BRW Games to Publish Castle of the Mad Archmage

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BRW Games is pleased to announce that it will be offering the megadungeon adventure module Castle of the Mad Archmage™ as a published adventure in both print and pdf formats.

Castle of the Mad Archmage™ was first serialized as a series of free pdf downloads on the Greyhawk Grognard blog from January 2009 through July 2010, and was an attempt to capture some of the feel of the original Castle Greyhawk, as well as a playable extension of the now-defunct Castle Zagyg line of role-playing aids.

The new Castle of the Mad Archmage™ will continue to have the classic “funhouse” megadungeon feel, but will be presented as a complete whole, from the surface ruins through the lowest level of the dungeons, and will be integrated into BRW Games’ forthcoming Fallen Eria Fantasy Setting™, rather than being linked to Greyhawk or another campaign world. (It will still be possible to drop the megadungeon into your own campaign with little, if any, trouble.) It will be published using the Adventures Dark and Deep™ rules, which means it will be compatible with most OSR-type rules with little or no modification needed. It will also feature extensive annotations to aid the game master in running the sprawling, ever-changing ruins and helping him to get the most out of each level.

Castle of the Mad Archmage™ is expected to be available in early 2014. It will be available in pdf, softcover, and hardcover. More details to come!

Halfway There!

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Tonight marks a momentous milestone in the Bestiary project. As of right now, more than half of the art has been turned in by the artists. That’s not sketches, that’s final pieces. Plus, I heard from our esteemed editrix that she will be sending me the first half of her corrections and suggestions tomorrow.

Woo, and might I add, hoo!

If we continue at the present rate, that means all of the art will be completed by the end of August, and I should receive the remaining edits by then as well. Obviously, I have no idea if the art will continue to come in at such a prodigious rate, and until I get a-goin’ on applying the edits to the master file, no idea how long that particular part of the process will take.

But the takeaway is, we’re way ahead of schedule. If… and I must emphasize if… all proceeds according to current projections, we’re looking at an October or November release (so, four or five months ahead of schedule). That’s not official, that’s a best-case scenario. But damn the book is coming together nicely!

And, of course, I have a few pieces of art for your perusal. The horned devil, the mimic, and the necrophidius. Enjoy!

Meckwick’s Challenge Now Available

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I’m pleased to report that the first-ever adventure module written by a third party that is specifically compatible with Adventures Dark and Deep™ is now available from Random Wizard at RPGNow.com. (It is of course also compatible with most other OSR-type rules.)

Meckwick’s Challenge is only $2 for a 46 page pdf with color cover and neat interior cartography, plus some really neat cut-and-make dice for random dungeon maps and encounters. Do check it out!

From the blurb:

Arson, Murder, Kidnapping, Theft; A string of crime has beset the area. The ruling council has tasked a mysterious wizard to hire adventurers to find a solution to the problem. The reward is great, the danger greater still. Can your party of adventurers track down and outwit six deadly villains? Or will you succumb to dangers posed by Meckwick’s Challenge?

An adventure for 5-8 characters of levels 4-7. Compatible with Adventures Dark & Deep and easily used with other OSR games and products.

Bestiary artwork update

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It’s been a while since the last artwork update on the Bestiary, so here we go. It is exactly one month since the first descriptions went out to the artists, and we have at present received 43% of the finished pieces. If we continue at this rate, we’re looking to have all the art in and done sometime in August, which would be just incredibly ahead of schedule.

But just as important as the art is the editing, and while I spent the holiday weekend with our editor, Mollie, she was actively correcting my prose, and is deep into the demon section of the book. So hopefully I’ll have her edits within the next couple of weeks, and can then go through and start applying them to the manuscript.

Although the official release date is still March, given the progress we’ve made so far, I am unofficially going to tell you that a 2013 release is definitely in the cards. With luck, we’ll even have it available for your busy Yuletide shopping needs.

And, without further ado, here are a couple more pieces from our incredibly talented artists, for your edification, the mud-man, Beelzebub, and the piscodaemon…

Inaugural Convention Appearance a Huge Success

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This weekend marked the first official convention appearance for BRW Games, and we not only had a lot of fun at this marvelous convention put on by Dexposure, Inc., but also had a near-sellout of our core rule books. Reaction from the gamers was enormously positive.

I only ran one session of the game myself, using the wonderful dungeon terrain produced by our partner Legendary Realms Terrain. That adventure, “Tomb of the Pirate King” will be available at some point for purchase. It ended up being a TPK, but it only came at the very end, when the players realized they hadn’t secured their boat when they arrived at the tomb, and it had floated away as the tide had come in. They otherwise fared well, and it seemed like the module was a fun one for them.

Dale and Mollie, my volunteers
for the convention

As mentioned, we completely sold out of the Players Manual for Adventures Dark and Deep, and only had one Game Masters Toolkit remaining when we packed up on Sunday afternoon. In addition, we sold a bunch of copies of A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore (the supplement book that allows you to add the new character classes and/or combat system to whatever game you’re already playing), and special convention-only print editions of Treasure of Welthorp, the Necromancer, and the Witch.

Everyone who purchased a hard-copy book also received a code for a pdf copy through RPGNow.com. Those codes went out this morning, so look for it. If you bought a book at the convention and did not receive a code, first check your spam filter (they tend to get flagged as spam, regretfully). If it’s not there, you can contact us at info@brwgames.com.

Dale and Yours Truly

It was really great to see the reaction from the gamers at the con. The reaction on someone’s face when they “get” what the concept of the game is, is just priceless. I had so many people come up and tell me what a wonderful idea the game was, and then come back the next day, after having read the Players Manual, and buy the rest of the books because the PM was so cool. It really makes all the work worthwhile.

The next convention appearance will be Metatopia (in Morristown, NJ in November), which is a game designers/publishers convention specifically geared to matching up folks who are interested in playtesting new games with companies and designers in search of playtesters. It’s a really fantastic notion, and the first two were loads of fun. I’m very much looking forward to it, and might very well have a game or two in need of playtesting by then.