Newsishness:
(12-15-04)
Wow, over a year since the last update. As everyone's probably already
surmised, Savant Garde Entertainment has closed shop. As of yesterday,
we've finally shipped ALL of our remaining games off to Titan Games, so if you're after fine
Savant Garde games, that's where you want to go. We will continue to
design games, but we'll leave the publication end of things to other
companies. Otherwise, things are being steered in a whole new direction,
and there will be more on that as it develops.
(8-13-03)
Another late motto update. Yay. Back to working on stuff a little bit more
after getting horribly distracted for a long time by Puzzle Pirates.
Below-ground testing of SteamWorld is progressing better than even our
most optimistic evil geniuses (that being me) ever imagined. Also back to
working on other half-finished projects. More info at some nebulous future
point.
(6-25-03)
Somehow managed to miss updating the motto this month, so we're putting up
next month's motto a few days
early. More news coming soon... maybe.
(5-15-03)
Put the previous motto back up
today, since it had so little time to share its radiant glory with the
world. As was to be expected, we didn't get our Gameboy Advance project
finished in time for E3. Perhaps next year...
In other news, our very own R. Hunter Gough (that's me) is a contributing
writer on Atlas Games' new d20 sourcebook, Uncommon Character. Check it out, and behold a small
dose of his genius while you're waiting for the next Savant Garde release
so you can get a great big heaping dollop of his genius.
(4-17-03)
Today's fun fact is that "dressed as a milkmaid" is one of this month's
top Google searches that brings people to Savant Garde's homepage. Hooray!
(4-15-03)
Changed the motto to something
more apropo to current events. Since the last one was only up for four
days it will probably come up again so it doesn't feel cheated and lonely.
(4-11-03)
We have, as promised, performed our monthly change of motto. If you want to get a sneak peak at
Storm Siege, it's currently being playtested by the Pyramid
Magazine
playtest group, which you can join if you have a Pyramid subscription
(they're $20 for a year's subscription, which I think is a steal for all
the great stuff that's in the magazine every week). Bradley Bleeker has
also added some of the Storm
Siege
cards to his website. We're also working on a flash game that will
soon be available here for free, and our first Gameboy Advance game which
we will hopefully be showing to potential publishers at E3 assuming it
actually achieves some sort of semi-demo-able state by then.
(3-21-03)
Today's fun fact is that one of the top Google searches last month that
brought people to Savant Garde's homepage was "Italian hovels for sale".
This month it's "filthy schoolgirl". Try it! (Just don't blame us for
anything else you turn up with those kinds of searches!)
(3-20-03)
GAMA, GAMA, Hey. Just got back from a very unproductive trip to the
Game Industry Trade Show, all ready to throw down lots and lots of
updates! First of all, you've probably noticed that I redesigned the site
yet again. I've finally gotten over my aversion to frames (which
immediately followed my "frames uber alles!!" phase). I've also decided
that Savant Garde Entertainment is in dire need of a motto, and not only a
motto but a different motto every month. This month's motto, as you
can see from the front page, is "Consume, You Soulless Beasts!",
something I think will ring true in the gray, shrivelled hearts of every
wretched Savant Garde fanboy/girl/thing. At some nebulous point next month
it will be changed to something fresh and invigorating, like a breath of
crisp mountain air, or an electric cattle-prod to the temple.
And speaking of nebulous dates, I've decided to completely do away with
scheduled release dates altogether, and go with the old tried-and-true "it
comes out when it comes out, dammit" model. Of course, consumers,
retailers, and distributors alike will receive plenty of advance notice
when products are actually on their way, but there will be no more of this
planned-far-far-in-advance hibbity-jibbery.
Keeping that in mind, here's the beans on a whole bunch of Savant Garde
games that will be released "at some point", and which I was previously
afraid to mention without some sort of gleaming shiny release date
attached. Boy was that stupid.
- Tumbler Counters! Savant Garde will soon make their initial
forray into the production of little plastic widgets with these thingies,
tentatively titled either Tumbler Counters or Savant Garde Life
Counters (if you can think of a better name, email us using the link
on the left and we'll send you one for your troubles whenever they get
made). Picture the combination lock on a briefcase, now take away the
locking mechanism, so all you have left is little clicky number wheels and
a frame that holds them together and voila! You have a tumbler counter,
good for tracking things like hit points in any number of CCGs, RPGs,
SUVs, and LSMFTs. The tumbler counters are the nearest of anything right
now to completion, so they'll be the first out of the pipe (although
exactly when I can't rightly say, and don't have to! Hooray!), and will be
followed soon after, in no particular order by:
- Haunted, a modular boardgame where you and your opponents play
the manevolent and sadistic spirits inhabiting an old house, trapping and
possessing the foolish mortals who have wandered into your domain. Right
now we're seriously considering using Hammerdog Imajewels to represent said foolish mortals.
