Posted on February 9, 2012 by Flames
Once again, GURPS fans will be able to explore the world of Robert E. Howard's barbarian hero. Beginning in February, five titles originally published in physical form by Steve Jackson Games will be re-released in PDF format through its online store, http://e23.sjgames.com.
The long out-of-print GURPS Classic: Conan, based on the world envisioned by Robert E. Howard, will kick off the five-week-long release schedule on February 9. This supplement details Hyborian history, magic, monsters, religion, geography, and more. Four Hyborian Age adventures will then be released, one a week, in the order they were originally published.
"These titles have been unavailable for nearly 20 years," said e23 Manager Steven Marsh. "Originally designed for GURPS Third Edition, they remain incredible resources for would-be Hyborian heroes."
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Posted on February 9, 2012 by Flames
Jeremy L. C. Jones recently had the chance to talk to Monica Valentinelli about her role as editor of HAUNTED: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, the collection of ghost stories that we published late last year.
Bullet-riddled Etherometers, EMF detectors, tasers, and inconclusive footage of the spooky sort… Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, edited by Monica Valentinelli, features original stories by Alex Bledsoe, Richard Dansky, Jess Hartley, Jason Sizemore, Chuck Wendig, and six other writers. While there are plenty of ghosts, poltergeists, and the supernatural unknown, the stories in Haunted focus, primarily, on the ghost hunters, chasers, or investigators.
Appropriately enough, the collection kicks off with an overview of ghost hunting (and the culture surrounding it) written by veteran hunter, Jaeson K. Jrakman, who describes the collection as containing “spine-tingling stories of phantom horrors lurking in the shadows of long-forgotten abandonments.”
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Posted on February 8, 2012 by Flames
MAKESHIFT MIRACLE is the hit comic from UDON Entertainment and creators Jim Zub and Shun Hong Chan! The first eagerly-anticipated collection arrives in May as a beautiful high quality hardcover graphic novel with a durable library-quality binding, perfect for teen readers and manga fans alike!
Makeshift Miracle is a new publishing initiative for UDON, best known for their licensed comics, manga, and art books. A completely original story, Makeshift Miracle has been serialized online at Makeshiftmiracle.com to an audience of more than 30,000 visitors since its launch! A steadily growing audience of fans of the work are building up intense interest for this title’s print release, with a built-in fanbase on the launch day!
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Posted on February 7, 2012 by Monica Valentinelli
In November 2011, I took on the role of Marketing Director for Steve Jackson Games. I telecommute, which helps me get a lot more done than I would if I was down in Austin. I recently spent a week down there and talked about my trip when I returned from Austin on my blog. The experience reminded me of working for a restaurant or a newspaper because everything hinges upon product getting out the door in a timely fashion. For a small company with a big reputation, day-to-day operations can get pretty crazy especially when we’ve got a lot of new staff.
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Posted on February 7, 2012 by Flames
ReedPOP, creators and organizers of the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), as well as other major events in the popular culture world, and Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and pop culture content, have today announced a continuation and formalization of a relationship that successfully began at NYCC in 2011 with the launch of the exclusive WHITE SPACE B2B conference. This new alliance provides for a wide range of strategic and cross-promotional activities that include Nerdist interviews with ReedPOP guests and a prominent role for Chris Hardwick, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nerdist Industries, at ReedPOP shows. Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead as well as Nerdist specials for BBC America, founded Nerdist in 2008 and has nurtured its growth into a multimedia name now spanning blogs, a podcast, television, web-video, live-events and print. Chris will be a leading personality at NYCC, C2E2 and other ReedPOP events.
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Posted on February 6, 2012 by Flames
Merchant princes and trader kings, masters of jade and emperor thieves; salesmen born with the trick of selling fire to the gods; genius tacticians and profiteers, hailed by the Fair Folk for their treachery; the Guild is the greatest roll of mortal merchants the world has ever known. For seven centuries the Guild has dealt in coins, chains, spells, and souls, confounding even the might of the Realm—what will it buy and sell to secure its survival in the Time of Tumult? Will the Exalted become its partners, its masters, or its pawns?
Masters of Jade is available now in PDF and Print formats at DriveThruRPG.com!
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Posted on February 6, 2012 by Monica Valentinelli
The Dark Tower CD from Nox Arcana was developed solely by Joseph Vargo as a themed complement to The Dark Tower anthology series. The music composed for this particular collection seems to be more understated than their other offerings. There are two types of experiences I’ve had with Nox Arcana’s music. The first is evident through Blackthorn Asylum, The Necronomicon, Phantom of the High Seas, and the Theatre of Illusion.
After you hear the opening refrain, there’s typically a story threaded throughout the music so it’s often a bad idea to play the CD at random if you want the full experience. I found this was especially true for Grimm Tales, which is one of my favorite Nox Arcana CDs.
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Posted on February 3, 2012 by Flames
The design essay series continues with Matthew McFarland telling us about Dust to Dust, a new story supplement for Vampire: the Masquerade from White Wolf.
Dust to Dust is a story supplement using the Storytelling Adventure System designed for use with Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, and it acts as a spiritual successor to the classic story Ashes to Ashes.
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Posted on February 2, 2012 by Megan
Whether you are looking for inspiration, want a few well-detailed NPCs to act as associates or rivals, or need a character (or whole party) in a hurry, this product will fill your purposes admirably.
Herein are eight fully-developed characters, set up as an integrated crew. Each one gets a couple of pages – one a filled-out character sheets with all the necessary game stats, and the other a write-up of the character’s background, including a brief history, notes on personality and motivations and even what he thinks about the other members of the group. There is also a sketch of the character to enable you to visualise him.
A fairly shady group they are, too. The leader is one Beck, a fixer – the sort of fellow who can get you whatever you want, no questions asked, provided you are willing to pay his price.
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Posted on February 1, 2012 by DecapitatedDan
This remarkable journey through the Hammer vault includes props, annotated script pages, unused poster artwork, production designs, rare promotional material and private correspondence. Hundreds of rare and previously unseen stills help to create a rich souvenir of Hammer’s legacy, from the X certificate classics of the 1950s to the studio’s latest productions.
Written and compiled by the official Hammer Films historian Marcus Hearn, and featuring exclusive contributions from the actors and filmmakers associated with the company, this is the most lavish book ever published on the legendary House of Horror.
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