New Catalyst Game Labs’ Releases, New Book Announcement
Various craziness and the holiday season has kept us away from updating CatalystGameLabs.com much over the last few months: bad us, no cookie.
Recent Releases
On the BattleTech side of the fence, Jihad Hot Spots: 3072 was released in late 2007. This sourcebook brings the Jihad storyline that started with Dawn of the Jihad and continued with Jihad Hot Spots: 3070 into the year 3072. See Blake Ascending: A Jihad Compilation, below, for a Jihad-related omnibus!
When you cross over the razorwire-tipped fence to Shadowrun’s Sixth World, the latest release is January’s Corporate Enclaves, a sourcebook that looks at several cities heavily under corporate influence: Neo-Tokyo and Los Angeles. It also includes details on Horizon, one of the new major players in the Shadowrun Setting.
Sell sheets for all our available products are downloadable on our Retailer Page.
First Quarter 2008 Releases
Catalyst is pleased to announce the following books as our First Quarter 2008 releases for Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun Fourth edition. These are listed in no particular order.
Classic BattleTech
For over 20 years the BattleTech Universe has been a steady presence on store shelves and in the hearts and minds of people around the world. Catalyst Game Labs has breathed new life into the game with our Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set (CAT3500) that’s sweeping the world. We have focused on making Classic BattleTech as easy as possible for retailers to sell with our complete package Box Set, as well as the introductory companion Starterbook: Sword & Dragon (CAT35100). This quarter we will complete the trifecta of core introductory products with Technical Readout: 3039 (CAT35121). We’ve worked especially hard to keep the price down on this massive 304 page book to make it attractive to new players, while adding in plenty of value for the existing fans.
Technical Readout: 3039
MSRP: $29.99
Stock # CAT 35121
Format: Softcover (landscape), 304 pages
Classic BattleTech Technical Readout: 3039 is the perfect “first Technical Readout” companion to the Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set. Combining the ’Mechs, vehicles and aerospace fighters previously found in Technical Readout: 3025, Revised and Technical Readout: 3026, Revised, this volume features some of the most common units of the Succession Wars. Each machine is illustrated in detail, accompanied by a description of its history, capabilities, game stats, along with their most famous pilots.
Jihad Conspiracies: Interstellar Players II
MSRP: $24.99
Stock # CAT 35303
Format: Softcover, 160 pages (est)
Jihad Conspiracies: Interstellar Players 2 describes several of the most powerful and influential people, organizations, and entities at work behind the scenes of the Word of Blake Jihad. Some of these conspiracies are firmly grounded in Classic BattleTech lore, but shown here in ways never before seen; others have only recently emerged from their own shadows. Gamemasters and players can decide which of these power brokers are real and which are paranoid fantasies spawned by the chaos and fear of the Blakist Holy War!
Blake Ascending: A Jihad Compilation
MSRP: $34.99
Stock # CAT35300
Format: Softcover, 312 pages (est)
Blake Ascending: A Jihad Compilation is an omnibus reprint of the Dawn of the Jihad and Jihad Hot Spots: 3070; the first two sourcebooks in the seminal Jihad plot line. The Blake Ascending sourcebook shakes the Classic BattleTech® universe to its foundation, documenting the opening years from 3067 to 3070. The series of events presented in this book unfold in a rolling format, allowing readers to immerse themselves more directly into the action than ever before. Players of both Classic BattleTech and Classic BattleTech RPG will find framework rules to run any type of campaign in regions through out the Inner Sphere during this chaotic time.
Shadowrun
It certainly seems that the Shadows have been slow to evolve in this top selling game line, but Catalyst Game Labs has put tremendous resources into making sure they evolve at a faster rate. Starting in January with Corporate Enclaves (CAT26201) we’ll be seeing more books for Shadowrun Fourth Edition than ever. The core Shadowrun, Fourth Edition (CAT26000) is currently at press in Thailand; we made the tough decision to send it overseas after determining that to print it domestically would require us to raise the price. All of the errata from previous printings was incorporated and together with Street Magic (available from FanPro LLC FPR26001), Augmentation (CAT26002) which covers cyberware, bioware and other personal enhancements, and the upcoming Arsenal (CAT 26003) with weaponry & vehicles from big to small, will form the core of any good ‘runner’s repertoire.
Shadowrun, Fourth edition (5th printing, 1st by Catalyst)
MSRP: $34.99
Stock #: 26000
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
The Shadows Have Evolved.
The year is 2070. The world is not only Awakened–it’s wired. Cyber and bioware implants make your meat body better-than-flesh, while the wireless Matrix enhances your perceptions with hyper-real senses. Deals are made in steel and lead more often than gold or nuyen; success and failure live only a razor’s edge apart. Creatures of myth and legend walk the streets, while the arcane skills of spellslingers are in high demand. Above it all, monolithic megacorps bleed the world dry, sabotaging each other in covert cutthroat competition as they go to war over the bottom line.
Arsenal
MSRP: $34.99
Stock #: CAT 26003
Format: Hardcover, 200 pages
Gear Up!
When corpsec is raining lead down on your head, a wardrobe malfunction will get you dead. To survive against gangs, syndicates, and megacorps, shadowrunners need the best gear they can make, buy, or steal. Arsenal covers everything a runner team needs, from weapons and armor to advanced electronics and spy toys to the latest state-of-the-art drones. It also covers the intricacies of the black market and drug trade and provides advanced rules for combat and martial arts, mixing your own chemicals and explosives, and modifying your weapons and vehicles.
