Do you dream of escape, but don’t know from what, or to where? Looking for a chance to escape the insanity of the world, and immerse yourself into something rich, deep, and fantastical? Something that challenges the limits of your creativity as well as your intellect?
If so, then join us. Escape the Shadow of the real world and find the Invisible Sun. Enter a new Actuality of surreal fantasy where mystical characters wield fabulous powers and struggle to discover the secrets of true existence
Invisible Sun is the new roleplaying game by Monte Cook. Its focus is in deep immersion storytelling. Its mechanics and gameplay are tailored around overcoming the barriers to that immersion. Magic is not mechanical, but truly magical. Character creation and development is based around story arcs. And we’ve gone further than that. Because we know the challenges gamers face in the modern world, with conflicting schedules and sometimes distant players, Invisible Sun does something different. It embraces traditional tabletop play, but enhances it with away-from-the-table activities, rules to deal with absent players, solo play, online play, and more. All the barriers are down. All doors are open.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Production Update—A Look at Book M
almost 6 years ago
– Sat, Jun 02, 2018 at 01:31:33 AM
Hello, wise vislae—
As promised, we’re posting an update every Friday to let you know how things are coming along with Invisible Sun production. Great news this week: Black Cubes are on North American soil! Our vessel, the Suez Canal, docked in Long Beach, California on Wednesday and is currently unloading. (This is old news if you happen to be Jim Groves, or have been following his ship-tracking posts in the Invisible Sun Vislae Portal group on Facebook!) Hundreds of 40-foot shipping containers are being removed, hustled (hopefully!) through Customs, and embarked on trucks and trains to destinations across the US—and two of those containers are filled with Invisible Sun, headed for our warehouse.
Typically, it takes about 10 days or so to move through that process, but there are a number of variables. In particular, transiting Customs is always an unknown—it usually takes just a few days, but occasionally cargo can be held in this stage for two or three weeks. Assuming we don’t suffer that flux, we expect to be sending out your redemption emails in a week or so!
Coming to Gen Con?
If you’re headed to Gen Con this summer, why not play a little Invisible Sun? Better yet, why not GM an official game?
That might sound daunting, but hear me out: Our Gen Con adventure, We Begin at the End, was specifically designed by Monte to be super-easy for new Invisible Sun GMs and players. If you run the game, you get an exclusive print book with all our Gen Con adventures—and that’s the only way to get We Begin at the End. Running a Gen Con adventure might sound hard, but it may actually be the easiest way to learn to GM Invisible Sun!
While the Black Cubes have been traveling through Shadow, we’ve been hard at work at expanding the world of Invisible Sun. Book M is currently in the capable hands of the proofreader, Ray Vallese. Monte and Shanna wrote this supplement together and despite the name, it’s much more than a book. Because in Invisible Sun, spells, incantations, ephemera objects, and objects of power go on cards, not in a book. That means that with the book, you’ll get 100 new cards, ready to add to your Black Cube. The book itself is filled with all sorts of great material, though—new fortes, new patrons, new secrets, minor magic, long-form magic… Let’s just say Book M takes a game that’s all about magic and greatly expands that very concept. It also comes with a gorgeous slipcase in which you can put forthcoming Invisible Sun expansion books—it will look fantastic on your (large) shelf in between your Black Cube and your Vislae Kit.
—Charles and the MCG Team
Production Update—Directed Campaign and Book M news
almost 6 years ago
– Fri, May 25, 2018 at 05:34:39 PM
Hello, wise vislae—
As promised, we’re posting an update every Friday to let you know how things are coming along with Invisible Sun production. This week is a “no news is good news” week: There’s not much to report, which is exactly as it should be. Invisible Sun continues to ply the Pacific waves, with a scheduled arrival in Long Beach, California the middle of next week. From that point it will go through the debarkation process, then transit Customs, then be trucked to our warehouse.
So let’s look ahead to other Invisible Sun projects. Monte reports that the first section—the first several months—of the Directed Campaign is pretty much finished. This includes notes on how to handle the First Session, and how to shape the first story based on the Desideratum the players create based on their character arcs. The first month’s offerings include not only lots of ready-to-use story material, but helpful hints for side scenes, a plethora of additional NPCs to drop in where needed, and a guide to help GMs run a game starting in Satyrine based on what the PCs need. (Need an expert in demons? The PCs should talk to this NPC. Need something magical crafted? Use this Maker. And so on.) Plus, some props you can use, some great new artwork, and more.
