Now On Kickstarter: Sentinels of Earth-Prime

In case you missed it on social media, our Sentinels of Earth-Prime cooperative card game Kickstarter campaign is funded and has vanquished several stretch goals with the able assistance of its many stalwart backers! We are closing in on another stretch goal, and would love your assistance as a backer and promoter. Back it today, and save the world!

Sentinels of Earth-Prime is set in the world of Mutants & Masterminds. Fully compatible with the popular Sentinels of the Multiverse game, and made in conjunction with our friends at Greater Than Games, Sentinels of Earth-Prime is a cooperative card game that lets you have exciting comic book adventures with your friends!

Ronin Roundtable: Freedom City, Then and Now

The worlds we create certainly can take on a life of their own. That has been my experience with Freedom City, the central starting point for the Earth-Prime setting for Mutants & Masterminds, now the focus of two major forthcoming projects that reflect the history of the setting and its future.

Sentinels of Earth-Prime

Over on Kickstarter, the Sentinels of Earth-Prime card game takes the hugely popular Sentinels of the Multiverse and brings its game mechanics and design to Freedom City, focusing on the “classic” era of the second edition of the Freedom City sourcebook from 2005, and the Freedom League of that time, along with some of their most fiendish foes, like Omega, Argo, Hades, and the Meta-Mind of the alien Grue Unity.

For M&M fans new to the card game, Sentinels pits teams of heroes up against the challenges of particular villains and environments, using decks of cards to represent all of those factors, and emphasizing just the kind of heroic teamwork the Freedom League is know for. For Sentinels fans new to Mutants & Masterminds, the Freedom City setting is meant to capture the classic feel of the superhero comics and offer a setting for telling all kinds of stories in a roleplaying context. If you’re unfamiliar with the heroes of the Freedom League or their foes, worry not! We have plans to profile all of the characters in the days to come while the Kickstarter is ongoing, along with providing you with some looks at Freedom City, its history, geography, and feel as a setting

For those who’d prefer not to wait, of course, you can find out plenty about the larger context of the Earth-Prime setting in the Atlas of Earth-Prime, Emerald City, Hero High, and Cosmic Handbook sourcebooks, available in print and PDF from the Green Ronin online store. Speaking of which….

Freedom City, Third Edition

Freedom City is also getting some much-needed attention from the roleplaying side of things in the forthcoming third edition of the Freedom City setting sourcebook, which rounds out all of those previously mentioned setting books to provide a complete look at Earth-Prime. More than ten years after the events in the previous edition of Freedom City that is the focus for Sentinels of Earth-Prime, the Freedom League and other elements of the world have seen some changes: Older heroes have retired, passing on their mantles to a new generation, and new heroes have appeared, often with ties to past events.

Captain Thunder and Lady Liberty have both lost their powers and left the Freedom League, but the Light of Liberty has chosen a successor, and Captain Thunder’s son, Ray, Jr., has graduated from the Next-Gen and the Claremont Academy to take his father’s place in the League, although not in quite the form anyone expected. Likewise, the Raven has followed in her father’s footsteps to pass her dark cloak and experience on to a young hero operating out of New York City (as detailed in Atlas of Earth-Prime) to take up a career in politics. Meanwhile, the previous “rookie” heroes of the League like Bowman, Johnny Rocket, and Star Knight are now seasoned veterans, helping out the “new kids” like Thunderbolt, Lady Liberty, and Centuria, the daughter of the legendary hero Centurion from an alternate Earth destroyed by Omega. The ageless and immortal members of the team, like Daedalus, Dr. Metropolis, and Siren, remain largely unchanged, although Daedalus’ involvement in aiding alien refugees from the shattered Lor Republic has led some earthly authorities to question his loyalties.

And that’s just within the ranks of the Freedom League! The new edition of Freedom City also looks at various other heroes of the setting, like the Atom Family, along with the ranks of some of Earth-Prime’s most infamous villains, nearly a hundred characters in all. This is combined with new and updated art and additional views of Freedom City like those seen here.

Talent Search Submissions are open!

Well, folks, it’s the big day. Thank you all for understanding when we pushed the launch date for the Lost Citadel Talent Search by a day in order to let the Sentinels of Earth Prime Kickstarter have a little time to have its own launch all to itself.


Here’s where we get to the nuts and bolts of the submissions portion of our talent search! This is just one part of Green Ronin’s larger and ongoing diversity initiative. In this specific case, we’re interested in hearing from women-identified and non-binary individuals with a passion for dark fantasy. What we’d like to see are writing samples that illustrate a grasp of the elements typically involved in RPGs: rules design, world-building/setting write-ups, character profiles, and fiction vignettes, as well as writing that aims to hybridize these elements. Familiarity with the Lost Citadel property is not a requirement at this stage.

