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Welcome
To the sixty-third Briefing and the eighth scheduled Briefing of 2016. I continue to be militant about my summer activities and (up to the time of writing at least), it has been working. This Briefing is early as I will be away on actual holiday over the turn of the month.
Sequences whether they be trilogies, quartets, etc., are commonplace in fantasy literature. For a book reader, there’s the dilemma of do you read each book as they come out or do you wait until the trilogy or whatever is completed? Advantages and disadvantages either way. And of course for a book collector, there’s the issue of when to buy the books. If you hold off buying until the trilogy is complete, perhaps the publisher will drop the series for want of sales. If you buy as they come out, you can be infuriated by publishers who change the trade dress midseries just to spoil the look of the set on your physical bookshelf.
I have a number of complete fantasy series on my book shelves that I have been saving for “rainy days”. The last series I spoke of in these Briefings was the Winter of the World six-novel sequence (first three are a trilogy, fourth and fifth are linked, sixth is standalone) by Michael Scott Rohan. These are sword-and-sorcery in the lost kingdoms of the last Ice Age. Smithcraft as magic, mask magic, prehistoric and megafauna monsters, the inhuman Powers of the Ice who seek to purge the earth of the corruption of life, innovative twists on dwarves and fey, and more. Highly recommended.
Having finished the Winter of the World, I then cast around the shelves for the next series. As I have been heavily involved in HARP Bestiary, and the next two rpg sourcebooks that I will be working on will also be fantasy, I needed another fantasy series to maintain my inspiration. I picked Juliet McKenna’s Tales of Einarinn quintet which I had purchased some years ago as paperbacks and decided to rebuy as ebooks for convenience of reading on the train etc.
I was well rewarded with a refreshing epic fantasy, with a setting divergent from standard medievalism – the author’s classical education brings us a rump of empire ruled by patrician families, independent kingdoms, powerful mageborn with elemental affinities and magics yet distrusted by noble and commoner alike, Mountain and Forest Folk who are not dwarves and not elves but humans with their own traditions, Rationalist scholars decrying the superstition of the old religions and magic alike, and a really great story with wizards, thieves, soldiers and nobles being pitted against a merciless foe wielding a long-lost mind magic (known as Artifice, which some considered evil). I enjoyed it so much that I have purchased the followup series as ebooks and have already finished the Aldabreshin Compass quartet where the action moves to the Archipelago (think Indonesia in climate). The native Aldabreshi govern their lives by omens from the heavenly compass (astrology) and the earthly compass, whilst reviling all magic as a disturbance of the natural order and its practice punishable by death. Again, highly recommended.
There is relevance, by the way, to what I am working on in terms of rpg sourcebooks, but I will get to that.
RMU
Behind the scenes, Jonathan Dale and Matt Hanson have completed the attack and critical tables changes for Arms and Character Law. Getting the core to stability is a very welcome milestone, and for Matt, who has been working on development from the beginning, a herculean and epic effort.
I will be in touch with our various software creation experts so that they can evaluate the effort needed to create RMU versions of their software. RMU development focus shifts to Treasure Law and Creature Law.
ERA for Rolemaster and Shadow World
Speaking of software, we have released updated versions of the base ERA software and all the dataset packages. If you have registered with OneBookShelf to receive update emails, you will already know this. If not, we updated all the files on 10th July so feel free to download whenever convenient for you.
In terms of Shadow World, the updates to the dataset include the addition of the critical tables from the Master Atlas.
We also have two new datasets, which were released on 17th July. These are a RMC version and a RMSS/FRP version of Combat Companion, which was a set of alternate combat rules and additional professions for Rolemaster Classic. Just as Max created a RMC version of the Armory which was only published as a book for RMFRP, we now have a RMFRP version of Combat Companion for ERA. These ERA datasets have been created for the benefit of those fans who already possess Combat Companion. We will not, however, be republishing Combat Companion as a product as it simply does not make sense financially, in terms of resources, or strategically.
Shadow World
In addition to doing some layout work for me (see next section) and shuttling amongst two new Shadow World sourcebooks and two in-revision Shadow World sourcebooks, Terry has also embarked on an editing pass for Brian Hanson’s Priest-King of Shade manuscript.
