As of... now.

http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/2012/09/loremast...preorders-open/

http://shop.cubicle7store.com/epages/es113...roducts/CB71004

W00T!!!

Ordered.

Ordered!

Great news!

Those of us who pre-ordered the GenCon Special, that will be converted to a pre-order of this, right?

-Eirik

Yes indeed! Unless you chose a refund instead.

I'm just checking to see whether that conversion will appear in "your account" on our store. Of course we have a record of all conversions and will make sure your screens go out at exactly the same time as all other preorders, whether or not the store updates your account.

I'll update as soon as I know.

Is it really already "In Stock" as it says in the shop?

The preorder "product" is listed as in stock. Just how the store software works.

It's not far off* being actually physically in stock though. With some notable and frustratingly unavoidable exceptions, this is the general direction we're fighting in.




*Given prior experience, any estimate beyond "not far off" will cause the crates of LM's Screens to spontaneously combust. So we shall fall back on discretion as the better part of valour.

I'm all for that!

To avoid combustion, keep dragons and fans of the pipeweed away from the crates.

Presumably, those of us that did pre-order the Gen Con special and converted to the LM Screen will get confirmation at some point.

For those that want a look at the cover of Heart of the Wild, check out Jon's deviantart page (it's not as perverse as it sounds!)

http://jonhodgson.deviantart.com

(pre)ordered

I pre-ordered the GenCon Special and had my order converted to the LM Screen and Lake-town Sourcebook ... so, nothing for me to do but wait for this little goodie to arrive... maybe just in time for my birthday.

Thanks for the good news, Jon!

Is there a benefit to pre-ordering if there will be no PDFs available?

Ordered!

/wolf

Not that I see

If you want your screen dispatched to you before stock goes out to anywhere else, then yes, there's a clear benefit.

Equally if getting a PDF immediately is your sole reason for preordering, then popping by your local games store and picking one up off the shelves works just as well. And hey, we love those guys.

Well, the book and screen look gorgeous in the photos, and content of the book sounds useful, so I've pre-ordered mine and am looking forward to receiving it when it comes out, but...

I wonder whether I'll actually use the LM Screen? It's not that I don't use GM screens - in general I do - the problem is that they never seem to have contain the info I want, so I invariably end up designing my own. I generally have a wry smile on my face about this point...

When we began playing Harnmaster, there was no screen, so I designed one (easy enough - my day job used to include a lot of DTP, and I'm fairly competent with Indesign). Anyway, I showed it to a mate (not in my group) who was a mate of the guys at Columbia Games, & who told them about it. They asked if they could see a copy, with a view to possibly publishing it, so I sent them a PDF copy. They decided to publish it. My original version was a six panel screen, and Columbia, naturally, reduced it to four, in the process removing two pages of tables I consider vital... So I don't even use the published version of the screen I designed - I much prefer my original.

Cheers,
Phil

Yay...been waiting for this pre-ordered!!!!

I probably shouldn't be using the word yay at my age!!!

I'll start a new topic about the Pro's and Con's in using Screens! :-)

/wolf

I have held of running this game as one of players heard mention of a adventuring merchant type character who gets a side kick, which one of my players instantly fell in love with.

I have a game to finish, then book three or Orpehus and the TOR...yay, hopefully this winter game should be up an running, I am very excited looks amazing and most reports about peoples games have been positive.

One of my concerns was the amount of travel rolls but even this seems to have been resolved with the new rules. (sorry bit of point).

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but what tables are included on the screen?

The tables are:

Difficulty Table
Roll Results
Uses of Traits
Conditions and States of Health
Getting Better
Resting
Onset
Surprise Attacks
Ambush Difficult
Determine Initiative
Effects of initiative
Special Abilities of Adversaries
Attack Roll Modifiers
Other Sources of Damage
Tolerance
Examples of Tolerance Modifiers
Encounter Structure
Evaluating the Outcome of an Encounter
Anguish
Misdeeds
Blighted Places
Cursed Treasure
Bouts of Madness
Invoking Flaws
Additional Page References

Does this mean that we can start nagging you about the release date for The Heart of the Wild?

And Darkening of Mirkwood! We had planned one TOR session per month, so I thought I had at least one year worth of adventures with TfW, but as it happens we're closer to playing once a week now!

If you play for 3 to 4 hours per game session then I think you could still be okay (for it to last you until further releases). Those adventures can be pretty meaty as there's lots of opportunities in them for interaction with plenty of NPCs and the like. You'll also find lots of other ideas that spark when reading them as well.

I hope so I have lots of ideas anyway to keep them waiting for further official adventures, but they are interested in re-opening the Old Road, and I'm afraid that will conflict with the upcoming campaign.

Its great that your players/PCs have given themselves goals within the gameworld. Perhaps you could weave it into your campaign ideas or is it too much of a conflict?

I've been able to weave most of the PCs goals into the campaign seamlessly, except for the treasure hunter Dwarf, who's a little bit disappointed in the lack of treasures so far. But I have the "King Under the Mountain" adventure that is more dwarf-centric, and can be tied into the campaign easily by having "Frerin" be manipulated by the Big Bad from TfW.

What would be really useful, while waiting for Darkening of Mirkwood, is a list of things that are used in the campaign, and should not be altered too extensively by the Loremaster. I assume that the PCs should not raid Dol Guldur and either destroy it or turn it into a fortress of the Good, of course

Damn, my hobbit character has turned it into a B&B in my campaign. He had some flyers printed to advertise the new business:

"Bed and Breakfast in Isengard too far away? Then stop off at DG - a great place to stay for you and your young ones, set in pleasant forest surroundings and with lots of opportunity for fun and relaxation!"

I guess upon his return, the real 'landlord' could simply evict him, or perhaps they could go into partnership!

One of the PCs in my group is convinced that hobbits building inns in Wilderlands is evil in itself, and probably part of a bigger conspiracy. Seriously, it ties into his background and everything.

The other PCs tried to convince him it would be a stupid plot, but in the end they came to agree that if they wanted to conquer the world, building inns and making all the fighters drunk wouldn't be a bad strategy.

OMG! It just occurred to me why we never see Sauron in the LotR, as well as why its only the Hobbits (Smeagol/Gollum, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam) who are capable of withstanding the power of the One Ruling Ring.

Sauron is a Hobbit!

I think the whole War of the Ring is really just a smokescreen to distract from Saruman taking over the Shire.

I picked up the LM Screen/Laketown SB and Tales From Wilderland at GenCon. I got to talk to Jon (mostly) and Dom (a bit) about TOR and the future releases. Super nice guys! They graciously signed my AB and Tales from Wilderland books.

As for the LM Screen, it is my recommendation that everyone buy this thing. It is seriously the highest quality DM/LM/GM screen I've ever played with. None of that flimsy cardstock.

Jon

As I live way across the oceans downunder in Melbourne, Australia, I have already preordered my copy from Amazon.com - is this OK to get my copy by Christmas??

(I really envy you guys getting your products within weeks - down here it is more like months or years!!) And I know it won't be in any stores here for at least 12 months!!

Robin S.

Hi Robin, I'm afraid I can't advise about Amazon delivery times to Australia. Once stock goes out (we'll update here as preorders leave our warehouse, which will be followed by stock to retailers) I'd suggest getting in touch with Amazon to see if they can fill you in.