ICE News
Howdy folks!,
This has been a week with five Mondays in it, but we did finally get various computer problems sorted. So we now have a new website and the UPS Worldship is working again. The new website looks quite a bit like the old but we have made it simpler to use and faster to load. See the end of this newsletter for a bit more information about the website revamp.
In Praise of Maps
We’ve always considered great maps an essential game accessory here at ICE. Maps round out a great adventure, and make game sessions much more interesting. Most of the original Rolemaster and HARP designers came to roleplaying via wargaming; so a good map has always been especially important to us.
In the past, good color maps could be expensive to come by. But now the internet, color printers, and software have made it much easier to create great maps from scratch. Some of our favorite mapping software and products include 0one games and Dundjinni.
In honor of our favorite gaming accessory, ICE is creating a section on our website where players can post their own map creations. Show us what you can do, by entering our first mapping contest—which spotlights to perennial RPG favorite: the Temple.
To the Temple
Create a useable map of a temple in the ICE Battle Map scale (1” hex equals 3’). It can be an original creation or based on a historical temple, it can be fantasy or futuristic, it can be a map you created for D&D 3.0 or any other rpg game (we won’t tell), but it cannot be a copy of an existing map (see below). If you are so inclined, you can include a brief write up about the map—but please on full scale adventure information. Remember all entries become the property of ICE. For full contest details see (xys) The deadline for all entries in January 31, 2009.
The Rewards
- Bragging rights – maps that meet the entry requirements, are nice looking, useful etc. will be posted on our website for other gamers to download and enjoy.
- The Prize - ICE will select 3-5 winners who will receive gift certificates valued between $25-$75 dollars.
- Your name in lights – ICE will announce the winners’ names in our newsletter and on our website.
Mapping Round Up
Tim & Heike will be reviewing various mapping software and products on our website in the near future. So check back frequently for reviews. We also welcome suggestions about any mapping products you would like us the review.
Sales Stuff
The 15% off sale is on until the end of November. Free shipping is now for order $150 or higher through the end of November as well. The following coupons are also in force through the end of the month
- Use this coupon to get $10 off orders of $50 or more.
Coupon Code: 555fe47aaf - Get a free copy of 3009p (HARP Character Book PDF) on orders of $30 or more. This amount (the $30) does not include the listed price of the PDF itself, and you must add the PDF to your order (for an actual total of $36.80 or higher) to receive it.
Coupon Code: 7bba8c1682 - Ger a free copy of 3009 (HARP Character Book soft cover) on orders of $50 or more. This ammount ($50) does not include the listed price of the book, and you must add the book to your order (for an actual total of $63.60 or higher) in order to receive it.
Coupon Code: d0bfd4225f
Please remember that the free product does not count towards the total needed to use the coupons.
Website Revamp!
It is possible that you saw some hiccups if you visted the website earlier today. This would be because we did a major revamp of the website. The basic look & feel of the site is still the same, but the biggest changes are behind the scenes.
In addition to the organizational and content changes, we have now made it possible for our Partners to make updates on the site as well. Not only this, but we can also have authors make Blog-like posts regarding projects that they are working on, to keep folks updates.
And to top it all off, the main page of the website is now RSS enabled to keep folks updated.
That’s all for now.
Best
Bruce at ICE
