Illustration © 2011, Rob Torno

The Unofficial Official RPG Blog Carnival Logo.

February belongs to Cupid – it’s a month of love and lust, want and wonder. On the flip side, it’s also a month of scorn, disappointment, and frustration for some (and we  pity them all too). So, being that we’re all gamers and we all love our RPGs to death – the topic for this month’s RPG Blog Carnival is “Things to Love, Things to Hate!“ 

The possible things we could explore that we love and hate about our hobby could go on forever. So, let’s keep things focused on Game Systems and/or Adventures we love or hate, and why. Some quick suggestions might include

• What are the best adventures made of? What about the worst of them?
• What kills an adventure before it even gets off the ground?
• Some say it’s all a matter of opinion, but I say some game systems are clearly just better than others (read:more fun to play). What’s your favorite system? What are the things you love about it most? WHY?
• With [insert new edition of some cool game] on the horizon, I’m sure you have an opinion  regarding what the next edition should or shouldn’t be once it’s out. Share your thoughts. Let your readers know where you stand and who you love!

So, go forth and blog it out. Just make sure to link back here or to leave a comment so that I can include you in the end-of-the-month round up too! If you don’t have a blog of your own, but have a burning desire to get something off your chest, why not guest blog on Nevermet Press? A carnival is a great way to start – heck, the topic is already picked out for you! =D

And… while you’re waiting for the RPG blogging community to response – why not check out last month’s carnival: “Fantastic Locations” hosted by Keith Davies. Over 40 (!) posts on new made-of-awesome places to set your adventures. What an amazing response! Nice work Keith!

Want to host a future month of the carnival? Check out the archive and sign up there.

Visit the original post, Things to Love, Things to Hate: February RPG Blog Carnival, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Nevermet Press needs your help.

Between editing and producing our content, tweaking the website, and promoting and marketing our site and published projects, and sorting through all the submissions to Stories in the Ether—time is short. You know what they say too, “Content is King” so I’m inviting you to join us by adding your voice to our great blog.

Nevermet Press has always had a strong emphasis on tabletop roleplaying games, speculative fiction and the intersection between the two. If you share those interests, and have a writerly way about you, then I would love have your help in boosting our fanbase and web presence in 2012.

I’m loosely looking for editorials on roleplaying games, writing and fiction, reviews of recently published books and games, and commentary on trends in speculative fiction. Stories in the Ether is going -very- strong, but there’s plenty of room for more contributors during the week. So, whether you would like to try your hand at an individual guest blog, or perhaps become a regular contributor, contact me directly at editor@nevermetpress.com and let’s talk shop to see if there’s some common ground.

I’d love to hear from you. — Jonathan.

Visit the original post, Join Us, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Like a few other small press publishers (see links below), I like to make public our annual subscriber numbers, sales figures and site traffic so that our fans and other (peer) small/micro press publishers can get a sense for how we are doing. I already wrote about 2011 in a more subjective way last week, but this post is more about the real numbers. I’m obviously not making a self-sustaining income operating Nevermet Press, but I still like it when things go well and there’s some give back to both our readers (you) and our contributors (the authors and artists who create what we publish). After all, whether your new here or a long time reader, I feel like you deserve to know how we’re doing.

Subscribers

We’re pretty well hooked in to all the usual social media outlets. In 2011 I became somewhat addicted to Twitter too, so it’s no surprise that we’ve seen a big uptick there. What I don’t understand is why RSS has lagged behind everything else. All the stats below are have 2011 year-end numbers compared to 2010 year-end numbers.

1. RSS Feed Subscribers : 252 (190)
2. Facebook Fans : 1325 (894)
3. Facebook Post Views : 192,986 (55,585)
4. Twitter Followers : 1,641 (655)
5. Nevermet Press Insider subscribers : 1,088 (1,021)
6. Total Website Visits, based on three analytics packages
1. Webalizer 452,364 (297,367)
2. AWStats 238,587 (110,484)
3. Google Analytics 66,240 (n/a)

It’s awesome how our website traffic has grown, but odd that our RSS feed has stayed relatively modest. I guess RSS is dead? I’m not really sure. When I got started blogging about games in 2008 at The Core Mechanic RSS Feed Readers were all the rage on the interwebs—it’s funny how things have changed. In any case, I think in terms of fans who are reading our blog, and enjoying our site, I’m pretty happy. It seems like things are moving up at a good pace, and for this I have you (our readers) to thank! Hopefully in 2012 we’ll keep delivering!

Sales & Revenue

So, without further ado – here’s a breakdown of our 2011 sales figures (number of units sold or given away for free). All dollar values are presented as net revenue (as in after distributor and retail channel discounts):

• Total Sales 1,714 sales
• 445 : Stock Art
• 177 : Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom
• 64 : Portrait of Villain
• 33 : Open Game Table, Volume 1
• 130: Open Game Table, Volume 2
• 68 : Stories in the Ether, Issue #1
• 30: Stories in the Ether, Issue #2
• 379 : Charlie Darwin, or the Trine of 1809 (note: these were all free giveaways on Kindle
• Total Revenue $1508
• $1294 net revenue from sales from Studio 2 Publishing, DriveThruRPG, Lulu, and Amazon
• $214 affiliate revenue from Amazon and DriveThruRPG
• Total Expenses $1549
• $598 author / artist payments
• $510 advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook Ads)
• $441 printing costs, hosting and service charges
• Net Profit / Loss -$41

So – we fell just shy of breaking even. From a strictly financial point-of-view we didn’t do as well in 2011 as we did in 2010. However, this is largely due to a gap in new releases early in the year and several late (Q4) releases piled on top of one another.

Is this enough revenue for me to pay authors and artists using a traditional work-for-hire, or “up-front fee”, approach? Unfortunately No. For 2012 I’ll stick to our existing model of shared royalties. It’s not for everyone, but it’s the best I can do. One of my top goals for Nevermet Press is building enough revenue up to the point where I can afford to pay all the bloggers who contribute to the blog and pay up front for the writers and artists contributions to published projects. Hopefully in 2013 we’ll turn the corner.

Conclusions?

As “small press” publishers go – 2011 had pretty paltry sales numbers, but I still feel like we’re very early in our development. I suppose as a micropress though, I’m not really too worried about raw sales numbers anyway. I stand behind what we are producing and I believe in it. That’s what counts.

We have a great blog, a fantastic community of fans, and we produce excellent products. We’ve also been blessed with the contribution from some amazing writers and killer artists. Things are moving up, and word will spread. It just takes time. Nonetheless, I’m hopeful that in 2012 we will see a at least a 25% growth in sales and a doubling of our subscriber or fanbase. My fingers are crossed.

So tell me – how are we doing? What are we doing right? What do you think we could be doing better? Leave a comment below and give me your 2¢

Keep reading and sharing.

All the best,

– Jonathan.

Here are some links to a few other RPG publishers who write about their sales numbers:

1. Third Eye Games
2. Sword’s Edge Publishing
3. How Not To Run A Game Business
4. Avalon Games muses on 2011 in review
5. Rite Publishing also reviews 2011 publishing success 
6. There’s a commentary on the “Death of the industry” for table top RPGs over at NOISMs blog. The comment stream is a great discussion.

Visit the original post, 2011 – Fans, Visitors, and Sales, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Looking Back at 2011

Well, 2012 is just around the corner folks. Today, I’d like to take the opportunity to review where we’ve been and what we’ve learned in 2011. It’s been an interesting year for Nevermet Press, to say the least. If you’d like to see the real numbers (in terms of sales), jump over to this other post.

Promises, Promises

First, more of an apology. Long time fans of Nevermet Press have seen the ups and downs first hand, and Nevermet Press Insider subscribers got even a closer look at our developments as we’ve plodded along here. In 2010 I had these crazy ambitious goals that we would publish three books in 2011 – all of them RPG gaming books. Looking back on a post from January, 2011 it reads like the insane ramblings of an editor trying to bite off way more than he can chew. Yeah, that’s me.

Among my plans was much touted Dead Queens of Morvena campaign setting was scheduled to be released last Spring using the Savage Worlds Roleplaying Game as the base system. I even had T-shirts made and pimped the “soon to be released” campaign setting quite a bit at SynDCon in April. In short, for a variety of reasons and much to my embarrassment, it never materialized. I no doubt pissed off a whole crew of artists who supported the project, and one very capable writer who worked hard on the project for several months as well: Charles Dickey. Our differences over the direction of the project eventually led to Charles leaving Nevermet Press, and eventually the laying to rest of the project.

So, to Charles, Matt, MrLich, J, and Rob – you have my most sincere apologies for totally fucking up that project and failing to deliver your hard work to our fans. To the fans of Nevermet Press, I want to thank you for sticking with us despite the troubles we ran into earlier in the year. I hope you’ll continue to stick around and share our creative works with your friends in 2012.

What 2011 Brought

Now, on the bright side, I think I did have at least one good idea: Stories in the Ether. In March it hit me like a ton of bricks. There I was reading and loving FANTASY and Lightspeed (now one journal) and thinking, “This rocks! I should totally do something like this for Nevermet Press!” You know what they say too — Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now, Stories in the Ether is of course its own thing and we have a long way to go to get it where I want it. But, it is something that I’m cultivating with care, and so far I’ve been quite happy with the results. We’ve published over 40 (!) fantastic stories along with some incredible artwork. It’s a project I’m quite proud so far, and I’m really looking forward to it expanding in 2012.

