Atlas Dispatches

Once Upon a Time as Game Aid

2008-04-27T16:38:00.004-05:00

Once Upon a Time got a mention in Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips Weekly newsletter #400, according to Special Ops member Kate Manchester, as his recommended GM Aid. Johnn says:

"I'm recommending this game to you because it will beef up your improv skills and get you thinking more on the story level of games. It builds quick-thinking in a GM oriented way because you need to weave the story when it's your turn in such a way that it allows you more moves. Nice! You can also take the story from other players in new directions when you have a card that matches the current story element and play it quickly. In a time when it's hard getting a gaming group together on a regular basis, this game will keep your storytelling and improv skills sharp."

40 Years & Societates as Origins SemiFinalists

2008-04-27T16:24:00.002-05:00

Atlas Games is pleased to learn that two of our products made it to this year's Origins semifinalists list. 40 Years of Gen Con made the top 10 non-fiction publications of the year, while Houses of Hermes: Societates for Ars Magica is on the roleplaying game supplment short list. Congrats to all of our authors and artists!

Education Focus at GTS

2008-04-25T20:58:00.003-05:00

At the GAMA Trade Show we met several retailers who were interested in Once Upon a Time and Letter Head as educational games ... I directed them to the "In the Classroom" articles I designed for each, which are on their respective product pages in the right hand colum. I thought I'd post links to those pages here to make them easier to find.

Note, too, that Once Upon a Time was recommended in the first Games in Education brochure put out by the Game Manufacturer's Association (GAMA). The link to download that brochure is also on the Once Upon a Time product page.

Mad Scientists are Hip ... Who Knew?

2008-04-25T19:56:00.002-05:00

We just got back from the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas, showing off Mad Scientist University to very positive response. People universally liked our "30 second demos," and the storytelling aspect of the game that makes it so fast and easy to learn. We had several podcasters stop by the booth, so we should hopefully be putting up links to their reviews in the coming weeks.

It turns out that this is the year of the mad scientist. White Wolf with its new Mwahaha board game, and upstart Bucephalus Games -- headed by Dan Tibbles -- with THREE new mad scientist-themed games coming out soon. I personally liked the sound of the one featuring mutated escaped lab rats ... who doesn't love rodents with tentacles? Bucephalus has an ambitious schedule planned for the year ... over 30 games in the works! And from the looks of the demos at their booth, we can expect good things from them in the future.

We also featured a prototype of our upcoming Where the Deep Ones Are children's book at our booth. It generated a lot of excitement, and the promise of a 2-page article on it in an upcoming issue of Game Trade Magazine!

Realms of Power Sneak Peek

2008-04-25T18:39:00.001-05:00

The table of contents for Realms of Power: Magic is now up on its product page, along with the entirety of its appendix: the Book of Mundane Beasts. Enjoy!

2008-04-25T15:13:00.001-05:00

Matt Drake from Drake's Flames has just posted a review of Pieces of Eight. Matt says:

"If you want to play a really cool game with a sweet gimmick that you can enjoy in 15 minutes and teach to a twelve-year-old, Pieces of Eight should be a must-buy."

Read the review now!

GAMA Trade Show

2008-04-18T10:46:00.002-05:00

The Atlas Games offices will be closed for most of next week, as John and I will be out of town at the GAMA Trade Show through Thursday.

Atlas Games' "Purchase"

2008-04-04T15:55:00.002-05:00

Some of you might have clicked on that link in the "Ronin Arts to Buy Atlas Games" post, and noticed that Ronin Arts announced its purchase by Steve Jackson Games ... then followed THAT link and found that Atlas Games has plans to buy Steve Jackson Games, as well. Others might have taken the faster approach and just noticed the date on our post ... April 1, 2008. Either way, we hope our little joke helped make your day. :)

Ronin Arts to Buy Atlas Games

2008-04-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has observed the adventure games industry in the past decade has witnessed online sales of digital role-playing books grow from a tiny niche to a vital part of the market. While traditional retail outlets have struggled, these new media have thrived � bringing wealth and power to those who have led the way. In turn, those cash flows need to find new places to be reinvested, to strengthen and diversify the industry titans of the PDF field.

