[DragonWing Games] Lore of the Gods now available in pdf format

By Steven Creech, Kevin Ruesch, Tim Hitchcock and Troye Grgurin
Additional design by Todd Laing and Kevin Melka

Shaina brushed the dust off her cloak as she stepped into the tent. There, sitting on a weathered rug, sat a frail man as old as any she had ever seen. He looked at her with a gaze that spoke volumes and left just as many unanswered questions. His eyes were almost hypnotic.

“Are you Annomen?” she asked respectfully.

“Indeed,” he replied feebly, “and you are searching for that which should not be found. Go back and forget this folly. Leave the secrets where they are supposed to remain… hidden.”

His answer stunned Shaina for a moment. Could he really know what her real purpose was? Was there more to this man than it seemed?

Shaina crouched down and took Annomen’s hand in her own and looked into those hypnotic eyes. “Would you rather someone else found it? Someone not worthy who would use it for ill?”

For the first time she saw sadness in his eyes. “Do you not think that the gods would take steps to ensure that did not happen? Is your faith weak?” It was almost as if a door had closed between the two of them.

“No matter; I cannot dissuade from your quest. Outside you will find a ranger who will act as your guide and take you to the ruins. He will not go farther than that, nor will he remain there. His only duty is to guide you to that which you seek. It is up to you to find the way in.”

Shaina thanked the man and moved to leave only to hear his whispered warning, “Be careful what you seek. Knowledge from the gods isn’t meant to be known by mere mortals. There are high prices that must be paid for such knowledge. You will likely not live to see the next new moon...”

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Deities from literature and history have long had a place in fantasy campaigns. Egyptian, Greek, Norse and Mesopotamian pantheons all contribute to the lore, superstitions and cosmology that make fantasy roleplaying so popular. For the first time in print, these pantheons are presented for the d20 system in a completely Open Game Content format for the 3.5 revised edition rules. Learn about the gods themselves, their avatars, the divine artifacts they possess, and their interactions with other deities.

Lore of the Gods breaks down the Egyptian, Greek, Norse and Mesopotamian mythologies into gaming terms that will enhance your campaign and provide new elements to incorporate into your world. Familiar deities, monsters and heroes grace the interior of this tome. In addition, new artifacts, prestige classes, domains, spells, templates, skills, feats and forbidden lore await discovery. The power of Zeus, the wisdom of Odin, the knowledge of Thoth, and the evil malice of Lilith all reside inside these pages. Do you dare unlock the secrets of the gods?

Shaina smiled a half smile and replied, “If that is the gods wish, then so be it. But it is possible I will succeed.”

“Ah yes, child. But even if you do succeed, ultimately you will fail. I do not believe you understand this... yet.”

“Then I will pay whatever they demand,” she said as she walked out into the hot sun.

Annomen watched her depart while small flickers of lightning coursed across his eyes. He did everything he was allowed to do but yet it was not enough. She had a relatively pure soul, but it would not be enough to save her. Pity. Out of the many that came seeking the forbidden lore of the gods, he had liked her best. Still, there would be more. There were always mortals who believed they could outwit the gods and claim what they thought was rightfully theirs. Annomen’s thoughts reached outward and found another heading in his direction. In a day or so he would arrive. Maybe this mortal would listen…

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Lore of the Gods is fully bookmarked and comes with a hypermarked Table of Contents. At 321 pages in length, this book will fill the needs of many players and GMs alike who are looking to add more mythology to their game. Get it today at the ENWorld Game Store and Your Games Now.

For those who are awaiting the print release of this book, it is currently at the printers and will be released in time for Gen Con if not sooner. The print version will carry a $34.99 retail price.

Yay! This has been over a year in the waiting, I'm elated this is finally seeing the light of print.

I've been eagerly waiting this one!! I'm slowly downloading it now!!

What's the price of the pdf?

Is the pdf in color?


Thanks!

Why is the pdf $19.99? In fact why are a lot of the Bastion pdfs $X.99?

DaveMage said:

Is the pdf in color?

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A quick (very quick) scan shows that the cover is in color and a few full size pages are done in color. The first half or so seems to be black and white art when it is on a page of text. In the later half of the book or so there seems to more color art and its on the text pages. The layout looks very good and the art is awesome!!

Its too bad your price points on print and PDF are that high. It sounds like it has a lot of cool ideas.

So far my impression is that it is worth the money as long as one wants a d20 book about gods.

Crothian said:

So far my impression is that it is worth the money as long as one wants a d20 book about gods.

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I always want new ideas, and new spins on old ideas, but when you have so many books on the subject already, you just gotta start drawing a line somewhere. If I was doing well enough to not have to worry about a monthly budget I would buy it, irregardless. Unfortunately I do have a monthly budget, and spending these kind of prices on material I already have versions of does make it harder to justify. Which is a shame, because I do like a lot of their products that I have bought in the past.

Just the unfortunate reality for me.

As far as pricing goes, I price the pdfs to help cover development costs. Since there are fewer and fewer print books being sold, pdfs sales must now be relied upon to help cover the cost of project development of past and future projects. For instance, Darkwalkers had a preorder print run of only 150 copies from distributors. This means that it is already a negative balance due to print costs. I have to recoup those costs through pdf sales if I want the book to go from red to black in the accounting books.

I also tend to price our pdfs at approximately half the cover price (some exceptions such as Lore of the Gods at 320 pages) which is fairly consistent with other publishers who do both print and pdf releases of the same product. Sales history has shown that underpricing a product doesn't mean you make more sales because of the cheaper cost. People will pay for a product they feel is a good value and current sales of Bastion and DragonWing products indicate that people feel our prices are a good value for the products.