News and Gossip from WotC

Rantings and Other Gibberish by Lisa Stevens WotC and GMA join forces

Hello, and welcome to this newsletter. As of April 1993, and GMA, makers Whispers from the Wi7xxrd's Tower is of the Interstellar Elite Combat RPG, have joined forces. your inibrmation source on what's GMA will continue to act as a development house for the happening at Wizards of the Coast. Interstellar Elite (ISE) game line, with Wizards of the Tills will be the place to lind out Coast now^ handling all the editing, production, sales, about new products, alliances, licenses, acquisitions and distribution, and marketing of the books. distribution agreements. It will also tell you what is on schedule and what has been pushed back. Mce changes, Peter Adklson, President of WotC, had this to say when out of print or out of stock notification, and an>i:hing else asked about the motive behind the alliance: "When we pertinent to helping you sell our products will be passed w^ere first approached about the possible alliance with along here. GMA, I w^as very^ enthusiastic. Picking up the Interstellar Elite line gives us another product line that already has a Why? Well, there's been a lot happening at Wizards of the market presence. Now we can expand it and introduce Coast lately, and 1 have found that the newsletter format is the products to a broader audience than they now have, the most productive way to relay this infonnation. Fm much like we did with the old Bard Games line. Dave hoping that each of you will take a look through this Miller has done an admirable job with Interstellar Elite, newsletter and familiarize yourself with the changes that are but he w^as looking for a company which could nicirket it. going to affect the way you and Wizards of the Coast do leaving him to concentrate on the design of new ISE business together. games and supplements. We have high hopes for this alliance and feel that there are many good things in store This newsletter exists to help me better communicate with for science fiction, fans io, the next year or so." all of you. If you have any questions or comments about Whispers or would like to see something specific covered in David Miller. President of GMA, felt that this alliance with future issues, don't hesitate to call me, drop me a line, FAX Wizards of the Coast '*would allow GMA to design and me, or e-mail me. develop a science fiction game that WotC doesn't have the time for. Also, WotC Is all set up to produce GMA products Here's to a profitable 1993! on a much larger scale. All in all. It's a win-win situation," Wien asked why he chose WotC for this alliance, Mr. Xlisa Stevens Miller responded that he has been impressed by WotC's "commitment to creating their products with such high WotC vs. Palladium Lawsuit Settled quality." Effective Immediately, Wizards of the Coast has taken over —Official Press Release— the distribution of the products available in the ISE line. Interstellar Elite Combat 5VOC1001, $29.95) and Interstel• The lawsuit between Kevin Siembieda, Palladium Books, lar ElUe Arctic Combat (WOClOl 1, $12.95) are both Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. has been settled. All available for order now. Interstellar Elite Combat is the three of them want to put the suit behind them, and hope core rulebook for the ISE line. There are only a limited that their fans will do the same. In the spirit of industty number of copies remaining. Next year. Wizards of the harmony. Wizards requests that there be no boycotts or Coast plans to publish a second edition of the ISE Combat other action against Palladium. Thanks to all who have rules. Interstellar Elite Arctic Combat, a supplement for shown concern and support to both sides." the ISE Combat mles, details adding arctic combat settings to the ones described in the core rules. •I • • ill GURPS™ Goes to Talislanta In late autumn this year. Wizards of the Coast will be coming out with a new miniatures rules system set in the ISE world. Alien Invasion 5TOC1100) will be a boxed rules Steve Jackson Games and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. have set with miniatures trom RAFM. In addition to the figures agreed to a license that will allow WotC to produce an provided in the boxed set, RAFM plans to have a full line official GURPS supplement based on the Talislanta of miniatures supporting the ISE world available by imiverse. More details on this forthcoming product will be GenCon this August. available in the next issue of Wliispers,

I would like to encourage each of you to pick up the ISE line. Wizards of the Coast plans to support this line fully. VKIYESSM, I will announce more details of upcoming ISE products in future issues of Whispers, in addition to keeping you up to RoLEPuome date on the RAFM line of miniatures. GURPSSTSTI M Eniroy Magic is coming. A System-Independent Format for Gaming Suppiements This sumnicr Wizards of the Coast. in cooperation with its sibling company Garfield Games, will be releasing a product Wizards of the Coast is about to release a product chatted that will establish a new niche in the gaming market. The Emmy, is a format for roleplaying supplements. It includes first release, Magic: Tlie Gathering^^, will be shipped in a list of systemindepei ideot attributes, skills, and clas.ses. August. Magic: Tfie Gathering Is a card game with a twist Characters and creatures published in the Emmy format that IS sure to make it one of the hottest-selling games of will be readily convertible to nearly everv'' gaming system on the summer. Stay tuned to the next issue of Whispers for a the market. full-blown revelation of this rcvolutionar}" gam<\

Em)oy highlights:

* PiiMic domain Envoy will be iisabk al no cost by any i^aminu <^c>mpany in the workl. * Simple. We dido'l waste tliite with the obscure stuff. Envoy covers only the basics—attributes, skills, classes, and some top-level combat statistics— making Coming this summer, RAI-WI rompany Inc. will be produc• EniHMi easy to learn and easy to write for. ing a full line of offleial Interstellar Elite miniatures, * Versatile. Envoy v.axi be used equally etTectively in specifically designed for our upvinmntx Alien invasion converting to class-based systems, skill-based systems, miniatures rules. For more information, please contact and hybrids. R^FM at: « Miilti-geiire. The Envoy system can be used with any 20 Parkhill Road East known acnre of gaming, including fantasy, science Cambridge, Ontario IKIIOIL cyber, and horror. CANADA NIR il>2 * Accessible Material that is published in the Envoy (5191 623-4832 formal will be accessible by the entire gaming market, not just those who play a specific game system. * Safe. You never have to refer to any other company's tradeowks or copyrighted material, except for the Novels Envoy system itself—and we're giving people permission |F I Sky ComicIsS ha^s officially llceiised the Ic) do that within c^c riatii casv to-meet limitations. OFFICML \ riiihls to produce a series of graphic * Aiitliorized integration aotes. Wizards of the Coast novels based on the Talislanta game world. One of the first has already Received preliminary permission to publish chronicles the trials and tribulations of the wizard hunter Integration notes for the game systems of the following Rune. Drawn by veteran Talislanta artist Ron Spencer and publishers: FASA, Wliite Wolf Publishing. Mayfalr ^uitliored by Talislanta creator Stephan Michael Sechi it Games. Sit^vv Jackson Games. FHirig !5uffalo. Atlas promises to bv gripping both lyrically and visually. For Games. Blacksburg Tactical Research Center, and West further details, contact Sky Comics at: End Games, with more to come. 264 Main St. II you would like more information, please contaci Peter Florence, KY 41042 Adklson at Wizards of the Coast. PC Box 707. Renton. WA (6061 282-0096 9H(F)70707 ill (206) 624-0933. Fax: (206) 878-3219. FAX 16061 282-9412

H Miniatures • those of you who are not yet aware, f OFFICIAL \^ is a full range of Talislanta miniatures a^'ailable from Lance & I^iser Miniatures. Tliey currently produce over 20 different miniatures, from the Aamanian Warrior Priest to the ITirall Warrior. These miniatures have met critical acclaim in Dragon and are a real bargain for the price. You can contact l^nce Si Umer Tantalus, Inc. and the Multi-Player Games Network. IIK*. Miniatures ai: ,,^11 (MPG NE'll have been granted a license to make a multi player, online computcT game based on Hie Mnal Order. 2413 North High Street ^-£SS^M^ MODELS, ma MPG-NMr is now connected to CompuSer\'e and oilers a Columbus, OH 43202 wide array of online computer games to the computer (614) 291-3703 gammg public. No release date has been scheduled. Contact: Erik Morrice For further information, please contact MuIti-Player Games Network, Inc. at: I encourage you to ptc^k up this line of Talislanta ' • ""^ ' FO Box 367 miniatures so that your • ' • ' Pawling, MY 12564 customers ha\'e access : ' 1-800^245-0317 to the full line of official Talislanta prod u et s, Mi»G-Mrr Newsf/4»f

