IronCrown

Iron Crown Newsletter – May 2013

colinice — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:27:49 +0000

Ordinarily I’m not a fan of this time of year. I think somewhere down the line, one of my great ancestors must have been a polar bear and as such I tend to spend the hotter months growling at people for suggesting that it would be “nice” to go and sit outside in the sun. Luckily I have a whole host of exciting news to bring you to help get me through the summer.

Catch up on what you’ve missed with this month’s Director’s Briefing.

Rolemaster

We understand better than anyone that real life often gets in the way of what we really want to do. That’s why we have simplified the rules of our Rolemaster’s 30th anniversary competition. You can now submit entries to any category for Character Law until the 6th June. We’re looking for your best, most exciting, funniest or most imaginative character and will be judging them in the following categories:

Character from the realm of Arms
Character from the realm of Channeling
Character from the realm of Essence
Character from the realm of Mentalism
Character from the Hybrid realms

You’ve got until the 6th of June to submit your characters via our forum, so get posting.

For more information and further rules on this and other upcoming competitions please visit our website.

HARP

There is lots of exciting news to report on HARP Fantasy this month. For starters the new HARP Fantasy book is now available in softcover and hardcover via print-on-demand from RPGNow and other OneBookShelf outlets.

In other news, the long awaited HARP Martial Law and HARP College of Magics are due for release very soon and soon respectively. A complete pdf of the enhanced Martial Law is currently with proofreaders for a final typo catch. College of Magics has been updated to its new layout and updates are being made to its interior text. When they are released, both books will be available on special offer for a limited time to give all HARP fans the opportunity to upgrade to the new enhanced version.

It is expected that Martial Law will hit the pdf “shelves” before the next newsletter so keep and eye on our website / social media outlets / forums and we’ll let you know the second it is available.

Settings

This month has seen the release of the brilliant Shadow World: Cloudlords of Tanara in hardcover and softcover color via print-on-demand.

Buy it here!

Shadow World: Cloudlords of Tanara is a classic module of Shadow World, set in the east of the continent of Jaiman, and updated by Terry Amthor for play in both its original time era and the current Shadow World timeline.

The original Cloudlords of Tanara was set over three thousand years before the present time of 6056 in the Third Era. Some things are the same, but many things have changed. Groups dormant for ages have awakened again: The evil Cult of Ezran, the Priests Arnak, and even the Cloudlords themselves have returned from legend into stark reality. And the Elven-realm to the east, Urulan, long thought lost, has awakened again with a Queen wearing the ancient, magical Unicorn Crown. Turning back an invasion by the imperialist Rhakhaan Kingdom, she threatens the peace of Tanara, which now finds itself caught between two realms.

Partners

Thanks to some brilliant work carried out by some of our amazing fans, there is now an updated version of Rolemaster Classic available in Fantasy Grounds with a whole bunch of improvements including two entirely new modules.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Fantasy Grounds is an application that acts as a virtual gaming table which allows you to play with players from across the world as seamlessly as if you were sat in the same room.

The update includes:

Initial stat generation rolls (all 3 character law options included)
Stat Gain rolls (All 10 rolls can be completed in seconds)
Skill Development (Lots of options to help with adding and changing skills)
Spell Lists can be added quickly

In addition to this, the new version includes modules for The Armory and Rolemaster Fantasy Weapons, making it even simpler to play Rolemaster in Fantasy Grounds.

To get Iron Crown Enterprises’ newsletter straight to your inbox, sign up to our mailing list.

Cloudlords of Tanara available in softcover color and hardcover color NOW!

colinice — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:25:43 +0000

Cloudlords of Tanara available now in softcover color and hardcover color copies!

Get yours now!

A classic module of Shadow World, set in the east of the continent of Jaiman, and updated by Terry Amthor for play in both its original time era and the current Shadow World timeline.

The original Cloudlords of Tanara was set over three thousand years before the present time of 6056 in the Third Era. Some things are the same, but many things have changed. Groups dormant for ages have awakened again: The evil Cult of Ezran, the Priests Arnak, and even the Cloudlords themselves have returned from legend into stark reality. And the Elven-realm to the east, Urulan, long thought lost, has awakened again with a Queen wearing the ancient, magical Unicorn Crown. Turning back an invasion by the imperialist Rhakhaan Kingdom, she threatens the peace of Tanara, which now finds itself caught between two realms.

