2005 News Archive
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November 28, 2005
Tomorrows' Evolution Released!
The third installment in the Future Player's Companion PDF series is now available through RPGNow.com. Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Evolution focuses on options for advancing your sci-fi hero in experience and equipment. Inside, you'll find new advanced and prestige classes, cybernetic upgrades, equipment (plus gadgets to modify existing equipment), and rules for designer drugs and sci-fi medicine. If you've purchased both Tomorrows' Foundation and Tomorrows' Hero and your RPGNow.com preferences allow email, look for an email coupon for the third installment.
November 8, 2005
TGM at Gen Con SoCal
JD Wiker, Stan!, and Marc Schmalz will all be at the big show in Anaheim this year, November 17-20. Stop by the Green Ronin booth (#101) and chat for a bit. We've also got three seminars spread out over the weekend: Start Your Own d20 E-Publishing Company, d20 Design Tips, and Playtesting 101. We'll also have a sneak preview of Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Evolution at the show, about a week before it goes on sale.
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November 2005
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October 19, 2005
Tomorrows' Evolution Gets a Cover
Ben Wootten (illustrator and film designer on LOTR, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong) provides the cover illustration for the third Future Player's Companion PDF volume. Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Evolution focuses on options for advancing your sci-fi hero in experience and equipment. Inside, you'll find new advanced and prestige classes, cybernetic upgrades, equipment (plus gadgets to modify existing equipment), and rules for designer drugs and sci-fi medicine. Tomorrows' Evolution is available November 2005.
October 17, 2005
Halloween Adventure Sale
It's only two weeks until Halloween... do you have your games planned yet? If you're looking for a night of horror you might want to check out one or more of our adventures, now all on sale through Halloween. If you've already experienced Come for the Reaping, you might look to the Bronze Head series: Slave Drivers, Flight 23, and The Brindisi Protocol. All four are available for download through RPGNow.com.
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September 21, 2005
Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Hero Released!
The Game Mechanics presents the second volume in the Future Player's Companion PDF series: Tomorrows' Hero. Like its spiritual predecessor, Modern Player's Companion, the Future Player's Companion focuses on the material used by players. Inside Tomorrows' Hero you will find systems for creating your sci-fi hero with options like mutations and cybernetics, new rules for bioware, biotech, and genetic engineering, systems for genetically-engineered, robotic, and alien companions for your heroes, and much more. For a free taste of Tomorrows' Hero, download the sample material on robot PC creation.
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September 2005
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September 19, 2005
Helpware: The Green Dragon
At The Game Mechanics, we give away a lot of free publications that other companies might try to sell. We call them Helpware. Like Freeware, there's no cost. If you find value in the free material, we ask that you consider donating to a good cause. Our latest cause is the American Red Cross, and our latest helpware publication is The Green Dragon. If you've downloaded our stuff in the past and not been motivated to donate, we hope you'll reconsider and give to the American Red Cross today.
Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Hero Releases Wednesday
The second PDF volume in the Future Player's Companion line, Tomorrows' Hero, comes out on Wednesday. Inside, you will find systems for creating your sci-fi hero with options like mutations and cybernetics, new rules for bioware, biotech, and genetic engineering, systems for genetically-engineered, robotic, and alien companions for your heroes, and much more. The first volume, Tomorrows' Foundation, is averaging a rating of 4.8 out of 5.0 stars by RPGNow.com users!
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September 2005
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August 29, 2005
Tomorrows' Hero Gets a Cover
Pete Schlough gives us the cover art for the second Future Player's Companion PDF volume. Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Hero builds on the material from Tomorrows' Foundation, working through methods for building your starting sci-fi hero. Inside, you will find systems for creating your sci-fi hero with options like mutations and cybernetics, details on bioware, biotech, and genetic engineering, genetically-engineered, robotic, and alien companions for your heroes, and much more. Tomorrows' Hero is available September 2005.
Also, for those of you who downloaded Complete Feats and found the PDF was wrong, we've fixed that. The Complete Feats PDF download now includes all the material on the web page. Sorry for the mix-up!
August 16, 2005
Liberty Wall Maps Now Available
The Mechanics have opened a pair of CafePress shops for goodies with the company logo and some of the mapwork from the City Quarters Series. While some of the TGM logo items are nice (mugs, T-shirts, etc.), the real reason we've gone to Cafe Press is that it's the best way for us to make poster-sized maps of Liberty (from Temple Quarter and Thieves' Quarter) available. We've even tested the quality of the map, and cartographer Christopher West was very happy with it. Check out the Liberty Gift Shop and TGM Shop, and feel free to make suggestions about our choices on our message boards.