DeckMaster™ games are designed to appeal to a We have made special efforts to ensure that the cards wide range of player types, from casual weekend also conform to prevailing coUectability standards. players to serious tournament competitors. The For example, the cards are cut to the standard rules are simple and the purchase price is low. The trading card size, and each card will be uniquely game cards are marketed in limited series, suitable named so that players can tell if they are missing for both playing and collecting. Magic: The Gather• cards in the series. Each print run will be an entirely ing™ our first release, is a 300-card limited series. new series so that there will only be a limited number Additonal series are tentatively scheduled for release of any given type of card, and the artwork and every four to six months. Some of the cards in each production values of the cards are of uniform high series will be common, others uncommon, and some quality. We use trading-card style packaging for the even rare. The cards are printed in Belgium by Carta cards themselves, and for the display boxes in which Mundi, the largest card manufacturer in the world. they are sold. Finally, the price point is competitive. They have produced cards for most of the major game publishers, from Trivial Pursuit to Uno, so the card An example card for Magic: The Gathering, the quality will be very high. The art for Magic: The DeckMaster fantasy game, is shown in the ad on the Gathering™ was provided by over two dozen artists last page. The key elements are the artwork and the from across the country. Every starter deck or text describing how the card is used. Colors and booster pack will have a randomly distributed themes for the artwork are closely tied to the card selection of cards from the 300 cards available, function, though a given artist may produce art for a making each deck unique. variety of different card types. The text concisely describes the card's function in a complete, self- DeckMaster games, such as Magic: The Gathering™, explanatory manner, without the need for are played with decks of cards that include both a sourcebooks or other supplementary materials aside description of the game environment (like the board from the basic rules included with each deck. This is of a table game) and the means for playing the game required, because no single player will know all of the (like the cards in a poker hand). Unlike traditional cards; even experienced players will encounter cards 52-card games, DeckMaster games set no maximum with new and unexpected properties when playing limit on the number of available cards, and they can against unfamiliar opponents. A colored, alphanu• be played with only a fraction of the available cards. meric code provides information on card strength, Therefore, two opposing players will most likely have type, and playing requirements. Details on the cards, different cards in their respective decks. such as the background pattern and color, will also be linked with the card function and type. Collectors DeckMaster cards are not only games to play, but may group cards based on a variety of factors, also worlds to explore. No single player has a com• including artist, subject, card type, and card series. plete picture of the world, as all of the components of the world—its lands, creatures, and personalities— Magic: The Gathering is only the first in a series of are put on cards sold randomly to players worldwide. DeckMaster games, each designed to explore new In time, a group of players will become familiar with dimensions of this high-potential game type. We are the environment of their gaming circle, and gain considering DeckMaster games for other popular insight into the structure of the world as a whole. genres, such as cyber and science fiction, in addition This world is dynamic; periodically, a new card series to ones based on popular game systems, such as depicting more of the world is distributed, providing Vampire: The Masquerade™. new areas to explore.

Starter Decks Booster Packs Product #: WOC6000 Product #: WOC6500 Release Date: August 1993 Release Date: August 1993 Price: $7.95/deck Price: $2.45/pack Product Format: 60 full-color cards packaged with Product Format: 15 full-color cards packaged in the game rules in a full-color tuckbox, cellowrapped. 4-color flowpacks. UPCOMING PRODUCTS

The following is a tentative schedule for Wizards of the Coast's product releases. Sarista WOC2302 $10.95 September Talislanta Castle Skye WOC4500 $11.95 September Pandevelopment Ciyptych Magazine - Issue #2 WOC7002 $2.95 September Ciyptych The Lyceum Arcanum WOC2311 $9.95 October Talislanta GURPS Talislanta WOC2900 $16.95 November Talislanta Ciyptych Magazine - Issue #3 WOC7003 $2.95 November Ciyptych Bishops: The Eternal Crusade WOC0404 $14.95 January The Primal Order The Compleat Necromancer WOC4805 $10.95 January ^ Pandevelopment Ciyptych Magazine - Issue #4 WOC7004 $2.95 January Ciyptych

CURRENT PRODUCTS

Title Product # Available Retail Price Quantity

Deckmaster™ Games

Magic: The Gathering — Starter WOC6000 NOW $7.95 Magic: The Gathering — Booster WOC6500 NOW $2.45

New Talislanta

Talislanta Guidebook, 3rd ed. WOC2002 NOW $20.00 Tales of Talislanta WOC3001 NOW $5.00 Talislanta Geographica WOC2201 NOW $9.95 The Scent of the Beast WOC2301 NOW $10.00 The Archaen Codex WOC2202 NOW $15.00 Quantrigue WOC2310 NOW $9.95 Thystram's Collectanea WOC2003 NOW $15.00

Classic Talislanta (Bard Games)

Talislanta Worldbook WOC2001 NOW $20.00 Cyclopedia Talislanta #2 WOC2402 NOW $10.00 Cyclopedia Talislanta #3 WOC2403 NOW $10.00 Cyclopedia Talislanta #4 WOC2404 NOW $10.00 Cyclopedia Talislanta #5 WOC2405 NOW $10.00 Cyclopedia Talislanta #6 WOC2406 NOW $10.00

The Primal Line

The Primal Order WOCOOO1 NOW $20.00 Pawns: The Opening Move WOC0400 NOW $15.00 Knights: Strategies in Motion WOC0401 NOW $15.00 Chessboards: Planes of Possibility WOC0403 NOW $12.95

The Pandevelopment Line

The Compleat Alchemist, 2nd ed. WOC4804 NOW $10.95

Interstellar Elite Line

Interstellar Elite Combat WOClOO 1 NOW $29.95 Interstellar Elite Arctic Combat WOC1011 NOW $12.95

Cryptych Magazine

Ciyptych Issue # 1 WOC7001 NOW $2.95

23815 43rd Ave. S. Kent, WA 98032 (206) 624-0933 FAX (206) 878-3219