Rolemaster’s 30th anniversary competition – Character Law

colinice — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:52:20 +0000

To celebrate 30 years of Rolemaster, each month we’re giving you the chance to win some great Rolemaster prizes. This month it’s character law and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is submit a character.

There will be five different categories and in each of them we will be looking for the best, most imaginative and most original character and crowning them the category winner. The category winners will then be considered against each other and an overall Character Law winner will be announced. The Character Law winner will then be considered against the overall winners for Spell Law, Treasure Law and Creature Law and Arms Law (they will also have sub contests) to find an overall “Rolemaster’s 30th anniversary competition winner!”

So here’s April’s schedule:

Character from the realm of Arms (eg Fighter, Warrior Monk, Thief, Rogue, Laborer, Scholar etc) – 5/2 – 5/9

Character from the realm of Channeling (eg Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger etc) – 5/9 – 5/16

Character from the realm of Essence (eg Magician, Illusionist, Bard, Dabbler etc) – 5/16 – 5/23

Character from the realm of Mentalism (eg Mentalist, Lay Healer, Monk, Magent etc)- 5/23 – 5/30

Character from the Hybrid realms (eg Healer, Sorcerer, Mystic etc) – 5/30 – 6/6

Start submitting your characters now. We want to see them all.

Submit them HERE.

Director’s Briefing – May 2013

colinice — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:17:46 +0000

This is our twenty-second Briefing and is the fifth scheduled Briefing for 2013.

Shadow World: The Cloudlords of Tanara

Cloudlords of Tanara is back and is better than ever, combining material from the classic era and the current Kulthean timeframe, and includes RM2/Classic and RMSS/FRP stats. Available in pdf from the OneBookShelf ecommerce network (see RPGNow and also www.drivethrurpg.com ), it will also be available in standard colour softcover and hardcover. Indeed as I write this, the first hardbound copy has arrived with Terry and he’s indicated happiness with how it has turned out.

Shadow World: And More Early Editions

In last month’s Briefing, I indicated that the creation of RMSS stat blocks for the Early Editions was well underway. It is now almost complete – I have reviewed and approved the stat blocks for Emer 2, Eidolon, Haalkitaine, and Jaiman. The Emer I RMSS stat block is just awaiting some final material. These products need some replacement artwork and some new maps, so they will not instantly reappear, but while the artists and cartographers do their stuff, the next products to be released will be for:

HARP Fantasy

All the corrections have been made to the layout of HARP Fantasy and we’ve fixed the errata that eagle-eyed fans spotted. So if you have bought HARP Fantasy, please go immediately to www.rpgnow.com (or www.drivethrurpg.com or whichever OneBookShelf affiliate you bought it from) and download the updated version.

And that’s not all, the print-on-demand masters have been sent to OneBookShelf / Lightning Source and are now progressing through the system. At some point in the next couple of weeks, I will receive the proof copies and assuming no problems, we will be releasing HARP Fantasy in black&white softcover and hardcover formats.

And there’s more, layout has now commenced on HARP Martial Law with HARP College of Magics queued behind it. I hope that we will be able to release HARP Martial Law either at the end of May or the start of June, with HARP College of Magics a month later. You will remember that we ran a one-month special offer on HARP Fantasy in order to provide all HARP fans an opportunity to upgrade to the enhanced version. We are going to run special offers for both HARP Martial Law and HARP College of Magics – these will be time-limited again, so pay attention to the forums, our Facebook pages and the newsletters as Colin will be getting the word out, and you don’t want to miss these offers.

The Printing Survey

And speaking of Colin and of printing, many thanks to everyone who completed the print survey. Reading through the comments, there are a few misunderstandings that need to be cleared up as they may be preventing some of our fans from getting their hands on print copies.

1. One respondent indicated that he/she used DriveThru as a reason for not buying print-on-demand books from RPGNow. RPGNow.com and DriveThruRPG are the same company, merely different storefronts, so anything available on one site is available on the other, and in particular all our products are available on both.

