Ok, so for the first issue, I am thinking of something like 65-ish critters.... Some of these are  creatues from Against the Darkmaster, that I had not previously converted since I  was going light on  the Darkmaster stuff at the time, but I  felt that it was appropriate to bring them across now.

Here is the list of what I am aiming for.....

Animals   
   Alligator/Crocodile
   Antelope-Like, Small
   Antelope-Like, Large
   Dire Bear
   Dire Boar
   Dire Wolf
   Eagle
   Elephant
   Hawk
   Swarm
   Tasmanian Devil
   Viper - (venomous snake)
   Wolverine
Celestial   
   Holy Guardian -- spirits tied to a place (i.e. of a forest or river, mountain,etc), they protect thier place, rarely appearing before mortalts.
   Sacred beast -- spirits that  manifest as  animals of great size/beauty (i.e. White deer, giant boar, etc), mischievous but  enemies of arkenss
   Shield Maiden -- guide the spirits of fallen warriors to the  afterlife enemies of darkness
Constructs   
   Carytid - statues of women that come  to life  to protect  a location, usually carved  into columns that support a structure
   Stone Guardian - kinda like a stone golem, but with a specific task - rough appearance
Demons   
   Faceless - muscular demons with no eyes, often in service to Dark Mages (i.e. evil mages)
   Shadowflame Demon - twisted spirits  of fire who have been corrupted and turned to evil
Devils   
   Efreet - Fire devils
   Marid - water devils
Draconic   
   Kraken --  (gigantic cuttlefish-like sea montster)
   Lindworm - giant reptilian creature that lives in forest
   Sea Drake - aquatic version of the Cave Drake
Fey Folk      
   Banshee -- avatars of fury and  death
   Bauchan -- sometimes referred to as a Buckawn, similar to Brownie/Boggart, but more evil in nature
   Dark  Elf (think evil Tylweth Teg, not true elves)
   Feyblade - Seelie  and Unseelie who have lost themselves to battle, and basically  liveto  fight now
   Leprechaun -fey shoemakers who often guard  great wealth
   Pech - nocturnal stone masons,
Floronic   
   Bloodthorn - vampire vine
   Chillvine - frost attacks
   Fire Flower - fire-breathing flower, chars victims  and then eats them via roots
   Sentients
      Fungoids (sentient) - mushroom people
      Oakmen/Yewmen (sentient) - like twiglings butbigger
      Swamp Shambler (sentient) - swamp creature
Giant Races   
   Firbolg - slightly bigger than Asgerdi
   Fomorion - type of giant
   Trolls
      Dark Troll - trolls  bread using dark magics
      Maimlord (think Dire Troll - also made using dark magics)
      Stone Troll - turns to stone in  daylight, similar to Ogres
      Wild Troll - similar to forest trolls, but wanderers, can be found  anywhere
Mythical Creatures   
   Alce (wingless griffon)
      Blackfeather - large gorcrows that can also travel through shadows
   Giant Eagles
      Giant Eagle - like it says on the tin
      Wind Lord - type of  Giant Eagle, often rules them   
   Gorcrow
      Gorcrow  - evil ravens, often serve evil masters
      Blackfeather - large gorcrows that can also travel through shadows
   Sky Manta - flying manta rays
   Vargr - giant riding  wolf-like creatures - think Wargs)

Prehistoric Creatures   
   Besr (Pygmy Mastadon) - about the size of cattle, but more dangerous
   Sognar (Compsognathus) - tiny velociraptor-like creatures
   Ursyon (Amphicyon) -  like a  cross be a  giant bear and wolf
Undead   
   Merlock - undead obessed with gold and riches
   Lich - undead spell user, very evil
   Vampire - more poweful version of the Vampyri
Unusual Races   
   Dragonspawn -- humanoid dragon-like  beings
   Dwergar - twisted evil dwarves
   Minotaur - bullmen
   Stylithi - reptile men  (not the same as lizardmen)
   Wulver - Wolfmen

thoughts and opinions welcome!

Not sure how I missed all that. I was just skimming through the PDF though. Good to know!

I am thinking that perhaps I need to update my FX Primer PDF to include the basics on how Combat  and Magic works (I include it in the modules I write, only 2  so far, but  am working on a third)

I should also try to work  on some generic ones that are  not Anwyn based, now that I think about it...

Is this correct, page 49 calls an axe a Blunt weapon?

"This weapon group includes axes, hammers, maces and clubs as well as any similar weapons"

Sort of kinda yes.... 