As for gaming and RPGs, while we didn’t publish any gaming books per se, we have seen a steady flow of excellent gaming articles on our blog from nearly a dozen authors. I like to think that just as many of our fans today come here for RPG content as they do for the fiction and the editorials. One shout out I want to specifically make is to The Grumpy Celt who continues to write and produce innovative, serial content for 4E D&D. His series on Grave Sites was excellent, and we plan on developing it into a full-fledged RPG product in 2012, so stay tuned for that.

2011 also brought us a huge expansion to our Stock Art Catalog. That’s right. I know to many of our fans this may not be all that exciting, but for some small press publishers it’s been a great resource. We offer high quality, royalty free stock art at an affordable price through our partner DriveThruRPG.com. If you’re a publisher, or a game master looking for some cool illustrations, take a peek. We’re currently offering over 70 individual illustrations and in 2012 I expect that number to go up quite a bit.

Twitter, Site Traffic & Twitter

One thing I’ve worked very hard on is promoting (aka marketing) our website and blog. Trying to reach potential fans who have a shared interest in speculative fiction and roleplaying games is not as easy as it sounds. There are literally hundreds of RPG blogs out there in the interwebs, and as many small press publishers like us. So it’s an uphill battle. They say “Content is King” which is true, but without an audience the content can be awesomely alone too. So over the last year I’ve made a commitment to connect with many of you on Twitter and Facebook. Our Twitter following has exploded (tripled) as a result to ~1,600 followers. We’ve also seen a huge increase on Facebook as well. As for the website – some say RSS is dead, which I tend to agree with as our RSS subscriber base has only seen a 20-30% rise is number. People just don’t use feed readers like they used to in 2008/09; back in the “heyday of blogging” so to speak. Nonetheless, our website traffic has been very strong and is currently pulling in an audience of over 25,000 people per month—double what it was in 2010. For that, I’m grateful because I know it means our artists and authors are getting the exposure they deserve. It’s been hard work, but it’s been something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

Before I go off the deepend and start rambling, I’ll end with this…

Nevermet Press is a labor of love for me and for many of the people who contribute to this site. We have a fantastic group of creative and energetic people contributing to this blog each week, and fortunately I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

To the authors and artists who have contributed to Nevermet Press; to the fans and readers of our blogs and new books; to our followers and fans on Twitter and Facebook: Thank you and may you have a blessed and truly Happy New Year!

Visit the original post, 2011 Year in Review, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

We’re very happy to present our first novella: “Charlie Darwin, or the Trine of 1809″, by Angel Leigh McCoy. This fantasy steampunk fairytale explores the “What if” behind three historical icons: Charles Darwin, Edgar Allan Poe, and Abraham Lincoln. Three paragons of history, all born less than three months appart. What if something had driven them to become much more than they were? What if destiny – fate – had intervened while they were only children? Join them and find out what how their fates crossed on an airship to Avalon!

To celebrate this new release we’re offering the book for exclusively through Kindle Select for only 99¢. What’s even better is Amazon Prime members can borrow Charlie Darwin absolutely FREE for up to one month. In the next few weeks we’ll also be releasing a full-color print edition, and in April the book will become available in PDF and ePUB for all eReaders.

Download Now on Kindle for 99¢

Visit the original post, “Charlie Darwin, or the Trine of 1809″ Now on Kindle, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

First off — MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Krampus Christmas Carnival is finally over – so let’s have another look at Steven Austin’s kick ass artwork, shall we?

Merry Krampas, by Steven Austin

It’s been a crazy week – and we can all bet that evertyone had fun! Now it’s time to round up all the great contributions from around the net.

Looking for a story?

Colin Barnes writes about Krampus in his short story A Christmas Krampus Conundrum.

Fitz writes Twas the Night Before Krampus, a poetic retelling of a classic christmas story – now with Krampus!

David D’Alessio writes another steampunk inspired Scottish story in We Dinna Practice Christmas Here.

Michael K. Eidson wrote “The Old Country”, a short story where Krampus gives what is due to a sadistic boy who preys on others.

Looking for something for your RPG?

Troll in the Corner cast Krampus as a system-neutral NPC in a (free) PDF that can be downloaded from DriveThruRPG.com.

Two adventure ideas for a fantasy-based RPG are considered in our post on Krampus as the Perfect Anti-Hero.

Stargazer’s World gave us a view on Krampusnacht, an annual parade in some part of Germany and Austria that happens each year in December. But why? Call of Cthulu fans could take something away from Michael’s post for their own adventures.

The Other Side put together a Krampus NPC for Ghosts of Albion games.

Grab ten different types of “Krampus Koal”, OSR gear from Heretic Works

Tales of the Savage Troll put together three Krampus inspired NPCs for Savage Words: WereSanta, Tinkler Girl, and Black Santa (Krampus). Plus some great backstory too!

Hank Hawell put together a One-Page Adventure for Krampus for players of Risus.

Over at Wampus Country, you can find some great Krampus inspired races including the Krampus-Kinder. Awesome!

Beware! The Krampus Curse for Pathfinder RPG showed up at the Sea of Stars RPG blog.

Speaking of Pathfinder RPG, Krampus himself was stated up by Berin Kinsman and Kobold Quarterly – so now you have two different variations on Krampus for your PFRPG!

Looking for a 4E D&D styled Krampus? You can find one at Kobold Quarterly (their 2nd contribution!) and in The Hope Day Massacre, a short 4E D&D adventure here at Nevermet Press.

Dragon Age players can find Krampus at Kobold Quarterly (contribution #3! They rock!).

Players of Warhammer 40K will be happy to see this Krampus inspired adventure from Reality Refracted.

Michael Tresca from the RPG Examiner created a d20 Modern styled Krampus.

ICON players should check out a super-hero styled Krampus from Fame & Fortune.

World of Darkness players should stop by Mad Brew Labs to see his horrifying rendition of Krampus!

Elsewhere on the tubes…

Here at Nevermet Press we posted our Top 5 Favorite Krampus Posts from across the Net.

GeekNative had some fun with Steve Austin’s fantastic artwork by making a great collection of color washes and other filters. Want an 19th century styled antiqued version of Krampus? Follow the link.

JayDot writes about running an annual Kobold Kristmas one-shot adventure that includes Krampus.

Overbury Ink muses about Krampus not being the best icon for American marketing – despite he resurgence in popularity this year.

Stop by Skyland Games who jumped in and posted the Krampus artwork.

Author OM Grey writes about how the feeling of Krampus has crept into her life this season.

ENWORLD featured Krampus in this week’s RPG round up!

Pinnacle Entertainment Group featured the Krampus art on their homepage.

DriveThruRPG also ran the artwork in their weekly newsletter!

My Ethereality posted about Krampus and muses about symbolism of this creature found elsewhere beyond just Christmas.

Visit the original post, The Krampus Christmas Carnival Round-Up, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

"Merry Krampas, a Steampunk Santa with Krampus", by Steven Austin. Click the image to download the high resolution image files.

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK

You’re Invited to the Krampus Christmas Carnival!

Greetings fellow gamers, writers, fiction enthusiasts, bloggers and publishers!

Each year during the holidays Nevermet Press features artwork focused on Krampus, a troll-like demon who serves as Santa’s “bad cop” to punish naughty children. You can learn more about Krampus at Wikipedia, but the short of it is that Krampus is a myth with a rich history that carries on in parts of Eastern Europe to this day. Unfortunately, he’s been trumped by Lumps of Coal and Naughty Kids Lists in the United States. Where’s the fun in that?

This year we’re doing something a little different to bring Krampus back into the hearts and minds of holiday revellers: we’re hosting the Krampus Christmas Carnival! This is a blog carnival where we invite everyone in the gaming, fiction and publishing blogsphere to write about Krampus in one way or another during the week of December 19th – 24th. On Christmas Day we’ll post a Krampus Round-Up and highlight everyone who has contributed to the carnival and link back to their sites. All we ask you to do is link to our announcement (or let us know some other way), and we’ll include you in the carnival round up.

Steven Austin’s Artwork is Free to Share and Remix

To make things even more interesting, we’ve partnered with British illustrator Steven Austin to develop the above artwork. I asked Steven to develop a “baddass steampunk Santa with Krampus riding along in his sleigh”. WOW! Did he ever deliver. The artwork is friggen amazing! (click to zoom). Notice the d20′s, rulebooks, and other gamer swag spilling out of the bag? Yeah.. nice touch! We absofuckinglutely love this.

Now – the artwork is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This basically means that you are free to use his artwork too, however you like, so long as you a) give him credit, b) share the artwork under the same license, and c) don’t use it for commercial purposes (i.e. you can’t resell it). Otherwise - have your way with it! If you do decide to participate in some way, please feel free to use the art! We’re really hoping a bunch people surprise us with what they come up with! Grab the high-resolution artwork over at RPGNow.com for Free! (Secondary Alternative Link)

Who Cares!?

Hush now – that’s what Krampus would say… stop being so serious! Lot’s of people are participating in this Blog Carnival – so it’s a great way to show your solidarity and join in on some fun. Just check out a sampling of the current participants: DriveThruRPG.com, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Open Design and Kobold Quarterly, ENWorld, Airship Ambassador, Overbury Ink, OM Grey, Dr. Fantastique’s Show of Wonders, GeekNative.com, Troll in the Corner, Game Knight Reviews, Skyland Games, RoleplayingTips.com, Campaign Mastery, Reality Refracted, Tenkar’s Tavern, Mad Brew Labs, Enderra, Sea of Stars RPG, and The Grumpy Celt. For more details – click through to our announcement on our blog here: Merry Krampus! Let the Carnival Begin!