2. One respondent was worried about being in the UK and whether the books could be shipped to the UK. OneBookShelf’s printing partner, LightningSource, uses two manufacturing plants for products printed through the programme. One of these is based in the USA, the other is based in the UK! So I get my proof copies made by the UK plant and delivered by Royal Mail.

3. One respondent was worried about how long it would take to get copies, and that it might take as long as four weeks. It takes two to five working days for the book to be printed; thereafter the shipping depends on how far it has to travel to reach you and how much you are prepared to pay for the shipping. Virtually all non-US customers get their books printed in the UK because it is easier in terms of customs and duties than coming from the USA plant – in particular customers in Canada normally get their books from the UK which is why shipping seems high for them.

Of course ordering a book over the internet lacks the immediacy of being able to walk into a store, make a purchase and walk away with the product in your hand. However, many of our customers no longer have the luxury of a friendly local games store, so print-on-demand really is ideal in that instance. It also has the advantage that once we make a book available via print-on-demand, it need never go out-of-print. A fan wants to buy a physical book, they pay their money, Lightning Source prints a copy of the book and ships it, and the postman delivers it. It is that simple. From GCP’s perspective, it means we don’t have to invest in warehousing, lock up capital in inventory which may or may not ever sell in a sensible timeframe (Aurigas still has unsold copies of Old ICE books published in the 1990s), or handle the logistics of shipping and handling (i.e. the company and you are not relying on my ability to package books or get to a post office).

With regard to the quality of the print-on-demand books, I’m certainly happy with them and I know that GCP freelancers and Aurigas staff who’ve received copies have been equally happy. Buy one and see for yourself.

Until next time

Rolemaster, Cyradon, HARP Bestiary and more projects are clamouring for my attention; the next scheduled Director’s Briefing will be in June, but keep watching for HARP Fantasy going to print and HARP Martial Law coming to pdf and the special discount offer for it.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.

New modules for Rolemaster in Fantasy Grounds

colinice — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:26:11 +0000

Thanks to some brilliant work carried out by some of our amazing fans, there is now an updated version of Rolemaster Classic available in Fantasy Grounds with a whole bunch of improvements including two entirely new modules.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Fantasy Grounds is an application that acts as a virtual gaming table which allows you to play with players from across the world as seamlessly as if you were sat in the same room.

The update includes:

Initial Stat Generation rolls (All 3 Character Law options included)
Stat Gain rolls (All 10 rolls can be completed in seconds)
Skill Development (Lots of options to help with adding and changing skills)
Spell Lists can be added quickly

In addition to this, the new version includes modules for The Armory and Rolemaster Fantasy Weapons, making it even simpler to play Rolemaster in Fantasy Grounds.

To play sign up to Fantasy Grounds now. Looking for players? Why not visit our forum and visit our gamers seeking gamers section.

To receive this and other Iron Crown Enterprises news and updates straight into your inbox, join our mailing list now.

Iron Crown Newsletter – April 2013

colinice — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:28:04 +0000

This month saw Iron Crown Enterprises first EVER (that I’m aware of) April fools joke. It may not have been particularly sophisticated but I thought it was pretty good. For those of you that got your hopes up, I’m afraid we will not be releasing Rollmaster, a supplement explaining the various ways of rolling dice. We are however releasing a number of much more exciting products so read on to find out more…

Catch up on what you’ve missed with this month’s Director’s Briefing.

Rolemaster

Last year we started a long line of competitions to celebrate Rolemaster's 30th anniversary, and now we're finishing them!

So far we have completed the Arms Law competitions and almost completed the Spell Law competitions. We'll then move on to Character Law, Treasure Law and Creature Law. Winners from these contests will then be voted on by the fans to select an overall winner in each category. The category winners will receive a hardcopy version of the corresponding new Rolemaster book. The winners will then compete against each other to find an overall "Rolemaster's 30th anniversary competition" winner!

This month we're looking for your best story involving Spell Mastery. For more information and rules visit our website. You've got until the end of the month to submit your stories via our our facebook page or our forum.

HARP

With other work completed (please see the settings section for this exciting piece of news) our team are now entirely focused on HARP and its upcoming releases.

