February 7th 2006 Issue #6

Crunch time is bearing down on us and the workload doesn't seem to be thinning at all. With the Nature of magic mishap we had, the need and desire to release the battle for Andora Primer, finding a reliable, quality, and affordable printing service, finalizing Omnibus #1 into print format once again, working to complete Omnibus #2 and a myriad of other things, it's no wonder that our February newsletter is a week late.

We have been updating our site with a new mailing list integration which doesn't use an annoying spam machine. Our messages were getting filtered out at times because of the nature of how it is sent. So now you can decide if you want to keep hearing from us or not, instead of a server doing it. Also the system is totally automated so you can log in and make changes to the nature of how you participate in this mailing list. We had sent this newsletter earlier this month, but the software we were using messed up and some people didn't get it, so if you are getting this newsletter for the second time, we appolgize, but it isn't redundant, as we have completed the Battle for Andora primer! read on.

The Battle for Andora is upon us! Andora has always been one of the greatest centers of strife on Rivium, even before the coming of magic, and now that the arrival of the third race has occurred, and Dragul's empire of Yeld has fallen, a void in power is all that remains. Uneasy peace has taken hold and the centuries, which followed the great battles between Men, Elves, and the Nosferatu but has left everyone uneasy. A period of relative peace has been shaken to an end with the realization of part of the prophecy; the coming of the five. Now, battles are rising up all over Andora as the seven Nosferatu houses spring to life and mount armies of such size and might previously thought impossible, striving to attain these mythically powerful artifacts. Total war is an ever-growing threat on the great continent and the need for great soldiers, warriors and adventurers is greater than ever. This 66 page (33 screen formatted) free supplement is now available for download at www.crossroads-rpg.com. This is the first supplement, which is set for PDF full screen viewing, and will be the pattern for all of our future free PDF supplements. This primer has two focuses: first being to provide even more in depth story and history of the world of Rivium, providing all the tools you'll need to paint a picture of the world your adventures take place in. A scenario pack entitled 'The Massacre at Serick" is one such conflict which takes place all across Andora during this dark time. The second purpose for this primer is the Character Creation Addendum, which offers many new mechanics, which mesh seamlessly with the existing rules. These new mechanics are designed to create and determine information about the origin, past and motivations of your characters as well as establish possible starting points and tasks which your character may be undertaking as your Game Master's story takes hold. Come to our site today and download your free copy of this exciting new product from Arcadiam Games!

Recall order sent out on January 31st. Arcadiam Games regretfully had to issue a recall order for copies of the long anticipated Nature of Magic book. These copies which went to many key distributors to fill orders which were already standing from retailers and end customers, had to be pulled due to massive quality issues. The printing company used to create the books appeared to offer very good quality based on samples, as well as a good price. When the final product arrived at Key20, our distribution handler however, they were a little less than just undesirable, but rather un-sellable in every regard. We jumped on the phone and e-mail and immediately contacted the right people to get the situation resolved and offered a good incentive for any retailer who happened to get a copy through distribution. See the full press release for details. Among some of the problems were poor image quality on the cover, text body, bad printing lines in the body text, uneven trims, poor and bleed-less trim lines with white borders, and not to mention complete printing of the wrong data file version provided to the printer. So for those of you in the industry be wary, and contact us if you would like the name of this printer so as to avoid them.

CyberCon 2006

February 4th Arcadiam Games ran it's first online game of the CrossRoads of Eternity. This game was held as part of CyberCon 2006 and was a very good success in our opinion. Though only allowed one time slot, the game ran for over one and a half hours longer than scheduled, four people registered and all showed for the game. Aside from a few technical difficulties on one participant's part, all went off without a hitch. The game was enjoyable, we walked everyone through the process of playing the game using character they had made ahead of time, chose from the list of characters, or in one case, we threw together on the spot for them since the files the player got ended up being corrupted and unusable. Once we began to play it was a great time. Everyone enjoyed themselves and got to see a good deal about the game at work. We had a good assortment of character types and everyone was very motivated to take action in the game as it unfolded. As one participant said after I had to cut the game off an hour and a half past the deadline "You know it's a good sign when you have to kick the players out" which overall described the evening as a whole. As a result of CyberCon, we plan to attend other electronic expos and chat-room based games in the future, as well as host some of our own via our own chat room.