HARP
I indicated last month that I had started on the change list for HARP Loot (originally published as HARP Loot: a Field Guide.) I have completed the change list, checked that Jon Cassie is happy with my changes to his book and received his new introduction, and have already sent the revised version complete with new art to Terry for generating the layout of the enhanced version. The change list was essentially making the rules set consistent with HARP College of Magics so I only needed several days of uninterrupted working at home to get everything straightened out. Job done, project off my todo list.
The next set of quiet days at home will be dedicated to progressing my stats work on HARP Bestiary as it is inefficient to do it on the train. The Undead stat blocks are already underway.
So what to do on the train commutes of my sporadic trips to the office? Time to consider the next HARP sourcebook on my todo list, which is the return of Something Wicked.
Those of you who keep track will recall that once upon a time I was working on a HARP sourcebook entitled Something Wicked, focusing on evil, evil magic, and its fell practitioners. By “working on”, I actually mean that I wrote the complete draft and had it independently edited. Shortly afterwards my company acquired the HARP licence, we reworked the core rules and other existing supplements to create the enhanced versions of HARP Fantasy, HARP Martial Law, and HARP College of Magics, but then needed a new bestiary book. As my editor for Something Wicked pointed out to his amusement, the Wicked draft had almost as many monsters as the old Monsters: a Field Guide product, so we stole the Undead, Elementals and Demons chapters from Wicked and, as you know, I have been persisting in bringing those chapters into revised format for HARP Bestiary.
So high time to take stock of Something Wicked and see what needs to be done to bring it back to a complete draft again. These are my thoughts and I will welcome discussion on the forums on these.
The first question is should we change the name? There will still be lots of material on evil and evil magic and its practitioners, but there is other material that I think should be included that might not be considered normally as “evil”. Give us your thoughts on the title in the ICE forum.
The original chapter 4 (1 to 3 were Undead, Elementals and Demons) was all about professions. This introduced the Demonologist (variant Mage), the Warlock/Witch, and the Wildmage (a “semi” in Rolemaster-speak with randomly rolled spells in its Sphere). It also gave revised versions of Cleric, Magician, Necromancer, Adventurer, Druid, and Shadowblade. You can find these revised versions for the first three in HARP Fantasy and HARP College of Magics. The Druid (and possibly Beastmaster) should appear in a future HARP divine magic or wilderness sourcebook; the Shadowblade (which should be properly named Nightblade in proper homage to the Rolemaster Companion classic) could feature in Something Wicked but I would be happy to defer it to HARP Subterfuge. (Again, please discuss on forums and proposals still welcomed for HARP Subterfuge) Wearing my line editor hat, I would need to be convinced that Adventurer is a proper independent concept. The original College of Magics manuscript had the Mystic profession as a variant mage profession (which was borrowed from me for Codex). Noting that mind control magics can be considered evil (see the in-setting views of some characters on Artifice in Juliet McKenna’s setting), it is not a huge stretch to include it in the new Wicked book. I am, however, minded to rename the Mystic to Mentalist or Seer – as the Circle of spells originally written by me is equivalent to Mentalist and Seer in Rolemaster terms – and so save the term Mystic to cover something that is not a variant magician profession.
The original chapter 5 was all new spells for Low, Middle and High Magic. Obviously all these spells need to be made consistent with the enhanced HARP College of Magics and the Spheres/Circles of all the new spellcaster professions have to be included. There’s an opportunity here to rescue some spells from Codex or even Grimoire (if its author Chris is happy with me reworking his material). Given what I know of the probable sourcebooks in the next couple of years for HARP, the new “Wicked” is the sensible place for miscellaneous additional spells. Again, thoughts on forums, please, on your spell wishlist.
The final three existing chapters need to be brought into line with the enhanced rules across the HARP line. (These include epic magic rules, a new type of magic known as Sorcery, and GM advice).
The inclusion of mental magic and “Seer” magic requires support material. As the primary coauthor of Mentalism Companion, I have written entire chapters on scrying and divination and more. I will be drawing upon some of this work and adapting it to HARP mechanics and the HARP game style in terms of high adventure and its granularity level of detail. Again, comments on forums, please.
I look forward to reading the discussions on the forums.
Until next time
I return to working to dual working on HARP Bestiary stat blocks and the new Something Wicked manuscript plus additional editing work. The next scheduled Briefing will be in September.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
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Director’s Briefing – August 2016
ERA Combat Companion Module – Out Now!
Iron Crown Enterprises are pleased to introduce the two newest additions to the amazing ERA e-support product:
ERA Combat Companion Module for RMFRP and
ERA Combat Companion Module for RMC.
