Thanks to the efforts of the numerous backers who helped with funding the Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Companion (V20 Companion) has been completed. PDFs of the book have been distributed to backers and the leather bound copy is being shipped. The book is a companion to the V20 core book and it includes a lot of interesting additions to the core mechanics as well as a few tidbits which were left out of the first book.

I don’t even know how to start this review without just saying, Book of the Year front-runner. I was so blown away with what happened on these 280+ pages that I feel like trying to sum it up will only come across as a gushing love letter to the creators. So let’s do just that. I went into this book not knowing what to expect, well I expected to read about a little girl and her new Monster friend, but instead I was introduced to a world that was so imaginative and original. If I even try to compare this to anything, and keep in mind that I am just basing this off of the overall feel I had when I was done reading this, I would have to say Spirited Away.

13th Age is a new story-focused, dungeon-crawling, owlbear-fighting roleplaying game co-designed by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet with art by fantasy illustrators Lee Moyer and Aaron McConnell.

Now that the core game is available for pre-order, Rob, Jonathan, Lee and Aaron want nothing more than to keep working together and create the first expansion book for 13th Age. But they they need your help to do it. That’s where the 13 True Ways Kickstarter comes in.

Arc Dream Publishing is proud to present the first-ever ebook edition of the legendary Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia by Dan Harms.

“…some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” –H.P. Lovecraft, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’

That day is here. The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia explains every mind-blasting facet of the Cthulhu Mythos envisioned by H.P. Lovecraft and expanded by countless horror writers and gamers in the decades since the master’s death.

When DC decided to reboot their entire universe there was a great deal of cheering and moaning heard around the world. Whether you consider the reboot to be a success or otherwise there are two things that most readers consider to be positive angles on the issue. One, the reboot has provided a decent place at which to introduce newcomers to the DC universe. Two, it is nice to see little used characters brought to the forefront with their own titles.

We have a new guest post from post from Jonathan Creffield, author of the dark fantasy tale Hell’s Door Opens.

Steam Powered eBooks

I want to ask you a question but before we get to it we’ll take a little flight of the imagination.

Let’s pretend you’re in London. It is the latter part of the 1840’s. Smokey chimneys, rakish gents, dowdy harlots, and grubby faced urchins – you get the picture. You are a writer, probably down at heel, penniless, struggling – that is if you’re anything like most writers I know.

As a first time Gen Con attendee that finally made my way to Indianapolis after years of attempting to make it to the “Best Four Days in Gaming,” I was both unprepared and blown away by this year’s event. With some understanding of the convention’s significance to the gaming community I knew I was going to be in for at least some surprises!

Overall the weekend was an absolutely amazing rollercoaster of nonstop gaming and chatting with industry folk, trying out games all over the release schedule from wargames that first hit shelves years ago to roleplaying games newly-minted just for Gen Con to card games that wouldn’t be released until September or later. It was extremely thrilling to experience such an exciting event first hand and meet so many wonderful people, as well as a great way to kick off the next season of new releases and see what we had to look forward to over the next couple of months.

This was nothing less than a monumental year for GenCon. Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing put on impressive shows but it was the smaller publishers who stole the spotlight this year. As the gaming industry continues to evolve creative forces are emerging to bring gamers new and interesting ideas. These are the kinds of ideas that larger companies forgo in favor of their big ticket items allowing room for designers to fill those special niches in our gamer hearts. In other words I spent way too much money but these products are so phenomenal I don’t have a single regret. The best part of GenCon was getting to see friends we only get to see at events like this and sitting in on some of the most exciting seminars to date.

What’s Up with White Wolf? covered the evolution of the company since 2008 when they realized traditional publishing was not working for the company. They merged with CCP so WW could get off the product treadmill and focus on the next stage in the company’s life. This became White Wolf 2.0 as they tried to take emerging technologies and integrate them not only with new products but also with the enormous catalog of products they had already produced. This led to the partnership with Onyx Path Publishing.

RIGOR MORTIS is a zombie-focused zine that is part academic, part fanboy/fangirl. Started by the dynamic Davida Gypsy Breier, it’s one of the best resources for information on obscure zombie films, book and more. Nancy O. Greene recently had a chance to talk shop with Davida about the zine.

Can a Prince command a Priscus?

Can the Harpies declare a boon null?

These questions and more secret details of the Kindred condition have their answers within the V20 Companion. A complementary sourcebook detailing some of the finer points of being undead, this is the first supplement released in support of the 20th anniversary edition of Vampire: The Masquerade.

The V20 Companion is now available in PDF and Full-Color Hardcover editions at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!

Mindjammer returns! Mindjammer Press, a new roleplaying and fiction imprint, has announced its plans to publish the Mindjammer roleplaying game, the far future transhuman space opera setting, and fiction lines.