It is still anyone's guess as to whether it will be College of Magics or Martial Law that will be first across the line and released first as they're currently both very close to completion.

In addition to these two great titles, HARP Bestiary is well under way with a whole host of writers working on the various types of creatures in an attempt to get it finished as soon as possible. On completion, we plan to offer all three books in harback color versions as well as the normal pdf. These will be available through the OneBookShelf network. We'll let you know the second they are made available so that you can rush out and order them.

Settings

This month has seen the release of the brilliant Shadow World: Cloudlords of Tanara. It is available now as a pdf from the OneBookShelf Network.

Buy it here!

Shadow World: Cloudlords of Tanara is a classic module of Shadow World, set in the east of the continent of Jaiman, and updated by Terry Amthor for play in both its original time era and the current Shadow World timeline.

The original Cloudlords of Tanara was set over three thousand years before the present time of 6056 in the Third Era. Some things are the same, but many things have changed. Groups dormant for ages have awakened again: The evil Cult of Ezran, the Priests Arnak, and even the Cloudlords themselves have returned from legend into stark reality. And the Elven-realm to the east, Urulan, long thought lost, has awakened again with a Queen wearing the ancient, magical Unicorn Crown. Turning back an invasion by the imperialist Rhakhaan Kingdom, she threatens the peace of Tanara, which now finds itself caught between two realms.

Partners

AppEndix

A few months back we brought you word of the brilliant "Murder at the Diogenes club", the Sherlock Holmes adventure book app made by our friends over at Appendix, well those smart folks are at it again and have just released an incredible preview to their next adventure "The black river emerald".

Watch the teaser trailer here. Keep watching the website, forum and social media pages and we'll let you know the second they release it in full.

PyCharGen

For those of you that haven't been on it our forum is a great little place filled with intelligent conversation about our favorite hobby and, in addition to these discussions, we sometimes have a fan send us something pretty special.

This month saw one of our fans post This. It is a brilliant Character Generator for the new Rolemaster system. I haven't had a chance to test it myself but it looks great. Keep up the good work guys!

To receive these and other updates, news and offers straight to your inbox sign up to our mailing list.

Shadow World: The Cloudlords of Tanara OUT NOW!

colinice — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:54:20 +0000

Available now from RPGNow Shadow World: The Cloudlords of Tanara.

A classic module of Shadow World, set in the east of the continent of Jaiman, and updated by Terry Amthor for play in both its original time era and the current Shadow World timeline.

The original Cloudlords of Tanara was set over three thousand years before the present time of 6056 in the Third Era. Some things are the same, but many things have changed. Groups dormant for ages have awakened again: The evil Cult of Ezran, the Priests Arnak, and even the Cloudlords themselves have returned from legend into stark reality. And the Elven-realm to the east, Urulan, long thought lost, has awakened again with a Queen wearing the ancient, magical Unicorn Crown. Turning back an invasion by the imperialist Rhakhaan Kingdom, she threatens the peace of Tanara, which now finds itself caught between two realms.

Cloudlords of Tanara

All the stats and information from the original time, c. 2500 TEI, plus new skill stats, and characters from the current time.
New material about the Coral Roads.
Updated history of the region.
Information on agents sent from mysterious Urulan.
New character backgrounds and adventure scenarios for 6056.
Stats for both Rolemaster Classic/RM2 and RMSS/FRP!
An eastern Jaiman map with more details of Urulan.

Buy it now from RPGNow

Rolemaster 30th anniversary competition

colinice — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:26:01 +0000

Last year we started a long line of competitions to celebrate 30 years of Rolemaster, and now we’re finishing them!

So far we have completed Arms Law competitions and (almost) completed the Spell Law competitions. We’ll then move on to Character Law, Treasure Law and Creature Law. Winners from these contests will then be voted on by the fans to select an overall winner in each category. The category winners will receive a hardcopy version of the corresponding new Rolemaster book. The winners will then compete against each other to find an overall “Rolemaster’s 30th anniversary competition winner!”

So here’s the schedule:

Present – 04/30/2013

Spell Law – We’re looking for your best story involving Spell Mastery. Whether your spell mastery has saved you just in the nick of time or had terrible, terrible consequences, or even really interesting applications for the spells, we want to hear about it. Even if you don’t win, it’s always fun to reminisce over past glories (or failings as the case may be).