We will be accepting your submissions from today until May 15th and the winner will be announced to the public as part of our Lost Citadel Kickstarter on June 6th.

  • Submissions should be no longer than 3,000 total words.
  • Submissions should be sent with an introductory email that includes your name and contact information; during the evaluation stage we will be stripping the submissions of identifying information and assigning each a code number as part of a blind reading so they can be judged without regard to name, existing reputation (or lack thereof), or anything other than the quality of the work.
  • Submissions should be saved as a document file and sent as an email attachment to lostcitadelrpg@greenronin.com. Don’t worry about heavy formatting, tone-appropriate font choices, or other stylistic flourishes.

While the setting is dark fantasy and its core expression will be in 5E, you are NOT required to adhere to those specifics in your submissions. We welcome submissions featuring mechanics from any edition, or those for our in-house system (AGE), or even those featuring other popular systems you feel might be dark fantasy-appropriate.

Keep in mind that this is not a math test disguised as a talent search. While submitting a well constructed Pathfinder stat block may be acceptable, it doesn’t go very far toward showcasing one’s talent and/or ability as a writer, only one’s ability to do math. Remember, the idea is to make a strong impression with your writing.

By submitting your work for evaluation, you represent that you are the sole author of the material being submitted, agree that Green Ronin and its agents have the right to read your submissions for the purposes of this search, and acknowledge that Green Ronin is under no obligation to use, buy, license, or adapt your talent search submission for any other use.

Today: Kickstarter Launch! Tomorrow: Talent Search Rules!

Today we launched the Sentinels of Earth-Prime Kickstarter and it’s going great! As I write this, we are already over 75% funded and it looks like we’ll hit our basic funding goal on day 1. Amazing! Sentinels of Earth-Prime is a cooperative comic book card game that takes the setting of our Mutants & Masterminds RPG and combines it with Greater Than Games’ terrific Sentinels of the Multiverse rules. Sentinels of Earth-Prime is a stand-alone game but it’s 100% compatible with Sentinels of the Multiverse, so you can mix and match decks from either game. It’s like a comic crossover on your tabletop! For more info, head on over to Kickstarter and check out the campaign.

Tomorrow we’ll be posting the rules for our Talent Search. We know that there are a lot of folks waiting eagerly to see them. Just one more day and all will be revealed! If you missed the original announcement about the talent search, you can read about it here.

Press Release: Green Ronin Publishing to Launch Fiction Line

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

GREEN RONIN PUBLISHING TO LAUNCH FICTION LINE

Plans to release tie-in fiction in print and electronic formats

 

Seattle, WA (04/12/17): Green Ronin Publishing, best known as a publisher of award-winning tabletop roleplaying products such as Mutants & Masterminds and the Freeport fantasy setting, is pleased to announce the launch of a new fiction initiative in 2017.

Leading this effort as Fiction Line Managing Editor will be Jaym Gates, author and editor, whose guiding hand has recently been evident on projects such as the Strange California anthology and Eclipse Phase: After the Fall, among many others.

“I always said that if we started a fiction line, we needed to do it the right way, and that’s precisely why we’ve brought Jaym on board,” says Green Ronin President Chris Pramas. “She has the chops and the experience to make this line sing.”

“I’m excited and honored to work with the Green Ronin team,” says Gates. “I’ve been a fan of their stories for a long time, and look forward to the opportunity to help bring new stories to life in their worlds.”

Green Ronin aims to include novels, anthologies, and both stand-alone and serialized short fiction in their releases, tied to the rich and varied worlds of their many tabletop roleplaying properties. Early releases will include fiction set in the romantic fantasy world of Aldea from the Blue Rose Roleplaying Game and tales of superheroic adventures set in the world of Earth-Prime from Mutants & Masterminds.

As part of this fiction launch, Green Ronin has come to an agreement with author and editor C.A. Suleiman to publish and distribute his previously existing fiction anthology Tales of the Lost Citadel in electronic and deluxe print formats. Tales of the Lost Citadel will be the first release for the new fiction imprint.

 

About Green Ronin Publishing

Green Ronin Publishing is a Seattle-based company dedicated to the art of great games. Since the year 2000 Green Ronin has established a reputation for quality and innovation that is second to none, publishing such roleplaying game hits as Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, and Mutants & Masterminds, and winning over 40 awards for excellence. For an unprecedented three years running, Green Ronin won the prestigious GenCon & ENWorld Award for Best Publisher.

