Okay, this is the first of a series on the designing and play of ETU: Degrees of Horror. I’m hoping to provide enough teasers to generate interest and some feedback as well as to give our fans an idea of what goes into producing a plot point setting from writing to editing, to rewriting, to editing, to final editing, to layout, to art, financial decisions, and keeping up with the Pinnacle standards of good practice.

ETU has been percolating within us from the very beginning of 12 to Midnight, and fans who have been with us the past 4 to 5 years may remember that at the beginning it was known as SETI (South East Texas Institute). But we soon debated that it was not in South Texas, but in East Texas and the name changed to ETU.

Many of our adventures have been set in Pinebox, Texas and the college has been alluded to many times. When we decided to actually move forward on producing a plot point campaign we debated on whether to make one for Pinebox, ETU, or a more generic one for Golan County I think this conversation actually took place sometime last year. When you have 5 to 6 partners (we recently added one), sometimes these debates can get real interesting. At first we discussed if we should even do a Pinebox setting or another, vastly different one. I had developed several ideas including one based in early America (1607), another that took modern people to another planet to see if they could survive political intrigues, alien fauna and beings, and discover the true purpose of the Keepers (think Lost, but on an alien world full of fantasy and sci-fi). Preston had an idea for creating a younger kid’s plot point to get kids playing role playing games. Jerry had a great idea for the Zombie Wars, and a few others. Finally we decided that 12 to Midnight was built on Pinebox and our fans deserved a full setting with all the bells and whistles to make for a true campaign. And after many more discussions we finally settled on an ETU setting. But what could we name it?

We began with Wicked 101, but were not sure that fit what we were hoping to be selling. Eventually Preston posted on the Peg Forums and the Savages gave us many great ideas, the one we all liked the most was ETU: Degrees of Horror. We had a few meetings and worked out some of the basics of what we wanted to achieve with this release and what our requirements for it would be. We have always tried to provide professionally done adventures from writing to editing to art and layout. Many of our products have been delayed as we simply refuse to release anything until we are happy with it and even then, mistakes happen. But, I do feel that for a small, indie company we do what we set out to do. I’d put our pdf adventures against any on the market for quality and value. In fact (not to get too off task), many pdfs on the market simply are not good enough in my opinion and I’d like to see some sort of industry standards someday (this has been started a few times, but always ends with various disagreements and nothing being done with it).

Our first discussions of ETU were hammering out what the story arc is going to be and the basic presentation. At first Preston suggested having the setting include other genres like action, spy, and so on, but again we settled on the idea that we needed to be true to the Pinebox setting. One problem we have had is that many folks don’t understand what type of horror genre the Pinebox setting is. There have been many horror settings released for RPGs in the past few decades. We wanted one that was more of a cross between the quirkiness of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the slow creeping doom of a classic Cthulhu game.

I love Buffy and you will definately see that influence in the ETU setting. More to come soon…..

We at 12 to Midnight are pleased to announce the release of the first in a new occasional series of short adventure outlines we’re calling Bites of Midnight. This series will be available for both the Savage Worlds system and modern d20 System. The first adventure, Josephina’s is available just in time for Halloween and Day of the Dead.

Josephina’s is the best place in Pinebox for fresh pasta, homemade sauces, and fine wines. It’s also haunted, and more than one patron has received a side of chill with their Chicken Marsala. The ghost in question is the restaurant’s founder, Eduardo Settimio. The haunting was never a problem, but now the ghost has become violent, giving the owners, Eduardo’s descendents, plenty of scares and scrapes. They’ve asked the heroes to investigate and see if they can get Grandpa Ed to settle down.

Oh, there’s one other thing about Bites of Midnight. Did I mention that they are FREE? Just mosey on over to the Freebies section of our site and scroll to the bottom, where you’ll find this and future “Bites”. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

The Game’s the Thing podcast has posted part 2 of the interview with Fabled Environment’s Charles White. Give it a listen, then come discuss it in the newly renamed Midnight Haunt forums.

With Halloween just around the corner, we couldn’t think of a better time to announce the grand opening of our online store, the Midnight Cellar. Come join us for our annual Halloween/Day of the Dead sale with 35% off all the titles in our store.

This project has been a long time in the works, but we are very proud of the end result. We feel like our store will give you easy access to a great selection of RPG material in an enjoyable, secure shopping experience. Your credit card payment is handled by Google Checkout, so you can shop with confidence knowing that your financial data is 100% secure.

Look for 12 to Midnight’s complete line of RPG e-book titles, as well as exclusive physical products like the black 12 to Midnight t-shirt, signed print editions of our RPGs, and full-size, laminated Modern Floorplans maps. In the coming weeks they will all be added to the Midnight Cellar.

With Halloween just a few weeks away, this is a great time to stock up on horror adventures and supplements. We hope we’ve made it even easier, with 35% off your purchase. And if you have any ideas for ways in which we can make the Midnight Cellar even better, please drop us a note on the new forum created just for that purpose. Happy Shopping!

Our very own Charles White of Fabled Environments was recently interviewed by podcast The Game’s the Thing. What’s even more cool is that the interview went so well that they made it a two-parter. You can catch the first half now, and we’re all waiting anxiously for the second part. Way to go Charles!

Incidentally, you don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts. Just download the mp3 file to your computer and play it like you would any sound file.