No-one knows his name or where he came from but his incredible speed and mastery of magic and time has earned him the name “Father Time”. He wanders alone through the world and does not want for anything. Using his speed and magical abilities he takes what food and water he needs from anyone he passes but money and belongings means nothing to him. He simply enjoys the world around him.
He has earned many enemies because of his penchant for thievery but none are able to catch him. He believes that his superior knowledge and skill entitles him to anything he can take from the ‘lesser beings’ that surround him and that he is merciful that he doesn’t take more.
He is not angry or aggressive, he simply considers himself better than others. He does not enjoy large cities but believes that even they have a sort of beauty to them. If attacked or cornered, he will use his great understanding and mastery of time to evade his aggressors and perhaps teach them a lesson with his quarterstaff as he goes.
“Father Time” RMU Character profile >>
“Father Time” HARP Character profile >>
Appearance
He appears to be in his late fifties. Looks however can be deceiving. He has shoulder-length grey hair and a neatly kept grey beard. His eyes are a piercing shade of blue that feels as if they can see deep into your soul. Despite walking with a stick, he is sprightly and graceful in his movements albeit thin and wiry in his frame. He wears nothing but a grey tunic and sandals and carries very little with him.
Adventure Suggestions
An evil tyrant has desecrated a shrine and stolen a great, magical treasure which she is using to enslave the local people. The treasure must be recovered and replaced in the shrine but it is heavily guarded by foul creatures from the abyss. Your adventurers can act as a diversion but you will need someone quick and stealthy to steal it away from under their noses. “Father Time” Seems an ideal candidate but he will need convincing.
“Father Time” has been living in a wood for some time and taking food and drink from a poor local farmer when the need arose. The farmer and his family, believing him to be a demi-god made provision for him and ensured he had everything he needed. Now the family’s youngest daughter has been stolen away by a local crime lord and the famer has asked their god for his help. It is this story “Father Time” recounts when he meets you in the woods and asks you to assist him in saving the daughter.
As the adventurers continue through the woods on their adventure “Father Time” sets upon them and takes some of their provisions and equipment and gives them a smack with his quarterstaff as he goes. As he disappears into the woods the adventurers have a choice: Should they follow this speedy thief or simply continue on their journey.
A small town has had a large portion of its food and provisions stolen by an unknown assailant who lives in the woods. It has gone on too long and they are fed up and looking for some adventurers to set a trap for the thief and hold him accountable for what he has taken.
NPC – “Father Time”
Dún Crú now available on Fantasy Grounds
You can now get the amazing Rolemaster Classic adventure ‘Dún Crú’ on Fantasy Grounds for just $7. This add on gives you everything you need to run this brilliant adventure on Fantasy Grounds’ virtual tabletop system.
Buy it Now >>
Dún Crú
Deep within the Dark Woods of the kingdom of Archendurn is a ruined fortress, Dún Crú. Rumors say that it has become the lair of bandits or evil goblins. Legends say that it is haunted by the spirits of its garrison. Are you brave enough to seek answers to the mysteries of Dún Crú?
Dún Crú is a complete adventure module for Rolemaster (both RMSS/FRP and RM Classic) and HARP. Designed for parties of 4th to 6th-level characters, encounters can be scaled upwards or downwards to suit the GM’s needs. Dún Crú is a sequel to the City of Archendurn setting module, but may be used in almost any fantasy setting.
Check out the original Dún Crú adventure module available in pdf from RPGNow >>
Fantasy Grounds
Fantasy Grounds is a virtual tabletop (an application acting as a virtual online gaming table) designed to perform many of the tasks you would do while playing at a conventional gaming table. These include character creation, handing out sheets, maps and notes, combat resolution, rolling dice and keeping track of all game information. Whether you are running games as GM or take part as a player, Fantasy Grounds provides all the necessary tools to communicate, manage information and perform tasks.
To use the Dún Crú adventure add on you require a full or ultimate license of Fantasy Grounds and the Rolemaster Classic ruleset (version 1.51 or higher).
Visit Fantasy Grounds to find out more and purchase the Dun Cru add on >>
Director’s Briefing – January 2016
Welcome to 2016
Happy New Year to everyone.
