventure Path and includes:
- “The Diaspora Strain,” a Starfinder adventure for 7th-level characters, by Chris S. Sims.
- Corruptions that grant powerful abilities while eating away at a character’s soul, by Jason Keeley.
- Advice for running horror campaigns in Starfinder, as well as horror-themed feats, spells, and a new theme, by Epidiah Ravachol.
- An archive of alien terrors, including an ooze from the far depths of space and a fearsome acid-spitting arthropod, by Stephen Glicker, Chris S. Sims, and James L. Sutter.
- Statistics and deck plans for a sleek security vessel, by Chris S. Sims, plus a glimpse at a beautiful but haunted planet, by Owen K.C. Stephens.
Explore the Starfinder Roleplaying Game at paizo.com/starfinder.
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® Roleplaying Games in homes, at conventions, at their favorite local game stores, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players can also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish their adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – Forbidden Lands RPG launches on December 6th – Make your mark on a cursed world
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Forbidden Lands RPG launches on December 6th – Make your mark on a cursed worldFree League Publishing – Nov 14, 2018 12:30 GMT
Brave adventurer, did you hear the story of the Forbidden Lands? Beyond the mountains, beyond the mists of the north? A rumor has been spreading that you may soon enter the cursed world of Forbidden Lands. Now it has been confirmed. Free League Publishing today announced that the upcoming fantasy RPG Forbidden Lands launches on December 6th. The Blood Mist has begun to lift, the curse that has been sucking the life out of anyone who dared stray too far from their hearth. Now treasure hunters and scoundrels will soon begin to enter the lands. Do you dare travel into the unknown unbound by any fate or story set for you? Will you hunt for ancient treasures, fight whomsoever gets in your way and build a new world for yourself on the ruins of the old? Will you be one of the raiders of the Forbidden Lands? Prepare to make your mark on a cursed world. Will you survive long enough to tell the tale? [ If you want a review copy of ”Forbidden Lands” – please email: boel@frialigan.se]
About the Forbidden Lands RPG The tabletop RPG Forbidden Lands is a brand-new take on classic fantasy roleplaying. The open world allows you to freely explore the dangerous realm and venture into the unknown, while still taking part in the epic campaign to decide the fate of the cursed lands. Forbidden Lands is a legacy game, in which your actions will permanently change the game map, turning it into a living chronicle of your adventures. The unique rules for exploration, survival, base building and campaign in Forbidden Lands play can easily be ported to any other game world. Forbidden Lands was named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. The crowdfunding campaign raised over a quarter of a million dollars and was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017. Forbidden Lands is a brand new tabletop RPG from Free League Publishing. With art by the internationally acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström, scenarios by esteemed game writers Patrick Stuart, Ben Milton and Chris McDowall and game design by Free League that created the award-winning tabletop RPGs Mutant: Year Zero, Symbaroum, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop. Forbidden Lands Trailer
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. The post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon.The dark fantasy roleplaying game Symbaroum has earned several nominations and awards, including a Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards 2016. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying game Tales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game. Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World. We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign. Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com |
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Read more on MynewsdeskForbidden Lands RPG launches on December 6th – Make your mark on a cursed world |
PRESS RELEASE – Giveaway for the Complete Elder Dice Collection is Going on Now
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PRESS RELEASE – Mutant: Elysium – The end of the world as you know it
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Mutant: Elysium – The end of the world as you know it.Free League Publishing – Nov 13, 2018 13:35 GMT Get ready for the end of the world as you know it! One week from today, on Tuesday the 20th of November, Free League Publishing will launch the Kickstarter for MUTANT: ELYSIUM, the third and final major expansion to the award-winning Mutant: Year Zero RPG.
MUTANT: ELYSIUM, with art by acclaimed sci-fi artists Simon Stålenhag and Reine Rosenberg, completes the Mutant: Year Zero quadrilogy of roleplaying games telling the full story of the postapocalyptic MUTANT universe.
MUTANT: ELYSIUM, fully playable as a standalone game, tells the story of the final survivors of the end of the word. In the huge underground enclave Elysium I, four powerful Houses struggle for supremacy, oblivious to the looming threat that could bring humanity’s last bastion on Earth to its final downfall.
[ If you want review copies for any games from Free League Publishing, please e-mail: boel@frialigan.se ]
 MUTANT: YEAR ZERO – ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS
Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules.