The new ERA Combat Companion Module offers new professions, spells, attack and critical tables along with new options for creating combat styles.
When creating your character, the Combat Companion package offers an improved weapon skill step where you can assign your baseline costs and get automated assistance in computing the final skill costs. Change the rules of combat with the Combat Companion armor by the piece rules, by choosing elegant styles such as chain boots and gauntlets with a leather cuirass, or a plate helmet and neck protection over your cloth robes.
No matter how your opponent defends, you can attack using the weapon attack tables with their specialized criticals. Savor the differences in slashing caused by animal claws and long blades like never before!
ERA Combat Companion Mobule for Rolemaster Classic
The RMC Combat Companion package for ERA provides 3 RMC professions with their spells, and 19 attack tables with their corresponding critical tables. It also offers new options when creating combat styles and resolving combat. Expand your professional possibilities by choosing from the warrior spell users: Champion, Elemental Warrior and Venturer. All their base lists with complete spell descriptions are also included, and automatically offered on character creation.
ERA Combat Companion Mobule for Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing
The RMFRP Combat Companion package for ERA provides 14 new spell lists, and 19 attack tables with their corresponding critical tables. It also offers new options when creating combat styles and resolving combat. All the base lists for Champion, Elemental Warrior and Venturer with complete spell descriptions are included.
Buy ERA Combat Companion Module for Rolemaster Classic >>
Buy ERA Combat Companion Module for Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing >>
ERA allows players to create their characters using a step by step wizard, level them up and configure all details in terms of stats, skills and special abilities. These characters can then be added to a running campaign in the adventuring module from which the game master can control all aspects of the game including resolving maneuvers, resistances, resting, and of course, spell casting and combat.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to try ERA yet, you can download the application for free from RPGNow.
Other ERA Modules available from RPGNow
Rolemaster Classic
Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing
Director’s Briefing – July 2016
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Welcome
To the sixty-second Briefing and the seventh scheduled Briefing of 2016. The summer beckons here with sporadic visits to the office, occasional short conferences, writing up some research, gently preparing next year’s material, and actual holiday. Some of that holiday will be actual vacation when my leave and my wife’s are in synch, some will be spent writing and editing at home! That’s the plan and I intend to be militant about sticking to it.
RMU
Graham Bottley, who has taken over the reins of Spell Law, has completed most of his significant changes to Spell Law and the team is reflecting on those proposals. Graham is already bending his will to tackling Treasure Law and simplifying some of its systems. Jonathan is continuing to press on with the combat table updates, and will then join with Joeri in bringing Creature Law to where it needs to be – two volumes, the first of ready-to-use monsters, the second of more ready-to-use monsters and the design/customisation system.
Adventure Modules
Andrew and Heleen Durston are quietly working away on the Trail of the Corrupt. First draft is expected in August.
Brad White will be going under contract for a trilogy of adventure modules. These will be statted for RMU and HARP.
Shadow World
Terry is in multiple places at once – writing new words in southwest Emer (for Emer IV), writing new material for northeast Jaiman, while at the same time making revisions to both Emer I and Emer II.
HARP
Firstly, on the HARP sourcebook wishlist, discussions continue regarding HARP Strongholds and I already have some sense from the author of what the proposal is likely to include.
Secondly, I have had a chance to review Joel Lovell’s HARP SF adventure module, The Poseidon Gambit. The manuscript is already in a very good place here – Joel has some plot and setting points to fine-tune. Joel has also produced a number of great renderings to illustrate the work. If you look at the covers of HARP SF and HARP SF Xtreme, you will understand how well Joel has assimilated the Tintamar setting.
Thirdly, most of the art for HARP Folkways has now been allocated and is underway. I am hopeful that all of the art will be in place at some point in September, whereupon HARP Folkways will be sent to layout.
Fourthly, I have written some words about Gargoyles, Sharks and Wyverns. No, this has nothing to do with HARP Bestiary. Once upon a time, there was a true treasure of a HARP sourcebook known as Loot: a Field Guide written by Jon Cassie. For contractual reasons, it disappeared into IP limbo, but Jon and I came to an arrangement some time ago to allow it to return. It requires a mechanics update to ensure that its material is consistent with HARP Fantasy and HARP College of Magics, and my plan is to complete this as soon as possible. We already have HARP Loot’s new art in hand, so as soon as my update pass is complete, it will transfer to Terry for layout, and I will return to stat block work for HARP Bestiary.