Join us and join the fun!

Visit the original post, Merry Krampus! Let the Carnival Begin!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

The Krampus Christmas Carnival Has Begun!
Click Here For Details + Artwork!

Krampus Yuletide, by Rob Torno

Krampus Kicking Ass, by Matthew Meyer

For the last few years two artists (Matthew Meyer and Rob Torno) who work with Nevermet Press have produced illustrations that featured Krampus, Santa’s punisher, in one form or another. You can check out previous year’s art on the right.

This year you might be… nay, should be… wondering if we’re going to have another Krampus? Well, as you can tell from this post’s title, the answer is a resolute “YES!” and “It’s a Carnival!“. This year I’ve partnered with artist Steven Austin to do a badass steampunk Santa Claus and Krampus Christmas mashup.

It is downright kickass.

What’s even better is that Steven will be releasing the artwork under a Creative Commons License. Now there’s some legalize! What this basically means is once we release the artwork here at Nevermet Press you will be free to download and reuse the art for your own non-commercial purposes so long as you give Steven Austin credit for his hard work and share the artwork as well. You’ll also be free to remix the art, make derivatives of it, and basically post to your blog, website, or Facebook page with no copyright issues. To encourage people to reuse the art, we will be releasing the art along with the complete Photoshop files too, with all the layers intact, so that you can really “have your way with it”.

Steampunk Santa, by Steven Austin

It’s a Krampus Christmas Carnival!

Here’s the best part: Starting the week of December 19th – we’re starting a Krampus Christmas Carnival!

After we publish Steven Austin’s Krampus Christmas here at Nevermet Press – over 20 other blogs and websites from all over the gaming and publishing interwebs will be joining us to help promote some Seasonal Cheer and give people something that says “Wow – that’s bad ass!”. We also want to bring some fresh light back on the age-old tradition of Krampus. Why? Because he rocks – and lumps of coal just don’t cut it!

Over 20 blogs? Who’s participating?

Doomed Children, by Steven Austin

So far I have confirmed the participation of the following gaming and steampunk blogs and websites: DriveThruRPG.com, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Open Design and Kobold Quarterly, ENWorld, Airship Ambassador, Overbury Ink, OM Grey, Dr. Fantastique’s Show of Wonders, GeekNative.com, Troll in the Corner, Game Knight Reviews, Skyland Games, RoleplayingTips.com, Campaign Mastery, Reality Refracted, Tenkar’s Tavern, Mad Brew Labs, Enderra, Sea of Stars RPG, and The Grumpy Celt.

We’re hoping that you will join us too.

If you want to join in – just leave a comment on this post and watch our blog in the next week. Post something – anything related to Krampus – and we’ll link back to your blog in the round up! Snap, simple, done.

Spilling Toys, by Steven Austin

How should you participate? That’s up to you. I can tell you that here at Nevermet Press, beyond Steven Austin’s awesome artwork, we are having a short story on Krampus, a 4E D&D encounter with Krampus, and an essay on why Krampus matters published.

Plus, anyone who publishes Steven Austin’s artwork or participates in the Krampus Christmas week will be included and linked to as part of our Carnival Round up on Christmas Day. It’s going to be a fun week!

So – you’re probably wondering now: where’s the artwork? Well – it will be released on December 19th to the general public. Also, if you sign up for Nevermet Press Insider by December 16th, you’ll get early access to the artwork (and the photoshop files). For now – here are some teasers along the right – all cropped from the larger image. Krampus? He’s below…

Krampus, Cropped from "Krampus Christmas" by Steven Austin

The full image puts all these together in one huge full-page illustration. It’s gorgeous – so stay tuned!

Visit the original post, Krampus is Coming Back… in a Carnival!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Sky Admiral Verne vs. Twainbot - A Match of Titans!

SteampunkKindle.com is running a contest: Mark Twain vs. Jules Verne Boxing Match. Vote for who would win, and why – and get a free copy of Stories in the Ether for your Kindle along the way! Here’s the highlight from their blog:

It’s ON! Like Grey Poupon! There’s a battle about to commence- a Battle of The Books! And you will take home the spoils! Our own mascots, Sky Admiral Jules Verne and Mark Twainbot are going head-to-head in a fierce competition for supremacy, and they’re both looking for your support. Cast your vote and add some smack-talk (gentlemanly, of course), and we’ll send you a fabulous Steampunk eBook just for participating: “Stories in the Ether, Issue 1″ from Nevermet Press. Ten lucky winners will also receive“Stories in the Ether, Issue 2″ as well!

Also, a savage beating in the boxing-ring will unfold. You won’t want to miss the hilarious exchange in the running comments stream as our combatants spar verbally; and you are encouraged to add your own contribution!

Visit the original post to ENTER the Sweepstakes and Vote on which on of these Titans will be champion!

Cheers all!

Visit the original post, Sky Admiral Jules Verne vs. Mark Twainbot – A Match of Titans!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

"Cyberturkey" courtesy of Rob Lang of the Free RPG Blog

What exactly is on sale? How about our entire Stock Art Catalog, both volumes of Open Game Table, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom (4E D&D), The Desire, and both issues of Stories in the Ether!

50% OFF EVERYTHING DIGITAL

That’s right – everything in our entire digital catalog is 50% OFF starting Thursday, November 24th through Monday, November 28th. Simply visit DriveThruRPG or DriveThruFiction and snap up these great deals while they last.

25% OFF EVERYTHING PRINT

Prefer our books in print? No problem – just visit our Lulu.com store and get 25% OFF your entire print order.

Simply use the code BUYMYBOOK305 at checkout. Offer expires December 14th.

50% OFF ALL STOCK ART

Are you a publisher, blogger, or just looking for some cool high-resolution art to spice up your game? Our entire stock art catalog is also 50% OFF! What’s more – we’ve created a special NMP 2011 Stock Art Mega Pack with over 70 pieces of high quality stock art available for only $70 – that’s 75% OFF the original price for all these selections individually! Every piece is 300 DPI and print ready – a great investment for your growing collection.

Still not sure? Visit DriveThruRPG.com for a free PDF preview of each of them. Check out these titles up close below. You won’t be disappointed.

Stories in the Ether, Issue 2

Stories in the Ether, Issue #2

A Digital Storytelling Anthology

Stories in the Ether is a digital story telling anthology of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction short stories from Nevermet Press. Issue 2 features nine compelling works by Marissa Wolden, Ian Vassilaros, Jim Reader, Sevan Taylor, Craig Comer, Paul Jones, Tucker Cummings, Michael Burnside, and Alexander B. Joy. Illustrations by Paul Hagwood, Rob Torno, Kenya Ferrand, and Matt Lichtenwalner. Edited by Jonathan Jacobs.

$2.99 $1.50 in ePUB or PDF formats

 

 

 

Stories in the Ether, Issue 1

Stories in the Ether, Issue #1

A Digital Storytelling Anthology

Stories in the Ether is a digital story telling anthology of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction short stories from Nevermet Press. Edited by Jonathan Jacobs, the premier issue features 13 compelling works by Therese Arkenberg, David Bell, Charlie Britten, Matt Delman, Tim Kane, KA Masters, David Perlmutter, Gary Phillips, Michael Morrison, Jason Rolfe, Dawn Vogel, David Wright, and Lee Clarke Zumpe. Artwork inspired by the stories comes from Matt Lichtenwalner, J Lonnee, and Rob Torno.

$2.99 $1.50 in ePUB or PDF formats 

Open Game Table, Volume 1

Open Game Table, Volume 1

The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs

Open Game Table bridges the gap between the RPG blogging community and the broader table-top gaming fan base by showcasing the best talent in the RPG blogosphere. Within these pages are 47 blog posts from 32 top-quality RPG blogs, plus a Foreword written by RPG luminary Wolfgang Baur. Packed with content and over 60 illustrations by a stable of talented new artists, this book is Pure Gold. A true grass roots effort; it is a tour de force of the RPG blogging universe. Look for reviews of Open Game Table in WIRED, Bards & Sages, Kobold Quarterly, and among many independent RPG blogs! READ THE REVIEWS …

$22.95 $17.22 in PRINT  | $4.99 $2.50 in PDF

Open Game Table, Volume 2

Open Game Table, Volume 2

The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs

Foreword by Justin Achilli. Through the combined efforts of over 70 authors, artists, editors, and fans of RPG blogs – Open Game Table is back!  Timeless interviews with Dave Arneson, Robin D. Laws, and Jonathan Roberts. Included in Volume 2 are 65 articles that serve as the perfect complement to Volume 1: GM and player advice on character and campaign design, sandboxing, story pacing, play styles, gaming with your kids, and much much more. Open Game Table, Volume 2 brings that same level of excellence back to the table, and never misses a roll. Check out the reviews!

$22.95 $17.22 in PRINT | $4.99 $2.50 in PDF exclusively from RPGNow.com

Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom

Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom

A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Setting for 5th Level Characters

Inside you’ll find the complete backstory of the sinister Brother Ptolemy, Master of The Hidden Kingdom, dozens of new NPCs, monsters, rituals, feats, and magic items, a full-length adventure for 5th level characters, the city-state of Corwyn, the Red Harvest Plague, dozens of adventure hooks, scores of beautiful illustrations and maps. READ MORE…

$14.99 $11.24 in Print | $4.99 $2.50 in PDF format

 

 

Portraits of a Villain: The Desire

Portrait of a Villain: The Desire

A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Supplement

Get the complete back story to the villain Desiree Turpis, a.k.a. The Desire. This 57-page full color eBook/PDF includes everything a DM needs to introduce this new, reoccurring villain into any 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The Desire is the perfect villain to add intrigue and betrayal to your game. READ THE REVIEWS…

$2.99 $1.50 in PDF format exclusively from RPGNow.com

VISIT THE FREE RPG BLOG – IT ROCKS FOR YEARS AND YEARS!

