Later this year, we'll be releasing a brand new adventure path for D&D 4th Edition - but we'll be doing something new this time! You may well be familiar with our existing adventure path, War of the Burning Sky, which is a traditional fantasy path, and are hopefully aware of our upcoming ZEITGEIST adventure path, which is fantasy with just the lightest touch of steampunk - but SANTIAGO goes in a completely different direction: it's sci-fi!
The SANTIAGO adventure path is based on the works of the award-winning author Mike Resnick, and deals with the epic search for the legendary titular outlaw. The player characters will visit various planets, interact with colorful characters on the Inner Frontier, and deal with both rival bounty hunters and Santiago's own agents in their hunt.
You may be wondering at this point how we're going to do this - after all, D&D is a fantasy game. It has magic, and gods, and warriors in plate armor, and dragons, and goblins, and dungeons. None of these things fit into the setting of a far-future galaxy. And you're right - we won't have any dragons, gods, plate armor or magic. Instead we'll have aliens, laser pistols, technology and psionics.
We'll be introducing a number of new class builds - from the frontiersman to the engineer to the scoundrel. And our "races" will be aliens, not elves and dwarves - but new classes and races are commonplace when you design a new setting, and you probably already gathered we'd do that. But we'll also be "reskinning" a lot of the existing core material. We realize you don't want to learn a new game just to play an adventure path, and we're not going to ask you to. You'll be playing D&D 4E exactly as you know it, but you'll be calling gold pieces "credits", healing potions "adrenaline injections", rituals "software", and chainmail "navy kevlar". Magic will be technology (your thundering weapon might be a sonic pistol, for example).
We've already launched the official web page and over the coming months you can expect to see lots of previews - from art and galactic maps to NPCs and tech items.
In addition, we will be releasing Mike Resnick's novels SANTIAGO: A MYTH OF THE FAR FUTURE and THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO as episodic content to EN World subscribers nearer the time - because we believe that an adventure path solidly supported by the novels it is based on can only work better when you get to read the fiction as well. It helps you, the DM, to learn the setting, to immerse yourself in the universe, and to become familiar with the locations, characters, and plot in an easy and enjoyable way.
Like WotBS and ZEITGEIST, there will be a free "intro pack" which will contain everything you need to start the adventure path - a player's guide which tells you about the setting and the new character classes and races, and a DM's guide which tells you about the plot.
So keep your eyes peeled for more previews and updates over the coming weeks and months!
"They say his father was a comet and his mother a cosmic wind, that he juggles planets as if they were feathers and wrestles with black holes just to work up an appetite. They say he never sleeps, and that his eyes burn brighter than a nova, and that his shout can level mountains.
"They call him Santiago."
"They call him Santiago."
The SANTIAGO adventure path is based on the works of the award-winning author Mike Resnick, and deals with the epic search for the legendary titular outlaw. The player characters will visit various planets, interact with colorful characters on the Inner Frontier, and deal with both rival bounty hunters and Santiago's own agents in their hunt.
You may be wondering at this point how we're going to do this - after all, D&D is a fantasy game. It has magic, and gods, and warriors in plate armor, and dragons, and goblins, and dungeons. None of these things fit into the setting of a far-future galaxy. And you're right - we won't have any dragons, gods, plate armor or magic. Instead we'll have aliens, laser pistols, technology and psionics.
We'll be introducing a number of new class builds - from the frontiersman to the engineer to the scoundrel. And our "races" will be aliens, not elves and dwarves - but new classes and races are commonplace when you design a new setting, and you probably already gathered we'd do that. But we'll also be "reskinning" a lot of the existing core material. We realize you don't want to learn a new game just to play an adventure path, and we're not going to ask you to. You'll be playing D&D 4E exactly as you know it, but you'll be calling gold pieces "credits", healing potions "adrenaline injections", rituals "software", and chainmail "navy kevlar". Magic will be technology (your thundering weapon might be a sonic pistol, for example).
We've already launched the official web page and over the coming months you can expect to see lots of previews - from art and galactic maps to NPCs and tech items.
In addition, we will be releasing Mike Resnick's novels SANTIAGO: A MYTH OF THE FAR FUTURE and THE RETURN OF SANTIAGO as episodic content to EN World subscribers nearer the time - because we believe that an adventure path solidly supported by the novels it is based on can only work better when you get to read the fiction as well. It helps you, the DM, to learn the setting, to immerse yourself in the universe, and to become familiar with the locations, characters, and plot in an easy and enjoyable way.
Like WotBS and ZEITGEIST, there will be a free "intro pack" which will contain everything you need to start the adventure path - a player's guide which tells you about the setting and the new character classes and races, and a DM's guide which tells you about the plot.
Come if you dare, come but beware,
Come to the lair of Altair of Altair.
Offer a prayer for the men foul and fair,
Trapped in the snare of Altair of Altair.
Come to the lair of Altair of Altair.
Offer a prayer for the men foul and fair,
Trapped in the snare of Altair of Altair.
Spanning this exciting narrative is the Ballad of Black Orpheus. There never was a history written about the Inner Frontier, so Black Orpheus took it upon himself to set one to music. When his beloved Eurydice died, Orpheus decided to stay on the Inner Frontier, and he began writing an epic ballad about the traders and hunters and outlaws and misfits that he came across. In fact, you didn't officially stop being a tenderfoot or a tourist until the day he added a stanza or two about you to the song.
Anyway, you seem to have made an impression upon him, because he’s added a verse or two about you. Probably you’ve done something unique in your travels and adventures; or maybe you have a quirk or physical quality he found interesting. Or, he could have just decided one day that you seem just different enough from all the other aliens out there and so approached you to learn more.
However Black Orpheus decided to color you in his ballad, you’re there, for good or ill. People, at least those on the inner frontier, know you now. They watch you; where you go and what you do and how you do it. This is a crucial thing to know, since it means little of what you do will go unnoticed for long. There will always be somebody with enough information to sell about you to keep somebody on your trail. That is, unless you happen to be Santiago.
His name is Father William,
His aim is hard to ken:
His game is saving sinners;
His fame is killing men.
His aim is hard to ken:
His game is saving sinners;
His fame is killing men.
So keep your eyes peeled for more previews and updates over the coming weeks and months!
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