Invisible Sun is an amazing and visionary new tabletop roleplaying game from Monte Cook that introduces new modes of RPG play, a unique and original setting, and an unprecedented physical production weighing in at over 30lb (14kg).
"A very different approach to storytelling...Invisible Sun stands out as a revolutionary advancement among roleplaying games" —LA Review of Books
Released in the summer of 2018 to Kickstarter backers, and through retail game stores, and on the Monte Cook Games website, it sold out immediately. And so we held a successful Kickstarter campaign to reprint this groundbreaking, but very hard-to-find, piece of RPG history.
Reserve your copy today! Once it returns to Shadow, it's, well...gone.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
The Seductive Allure of the Nightside Path
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Mar 03, 2020 at 11:33:30 PM
Greetings, clever vislae—
Take a look at The Nightside:
Wise vislae know the Nightside Path offers powers one can find nowhere else—but that power is also a dangerous temptation. The Nightside is very much the same. And it’s coming your way soon.
We’ll be fulfilling The Nightside in the next week or so. If it’s among your rewards, look for your fulfillment email soon!
Speaking of Darkness. . .
The city of Ptolus lies above a massive network of caverns and dungeons. It’s overlooked by an ancient fortress so evil that the very earth has pushed it away, 3000 feet above the city. But what goes on in the city itself is often every bit as dark.
Do you love great fantasy settings? Are you a fan of Monte’s past work for the world’s most popular fantasy RPG?
Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire, the classic and much beloved campaign setting, returns for 5e and Cypher System fans. We're reissuing the entire premium product in two versions, one for each of these popular, critically acclaimed game systems.
Explore a sprawling fantasy urban setting, presented in amazing detail and steeped in lore and atmosphere. Delve into the extensive dungeons beneath its streets. And maybe, when you're ready, ascend the spire that looms overhead, the heart of an ancient and restless evil.
Ptolus: Monte Cook's City by the Spire isn't just huge—672 beautiful pages plus hundreds of physical and digital extras—it also set new standards for physical production. From its embossed cover to the multiple bound-in satin bookmarks, everything about Ptolus is premium quality. It's all designed to make things surprisingly easy on the GM—the original Ptolus pioneered many of the features commonly found in MCG products today. And Ptolus comes with roughly 300 pages of additional digital content. It's really an amazing product!
And to top it all off, most backer levels include an entire library of existing titles, including the 3e version of Ptolus itself, in PDF, delivered early. Get over $250 worth of products—that's 27 titles totaling 2100 pages. But only if you back the campaign!
A Beautiful Slipcase for Your Books
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 12:06:36 AM
Greetings, clever vislae—
If you own Book M, perhaps you recognize that slipcase. It was designed to hold Book M, Teratology, Secrets of Silent Streets, and the forthcoming The Threshold—but it turns out it’s also perfectly sized to hold the four hardcovers from the Black Cube. We here at MCG have found it is a really handy way to store and transport our books.
Would you like one? We don’t have any of these slipcases available, so we’re contemplating a limited run. If enough Black Cube owners think it’s a good idea, we’ll make them. If you want one, reserve your copy now—time is very limited.
Explore the Path of Suns with Enchiridion of the Path
Enchiridion of the Path is now available! This unique guide isn’t just a sourcebook—it’s also 128 pages of in-game handouts to give your players. Check it out!
Take Your Game to Eleven!
You’re gaming. You’ve got a good campaign. Good adventure. Good players. You’re having a good time. You’re on ten, all the way up, all across your gaming table.
Where do you go from there?
What we at MCG do is—when we need that extra push—we put it up to eleven. One better. One faster, one easier, one little step more fun. How?
We’ve always believed in products that improve your game experience, speed things up at the game table and during prep, increase immersion in the game world, and make the GM’s life easier. These things aren’t always standard RPG books—but what they lack in conventional format they more than make up for in better gaming!
Decks that save you loads of time. Props that make your players’ eyes light up. Tools to keep your books, campaigns, or characters organized and easy to manage. Prompts that miraculously expand your ideas. Minis that bring characters and creatures to life, and fiction that brings the game world to life. We have dozens of great products that take your game to eleven.
And for a limited time only, they’re all on sale*! Actually, everything at the MCG Shop (except a few new releases) is on sale—but the best deals are on the things you didn’t even know you needed. For Invisible Sun, you can get a set of Wicked Keys, the Prop Set 2, sun or order medallions, or the Iconic Figure Set at incredible savings. There are discounts on Teratology, Secrets of Silent Streets, and virtually everything else—for Invisible Sun and all our game lines.
