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Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. Demon Contest

First Oni — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:02:27 +0000

Third Eye Games is throwing our first writing contest for new and interesting races to add to the world of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. This contest comes on the heels of our recently released sourcebook, API Worldwide: Canada, and in preparation for the upcoming Demon Codex: Lochs race sourcebook.

Entries:

- Original demon race, not just an offshoot of an existing race, and needs origin, lifestyle, and affiliation with API write-ups just like previously written races

- Both Legal and Illegal races are acceptable and there is no required theme for this contest

- Word Count: 1200 to 2000 words in length

- Entries will be judged for both narrative content (how well they fit into the setting) and rules balance

- Submissions and questions to eloy@thirdeyegames.net

Deadline:

March 20th, 2009

Winners Receive:

1st Place – Print copy of either API Worldwide: Canada or Demon Codex: Lochs (upon release)

2nd & 3rd Place – PDF of either API Worldwide: Canada or Demon Codex: Lochs (upon release)

Also, all three winning submissions will officially become part of the world of API and will be available for purchase through DTRPG.

Disclaimer: By sending your submission to Third Eye Games, you agree to the following: “I certify that these materials are my intellectual property and that no other party holds a copyright, trademark or patent claim on them. I indemnify Third Eye Games against any claims of infringement of copyright, trademark or patent that are based on a similarity between the materials I am submitting and a product that Third Eye Games may subsequently create.”

Third Eye Games
www.thirdeyegames.net

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API Worldwide: Canada – Available Now!

First Oni — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:02:23 +0000

Face the Dangers that Lie Beneath

Regardless of what you may think… Canada is neither boring nor safe. There are untold dangers around every corner, and few of our kind to fight. We will strike back with determination and wit. We will be triumphant… because there is no other choice.

…And Stay Ready for Anything

API Worldwide: Canada is the first regional sourcebook for Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. It is a complete guide to playing in or running adventures set in the Canadian region. Details on the dreaded entity known as the Thing Under the Ice and the plans of the Circle of Ten’s Great Strategist, along with new races, magic, creatures, and equipment await within.

API Worldwide: Canada Includes:

Information on the region, threats to its safety and API’s strategies
New Equipment, Magic, Fighting Techniques, and optional Combat Mechanics
Playable Races for Canada, including the cannibalistic Wendigo and mysterious Husks
Two Full Adventures included!

Written by Eloy Lasanta, Ashok Desai, and Brennan Bishop
84 pages, ISBN: 978-0-578-01085-4.

API Worldwide: Canada is available at RPGNow and Lulu and will soon be available at Paizo and Studio2!

Visit the Third Eye Games Website for more information on Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.

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API Worldwide: Canada Preview

First Oni — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:06:58 +0000

We have an early preview of an upcoming Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. sourcebook from Third Eye Games.

API Worldwide: Canada Preview

Gabriel gritted his teeth and pulled the belt tight. Pain flared up in his shattered leg as the tough leather bit down, but soon settled back into a dull throb. He positioned his makeshift crutch under one shoulder to keep as much weight off the limb as possible, fixed the rubberized part against the snow and levered himself upright. The leg positively shrieked with agony as he rose, but the splint held. He’d have thought himself lucky to have found it if it hadn’t come from the twisted wreckage of his snowmobile.

Wearily, Gabriel produced a cigar. The heavy tar did nothing to dull the pain, but it gave him something to do while he thought. At least he was partially mobile again and he could turn his attentions to more pressing matters. The massive glistening bulk behind the vehicular remains shifted slightly, reminding Gabriel of the first order of business. The abominable snowman – it almost sounded jolly, for heaven’s sake! Strange how people forgot the true meanings of words over time. He’d smashed into its face at top speed and still did little more than stun the brute and write off his ride home. But he knew a better way.

The injured operative picked through the metal fragments until he found the gas tank. Still plenty left there, if he was careful there’d be enough for a few molotovs when he was done. Doing his best to keep out of reach of the wicked icicle-like fingers just in case the beast was playing possum, Gabriel circled his wounded foe kicking away as much of the snow as he dared. The acrid stink of the fuel stung his sinuses, already raw from the freezing cold. In retrospect that’s probably what awoke the beast.

With a roar and a lurch the Amautalik launched toward him, the snow erupting from its icy skeletal frame in a miniature blizzard that stung at the eyes. Gabriel fell backward into the snow with just enough presence of mind to fling the fuel canister to one side away from his smoldering stogie. The beast lunged again, and now Gabriel saw why the sure-footed creature had missed the first time. One leg, ironically the same as his own, was shattered into semi-transparent splinters. His foe seemed eager to make the most of it though. The stump reared up above him, its tip as sharp as daggers, waiting to fall.

At times of mortal peril, a little introspection is inevitable. All Gabriel had time to wish is that he had an able partner to appear in the nick of time and distract the Amautalik before the deadly blow could fall. But operatives in Canada are usually lone agents. Too much distance to cover, too many secrets hiding under the snow. Abominable snowmen, as immediate a danger as this one currently was, were still one of the lesser problems on his to-do list. This one in particular could be disposed of without effort.

Gabriel spat out the cigar.

He wished for a second that there was room for an expression in his enemy’s skull-like face. It would have been satisfying to see it change from rage to terror as the red-hot cheroot flew toward it. As it was, he had to make do with seeing its eyes following the fiery arch of tobacco and ash as it spiraled into the middle of a large patch of gasoline. Gabriel rolled madly to one side as fire leapt up and consumed the Amautalik. It was clear that it wouldn’t last long, as its joints melted and fused together. The howl that bellowed from its arctic throat had a ring of death about it.

