Small Niche Games Joins Empty Room Studios

Small Niche Games (WWII: Operation Jedburgh, Vice Squad: Miami Nights, Tavern Menus) is pleased to announce a merger with the talented artists and writers of Empty Room Studios to form Empty Room Studios Publishing (ERSP).

Peter C. Spahn:“This is a good move for us. Empty Room Studios has a lot of talent that we’ll be able to draw upon to create some new and interesting products. This will come in handy, especially since we’re looking into acquiring the 4E license package.”

Rick Hershey: “I'm excited by the merger. It will allow us to focus and run our operations more smoothly along with tapping the talent of our ERS members. I fully expect people to be surprised by the full range of material this allows us to create.”

All Small Niche Games products will now be available through ERSP. ERSP plans to expand on current product lines such as the innovative Quick Play Adventures line for d20 Modern as well as its handy visual aid series that features Tavern Menus, Character Cards, and Fantasy Currency.

ERSP is also gearing up for the release of several new products and product lines:

Dreamwalker Revised(available February 2, 2008): The Brood have come. Soulless creatures who invade our dreams and seek to drive us insane. Living Nightmares who cross over into the real world to wreak havoc and destroy. They hide. They breed. They multiply. As the borders between dreams and reality crumble, their growing evil threatens all mankind.

And yet, there is hope. As always, in times of great need, heroes are born. You are one of those brave, gifted few who have chosen to take a stand against the darkness. You may be one of the Awakened who can sense the horrors living among us or you may be a Dreamwalker who can carry the fight into the spirit world. Only there, at the source, can the Brood be defeated. Humanity’s salvation is in your hands. You have the strength and the will to persevere, but do you have the courage? Prepare for your journey—the Land of Dreams awaits.

Dreamwalker Revised is a game of epic horror, fantasy, and adventure set against the backdrop of the modern world. In this setting, the mystical Land of Dreams is in turmoil and its collapse has begun to affect reality. Dreams have become a breeding ground for madness and despair. Vampires, mummies, demons, and other dark creatures stalk the night, and the deepest realms of spirit are slowly coming unraveled.


Steampunk Musha: Victoriantal Adventures(available March 2008): Imagine an island where tradition wars against technology. The last of the samurai have nowhere to turn, and yakuza thugs and street fighters now hold the respect of the cities. Shangti Cowboys have showed the island the power of firearms, and Mechanists have proven the triumph of machine over superstition. But the old ways linger. Kabukika, warriors of the theater and users of magic, hold onto their traditions, as do the Nikobo, who find that as the land travels farther from its traditions, its spirits grow restless...

Both humans and their gaijin cousins toil to rebuild from the last war, and the Clockwork Ronin, remnants of that era, struggle to find a home. Juunishi-po, a people born to resemble the forms of the zodiac, and keshou, distant relatives of goblins once kept as slaves, have learned to embrace the new technology and bring glory to their people. The Jinteki-Oni, half-me and half-demon, have come down from their mountain homes to learn the ways of men. Change has come quickly to the island, and these changes bring chaos, on which the demons of old still thrive.

This is the world of Rosuto-Shima, a setting that uses the Open Game License and compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Introducing eight new races, a host of new feats, honor system and bloodlines, and a multitude of classes and prestige classes just for the setting, Steampunk Musha combines Asian flavor fantasy with Victorian technology to create a world of tradition, machines, and chaos. High fantasy and science fiction clash and combine in a conflict of old and new, father and son, clockwork and spiritual. The world is changing. How will you change it?

Steampunk Musha is created by Rick Hershey with additional design by Alana Joli Abbott. The OGL version of SM was created from numerous contributions from such writers as Troy Daniels, Mark Adams, Brian Spurling, and an assortment of fans and designers. Currently, the Steampunk Musha Player's Guide and the Steampunk Musha Game Master's Guide is being edited and compiled by fan-favorite writer Charles Rice.

You can check out the 17x11 image being created for the covers, by Tim Hibbetts, in the forum under Steampunk Musha General section.


