ICE is proud to announce a new HARP Licensee, Cloven Fruit Games! They are creating a brand new and exciting setting based on HARP SF called After Worlds! This line is a joint venture where Cloven Fruit handles the content and ICE handles the rest. It is a fun and exciting background and we think you will enjoy it.

AfterWorlds is set in a post-apocalyptic world and daily life is a constaint struggle.

Nobody was prepared for the virus that swept the world, creating mutants out of ordinary people. Special camps and massive relocations were only the beginning.

It has been a long, hard 30 years, and mankind is struggling to crawl back to the civilization that it used to have.

You can join in on conversations about this exciting new setting by visiting ICE’s forums - http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?board=109.0

The first AfterWorlds products are due out this coming November!

I’ve just made the move to a different host for this Website, and that included moving to newer versions of MySql and PHP. Overall this is good news for me, the bad news is that some of the functions for parts of the site are temporarily broken and I’ll need to get them fixed up. Hopefully that will go quickly and everything will be up and running properly in a day or two.

The Guild Adventurer #2 ransom is now over. 82 pledges were received, which was short of the 100-pledge target, but The Guild Companion will be publishing the second issue of The Guild Adventurer. Now it is just a matter of waiting for the layout and final approval to be done. Stay tuned!
As mentioned previously, I’ve got an Adventure in this issue, it’s the first paid work that I’ve done for an RPG game, so I’m extremely pleased to hear that it is going to get published.

ICE is pre-releasing its HARP Sci-Fi rules as a beta release. The final version will be available later in 2007. Those wanting to get it early can get the discounted beta version now, and will receive the full final version for free when it releases.

Quoted from the March 9, 2007 Newsletter:
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=3521.0

HARP SF Beta: We have been barraged with contacts asking for the HARP SF Beta over the last few months. So the author, Nick Caldwell, came up with an idea a couple of weeks ago and today we start implementation. The HARP SF Beta manuscript is for sale in the ICE Online store in the HARP category for $15. Everyone who buys it should read the directions on the ICE forum: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=3518.0. It tells you exactly what to do to join the HARP SF Beta group and receive updates and changes.

Frequent updates and changes will be posted via the downloads feature of our forums.
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=0

People who do not buy the Beta can still read the HARP SF forum but they can not post in that forum or download any updates or other files we put up for use by the beta testers like sample adventures and maps. When the final version is done the PDF will list for at least $20, but the beta testers will all get it automatically when it is released.

Buy HARP SF Beta here for $15: http://store.ironcrown.com/detail.jsp?category=196867&itemId=2493237

The Magic Has Returned!

Originally published in 1997 by ICE, this new edition of Essence Companion has been digitally remastered by The Guild Companion.

From forgotten tomes of magic to the schools of wizards, now comes forth a deeper exploration of the realm of Essence.

The Essence Companion delves deeply into the magical realm of Essence magic. Inside, you will find new professions, variant rules, new options, and a wealth of spells.

Here is what you will find inside…

* Three new professions that use the realm of Essence: the Warrior Mage, the Mana Molder, and the Runemage.
* More than a dozen new training packages for characters to develop. Many of the packages focus on some very specific aspects of the realm of Essence.
* New definitions within the realm of Essence that allow further customization of your Essence spell user. Now you may be a Somaticist, a Nomenist, a Herbalist, a Corpist or a Crystalist.
* Optional rule systems for learning skills and spell list specialization. This includes a discussion about structures for learning.
* More than 30 new spell lists for the realm of Essence (including Open, Closed, Training Package, and Base lists).
* Detailed tables showing magical properties found in herbs and animal parts (just how much magic is there in an “eye of newt?”).

Available now from RPGNow at http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=21049 for 16 USD.

A preview will be available in the February 2007 issue of TGC.

It’s almost the New Year so I thought I’d post some of my goals for the ICEWEBRING site and gaming in general.