Welcome to the fifty-sixth Briefing and the first scheduled Briefing of 2016. This holiday season, my reading began with the Midkemia collaborations Murder in LaMut and Jimmy the Hand, which I had saved from my grand journey through the Riftwar fantasy epics. I had finished Magician’s End many months ago but did not want it to be the end of my sojourns in Midkemia. I followed this with Jack McDevitt’s Coming Home, the most recent volume in his Alex Benedict series. One of the strands in its future history was a dark age where much of humanity’s cultural treasury had been lost triggered by the deliberate collapse of the Internet – the future historians knew from fragmentary references some of what had been lost. It gives pause for thought as to how much of our global culture and history could be at risk. For those interested, my other reading has been the Clarke-Baxter Time Odyssey trilogy and the Clarke-Pohl The Light of Other Days collaboration, and I am currently embarked on Michael Scott Rohan’s Winter of the World series.
Obviously the must-see cinema event was Episode VII. The Force Awakens was a great movie, back to the calibre of the original trilogy. Reflecting on the storyline, some of it did not tally with my memories of the backcover blurbs of some of the spinoff novels. Some checking revealed that the entire Star Wars expanded universe had been decanonicalised. I can understand that the multiple post-Jedi novels would overly constrain the maneuvering room for the films, but I am quietly glad that I didn’t get into the spinoffs.
A retrospective on 2015
As with 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, let us begin with a look back on what was achieved in 2015. We might call 2015 a year of stubborn progress where real-world issues sought to delay us, whether unwanted crises in my workplace, Terry’s big house move, and so forth.
But stubborn progress was made.
Terry successfully completed two Shadow World products, the adventure module Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn and the enhanced Eidolon sourcebook. Both are available in pdf and print, although we are still waiting on the Eidolon softcover being approved.
In software support, we released the RMSS/FRP datasets and Shadow World datasets for RMClassic and RMSS/FRP for use with ERA. We also released AutoHARP Architect to allow AutoHARP users to customise their datasets, and just before year’s end, David Klecker supplied version 2.0 updates for all the AutoHARP files.
In HARP, Jon Cassie’s HARP Folkways completed its editing passes reaching a final manuscript version. Terry has nearly completed its art list. Stubborn progress has been made on HARP Bestiary in terms of Undead, Elementals and Dragons.
In HARP SF, Joel Lovell’s Tintamar-based adventure module, The Poseidon Gambit, is heading towards a complete first draft.
2015 saw the release of the second beta for RMU, including the combined Arms & Character Law, Spell Law, Treasure Law, and Creature Law, and a thorough round of playtesting and discussion ensued. We identified a set of dealbreaker and substantive issues as a result and solutions have been or are being implemented for all of them, which will bring Arms & Character Law to a final draft, and lead in due course to the others stabilising into final draft.
In December, ICE/GCP attended Dragonmeet for the second time as traders with Chris Seal running a RMU demo game and supporting myself and my wife on the stand. Drawing upon our lessons from 2014, we had a very successful second convention, even generating a modest profit.
GCP continued to be a frequent entrant on the top 15 publisher listing on RPGNow. We continued in the top 2-3% of publishers over the year across all OneBookShelf sites, routinely in the top 20 for printed products and in the top 3 for software products across OneBookShelf.
2016
If 2015 was the year of stubborn progress, then 2016 will be the year of unrelenting perseverance and successful outcomes emerging.
For RMU, it will see solutions to dealbreakers and other issues demonstrated and checked, followed by manuscripts heading towards final form.
For HARP, the artwork will be commisioned for HARP Folkways and it will reach publication in due course. I hope to complete the revision of the remaining subsections of the Elementals chapter for HARP Bestiary in the next couple of weeks, and will then take a short aside to bring TGA#4 to a conclusion, before returning to Bestiary. I will be commissioning new HARP products as well that don’t depend on Bestiary. For HARP SF, The Poseidon Gambit should complete and reach publication; again I intend to commission additional HARP SF products. Expect to see calls for proposals on the ICE forums.
In Shadow World, I expect to see new sourcebooks and enhanced editions from Terry. Exactly which modules is hard to say, but Wuliris and Emer IV are the obvious contenders. I hope that Lethys, Priest-King of Shade and Norek will make progress on their journeys to (re)publication, and that they will be joined by Journey to the Magic Isle, Cyclops Vale and scanned pdfs of The Orgillion Horror and Alchemy Companion.
Until next time
Back to persistence and perseverance, and some essential company-related admin. The next scheduled Briefing will be in February 2016.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
If you would like to receive the Director’s Briefing straight to your inbox each month, you can sign up to our mailing list HERE.
Director’s Briefing – December 2015
Welcome to the fifty-fifth Briefing and the twelfth scheduled Briefing for 2015.