LandEscapes Map Packs(available February 15, 2008): Got a big fight coming up in the local inn or an expedition across the kingdom? Maybe your new world needs a map of the entire continent or just a small goblin cave? LandEscapes give you full color, highly detailed maps, rendered by ERS cartographer Keith Curtis, to aid in your next adventure. LandEscapes Map Packs come in a huge variety to cover all your needs. World maps, city maps, dungeon tiles, ships, stores, and whatever else you can imagine all rendered in high detail at a low cost. Currently, our schedule plan involves releasing a new set every two weeks after the initial release. You can view a sample of Keith's work at the ERS website.

Keith Curtis: Empty Room Studios Cartographer- www.emptyroomstudios.com/k_curtis.php

Empty Room Studios: Character Cards (available February 6, 2008): Originally released as SNG's Character Cards, the new product line offers many new features while retaining magnificent artwork. Each set contains 16 fully painted character portraits and several optional backs, including character descriptions, bios, and motivations or blank lines for easy note taking. All sets are part of a greater 54 card bundle covering different themes. Our first bundle deals with Tavern Folk and covers a wide selection of patrons found in your favorite watering hole or city. The next set includes beautiful artwork from Jeffrey Koch and character descriptions from Peter C. Spahn.








Additional Lines:

Tavern Menus- Look for an all new set of Wild West theme menus in the near future to be followed by a new set of Fantasy menus and Oriental menus.

Fantastical Currencies - Our next set of currencies will be an Asian inspired set, followed by a set of early American currency, and an addition to our fantasy sets.

Standard Stockart - Expect to see future sets from ERS members and specialty packs designed for use in 3rd party books mimicking the newest edition of the most popular fantasy RPG.

Quick Play Adventures- Look for a new release in the upcoming months as our Texas Rangers QPA is finished. We are also discussing a possible True20 QPA support line. Stay tuned. . .

Visit the Empty Room Studios Publishing website at www.emptyroomstudios.com for more information on upcoming plans and products.

Andrew Schneider, one of our writers here at Empty Room Studios, recently advanced to the semi-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest with his urban fantasy novel, Waiting for My Happily Ever After.

Amazon, in cooperation with Publisher's Weekly and Penguin Publishing, will now rely on reviews from Amazon customers to decide which 10 unpublished novels (from the 1,000 semi-finalists) will advance to the finals and a shot at a publishing deal. The more honest and thoughtful reviews the receives, the better his chances.

Here's a quick description of the plot:

Sleeping Beauty, our
chain-smoking heroine stuck in her mid-twenties since the Dark Ages, is having
an identity crisis. Is she more than just a pretty face? Complicating matters
is the return of her estranged husband Prince Charming, her crush on Lancelot,
and some unofficial attention from Hank, her immigration officer at the
Department of Homeland Security. And then her friends start disappearing. What’s
a girl to do?

Waiting for My Happily Ever After finds classic fairy-tale characters
trying to adjust to the modern world. Set in Washington
D.C.—amid lobbyists, immigration hassles,
bureaucratic red tape, and exploitative authors in search of their next big
break—Sleeping Beauty and Lancelot knock out skim lattes and rehash the glory
days while the world changes, with or without them.

To download a free excerpt of the novel and write a review, follow the link: www.amazon.com/dp/B001200CB4

Full information on the contest can be found at www.amazon.com/abna

Baeg Tobar (www.baegtobar.com), a premier online, shared world community of creators of fiction and art, is looking for talented, organized individuals to contribute to its upcoming series of short stories!

With story subjects ranging from the trials of daily life in a fantasy setting to the clandestine activities of a secret society of musicians to all out war with a group of mysterious invaders, there's something for everyone - and there's plenty to do.

At Baeg Tobar, our creators are more than just writers and artists; they're members of a community. Working with Baeg Tobar is a great way practice your trade, but it's also an excellent opportunity to meet and collaborate with a variety of creative individuals from across the globe.

Interested writers should email sample work of less than 5000 words to submissions@baegtobar.com.