Firstly I would like to offer my apologies for the lack of newsletter last month. We have implemented a number of new marketing initiatives recently and amongst all the excitement I simply didn’t have the time. Secondly I would like to thank you all for taking the time to sign up to our new and improved email service. New email service, new website and a new year (albeit a very late one). Looking ahead at 2013 there are some genuinely exciting things happening. Although I cannot reveal exactly what or when, I have had a sneak peak at the products planned for release this year and…wow! It looks like it is going to be a great year.
Catch up on this month’s Director’s Briefing.
Rolemaster
Work on the new Rolemaster system continues. The plan is to make amendments based on feedback received so far and then release an updated version for further playtesting. I you’re probably chomping at the bit to get your hands on the finished version (I know I am) but the brains beneath the Iron Crown want to make sure that they’re releasing a perfect product that will stand the test of time. We have no intention of rereleasing it a dozen or so times wasting our time and your money. If you haven’t already started playtesting please don’t wait for the updated version. We want to know as much as we can from as many people as possible. Taking part in the playtest is completely free, all you have to do is sign up to the forums, download the pdfs and get playing.
In other news, this month has seen the release of scanned pdf versions of the complete set of Rolemaster Quarterlies and RMSS Channelling Companion. The Rolemaster Quarterlies offer a wide selection of optional rules and source material to enhance your gaming experience whereas RMSS Channelling Companion explores the magic of the gods in detail, with new professions, variant rules and (of course) lots of stuff for priests.
HARP
The tweaked version of HARP Fantasy is expected to be released onto OneBookShelf any day now. It will be available both in pdf and as a hardback colour copy. I have been lucky enough to have a sneak peak at the hardback copy and it is gorgeous. If you’re the sort of person that likes to have physical copies of your books and stare at them in awe and wonder in your quiet moments, this book does not disappoint.
Beyond the tweaking of the core rulebook, we have a race to the finish line between college of magics and martial law. Both products are now tantalisingly close to completion and are expected sometime within the next month. Like their counterpart these books will be available through the OneBookShelf network in both pdf form and hardback colour versions. One these books are complete there is a whole host of other HARP products demanding attention that are scheduled for release later this year.
Settings
It has been an exciting if tumultuous couple of months for ShadowWorld. The ShadowWorld player guide will soon be available in both standard colour and premium colour have had a few *ahem* problems with various files being corrupted and withdrawn etc. Rest assured however the player guide will be with you shortly and looks great.
In addition to the player guide, this month Nicholas Caldwell, the director of Guild Companion Publications has made a request for RMFRP game statistics for ShadowWorld. For Emer I, Emer II, Haalkitaine, Eidolon, and Jaiman, he has asked for the NPC stat blocks translated into RMSS/FRP and a sweep through the books to identify elements which need RMSS/FRP analogues (Perception maneuvers becoming Alertness and Observation, PP multipliers being toned down etc). For more information on this please see this month’s Director’s Briefing.
Partners
You may remember that a while back we were promoting the brilliant “Murder at the Diogenes club”, the adventure book app available at the iStore from our friends over at AppEndix. Well, to cut a long story short it has done brilliantly and that’s not surprising. If you haven’t played it I highly recommend it. Following on this success AppEndix will be updating “Murder at the Diogenes club”, translating it into a number of other languages and create other brilliant adventure book apps. The company, working with Aurigas Alderbaron, is looking into the possibility of re-releasing other ICE solo adventure books as apps, so watch this space.
Available for both HARP and Rolemaster, this month has seen the release of The Last Hallowed Place (Part 5 in The Moving Shadow): An adventure that spans ten thousand years. Veteran game designer Robert J Defendi brings you a world of darkness and danger, where a monolithic church has split into dozens of quarreling factions and holy war looms like a shadow. Here, strength and brutality win the day and only those with the most faith, honor, and courage can stand against the terrible tyranny of those who would enslave everyone of a different belief, a different philosophy, a different race. Worse, it is a world infected by the very fabric of Hell itself.
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