Variant Player's Handbook Sells Out Twice at Gen Con

Adam Martin of Irving, Texas (shown here with Monte, left), was the first customer to buy a copy of Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed on Thursday morning when the Gen Con Exhibit Hall doors opened.

July 29, 2003 (Renton, Wash.) -- A powerful debut at the Gen Con Game Fair this past weekend and strong initial retail sales make Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed from Malhavoc Press the roleplaying game title to watch this season.

The book, which went on sale yesterday to the general public, sold out its initial Gen Con inventory last Thursday, the first day of the convention. By Sunday morning, eager customers had exhausted the second shipment as well. This feat makes Arcana Unearthed the best-selling Gen Con release ever for its publisher, Sword & Sorcery, marketing director Dean Burnham said today.

Game distributors are already showing strong confidence in the title. "This book is awesome!" said Mike Nankervis, a sales rep for ACD Distribution. "[It] should be sold with every copy of the 3.5 Player's Handbook." ACD sales rep Chris Corbett agreed: "This will be right in line behind D&D 3.5 for the biggest book of the year." And Darrell Wyatt, sales manager at ACD, predicts, "This book will outsell every OGL and d20 book out there."

Monte, the book's author and owner of Malhavoc Press, said, "The book's performance at Gen Con and the fan response show that we have hit upon a concept consumers were looking for." Arcana Unearthed, a variant player's handbook, offers new classes, feats, spells, equipment, variant rules, and optional systems that players can integrate into d20 roleplaying games or use as a stand-alone open-gaming system. The 256-page hardcover is suitable for characters of all levels in any fantasy campaign.

In September, Malhavoc Press offers a 32-page Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed DM's Screen and Player's Guide, followed in November by a 96-page supporting sourcebook, The Diamond Throne, which focuses on the handbook's setting, prestige classes, magic items, and unique denizens. At Gen Con, Mystic Eye Games released Siege on Ebonring Keep, a 144-page official tie-in adventure anthology. Fiery Dragon Productions released Plague of Dreams, a 64-page Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed adventure, as well as Counter Collection IV: The World of the Diamond Throne. Both companies report strong sales of their tie-ins.

Monte Cook, co-creator of the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons (the basis of the d20 System), also penned the Dungeon Master's Guide and many other books for TSR/Wizards of the Coast. He launched Malhavoc Press in May 2001 with the publication of the bestselling Book of Eldritch Might, which won three EN World d20 System Awards for excellence. Hallmarks of Malhavoc Press and Monte's game design include a mastery of the d20 System rules that only one of the game's original designers can offer. Malhavoc Press titles are available at this website, along with free samples of Monte's recent game design. Malhavoc Press also was named Best Publisher at the EN World d20 System Award ceremony, held Friday at Gen Con.

A division of White Wolf Publishing, Sword & Sorcery <www.swordsorcery.com> is an affiliation of design studios producing roleplaying products fully compatible with the open-gaming d20 System. The studios include: Sword & Sorcery Studios, Malhavoc Press, Scarred Lands, Necromancer Games, Ravenloft, WarCraft, Gamma World, and EverQuest RPG.

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CONTACT: Sue Weinlein Cook
Malhavoc Press
sue@montecook.com

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©2003 Monte J. Cook. Malhavoc is a registered trademark and Eldritch Might is a trademark of Monte J. Cook. All rights reserved. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Dungeon Master, and Wizards of the Coast, are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. Unearthed Arcana is a trademark of Wizards, and Arcana Unearthed is used with permission. All rights reserved. Sword & Sorcery is a trademark of White Wolf Publishing.