At long last, HARP SF has been released. It’s available in pdf format now and will be available in book form soon.
It can be purchased through RPGNOW

HARP SF
- the roleplaying game of the future has arrived

Whether your game focuses on events on a single inhabited world in the near future or is a galaxy-spanning epic set millennia hence in the far future, HARP SF is the right choice for you.

HARP SF retains all the simplicity and flexibility of the original HARP Fantasy game but expands its reach to a whole new universe of infinite possibilities.

This first volume of HARP SF includes:
· Character creation rules for human and alien characters
· 11 professions
· 6 alien species
· 9 cultures
· 80+ skills
· 100+ talents
· Futuristic equipment and technology
· Rules for sf adventuring on alien worlds and outer space
· Rules for personal combat
· 23 critical tables
· Psionics
· Gamemastering guidance
· An introduction to the new Tintamar setting

ICE News – The Crown is Dead, Long Live the Crown!
1 January 2011, 10:07 pm
Iron Crown Fans:
First, an apology – For too long, resources have been woefully short to fully meet product and service quality as promised to you, our faithful and patient customers. It’s not that our licensee, Mjolnir LLC, run by Bruce and Heike, didn’t have the best of intentions – they did. But they were beset by difficult market conditions in the gaming industry which I’m sure you are all aware of, and combined with the lack of resources, Mjolnir were unable to fully meet your needs. While it is not our place to manage this situation and we are limited in doing so under the license agreement with Mjolnir, we did provide extreme flexibility in terms of foregoing a substantial amount of royalties which provided cash support for Mjolnir LLC to correct this situation, to no avail.

When Aurigas Aldebaron LLC first acquired Iron Crown Enterprises from bankruptcy, it was with the sole intention of supporting a product loved by many, a contender to rival D&D in the 1980’s, a game company known for its exciting criticals and its “true to art” creation of the first Middle Earth -based role playing games. Sure, I hoped to make a little money on it, but really I just wanted, like all role players at one time or another, to write/work/own a game company. I figured it would eventually provide the perfect outlet for retirement from my day job.

We have worked with Mjolnir since that time, and though there were ups and downs, we appreciate the contribution they made to the further development of ICE products.

It is time, however, for a new chapter to begin.

As such, I am pleased to announce some changes at Iron Crown Enterprises. Firstly, Aurigas Aldebaron and its representatives will manage the website and forums. In addition, we plan to manage more actively the sales and marketing of our products, as well as more closely oversee execution of product development and quality, and product deliverability by our licensees. Yes, all products will still be licensed out to creative organizations and as such, we will still only have limited control over the development of the systems and settings (and that’s a good thing to as we are not game creation and development professionals). But the terms of our agreement with our licensees will ensure better performance, and we think that with the freelancing methods’ fully variable cost structure to be employed by Guild Companion, we solve a critical problem plaguing our business – lack of resources – and instead increase the amount of resources brought to bear on the whole of product creation, production and delivery.

You will find that the ICE website will continue to be a central hub for all things Iron Crown. You will find links on the ICE website directing you to our licensee sites and to where you can purchase ICE items in PDF or print-on-demand physical copies. ICE will no longer operate its own store. You will be able to find announcements and product advertisements for all ICE products on the central ICE website.

We also expect there will be some growing pains and we will make some mistakes along the way – please forgive us and we hope we will get things corrected quickly. At the same time, since this is a new way of operating, we look forward to your suggestions.

As you can see, a lot of things are changing, but many things will stay the same. You shouldn’t expect a complete overhaul of the website, or major changes to the forum rules, but we do hope you eventually see some big improvements in product releases, product quality and deliverability.

In fact, we really view this as the next generation of game company management. We are attempting to cut out the middlemen, or as many of the layers as possible in getting the creative aspect of the game to the people that play it. We want to eliminate central management and distribution as much as possible. If ICE can support game developers through some marketing and web-support, these developers can do what they do best, manage their own small expenses and sell via pdf and print-on-demand, eliminating upfront and fixed costs, which lowers risk and allows for more game product creation. It also ensures that if people work on a product, they get paid from the source upon a sale.

We are also pleased to announce that Guild Companion Publications will be the licensee for our HARP, Rolemaster, Spacemaster and Cyberspace game systems, and, as they do now, be the licensee of the Shadow World background This includes the re-involvement of Terry Amthor, the creator of Shadow World, so we expect big things! . In addition, they will take over management of Cyradon setting as well.

ICEVerse as a project is expected to continue, which means RM and HARP fans will have access to a virtual table top program, and hopefully into full-fledged computer games.

We are currently in discussions on Bladestorm and the Silent Death game system license Combat Express, However nothing is finalized and we are looking for interest on this license by other parties.

We are in discussion with third parties with some of our properties and are currently seeking interested parties to manage the pirates-based Run out the Guns! and Guild Companion will be looking for help on the Cyberspace systems as well.

We plan to hold an online Q&A session in the near future and will advise you on the details of this in the near future.

That’s all for now. Thanks in advance for your continued patience and support.

