The shiny, new content in question is Empire State – the RPG, nothing less than a complete, original and self-contained roleplaying game system fresh from the feverish mind of game designer David ‘Doc Blue’ Wendt, whose credits include White Wolf’s Sword and Sorcery, Exalted, Mage, and Gamma World game lines, as well as his own ‘Camelot’s Shame‘ system.

In Empire State – the RPG the emphasis is very much on collaborative story-telling, with players and GM working together to generate plot- and character-focused gaming sessions based on the concept of the Empire State. Or any of the vast array of spin-off possibilities that the main narrative implies.

That’s the back-of-the-packet version. But what you really want to know is this: it’s cool, it’s sassy, it’s sexy, it’s noir, it’s anything you want it to be, and there’s not an experience point in sight. We’re talking proper, grown-up gaming, folks. Not the sort of thing your dungeon-bashing, level-up-mad kiddie-gamers and going to get a kick out of, and obviously that’s going to mean a much, much more satisfying gaming experience as a result.

So, what the game needs now is gamers! It’s completely free to download (the system is available under the same Creative Commons license as all the EmpireState.cc content) which means it’s yours to run with, build on and participate in to your heart’s content.

And we’d absolutely love it if, once you’ve played the game, you wanted to submit your game transcripts as works of short fiction, or submit character illustrations of their group, or anything else based on your game experiences.

Plus, as you’ll see when you download the rules set, it’s very much text-only at the moment. If there are any illustrators or artists out there who feel inspired to submit some suitable illustrations, do please feel free. Game supplements and rules add-ons (as long as they stay true to the original, story-telling focused game system) are also welcome.

Gaming in the world of Empire State awaits you… grab your dice-bag and get to it!

Well, the website has now gone live, and to get the ball rolling we’ve commissioned a few pieces (with thanks to the mighty Mur Lafferty for helping to run the project).

The phenomenally talented JR Blackwell has provided us with stills from the (non-existent) 1946 noir movie adaptation of Empire State. There’s an example below, and you can find plenty more over at the main site (EmpireState.cc).

Also at the site is a short story from Hugo and Nebula Award winner, James Patrick Kelly. Empire State inspired his first ever superhero tale, The Biggest.

“The Biggest” by James Patrick Kelly

Big, known to his dear departed mother as Filbrick Van Loon, was startled out of his reverie when a heavy in a cheap gabardine suit dropped into the seat in front of him like a piano falling out of a skyscraper. In his drowsy confusion, Big thought the train itself had derailed, but as he gathered his wits he realized that the Empire State Express was pulling out of Union Station, finally headed south to New York City.

“Guess who I just seen?” said the heavy.

“Can’t.” A woman’s voice oozed boredom. “Jimmy Cagney?”

The seatback shuddered as the heavy thrashed disagreement. “What would Cagney be doing in Albany?”

“Babe Ruth?” said his companion.

“Nope.”

“Rin Tin Tin? Judge Crater?

“The Governor.”

“Roosevelt?”

Big stopped feeling sorry for himself and leaned forward to eavesdrop, although the heavy had a voice they could probably hear him in Buffalo.

“How did you know it was him?”

“Been in the newsreels, hasn’t he? Believe me, this is the guy. He could barely walk cause of the polio.”

Big stood and pulled his suitcase off the overhead rack.

“They say he got better.” The woman was still skeptical.

“If that was better, I’d hate to see worse.”

Read it all, here.

We’d love for you to go and see what’s happening as part of our WorldBuilder project, and we’d love it even more if you were to join in. There are some free sample chapters from Empire State at the site, and the novel is available to purchase now in paperback, ePub and Kindle formats from your favourite stores.

Adam reads from Empire State at the UK launch

The launch for Adam’s Empire State at Forbidden Planet on Thursday last week was a great success. We’re still waiting for the firm numbers to come in, but FP have told us that it is one of the most successful launch/signings they have ever held there.

Which is nice.

A good time was had by all, and after reading a tantalising excerpt from the novel, Adam was kept extremely busy by the long queue of eager readers.

And if you missed the news at the weekend, the Financial Times said this of Empire State:

Suffused with a love for noir fiction and the golden age of American comic books, Christopher’s Empire State is something of a tour de force. If, somehow, Raymond Chandler and Philip K Dick had collaborated on a Superman story, they might well have produced this novel.

Congratulations to Adam on a fine launch, and our thanks go to Danie and the team at Forbidden Planet for making it all happen.

New Yorkers – don’t forget Adam’s signing at the Mid-Manhattan Library tomorrow evening from 6.30-7.30pm. (Details here, or click the image to the right).

