I am pleased to announce that the first product of Transfinite Publications, Almanac One (covering fantasy roleplaying), has been released today! It is now available from RPGNow (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1856) , at the bargain price of $3, for forty-four pages of quality material. Almanac One features cover art from Eric Pommer, and the magazine is lavishly illustrated, but has been designed for ease of printing. No fancy borders to eat up ink, no fancy page backgrounds. The articles each have their own pages – so printing one out will not mean you print half of another. Although the magazine has D20 statistics, the rules are kept to a minimum – Almanac is a magazine for ideas, not rules. There are no ‘Kewl New Magical Weapons’, no ‘Ten More Potent Spells (Than Last Month)’ in this magazine.
The Editor will be holding an online chat discussion from 1800 GMT tonight (July 1st), and again from 2100 GMT on July 4th and July 11th, for anyone who has any questions, comments or suggestions. The URL of the chat room is: http://www.tongue.fsnet.co.uk/spinchat.html
I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this magazine: Jason ‘Doc Ezra’ Shoemate, Bernard Taylor, Robert Conway, S. Lyle Raymond, Robert Sullivan, Christopher Scaturo and James Carter for providing some wonderful writing, and Eric Pommer, Alan McFarlane, Les Evans, Dan Parry, Calvin Camp, Brad McDevitt and Stefan Poag for the amazing pictures. Without you, Almanac One would never have happened.
This issue contains the following articles:
The Depths of the Earth: A piece looking at the creation of the gigantic dungeons of the early days of roleplaying – make your own Castle Greyhawks, Blackmoors, or for that matter Rappan Athuks!
The Gold Rush: This article takes a look at the effect to the outside world that uncovering a deep dungeon would effect – both for better and worse. (Mostly worse!)
Levelling Up your Game: This piece discusses ways to make a dungeon more exciting, more memorable, not ‘just another dungeon crawl’.
Lessons from History: This bimonthly column will take a look at adapting historical periods to your D&D campaign. In this issue, we take a look at the search for the New World, and how it can be used to create new and amazing adventures.
Putting the SF in Fantasy: This monthly column has already caused some controversy, as it discusses ways to use traditional SF themes and ideas in fantasy campaigns. In this issue, we take your PC’s to the moon!
Hosting a Campaign Online: In a magazine sold on the internet, this is an obvious topic. In this article, the art of running a campaign on the net is examined in detail, showing the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Extraordinary Cavalry: Ordinarily, you would kill a woolly mammoth if you stumbled across one on the street. This article shows a different alternative – beast of burden that are truly beasts!
Lost Alley: This outlines a location for use in a game – an Alley that emerges into the real world just once in every ten years, and then only for an hour. Its inhabitants have been trapped there for centuries, but can your PCs escape?
In this issue, we also feature a preview of Lemurian Dreams, Almanac’s sister magazine covering fantasy fiction. ‘The Exile’, a tale of an elf forced to choose between his homeland and his magic, highlights the concept of this new piece well. As will be standard in Lemurian Dreams, notes are provided to enable the short story to be easily used in a campaign.
For more information on this and future issues of Almanac, as well as on the other magazines being run by Transfinite Publications, check out our website (http://www.transfinitepublications.com), and join our mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transfinite/
The Editor will be holding an online chat discussion from 1800 GMT tonight (July 1st), and again from 2100 GMT on July 4th and July 11th, for anyone who has any questions, comments or suggestions. The URL of the chat room is: http://www.tongue.fsnet.co.uk/spinchat.html
I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this magazine: Jason ‘Doc Ezra’ Shoemate, Bernard Taylor, Robert Conway, S. Lyle Raymond, Robert Sullivan, Christopher Scaturo and James Carter for providing some wonderful writing, and Eric Pommer, Alan McFarlane, Les Evans, Dan Parry, Calvin Camp, Brad McDevitt and Stefan Poag for the amazing pictures. Without you, Almanac One would never have happened.
This issue contains the following articles:
The Depths of the Earth: A piece looking at the creation of the gigantic dungeons of the early days of roleplaying – make your own Castle Greyhawks, Blackmoors, or for that matter Rappan Athuks!
The Gold Rush: This article takes a look at the effect to the outside world that uncovering a deep dungeon would effect – both for better and worse. (Mostly worse!)
Levelling Up your Game: This piece discusses ways to make a dungeon more exciting, more memorable, not ‘just another dungeon crawl’.
Lessons from History: This bimonthly column will take a look at adapting historical periods to your D&D campaign. In this issue, we take a look at the search for the New World, and how it can be used to create new and amazing adventures.
Putting the SF in Fantasy: This monthly column has already caused some controversy, as it discusses ways to use traditional SF themes and ideas in fantasy campaigns. In this issue, we take your PC’s to the moon!
Hosting a Campaign Online: In a magazine sold on the internet, this is an obvious topic. In this article, the art of running a campaign on the net is examined in detail, showing the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Extraordinary Cavalry: Ordinarily, you would kill a woolly mammoth if you stumbled across one on the street. This article shows a different alternative – beast of burden that are truly beasts!
Lost Alley: This outlines a location for use in a game – an Alley that emerges into the real world just once in every ten years, and then only for an hour. Its inhabitants have been trapped there for centuries, but can your PCs escape?
In this issue, we also feature a preview of Lemurian Dreams, Almanac’s sister magazine covering fantasy fiction. ‘The Exile’, a tale of an elf forced to choose between his homeland and his magic, highlights the concept of this new piece well. As will be standard in Lemurian Dreams, notes are provided to enable the short story to be easily used in a campaign.
For more information on this and future issues of Almanac, as well as on the other magazines being run by Transfinite Publications, check out our website (http://www.transfinitepublications.com), and join our mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transfinite/
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