Atlas Dispatches

Gloom in the News!

2009-10-30T13:00:00.001-05:00

Rick Teverbaugh, Sports Editor of the Herald Bulletin writes a column called Rick's Rec Room and Gloom made it for a review. Read the full story on the Herald Bulletin website.

New Releases at Warehouse23

2009-10-16T07:52:00.002-05:00

Magi of Hermes, The Antarctic Express, and Gloom: Unfortunate Expeditions are now available for purchase from Warehouse 23. Sorry for the delay and enjoy the new Releases. Thanks.

Turn Off the Firehose

2009-10-12T10:07:00.001-05:00

Jeff Tidball asks that we post an update to the call for UA submissions:

Three pitches have now been accepted, and are in development. A thousand thank-yous to everyone who pitched. We received many, many more submissions than expected, and many perfectly fine submissions were not accepted due, essentially, to volume alone. As always, the official Unknown Armies site (recently relocated to http://ua.johntynes.com/) is an excellent place to vent your creative Unknown Armies obsession.

New Ars Magica 5th Edition Errata

2009-10-10T09:09:00.002-05:00

The Ars Magica 5th Edition Errata has been updated. Check it out!

Special Ops Drawing

2009-10-05T19:17:00.001-05:00

Atlas Games is pleased to announce that Megan Becker of Jacksonville, Florida is the winner of this quarter's Special Ops prize drawing. Megan 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 December 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 the following Special Ops members have gone up in rank this quarter:

Sheila Thomas (Avatar, 200 HP)
Megan Becker (Grog, 50 HP)

Congratulations to all of you, and keep up the great work!

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

Toshi Casey
Pedro Sanz Baena
Deborah Winslow
Guillaume Alvarez
Megan Becker
Walter Croft

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 an Application Form. There's no obligation.

To request a Special Ops demo at your convention or retail store, send in our Demo Request Form .

Call for Unknown Armies Pitches

2009-10-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

As an experiment, Atlas Games will release a series of at least three short, commercial PDFs supporting Unknown Armies in the coming months. Veteran RPG writer and developer Jeff Tidball will develop and produce them.

Each release will be like a pit bull: fast, mean, and something you damn well better pay attention to.

These releases need writers, and this is a call for pitches. Are you the writer? Can you pitch us a pit bull?

Here are the outlines:

* Each release will be wholly self-contained. No multi-part adventures, no epic trilogies.

* Each release must be widely accessible to a broad audience of UA fans. Advanced, supplemental rules for the avatar played by three gamers in North America are not welcome. For the big win, pitch concepts useful to both players and GMs.

* Each release will be 6,000 words long.

* The pay is $.02/word. Pitch something because Unknown Armies compels you, not because you intend to become rich.

* Material previously published, such as at the official Unknown Armies website, may be submitted, as long as substantial extensions or revisions from the original format are envisioned.

* Other than that, USE YOUR IMAGINATION, OR WHY ELSE DID GOD GIVE YOU ONE? Adventures are fine, locations are fine, group write-ups are fine. NPC collections might be fine if they're compelling. But even better, blow our minds with your crazy idea, why don't you?

Pitch it to us like this:

* Send a one-sentence summary of your idea to jeff [at] jefftidball -dot- com. (Yes, seriously. One sentence. When you're retailing PDFs, you've got about one sentence to blow a potential customer's mind. Therefore, you've got one sentence to blow ours.) Read about effective high-concept movie loglines if you're at a loss as to how to pitch a compelling idea in a single sentence.

* Send a one-sentence summary of your qualifications.

* If this material has been previously published, indicate where and how.

There's no limit to the number of pitches you can send.

Awesome pitches will be greenlit and assigned instantly until we have three. Don't let your jaw-dropping idea be the fourth one we get.

There is no deadline, but at two sentences, why don't you brainstorm five ideas right now, let them stew overnight, and send us the best three tomorrow morning?

UPDATE: The three pitches for development have been chosen -- thanks to everyone who submitted.

Dungeoneer & Ren Faire Updates

2009-10-02T19:45:00.002-05:00

The reprint of Dungeoneer: Tomb of the Lich Lord is actually physically in our warehouse at this very moment, and we've started shipping it to our distributors. It should be in your local games store in the next week or so. Sorry for the really extremely long delay with the printing.

Also, Ren Faire has been sent to press. We expect it back before Christmas, so keep an eye open for it!

New Downloads for Ren Faire

2009-09-30T11:21:00.002-05:00

Get more for your money with these downloads on the Ren Faire product page.

Check out the Ren Faire rules.
Download the Ren Faire cardlist.

Sticks and Stones in Japanese

2009-09-28T12:33:00.003-05:00

Check out the Sticks & Stones rules in Japanese now posted on the Sticks and Stone product page, with our thanks to Atsushi Moriike.