Thus we come to today's big news. It is my pleasure to announce that in the wee hours of the morning, negotiations were completed and I inked a deal with a businessman and creative professional I have long admired, Phil Reed. His company, Ronin Arts, will be acquiring all of the assets and liabilities of Atlas Games, effective one year from today.

We'll be following up tomorrow with further details, but I didn't want to make fans wait for this exciting news any longer than necessary.

Web Site Updates

2008-03-29T22:34:00.003-05:00

Now available from the Ars Magica 5th Edition page, a new and updated Character Sheet. Additionally, the Mad Scientist University Playmat is now available from the retailer page.

Special Ops Drawing

2008-03-28T14:52:00.001-05:00

Atlas Games is pleased to announce that Pat Hannum of Salem, Oregon is the winner of this quarter's Special Ops prize drawing. Pat will get to choose a prize from among the rare and and one-of-a-kind Atlas Games items reserved for the Special Ops drawing.

Special Ops is Atlas Games' corps of loyal fans who organize and run demos and tournaments at retail stores and conventions across the country and around the world. At the end of each quarter, Special Ops demo team members who have run a game in the last three months are entered into a prize drawing for special Atlas items. The next drawing will be June 30th, and will feature a choice of prizes such as press sheets and original art from our popular Ars Magica, Feng Shui, Penumbra D20, and Unknown Armies RPGs, and from card game favorites like Dungeoneer, Lunch Money, and Once Upon a Time.

Atlas is also happy to announce that Blaine "Time" Mullins Jr. has gone up in rank this quarter. He's now a Magus with 500 HP. Congratulations, and keep up the great work!

Also, we'd like to welcome the following new recruits:

Russell Bevers
John Post
Dan Hoger

Thanks for being a part of Special Ops!

If you're interested in joining Atlas Games' Special Ops demo team, just fill out and send in the application form at www.atlas-games.com/specialops.

To request a demo at your convention or retail store, send in the demo request form located at www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/SOdemorequestform.rtf.

Michelle Nephew
Special Ops Coordinator
Atlas Games

MSU Designer at I-CON

2008-03-28T14:20:00.001-05:00

The designer of Mad Scientist University, Zachary Anderson, will be making an appearance at I-CON 2008 in New York next weekend, and will be giving out a copy of MSU, and various other tidbits and signatures. If you'll be at the con, keep an eye out for him!

Missing OUAT Rulebooks

2008-03-27T10:21:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back we discovered that the new printing of Once Upon a Time was printed without its rulebooks. Our printer took them back to correct their error, but several copies were shipped out to our distributors before we caught it. We recalled them immediately, but unfortunately a few got through to consumers.

If you purchase a copy with no rulebook, we'll be happy to send you a new one if you email your name and address to us at info@atlas-games.com ... but that may take a few weeks. In the meantime, you can download the PDF version from our website at http://www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/ouat_rulebook.pdf

We're very sorry for the trouble, and thank you for your patience.

Art & Academe

2008-03-13T09:41:00.002-05:00

Art & Academe arrived at our warehouse from the printer yesterday. John's working hard on getting orders out ... you should be able to find it at your local game store in about a week or two.

Recess Review

2008-03-12T11:45:00.001-05:00

Matt Drake from Drake's Flames has this to say about Recess: "It's a pretty clever game, and requires a good bit of planning ahead and maneuvering. If you really play well, you can wrap up your opponents' kids in fights, protect your own with nuns, and haul those two kids to their prepubescent make-out session. And best of all, you get to be the cool kids. ... Finally it's your turn to steal the lunch money and kiss the girl." Read the entire review now!

A Tribute to Gary Gygax

2008-03-05T16:13:00.004-06:00

In his latest LiveJournal post, Robin Laws talks about Gary Gygax' passing ...

"I was wondering how I'd go about writing my tribute to Gary Gygax when it suddenly dawned on me: it's already done. 40 Years of Gen Con, especially its early chapters, are in large part a testament to his legacy. Gary founded Gen Con, and then designed the game that transformed the show from a tiny meet-up to the beacon of the hobby that it eventually became. That I got to write this tribute while he was still with us, and able to see it, can only be regarded as a rare blessing. I'm grateful to have had the chance to talk to him and include his recollections in the book."

