Order of the Stick
My office mate Dave showed me this a few weeks ago ... guaranteed to tickle any over-worked D20 editor's funny bone.
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=1
Hong Kong News Update
To further build up your knowledge of Hong Kong before the release of Blowing Up Hong Kong, I offer you more news from HK: Why not attend classes at Shaolin High? (Not really, but you can go and study traditional Shaolin practices at the new culture center in 2005.)
To further build up your knowledge of Hong Kong before the release of Blowing Up Hong Kong, I offer you more news from HK: Why not attend classes at Shaolin High? (Not really, but you can go and study traditional Shaolin practices at the new culture center in 2005.)
Summer Spots and Autumn Ads
As we wrap up the summer, I thought I'd do a quick summary of the places you've seen Atlas products ...
As we wrap up the summer, I thought I'd do a quick summary of the places you've seen Atlas products ...
• Dragon, full-page Beer Money ad in May
• Dragon, full-page Dungeoneer ad in July
• Dragon, full-page Cthulhu 500 ad in August
• ACD Newsletter cover, Dark Tales
• Game Trade, Cthulhu 500 promo cards and ad<
And where you'll likely see them this fall ...
• Game Buyer, Dungeoneer write-up in September
• Undefeated, Gloom review
• Dragon, full-page Gloom ad in October
• Game Trade, Gloom promo cards in October
• ACD Newsletter, Gloom overview in October
• Dragon, full-page Ars Magica 5th Edition ad in December
• Ars Magica 5th Edition poster map available this fall
So keep your eyes peeled!
Everything's Selling Out!
We've had a flurry of things selling out recently. Happily, numerous reprints are now in progress.
Unknown Armies 2nd Edition and Feng Shui core rulebooks: I placed the reprint orders for both of these essential titles right before Gen Con. We should have both back in stock by the last week of September.
Lunch Money and Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones: Last week the last of our Lunch Money stash was snatched up by distributors. Most distributors still have the game in stock (and are probably good for 1-2 months' supply), but our warehouse is empty! Sticks & Stones of course sold out back in March, but we've been helping shift around the stock that's out in the channels from those who had a lot to those who had little. This week I'll be placing the reprint order for both, with delivery expected in the second half of October. With luck, the temporary unavailability won't even be noticeable to stores or at least to consumers. If you run a store and your regular source has sold out of either of these titles, be sure to check with your secondary or tertiary distributor, since they may still have some.
We've had a flurry of things selling out recently. Happily, numerous reprints are now in progress.
Unknown Armies 2nd Edition and Feng Shui core rulebooks: I placed the reprint orders for both of these essential titles right before Gen Con. We should have both back in stock by the last week of September.
Lunch Money and Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones: Last week the last of our Lunch Money stash was snatched up by distributors. Most distributors still have the game in stock (and are probably good for 1-2 months' supply), but our warehouse is empty! Sticks & Stones of course sold out back in March, but we've been helping shift around the stock that's out in the channels from those who had a lot to those who had little. This week I'll be placing the reprint order for both, with delivery expected in the second half of October. With luck, the temporary unavailability won't even be noticeable to stores or at least to consumers. If you run a store and your regular source has sold out of either of these titles, be sure to check with your secondary or tertiary distributor, since they may still have some.
Ars Magica 5 Update
A new grog character for the iconic covenant, Semita Errabunda, is up today. Go and download Paul, ensorcelled husband to last week's character, Anne. Enjoy!
A new grog character for the iconic covenant, Semita Errabunda, is up today. Go and download Paul, ensorcelled husband to last week's character, Anne. Enjoy!
Gen Con and Hong Kong
I'm finally getting back into the swing of things after Gen Con. It was a pleasure meeting a slew of new Feng Shui players and getting to chat about the game. Plus, I love any excuse to play Dungeoneer or, now, Cthulhu 500. Some day soon I hope to actually win a game of Cthulhu 500, no less.
