A whole bunch of updatery stuff

I've got to cover a whole bunch of different things to give updates to things that are in progress.

First off, this week is the Christmas in July Sale at DriveThruRPG. Melior Via is enthusiastically participating in it, and all of our products are 25% off as part of the sale. If you've been thinking about looking into our products, this is a great time to jump in whole hog. If you're looking for other gaming material, there's a stunning array of deeply discounted products included in this one.

Fabled Environments is currently wrapping up a Kickstarter for a High School Floorplan. I think this is a fantastic idea and a great resource for anyone interested in gaming at a High School. In an effort to encourage folks to help them reach stretch goals, Melior Via has decided to offer a throw in. We'll be giving a free copy of the HPS Freshman Handbook eBook to anyone who pledges at the $40 level or higher.

Finally, Accursed is continuing to make solid progress with our regular blog updates. If you're interested in a Savage Worlds setting where your the monsters are the heroes, please take a look. We love getting feedback.

Announcing Accursed

Things have been far too quiet about here for some time. During this time, we've had a few inquiries about Hope Prep, and other matters.

So, here's my chance to come clean. The simple fact of the matter is that I've been pretty swamped wit ha variety of projects. Most of these involve freelance work for other publishers. These continue to be updated in the "About Us" tab, as I am permitted to discuss them.

One project, however, is going to be insuring some blog posts and directly involves Melior Via.

Last fall, Ross Watson approached me with ideas about a new game setting. I really dug the ideas, and we started doing some early development. Ross also brought Jason Marker into the discussion. The three of us have been collaborating on developing Accursed into a full game ever since. This is a dark fantasy setting, which we're currently developing for Savage Worlds. It hasn't been a primary focus for me, but it has been a steady and ongoing concern. For more information, please give the blog a look, we'd love any feedback.

Accursed WILL be a physical product. Melior Via WILL be publishing this in the fall of 2013. www.accursedrpg.com is going to be a regularly updated blog where Ross, Jason, and I (John) will be regularly posting information about the game's setting.

This raises questions about the status of Hope Prep. We have a number of different things at various stages of production for Hope Prep, but I simply have not had the available time to focus on them. To date, the commercial success of the line has been inadequate to cover the time and effort invested in it. As much as I love the line, I cannot commit a significant amount of my time to work on it, when other project work is available. Additional products will be released for the line, but products that are more commercially viable are a higher priority. Consequently, I cannot commit to a release schedule at this time.

Hurricane Sandy Relief Bundle now available on DriveThruRPG

Melior Via is participating in the Charity Bundle assembled by Roleplayers Chronicle to provide a donation to the American Red Cross, earmarked for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The Charity Bundle is now available on DriveThruRPG for a donation of $20. Many publishers have contributed products, and this bundle is now valued at more than $200. Our contribution is the Hope Preparatory School Freshman Handbook for ICONS.

All proceeds from this charity bundle go towards the American Red Cross and the relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. None of the contributors towards the bundle receive any compensation for their products.

Direct Link: The Charity Bundle

This bundle will be available for 10 days starting November 1, 2012 and ending November 10, 2012.

Halloween Sale

Halloween is coming quickly. If anyone is looking for an appropriately themed scenario, we've launched a brief sale on DriveThruRPG. Our Halloween Ball adventure is currently priced at $3.99 (regularly $4.99). The adventure takes place during the days leading up to the big party, as the PCs must confront some of the mischief that goes hand in hand with the event.

For those looking for a 1-shot night, that haven't tried out the Hope Prep setting, we've also put together a bundle that includes the Freshman Handbook, Halloween Ball, and Freshman Character Pack. That (along with the core rules for the system) should be everything needed for a quick holiday adventure at HPS.

Both sales are available for both game systems. Here are the relevant links:

ICONS Halloween Ball
M&M3 Halloween Ball

ICONS Halloween Bundle
M&M3 Halloween Bundle

ICONS Artists now available

We've just released the Hope Preparatory School Artists character pack for ICONS from Ad Infinitum Adventures. The core content is the same as the M&M3 version which we released a few weeks ago, but the characters are slightly changed so that they better reflect this game system.

Just like the previous release, the The HPS Artists Character Pack includes six fully statted members of the Artist clique for the Hope Preparatory School setting. The pack includes two Sophomores, two Juniors, and two Seniors.

Direct Link

The next adventure -- Field Trip -- is just waiting for one last piece of artwork, so that we can get it out the door and up for sale.

M&M3 Artists Pack Available

This week, we managed to squeeze out another small release for the M&M version of the Hope Preparatory School Setting. This is the Artists Character Pack, now available from DriveThruRPG for $2.99. It features the artwork of Dan Houser.

Members of the Artists Clique aren't necessarily focused on becoming traditional crime fighting vigilantes. Instead, these metahumans often want to do more with their abilities. Some, believe they may be able to serve humanity as scientists, politicians, or philosophers. Others pursue dreams of a career as a professional athlete or a performer.

The character pack includes two Sophomores (PL8), two Juniors (PL9), and two Seniors (PL10), each from that clique. All are fully statted for use as PCs or NPCs in a M&M3 campaign. In adventures run at HPS, they might serve as friends or foils. In a more traditional setting, the characters could easily be friends, supporters, or even interns.

The ICONS version of the character pack is next up in the queue, and shouldn't be too far off.

Space Combat Battlemap

I was recently working on painting some starfighter miniatures for a quick combat game, and started getting a few things together prior to play. I found the old rules, the ship status sheets, and entirely too many unpainted minis. What I didn't find was a nice looking map. (Mine were just plain black with white hexes, and after too many years folded up in a closet, the crease lines weren't doing them any favors.)

So, I looked into buying a nice felt map that was big enough to cover my table, and discovered that they were, well, kind of expensive. Kind of prohibitively expensive for my purposes.

That led to me poking around the web for a cheaper solution. I found something that would work well enough for the short term, but I wanted something better. So, I decided to go ahead and spend the time to design my own map. The Universal Space Combat Battlemap was the result. I designed the PDF so that it could be printed with 1-inch hexes, 1.5-inch hexes, or 2-inch squares. For games that don't use a grid, it can also be printed blank. I grabbed a nice looking picture of the Tarantula Nebula, and used that as a background.

Yes, it takes 42 pages to print it. There's a fair bit of a cutting and glue-sticking involved in the procedure. But, in the end, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's a quick look-see at how the pages fit together.