Summer Secret Surprise 07 Hint

[Luke]

SUMMER SECRET SURPRISE 07

Once again, we're releasing a secret surprise project at GenCon.

Preorders begin Monday, June 18th.

All preorders will be signed and numbered.


• Preorderers will get two PDFs with their order -- one of the complete book, plus a little something special. The special thingie will only be available to preorders in that form.
  
  
• The surprise will cost $20 or $25. We're still factoring final costs here at BWHQ. 
  
  
• We will also be offering a special preorder t-shirt deal. The design is as yet to be decided. More details soon!
  

This thread contains speculation on what the surprise could be. One of those guesses is correct.



This is an illustration from the text. The first person to correctly guess what the image is and, subsequently, what the surprise is, will get a free t-shirt with their preorder.

Have fun and good luck!
-Luke

[Marhault]

Luke,

It must be the barbarian supplement that somebody suggested over on the Burning Wheel forums.  The sword is that of a barbarian raider, and the flower is, of course, a lotus.

[Luke]

Maybe so, my friend!

I was fishing around and I stumbled on this 220 page file on my computer. Let's take a look and see what's in it, shall we?

Oh, it's pretty! Check it out:

• It's got some kind of burner thing that lets the group create their campaign for the setting. Cool!

• It's got two short stories in it. Not the vignettes that are in the CB or Monbu, but full length stories. What's this? One of them was written by Robin D. Laws. Well I'll be!

• It's got 4 new lifepath settings, plus reappearances by some old favorites for a total of 8 settings. A whole new culture to explore!

• It's got over 100 new traits -- not including character traits. Oh and look, how cute. All of the traits are laid out in an easy to read format so you can instantly reference a trait to see if its native to this book, another book or if it's just a character trait.

• More than 30 new skills, plus extant skills that have been customised for the setting. And the skills are also laid out in an easy to reference format, so you can instantly tell if the skill is native to this book or referenced from another text.

• A completely setting customized resources list so you can outfit your characters in the proper attire for the party!

• 4 new Emotional Attributes. And golly they're cool.

• Plus a host of custom rules that tailor the Duel of Wits to the setting. I'm most excited about those!

• And a set of guidelines for how to use Fight! and Range and Cover in the setting. Oh, and a new Fight! action!

• Of course there's a whole fistful of new weapons and armor to play with, too.

• And then there's some stuff on monsters in the setting. There appears to be both rules and guidelines for dealing with them in setting appropriate ways and, lo and behold, a mini bestiary -- 10 monsters. By golly, I think it's completely illustrated, too!

• Then there's some boring appendices with setting-specific details for the fetishists out there.

Wow. That feels like a lot, and I didn't even get a chance to describe the illustrations yet! That'll have to wait until later. I've got to get this thing ready to send to the printer. It's too cool to just sit here on my desktop!

Preorders Begin June 18th and run until July 18th

-L

[WildElf]

Luke,

It must be the barbarian supplement that somebody suggested over on the Burning Wheel forums.  The sword is that of a barbarian raider, and the flower is, of course, a lotus.

The flower is clearly no lotus (besides, they weren't common in barbarian cultures anyway).  They are the hibiscus, which most certainly means it is warring states period in China. Although it could easily be Korean, Indian, Maylay who also held the flower to be very important or other asian nations, the long, even hexagonal cross-cut shape of the blade is a trademark of that period in China, and all of the blades for the neighboring civilizations are curved.  Hopping across to europe, and the biggest barbarian cultures of the Vikings and the Celts did not have hilts that looked like that. The closest in Europe would be the roman spatha, but those hilts were rounded on the bottom, and they didn't have much to do with hibiscus at any rate.

Although I'd say it's more likely Chinese inspired fantasy, perhaps with a heavy dose of barbarians.  The east to Burning Wheel's west.

[Andrew Cooper]

Luke,

Am I allowed to hate you very much... and love you very much at the same time?

Where am I going to get the money to buy this?!?  Where, I ask?

Hey!  I have a birthday in July.  Hmmmmm....  Okay, I love you again.  No hate.

[Luke]

Hit the Burning Wheel home page, kids. Refresh your browsers and enjoy.

http://www.burningwheel.com

-L

[The Dragon Master]

If we aren't going to be at gencon and still want to pre-order, will it be possible to have the book shipped out to us? Or is this a strictly GenCon affair?

[Thor Olavsrud]

If we aren't going to be at gencon and still want to pre-order, will it be possible to have the book shipped out to us? Or is this a strictly GenCon affair?

No preorders are going to be delivered at Gen Con. Preorders will be delivered by mail. This isn't a con-only supplement like Paths of Spite, Under a Serpent Sun and Burning Sands: Jihad.

cheers

[Luke]

Table of Contents.

Check out the table of contents for the Blossoms Are Falling!

We traditionally post a complete chapter as a preview in addition to the Table of Contents. What do you want to see? (Not the monster chapter! That's for paying customers only! )

Also, in case you missed it, keep checking this page for more previews and updates. We posted Kusanagi the Grass Cutting Sword late last week and we'll have more in the coming weeks!

-L

[The Dragon Master]

Definitely want to see the Clan Burner come out.