Pelgrane Press Update – September 2006

The following article originally appeared on DyingEarth.com in September 2006.

Updates

Gomoshan’s Tomb
QuickStart Rules
GUMSHOE and Esoterrorists
Rhialto Update
Corrections and Clarifications

Gomoshan’s Tomb
This month brings the release of Gomoshan’s Tomb, a scenario in the well respected tradition of exploring and looting ancient ruins – though with suitably distinctive Dying Earth twist to this hoary old genre. Designed for characters in the mould of Turjan, it gives. Available as a PDF from our webstore.

The DERPG QuickStart Rules
After a few thoughtful email exchanges with people interested in the Dying Earth RPG Quick Start Rules, I’ve decided to reintroduce the QSR as a free PDF download. I had made the QSR free with any purchase, making it possible to get the rules plus decent adventure materials for under $3.00. The reason for the change was this – the QSR are very, very good, and we have lots of free adventures on the website. Download patterns suggested people were grabbing the QSR, plus an adventure, then coming back a few weeks later for more free adventures. This implies that the QSR alone are enough to play a decent version of the game. Obviously, we feel that the complete rules are much better, and offer superior play possibilities, but this potential is not obvious to people who have a good game in their hands already. That said, the last thing I want to do is irritate potential customers, or stop people sampling the game without risk, so we’ve restored the Quick Start Rules page.

GUMSHOE and Esoterrorists
Robin has finished work on his new GUMSHOE rules and the Esoterrorist background. The playtest went better than anything we’ve run before, and I’m very happy with the game. It fits with our new games design brief. It’s much more mainstream than the Dying Earth RPG, and can be used with any mystery-based background. Next, Robin is working on a GUMSHOE version of the Book of Unremitting Horror, and Adrian Bott will be creating a new adventure for this setting. The Esoterror background and the Unremitting Horror background can be run separately, or together depending on the style of game you and your players enjoy. I’ll be writing at more length about Esoterrorists next time.

Rhialto Update
Trevis Martin and Jérôme Huguenin have completed their illustrations for Rhialto’s Book of Marvels, and Jérôme has began work on the layout.

Corrections and Clarifications
In the last Page XX we published an article, generally well received, called “Is the RPG Industry Screwed?” – a mischievous title, I agree. I’d like to make it clear that the article was compiled by me (Simon Rogers) and not Robin D Laws. This clarification is more to prevent harm to his reputation than to benefit mine! I’d also like to state (and this should hardly be necessary) that the opinions I quote are those of the people I quote, and not necessarily my own. I was very careful not to make predictions, and my own comments are full of cowardly cavills and hedging. I do not predict a riot.

Finally, I ignored the elephant in the room, Hasbro, the big fish that the little fish all circle around. It’s Dungeons and Dragons, the grand daddy of the industry that we rely on to bring in new customers, while we smaller fry pick around the edges. I hope to rectify this grevious error in a future article. One person who emailed me took from my article that I don’t like Dungeons and Dragons. Looking at the article I am at a loss to see where he got that impression. On the contrary; I ran a 1st Ed D&D campaign for 18 years, we’ve published Dying Earth d20 conversions, the Primer of Practical Magic and the Book of Unremitting Horror. I am still very fond of the game, in fact I ran it at SteveCon earlier this year, although I don’t get as much chance to play as I might like due to variations in taste amongst my game group. I generally run 1st Edition because I had the time to completely absorb it when I was twelve, and I can’t give the same attention to later editions, good though they may be. I’ve played 3rd Edition, but I would be a little nervous running it with players who know the rules well.

The Dying Earth — and its rules-lighter version the Revivification Folio — take you into the world of master fantasist Jack Vance, where a flashing sword is less important than nimble wits, persuasive words,and a fine sense of fashion. Survive by your cunning, search for lost lore, or command the omnipotent but quarrelsome sandestins. Purchase The Dying Earth or the Revivification Folio in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.