Merry Christmas From Outland Arts

Some of you might have already received this card if you're on our mailing list.

Society of Excavators can download this card to use, either digitally or print and mail, from the members area of our website.

At any rate, to those of you on the TME forum, Merry Christmas and here's to a prosperous, creative and game filled 2012!

All the best,

Will

Excavator Monthly Magazine issue 4 hits the market!

This one took a bit longer on account of the many free player handouts we had to create to go along with an article on creating them. This is the best issue yet, and we welcome Danny Seedhouse as our new writer and designed the new Acrobatics skill featured in this issue. Danny has done some stuff for the SOE member's area of the site and along with Graeme Hallett are working on a robust setting book and accompanying adventure... more on that later. Graeme also shared and article with us for issue 4 on the causes of Factional Warfare in The Mutant Epoch. If you get a copy of the mag, please let us know your thoughts on it and what you'd like to see in future issues.

Anyhow, sorry for the delay in getting this issue out. We are now busy at work on issue 5.

WM

Here is the promo text for Issue 4:

What drives your character? Why risk life and limb in the God forsaken ruins and wastelands of The Mutant Epoch? In issue 4 we offer 50 goals and obsessions to motivate your post apocalyptic character, and much more.

EM-4 includes articles on how many adversaries a GM should throw at PCs, dice rolling methods to speed up game pace, creating handouts along with links to a heap of free sheets, the bonus offer method of character generation, more NPCs, wicked relics: Grenade Mat and Laser tipped bullets, plus three freaky creatures: the Waste Grazer, Pus Worm and Hackoid. Articles on the causes of PA factional warfare, agreed upon rendezvous, making coffee for Mel Gibson, and a new skill: Acrobatics, round out this content rich publication. Get it in PDF or print today.

This issue includes:

Creating Intriguing Handouts with 17+ free to download player hand out sheets

50 PC Goals, Drives and Obsessions

2 NPCs

3 New Creatures

2 New relics

1 Character generation system (Bonus Offer System)

29 illustrations

44 Pages

See the PDF demo here

review the art gallery for issue 4 here

PDF $3.50

Print copy $9.99

See more art from EM issue 4 at our website by clicking here.

We've set up a Facebook page for The Mutant Epoch! Since it just went live Sunday Nov 6th 2011, there isn't too much on there yet. But, with your help, dear reader, we can get quite the conversation going. TME gamers can meet each other and perhaps the page can become quite the hub for our growing community. In some respects it could become the public forum, viewable by both Society of Excavator members and civilians alike.

Hope to see you there,

here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/TheMutantEpoch

Best regards,

Mutant Lord

Excavator Monthly Magazine Issue 3 hits the market

Well, we got this issue out a few days late, but it is our best one yet and a bit over the standard page count at 44 pages instead of 40. This issue also introduces a new TME writer to the team: Graeme Hallett, plus, we had some special editorial help with a few articles from Audrey Deutschmann. Thanks very much to them both, as well as to game designer Danny Seedhouse for his excellent insights and opinions on the magazine.

Here is the promo text we've been using to promote issue 3....

How do your post-apocalyptic heroes know each other?

Issue 3 presents a robust article on dozens of possible ways in which characters meet up prior to the beginning of game play. We also present the Fixed Value Allotment method of character generation, two wicked NPCs, two new relics: Landmine Detection coil and Advanced Grenade

Launcher, along with three nasty creatures: The Devil Spider, Mutant Perch and Jaw Crawler. Other articles include Outfitting a Post Apocalyptic Army, Silver Coins & Ancient Currency, Character Type Rotation and Similarity, another great treasure table and much more.

Excavator Monthly is the official magazine for The Mutant Epoch milieu, covering the TME RPG, fiction, art and more. Not using the Outland System? No worries, there is a ton here that any post apocalyptic GM can utilize.

This issue includes:

2 NPCs 3 New Creatures 2 New relics 1 Treasure Table
1 Character generation system (Fixed Value Allotment)
24 illustrations & 1 Map 44 Pages

How about some art from issue 3? You can also check out the full gallery at our website here

BigCon 2011 and Roleplayers Chronicle Designer's Diary

I think I'll post this on the private SOE forums as well, but for those of you who don't wander over there, here we go...

Well, Another BigCon gaming convention has come and gone. I've caught up on my sleep but

now we need to get back to issue three of Excavator Monthly... and promotions.

Here is a snap shot of our booth from my blackberry. I'll post more from later in the con as I get

them from other attendees and staff.

There were't as many people at the convention as I'd hoped, but the ones who were there were sure the right ones. Thank you all who came to the booth and rolled up a character and bought a copy of the Mutant Epoch and Mall of Doom. And thanks to Adam Trudel, High Octane Comics, All Aboard Games, The Kamloops Anime Club, The Zoo, and so many others for all their hard

work, especially the minion volunteers.

I have to say that setting up at a gaming con is one of the most exhausting, yet fun, things have ever done, at least in recent years. I can't imagine doing this at GenCon for three days with so many gamers around. I'd need a team to man the booth so I could at least go pee.

Looks like we will need to restock our local inventory.

In other news, Aaron T. Huss over at Roleplayers Chronicle asked us some questions about The Mutant Epoch and just released them in their Designer's Diary.

If any of you want to login over there and make some favorable comments, they would be worth their weight in silver to us. Here is the link:

http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=13108

Sincerely,

Will McAusland

Excavator Monthly Magazine Issue 2 released

How did things get this way? In this issue we tackle Apocalypse Mythology for your character, along with articles on solo-play gaming, stashing your loot, and much more.

Issue two of Excavator Monthly magazine is character focused, yet still has plenty for the Mutant Epoch game master to challenge the players with. Included in this release are more nasty creatures: the Bloat Creeper, Pipe Worm and Mouther, along with two new relics: the handy Remote Watcher and the devastating Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle. This issue also includes another popular treasure table, as well as a new character generation method called the Gambler System, a full color character sheet to copy or download, plus two more NPCs, Phaydrix the mind waster and Sgt. Cole Dodgerre, a purist bounty hunter.

Featured articles this month are a discussion on solo play gaming, how PCs can make a cache for stashing spare or empty relics securely and finally, a huge selection of Apocalypse Myths for characters, setting background and NPCs.

Even if you aren't using the Outland System game mechanic, there is plenty here for any post apocalyptic gamer to bring to the game table. 24 illustrations 40 pages

Excavator Monthly is the official magazine for The Mutant Epoch milieu, covering the TME RPG, fiction, art and more.

Highlights of what this issue includes:

2 NPCs
3 New Creatures
2 new relics
Feature Articles: Regarding Solo-play /Apocalypse Mythology/ Your Stash
Color Character Sheet
1 Treasure Table
1 Character generation system (Gambler System)24 illustrations 40 pages

PDF $3.99
Print copy $9.99

We've decided to add a few pictures form the latest issue here:

Excavator Monthly Magazine Issue 1 released

Clearly I've been busier working on The Mutant Epoch than writing about working on it.

I guess that's good, but I do need to rank up Outland Arts' the social media presence and make a greater effort to update both here and on twitter. So far, twitter has been where we've done most of our updates as it is so easy to access with my blackberry. This blog of course allows for more text, images, videos and subscriber involvement, and doesn't require somebody to have a twitter account to access our tweets. So, with no further preamble, here is the news....

Welcome adventurer! This is the first issue of Outland Arts’ entirely The Mutant Epoch focused magazine, Excavator Monthly.

Included in this inaugural issue are articles on GM rewarded Experience Factors, another on how to handle multiple player characters, a character generation technique: the Double Barrel System, a word on some gaming blogs and podcasts, new relics: liquid flesh and the net gun, 2 NPCs and 3 mutant creatures: the creeping digester, jaw hog, and howling eviscerator. There is also a short story entitled Demon in the Depths, a write up on The Mutant Epoch website, preview of Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins, and a treasure table. Finally, an extensive article on Spiderborgs as NPCs, hostile foes, or player characters.

Excavator Monthly is the official magazine for The Mutant Epoch milieu, covering the TME RPG, fiction, art and more. Not using the Outland System? No worries, there is a ton here that any post apocalyptic GM can utilize.

This issue includes:

2 NPCs

3 New Creatures

2 new relics

1 new NPC or PC race (Spiderborgs)

1 short story

1 Treasure Table

1 Character generation system (Double Barrel)

19 illustrations

40 pages

RPGnow http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=94024

Lulu http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/excavator-monthly-issue-1/16585021?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/9

Here is the first look at some of the interior illustrations from this issue....

The Mall of Doom Released Today!

Without much pre-launch hype, advertising or warning, we’ve released our second book in the Mutant Epoch line. The Mall of Doom adventure is available in print and PDF and already selling better than we hoped. What’s interesting is that some of the people buying it haven’t apparently bought the TME hub rules yet. Of course not all sales at RPGnow show the customers name, but still It makes me wonder if gamers collect stuff they don’t intend to play? I can see that with rule sets, as I bought the Pathfinder core rules but haven’t even rolled up a character yet, but to buy an adventure without owning the system to play it? That’s another thing.

