Back from the brink

So I am back in the studio and doing my best after last week's emergency surgery. I was a bit shocked to hear my Gall bladder had gone all toxic and had to be removed, as I have always enjoyed perfect health and really looked after myself. I'll certainly have some questions for the doctors about this.


At any rate, I have had a chance to get recent interior illustrations scanned and touched up. Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins will be a week or two late due to my surgery, but I am still aiming for a release late this month.

 Thanks to all of who who offered their kind thoughts and well wishing regarding my injury. While I still have bandages on my abdomen and ache if I bend a certain way or breath deeply, I am on the mend and in the studio. Time to play catch up and finish the last set of images for the book.


 In the meantime, here is a heap of new art that, as of today, I haven't posted anyplace else. They are much larger than the appear here so if you wanna closer look, just click on an image. Previous imagery for the book can be found at the Pitford art gallery page here.
 Enjoy
Will

Guest Blog posts anyone?

Hey, We're looking at ways of spreading the word about The Mutant Epoch. What we need is either very affordable advertising, but more importantly and more enjoyable is the idea of doing some guest posts on your blogs and sites. We'd even be into having guest posts on our blog. Now, I know some of you have your own online venues and we've talked about doing something in the past.  Some ideas were putting up some TME art, a mutant creature, or interview, etc. So if there is anything you can think of doing together, let me know.
 WM

Where are we going?

The Mutant epoch role playing game has been out for less than a year and going stronger than ever. Before I get any further in this post I just wanted to thank everybody who has supported the game, either as a buyer, editor, writer, artist, industry ally, SOE member, newsletter subscriber, twitter follower, play tester, family member, shop owner or friend.

As you will see below, we are only just getting started.

March was our second best month ever for sales, only a few copies behind December. The success and warm response by fans and industry professionals has greatly added to my motivation and dedication to the growth of the TME milieu, as well as the tabletop gaming in general. So where are we going as a company, at least along the lines of The Mutant Epoch? Larger source books is the answer.

While other writers are working on new source books and supplements, I am spending my days drawing then inking the art for Pitford Gateway to the Ruins and a third of the way through the completed imagery for the book. By the end of April I’d like to have all the 111 illustrations at least penciled if not inked. Once the art is done and inserted into the layout, the book will get one or two more editorial reads and then she’s off to press for mid May.

Larger books seems to be what the audience wants, although the Excavator Monthly Issues were a blast to do and about half the TME gamership purchase them. The thing is, as convenient and affordable as PDFs are, people seem like physical books, and to get real value from physical printing and shipping costs, a larger book is the way to go.

So here is what we are up to, showing what order the next books will be released:

Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins 188 pages/ Coming May 2012/ Print $22.99, PDF $10.99

The Crossroads Region 330 to 360 pages/ Coming Late Summer 2012/ Print $32.99, PDF $14.99

Mutant Beastiary One 104 to 112 pages/ Coming Fall 2012/ Print $16.99, PDF $7.99

Adventure TME 2 Blood Road 164 pages/ Coming early winter 2012/ Print 19.99, PDF $9.99

Adventure TME 3 Nuke Tower 200+ pages/ Coming Early 2013

Looking into our crystal ball, 2013 has us working on the following titles:

· TME Expansion Rules Book

· Adventure TME 4 The Flesh Weavers

· The Shattered Region Gazetteer

· A novel Trilogy based in the Shallow Sea Region just north of the Crossroads Region

· The Shallow Sea Region Gazetteer

· Mutant Beastiary Two

Closely related to The Mutant Epoch and using the Outland System we will also be pressing on with our Fantasy RPG, the name not yet announced as we are still resolving copyright and trademark issues, not to mention domain name purchases.

Yes, this is a hell of a list and a lot of work ahead of us. The good news is that most of these books are written and in editorial and art phase, so they exist already, including the novel trilogy. This is, after all, my full time job. Outland Arts is something I have been working toward since I was in high school, many, many years ago, even though I didn’t always know it. Everything I’ve done in my creative and work life as been toward this dream lifestyle. What words can I use to describe how good it feels when Monday morning comes around and I get to come down to the new studio and work on The Mutant Epoch? I owe this rewarding way of life to those who’ve helped me get here, those I listed above. Thank you. I will do my best to see that Outland Arts releases more and even better products in the months ahead.

Now, back to inking…

Sincerely,

Will McAusland

Excavator Monthly Issue 6 is here!

I know a lot of you here are already on the mailing list and have heard the announcement on the releases of issue 6 of our monthly magazine, but for those of you who haven't heard, here is the brief....

Ever want to play a post-apocalyptic ninja, cowboy, marine, super model or hulking mutant freak? Now you can! Issue 6 covers 20 stereotypes available as player characters.

Another special feature in this issue is Tiny Terrors; 12 nasty critters to keep your players on their toes including mutant black widow spiders, jumping wood ticks, saw jawed newts and grass leeches to name a few. We also cover how to assign NPCs for your players to control complete with a randomized selection, articles on the difference between scavengers and excavators, outrunning your comrades, two new NPCs: Graydon the Mad and Zako the Dealer, along with the survival Pistol and Over-Armor-Tac-Harness for new relics.

This issue includes:

Special Critter Issue: Tiny Terrors:: 12 nasty little beasts

2 NPCs

2 New relics

20 Player Character Stereotypes types

Player Controlled NPCs

Outrun Your Comrades

Scavengers and Excavators

32 illustrations

44 pages

Print price $9.99 sold through lulu.com

PDF price $3.50

Now, here is some art from the latest issue. You can see a larger gallery at our website here.

Now that this issue is out the door, you'll be hearing a lot more from me in coming weeks.

Best regards,

Will

Excavator Monthly Issue 5 just released!

Whew! We finally sent issue 5 of Excavator Monthly to press, a few weeks late this time. It seems that each issue is getting more challenging to produce and thus hitting the market a bit later.

Here is the pitch...

Camping out in the ruins is insane! But sometimes things go wrong and your dig team has no choice. If you’re gonna do it, then issue 5 explains how. While the hapless PC’s are having their sleep over in the rubble heaps, why not terrorize them? For the GM, we have an article on introducing horror into your post apocalyptic campaign.

In this issue we also present more NPCs, 3 nasty new creatures: The Ponysapien, Botamorto and Gaswing, along with potent relics: the Medusa Stun Staff, Energy Shield, Tactical Knife and Recon Carbine. A new character generation method is also included bringing you the Generic Excavator, plus a new skill: Archery, articles on ruin ecology, using name tags and tent cards, another treasure table, and 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:

Terrorize Them! Horror in a PA setting
2 NPCs
3 New Creatures
4 New relics
Generic Excavator Character type
Camping In The Ruins
Archery Skill
Ruin Ecology

Treasure Table EM4
25 illustration
40 pages

Softcover $9.99 PDF $3.50

Demo Link: http://www.outlandarts.com/EM-5-web-files/Excavator_Monthly_Issue-5-The-Mutant-Epoch-8-page-demo.pdf

Art Gallery http://www.outlandarts.com/TME-Excavator-Monthly-Magazine-issue5.htm

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.