Monday, December 9, 2013

The Crossroads Region Gazetteer released today!


Adventure and Exploration Await!
Grab your gasmask, your knee pads, crossbow and blade! Suit up into your junk armor and survival packs and get ready to dive into a world of high adventure. Welcome to the Crossroads Region!
      It is the year 2364. The Tainted Sea continues to recede, exposing patches of the former megalopolis of Los Angeles. Here, your heroes will explore old war zones, ruined cityscapes, reef-locked relic ships, stinking bogs and toxic bomb craters. Seek the bounty on the dreaded outlaw-cannibal Appro-Mortica, recharge your power cells at Array, and avoid purist deviant hunters and mutant supremacists as your dig team travels Forest Road.
     The Crossroads Region Gazetteer is the first official setting for The Mutant Epoch RPG. Designed to connect with other upcoming gazetteers, this territory sits directly above uncharted zones meant to be crafted by the game master. No further settings will be published which document the areas south of the Crossroads Region, and instead future books will only describe areas, north, east and west.

Included in this 448 page book:

• 33 Community Descriptions          • 98 Locations of Interest Descriptions
• 320 Illustrations       • 39 maps      • 20 NPCs
• Plus details on regional factions, ruin areas, outlaws, heroes, organization, nomadic communities and much more!
• Access to downloadable map and game ready content archive, including larger versions of included maps


You can buy the book in PDF, softcover or hardcover.... 



* An amazon company, with the Amazon.com page being auto-updated to feature the new book a few hours or days later than the release date. Buying through their createpspace store gets you the same book from the same printer, but we get a much more generous portion of the sale. But yes, I think Amazon cuts the price by a buck or two.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Pre-Sales Deal for The Crossroads Region Gazetteer

From our Forums...

So, The Crossroads Region Gazetteer is done and has been at the printers for a bit, and should get to the distributors on the 26th. Still, the release date is fuzzy because we need to get that confirmed from the warehouse folks. Tomorrow I start full time on completing Mutant Bestiary One.

In the meantime, you've all been so patient and I feel sick having a perfectly good book waiting in limbo. I've been looking at other industries and publishers and they often offer a pre-sales option. I think that's a great idea, but I want it to be a sweet deal for you wastelanders. Of course, I love friendly local game stores and if you think your local store is going to carry The Crossroads Book, and you can wait a few weeks extra, then support them. If not...

Here it is, if you want to buy the print book at a pre-sale deal, you can do so at $36.99 US or Canadian, and we will pay the shipping and get this, buy you a PDF copy as a bonus. This deal ends the day the book is officially released. 

How do you pre-buy your copy? Via paypal. Send $36.99 to info@outlandarts.com and either in the paypal email or a followup, send us the email address you'd like your PDF copy to go to, plus, your full mailing address. Don't have paypal? You can still use your credit card there, or, if you want to send a check by mail, we honor the deal and send your copies once the check clears, so long as you email us and let us know a check is on the way before our release date.

The day the book is released we will send the PDF copy to your email address, and the print book will also be ordered on the release date automatically and a day or two later, shipped. I will personally email you to let you know the anticipated day the book is to arrive at your house. 

Now, if you're not in either Canada or the USA, and want to take advantage of this deal, email me with your address and I'll plug it into the machine and see what the postage is like, and see if I can arrange the exact same deal (which I will make every effort to do).

Again, thank you all for your patience. I know the Crossroads Gazetteer has been a long time in coming. I've been at it more or less steady for 3 years and now that it is done I am somewhat lost... except for all the other books waiting my attention.

Best regards,
Will McAusland

PS. if you have any questions about this deal, please email me at info@outlandarts.com





Saturday, November 2, 2013

Crossroads Region map 30x30 inch web preview

Hi Epochian Wastelanders,

 Well, we are polishing off the last pre-press chores on our checklist, and gearing up on some promos for the imminent release of The Crossroads Region Gazetteer.  

We just posted a 30 x 30 inch jpeg, full color look at the regional map. Feel free to share the image with your gamer friends and spread the word!

You can learn more at our lively forums and find the map there 
http://mutantepochforum.boards.net/thread/233/huge-screen-view-crossroads-region
as well as here:

 photo TME-Crossroads-Region-color-map-frame-30x30-web_zps6b020270.jpg

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Crossroads Region Gazetteer update:: Coming in Days!

So, while aiming for an October 30th release, we may need to bump it a week and half to accommodate our distributor, which is a smart move.At any rate, I can't believe this mammoth book is almost ready to go to press and pdf. I've been at this day after day for many months and am eager to see it on the shelves and onto game tables. Here is the slightly updated cover and following blurb.
    Enjoy
   Will McAusland


Adventure and Exploration await!

