Evil Hat Productions

About Evil Hat Productions

Evil Hat Productions believes that passion makes the best games. It is this passion for gaming that raised Fate to its current acclaimed position in the independent RPG community. Fate can be used to build the best kinds of role-playing experiences -- full of laughter, story-telling, and memorable moments.

For the past several years our focus has been on providing a number of free games (or "gaming engines", depending on your perspective); Fate is just one of these free games.

In 2005, we shifted gears to produce a series of Fate-based commercial roleplaying games. The first of these is Spirit of the Century, a Pulp game set in the 1920's. Next will be the Dresden Files RPG, based on the series of novels by best-selling author Jim Butcher.

Evil Hat hopes to provide a new version of Fate, based on the new material in Spirit of the Century and the Dresden Files RPG after these games are released.

If you have any questions or comments for us, please don't hesitate to drop us a line.

Evil Hat Productions

[s7s] Second Local Gamma Playtest for S7S
2008 May 11
Yesterday, drivingblind and oletheros came over to the De-Luxe Apt in tha Sky-y-y, so I could run the second local S7S "gamma" playtest.

Short form: It went really well.

Longer form: I am running the local gamma games from a continually revised 15 page distillation of the much, much larger beta manuscript; effectively, I'm running the gamma games from the eventual "S7S handout." At this point, the beta manuscript is serving simply as reference material.

By doing this, I am able to quickly test/determine which rules and elements work well, which need to be tweaked, and which need to be patched. I revise the handout after each local gamma session, will then use it as a guide to revising the main manuscript.

Rules Test Results:
* Setting the Dials: Scope of mystic powers (what is a "board-changing" moment?) needs to be added to Setting the Dials.

* Challenges: Flashy Challenges work better now, after some tweaking.

* Duels: Need to revisit to make sure that every character, PC or NPC, gets a Turn in the rules text, and determine between Turns and "exchanges." Successful test of PCs vs. PC-grade NPCs.

* Skyship Rules: TESTED and FUNCTIONAL. The players here had effectively an average (PC) Captain, an optimized (PC) Helmsman, a tweaked (GMPC) Master of Guns, and a optimized for defense skyship. They held out extremely well versus an (optimized for sneakiness and defense) pirate skyship, run by a fairly optimized NPC Pirate Captain. Needs a bit more testing, esepcially at outliers (very high and very low) regarding skill and numbers of PC crewmembers.

* Character Generation: Works well; how Techniques are picked is different from last time, and works better.

* Ellipses (advice on narrating your actions) and Ephemera (a type of reward) added and tested.

* Training Points: Recosting calculations continue.

And that's all of the rules stuff, I think. Fred, Matt -- anything to add?

This is the setting that the pair of them came up with: a bunch of Sha-Ku (koldun, Gifted, and others) have taken the wreck of a Barathi schooner and modified it with their strange native materials and magics. Now, the prototype Ten Thunders -- possibly the fastest ship in all history! -- speeds across the Great Sky, looking for adventure and fame.

I think this phrase sums up the Ten Thunders: "lighting-powered, rocket afterburner, sky-sailing ship." (They seem to snap the masts off fairly regularly, when they extended the lighting rods to suck in thunderbolts to power their foul kolduncraft rocket-device.)

Their first adventure involved a skyship combat and some shipboard dueling versus the crew of the Red Swan -- Captain Jeanette of the Brethren of the Skull ("Pirate Jenny"), the koldun Taan of the Thunders, the ex-Musketeer duellist Black Rupert, and a handful of pirate Minions.

Again: a simple concept led to a good solid three hours of fun play. Plenty of great moments like the "duelling teleoprts" between Fred's character Rico and the NPC Taan, as they blinked between the ships. Matt's Kolomai pulling of an incredible bit of manuevering through the Jungle Sky, only to have Pirate Jenny (in the much larger Red Swan) follow him -- granted not quite as nimbly. The fact that everything the characters -- especially Rico -- did completely tagged every single Foible, Technique, and Motivation of the NPCs, optimizing every one of their responses (totally unplanned by the way; it was freaking eerie, because I statted the NPCs on Wednesday).

For example: Rico teleported onto the Red Swan and gave an order to the Helmsman, goosing it with a mind control/charisma power. "Go that way!"

Unfortunately. The helmsman of the ship was Pirate Jenny herself, the Captain. No one gives the Captain orders on her own ship. Who (in her backstory) had been captured into Barathi slavery, and eventually won her way free, Pirate Jenny, whose overriding Motivation is Freedom.

That one moment of stolen control ensured that Rico would now be Pirate Jenny's enemy.

Huzzah!
[dfrpg] Goes Bump
2008 May 09
Well, I think I've updated the Goes Bump chapter of DFRPG (the one that talks generally about the various critters in the Dresden Files books). I seem to have added +1343 words, in light of Small Favor.

And now, I take the weekend off before tackling Who's Who (the chapter that talks specifically about all of the "named" characters in the books).

(woof.)
SOTS Review
2008 May 09
cwricheson has posted a review for Spirit of the Season over on RPG.net:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13764.phtml

It includes an account of his rockin' actual play session. Check it out!
[sots] Spirit of the Season review up at RPGnet
2008 May 09
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13764.phtml

Check it out!
Forge Booth Sign-Ups Still Very Much Needed
2008 May 08
Hello small press independent game publishers!

As I've noted before, Evil Hat is a sponsor of the Forge Booth this year, and we're looking to get folks signed up. Those sign-ups have been pretty anemic so far, though, and we'd like to see more.

