Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Wow! Has it really been that long?
SATurday Graphics has been off the map for some time, but we're planning a big comeback soon.
The American Academy of the Arcane is still slowly progressing.
We have several new modern and sci-fi products in the works, as well as a re-release of the Faerie Tale Folio in a new format.
Stay tuned, as we are also hoping to announce a new product line as well.

Loot! A card game for pirates and their whole family!

SATurday Graphics is pleased to announce the release of their first card game - Loot!

Loot! is a fast paced card game that is easy enough that any child able to count to five can play it. Yet the strategy behind the game is complex enough to keep even an avid gamer entertained.

The concept of the game is simple. Your group of pirates is working together to plunder a wealthy merchant vessel. The problem is, some scurvy dog has set a bomb burning in the hold! Grab as much loot as you can, but be sure to dive overboard before the ship explodes! Players race against the bomb as well as each other to gather as much loot as possible. You can chicken out at any time and dive overboard escaping with your ill-gotten gains, or you can hang in there and hope to score a little more loot before the bomb explodes leaving you in ruins! Special cards allow you to steal booty from your fellow pirates, lending to the frenetic pace of the game.

The game is designed to be printed on pre-perforated business cards, but anyone with a little skill can assemble a play deck from regular cardstock. The cards are in color for ease of play, but if you're being stingy with your ink, there's no reason you couldn't play with black & white cards.

Best of all, Loot! is almost infintely expandable! We reccomend using 15-20 cards per player. So if you have a big group of pirates, just print another set of cards, shuffle them in and get playing. It's easy to play variant games that way as well. Want multiple bombs? Just add some more and raise the tension of the game. Want an easier game for younger kids? Just pull out all but one bomb, and remove the special cards.

Loot! was successfully playtested with groups of first-graders, high-school students, college students and even senior citizens. It really is a game for all ages. So what are you waiting for? Hoist the Jolly Roger, buckle your swash, and starting grabbing Loot!

Loot! is ONLY available at the EN World Gamestore!

Affiliate Program!

EN World has kicked off their new affiliate program!
What does this mean to you?
Simple, just go to EN World's Build Links section, select build link by publisher, select SATurday Graphics as the publisher, and copy the banner to your website or blog.
Whenever a sale results from your link, you'll get funds added to your account at EN World. Funds that you can use to buy great gaming materials, or even withdraw to a PayPal account!
So help support SATurday Graphics, and make some cash for yourself too!

The perfect location and modern land acquisition sports

Work continues on The American Academy of the Arcane.
One issue we're kicking around is where this school should be located. Obviously as the name suggests, the school is American, and will be located in the U.S. of A.
But what's the best site to put a wizard's school in this country?

We've kicked around a few "historically magical" site - Roanoke, Salem, etc.
But would those really be the best places to put a wizards' school?

I don't really want to have the school located in some magical "otherworld" like Hogwarts. This is a game about (mostly) normal American kids and their (mostly) normal American school. I don't want a secret school in a secret location where wizards have to constantly hide their powers from others.

I don't want that, because I really can't see American's acting like that. That air of propriety and minding one's own business is much more a British mindset. The American take on this would be far different. As Biyalistock said "That's it baby! If you got it, flaunt it!"

American's love celebrity. We love fame. Our young wizards wouldn't be hiding away in some dreary castle. They'd be doing lunch and dodging paparazzi! Granted, not every young wizard is going to be in the limelight. In a world where wizards are known to exist, the public will eventually get bored with them. Nonetheless, I'm torn between placing the school in a secluded suburb, and putting it downtown in a bustling metropolis.

One thing's for sure, wherever the school goes, they're going to need room for a state of the art athletic field.
One of the big parts of AAA is going to be their favorite sport - Fateball.
Again, we're still pounding the bugs out of the system, but this is going to be cool!
Take American football, mix in magic and wizards, and you've got one heck of a new sport!
Picture an enlarged running back barrelling down the gridiron. A hasted linebacker rushes to cut him off. A flying opponent swoops in to make the tackle, but the runner telekinetically laterals the ball to his teammate who runs it in for a touchdown!