“Mutant: Year Zero is an exceptional roleplaying game, and if you’re the least interested in this kind of entertainment you should buy it immediately.” -The Piruett sf and fantasy blog
“A better and more stylish balancing act between nostalgia and innovation the Swedish RPG scene hasn’t seen in a very long time.” -The Boningen gaming blog
“This RPG is f***ing great and I recommend it to new gamers and veterans alike. Giving this game anything but the highest grade would be insane.” -The Kryokinesi gaming blog
“The rules support and create campaign play. Intrigues start, threats arise, opportunities and challenges appear, without the GM having to make it all up.” – The Fenix gaming magazine
Mutant Year Zero trailer: https://www.youtube.
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9 QUESTIONS WITH CRAIG CAMPBELL (NERD BURGER GAMES) ABOUT DIE LAUGHING
I met Craig Campbell of Nerdburger Games at the Atlanta Science Fiction and Fantasy Expo. He was at a table with pre-ENnie Award winner, Derek Kamal (of Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse fame). We chatted for a minute and he pitched me on two of his projects, CAPERS RPG and Die Laughing. I bought the CAPERS Quickstart and, later on, did an interview with Craig about CAPERS (here). At AndoCon, I ran into Craig again and he invited me to try out Die Laughing. That was an excellent time! Let me quote the quick pitch for Die Laughing:
“The zero-prep, horror-comedy RPG that puts the laughter in slaughter. […] Everyone’s going to die. It’s just a matter of when and how funny you can make it. Even after your character is gone, there are multiple ways for you to remain involved and influence the story right up until the bloody end.”
With the Kickstarter is running until November 21st, I wanted to talk with Craig about CAPERS, Die Laughing, and highlight the fact that the game is just $10 so price is kept low so it’s not a barrier!
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Craig, thanks for talking RPGs with me. Let’s start with your Kickstarter for Die Laughing. I played the preview version of Die Laughing at AndoCon. I don’t know whether I did good or bad, but I survived the game, so I never got to play as a producer. How does the producer role impact player engagement compared to an RPG where your character dies and you spend the rest of the night rolling up a new one?
CC: In Die Laughing, when your character dies, and most of them do, you take on the role of producer for the rest of the game (in addition to a few other things). You have producer points that you can spend once per scene to do something to affect the scene, such as lowering the effects budget or introducing positive test scores for a character, forcing them into the scene because the test audience likes them.
While you don’t necessarily spend a point every scene, I’ve had players remark that they remain very engaged with the story, plotting for the perfect time to mess with the story. Producers play a little mind game by themselves (and sometimes with other producers), seeking out a chance to really impact what’s going on in the movie you’re all creating at the table.
EGG: This game is mostly done, correct? How quickly do you hope to deliver the finished product to backers?
CC: Everything is written and playtested. I’ve added a few things that will need an editing pass. Much of the artwork is done, with a few illustrations left to go. The basic layout template is complete and much of it is laid out.
I MIGHT release a “first cut” of the game with whatever’s done, just as a PDF, right after the Kickstarter ends. This will be a playable game but won’t have all the alternate rules and additional monsters/characters that still need illustration and layout. We’ll finish all of that up and release a “final cut” of the game, hopefully within 2-3 months. But that will depend on how fast we can get a print proof turned around. November and December are notoriously slow months for ordering physical books from DriveThruRPG.com. Darn those holidays and all that wonderful gift-giving!
EGG: Despite being largely in the can, this game has some options to be expanded. In your wildest dreams [nightmares], what are you aiming for with this project?
CC: The hope is 24 characters, 24 monsters, a bunch of alternate rules and play aids, along with the core rules. I think it’ll come in around 100 or so pages. That would be the “Director’s Cut” of the game, so to speak. The biggest and best version of the game.
EGG: The number of backer rewards is ballooning quickly! 😛 This started with one option – Die Laughing for $10. What else have you decided to offer?
CC: That’s the “Victim” level. There are three “Survivor” levels that also get you the PDF for one or both of my previous RPGs (Murders & Acquisitions and CAPERS). Essentially, each adds an additional $10 to your pledge (while the PDFs are normally a $15 value). The Survivor levels have proven to be pretty popular.
EGG: You recently fulfilled your last Kickstarter, CAPERS RPG. What is CAPERS about? How has the reaction been?
CC: CAPERS is a super-powered game of gangsters in the Roaring Twenties. Players portray criminals using their powers to create their empire OR members of law enforcement using their powers to bring those criminals to justice. The Kickstarter for CAPERS went very well and well over 500 people are enjoying their Kickstarter rewards (which included not just the game book but also all sorts of PDF support materials and play aids).
