Superheroes and Other Goodness!
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 01:14:05 AM

Greetings backers!

We hope you have had a chance to dig into Godforsaken and are loving it! It has seven new playable species, along with new foci, guidelines for adapting existing foci to fantasy use, and advice for building common fantasy character types. And we hope the setting, the Godforsaken Lands—with its tales of heroes, monsters, and magic—has given you inspiration and excitement for upcoming campaigns!

Speaking of heroes, monsters, and magic, the Heroes of the Cypher System Kickstarter campaign is now in its final week!

This Kickstarter offers lots of great rewards for Cypher System fans of all stripes—regardless of your campaign or favorite genre.

• We have new Cypher System dice, custom designed to call out special results. And they look really cool!
• We’re just now unlocking a new GM Intrusion Deck, making it easy to generate intrusions on the fly or in prep.
• Check out the huge, beautiful new playmat, just below.
•  First Responders is inspired by real-world heroes, but contains new rules for mega-challenges that you can use in any Cypher System game or setting.
• And let’s not forget The Origin and Claim the Sky, two hardcover superhero books. Claim the Sky is very similar in format to the books you funded in the campaign (Godforsaken, Stay Alive!, The Stars Are Fire, and We Are All Mad Here). If you like those books, you’ll want to round out your collection with Claim the Sky.

We’re super proud of the books funded by this campaign, and very happy that, through the stretch goals you hit, we were able to make them the best they could be. We’re excited to add Claim the Sky to their ranks—and to be making all these other items to make your Cypher System game better and easier to run.

Hurry—Heroes of the Cypher System ends this week!

Godforsaken Is Fulfilling—Bringing this Campaign to a Wonderful Conclusion
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 26, 2020 at 02:07:13 AM

Friends,

We have begun the process of fulfilling Godforsaken. If you haven’t already, check your email—if Godforsaken is among your rewards, you should have received an email with fulfillment instructions.

We’re also fulfilling the set of art cover prints for the four Cypher System genre books, plus the bundle of signed bookplates. If either are a reward for you, check your email for fulfillment instructions.

These are the last rewards for this campaign. We’re really proud of the books and other products you funded, and super appreciative of your support in making them a reality—and, through the stretch goals you drove, making them as awesome as they could be. Thanks for your support!

But Is That the End?

Not necessarily! Because we’re also making this:

That’s Claim the Sky, a Cypher System genre book that follows in the footsteps of The Stars Are Fire, Stay Alive!, We Are All Mad Here, and Godforsaken. Like those books, it will be a 224-page hardcover that explores the full breadth and depth of its genre, and provides a complete campaign setting as well. In this case, the genre is . . . superheroes!

Imagine, for a moment, that you find yourself imbued with powers well beyond those of mere mortals. With great might, you leap into dark and daunting dangers. You stand before the forces of injustice with confidence. You slip the grasp of gravity and soar. You Claim the Sky itself.

But what about on the other end of the scale, where we’re all a bit more earth-bound? We can still be heroes. Saving lives amid natural disasters, man-made cataclysms, pandemics, or crises of any sort, we can take on the role of First Responders.

These two new Cypher System sourcebooks focus on heroes of all kinds—and they’re the focus of the Heroes of the Cypher System Kickstarter campaign. It’s underway now, and already unlocking terrific stretch goals. If you like the Cypher System books you unlocked in this campaign, check it out!

And thanks so much for making the Your Best Game Ever campaign, and the products you funded through it, such a success!

Godforsaken Is on the Way! Plus: HEROES!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 10:49:09 PM

Exciting news!

That’s a first-off-the-presses copy of Godforsaken. The book is complete and just reaching our warehouses now. Look for fulfillment to start next week! (If Godforsaken isn't among your rewards, or you know someone who would love this book, good news: Preorders are open now!)

This is the last of the Cypher System genre books you funded through this Kickstarter campaign. But need it be the last ever? We don’t think so!

When disaster strikes or menace looms, the best among us don’t run from danger—they run toward it!

The Heroes of the Cypher System Kickstarter Campaign brings the high-flying, power-packed action and excitement of superheroes—as well as heroes from our own world—to the critically acclaimed fan-favorite Cypher System game system.

When things are at their worst, the best among us rise. When disaster strikes or menace looms, they don’t run from the danger, they run toward it. Whether they claim supernatural abilities or just plain courage, we use a single word to describe such people: HEROES!

In a world that could use a few heroes now more than ever, you can join their ranks—using the flexible TTRPG mechanics of the Cypher System.

The Heroes of the Cypher System Kickstarter campaign will launch with two titles: Claim the Sky and First Responders.

Imagine, for a moment, that you find yourself imbued with powers well beyond those of mere mortals. With great might, you fear no danger that would threaten others. You stand before the forces of injustice with confidence. You slip the grasp of gravity and soar. You Claim the Sky itself. With a similar look and 224-page hardcover form, Claim the Sky will be a beautiful companion to the Cypher System supplements funded by this campaign: The Stars Are Fire, Godforsaken, Stay Alive!, and We Are All Mad Here. And like those titles, it will cover its genre both widely and deeply, enabling all styles of superhero play—from Silver Age comics to modern blockbusters, and everything in between or beyond. It also includes the Boundless campaign setting.

