Krug
Newshound
For the second installment of the Friday Five, we have Ben from Malladin's Gate Press:
1. Give us an overview of your product line(s).
We've got quite a few product lines, if you include those planned as well as those released. Our 'main' line (given that it's the only one with two
releases so far) is the forgotten Heroes line. The simple concept behind this line is to provide class books for the classes that are under supported in the market place. When we started there was lots of fighter, rogue and wizard books, but not much for Paladins, Sorcerers, Bards, Rangers, Druids and Barbarians.
Unfortunately for us that is no longer the case. I think Paladin and Sorcerer were both the first books of their kind for those classes, but now someone at least has done something for every class now. The Academy Handbook line was similarly designed to support the unsupported Wizard specialities, but also to tie this in with a 'wizard school' setting (and this was released about a year before Redhurst).
Our Unearthed Adventurers line covers new basic D&D classes, and providing them with almost as much detail as we put into the Forgotten Heroes books. Our DarkLore setting is a dark fantasy setting which utilises a fantasy-ized version of D20 Modern. We've got a campaign primer out for this so far and intend to release supplements that develop a story arc through adventures as well as provide nice chunks of crunch. In development at the moment we've got three other lines we're going to kick off shortly.
Firstly there's Epoch, a board game using the D20 system as a base for a civilisations game. Next will be the Modern Heroes line, which is class books for D20 Modern. The first book in this line, Martial Avengers, covers Strong and Fast heroes. Finally, we've got the Ethersciope setting a mixture of Victoriana steampunk, cyberpunk (with added Matrix-esque online combat) and Cthulu horror.
2. Tell us at length about your most recent project (upcoming or just
released).
Our last project was DarkLore. This is a dark fantasy setting, but can also be used as a toolkit for your own dark fantasy game if you refer. It uses a character system similar to D20 Modern, with six versatile ten-level basic classes, free multiclassing and more deadly combat. We're very proud of this product, and I think the reviews reflect its quality. The main concept behind the system was to try and create a system whereby all characer concepts were possible, nomatter how bizaare (although it might take you a few levels to get there - it's not a tool for munchkining). Another key aspect was to tone down the magic in the setting, which helps capture a lot more of teh flavour of typical fantasy novels. the game is very much geared to a fantasy novel feel. We're going to expand this with books that cover three different angles. Firstly, they will each cover some areas of the world, detailing the geography, politics and the like. Secondly, each book will be a class book for one of the basic classes of the game. Finally, as mentioned above, there will also be an adventure component and the development of three separate but simultaneous story arcs that bring the game world towards a climactic possible-end-of-world event.
3. What is your main target audience and how much of a spread beyond
that do you feel is likely, first for your line(s), then for your most recent?
I hope we've got most of the D20 market as our target audience, although whether or not we achieve that is another story. Most of our work tends to be fairly generic, but concentrating on character classes. Our newest products (from DarkLore and onwards) will perhaps target a more restricted market place. Epoch might spark some interest outside of the D20 crowd, and D20 Modern seems to be very popular on RPGNow, so hopefully Martial Avengers will also do well.
4. What is the main thing about your company that makes you most proud?
There's a number of things that I'm very proud of about our company, although technically we're a co-operative of our three main writers; myself, Nigel McClelland and Matt Sims. On a general level, I'd like to think that we've built up a pedigree for innovative rules with interesting mechanics.
This has been mentioned a few times in reviews and it makes me proud to know that someone else has picked up on what we're trying to achieve. On a more
specific level, I'm very proud of our two settings. I think that DarkLore is a triumph of game mechanics that help to capture the flavour of the setting, and Etherscope is just such a fun world to play in. We all look forward to Etherscope playtest sessions.
5. Where do you see your company one year from now?
Hmmm, difficult to say. Unfortunately real life has kind of given each of us something to keep us away from the word processor opver the last few months, so production will ikely slow down. Martial Avengers is close to being written, and Epoch is just awaiting the art for the game peices, so hopefully we'll get those out.
I also really want to get something out for Etherscope. We've had some interest shown in it by some bigger fish than ourselves, plus we're looking into other funding avenues, so hopefully we might be seeing it on shelves in FLGSs sometime in 2005.
The Malladin's Gate website is located at http://www.malladinsgate.com/ .
Their products are available from RPGNow.com here.
