The big day is now a little bit closer. And by “the big day,” we mean the moment when Ironbound is released to the world.

Choosing a cover for this introduction to ScreenPlay has not been easy. As a promotional product (that will be available in Pay What You Want pricing from DriveThruRPG), keeping costs to a reasonable – if not low – amount was key to making it successful without putting the entire product line at risk. While there is a lot of impressive stock art available today, it can be limited when your goal is to find a very succinct image suitable to a particular product. That’s why this gorgeous piece by Eric Lofgren (whose work can also be found in Numenera) truly leapt off the page and right onto Ironbound’s cover.

But we still needed to do a little something with it for one vital reason: the Ironbound is prohibited from using magick and yet there is clearly a character using a magic staff to fight the undead. After a couple weeks going back and forth with ideas on how to make it work without breaking one of the cardinal laws in the fight against magick, it hit like a dump truck into a brick wall… text boxes. Text boxes providing descriptions of the current moment in this particular story, just as you would provide in the game.

Editing continues and layout has just begun, so be sure to check out the Ironbound page to learn more about this upcoming stand-alone version of ScreenPlay and keep your eyes open for its release in the next month-and-a-half.