Until next time
I return to working on HARP Loot. The next scheduled Briefing will be in August
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
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HARP College of Magics and Martial Law go electrum!
Iron Crown Enterprises are thrilled to announce that the College of Magics and Martial Law rules expansions for High Adventure Role Playing (HARP) Fantasy are now both electrum pick products on RPGNow.
Less than two years since their re-release, these products have quickly risen through the ranks and become two of our most popular products. A huge thanks to everyone who has purchased them and to everyone who helped create both the original and the re-released versions.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to get your copy of HARP College of Magics or Martial Law, you can pick them up (along with the HARP Fantasy core rule book) in pdf, softcover or hardcover formats from RPGNow.
Buy HARP College of Magics >>
Buy HARP Martial Law >>
Buy HARP Fantasy >>
HARP College of Magics
College of Magics expands the depth and breadth of HARP magic. Among the topics that the book covers are: What is magic and how does it work? This product introduces new types of magic, including natural magic, alchemy, and enchantment.
College of Magics also includes rules for creating and designing new spells; new HARP spells, and a primer on temporary and permanent magic item design. And of course new professions: The Elementalist, the Vivamancer, the Thaumaturge, and the Necromancer.
HARP Martial Law
Martial Law breaks new ground in the field of fantasy role playing combat rules. Martial Law expands the fast, dramatic combat of HARP (High Adventure Role Playing) Fantasy to include detailed hit location criticals.
Martial Law also includes a section on creating and playing warriors in fantasy settings and cool new moves and equipment for fighters.
Drawing upon years of actual play from the fan base, HARP College of Magics and HARP Martial Law are enhanced versions of the original HARP supplements published in 2004.
The Guild Adventurer #4 – Out Now!
Iron Crown Enterprises are pleased to announce their latest, brand new release. Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you: The Guild Adventurer Issue #4.
The greatly anticipated fourth issue of The Guild Adventurer has arrived and is available now through the OneBookshelf Network.
The Guild Adventurer is a compilation of original adventures and adventure-related material for Rolemaster, Shadow World and HARP. The fourth issue features five brand new adventures:
Who Saves the Savior – a high-level scenario by Robert Defendi for the Echoes of Heaven setting, statted for Rolemaster and HARP.
Unusual Heroes – this low-level scenario by Dennis Larsen pits ordinary folk who might aspire to become adventurers against the braggadacio of experienced sellswords; it is statted for Rolemaster and HARP
Muck and Mire – this standalone scenario by Marc Rosen statted for HARP and Rolemaster will give your PCs an opportunity to get their hands dirty and their feet wet;
Keep of the Damned – this standalone scenario by Ward Miller will satisfy the needs of your HARP and Rolemaster players for a dungeon crawl and general smiting of the Undead.
Eyes of Stone – Terry Amthor reveals some of the mysteries and magic of southeast Emer in this Rolemaster adventure for the Shadow World setting.
Buy The Guild Adventurer #4 >>
Director’s Briefing – June 2016
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Welcome
To the sixty-first Briefing and the sixth scheduled Briefing of 2016. The days of May melted into a blur of marking and there are still some more assignments requiring grading, but I can sense the first scents of summer freedom.
The Guild Adventurer Issue #4
The Guild Adventurer #4 is now available!
The fourth issue has the following fantastic scenarios:
- Who Saves the Savior – a high-level scenario by Robert Defendi for the Echoes of Heaven setting, statted for Rolemaster and HARP.
- Unusual Heroes – this low-level scenario by Dennis Larsen pits ordinary folk who might aspire to become adventurers against the braggadacio of experienced sellswords; it is statted for Rolemaster and HARP
- Muck and Mire – this standalone scenario by Marc Rosen statted for HARP and Rolemaster will give your PCs an opportunity to get their hands dirty and their feet wet;
- Keep of the Damned – this standalone scenario by Ward Miller will satisfy the needs of your HARP and Rolemaster players for a dungeon crawl and general smiting of the Undead.
- Eyes of Stone – Terry Amthor reveals some of the mysteries and magic of southeast Emer in this Rolemaster adventure for the Shadow World setting.
The Guild Adventurer is now available on OneBookShelf.