A special thanks must go out to all of you who sat in on Feng Shui games (beyond capacity) and recharged my batteries after the life-absorbing final week of work on Blowing Up Hong Kong (not to be confused with Bowling Up Hong Kong, which I have sadly been forced to remove from the schedule because it's not "relevant" or "a book," in John's words). I'm delighted to report that Blowing Up Hong Kong is off to press and is expected to be available sometime in September. Therefore, I'll be sharing with you all a few Hong Kong-related news items I've gotten in the habit of looking for every day or so.
The first, which many of you have probably already read about, I share not because it's a fine microcosmic view of the truth of the HK experience, but because it includes the phrase "drunk as a monkey". Please note that we at Atlas Games are not affiliated with any of the media outlets which I may link to; these were all yanked from the internet. I cannot and will not endorse or support the veracity of such reports. I may think they're funny or magnificently strange.
Lastly, I'll remind all you Feng Shui fans that the American theatrical release of Jet Li's Hero begins today. On my birthday. I'll hope that's a good sign.
I'm finally getting back into the swing of things after Gen Con. It was a pleasure meeting a slew of new Feng Shui players and getting to chat about the game. Plus, I love any excuse to play Dungeoneer or, now, Cthulhu 500. Some day soon I hope to actually win a game of Cthulhu 500, no less.
For those of you who didn't get a chance to attend, you missed one heck of a venue for the Ennie Award ceremony this year:
Here we get (from left) John Nephew, Michelle Nephew, and Cthulhu 500 designer Jeff Tidball just moments after the ENnie win for Crime & Punishment.
Crime & Punishment, you'll recall, was written by Keith Baker. Here he is on the exhibitor floor. Normally Keith gets pictures of people with his cow, Bossy, but this year I turned the tables on him. I swear he's striking the same pose I did last year.
Here we get (from left) John Nephew, Michelle Nephew, and Cthulhu 500 designer Jeff Tidball just moments after the ENnie win for Crime & Punishment.
Crime & Punishment, you'll recall, was written by Keith Baker. Here he is on the exhibitor floor. Normally Keith gets pictures of people with his cow, Bossy, but this year I turned the tables on him. I swear he's striking the same pose I did last year.
A special thanks must go out to all of you who sat in on Feng Shui games (beyond capacity) and recharged my batteries after the life-absorbing final week of work on Blowing Up Hong Kong (not to be confused with Bowling Up Hong Kong, which I have sadly been forced to remove from the schedule because it's not "relevant" or "a book," in John's words). I'm delighted to report that Blowing Up Hong Kong is off to press and is expected to be available sometime in September. Therefore, I'll be sharing with you all a few Hong Kong-related news items I've gotten in the habit of looking for every day or so.
The first, which many of you have probably already read about, I share not because it's a fine microcosmic view of the truth of the HK experience, but because it includes the phrase "drunk as a monkey". Please note that we at Atlas Games are not affiliated with any of the media outlets which I may link to; these were all yanked from the internet. I cannot and will not endorse or support the veracity of such reports. I may think they're funny or magnificently strange.
Lastly, I'll remind all you Feng Shui fans that the American theatrical release of Jet Li's Hero begins today. On my birthday. I'll hope that's a good sign.
Post Gen Con
Wow, I'm tired. Gen Con was amazing. Our booth is run by Adventure Retail Ltd (better known to Twin Citians as The Source Comics & Games); it's actually a combined booth for Atlas Games, Steve Jackson Games and Dork Storm Press. I took inventory today of the product that came back, and it looks like Atlas sales more than doubled compared to last year's Gen Con. Knowing that the overall Adventure Retail booth receipts were up by a huge percentage too, I'm sure our colleagues also saw jaw-droppingly good sales figures.
Cthulhu 500, our big release of the show (and focus of our booth design, with racing flags and whatnot) was extremely well received. It was being demoed constantly, and a huge percentage of those demos and brief explanations turned into sales. Veteran Special Ops agent Paul Tevis relates the tale of one consumer who asked what the game was about; Paul began by saying "Elder Gods and Fast Cars," and was about to elaborate when a $20 bill was thrust in his hands with the comment, "You had me at elder gods."
