With the PDF launch just two days away, let’s dig a little deeper into Book 2: Among the Missing by taking a look at the rarest type of missing: those who fall into the gaps between Closetland and the real world, those who are suddenly displaced, those whose very existence becomes questioned, whose families suddenly don’t know them, and whose entire foundation shatters in a heartbeat.
Click below for a PDF preview of Chapter Five: Through the Cracks, a look at the forgotten.
I wanted to get this up earlier but the week before a book’s release is always a maddening (and fun! But oh-so-maddening) time.
I plan to do at least one more sneak peek before the book hits digital shelves on Wednesday, and then a couple more as the print edition gets closer to launch.
Click the image below for a PDF preview of Chapter Two: By Inhuman Hands. It takes a look at the Stolen, those taken by monsters. I hope you enjoy the preview and let me know what you think in the comments below!
I am very happy to announce that Retropunk will be publishing a Portuguese-language version of Little Fears Nightmare Edition!
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Retropunk, they are the Brazil-based publisher behind the Portuguese-language versions of such titles as Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press, 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars from BoxNinja, and Triple Ace’s Daring Tales line of Savage Worlds supplements.
When Retropunk is ready to release more information (schedule, line-up, etc) and previews, I’ll do my best to share it with you all.
With two weeks until its May 25th release, I figured now was a good time to show off some of Book 2: Among the Missing. The past month has been a blur of writing, art direction, and layout as that big idea I had a while back solidifies as an actual, honest-to-goodness product. And the pre-orders have served as great motivation to keep my head down and going forward as more and more people put their money where my mouth is.
I have a great art team on this book. Veronica V. Jones and Doug Snook (Grumbleputty) return from the main book and I’ve added George Cotronis and Jeff Preston to the mix as well, doing the considerable number of chapter intro images.
I’ll post a couple PDF excerpts as we get closer to launch but, for now, take a look at two of the characters Grumbleputty did for the book. First is a member of the Army of St. Nicholas called Walter Highways. The second is called simply The Cat and it’s one feisty feline you don’t want to cross your path.
I hope you dig these peeks at the art and come back for more previews in the coming weeks.
Book 2: Among the Missing is on track for PDF release on May 25th with print to follow soon after. The pre-order ends tonight but you’ll be still be able to order the physical book after, and pick up the PDF anytime once it hits DriveThruRPG and RPGNow.
I’m a bit late shining a light on this one, admittedly, but R.L. Stine’s new series The Haunting Hour is perfect inspiration for any Little Fears game. An anthology series, the show introduces new protagonists and concepts every week, much like Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside, but the episodes always center on kids and teens and feature some strange, evil, and/or mystical foe or presence.
I first heard of this new anthology series, based on the R.L. Stine’s story collection of the same name, back in October. The show had a bit of an odd start. A two-parter aired on Halloween weekend, announcing the series, and another duo of episodes (this time, unconnected) showed on Christmas. The series kicked off proper in early January with new episodes every week since then. The first season is almost over (told you I was late) but it’s been renewed for a second and I’m hoping dearly for a DVD set release (unlike Goosebumps’s mini-sets and themed two-to-four episode collections).
It’s airing on The Hub here in the States, which is a great channel all around, at 8p Eastern every Saturday. If you get a chance to catch it or record it, I highly recommend it. I’m a big fan of the old Goosebumps show as well as Are You Afraid of the Dark? (I’m a big fan of anthology television, period) and this has some great stories that you can easily adapt to your own Little Fears or Little Fears Nightmare Edition series.
(A TV movie based on the books, The Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It starring Emily Osment and Tobin Bell, came out in 2007. You can find it on DVD every Halloween at your local mass-market retailer.)
You read that right.
An outfit called Regret Games runs a series they call “saga games” at conventions and this year they’re running steampunk variants of a bunch of games, including Dogs in the Vineyard and Misspent Youth. My own 2001 release Little Fears is included in that batch. Here’s a snippet of the event description:
The child-engineers of the Undercity agree that the Overcity must be falling apart, what with all the broken pipes, ruptured valves and, worst of all, the coal lines exploding at random. Any Undercity kid can tell you the stories – the warnings – that if you don’t clean your face before you sleep, especially around your eyes, they will take you. If you’re lucky, you’ll come back in a day or two, walking like a zombie and seeing the Undercity through new, coal-blackened eyes, and you won’t remember anything you once were. If you’re unlucky, well… that’s a story best left untold.
All the games take place inside the same world but are standalone adventures. So you can play event to hear one part of the story, or play all to get the big picture.
Sounds like fun to me.
If you’re going to be at GenCon 2011, check out their event schedule here.