Empire State is out now in paperback and eBook formats. Order a copy from your favourite indie, chain or online retailer.

If not… don’t forget that we have our sock amnesty running this year!

It happens every year. Maybe it’ll be your mad Aunty Mabel, or your loving Mum, or your lazy brother-in-law, or maybe it’ll be the last-minute Secret Santa buyer in the office that you were unlucky enough to end up with.

But let’s face it, it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen: someone will give you some sort of Crap Present – often some oh, so jolly Xmas socks – during this holiday season.

Here at Angry Robot we’re no strangers to the Squishy Package of Impending Doom and we feel your pain, we really do. Which is why we announced the Angry Robot Sock Amnesty.

In a festive nut-shell: if you send us your Xmas socks (or any other crap presents that you’d be happy to see the back of) we will send you a voucher code for a free Angry Robot ebook in return.

We’ll then donate all your crap presents to charity on your behalf – after posting photos of the funniest and/or weirdest ones here on the Angry Robot blog, of course – and you’ll be able to read your ebook-of-choice in the warm glow of knowing you’ve Done Good.

And best of all, Aunty Mabel will never know…

[Full how-to-enter details below the jump:]

Okay, these are The Rules:

1. All items submitted must arrive with us no earlier than December 26th 2011 and no later than January 15th 2012.

2. All items submitted must be:

a) crap – please feel free to put in a note explaining why you think the present is crap if the inherent crapness of the thing doesn’t immediately shine through;

b) new – original packaging or even swathed in wrapping paper would be ideal.

3. On receipt of your submitted item we will assess it for appropriate levels of crapness and newness. Anything that is obviously highly cool rather than crap, or is clearly worn, old or second-hand won’t be deemed acceptable.

4. On acceptance of your submitted item, we will send you a voucher code redeemable against one free ebook at the Angry Robot Store in return.

With that in mind, please remember to include a piece of paper with your name and email address on it. We’re not going to spend half of January following up on “I sent you socks, where’s my voucher?” queries, we can promise you.

5. You’ll need to post your crap presents to your nearest Angry Robot office:

UK
Angry Robot Sock Amnesty
Angry Robot
Lace Market House
54-56 High Pavement
Nottingham
NG1 1HW
UK

or:

US
Angry Robot Sock Amnesty
Angry Robot
c/o Osprey Publishing Inc.
44-02 23rd Street
Suite 219
Long Island City
New York
NY 11101
USA

That about covers it. We look forward to receiving your unwanted socks and assorted other crap in the post-holiday post.

Photo Credit: sd2005 via www.sxc.hu

Just in case you hadn’t noticed – and to be fair because Angry Robot readers are brighter than the average droid you probably did – there’s a crafting revolution going on. From Etsy to your local knitting shop, people all over the recession-hit western world are rediscovering the pleasures of doing it oneself. This Christmas, always one for an internet trend, we’d like to suggest a “make” for you of our own – with these deeply festive Angry Robot Christmas Snowflakes.

Making one isn’t so very hard, we reckon, our reasoning being that if we can make them without severing any major arteries, so can you. You’ll need a printer and appropriately sized paper (you can resize to suit), a pair of scissors or sharp craft knife… and Your AR Snowflake template (PDF) – don’t forget to right-click or alt-click, as is your wont.

So here’s all you have to do:
1. Download the PDF.
2. Open it up and print it. It’s set to just go onto some UK A4 (letter) but you may want to resize it to fit the paper size your printer can handle. Big is nice, weeny means you’ll probably lose a thumb trying to trim it, but feel free to experiment.
3. Fold it up (NB, you don’t need to cut the circle out first, unless you really want to). You might just cock the folding up first time but don’t worry about it. First, fold in half horizontally, then along one edge of the grey-tined segment. Then fold again so the grey-toned segment is on top. Fold the segment beneath it back the other way so it’s a “Z” in profile not a flattened spiral.
4. Using your preferred hacking implement, trim off all the grey parts, leaving the white. You’re going through 12 layers, so watch it!
5. Unfold. Wow, it’s like Christmas day already. Do a few, using different coloured papers, stick them up somewhere, and marvel at your crafting skills every 20 minutes until Twelfth Night. Then throw them in the recycling bin.

But let’s face it, it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen: someone will give you some sort of Crap Present – usually oh, so jolly Xmas socks – at some point this holiday season.

Here at Angry Robot we’re no strangers to the Squishy Package of Impending Doom and we feel your pain, we really do.

Which is why we’re announcing the Angry Robot Sock Amnesty.

In a festive nut-shell: if you send us your Xmas socks (or any other crap presents that you’d be happy to see the back of) we will send you a voucher code for a free Angry Robot ebook in return.