Beer Money is several months old now, but continues to sell like crazy. We also had some advance copies of the Beer Money Greeting Cards ($9.99 for a set of 8 different designs), which were selling briskly. Lots of Once Upon A Time expansions were selling, and people were delighted to hear about our Ars Magica 5th Edition plans.
We were bummed that we didn't get some copies of the new Dungeoneer expansions (The Haunted Wood of Malthorin and Den of the Wererats) in time for the show, but they should be showing up at the warehouse this week and keeping me busy packing boxes.
Our "secret" of the show was the mock-up of Gloom that Michelle and I were showing around to some folks. It was "off-message" (since the booth was really focused on the launch of Cthulhu 500, and we did not want to distract from that focus with a very cool product that we could not actually exchange on the spot for cash), but seems to have generated a lot of buzz, which pleases us immensely.
We wouldn't have been able to get out of the booth and meet with people to show them the secret prototype if it weren't for the Adventure Retail crew and our incredible Special Ops volunteers. Without their skill and hard work, it would have been really hard for us to get as much out-of-the-booth business done as we did (meetings with translators, distributors, retailers, game designers, etc.) ... or, for that matter, make as great a splash and sell as much product. Every time I work a show with the gang I'm reminded of how valuable professional retailers are to this industry, and my appreciation for all the retailers worldwide, at conventions and in their own shops every day, is renewed.
Wow, I'm tired. Gen Con was amazing. Our booth is run by Adventure Retail Ltd (better known to Twin Citians as The Source Comics & Games); it's actually a combined booth for Atlas Games, Steve Jackson Games and Dork Storm Press. I took inventory today of the product that came back, and it looks like Atlas sales more than doubled compared to last year's Gen Con. Knowing that the overall Adventure Retail booth receipts were up by a huge percentage too, I'm sure our colleagues also saw jaw-droppingly good sales figures.
Cthulhu 500, our big release of the show (and focus of our booth design, with racing flags and whatnot) was extremely well received. It was being demoed constantly, and a huge percentage of those demos and brief explanations turned into sales. Veteran Special Ops agent Paul Tevis relates the tale of one consumer who asked what the game was about; Paul began by saying "Elder Gods and Fast Cars," and was about to elaborate when a $20 bill was thrust in his hands with the comment, "You had me at elder gods."
Beer Money is several months old now, but continues to sell like crazy. We also had some advance copies of the Beer Money Greeting Cards ($9.99 for a set of 8 different designs), which were selling briskly. Lots of Once Upon A Time expansions were selling, and people were delighted to hear about our Ars Magica 5th Edition plans.
We were bummed that we didn't get some copies of the new Dungeoneer expansions (The Haunted Wood of Malthorin and Den of the Wererats) in time for the show, but they should be showing up at the warehouse this week and keeping me busy packing boxes.
Our "secret" of the show was the mock-up of Gloom that Michelle and I were showing around to some folks. It was "off-message" (since the booth was really focused on the launch of Cthulhu 500, and we did not want to distract from that focus with a very cool product that we could not actually exchange on the spot for cash), but seems to have generated a lot of buzz, which pleases us immensely.
We wouldn't have been able to get out of the booth and meet with people to show them the secret prototype if it weren't for the Adventure Retail crew and our incredible Special Ops volunteers. Without their skill and hard work, it would have been really hard for us to get as much out-of-the-booth business done as we did (meetings with translators, distributors, retailers, game designers, etc.) ... or, for that matter, make as great a splash and sell as much product. Every time I work a show with the gang I'm reminded of how valuable professional retailers are to this industry, and my appreciation for all the retailers worldwide, at conventions and in their own shops every day, is renewed.
Winning ENnies Makes Michelle Even Happier Than Just Getting Nominations!
Atlas Games is pleased to announce that two of our products have won ENnie awards at GenCon 2004! Those are:
Crime and Punishment (Penumbra D20) by Keith Baker, Gold ENnie for Best D20 Rules Supplement
To Go (Unknown Armies) Greg Stolze, Silver ENnie for Best Non-D20 Setting or Setting Sourcebook
Congratulations to Keith, Greg, and to Unknown Armies' Line Developer, John Tynes, for this recognition of all their hard work!
