Month: January 2006

I posted this over on E.N. World, so I figured that I’d post it here as well.

Here’s a rundown of our Top 10 products of 2005:

#1: CORSAIR: The Definitive D20 Guide to Ships
#2: Hot Pursuit: The Definitive D20 Guide to Chases
#3: THRILLING TALES: Gamemaster’s Guide to Pulp Adventure
#4: Posthuman: The Definitive D20 Guide to Human Augmentation
#5: Modern Dispatch (#29): Modern Adventure Generator
#6: BLACK MARKET: The Definitive D20 Guide to Cyberpunk Gear
#7: Hot Pursuit: ON FOOT
#8: NETSPACE: The Definitive D20 Guide to Virtual Reality
#9: 40 Alchemical Items
#10: THRILLING TALES – Pulp Villains: NAZIS

I started concentrating on Adamant full-time in the fourth quarter of 2004, and 2005 represents a five-fold increase in sales from the previous year. To say that I’m pleased would be an understatement.

So what does 2006 have in store?

Well, Adamant will be “in store”, for one thing. Adamant Entertainment products will be released in print versions and available at local game stores all over the world, as part of RPGNow’s new print distribution program, beginning in February.

As the first name in d20 pulp, we’ll be continuing our acclaimed Thrilling Tales line, with releases in every month of 2006. We’ve got some big things planned for this line, so stay tuned.

Our licensed support of the Northern Crown campaign setting will continue, with more issues of Franklyn’s Almanack, and the Spectral Boston city sourcebook.

But what about new stuff?

Adamant will be branching out in some new directions in 2006 as well:

Via a licensing arrangement with Green Ronin, Adamant will be releasing several adventures for the Freeport setting this year. The adventures are: Gangs of Freeport by Ari Marmell, Blood of Freeport by Justin S. Bow, Wilds of Freeport by Brian Kirby, and Peril in Freeport by Nate Christen. All manuscripts are in, and layout is underway — Look for them in the first quarter of 2006.

Adamant will also be launching a line of support products under Green Ronin’s M&M Superlink license. Our first product, the Campaign Utility Kit, will be released in print and PDF this month.

Another big release on the horizon is MARS, a d20 science-fantasy planetary romance game that can also be used as a setting for any existing d20-based campaign–fantasy, past, modern or future. Inspired by the planetary romance genre as seen in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and others, this product is designed by Lizard, the author of “Iron Lords of Jupiter.” The manuscript is in, and the art is underway. The current release date target on this (in print and PDF) is March.

We’ll also be launching a new line of science-fiction support products: StarSystem. These will be split into two varieties: products for use with the d20 system, and products that can be used with ANY SF game, regardless of system. More info on this line is coming soon.

We’ve got a bunch more in store as well….but this post has gotten truly epic, so I’ll sign off here.

Thanks to our customers for a great year, and we hope to serve you well in 2006!

So, I’ve been reading EOS Press’ new wuxia RPG, Weapons of the Gods.

This thing is so good, that I’ve pretty much decided that I’m not going to bother with my Dao of Wuxia project. I had been hemming and hawing over whether or not it was worth continuing, after Green Ronin announced the forthcoming release of their DragonFist game, which would cover the genre for d20…..but now that I’ve seen WotG, there’s even less point.

This game, designed by Brad Eliot and Nobilis creator Rebecca Borgstrom, may just be the perfect wuxia RPG. I really don’t think that I could say anything about the genre that isn’t covered by WotG, and covered brilliantly. If I did anything with the genre, I’d just end up comparing it to WotG, and I doubt that I’d think I had done it any better than they have.

Wow.

The house is ours again.

My parents left early this morning, and my other two children flew back to their mom this evening.

I love them all, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t relieved that the vists are over. The week was stressful at times, nice at other times. I’m eager to get back into the swing of things again.

One of the problems that I had was the constant reminder of just how little influence I have in the developing personalities of my other two children. There are similarities, sure….but by and large, my 1 to 2 weeks a year is little more than a speed bump to the SUV that is my ex-wife and her S.O.’s influence. Unfortunately, there are some traits appearing that I have some real problems with, but I haven’t got a hope in hell of steering the ship….just a small chance to nudge the course every now and then.

Both kids are woefully under-taught on basic social skills, politeness, etc. My daughter is being taught that some things are appropriate for girls, and some things are not. My son is apparently attending an evangelical church with my ex, with the accompanying social views that result.

*Sigh* It’s really fucking depressing. I’ll keep trying to excert what little influence I can, and hope for the best….because I love them. I just hope it’s enough.

One thing that has become clear from things that the kids have said, both to me and to my oldest daughter— my ex-wife has some serious ISSUES with me, still.

For example: She still hasn’t sent my daughter any photos of her new baby (my children’s half-sister), because, apparently, she doesn’t want ME to see her. She’s preventing her oldest daughter from getting to know her new baby sister, even at a distance, because she’s afraid of what I’ll do. Huh? WHAT THE FUCK??? What the hell would I do?

When the daughter and I were out in Colorado for one of her school activities this past May, according to the kids, the ex kept repeating over and over in the car on the way to the event: “I’m doing this for her. I’m doing this for her.” She was freaking out because I was going to be there. WHAT THE FUCK???

I’m not some abusive asshole. I’m not an ogre. She cheated on ME, and left ME. How the hell did I become the subject of such major issues?

Sorry for the rant. Had to get it out.