Director's Briefing - April 2026

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Welcome

To the one hundred-and-seventy-seventh Briefing and fourth scheduled Briefing of 2026. It has been very refreshing to see humans venturing further than ever before into space. No discoveries of any midnight black monoliths on the dark side of the moon so far. Fingers crossed for a safe return of Artemis II.

Conventions

Dragonmeet opened for exhibitor bookings on March 16th, and I had ICE booked in within the first hour. The convention will be in ExCeL London again and the date for your diaries is Saturday 28th November 2026.

As a reminder, Aaron Smalley will be running an ICE booth at the 2026 "Cadillac Pop Culture Con" in Cadillac, Michigan, on 28th April. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, please drop by.

Shadow World

The ERA for Shadow World RMC Jaiman Adventures and ERA for Shadow World RMSSFRP Jaiman Adventures were both released in March, giving you the relevant ERA data for multiple Jaiman modules (Aalk Vaalg, Tanara, Haalkitaine, Jaiman, Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn, and Xa-ar). The ERA RMU Shadow World dataset has also been released.

The Shadow World Rolemaster Unified Conversion Guide has been released as a free pdf. This adds new Talents, stat blocks for all of the playable Kulthean races, ten new additional cultures and revamped Seer and Astrologer professions, complete with full spell lists compliant with Rolemaster (RMU) Spell Law. This guide is available for Roll20 and has been integrated into Foundry modules.

Now that the conversion guide is out, volunteers are sought for producing RMU stat appendices for all of the existing Shadow World modules written by Terry Amthor and published by us. I already have a willing volunteer for Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn  – anyone up for Emer III, Cloudlords of Tanara, Haalkitaine, Jaiman, Eidolon, or Xa-ar?

The plan with these appendices is that we will add them as an additional file into their respective DriveThru pdf products. For anyone who has only purchased a print version, we will make other arrangements.

HARP

I am awaiting the arrival of the proof copy for HARP Banecroft: The Mage's Tale. It is expected in the next few days.

The biggest news is of course the launch of HARP Steampunk in pdf. This genre sourcebook is a supplement for HARP written by the genteel and scholarly Phil Masters. This book offers a complete set of twelve new steampunk professions and four backgrounds for characters, enriching these with new and existing skills and talents. Victorian era mysticism (such as Akashic Reading and the Astral Eye), clockwork constructs, steam-driven automata and created beings straight from Doctor Frankenstein's laboratory add optional elements of supernatural and weird science to the game. GMs can pick and mix from these options according to their perspective on the genre. Equipment and vehicles are categorised as historical technologies, "marvellous steam" (where steam powered and mechanical inventions are bigger, better and/or more reliable than Victorian reality), and "electrical miracles" (electrical vehicles, antigravity devices, and other weird science), enabling the GM to decide what is in and what is out. HARP Steampunk allows you to dial your steampunk game upwards from historical melodrama in a broadly nineteenth century setting, through to Jules Verne, HG Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-inspired retro-sf voyages of exploration and discovery, or beyond to an alternate world of epic steam technology and weird science. HARP Steampunk is a fantastic sourcebook and you only need either HARP Fantasy or HARP SF to use it.

RMU

A complete manuscript draft for RMU Arcane Companion has indeed arrived in the editorial inbox. It is a vast tome and is with Jonathan for the first editing pass.

Until next time

Please stay safe and keep gaming.
Best wishes,
Nicholas