The reaction has been incredibly positive. I’ve started to see a nice little community growing on the NerdBurger Games Discord. People are talking about hacking/houseruling the game. Questions are asked and answered. People are being friendly and talking about other geeky stuff. Every time a new person starts talking on the Discord or sends me a photo of their just-received CAPERS book on social media, I get a little more joy and feel a little more proud of CAPERS.
EGG: You run Nerdburger Games and do a podcast. Creator, publisher, advertiser, and local game organizer [NOTE: Craig and I are building an Atlanta-based indy RPG group. In Atlanta and want to game? Ping one of us]. Why wear all the hats instead of letting another company publish your work or the like?
CC: It all sort of happened by accident. I created Murders & Acquisitions and decided to Kickstart it myself. That went well and while I was wrapping it up, I started on CAPERS. Once I had M&A in the bag, it only seemed natural to just forge ahead as NerdBurger Games and continue self-publishing my games.
Doing it all myself has downsides. It’s a LOT of work, but I don’t mind it. Creating RPG stuff is something I would do anyway. I’m able to create these little, niche games that I love and that I can make exactly how I want them to be. That affords me the ability to NOT have to answer to others in what the games should be. It’s incredibly liberating to share my creative vision on my own terms.
And that’s a BIG upside that far outweighs the downsides of having to do all the work myself. Though, truth be told, I don’t do it all myself. I have enlisted a wide variety of very capable and talented freelancers to do the things I can’t and have found a nice little cadre of fans who love playtesting my games. It’s a group effort, for sure.
EGG: What is your podcast? What do you cover on it?
CC: I’ve been doing the NerdBurger Podcast for well over five years now with my good friend Mike (who has also contributed his art and layout talents to my games). The podcast is a weekly, hour-long potpourri of nerdy/geeky discussion on all manner of topics, all slathered over with a healthy dose of humor and camaraderie.
We have a rotating panel of regular guests and bring in special guests as well. We keep things very conversational. Over five years of a new episode every single Wednesday.
EGG: What else are you working on right now?
CC: As CAPERS finishes out its fulfillment and Die Laughing wraps up, the next big thing is CAPERS Noir. This supplement to the CAPERS game progresses the game from the 1920s to the 1940s. Gone is Prohibition era gangster action. CAPERS Noir is a crime noir game. You need the CAPERS core game to play it, but CAPERS Noir will be filled with 50 or so pages of new character options, new rules (including investigation rules), new powers, an L.A. backdrop, and some other surprises. It just went into playtesting.
If CAPERS Noir is well-received, I have plans for two more supplements. CAPERS Covert will take things to the 1960s in Las Vegas and be a crime/law story pastiche built around old-school, James Bond style agents and villains. CAPERS Offworld will tie all three eras together and bring CAPERS to outer space with Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon style interstellar crime fun in an old-school ray-gun and alien style.
EGG: For fans interested in your Kickstarter, where can they find it and you?
CC: The Die Laughing Kickstarter ends on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. As an indie creator, I strive to be as accessible and transparent as possible. My fans mean the world to me.
If you dig my games, swing on by the NerdBurger Games website. I blog fairly regularly and love sharing what I’m working on at the moment.
And I’m on a bunch of social media where I love chatting with folks.
Links
- Die Laughing Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1582756696/die-laughing-rpg?ref=aj2fi8
- NerdBurger Games Website: http://www.nerdburgergames.com
- NerdBurger Games Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NerdBurgerGames/
- Craig on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdBurgerCraig
- NerdBurger Games Discord: https://discord.gg/BRXGCyw
This Kickstarter end on Wed, November 21 2018 9:00 PM EST. Click here to check it out.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN World, Knights of the Dinner Table, Open Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Want to share news? Press releases? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).
PRESS RELEASE – STOP THE END OF THE WORLD IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF DOOMSDAY DAWN, “WHEN THE STARS GO DARK”
STOP THE END OF THE WORLD IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF DOOMSDAY DAWN, “WHEN THE STARS GO DARK”
Download the huge update to classes for the final chapter of the Pathfinder Playtest!
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (November 8, 2018): On Monday Paizo Inc. began “When the Stars Go Dark,” the last part of the Doomsday Dawn adventure in the massive, public, and free Pathfinder Playtest. In Doomsday Dawn’s final chapter, the players explore high-level play in the heroic climax of the Pathfinder Playtest. The playtest runs through the end of the year.
“When the Stars Go Dark” takes place in 4718 ar (the present). “Using the White Axiom and the Last Theorem, the heroes from Magnimar must do whatever it takes to stop the Doomsday Dawn,” said Jason Bulmahn, Director of Game Design at Paizo, introducing the scenario.