You can submit your stories in the contest section of the forums or on our facebook page.

All of May

Character Law – Throughout May we’ll be asking you to submit your character designs and judging them to find a winner in five different categories. We’ll announce the different categories at the beginning of the contest but you can submit as many entries as you want so why wait?

All of June

Treasure Law – In June we’ll be asking you to submit your “homemade” treasure and judging them to find a winner in five different categories. Again these categories will be announced nearer the time but you can make as many submittals as you want so start thinking of ideas now.

All of July

Creature Law – In July we’ll be asking you to submit your monsters. We’ll be looking for the best monsters in five different categories and then announce the winners at the end of the month.

All of August

In August we will begin the voting in the forums for the overall winners in Arms Law, Spell Law, Character Law, Treasure Law and Creature Law and then the “Rolemaster 30th anniversary competition” overall winner

We’ll be announcing further details on Character Law, Treasure Law and Creature Law at the beginning of the months via our mailing list and the news section of our website. To make sure that you don’t miss anything sign up to our mailing list now.

Now start submitting your Spell Mastery stories, we want to hear them all. Post them on the forums or Rolemaster or Iron Crown facebook pages.

Guild Companion April 2013

colinice — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:24:46 +0000

The Guild Companion; Issue 170 is now available at www.guildcompanion.com.

This month includes the fourth installment of “Mind over Matter,” a psionics companion for Rolemaster by Phillip Ellis, and a new magical item that spawns undead.

Enjoy!

Director’s Briefing April 2013

colinice — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:39:20 +0000

This is our twenty-first Briefing and is the fourth scheduled Briefing for 2013.

HARP Fantasy

In HARP Bestiary, some of the chapters have now been allocated, namely Land and Flying Monsters to John Duffield, and Water Monsters to Sam Orton. I will be working on the Undead, Elemental and Demon chapters (as I will be importing material for them from the Something Wicked draft). The Normal Animals, Dangerous Plants, Lycanthropes, and Dragons chapters are as yet unallocated. If you think you have what it takes to be a HARP writer, then drop me an email at director@guildcompanion.com. The first three Land Animals have already arrived in first draft format.

Cyradon

I have allocated most of the artwork for the reconstructed modules, The Ruins of Kausur and A Wedding in Axebridge. I will be perusing the portfolios of artists who have contacted me directly or ICE to see if their style would fit with these modules. I also have a cartographer exploring what is required to correct and improve the maps. Enya Lote is essentially complete in terms of its text, so a big thank you to Andrew and Heleen Durston for a job well done there. It will need an editorial pass to ensure monster stats match up with Bestiary and the new Cyradon. I will also be spending an evening identifying what art it needs in the next couple of weeks.

All being well, we should now have new material for both “Cyradon: Arrival” and “Cyradon: ReAwakening”. I am still keen for more Cyradon material in the post-Ritual / post-Compact periods. Don’t be shy – get in touch with me at director@guildcompanion.com

Shadow World

Cloudlords of Tanara will indeed be the first Early Edition Shadow World product and it will be coming out in both pdf and print-on-demand. I expect release of the pdf version this month – Terry has already sent me the new interior. Print-on-demand versions may be May, depending on the OneBookShelf/Lightning Source approval process.

I have approved the Emer 2 and Eidolon RMSS stat blocks already. The Haalkitaine RMSS stat block has been reviewed and I’ve asked for some additional material. The Jaiman RMSS stat block has arrived for review. Only the Emer I stat block to go.

Rolemaster

I have reviewed the current in-progress drafts of RMU Creature Law and Treasure Law; both are making progress. I’ve reviewed the second beta draft of RMU Arms Law and I believe that will address the issues raised by the playtest so far. The second beta drafts of RMU Character Law and Spell Law are next in my in-tray.

Until next time

Back to reading manuscript drafts for me, managing multiple projects and getting some of my own writing for Bestiary completed; the next scheduled Director’s Briefing will be in May, but expect unscheduled announcements for Cloudlords of Tanara and HARP Fantasy.

Best wishes,

Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.

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