RTG October Update!

Happy Friday!

We’ve got something special planned for next Friday so we’re doing our end of the month news alert a week early!

We’ve got Cyberpunk RED and Witcher news as well as some information on our next convention appearance!

Let’s leap before we look!

Cyberpunk RED

For Cyberpunk RED, we’ve got updates on a new mission book, Interface RED volume 1, Black Chrome, and a special treat from Penny Arcade!

Tales of the RED

As we announced previously, we’re hard at work on a new adventure compilation for Cyberpunk RED. Entitled Tales of the RED, the book will feature quite a few different missions focused on Edgerunners making their way in Night City. We’ve worked hard to get a diverse mix of voices working on this project. In addition to Maximum Mike Pondsmith and James “the Mayor of Balance Town” Hutt, the following writers (in alphabetical order by surname) are joining us to bring Night City to life for your table.

Edward Bolme: The aging detritus of a once-brilliant and award-winning writer who served as the sneering mouth of Rache Bartmoss, Ed returns to the game-design fray thanks in part to the ruthless ministrations of two Medtechs with jumper cables attached to a generator run by a talking head spinning the news. His RPG work spans game lines, companies, and (with this release) generations. Although he misses getting hammered in The Big Bar on Two at Origins with the RTal posse, his liver and remaining brain cells thank him on a daily basis for his more recent (and more intelligent) lifestyle decisions. He lives in North Carolina where he enjoys watching the world slide into the abyss, since, in theory, all his post-apocalyptic movie viewing will help him carve out his own little warlord empire in the years to come.

Jay Parker: Jay Parker has been with R. Talsorian since 2001 as an artist and writer (and whatever hat Mike puts on him as needed). Jay was a major contributor on the Cyberpunk v3 and the Mekton lines and more recently has designed and written for Cyberpunk RED (including the upcoming Black Chrome). In addition to RTG, Jay was once a freelance writer for Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. When it comes to games, Jay is mostly known for his superhero RPG: G-Core. Current projects include Flint Dille’s Subterraliens, where Jay is the lead developer alongside Flint and JZP. Considered the guy that people come to when the shit has hit the fan, Jay offers up dark and brooding styles with a flash of realism that many people are too fearful to touch. When not writing, Jay teaches communications and Esports, along with being a writing tutor at the local college.

Fran Stewart: Frances Stewart was a storyteller at birth and a gamer soon after. She has been a software tester, technical writer, video game writer, fiction writer, and editor. Fran has written and published several short stories. Fran has been living (and dying) in Night City since the “black box” days. She warns readers never to trust a Dai Lung one-shot pistol or a ripperdoc who’s missing an ear. Find out more about her at http://www.morelikethisindustries.com.

Monica Valentinelli: Monica Valentinelli is a multi-award winning author and narrative designer. A veteran in the gaming industry, Monica’s first game was the Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis-inspired Noumenon produced by Abstract Nova Entertainment in 2006. Since then, Monica has gone on to write, edit, and/or produce dozens of games, supplements, pop culture reference books, and tie-in fiction for properties including Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, World of Darkness, Chronicles of Darkness, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn RPG, Robert E. Howard’s Conan, The Yellow King, Unknown Armies, Shadowrun, Prince Valiant, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Torg Eternity, and many others.

Monica’s original stories, essays, and games have been published in apps, anthologies, and magazines by publishers including Prime Books, Apex Book Company, Uncanny Magazine, and Stone Skin Press. Some of her current releases include From an Honest Sister, to a Neglected Daughter in Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Histories, Underwater Memories, a free interactive fiction game accompanied by music in Sub-Q Magazine, and The Case of the Multiplying Bunnies a free kid’s interactive fiction game for the Wonder Stories app.

Known for her worldbuilding and narrative focus, Monica is thrilled to dive into Tales of the RED. When asked what she plans to do with her adventures, Monica had this to say. “My goal is to create narrative experiences unique to Cyberpunk RED that are emotionally compelling for the players. I’m confident these goals are achievable because of Mike’s leadership and Aron’s editorial eye. After all, who knows Cyberpunk RED better than they?”

For more about Monica and her work, visit https://www.booksofm.com.

Trace Wilson: Trace Wilson is a children’s author, bionics ambassador, and congenital amputee. Born without a right hand, Trace grew up with anxiety about being different. He published his first children’s book at the age of 21, the same year he received his first bionic arm. The book, Uniquely Me and its sequel, Uniquely Brave help kids with disabilities learn to love the differences that make them unique. Trace helped bring the character, Trace Santiago, to life for the Cyberpunk RED short story Black Dog and looks forward to adding even more flavor to Night City.

Melissa Wong: Melissa Wong is a costume designer and technician by training and a menswear stylist and tailors’ assistant by trade. She currently lives and writes in Austin with two housemates, three cats, and a crested gecko. Melissa’s acquaintance with tabletop hobbies began with Magic: the Gathering and AD&D, and has recently culminated in professional writing for R. Talsorian and others.

Expect Tales of the RED out sometime next year!

Interface RED, Volume 1

Interface RED, Volume 1 compiles a selection of our favorite free DLC into a single volume and adds a new article, All About Drones, with three new Active Defense Drones (including the popular GRAF3!) and three new Personal Drones (no NET Architecture needed!). We’ve sent it off to the printer and, if the supply chain gods smile upon us, we’ll have it in stores towards the end of this year or beginning of next!

Black Chrome

Our first book of stuff for Cyberpunk RED, paying homage to the original Cyberpunk 2020 Chromebooks, is in a big art and mechanics pass to make sure everything is up to snuff. There’s going to be a lot of gear in this book and that requires a lot of art, so it will take time to get it all. At this point, a 2022 release is the most realistic outlook.

Cyberpunk RED Pins

We’ve teamed up with Penny Arcade to produce a four pack of pins! In addition to the cover models of the original Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk RED, you can also get the Danger Gal logo and the world’s most adorable construction drone, the chibi GRAF3!

And that’s not all! On the back of the card the pins come on are four new pieces of gear for Cyberpunk RED.

• Chipware Compartment (an option for Cybereyes): Store your datachips in your eye!
• Smart Lens: Put Cybereye options directly on your organic eyeball!
• MicroCutie by Hello Cutie: The world’s most adorable Medium Pistol, complete with Hypurrbust™ mode!
• Superflash Jacket: This jacket can be bright! Blindingly so!

You can order a set of pins directly from Penny Arcade here.

The Witcher

Cody and the team have their heads down working hard on finishing up Tome of Chaos, the guide to all things magic in the world of the Witcher. We’re in final reviews and they’re not coming up for air until they’ve put the book to bed and sent it off to CD Projekt Red for approval.

Side note, they actually do come up for air. We believe in life balance here at RTG and Mike locks us out of the building if we try to stay past the end of our shift.

PAX Unplugged

This is the final announcement of the day! The COVID metrics out of Philly are looking good and the PAX organization has a solid strategy so we will be at PAX Unplugged from Friday, December 10th to Sunday, December 12th of this year. If you can, please come see us and say hello! We’ll have more information about our booth and our games when we’re a bit closer to the event itself.

That’s it for this week! Like we said at the beginning, next Friday we’ll be releasing something pretty special just in time for Halloween!

Until next time, keep your swords sharp and stay safe on The Street!