At any rate, buyers of The Mall of Doom who are a

lso Society of Excavator members can go to the downloads by product page and grab a heap of free PDFs from the adventure including the 5 player handouts, six maps, new creature, new relics and two NPCs. But be warned, if you are not going to GM The Mall, then don’t spoil things for yourself by sneaking a peak a the important handouts and NPCs.

In other news, we are already well ahead of schedule on the full version of Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins, with the layout done. The 80 or so illustrations will be the next hurtle, as we are also aiming at ramping up to the release of Excavator Monthly magazine, to be release on the 15^th of each month. Our current goal is to get issue 1 out for august 15^th.

After the Pitford book is on the market in September,

we will commence work on the 200+ page Crossroads Region Gazetteer, and then get to the Mutant Beastiary One book.

Whew, there is a lot to do. I can’t tell you how much the fan support on the forums and here on the blog have helped motivate me and the rest of the recruits.

Oops. Website needs a tweak here and there, and t

he kids need supper.

Again, the Mall of Doom is available as a PDF through RPGnow.com for $7.99 and a 136 page softcover book at lulu.com for $16.99

Happy Gaming

Will (Mutant Lord)

The Mall of Doom, back cover text

"The meat colored humanoids unleash a deafening howl of alarm, a cacophony which echoes throughout the courtyard and deep into all the nooks and crannies of the old mall. Immediately, answering shrieks and snarls respond and shadows of tall, skinny figures appear on the walls..."

In the twisted, dark future of 24th century America, heroes are needed more than ever. Do you have what it takes to rise up and answer the plea for help of hard pressed humanity?

In this adventure, the characters are recruited to investigate the disappearance and whereabouts of missing townsfolk beneath the recently re-inhabited farm-fortress of Walsave.

Through a series of underground expeditions, they soon discover that there is more to these kidnappings than meets the eye, and that these explorations under the Earth aren’t just a ruin-crawl into the crumbling, artifact rich confines of an ancient shopping complex. Besides the pitfalls and nightmares of the subterranean hell, they must contend with conflicting interests among the villagers as well, including raiders, a bizzare cult, and the ruling founders of this fortified settlement.

Can your characters survive the challenges that await them, or will they meet their end someplace deep below the rubble and junk of a besieged post-apocalyptic village?

The Mall of Doom uses the Outland System™ game mechanic and requires only The Mutant Epoch™hub rules RPG game book to play. Although set in the Crossroads Region over former Los Angeles, and a half day’s ride from the sprawling, poverty ridden city of Overpass, the game master can easily drop this adventure into his or her own campaign region. Designed for 6 to 10

first rank characters, this adventure could take surviving characters to the third or fourth rank. Here’s what’s included in this terrifying, fast paced adventure:

• Multi-Path adventure design: never plays the same twice. Design

ed for group gaming or

you can test your survival instincts, knowledge of The Mutant Epoch™, and wits by solo playing .

• PG14 rating due to some of the suggestive themes, horrific circumstances and descriptions; this adventure is not for the squeamish.

• 60 Illustrations • 5 Player Handouts • 6 Maps • 1 New Creature

• 2 New Relics • 136 Pages

The Mall of Doom goes to pre-press: Full cover preview here!

Since the release of The Mutant Epoch in April, we have been working double time to get our second book on the market. The Mall of Doom is an adventure for first rank characters and has been a blast to play test. Its probably the most horrific thing I've ever written and not sure what part of my psyche has caused it... you'll see.

Anyhow, the pre-press phase means sending the print files to lulu.com and then waiting a couple weeks for the book to get here. Once we have our reader sign off on the texts and we like how the cover fits and looks, we can release it. Usually this process takes few back and forth proof

copies to get right, so the release date may be closer to the end of June 2011 instead of the middle of the month as we plan now.

Incidentally, if any of you are interested in publishing your own books on any subject and ever want advice on the print on demand or PDF book publishing process, just email me at info@outlandarts.com . The whole thing is great fun.

Oh that reminds me, one of our readers, Mark Lambert has his http://www.trexlin.com/ big release of a system independent fantasy world setting: World of Trexlin coming up pretty soon. Cool stuff and a great site. check it out and say hello to the team there.

Anyhow here is the cover. Sorry, it doesn't seem to want to enlarge when I click it. Have to fix this.