Visit the original post, Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sale Starts Now!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Last week I found myself suddenly on the receiving end of a surprising rebuttal and backlash from INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER (@IPPYMag) and a few of their other fans on Twitter. For some reason the whole thing has unsettled me. I’m not quite sure what to make of it – other than I obviously stepped on some kind of invisible trip wire, rolled a critical fumble, and ran out of bennies all at once.

I’ve attached the whole transcript to the end of this post – for transparency – but I’m writing this post more specifically to communicate directly to the magazine publicly, as I have no other means to do so.

Dear INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER (aka @IPPYMag),

On 11/17 Matt Delman shared an article from your website which he authored, “The Idiocy of Digital Rights Management“, on Twitter. It was a great read which, I felt, was seriously lacking in that it was impossible to leave any comments on the article or to engage with the author in the context of the article itself.

This was extremely frustrating.

Permitting commentary at the site of the original content is always preferable, in my opinion, to posting commentary elsewhere. And while I admit this is often a debatable topic, I assert that all modern websites—whether they are blogs, eZines, or product sites—should support the option of fans and followers to spontaneously engage in dialogue prompted by content itself at the point of consumption, i.e. directly on the content provider’s site. This makes it easy for communities to coalesce around common themes and subject areas, and for content providers to have better control over their public dialogue. It is, frankly, rare to find a website that does not support community participation in the content. So, along these lines I expressed my frustration via Twitter at not being able to respond to some points of Delman’s article by leaving a comment on your site. I was surprised that INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER doesn’t support community feedback on it’s content, especially given your business focus. It’s seems exceptionally counterintuitive to me.

Nonetheless, I want to apologize for what clearly was perceived as a offensive, “unprofessional“, “trash talk” “attack” on your business. As a fan and reader of your magazine, I believe I was supremely misunderstood and I never intended to debase your reputation or claim you did not support independent publishers. I do admit that I made a claim about your apparent lack of support for ePUBs, which I quickly admitted was a mistake and apologized for after I re-read a section of your website. Furthermore please accept my apology for being #snarky and quipping that you were “so 1999” for not allowing people to comment on your content. I had no intention of suggesting you create a “battleground that needed 24 hours monitoring 2 remove offensive material“. I also want to apologize for Tweets that only “proved your point” and were of “little worth“. Perhaps I should have taken a different – less personal approach and Tweeted with a greater degree of constructive criticism. Perhaps then, we could have avoided this entire discussion, something you have pointed out you wish to end. On this last point, please accept my apology for continuing this discussion here at Nevermet Press, instead of at your own site, which is obviously not possible. Unfortunately, this website is the only public venue in which I have any hopes to communicate an effective apology to you using more than 144 characters.

IPPYMag, please—I urge you—accept my apology and unblock your Twitter feed from my tweet stream. I understand you are mad at me, but I love your eZine and I feel that you should give me a second chance. I was, quite honestly, unaware of your aversion to public conversation about your content. Finally, as a devoted fan, I should point out that you may want to also close the comments section on your Facebook Fan Page for all your fans too. It’s currently open for anyone to comment on, so this may have been an oversight. I would hate to see your Facebook page become the same “battleground of little worth” that your website would become with public comments.

All the best,

Jonathan Jacobs

Below is the transcript of the Tweets that led up the above letter. Make of it whatever you like. In the spirit of this letter to IPPYMag, I’ve left the comments section open below for your thoughts – ill or otherwise.

mattdelman Digital Rights Management is one of the dumbest moves a company can make, and in my @ippymag column I give my reasons: http://t.co/lQVBhVtX 11/17/11 11:36 AM

NevermetPress @mattdelman @ippymag ARG! I can’t leave comments on your article… =( So 1999 of you. =P =D 11/17/11 11:42 AM

mattdelman @NevermetPress Sorry! Hey, @ippymag, how about enabling comments on there? 11/17/11 11:42 AM

IPPYmag @mattdelman @NevermetPress The magazine doesn’t have a comments section and currently has no plans to create one. Sorry. 11/17/11 11:04 PM

NevermetPress @IPPYmag @mattdelman Awww… that’s so 1999 of you. Then again, you don’t support ePubs either =D #snarky Ohwell – still a great site though 11/17/11 11:10 PM

IPPYmag @NevermetPress We’re a magazine not a site. We cover e-pubs all the time. Comments sections too often become battlegrounds of little worth. 11/18/11 11:53 AM

NevermetPress @IPPYmag “battlegrounds of little worth.” ??? Sorry, but saying that the opinions of your readers is worthless is a bit harsh,don’t u think? 11/18/11 12:48 PM

NevermetPress @IPPYmag “battlegrounds of little worth.” ??? Sorry, but saying that the opinions of your readers is worthless is a bit harsh,don’t u think? 11/18/11 12:48 PM

IPPYmag .@NevermetPress We’d love 2 hear opinions but comments sections are often battlegrounds needing 24-hr monitoring 2 remove offensive material 11/18/11 3:18 PM

IPPYmag @NevermetPress And we were equally stunned by your admittedly snarky tweet to us & your accusation that we don’t cover e-pubs, which we do. 11/18/11 3:18 PM

IPPYmag @NevermetPress Your tweets to us prove our point about why we don’t have comment section. Constructive criticism isn’t t/ same as trash talk 11/18/11 3:20 PM

NevermetPress @IPPYmag Seriously? All @mattdelman and I asked for was a comments section. Now – I completely agree. You shouldn’t have a comments section. 11/18/11 5:07 PM

NevermetPress @IPPYmag My apologies for the ePUB comment – I went back to the page on your site and reread it. I stand corrected. 11/18/11 5:16 PM

NevermetPress It always blows me away when a company overreacts on Twitter/FB to fan comments. Fans – even when they are mad – are their greatest resource 11/18/11 5:19 PM

ninatypewriter @NevermetPress You’re behaving in a thoroughly unprofessional manner. We’ve been professional in our tweets to you. You’re now blocked. 11/18/11 6:12 PM

IPPYmag @NevermetPress We’ve tweeted you in a professional manner. You have not done the same. We don’t wish to continue this discussion. 11/18/11 6:15 PM

NevermetPress .@IPPYmag Actually I don’t think you have, but I’m not surprised. This was, after all, started because of your dislike for discussions 11/19/11 4:05 PM

IPPYmag @NevermetPress We love discussions. We don’t like unprofessional, misinformed attacks. 11/20/11 12:18 PM

Visit the original post, An Apology to @IPPYMag and Independent Publisher, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Stories in the Ether, Issue #2 Available NOW

Greetings!

Today we are very pleased to announce that Stories in the Ether, Issue #2 is now available in both ePUB and PDF formats! For only $2.99 you can pick it up from DriveThruFiction.com, Lulu, Smashwords, Amazon Kindle and soon at the Apple iBookstore and B&N Nook Store.

I’m excited as ever to keep this project going and it doesn’t look like anything is winding down any time soon. Since starting Stories in the Ether last March we have received nearly 200 submissions and (somehow) managed to publish a new story on our blog every Friday. It’s been a ton of work that, honestly, has limited the amount of game development I’ve been able to do in recent months. I’m not worried though: home is where the heart is and right now my heart and soul are behind this project. The cover art for Issue 3 is already in place and I’m hard at work on editing and getting it ready for publication. Look for the Issue 3 ePUB and PDF sometime soon after the 2012 New Year, and Issue 4 early next spring. The final book – a massive print anthology of Stories in the Ether, should be available by Summer 2012… but let’s talk about this issue, yes?

In Issue 2 of Stories in the Ether you’ll find nine wonderful short stories of steampunk, fantasy, and science fiction – mostly by new authors whom I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I have. If you are familiar with the project, then you know that all of these stories have appeared on our blog in recent weeks and months for FREE. So, why a $2.99 ePUB/PDF? Because this is your way of saying Thank You to the authors and artists who have contributed to the project. 60% of the revenue generated from SitE sales are returned to the writers and artists who created these works. So ask yourself, is this project worth supporting? I think the answer is a resounding YES.

Issue #2 opens up with “What Roads” by Marissa Wolden, an steampunk tale of a fox looking to escape his past and, perhaps, find love–if only things were so easy. You’ll also find “Truth” by Ian Vassilaros, a fantasy tale in which a young paladin in training struggles with the meaning and purpose of his life’s path; “Saying Your Goodbyes” by Jim Reader that treads the line between games and fiction, and how we play them.

If you’re looking for hard hitting action and steampunk wushu, then take a read through “Cole Jenkins & The Mechanical Advantage” by Sevan Taylor, it won’t disappoint. This issue’s cover art, by Paul Hagwood, can be found in the next story, “Aelfie of Glen Coe” by Craig Comer. This is a fantastic steampunk story that hints at a much larger world of fantasy & magic where all the Queen’s men are bent on rooting out the last of the fey–a personal favorite of mine.

