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The Bucket of Holding grows ever deeper with dastardly things lining the rim, ready to attack the nearest passerby. The Bucket comes with a history, you see, one which isn't very pleasant. Want to know more about this magical artifact, long lost in your campaign world? Let us know by commenting below.

In this update, we bring you snippets of press for Sack Armies, two comic related games, some contests, foreign releases, development news, and all the other crap that you're sick of seeing on news-only gaming sites. Because we love you. Kissy kiss.

Sack Armies Strides Purposefully

Tyranny Games and Precedence Studios are pleased to announce that their new hexagonal tabletop battle game, Sack Armies: Expeditionary Force, is now available from all major distributors. Do not miss this exciting new fantasy game where you customize not only your army, but the actual field of battle. No Dice, No Board, No Mercy.

Sack Armies is a game for 2-6 players ages 8 and up. Players become Generals and choose their armies from diverse races including the haughty Fey Court, the resilient human Empire, the brutal Scourge Orcs, the dark Nether Sisters, and the reptilian Shazari. Sack Armies: Expeditionary Force consists of 120 individual collectible game tokens and will be sold in Army Packs (containing 42 tokens and a Sack) and Reinforcement Packs (containing 18 tokens).

Available (free!) at our internet sites (www.eternity.com and www.sackarmies.com) in Adobe Acrobat format are the Sack Armies Downloadable Battlemat Trainer and the Full Sack Armies Rules. The Battlemat Trainer is a simple hex grid which should provide an excellent tool for in store demonstrations and new players alike. The Full Rules are also now available and can be downloaded along with the Trainer Set to get a cleaner feel for play.

Tyranny Games would also like to announce the availability of a full spoiler covering the 120 tokens of Sack Armies: Expeditionary Force (see www.tyrannygames.com/spoiler_list.htm). Check your favorite tokens and review the artwork for each and every Sack Armies token.

Finally, demand for Sack Armies demonstrations is so high that Precedence Studios is actively seeking Avatars, Anyone who is interested in being an Avatar, please go to www.eternity.com. If any retailers are interested in store demonstrations or tournaments, please contact Precedence Studios or their Avatars (see www.eternity.com/precreps.shtml).

New Company To Produce Comic Based Game

Tor Mythir Game Studios, a new table-top game developer based in Powell, OH, is pleased to announce the successful licensing of the Gaming Guardians online comic characters for a number of future gaming products. An agreement was reached by Tor Mythir and Graveyard Greg, the owner and writer of the comic, allowing Tor Mythir twelve months exclusive rights to produce gaming products based on Gaming Guardians, with future non-exclusive rights after that period.

"In the coming months we have a number of products slated for development based on the Gaming Guardians licensing", said Jason Paul McCartan, lead designer and developer at Tor Mythir. "We're not at the stage to announce any just yet, but expect a number of announcements in the near future."

"This is a bold new direction for Gaming Guardians," said Graveyard Greg. "I'm especially pleased that Jason is not only a fan, he's the owner of a gaming company that wants to do licensed Gaming Guardians products!"

Gaming Guardians is written by Graveyard Greg, with art drawn by Webtroll. It can be found online at http://gamingguardians.keenspace.com.

WizKids to Create DC Comics Miniatures Game

WizKids, manufacturers of Mage Knight, announced an agreement to create a CMG featuring the characters from DC Comics. The starter sets will include painted plastic figures of DC Universe heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Each figure will have a combat dial in its base, which makes for ease of game play, one of the secrets to the success of WizKids' Mage Knight.

Another key to the success of collectible miniatures games is the seeding of rare figures in booster packs and expansions, a device borrowed from collectible card games. The DC Universe provides a wealth of characters that will support lots of product expansions, especially since characters from the Wildstorm comics will also be included in this yet-to-be-named game.

WizKids is planning to launch its superhero miniatures game late in the spring of 2002, but approval problems or delays in overseas manufacturing could easily push the game's debut into summer.

Citizen Games Updates

The Wild West is coming alive pardner... in d20 style even. So strap on your six-guns and get ready for some hair-raisin' adventure. Mosey along to www.citizengames.com for some preview materials; including character sheets, character classes, feats, skills and equipment - everything you need to take a d20 campaign into the wild west!

Also, Adventure Packs One and Two, a series of adventure entries from the Writer's Pro-AM contest are now available as well. Including such adventures as "The Blighted Grove", "Koranger's Hoard", "Last Voyage of the Emerald Princess" and more, the third Adventure Pack should be debutting shortly.

Developer News

Some developer news for this issue (should we continue doing this?), the saddest being GameDev.net suffering under the incredible popularity of their site, and the growing bills that result. Donations are being accepted at their site - if you develop games or read their site regularly, we admonish you to empty your wallet.

On a happier note, some nice articles have been published, including Guidelines for Developing Successful Games, and Families, Psychology and Murder (from the well liked Ernest Adams).

Core D20 Site Closing Shop

Eric Noah's D20 site, one of the best sources for d20 news has recently closed up shop, mostly for personal reasons. The site currently redirects the user to d20 Reviews where archived material and the relocated forums now exist.

D20 Tools Monster Design Contest

Halloween is coming up, and right behind it is the Season of Night! Help usher in the Dark Times with D20-compatible monsters that will chill us to the bone! Yes, friends and neighbors... it's time for another D20 Tools contest! This time, we're asking you to design terrible creatures that will delight Game Masters and terrify players in D20 campaigns around the world. The sky's (and the deepest, darkest corner of Hell) the limit with this one.

There are three general genres we'd like to see monsters for: Fantasy, Modern Day, Space Opera/Far Future. Terrain types and habitats are whatever serves the creature best. The best creatures are the ones that can be used in ANY genre/setting, as the thrust of D20 Tools is to give stuff for Game Masters to use in the widest range of campaigns. However, even if you make a monster that would be totally out of place in a sci-fi campaign, it might still win... creativity and creepiness are going to be two out of three of the most important criteria's that will be used when our judge, veteran D20 game designer Steve Miller, chooses the winners!

For more information, including the first, second and third place prize, check out http://www.geocities.com/nuelow/d20toolscontest2.html.

Karanblade d20 Campaign Setting Released

The Karanblade d20 Campaign Setting is an original setting for the d20 system, being published under the Open Game License. It contains all the information needed for both the Dungeons Master and the players to start an entirely new campaign on the known lands of Near World, a realm plagued by the demon surge, where heroes fight against the disunion, corruption, and even racism of the city-states, which need to unite their forces and try to survive the second coming of the dreaded draconic demon Bel'zebu... This, and yet much more, are part of the innumerous plots and adventurers available at Karanblade. Karanblade is published by Dragon & Dice Studios. You can read more about us at http://dndworld.com.

Principia Malefex: Fools' Paradise Gone to Print

The Fools' Paradise scenario supplement for Principia Malefex has gone to print and will be released at the start of September 2001, marking the first release for the game since the line was relaunched in December 2000. Based loosely around the suburbs, it focuses on what goes on behind closed doors, and the culture of silence and non-interference that lets it continue.

This new release includes six scenarios and new fiction. Fools' Paradise also marks a new trend for the game, as the first properly bound soft-back supplement, with a full-color cover by Jon Spelling.

Principia Malefex is a horror roleplay game set in modern day Britain. First released in 1997, it presents a world where magic is a rarely seen, yet ever present, threat and the worst of your enemies are human. A world with no gods, no guns, no glory, and where even heroes can die forgotten in the gutter. The game is classed as mature horror, due to adult subject matter.

For more information, visit http://www.malefex.co.uk.