Check Out Enchiridion of the Path!
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 08:20:23 PM
Greetings, wise vislae—
Are you setting out soon to explore the realms along the Path of Suns? The journey will surely be fraught with challenges, but a well-prepared visitor might study these realms from the relative safety of Satyrine, uncovering key secrets that would undoubtedly make the expedition safer and more successful.
Such an explorer needs Enchiridion of the Path. Have a look:
Enchiridion of the Path is now in our US warehouse, and expected to reach the UK and Australian warehouses in the coming days. The fulfillment process has already begun—you should have received your fulfillment email recently. We can’t wait to ship this beautiful, innovative book to you. And for you to tear it apart!
(If Enchiridion of the Path is not among your rewards, don’t fret: preorders are available now from the MCG Shop, and they ship as soon as Kickstarter reward copies have gone out!)
Along with Enchiridionof the Path, we also began fulfilling a large number of other rewards this week, including:
The random Invisible Sun medallion that every Black Cube backer gets
The Vislae Kit
Character Tomes
Dice
Sun Medallion Sets
Order Medallion Sets
Thank you for making the reprint of Invisible Sun a reality, along with Enchiridion of the Path, the Prop Set 2, the second art book, and all the other great things we made for this campaign. The Actuality is a richer place because of your support!
Explore Realms Beyond the Actuality
A few weeks ago we launched the new Cypher System Rulebook. It’s had an incredible response—here’s just a taste:
The Cypher System Rulebook lets you use Numenera’s multiple-award-winning game engine to power any campaign you can imagine. Horror, fantasy, science fiction, superhero, steampunk—you name it, the incredibly flexible Cypher System makes it easy. And like Numenera, it’s fast and narrative at the game table and a dream to GM. If you don’t have it yet, download the free preview and take a look at the new Cypher System Rulebook!
Join Us On Liminal Shores
The Numenera: Liminal Shores Kickstarter campaign unlocked a load of really cool titles and other items for Numenera—including some pretty great backer-exclusive deals that will never again be available.
If you missed it, here’s some good news: For a limited time only, late pledges for Numenera: Liminal Shores are now open! The titles funded through this campaign take you into the datasphere and to the edge of the Sun itself, revealing many secrets of the prior worlds along the way.
And the news gets even better: Through BackerKit, we’re working on unlocking yet another stretch goal. If we make it, we’ll unlock the Datasphere Deck, which will allow you to quickly and easily map the datasphere, either as you create your adventures or on the fly. Check out the video for a look at how it works.
Enchiridion News and Fulfillment Goodness
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 08:08:29 PM
Hello, wise vislae—
We have good news about rewards—a bunch of rewards. But first, if you don’t mind, I’d like to tell you about something happening here in Shadow.
Numenera is our science-fantasy roleplaying game of exploration and discovery in Ninth World—earth a billion years in the future, where the ultra-tech remnants of prior-world civilizations are indistinguishable from magic to the earth’s current inhabitants. The Numenera: Liminal Shores Kickstarter is funding a bunch of really cool supplements. If you’re a Numenera fan—or even just Numenera-curious—you don’t want to miss it. If you haven’t gotten into Numenera, there are a couple of backer levels that make it easy to jump in! More on what a great deal the Kickstarter offers below, but for now let’s return to the Actuality.
The Essence of Numenera, The Art of Numenera 2, and The Key
If any of those titles are among your rewards, you should have received an email today letting you know that they’re now available for redemption. (Missed the email? No problem. Log into your account in the MCG Shop, go to your Account page, and click on Coupons. Click each coupon to add the item to your cart. Add them all before checking out.)
This is just one part of a big batch of fulfillments happening this week, so if you find the website a bit slow, that’s why. We also anticipate that shipping will back up a bit, so we appreciate your patience if your shipment gets out the door a little more slowly than usual.
Enchiridion of the Path Is On Press!
In fact, it’s actually printed and now in the bindery process. We expect it to ship to our warehouse within the next couple of weeks!
As you may recall, we said that this might not be a conventional book. And in fact that’s how it’s turned out. While it may look like a regular book from the outside, it has a special spiral binding inside, and the pages are perforated so you can easily tear them out. Because every single one of them is actually a handout! That’s right, an entire book made to be torn apart! The Enchiridion takes you on a tour of the Path of Suns, from the point of view of vislae who have been to each realm. The text and illustrations represent their notes and writings, and can be handed directly to players whose characters have researched their destinations. You are going to love this book!