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August 15, 2005
Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Foundation Released!
The Game Mechanics presents the first volume in the Future Player's Companion PDF series: Tomorrows' Foundation. Like its spiritual predecessor, Modern Player's Companion, the Future Player's Companion focuses on the material used by players. Tomorrows' Foundation provides more character fundamentals for your sci-fi d20 System game, from basics such as talent trees to innovative new options like Environment Packages for characters from alien worlds.
You can get a preview of the material in Tomorrows' Foundation by checking out the updated Complete Feats document. Complete Feats compiles all of the feats in the core sources, Future Player's Companion, Modern Player's Companion and other modern and sci-fi publications. Inside, you'll see a summary of each feat in Tomorrows' Foundation and see how they relate to pre-existing feats.
August 10, 2005
The "Take an Adventure to Indy" Sale
Heading to the big show with nothing prepped to play? Take a look at our four modern adventures: Come for the Reaping, Slave Drivers, Flight 23, and The Brindisi Protocol. All four are now on sale for nearly 40% off the regular price on RPGNow.com. Heck, even if you're not heading to Gen Con, this'll give your game group something to do while some of us sweat in the humid Indy summer. You might want to hurry - this sale will end on the 17th, on the eve of Gen Con.
August 8, 2005
Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 Released!
The Game Mechanics presents Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 with 328 filled-in monster cards. Initiative Cards, winner of the 2003 (silver) and 2004 (gold) Gen Con EN World RPG Awards for Best Free Product or Web Enhancement, are a GM tool that uses special 3x5 cards to track combat. They also serve as mini character sheets, holding all the information a GM regularly needs about the characters and monsters.
Monster Set 2 also includes a selection of cards from unique dragons that were created and aged by the Mechanics. For a sample of the completed cards, download one of the dragon documents available on our website. Now available: The Black Dragon, The Blue Dragon, The Brass Dragon, The Bronze Dragon (new today!), The Gold Dragon, The Red Dragon, The Silver Dragon, The White Dragon.
August 1, 2005
New Temple Quarter Freebie: Ceremonies and Rituals
Our third free sample from Temple Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook presents new mechanics for the high rituals and ceremonies of religious orders, as well as several examples from the Liberty pantheon. These ceremonies grant certain spell-like effects to those who participate, and those who wish to partake of the benefits must actively worship. Check the Temple Quarter product page for links to all five freebies from the City Quarters series.
Temple Quarter has been nominated in two categories for the 2005 Gen Con EN World RPG Awards: Best Cartography and Best Supplement. If you enjoy the material in Temple Quarter, we'd really appreciate your support in the ENWorld Online Voting Booth.
July 26, 2005
Temple Quarter Chat Tonight
The Mechanics are going to be in the #TGM room on Psionics.net tonight, July 26 between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM Pacific (GMT-800). The main topic will be Temple Quarter, now out in print and nominated for two ENnies (Best Cartography and Best Supplement). We'll also talk about some of the upcoming books--Future Player's Companion, The Brindisi Protocol (just released!), Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2, and Modern Organizations--and just about anything else RPG-related that comes up.
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July 25, 2005
The Brindisi Protocol Released!
The third adventure in The Bronze Head Campaign is now available on RPGNow.com. The Brindisi Protocol can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the sequel adventure to Slave Drivers and Flight 23. Are these the end times? Plague and pestilence have appeared all over the world, and nations are at each other's throats. And is Ogdoad Research somehow behind this apparent apocalypse? An Ogdoad insider wants to meet with the heroes--but the heroes' hands are tied as a congressional investigation into Department-7's activities puts them all under close scrutiny.
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July 21, 2005
Temple Quarter Chat
The Mechanics are going to be in the #TGM room on Psionics.net on Tuesday, July 26 between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM Pacific (GMT-800). The main topic will be Temple Quarter, now out in print and nominated for two ENnies (Best Cartography and Best Supplement). We'll also talk about some of the upcoming books--Future Player's Companion, The Brindisi Protocol, Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2, and Modern Organizations--and just about anything else RPG-related that comes up.