OUAT in Hebrew

2009-09-25T13:31:00.002-05:00

It's my pleasure to announce today that Atlas Games has finalized a licensing agreement with Israeli publisher Silver Stars Publishing Limited for the Hebrew edition of Once Upon A Time. Johnathan Aloni of Silver Stars reports that he expects to have the printed games available for sale by December or January.

New Feng Shui character sheets posted

2009-09-22T10:11:00.002-05:00

New Feng Shui character sheets courtesy of Jason Patterson are now posted on the Feng Shui page. Available also in Papyrus and Jade

Airport Showdown

2009-09-21T09:43:00.004-05:00

Those who have visited D'Aubainne International Airport on Al Amarja (setting of Over the Edge and On the Edge) may be interested to hear that there's serious competition in the "surreal and disturbing air travel experiences" department. The Onion News Network reports...

Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

Ars Magica 5th Edition books by ability Index

2009-09-10T11:21:00.003-05:00

More goodies for Ars Magica 5th Edition have been posted on the site. Check out the index of Ars Magica 5th Edition books listed by ability.

MSU Designer Appearing at DragonCon

2009-08-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

Too much madness to be contained in one sentence!

Dragon*Con � the largest multi-media, popular culture convention in the US � happens in Atlanta, Georgia over Labor Day weekend. Their second annual Mad Scientists' Ball this year highlights our own Mad Scientist University's game designer and self-titled dean, Zachary Anderson, as a featured guest. He will also be on-hand throughout the convention to talk about MSU, assuming he isn't eaten by Shoggoths.

Virtues & Flaws Index Updated

2009-08-24T14:32:00.003-05:00

The Virtues and Flaws Index download for Ars Magica 5th Edition has been updated through Tales of Mythic Europe, and is now available in the right column at http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/index.php ... our thanks to Erik Dahl and Gremlin44 for their work on this!

Unfortunate Expeditions in Japanese

2009-08-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

We're pleased to have translations of the rules for Gloom's Unfortunate Expeditions expansion available for download in Japanese, thanks to Atsushi Moriike. You can find them on the Unforunate Expeditions page in the right column.

Dungeoneer ETA

2009-08-07T12:52:00.003-05:00

We've had several people asking about when the reprint of Dungeoneer: Tomb of the Lich Lord will be in stock again. It's actually finishing up at the printer right now, but we've had to delay delivery until after Gen Con so that someone will actually be at our warehouse to accept the shipment. Our current ETA is the week of August 17, and it should be in stores within a week or two after that. We hope to have advance copies at Gen Con, though!

Report from Grand Tribunal UK

2009-08-07T12:06:00.003-05:00

Grand Tribunal UK co-coordinator Sheila Thomas sent us this report on the convention, which I thought Ars Magica fans might enjoy. Our thanks to both Sheila and Neil Taylor for all their work putting the con together!

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Magi from across Mythic Europe began to gather at Murray Edwards College during the Friday afternoon. We joined the main Opening Ceremony for Constitution at 6pm and retreated to our own chamber for a brief "meet and greet" session before heading a short distance to a local establishment for a feast of delicious foods prepared in a way developed beyond the south eastern boundaries of Mythic Europe, maintaining a tradition established in Cheltenham during the two previous UK Grand Tribunal conventions. Sixteen people participated.

Saturday morning began with a discussion session, covering any and all aspects of writing material for Ars Magica, from stuff destined for publication to details for a particular gaming session. The gathering was opened by the reading of a short epistle from the Line Editor, who was prevented from attending by an unfortunate lack of vis. Over a dozen gamers, including two members of the line's author team and numerous story guides, found the discussion interesting enough to extend it for twice the scheduled time, and still leave more to talk about another time.

The afternoon began with the raffle, which this year was in aid of Practical Action (http://www.practicalaction.org/). Some very interesting and appropriate prizes had been donated and tickets sold well. The final result was 139 pounds for the charity and several happy gamers.

Then followed a choice. Neil ran the tabletop game "Twilight's Inheritance" while Mark ran an interactive game "Invitation to Dinner". The latter involved 17 players taking the parts of a Lord and part of his household who had invited magi from two covenants to dine with him, plus a range of other characters with interesting, initially secret, attributes who also attended the meal. Many players had costumes so it looked impressive as well as being a lot of fun.

During Saturday evening, there was a choice of two table top games, "Ill-Fated Meeting" from Neil and "Unquiet Grave" from Leif. Both had lots of keen players and the games were much enjoyed.

Leif then took over for the "graveyard shift" from midnight 'til 4... appropriately enough for re-running "The Unquiet Grave". A favourite moment was Hakon's shouting, "I'm not going to fondle the Virgin Mary", just as a group of people passed on their way to bed at 3.00 am. Remarkably, all the players from the graveyard shift looked bright and alert next morning.

