Atlas Games offers a wide selection of great pastimes for experienced gamers, hobbyists, and families. Our
award-winning products are some of the most respected in the industry.
Dispatches:
News from Atlas Games
You is an English word.
One sign that you've been staring at words on a monitor for too long is the way your eyes, desperate to see something new, begin to change the telemetry they send to your brain. A word at a time, they transform sensible things in the world into bizarre anamolies in your head. Shifty bastards.
In this case, by appearing alone on a line in Quark, a familiar word becomes some syllable imported from the Far East. It's an exotic stranger, a traveling androgyne. After staring at it for a good minute and tipping my head to one side, I start to recognize this very old acquaintance for who she is. "Oh," I say, "it's
you. Almost didn't recognize you."
Check out the
news blurb about Cthulhu 500 over on
yog-sothoth.com! It includes one of the illos I mentioned in my last dispatch, the Car of Cthulhu.
This and That
This is one of those "a little bit of everything" days for me -- some packing orders, some answering phones and e-mail, some proofreading, and more. Will is out sick (so he says -- I suspect he's just trying to put off sending out the contributor copies of
Living Lore!), but Scott is in the office, showing off the artwork in progress for one of this summer's big releases,
Cthulhu 500. The race car illos are done -- I'm especially fond of the betentacled Car of Cthulhu, though the Escherian stylings of the Sport Cthutility Vehicle (why just go off-road, when you can go off-dimension?) are nice as well. Sometime soon we'll have to put up an image gallery on the website.
Our new brochures arrived today, several days earlier than scheduled. (It's a time of year when printers are often early, as the general economy has a seasonal slowdown and they don't have as much of a work backlog.) We're delighted with how they turned out. The design is much like last year's brochure, but Scott and Michelle updated it with the recent releases (like Dungeoneer) and the card games we have scheduled through the end of summer (including expansions for Dungeoneer and Once Upon A Time). Plus, we replaced the "Fight Like a Little Girl" poster with a new one for
Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones. We'll be giving out the flyers through distributors (we'll ship copies with LM:S&S next week), at the GAMA Trade Show, and throughout the year by other means (such as sending them to conventions). If you just can't wait to get one (so you can put up that new
Lunch Money poster on your cubicle or dorm room without delay), send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope: Atlas Games, 885 Pierce Butler Route, St Paul, MN, 55104.
Attention Retailers: Out of Print Titles
Thanks to the spiffy Aegis System of
Centurion Hobby Distributors, it's easy for me as a manufacturer to log in and see what they have in stock. I was doing that earlier this week, and noticed that they have a few copies of a whole bunch of out of print Atlas Games titles. If you're a retailer and you've been having trouble tracking down any of these titles, you might give Centurion a holler:
AG0204HC
Ars Magica 4th Edition Hardcover
AG0265
The Mysteries (Ars Magica)
AG0503
Twelfth Night (Ars Magica)
AG1015
Faeries (Ars Magica) - 1st Edition
AG3020
The Sorcerer's Slave (Ars Magica)
AG3035
Festival of the Damned (Ars Magica) - 1st Edition
AG3201
Thieves in the Forest (Penumbra/D20)
AG3211
The Ebon Mirror (Penumbra/D20)
AG3500
Dystopia (Champions)
AG3505
Foxbat Unhinged! (Champions)
AG3510
Blood Fury (Champions)
AG5000
The Arasaka Brainworm (Cyberpunk)
AG5005
Night City Stories (Cyberpunk)
AG5010
Osiris Chip (Cyberpunk)
AG5025
The Chrome Berets (Cyberpunk)
AG5035
Chasing the Dragon (Cyberpunk)
AG5055
Greenwar (Cyberpunk)
AG5065
Cabin Fever (Cyberpunk)
AG5070
Northwest Passage (Cyberpunk)
AG6003
Postmodern Magick (Unknown Armies)
If you're not a retailer but an individual, you may want to check out
gameretailstore.com, a nifty site that lets you pick up those hard-to-find items through your local game store.
