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# Issaries, Inc. Press Release

This email was sent to the Gloranthan Digest and I thought it should be put here for people to read. It is probably on other people's sites as well, but that shouldn't matter. We will have to wait and see whether anything comes of this. I, for one, will not be holding my breath.

Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 17:55:56 GMT
From: Shannon Appel <appel@chaosium.com>
Subject: Issaries, Inc. Press Release

Here's the official Issaries, Inc. press release. I posted it to the R'lyeh Report last Friday. If you'd like to make sure you're getting all the newest Chaosium news you should sign up for the chaos-info mailing list. Send email to majordomo@chaosium.com with the command "subscribe chaos-info" in the body of the message (not the subject). That'll get you the R'lyeh Report every month, plus occasional other important tidbits.

Shannon

** ISSARIES, INC. PRESS RELEASE **

We have great news! Glorantha is coming back!

You are invited to join ISSARIES, INC. We need your help!

Chaosium has begun the process of creating a new Glorantha-based corporation, tentatively called Issaries, Inc. Glorantha is the popular fantasy world developed for the past three decades by Greg Stafford. This corporation shall hold the Glorantha trademark, create books and games for sale, and actively license the trademark to create other income sources.

We want to have a new Glorantha roleplaying game on the market 18 months after the company begins operations. All stockholders will receive a free copy of the first edition, first printing of this new game.

This new corporation will be separate from Chaosium, Inc., primarily to isolate its funding so that the investors know that the money is going to Gloranthan products, rather than to Chaosium projects. Nonetheless, Chaosium will be the majority shareholder, and will also be commissioned to handle many of the more mundane business aspects (administration, warehousing, sales, etc.), for a reasonable fee. Thus, Issaries, Inc. shall be a design house whose paper game products will be licensed to Chaosium.

Our publication plans begin with a trio of reference books, followed by a roleplaying game and a regular schedule of supplements. We have many new and exciting ideas for this. With our first release, _Introduction to Glorantha_, you will at last be able just to say, "Here, read this first." As a stockholder, you will get a copy of this book before we send it to our paying customers.

Issaries, Inc. shall also actively seek licensors for its trademark. A computer game is already well into development. We will also seek licensees in the traditional realms of t-shirts, posters, and miniature figures. All other potential licensed products will be aggressively pursued as well, including movies, comic books, board games, action toys, and food products.

We had previously discussed working with Stratelibri, our Italian allies, to be our major financial investor. That plan has fallen through because of rapidly changing financial conditions in Italy. Although we sincerely hope that Stratelibri will be an investor, and that they may still benefit from sublicensing from us, their previously discussed involvement has not materialized. Thus this letter to you.

A new business can ordinarily anticipate two types of investors: the fan and the financial investor. We're asking you, our fans, for help first. We ask that you help us complete an Issaries Feat and create something new. You can share in the process of taking immaterial ideas and transforming them into a solid, successful, publishing company.

We at Chaosium have always tried to please our fans, and we gratefully acknowledge your loyal support. Many of you have asked how to help. Here is one concrete way:

A single share of Issaries, Inc. is only $100.

This is how you can join us, knowing that you have contributed to the welfare and growth of Glorantha. You'll also reap further benefits thereby. Normal stockholder benefits include an invitation to the annual board meeting, the right to vote for the Board of Directors and on decisive money issues, and receipt of an annual budget and report on sales activities. Share ownership in Issaries, Inc. will also get you one or more free books or games per year, depending upon your total investment.

We can't realistically rely upon professional financial investors to help us here. They want a large return on their investment, which our conservative numbers do not show. Our business plan will succeed because the expectations of our stockholders are not to collect huge dividends, but to focus on publishing Gloranthan products.

We know this plan can succeed because Chaosium has done this before. Our financial estimates are realistic rather than ballooned up for special effects. We want to err on the side of caution here.

We can not honestly begin anything until we have $50,000 on hand. We are absolutely committed to having that amount of money on hand since we can not be sure of success without it. We hope we can find either 500 of you who will buy one share each, one person who will purchase 500 shares, or some combination thereof. We have prepared a full business prospectus for those who are interested.

Are You Interested?

If you are, send a request to glorantha-prospectus@chaosium.com for a copy of the Issaries, Inc. Prospectus.