If you’re looking for time traveling scientists, then the cross-genre telling “21^st Century Man” by Paul Jones will deliver. This is followed by “Pursuit” by Haper Collins published author Tucker Cummings: flash fiction at its best with a twist. “Origin of Brass” by Michael Burnside plays on another steampunk trope that mixes sci-fi, androids, and things not meant to be known by Man. Your reading will then come to end with a horror tale by Alexander B. Joy, “Nightmare Ink”, where a young woman’s writings seems to go far beyond her cell at the local insane asylum.

Along with all these great stories, you’ll also find some wonderful art by Paul Hagwood, Matt Lichtenwalner, Kenya Ferrand, and Rob Torno. We’re lucky to have these great artists part of the project, and from the looks of future issues it seems like our luck will continue for a while.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Stories in the Ether! You and the other fans have really been extremely supportive since Day 1 – and for that you have my thanks and a commitment to keep pushing the envelope every time I publish something new. Don’t forget though – if you like what you read here, make a point of sharing it with your friends or writing a brief review at the site where you purchased Stories in the Ether.

Stop by the DriveThruFiction store and check out the Free PDF preview of Stories in the Ether, Issue #2 - then buy the version that suits your reader best: ePUB or PDF. We have also bundled both the ePUB and the PDF together with a 33% Discount!

Again, you have my sincere thanks for your continued support.

All the best—Jonathan.

Visit the original post, Stories in the Ether, Issue #2 Available Now, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

I am very happy to report that Stories in the Ether, Issue #1 is now officially available directly from Apple’s iBookstore for $2.99. We had a hiccup initially when they rejected our first submission due to a “metadata conflict” in the ePub file, but those issues have been resolved. So – as of today, Stories in the Ether is available via Lulu.com, RPGNow.com, Amazon Kindle, and Apple’s iBookstore/iTunestore. This is an important milestone too – I’ve indicated on Twitter that I did not want to “ship” Issue #2 until I had all the iBookstore kinks worked out. That day has come, and I will now be working hard on making sure Issue #2 is out the door as soon as possible.

Soon, we will also have our books available on the Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo – stay tuned!

Visit the original post, Stories in the Ether at Apple’s iBookstore, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Below is the cover of the upcoming Stories in the Ether, Issue #2. It will be available for $2.99 as an ePUB/.MOBI on Kindle, Lulu, Apple iBookstore, Nook, and RPGNow.com. Also, just like Issue #1 – the PDF will be exclusively available from RPGNow.com and includes a nice two-column full page layout.

When? We’re waiting to release this until I’m 100% sure our pipeline to the Apple Bookstore is worked out. Issue #1 has been rejected twice from the Apple iBookstore due to metadata issues in the ePUB format. Basically: they use a VERY strict interpretation of ePUB2 and a bunch of ePUB3 metadata I included in the first submission was rejected. It’s annoying, but this sort of thing goes with the territory. In any case, once Issue #1 is in place on Nook and iBooks we’ll release Issue #2 soon after – I’m currently hoping for first week of November.

Until then – enjoy the cover design of Issue #2 with Paul Hagwood’s wonderful art! And, while your waiting, why not stop by RPGNow.com and pick up your single download ePUB/MOBI/PDF bundle of Issue #1!

Cover art by Paul Hagwood (@paulhagwood)

Visit the original post, Stories in the Ether, Issue #2 Preview, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Greetings everyone!

Thanks again for coming by our site and checking out our latest offerings. While there’s no fiction or gaming content today – I do want to share with you some news regarding changes that have come to Nevermet Press that will no doubt affect our operations in the future. While Stories in the Ether has been going surprisingly well, I must apologize for our silence on a number of other projects that our long time fans are likely wondering about. In hindsight, to most of our fans Nevermet Press as an organization probably seems a bit unrealistically ambitious and naïvely optimistic. We’ve had far too many projects on the front burners and too little resources to bring them to fruition. Hopefully this post will help clarify some things and bring back a more personal feel to our site.

Late last week I dissolved the internal editorial and content development group that formed the core of Nevermet Press. In 2009 I formed a semi-private Google Group (a forum) that was open only to selected content developers who wanted to work with Nevermet Press. That online group will close at the end of the month and the  We were a collective cooperative of artists, writers, and editors who all freely gave our time and effort to Nevermet Press with the goal (read:hope) of carrying our personal pet projects to completion with the help of a large (and later small) crowd of like minded creative types. It’s been a wonderful 2+ year experiment and I’ve “nevermet” dozens upon dozens of amazing authors, artists, editors, and game designers in the process. We were all driven by our passions – in some cases even to the destruction of a project or two. And although I officially have served as the owner and editor of Nevermet Press, LLC – my role has been more of a facilitator trying to hook up artists and writers together to make cool stuff people will like. I think with Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom this model was a superb success. Every other project we have mustered, however, has failed to reach completion for a variety of reasons. Last week I essentially euthanized the internals of Nevermet Press as humanely as possible. I parted ways with over two dozen writers and artists who were involved with multiple projects in an effort to re-focus and re-define Nevermet Press.

So, in short, the “crowd sourcing” experiment that Nevermet Press was founded on was in many ways a failure.

Not that we didn’t have a insanely of a great time dreaming up crazy pie in the sky ideas and brainstorming about them for months. But, only a very tiny slice of these ideas even made it to this blog:

• Portrait of a Villain: The Desire [4E] (published 2009)
• Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom [4E] (published 2010)
• The Dead Queens of Morvena
• Shayakand
• Schattenkrieg
• SoulJack

Notice that the first two projects were the only ones about that we published. The others all have stagnated for reasons not for want or interest. The reasons almost always have been because of TIME.

Time. Time is the #1 resource lacking for Nevermet Press. It finally got through my thick skull that TIME was not only something I had in limited supply, but it was something _everyone_ has in short supply. The idea that Nevermet Press could ever be anything even moderately successful while it depended on the well intentioned efforts of volunteers was suddenly preposterous.

So, I asked everyone to take their projects home and to take leave of any official connection to the organization.

So, going forward I hope to return to blogging about games, storytelling, and the trying to understand the intersection between the two. The way it used to be. The Stories the Thing, right?

Guest posts by fellow bloggers are still, and will always be, welcome as well, especially about RPGs and gaming culture. Stories in the Ether will also continue to review submissions and publish quality stories every Friday (and as a quarterly ePUB/Kindle).

In terms of “official projects” – for the time being I will focus solely on the things that I have a passion for: Stories in the Ether, which I greatly enjoy developing and working on; and perhaps a campaign setting based on The Dead Queens of Morvena.

Until then, all the best — Jonathan.

Visit the original post, Looking Forward, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

I’m very happy to announce that Stories in the Ether is now available as a serial publication from Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, RPGNow, DriveThruStuff, and Lulu for $2.99. The journal is available electronically as an ePUB from all our retail channels, as well as a beautifully presented PDF exclusively from RPGNow and its sister sites. We will continue publishing new stories, for free, weekly on our blog – but this new format will allow you to enjoy three months worth of amazing fiction and art from the convenience of your favorite eReader.

By purchasing this eBook – you will be directly supporting the authors, artists, and editors who have been working hard to create it.

Click here to see a larger version of the front cover.

The first issue of Stories in the Ether includes 13 short stories of steampunk, science fiction, and fantasy by authors Therese Arkenberg, David Bell, Charlie Britten, Matt Delman, Tim Kane, KA Masters, David Perlmutter, Gary Phillips, Michael Morrison, Jason Rolfe, Dawn Vogel, David Wright, and Lee Clarke Zumpe. The amazing cover artwork comes from J Lonnee and the interior features art by Rob Torno and Matt Lichtenwalner.

Looking for print? Well, the first four issues of Stories in the Ether will be rolled into a single, large print anthology and sold through our distributor. The print anthology will be distributed to retail stores through our distributors next year. For a preview of the look and feel of the printed book, take a peak at the PDF version of the eBook at RPGNow.com.

I want to thank everyone who has sent in their feedback regarding this new project and the current direction of Nevermet Press. We’re very excited about Stories in the Ether and we’re happy to see that the excitement is catching!

Writers & Artists Wanted

Nevermet Press is always on the look out for new writers and artists looking to show off their talent. If you are interested in contributing stories or art to Stories in the Ether – drop by the submissions page. Interested in writing RPG related content for our blog? We’re currently looking for more 4E and Pathfinder RPG writers, so drop us a line at submissions@nevermetpress.com. We’d love to hear from you. Also, please share this with your friends and have them stop by and take a look too.

Now – go grab a copy of the new shiny Stories in the Ether #1 eBook and let us know what you think!

Cheers! — Jonathan.

Visit the original post, Stories in the Ether, Issue 1 Released!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

The Unofficial Official RPG Blog Carnival Logo

Well – August is here so that means it’s time to do our round up of the July RPG Blog Carnival that we hosted! The topic in July was “Bad Ass Gaming” . We got to hear from a wide range of bloggers regarding what they thought was particularly badass about the games they love.

BADASS! The RPG

Not surprisingly, we heard first from the author behind BADASS! – the (FREE) game that seeks to embody the whole theme behind the carnival itself. Cassey Toi made an off-hand comment about “playing BADASS!” (referring to the aforementioned game), and I took it to mean “playing badass games” in a more general sense (stupid me). So, in a way this game also played a part in having me unwittingly choose the carnival topic for July. In any case, from the looks of it, BADASS! is exactly as the name implies: fast, fun, and … badass! The reviews across the blogosphere are uniformly positive. Pointyman2000 returned to post an article about BADASS! specifically for the July RPG Blog Carnival. In his post he says:

[A]ny good GM will tell you that failure isn’t synonymous to losing when it comes to RPGs.  A good GM will find a way to make failure interesting, giving players something new to deal with.  So if you’ve got anyone who is even halfway decent as a GM, then trust them and take that risk!

