Creature Feature

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:21 pm

Re-posted from Facebook and the House of BTS:

Greeting and salutations to all my beloved house guests.

Some of you may have read this already, but there was a note in Kevin's weekly email that's worth mentioning:

…"Plus three sourcebooks I have freelancers actively working on right now. They will each collect, update, and expand upon source material that has originally appeared in various issues of The Rifter® into a cohesive book. For many of you, all the material will be the first time you are seeing it, and for those of you who have seen it in the past, you will have it collected into one book, updated, expanded upon, made an official sourcebook, and ready to play.

Those three titles are, in no particular order: Creature Feature™, an adventure sourcebook for Beyond the Supernatural™ by Steven Dawes and others..."

Well, the cat's out of the bag. I've been writing a sourcebook for Beyond the Supernatural.

As mentioned above, it will include creatures from various Rifter books (includes mine), but all of them are being expanded and updated with additional materials and will become official! But that's not all, a few of my favorite creatures from BTS-1 (like the Nacarant and one of my personal favorites, the Malignous) will be making their way to this book as well. Along the way Kevin and I are adding GM advice on playing monsters and adding new information on various supernatural aspects like shapeshifting.

Its been a lot of work so far and I have more to do yet, but being an editor, content editor and game designer all at once has been an been an incredible opportunity and experience for me.

I even got to name the book (Creature Feature) and I got to choose the cover of the book, which will be the art used for the cover of the Rifter #32, painted by E.M. Gist! I've always loved this cover and I feel that it fits the creature theme perfectly. Coincidentally, the creature on the cover will have stats written for it as well.

Thank you for reading and have a good night.

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:33 pm

Congratulations and great work. I will definitely be picking one up.

Mr. Jays · Unread post by **Mr. Jays** » Sat Feb 01, 2020 11:53 am

Can't wait!

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Sat Feb 01, 2020 5:47 pm

So just out of curiosity if this goes well and creature features does well would you then have the opportunity to do Beyond Arcanum &/or Tome Grotesque so we can get those before Palladium's 50th?

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:19 pm

Hey everyone, put on your thinking caps for a moment.

One of the sections of this book is about covering aspects that haven't fully been explained yet with the supernatural, such as combat, shapeshifting, hiding in public, etc.
If there's something you've been wondering about how monsters and or their abilities work in BTS, now is the time to let me know as I'll be finishing and sending this to Kevin sooner than later.

NOTE: Broader aspects like magic and the astral plane will be covered in their own upcoming books, so there's no need to about them.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:21 pm

Warshield73 wrote:So just out of curiosity if this goes well and creature features does well would you then have the opportunity to do Beyond Arcanum &/or Tome Grotesque so we can get those before Palladium's 50th?

Kevin and I have talked about this very thing. I may even head to the Palladium office at some point for a week to help work on Beyond Arcanum.

Mr. Jays · Unread post by **Mr. Jays** » Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:23 pm

mrloucifer wrote:
Kevin and I have talked about this very thing. I may even head to the Palladium office at some point for a week to help work on Beyond Arcanum.

This is the best news I've heard all day!

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:59 am

mrloucifer wrote:Hey everyone, put on your thinking caps for a moment.

One of the sections of this book is about covering aspects that haven't fully been explained yet with the supernatural, such as combat, shapeshifting, hiding in public, etc.
If there's something you've been wondering about how monsters and or their abilities work in BTS, now is the time to let me know as I'll be finishing and sending this to Kevin sooner than later.

NOTE: Broader aspects like magic and the astral plane will be covered in their own upcoming books, so there's no need to about them.

I am currently preparing my GMs screen to run Operation Minotaur at the end of the month and I made a note about this so if I see something or encounter an issue while I'm running I'll post it.

mrloucifer wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:So just out of curiosity if this goes well and creature features does well would you then have the opportunity to do Beyond Arcanum &/or Tome Grotesque so we can get those before Palladium's 50th?

Kevin and I have talked about this very thing. I may even head to the Palladium office at some point for a week to help work on Beyond Arcanum.