2 Pages Love, 2 Pages War, 2 Pages Dragon
With new books comes new preview PDFs. I can tell you're excited.
Love & War, the follow-up book to
Crime & Punishment by David Chart (
Splintered Peace) has arrived at the warehouse and begun shipping, as you read below. To tide you over on its long bus ride to your local game store, read
Love, two pages of courtly romance from the book, or
War, two pages for combat-themed characters.
For
Ars Magica fans, we've got a peek at
Living Lore, our marvelous new catalogue of legendary people, places, and objects from real-world history and mythology.
Living Lore was edited by David Chart (Green Ronin's
Medieval Player's Manual), who's no doubt relieved to see that both of these books are finally in print. (I've almost got the willpower to avoid making the Atlas/Chart joke here.) For an advance look at
Living Lore, download these sample pages from the book's entry on
Acidius, Beowulf's Dragon.
Oof.
UPS has come and gone, and our friendly driver hauled away an enormous number of boxes --
Living Lore and
Love and War, bound for destinations all over the globe. I'm tired.
Atlas' Marketing Madness
Since we're starting to think about the GAMA Trade Show, I thought it would be a good time to announce our upcoming marketing support. Below are some of the promotions we have planned for the next few months:
• Promotional merchandise like the Lunch Money Lunchbox/Game Case is now available at www.cafepress.com/atlasgames
• Dungeoneer/ACD full-page ad in Games Quarterly for the 1st Quarter of 2004
• Lunch Money : Sticks & Stones banner ads on RPG.net in February
• Living Lore (Ars Magica) featured in February's Game Buyer
• The full-color 2004 Atlas Card Games brochure will be back from the printer in time for GTS.
• Dork20 full-page ad in the March issue of Dungeon
• Lunch Money : Sticks & Stones full-page ad in the March issue of Dragon
• Lunch Money : Sticks & Stones featured in March's Game Buyer
• Beer Money full-page ad in the April issue of Dragon
Also, remember that Atlas offers the following ongoing support:
• Atlas places regular listings in Games Quarterly and Game Trade Magazine
• The www.atlas-games.com web site features excerpts from Atlas products, as well as a full descriptions and color images.
• Atlas' products are cross-promoted through full-page ads in each new release.
• Information on Atlas products is distributed directly via email through the Atlas Updates newsletter.
• The Special Ops demo team is encouraged to run in-store and convention demos of Atlas products.
• Atlas offers a website retailer locator at www.atlas-games.com/retail_locator.html
• Atlas Games has nationwide convention representation through Adventure Retail, Ltd.
For more information on any of Atlas Games' products, please see our web site at www.atlas-games.com . Retailer support is at www.atlas-games.com/retailers , and demo team info is available at www.atlas-games.com/specialops .
Books Today!
At noon today we are due to receive
Love and War and
Living Lore, the two new releases for February. I'm expecting to ship orders to non-US distributors today (at least those who have placed their orders in time), and to US distributors tomorrow. Within the next week or two the books will be appearing in stores all over the world!
T-Shirts for Lunch Money and Sticks & Stones
OffWorld Designs is our official licensee for t-shirts featuring
Lunch Money and the upcoming
Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones expansion. They have a bunch of popular designs from the original Lunch Money set already available, and they plan to have two designs featuring artwork from Sticks & Stones available in time for the GAMA Trade Show next month. All of their T-shirts are black 100% cotton, and available in sizes from Small to 5XL.
For more information visit their website at
www.offworlddesigns.com.
Cancelled: AG6009
We regret to announce that we have decided not to proceed with publication of AG6009
Godwalker, the
Unknown Armies novel. It's a very fine work, but we are not confident of its financial success in the current market environment. Author Greg Stolze is considering other means of publication; watch this blog for news of how to get hold of a copy for yourself, when we get details from Greg.
Out of Print: AG5005
AG5005
Night City Stories (Cyberpunk 2020 adventure anthology) is now out of print and permanently discountinued.