Grab your gasmask, your knee pads, crossbow and blade! Suit up into your junk armor and survival packs and get ready to dive into a world of high adventure. Welcome to the Crossroads Region!
It is the year 2364. The Tainted Sea continues to recede, exposing patches of the former megalopolis of Los Angeles. Few areas in the brutal world of The Mutant Epoch are so densely populated nor so embroiled in factional warfare as The Crossroads Region. Here, your heroes will explore old war zones, ruined cityscapes, reef-locked relic ships, stinking bogs and toxic bomb craters. Seek the bounty on the dreaded outlaw-cannibal Appro-Mortica, recharge your power cells at Array, avoid the deviant hunters of the Holy Purist Empire, and dodge the Mutant Supremacists of Aberratia as your dig team travels forest road. At the end of the day, you and your comrades can wash away the grave dust of the ancients with a pint of beer in the bars and saloons of dozens of towns. But even in the scrap and concrete confines of human settlements, keep one eye open, as the abode of men can easily be as deadly as the post-apocalyptic wilderness.
The Crossroads Region Gazetteer is the first official setting for The Mutant Epoch role playing game and contains the sprawling city of Overpass, the purist capital of Pure Hub City, the Aberrationist capital of Newburg, along with thirty one other factional and independent communities.

Herein, the fortified excavator’s town of Pitford resides, as well as the village of Walsave from the Mall of Doom adventure. Several upcoming TME adventures are also set in this region. Designed to connect with other upcoming gazetteers, this territory sits directly above uncharted zones meant to be created by the game master. No further settings will be published which document the areas south of the Crossroads Region, and instead future books will only describe areas, north, east and west. 


Finally, below is a screen version of the map of Leperhold. As the name implies, this sad place is leper colony in the most southern edge of the region. 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Yet another update on The Crossroads Region Gazetteer

Hi Wastelanders,

 I'm going to post this here and on the blog as most of you inhabit one or the other online venue.

So yes, I have been using the 'conceal self' skill as far as this forum and social media go. Been working every day, often 12 or more hours per day, trying to get the Crossroads Gazetteer wrapped out. Now 4 months overdue.

 I suffer from an overdeveloped sense of optimism. No, its true. I believe things will be easier than they really are, take less time, and sell a bajillion copies, and get mentioned on every RPG podcast and blog overnight. This optimism is to blame for me becoming a writer-illustrator-game designer, instead of a plumber as my high school aptitude test suggested, but... it is working out. The game is well received, well reviewed and selling better than I expected.  Anyway, back to the update....

What's left? Well, I've done the hand drawn portions of 25 of 33 maps, and commenced work on the 19 NPCs. The cover is done,although I'm thinking I'd like to do a different one and see which you prefer... but that would delay things I guess. The final edits and illustrations are all done and inserted, and the arduous process of making an index and creating links for the PDF version are still ahead... although also started.


 All in all, I'd like to say the book will be available in print and PDF Sept 30th now, but due to distribution concerns there is a week or two delay getting books from the printer to the warehouse. So hmmmmm. I am no longer going to speculate on the release dates of books, as every time I do, something comes up that throws the date off. I will however make updates on progress and show off art, tweet excerpts, and whatnot to keep you all posted.

Okay, time to go to the drawing table and finish the map of Hermilage in the Holy Purist Empire... a place your pure stock and ghost mutant characters could end up as prisoners... forced to do slave labor by day, and be converted to Puristalism by night. Your mutant, cyborg, beastial and synthetic characters? They go to Witch Burn further south... and you can guess it won't end well for them.

 Here is a look at the illustration of Hermilage:


Finally, if you want to the most up to date news from us, may I suggest following our twitter feed here https://twitter.com/mutantlord

Regards,
 Will McAusland

Monday, July 22, 2013

Well, we just released another free mutant villain for you, and its a gross brute in more ways than one. Now that it is out, back we go to the production on the Crossroads Region book. Got a lot to do still, but if we work hard, we can meet that late August 2013 release date!
WM

 Now to the freak:

As hated as is it is feared, the disgusting, vaguely humanoid, multi-limbed and many headed Junk-Mobster is here.

Our fourth and most disturbing creature of the apocalypse yet. This thing is the stuff of nightmares. Not only can it eviscerate opponents with its elongated, clawed arms, but it often tries to subdue potential mates with net and club, meanwhile unleashing a barrage of mental mutations. Although terrible, mercenary bands, bounty hunters and excavators alike often seek these mutant monsters out, eager to claim the lucrative bounty on them, as well as free prisoners and loot the Rubble-Gangsta’s trove.


Get it free at Drivethrusrpg or RPGnow today! Also, make sure you claim our three previous Creatures of the Apocalypse: The Spike Back, Red Harvester and dreaded Sickle Foot.

PDF cover art

Detail of the handsome fellows