- SteamWorld, the greatest tabletop RPG you'll ever play! (Hey,
it's vaporware at this point. We can claim whatever we want!) SteamWorld
is aimed at beginners and veteran gamers alike, and will doubtlessly be
that final holy grail that everyone in the game industry has been
searching for that converts every console roleplayer in existence to
tabletop roleplaying (if you have no idea what that means, don't worry.
It's explained in the book). Features include a rules system flexible
enough to let you play absolutely anybody or anything you want to play,
and an absolutely ingenious mechanic for consolidating every single type
of point in the game into just one score. (Trust me, it works, and it's
brilliant.) The book will be hardbound, around 300 pages, and full-color
with illustrations absolutely everywhere by Bradley Bleeker.
- Mausoleum Revised is, well, the revised version of Mausoleum. We've kept most of the art the same,
although we have added the color red to most things; the biggest change is
that the revised rules and the changes noted in the FAQ will replace the
previous rules and problematic text.
- Storm Siege, our super-nifty, semi-collectible card game. How
is it semi-collectible? Well, you'll just have to see as we put more
information together on it. Almost all of the art for the first set of
this is done, so I'll be putting together a homepage for it very soonish.
There you go! Tons of exciting new games, all coming out eventually! I
know I feel better now.
I also added the "Marathon" variant to the Froop! Rules page. Check it out, and
stay up all night playing it!
For those of you who care about such things, here's my quintessential picture of Vegas from
the trade show. Notice the ditch filled with refuse and broken human
misery that leads to the monument to vomitous opulence in the background.
That's a folded-up soiled mattress about halfway up. And here is a picture of me and Steve
Jackson, sealing the deal on "GURPS: Gother Than Thou", which includes
extensive new rules on posing and preening. I'm not actually as fat (or
self conscious!) as I look in this picture. For an image of the
blindingly exquisite beauty that is my normal form, look on the back of a
"Gother" card. Now that's one damn sexy monkey.
(Today's fun fact is that although "hibbity-jibbery" sounds like some sort
of vile racial epithet, it's not, so you can feel free to say it as much
and as loudly as you want in the middle of church services.)
(2-18-03)
Added the "Panic" variant to the Froop!
rules. I thought there was something else incredibly important that I
was going to announce here, but I've forgotten it. Oh well...
Oh wait! Now I remember!! We've changed servers, so now our URL is just
www.savant-garde.com instead of redirecting to the big long gothic.net
address. If you're reading this then you're in the right place, but you
should update your bookmarks and links just to be safe.
(2-6-03)
Added the Rules to Froop! Although the game
itself comes with rules in 15 different languages, only the English rules
are available here. However I want your help to change
that! If you know a language that is not one of the original 15 (English,
French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Greek, Japanese,
Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Thai, Arabic, and Hebrew), please translate the
rules into it and send them here so we can add them to
the page! We only want distinct languages, not slangs, so while Klingon
and Sylvan would be accepted, Pig-Latin and Jive would not.
(2-5-03)
We've added a Retailer Support section. If you're a
retailer this is your cue to hoot like a gibbon and dance with glee. If
you're not a retailer this is your cue to go to your local game retailer
and spend your entire life savings on Savant Garde games. Right about...
now. (My funky soul brother.)
(2-2-03)
I've been meaning to add this for a while; Pyramid
Magazine has given Froop! its first rave review!
I was kind of bummed when I discovered that I'd need a subscription to the
magazine to read the whole review, but I broke down a shelled out my $15
for one, and now I'm reading other articles in it every day! Check it out,
now! (My funky soul brother.)
(1-5-03)
Since he had been permanently shelved and would've never seen the light of
day otherwise, we've decided to make BRAWL:
Kasanova available as a free pdf download! Those of you who
have been anxiously awaiting his arrival may now crank up the disco, put
on your crimefightin' shades, and get out your safety scissors!
In other news, Froop! is doing quite well, despite the
fact that nothing on the box indicates what the cards look like or really
how gameplay works. We have remedied this problem here, with a handy informative
shelf-stand designed to go on the shelf next to the game in a store, or
hang from the shelf below it, but which can be just as easily used for the
edification of the drooling masses from the comfort of their own filthy
little hovels, by just going and looking at it. dig.
We also finally got around to rearranging this here front page. Isn't it
just lovely?
(11-18-02) Yep! Sure is October 1st!
