Wow, between the Cult of the Black Goat launch, release of Morbid Adventures and appearing at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, it’s been a busy past few months.  Our Expo appearance was so successful that we found ourselves cleaned out of several miniatures, including the kit we’d planned to release this month!  Uncle Mike has disappeared back into his basement laboratory, where he is casting feverishly through all hours of the day and night.  Watch for the arrival of the Dark Puppeteer in June!

Just a reminder to those in Southern Alberta (and surrounding environs, if you don’t mind making the longer trip) that Uncle Mike and his loyal minions – not including your less-than-crowd-friendly webmaster! – will be appearing at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which runs April 27-29.  If you’re attending, drop by the newly-designed booth for a few games.  The full line of Strange Aeons products will be available for sale on site, and Uncle Mike should be present provided he isn’t trying to chase down Wil Wheaton to get his copy of “The Curse” signed.

Wow, what a fast turnaround at the printer.  Morbid Adventures has arrived, and is now available in the Online Store.  This 50-page coil-bound volume contains:

• 2 new basic scenarios, plus many variants for your old favourites
• A revised and rebalanced basic scenario table to add more variety to your games
• 11 brand new spine-tingling quest scenarios, plus all those previously published
• Dark temptation in the form of powerful spells from the pages of the dreaded Necronomicon.  Cast at your own peril!
• A condensed complete Lurker reference and combined Master Weapons Table
• Solo and multiplayer game modes

Morbid Adventures!

What started as a simple scenario compilation has become a game companion that we believe will completely revolutionize your Strange Aeons experience.

We’d also like to note that despite the first issue of Fhtagn! having been released last week, all new Cult of the Black Goat memberships purchased do indeed include a copy of the current issue – you haven’t missed out!  We’re working to make this an automatic download of the PDF upon purchase, but for now, expect to receive your newsletter by email within a few days of your purchase.

Yes, it’s March 21st, which means the first issue of Fhtagn!, Official Newsletter of the Cult of the Black Goat, has been distributed to Cult members. Please let us know if you didn’t get yours – spam filters are finicky and unpredictable things. Not a member yet? Buy your lifetime membership today and receive your newsletter immediately.

In other news: Morbid Adventures is complete! The new scenario compendium is currently at the printer, and we hope to have it up for sale shortly.

Yikes, March already?  Time flies when you’re feverishly writing and playtesting scenarios.

Cult of the Black Goat packages are now in stock and have begun shipping.  Less than three weeks remain to take advantage of the introductory $50 membership rate, so sign up soon if you’d like to save a few dollars.  The price goes up and the first PDF newsletter goes out on March 21st.

Morbid Adventures is almost complete.  We’re just doing some final playtesting and rounding up our last few pieces of art, then it’ll move on to final edit and lastly off to the printer!  We’re targeting mid-April for release, and will set up a pre-order as soon as we have a price finalized.

Feeling lost?  Want to be powerful, important, belong to a group and have a real sense of purpose?  Enjoy wearing robes and chanting around eldritch fires?  Well there’s good news for you – The Cult of the Black Goat is now recruiting!

For a limited time, we’re offering a special pre-order rate for induction into the Cult.  $50 for your lifetime membership includes a t-shirt, exclusive figures, and a newsletter filled with all variety of Strange Aeons fun.  Check out our new Black Goat info page for all the details, but join before Spring is upon us if you want to take advantage of the special rate.

2012 is upon us, and it should prove an interesting year in the world of Strange Aeons, even if it ends a bit early!  We’re currently hard at work on a new supplement entitled “Morbid Adventures”.  We’d initially intended this as a small add-on with some new scenarios, but as all things in Uncle Mike’s lab seem prone to do, it expanded in size and has now consumed us.  This is a project we’re very excited about, and we very much want to make sure we get everything just right.  That means a little more playtesting, some fresh art, and generally a bit more work than initially anticipated.  Our effort and your wait will be worth it though, we assure you.

So our Morbid Adventuring (along with some other “projects” we’ll let you in on later) has kept us quite busy.  As a result, we don’t anticipate having any new miniatures ready for release over the next few months.  We will, however, be offering up something new and different shortly.  Check back here in a few weeks for details on your opportunity to be inducted into the ranks of the Black Goat…..

It was a nice treat today to discover a brand new holiday scenario from Uncle Mike in my mailbox, which I now pass on to all of you.  Have fun, watch out for those kids, and get your Maniac Santa now if you don’t already have one!

Download “Nightmare on 34th Street”

Let's see what's under the tree....

At long last, here’s that special holiday miniature we’ve been nattering about but not showing you. Santa might have something for you in that sack of his. You just need to axe nicely!

One “Maniac Santa” will be included with every order placed in December and January, just to add a little holiday uhhh….cheer?…to your gaming table.

December has arrived, which means BrushOff! 2011 is at an end.  We received 28 entries this year – a 50% increase over 2010, which we’re tremendously pleased with.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to paint up and photo a pack of models.  We had quite a number of strong submissions this year, but, alas, we have to choose only three of you to step up onto the podium.  Well, we don’t really have a podium.  We do have this altar though, so step on up as we call your names.  Try not to slip on the blood – we used this thing last night…

  1st Place – Chris Smith’s Argyle-Clad Threshold Agents II
  2nd Place – Dana’s Blood-Splattered Madmen
  3rd Place – Jim Cockburn’s Elder-Sign-Toting Threshold Agents III

Human models for the win this year, it seems.  Last year was all beasties, but we assure you no dark conspiracy is afoot!  Congratulations to the winners – we’ll be contacting you individually to get your winnings sorted out.

If you’ve visited our online store in the past week, you may have noticed that Shocking Tales #2 has vanished from the shelves.  The first printing of our highly successful second expansion has run out, and will be unavailable for a few months.  We haven’t set a firm timetable for the reprint yet, but next spring looks to be the most likely window at present.  We’re also working towards a PDF release of Shocking Tales #1, which will probably happen at the same time as the ST#2 reprint.

The absence of expansions has put a bit of a crimp on our usual bundle offers, so we’ve come up with a new one to fill the gap.  The “Because we Needed a Bundle” Bundle includes a splashy new third-printing edition of the Strange Aeons Rulebook along with three miniature packs of your choice for $59.95, and is now available through our online store.

One last note – December orders will be receiving a free festive bonus, which we can’t show you just yet…. because we don’t have it painted (how embarrassing!).  Check back in a few days for a look, but rest assured that any order placed this month will include an extra little horror.