Atlas Games is pleased to announce that two of our products have won ENnie awards at GenCon 2004! Those are:
Crime and Punishment (Penumbra D20) by Keith Baker, Gold ENnie for Best D20 Rules Supplement
To Go (Unknown Armies) Greg Stolze, Silver ENnie for Best Non-D20 Setting or Setting Sourcebook
Congratulations to Keith, Greg, and to Unknown Armies' Line Developer, John Tynes, for this recognition of all their hard work!
Start Your Engines
For all those race fans picking up their nifty checkered flags with their Cthulhu500 purchase at GenCon this weekend, we have the OFFICIAL rules for them:
Anytime it is your turn, you may play a checkered flag to gain one free, additional action; a particular checkered flag may only be used once during a game. At the end of the game, the winner of the game collects all the checkered flags so used during the game, to use in future games or to lord over the other players.
Enjoy!
For all those race fans picking up their nifty checkered flags with their Cthulhu500 purchase at GenCon this weekend, we have the OFFICIAL rules for them:
Anytime it is your turn, you may play a checkered flag to gain one free, additional action; a particular checkered flag may only be used once during a game. At the end of the game, the winner of the game collects all the checkered flags so used during the game, to use in future games or to lord over the other players.
Enjoy!
We're Off to See the Wiz ... err, Gamers?
John and I will be in the office until about 3 pm today, then off to Indianapolis for GenCon. Will and the guys from the Source already left this morning. Scott has graciously volunteered to man the phones at the office this week, but the rest of us likely won't be in the office again until next Tuesday. Wish us lots of sales!
PS John wants everyone to know that Cthulhu500 has shipped, and should be hitting stores any time now!
John and I will be in the office until about 3 pm today, then off to Indianapolis for GenCon. Will and the guys from the Source already left this morning. Scott has graciously volunteered to man the phones at the office this week, but the rest of us likely won't be in the office again until next Tuesday. Wish us lots of sales!
PS John wants everyone to know that Cthulhu500 has shipped, and should be hitting stores any time now!
We're Just So Darn Productive ...
Cthulhu500 just arrived from the printer today, and it looks great! As a result, Jerry has PLANS for GenCon ... BIG PLANS. Look for the booth with the checkered racing flags and the banner that says "WELCOME RACING FANS!" He's even contemplating handing out free mini-flags with each purchase of Cthulhu500!
Our book printer also tells us that the Beer Money greeting cards will likely be arriving tomorrow, and we're just about to ship THREE (count them, THREE) books off them them this afternoon: Blowing Up Hong Kong, Seven Civilizations, and The Broken Covenant of Calebais.
That's how good we are. ;)
Cthulhu500 just arrived from the printer today, and it looks great! As a result, Jerry has PLANS for GenCon ... BIG PLANS. Look for the booth with the checkered racing flags and the banner that says "WELCOME RACING FANS!" He's even contemplating handing out free mini-flags with each purchase of Cthulhu500!
Our book printer also tells us that the Beer Money greeting cards will likely be arriving tomorrow, and we're just about to ship THREE (count them, THREE) books off them them this afternoon: Blowing Up Hong Kong, Seven Civilizations, and The Broken Covenant of Calebais.
That's how good we are. ;)
Ennies Voting is Open!
Go to www.enworld.org/voting to cast your vote for your favorite Atlas Games products ... Dork20, Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary, Crime & Punishment, Friends of the Dragon, To Go, and Black Monks of Glastonbury. Quick! GenCon is NEXT WEEK!
Update: Haunted Woods and Den of the Wererats
Our printer estimates that they will be done with the two new single-deck Dungeoneer expansions late during the week of Gen Con. I don't know if we'll be able to get any for our booth at the show, but we are expecting to have them arriving at our warehouse soon after we return from Indianapolis.
Our printer estimates that they will be done with the two new single-deck Dungeoneer expansions late during the week of Gen Con. I don't know if we'll be able to get any for our booth at the show, but we are expecting to have them arriving at our warehouse soon after we return from Indianapolis.