People who have signed up for the Directed Campaign also all got a mysterious email with a secret… but now we’ve perhaps said too much.
The design work on Book M is finished and Bear is in the last stages of making the book beautiful. In fact, the cards and slipcase have already gone to press. Perhaps we’ll have some more to share about that title in the weeks to come. . .
Watch a 12-Year-Old GM an Awesome Game!
A couple of days ago we live-streamed a game of No Thank You, Evil! We’ve been doing a lot of streaming lately (you’ve been watching The Raven Wants What You Have, our Invisible Sun game run by Monte, right?), but this one was a little different: The GM was 12, and the players were all younger kids. The entire event was uncoached—nary an adult to be seen—and you know what? They knocked it out of the park. The game was a delight to watch, and the kids had a great time. If you know any kids who might like to learn about RPGs, No Thank You, Evil! is a fantastic introduction to the hobby—and if you back our reprint Kickstarter right now, you’ll have it just in time to make a perfect holiday gift!
—Charles and the MCG Team
Production Update—A Look at the Vislae Kit
almost 6 years ago
– Sat, May 19, 2018 at 12:51:02 AM
Hello, wise vislae—
As promised, we’re posting an update every Friday to let you know how things are coming along with Invisible Sun production. This week we have a look at the Vislae Kit!
How do you like that satisfying snap as the box closes at the end? There are embedded magnets in the lid that ensure it closes snugly each time. Really neat!
To recap, the Vislae Kit gives you all the components a single player needs—basically, all the consumable items (character sheets, grimoire pad, and so on), plus the game elements that are super handy to have your own version of (dice, the Sooth Deck, vex and bene markers, and so on). If you didn’t back for a Vislae Kit, or if you’re getting the Black Cube and you think your players might want Vislae Kits, head over to the MCG Shop to preorder it.
The Vislae Kits will ship with the second round of Black Cubes, which leave the factory later this month.
Speaking of leaving the factory, we now have tracking information on our ship! More on that below, but first:
We Could Use Your Help!
Our award-winning RPG for families with kids as young as 5, No Thank You, Evil!, is all sold out. We (and gaming families everywhere) want to get it back into print before the holiday season! As you’re well aware, production and shipping of boxed games takes months—but No Thank You, Evil! has far fewer components than Invisible Sun, and a reprint is a simpler proposition than creating a game from scratch. So if we hurry, we can have them in the autumn.
That said, with both Invisible Sun and Numenera Discovery and Destiny in production right now—the two biggest and most expensive projects MCG has ever undertaken—it’s a terrible time for one of our hottest games to go out of print. So to make sure it gets done as quickly as possible, we’re Kickstarting the reprint.
Here’s where you come in: Please help spread the word—you could retweet this tweet, or share this Facebook post. And if you have kids, or have gamer friends with kids, or might have to shop for holiday presents for kids this year, check out the Kickstarter. No Thank You, Evil! is a great game, and a great way to introduce kids to roleplaying!
We’re Still Emptying Our Warehouse!
As we mentioned last week, we’re having a huge sale to clear space in the warehouse for our inbound shipment of Black Cubes. We have loads of great items on sale—check it out, but don’t dawdle. The sale ends soon!
So Where Are Our Black Cubes?
We have tracking info on the ship carrying your copy of Invisible Sun. The vessel is called the Suez Canal, and she’s a 68,000-ton, 285-meter-long container ship. You can actually track where the ship is at any given time, although sometimes the data isn’t updated for hours or even days. (That appears to be the case now, but check back every so often.) At the moment the Suez Canal is supposedly berthed in Gwangyang, Korea, where she is making a brief layover after departing Shanghai a few days behind schedule. Or maybe, given the gap in tracking updates, she has slipped into the Actuality. Perhaps someone cast Call the Black Cube—and our cubes answered the call?
—Charles and the MCG Team
Production Update—The Black Cube Is on a Ship!
almost 6 years ago
– Fri, May 11, 2018 at 08:53:17 PM
Hello, wise vislae—
As promised, we’re posting an update every Friday to let you know how things are coming along with Invisible Sun production. Today we have great news: We have confirmation that the first batch of Black Cubes is on a ship! We now have a schedule, and barring any surprises (and international shipping can be full of surprises, unfortunately) we have what should be a reasonably accurate schedule.
