View from the Pelgrane Nest – Back to School Edition

Some of you and/or your offspring are back at school already, but the Great Pelgrane has waited until now to flap off in search of supplies. He particularly enjoys picking out colored pencils, four-color pens, and novelty erasers. Always upon his return he complains that they don’t make duotangs anymore, but voracious sapient pterodactyls do tend toward gratuitous nostalgia.

If you are reading this before 11 am Pacific on September 11^th, he left a post it for you, pointing out that the entire Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, in which he features prominently, can be snapped up in PDF for the paltriest of sums at Humble Bundle.

At any rate his absence allows us the respite needed to provide updates on products as they move through the production line.

First we must raise a scone of gratitude to the almost-thousand of you who supported the Merryshire Detective Club crowdfund effort on Backerkit.

Since it closed we launched a first wave of playtests for its accompanying scenario anthology, The Dreadful Hare and Other Halfling Mysteries. We’ve had an impressive response to this so far. This wave includes “Slay the Wagon,” Gar’s additional introductory scenario for the core book, supplied in response to playtest feedback. You can still jump in if you can squeeze in a game and a report by Sept 30. Another wave of scenario tests awaits, so if you can more easily hop on board later we’ll be glad to have you.

Two past crowdfunding efforts are now passing last hurdles on their way to you.

Fear Itself: Shattered Veil (the glitzed up core book), Book of Unremitting Horror Second Edition, and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s brilliant new campaign anthology, Ocean Game, started shipping to US backers on August 31^st. They go out to the rest of a shrieking world on Sept 7^th.

August 31^st also marks the arrival of Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition PDFs, including the Boundary of the Darkness Age of Enlightenment sourcebook and the 2^nd edition Kingsbury Horror revamp, at DriveThru RPG, our webstore, and Backerkit. Also on that that date, the presses start rolling on the physical books.

Our other crowdfunded project, Ballad Hunters, remains in layout, on its way from the conceptual to the heavy InDesign lifting phases.

Hamlet’s GM Screen, my book applying the narrative analysis system from Hamlet’s Hit Points, is open to preorder and about to print.

On the 13^th Age front, Rob has been working on Prophet of the Pyre and Iconic Adversaries. Trisha DeFoggi has been developing the former and designing for the latter, while editing the 13th Age Starter Set adventure on the side.

Let’s close with a glimpse of the very first monster likely encountered in Prophet of the Pyre, a goblin bird shaman. Rob worries that images from this campaign book might be spoilers, but this lovely individual surely wouldn’t spoil anything. As surely as he would never direct his birds to in any way peck you. [Looks up pecking damage in the new edition.]

Gnoph-Keh by Pat Loboyko

Goblin shaman by Rich Longmore and Lee Moyer