As befits Savant Garde Entertainment's impeccible punctuality, Froop! has arrived, and is now available for sale
here. Savant Garde has many fine agencies and
forces to credit for the timely arrival of Froop!, not the least of
which is Savant Garde itself. At least it is available in time for the
holidays, so you should expect to soon see the same sort of shrieking,
clawing, biting and furious waving of fist-fulls of money at your local
game store that was displayed by our test group of rabid howler monkeys
when we held a deck over their cage. This reaction may or may not have
been influenced by the fact that we first drenched the cards in delicious
maple syrup, a courtesy your local retailer may choose
whether or not to extend, depending on what regional laws or local customs
apply. I'm digressing, aren't I?
In short, and what may soon become Savant Garde Entertainment's official
motto if we can't think of one better:
Consume, you soulless beasts!!
Also remember that warm, sumptuous Gother Than
Thou T-Shirts are available, once again, just in time for the
holidays.
(8-24-02)
Sort of an indirect update, but Bradley Bleeker, our friendly neighborhood
art-person, now has his very own webpage. dig it.
(8-17-02)
Froop! now has an official release date of
October 1st. Hobble down
to your local retailer right now and rant for hours about how
desperately you want it and how miserable your cold, hollow little
existence will be until you hold your very own deck in your sweaty
misshapen paws!!
(6-30-02)
T-shirts for "Gother Than Thou: The Most
Pretentious Card Game Ever
Made" are now an irresistable $9.95 each, brand-spankin'-new! Buy them
now before they are consumed by the unspeakable moth-men (chapstick?)
who dwell in the dark and horrible bowels of the hideous, rusted,
ceaseless factory of the damned from which they were spawned and where
they currently lie in wait to wrap themselves around your foolish
mortal coil and compel you to perform abominable acts and indulge the
mad, whispered pleasures you've always dreamed of!
Consume, you soulless beasts!!
(5-30-02) ...20 minutes later
notch++ Yay. There's now an international Retailer Locator that
searches by country. Rejoice!! If I get too many listings for a particular
country (Canada, for instance), I'll break it off into its own locator.
(5-30-02)
Back from France and ready for action... I got bored this afternoon
and threw together a really lame Retailer Locator, found above. I'm sure
someone will probably break it in the next 15 minutes, but until then it
will perform its duty well. For the moment it only accepts 5-digit zip
codes (i.e. US addresses), but if I have another bored afternoon at some
point I'll "kick it up a notch" and make it international-styley. Ahhh
Oui.
(4-29-02)
As promised, the cover image has been added to the Froop! preview. Another fine and dandy
work by Bradley Bleeker.
(4-25-02)
Well, hell has frozen over, the pigs have flown the coop, and I've finally
gotten around to putting up the Froop!
preview. It's not too terribly informative, but it should give you a
general idea of what to expect and when to expect it. I'll add the cover
image to the preview page once I get it put together, and I'll post more
info here when Froop! finally goes to print. Now if you'll excuse
me, Semyaza and Belial have challenged me to a snowball fight.
(4-23-02)
Merciful Minerva! "Gother Than Thou" has been nominated for this
year's Origins
Awards in
the "Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game" category. I feel all
flustery and full of happy bunnies, because even if it doesn't win the
nomination alone is a great honor. Of course, it is your sworn duty
as a shrieking Savant Garde fan-ling to cast your vote for "Gother" in
said category, while you're busy casting votes for the rest of this year's
chewy goodness in the other categories, as soon as the public voting
opens.
Oh, and since this is the first update in many a dark aeon, I guess I
should probably let you all know that everything's been pushed back
even further, because, frankly, recession makes card games kick it
slow style, I just bought a house and I have a major vacation
coming up, all of which tend to de-prioritize immediately dropping a new
game on the market. Rest assured that the mysterious "Froop!" is
currently all ready to go to the printers except for a cover image which
is on its way, and will, eventually, be released with Savant
Garde's trademark punctuality. "BRAWL: Kasanova", on the otherhand, may
print along with "Froop!" or it may, sadly, go squish, depending on how
well BRAWL and card games in general are doing at the moment. Seein' as
how we have complete art and finished layout for him I'd really like to
see the deck go through, but at the moment it's just not looking
economically feasible.
(12-1-01)
Keep your gaunt, dessicated husk warm this winter! Just in time for
the holidays, we're churning out Gother Than Thou T-Shirts! They're
coming back from the printers December 10th, but you can pre-order one now and get 10% off! (Or you could
pre-order more than one and be extra warm.)
(11-3-01)
Delays, delays, delays... Froop! and Brawl: Kasanova have been
pushed back to next spring. We were going to just push them back to
Christmas, but sales have been slowing down quite a bit, so we'll need a
bit more time. Alas. In the meantime, development is chugging along on
severeal other projects, which we'll post more information on when they
come closer to completion. I really need to get a Froop! page up... ugh.