Dragonmeet
A final reminder that we will be at Dragonmeet 2015 (on the 5th December in London) running the “ICE” stand. Boxes of shiny softcover and hardcover HARP, HARP SF, and Shadow World are ready to be placed in a suitcase for transportation down to London. These include six hardcover copies of Eidolon.
When not joining myself behind the ICE stand, Chris Seal will be GMing his RMU adventure, Lair of the Ice Lord.
“He Who Parts the Mists of Time, chief shaman of the Seal tribe, awoke with a start of terror. Though the vision was cloudy, the spirits had chosen to alert him to the danger his people were sailing towards. A few days later, at a gathering of the Great Fleet of the Seal people, He Who Parts the Mists of Time told his tale. Thus it was that you and your companions, protectors of the tribe and blessed by the spirits, found yourself travelling ahead of the fleet, navigating the hazards of the ice floes and making landfall on the sea ice. Several hard days of travel across the Whitelands have brought you to your destination. Ahead of you, thrust up into the sky like a fist of ice, is the source of the danger that instilled He Who Parts the Mists of Time with such fear, but you still have time. Now, while the evil within is still rising, growing like a cancer on the lands, now is the time for you to act.’
If you are in the UK on the 5th, we hope to see you at Dragonmeet.
Shadow World
The print masters for Eidolon were uploaded onto 24th October, and the hardcover was approved in short order, and proof copies arrived very quickly for both myself and Terry. The softcover made it to Lightning Source and then disappeared. OneBookShelf presented it to LightningSource but it has not yet been approved. I suspect it has gone missing again.
As soon as this hiccup is resolved, Eidolon will be available for purchase in softcover.
However, I am very pleased to report thanks to the assistance of Meredith at OneBookShelf that the hardcover edition of Eidolon is now available for purchase through OneBookShelf, and indeed we are doing a bundle offer of a 5 USD discount for anyone buying pdf and hardcover.
RMU
The development team are working very hard on solutions for the various dealbreakers and other issues of significant concerns. I am meanwhile in rare moments of tranquility to discern how best to make Creature Law into a publishable book – where or more correctly how best to split it.
HARP and HARP SF
On HARP Bestiary, I have been persevering with the Elementals. I decided that the best way of presenting the five Elemental being/creatures (Servitors, Steeds, Hunters, Savants and Warriors) was for each type to give an individual description and abilities/combat per Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and then shared text for Lifestyle, Background and Adventure Notes. I have twenty sets of descriptions and abilities/combat written up fully, and have the Lifestyle, Background and Adventure Notes in note form for Servitors and Steeds. So still to be done are writing up those notes for Servitors and Steeds, completing the writeups of Hunters, Savants and Warrior, and then bring the Elemental Heritage and Creatures sections into alignment with all the other revisions. Elemental Heritage covers such matters as Lesser and Greater Elemental Blood talents; Elemental Creatures covers converting normal monsters into elementally transformed creatures.
Safely relocated and (mostly) settled in his new home, Terry has been working on generating an art list for HARP Folkways. I am expecting to receive that soon and then we will be able to commission the artwork.
Material continues to appear in the corporate DropBox folder for The Poseidon Gambit, and Joel also poses interesting rules queries on the HARP SF forums.
Until next time
The next scheduled Briefing will be in January 2016, so all that remains for me to do is to wish you all a Merry Christmas (or other holiday of your choosing) and a Happy New Year.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
If you would like to receive the Director’s Briefing straight to your inbox each month, you can sign up to our mailing list HERE.
Star Wars droids and their real life counterparts
With the release of Star Wars Episode VII fast approaching, I was reading through all the various trailer reviews and fan theories when I stumbled upon this wonderful little graphic detailing the Star Wars droids (so far) and their real life counterparts. Created by Matthew Brown on Behance.net, it really is brilliant and well worth a look for any Star Wars fan.
The Guild Adventurer reaches new heights
Hot on the heels of Emer III for Shadow World becoming an electrum pick product on RPGNow, The Guild Adventurer #1 has now joined it as a member of this very elite (under 500 products) group and is now also an electrum pick product on RPGNow.
For those of you who haven’t seen or heard of The Guild Adventurer #1, it is a is a compilation of original adventures and adventure-related material for Rolemaster, Shadow World, Spacemaster, and HARP. Our all-star cast of contributors have created a rich and diverse set of scenarios for Fantasy and Sci-Fi settings to help put the adventure back into your games and for only $8 it is not to be missed.