Australia and New Zealand Backers
Black Cubes going to backers in Australia and New Zealand have suffered some flux, thanks to the vagaries of international freight. Your batch of Black Cubes failed to show up at their destination on time. We identified and corrected the problem—and yet, they still didn’t arrive. Turns out there was another issue lurking behind the original problem. That has now been corrected, and things are moving again.
We are really sorry about this, and that we didn’t communicate the situation more clearly. (That’s down to the fact that we erroneously believed, for a couple of weeks, that it was resolved.) International freight generally moves pretty smoothly, but when things go wrong it can be a nightmare.
Your Black Cubes are now in motion. As a backup, we’re looking into moving some more Black Cubes to Australia on the very slim chance that additional issues arise with the original shipment. As soon as we have a clear timeline, we’ll let you know. It shouldn’t be long now!
--Charles and the MCG Team
How Good a Deal Is Numenera: Liminal Shores?
The Black Cube Is Here—and Shipping!
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Aug 09, 2019 at 10:39:27 PM
Hello, wise vislae—
What an exciting day it’s been! TL;DR: Invisible Sun reached our Kansas warehouse this morning, and we’ve already shipped the Black Cube to many backers who started their fulfillment process. If that’s you, your Black Cube is on its way!
Here’s the longer version: Our shipment of Invisible Sun reached the Kansas City depot shortly after we departed for Gen Con. We arranged to have it delivered as soon as was practical following our return trip, the unpacking of our truck, and the prepping of our warehouse early this week. The first container arrived this morning shortly after 8:00AM, and we were ready!
Emptying the shipping container on a fine Kansas morning.
As of this morning, about twenty-five percent of domestic US backers had already redeemed their fulfillment coupons, and our fantastic heroine Tammie was ready to ship their Black Cubes literally as they came off the truck! Those copies of Invisible Sun are already on their way to backers. If you haven’t redeemed your coupon, don’t worry—if you do so over the weekend we’ll ship your copy on Monday. (We’ll also start shipping preorders early next week, too—but only when we’re completely caught up on all Kickstarter backers who have redeemed their coupons.)
Labeling cartons to send to backers as they come out of the container!
Our Kansas warehouse serves the US and the Americas. Shipments to our UK and Australia sites land in the next few days. Orders from those sites will go out as soon as the warehouses can receive and prep their shipments of Invisible Sun. That should happen within the next week.
Prop Set, Medallions, and More
As you may recall from our last update, it was our ambition to fulfill the Invisible Sun Prop Set 2, along with your random medallion and medallion set add-ons, before Gen Con. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make that happen in the crush of work ahead of The Best Four Days in Gaming. And we made the Black Cube our priority this week. But we’ll be fulfilling those items in the very near future. (Normally, when several items are ready at the same time, it makes sense to fulfill and ship them together. But since the Black Cube ships in its own box, separately from other items, there was no advantage to ganging it up with these other products. And we didn’t want anything to delay getting your Black Cube to you.)
Liminal Shores
At Gen Con we began talking to our fans about the future of Numenera. Just before Gen Con we fulfilled Explorer's Keys: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera, the last game book reward for the Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny Kickstarter campaign. So what’s next for this, our flagship game line?
Over the years we’ve been asked many times about the prior worlds, about what lies beyond the lands we've detailed in the Ninth World, and about how life on Earth is even possible a billion years from now.
It's time to give you what you've been asking for.
Liminal Shores, our brand-new foray into the Ninth World, involves the datasphere, the mysterious network of ancient transmissions and information responsible for the supernatural-seeming glimmers that Ninth Worlders sometimes, like strange visions, receive. Through exploration of the datasphere, a new wealth of information presents itself, both about the world the PCs live in as well as the prior worlds.
Voices of the Datasphere, offering a whole new method of gameplay involving traveling into the datasphere, allows not just travel to a unique environment, but interesting alterations to your characters as you explore there.
Liminal Shore, detailing a whole new portion of the Ninth World, unveils previously unknown intelligent species, creatures, locations, cyphers, artifacts, and more.
Edge of the Sun, an adventure/sourcebook, sends characters to a mysterious structure near the sun—which might be responsible for making life on Earth possible a billion years in the future. And after millions of years, it could be failing...
All three titles will reveal previously unshared details not just about the datasphere, but also about the prior worlds, works, and legacy. You can find out more about this campaign here.
