Coronavirus Impacts on Your Rewards—and Other News
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 08:17:52 PM
These are difficult times for everyone, and many businesses are struggling to remain functional. While nobody can predict the long-term effects of this pandemic, we here at Monte Cook Games are fortunate. We are all healthy and safe, Monte Cook Games is operational, and we believe we’re in a position of relative security for the foreseeable future. Because we all work from our homes (except for our shipping warehouses), our internal operations have been largely unaffected by the pandemic.
Unfortunately, although our internal operations have been humming along, we’re seeing delays both upstream and downstream of our product releases. This means there will be . . .
Changes to the MCG Release Schedule
Our manufacturing vendors have slowed or stopped operations, and the hobby game distribution system has all but shut down as well. For these reasons, we expect to push some of our mid-year release dates back by at least a few weeks—and quite possibly more, if, as seems likely, factories and distributors don’t reopen within the next month or so.
What does that mean for your rewards?
As we discussed in the last update, We Are All Mad Here is the next title up. It’s written and edited and in the layout process now, and had been slated for release in early summer. But with our printer closed, we don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to get it on press. We think it will be delayed by a month or so, but there’s a great deal we don’t know, so further delays are possible.
The final title to be delivered for this campaign, Godforsaken, isn’t quite as far along the pipeline, but we expect the same impacts on it. The original intention was to have this out in the late summer, but that might slide.
We will, of course, keep you up to date as things progress. Be sure to read our Kickstarter updates and emails, and make certain they aren’t going into your spam folder. These are our only channels for getting critical information about your rewards to you.
Did You Miss Ptolus?
The Kickstarter for Monte’s legendary campaign setting, Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire, came to an incredible end last month. But with all the uncertainty and anxiety of the growing pandemic, it’s no surprise that many gamers missed it. If you love detailed, immersive, imaginative fantasy campaign settings, but didn’t get in on the Kickstarter, don’t fret: BackerKit is now 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.
We’re Taking a Couple of Weeks Off
We’re going to take advantage of this unplanned slowdown to take a little time off. MCG has given our entire staff a couple of weeks of extra paid vacation in April. The entire company is taking a break this week and next. For two weeks we won’t be responding to Kickstarter messages or comments, email, or other communications. We’re all going to focus on relaxing, keeping ourselves and our families safe and healthy, and generally unwinding in this very uncertain and anxious time. And then we’ll be back, at the end of the month, hitting the ground running!
The one exception: our warehouse will remain open, shipping store orders (and Kickstarter rewards, for backers of past campaigns).
Speaking of store orders. . .
Stuck at Home (Perhaps with Kids)?
Here’s a little something for gamers practicing social distancing, quarantined, or under a shelter-in-place restriction:
We’ll keep this sale open for as long as conditions warrant (subject, of course, to product availability).
We Are All Mad Here Is Wrapped; Godforsaken Started
about 4 years ago
– Thu, Feb 20, 2020 at 12:57:21 AM
“You must be mad,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Jack climbing the beanstalk. The little mermaid finding her voice. Alice struggling with the madness of a place unruled by the laws of reality. The queen. The child. The woodsman. The knight. When you think about fairy tales, who do you become? Where does your imagination take you?
Fairy tales are more than short forays into the world of fantasy. They tap into myth and archetype, and they explore the fundamental nature of the mind and of human experience. They’re filled with magic that’s big, bold, unexpected, and wondrous—and characters who, despite humble roots or broken foundations, achieve feats just as grand.
That’s what the next book in the pipeline, We Are All Mad Here, is all about. It does for fairy tales what The Stars Are Fire does for sci-fi and Stay Alive! does for horror.
We Are All Mad Here recently hit an important milestone: Writing was completed! The full draft is now in the hands of the editor. It got a short extra step before that: because mental illness is a factor in this book (it’s not just in the title!), we had an outside expert review certain portions of the manuscript. Characters who enter We Are All Mad Here’s setting of Heartwood are all affected, somehow and to some degree, by mental illness, and we wanted to be certain the book’s treatment of the issue not only served the game well, but also treated the topic appropriately.