Honestly – it couldn’t be said better. Dyson, over on his blog, also tests out the BADASS! character generation system to make a cyborg ninja from hell: pretty bad ass indeed.

Elthos RPG

We heard next from VB Wyrde, the author and design behind the indie game Elthos RPG, in a post on the Elthos development blog. The game has been in development since 2006 and is intended to be a “light and quick” game to be run in a “pub setting”. The game itself uses only one die, dubbed the One Die System (ODS). I haven’t played Elthos, but it sounds intriguing.

We Get Geek

We Get Geek, a relatively new blog and podcast, tackled the question “What Makes a Game Badass?” In their post they come to a similar conclusion as PointMan200 by saying:

[S]o when the hero does something that a) surprises us or b) is something we couldn’t do (but we can imagine could happen), it is bad ass.

Berin Kinsman

Berin is a veteran RPG blogger – if you haven’t read his blog or don’t follow him on Twitter, you should. His take on badass games was (not surprisingly) from a different point of view. A view from 10,000-feet. Regarding the question of “What makes a game badass?” he writes:

[T]his question harkens back to art school when the stoners would get wasted and ponder deep philosophical questions like “How do I know the color blue to you is the same as the color blue to me?” Really? Really?

LMFAO! Quips like this are one the many reasons I continue to follow Berin’s blog. He does, however, go on to write that game diversity, long-term campaigns/games, regular groups, storytelling and character development are the things that make RPGs, in general, badass among all games considered. I would tend to agree – especially on the last point about collaborative storytelling. That’s just not something you’ll find in any other game outside RPGs and what keeps me coming back year after year.

Awesome Gaming Tables

Carl Bertoli threw in a link to his amazing computerized, backlite game table. Definitely worth a view – if for anything inspsiration.

The Black Campbell

In addition to pointing to Space:1889 as being on of his favorite bad ass settings (you have my vote too!) – Scott also says:

[W]hat really makes an RPG bad ass is good players, characters, and the fun of doing things you wish you could in real life. It’s getting together with friends on a regular basis and throwing life aside for a few hours a week.

Seems like he and Berin are on the same wavelength – and given they are both in Albuquerque – I wonder if its something in the water there. (And if they know each other!?).

Knife Fights are Badass

Indeed – and Judd over at The Githyanki Diaspora points to two games that have some excellent systems in place to handle knife fights.

Over at Phantasmagore, they revisit old memory lane and make a similar point about what it is about RPG gaming in general that is so badass. They close with

…it was always the play that was the thing. So long as the rules and setting inspired and enagaged us, our role playing games were badass.

Requirements for Being Badass

Fame & Fortune spells it out. For something, anything, to be bad ass it has to have Uncommon, Uncomplicated, and Uncomprimising.

Fitz had similar thoughts to define badass RPGs. Ninjas and BADASS! (the game) again came up.

Hallowpoint – as in RPGs and bullets – That’s Bad Ass

Brad over at VCSA pimps their latest games’ badass virtues, and given how awesome suace Diaspora is – I’ll definitely be checking out Hollowpoint very soon.

Bad Asses… as in Donkeys.

Yes — you have to see it for yourself. Pepsi came flying out of my nose I was laughing so hard… it’s over at Rule of the Dice.

A Pathfinder Feat for being a Bad Ass After Death

Jerral takes an interesting angle and – instead of preaching to the chorus – he goes an busts out with a cool new feat for Pathfinder RPG that gives a character the chance to be badass after they die. Yes.. AFTER they are dead (something that you may not think happens to badasses all that often).

That’s about it! Great month everyone! Don’t forget to check out August’s RPG Blog Carnival over at Tower of the Archmage: ANIMALS in RPGs.

Visit the original post, July RPG Carnival Round Up on Badass Gaming, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

About a year ago, Nevermet Press backed a Kickstarter project led by Duane O’Brien and illustrator Jeff Preston titled “60 Terrible Character Portraits For Creative Commons Release.” The goal of the project was simply to create a large collection of generic character portraits that covered a broad array of genres for use with RPGs and other published media. It was a big success, and they raised almost twice the funds they initially asked for in the process.

The character portraits were released back in May and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. This basically means you are free to use the portraits shown below in any project you want, even for commercial purposes, so long as you credit Jeff and Duane. The entire collection is available from the project’s homepage on Kickstarter.com as a zipped archive – but you can check out individual images below.

Enjoy!

[nggallery id=20]

DVW5K9TQ9YMU

Visit the original post, 108 Free Character Portraits, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

First – let me say that this announcement is in no way associated with Nevermet Press.

Matthew Meyer, who we interviewed a few months ago, has been a long time contributor to Nevermet Press. He’s an amazing artist with a unique interest in illustrating and researching Yokai – the monsters and demons from Japanese folklore.

He’s finally taken the plunge with Kickstarter and launched an amazing project to catalog and illustrate over 100 Yokai in full color, “The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons“. I’m personally backing this project to get a Hard Back book of all the Yokai, and I want to urge our fans to stop by his Kickstarter project page to consider doing the same.

Here’s a video from the Kickstarter project:

Visit the original post, Support “The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” from Matthew Meyer, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

The Unofficial Official RPG Blog Carnival

Greetings!

July is finally here and now it’s our turn to take stab at hosting and choosing the topic for this months’ RPG Blog Carnival. The topic?

What Makes a Roleplaying Game Bad Ass?

Really?

Yes. Allow me to explain. It’s a (sorta) funny story actually. We had originally planned on a more “serious” topic (read:boring?) – something about Technology & Your Game Table. That didn’t pan out. We all know Tech is here and Tech is going to continue to change just about every aspect of our table-top roleplaying games (eventually). It might have been cool to host a grand round up of all the cool, amazing, excellent, snazzy, wtf, befuddlingly awesome, “game changing” (lol) new kids on the block in technology. It might have been cool to have the RPG blogging community go to town on their latest technophile object du jour. Heck, we might have even learned something in the process! But, why do that, eh? I mean, we’re more likely to find out about the latest trinkets and gaming digital oddities through our social circles. That’s what Twitter is for anyway, right? Plus there’s plenty of posts about this topic (not to) recently - so, why belabor it anymore?

So instead, we decided on Bad Ass Gaming as the topic for this months carnival. I blame Cassey Toi for the change. We were chatting about this or that, and I mentioned that I would love to come down to South Africa to game with her and Jerall (her husband; they have a great RPG blog btw “Ten Letter“), and to that she responded

Cassey: Or a game of Badass ;) Either way if you do get to come one day, we’ll make sure that it’ll be hard to leave  

Wow! So cool! I could fly down to SA and have an instant gaming group. Made my day, but little did I know (!~stupid me~!) that she was talking about Stargazer Game’s recently published (free) game… wait for it… “BAD ASS“. It was too much – it just had to be the topic for the July carnival. Even the stars were involved!

So – here we are. This month I invite you and the rest of the RPG blogging community to share your thoughts on What Makes A Game Bad Ass? What, in your view, is the most Bad Ass game out — or ever!? What tweaks, mods, fixes have you houseruled to make your favorite games even more bad ass? Why is Savage Worlds so much more Bad Ass than [insert the rest]? =P And last, but not least, remember the last time you were explaining some new mechanic or story plot point to another gamer and they just simply said “Oh, that’s just Bad Ass!” What was it that was so Bad Ass?!

Post on your own blog and link back to this post. At the end of the month I’ll gather up and link back to all the participating blogs.  Don’t have a blog? No worries – leave a comment and start the chatter boxes!

Until next time — Cheers and game on!

–Jonathan.

Visit the original post, Bad Ass Gaming (July RPG Blog Carnival), at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Check it out – everything is…

$2.99

Starting today all our published PDFs (current and future titles) will be sold for only $2.99! This is not a sale, this is a change in how we are going to deliver content to you – our fans. Currently, this new pricing includes Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs (Volumes 1 & 2), and our existing 4E Dungeons & Dragons adventure settings The Desire and Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom. So, for under twelve bucks you can get over 120 amazing articles on playing, running, and designing RPGs – simply the best in RPG blogging – and two well developed, highly rated independent adventure settings for 4E D&D. Enjoy!

We plan on keeping this the price for everything we produce in the future as well – it’s just the right thing to do.

If you like this new change – please share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter too! Just click the links below!

Visit the original post, All our PDFs now only $2.99, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Stories in the Ether, Issue 1 is available on Kindle, ePUB, and as a PDF.

Now Accepting Submissions

We are now accepting submissions of short stories and flash fiction for inclusion into the Stories in the Ether blog series, semi-quarterly ePUB and anthology. We define a short story as something that can be comfortably read in one sitting, which is generally about 10,000 words or less. The published anthology, titled “Stories In The Ether: Volume 1“, will be published in 2012, and will feature the collected works from the first four ePUB in the series. Authors are paid royalties and retain rights to their works as detailed in our Submissions Guidelines.

Stories in the Ether, Issue 2

Submissions of new short stories should be sent to submissions@nevermetpress.com

Please review our Submission Guidelines before sending in your story!

No Submission Deadline.

We will only be publishing one story per week!