We’ll then donate all your crap presents to charity on your behalf – after posting photos of the funniest and/or weirdest ones here on the Angry Robot blog, of course – and you’ll be able to read your ebook-of-choice in the warm glow of knowing you’ve Done Good.

And best of all, Aunty Mabel will never know…

[Full how-to-enter details below the jump:]

Okay, these are The Rules:

1. All items submitted must arrive with us no earlier than December 26th 2011 and no later than January 15th 2012.

2. All items submitted must be:

a) crap – please feel free to put in a note explaining why you think the present is crap if the inherent crapness of the thing doesn’t immediately shine through;

b) new – original packaging would be ideal.

3. On receipt of your submitted item we will assess it for appropriate levels of crapness and newness. Anything that is obviously highly cool rather than crap, or is clearly worn, old or second-hand won’t be deemed acceptable.

4. On acceptance of your submitted item, we will send you a voucher code redeemable against one free ebook at the Angry Robot Store in return.

With that in mind, please remember to include a piece of paper with your name and email address on it. We’re not going to spend half of January following up on “I sent you socks, where’s my voucher?” queries, we can promise you.

5. You’ll need to post your crap presents to your nearest Angry Robot office:

UK
Angry Robot Sock Amnesty
Angry Robot
Lace Market House
54-56 High Pavement,
Nottingham
NG1 1HW
UK

or:

US
Angry Robot Sock Amnesty
Angry Robot
c/o Osprey Publishing Inc.
44-02 23rd Street
Suite 219
Long Island City
New York
NY 11101USA

That about covers it. We look forward to receiving your unwanted socks and assorted other crap in the post-holiday post.

Photo Credit: sd2005 via www.sxc.hu

This time out we’re previewing our first five 2012 titles: Adam Christopher‘s Empire State (Jan), Ian Whates‘s City of Light and Shadow (Jan), Dan Abnett‘s Embedded (Jan, b-format UK re-issue), David Tallerman‘s Giant Thief (Feb) and Lavie Tidhar‘s The Great Game (Feb).

Print editions of all five titles can be pre-ordered from your favourite bookstore or online retailer and the ebook versions will be available via the usual channels – including angryrobotstore.com – on publication day.

Click the embedded applets below to read a full-screen version or follow the links below each one for file download options. 

You can embed any of these free samples in your own site or blog by opening the full screen version, then clicking on “expand”, then selecting the envelope icon, then “embed”.

Empire State by Adam Christopher

More Info | Read Online at issuu.com
Download: ePub | PDF | Mobi

City of Light and Shadow by Ian Whates

More Info | Read Online at issuu.com
Download: ePub | PDF | Mobi

Embedded by Dan Abnett

More Info | Read Online at issuu.com
Download: ePub | PDF | Mobi

Giant Thief by David Tallerman

More Info | Read Online at issuu.com
Download: ePub | PDF | Mobi

The Great Game by Lavie Tidhar

More Info | Read Online at issuu.com
Download: ePub | PDF | Mobi

Lovely Aliette de Bodard went deep, deep into the world of Acatl as she discussed the final novel in the Obsidian & Blood trilogy, Master of the House of Darts, with the Faster Times.

Aaand she made this lovely trailer for this latest Acatl novel too. Studio roll VT:

Aaaaaaaaand she’s running a really cool Aztec-themed competition on her blog. Check it out and win win win, as apparently they say!

Lovely Trent Jamieson talked all things Roil with the nice folks at Ranting Dragon.

Ahead of the concluding volume, King’s War, lovely Maurice Broaddus took a long, hard look at the extraordinary world of his Knights of Breton Court series for the Pudge Factor.

Lovely Lauren Beukes, modestly not mentioning much about her massive, massive new book deal (me and her mother, Mrs Harris, are so damn proud), was interviewed by Bruce Sterling. Yes, that Bruce Sterling.

Anne Lyle was lovely enough to share some advance secrets from her upcoming magical Elizabethan fantasy The Alchemist of Souls with Fran Terminielo.

The lovely KW Jeter was Guest of Honor at Steamcon III recently. Check out the pics and a great write up from Steampunk News. We think all our authors should get an official convention photo done with a girl with a boat on her head. No, just because.

And finally, no skateboarding puppies this week, but instead the lovely Lavie Tidhar gave great podcast for the Skiffy & Fanty Show in this discussion of his new novel Osama. It’s not by us, but it’s bloody great so fair dues and all that.

Both books will be published as eBooks worldwide on October 25th, and in the US and Canada on the same day. They are published in the UK on November 3rd.

Both books will be published as eBooks worldwide on September 27th. Paperbacks on September 27th (US/Canada) and October 6th (UK).