Today also marks the release of the absolutely huge Pathfinder Playtest Update 1.6, which adds or adjusts aspects of every class in the game! These changes range from a small alteration in stances that affects the fighter to major changes for the alchemist and paladin, and are just a fraction of what Paizo is doing behind the scenes to make the game even better.
If players haven’t completed their run through the previous parts, they still have until the end of the year to play and tell Paizo what they think. Once they have wrapped up “When the Stars Go Dark,” they should make sure to complete the surveys and give the game designers their feedback on Part 7 of Doomsday Dawn!
The free playtest bundle, updates, alternate resonance system, Pathfinder Society playtest scenarios, surveys, and more can all be found at PathfinderPlaytest.com. Players can learn more about Pathfinder, participate in forums, read blog posts, and sign up for email updates at paizo.com.
Join the Pathfinder Playtest designers every Friday throughout the playtest on the Paizo Twitch Channel (twitch.tv/
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® Roleplaying Games in homes, at conventions, at their favorite local game stores, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players can also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish their adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – TORG Eternity: The Nile Empire
TORG Eternity: The Nile Empire
The award winning Torg Eternity is back and bolder than ever with its newest addition to this tabletop roleplaying classic.
The World Is Getting Bigger
This latest expansion will bring everything a player could want in a world set in a 1930’s pulp fiction novel. The Nile Empire Kickstarter is scheduled to launch November 20th will bring new adventures, new heroes and a host of new villains to widen the world of Torg Eternity.
This Kickstarter will have a host of new products for fans of TORG Eternity to sink their teeth into along with fantastic new stretch goals to salivate over and want you to bring all your friends into backing.
Pulp Power
The Nile Empire is where pulp is reality. Based on the 1030s where the action is bold, melodrama is…dramatic, and death is temporary. Most of the time.
Your heroes will have epic battles with weird evil scientists, fascist dictators, and perhaps even the Mummy. All set in a land once again ruled by the mighty Pharaohs of antiquity.
Now being an archeologist in Egypt is more than brushing the sand off an old relic from a decayed empire. Now ancient powers have been awoken in this new reality and now opening that tomb had a distinct possibility of releasing a terrifying Mummy.
Or will your simple vacation turn into a dramatic chase with fascist thugs and hired hitmen through the rooftops of Cairo as you race against time to return the stolen artifact to its rightful resting place in order to avoid the curse?
Now You Too Can Have Your Very Own Nemesis
In the Nile Empire where the rules of classic pulp fiction are king, super villains abound and their evil plots are as over the top as their names are. In the classic 30’s fashion a hero is not a true hero unless she has had one of these evil-doers claim she is her nemesis. You never know when you will meet your soon to be nemesis and really begin your path to becoming a true hero.
Can you stop your nemesis from completing his diabolical plans from world domination or will you wind up tied to the end of a rope dangling over a pit filled with crocodiles?
Return of The Pharaoh
The coming of the Eternity Lords to earth has brought a host of changes to the reality we all must live with and in Egypt this has brought back the ancient rulers of the Nile.
Once again, the men worshiped as the children of gods dominate the Nile valley and rule with incomprehensible powers of old. The palaces of the Pharaohs are teeming with life as these ancient rulers have regained their rightful place.
What’s Drip by Kickstarter? RPG Dripper WS Quinton (Sinopa Publishing) shares the Details
By W.S. Quinton and Egg Embry
Are you a fan of Kickstarter? Like the concept of Patreon? Then Drip may be for you. Launched by Kickstarter in 2017, Drip takes the Kickstarter crowdfunding brand and adapts it to the subscription content model embodied in Patreon. However, after a year in existence as an invitation-only service, in 2019 Drip will morph into a new tool that will be co-owned by Kickstarter and XOXO. One of the current RPG Drippers, W.S. Quinton, has shared his experiences on Drip with me, so when I read about this change, I thought I’d ask his thoughts on Drip, crowdfunding, subscription funding, Kickstarter, and his current campaign, Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E. What follows is mostly Quinton, I asked for a few sentences to quote in an article and he wrote 1,300ish words that I decided to run with. Enjoy reading about his Drip experience.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): When did you launch your Drip page?
W.S. QUINTON (WSQ): October 2nd, 2018. My page has been active for less than a month and has so far attracted six backers for my current Kickstarter campaign, Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E:
“All Original Necromancy Content New arcane tradition, spells, rituals, poisons, magic items & alchemicals. 5E 5th Edition DnD RPG”
EGG: Has Drip helped your Kickstarter presence?
WSQ: No, but it hasn’t been in operation for a month yet. My current subscribers are repeat backers and one person who has been a friend for years. My focus has been on promoting the Kickstarter campaign so slow growth is only natural.
