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Heike Kubasch, the ICE webmaster, writes:

The Return Of ICE

In case you haven't heard the news, ICE is officially back in business. We are trying to get the word out to as many fans as possible.

Official announcement:
ICE purchased by new owner -
will start operations immediately

On November 19, 2001, John R. Seal, a long time ICE fan, acquired the majority of the Iron Crown Enterprise, Inc. assets. These assets were purchased at an auction run by a Federal bankruptcy court in Charlottesville,Virginia. John R. Seal will place these assets into Aurigas Aldebaron LLC ("Aurigas"). Aurigas will then enter into a Master License with Phoenix LLC, which will be charged with the full promotion and use of the assets.

Phoenix LLC ("Phoenix") is largely owned and operated by certain ex-ICE employees - Bruce Neidlinger, Heike Kubasch, and Stephen Hardy. Phoenix (dba Iron Crown Enterprises) will start immediate operations using the large amount of inventory and intellectual property acquired at the auction.

Members of both Phoenix and Aurigas are very excited to have ICE back in operation! We were thrilled to hear from many fans after the bankruptcy, and we are grateful not only for your current enthusiasm, but for the unwavering support ICE has experienced over the years!

Extensive modifications to the ICE website (our website remains the same) are underway in order to support and strengthen the Rolemaster and ICE community. We will be adding forums and other new features to provide fans with additional gaming tools, complete and up-to-date information on ICE and ICE products, and improved communication with and amongst fans. A new emphasis will be placed on listening to what the fans - our customers - want, and we encourage you to use ironcrown.com to keep us informed!

Phoenix is working to restore the customer service and sales infrastructure, and process the large number of built-up direct mail orders. We were prevented from fulfilling them due to circumstances caused by the bankruptcy. Our top priority is to fulfill the orders as fast as possible now.

Phoenix“s new offices are being set-up and contact information will be posted on the website and announced on the various industry lists and forums.

Phoenix will be contacting the old ICE authors about future use of their products. All authors should read the author update that will be accessible from the ICE home page for details about how the products sold in the auction will be treated and how we will operate in the future. No Middle-earth assets were included in the sale and neither Phoenix nor Aurigas has anything to do with any Middle-earth rights.

We plan to start releasing new products for Rolemaster and Spacemaster in the middle of next year. We have several new projects and gaming worlds in the works and we will be letting everyone know about these soon via ironcrown.com. We hope to finish the planned Spacemaster product line after we finish acquiring the necessary rights.

Phoenix will be aggressively pursuing a licensing strategy for use of the purchased intellectual property for paper products and electronic products. All companies that wish to pursue such a license should contact Bruce Neidlinger at IronCrownCEO@aol.com.

We will hire a distributor and retailer sales person as soon as possible. Until then all contacts or inquiries should be sent to Bruce Neidlinger at IronCrownCEO@aol.com.

More on Aurigas Aldebaron LLC: Aurigas is in the process of being formed and will be majority controlled and operated by John R. Seal. John has over twelve years of international investment banking experience and has been an active fan of roleplaying games since 1979. For the last three years, he has actively studied and pursued acquisitions in the role playing game industry. Aurigas will not have any direct operations and all inquiries should be directed to Bruce Neidlinger at IronCrownCEO@aol.com.