Following the success of our Kickstarter project to fund a translation of the classic Spanish RPG Aquelarre (pre-orders still available) published by Nosolorol Ediciones, we followed the advice offered by many backers to look at other quality Spanish games that are unavailable in English. Perhaps no other Spanish game is as overdue for translation as Aquelarre, first published thirty years ago, but we found an extraordinary variety of outstanding games that definitely deserve the attention of English-speaking gamers.
We are pleased to now announce that we have entered in agreements to publish a number of these games in English over the course of the coming year.
The first of these is Adventures in the East Mark (AEM), created by Pedro Gil and published by Holocubierta Ediciones. AEM is a pre-eminent example of OSR games that’s endorsed in an introduction by none other than Frank Mentzer. Frank’s 1983 revision of the D&D Basic Set started the run of boxed editions known as BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal) and is the original “red box”. This first boxed set of AEM, also with a red dragon on the cover, is referred to as the “Red Box”.
AEM received a period of attention at the end of 2013 when Extra-Dimensional Publishing funded an English translation on Kickstarter. The project encountered various difficulties but backers did receive the vast majority of the promised rewards, including the Red Box.
Nocturnal Media has the last remaining copies of the Red Box in stock and available for sale, and translation of the “Blue Box”, which contains a vast campaign setting for use with the characters and rules presented by the Red Box. Translation is scheduled to be completed by early Summer, and a Kickstarter project to fund the publication of the second box of the series will be announced soon.
The Basic Rules from the Red Box are also available on DriveThruRPG.com. The game and setting as a whole is supported by an website called The Codex that is maintained by Angela Rivera Campos, the Editorial Director for both AEM and the second game of this invasion. The Codex is a website that offers fan-submitted material for the Red Box. It’s an English version of the very popular Codex de la Marca that has amazing support among Spanish fans of the game.
The second game, also created by Pedro Gil, is Walküre, published by The East Mark Creative Group.
A roleplaying game of hard science fiction and realistic military simulation, Walküre (pronounced val-ˈkir-ē) includes espionage, infiltration, intrigue, suspense, noir… and exploration — space exploration! It is a fantastical adventure in an alternate reality where World War II ended in an armistice creating a fragile détente between the Allies, the Axis and the Soviets.
Some fantastic images of this game are available in Pedro’s crowdfunding campaign that funded the Spanish edition of the game.
Walküre is the ultimate contemporary RPG, its system and setting allows play from the end of the WW II through the start of the space race to the near future, all meticulously detailed in the core book. You are able to play any character from the leading nations and alliances from 1945 to 2075 and enjoy an alternate world in which WW II did not end as we know it.
An enormous 400+ page book, Walküre will be seek funding on Kickstarter as a full-color hardcover rulebook. Translation has just started and is expected to be completed around the end of September. We hope to eventually also offer the two supplements also recently crowdfunded in Spain, Crossfire and Special Red Action.
The third game that’s the part of this Spanish Invasion is Akuma, created by Luis M. Peral and Juan Luis Marqués and published by Akuma Studio.
Akuma is an anime-themed roleplaying game set in a reality similar to our own. The modern world is changed because of a key event five millennia ago: demons from another universe entered the Gate, a huge portal between worlds. By this means, the Akuma arrived on Earth.
The sacrifice of an ancient civilization closed the Gate, but not before an advance party of demons in spiritual form entered our world. These spirits are now separated from the Mazoku, the six Demon Kings, but they incarnated in humans and began the titanic task of collecting enough souls to reopen the Gate.
Also a large book at nearly 400 pages, Akuma will seek funding on Kickstarter as a gorgeous full-color hardcover book. Translation is underway for August completion.
We’re very pleased to announce this trio of Spanish games that on the heels of our project for a English-language edition of Aquelarre mark the second wave of our Spanish Invasion. Sign up for updates at the bottom of the Nocturnal Media home page to receive news about the impending Third Wave!