The switch to WordPress hasn’t been as useful as I had hoped. It seems to have slowed the access to pages down significantly and there have been very few comments posted by people. However, the advantage of being able to catagorize the entries I’ve made and the potential for being able to move to a more database driven design for the ICE Product lists means that I think I will stick with this format.

I don’t have big plans for the site for this year, I need to clarify some of the entries for some of the earlier products, particularly those that I am discovering had multiple versions released. There are also several areas where the cover images could be improved, I still have small images and now have aquired copies of the products so could easily scan in larger images.

I also want to get all the major pages moved to be WordPress pages and get rid of the “unconverted” portion of the left hand menu.
There’s also some tweaking of the style sheets needed to get some things cleaned up. That’s about it for planned site changes. I’ll probably still work on entering the individual products into a database behind the scenes, but I don’t expect to add any access to that from the site this year.

My main focus this year will be on doing up some additional articles for publication, first up is an Adventure that will hopefully appear in the 2nd edition of the Guild Adventurer. A big part of getting that done is learning how to use Campaign Cartographer 3 / Dungeon Designer 3 for doing maps. It’s coming along well so far, but I’ve only done two basic buildings. The challenging part will be doing up the plans for the two ships in the adventure.

I’m also hopeful that ICE will get HARP Sci Fi published this year and I can work on doing some articles related to that. I have a couple of creatures and races ready to go from my playtest group, and I am hoping to do an adaption for running Star Wars with HARP Sci Fi.

I’m also planning on doing several more Underwater Articles for HARP for the Guild Companion, including Underwater Spells and an article on Mermaids.
In there somewhere, I will be doing some more contributions to the Rolemaster Classic project with ICE, but I couldn’t reveal any details about that right now even if I knew them.

That’s about it, doesn’t sound like much, but it does leave room for some unexpected additional projects, and since another goal for me this year is to get out and excercise more and spend less time in front of the computer, I think it’s a reasonable amount to aim for.

The December Guild Companion has been posted for awhile now, and amoung other interesting articles, it contains an article that I wrote for playing Dolphins as Player Characters in HARP, admittedly an odd notion, but a GM could also use it as a method of creating some interesting NPC’s for characters that might be adventuring on or under the oceans

It’s finally here! ICE released RMC Character Law on December 1st, the first in the new RMC line, the following schedule was announced for the rest of the RMC line:

Feb 2007: Arms Law (With added materials from the Italian Arms law)
Apr 2007: Spell Law
Jun 2007: Creatures & Treasures

Looks like “Campaign Law” was split from “Character Law” and will get a separate release after ‘Creatures & Treasures”

Posted version of the ICE Newsletter announcement:
www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=2768.0

Link to ICE Newsletter, Announcements & Store:
www.ironcrown.com

Bruce @ ICE mentions a totally new RMC supplement in the planning stage called “Shadow Law”
Details:
www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=2654.0

Here’s the scoop: Rolemaster Classic: Character Law marks the return of the original revered Rolemaster 2 system. This volume encompasses the Character Law section of the hallowed “red border edition” Character & Campaign Law and has been completely updated and expanded. The original Character Law pioneered many of today’s gaming concepts and still sets the platinum standard for fantasy RPG character creation. It has been a herculean effort and the RMC Team has done an amazing job.

You have 4 formats to choose from, so happy shopping!

1. PDF ST# 6501P $18: http://store.ironcrown.com/detail.jsp?itemId=2001950&category=162528
2. Softcover ST# 6501 $30: http://store.ironcrown.com/detail.jsp?category=162529&itemId=1992824
3. Hardcover ST# 6501h $40: http://store.ironcrown.com/detail.jsp?category=162530&itemId=1992825
4. Limited Edition Hardcover ST# 6501LE $50: http://store.ironcrown.com/detail.jsp?category=152927&itemId=1992823

