Here is a sneak-peek at our latest Dept. 7 Advanced Class.  We continue our Hero related theme and bring you the Lightweaver!

Coming soon from Skortched Urf’ Studios!

Waiting on some interier artwork to flesh out our latest Dept. 7 Advanced Class release. In the mean time take a look at the fantastic artwork Anthony Cournoyer did for the cover:

“Where you want it Jake? You know I’m surgical with this b!#ch. That homeboy in the chair, who do you think put him there?”

-Alonzo Harris, Training Day

In capable hands, the shotgun is one of the planet’s most versitile longarms, capable of filling most combat roles merely by swapping out ammo or modifing barrel length. The Shotgun Surgeon takes the shotgun’s innate versitility and sheer destructive ability a step farther. Anyone can kill with a shotgun, but a true Shotgun Surgeon can kill and maim with style, or if they’re feeling merciful (or if the target is worth more alive) they can use their shotgun’s speciality rounds to subdue and incapacitate.
Released Jan. 1st, 2007!

Today we released Sketchbook Page #8, the Medical Droid cover image from our AAP/CPR Technology Update.

Some pre-view art work for an upcoming product we talked about on our PodCast. A couple of Modern Day Mobsters of the Lodovico Family.

***UPDATE***

The artist just picked up a second comic book title to work on, so we are gonna bring in another artist for this project.  But don’t worry, you will see more of anthony’s work on other future releases!

Released this week is Sketchbook Page #7. The illustration is of a three-legged tank or Mecha’ capable of either rolling or walking as the terrain requires. The tank also sports and under-slung main gun as well as two manipulator arms, giving this piece of military harware a decidedly dangerous look! This image will work great in a near-future or Sci-Fi setting. Included in this Sketchbook Page from Skortched urf’ Studios is a line art as well as a colored version. Use of this artwork must credit the artist, Anthony Cournoyer.

Skortched Urf’ Studios prides itself on using high-quality illustrations in our products. We think good art-work can really enhance a product, and we have hired some of the best artists working in the industry. Now you can have access to the artwork produced by these great artists for a fraction of what we paid them! With our “Skortched Urf’ Studios Sketchbook Page” line of art you can pick just the illustration that suits your project, or purchase a bundle of similer illustrations for even more value!

Our first offerings include some of the illustrations done for our Advanced Class Update line. I also “re-packaged” our Airship stock art to integrate it into the line.

Some upcoming product artwork by Anthony Cournoyer.

For use with any Fantasy or Sci-Fi setting publication in print or the web:

Synthetic Lycanthropy -Project Tier Innen

In 1932, at the direction of Adolph Hitler, Reiner Oswald began research on Project Tier Innen. Oswald, a member of the Thule society and on the payroll of the Nazi party, was a brilliant scientist with a profound knowledge of folklore and the occult. He delved into the myths and stories regarding shape-shifting and lycanthropy, determined to find the kernel of truth hiding within the legend, and to exploit it. By 1936, he had found what he had been looking for: a living specimen that he could study. For six years, Oswald studied his specimen, extracted serums, performed tests, and made notes. By 1942, he was ready to put his theories into practice.

The goal of Project Tier Innen (literally, Project Inner Beast) had been to find a way to unleash the destructive potential of the human body, creating a powerful new kind of soldier that would ensure Hitler’s victory. Hitler had left the details up to Oswald, and Oswald had taken the project title literally, deciding that he would unlock the beast within every human being, creating a predictable, scientific formula that would induce an effect similar to the lycanthropy of myth and legend. Above all, though, these man-beasts would have to be controllable, and able to follow orders and execute complex missions. In short, he had to create the body of a beast with the mind of a man. In this, he succeeded only partially.

Several of Oswald’s test subjects did, in fact, change form. Some became actual animals, while others became grotesque amalgams of human and animal form. None of them, however, survived. Undeterred, Oswald continued his work until 1952, years after the Nazi party had been defeated. In truth, he came very close to success; his final experiment resulted in a hybridized wolf-man, with a powerful and deadly body and the mind of a human. This human mind, however, was the creature’s downfall. This may, perhaps, have been because Oswald had been using convicted criminals as his test subjects because they had been easy for him to obtain. It may also have been because of the intensely painful process of transformation. In the end though, regardless of the cause, his final test subject was considered a failure; the creature had become irrevocably insane, and was terminated.

In the winter of 1953, Reiner Oswald disappeared and was never heard from again. Of his work, no trace was found until 1998, when a man named Charles Wagner discovered Oswald’s long-abandoned laboratory.

Learn what happened after the re-discovery of Dr. Oswald’s lab, and how you can include Synthetic Lycanthropy in your D20 Modern game with six Were-animal Templates, Transformation Classes for PC versions of each, as well adventure hooks and rules for Catalyst 13! Coming VERY SOON from Skortched Urf’ Studios.