I don't have a monthly font yet! Aieee!

So, uh, SALE!! That's it! SALE!! :)

But a very quick, very juicy sale. I've uploaded a subtly altered version
of this page:

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/cgnd-cd.htm

In 24 hours, more or less, I'll take it down again. And, around the same
time, upload a @#$!&# font :)

Best wishes from our house -



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Sandra and I are off to Tulsa for the weekend, and won't be back until late
Monday night. Normally, I can handle orders remotely, but this time around
I'm not 100% certain I'll have regular net access. If you suddenly get a
jones for a copy of Darcy Dare or Fief (and who could blame you?) please
order through HyperBooks! Terry delivers same-day without fail. Any PayPal
orders will be delayed until as late as Tuesday morning.

Here's hoping this finds you all well - See you when I get back!




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If anyone is heading to a con or game shop and just suddenly feels like
printing out a stack of Fief flyers, I have one at

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/fief-flyer.zip

It's around 300k, PDF format. Color, but designed to print in grayscale.
It's not a very fancy flyer - just a redress of the Fief webpage.

The only reason I uploaded it is because somebody asked for it
specifically, but as long as I'm putting it there I figured I'd post a
hey-howdy in case somebody actually collects random junk like this :)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/freefont.htm

"Atlas of the Magi" is a return to the hand-drawn type style I occasionally
indulge in :)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://trak.to/dirtgirl

There's a little boardgame there called "Fish Tank" that looks amusing. Not
affiliated with Cumberland ... Just got a heads-up about it and it looks
kinda cute (and you can't beat the price). If anyone plays it and it turns
out it rocks on toast, let me know :)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/fonts3.htm

I've shifted some of the fonts from page 1 and 2 to a new Page 3, but it's
more than just shifting. Four former monthlies: Apple Butter, Arvigo,
Nicotine Stains and Mexlar, are new permanent members of the freebie
family. Hope this finds you all well on this less-than-cheery anniversary
(Lisa Steele, author of Fief, gets to celebrate her _birthday_ today. Whee).

Best wishes -



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

I need a couple of users of Mac OS X to volunteer to get free Sparks sets.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

I got a trio of eager OS X users rounded up, so no more volunteers are
required. Big thanks to those who wrote back! Here's the deal:

A visitor to the Free Font of the Month page reported to me that it, and
all of the other free fonts he downloaded from the site, worked fine on OS
X without the use of any conversion software, and that OS X added built-in
support for Windows TrueType.

But of course, support for sane, rational fonts doesn't necessarily equate
to support for Sparks, which are cantankerous creations requiring special
handling and care :) So far, the reports on the Sparks tests have _not_
been cause for celebration ... But it _is_ good news, at least, that the
regular freebies will be Mac-friendly from here on in. :)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

The all-new free font this month is the years-overdue _italic_ version of
Hultog. Groovy!

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/freefont.htm



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

It's getting to be close to pumpkin-carving time, a fact not lost on the
folks at FontFace, who made Cumberland's "Punkinhead" the Font of the Day
today :)

http://www.fontface.com/fotd/




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Since GOO has given me permission, I've been pimping this wallpaper everywhere:

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blue/uresia-wallpaper.gif

... But here it's especially appropriate, since any Temphis Runes customers
can now look at the wallpaper and see where the heck Temphis is :)

These are, of course, three of the six maps from Uresia: Grave of Heaven,
the upcoming BESM supplement I wrote (and did the cartography for). There
may be future Cumberland Games expansions for Uresia in the works (city
books, kingdom books, adventures), depending on how GOO feels about it. I
have, at this point, an informal verbal agreement that says I can do
anything with the setting as long as I don't misuse the trademarks or
include any Tri-Stat material ... If (and only if) that informal agreement
gets formalized, I'd like to put out an annual bit of Uresia material,
since I'm still using the world for my own fantasy games and probably will
be for many years to come. Feedback from youse guys on this subject is, of
course, very welcome (at sjohn@...).

In the meantime, it's a spiffy wallpaper. Long-time readers of this mailing
list will notice some of the same Photoshop tricks I developed for those
random dungeon maps I did a while back. See? Doodling random freebies pays
off ... And Photoshop can do more than cheesy bevels and texture filters,
by golly ;)

Hope this finds you well ... Watch this space for news; I've got a fun
Halloween freebie on the way ...