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July 19, 2005
Temple Quarter at the ENnies
Temple Quarter has been nominated in two categories for the 2005 Gen Con EN World RPG Awards: Best Cartography and Best Supplement. To celebrate, we've taken 25% off the price of both City Quarters PDFs for the length of the voting process. If you'd like to see some samples before you buy, check out the Temple Quarter and Thieves' Quarter product pages for links to four free sample PDFs from the series. Of course, we'd really appreciate your support in the ENWorld Online Voting Booth.
In the City Quarters series, JD Wiker and Christopher West are building an entire urban fantasy setting, designed to be used as a whole or mined for useful details. At The Game Mechanics, we realized that most GMs don't need another fantasy setting as much as they need inspiration and details for their games. Every aspect of the City Quarters series is created with the larger city setting in mind, but designed so that GMs can pick and choose which elements to include in their own campaigns. With dozens of beautiful maps, interesting NPCs, plots, and sample encounters, there's something here for every fantasy GM.
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July 18, 2005
The Silver Dragon
Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1 and Monster Set 2 contain cards for unique dragons created by the Mechanics. Since Monster Set 2 is going to be out before Gen Con Indy, we're going to get the final dragons out in short order. Our latest, The Silver Dragon, has stat blocks for all 12 age categories plus sample monster cards. We've also cleaned up some minor issues with the red, black, and white dragons. If you're not using our free blank Initiative Cards (found on our Freebie page) to run your d20 System combat, you owe it to yourself to check them out.
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July 11, 2005
Monster Set 2 Updates
Pete Schlough is has completed the cover art for Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2. In addition to the full cover image, we've produced an animation to show the process from sketch to final image. The small version is embedded in the Initiative Cards product page and its big brother has its own page. The page for the big version also includes the starting art order, so you can see the process from the very beginning. We are definitely on target to releases Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 before Gen Con Indy '05.
ALSO: We've posted the list of creatures covered in Monster Set 2.
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July
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July 5, 2005
Future Player's Companion Gets a Cover
The first Future Player's Companion adventure, Tomorrows' Foundation, now has its cover. Tomorrows' Foundation provides more character fundamentals for your sci-fi d20 System game. From basics such as talent trees to innovative new options like Environment Packages for characters from alien worlds, we give you the tools necessary to define your hero of tomorrow.
June 29, 2005
Temple Quarter in Print at Origins
Green Ronin tells us that the first print copies of Temple Quarter are going to be available at the Origins International Game Expo, June 29 - July 3 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, OH. Stop by the Green Ronin booth (#727) and be one of the first in the world to snap up a copy!
Temple Quarter is the second volume in the ENnie-winning City Quarters series from JD Wiker, with maps by Christopher West. It demonstrates how religions can become more a part of fantasy roleplaying campaigns by providing a complete "mini-setting" full of interesting characters, engaging locations, and intriguing plots, both religious and political. At the same time, Temple Quarter examines the role of divine magic in the everyday life and provides an actual benefit to the practices of healing, conversion, ceremonies, and holy days. Find out more about Temple Quarter through its web page and download all the free material for the City Quarters series.
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June 27, 2005
The Brass Dragon
Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1 and Monster Set 2 contain cards for unique dragons created by the Mechanics. Our latest freebie, The Brass Dragon, has stat blocks for all 12 age categories plus sample monster cards. If you're not using our free blank Initiative Cards (found on our Freebie page) to run your d20 System combat, you owe it to yourself to check them out.
June 20, 2005
Monster Set 2 Cover Progress
Pete Schlough is developing the cover art for Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2. It's looking so good, we wanted to share the progress with an animation. The small version is embedded in the Initiative Cards product page and its big brother has its own page. The page for the big version also includes the starting art order, so you can see the process from the very beginning. We are definitely on target to releases Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 before Gen Con Indy '05.
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July 2005
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June 07, 2005
The Brindisi Protocol Gets a Cover
The third and final Bronze Head adventure, The Brindisi Protocol by JD Wiker, now has its cover. The Brindisi Protocol is a stand-alone modern d20 System adventure that also serves as climax for the Bronze Head campaign. It's scheduled for PDF release later this month, and will be run at Gen Con Indy '05.