NOTE: There is no fixed deadline! We will be accepting stories on an ongoing basis. With that in mind, getting your submissions in early is a good idea to help get the editorial process rolling. Assuming your submission is accepted and makes it through our editorial funnel, your story will be published on the Nevermet Press blog first and later included in an issue of Stories in the Ether ePUB and in the print Anthology in early 2012. Finally, multiple submissions from the same author are acceptable, but we are not likely to accept more than one for publication.

F.A.Q.

How do I make a submission?

First, review the general submission guidelines for Nevermet Press. Next, email your story to submissions@nevermetpress.com and in the subject line include “Stories in the Ether Submission: [TITLE]“. Include your full, legal name, the title and the word count of the story, and your contact information (i.e. postal mailing address, email, etc) in the email’s body. Also include a copy of your Author Biography, if you have one. The story submission itself can be attached as a MS Word file (i.e. a .doc or .docx file) or you can include your story directly in the body of the email.

How does the review process work?

After you submit your work, the editorial team at Nevermet Press will immediately review it. We then decide whether to Accept or Reject your story. Rejected stories may be invited for a re-submission if the work is close to the mark, but needs revision. You will be notified usually in about two weeks or so after submission, but we guarantee a response within 60 days.

What is the current acceptance rate of Stories in the Ether?

As of late September, 2011 our acceptance rate is close to 20%.

What happens after my story is accepted?

If your story is accepted, we will require you to provide us with a brief Author Biography about yourself (150 words or less), and to make any revisions recommended by the editors before publishing your work. Once a final version of your story is accepted, you will receive a contract from Nevermet Press, and your work will be published on our blog in the near future (you will be notified of the date and URL). Furthermore, your story will be included in an upcoming issue of the Stories in the Ether ePUB journal, and the Stories in the Ether print anthology in early 2012.

Will I get paid?

Yes, but we can’t say how much. Nevermet Press pays royalties to its writers and artists for any project they contributed to for as long as that project is in publication (i.e. no period limits). For Stories in the Ether, 30% of net revenue it generates is returned to the authors on a pro rata basis according to word count of each author’s contribution. This means that each author shares the royalties with all the other authors once the anthology is published. We use PayPal and make payments quarterly, so if you get a story accepted into Stories in the Ether, you’ll have to have a PayPal account. These royalties are paid for the ePUB and print Anthology versions of Stories in the Ether.

Can I submit something that was previously published? What if it was published in print?

Assuming you own the rights to the work, you can submit stories that were published in any medium – print or digital – it doesn’t matter. We will be publishing all the accepted stories to our blog first, before going to print. If your story was recently published in the last 3 months elsewhere, we may reject your submission or hold off on publishing it on the blog until later this year (if accepted).

Who is Nevermet Press?

We are a creative cooperative of writers, artists, and game designers who have a passion for great stories and roleplaying games. We operate much like a creative collective, so there are usually multiple projects going in parallel and it can be quite busy at times. We were founded in 2009 as an extension of a collaboration between two long-time RPG bloggers Jonathan Jacobs and Michael Brewer. Since that time we’ve published four books (three in print) and have plans to publish two more in 2011. You can learn more about Nevermet Press on our About page.

Where is Stories in the Ether sold?

The semi-quarterly Stories in the Ether ePUB journal is sold through LULU, Amazon’s Kindle Store, Smashwords, and DriveThruRPG.com. The later store carries both the ePUB and an exclusive PDF version of the print book. The print Anthology of the first four issues of Stories in the Ether will be sold through Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and carried by our distributors for retail distribution to brick and mortar book and game stores in 2012.

How can I help spread the word?

Nevermet Press thrives on community participating in our projects. It’s one of the cornerstone’s of how we like to create things. Maybe you are not a writer, or aren’t planning on submitting any stories to the project, but you still want to help. First, that’s awesome and you have our thanks! Second, if you would like to support Stories in the Ether, and have a website or blog, feel free to grab either of the two images below to use as banners for the project. Simply link back here and we’ll be sure to return the favor!

Thank you!

Visit the original post, Stories in the Ether – Open Call For Submissions, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Photo by Shaun Welch

We here at Nevermet Press would like to extend our sympathies to the people of Japan. As you likely know, at 2:46 p.m. local time on Friday, March 11th, the port of Sendai in northeastern Japan was rocked by a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake felt throughout the country. Further strong aftershocks continue and are expected to continue throughout the month at the least, and tsunami waves of upwards of 8 to 10 meters (24 to 30 feet) in height lash the coastal towns and cities. Tsunami warnings are in effect for many of the countries in or bordering the Pacific.

Many of us here at NMP have friends or relatives in Japan, and Matthew Meyer, one of our contributing artists, resides there. He and his family are doing okay last we checked. Other members of the RP community, such as Shinobicow over at The Dump Stat are also safe.

If you are looking for information on friends and loved ones, or are yourself in Japan and think others might be looking for you, Google has established a Person Finder service.

The Red Cross is currently accepting donations for the relief effort. If you are in the United States and can spare anything in these tight times you can text “REDCROSS” to 90999, and a $10 donation will be added to your phone bill. Naturally the website accepts donations via credit card as well. Of course there are other associations also providing aid; unfortunately we do not have enough reliable information here to point you to one. Use your judgment.

Despite the great tragedy, our fellow human beings are capable of great endurance surpassing any tales we may tell in our games. Those in Japan are no different. We have every confidence that the government and people of Japan, as well as others in the country, shall make it through this tragedy.

Mina-san, ki o tsukete kudasai.

Visit the original post, To Those In Japan, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

It seems that it’s becoming the norm for small press publishers in the RPG community to share with their fans how they are faring in terms of sales. Some publishers do it quarterly, and others on a more irregular basis. There’s this fairly widespread view that the industry as a whole is contracting—publishers and fans alike—so it’s interesting to match that sentiment with actual sales numbers. Personally, I have sort of a voyeuristic interest in the whole thing and I’m betting there are some people out there that feel the same way. Actually, there are. So, without further ado, here are our sales numbers for 2010.

Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom: 11 print, 16 PDF

Portrait of a Villain: The Desire: 15 PDF

Open Game Table, Volume 1: 31 print, 16 PDF

Open Game Table, Volume 2: 32 print, 18 PDF

Total: 74 print, 65 PDF

Are these surprising? They are to me—honestly I was expecting things to be a bit better, but there are many issues in play here that need to be considered. The first half of 2010 the company almost collapsed (note the lack of blogging during that period). Also, Brother Ptolemy didn’t get released until late November and did not go into retail distribution until January. In our first month of retail sales for Brother Ptolemy, we sold around 70 books through Studio 2 Publishing.

Even though the numbers are small, we are making progress. December was the best month for Nevermet Press ever, and with January beating the pants off December we’re definitely having an upward trend, which is nice. This year we’re hoping to make some important jumps in our productivity without abandoning our community focus (the blog, our Facebook page, etc). We’re also planning on making it to our first convention, which will be an interesting experiment.

Can we improve sales? Of course! How? Well, that’s the $10 question of the day, but I think that it’s important to keep in mind that the RPG market is very small and gamers are usually fairly picky on how they spend their money. With so many other super excellent publishers out there (EvilHat, Open Design, Pinnacle, Atomic Overmind, to name a few), it’s a tough market.

Availability? We have retail distribution through Studio 2 Publishing, PDF sales through DriveThruRPG, and online sales through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Lulu. I’m not sure what more we can do as far as availability is concerned. We’re exploring the possibility of offering our books as eBooks (i.e. ePubs, we already carry PDFs), but I’m not sure if there’s a market for it that would warrant the additional effort. RPG books typically require lots of page positioning of elements (statblocks, maps, etc), and that is counter to how ePubs are generally set up. Any suggestions?

Marketing? Our recent launch of the Nevermet Press Insider, an occasional email newsletter to our fans, is proving to be hugely useful. We have a substantially better level of engagement with Insider subscribers, who get special discounts, opportunities for play testing, and free downloads or early previews. Advertising? Well, we’ve tried Facebook advertising, but I’m not sure it’s as effective as it could be (despite other RPG publishers’ apparent success with FB ads). This is in contrast to our Facebook fan page, which is a friggin’ gem. Our fans on Facebook are super kewl! What about Google Adsense? Also tried it, but the ROI was difficult to measure (read: LOW). Targeting advertising? I’ve looked into advertising in Kobold Quarterly and directly on RPG.net, but I’m not sure we have enough behind us to justify the cost. Perhaps we’ll change our minds in the future if things continue to trend up, but for now we’ll pass. I think in the long run, word of mouth, blogging, social networking, our Insider newsletter, and presence at game stores and conventions is going to prove to be our best way to market Nevermet Press and let people know about how the games we make are made of awesome. This organic approach to developing Nevermet Press’s “presence” is much more appealing to me anyway, as it gives us an opportunity to develop relationships with our fans by interacting with them both online and directly. It’s pretty damn hard to interact with a CPM rate or a click through.

Obstacles? The #1 biggest obstacle we have is inexperience. I’m not a professional game designer or publisher. Heck, when I first thought about publishing Open Game Table, I admitted knowing ZERO about the industry. I may know a bit more now, but it still feels like I know zero. Every time I exchange emails with folks in the RPG industry I learn something new. This is a good indicator of “we’re still learning the ropes.” Being in a learning phase is a good thing though. It keeps me motivated when I think of the small successes we’ve already had. To help leverage my lack of experience, Nevermet Press has recruited an excellent team of highly motivated content developers, artists and editors to help with the development of our next projects. The future is looking good…

Future goals? I’d like to double (in terms of units) our PDF and Print sales in 2011. This is ambitious, but given that we are still small, and our reviews are already pretty solid, it seems like an achievable goal.