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Pokéthulhu 3rd Edition Released: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Cumberland Games General Press Release: October 30th, 2002.

Ah, Halloween, when costumed web surfers make the rounds of the global
neighborhood, wearing itchy masks and holding their sacks out for goodies!
Welcome, kids; don't trip over the stuffed corpse-dummy and don't drink
that stuff in the smoke machine; it doesn't taste good. And since I'm more
fond of giving treats than getting my windows soaped, I've got a goodly
dose of fun for you: The Pokéthulhu Adventure Game is, as a Halloween gift
to all of you, now and forever more a free RPG, joining the ranks of Risus
in the Cumberland Games freebie line.

http://www.cumberlandgames.com

Click and grab, and while you're unwrapping that (have your folks check it
for foreign objects before you consume), have another dose of Randy,
Pikathulhu and friends in the November Free Font of the Month (up a little
early for the holiday). Enjoy!




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If you visit the CG&D homepage anytime soon and it looks _really_ funky,
just hit Refresh/Reload. I redid the "reflection" buttons to include
Pokéthulhu, and if you still have the page cached, it can look really
messed up. D'oh.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Cumberland has had a good month for freebie-downloads, possibly because a
lot of folks have been peeking in to snag Pokéthulhu and looking around.
The result, though, is a (projected) tripling of this month's net fees (ouch).

So, I'm actively seeking volunteers to mirror the larger files (Pokéthulhu,
the Fief Sampler, the Points in Space sampler, and Risus). The homepage
associated with each mirror will get a link right next to the direct-file
link, and other thanks as I can manage it. ;)

For a working example, see the downloads page as it is now, under
Pokéthulhu, where one mirror is already visible.

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/downloads.htm



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If you're like me, you've had games delayed or even ruined because the
players didn't bring enough Pentagonal Hexecontahedron style dice.

This site _isn't_ a paper dice site ... But it should be. Just add pips,
and it becomes one.

http://www.korthalsaltes.com/

With thanks to Brian L. Bird for the link!




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

"One-Handed Emoch" is a solitaire game using the Face of Emoch cards in
Points in Space 1: Starport Locations. It's by the lovely and talented P.D.
Magnus.

http://www.fecundity.com/pmagnus/emoch.html

If you don't know what Points in Space is, it's right here:

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/points.htm

Thanks, P.D.!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

New month, new font!

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/freefont.htm

Another one of my hand-drawn Romans. Collect the whole set ;)


|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://greywolf.critter.net/fonts.htm

I've plugged the cool Ironclaw figs before, but now there's a new set built
largely from "extras" from the art Greywolf did for the Justice City set.
Fans of Justice City and Legend of Winter Forest shouldn't miss these -
they're fun and they're free! Cruise the rest of his site while you're in
there; there's some fun stuff!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

As usual, you folks get to peek before anyone else!

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/sprkcai.htm

SPARKS: CAIRO MOON

It's a spiffy new SPARKS set with art by T. Jordan Peacock (Legend of
Winter Forest, Justice City) and the usual words and embellishments by
Yours Truly. Since the Macintosh version is still in the works, and the
font isn't yet available on HyperBooks, it's strictly a pre-release, for
Mailing List members only.

The Windows version is 100% ready to go and available direct from
Cumberland (either by post or by PayPal) ... my desk is littered with
hordes of them even now ;)

Hope this finds you all well!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If you're on a Macintosh, and you'd be willing to help me with a
font-conversion matter (probably won't take more than a minute), drop me a
line at sjohn@... and let me know!

Many thanks in advance!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://greywolf.critter.net/fonts.htm

More outtakes and extras made into more cool free sets of paper minis, free
on Jordan's site! These new sets include some pulp sci-fi material, and
Machine Age stuff to complement Jordan's work on Cairo Moon!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

SPARKS Cairo Moon is officially released, now, and available at HyperBooks.

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/sprkcai.htm



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Some of you certainly know about this by now, but I'm in a boosting mood
and can't bear the thought of anyone missing out on this:

http://www.atlas-games.com/arsmagica/free/

The fine folks at Atlas are giving away PDF copies of Ars Magica 4th
edition to stir up fan interest in the upcoming 5th edition. If that isn't
a cool freebie worth plugging, I don't know what is ;)

Cheers, Atlas! And here's hoping it's good promo for you. Rock on.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If any _new_ Cumberland customer (ordering at least $10 worth of stuff)
mentions any _existing_ Cumberland customer along with their order in the
month of April, said existing Cumberland customer gets a free Sparks set of
their choice.

