Gen Con Bound!

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Grind_WIP

Hello friends!

Luke and I will be attending Gen Con in sunny Indianapolis!

We are part of the Admagic Megacorporation, at booth 565. But we’re listed as Burning Wheel in the program guide!

We will have Torchbearer, the Torchbearer Player’s Deck, the Torchbearer Gamemaster’s Screen, FreeMarket, Burning Wheel and Bloodstained Stars for sale. If everything works out as planned, we’ll also be running short demos from the booth.

When I’m not at the booth, I will be inhabiting Games on Demand, running Torchbearer for all you lucky scoundrels. I’m scheduled to run Saturday from 10-2 and again from 6-10, but I won’t be alone! A bunch of awesome GMs are offering Torchbearer games at Games on Demand throughout the day every day of the con.

There are an incredible number of other cool games on offer (in both two-hour and four-hour slots) at Games on Demand as well. Check it out!

Luke will be splitting his time between our booth, giving panels and doing stuff for Kickstarter. Here are some things you may want to attend:

  • Luke and I are doing a Q&A on Torchbearer, Friday night at 8 PM: Torchbearer Explored, Crowne Plaza, Grand Central D.
  • Thursday at 3 PM (in Crowne Plaza Conrail), Luke is presenting a talk on how he stays productive while working a job and living life.
  • Saturday at 4 PM (in Crowne Plaza Victoria C/D), Luke is presenting on the Shadow Economy of Tabletop Game Design.

Hope to see you at the show!

P.S. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @Burning_Luke and @Mimir9.

A Sneak Peek…

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The printer’s proof of the Torchbearer GM screen came in the other day. Here are some pictures!

As you can see from the first picture (with a die balanced on top of the screen), this sucker is super heavy-duty. Also, note the numbers on the inside of the screen. You can use sticky flags or paper clips to keep track of turns. I recommend using flags of different colors to represent light sources. Place the flags on the turn the light will go out; when the turn flag reaches the light flag, the light goes out!

 

GM Screen Proof 1 GM Screen Proof 2 GM Screen Proof 3

Enter the Wanderers

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Have you been missing classes like the Monk or Barbarian in your Torchbearer games? Well Jared Sorensen, the guy behind genius RPGs like Inspectres and Lacuna (not to mention one of our Torchbearer developers), has you covered. He’s just released the very first Torchbearer supplement under our Torchbearer Sagas license: The Wanderers!

It offers up six classes: the assassin, barbarian, half-elf bard, druid, monk and strider. He’s selling the whole package for $6, which comes down to $1 per class. Check it out!

I think my favorite thing is that the Barbarian class gets a choice at first level:

  • They can be an Outlander, recently arrived in civilized lands with a full complement of gear, including either hide armor(!) or a weapon
  • Or they can be Escaped: They start with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but they get to take an additional Wise related to the culture that enslaved them.

A Birthday Gift!

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Hello friends!

Today marks one year since the end of the Torchbearer Kickstarter campaign, and what a year it’s been!

With your help and support:

We couldn’t be more thrilled, and we owe it all to you, our backers and those who’ve joined us since. Thank you!

We have a lot more plans for Torchbearer in the coming year. We’re still hard at work on the Middarmark setting gazetteer. And there are plans for other offerings as well, including adventures and more.

But right now, we’re ready to announce the newest Torchbearer product: the Torchbearer Game Master’s screen!

 

Impenetrable Defenses

The Game Master’s screen is with the printer right now. It features a huge, full-color illustration on the front face by one of our favorite fantasy illustrators, Russ Nicholson himself! We think this is one of the best pieces of fantasy RPG art we’ve ever seen. Click here to decide for yourself. But those dragons dare you to disagree…

The GM Screen in action!

The version in the photos below is a mock-up; the final version will feature super heavy-duty cardstock. There are a number of useful tables and a handy turn-tracker along the top.

Can Dwarves Forge a GM Screen?

Designing a good GM screen has been a surprisingly challenging endeavor. Like the cards, we wanted to be sure to consider how you would actually use the thing in play. Therefore, we tested it a lot and tweaked details that we hope you appreciate. Not only did we consider what information to include on it, but getting the shape of it just right was of paramount importance to us.

For example, the central panel of the screen is nine inches wide, just wide enough for you to lay a piece of paper—your notes, or a map—inside the screen. We also made the wings—the left and right panels—extra long so you can configure it to conceal hidden information to the side, but also to open out and still remain stable. Neither did we want this to become a barrier to you and your players, so we kept the height to just seven inches.

The Wait Is Over, the Waiting Has Just Begun

We can’t wait for you get your hands on it and start playing with it. Nor should you have to. We’re making the printed screen available for preorder today. Those who preorder the physical version will also get a print and play version at no additional cost. The physical screens will ship in August.

You guys are the best. Here’s to another great Torchbearer year!

—Thor & Luke

One Year and Counting

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Today marks a year since we launched the Torchbearer Kickstarter. It’s been a wild ride and there’s much more to come! For now though, we just want to say thank you to all our Kickstarter backers and those of you who have bought and played the game since it became available. You’re the best. Thanks!

Pick a Card, Any Card!

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In which we provide you with too much information about the forthcoming Player’s Deck!

We ordered 2,000 decks from our printer. They’ll be here sometime in April. However, you all were so excited by our unboxing video, we decided to have 100 decks express shipped from the printer so we could get them to you sooner!

We will be offering a preorder of 100 decks on Thursday, January 23 at 4 PM eastern time. This is NOT your only chance to get the decks. We made more decks! This is your chance to get them first.

Hope you like the video! See you tomorrow!