“This is a very exciting opportunity,” said Sarah Newton, owner of Mindjammer Press and author of the ENnie Award-winning setting and fiction line. “We’ve taken the decision to bring all the Mindjammer fiction and RPG projects under a single umbrella, to allow us to concentrate on producing the new second edition and its supplements, as well as future novels in the Mindjammer series. We’re looking forwards to a regular release of products to support the Mindjammer setting and community, beginning this week with a re-launch of ‘Mindjammer’, the first novel in the series.”

A short piece of fiction depicts a fragment of a ‘run: the forcible extraction of, of all targets, an opera singer! Then some recent history, beginning with an earthquake in 2005 that caused many people and companies to leave, and others to offer to cover the costs of rebuilding in return for deregulation, freeing the city to grow in its own sweet way. Whilst bodies like the New York Stock Exchange and the United Nations left, a new body – the Corporate Court – established its headquarters there, paving the way for a new role for the city as massive extra-national corporations developed. Much of Manhatten – the primary focus of this book – was paved over and new corporate skyscrapers built on top. Much of the subway and other below-ground areas, if not destroyed in the ‘quake, remain as the domain of the dispossessed and those who nibble around the fringes… and, of course, shadowrunners and their contacts!

The V20 Companion is the companion book to the more crunchy Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary rulebook. The V20 Companion has lots of fluff and little crunch, but as alluded to just now that is a contrast to the V20 rulebook, and, I think, a good one. I’ve only seen the pdf, but it is well laid out and easy to navigate.

First after the maybe a little too sexy cover we get pages of dedications from the Kickstarter. There are a lot of names here, folks. Ancille were the bulk of these. I know I am in there somewhere. The Introduction begins with the classic Bradstreet picture of the man feeding submissively from a woman’s wrist. The section gives us an idea how the book was put together, and a little history of it’s development,

Back in June, I pledged to The Horror in Clay Kickstarter. The concept? Simple enough. Cthulhu’s sanity-blasting image immortalized in a glazed tiki mug. The Kickstarter got a lot of acclaim and was picked up by sites like Boing Boing, iO9.com, and the like. Their original goal was $12,500 and they successfully raised over $75,000. I was thrilled to be one of the people who pledged to this and look forward to sipping refreshing beverages out of Cthulhu’s unhallowed form.

Nightglass is an anthropological study of two cultures and a great story. Both of the elements are nicely intertwined.

The first half of the book follows the training of a boy named Isiem as a follower of Zon-Kuthon in Nidal. The second half is about his escape from this oppressive culture as a man and his living with the Strix around Devil’s Perch in western Cheliax. Sort of a lawful evil Harry Potter and then a flying Dances With Wolves.

The Truth Is Finally Revealed

In the aftermath of the mass breakout of superpowered deltas from New Alcatraz, fear and chaos grips the United States. Patriot — the leader of the rebellion known as the Defiance — and his friends Street, Lisa, and Charge work tirelessly to help the people in their organization’s swollen ranks.

When a madman attacks a family of rogue deltas hiding in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, Patriot and his friends rush to their rescue. What they find when they arrive forces them to grab the family and race to Denver, where they wind up in a standoff against Delta Prime, the government agency of superpowered soldiers determined to crush their rising resistance.

I picked up The Iron Wyrm Affair when I first learned about it to support the author. I had the chance to connect with the extraordinarily prolific Lilith Saintcrow on Twitter and, while I’ve never met her in person, I’ve always been inspired by the passion she has for her craft. I had no idea what to expect when I dove into this, but I had read some of her other books. I have a lot to say about this particular tome and its characters so I hope you enjoy the review.

Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce that its iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons®, will offer fans the chance to both explore the notorious drow race in the current Rise of the Underdark campaign, as well as glimpse into the future of the game at this year’s Gen Con Indy 2012 (August 16 – 19).

Our game design essay series continues today with some notes from Monica Valentinelli, author of Falling Scales Chapter Two, a World of Darkness SAS from White Wolf.

Falling Scales Chapter Two is the final, and second installment, for Falling Scales Part I. I started working on this project last Fall under the assumption that this would be a more atmospheric piece to further introduce a global conspiracy. While there were elements I was able to draw upon, the plot was directed, and there were some liberties I was not allowed to take.

Many years ago, in a scene that came straight out of these pages, a car drew up outside my house and the driver handed me a copy of this book before whizzing off again! Unfortunately, it was a loan, but the release of a PDF version gives me the urge and wherewithall to sit down and review it.

It opens with a facsimile letter, the rant of an aging veteran steeped in disgust at the modern world and in the urban myths of conspiracy theories about Roswell aliens and military-industrial complexes… or is it a clear-headed look at what many do not, cannot see? This is followed by the Introduction, blending the real reasons for general public mistrust of government seamlessly into the alternate reality of Call of Cthulhu where the Cthulhu Mythos is all too terribly real and ready to drive those who investigate it insane. This book brings the whole Mythos bang up to date, bringing forth a group, Delta Green, dedicated to combating it wherever it dares raise a slimy tentacle, keeping the world, unknowingly, safe one day at a time.