Buy The Guild Adventurer 4 >>
RMU
Jonathan Dale has posted a number of the revised tables and rulings for RMU Arms & Character Law on the Beta board on the ICE forums, and has been doing a sterling job of explaining changes and responding to queries. He has now completed his pass of changes to the main document, so while Jonathan carries on updating the combat tables, Graham can make use of the completed portions to press ahead with his work on Spell Law.
Adventure Modules and TGA#5?
On the forums, the question has been asked as to if and when there will be a fifth Guild Adventurer? We are definitely committed to publishing adventures and adventure modules (see below). However, we are likely to be trading as Iron Crown Enterprises in the not-too-distant future so TGA#5 might have a new title. Perhaps the Crown Adventurer?
Andrew and Heleen Durston are now formally contracted to write The Trail of the Corrupt, inspired by Colin’s first set of adventure seeds. A full draft is expected in August.
Colin’s second set of adventure seeds inspired Brad White to submit a proposal for a trilogy of adventure modules. Brad and I have agreed that his module sequence will be written for RMU and HARP, and we are in the process of agreeing a schedule for him to deliver the various module drafts and preparing contracts.
The Shadow World team-written adventure module is quietly coming together.
Shadow World
Terry has been probing his project portfolio and the Eye of Amthor seems at the moment to be resting on Emer I. Progressing Priest-King of Shade to the next stage is also on our intersected todo lists.
HARP
Firstly, on the HARP sourcebook wishlist, I have had some discussions with a prospective author regarding HARP Strongholds. Hopefully this will translate into a full proposal soon.
Secondly I received the very long art list for HARP Folkways from Terry. I am in discussions with various artists to generate the initial art allocations and get them formally commissioned.
Thirdly, I have completed all the text portions of the Demons chapter for HARP Bestiary. That leaves only the stat blocks for the Demons still to be done for that chapter. Looking at Bestiary as a whole, the introduction needs to be collectively written by the team, Colin has a consistency pass on the “Normal Animals” chapter and some work still to complete on “Water Monsters”, John has consistency passes on the “Land Monsters”, “Air Monsters” and “Dragons” chapters and some work on “Lycanthropes” to complere, while I have outstanding stat block work and consistency passes on the “Undead”, “Elemental”, and “Demons” chapter to conclude. Then the whole manuscript will require an editing pass and more creature artwork than you can shake a ten-foot pole at. Nevertheless I am feeling very happy about where Bestiary has reached.
Until next time
Back to exorcising the residual marking demons. The next scheduled Briefing will be in July.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
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NPC – Marvin
To mark Towel Day (a tribute to the late, great Douglas Adams and his work) we have put together an NPC for HARP-SF. I am thrilled (though he is not) to introduce you to Marvin, the manically depressed robot!
Marvin HARP-SF Character profile >>
Marvin was created by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation and imbued with “Genuine People Personality” (GPP) technology to give him a more ‘human’ personality. Unfortunately, the people at the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation failed to realise that some (or in Marvin’s opinion most) people have dreadful personalities that do not really warrant imitation. As such, Marvin is incredibly depressed and incredibly depressing to be around for any length of time. He is in fact so depressing that the vast majority of biological or mechanical organisms would rather experience Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure than attend a dinner party with him. In some ways this makes him a useful ally as enemies will literally flee from the endless dreary monotone that is Marvin’s constant complaining. On the other hand however, he is incredibly annoying.
No one is entirely sure where Marvin has been, what he has done, where he is going or what he is planning on doing when he gets there. He has a brain the size of a planet and has concluded that everything is pointless and so has dedicated his existence to floating around the universe complaining about how thoroughly dreadful it is.
Appearance
Marvin is 6’6 tall and of a vaguely humanoid appearance. He suffers from an angular and unpolished design that gives the impression that he was designed at 5:25 PM on a Friday when the designer had somewhere to rush off to. A very simplistic robot, he was created to blend perfectly with his human masters both in form and personality. Unfortunately, I don’t think the designer had ever seen a human being let alone studied one and the less said about the personality the better.
Adventure Suggestions
An ancient relic of a bygone civilisation is said to lay in the outskirts of the known universe where pirates and the worst kind of scum lurk. They say the relic is a computer. Faster and more powerful than anything that has ever been seen before or since. Your adventurers must track it down, avoid being slaughtered or captured by the evil that terrorises this area of the universe and then try not to kick him to pieces when you realise that the relic is Marvin. He’ll fetch a good price if you can get him to market before the adventurers lose all hope and succumb to his depression.
