Game Master Advice

We added a supplement to the Catalyst page for game masters. It provides tips and tricks we learned throughout our years of leading survivors through the demon apocalypse. This guide is focused on the specifics of Catalyst, rather than a broader scope.

This nugget of information is a followup to the manual's advice appendix and a condensed, Catalyst-exclusive version of the role playing advice offered by our site. When writing Catalyst, we opted to not include a large section dedicated to GMing, feeling most of the manual was already written that way. We included a section to get people in the right mindset and craft meaningful stories. This new supplement is more about applying GM best practices to Catalyst. It describes our systems taken from reading Catalyst's rules which help us lead a group.

If you are looking to lead a campaign or brush up on the fundamentals, check out what we wrote. Any suggestions for additional content or clarifications are welcome. Now, go save humanity.

Playtesters Wanted

Game enthusiasts, we need your help.

CPG has been working on a drinking game (appropriately named "Drink!") and is gearing up to launch a crowdfunding campaign. Playtesting is an essential part of game development and something we place the highest value upon. If you have a critical mind and a unquenchable thirst, help us test Drink!

Contact alex@cherrypickedgames.com and we will send you a prototype.

(Also, FAQ answer #1: You don't need to play Drink! with alcohol. We don't believe in shaming water drinkers.)

We also need playtesters for our final backer-sponsored Catalyst campaign, "Civil Unrest". This story is set during the Human-Demon War after the United States has fragmented into new nation-states. The North American Coalition and the Southern Federation do not see eye-to-eye and compete in a subversive power struggle. The players, mercenaries in Washington D.C., find themselves pulled between these two factions and forced to decide America's fate against the demon horde.

If you want to help out CPG, come drink or roll dice with us. Or both.

PAX Prime 2015 - Aftermath

Thank you to everyone who stopped by Games on Demand and played Catalyst. This was Cherry Picked Games's first PAX and the reception was wonderful. We lead people through four days of eradicating cultists, avoiding plague victims, being hunted by horrible hellhounds, and making questionable moral choices when blocked by demon children. It was a blast. It was such a vindicating feeling to hear players' laughter, to watch them figure out problems together, and to receive compliments about the game, system and our GMing skills.

We sold out of our stock at the Gamma Ray store on site. There's still a few copies floating around stores and at IPR, but we're getting a second run of Catalyst made. Everyone's love and support this weekend makes that an easy decision.

If you didn't get to go  to PAX or missed out on our sessions, we'd still love to introduce you to Catalyst. Cherry Picked Games will have a booth at OrcaCon and we'll try to hit more conventions around the area. Or, in the spirit of Games on Demand, we're happy to send a game master to your gaming group.

Thanks again Seattle, Penny Arcade, and gamers around the world.