My pals at Margaret Weis Productions have their new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game ready to hit stores on February 28 —coincidentally the same day my novel Carpathia comes out in the US — but DriveThruRPG is selling the PDF edition starting today. It’s already skyrocketed to the top of their Hottest Items chart. At only $12.99, I can see why.

I worked as part of the original design concept team on this game. That means I chipped in ideas with the rest of the Illuminati that developer Cam Banks assembled to help create the game. That included Rob Donoghue, Will Hindmarch, Phillipe-Antoine Menard, and Jesse Scoble, as well as Cam himself. I was often dubbed Black Bolt. I didn’t say much, but when I did, people listened.

Add on the rest of the crew who actually wrote, developed, and edited the book, and wow, it was an all-star team. I had a great time with them, and I think it shows in the final product. If you’re a Marvel fan, go pick it up. You won’t be disappointed.

One other big thing happened at Gen Con. The Margaret Weis Productions team announced that their big license for their next roleplaying game is from Marvel Comics! MWP creative director Cam Banks asked me to join the team developing the base game, which puts me in the lineup next to folks like Will Hindmarch, Jeremy Keller, Amanda Valentine, Rob Donoghue, and Phil Menard.

More details to come as the MWP folks release them to be shared.

I’m told that the new edition of The Marvel Encyclopedia, which I revised for DK Publishing, should be out in stores in North America today. I had a ball working on this book. I’ve never had such a great excuse for reading so many comic books in a stretch. The fact that I get to share a byline with Tom DeFalco and Tom Brevoort too is a real kick. Many thanks to Alastair Dougall, who edited the book, and Robert Perry, who helmed the graphic design. They helped make this job fun.

I’m told my copies should be arriving soon, and I’m struggling to be patient. If you give in to the urges and pick one up, be sure to let me know what you think. I saw a lot of the artwork and graphic design as PDFs, and I can barely wait to see it all in print.

The second edition of The Marvel Encyclopedia, which I revised, is due out in the UK tomorrow. Those of us here in the US have to wait until Monday, October 5, to get our hands on the book instead. For a sample of some of the sharp new layouts (which include only dummy text, not my prose), check out DK UK’s entry for the book.

Collectors should note that there’s a limited edition of this version of the book, just like there was with the original. It features a blue slipcase with a cutout that displays some of the cover art inside. Speaking of the spectacular cover, it was created by the ever-amazing Brandon Peterson, another (former) Wisconsin guy done good.

Although it’s not been officially announced, I can now tell you a little bit about the book that’s sucked up most of my time for the past few months: a revised edition of The Marvel Encyclopedia for Dorling Kindersley. This is an updated version of the original edition, released in 2006, and I’m told it should be available starting in October of 2009.

I had a wonderful time working on this book, and it gave me an excuse to read more comics than I have in a long time. I had to go through the book, identify the entries that needed updating—plus suggest new ones to include—and then make all of the changes. My editor, Alastair Dougal, did an excellent job keeping me on track and making sure I filled in all the holes I’d uncovered, and layout guru Robert Perry did a great job of gathering the best illustrations we could find and making the book look even better than ever.

I’ll let you know more about the book as it gets closer to its release. In the meantime, I think I need to make an assault on the editorial walls of Marvel Comics. Anyone out there have any leads? I doubt I’ll ever know more about the Marvel multiverse than I do right now.