A huge thanks to everyone who pre-ordered Book 2: Among the Missing throughout the month of April. Not only did your orders help validate the past couple months of hard work but you helped raise $75 for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. I tallied the orders Sunday morning and made the donation immediately after through the NCMEC’s online donation form. Here’s a screen-cap of the online receipt:
I also put a note that the donation was in honor of the Little Fears Nightmare Edition Book 2 Pre-Order Customers but that didn’t copy over to the receipt. Alas!
If you didn’t get your pre-order in yet, don’t worry! You have until May 11th to pre-order the book in print and/or PDF and save some money in the process. See this post for details.
Thank you again to all those who helped raise money for this incredibly important cause. I hope you all enjoy Book 2 when it hits virtual shelves on May 25th (and physical ones soon after).
While nearly a month remains to pre-order Book 2: Among the Missing and save money off the final price, less than two weeks are left if you want 20% of your purchase to benefit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and this promotion is in support of that.
For those curious, Book 2 is coming along well. As illustrations come in and the book enters final layout, I will start putting up previews for you all.
The book is still on track for a May 25th PDF release. Print date depends on the printer and shipping and whether anything gets messed up and needs fixing but that should only be two, maybe three, weeks later.
Perhaps “Big Changes” is a bit misleading. The title is still Book 2: Among the Missing and it’s still a supplement to Little Fears Nightmare Edition.
The changes are to the book’s structure. Some time ago, I posted the Table of Contents for the book as I originally decided back in 2010. I have struggled with the structure since the idea for the book first came to me. Originally, Among the Missing was going to be a series of PDF supplements (Among the Abducted, Among the Stolen, et cetera including a group who won’t appear until Book 3). When I decided to collect the ideas into a single volume, I smashed the PDF ideas together and slapped them between an introduction and a world chapter with an adventure on the end. Done.
But that never sat right with me. The chapters on the Missing types were self-contained, sure, but I would have to repeat a lot of information—and maybe worse than that, I’d be spreading out similar information, namely character creation. Each chapter would end with character creation but, and this was the core struggle, shouldn’t the system stuff all be together?
I’ve been going through the book, in anticipation of its release, and this kept nagging at me. I decided to listen to my instincts and consolidate the character creation into its own chapter. And, while I was at it, I split the information on the world of the missing into good people/places and bad people/places, same as the core book.
So, all this to get to the following. Below is the new Table of Contents for Book 2: Among the Missing.
Introduction: Gone, Just Like That
Chapter One: Against their Wills: The Abducted
Chapter Two: By Inhuman Hands: The Stolen
Chapter Three: On Their Own: The Runaways
Chapter Four: No Longer Wanted: The Abandoned
Chapter Five: Through the Cracks: The Forgotten
Chapter Six: One of the Missing
Chapter Seven: In Times of Need
Chapter Eight: Avoid at all Costs
Chapter Nine: The Long Way Home
Among the Missing Character Sheet
There you have it. For those curious, the book is looking to be about the same size as the Little Fears Nightmare Edition main rulebook. My initial spec had it at 128, maybe 144, but, well, the book grew.
Pre-Order to Save Cash and Do Some Good
There’s still time to pre-order the book. This saves you money and, if you do so in April, 20% will go toward the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Click below to go to the pre-order page for details and purchase links.
The next book in the Little Fears Nightmare Edition line is now available for pre-order! Book 2: Among the Missing looks at missing kids, the monsters who hunt them, the good guys they can turn to, and what life is like for those who live in the fringes between our reality and the world of lost children.
Click here for more information on what’s coming in Book 2: Among the Missing.
Book 2: Among the Missing will be released in PDF on May 25th (National Missing Children’s Day) and will be released in print soon after (about three weeks). 20% of all orders throughout April will go to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children*.
(May 12th Update)
THE PRE-ORDER IS OVER!
Huge thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the book! For those who missed the pre-order, you can still order the print, PDF, or combo bundle of Book 2: Among the Missing using the buttons below:
Order the Print Book + the PDF!
Order the print book plus the PDF and receive your download code on May 25th and your physical book in early June for just $30 (+ s/h).
Order the Print Book!
Order the print book and receive it in early June for just $20 (+ s/h).
Order the PDF!
PDF orders will be processed through DriveThruRPG and RPGNow. You will be able to grab the PDF for immediate download once it becomes available on May 25th for just $10.
If you plan to pre-order both Book 2 and Happy Birthday Little Fears:
You can place your pre-order for Book 2: Among the Missing now and you can combine shipping costs with Happy Birthday Little Fears when it goes on pre-order. (In that case, your physical copy of Book 2 will not ship until Happy Birthday Little Fears ships.)
*I will sum the sale price of all pre-orders received from the beginning of the pre-orders on April 1st through midnight April 30th (CDT) and contribute 20% of the total to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children through their online donation system.