Axes fall under the Blunt Weapon skill mainly because of HOW they are used, not because they are actually blunt weapons. It is more similar to how you  use a mace or club than it is like how a sword is used.

Now, once you  get to the  equipment lists (Weapons begin on page 103), you can actually use axes with the Blunt skill, or you can use the  Blades skill (at a -4) instead.

If you  would like  some more nuanced weapon skills, I would recommend picking up Express Additions #4 for the Arms Skills option.

My bad. Errata in my errata

Page 11
"Distribute 14 points between your Stats (minimum of 0, maximum of 5)."

Page 13
"so long as no Stat receives more than 4 points in total from this pool of 14 points.."

Page 13
"You can use one of the examples given, or split the 12 points however you like, so long as you put no more than 5 points into a given stat"

And the first paragraph of the second column on page 13.  Where it  says 5 again.

I have added this to the Errata page (in the menu to the left), and the number  should be 4 in all 3 locations. Thank you for catching that!!

I like it. Very useful as the number of EA keeps on increasing. 

Yup, the idea is that instead of searching a bunch of PDFs, you have a single page where you can locate which product is where, and then find it from there....

I decided to add it cause I could not remember which PDF I had written something in and went back to look heheh And it was not in the first one I looked in hehehe

Yup, the US prices are increasing more than the UK prices.

Now, if the table of prices I received was correct, it looks like the price increases may not be as large for Fantasy Express as I feared, so I might be able to leave the print prices alone and not have to change  them.

Note that right now, as long as the print  copy prices do not go up too much (or not much more than what I think will be happening), then I  can  leave  the Fantasy Express prices alone.

Then again, I set my print books at a fixed price and my profit fluctuates based on the actual print costs (which sometimes do fluctuate slightly from day to day).

For publishers like the one you mention, if you look at thier prices, it is obvious that they set it so that they make the same profit on the book on every sale, so their prices fluctuate up and down

Looking at their RMU Core Law -- listed as a 287 page book

Softcover, Standard Color Book                          $42.75
Hardcover, Standard Color Book                        $47.32

Essentially,  they are getting $25 of margin off each  book....
so the Softcover costs about 17.75 to print, and hardcover is 22.32 to print.

The odd number of cents tells us that they are keeping their margins the same, so when  the print costs go up, so will the prices automatically....

Where as, Fantasy Express (which is 13  pages more), will remain the same price unless I manually go in an update  the prices.  because I did NOT  check the  box that said "Keep the Margin"

PDF + Softcover, Standard Color Book                $57.75
PDF + Hardcover, Standard Color Book              $62.32

It is obvious that they dropped from $25 to $15 for the PDF on these two....

so for a bundle, they are making $45 per book.


[update: finally found the cost calculator  for print product  and got the accurate print costs]

Welcome to the fourth issue of Express Additions. As always, our primary goal here is to expand the core rules of Fantasy Express with options and/or additional material that we could not fit into the core rules, or that we did not think of before publishing the core rules.

We start off this issue with some additional rules options for characters who do  not cast spells. this includes an option that breaks down the 5 core Combat Skills into 19 different skills, based on  the type of weapon. This option even includesa guideline for Similar Skill Bonuses for these new Arms Skills.

We then add a couple of new Special Skills, and 5  new Milestones, including several that involve pushing through and fighting while stunned! Fighter types will love these!

Next up, we expand our definitions of Magic, by adding the Arcanum, as two new Schools of Magic. This gives us 5 Vocational Kits to go along with the new Schools of Magic and the Arcanum. We also add Collegium spells, similar to the Universal Spells, but more difficult to cast overall. They are considered to be part of the Arcanum

And we wrap up this issue with 80 new spells. That is 20 Collegium Spells, 30 Astromancy Spells and 30 Umbramancy Spells.

Since I do most of my posting in my  playtest forum, the more public sections of the forums rarely get much activity. So figured that I would discuss a few of the things I am working on so that folks can realize that there are things going on in the background......


Express Additions #4 -- This will introduce  two new  Schools of Magic, Astromancy and Umbramancy. It will also introduce, what I  guess we could  call a College of Magic called the Arcanum which allows for combining spells from more than two Schools . I have  a few more  things for it, but suffice it to say  that I  may have to split some of it off to a later issue.

Quickstart #3 -- This is to be the  third module in the series that I began with the pre-generated characters. In this module, the characters will be 2nd  level, having progressed after their adventure in the Tomb of Aosath Bak.

Sci-Fi Express - one of the things I  am slowly working on is  a sci-fi  version of the rules, including a full-fledged psionics system. I also plan on creating a fantasy version of the psion users  and releasing them in their own product as well.