The Guild Adventurer #1 includes:
- “The Temple of the Three”, a Shadow World adventure written by Terry Amthor himself, the creator of Kulthea, and dual-statted for Rolemaster 2 (RM 2) and Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (RMFRP);
- “Prisoners of Cherin Keep”, an adventure by Ivan Kline, Coleen Kelly, and J. Ricco McMillan, dual-statted for Rolemaster and HARP;
- “The Paranoia Game”, a science fiction adventure for Spacemaster:Privateers by Robert Defendi, author and designer of the entire Spacemaster:Privateers product line and of the stunning Echoes of Heaven setting from Final Redoubt Press;
- “The Vampire’s Barrow”, a HARP adventure by Nicholas HM Caldwell, author of Mentalism Companion, Construct Companion, College of Magics, and HARP SF;
- “People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Flying Toadstool Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Allen Maher, contributor to the HARP character compilation, Friends & Rivals;
- “People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Red Hooded Traveler’s Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Aaron Smalley, author of City of Archendurn;
If you have bought and used The Guild Adventurer #1 then our most sincere thanks in helping support this product and Iron Crown Enterprises.
Buy The Guild Adventurer #1 now >>
Emer III now an electrum pick
Fewer than 650 products on RPGNow have ever reached the heights of ‘Electrum Pick’ status, that’s less than 1.5% of all the products that the online roleplaying game seller has available. That’s why we’re so thrilled that Emer III has now joined the likes of HARP Fantasy (which then went on to become a ‘Gold Pick’), HARP SF and the Shadow World Player Guide – The World in becoming an ‘electrum pick’ product!
A huge thanks to everyone who has bought and supported this product. We hope you have enjoyed reading it and playing it as much as we enjoyed producing it.
If you haven’t yet bought your copy of Emer III, you can buy it on RPGNow in both softcover and hardcover formats and as a pdf.
Buy Emer III now >>
Eidolon becomes a silver pick in under a month!
A huge thanks to everyone who has bought and supported Eidolon: City in the Sky and helped get it to ‘Silver Pick’ status on RPGNow within a month of its release!
While we love every product that we release equally, it is always nice to see something that we have produced be so well received. It shows that we’re on the right track and not only producing role playing products that appeal to our fans but reaching out to new players and bringing old players back into the fold.
With only 5.58% of products on RPGNow ever reaching ‘silver pick’ status, it is amazing that Eidolon: City in the Sky has achieved it in such a short time. If you have already purchased your copy please feel free to give it a review on RPGNow (or any other site for that matter). If you sign up to our Mailing List we’ll let you know as soon as the print versions become available.
If you haven’t yet got your copy, you only have a couple of days left (until the 5th November) to get your copy for just $10 by following the link below:
Buy Eidolon: City in the Sky for just $10 >>
Once again a huge thanks to everyone who has supported this and all other ICE products and of course to Terry K. Amthor for creating such brilliant setting material. Next stop Electrum pick!
Director’s Briefing – November 2015
Welcome to the fifty-fourth Briefing and the eleventh scheduled Briefing for 2015.
Dragonmeet
We will be at Dragonmeet 2015 (www.dragonmeet.co.uk, on the 5th December in London) running the “ICE” stand. Copies of HARP, HARP SF, and Shadow World books have been ordered from OneBookShelf, including Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn in softcover and hardback. Assuming all goes well with the Eidolon print masters, we will have printed editions of Eidolon available for purchase as well.
Chris Seal will be donning the GM’s mantle and running a RMU adventure. More details to follow.
We hope to see many of the UK-based fans at Dragonmeet.
Shadow World
Speaking of Eidolon, the special introductory offer price of 10 USD ends on 5th November, so to take advantage of the deal, please hurry up and use the link below:
Buy Eidolon for $10
Terry has already corrected various errata and updated the interior maps to higher resolution. The cover has also been enhanced. I sent an update message via OneBookShelf but I know a significant proportion of customers switch notifications off, so if you purchased Eidolon before 25th October and you have not downloaded the updated file, please do so whenever convenient.
The print masters were submitted to OneBookShelf on 24th October, so I am hoping to be able to order the proof copies in the next few days.
Also as you may have noticed, we released two Shadow World datasets for use with ERA. One dataset is for RM Classic; the other for RMSS/FRP.
In other news, I have been in negotiations with Tim Taylor, who among many other fine contributions to Rolemaster, was and is the author of Alchemy Companion, The Orgillion Horror, Journey to the Magic Isle, and Cyclops Vale. We have agreed in principle that Alchemy Companion and Orgillion Horror will return as scanned pdfs, while Journey to the Magic Isle and Cyclops Vale (as befitting their Shadow World canonical status) will be reconstructed into new editions for release in pdf and print.
