Just received this in my inbox.
-----------------------------
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: charles@montecookgames.com
Weird Discoveries from Monte Cook Games Reinvents
the RPG Adventure
100 events on International TableTop Day prove it: You can run an RPG with no more prep than a typical board game!
“Simple, intuitive, and fast! I was able to read and prep a several-hour investigation adventure in about 10 minutes. It was a joy to run!”
“A excellent way to throw together a game on the fly whenever we could find time to get together and play.”
“I am pleasantly surprised at how well this format works, and definitely give it a thumbs up!”
Famed RPG innovator Monte Cook has done it again: He turned his attention to the venerable RPG adventure, which has seen few innovations since the days of D&D’s early “modules,” and asked if all the prep and setup was really necessary. The answer, as demonstrated in Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera, is a resounding No!
To prove it, Monte Cook Games, LLC, sent an Instant AdventureTM to scores of GMs around the world. The adventure was run nearly 100 times on Saturday, April 11th. To demonstrate the format, these GMs weren’t given the adventure until shortly before they had to run their games—so they were unable to spend the hours that GMs typically put into getting ready to run an RPG.
Why is this so revolutionary? “It’s Friday night, and you’ve gotten together with a bunch of your friends,” explained Monte Cook, who created the Instant Adventures format. “You could watch a movie, or play board game. But before now, an RPG was out of the question. Even if you had pre-generated characters, someone had to spend hours getting ready to GM, even with a published adventure. But it seemed to me that it didn’t have to be that way. If you wrote and presented the adventure in the right way, a GM could get ready to run the game in the same 10 minutes it took the players to pick out their characters.”
This isn’t just an advantage for diehard RPG players. It also opens the category to gamers who are interested in RPGs, but don’t have the time to commit. “And it’s great for retailers, because they can demo RPGs within the same constraints as board games,” commented MCG COO Charles Ryan. “The same space, the same time, the same personnel. All the barriers that make it hard to demo or run RPGs in a store are suddenly gone.”
The format won’t be limited to Weird Discoveries. “As we look ahead to future adventure products, the Instant Adventures format will be part of it,” commented Ryan. “It’s not necessarily right for every adventure, but it’s been so successful we’ll definitely build upon it!”
Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera (96-page softcover; $24.99; MCG065; includes ten adventures and six pre-generated characters) is shipping now and goes on sale in late April.
“I ran it with literally no preparation and it worked quite well. I might finally be able to introduce more friends to P&P who are kinda resistant to it because of the time they think it will take.”
“It was wonderfully easy to grab the adventure and go . . . much easier to prepare for as compared to other adventures I have run!”
“I can say with certainty that I will be purchasing the Weird Discoveries book as soon as it’s available.”
* * *
Monte Cook Games, LLC, was formed in 2012 by Monte Cook and Shanna Germain, with the aim of revitalizing fan passion for RPGs through innovative, visionary releases. The first Monte Cook Games title, Numenera, released in August of 2013 and recently won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game of the year and numerous ENnie Awards, including Product of the Year. The company’s second game, The Strange, was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim.
# # #
For more information, or to schedule an interview with Monte Cook or any member of the MCG team, please contact MCG’s COO Charles M. Ryan at charles@montecookgames.com.
-----------------------------
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: charles@montecookgames.com
Weird Discoveries from Monte Cook Games Reinvents
the RPG Adventure
100 events on International TableTop Day prove it: You can run an RPG with no more prep than a typical board game!
“Simple, intuitive, and fast! I was able to read and prep a several-hour investigation adventure in about 10 minutes. It was a joy to run!”
“A excellent way to throw together a game on the fly whenever we could find time to get together and play.”
“I am pleasantly surprised at how well this format works, and definitely give it a thumbs up!”
Famed RPG innovator Monte Cook has done it again: He turned his attention to the venerable RPG adventure, which has seen few innovations since the days of D&D’s early “modules,” and asked if all the prep and setup was really necessary. The answer, as demonstrated in Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera, is a resounding No!
To prove it, Monte Cook Games, LLC, sent an Instant AdventureTM to scores of GMs around the world. The adventure was run nearly 100 times on Saturday, April 11th. To demonstrate the format, these GMs weren’t given the adventure until shortly before they had to run their games—so they were unable to spend the hours that GMs typically put into getting ready to run an RPG.
Why is this so revolutionary? “It’s Friday night, and you’ve gotten together with a bunch of your friends,” explained Monte Cook, who created the Instant Adventures format. “You could watch a movie, or play board game. But before now, an RPG was out of the question. Even if you had pre-generated characters, someone had to spend hours getting ready to GM, even with a published adventure. But it seemed to me that it didn’t have to be that way. If you wrote and presented the adventure in the right way, a GM could get ready to run the game in the same 10 minutes it took the players to pick out their characters.”
This isn’t just an advantage for diehard RPG players. It also opens the category to gamers who are interested in RPGs, but don’t have the time to commit. “And it’s great for retailers, because they can demo RPGs within the same constraints as board games,” commented MCG COO Charles Ryan. “The same space, the same time, the same personnel. All the barriers that make it hard to demo or run RPGs in a store are suddenly gone.”
The format won’t be limited to Weird Discoveries. “As we look ahead to future adventure products, the Instant Adventures format will be part of it,” commented Ryan. “It’s not necessarily right for every adventure, but it’s been so successful we’ll definitely build upon it!”
Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera (96-page softcover; $24.99; MCG065; includes ten adventures and six pre-generated characters) is shipping now and goes on sale in late April.
“I ran it with literally no preparation and it worked quite well. I might finally be able to introduce more friends to P&P who are kinda resistant to it because of the time they think it will take.”
“It was wonderfully easy to grab the adventure and go . . . much easier to prepare for as compared to other adventures I have run!”
“I can say with certainty that I will be purchasing the Weird Discoveries book as soon as it’s available.”
* * *
Monte Cook Games, LLC, was formed in 2012 by Monte Cook and Shanna Germain, with the aim of revitalizing fan passion for RPGs through innovative, visionary releases. The first Monte Cook Games title, Numenera, released in August of 2013 and recently won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game of the year and numerous ENnie Awards, including Product of the Year. The company’s second game, The Strange, was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim.
# # #
For more information, or to schedule an interview with Monte Cook or any member of the MCG team, please contact MCG’s COO Charles M. Ryan at charles@montecookgames.com.
