Over the past two weeks I’ve had a chance to tell you all about our plans for True20 Adventure Roleplaying and Mutants & Masterminds. Now I’d like to talk about the rest of our 2008 schedule, and since I’m running out of January let me get right to it.
Without a doubt Green Ronin’s biggest event of the year is the launch of A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, based on George R.R. Martin’s wildly popular fantasy saga. The game features a brand new system, custom made to reflect the realities of the setting. We strongly felt that a series like Ice and Fire should not be shoehorned into an existing set of rules. Adventuring in the Seven Kingdoms should feel like nothing else and we wanted the rules reinforce that idea.
You can get your first taste of the game on Free RPG Day (June 21). We will be offering A Song of Ice and Fire Quick Play, which is a short adventure and all the rules you need to play it. You’ll be able to get this at participating stores absolutely free, so checking out the game couldn’t be easier. Ask your local game store if they are taking part in Free RPG Day and encourage them to do so if they aren’t.
The game itself launches in August and we should have copies at Gen Con. The core book is a 192 page, full color hardback and it gives a complete rules set that includes house creation, social conflict, and mass combat. We’re following that up quickly with Peril at King’s Landing, an adventure that will help you kick off your new campaigns. Later in the fall we’re releasing A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide. This 256 page, full color hardback is your indispensable guide to the Seven Kingdoms and the world beyond. These three books together should blast off A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying in grand style.
Now as excited as we are about the Ice and Fire game, it wouldn’t be a year at Green Ronin without some love for Freeport, our longest running line. Last year we began a new chapter for the City of Adventure with the Pirate’s Guide to Freeport. This provided a new core book for Freeport and took the city in a bold direction. The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport and its follow-up, Cults of Freeport, were pure setting books without any game stats at all. The plan was to publish a series of companion books and PDFs that provided rules and stats for many different games.
Last year we released the True20 Freeport Companion but since then things have been a little quiet on the companion front. We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, however, so that is about to change. The d20 Freeport Companion is releasing in PDF form this week, with the print version to follow next month. This is our last scheduled release for the 3.5 rules, so if you are a fan of that edition this is a good time to represent.
We have also made agreements with several publishers that will allow us to support even more games. We made our first outside deal with Pinnacle Entertainment Group, which means Freeport is getting savage! We’ll be releasing the Savage Worlds Freeport Companion PDF in about a month. Pinnacle’s own Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams, author of the Pirates of the Spanish Main RPG, wrote the conversion and he did a cracking good job. We’ve also made a deal with Troll Lord Games and work is being done as we speak on a Castles & Crusades Freeport Companion. Both games a great fit for the City of Adventure and we’re glad to have them aboard.
But wait, there’s more booty to come! In March we have the next systemless book, Buccaneers of Freeport. This book examines eight notorious pirates, corsairs, and privateers and presents all the information you need to incorporate these characters into your campaigns. You may also recall from last week’s message that we are doing a Mutants & Masterminds sourcebook on comic book fantasy in the second half of year. This book is not a formal Freeport companion, but will include info on how to use Mutants & Masterminds to run campaigns set in the City of Adventure.
That covers all of our major 2008 plans at the moment. The only open question is whether we’ll be supporting 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons this year or not. As you probably know, Green Ronin was one of the trailblazing companies that proved the viability of third party products. We laid the foundations of the d20 market, so it would only seem natural for us to be first in on 4th edition as well. At the moment though we are still waiting to see the new version of the Open Game License and we can’t make any decisions until we find out the terms under which we’d be publishing. Once Wizards of the Coast shares that info with us, we will have some serious discussions and chart our course.
I can say this with absolute certainty though: 2008 is going to be a great year for Green Ronin Publishing. With cool licenses like Wild Cards and A Song of Ice and Fire, new vistas for Mutants & Masterminds, and continued love for Freeport and True20 Adventure Roleplaying, we’ve got a lot of gaming goodness coming at you. We hope you join us in making this a year to remember.
Chris Pramas
January 28, 2008
