The Mechanics Report

We at The Game Mechanics realize that we've been off the radar for a while now, so we wanted to give you all an update on where we've been, what we're doing now, and where we're going.

Over the last three years, three of the founding members of The Game Mechanics--Marc Schmalz, Stan!, and myself--have "rejoined the workforce," meaning that we've all had considerably less time to work on projects for The Game Mechanics.

Each of us had also had other projects to work on, from Stan!'s writing and cartooning to my work with Crocodile Games (on the WarGods of Ægyptus Roleplaying Game). So, in addition to having day jobs, we've had to meet deadlines set by other companies.

To complicate matters further, we found out late last summer that we were being named as a co-defendant in a federal lawsuit, which came as a total surprise to us since we had never heard of the plaintiff and couldn't figure out how we were involved. We consulted a lawyer, but actually retaining the lawyer would cost us more than The Game Mechanics had in the bank. We were looking at the possibility that this lawsuit was going to bankrupt us.

Fortunately, we recently received word that the plaintiff had settled out of court with the main defendant, which meant that we were off the hook. We could get back to business as usual.

Despite our work schedules and our legal troubles, The Game Mechanics continued to forge ahead with several of our own projects. We brought Sean Reynolds on board to help take up some of our slack, and his sister Keri Reynolds likewise joined us to act as our marketing coordinator and print buyer.

When all this happened, we had another Liberty adventure in the pipeline (Houses of the Holy by Neil Spicer); I was finishing up Arcane Quarter for the City Quarters series; and I had expanded an article on oozes into a mini-sourcebook. All of these products are in varying states of production, and we'll be releasing them over the next few months.

Obviously, the announcement this August by Wizards of the Coast that Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is just around the corner means that there's going to be a tremendous effect on the landscape for small publishers like The Game Mechanics. Although Wizards of the Coast hasn't yet spelled out how they're going to handle the Open Gaming License, or whether or not they're going to continue to support the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 System Reference Document. So, like so many other companies, we're taking a "wait and see" approach regarding 4th Edition.

But we are committed to keeping The Game Mechanics going as a company. We just have too many ideas for great new products to fold up our tent any time soon. I can't reveal too much about our plans, except to say that we have every intention of finishing the City Quarters series (Arcane Quarter in early November and then on to Mercenary Quarter), we have big plans for our Initiative Cards, and I've had a secret project scuttling around in the back of my mind for the last couple of years, just waiting for the time to get it all down--not to mention numerous products Sean Reynolds has suggested.

So please bear with us a while longer as we carry on with getting our current projects finished up and up for sale, and we promise to bring you even more in the coming months.

Thanks.

JD Wiker
President
The Game Mechanics