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June 1, 2005
The Gold Dragon
Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1 and Monster Set 2 contain cards for unique dragons created by the Mechanics. Our latest freebie, The Gold Dragon, has stat blocks for all 12 age categories plus sample monster cards. Blank Initiative Cards have been our most popular download month after month since The Game Mechanics formed (and are still available on our Freebie page), and now we've released our first set of pre-filled cards for the "Open" monsters from the Monster Manual. Check out the Initiative Cards product page for more information, including a list of all the creatures in Monster Set 1 and a closer look at the cover illustration from Pete Schlough.
May 24, 2005
Mechanics at Gen Con Indy '05
The Mechanics will be in attendance at this year's festivities in Indianapolis. Green Ronin Publishing, our print partner, has once again offered us a corner of their booth in the exhibition hall, and we'll also be running four seminars during the show. Gen Con staff has already opened event registration, so you might want to take a look at their schedule now!
May 19, 2005
Stan!'s Crossing the Line
As many of you know, Rich, JD, and Stan! (our house Mechanics) are regular freelance contributors to the Wizards of the Coast website. Crossing the Line is a high-level adventure by Stan! that "explores what happens when experienced heroes try to penetrate an area guarded by one of the world's finest guns for hire."
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Coming Soon
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May 16, 2005
Temple Quarter Print Preview
Temple Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook, released as a PDF in March, will soon be in print. While the text of the two versions is almost identical, our new preview includes the graphic look of the hard copy. These four pages detail the Temple and Sanctuary of Osai, the goddess of healing, mercy, fortune and shelter, including two maps by Christopher West. Temple Quarter is the second volume in the ENnie-winning City Quarters series from JD Wiker. It demonstrates how religions can become more a part of fantasy roleplaying campaigns by providing a complete "mini-setting" full of interesting characters, engaging locations, and intriguing plots, both religious and political. At the same time, Temple Quarter examines the role of divine magic in the everyday life and provides an actual benefit to the practices of healing, conversion, ceremonies, and holy days. Find out more about Temple Quarter through its web page and download all the free material for the City Quarters series.
April 27, 2005
Future Player's Companion Design Diary
Rodney Thompson has posted his first design diary for Future Player's Companion. Find out more about what's coming in our first sci-fi d20 System book.
April 18, 2005
Attack of the Nazi Saucermen
Rich Redman continues sharing resources from his home game. This time, "frozen" Nazis wake to find the Third Reich has fallen and their experimental devices are working better than they'd ever hoped. Material includes WWII-era weaponry, experimental vehicles, and more than a dozen NPC stat blocks. Other companies might throw this up on RPGNow and charge you a couple bucks, but not here at TGM! Check out our Freebies web page for dozens of free d20 System offerings and product samples.
March 29, 2005
Chat Tonight
A reminder, which looks very similar to the news item just below: We're going to be in our Psionics.net chat room on the 29th. Stop in and talk to us between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM Pacific (GMT-800) and ask us about Temple Quarter, The Brindisi Protocol, Future Player's Companion, or anything else on your mind.
March 28, 2005
Bronze Head 3: The Brindisi Protocol
JD Wiker will be writing the third and final installment in the Bronze Head Campaign. The Bronze Head is a series of modern d20 System adventures written to comply with RPGA standards. While every modern d20 System player can enjoy them, RPGA members can also have them sanctioned. Visit the Bronze Head page for more details on the adventure and sanctioning.
Chat Tuesday
We're going to be in our Psionics.net chat room on the 29th. Stop in and talk to us between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM Pacific (GMT-800) and ask us about Temple Quarter, The Brindisi Protocol, Future Player's Companion, or anything else on your mind.
March 21, 2005
More Flesh and Blood
Rich Redman has written up a bunch of the material he's created for his weekly modern d20 System game, and we're giving it away for free. This installment is called Flesh and Blood, Part II, which continues to detail a diabolical cult which is using the blood of celestials and fiends to create a drug. Inside, you'll find stat blocks for cultists, members of an infernal gang, and a flock of tainted urban fowl.
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March 14, 2005
Temple Quarter Released!
The wait is over. Temple Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook is now available on RPGNow.com. Written by JD Wiker and with maps by Christopher West, Temple Quarter comes to you from the same folks who created the ENnie-winning Thieves' Quarter. In many fantasy d20 System campaigns, churches are little more than a place to go for healing, potions, and occasional tithing. Temple Quarter aims to demonstrate how religions can become more a part of fantasy roleplaying campaigns by providing a complete "mini-setting" full of interesting characters, engaging locations, and intriguing plots, both religious and political. At the same time, Temple Quarter examines the role of divine magic in the everyday life and provides an actual benefit to the practices of healing, conversion, ceremonies, and holy days. Further, it takes a look at how clerics, monks, and paladins fit into society as exemplars of their faiths and philosophies. Find out more about Temple Quarter through its web page and free preview, The Temple of Ur-Argo.