And just as Shanna turned We Are All Mad Here over to editing, Monte started digging into Godforsaken. That’s the last hardcover to be delivered by this campaign. It will delve into fantasy with the same detail that the previous books have treated their genres.
Speaking of Fantasy!
Do you love great fantasy settings? Are you a fan of Monte’s past work for the world’s most popular fantasy RPG?
Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire, the classic and much beloved campaign setting, returns for 5e and Cypher System fans. We're reissuing the entire premium product in two versions, one for each of these popular, critically acclaimed game systems.
Explore a sprawling fantasy urban setting, presented in amazing detail and steeped in lore and atmosphere. Delve into the extensive dungeons beneath its streets. And maybe, when you're ready, ascend the Spire that looms overhead, the heart of an ancient and restless evil.
Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire isn't just huge—672 beautiful pages plus hundreds of physical and digital extras—it also set new standards for physical production. From its embossed cover to the multiple bound-in satin bookmarks, everything about Ptolus is premium quality. It's all designed to make things surprisingly easy on the GM—the original Ptolus pioneered many of the features commonly found in MCG products today. And Ptolus comes with roughly 300 pages of additional digital content. It's really an amazing product!
And to top it all off, most backer levels include an entire library of existing titles, including the 3e version of Ptolus itself, in PDF, delivered early. Get over $250 worth of products—that's 27 titles totaling 2,100 pages. But only if you back the campaign!
Ptolus is coming to Cypher System and 5e. Don’t miss this legendary campaign setting or this exciting Kickstarter!
Stay Alive! Is Coming
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 09:31:58 PM
Look what arrived in our warehouse!
If you like horror games, you’re going to love Stay Alive!! It has loads of great insight and advice on virtually every type and subgenre of the horror world—stuff you could use not only in your Cypher System adventures, but in adding a horror element to virtually any game you play. If you like vampires, xenomorphs, Lovecraftian cults and dark gods, haunted houses, slashers, zombies, Universal monster movies, or just upping the creepy ante in your dungeon crawls, you’re going to love it!
If Stay Alive! is among your rewards, in print or PDF, look for an email within the next week or so letting you know it’s available. (If you miss the email, simply log into the MCG Shop as you’ve done for prior rewards, and navigate to the Coupons section of your account page.)
We Are All Going to Be Mad Here—in a Few Months!
Next up is We Are All Mad Here, which does for fairy tales what Stay Alive! does for horror, and The Stars Are Fire does for science fiction. It’s a complete sourcebook on the topic for the Cypher System, along with its own campaign setting you can use for fairy tale adventures. Shanna completed writing on it last week, so it heads into editing soon. Layout is still a ways away, but the artwork is starting to come in. Here’s a sneak peek!
Announcing Ptolus for 5e!
If you’re a fan of Monte’s past work, or just a Fifth Edition player who loves richly detailed, highly creative settings tailored for the game, we made an announcement last week that might interest you.
We’re bringing Monte’s legendary campaign setting, Ptolus, to 5e!
Originally published in 2006 for the d20 System, Ptolus is the massive campaign setting derived from Monte’s personal D&D campaign, played over the course of several years with a veritable who’s who of luminary D&D and d20 designers at the table. It sold out almost instantly, and has held a legendary place in the minds of RPG gamers ever since.
Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire will be released in two versions: one for 5e, and one for the Cypher System. Both versions, like the original, will be 672 pages long in a premium-quality hardcover. And like the original, they’ll also include loads of additional content in the form of physical handouts and digital materials, for a total of around 800 pages.
Sign up to be notified of the Kickstarter launch, and read more about Ptolus (including some of Monte’s thoughts on revisiting this seminal setting) in this article at the MCG website.
Presenting: The Stars Are Fire
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 09:56:35 PM
The Stars Are Fire is here, and wow we could not be more thrilled with it! We’re fulfilling it now—if this book is among your rewards, in print or PDF, you should have received an email letting you know it’s available. (If you missed the email, simply log into the MCG Shop as you’ve done for prior rewards, and navigate to the Coupons section of your account page.) If The Stars Are Fire isn't among your rewards, don't worry—preorders are still open, and if you preorder now it will ship before street date.