 

About Jaym Gates

Jaym Gates is an editor, author, and communications manager who has worked for companies including The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Paizo Publishing, and Amazon. Her anthologies include War Stories, Genius Loci, Rigor Amortis, Eclipse Phase: After the Fall, Vampire the Masquerade: Endless Ages, and Strange California. She has also written setting and/or fiction for Blue Rose, Firefly: Smuggler’s Guide to the Rim, Shadowrun: Drawing Destiny, and Tianxia: Blood, Silk, and Jade, and was an initial developer on the Lost Citadel property.

In her copious spare time, Jaym trains horses, plays boardgames, and studies a martial art called Systema. You can find out more about her on Twitter as @JaymGates, or at jaymgates.com.

 

Contact Green Ronin Publishing

Nicole Lindroos
General Manager
nicole@greenronin.com

 

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Tales of the Lost Citadel

Tales of the Lost Citadel

Talent Search Announcement!

Last week as part of my Ronin Roundtable I alluded to some announcements and opportunities at Green Ronin that hadn’t been revealed. Earlier today, Chris gave some more details about the Sentinels of Earth Prime project that we’re sending to Kickstarter in a couple of weeks.

Now it’s my turn to announce another aspect of the project I’m overseeing this year, Lost Citadel Roleplaying: In the lead-up to June’s Kickstarter for the LCRPG, we are going to be running a talent search for women who are interested in coming to work on the project. If you identify as female and dark fantasy is your jam, we want to see what you can bring to the table! Not to worry, fellas, we have some other opportunities for you coming up later in the year, as well, but this talent search is just for the ladies.

Ultimately, one woman will be chosen to write for the Lost Citadel RPG under developer C.A. Suleiman and as part of a paid contract, but it’s my hope that we might find not just one but several new, talented women creatives that we haven’t worked with before at Green Ronin.

We will begin taking submissions on April 17th, and will post the official rules and guidelines for the talent search separately. Meanwhile, read up on the Lost Citadel and get ready!

Ronin Roundtable: Sentinels of Earth-Prime Card Game Coming to Kickstarter This Month!

Sentinels of Earth-Prime, coming to Kickstarter, April 2017

Mutants & Masterminds is Green Ronin’s longest running RPG, first debuting in 2002 and receiving continual support ever since. The game’s very first supplement, Freedom City, introduced a world that we’ve continued to expand upon over the years in ways big and small. This culminated in January with the release of the Atlas of Earth-Prime, a full world book for the setting. It was a fitting way to celebrate Mutants & Mastermind’s 15 year anniversary but there’s more to come. The Third Edition of the Freedom City sourcebook is coming out in June. And later this month we’re launching a Kickstarter for the first ever Mutants & Masterminds card game, Sentinels of Earth-Prime!

I’ve long wanted to bring some of our RPG properties to the world of card and board games and Sentinels of Earth-Prime is our chance to do just that. It’s happening because a few years ago I started playing a lot of Sentinels of the Multiverse from Greater Than Games. I got to know its designer, Christopher Badell, on the JoCo Cruise and it turned out he was a long time Mutants & Masterminds fan. Comics, of course, are no strangers to crossovers and team ups, so it didn’t take long for us to start talking about doing a project together. The result will take Christopher’s excellent Sentinels of the Multiverse rules and our Mutants & Masterminds setting and combine them together into a powerhouse new game, Sentinels of Earth-Prime! As you may have read in our press release a few weeks ago, this will be a joint venture between Green Ronin and Greater Than Games.

Sentinels of Earth-Prime will have the same basic format as Sentinels of the Multiverse. It will include decks for ten heroes, four villains, and four environments. Naturally, I brought in Steve Kenson (designer of Mutants & Masterminds and creator of Earth-Prime) to help with the setting and story side of things. I wanted to use the classic Freedom League as the game’s heroes, as they had deep roots in M&M and conveniently consisted of exactly ten characters. Steve then suggested we use events from previous RPG books as the basis for our story, in particular the many invasions that the heroes of Earth-Prime had fought against over the years. The core game will concentrate on events that took place from 2002-2006 on Earth-Prime. Then we’ll advance the timeline in expansions down the road, until the card game and the RPG are synched up. In this way Sentinels of Earth-Prime will both explore the setting and serve as a tour through its recent history.

The Sentinels of Earth-Prime Kickstarter will go live the week of April 17. Follow us on Twitter (@GreenRoninPub) or Facebook to keep up with it and other Green Ronin news. We’re incredibly excited about this project and the chance to work with Greater Than Games. We’re starting a whole new chapter to the Mutants & Masterminds story. We hope you’ll be a part of it!