But what about on the other end of the scale, where we’re all a bit more earth-bound? We can still be heroes. Saving lives amid natural disasters, man-made cataclysms, pandemics, or crises of any sort, we can take on the role of First Responders. First Responders will be a 128-page hardcover that presents rules, options, gear, and more for heroes inspired by the real world to take on massive challenges and dangers.

Other titles may be unlocked as stretch goals; MCG has a long history of successful campaigns unlocking numerous new books. They, along with Claim the Sky and First Responders, will make heroes of all of us!

The Heroes of the Cypher System Kickstarter launches soon. You can sign up here to be notified when it goes live!

Time to Redeem We Are All Mad Here
about 4 years ago – Sat, Aug 29, 2020 at 12:50:15 AM

Greetings backers!

This is a short but fun and exciting announcement to let you know fulfillment of We Are All Mad Here in print and PDF begins now! Please head over to the MCG Shop to redeem your rewards.

Here's a reminder of the Kickstarter reward redemption process:

• Go to the MCG Shop and log in to your account. From the account page, click Coupons (in the left hand menu) and you will see all of your available redemption coupons (you won't see coupons for any rewards that are still in production).
• Click on a coupon to redeem it, or click on the Add All Product Coupons to Cart to redeem all of your coupons. (Some older coupons will redirect you to your cart when you click them. If this happens and you still have additional items to redeem, return to Coupon page to redeem them before completing your checkout.)
• Clicking on a coupon adds the product and discount to your cart. Once you've added all the coupons you wish to redeem, click on the cart symbol to go to your cart to complete the checkout process.

We hope you love reading and playing We Are All Mad Here.

Warm regards,

Tammie and Team MCG

Check Out This Incredible Mad Art, Plus Schedule Updates
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 05, 2020 at 12:16:30 AM

As we discussed in the last update, COVID-19 has put a lot of stresses on the game publishing industry. We here are MCG are, so far, healthy and safe, and for the most part we work from our homes, so we’ve been able to continue moving products forward. Disruptions to our supply chains, and the channels that bring our products to market, have forced changes to our schedule, though.

Mad and Godforsaken Are Coming Along

But good news: the final products to be delivered by this campaign are looking really fantastic. I’m going to show off some imagery from We Are All Mad Here, but first, here’s a look at when to expect these final rewards:

•  We Are All Mad Here goes to press in just a matter of weeks. Its tentative street date is late summer, and of course we’ll deliver it to backers a few weeks ahead of that date.
• The final title, Godforsaken, is slated for release before the end of the year. Writing is complete on this title, and it’s transitioning into editing. From our end, everything is nicely on track, but of course we’re not able to predict whether the rest of the supply chain will be affected during the back half of this year.

Heist on Miracle IV

In separate news, we just released an adventure for the Cypher System and The Stars Are Fire. This short adventure, Heist on Miracle IV, was written by Dominique Dickey in their tenure as an academic intern at MCG. If you love hard science fiction, fast-paced heist action, and high-tech mysteries, you'll love this one-shot. We're donating all June proceeds from Heist on Miracle IV to Black Lives Matter—and MCG is matching the donation on the first 500 sales. Check it out! 

Awesome Art

That’s all the product news. Now let’s look at this incredible art. Normally, we’d show off two or three pieces, but it was just impossible to narrow it down to that, so here’s a big batch of great pieces by Katerina Ladon, Nino Vecia, Angelo Peluso, Tiffany Turrill, Mirco Paganessi, and Cory Trego Erdner. These and other great artists, along with our fantastic Art Director Bear Weiter, really knocked it out of the park (in the words of Mad writer Shanna Germain). Enjoy!  

Did You Miss Ptolus?

If you love detailed, immersive, imaginative fantasy campaign settings, but didn’t get in on the Kickstarter for Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire, here’s some good news: BackerKit is still open, and you can make a late pledge to get in on awesome exclusive deals—including loads of unlocked stretch goals.

• Pledge at RESIDENT or higher to get the massive, 672-page Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire with its hundreds of pages of extras, along with all eight stretch goal products and a 2700-page library of existing Ptolus-related titles (a $250+ value) in PDF.
• Pledge at HERO or higher to get Ptolus in print, plus the NPC Deck, GM Screen, Player’s Guides, Character Portfolios, and Ptolus: City of Adventure—and all the PDFs! It’s an amazing, Kickstarter-only deal.

Stuck at Home (Perhaps With Kids)?

Here’s a little something for gamers quarantined, under a shelter-in-place restriction, or just practicing some wise social distancing:

• The entire No Thank You, Evil! RPG line, for families with kids as young as five, is 50% off.
• So is the Numenera Starter Set, for grownups and older kids.
• And for gamers getting into games online for the first time, the entire chapter on Playing Games Online, from Your Best Game Ever, is available for free. We’ve added it, in its entirety, to the downloadable free preview of that title.

We’ll keep this sale open for as long as conditions warrant (subject, of course, to product availability).