Take Your Game to Eleven!
You’re gaming. You’ve got a good campaign. Good adventure. Good players. You’re having a good time. You’re on ten, all the way up, all across your gaming table.
Where do you go from there?
What we at MCG do is—when we need that extra push—we put it up to eleven. One better. One faster, one easier, one little step more fun. How?
We’ve always believed in products that improve your game experience, speed things up at the game table and during prep, increase immersion in the game world, and make the GM’s life easier. These things aren’t always standard RPG books—but what they lack in conventional format they more than make up for in better gaming!
Decks that save you loads of time. Props that make your players’ eyes light up. Tools to keep your books, campaigns, and characters organized and easy to manage. Prompts that miraculously expand your ideas. Minis that bring characters and creatures to life, and fiction that brings the game world to life. We have dozens of great products that take your game to eleven.
And for just the next day or so, they’re all on sale*! Actually, everything at the MCG Shop (except a few new releases) is on sale—but the best deals are on the things you didn’t even know you needed. For the Cypher System, you can get the super-handy NPC Deck, the GM Intrusion Deck, the Cypher System playmat, Cypher System dice that aren’t just elegant, but are also marked for the game’s special roll results, and loads more. There are discounts on Predation, Unmasked, Gods of the Fall, character portfolios, and virtually everything else—for the Cypher System and all our game lines.
Don't miss it—the Goes to Eleven sale ends very soon!
Cypher Shorts Are Available Now!
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 02:57:37 AM
Got a cool idea for a one-shot game? You could literally be playing it ten minutes from now. Seriously.
Cypher Shorts are one-shot adventures you create in minutes (including character generation!) for a full-length session of fun, engaging play. You unlocked Cypher Shorts during the Kickstarter campaign, and at the time we intended to include the rules in the Cypher System Rulebook. Unfortunately, even after increasing the size of that book by 32 pages, we simply couldn’t fit them in. So instead, we’ve put the adventure creation and character generation rules into a PDF, which we’re making available for free. You can get it now!
(We’re also making a print version. If your rewards include all the titles in print, you’ll get Cypher Shorts in print when we fulfill The Stars Are Fire in a few weeks.)
The scenario creation guidelines in Cypher Shorts help you turn an "elevator pitch" into a full-length adventure in a matter of minutes. An alien attack has breached the space station—can the PCs get out before life support fails? The archduke has taken possession of a priceless tome, and a well-financed patron wants the PCs to steal it. A ghostly harlequin terrorizes the museum at night, and it's up to a plucky band of teenagers—and their dog!—to get to the bottom of it. Take any idea and, using the strengths of the Cypher System and the Cypher Shorts guidelines, turn it into a full-fledged adventure in minutes.
The character creation rules distill the strengths of the Cypher System into a simplified process that generates fully playable characters in minutes. Cypher Short characters are totally compatible with standard Cypher System play, but focus on character elements likely to be most relied upon in a one-shot, single-session adventure. Playing a scenario about breaking out of a prison camp? Perhaps you'll be a quick scout who works with tools, a charming lieutenant who plans, or even a skilled supply sergeant who provides comic relief. You build your character for the scenario at hand, keeping character generation quick and simple.
You can use the rules in Cypher Shorts with any Cypher System game. So experiment with a new genre. Try something weird or different. Or just enjoy an impromptu evening of gaming with little or no prep. Cypher Shorts makes it easy—and it’s free!
Did You Catch Numenera: Liminal Shores?
If so, you know that we unlocked a load of really cool titles and other items for Numenera—including some pretty great backer-exclusive deals that will never again be available.
If not, good news: For a limited time only, late pledges for Numenera: Liminal Shores are now open! The titles funded through this campaign take you into the datasphere and to the edge of the sun itself, revealing many secrets of the prior worlds along the way. There will never be another chance to get in on these Kickstarter-exclusive opportunities. Hurry—BackerKit closes in a couple of weeks!