Hunters in Darkness, or "Hunters" for short are the official, certified CrossRoads of Eternity RPG independent demonstrators. Anyone from the age of 14 and up can sign up to become a demonstrator. Your job will be to show the many facets of the game, get new players interested, and have fun at local shops, shows, and conventions promoting the game, while receiving great support and product for your efforts. To qualify as a Hunter:

You must be at least 14 years of age
You must first participate in a play test cycle of new material in works from Arcadiam Games, and give constructive feedback on that material. A play test and assessment cycle lasts around 2 to 3 months while the product is in development. Any questions, concerns, or feedback should be addressed on the website forums where you can get response form other play testers as well as us.
You must write a short review (a paragraph or two) giving your honest feedback about the CrossRoads system and Arcadiam Games in general and post it on one of the many RPG resource sites on the internet such as RPG.net, the Forge, The Village, Flames rising, etc. We aren't looking for a shameless plug. We want your honest appraisal of the system, both good things, and things that could use some work, so people know what great things to expect, and we know what to improve upon; as long as it's constructive. Send us a link to the review once it is posted.

There is a wide selection of prizes avilable for those who participate actively in this program. We want people as fanatical about this game as we are, and we know that you are out there, we already know a few of you! To learn more simply click on the title above and read all about the program.

www.crossroads-rpg.com

The web site is constantly undergoing renovation to accommodate all the new content and material for the game. The forums have seen quite a bit more activity as of late, and our monthly site hit volume from unique users exceeded 1000 last month! With this increase in traffic and activity, our site migration couldn't have come at a better time. After dealing with horrible service from mysitespace.com for so long, we finally changed to U2-web.com where we get much better support and many more features for the price. Our online file transfer system called The Arcadiam Vault, is back online finally after some technical difficulties which required moving our service to another sever on U2-Web's service. Now it is open for all people to use in regards to CROE gaming. We'll be monitoring use of the system and as long as everyone is being reasonable and using the system for Crossroads content, it will remain open use. If not, the passwords go back on.

Omnibus #2 report

Omnibus #2 which is slated for release at the end of February may be pushed back to mid March due to the fact that this issue is going to be a drastically oversized issue, weighing in at 52 pages instead of the normal 32. this mega sized issue will retail for $7.99 ($6.99 in PDF) and will contain our first large adventure pack which can span over the course of three or four game sessions. We are currently running this included adventure entitled "Seasons of Blood" which takes place in the Pendelhaven region of Andora. This issue of omnibus deals exclusively with werewolves, lycanthropes and related material, and also includes a combat addendum, which will include new rules, new skills and maneuvers, as well as mounted combat rules to boot. Some errata will also be released in this issue concerning ranged combat, hit location tables and more. These errata will also be released for free on the web site in an effort to clarify all rules content, which stands in action now. It will be released after Omnibus #2 becomes available.

March conventions are creeping up

GTS 2006 is right around the corner and we're sweating like swine over it. We are excited as we can be to get to be going, but preparations could be coming together a bit faster as far as we are concerned. When all is said and done however and we're on the road to Las Vegas, it will be 'Riviera or bust' and we will be equipped to make a big impression on any retailer or distributor who is smart enough to give us a few moments of their time and see what we have to offer.

We will barely have time to unpack our bags before Gamestorm 8 hits, but we'll likewise be ready to roll, making an even bigger appearance there as one of the only manufacturers as this small northwest show, and certainly the only one from the Northwest as well. (If I'm wrong please correct me, they haven't released a guest list yet)

Demos

The web site currently has a character creation demo video and we are planning many other technology heavy ways of promoting the game. We are planning to schedule an online demo on our very own website chat room, several WebRPG events much like CyberCon, as well as a wide range of other game play demos. Our weekly CROECam session which went live a few nights and then fizzled, will have a set schedule in the near future so you can plan to watch or download videos of other game sessions at a later point.

That's it for this month! Make sure to check out all the great features on our website, crossroads-rpg.com. Our Forums are the perfect place to ask questions, meet other players and learn more about our game!

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