W.S. Quinton of Sinopa Publishing, LLC
EGG: Why did you join Drip?
WSQ: I was building a Patreon page in order to make available a monthly publication. I also wanted to take some of the material I normally offer on my blogs, concerning creating RPG books and crowdfunding, and give a more in-depth look at the process behind the scenes. I had literally advanced to the part where I was building reward tiers for the Patreon page when I received the email inviting me to Drip.
I’m a fan of Kickstarter’s public benefit structure as they give back to their community and make a huge difference in people’s lives. Being invited to join Drip was incredibly flattering as it is invite only. I’m still not certain why I was selected to be invited. There aren’t many RPG creators on Drip at this time, so being in a small demographic is exciting. There were two other creators who have been on Drip (I believe) for about a year now.
EGG: What options are available on your Drip Page?
WSQ: I have public posts which anyone can access without subscribing. I also have three subscription levels:
- The $1 subscription grants access to the behind the scenes news posts where I share information on coming projects, share play test documents of coming products, premier art for upcoming projects and go over things about crowdfunding and development (how to calculate your backer reward tiers for Kickstarter was particularly well received).
- The $3 subscription grants all the benefits of the $1 tier, plus the monthly publication. This monthly release details a character, companion, creature or monster, complete with original art/ stats/ a narrative/ example treasures/ story hooks. October’s release went out nicely, and the subscribers I’ve heard from so far were well pleased. This release was nine pages in all (counting the OGL and the cover/title page, with six pages devoted to content.
- The $6 subscription grants all the benefits of the $3 tier, plus the subscribers receive a little magic in the mail by way of a thank you post card where the subject of the monthly release is depicted in full color on side, with a few notes concerning it on the back. This is a nice way to show the subject at the game table in an easily transportable way. I sign each of those to the specific backer.
EGG: What are your thoughts on the transition from Drip to what comes next?
WSQ:
- There are features common to Kickstarter and other platforms that are curiously absent from Drip. By way of example, Drip doesn’t have a search feature native to its page. That means that current subscribers, if they wish to explorer other creators, have to page through all of the currently active pages. You can’t even sort by interests. This is something I assume will be addressed in the new build as it is such a common feature its absence is widely felt.
- Another feature that I as a creator cherish, is a widget to create code to embed a link on another page. I make heavy use of this feature from my Kickstarter pages and its absence is felt on Drip (for me anyway). This kind of feature makes embedding your page link onto your other online resources a snap. Drip’s new build needs this.
- Drip pages also don’t have a share to social media feature. Seriously, I’m not joking. Or, if they do, I’ve never been able to find it. So sharing the link isn’t hard, (you copy and paste it) but it’s not as easy as it is from Kickstarter or GoFundMe or Indiegogo or Patreon. With so many people sharing their pages, not being able to directly share your page slows your ability to point people to your page.
- That said, I love the idea that the new site will also be a public benefit corporation. The fact that the creativity of so many helps to raise funds that are used to benefit other people as well as enabling them the freedom to pursue their artist endeavors is incredibly appealing.
- That current Drip creators are going to be helped to migrate to the new resource is reassuring. In my first month, I’ve already released several posts, containing a lot of information. Within the coming year I imagine it piles up to quite a bit of data. I’m appreciative of any help they have to offer.
EGG: What’s your wish list of features you’re hoping XOXO will implement in the new platform?
WSQ:
- A digital download library for subscribers. I’ve not seen this on other platforms, and frankly I’m at something of a loss as to why not. As a creator, I would gladly pay for additional cloud storage on-site if it allowed subscribers to access titles and download them directly while retaining a record that they had the title. This would allow me to offer discounted finished products exclusively to the subscribers in a much more convenient manner, and allow new subscribers to access older releases without have to work it out with me so it could be facilitated. Yes, this sounds like Amazon’s library feature. It’s still a good idea.
- Subscriber chat feature/ native streaming tool. Kickstarter has Kickstarter Live. Since using it, I’ve loved it! I have a tremendous amount of fun hanging out with backers on Kickstarter, we field questions and chat about a wide range of things. I also bring guests on so it’s a fantastic way to interact with your audience.
- A space for embedding links to my other resources. I write a few blogs, I’ve started a YouTube channel, etc. It would be SO handy if I could just put a link on the Drip page as a button so subscribers could go find my other free material without a fuss.
- An archive: It would be wonderful to move old posts into an archive where subscribers could always go retrieve them. This would keep the page from being overly cluttered and allow people to access the latest data with ease. Add in a way to compartmentalize the archive (Play test folder/ monthly release/ game system/ comics/ children’s books/ whatever) and you’ve got a fantastic way to keep your page looking nice while putting vast amounts of information within reach of your audience.
