[EDIT & WARNING: I simply passed along the following press release because it looked interesting, but Nick Logue has apparently disappeared with the pre-order money and it will probably never see the light of day. I apologize to anyone who feels they got scammed on this book and any part I may have played in directing folks towards it.]

Well, after almost a week of being down, due to massive server difficulties, the Labs is back up and running. While the Labs was suffering from implosion, I received some interesting emails. One is the following Press Release from Nicolas Logue’s Sinister Adventures:

Announcing The Anarchist Gamemaster Cookbook: Recipes for Games That Don’t Suck

Peer into Nicolas Logue?s demented mind and taste his darkest sanity-shattering gamemaster tricks from a decade teaching theater in NYC, China and London. These forbidden fruits come screaming through the interwebs straight to your home gaming table. For use with any game or system.

Anarchist Gamemaster?s Cookbook is packed full of terrifying advice on gamemastery that Nicolas Logue has never dared share before with man or beast. Secrets that will transform novice gamemasters into towering Gods of Gaming and supply even the most grizzled veteran storytellers with new tricks to slip up their sleeve before the next time the dice hit the table.

What do your favorite movies, books and TV shows have in common? Story, Drama and Action! Don?t let the rules rule you. If story matters then the Anarchist Gamemaster?s Cookbook matters to your game.

Put your humanity at risk with lessons including Improv by the Skin of Your Teeth, Murder Death Kill, Ultimate Climaxes (you know what I mean), Fates Worse Than Death, Soundtracks, Romance, Redemption, God Like Powered Player Characters, Why Dragons Should Always Win and more collected here in one master tome.

• New Twists and Sage Advice on?
• Plot
• Setting
• NPCs
• Villains
• Adventure Design
• Pacing
• Cut Scenes and Fade Outs
• Gripping Backstories
• Hooking the Players
• Spotlighting the PCs
• Improv by the Skin of Your Teeth
• Cinematic Action
• The Art of the One Shot
• Epic Length Campaigns
• Ultimate Climaxes (you know what I mean)
• Motivating Your Players?and Their Characters Too
• Suspense
• Soundtracks for Your Game
• Amnesia
• Nightmares
• Drug Addiction
• Flashbacks
• Fear
• Mind Control
• Romance
• Redemption
• Twists and Turns
• Mysteries
• Noir
• Traps
• Wizard?s Duels Done Right
• God Like Powered Player Characters
• Murder Death Kill!…or?Bringing Combat to Life
• Why Dragons Should Always Win and other Fine Truisms of Good Gamemastery

Besides being a veteran game designer and adventure writer for DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS (3&4), DUNGEON magazine, and PATHFINDER, Nicolas Logue is a Professor of World Theater in London, a full instructor with Dueling Arts International, a produced playwright, award winning stage director, and has taught improvisation and acting all over the world. Anarchist Gamemaster?s Cookbook combines Nicolas Logue?s most potent techniques from over a decade in theatre and his demented weekend RPG ramblings into one very extreme tour de force of gamemastery. A must have for any gamemaster of any system, novice or veteran.

ANARCHIST GAMEMASTER COOKBOOK SHIPS IN MARCH 2010. PURCHASE A PRINT COPY AND GET A PDF FREE. PRINT COPIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR A SPECIAL PRE-ORDER PRICE. ORDER NOW FOR ONLY $16.99

Check out the first preview, You?ve Got the Fear: http://tinyurl.com/ybuen2v/

To join our mailing list, visit: http://tinyurl.com/yd3482h/

For more, please visit: http://sinisteradventures.com/

Thoughts About the Book

I have read a handful of books dedicated to Game Mastering, including:

• Master of the Game by Gary Gygax
• Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering by Robin Laws
• 1st Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
• 2nd Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
• 3rd Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
• 3rd Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide II
• 4th Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
• 4th Edition D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide 2

I’ve even thumbed through Hickman’s X-treme Dungeon Mastering book not mention loads of articles about game mastering in magazines and on the web. So when a new book comes along I always wonder if it has something new to say worth investing my money and time.

I think Mr. Logue’s book might actually provide something I think will be worthwhile: his notes on improv. I believe the ability to improvise during  game mastering is the key difference between great GMs and good GMs. So I definitely want to take a look at the Anarchist Gamemaster Cookbook when it releases.

With the XDM, 4e Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, The Anarchist Gamemaster Cookbook, and the upcoming Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide, we appear to be in the  Age of Gamemastering.