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March 4, 2005
Initiative Cards for GM's Day
To mark "March Fo(u)rth - GM's Day," the Game Mechanics have dropped the price on Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1 to just $9.00! And we'll keep it at that price even after GM's Day is past, because we think every GM should be using these handy little cards in their fantasy d20 System campaigns. GMs can treat themselves to this great game aid and players can help make their GM's work a little lighter with Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1.
February 24, 2005
Future Player's Companion Gets a Web Page, Too
The Future Player's Companion will offer options for your sci-fi characters the same way our best-selling and highly-acclaimed Modern Player's Companion helped with contemporary characters. Find out more on the FPC's new web page.
February 23, 2005
Modern Organizations Gets a Web Page
Now you can get details on the latest modern work from Stan! (author of the Modern Player's Companion). Planned as a series of four PDFs, Modern Organizations will detail dozens of organizations that heroes are likely to encounter in just about any modern campaign setting.
February 2, 2005
Rich Redman's Distant Signals Available
Founding Mechanic Rich Redman has a new free adventure on the Wizards of the Coast website. The third in the Grim Frequencies series, it has somehow been released before part two. Regardless, it's yours for the taking at their website!
January 31, 2005
New Dragonlance Novel from Stan!
In March, Wizards of the Coast will release a Dragonlance: The New Adventures novel by our own Stan! (under the clever pseudonym of "Stan Brown"). Dragon Day continues a new series of Dragonlance adventures written specifically for readers ages 10 and up.
A Talk With Stan!
2004 was the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. To help commemorate that fact, Monte Cook has been talking to some of the people who have worked on the game over the years. For Stan!, that's 1995 to present.
January 24, 2005
The Blue Dragon
Initiative Cards: Monster Set 1 contains cards for unique dragons created by the Mechanics. Our latest freebie, The Blue Dragon, has stat blocks for all 12 age categories plus sample monster cards. Blank Initiative Cards have been our most popular download month after month since The Game Mechanics formed (and are still available on our Freebie page), and now we've released our first set of pre-filled cards for the "Open" monsters from the Monster Manual. Check out the Initiative Cards product page for more information, including a list of all the creatures in Monster Set 1 and a closer look at the cover illustration from Pete Schlough.
January 17, 2005
Rich Redman's New Job
Rich Redman, one of the four founding Mechanics, has resigned from The Game Mechanics to pursue another opportunity. Rich has been a great partner, will continue to be a friend, and the rest of us wish him all the luck in the world in whatever he chooses. You can read his open letter on the issue.
January 12, 2005
Flight 23 Released!
The second adventure in The Bronze Head Campaign is now available on RPGNow.com. Flight 23 can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the sequel adventure to Slave Drivers. What begins with a simple phone call becomes a battle of wits with a shadowy organization determined to pursue an arcane agenda with the fate of the world at stake. In Flight 23, the heroes probe deeper into a corporate plot with its roots in a centuries-old conspiracy.
January 10, 2005
Bronze Head Updates
Two items from our modern adventure series: First, you can expect the next adventure, Flight 23, on Wednesday the 12th. Second, the Campaign Standards Document has been split into two parts, one for GMs and one for players, and both are now available for download on the Bronze Head Campaign page (under Links and Downloads).
January 5, 2005
New D&D Coloring Album
As many of you know, Rich, JD, and Stan! (our house Mechanics) are regular freelance contributors to the Wizards of the Coast website. "Iyov's First Quest" is a free online D&D Coloring Album by Stan!, and is available now.
New Notes from the Bunker
Rich Redman has a new installment of his regular column up on the Wizards of the Coast site. This month, he covers the general rules of writing, prepping for next month's column that will be specifically about adventure writing.
January 3, 2005
Good Blood, Bad Blood
Rich Redman has written up a bunch of the material he's created for his weekly modern d20 System game, and we're giving it away for free. This installment is called Flesh and Blood, Part I, covering an adventure in which a diabolical cult discovered a way to use the blood of celestials and fiends to create a drug. Inside, you'll find basic rules for drugs and addiction, details of the drug the villains created, and templates for use with those rules.
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