Black Library Publishing, the publishing division of U.K.—based gaming and comics publisher Games Workshop PLC, is launching Black Industries, an imprint devoted to publishing fantasy role-playing game books.

Black Industries will publish six to eight role-playing game books, beginning with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which is expected to ship in the first half of 2005. The books will be published in conjunction with Green Ronin Publishing, a U.K. packager that specializes in role-playing books. Warhammer and Warhammer 4000 are internationally popular properties of Games Workshop and are notable in the gaming world for their game design.

Vincent Rospond, global sales and marketing manager for Games Workshop, said the books are similar to those produced in the U.S. by gaming publisher Wizards of the Coast. Rospond said the books are produced in the U.K. for international distribution; its titles are distributed in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster.