ACD Distribution is looking to hire a Sales Representative in Middleton, Wisconsin. The job involves cold-calling and managing existing customer relationships. “Knowledge of and a passion for board games are a definite plus.”

TCGplayer has a number of openings in Syracuse, New York. Some are for software development; others are for some aspect of project management and customer relations.

Green Ronin is recruiting women for contract work on its upcoming Lost Citadel Roleplaying Game.

Patrick Leder, owner of Leder Games and designer of Vast: The Crystal Caverns, needs all-around help running his company—production, customer service, marketing, all of it—so he can focus on product development. The position he wants to fill, Operations Coordinator, is part-time and contract and can be done remotely, though proximity to the Twin Cities would be an advantage.

Also in the Twin Cities area, Asmodee North America (née Fantasy Flight Games) has openings for a Production Coordinator, License Compliance Coordinator, and International Sales Representative.

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A new partnership between Syrinscape and Green Ronin is giving gamers Mutants & Masterminds soundsets for the former’s Syrinscape Sci-Fi app. These aren’t just fixed tracks meant to be played on loop. Syrinscape’s players (available for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS) enable gamers to make live adjustments to the balance and intensity of sound elements, as well as to combine elements from different sets to fit the unique environments of their games.

Two M&M sets, Space Fight and Freedom City 2525, are available immediately for $4 each. These’ll allow gamemasters to mix and program the sounds of freeze rays, droids, sirens, force fields, and more. Additional soundsets are planned for release every month. (A sci-fi subscription covering all of them costs $6.50 a month.)

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Following several complaints about the offerings from the D&D All-Access event at Gen Con 2015, Baldman Games published a public apology to all attendees and is offering a physical copy of Out of the Abyss, the next campaign book for D&D 5th Edition by Green Ronin; and a code for a digital copy of Sword Coast Legends, the party-based RPG for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. All-Access players at Gen Con 2015 are requested to fill out the form at http://baldmangames.com/2015/08/gen-con-2015-all-access-update/ to get their packet.

The All-Access Program was a $150 event within the Gen Con convention, which promised a premium gaming experience. The pass gains access to reserved seats for all the D&D adventures in a separated gaming space. At 2014’s convention, attendees also received copies of the D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook and Monster Manual, two weeks before the book’s official release date. This year, several people commented that they received nearly nothing at all. “Another event offered the three autographed rulebooks plus two epics for $140,” wrote user Wisewolverine on the Gen Con community forum. “Everyone who purchased an all access package got royally screwed.” User wgmccanless wrote, “We did get a couple of [D&D Adventurers League (organized play)] Certificates, but none were worth anything. No book, no souveniers, no 2015 commemorative dice, no coupons for future purchases, nothing! I got more swag for ordering a sandwich at Scotty’s [Brewhouse]!”

David Christ of Baldman Games, discussed how giveaways impact the All-Access Package process. “Every year the program has provided different things and the attendees have valued them in their own fashion,” he writes. “Each year the [giveaway] items were better and better and that is just not a sustainable program.” To help bring the event back to something that is “more sustainable long term” and more of a value to the attendees, the company is considering several options such as a concierge service; custom exclusive adventure tracks for All-Access members; moving the event to a dedicated room to cut down on noise, and offer snacks and lunch items; and adding special guests to the event.

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Green Ronin has developed a player-facing campaign sourcebook for Wizards of the Coast’s Forgotten Realms setting. The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, covering the region of the Forgotten Realms where D&D 5th Edition’s storylines take place, will be available on November 3rd for  $39.95.

Included in the book are Realms-specific backgrounds, subraces, and subclass options for “many” of the classes in the Player’s Handbook: Waterdeep nobles, Purple Dragon Knights, Swashbucklers, and Bladesingers.

Green Ronin’s Out of the Abyss adventure campaign is part of the overall Rage of Demons storyline. The campaign, designed to take characters from level 1 to 15, is centered on a demonic invasion of the Underdark with adventurers traveling with everyone’s favorite misunderstood scimitar-wielding drow elf, Drizzt Do’Urden. Out of the Abyss will be available September 15th for $49.95.

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Green Ronin has announced the August release of both their Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook and Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana setting. For those who’ve been watching Wil Wheaton’s Titansgrave show on Geek & Sundry, you’re probably just as excited as I am about this news.

Both books will be full-color hardcovers, and Titansgrave will also contain a double-sided poster map. The basic rulebook clocks in at 144 pages, while the Ashes of Valkana will be 96. They’ll be priced at $30 and $25 respectively.

I plan on snagging both as soon as I possibly can and getting a game going as quickly as possible.

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After a day of comments about the fan-made unlicensed Mass Effect RPG being nominated for multiple ENnie awards, Russ “Morrus ” Morrissey of ENWorld, stated that the game would be removed from the slate of nominees. The Mass Effect RPG, nominated for Best Electronic Book, Best Free Product, and Product of the Year, was written and designed by RPG industry veteran Don Mappin. The game is based on Galileo Games’ Bulldogs!, a Fate Core-based game.

“For this year, we have decided to disqualify the fan-created Mass Effect RPG on the basis of IP violations,” the statement read. “The creator of the product, after discussion with him, has already been notified. Don Mappin, the creator of the product, has additionally told us that ‘Based on this outcome I will be removing the work and its associated files.'” The game’s three award nominations will be replaced with other items to keep the number of entries in a ballot equal at five, ten for Product of the Year.

About the game, Mappin writes the game is “solely a labor of love”. The game states that despite using the setting and illustrations from the Mass Effect property, the game is unlicensed and done without the permission or involvement of the IP holders. Mappin writes “it is our hope to expand the outreach of the Mass Effect property to another segment of games—role-players—who have long coveted a way to bring the events of Commander Shepard to life at their gaming tables.”

“I am very public and open that it is an unlicensed product, made available free of charge and that no renumeration is to be made from its distribution. The Fate core OGL is adhered to (to the best of my ability) as well as content from Brennan Taylor of Galileo Games and their Bulldogs! product, with permission,” Don Mappin responded. “I don’t believe that I have violated any aspect of the rules for the ENnies and would hope that my work could be considered.

After game industry professionals and gamers began commenting on the inclusion of an unlicensed work being nominated for Product of the Year, Morrus posted a comment on Twitter and facebook reading, “We are currently discussing an issue re. an ENnies nomination. Info soon.” This was followed up an hour later with a post on facebook reading, in part, that while the nomination categories don’t distingush between fan and publisher work, that this is the first time they’ve had issues concerning a product’s licensed status. “We’ve never had to ask about a product’s licensed status before – we’ve always left a publisher’s own legal matters to them – so this is a new situation for us.” The facebook post says that the issue was being discussed as they wanted to do the right thing.

Nicole Linroos of Green Ronin, publishers of the Dragon Age RPG, said in 2012 that although their relationship with Bioware is “pretty damn happy”, that the video game company was not interested in a Mass Effect roleplaying game. She writes, “the idea has been tossed around and discussed between the Mass Effect team, the Bioware licensing folks, and Green Ronin on more than one occasion. They’re not interested in taking Mass Effect to tabletop, it’s as simple as that.” In a more recent statement, she says that while she would love to have a legitimately licensed AGE-powered Mass Effect game, the company would is not allowed to do so, “not even for free, not even to “give back” to the community. In fact, doing so would likely endanger the legitimate license my company does hold from EA.”

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What’s the biggest, baddest dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons? I’d have to go with the Underdark, the cavernous maze that spans an entire game world. This world under the world is the setting for Wizards of the Coast’s next storyline, Rage of Demons.

And yes, there’s a Drizzt.

(See?)

The main concept behind the new storyline involves a demonic invasion of the Underdark with adventurers traveling “with the iconic hero Drizzt Do’Urden”. Like the previous storylines, Rage of Demons will be told through the tabletop roleplaying game and electronic (PC and Xbox One) games. The Neverwinter: Underdark expansion for the Neverwinter MMO will be released in 2015 (with the Xbox version coming after the PC version) while the Out of the Abyss adventure for D&D 5th Edition is scheduled for the fall. Partner companies WizKids, who have developed games for the D&D line; Gale Force Nine, who did the DM Screens for the earlier storyline adventures; and Smiteworks, who have developed Fantasy Grounds, a virtual tabletop product supporting D&D, are all on board for Rage of Demons.

Earlier storylines had their tabletop campaigns developed by third-party companies: Tyranny of Dragons’ Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat were developed by Wolfgang Bauer’s Kobold Press while Elemental Evil’s Princes of the Apocalypse was developed by Rich Baker’s Sasquatch Game Studio. Out of Abyss will be developed by Green Ronin, who have previously done the Dragon Age RPG, A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, the Freeport setting for D&D 3.5 (and Paizo’s Pathfinder game), among others. Out of the Abyss will be a single volume book, like Princes of the Apocalypse.

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