ganesha games demoes Song of Drums and Shakos at dadi.com (Italy)

Ganesha Games will run demo games of the Song of Drums and Shakos Napoleonic skirmish rules at Dadi.com this coming weekend in Crema, Italy.

You'll find me at the Ganesha demo table to play or discuss any of our games. A few coilbound preview copies of SDS will be available.

'Metal, Magic and Lore' Now Available from Skirmisher

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has entered into an agreement with 5th Epoch to distribute its Metal, Magic and Lore role-playing game through its various sales outlets, including its online store and directly through its booth at game conventions.

Metal, Magic and Lore combines the classic elements of fantasy role-playing with a very realistic setting. Combining fast-paced combat and magic play with a setting rooted in historical realism, MML is proving an appeal to seasoned RPGers who crave a mood of an epic literary saga in their campaigns.

"This is truly a beautiful game and we are very pleased at the opportunity to sell it alongside our own products," said Michael J. Varhola, head of Skirmisher. "We identified this as the best new role-playing game released last year and being able to help get it into people's hands this year is very exciting for us."

Clerisy Releases 'Ghosthunting Virginia'

Ghosthunting Virginia (Clerisy Press, 2008), the latest book by Skirmisher Publishing LLC publisher Michael J. Varhola, has just been released nationwide, and the author and publisher are participating in all sorts of organizational events in support of it. For a constantly updated list of such events, to include book signings, podcasts, and radio shows, go to http://www.booktour.com/author/michael_j_varhola. For personal updates to the book, check out Varhola's TravelBlogue at http://varhola.blogspot.com.

Virginia and the District of Columbia are fertile ground for serious and casual ghosthunters alike and have no shortage of venues for paranormal investigation -- if visitors know where to look. Varhola has spared no efforts to make Ghosthunting Virginia as useful a resource as possible for those interested in visiting haunted sites as he leads readers on a guided tour of the most haunted sites in the Old Dominion and the nation's capital. A great many of these sites have some connection to the Colonial era or to the Civil War, two defining elements in the history of the region. Battlefields, cemeteries, tunnels, caves, bridges, haunted highways, inns and taverns, lighthouses, theatres, haunted cities like historic Winchester, Colonial Williamsburg, and Washington, D.C, and all manner of other eerie locales can be found in this novel and informative travel guide! It’s also perfect late-night reading for anyone who loves a good ghost story.

Ghosthunting Virginia is available from a variety of sources, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com. Signed and personalized copies of the book are available directly through Skirmisher's online store (http://skirmisher.cerizmo.com/items/2098-ghosthunting-virginia-signed-by-the-author).

Ganesha Games launches a small poetry competition...

I need a short fantasy poem ( the lyrics of a storyteller's song) to be used as the frontispiece of the SBH rpg "Tales of Blades and Heroes" to be published in 2009 (currently in playtest).

It should be in English, fitting on a 8,5 x 11 inches (letter-sized) single page, in rhyming verse. The poem should end with the words "Tales of Blades and Heroes". It should sound like sung by a storyteller in an inn or around a campfire on a battlefield.

The idea is to convey the various roles and types of heroes in a typical FRPG setting, the dangers, the idea of sticking together, dungeon delving, fighting shoulder to shoulder, using various skills, braving mortal danger -- you know what I'm talking about. A serious, epic, romantic approach will be preferred over a humorous one.

Deadline is 1st January 2009. The poem should be sent as email to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com or posted on the song of blades yahoo group

Winner receives credit, a free PDF copy of the rules and the original art of one of the plates used in the book (unframed but shipped to your door).

OneMonk and Ganesha Games team up

OneMonk, provider of fine paper miniatures, is teaming up with Ganesha Games. OneMonk will initially do a set of paper minis for Song of Arthur and Merlin, the Arthurian supplement for Song of Blades and Heroes. The minis will be available at the same time as the rulebook (December).

OneMonk will also do a small promo set that will be included with pdf downloads of SBH. The paper minis will have stats printed on their bases, and the measuring sticks will be included in the PDF. We are working out details so there's no date for this yet.

OneMonk can be reached at www.onemonk.com

Skirmisher Now on Lulu.com

Skirmisher Publishing LLC print format products are now available on Lulu.com, an online retailer that allows customers to both download publications in PDF format and to have them printed on demand in a variety of formats.

Some three dozens Skirmisher publications are currently listed on the company's page on Lulu.com, at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3171287, and all of these are available as downloads (a couple of them for free!). By the end of October, customers will also be able to order print editions of any of these publications that they would like to have in hardcopy format.

"This increased availability of Skirmisher products will go a long way both toward making them available to fans and customers, and to allowing them to obtain them in the formats that best serve their needs," said publisher Michael J. Varhola.

Keep your eye on Skirmisher' Lulu.com page, http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3171287, for the new additions that will be posted there on a regular basis!

Ganesha Games: printed books prices will change

Lulu, the main print-on-demand provider used by Ganesha Games, is changing the way they price their print books. Smaller books will become cheaper and large books (like our books which are all A4 size) will become more expensive.

I'll have to reformat the books to 8,5 x 11 and have them perfect-bound as the staplebound option now becomes more expensive. I think this has to do with the way they purchase paper (basically a staplebound A4 book is composed of A3 sheets folded in half with staples across the fold)

Having the books in 8,5 x 11 will also make it easier for me to find another source of print on demand should I decide to move my business off Lulu.

The coilbound option will be at least $2+ more expensive, so if you really want an A4 staplebound book or a coilbound book, I suggest you order it now from www.lulu.com/songofblades. The new prices will be effective on October 28th. Remember that Lulu takes around a week to fulfill an order.

Ganesha's profit on the books will remain the same, barring minimal adjustments based on the euro/dollar exchange rates used by lulu. The new prices will reflect only differences in printing costs.

This will also affect the process of doing a compilation/hardcover of the three basic books as requested by a few customers.

Thanks. Sorry for the hassle but we live in a ever-changing world.
Andrea