All of us at Atlas feel honored and humbled to have gotten the chance to document such an important part of Gary's life, and to show what an impact he had on millions of people around the world. Because of this, I thought I'd post a link to our free download of the first chapter of the book, which tells the story of Gen Con's first years, beginning in Gary's own house. As Robin said, I think it's a fitting tribute to his legacy.

Gary Gygax, R.I.P.

2008-03-04T12:10:00.004-06:00

Multiple reliable sources are reporting around the game industry that E. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of founding fathers of the adventure games field, passed away in his sleep last night. We at Atlas Games mourn the loss of this fellow gamer who helped create the game-industry sandbox in which we've all had the pleasure to play (and the privilege to actually make a living in).

As a young gamer and aspiring game writer, I was strongly influenced by Gygax's work, from his articles in Dragon Magazine, to his World of Greyhawk, to adventure modules like The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. As a voracious young reader, I also found myself devouring classic works of science fiction and fantasy that I first learned about because Gygax credited them as his own inspirations.

We offer our condolences to his family, his friends, his colleagues and business associates, and gamers all over the world.

Website Roundup

2008-02-28T20:30:00.002-06:00

I have a couple of updates around the website:

First, check out the Japanese translation for Realm of the Ice Witch, courtesy of Atsushi Moriike.

Then, get your fix of Ars Magica 5th Edition with Sub Rosa, the spiritual successor to the Hermes Portal fanzine.

Finally, download backissues of the fanzine Hermes Portal and the complete list of their contents, courtesy of Jarkman with permission from publisher Erik Kouris.

Sneak Preview of Art & Academe

2008-02-19T18:01:00.001-06:00

Take a look at a sneak preview of Art & Academe on the product page.

MSU Review

2008-02-18T11:17:00.003-06:00

Matt Drake of Drakes Flames just posted his review Mad Scientist University. Matt comments, "Mad Scientist University is cheap and fun at parties, like the perfect college date." To read the whole thing, visit drakesflames.blogspot.com.

Grand Tribunal, the Convention!

2008-02-13T13:23:00.002-06:00

We're pleased to be supporting this year's Grand Tribunal, the Atlas-only convention that will be held in the UK from August 15th - 17th. This is their second year, and they have a big line-up of Atlas Games authors attending, including our Ars Magica line developer David Chart, who is coming in all the way from Japan for the event. A second Grand Tribunal USA is also in the planning stages. If all goes well, it will be held the same weekend in southern California. For more info on the Grand Tribunal conventions, visit the official wiki.

Two New Products

2008-02-10T11:39:00.000-06:00

We have two new products coming soon:

Renowned Mythos aficionado Ken Hite retells H P Lovecraft�s classic "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" in this story of childhood terror in Where the Deep Ones Are.

For Ars Magica, we have a new sourcebook, Realms of Power: Magic, delve into these pages to uncover the secrets of vis, magic auras, and even the Realm of Magic itself!

New updates around the site

2008-02-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Erik Dahl who has updated the Ars Magica Unified Virtues and Flaws index to include the Virtues in The Lion and the Lily: The Normandy Tribunal.

The Feng Shui: Glimpse of the Abyss has a new "out-take" written by Darren Bright.

Erik Tyrrell has fixed the formatting issues on the Ars Magica shape and material index by bonus and by material.

Art & Academe at Press

2008-02-04T14:15:00.000-06:00

Just a note that Art & Academe for Ars Magica was sent to press on Friday. It should be back by the middle of next month, and in stores by the end of next month at the latest.

Inside Glimpse of the Abyss

2008-02-01T15:00:00.000-06:00

Gamer's Haven has just released a special episode interview with our own Jeff Tidball and John Seavey, two of the authors of the newest supplement for the Feng Shui RPG, Glimpse of the Abyss. Download it now!

Gamer's Haven is also running a contest to win a copy of Glimpse of the Abyss by sending in your write-up of a cinematic fight scene from a game you've played in. Send your entry to ethan@candaiancrusaders.com . The winner will be announced in Episode 30, and will be read on the air. Good luck!