For Immediate Release
April 9, 2024
Contact: Rachel K. Ivey
Arc Dream Publishing media liaison
info@arcdream.com
VICTORIA, BC — The Black Company Role-Playing Game is in development by Shane Ivey and Dennis Detwiller, co-authors and publishers of the award-winning Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game.
The Lady? Where had I encountered that word used that way, emphasized as though it was the title of a goddess? A dark legend out of olden times.… —The Black Company
In The Black Company and its sequels, novelist Glen Cook redefined epic fantasy by writing with ordinary soldiers in mind. He opened the way for generations of authors of dark fantasy.
Arc Dream Publishing proudly announces plans for a new tabletop role-playing game based on the Black Company series. Licensed by Glen Cook, The Black Company Role-Playing Game will put players at the heart of the adventures, dangers, and treacheries that surround the storied Black Company.
In The Black Company, we follow an elite mercenary company through a continent-spanning war and desperate raids. A war between good and evil, the enemy might say, rebelling against the dark empress who employs the Company. A war between evil and far worse, if you ask those who know what drives the leaders of the rebellion. Don’t ask the soldiers of the Black Company. They only want to do their job, look out for each other, and live another day.
I faced him. And the memory came. A devil’s hammer drove spikes of ice into the belly of my soul. I knew why One-Eye did not want to cross the sea. The ancient evil of the north.… “I thought you people died three hundred years ago.” —The Black Company
Glen Cook wrote The Black Company as a veteran who wanted to see the soldier’s experience in the wars and adventures of heroic fantasy. Arc Dream Publishing has spent decades capturing the experience of soldiers and government agents for RPG players. Arc Dream has received universal acclaim for its horror game Delta Green and its World War II game of desperate superheroics, Godlike. Detwiller and Ivey are writing The Black Company Role-Playing Game to evoke the soldier’s experience in a world of brutal bloodshed, shocking sorceries, and seemingly impossible odds.
“I’ve been enthralled by The Black Company since the first books came out,” Ivey said. “This is the thrill of a career. We’re writing the fantasy game that we’ve always wanted to play.”
Detwiller added, “Shane and I have long considered creating a dark fantasy game, and Delta Green always wanted a twisted, crazed little brother. The Black Company is a perfect fit.”
In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again. —Soldiers Live
Being a soldier of the Black Company makes you part of something greater than yourself. Yours is the tale of brothers and sisters who came before and those to follow. Your name and deeds will be recorded in the annals. When you fall, this bloody-handed family will fight and die to save or avenge you. And thanks to you, the Company will go on.
Frequenty Asked Questions
GAME SYSTEM: The Black Company RPG features a new game engine built to capture the suspense, terror, and savage heroics of the novels. We will playtest it on a new Patreon feed dedicated to this game. Watch for announcements on Arc Dream’s social media or sign up here to enlist.
SCOPE: The Black Company RPG will start with a core rulebook that features the Company’s adventures serving the Lady and her Empire as described in the novel The Black Company. Adventures and sourcebooks will delve into details of that era. Other books will explore new campaigns, settings, and times based on other stories in the series. The expansion of the Empire described in Shadows Linger and Port of Shadows. The Company’s near escapes of the On the Long Run story arc. The rebellion of The White Rose. The changing Empire of The Silver Spike. The Shadowmaster Wars of Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, Bleak Seasons, and She Is the Darkness. The mysteries and horrors of glittering stone in Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live. And entirely new worlds that open in Soldiers Live and in tales yet to come.
TIMELINE: As of April 9, 2024, we do not have a firm timeline in mind. We will spend a great deal of time developing and playtesting The Black Company RPG and writing its core book. When it is ready for the public, we will have a game to show our love of Cook’s work and our pride in this chance to explore it.
DELTA GREEN: In the meantime, we are working on a great many projects for Delta Green. We will work on more as The Black Company RPG comes together and after its launch. Black Company RPG authors Dennis Detwiller and Shane Ivey work closely with Adam Scott Glancy and Caleb Stokes in creating new works for Delta Green—half a dozen or so in the first half of 2024 alone—and adapting the oldest works of Delta Green to this new age. Those remain our first priority even as The Black Company carefully prepares for its coming campaigns.
SIGN UP FOR PLAYTESTING: If you want Arc Dream Publishing to contact you when we begin playtesting for The Black Company Role-Playing Game, leave your email address here.
More About Arc Dream & the Black Company
Arc Dream Publishing
www.arcdream.com
Delta Green
www.delta-green.com
The Black Company on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company
Annals of the Black Company on Kindle
https://amzn.to/49wY1Kq (a paid affiliate link)
Based on the Black Company novels and stories by Glen Cook, copyright © by Glen Cook, and used with the express permission of Glen Cook. The Black Company™ is a trademark of Glen Cook.