Previous Friday Five's:
#1: Cartography Unlimited
1. Give us an overview of your product line(s).
We've got quite a few product lines, if you include those planned as well as those released. Our 'main' line (given that it's the only one with two
releases so far) is the forgotten Heroes line. The simple concept behind this line is to provide class books for the classes that are under supported in the market place. When we started there was lots of fighter, rogue and wizard books, but not much for Paladins, Sorcerers, Bards, Rangers, Druids and Barbarians.
Unfortunately for us that is no longer the case. I think Paladin and Sorcerer were both the first books of their kind for those classes, but now someone at least has done something for every class now. The Academy Handbook line was similarly designed to support the unsupported Wizard specialities, but also to tie this in with a 'wizard school' setting (and this was released about a year before Redhurst).
Our Unearthed Adventurers line covers new basic D&D classes, and providing them with almost as much detail as we put into the Forgotten Heroes books. Our DarkLore setting is a dark fantasy setting which utilises a fantasy-ized version of D20 Modern. We've got a campaign primer out for this so far and intend to release supplements that develop a story arc through adventures as well as provide nice chunks of crunch. In development at the moment we've got three other lines we're going to kick off shortly.
Firstly there's Epoch, a board game using the D20 system as a base for a civilisations game. Next will be the Modern Heroes line, which is class books for D20 Modern. The first book in this line, Martial Avengers, covers Strong and Fast heroes. Finally, we've got the Ethersciope setting a mixture of Victoriana steampunk, cyberpunk (with added Matrix-esque online combat) and Cthulu horror.
2. Tell us at length about your most recent project (upcoming or just
released).
Our last project was DarkLore. This is a dark fantasy setting, but can also be used as a toolkit for your own dark fantasy game if you refer. It uses a character system similar to D20 Modern, with six versatile ten-level basic classes, free multiclassing and more deadly combat. We're very proud of this product, and I think the reviews reflect its quality. The main concept behind the system was to try and create a system whereby all characer concepts were possible, nomatter how bizaare (although it might take you a few levels to get there - it's not a tool for munchkining). Another key aspect was to tone down the magic in the setting, which helps capture a lot more of teh flavour of typical fantasy novels. the game is very much geared to a fantasy novel feel. We're going to expand this with books that cover three different angles. Firstly, they will each cover some areas of the world, detailing the geography, politics and the like. Secondly, each book will be a class book for one of the basic classes of the game. Finally, as mentioned above, there will also be an adventure component and the development of three separate but simultaneous story arcs that bring the game world towards a climactic possible-end-of-world event.
3. What is your main target audience and how much of a spread beyond
that do you feel is likely, first for your line(s), then for your most recent?
I hope we've got most of the D20 market as our target audience, although whether or not we achieve that is another story. Most of our work tends to be fairly generic, but concentrating on character classes. Our newest products (from DarkLore and onwards) will perhaps target a more restricted market place. Epoch might spark some interest outside of the D20 crowd, and D20 Modern seems to be very popular on RPGNow, so hopefully Martial Avengers will also do well.
4. What is the main thing about your company that makes you most proud?
There's a number of things that I'm very proud of about our company, although technically we're a co-operative of our three main writers; myself, Nigel McClelland and Matt Sims. On a general level, I'd like to think that we've built up a pedigree for innovative rules with interesting mechanics.
This has been mentioned a few times in reviews and it makes me proud to know that someone else has picked up on what we're trying to achieve. On a more
specific level, I'm very proud of our two settings. I think that DarkLore is a triumph of game mechanics that help to capture the flavour of the setting, and Etherscope is just such a fun world to play in. We all look forward to Etherscope playtest sessions.
5. Where do you see your company one year from now?
Hmmm, difficult to say. Unfortunately real life has kind of given each of us something to keep us away from the word processor opver the last few months, so production will ikely slow down. Martial Avengers is close to being written, and Epoch is just awaiting the art for the game peices, so hopefully we'll get those out.
I also really want to get something out for Etherscope. We've had some interest shown in it by some bigger fish than ourselves, plus we're looking into other funding avenues, so hopefully we might be seeing it on shelves in FLGSs sometime in 2005.
The Malladin's Gate website is located at http://www.malladinsgate.com/ .
Their products are available from RPGNow.com here.
Previous Friday Five's:
#1: Cartography Unlimited
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