Spectrum Games is pleased to announce the release of Death Kisses Coldly, the first full supplement for The Big Crime. When Jimmy Crane is fingered for a murder he didn't commit, his cop buddy, Ralph Becker, finds himself torn between loyalty to his friend and his sworn duty as an officer of the law. Can the whole mess be sorted out before it's too late or will Jimmy be wrongly sent to the electric chair?

Death Kisses Coldly is an adventure (or "film" as we like to call them) for The Big Crime. The film's plot is full of all the twists, turns and surprises that have become hallmarks of film noir over the decades. It is designed for use by one Director and two players, though advice for more or less players is included. Best of all, you'll find two versions of the film: the Theatrical Release (which offers a very structured gaming experience with pre-made characters) and the Director's Cut (which allows for a more freewheeling approach with player-made characters).

You can purchase it in PDF format here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/128625/The-Big-Crime-Death-Kisses-Coldly

 As many of you may know CCP canceled the World of Darkness MMO, a move that left many employees without a job. One such person is ex-Spectrum VP, Eddy Webb. In order to help him and his wife, Michelle, through this tough time, we are doing what many fans have been clamoring for anyway.

That's right, we're releasing a Season 3 "mini" series book for Dark Brigade (the series featured in the 2003 CAH supplement, "Darkness Unleashed") and we're giving half the profit to Eddy and Michelle. The text will be mostly culled from the original supplement, which was written by Eddy himself.

Our Kickstarter backers who pledged to the "Avid Viewer" tier or higher will receive the PDF as well. 

There is no definite release date, but we're hoping to have it ready within a couple of weeks.

“My heart skipped a beat – maybe a dozen beats – when I realized I was being tailed; tailed by some mug in a rumpled suit who thought he was being inconspicuous. Oh, I saw him all right. But who was he? By the looks of him, I’d say he was a cop, or maybe a shamus. Either way, it could’ve been bad news for me if I made the wrong move. Being on the lam meant that any attention I drew could’ve landed me in the Pen to draw a long stretch. No, I had to give this fella the slip, pick up my cut of the cash and beat feet to Mexico. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, let’s just say things didn’t quite play out the way I had hoped. Not by a long shot.”

Spectrum Games is pleased to announce the release of The Big Crime, the roleplaying game that sets out to faithfully and meticulously emulate classic film noir from the 1940s and ‘50s. As with all of the company’s games, The Big Crime is not merely a “universal system” decorated with genre-appropriate art. The system is extremely specific to recreating the mood, themes and nuances of those movies of old. 

According to Spectrum President Cynthia Celeste Miller, “When designing this game, I had to make some pretty tough decisions, one of which was how to handle gender. Initially, I made gender a non-issue, but that led to some very awkward situations that simply didn’t replicate the way women were portrayed in film noir. I had to swallow my feminist leanings and institute rules that made things more appropriate to the source material. The results made all the difference in the world.”

The Big Crime features a game system that requires players to generally roll between three and six dice (d6s, d8s or d10s), looking for matching results. The more matching results they roll, the better their characters do. It also integrates Temptation Points. As characters participate in unsavory activities, they gain these points in one of three tracks (Guilt, Desperation and Alienation). When a track reaches ten, specific penalties are put in place to reflect the character’s descent into a life of immorality. Players can also voluntarily gain Temptation Points by utilizing various Temptation Benefits that help them accomplish tasks.

In addition to the game system itself, the 180-page rulebook features rules that enable you to create a character in under ten minutes, a chapter devoted to giving players advice on stepping into the world of film noir, a chapter that teaches Directors to use cinematography and other methods to evoke the feel of the source material and a 25-page “film” for you and your group to play that comes in two flavors: the Theatrical Release and the Director’s Cut. Plus, the rulebook overflows with atmospheric stills taken directly from various films noir.

The Big Crime is available now in PDF format and will be made available as a 6”x9” physical book very soon. You can purchase it here.

It's GM's Day... and we have our PDF products on sale to celebrate it! Bring your group some genre emulation today! 

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/rpg_gmsday.php?manufacturers_id=2340&filters=0_0_0_0_0_31817#selectpub

 We have now unveiled the character sheet for The Big Crime. Before printers all around the world have panic attacks, we must state that the book will contain a printer-friendly character sheet as well. 

 You can now read the first two chapters of the upcoming rulebook. Click here to check it out.

Next month, we will be releasing our film noir roleplaying game, The Big Crime. To kick it off, we have created a page specifically for it. Check it out!

Thanks to Chris Beilby, we now how form-fillable versions of the CAH:S3 bio-file (both regular and printer-friendly) and the Series Guide. Check them out here.

We've already established that the first series book for Cartoon Action Hour: Season 3 will be "Infinivaders" by John Wick (which will be released within the next week). The next two series books will be "The Mighty Mirror Masters" by Jason L Blair (late December) and "Iron Wolves" by Eddy Webb (January). Check out the covers from Patrick Sullivan (Mirror Masters) and Nolan Segrest (Iron Wolves).