Fateball is going to be a fast-paced, freewheeling madhouse of a game. We've been stripping football down to the bare bones, and then padding it up with magical mayhem. Fateball will be part of the AAA book itself, but it's looking so cool, we're thinking about releasing it as a stand alone game as well.

OK, enough rumors and gossip. Time for me to get back to work!

What's cooking?

Whew! GM's Day is finally over. Hope you had a chance to take advantage of all the great sales.
I picked up XRP's complete Monster Geographica line myself, because you can never have too many monsters.

Speaking of monsters, I promised some "sneak peeks" at some upcoming products in this blog didn't I?
Guess I better come across with the goods.
One of the biggest products I'm working on is a little something I'm tentatively calling "The American Academy of the Arcane."

You see, I love the Harry Potter stories. Totally dig them.
And I really enjoyed Human Head's "Redhurst Academy of Magic."
Great stuff all around. They both make great settings for "young wizards at school" games.

The problem is though, these settings bear absolutely no resemblance to anything I would consider "normal school."
I'm an American. We don't have Prefects and Head Boys. While soccer is reportedly a very popular sport in Great Britan, it's not quite the rage here in the States. So a game about soccer/rugby played on the back of a flying broom is cool and all, but I can't relate to it the way I could somthing based off, say ... American football.

An American wizards' school is going to be a VERY different animal from a British school, or a purely fantasy school.
That the driving design sensibility behind "The American Academy of the Arcane."
I'm trying to take an American high school experience and twist it through a "Rowlings-esque" lens to capture something new and exciting.

An American wizard's school isn't likely to be found in some spooky old castle. It's more likely in a stately mansion, or a modern high tech campus. The American Academy of the Arcane's school grounds looks a lot more like Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters than Hogwarts Academy.

American students and more importantly their parents aren't going to want their children hidden from the world for months at a time. Most American kids come home from school on a daily basis.

The differences go on and on, everything from driving, to dating even down to the very spells the students are likely to learn and the classrooms they learn in would be dramatically different in an American magic school.

That's the spin on "The American Academy of the Arcane."
It's still in the design phase, but we're planning on using the modern d20 rules set, and playing up the idea that this is a modern, uniquely American approach to training wizards.
More "Sky High" and less stodgy boarding school.
More "Teen Titans" and less "Time of the Twins."

I'm sure I could even sneak in a joke or two here about how this is a "revolutionary" product. But that just wouldn't be cricket.
And that's not my cup of tea.

Ooo ... sorry. Those just slipped out.

Happy GM's Day!

If you're reading this before the wee hours of the morning on March 6, then there's still time for you to take advantage of the big GM's Day sale over at the EN World Gamestore!

What is GM's Day you ask?

Well, for starters, it was March 4th, so you're really sneaking in under the wire at this point.
Nevertheless, GM's Day is a special holiday that gives roleplaying gamers a chance to show their thanks and appreciation to those tireless souls that provide their gaming goodness - the Game Masters!

You know your GM works hard. Statblocks aren't easy to build, and he's worn his fingers to the bone drawing those maps! It's estimated that for every hour a player spends on a game, a GM will spend FOUR! That's an awful lot of work, considering he's not getting paid for it.

So pick something nice out for your GM. There are literally dozens of great little PDFs that would enhance your game. You can even be a real cheapskate and get him a Pick & Mix PDF for less than 50 cents! Where can you beat that deal?

And lest you think that this is just a shameless trick for GM's to get free swag (you know, like Sweetest Day) should I point out that a GM's Day present is a great way to let you GM know what sort of treasure and rewards you'd like to see show up in his game?

Been itching for a Deck of Many Things? You can get him one he can print out and pass on to you for less than a buck! With a little shopping, you can find a ton of nifty broken ... I mean powerful new gaming goodies that would make your GM happy and give you an edge.

So make sure to let your GM know you think he's a great guy. Get him something for GM's Day. And let him know to keep the XP and the treasure flowing your way.