RMU
I wrote last month about the two new playtesting boards for RMU and how I am on the alert for dealbreaker issues that would cause significant numbers of existing RMClassic and RMSS/FRP fans to balk at buying into and playing/GMing RMU.
The biggest dealbreaker for many has been the Size mechanics. This has now been addressed by restoring creatures to absolute concussion hits and by replacing the mechanics of multiplying and dividing damage according to size category differential with simply adjusting the critical degree delivered. For those who want bigger creatures to pack more oomph, there will be an optional concussion hit addition, precalculated in the tables. There will also be more unique weapons tables. The development team are currently working on implementing these changes.
Several other issues have also been addressed and solutions proposed, such as available development points and initiative/action points.
Additional areas of (substantial) concern are: viability of random stat generation, profession differentiation and related matters of skill categories and costs, culture differentiation, more varied core races, spell casting penalties for material carried, too many stun types, Adrenal Defense as skill or talent, making item creation in Treasure Law simpler, and random item tables. None of these are full-blown dealbreakers but they do need resolution.
Creature Law as it currently stands is a publishing deal-breaker as it is just too big to be printed. It also has usability issues which require resolution so that it is easier for GMs to use the creatures within it.
HARP and HARP SF
On HARP Bestiary, I have been wrestling with the Elementals. Although Elementals were described and statted in the original Something Wicked manuscript for the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire and Water, with explicit stat tables from 1st to 20th level, the stat blocks were too tightly constrained by attempting to be consistent with material that is no longer deemed HARP canon. So I have been trying to liberate the Elementals from this straitjacket.
At the time of writing this Briefing, my intention is to create a Type I Elemental Servitor being, a Type II Elemental Steed (this went to Type II by accrual of additional abilities), and then have Elemental Warriors, Elemental Hunters, and Elemental Savants. Warriors, Hunters and Savants will come in Types I through V; each will have somewhat different abilities. Warriors will pursue Fighter and Warrior Mage professional orientations, Hunters will pursue the Hunter and Ranger professions, while Savants will pursue Elementalist and variant mage professions. What I am currently wrestling with (and writing this editorial) while figuring out a solution to how best to present the Warriors, Hunters and Savants. Is a Fire Elemental Warrior more similar to Water Elemental Warrior or a Fire Elemental Hunter? Does it make more sense to split by Element or category? Still thinking.
John Duffield has also handed in a much more fulsome Dragon and Dragon Kin chapter. He is currently statting up his wyverns, dracos, and fey dragons.
Joel Lovell is continuing to quietly slip additional material for The Poseidon Gambit adventure module into the corporate DropBox folder
Until next time
The next Briefing will be in December.
Best wishes,
Nicholas
Director, Guild Companion Publications Ltd.
If you would like to receive the Director’s Briefing straight to your inbox each month, you can sign up to our mailing list HERE.
HARP SF now an electrum pick!
Today we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has bought, played and promoted HARP SF since it’s release. This is because today we’re overjoyed to announce that HARP SF has become an electrum pick on RPGNow!
For those of you not aware of RPGNow and it’s ranking system, becoming an electrum pick is a big deal. Metal icons are a rough indication of a products popularity with each level being progressively harder to reach. Over 83% of products on RPGNow never achieve a metal icon. Only 9.45% ever become a ‘copper pick’ which is the lowest level of metal with 5.59% achieving Silver. Electrum (which is the third highest metal) is an accolade reserved for the privileged few with only 1.18% of products on RPGNow reaching the level that HARP SF has now reached.
In case you haven’t yet bought HARP SF, here’s a brief look at what makes the game so great:
HARP SF
– the roleplaying game of the future has arrived
Whether your game focuses on events on a single inhabited world in the near future or is a galaxy-spanning epic set millennia hence in the far future, HARP SF is the right choice for you.
HARP SF retains all the simplicity and flexibility of the original HARP Fantasy game but expands its reach to a whole new universe of infinite possibilities.
HARP SF includes:
- Character creation rules for human and alien characters
- 11 professions
- 6 alien species
- 9 cultures
- 80+ skills
- 100+ talents
- Futuristic equipment and technology
- Rules for sf adventuring on alien worlds and outer space
- Rules for personal combat
- 23 critical tables
- Psionics
- Gamemastering guidance
- An introduction to the new Tintamar setting
If you haven’t yet got a copy you can buy it in pdf, softcover and hardcover at RPGNow HERE.
If you have already got your copy. A huge thanks from all the team here at ICE. We hope you have enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it in the future.