Goodman Games is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Blackdirge Publishing to distribute their 4E products. Future Blackdirge Publishing products will be released as an imprint of Goodman Games. The Blackdirge Publishing imprint will take effect immediately in electronic format, with print products to follow.

“Over the last few years, Blackdirge Publishing has established a track record of publishing great products,” said Joseph Goodman, President of Goodman Games. “They’re useful, creative, and most importantly, playable. Their products fill a niche in the game that players have come to rely on.”

“I’ve enjoyed working with Joseph Goodman as a freelancer for years,” said Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel, founder of Blackdirge Publishing, “and recently, I was thrilled to accept a staff position with Goodman Games. With all the good work we’ve done together, a collaboration of this kind just seemed liked the natural thing to do.”

The first Blackdirge Publishing release for the 4E rules will be a new line of monster products called Critter Cache. Each installment of Critter Cache will feature twenty or more new monsters for the 4E game. GMs will find old favorites updated for the new edition, plus new and intriguing monsters to challenge characters of all levels. Each monster is fully illustrated, and presented with a full description, tactics, lore, and encounter groups.

The first Critter Cache product, Big Bugs, is scheduled for publication in electronic format in November. Critter Cache: Big Bugs features twenty giant insects, invertebrates, and other creepy crawlies, and presents a wide array of monstrous challenges for PCs of nearly all levels, including:

• Ant: Monstrous Ant Queen, Monstrous Ant Soldier, Monstrous Ant Worker,
• Beetle: Butcher Beetle, Irongrip Pincer Beetle, Puncture Beetle
• Centipede: Deathstep Centipede, Megapede, Stenchcloud Centipede
• Crustacean: Giant Mantis Shrimp, Giant Sea Scorpion, Viceclaw Crab
• Mantis: Giant Praying Mantis, Sickleclaw Mantis 
• Slug: Corpse Slug, Giant Cone Snail, Giant Slug
• Wasp: Blackjacket Bolter, Hellvenom Hornet, Incubator Wasp 

Blackdirge Publishing already has several more 4E product lines in the works, including:

Paths to Prestige: A product line that features a new paragon path for players, plus a template version of the paragon path for GMs to use with monsters and NPCs. 

Critter Encounters: Short encounters that utilize monsters featured in the Critter Cache line and are designed to fit easily into virtually any campaign. 

In 2009, Blackdirge Publishing products will be collected for print publication and distribution into retail stores by Goodman Games.

Goodman Games is a publisher of role-playing games, adventures, and accessories that celebrates its seventh anniversary this year. It is best known for its Dungeon Crawl Classics line of adventure modules, the longest-lived and most popular d20 product on the market. For more information, visit http://www.goodman-games.com.

Blackdirge Publishing was founded in 2005 by Aeryn Rudel, and specializes in short, focused PDFs for players and GMs. Its most popular, and critically acclaimed d20 lines include the fighter-focused Master at Arms line, and the Animal Archives products featuring dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.

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