Regards,
The Aurigas Aldebaron Team

(Charlottesville, Virginia USA and Cambridge, England: 15th August 2010)

Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises, and Guild Companion Publications Limited are pleased to announce that they have agreed in principle that the entirety of the Shadow World product line will be transferred from Mjolnir LLC to Guild Companion Publications Limited, who will be responsible for the publication of all existing and all future Shadow World materials.

Terry Amthor, creator of the Shadow World setting, said “I have really enjoyed working with Nicholas at Guild Companion Publications Limited on scenarios for the Guild Adventurer series and on my recent sourcebook, The Land of Xa-ar and Northern Saralis. These experiences convinced me that the time was right to move Shadow World officially to a new home. I approached Aurigas Aldebaron LLC and they were in complete agreement with me. Nicholas and I have discussed many future projects that we can and will be doing together. As far as I am concerned, this is the best thing to happen to Shadow World since I was publishing as Eidolon Studios – and this time, I don’t have to spend my weekends printing the books myself!”

Nicholas HM Caldwell, Director of Guild Companion Publications Ltd, said: “This IP transition makes de jure the de facto state of affairs that has been the case for several years now; most importantly, it means that we can give Terry free rein to develop Shadow World in the breadth and depth that it deserves. It also means that we will be able to solicit Shadow World submissions from fans, and once they have been vetted by Terry for adherence to the evolving and growing canon of material, publish those as additional material. As part of our commitment to supporting both major versions of Rolemaster (RM2/Classic and RMSS/FRP), all future Shadow World products will be dual-statted, and we will be adding RMSS/FRP material to existing products as quickly as we can as part of the reformatting process to make them suitable for our print-on-demand service”

The first new Shadow World product from Guild Companion Publications Ltd will be “The Shadow World Player’s Guide – The World“. This will be followed in due course by “Eyes of Stone“, an adventure set in Emer to be published in the fourth issue of The Guild Adventurer, and Terry’s next regional sourcebook, Emer III: The Southeast. Look for more details on upcoming Shadow World projects and how Shadow World fans can become involved in the new world order for Kulthea on the Guild Companion and ICE forums.

About Shadow World

A planet hangs on the threshold between Order and Chaos, a focus of strange powers and portals to alien dimensions. Sorcery clashes with ancient technology while capricious deities make war and the Dragonlords walk as men. Against them all rises the Unlife, a force whose dark servants seek the destruction of all that lives…
This is the Shadow World, a complete high-fantasy setting for Rolemaster originally created by Terry Amthor by the 1980s and developed further primarily by him ever since.

Shadow World is a registered trademark of Terry Kevin Amthor.

About Guild Companion Publications Limited

Guild Companion Publications Limited is the commercial arm of the Guild Companion magazine (www.guildcompanion.com) and publishes HARP SF and now Shadow World products under direct license from Aurigas Aldebaron LLC and Rolemaster, HARP, and Spacemaster products under license from Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises and Aurigas Aldebaron LLC. Its commercial products are available on http://guild.ironcrown.com, www.rpgnow.com and www.yourgamesnow.com

Guild Companion Publications Limited is a private limited company registered in England and Wales under No 7094505. Registered office: 77 Speedwell Close, Cambridge, CB1 9YS.

About Aurigas Aldebaron LLC and Iron Crown Enterprises
Originally founded in 1980, Iron Crown Enterprises produced and sold worldwide a variety of highly-successful original fantasy and science fiction role playing and table-top games. In December 2001 Aurigas Aldebaron, LLC purchased the corporate assets and licensed Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises to continue the tradition of creating highly sought-after adventure games. ICE’s current game lines includes Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing, Spacemaster Science Fiction RPG, HARP, and the Silent Death table-top miniatures game.

Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises and Guild Companion Publications Limited are pleased to announce that they have agreed in principle that HARP SciFi and HARP SF Xtreme will be transferred from Mjolnir LLC to Guild Companion Publications Limited, who will bring both products to final pdf and print publication.

Bruce Neidlinger, CEO of Mjolnir, said: “Due to other ongoing projects Mjolnir has been unable to give HARP SciFi and HARP SF Xtreme the care and attention both products deserve to bring them to final publication. This has been as much a source of consternation to us as it has been to the fans who have been patiently waiting for both products. When Nicholas came to us with a proposal to transfer HARP SciFi and HARP SF Xtreme over to GCP Ltd, it was an offer that we could not refuse. Nicholas is the author of both products and will take extremely good care of them. With the transfer, Mjolnir will be better able to focus on its other upcoming projects and ensure that all fans of ICE games have new products to entertain them”.

Nicholas HM Caldwell, Director of Guild Companion Publications Limited, said: “Role-playing games are meant to be played, and the delays to final publication with HARP SciFi and HARP SF Xtreme meant that the fans were unable to play with the full set of rules. I have an elite team already working on the art, the layout and final polishing of both books. We will still be publishing the rules as two separate (but linked) volumes and the intention is to publish both volumes (HARP SciFi and HARP SF Xtreme) simultaneously. Both products will be available in 2010 in both pdf and print format. Look for more news on the Guild Companion and ICE forums.”