The Black Cubes should be on North American soil in May. However, once they hit port they must be unloaded, wend their way through Customs, and then be trucked to our warehouse. It looks highly unlikely that’ll all happen before the end of the month, so fulfillment will probably begin in June. And that’s assuming that Customs goes smoothly—it usually does, but it’s occasionally subject to a GM shift, which can add 1d10 days of delay (or even, rarely, more).
We’re trying to get specific tracking info on the vessel. With any luck, in next week’s update we’ll all be able to track the ship and see the Black Cubes in motion!
The Directed Campaign
We will launch the Directed Campaign on July 1st. If you’re getting the Directed Campaign, from that date, you have a full year to begin your Invisible Sun narrative. We’re super excited about how the Directed Campaign is shaping up, and the website that will be its hub. (If you’re not getting the Directed Campaign, run—don’t walk!—to the MCG Shop and order it. It’s a really cool extension of the Invisible Sun experience that you don’t want to miss!)
Our target date for the launch of the Directed Campaign was previously June 1st. Since there’s no benefit to launching your Directed Campaign before you have your copy of Invisible Sun (in fact, you can’t—the Black Cube contains a secret you need to access the site), starting that one-year clock too early seems kind of unfair.
Where Will We Put All Those Black Cubes?
The Black Cube is big. The first shipment of Invisible Sun alone takes up two full shipping containers. Although we’ll be sending them out to you as quickly as we can, we still need space to park and process your rewards. So we’re clearing space in our warehouse with a big sale!
Right now you can get 20% off every physical product for Numenera, the Cypher System, and The Strange. (Check out some of our recent tweets and Facebook posts for a coupon code with even deeper discounts on select products.) Fill out your collection, and help us prep for the arrival of the Black Cube! And hurry—the sale is for a limited time only.
Got Kids? (Or Know Any?)
No Thank You, Evil! is our roleplaying game for creative kids and their families—and it’s just gone out of print. With Invisible Sun shipping to us now, and Numenera Discovery and Destiny heading to press in just a couple of weeks, this is a terrible time for one of our flagship games to need a reprint. But even if that wasn’t the case, we always like the chance to offer new content and engage a new audience—so we’re Kickstarting a reprint, starting Tuesday (May 15th).
The reprint should be ready by late fall, so if you’re looking forward to a holiday gift for kids in your life, No Thank You, Evil! will be perfectly timed. And as always, backers will get their rewards before the game reaches stores, so don’t wait to buy it at your FLGS or you might miss the holidays. No Thank You, Evil! has been wildly popular since its launch two years ago, and it’s a great way to start a new generation on the road to RPGs. We can’t wait to bring it to even more families and kids!
—Charles and the MCG Team
Production Update—A Look at Vance Cards
almost 6 years ago
– Sat, May 05, 2018 at 01:46:56 AM
Hello, wise vislae—
As promised, we’re posting an update every Friday to let you know how things are coming along with Invisible Sun production. Last week we showed you the unboxing of the very first final, production copy of the Black Cube, which came to the production team here in the Kansas City office. A couple of days later the second copy reached Monte, and he was finally able to lay eyes and hands on the fruit of years of concepting and design.
Now that we have actual, final components to play with, Monte made this little video showing us how Vance spell cards work:
We don’t have a whole lot of other news—and that’s great. Black Cubes continue through the early stages of transit to our warehouses. We can’t wait for you to have them!
Numenera Preorders Just Opened
This isn’t Inivisible Sun news, but you might find it interesting anyway: Last week we opened preorders for the new Numenera corebooks: Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny. If you didn’t back that Kickstarter campaign, but you like Monte’s RPGs, now is a great time to get in on Numenera. We have a special deal for preorders, so get it while the getting’s good!
We’re Playing Invisible Sun Online Tonight!
Venture into a creepy city under the Red sun, where destruction is ever-present! Join us tonight for our weekly Invisible Sun game, as Monte takes Darcy, Shanna, Bruce, and Sean into the Red. If you’ve ever wanted to sit in as the MCG team plays our games, or to get a first-hand look at how the game’s designer runs Invisible Sun, this is your chance! Plus we’re live in the chat as well, so you can truly hang with us as we play. It all happens at 10 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. PDT. (If you’ve missed the campaign so far, no problem—it’s a great show to binge-watch. You can find the first episode here.)