This is good for any ordering method, since both PayPal and HyperBooks give
you the opportunity to include a note when filling out the webform.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/freefont.htm

The new free font is up, my very first legitimate dingbats font (I've spent
long enough abusing the dingbats concept to make hex grids and paper
figures without doing actual for-real dingbats, I figure) and if I do say
so it's pretty spiffy. Print 'em and color 'em if you're feeling down.

The temptation to post the Fly From Evil mailing list this morning and
announce that I've decided to switch FFE to the d20 System was almost
overpowering. This is an evil holiday. I LIKE it.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

I'm very happy about this. If you're a Points in Space fan, here's hoping
you are too :)

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/free/points2-peek.zip

(ZIP file, just under 400k)

It's taken a long time to get up to speed on the graphics, to make the leap
from disconnected rooms to hull-to-hull deckplans. But I've got some really
nice stuff, now, including a groovy triple-decker science ship, a nice
cargo hauler, a cool commercial transport, and a few ... odd items :) This
sample is one of the smaller, simpler vessels ... a good starter ship for a
group of PCs.

Download, print, enjoy. It must be printed and assembled to really be
appreciated.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Discussion over at the Christian Gamers Guild has recently centered
on the new Testement d20 book, by Green Ronin.

Received this link for cool Biblical Charcater and Army standups.

http://www.codicil.info/play.html

Enjoy,

Brian

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/arcana.htm

It'll mostly be of interest to Uresia fans; it's very world-specific. Of
possible general interest is Uresia Home Town, which is second-cousin to
the still-ongoing "Rooftops" font project. As usual, there's a sampler to
play with to see if you like it. The set of four fonts is $4.95, including
PDF documentation.

There's no Macintosh version yet, and I'm considering a slow phasing out of
explicit Mac support. Here are my primary reasons:

(1) Customer and volunteer tests of my fonts - including the most
persnickety Sparks sets - on Macintosh OS X have been almost perfect
thumbs-up responses. The only exception seems a potential fluke. This means
that within a year or three, the vast majority of Mac users will be able to
freely use the Windows versions.

(2) To do Mac versions, I have to pester colleagues. If I make improvements
to a set, I either have to pester them again, or let the Mac version fall
behind the Windows version.

(3) I simply can't provide useful tech support for Mac fonts.

It's a decision I've been chewing over for a long time, and feedback is
welcome. Feedback is also welcome, of course, on the new font set; I'm
happy with it ... But of course, I run a Uresia campaign, so I'm biased. ;)

Hope this finds everyone well. Best -



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Hero Games, publishers of the Hero System and its attendant library of
groovy gamestuff, have entered the paper minis market with CARDBOARD
CHARACTERS: CHAMPIONS. It sells for $6 online at the Hero Games webstore:

https://secure.compnetco.com/herogames/browse.jsp?categoryID=4

There are 12 figures in all, and they're trifold designs with no back art
(the front is repeated three times), but the art is very nice and the
colors are very nicely done. The characters are:

Champions: Defender, Ironclad, Nighthawk, Sapphire and Witchcraft.
Also included: Kinetik, Dr. Silverback, Nightwind, Kodiak, Teknique, Silver
Avenger and Cavalier.

The characters appear once each on the single-page PDF. At 50 cents a pop,
they're not super-cheap but they're super-spiffy, so definitely worth a
look if you're doing a lot of superhero gaming (and these days, a lot of us
are)!

In Cumberland's own paper-minis news, T. Jordan Peacock is doing nice work
on the often-requested but never-materialized age of sail/swashbuckling
Sparks set. If you enjoyed Cairo Moon, this one's shaping up to be just as
nice based on the art I've seen so far. No release date yet except "soon."



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

SPARKS: The Adventures of Darcy Dare artist Jon McNally has a spiffy homepage:

http://www.jonmcnally.net/

Which includes some Darcy images. I'll be adding a link to the Darcy page
soon, of course, but I figure youse guys might want to know right away :)

(Also, it looks like another McNally Sparks set is simmering into the realm
of possibility; more on that as it happens)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn