Apologies All Around

Over this past week, there have been numerous flaws discovered in products released by Emerald Press PDF Publishing. They were mechanical and technical errors due to poor editing and I would like to immediately apologize to all of you for these errors. They are grossly amateur and completely my fault and responsibility.

I have been too quick to rush products out the door to meet self-imposed deadlines or out of sheer excitement of having an idea ready to move – I can see now (unfortunately after reading publicly posted reviews and a well-detailed blog) the consequences of those decisions. But I need to do more than just say I’m sorry. I have to prove my commitment to providing the best material possible bearing the EP mark.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will revise all Combat Advantages to date as well as the Quick Kill and Dark Classes: Assassin products. These will correct grammatical and mechanical errors based on feedback in these aforementioned reviews and blogs. Perhaps by cleaning them up and making them accurate in their use of grammar and 4e rules, they will become more useful and helpful to your characters. Once the revisions for Quick Kill and Assassin have been made, I will offer a full refund to any customer having purchased it prior to these revisions – if you were one of the first customers to purchase either of these products before the revisions and still find the products inferior, I will provide a complete refund for the entire cover price.

As for Combat Advantage, I can only ask that you judge for yourself. Plans have already begun for a bigger vision with #8 and I have already started development for an increased presence in the 4e community. My hope and dream is to have CA become a recognized source for free and professional 4e material available to as many players and GMs as possible. I have started to receive submissions from freelancers, contests have been set in place to begin with the next CA, and we have even placed an open call for free ads supporting additional 4e products. For all this, I can only hope that what happens now can make up for what has failed before.

To those of you who cannot find this enough, I understand and apologize once more for the poor effort put forth. To those who may continue to give Emerald Press PDF Publishing and myself another shot, I shall do my best not to let you down.

Sincerely,

Todd Crapper
Emerald Press Head Honcho
warden@emeraldpresspdf.com

Introducing The Assassin

Assassins have been around for thousands of years in history and fantasy. Dark Classes: Assassin brings them to 4e as a martial striker who bleeds his targets out with precision strikes. Taking full advantage of the bleeding keyword from Combat Advantage #2: Bleeding, the assassin provides the first "evil PC class" of 4e.

This PDF provides a fully detailed class with over 70 powers, three paragon paths (the poisoneer, the suicide striker, and the hood), new feats, a NPC template, and details on unique weapons for the assassin. It's on sale now from all OBS sites (see Goodies for some links) at 20% off until the end of the month and there's a free preview of our first Dark Class.

Meet the Sidekick

It's no April Fools! Combat Advantage #7: Sidekicks presents a new NPC role for your party. Get them to carry your gear, arrange your beds at the inn, clean out your mortar, or abuse as you see fit. The sidekick is ready to help you save the day while scrubbing your delicates. On sale now at all OBS sites.

Success!! The Really Lame Facebook Signup is Done

Great thanks and appreciation to everyone who signed up on our new Facebook page so quickly. To date, only half of those who did have put in a request for a free PDF, but the offer still stands for any time in the future. I had originally expected and accepted token sign-ups but was surprised and pleased to find some genuine fans.

To show my appreciation, there will be a special preview of the latest Combat Advantage posted to the Facebook group before anywhere else. Should be posted by Monday evening.

The Emerald Press Really Lame Facebook Signup

We may be a little late, but Emerald Press PDF Publishing now has a Facebook page and we wanted to come up with an idea to encourage fans. Then we thought that was a really lame idea, but possibly lame enough to work.

The first 50 people to register as fans to our Facebook page will receive a free Emerald Press PDF of their choice. Just post your request and your RPGNow or DrivethruRPG email access on our discussion board there and we’ll send you a link to a free copy of your requested product. With any luck, you’ll have to act fast because it’s starting…

...now!!!

Now Available: Spellbooks & Bullets

Once upon a time, we tried to put together a series of alternate settings for d20 Modern called "Crossroads". The concept was that the fantasy races came through a portal to our own history and slowly became integrated with human society. Each book in Crossroads was to represent a section of modern history and how the appearance of magic and fantastic races would have been altered or remained the same. During its initial phases, numerous reasons to abandon the project came up: first, there was the hugely successful and very well-put together Amethyst setting from Dias Ex Machine and the Imperial Age material from Adamant that merged real-world history with fantasy races, and second was the launch of 4th Edition for D&D. For this reason, we chose to abandon this project.

...but we did have some really good advanced classes, skills, and feats already built. Never let anything go to waste, especially when it allows you to make a spellcaster in your modern campaign that can launch a fireball at German tanks!

Spellbooks & Bullets is a one-shot PDF for the d20 Modern System featuring four new advanced classes suitable for any war-based campaign set in the 20th Century. Written by Jason Black (insert other projects here), it also contains a new skill and several new feats to work with your new characters. Just released today, click on the cover below for a link to the DriveThruRPG page.

Ready, Set, Launch!

If there’s one thing about running an online publishing company (regardless of size), it’s the website that’s caused the most trouble.

Welcome to EmeraldPressPDF.com, the new home for Emerald Press PDF Publishing, Treasure Hunter, Combat Advantage, and our upcoming line of 4e products for D&D. We’ve simplified and streamlined the site to the format you see before you and placed the emphasis on our products… starting with The Quick Kill.

The Quick Kill is a 4e supplement designed to let your characters kill someone with one attack roll. Expanding on the coup de grace rule, the quick kill skill challenge gives your character a chance to sneak up on an unsuspecting target and position yourself just right to make one attack that could either kill them quickly and quietly or drop them to bloodied. Released as the first product in our Dark Emerald line of mature RPG supplement and adventures, The Quick Kill provides three encounters for use with and against the party.

The Quick Kill will also provide links to full-scale player maps to download for immediate use at the table. Each map has been verified to full scale, 1″ grids at 100dpi (for convenient file size and home printing resolution) for use as your group sees fit. This is one of a few bonuses we’re working to make our supplements and adventures completely self-contained and quick-to-play, so keep an eye out for more and let us know how we can improve our products to suit your needs.

Meanwhile, work continues on our first 4e adventure, The Key of the Fey. An introductory adventure for the Mercenary Quests line for Dark Emerald, you are a merc hired to do a job no hero would touch. Fully intended for a mature audience, Key gives you a chance to blur the line of morality and play on either side of the good/evil spectrum. As a merc, you have no codes to live by other than those you bring on yourself - you are the anti-hero or the vile villain. If you’re a fan of the Firefly TV show or Clint Eastwood westerns, you’ll already understand the feel these adventures strive for. As I write this, I’m sifting through editor candidates to find the best one suited for the job to ensure Key does what it sets out to do and sets the bar for others to come.

Our line of Combat Advantage PDFs continue to roll out as well: six completely free quick guides for 4e already await you on all OBS sites. Click here to check them out and see for yourself. In the new year, we’ll start accepting open submissions for Combat Advantage, but we’ll get to that when the time comes.

Finally, there is a free introductory adventure in the works for our successful Treasure Hunter line for OGL Modern (or d20 Modern), plus another adventure and a new supplement in the works for later this year. Stay tuned for more details as they are ready.

For now, while we put the finishing touches on The Quick Kill, here’s a preview of the very map. Created with Dundjinni (and their new EULA standards), this generic winter street can be used for any encounter you have in mind.

Enjoy!

Todd Crapper
Emerald Press Head Honcho