This is great news. Creature Features and Tome Grotesque will be a lot of fun but BTS isn't really complete until we get Arcanum. Best of luck on this. It would be cool if there was a system for non-spell casters to be able to use some sort of rituals to cast basic spells. Like what you see on shows like Supernatural and the like. At least ways for non mages to summon demons and the like.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:47 am

Referring to the "Supernatural" route, I agree and would like to see something similar. They will likely be ritual based and requires certain goods or supernatural assistance, but there's no reason that at least certain types of spells shouldn't be casted by non-magic types. In fact, there's already a set up in the Parapsychologist's abilities to do so.

Mr. Jays · Unread post by **Mr. Jays** » Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:47 pm

New video with info
https://www.facebook.com/housebts/video ... 687390950/

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Wed May 20, 2020 5:49 pm

Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

Captain_Nibbz · Thu May 21, 2020 10:17 am

mrloucifer wrote:Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

A new Dead Reign book at the printers, and a new BtS sourcebook submitted? It isn't Christmas right? Because I feel like its Christmas (and a solar eclipse, and an equinox all happening at once!)

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Thu May 21, 2020 12:08 pm

Captain_Nibbz wrote:
mrloucifer wrote:Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

A new Dead Reign book at the printers, and a new BtS sourcebook submitted? It isn't Christmas right? Because I feel like its Christmas (and a solar eclipse, and an equinox all happening at once!)

Relax it's not like Beyond Arcanum or Tome Grotesque is coming out. If that was happening then you would know it's the end of the world.

Congratulations on the book, can't wait to get it.

Captain_Nibbz · Thu May 21, 2020 12:18 pm

Warshield73 wrote:
Captain_Nibbz wrote:
mrloucifer wrote:Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

A new Dead Reign book at the printers, and a new BtS sourcebook submitted? It isn't Christmas right? Because I feel like its Christmas (and a solar eclipse, and an equinox all happening at once!)

Relax it's not like Beyond Arcanum or Tome Grotesque is coming out. If that was happening then you would know it's the end of the world.

Congratulations on the book, can't wait to get it.

The fifth horseman of the apocalypse, the promised back catalogue getting published.

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Thu May 21, 2020 12:27 pm

Captain_Nibbz wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:
Captain_Nibbz wrote:
mrloucifer wrote:Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

A new Dead Reign book at the printers, and a new BtS sourcebook submitted? It isn't Christmas right? Because I feel like its Christmas (and a solar eclipse, and an equinox all happening at once!)

Relax it's not like Beyond Arcanum or Tome Grotesque is coming out. If that was happening then you would know it's the end of the world.

Congratulations on the book, can't wait to get it.

The fifth horseman of the apocalypse, the promised back catalogue getting published.

The true fifth horseman would be Mechanoid Space but truthfully any of those long promised books would be sign of the apocalypse. But you know I use to think the same thing about the Cubs winning the world series and it's been more than 3 years since that happen so maybe the world will survive the arriving of a BTS book. :frazz:

maybe

Captain_Nibbz · Thu May 21, 2020 3:33 pm

Warshield73 wrote:
Captain_Nibbz wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:
Captain_Nibbz wrote:
mrloucifer wrote:Update: I submitted "Creature Feature" to Palladium late last night. I've also seen some of the upcoming artwork for it. Things are happening.

A new Dead Reign book at the printers, and a new BtS sourcebook submitted? It isn't Christmas right? Because I feel like its Christmas (and a solar eclipse, and an equinox all happening at once!)

Relax it's not like Beyond Arcanum or Tome Grotesque is coming out. If that was happening then you would know it's the end of the world.

Congratulations on the book, can't wait to get it.

The fifth horseman of the apocalypse, the promised back catalogue getting published.

The true fifth horseman would be Mechanoid Space but truthfully any of those long promised books would be sign of the apocalypse. But you know I use to think the same thing about the Cubs winning the world series and it's been more than 3 years since that happen so maybe the world will survive the arriving of a BTS book. maybe

I think maybe I'll stock up on TP and bullets just to be safe :lol:

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Thu May 21, 2020 6:28 pm

You can now pre-order Creature Feature (click here to head over and pre-order!)

Posted in today's newsletter:

The manuscript has been turned in for rewrite, additions, and final editing. New artwork is also being produced. I think this monster and adventure book is much more than what people are expecting or imagining. More details to follow. I’m excited and hope you are too. See the new description elsewhere in this update. Just one of many BTS titles in development.

I may do a thing for everyone who pre-orders this book and sends me a pic or something to help promote it.

Captain_Nibbz · Thu May 21, 2020 6:37 pm

Definitely preordering this one despite the infamous risk of doing so. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Sat May 23, 2020 12:11 pm

Captain_Nibbz wrote:Definitely preordering this one despite the infamous risk of doing so. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

I assure you, there's no risk my friend. The cover is finished, artwork is rolling in (I've seen some of them and loving it all) and Kevin has my manuscript and is working on editing it now. It is coming.

Captain_Nibbz · Sat May 23, 2020 7:32 pm

mrloucifer wrote:
Captain_Nibbz wrote:Definitely preordering this one despite the infamous risk of doing so. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

I assure you, there's no risk my friend. The cover is finished, artwork is rolling in (I've seen some of them and loving it all) and Kevin has my manuscript and is working on editing it now. It is coming.

Totally did the free preorder option they threw up on the store about 5 minutes after I posted this :lol:

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Sun May 24, 2020 12:34 pm

Captain_Nibbz wrote:Totally did the free preorder option they threw up on the store about 5 minutes after I posted this

Sweet! Well then, send me a copy of the invoice, or a pic or something proving you pre-ordered this bad boy and I'll send you something once the book's released. Not 100% what it is yet, but I have ideas.

By the way, this goes for everyone who pre-orders, so order up and send me the proof of purchase.

Send proof of purchase to my email address at "hostofthehouseofbts*at*gmail.com".

Mr. Jays · Unread post by **Mr. Jays** » Sun May 24, 2020 3:32 pm

Preordered

Stone Gargoyle · Sat May 30, 2020 7:47 pm

mrloucifer wrote:You can now pre-order Creature Feature (click here to head over and pre-order!)

Posted in today's newsletter:

The manuscript has been turned in for rewrite, additions, and final editing. New artwork is also being produced. I think this monster and adventure book is much more than what people are expecting or imagining. More details to follow. I’m excited and hope you are too. See the new description elsewhere in this update. Just one of many BTS titles in development.

I may do a thing for everyone who pre-orders this book and sends me a pic or something to help promote it.

I don't pre-order, because that's asking for trouble. But I do plan on buying Creature Feature when it comes out.

Jefffar · Unread post by **Jefffar** » Sat May 30, 2020 7:51 pm

Does our dear departed friend Louis Cypher make an appearance?

Asking for Ron Caliburn.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Sun May 31, 2020 10:56 pm

Jefffar wrote:Does our dear departed friend Louis Cypher make an appearance?

Asking for Ron Caliburn.

Louis hasn't departed my good man... he's still out there... somewhere...

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:56 pm

If you haven't seen them yet, I've been posting a "Creature Feature Sneak Peek of the Week" in the House of BTS, on its Facebook page, and on its Discord page.
Artwork has been coming in, and as Kevin sends them to me I've been posting them. If you haven't yet, why not head over to the house of BTS to see the sneak peeks?

A reminder: Send me your invoice via email showing that you pre-ordered Creature Feature and I will send you something back once its been released!

Holister · Unread post by **Holister** » Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:02 pm

Howdy. Its been awhile. This book looks amazing and it so good to see some new life in the BtS game. I love your work and will deffinitely be looking into getting this book. Since my wife has pretty much taken over the role of GM for me this would be so useful. It would also be nice to see some new creatures lurkinga round Cypress Cove...lol.

PS: Just pre-ordered...lol. I sure hope that there is some Holister level shenanigans in this book.

gaby · Unread post by **gaby** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:12 pm

Good known,we get to see all the monster from Rifter.
Maybe Ther New powers and weakness for BtS,s Monsters?

Stone Gargoyle · Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:48 pm

gaby wrote:Good known,we get to see all the monster from Rifter.
Maybe Ther New powers and weakness for BtS,s Monsters?

Buy the book and find out like the rest of us.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:42 pm

I'm sworn to secrecy at this point until the book is out.

Stone Gargoyle · Sun Oct 25, 2020 3:12 pm

mrloucifer wrote:I'm sworn to secrecy at this point until the book is out.

Even then. Don't spill the beans, make him buy the book. Only spill hints to make it more enticing to buy the book.

Stone Gargoyle · Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:10 pm

This book seems to be taking forever to see print. It keeps getting pushed back. Any chance it will actally come out this month as promised?

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:58 pm

Its set up to follow right after RIFTS: CS Manhunters, which is going to print in the next week or so.

Barring any new artwork and touch ups, it should go to print in the next month or so.

In the meantime, CS Manhunters has been giving BTS players a few gifts in the form of new Psychic Abilities! I've been posting them as Kevin sends them to me.

See thenews section in the House of BTS to read about them!

gaby · Unread post by **gaby** » Tue Mar 02, 2021 11:33 am

Great to see Old and New Monsters.

Any chance ther could be a Book on PCCs/OCCs,Adventures from Rifter?

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Wed Mar 03, 2021 4:29 pm

gaby wrote:Any chance ther could be a Book on PCCs/OCCs, Adventures from Rifter?

I'm sworn to secrecy, but I can say that the current project has me revisiting one of the OCC's from the Rifter.

As for the others, and the adventures from the Rifter, you never can tell. I'm not opposed to it.

Stone Gargoyle · Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:17 pm

I'm still waiting for this book to go to print so I can buy it. What is the delay in getting it out now?

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:15 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote:I'm still waiting for this book to go to print so I can buy it. What is the delay in getting it out now?

This was in yesterdays Weekly update

UPDATE: Rifts® CS Manhunters. I have made good progress on this bad boy as it nears completion. My entire focus is getting CS Manhunters to the printers. I think you will be surprised by this book as it sets the stage for intrigue and adventure in ways you might never have expected. Characters work as both heroes and villains, player characters and NPCs (non-player characters).

UPDATE: BTS Creature Feature. As soon as Manhunters is finished, I dive into finishing Creature Feature.

Stone Gargoyle · Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:28 pm

He's been saying it's next out for six months now.

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:54 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote:He's been saying it's next out for six months now.

Yeah but have they released anything in last 6 months?

Glad to hear the book is closer to release. I'm really looking forward to it.

Stone Gargoyle · Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:06 pm

Warshield73 wrote:
Stone Gargoyle wrote:He's been saying it's next out for six months now.

Yeah but have they released anything in last 6 month?

That's not a ringing endorsement for Palladium. They have been focusing on marketing the books they already have, converting some to hardcover, and otherwise not been working on the books they have said would be out months ago.

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:55 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:
Stone Gargoyle wrote:He's been saying it's next out for six months now.

Yeah but have they released anything in last 6 month?
That's not a ringing endorsement for Palladium. They have been focusing on marketing the books they already have, converting some to hardcover, and otherwise not been working on the books they have said would be out months ago.

I love BTS but I am sure that PB will make more money, for less effort, off of the hardcovers than off of Creature Feature. BTS doesn't have enough books to really drive sales of something like this as it is still missing its magic book.

Stone Gargoyle · Thu May 13, 2021 7:48 pm

They shouldn't advertise it as "Coming Soon" unless it is actually coming soon. Just sayin'.

Warshield73 · Unread post by **Warshield73** » Fri May 14, 2021 1:24 am

Stone Gargoyle wrote:They shouldn't advertise it as "Coming Soon" unless it is actually coming soon. Just sayin'.

Lots of people have been saying that for the 30 years that I have been buying Palladium books, doesn't seem to matter.

I know it bothers some people but for me book is out when it's out and I don't think too much about it until it has gone to printer.

gaby · Unread post by **gaby** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:16 pm

I still Hope you will Make it.
Will you Make a few Npc,s villains who can be use in different adventures like Members for the Court of Tarot from Rifter 45?
Maybe you can give Info on setting BtS,s Adventures in Other times like 19th Century for example?

I hope mrloucifer give some News soon.

Stone Gargoyle · Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:55 pm

gaby wrote:I still Hope you will Make it.
Will you Make a few Npc,s villains who can be use in different adventures like Members for the Court of Tarot from Rifter 45?
Maybe you can give Info on setting BtS,s Adventures in Other times like 19th Century for example?

I hope mrloucifer give some News soon.

It's pretty much done except for Kevin's editing and the art. Making suggestions is a bit late in the game. Kevin has said he will start finishing it as his next project.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
gaby wrote:I still Hope you will Make it.
Will you Make a few Npc,s villains who can be use in different adventures like Members for the Court of Tarot from Rifter 45?
Maybe you can give Info on setting BtS,s Adventures in Other times like 19th Century for example?

I hope mrloucifer give some News soon.
It's pretty much done except for Kevin's editing and the art. Making suggestions is a bit late in the game. Kevin has said he will start finishing it as his next project.

I can confirm the Stone Gargoyle's declaration; most of the art is in (I've seen a lot of the art and have added a page in the house showcasing it) and its in final editing state. I plan to be involved and available to him during editing as needed.

P.S. For those of you wondering... yes, the Stone Gargoyle keeps watch over the House of the BTS from its rooftop. However, he also keep tabs on the activates within; I spotted him peeking in the window the other night, reading the scribes on my writing desk.

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:26 pm

gaby wrote:I still Hope you will Make it.

Oh... the Creature Feature will be made.... it WILL be made.

gaby wrote:Will you Make a few Npc,s villains who can be use in different adventures like Members for the Court of Tarot from Rifter 45?

I'm sworn to secrecy for now about what's in Creature Feature, but I will say that one of your expectations above will appear.

As for material for the wonderful Court of Tarot article, it would have to become canon somehow for me to do that. Perhaps Scott and I can look into that one day and make some villains and NPC's while we're at it.

gaby wrote:Maybe you can give Info on setting BtS,s Adventures in Other times like 19th Century for example?

Currently, neither Kevin or I are particularly interested in writing for past centuries. That being said, I have a one-shot Wild West themed adventure I ran years ago; I could dig it up and retrieve it from whatever corpse I buried it with in the cemetery and add it a planned sourcebook.

gaby wrote:I hope mrloucifer give some News soon.

I always give news when I have it to share. In fact, keep your eye out for YouTube channel for the House in the near future... another avenue for me to relay news and info as I have it.

Stone Gargoyle · Wed Sep 15, 2021 3:55 pm

mrloucifer wrote:P.S. For those of you wondering... yes, the Stone Gargoyle keeps watch over the House of the BTS from its rooftop. However, he also keep tabs on the activates within; I spotted him peeking in the window the other night, reading the scribes on my writing desk.

I've just been chomping at the bit waiting for this book to come out. It's one of my planned purchases.

Soldier of Od · Thu Sep 16, 2021 5:26 am

gaby wrote:Maybe you can give Info on setting BtS,s Adventures in Other times like 19th Century for example?

Take a look at Rifter #79 - Hendrik wrote an article called Gaming Through History with advice on how to put together your own setting for adventuring in another time period. He includes an example - "Flashing Blades of Horror" - a BTS setting for 16th-17th century western Europe (think The Three Musketeers). I believe his original intention was to create a few of these settings - what he called a "BTS Time Capsule". I had a go at it myself. Maybe we'll see some more!

mrloucifer · Unread post by **mrloucifer** » Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:46 am

Stone Gargoyle wrote:
mrloucifer wrote:P.S. For those of you wondering... yes, the Stone Gargoyle keeps watch over the House of the BTS from its rooftop. However, he also keep tabs on the activates within; I spotted him peeking in the window the other night, reading the scribes on my writing desk.

I've just been chomping at the bit waiting for this book to come out. It's one of my planned purchases.

In you've pre-ordered it, send a copy of the order or receipt or info showing your pre-order to hostofthehouseofbts@gmail.com. I'm emailing out something a little extra for pre-purchase players once the book is released.