Enjoy

Will

The Mutant Epoch is available on Amazon.com

Hey, just a quick update on The Mutant Epoch. The response to the game has been excellent and sales continue at a respectable pace. We have received some really fine reviews and a hell of a lot of outstanding support from bloggers, artists and other individuals who I will mention in upcoming posts. Plus, the response from buyers and Society of Excavator members on the forums and in email has been thoughtful, creative, game content rich, and motivating.

We are way ahead of schedule for the release of the Mall of Doom, and and beginning interior art for the first issue of Excavator Monthly Magazine.

The game is now available on Amazon.com as well as the createspace.com store which supplies Amazon, plus, the Italian online game store Arima.it .

The print copies from lightning Source through RPGnow.com came back yesterday and had some serious issues, with a desaturated and grayed down cover, and any drop shadowed text in the book converted to solid black blocks. Yikes. So today was spent dealing with that headache and uploading new versions for another two week wait. We had planned to hold off on banner ads and other marketing until the hardcover and soft cover could be purchased through RPGnow.com, but may not be able to wait much longer.

Review copies should also be arriving over the next few days, plus, a shipment of 50 more copies of the game are on their way here for local stores and events.

This is all so exciting and I have a heck of a time shutting off my mind at night and falling asleep.

There is so much more going on that I'd like to share, but will save some for later entries.

Next time we will be adding new art for The Mall of Doom, our first full length published adventure for The Mutant Epoch. We of course can only show the art which doesn't give away too much, since some of you might be players, or even use the adventure's Multi-Path (solo-play) feature. This feature allows those wanting to learn the rules or prepare to be a GM and/or test the adventure first before subjecting their players to it, to get gaming right away.

Happy Adventuring, and keep your heads down out there.

So... What's The Mutant Epoch about?

See the Preview PDF here

"The Mutant Epoch is about humankind’s attempt to reclaim some semblance of civilization, calling upon its best and boldest to uncover the lost knowledge and power of the old ones."

The Mutant Epoch™ post-apocalyptic RPG challenges your in-game persona to survive in an age of rediscovery, high adventure, savage conflict, and freakish mutants and machines. Characters work in small excavation teams making forays into ruined cities, through junk strewn wastelands, twisted forests, nightmarish swamps and across polluted seas. During their expeditions they must contend with mutant beasts, the environment, as well as raiders, cultists, and robotic forces, only to stake their place in the newly emerging barter forts and factional bastions of humanity.

Players can take on the roles of pure stocks, mutants, ghost mutants, cyborgs, beastial humans and an assortment of synthetic or engineered humans.

All you need is this book, dice, paper and pencils, a few friends and your imagination. The Mutant Epoch™ uses the Outland System™ game mechanic, which employs the full set of polyhedron dice, is easy to learn, logical, fast paced, and perfectly suited to the hard core action of post apocalyptic game play.

Inside this lavishly illustrated book you will find all the rules, art and content to generate characters, challenge them with perils, and then reward them with potent relics.

This core book includes: • 8 character types • 30 castes • 36 skills • over a 111 mutations • 68 cybernetic implants •104 creatures • 9 robots and 10 androids • complete encounter tables • hazards, traps and insanity • typical humans • rules for called shots, parrying and chases • 9 relic vehicles, 44 weapon relics, 14 armor relics and 70+ miscellaneous relics • common PA vehicles and 10 scrap built Vehicles • dozens of helpful tables • character sheet • GMs party record sheet • grid and hex paper, and much more!

Plus, there are numerous supplemental books, Excavator Monthly magazine issues, fiction, art, and as an added bonus buying the TME Hub Rules book automatically grants the owner exclusive membership in the Society of Excavators.

246 pages hyperlinked

The Mutant Epoch

The Mutant Epoch: "The Mutant Epoch"

We've posted the PDF version of the RPG on RPGnow.com and Drivethrurpgs.com... and getting sales right off the bat. Check out the demo here, too: http://www.outlandarts.com/The-Mutant-Epoch-RPG-preview-spring2011v2.pdf

Man, I need some sleep... or more coffee.

Regards,

Will

The Mutant Epoch full release:: Hours, not days....

It is going to be another long, late night for me working on the website. I hit the pillow aroudn 4:30 am last night, worked all day on the site, and am now inthe home run. Java script issues and coping with the password protected member's area have been pushing the limits of my tech level. Still, the members area is all working and the loads of free content ready for you all to download. The silly adult content section navigation is giving me much anxiety, however, I have a cold beer waiting as a reward for completing that.

The PDF is also completed and ready for upload to RPGnow, One bookshelf, Yourgamesnow.com as soon as the site is tested, so things are coming together nicely.