- Systemic integration with online merchandise pages like Society6 or Printful. A great many artists sell prints of their work or otherwise make them available to their subscribers. It would be amazing if a way were found to implement such integration into one seamless whole.
Egg, I know that is a lot, but as the new guy on Drip I think I’ve found a few things I would definitely like to see improved. I also had a lot to say. There are more things about UI and record keeping but that stuff is largely boring.
EGG: I want to thank W.S. Quinton for taking my questions and writing this article on his own initiative. It was a great surprise! Where can fans find your Drip page?
WSQ: https://d.rip/w-s-quinton
EGG: What’s the address for your current Kickstarter for Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E?
EGG: Your blog?
WSQ: http://wsquinton.sinopapublishing.com/
EGG: Your social media?
WSQ:
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wsquinton/
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/LlSinopa
- Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sinopa.publishing/
NOTE: The Kickstarter for Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5Eends on Tuesday, October 30 2018 11:57 PM EDT. If you need dark, evil magic in your Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign, Whispers of Persephone is worth checking out.
HUMBLE MINI RPG BOOK BUNDLE #1: HORRORS UNBOUND: STANK HOG
Humble Bundle, Frog God Games, Lesser Gnome, Troll Lord Games, Tabletop Adventures, TPK Games, and Uncle Matt’s RPG Studio have come together to offer the first mini-RPG bundle. This is an interesting idea, providing a smaller Dungeons & Dragons 5e RPG sampling with an eye on keeping the costs down. For more details, check out the bundle here.
HUMBLE MINI RPG BOOK BUNDLE #1: HORRORS UNBOUND: STANK HOG
Welcome to the inaugural Mini RPG Book Bundle! We assembled a party of awesome RPG publishers to create a series of three ebook bundles. Spice up your 5th Edition adventures with this set of sourcebooks and play aids, then come back next month for another! Actual Stank Hog not included.
$94 WORTH OF DIGITAL BOOKS * PAY WHAT YOU WANT * DRM-FREE * MULTI-FORMAT
A portion of the proceeds (whatever portion you designate) goes to:
PRESS RELEASE – Dynamite Launches Kickstarter for First Pathfinder Resin Statue Today!
Dynamite Launches Kickstarter for First Pathfinder Resin Statue Today!
Kickstarter Promotion Available for Only a Limited Time with Special Pledge Rewards For Supporters!
October 23, 2018, Mt. Laurel, NJ – Dynamite Entertainment announces a Kickstarter campaign for the first-ever resin statue for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The publisher continues their strong partnership with gaming leader Paizo Inc. following years of expanding the lore of the game’s world. Backers can preorder their copies of the limited-edition statue and bundle and a range of extras currently available only through the Kickstarter.
Seoni, one of the most popular iconic heroes in the Pathfinder universe, was an obvious choice for the statue. The powerful Varisian spellcaster is perfect with her intricate tattoos and patterned clothing. The high-quality resin statue stands approximately 12 inches tall. The tattoos and other details like “dirt” and battle damage are all hand painted.
The statue is available in multiple variants. A “Spellcasting” edition portrays Seoni using her signature magic using a plastic energy effect. The “Battle Ready” edition swaps that out for her staff and an alternate pose. The Spellcasting version is available unpainted for the DIY enthusiasts.
Supporters can choose among a range of reward tier options, including Dynamite’s well-received comics, from the recent Spiral of Bones series to a complete set of nine graphic novel volumes – over 1,600 pages of Pathfinder content! Another option is the campaign setting book Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast signed by author James Jacobs. And of course, t-shirts! Or go big and get all the above!
Most exciting is the opportunity for tabletop devotees to collaborate with Dynamite and a professional sculptor to develop and create 10 custom pewter miniatures up to 35 millimeters tall.
“We’ve been creating great Pathfinder comics with Paizo over the last half-decade, but today, I’m immensely excited to announce the expansion of that partnership, starting with our first Pathfinder statue of Seoni,” shared Nick Barrucci, Dynamite Publisher/CEO. “We worked hand in hand with our friends at Paizo to create this beautiful statue, and to add so many cool collectibles and comics at different pledge levels. I have no doubt the fans will enjoy this beautiful piece.”
“It’s been a joy working with Nick and the team at Dynamite to bring Seoni to life,” said Erik Mona, Paizo’s Publisher and Chief Creative Officer. “The attention to detail we’ve seen as they’ve produced the comic line is mirrored in the production values of the statue, and we’re excited to see these made available to Pathfinder players.”
