Arcana Unearthed in Sight!

This week, we got the Arcana Unearthed proofs back from the printer. Proofs are what the printer sends you to show that everything's all set up, and they're ready to start printing. You check them over and make sure that there are no setup errors (usually, if any, these are extremely minor, like leaving off the ® from Malhavoc Press or something -- this isn't the time to go back and redesign a rule!)

Anyway, it looked great. We're very excited. I haven't been this excited to have a product come out since the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook.

With that in mind, I thought this was a good time to make two Arcana Unearthed announcements.

PDFs
We will indeed release PDFs of Arcana Unearthed. This isn't the way we've handled PDF versions of our other products, however. First of all, the PDFs are coming out after the print version. They will be released on August 7, along with the electronic edition of the Arcana Unearthed DM's Screen and Player's Guide. Second, you'll notice I keep writing "PDFs" -- plural. That's because there are three of them. Because at 256 pages, the entire book is very long for a reasonably sized PDF, Sue and I have taken some of the material out of Arcana Unearthed, and put it together in logical ways as new d20 products available exclusively as PDF editions.

The electronic releases are:

Way of the Sword (54 pages): Warriors unite! This PDF includes the warmain, unfettered, totem warrior, champion, and mage blade classes. It also includes the quickling, spryte, giant, sibeccai, and litorian races, and as well as 59 new feats geared toward combat and other concerns of those who following the path of the blade.

Way of the Staff (52 pages): Unlock the mages' secrets! This PDF details the magister, greenbond, runethane, witch, and akashic classes. It also includes the loresong, spryte, mojh, and verrik races, and a 49 new feats pertaining to spellcasting and magic.

The Arcana Unearthed Grimoire (93 pages): This PDF includes the Arcana Unearthed magic system and all of the spells from the hardcover book!

Now please note that even all three of these PDFs do not equal 100 percent of the book's content. They comprise most of it, but if you want the whole thing you'll need to track down the hardcover itself. We're releasing these PDFs for three reasons:

1. If you want an inexpensive, detailed preview of your favorite parts of the book before buying the whole hardcover, you can have it.

2. If you live in an area where you are unable to get Arcana Unearthed, these PDFs will provide most of what you need to play the game, coupled with your existing Player's Handbook (I'll be honest, you'll be missing out on the changes I made to the skills, to combat, and some miscellaneous other material.)

3. Even if you get the hardcover, you may still want one of the PDFs to give to a player, or as additional electronic reference.

Let me state, however, that I do not expect anyone to buy both the paper and electronic version of this (or any) product. Please don't send me angry emails saying otherwise. I'm just providing the option.

Open Gaming Material
Just like lots (and lots) of people have inquired about Arcana Unearthed in PDF form, lots of people have asked me about the open content of Arcana Unearthed material. I've hinted before that we're doing something a little out of the ordinary. Well, here it is.

Now, of course a fair bit of Arcana Unearthed will be open content, just like is required under the license, just like you've seen in other Malhavoc Press products. However, if publishers want to use absolutely everything in the book, they can. This is made possible by a special limited license that we are creating, empowering a publisher to use all the content of the book (except for the art, and the obvious stuff). The license has some special requirements, but it is entirely free. Publishers wishing obtain this license will find an email address in the book to contact, and details of what they must do. The license will not be available until after the book is on store shelves. You can find out more details about it here once the hardcover goes on sale.

We're excited about this because it's an opportunity for many publishers to get involved and help us support what we think is a great product (and in turn, be a part of Arcana Unearthed).

This special limited license is different from the license that we have with our current publishing partners Fiery Dragon, Mystic Eye Games, and Necromancer. These companies' products actually carry the Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed logo on them and entail a great deal of my involvement. We have no current plans to expand the number of publishing partners in this way.

Other Arcana Unearthed Notes
1. If you hope to purchase a copy from your local retailers, make sure you've told them so as to ensure the store orders enough copies. Encourage them to check out our retailer site

2. A few sources are still calling the book the "Malhavoc Handbook." That's our fault, because that's what we called it at first. Help us spread the word that the real title is "Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed." Thanks!

3. Have you seen the Arcana Unearthed trailer? It's amazing. Mark Byer and Jammin' Grooves did an incredible job.