His broken leg was thumping with pain right the way up his spine as he hurled himself into a deeper snow pile. Most of the little fires in his clothing went out and he flailed madly at the remainder, until they too were extinguished. Then he shuffled up as close to the fast-thawing corpse of the Amautalik as he dared to enjoy what little heat remained in the fast-burning petroleum. Out here in the snowy wilderness you had to get your heat wherever you could find it, and rolling around in snow wasn’t a great method of warming up. Time to plan his next move. The front skis from his snowmobile looked serviceable, maybe he could throw together a crude sled… but then how would he pull it? He turned his back into the harsh wind and set to thinking.

API Worldwide: Canada Coming Soon! Visit the Third Eye Games Website for more information on Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.

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API Worldwide: Canada – Coming Feb. 2009

First Oni — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:22:20 +0000

Face the Dangers that Lie Beneath

…And Stay Ready for Anything

API Worldwide: Canada is the first regional sourcebook for Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. It is a complete guide to playing in or running adventures set in the Canadian region. Details on the dreaded entity known as the Thing Under the Ice and the plans of the Circle of Ten’s Great Strategist, along with new races, magic, creatures, and equipment await within.

API Worldwide: Canada Includes:

Information on the region, threats to its safety and API’s strategies
New Equipment, Magic, Fighting Techniques, and optional Combat Mechanics
Playable Races for Canada, including Wendigo and mysterious Husks

Visit the Third Eye Games Website for more information on Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.

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Eloy LaSanta “Apocalypse Prevention Inc.”

First Oni — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:39:09 +0000

Our horror design essay project continues. Last week was Monica Valentinelli’s Initiation to Exquisite Replicas and other essays can be found in the Articles page here at Flames Rising.

Next up is Eloy LaSanta telling us about his new game Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. and how he created his company Third Eye Games.

Apocalypse Prevention, Inc.

Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. came from a culmination of ideas that have mulled around in my head for years. I’ve been writing and roleplaying for over fifteen years, written articles for webzines, and been published a handful of times. I found a sense of pride in being able to twist my ideas to fit into someone else’s titles, but I also wanted to share my own visions with the world. The decision to strike out on my own was easy and I then became the one-man operation that is Third Eye Games. I was lucky that had more experience and contacts than some attempting the same and I’ve been grateful to those that I’ve worked with in the past for a strong foundation. They taught me that it’s important to understand your goals and implement them.

When it came to creating my action horror, I realized that it’s really hard to truly scare someone nowadays. You can’t scare everyone with the same trick and our society is quickly immune to horror in a traditional state. The site of a dead body may be quite scary for a newb, while veteran are rarely freaked out in the least by even the largest fountains of blood. Then, I looked back to horror inspirations that I grew up with, from Nightmare on Elm Street to Halloween to Candyman. The first viewing of any of these movies easily made me hide behind couches, cower at going near a mirror in the dark, or even go to sleep sometimes. But I progressed each time I watched them, desensitizing myself to the violence and introducing a new element… humor. I’ve found that horror is often the funniest of genres after getting over the initial scare factor. Yes, slightly morbid, but true.

Instead, I really tried to tackle this while writing Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. by using the surprise approach. Players take the roles of agents for a shadow corporation, investigating prophecies, miracle sightings, dimensional portals, and other supernatural occurrences, but they don’t perform these tasks alone. Demons from other worlds face these threats by their side, including some monsters that humans have been scared of since the beginning of time. Even in their strangeness and horror, they are stilled scared by other investigated monsters. This should tell you something. Again, each of these threats has some hint of comedy after you look past the initial horror they present, which was important to the setting. In any game and in life, making assumptions on appearance can put a character off their game, risking their lives and those of their friends, and reintroducing a sense of terror into the game. My goal was to definitely make a setting where appearances could not be trusted. For instance, one of the most gruesome-looking demons in the game works in a cancer ward and wouldn’t hurt a fly.

This was a huge part of my personal design goals. They are things that I have always been interested in playing (or GMing) and I can only hope that others share my enthusiasm. The setting itself is a lot of fun, but the other part of game creation that I loved writing was the system itself. I’m a mechanics-whore and I love games that have an enjoyable setting AND system. No game out there fulfilled both for me. It would always end up that I either really liked the setting or the mechanics individually, but never both. Development between the creations of the Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. setting and the Dynamic Gaming System (DGS) mechanics were about equal, each taking several months to get just right after dozens of independent play tests.

As a one-man operation, it became quickly apparent that in-depth play testing was going to be needed. It was important for me to not just get “the rules work”, but to single out good and bad elements. The things that were wrong needed to either get cut or get an overhaul. Combat, for example, took way too long in the original iteration of the mechanics. Then not long enough in another. Good things needed to be made even better. Many of the available magic options in Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. came directly from play test input. I remember back to some of my first play tests and laugh now, seeing how far the game has come from then.

It did eventually get to a state where I am now happy. The setting has enough horror, intrigue, depth, and purpose that I had hoped for, and the mechanics infuse action and creativity into the game with carefully crafted combat rules and wholly customizable magic. Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. is currently in its last editing stages and I couldn’t be more excited. Please check our web site, www.thirdeyegames.net.

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Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. Has Arrived!