(7-12-01)
"Rat Splatter" is here! After some slow-down in customs, "Rat
Splatter" has finally arrived in our offices. Go to the Buy page to get your deck now, or go here for more info on the game.
(6-2-01)
Can you smell what the anvil's squishin'?? We're expecting "Rat
Splatter" to come back from the printers on the 15th. Join the mailing list
now to find out how to pre-order it, so you can completely
destroy your nervous system with its fast-twitch gameplay before your
friends have even laid eyes on a deck!
(4-28-01)
Sweet Baby Swiss! There's now a tantilizing preview page for BRAWL:
Kasanova! Go check it out, and squirm with sweet antici...pation. Also, Rat
Splatter, and the third printing (but only second edition, still. Confusing, eh?) of Gother Than Thou
should be winging their way to our new printers in India sometime in the next week, so put on your squishin' hat and
get ready for fun. (That could also make an effective pick-up line in the right circles. I'm gonna go eat some gumbo
now...)
(3-8-01)
As you can see above, there's now a FAQ
section for Mausoleum. You may now squeal with pleasure.
(2-26-01)
I've put the Rat Splatter preview back up,
because I'm not really sure why I took it down in the first place.
Probably all those angry letters from the SPCA.
(2-23-01)
As luck would have it, as soon as "Mausoleum" was published, a nasty bug
in the rules appeared that was completely missed during the months of
play-testing that preceeded its release. Basically, the "Grave" cards were
much too powerful and, especially in a five-player game, one or two players
could horde them and thus make it impossible for any of the other players
to win. The new rules, available here,
not only fix this problem, but make the game run smoother in general, and
will be the rules-set included in all future editions of "Mausoleum".
Thanks for your continued support, and we appologize for the inconvenience.
(2-9-01)
Our games are now being carried by Wizard's Attic. Unless you're a professional
game distribution company, this will mean absolutely nothing to you, and you
probably already know, but I don't have anything useful to update with so I thought
I'd mention that.
(11-14-00)
Yay! We feel so professional!! Why? Because only professional games
have egregious misprints and errata!! :(X
Ack. Check the Mausoleum New Rules
page for details.
(11-13-00)
As you've probably already noticed, "Gother Than Thou" Second Edition and
"Mausoleum" are available for sale here. Go get
some!!
(10-31-00)
I see good news, I see bad news... Woohoo! "Mausoleum" and the
second edition of "Gother Than Thou" are back from the printers! They're
on their way to our distributors now, and will be up for sale here
shortly.
What's the bad news? Well, there was a minor printing error on "Gother
Than Thou", so one of the "That Wasted Look" cards has the wrong art, and
one of the "Deep Newsgroup Posts" cards is untitled. This doesn't affect
gameplay at all, but it is kind of annoying. Rest assured, however, that
arrangements have already been made to print replacements for these two
cards, so if you buy a deck with the misprinted cards, you will soon be
able to send us one of those cards as proof of purchase and we'll send you
replacement cards. Sorry for the inconvenience. On the upside, "Mausoleum"
looks great, although for some reason there are no apostrophes anywhere
where there should be. Oh well.
(10-23-00)
Whoa! An update! I could've sworn I did one of these a while ago,
but things have been a little hectic so maybe I just dreamed it. Anyway...
the news is now out that "Gother Than Thou" has made the "Games Magazine
100" for 2001, which is really cool. Also of import is the fact that
"Mausoleum" and the second printing of "Gother Than Thou" are on their way
back from the printers, so we're taking pre-orders now for "Mausoleum".
(Join the mailing list above to find out how to get yours!)
(8-26-00)
Okay, there's been a little shuffling of releases, since "Gother Than
Thou" has sold out just before it's scheduled to receive a big award that
I cannot name at this time. (It'll become public near the end of October).
So in a last-minute shuffle, "Rat Splatter" has been replaced with "Gother
Than Thou", so now "Gother Than Thou" Second Edition and "Mausoleum" will
be released sometime in mid-September, and hopefully "Rat Splatter" will
be released in color along with "Froop!" just in time for da holidayz.
Sorry for the delay.
What's "Froop!", you ask? Well, you're just going to have to wait and find
out.
(8-19-00)
Big goings-on with Gother Than Thou! Check the Gother Than Thou News section for details!
(7-26-00)
Ack. It looks like Mausoleum and Rat Splatter are not going to make the
August 1st release date. Right now it's looking like a late-August release. The mailing
list (linked to above) will, of course, be the first to know when it does come in.