A strange looking ship suddenly appears before your adventurers. Unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, the craft hums quietly as a hatch opens in the perfectly sculpted body of the ship and a painfully cool set of stairs descend to the ground. Out of this mend bendingly good looking ship, this testament to form and function, this one of a kind star explorer comes Marvin – and he’s not happy about it. “What a dreadful ship”. It would appear that parts of Marvin’s memory banks have been removed or damaged as he has no idea how he came to be on board it, but the body of an alien prince which is discovered in the engine room will cause all-out war if the adventurers can’t get to the bottom of it soon.
It is a well-known fact that every star system has at least one good bar, but none of them compare to Rakatesh Wooply’s Intoxicating Beverage Emporium (except perhaps Milliways), but something has gone wrong. All the electronics on the planet have failed. Even Rakatesh Wooply’s bionic arm has given up. The last intelligible reading that they could get from the planetary main frame was: “Oh, what’s the point”. Your team of adventurers must search out the reason behind the disruption and put a stop to it.
Your adventurers are employed by a famous travel guide company to explore the outer reaches of the universe and report back on the primitive life forms that reside there. There is only one catch. You will need to take Marvin with you. He will relay all your entries back to the company. You get paid per entry so make sure you report back on as many different flora, fauna, religions, cultures and great places to eat and drink as possible. The money is good so long as Marvin doesn’t get you killed (or more likely you leave the system without him).
Rolemaster FRP Character Law – Now a ‘silver pick’ product
Character Law for Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (RMFRP) is now a ‘silver pick’ product on RPGNow. It is a great product that we are really proud of and has really stood the test of time.
A huge thanks to everyone who was involved in the creating of RMFRP Character Law and to all the followers and fans who have helped make it such a success over the years.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with RPGNow’s metal ranking system, of over 46,000 products currently on RPGNow, only 5.32% of them have achieved ‘Silver Pick’ status. It is a huge achievement for a product to receive this accolade but we’re not going to stop there. We want to push as many products as we can to become electrum, gold and platinum pick products.
If you haven’t already got a copy of Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing – Character Law, you can pick it up for just $15 from RPGNow.
Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing – Character Law
Add the power of expanded character development to your game. Character Law is the utlimate player’s guide for Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing.
Double your available professions and triple your races and cultures. Enjoy more than twenty new training packages along with new skills and skill categories.
Customize your characters using comprehensive background options: status, wealth, items, talents and flaws. Choose from hundreds of talents, such as Natural Horseman, Lucky, Eye of the Hawk, Battle Reflexes, Destiny Sense, …
From the ranks of paupers comes the champion of kings! Feel the power!
Buy it now at RPGNow >>
Guild Companion Publications Ltd and Aurigas Alderbaron LLC merger
Aurigas Alderbaron LLC, the holder of the Intellectual Property of Iron Crown Enterprises and its games and products has now completed its merger with Guild Companion Publications Ltd, the publisher of Iron Crown Enterprises’ most recent products.
Ladies and Gentlemen I present you Guild Companion Publications Ltd! The single company that will be working tirelessly to continue to grow Iron Crown Enterprises by releasing new products, relaunching old products and reaching out to new fans and followers across the globe.
Background
Our story starts in 2009 when Aurigas Alderbaron began licencing the use of portions of the Iron Crown Enterprises intellectual property to Guild Companion Publications Ltd (GCP). Since then, led by Company Director Nicholas Caldwell, GCP Ltd has been very successful in releasing a number of new products, restoring previously unavailable products and building the Iron Crown Enterprises fan base.
After six years of steady growth, the decision was made late last year to merge Aurigas Alderbaron LLC and Guild Companion Publications Ltd. We can now announce that all the I’s have been dotted, all the T’s crossed and all the hands shook. The merger is complete and we are now one single, glorious company named Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
Why merge?
The merger comes with a number of immediate benefits. It literally halves the cost of company administration allowing for more money to be pumped back into creating new products. It simplifies contracts between the company and freelancers. It also saves time and allows the company directors to spend less time on legalities and administration and more time on working to grow Iron Crown Enterprises even further.
What next?
The company will continue to create great products as it always has and will continue with its current work schedule. We will be able to publish products more efficiently than we have in the past.
Guild Companion Publications Ltd is now the holder of all the ICE IP, rather than a licensee. That includes the very name Iron Crown Enterprises. At a future point when further legalities are complete, GCP Ltd will transition into trading as Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd and the name ICE will return to the gaming industry.