Guild Companion Publications Limited will be honouring the free upgrades to final pdf versions to which purchasers of the public beta and gamma pdfs are entitled. The gamma version of HARP SciFi will be withdrawn from sale with immediate effect.

About Guild Companion Publications Limited
Guild Companion Publications Limited is the commercial arm of the Guild Companion magazine (www.guildcompanion.com) and publishes Rolemaster, HARP, Spacemaster, and Shadow World products under license from Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises and Aurigas Aldebaron LLC. Its commercial products are available on http://guild.ironcrown.com, www.rpgnow.com and www.yourgamesnow.com

Guild Companion Publications Limited is a private limited company registered in England and Wales under No 7094505. Registered office: 77 Speedwell Close, Cambridge, CB1 9YS.

About Iron Crown Enterprises
Originally founded in 1980, Iron Crown Enterprises produced and sold worldwide a variety of highly-successful original fantasy and science fiction role playing and table-top games. In December 2001 Aurigas Aldebaron, LLC purchased the corporate assets and licensed Mjolnir LLC dba Iron Crown Enterprises to continue the tradition of creating highly sought-after adventure games. ICE’s current game lines includes Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing, Spacemaster Science Fiction RPG, Shadow World, HARP, and the Silent Death table-top miniatures game.

This issue contains The Quiet Time (a HARP/RM scenario in the Echoes of Heaven setting by Robert Defendi), Dust to Dust (a RM/HARP adventure by Marc Rosen), Identity Theft (a Spacemaster:Privateers adventure by Robert Defendi), the Keeper of the Thorn (a SW RMClassic/RMFRP adventure by Terry Amthor) and Money in Fantasy Role-Playing Campaigns (a GM support article by Laura Trauth and Terence Wynne).

Enjoy!

I’ve pretty much moved to devoting my attention to my online Play by Post games over at rpgRMforums, as I described in my previous posting.
Still waiting on the final release of HARP Sci Fi , but I’ve started the Bughunters game without it.

I must confess that I’ve become a little disillusioned with ICE at the moment, hopefully it’s a temporary condition, but, in addition to the slow release rate there have been a couple other issues that have damaged my faith in them.

The Star Wars game is continuing along, I need to pick the pace up a little, but the Jedi is back in action and I’ve picked up one additional player, so that’s going well.

I’ve also started a new FASA Star Trek game, set in the time period shortly after the original Television series. Character generation has just wrapped up and I’m hoping to start the actual adventure in the next couple of days. I’ve actually got three seperate adventures planned out, all in the same area. Haven’t decided for sure which I’ll be doing first, but I’m going to start by introducing some of the characters and locations from all three.

Still playing in “Marth ICE World” and still having fun with that.

Started playing in another Playtest game, just getting moving on that, but it’s looking like it will be a fun one as well.

The first attempt at playing FASA’s old “Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator” fell flat, but we’ve started a second one, this time just a one on one scenario and it’s moving along much better.

That’s about it. Of course, I can always change my mind at any point and decide to pick up an unfinished project or start something new.

Deep within the Dark Woods of the kingdom of Archendurn is a ruined fortress, Dún Crú. Rumors say that it has become the lair of bandits or evil goblins. Legends say that it is haunted by the spirits of its garrison. Are you brave enough to seek answers to the mysteries of Dún Crú?

Written by Aaron Smalley, Dún Crú is a complete 50-page adventure module for Rolemaster (both RMSS/FRP and RM Classic) and HARP. Designed for parties of 4th to 6th-level characters, encounters can be scaled upwards or downwards to suit the GM’s needs. Dún Crú is a sequel to the City of Archendurn setting module, but may be used in almost any fantasy setting

Guild Companion Publications is the commercial arm of The Guild Companion, holding licenses from ICE to publish Rolemaster, HARP, Spacemaster and Shadow World products. Its sales outlets are:

http://guild.ironcrown.com/

www.RPGnow.Com

www.YourGamesNow.Com

We are pleased to announce that The Guild Adventurer Issue #3 is now ready to be ransomed. We will be running a simple honor-based system for pledges. You simply send me an email at editor @ guildcompanion dot com and let me know if you are willing to pledge to buy one or more copies and give me the name by which you wish to be acknowledged as a Patron of TGA #3.

The Guild Adventurer #3 will feature the following:
The Keeper of the Thorn (for Shadow World and Rolemaster (all editions), by Terry Amthor)
The Quiet Time (for Echoes of Heaven and Rolemaster/HARP, by Robert Defendi)
Identity Theft (for Spacemaster: Privateers, by Robert Defendi)
Dust to Dust (for Rolemaster (all editions), by Marc Rosen)
Sweating the Small Stuff: Money (GMing advice and adventure ideas, by Laura Trauth and Terence Wynne)

with art by Rick Hansen and layout by Andrew Ridgway.

The pdf price for TGA#3 will be 8 US dollars, and we are seeking 100 pledges.

Best wishes,
Nicholas