The CRPG Book Physical Edition Revealed, Pre-orders in January

With the 23rd update to Felipe Pepe’s “The CRPG Book” project, we learn that Bitmap Books has officially revealed the physical edition of this magnificent work, rightfully entitled The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-playing Games. Our appreciation for Felipe’s work has been ratcheted up even further, as he has also revealed that all profits will go to support Vocação, “an award-winning NGO in Brazil that helps kids and teenagers from poor communities to advance their education and earn a job, giving them the tools to improve their lives and of the people around them.”

We are fortunate that something like this exists, and I will certainly be among the first to pre-order the collector’s edition in January:

Today, I’m proud to reveal the physical edition of the CRPG Book, to be published by Bitmap Books, creators of the most beautiful and polished books on video games!

This edition will be hardcover, fully proof-read, feature new reviews, several updates and the amazing cover artwork you see above, done by artist Jan Pospíšil.

This is still a non-profit work, so all these updates will be later freely available for download, and ALL the money I would make from this will instead be donated to Vocação, an award-winning NGO in Brazil that helps kids and teenagers from poor communities to advance their education and earn a job, giving them the tools to improve their lives and of the people around them.

The pre-orders will begin on January 14, with a very special limited edition also available! You can sign up here to be informed.

Cheers, and thanks to everyone who helped me take this project so far!

And here is the announcement on Bitmap Books:

Bitmap Books is proud to announce it will be publishing a new title called The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games in early 2019.

The CRPG Book Project was begun back in 2014 by editor Felipe Pepe as a collaborative, non-profit effort to create a free, easily available eBook covering the history of Computer Role-Playing Games. The reception was overwhelming, which inspired Pepe to expand the list into a full-blown online book, covering the entire history of Computer Role-Playing Games. After numerous calls for a physical hardback version from fans and 100,000 downloads, Bitmap Books was approached to bring the project to life in physical form.

Spread over more than 500 pages, CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games reviews over 400 seminal games from 1975 to 2015, covering the role-playing classics we all know and love such as Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout and Mass Effect – all brought to life with vibrant and engaging in-game images. Each entry also shares articles on the genre, mod suggestions and hints on how to run the games on modern hardware. The book is completely by written by fans, AAA developers, indies, journalists, modders and industry personalities such as Chris Avellone, Ian Frazier, Scorpia, Ferhegón, Richard Cobbett, Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green, Durante, George Weidman and Tim Cain, to name but a few.

As you’ve come to expect from Bitmap Books, this won’t be a straight printing of the digital book. We’ve commissioned fantasy artist Jan Pospíšil to create the cover and have devised two separate editions of the book, including a very limited collector’s edition that includes a bespoke slipcase and desirable collectables, such as an A2 poster and a dungeon map pad.

In line with the project’s non-profit nature, all of the author’s profit will be donated to the Vocação charity in Brazil, where Felipe comes from. Vocação helps kids and teenagers from poor areas to get education and employment, who then go on to help others around them to do the same, changing the community for the better.

Pre-sales will open in mid-January.