Thanks all of you for ordering The Mutant Epoch role-playing game. It is simply thrilling to think some of you already have your copies. Justin you got yours in just 6 days! That's simply amazing considering the book is printed and shipped in that time. We get books in about 11 days to our warehouse (basement) here in Canada ( where there is still some snow in our back yard, along with bears).

Brutorz Bill, yours should be in your mailbox Tuesday.

Hey, Anonymous, yes, there will be character robots, and plants, in the expansion book, and a lot of other twisted character types, new implants, mutations and post-apocalyptic gaming loot.

So the big release will only be hours, not days away. Hard to believe.

If you've had a chance to look through the book and try out some character generation, combat and so forth, and you like what you've experienced, please feel free to leave a review at the Lulu.com store on the page you bought the book, or email us any comments or reviews that we can place on our website. Customer reviews are invaluable, and the Mutant Lord will not forget his allies.

Sincerely,

Will

The Mutant Epoch RPG pre-release availability tonight!

Get your copy here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-mutant-epoch-role-playing-game/15316236



Alas, after several attempts and much bad language, we were able to upload The Mutant Epoch role-playing game just minutes ago. Only about a half hour left in March.

You can get a copy right now at our outland arts lulu store front for $27.99

Keep in mind that this is not our big launch since the PDF version for rpgnow, drive thrurpg and yourgamesnow.com is important, so too is having a working forum and website, but some of you have been very eager and patient and I wanted to make the print version available to you. It will take a week or so to arrive at your door so by that time we should have the web site and forum up and running. At that pint, we will officially launch the game and have it available through every venue we can find.

Next is the interior art for Adventure TME-1: Mall of Doom and the first issue of Excavator Monthly.

Now, time or a big coffee and hours of work on the website while uploading the updated version to our createspace store. We will be ordering a few boxes for local area distribution and mailer copies to reviewers and allies.

Goodnight,

Will

Creative Director

OutlandArts.com

Hours away from releasing The Mutant Epoch RPG

An update on the release of the Mutant Epoch RPG,

Just dropped off five copies at High Octane Comics and Collectibles, 3 already pre-sold, and we're an hour or two away from having the book available through our lulu.com storefront. I will post here and on twitter as soon as that happens.

The full website isn't loaded yet as we are still waiting on our outside service people to get the password protected area established, but that should only take a few days.

The PDF version of the book will have to wait a few days, too as the linked version had a serious issue and needs to be redone, perhaps with Adobe Acrobat instead of in InDesgin this time.

I imagined a huge global release at all sales venues simultaneously, with everything ready... instead of in a ever growing stream of availability, but, I said it would be out in March and so it shall be.

Stand by...

Will

The Mutant Epoch available in March!

The third round of proofs are on their way to the Studio, the content rich official web site all but done, the free content PDFs loaded and the forum's being tweaked. This is it. The TME Hub rules book will be available at Createspace, Amazon.com, Drive Thru RPG, RPGnow as print books, as well as PDF versions through your games now, and the previously mentioned outlets. We will also order a limited quantity for the two game stores here in Kamloops, as well as several to be mailed to reviewers and several international customers who want signed copies direct from us. We will be posting much more frequently once the launch has happened.

The Mutant Epoch Hub Rules book is done.

We are edging very close to a firm, fixed release date, and are just finishing off the last of the free online content, dealing with our web design guys, setting up the password protected Society of Excavators members area and forum... and getting together some art for the many PDFs that users can download for free.

Excited is no word for it.

A final proof copy was sent from Lulu.com last week. Just need to give it a quick look through and assure ourselves that he quality is good ad then as soon as the new site is up and working, we will releases within days. It is looking like the last week of January 2011 is the releases date.

The above image shows a mock up of the free adventure called The Crevice, or at least the earliest online version of it as we plan to update it with more art once we have a free week.

We have been working so hard that we haven't devoted much time to advertising, twitter, blogs, art previews and such. while all these pre-launch promotions are great and highly recommended by marketing people, I'd rather be promoting once I have a product to offer. There will be enough chance to arrange pre-launch hype for other books, as we have several well along in the works including The Mall of Horrors and Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins.

Of course, there is the monthly magazine. We don't have a set date for when the first of those come out, and would like to get the first three issues loaded and ready for the market before we release the first issue of Excavator Monthly. The covers, articles and much of the art is done for the magazine already, we just need to assemble them and give them each a final edit.

Thanks to all of you who have been so patient,

Happy New Years!

Will

Creative Director

Outland Arts