Well, we’re back. And we’re off! Off to Gen Con Indy for the “Best Four Days in Gaming” — and it’s going to kick some serious butt, even though we’re already feeling like we’ve had ours kicked.

We leave in two hours for an overnight drive [and hopefully a nap] before handling meetings and setting up the booth tomorrow, but here’s some info on what’s going down at the convention:

* Shadowrun titles Emergence and Augmentation will be available.

* Classic BattleTech titles Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set, Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, Total Warfare second printing, TechManual, and Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade will be on sale!

* Free Shadowrun Quick-Start Rules will be available — 24 full-color pages with rules, characters, and a short adventure to kick-start your game!

* Free Degenesis Quick-Start Rules too! Sixteen pages with rules, characters, and an introductory adventure.

* We’re running hundreds of games.
Here are the street dates for upcoming products, for those who won’t be making it to Gen Con Indy:

Emergence and Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade: In stores now!

Augmentation, Starterbook: Sword & Dragon, Total Warfare second printing, and TechManual: Street Date of August 31st for all.

The Shadowrun Quick-Start Rules and Degenesis Quick-Start Rules will also be available through your local stores, street date to be announced.

Okay, that’s a wrap — for those of you who will be at Gen Con, we’ll see you there, and we’ll be back next week with more updates, news from the convention, and more!

Catalyst Game Labs is pleased to announce a bevvy of street dates* for Shadowrun and Classic BattleTech!

Augmentation - (Street date: August 31st)
CAT 26002
MSRP $34.99
Catalyst Game Labs is proud to bring you the latest rules expansion for Shadowrun 4th Edition. Following on the heels of Street Magic (Product Code FPR26004 available through Studio 2 Publishing), Augmentation is useful to both Players and Game Master, as it is packed full with: 75 new pieces of gear, updated rules for all types of modifications (including cyberware, bioware, gene therapy), and rules for Cyberzombie and cutting-edge biodrones. Catalyst recognizes what has made Shadowrun a strong seller, and has continued that tradition with Augmentation, providing retailers a product that will appeal to all Shadowrun players.

Starterbook: Sword & Dragon - (Street date: August 31st)
CAT 35100
MSRP $19.99
The perfect companion volume to the new CBT Box Set (CAT 35000), Starterbook: Sword & Dragon eases new players into the intermediate rules for the game. Sword & Dragon focuses on two of the Iconic Units from the CBT Universe. Laid out in full color, each of the fully illustrated bios provides information on the individual personalities and their Battlemechs. You can follow their exploits with a very simple (yet robust) campaign system, and a series of scenarios provided in this book. The intermediate rules are explained as new weapons and technology advancements, and fully detailed to ease the novice player into a more advanced game. The book contains all the record sheets, rules, and materials to get even the most advanced player a reason to be excited.

Total Warfare - (Street date: August 31st)
CAT 35001
MSRP $39.99
The product of more than twenty years of gaming experience, this corrected second printing of Total Warfare presents the rules of the Classic BattleTech game system as never before. For the first time, all the rules for various units that have a direct impact on the deadly battlefields of the thirty-first century appear in a unified rules set. Interwoven and meticulously updated, Total Warfare provides the most detailed and comprehensive rules set published to date for BattleTech—the perfect companion for standard game play whether in a canon in-store event, at a major convention, or just for a argument-free evening of gaming fun.

*You’ll note that we didn’t call these release dates, so just what is a Street Date? The Street date is when every store that pre-orders a book can start to sell that book. Street dates ensure a level playing field for stores across the US, as well as help make sure that dedicated players and fans who take the time to pre-order with their local game store can know just when to expect the book. We don’t set the actual Street Date until the books are in the warehouse too, so when we say a street date, we mean a street date.

Check out the sell sheets on our retailer pages

We have PDF previews available for the two Shadowrun titles due in August:

• Emergence PDF Preview

• Augmentation PDF Preview

Vital info for retailers about all these books is available in the sell sheets on our Retailer Info page.