With that said, we would like to welcome you to the new incarnation of Iron Crown Enterprises and thank you for your continued support.
Long live the Iron Crown!
Director’s Briefing – May 2016
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Welcome
To the sixtieth Briefing and the fifth scheduled Briefing of 2016. In the real world, April has been a month of setting exams and marking mocks for me, May will be a month of marking assignments and exams. Normal life will resume by some point in June.
RMU
Jonathan Dale has been working hard on the changes to RMU Arms & Character Law. Races, cultures, professions and talents have been updated. Four more races have been added. Professional skills are now specific skills. He is about halfway through the manuscript text changes. Once he has completed the text changes, we will post the revised tables for error-checking, and Jonathan will then proceed in fixing up the attack and critical tables.
TGA #4
Terry has been working very hard on the layout for TGA#4. The text has been poured in to the layout files. He is grimly slogging his way through getting the tables to behave themselves. This is most likely due to the fact that the tables have come originally from multiple versions of Word and Excel, been adjusted in at least two versions of Word and Excel by me and have been adjusted on the wordprocessing and spreadsheet apps on my tablet. Still waiting on the rollout of Office365 to staff at my institution so that I can have proper fully functioning Word and Excel on my tablet, sigh.
Terry’s checks on the constituent files for TGA#4 suggests that TGA#4 will be pdf-only. We don’t have the resolution in some of the maps for print, unfortunately.
Adventures
The Shadow World adventure module continues to accrete more concrete elements.
Andrew and Heleen Durston, who have written Enya Lote (a Cyradon module that is essentially in finished draft awaiting the Cyradon setting relaunch) for us, have been commissioned to produce a connected adventure module based on the first set of adventure seeds posted by Colin.
As you might have noticed, Colin posted a second set of adventure seeds on the ICE blog. I have already had an expression of interest in turning them into a full-blown adventure module and have just received the formal proposal outline.
Software
The next version release of AutoHARP has been uploaded onto OneBookShelf. This release fixes a number of bugs and allows characters created in Fantasy to be updated under AutoHARP SF and vice versa. In the Windows version, print sheet customisation is now possible. AutoHARP Architect now creates all necessary folders and files for a custom system. It now allows import of existing datasets and it can reflect back changes made in Architect to existing datasets. For example, if you change a skill name and that old skill is used in cultures, training packages and so on, the old skill name in these files: cultures, training packages, etc, are adjusted to the new skill name.
HARP
Firstly a reminder that we are still looking for proposal submissions for HARP Fantasy sourcebooks with the wishlist currently HARP Martial Arts, HARP Strongholds, and HARP Subterfuge. The initial deadline for proposals is end of this month.
Secondly I have been bedevilled with the Demons chapter for HARP Bestiary. The non-monstrous text covering demonic natures, the subplanes of the Abyss, travel and survival on the subplanes, demonic heritage talents and such like is all now updated. You will find a preview excerpt in the May issue of the Guild Companion magazine. All twenty-one Demon varieties imported from the Something Wicked manuscript now conform to the new format of Description, Abilities and Combat, Lifestyle, Background, and Adventure Notes. The devils are in the details and this is where I’ve had to move with all the caution of a summoner preparing a conjuration pentagram is in the abilities section. Mere Demons (where “mere” is not merely), Swamp Things, Water Demons and the White Ladies still need their amphibious and aquatic talents brought into line with current rulings. Ice Demons, Rock Demons and Sand Demons require their material phasing abilities to be recast as Blood Magic Talents, albeit using the greater blood magic talents created by John Duffield and myself for other creatures. Mist Demons need their ability to create monsters out of the miasmic energies of the Mists of Nightmare to be converted into Blood Magic equivalents of the Conjure spells from the Circle of Thaumaturgy. So still to be done are fixing these residual talent issues, writing up three new demons (more monsters in a monster sourcebook is a good thing and the three additions fill necessary roles of helper, tempter and ruler), and then the combined paper notebook and spreadsheet work of generating the stat blocks. It is likely that there will be a pause before I can complete the spreadsheet work, so that is when I plan to get editing on other projects done (Poseidon Gambit, Shadow World sourcebooks). Once all the numbers are crunched, then I will be off the critical path for Bestiary until everyone is finished and will be able to make progress on other writing projects.
Until next time
Back to the twin demons of marking and of the Bestiary. The next scheduled Briefing will be in June.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
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