The first issue of The Guild Adventurer has arrived. The Guild Adventurer is a compilation of original adventures and adventure-related material for Rolemaster, Shadow World, Spacemaster, and HARP. Our all-star cast of contributors have created the following rich and diverse set of scenarios to put the adventure back into your games:

* “The Temple of the Three”, a Shadow World adventure written by Terry Amthor himself, the creator of Kulthea, and dual-statted for RM2 and RMFRP;
* “Web of the Kobolds”, an adventure by Tim Dugger, ICE System Editor and codesigner of HARP, and multi-statted for RM2, RMFRP, and HARP;
* “The Paranoia Game”, a Spacemaster:Privateers adventure by Robert Defendi, author and designer of the entire Spacemaster:Privateers product line and of the stunning Echoes of Heaven setting from Final Redoubt Press ( also available via this RPGNow link);
* The Vampire’s Barrow, a HARP adventure bu Nicholas HM Caldwell, author of Mentalism Companion, Construct Companion, College of Magics, and the upcoming HARP SF;
* “People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Flying Toadstool Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Allen Maher, contributor to the HARP character compilation, Friends & Rivals;
* “People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Red Hooded Traveler’s Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Aaron Smalley, author of City of Archendurn;
* with maps by Joel Lovell, original artwork by Rick Hansen, project artist for Friends & Rivals, and a layout by Andrew Ridgway.

This is now available at RPG Now for $8.00

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=15166

An interesting project by the Guild Companion that is worth supporting if you are interested in getting some Adventures for your ICE games

Ladies and gentlemen,

We’re putting the adventures back into role-playing.

The Guild Companion proposes to publish The Guild Adventurer, a compilation of original adventures and adventure-related material for Rolemaster, Shadow World, Spacemaster, and HARP. We have commissioned and received four complete scenarios and two adventure-support articles. The Guild Adventurer is currently in layout phase.

In this premier issue, we have:
“The Temple of the Three”, a Shadow World adventure written by Terry Amthor himself, the creator of Kulthea, and dual-statted for RM2 and RMFRP.
“Web of the Kobolds”, an adventure by Tim Dugger, ICE System Editor and codesigner of HARP, and multi-statted for RM2, RMFRP, and HARP.
“The Vampire’s Barrow”, a HARP adventure by Nicholas HM Caldwell, author of Mentalism Companion, Construct Companion, College of Magics, and the upcoming HARP SF role-playing game.
“The Paranoia Game”, a Spacemaster:Privateers by Robert Defendi, author and designer of the entire Spacemaster:Privateers product line.
plus:
“People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Flying Toadstool Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Allen Maher, contributor to the HARP character compilation, Friends & Rivals.
“People, Places and Paraphernalia: The Red Hooded Traveler’s Inn”, an adventure location for HARP by Aaron Smalley, author of City of Archendurn.

We had intended to use fundable.org for this ransom; however, our ransom is below their minima for total and individual pledges.

So, instead, we are going to use an honor system.

If you want to see The Guild Adventurer, send me an email at editor@guildcompanion.com:
Give it the subject TGA One: Pledge

In the email, include:
your name or your online alias (whichever you prefer) [so we can name you as a Supporting Patron in the Credits]
a valid email address [so that we can send you a Patron coupon to purchase TGA#1 at a discount price]
and how many copies of TGA#1 you pledge to buy at the discount price of five (5) US dollars. [normally this will be one copy, but I know some people buy on behalf of friends]

We need 100 pledges for the ransom to succeed. We will run the ransom until 100 pledges are received or the 31st October (whichever happens first). Assuming the ransom succeeds TGA#1 will go on sale at RPGNow.

Remember, by pledging you are helping to ensure that there will be new published adventures for Rolemaster, Spacemaster, and HARP, you will be credited as a Patron, and you will save two dollars on the normal retail price of The Guild Adventurer.

Please use this thread for any queries you may have about The Guild Adventurer or the ransom process. I will set up a separate thread as a running total of pledges received.

Best wishes,
Nicholas HM Caldwell