Atlas Café Gift Shop is Open for Business
Admit it, you've always dreamed of having a
Lunch Money lunch box, and would give your eye teeth for a
Cthulhu 500 pit crew cap. Well, there's no more need for frustration ... the
Atlas Café Gift Shop is now open! We've put together a few special items not yet available in retail stores to tickle your fancy, so be the first one on your block to take home some of this official
Atlas Games merchandise!
Sneak Preview at the Source!
Can't wait to see the new Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones expansion? Well, you're in luck! We just got a few precious press sheets back from the printer, and have sent one to our friends at the Source Comics & Games in St. Paul, MN (at the corner of Larpenteur & Snelling). Stop by the store for a sneak peak at the furious little face you love so well!
Peering Into the Future
We've been doing a lot of work on our release schedule for the year, and this is shaping up to be one of the best yet for Atlas Games. Among the exciting projects you can expect to see announced at or before the GAMA Trade Show next month:
June: Once Upon A Time™: Dark Tales (card game expansion) and Once Upon A Time blank cards
July: Dungeoneer: The Haunted Woods of Malthorin™ and Dungeoneer: Den of the Rat King™ (two-player card games that can be played alone or mixed with other Dungeoneer sets)
July: The Fallen Fane, an Ars Magica™ live action book, and the final release for the Ars Magica product line before the release of 5th Edition.
August: Blowing Up Hong Kong, a supplement that Feng Shui players have been anticipating for about eight years
August: Cthulhu 500™ , a card game of Lovecraftian race track madness
4th Quarter: Ars Magica 5th Edition
Release Calendar Update
Here's a summary of the upcoming titles that we have solicited so far for release in 2004.
Month Item Description (Game) SRP (US$)
Feb AG3226 Love & War (Penumbra/D20) HC 29.95
Feb AG0272 Living Lore (Ars Magica) HC 29.95
Mar AG1102 Lunch Money™ : Sticks and Stones (deck) 9.95
Mar AG1103 LM: S&S POP display (10 games) 99.50
Apr AG3228 En Route 3: The Road Less Traveled (d20) 17.95
Apr AG4012 Friends of the Dragon (Feng Shui) 17.95
May AG0273 Cause and Cure (Ars Magica) 17.95
May AG1104 Beer Money™ (deck) 19.95
May AG1105 Beer Money POP Display (5 games) 99.75
Jun AG3229 Seven Serpents (Penumbra/D20) 22.95
The PENUMBRA Line Presents
Seven Serpents
A D20 System (version 3.5) Sourcebook
by Chris Dolunt, Chris Jones, and Richard Canning
Dragons are wily and wise creatures of vast intelligence and capriciousness … and their dens reflect this. Herein lie seven dragon lairs and the serpents that inhabit them, following in the footsteps of the Seven Strongholds, Seven Cities, and Sacred Ground sourcebooks. Seven Serpents includes:
The Blue Rat - A blue wyrmling has taken up residence in the palatial home of a djinni. The creature has become a nuisanceby leaving droppings all over the place and attacking servants. Despite his best efforts, the djinni has been unable to catch it, so he needs some exterminators …
The Dragon Moot - Every few centuries, representatives from each of the dragon breeds gather at a fallen tree nearly four miles in length. Here their leaders put aside their conflicts and discuss larger matters at hand. The current sheriff is a young half-gold/half-green dragon named Kusig who has no idea how to keep the peace.
Cliffside - A juvenile copper dragon’s lair is built into the side of a cliff, and is protected with traps and puzzles to ensure that those who seek him out deserve his help. Visitors who are unable to fly must rely on ropes and other climbing gear.
The Last Dragon Rider - The silver dragons of a great hall once served as warrior-mounts for the knights who dwelt there. Now the last of their number wanders its desolate halls, searching for the cure to the vampirism that infects him and his lady-love.
Tithe Bend - Frail and undersized from birth, the black dragon Dunstitz realised that the hoard he craved would require the very essence of dragon cunning and guile to attain. So, posing as a river spirit, he collects the tithe that sailors throw over the sides of their ships.
