On to the Second Half! Hey there to all you amazing people in this community! We have had a lot going on, and a lot coming up that we'd love to touch base with you on. But before the news, you know the drill, we need to make a quick reminder for everyone to come connect with the team and community on our official social pages:
GenCon Online Retrospect!
Last weekend was GenCon Online, the virtual convention filling the role for the greatest 4 days in gaming during 2020, and Hunters Entertainment was very proud to be participating in the festivities! While, much like everyone else, we would have loved to be able to see all of you in person we have to say the the Online extension was very refreshing and fun - a fine substitute all things considered. So, what was the team up to for the show this year? Well, to be honest, we were up to much of the same as we would have been at the live show - just through a digital medium. The team was hanging around in both the official Discord Servers for Hunters Entertainment and Renegade Game Studios, spending some time chatting with the community. Our partners at Renegade were running a digital booth to sell some games, and from what we've seen a number of you picked up some hot titles.
We had our outstanding Gamemaster Team on hand to run a load of games across all of our offerings, both released and some sneak peeks at upcoming content. Considering all of the good stuff we've been hearing, it sounds like the team lived up to their reputation again and provided some wonderful and fun filled memories for many of you. If you had a particularly good time in a game over the event we'd love to hear about it on our Discord.
We weren't done yet, either, as we also had a handful of panels, interviews, and live play sessions that we hosted or participated in over the weekend. From a live form version of this very blog news you're reading now called Hunters Gathering Live, to the 10th Anniversary Celebration and Giveaway that we hosted on the GenCon Studio channel, to the sessions of Alice is Missing, Altered Carbon, and Outbreak: Undead.. what we also ran with some amazing GMs and casts (we had planned a Kids on Brooms session, but due to technical issues we had to reschedule that to tonight - more below)!
And really, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the awesome that GenCon Online delivered for gamers the world over. The number of folks I got to interact with who were at their first ever GenCon due to normally not being able to travel to it was staggering and uplifting. So, don't be too surprised if we continue to investigate and engage with online and digital conventions as we move forward.
Official Hunters Entertainment Twitch Channel!
As we have discussed some already, a few weeks ago Hunters launched a Twitch channel in order to host some content for Renegade Con - Virtual. This past weekend, we used that channel again to do some stuff for GenCon Online as well. All of this has been so well received by everyone that we're now dedicated to doing some regular content over on the official Hunters Entertainment Twitch Channel, offering TWO shows a week. That is over 20 hours of programming a month! Show One: Hunters Presents This will be an ongoing Liveplay series, featuring some new as well as familiar faces playing our games. We'll be doing serial shows (more than 1 episode) as well as one shots (single episode), that will air Tuesday Nights! That means if you have been dying to see one of our games in action you're going to soon have the best possible version of that we can get to you.
We've kicked this off with our very first serial show, Outbreak: Undead.. Strain Series: ZOMBV - Year 0. For this series we have an amazing Gamemaster in B. Dave Walters who is throwing all manner of horror at the outstanding cast of survivors we gathered together for this one. So be sure to join Markeia McCarty, May Leigh, Luis Carazo, and Michelle Bradley as they try to survive the outbreak that ravages the globe. Show Two: Hunters Gathering
A video presentation of the very newsletter you're reading now. We'll be featuring a host, Markeia McCarty, who will be going into all of the details of game design, production, and shows around our company. We'll be interviewing developers, talking about our design process (what we can talk about), and just being available to our community on a weekly basis!
We're getting the regularly scheduled event kicked off this Saturday when developer Spenser Starke joins us to talk about Alice is Missing is a bit more detail. I wouldn't be surprised if we happen to hear a bit about some of the other amazing games that Spenser has made, such as Icarus or Kids on Brooms. Don't miss out on this one as we take a dive behind the scenes.
This Week Only - A Magical Night
As we get into our historic first full week of programming, we actually have a special event slated for tonight! During GenCon Online we had intended to do a liveplay of Kids on Brooms with a truly magical cast, but unfortunately the gremlins decided to mess with the internet and we were forced to cancel due to technical difficulties. But we still really want to get you that content, so we worked with the amazing cast to reschedule and are bringing you that show tonight!
So be sure to join our Professor for the evening, Noxweiler Berf, as he takes students Aabria Iyengar, Mo Mo O’Brien, Michelle Bradley, Alex Ward, and Allie B go on a fantastical and magical adventure. Oh, and to school!
ENnie Awards 2020!
As you may already know, Hunters Entertainment has a bit of a history with the ENnie Awards. Over the years we've been fortunate enough to win awards from the gaming community for various products. At this year's show we were up for some more.
In prior years, we've won awards for:
Outbreak: Undead (Judge's Spotlight 2011)
ABCs of RPGs (Best RPG Related Product 2017 Silver Winner)
Kids on Bikes (Best Family Game 2019 Gold Winner)
And this year we have been fortunate enough to carry on that winning tradition! Presenting to you the latest member of our ENnie Award Winning Products:
Strange Adventures #2 - Best Family Game 2020 Silver Winner!
We really can't thank you all enough for the amazing support you have shown our team over the years, and we look forward to having you join us as we keep on moving forward into everything that the future has in store!
Free Content Friday 2020 August Releases!
We've cracked the half way mark pretty well at this point, and now the time has come for the next release of our Free Content Friday 2020 run! Here is a quick breakdown if you're new to this:
Free Content Friday is a program at Hunters Entertainment where we collaborate with industry veterans and members of our amazing community to bring fresh and free content to our games. In 2020 we've been very pleased to grow the program to include Outbreak: Undead.., Kids on Bikes, Icarus, and Overlight (via our partners at Renegade Game Studios)! So, what are we bringing you this time?
For Outbreak: Undead.. we have a brand new and frightening One Big Monster that is unlike any we have released before! Pulled from the mind of Brian Greene who you might know as one of our Convention Gamemasters as well as a writer of past content, this new entry will bring the dreaded "Big Mary" out of your nightmares and into the path of your survivors! This might even just be a slight tease of some of the terrors yet to come in this zombie infested world, see if you can crack it.
With our Powered by Kids on Bikes line we are sticking with the namesake Kids on Bikes with another exciting and fun Adventure Prompt. This time we have "Doggos on Skateboards" which is again developed by the absolutely wonderful Banana Chan! You've got new rules to make use of and a fun new setting to explore. And who doesn't want to play a puppers!
Next we have even more Icarus content in the form of a brand new Setting Suggestion ripe for you to make a civilization and watch it rise and fall! Returning to the forefront again this month is Spenser Starke, your developer of the game with the brand new Setting Prompt entitled "The Living City" for you to experience. Even before seeing any of the details, that name alone starts to evoke some wonderful ideas!
Last but not least we have Overlight for you, and this month we continue with the Seeds of Berkhan and "The Red Wind Fighting Club." The club was originally created as an unassuming martial arts school in the backstreets of Zenith’s metropolis: Konchog City. Of course, there is no doubt so much more to it than that, but you'll need to grab your copy and find out!
That covers this month's new free content that you can download over on DriveThruRPG (and it is available right now), but don't forget that you can also get involved by creating content for the program. Just send an email to Alex with a pitch for a content release, and if we approve the idea you'll get to work it up professionally with the team and be paid for your work! We look forward to working with you.
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Until next month, stay healthy and stay safe. We're all in this together!