In another sweet arrangement, Green Ronin has licensed The Black Company series of fantasy novels. Expect a d20 roleplaying sourcebook, The Black Company Campaign Setting, in the Fall. This news is sure to make a lot of gamers very happy. Any guesses as to what will get licensed next?
Green Ronin press release follows:
GREEN RONIN LICENSES THE BLACK COMPANY
Industry Leader to do RPG Adaptation of Classic Fantasy Novel Series
January 22, 2004–SEATTLE, WA: Green Ronin Publishing has reached an agreement with Glen Cook to license his classic fantasy series The Black Company. Green Ronin will publish The Black Company Campaign Setting this Fall. The book will be the definitive game guide to the world and characters of The Black Company and draw on the entirety of the ten book series.
“The Black Company is modern fantasy at its best,” says Green Ronin President Chris Pramas, “and its rich setting and memorable characters are perfect for a vibrant and exciting roleplaying game. Gamers have been clamoring for an RPG adaptation since the 80s. We are delighted to be able to make that dream come true.”
The Black Company Campaign Setting will use the d20 System, thus tapping into a network of game players millions strong. Green Ronin tops the list of d20 publishers, with such acclaimed series as Freeport: The City of Adventure, Master Class, and Mythic Vistas.
About the Black Company
Glen Cook is the leading modern writer of epic fantasy noir, tales of magical warfare and intrigue as seen, not from the commanding heights of the great generals and wizards, but from the eyes of the soldiers and mercenaries who do their bidding and scramble to survive. Tough, astonishing, and often very funny, Cook’s saga of the Black Company is like nothing else in modern fantasy.
The Black Company is a hard-bitten band of mercenaries, last of the fabled Free Companies of Khatovar. The ten-book series, beginning with the titular Black Company and ending with Soldiers Live, takes the Black Company from the frozen north to jungles of the south and on to unknown Khatovar itself. Along the way they fight to discover their own mysterious origins, which have been lost in the mists of time.
About Green Ronin Publishing
Green Ronin Publishing is a roleplaying game company from Seattle, WA. It blazed the d20 trail with its hit Death in Freeport adventure, which went on to win Origins and ENnie awards. Since then Green Ronin has established a reputation for quality that is second to none, publishing such critical favorites as Legions of Hell, Book of the Righteous, and the Mutants & Masterminds RPG. Point your browser to www.greenronin.com for more info.
Green Ronin Media Contact
Nicole Lindroos
nicole@greenronin.com
About Glen Cook
Born in 1944, Glen Cook grew up in northern California, served in the U.S. Navy, attended the University of Missouri, and was one of the earliest graduates of the well-known “Clarion” workshop for SF writers. Since 1971 he has published a large number of SF and fantasy novels, including the Dread Empire series, the occult-detective Garrett novels, and the very popular Black Company sequence that began with the publication of The Black Company in 1984. Among his SF novels is A Passage at Arms.
After working many years for General Motors, Cook now writes full-time. He lives near St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife Carol.
Legal Note
‘d20 System’ and the d20 System logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission.
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Green Ronin Publishing
Seattle, Washington
www.greenronin.com
www.MutantsAndMasterminds.com
Great books, but I fear that the d20 system will mangle yet another great idea or at best bog it down mercilessly in the system. My opinion only,of course.
Maybe they’ll give it the Mutants & Masterminds treatment, and take a much-needed scalpel to the d20 system.
As it stands right now, d20 only does one thing really well, and that’s D&D. Anything else is impossible without major house-ruling. “Anything else” includes fantasy novels, movies, etc.
As always, I beg to differ. But then I have been a d20 gamer since 2000, with its different variants: from Mutants & Masterminds to Stargate SG-1. Trust me, those third-party d20 publisher … they know which mechanics to deviate from the rigid D&D norms. In a way, they do their own “house-ruling.”
Good points from both of you. d20 has never been my cup of tea, I have stuck with the 1st edition rules I began playing in 1976, but I guess the bottom line is the enjoyment of the game. Rule tweaking is the great theing about RPGs
Interesting. I toyed with a Black Company adaptation for the Saga system back when it looked like the system was going to make it. But before I go into the my-system-is-better-than-yours area….
The main reason that stopped me from actually going through and trying a Black Company adaptation with my group was, precisely, the Black Company itself. Mainly: the universe explained in the books is nice and open to possibilities, but what actually made the books great were the characters – the Black Company itself. Remove the Black Company, The Lady and the Ten Who Were Taken (given that all are dealt with pretty thoroughly and explicitly in the series) and you end up with an interesting world, but one that doesn’t have anything going for it over Everway or Forgotten Realms or whatever your Cup Of Tea is.