What do you think?

Visit the original post, 2010 Sales & Current Efforts, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Stock image by Salvatore Vuono

A big congratulations to our very own Jerall Toi. His wondrous item design earned him a well-deserved spot on the Top 32 of Pazio’s RPG Superstar. Check out his item.

Visit the original post, Our Contributors are Good– Superstar Good!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Wondering what’s in store for 2011 here at Nevermet Press? Well, take a look…

1. The Dead Queens of Morvena

The Dead Queens of Morvena will be published through Studio 2 Publishing very soon. That’s an easy “resolution” to make because the project is so mature and making rapid progress daily. It’s going to be amazing! The manuscript is over 48,000 words – that’s TONS of fun, horrific times with Savage Worlds, eh? Plus, the artwork is – in my opinion – full of awesome. We currently have over 30 pieces of art already in hand from Matt Meyer, Rob Torno, J. Lonnee and Kenya Ferrand. Together with a half-dozen maps from long-time contributor Matt Lichtenwalner, it’s going to be an amazing collection of visuals as well as gaming fun. You can check out some of the artwork in the DQM Preview Gallery on our Facebook Fan Page.

2. Loaerth & Feywyrd

Our emergent Savage Worlds adventure setting, Loaerth & Feywyrd, will see the dim lights of your gaming room. We are going to be working hard on releasing our first book for Loaerth & Feywyrd this year. You’ve likely heard some things about this setting – steampunk? fantasy? “coalpunk”? YES. L&F (as we call it for short) will be a hybrid fantasy-steampunk adventure setting based in a new world that mixes familiar real-world myths and legends with our own unique storyline. The first book for L&F, tentatively titled Loaerth: City of a Thousand Spires, will be released in time for it to be in stores by December. I will personally be leading the development of this project, and be supported by just about the entire Nevermet Press collective. Everyone here at NMP is excited about L&F, and the energy level is surging.

3. MiniPDFs

In addition to L&F, we’ll be working on developing at least six “miniPDFs” for players of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Our Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom adventure setting was met with very positive reviews, and has just entered into retail distribution nationwide this month. We’re dedicated to supporting our fans who play 4E D&D, so we’ll be continuing to develop new material for D&D under the GSL in 2011. Sounds pretty vague? Well, it is – because I don’t want to spoil what we have in store for you. Have you seen some of the new 4E Races on the blog lately? Yeah – that’s about enough of a clue. Stay tuned for more content like that.

4. Stock Art

Nevermet Press will begin offering stock art for sale through RPGNow.com to individuals and other small press publishers starting this month. The artwork we will be offering will be affordable, and offer a fair and flexible license for third-party publishers that wish to reuse the artwork in their own published works. Our goal is to offer at least 30 pieces of solid stock art by the end of the year; that’s a minimum, and hopefully we’ll be doing far more than that.

There may be some additional surprises for you along the way too. I’m hopeful for Shayakand making it to the presses this year, and we may see some additional mini-adventures for 4E D&D. There have also been rumblings about a Japanese Monster book, but I’ve already said too much…

Time will tell, but suffice to say we’ll be working hard on delivering what we’ve promised. Stay tuned!

Edited by Cassey Toi and Charles Dickey

Visit the original post, What 2011 Will Bring…, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Please share this survey and take a few minutes to fill it out yourself. This will help us understand where you are all coming from. It’s a short survey – just a few questions – but a important way to let us know what’s important to you.

Each year I revisit how we are doing, and as I prepare our latest “State of NMP”, I’d love to have feedback from you on how we can do things better.

Click this link to visit the survey. And THANK YOU!

And of course, have any questions? Leave a comment below!

Cheers,

– Jonathan.

Visit the original post, 2011 Fan Survey, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Bad Christmas Satyr - illustration by Matt Meyer

Come to your own conclusions…

Merry Christmas!!

Visit the original post, Merry Christmas!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

Greetings All!

Just wanted to give you the heads up on a new semi-monthly newsletter we are launching: Nevermet Press Insider, a semi-monthly newsletter aimed at delivering monthly updates on projects, exclusive content, playtesting options, free PDFs, and special art distributions for our fans. We’ll also be highlighting some of our previous posts you may have missed, and an occasional link to other RPG sites of interest too. Learn more about Nevermet Press Insider below the cut.

Questions?

Cool! How do I sign up?

Well – that’s the easy part: simply Register on the website using the links on the right. You should receive a confirmation email after you register. Confirm your registration and you’re done. If you are already registered on our website, but aren’t getting Nevermet Press Insider, then click here to sign up directly.

How often will you be sending out the newsletter?

Our goal is to send one newsletter every month on the first Monday of the month. We may send out an occasional extra email for special announcements and news, but we’ll keep it light. You’ll never get more than two emails from us in any given month

What will Nevermet Press Insider look like?

Well, we’ve already sent out our first issue to previous customers and folks who are registered on the website. You can check out Issue #1 here.

Free PDFs? Art? Can you be more specific?

Sure! We’re planning on launching a new series of eBooks / PDFs for 4E D&D in the next couple weeks. You’ll get the first of these for free, and the opportunity to receive early release versions of them before they hit the stores. Also, we’re launching a stock art program as well and plan to release artwork for our Nevermet Press Insider subscribers for free under a Creative Commons License.

What’s this about playtesting?

Good games are playtested, a lot. To have playtesting go well, we need a large number of people who are motivated and excited about what we are doing here. Playtesters get early release books and PDFs at no charge, and have a hand in helping us shape and improve the products we are developing for everyone’s benefit. Playtesting sign ups are something we are going to make available only to our biggest fans: the folks who sign up for our Nevermet Press Insider newsletter.

Is this spam? What happens to my email address?

This is not spam. We won’t ever share your email address. We work with MailChimp for our email newsletter service and they won’t share your email address with anyone either. You can check out our privacy policy and Terms of Service here.

That’s about it. Any other questions not covered here? Leave a comment below and we’ll answer it asap.

THANKS!

Visit the original post, Nevermet Press Insider, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.

This flyer went out last night to our newsletter subscribers. I thought I’d repost it here since I know that many of you are not subscribed to Nevermet Press Insider – and you may be interested in the reviews of BP&THK that have come in over the last two weeks. Scroll down to check them out! — Jonathan.

Sale Ends November 30th Buy the print edition of our new adventure setting, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom, for $14.99 and we’ll send you the PDF for free. Simply snap a pic of the book on your game table, in the company of dice, under a pile of miniatures, or anyplace that’s silly. Then upload your pic to our Facebook fan page before December 15th and you’re good to go. Click here for details. The funniest pic will receive a print copy of Open Game Table, too! Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom is a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure setting for 5th Level Characters. Inside you’ll find the complete backstory of the sinister Brother Ptolemy, master of The Hidden Kingdom, dozens of new NPCs, monsters, rituals, feats, and magic items, a full-length adventure for 5th level characters, the city-state of Corwyn, the Red Harvest Plague, dozens of adventure hooks, and scores of beautiful illustrations and maps. Click here to learn more! Check out the rave reviews for Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom Gnomestew.com says “… buy it if you like games full of political tension, conspiracies, and good old fashioned challenging combat.” ENWorld’s review says “I really enjoyed what I read here in Brother Ptolemy & the Hidden Kingdom … a well-written source book regarding a dark and sinister cult, with its terrible plagues and rituals, along with a solid adventure with a dynamic plot line.” Game Knight Reviews says “Brother Ptolemy makes one heck of a scary villain in my book.” Dicemonkey.net says “this is a fantastic book for anyone looking for some awesome and creepy new adversaries in their 4e D&D game. Definitely check it out. ” BlogCritics.com says “BP&THK presents a unique story in a way that should provide twists and turns to GMs and players alike. If you’re a GM looking for some inspiration, definitely check out Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom from Nevermet Press. ” The Dumpstat Blog says “I definitely would rate this as a first class adventure for 4e D&D which easily rivals any of the material put out by Wizards of the Coast…” Interior Page Previews & Full Color Maps Available Here We are very happy to announce that our first print offering, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom, is now available! The Hidden Kingdom is 110-page 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure setting for 5th level characters. Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom will be available in retail stores in January, but you don’t have to wait! ISBN: 978-0-557-67589-0 PRINT $14.99 eBook/PDF $9.99 GET THE PDF FOR FREE! Fans on Facebook and followers of our blog can order direct starting today! Plus, as an exclusive bonus to our fans, if you snap a pic of Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom and post to our Facebook fan page wall before December 15th – we’ll send you a copy of the PDF eBook for FREE! All you have to do is… Order Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom in PRINT. Snap a picture of the book – in your yard, in your hand, with your dice… whereever! The crazier the better! Make it funny! Post your picture of Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom to our Facebook fan page wall. That’s it! Just post the snapshot by December 15th – and you will get an email with an exclusive link to a free copy of the PDF. But… it get’s better! The person who takes the most laughable snapshot of our book will also get a free copy of either Open Game Table Volume 1 or 2 (their choice) in PRINT for free! Snap! What is Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom? Check out the back cover of the book and find out! If that’s not enough, hop over here and check out the previews. Now go get your game and roll some dice!

Visit the original post, Check out all the reviews for Brother Ptolemy!, at Nevermet Press. Subscribe via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook.