Somewhat disappointed already (Gen Con Releases)...

[Greyscott]

I was ready to drop significant money on some "pre-release" material at GenCon, but the list of casualties continues:

Blackmoor D20/Goodman & Zetigeist
Mindshadows/Green Ronin
Skull & Bones/Green Ronin
M&M - ANYTHING!/Green Ronin
The Lost City of Barakus/TLG
Redline/FFG
Sorcery & Steam/FFG
ANYTHING!/Privateer Press

One of my favorite aspects of the convention is picking up "hot off the press" stuff (before it reaches by FLGS), but it sure looks like there is going to be a lot less of it this year (AU and Warcraft, perhaps, are notable exceptions).

Nevertheless, this may be an opportunity for smaller presses and publishers to really push some of their wares (and talk about 'em this week at ENWorld)...because I know at least convention-goer who'll be wandering around with some excess cash to spend...

 

[spacecrime.com]

Hello, Greyscott, my name is Chris and I'll be your shill for the evening.

When you are roaming the hallowed halls of the dealer's room, take a moment to drop by the booth of Atlas Games, where you will find a newly-released ditty by the name of Last Hero of Scandinavia awaiting you.

Pick it up for a moment, and savor the artistic blend of ancient Norse designs and modern computer graphics on Scott Reeves's lovely cover. Flip through it, and sample the mix of over-the-top action scenes, innovative competitive rules, and occasionally funny jokes by yours most humbly truly. Have a few words with Michelle Nephew, so that you can appreciate the scintillating intelligence and boundless common sense that went into editing the author's carefully-polished words.

Finally, take one last moment to marvel that by purchasing this book you will get over 20 hours of bonecrunching action-adventure entertainment for just 20 dollars. That's less than a dollar an hour, making Last Hero in Scandinavia a mighty bargain indeed.

Wait! We've nearly forgotten one step. Reach into your wallet, withdraw $20 and perhaps a little bit of sales tax for the good people of Indiana, and give it to the charming Atlas Games sales staff. Then tuck the purchase under your arm and go to the Reaper Miniatures booth, where the equally charming Reaper folks will be thrilled to help you pick out the miniatures that will make your experience of the book sublime.

Believe me, I share your pain at knowing there will not be a lovely new Mutants & Masterminds book in time for Gen Con. But I hope that my small contribution to the arts of hack and slash can help ease your pain. Should you wish to hear more about Last Hero in Scandinavia, then come talk to me at the Ennie awards and I shall tell you all about how it can soothe old hurts, win back lost loves, and cure the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy the book,

 

[Crothian]

What's the Rune role playing game?

 

[spacecrime.com]

What's the Rune role playing game?

It's a rather offbeat RPG by Robin Laws, based on the Rune computer game. The Rune RPG features competitive roleplay, point-based encounter building, and dollops of faux-Norse violence.

Like most of the Coriolis releases, Last Hero in Scandinavia features stats for both Rune and D&D. You don't need to know Rune at all to play this book, but we've brought over some of the cooler ideas from that game to the D20 version.

cheers,

 

[MEG Hal]

Mystic Eye will have 5 products "hot off the presses" as well as some cool exclusive or limited stuff including:

Fall of Man T-shirts (They are very cool)
Fall of Man toxic dice sets
MEG dice sets
Fall of Man, waste disposal dice bags
MEG dice bags
(Free) Fall of Man "wish you were here" postcards.

The five products that will hit the con before anywhere else are:

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed: Siege on Ebonring Keep
Artificer's Handbook
Giant Monster Rampage II: World War
Player's Archive (the first 3.5 character record sheet and Journal)
World of Whitethorne: Hamlet of Thumble by Ed Cha

 

[JoeGKushner]

Looks like this will be a good convention for AU.

Two modules, counters, limited edition miniatures.

 

[Teflon Billy]

So is Fall of Man not going to be released?

 

[MEG Hal]

So is Fall of Man not going to be released?

No TB, we are gearing up for Fall of Man kind of like what M&M did last year, one of the lead writers and developers will be doing the platytesting and we just want people to see Fall of Man and know it is coming in Winter 2003!

 

[trancejeremy]

What's the Rune role playing game?

It's based on this Computer/Video game...

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages3/481241.asp

 

[der_kluge]

I don't mean to brag (well, I suppose I do), but I'm confident that Artificer's Handbook is just going to blow people away. It's so full of crunch, it's going to wake your neighbors up when you read it in bed at night. Completely revised magic item creation system, (rules that actually make sense), plus rules for socketed items, item sets, item instability, piecemeal armor rules, and so much more.

It includes actual formulas (yes, with numbers and everything) so that you can calculate the specific cost of any magic item that you or your player dream up.

And it's eerily accurate. Consider this:

In the 3.0 DMG, Chaos Diamond is listed as having a cost of 93,000gp. According to our rules, a Chaos Diamond should cost 177,660gp based on all the powers and abilities that it has.

Fast forward - new 3.5 DMG comes out. Chaos Diamond has a revised cost of 160,000gp. Apparently, someone at WoTC figured out they were WAY off on this thing. So, they're closer, but our figure is precise, and fact-based. Not just based on some judgement call, and fuzzy arbitration.

So, bottom line, if you hate the way magic item creation works in D&D (3.0 or 3.5!), you deserve better. You deserve the Artificer's Handbook!