To support the Pathfinder Seoni Kickstarter, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/
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About Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, The Shadow, Red Sonja, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, A Game of Thrones, and more. Dynamite owns and controls an extensive library with over 3,000 characters (which includes the Harris Comics and Chaos Comics properties), such as Vampirella, Pantha, Evil Ernie, Smiley the Psychotic Button, Chastity, and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and bestselling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high-profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, Neil Gaiman, Andy Diggle, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Marc Guggenheim, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner, Gail Simone, Steve Niles, James Robinson, and a host of up-and-coming new talent. Dynamite is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s Project Superpowers – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005, Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%) and again in 2011. The company has also been nominated for and won several industry awards, including the prestigious Harvey and Eisner Awards.
About Paizo Inc.
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® roleplaying games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – News Alert: CRASH A PIRATE PARTY IN PART 6 OF DOOMSDAY DAWN
CRASH A PIRATE PARTY IN PART 6 OF DOOMSDAY DAWN
Lead with skills and spells in this intrigue-themed chapter of the Pathfinder Playtest!
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (October 22, 2018): Today Paizo Inc. began the play-through of “Red Flags,” the sixth of seven parts in the Doomsday Dawn adventure, in the massive, public, and free Pathfinder Playtest. In this chapter, players create new 14th-level characters with skill sets that favor infiltration, knowledge, and subtlety rather than aggressive combat prowess.
Jason Bulmahn, Director of Game Design at Paizo, set the scene: “An ancient tome, the Last Theorem, has been located in the possession of a Shackles pirate captain. Fortunately, an upcoming gala at his fortress gives you the opportunity to acquire the relic.”
Today also marks the release of Pathfinder Playtest Update 1.5, which modifies spell damage. Throughout the playtest the Paizo design team has listened to players and modified core systems like proficiencies, difficulty classes, death, dying, skills, classes, ancestries, and multiclassing archetypes.
Additionally, separate from the main playtest, Paizo has released an alternate version of the item resonance system for testing using the Raiders of Shrieking Peak scenario and an encapsulated set of rules. Learn more from this Paizo blog post: https://paizo.com/community/
Join the Pathfinder Playtest designers every Friday throughout the playtest on the Paizo Twitch Channel (twitch.tv/
The free playtest bundle, updates, alternate resonance system, Pathfinder Society playtest scenarios, surveys, and more can all be found at PathfinderPlaytest.com. Players can learn more about Pathfinder, participate in forums, read blog posts, and sign up for email updates at paizo.com.
Pathfinder Playtest Schedule:
“Red Flags,” October 22–November 4
“When the Stars Go Dark,” November 5–November 18
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® Roleplaying Games in homes, at conventions, at their favorite local game stores, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players can also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish their adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
PRESS RELEASE – The World of Darkness Befalls Austin, Texas in Gruesome Live-Action Roleplay Event – The Night in Question
White Wolf Entertainment — creators and publishers of the World of Darkness storytelling universe — will soon host a live-action night you’ll never forget.
On November 17, 2018, the dark and conflict-ridden world of the iconic tabletop RPG Vampire: The Masquerade will come to life in Austin, Texas for a realistic and gruesome live action roleplay (LARP) experience.
Set in the year 1998 at an illegal rave in the woods outside of Austin, Texas, The Night In Question features an engrossing story and horrifying, professionally created sets, costumes, and — of course — blood and gore. The fully-immersive event explores the monstrous nature and conflict of vampire clans from White Wolf’s supernatural World of Darkness. Participants will take part in an intense LARP — as either nefarious vampires who are at war with one another, or unknowing humans caught in the blood-drenched frenzy. Fans of the Vampire series can expect a classically-themed reflection of the vicious Sabbat faction.
Jackalope Live Action Studios is an experienced host of LARPs that enforces strict guidelines about player consent and safety, allowing participants to opt-out of interactions with content and characters of their choosing. The team is advised by Bjarke Pedersen and Johanna Koljonen from Participation Design Agency (PDA), creators of the Diana Jones Award-nominated Nordic Vampire game End of the Line and the immensely successful Enlightenment in Blood.
For more information about Jackalope’s safety policies, visit: http://the-night-in-question.
Tickets to The Night In Question are available starting at $39.00 at: http://the-night-in-question.
OPEN GAMING NEWSLETTER – Free Sandstalker (Starfinder Monster), Free Starjammer PDF, End of Year Sale, and RPG KSs You Should Back!