Smoke on the Water - In a mining camp dedicated to extracting a rare ore called bog silver, the blazing hot body of a comatose red dragon generates the steam used to power drills, boring devices, water pumps, and smelters. The adamantine spike shoved through the gargantuan dragon’s head is to key to its imprisonment.
The Darkness of Space - A great gold wyrm has built her lair in the darkness of space. She survives through a combination of spells and magic items, and is served by an army of constructs. The lair houses a powerful artifact that keeps a terrible evil at bay, and the dragon does not take kindly to intruders.
Stock Number: AG3229 • ISBN 1-58978-063-9 • SRP $22.95 (US)
Description: 120 pages, softcover
Dragons are the name of the game in June!
Shipping to Distributors in June 2004
Dungeoneer Goodies Galore!
Looking for more stuff to feed your Dungeoneer addiction? Well, if you can't wait until July for the
Dungeoneer: Haunted Woods of Malthorin and
Dungeoneer: Den of the Rat King expansions, check out Thomas Denmark's Cafe Press shop:
http://www.cafeshops.com/denmarkstudio
d20 Magazine Rack Reviews Dork20
Steve Creech, of the excellent
d20 Magazine Rack, has sent us a link to their review of
Dork20.
Go take a look at it, why don't you?
Atlas Games is very pleased to announce...
BEER MONEY
Recess is over. Now you’re fighting for something more … Beer Money.
Beer Money is the long-anticipated 110-card sequel to the frenetic
Lunch Money card game.
Beer Money is designed as stand-alone game that can also be mixed in with a Lunch Money or Sticks & Stones deck to accommodate up to 8 players. Like
Lunch Money, Beer Money combines evocative images with the raw dynamics of a merciless street fight. But
Beer Money ups the ante with weapons like Beer Bottle, basic attacks such as Knuckle Sammitch, defenses like Suck It Up, and specialty cards including Pound of Flesh and Pile Driver.
The pain just keeps on coming when you’re playing with Beer Money!
Single Game (110 cards): Stock No. AG1104, MSRP $19.95 (US), ISBN 1-58978-055-8
Display Box (contains 5 decks): Stock No. AG1105, MSRP $99.75 (US), ISBN 1-58978-056-6
Designed by Charlie Wiedman, Photography by Andrew Yates
Shipping to Distributors in May 2004
Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones -- Proofs Approved
On Friday we received the proofs for
Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones, the first-ever expansion for our bestselling game. All looked super, so we signed off on them and sent them back. From what I hear, the finished goods should be in our warehouse before the end of February, ahead of our original schedule!
As long as we're not announcing things...
Michelle mentioned today that not all fairy tales have happy endings (as fans of the Brothers Grimm know well). This wasn't just her showing off her Ph.D. in literature -- she was talking about the
Once Upon A Time: Dark Tales expansion deck that will be released early this summer, bringing a long awaited bunch of new cards to our evergreen storytelling card game. This is another of the exciting new releases that we'll be talking up at the Game Manufacturers' Association trade show in Las Vegas next month. And you can bet we'll be talking about them here in the Atlas Dispatches too!
A Not-Announcement
This is an unofficial Atlas Games Not-Announcement. Right now, I'm not announcing
Beer Money. Sure, there's a picture in the Pipeline on the front page of
Atlas-Games.com and, yes, we are planning on releasing a game called
Beer Money later this year, but I'm not announcing anything right now. No, sir.
New on RPGNow: Golden Comeback
A
Feng Shui fan favorite,
Golden Comeback, ran out of print a few months back. But fear not, if you need some of its crunchy goodness (such as car chase rules) for your
Feng Shui escapades -- it's
now available as a pay download in PDF from RPGNow.
Light Up Your Life!
Looking for some sizzling savannah sunshine to warm up your winter doldrums? Check out this new Nyambe fan site:
http://www.nightwasp.com/nyambefan/home.htm
It's sure to brighten your spirits!
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