Sunday started with the second freeform game of the weekend, Andrew's "Second Tribunal", in which fifteen players took the roles of the Founders and a couple of extra trouble-makers and debated matters governing the rules and organisation of the Order and resolved a few disputes round the meeting table and enjoyed many private negotiations involving threats, mysteries and deals away from the table between agenda items.

A table top game from Neil, "Memory of Ruin" entertained players on Sunday afternoon, and although this brought the Ars Magica gaming to a close, discussion continued in the bar. Then Neil took the few people who were staying on overnight on a brief tour of central Cambridge, to show them several medieval buildings of interest to the Order of Hermes, particularly the School of Pythagoras and Templar Church.

At the Closing Ceremony for Constitution, Neil & Sheila announced that they'll be doing it all again in 2011.

News from Grand Tribunal

2009-08-03T11:56:00.002-05:00

We've heard from Grand Tribunal UK that the convention over the weekend went very well. They raised 140 pounds for the charity raffle, and had a good selection of Ars Magica games running. And they sent photos!

Our congratulations to the organizers of both the UK and West Coast conventions. :)

Unwelcome Guests in Japanese

2009-07-31T12:03:00.001-05:00

We're pleased to have translations of the rules for Gloom's Unwelcome Guests expansion available for download in Japanese, thanks to Atsushi Moriike. You can find them on the Unwelcome Guests page in the right column.

New Ars Magica & Unknown Armies PDFs!

2009-07-27T16:14:00.002-05:00

We've just made available for download the following new for-purchase PDFs ...

ARS MAGICA

AG0254 A Medieval Tapestry

AG0256 Return of the Stormrider

AG0283 City & Guild

AG0285 Societates

UNKNOWN ARMIES

AG6008 To Go

You can find the link to e23 on the product page for each, in the left column, where you can purchase these and many more Atlas Games PDFs. Enjoy!

Grand Tribunal 2009 THIS WEEKEND!

2009-07-27T13:54:00.003-05:00

This weekend sees Grand Tribunal -- the all-Atlas Games convention -- hosted on both sides of the Atlantic from July 31st to August 2nd ...

Constitution, the British Roleplaying Society convention held at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge (formerly known as New Hall), will host Grand Tribunal 2009.

Grand Tribunal MMIX will be held at the same time in Mythic San Francisco.

Check out their websites for registration info and events schedules. We send our regards to both cons!

CSI Rules

2009-07-27T13:28:00.001-05:00

The rules for the upcoming Let's Kill: Crime Scene Instigation expansion are now available on its product page, in the right column. New to Crime Scene Instigation are Law Enforcement icons and Psychosis cards. Law Enforcement icons represent the forces of law and order that prevent serial killers from practicing their little hobby ... that's right, more shootouts ensue. Psychosis cards depict various psychotic episodes, which change the rules of the game for all players. After all, lunch breaks are good, but psychotic breaks are better!

Unhappy Homes in Japanese

2009-07-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

We're pleased to have translations of the rules for Unhappy Homes available for download in Japanese, thanks to Atsushi Moriike. You can find them on the Unhappy Homes page in the right column.

Ren Faire

2009-07-22T12:13:00.003-05:00

Information and images for our new transparent card game, Ren Faire, are now up on the site. We're hoping this will be a Christmas release, but we're still TBA officially for now. Check it out now!

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Ren Faire

A transparent card game from Atlas Games

You and your friends are newbies at the Renaissance faire. Food, music, mock combat ... it sounded like some kind of off-beat rock concert! Problem is, you stick out like a sore thumb. In a crowd of buccaneer hats and faerie wings, you're the only ones in t-shirts, shorts, and tennis shoes. Now you and your friends have one afternoon to assemble the ultimate Renaissance costume, but you're short on cash and the only way to earn more is to perform for the crowd.

Ren Faire is a light-hearted card game for 2 to 4 players, ages 13 and up. Play time is about an hour. Your goal is to be the first to outfit your Character completely, by getting Costumes whose icons fill the slots at the bottom of your Character card. To do this, you play Performance cards that award coins for doing silly stunts, then use your coins to buy transparent Costume cards that stack on top of each other above your Character. To count, the Costume icons have to be visible; ones that are covered up by others on top of them don't count.

Ren Faire features an innovative transparent card design, and Performance cards that are sure to keep everyone active in the game.

Designer: Michelle Nephew
Art, Graphic Design, & Layout: christiansen:creative
Stock Number: AG1320 | ISBN: 1-58978-109-0 | MSRP: TBA
Format: One transparent 55-card deck, one opaque 55-card deck, and a rules sheet in a tuckbox
Release Date: TBA