Here's where the details are:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=26153.0

I know a bunch of y'all are striking out on your own in your own booths, and frankly more power to you if so. But for the rest of ya, in past years I have found the Forge booth to be a pretty economical way of finding a good presence at GenCon, in a way that gives me strong interactivity with my customers. Not to mention the degree to which you get a crash-course in running a solid booth demo is pretty indispensable.

What's most important about this is that the deadline for sign-ups is June 1st, a little over three weeks from now. So if you're interested, we need you to commit in May!

Come join us!
[Do] Beta Test Apps and Progress Report
2008 May 08

Beta tester applications are trickling in from all over the place. It's funny how many groups are signing up because one of their members wrote a letter wwwwwaaaaayy back when I did an open call for submissions. Looks like that collaborative initiative paid off. :D

As for the non-collaborative stuff, that's a bit tougher. I've been up since 3am hashing out some loose ends in the document. Ryan Macklin's on the case, working his editing wizardry on my clumsy prose and sausage-fingered attempts at wit.

When he gets edits to me, I'll design a snazzy PDF and send it on to the beta testers in mid-June.
[Do] Open call for Beta Testers
2008 May 07

Beta testing begins mid-June 2008.

Fill out the application for your chance to get first dibs on the playtest PDF.

Spread the word on forums n' stuff, too.
Fred and Lenny Speak on Latest Podcast
2008 May 05
[45min 38sec] While in Las Vegas for GTS, Fred sits down with Lenny to talk about all sorts of things. In this first part, they cover what it means to be a game designer, the mayor of Las Vegas, and some of the things Lenny's been working on with the Dresden Files RPG.

You can download the episode from this page:
http://thatshowweroll.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=336154
Fred and Lenny Speak on Latest Podcast
2008 May 05
[45min 38sec] While in Las Vegas for GTS, Fred sits down with Lenny to talk about all sorts of things. In this first part, they cover what it means to be a game designer, the mayor of Las Vegas, and some of the things Lenny's been working on with the Dresden Files RPG.

You can download the episode from this page:
http://thatshowweroll.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=336154
Performance Anxiety
2008 May 05
I'm about to drive up to the University of Delaware to do a gig tonight as a guest speaker for the UD RPG club. Freaky! (And freaked-out. )No matter how much I do it, I am incapable of shaking my tendency to have a massive case of the heebies before speaking to a roomful of folks I don't know. Stupid introversion.

Spirit of the Century (Hardcover Edition)Spirit of the Century (Hardcover Edition) (book)

Hardcover Print: $50.00

The deadly Doctor Methuselah seeks to unravel time itself with his solution to the Eternity Equation... Gorilla Khan stalks darkest Africa from conquered Atlantis... Mad scientists, strange sorcerors, and power-hungry dictators all seek to undo the fate of humanity. It's the final century of the second millennium . and you are our last hope!

"Spirit of the Century is by a wide margin the best pulp game I've yet read, and yes, I do include the one I co-developed in that. Spirit builds with flair and intelligence on its predecessors, including Adventure, transmuting good intentions into brilliantly smooth execution. ... If you like to play pulp adventure roleplaying, then you want to check this out." - Bruce Baugh, lead developer on Adventure!

This is the hardcover edition, which will take a few weeks to print up. Take a look at other versions as well!

Don't Rest Your Head: A Game of Insomnia in the Mad CityDon't Rest Your Head: A Game of Insomnia in the Mad City (book)

Print: $15.00

Don't Rest Your Head is a sleek, dangerous little role-playing game, where your players are all insomniac protagonists with superpowers, fighting -- and using -- exhaustion and madness to stay alive, and awake for just one more night, in a reality gone way wrong called the Mad City. It features its own system, and is contained entirely within one book.

To learn more about Don't Rest Your Head, visit the Evil Hat webpage.

To purchase the electronic version of this product, visit this page instead. The electronic version page provides a preview of this product, here. Also available for sale at Indie Press Revolution!

Spirit of the Century - Electronic EditionSpirit of the Century - Electronic Edition (multimedia download)

Download: $15.00

If you're interested in getting the softcover as well, consider getting the $35 bundle instead!

Don't Rest Your Head - Digital EditionDon't Rest Your Head - Digital Edition (multimedia download)

Download: $7.95

Don't Rest Your Head is a sleek, dangerous little game, where your players are all insomniac protagonists with superpowers, fighting -- and using -- exhaustion and madness to stay alive, and awake for just one more night, in a reality gone way wrong called the Mad City. It features its own system, and is contained entirely within one book. This electronic edition contains both a high-quality print-ready PDF as well as a screen-friendly and easier-on-your-printer version, along with a character sheet.

Read more about Don't Rest Your Head at the Evil Hat website.

This product is also available in softcover print form, here. Print version also available for sale at Indie Press Revolution!

Spirit of the Season Upgraded Edition PDFSpirit of the Season Upgraded Edition PDF (multimedia download)

Download: $4.99

It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year… For EVIL! The miserly villain Doctor Scrooge hides behind legal technicalities as he steals from the pockets of the impoverished… explorer-gone-mad Jacques Frost preys upon the peoples of the north with his resurrected prehistoric murder monsters… the immortal Baroness Blackheart quests for the Elixir of Life, threatening to destroy all foundations of happiness for mankind… meanwhile Antiochus the Defiler and his spectral Seleucid Squad attack anything sacred or holy… … and it’s up to Nick Saint — Codename: Secret Santa! — his Reindeer Men, their Chanukah allies, and you to save the holidays from their vile clutches! Spirit of the Season is a holiday treat from the minds of Evil Hat Productions and Atomic Sock Monkey Press. Featuring characters and new rules compatible with both Spirit of the Century and Truth & Justice, Spirit of the Season is your ticket to two-fisted holiday pulp adventure!