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[UPDATED] RPG News, Press Releases, and Conventions – Origins Hotels, Kobold Press Back to PDFs, Where’d My Column Go, and more
Let’s round up some news bites: Richard A. Knaak’s Rex Draconis, my latest Storytellers Vault review, Origins hotels, where’d the “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back” column go?, some press releases, and a deal! Let’s dive into this news roundup.
NEWS BITES
- Going to Origins Game Fair from June 12th to 16th, 2019? While early bird badge registration starts November 15th, the downtown hotels are already available at a discounted rate. Some are sold out, but there are still options. If you’re thinking of going, here’s the links to the discounted downtown Columbus hotels for the show. Click it to see what (if any) options remain.
- My column, “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back,” moved to the Open Gaming Network. I enjoyed hosting it on the Tessera Guild and look forward to continuing the column at its new home. At OGN, I’m delving deeper into Kickstarter reviews looking at the history that inspired them as much as how they’ve gained from using the Open Gaming License.
- Speaking of Kobold Press’ Tales of the Old Margreve: 5th Edition Forest Adventures, this campaign was only intended to fund completing this adventure book, a print run of it, and VTT files for Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. The plan was not to create PDFs during this campaign. However, after a groundswell of support for PDFs, Kobold has added them to the campaign. If you wanted to back this but only if it included PDFs, now’s the time. For more details, read their campaign update here.
- On ENWorld, I look at the [now ended] Vampire: The Masquerade Humble Bundle as well as David MacDowell Blue’s Savannah by Night COMPLETE for the “Storytellers Vault Roundup.” Why did I pick Savannah by Night COMPLETE to review? Because the city lies on the coast of my state (Georgia) and I’ve frequented it a number of times. It’s interesting to see what David created by adding vampires to this colonial metropolis.
- Several months ago, I shared a press release about Wet Ink Games upcoming Kickstarter, War World Occult RPG. Based on Charles Ferguson-Avery’s art, this “is a gritty horror setting where an eldritch hellscape flows over the battlefields in a fantasy World War”. The game will use the Compass System. We now have a date that the campaign will launch to Kickstarter, October 30th.
- I’ve made no secret of my childhood love of Richard A. Knaak’s Dragonlance: The Legend of Huma, Kaz the Minotaur, and more. How much have I enjoyed his work? Enough to write several articles and roundup some more reasons to back the Kickstarter to develop this setting for D&D 5e and Pathfinder.
- On the Open Gaming Network, I interviewed Richard A. Knaak, Phil Beckwith, and Micah Watt about their D&D 5e/Pathfinder 1e conversion of Richard A. Knaak’s latest fantasy series, Rex Draconis, into an RPG setting. Read it here.
- I reviewed the first book in Knaak’s Rex Draconis series, Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon, here.
- To add to this, John McGuire shared his thoughts on Knaak’s early Dragonlance books here.
- I looked at the Kickstarter for Rex Draconis RPG – Rising Tides here. The product is funded, unlocked its first stretch goal, and ends Sunday, October 21 2018 10:02 PM EDT.
- Want a preview of some of the gaming content? Check out their latest update here!
- And there’s a Rex Draconis RPG newsletter with even more preview content and thoughts from Richard A. Knaak as well as the game creators. You can sign up for it here.
- What are you doing this weekend? On Saturday, October 20th, I’ll be at the GAMA Retailer Award-winning Giga-Bites Cafe with Craig Campbell of NerdBurger Games and more (local RPG creators and gamers) playing some RPGs from 2PM to 6PM or 7PM. I’m excited about it and hope your weekend is equally gametastic!
- [UPDATE on October 19th, 2018 at 10:10AM] On Paizo’s blog, Niobe: She is Life creator, Sebastian A. Jones, talks about Niobe, Stranger Comics, their latest Niobe Kickstarter, and Niobe: She is Pathfinder [not the actual title] that will let you play in the Niobe-verse using Pathfinder rules! Read it here.
To see the Kickstarter, click the image.
DEALS
- The Open Gaming Store (the store that funds the articles on the Open Gaming Network, including mine) has a warehouse sale this month. 30% off a variety of tabletop RPG items. Check it out here.
PRESS RELEASES
- HUMBLE BOOK BUNDLE: TALES OF HORROR
- Pathfinder Playtest – CLAIM YOUR HERITAGE, LEVEL-UP, AND JOIN THE CRUSADE IN PART 5 OF DOOMSDAY DAWN, “THE HEROES OF UNDARIN”
- Starfinder – FIGHT AN ALIEN INVASION WITH STARFINDER ALIEN ARCHIVE 2
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN World, Knights of the Dinner Table, Open Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Want to share news? Press releases? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).