Cthulhu 500 Suffers False Start
Well, it turns out our printer was rather exaggerating when they told us they were shipping Cthulhu 500 on July 30th. I haven't been told why the delay, but apparently it just shipped from the factory today, so we should at last be shipping to distributors by the end of this week.
Well, it turns out our printer was rather exaggerating when they told us they were shipping Cthulhu 500 on July 30th. I haven't been told why the delay, but apparently it just shipped from the factory today, so we should at last be shipping to distributors by the end of this week.
See The Fallen Fane
You asked for it, so here it is: Two preview pages from The Fallen Fane, by Ars Magica honcho David Chart. I've selected a couple of pages from the introduction, so you can get a better idea just what this book is. Please note that these pages, while indicative of what's inside The Fallen Fane, may not represent the look we'll settle on in the end for all Ars Magica products following the release of the 5th Edition later this year.
You asked for it, so here it is: Two preview pages from The Fallen Fane, by Ars Magica honcho David Chart. I've selected a couple of pages from the introduction, so you can get a better idea just what this book is. Please note that these pages, while indicative of what's inside The Fallen Fane, may not represent the look we'll settle on in the end for all Ars Magica products following the release of the 5th Edition later this year.
Godwalker Hits the Occult Underground
UA co-creator Greg Stolze passed along word today that his Unknown Armies novel, Godwalker, is now printed and available directly from him. Click the link, and order yourself a copy, all you bibliomancers!
UA co-creator Greg Stolze passed along word today that his Unknown Armies novel, Godwalker, is now printed and available directly from him. Click the link, and order yourself a copy, all you bibliomancers!
ArM5-X1
Want to get a look at a work in progress? The new Ars Magica title, The Fallen Fane sports a prototype of the cover design for Ars Magica 5th Edition products. Inside this stand-alone live-action scenario is also a prototype of the new edition's graphic design, too.
For a look at that cover, click here.
Want to get a look at a work in progress? The new Ars Magica title, The Fallen Fane sports a prototype of the cover design for Ars Magica 5th Edition products. Inside this stand-alone live-action scenario is also a prototype of the new edition's graphic design, too.
For a look at that cover, click here.
ENnie Nominations Make Michelle Happy
We were thrilled to come in to work this morning and see that the ENnies nominations had been posted. Atlas Games products have been nominated for the following categories:
Best Aid or Accessory: Dork20
Best Graphic Design & Layout: Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary (Honorable Mention)
Best Rules Supplement: Crime & Punishment
Best Monster Supplement: Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary
Best Non-D20 Supplement: Friends of the Dragon (Feng Shui)
Best Non-D20 Setting or Setting Sourcebook: To Go (Unknown Armies)
Best Non-D20 Adventure: Black Monks of Glastonbury (Ars Magica/D20)
Best Non-D20 Adventure: To Go (Unknown Armies)
Best Licensed Product: Dork20 (Honorable Mention)
Thanks to the ENnies Awards committee, and congratulations to all our designers, whose hard work made this possible. Voting will begin in just a few days, so be sure to visit www.enworld.org!
We were thrilled to come in to work this morning and see that the ENnies nominations had been posted. Atlas Games products have been nominated for the following categories:
Best Aid or Accessory: Dork20
Best Graphic Design & Layout: Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary (Honorable Mention)
Best Rules Supplement: Crime & Punishment
Best Monster Supplement: Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary
Best Non-D20 Supplement: Friends of the Dragon (Feng Shui)
Best Non-D20 Setting or Setting Sourcebook: To Go (Unknown Armies)
Best Non-D20 Adventure: Black Monks of Glastonbury (Ars Magica/D20)
Best Non-D20 Adventure: To Go (Unknown Armies)
Best Licensed Product: Dork20 (Honorable Mention)
Thanks to the ENnies Awards committee, and congratulations to all our designers, whose hard work made this possible. Voting will begin in just a few days, so be sure to visit www.enworld.org!
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