[EN Pub] The Fantastic Science -- 24-page teaser!

From E.N. Publishing, the company that brought you Steam & Steel and Mechamancy, comes the final book in the trinity of magical science, The Fantastic Science: A Technologist's Sourcebook.

To showcase this upcoming release, we present a unique 24-page teaser document! The teaser details Tullius Carens, a technologist who peddles wares you can entice your players with, to see their interest. From his early days as a wandering tinker to his eventual success as master of a merchant caravan called the Clanking Emporium, Tullius can be introduced to a campaign of any level.

Just what does The Fantastic Science have to offer, you ask? Unlike previous sourcebooks which helped you create a technological world, in this book technology is like a new variant spellcasting tradition with a flavor all its own. Think of it as introducing chocolate technology into peanut butter magic while still having gameplay remain like classic fantasy. High-tech cities are no more common than flying islands, and you don't have to move your setting into an Industrial Revolution-type scenario to include this kind of fantastic technology.

The book includes some 230 unique devices of a variety of power levels - from the meager full-body corset and sunflare mimetic key to the mind-boggling Imperial null space cannon - plus new character classes, rules for introducing technology as variant magic items, and even options for using these devices in a Modern d20 game. The Fantastic Science has something to offer any game. Check out the wares offered in the free teaser, and look forward to the book's release in mid-November.

That looks pretty snazzy. Is it the Technologist/Tech Warrior from that guy on the WotC boards? If so, very cool.

Is this going to be POD as well as pdf?

I'm a bit curious. You mention this as a trilogy with Steam & Steel and Mechamancy; how well do these books complement each other? Do they seamlessly integrate, and not overlap in what they cover and how they cover it? Were they meant to be a trilogy?

Hey, author of the book here. I'll field any questions anyone has.

John Q. Mayhem said:

That looks pretty snazzy. Is it the Technologist/Tech Warrior from that guy on the WotC boards? If so, very cool.

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You mean Dave1001's Inventor and Tech Warrior? No, I am not that guy. While I am rather fond of his work (which has some affinities with the Dragonmech coglayer, among other fantasy-technological takes, and which is notably superior to the usual technologist-as-wand-maker treatment), The Fantastic Science is somewhat different.

This book leans more towards making devices work like spells than making them work like mundane equipment, and is both simpler and more complex than Dave1001's system. Simpler in the basic design (technologist characters don't need to have ranks in a dozen different skills, and the flux of tech points the inventor uses can be a pain to keep track of) and more complex in implementation (a much wider variety of effects having been fleshed out). I also like to think that my version makes more game-world sense than the WotC board version, but criteria of sense-making are in the eye of the beholder in this case.

Did anything in the teaser particularly make you wonder, JQM? I can probably spill the beans on a few details here without having Ryan yell at me for giving the book away...

DMH said:

Is this going to be POD as well as pdf?

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That's the plan. The Fantasy Science has the dubious distinction of being ENP's lengthiest book to date, so PoD seemed like an obvious way to go. We're having some trouble getting high-res versions of some of the illustrations (which are required for the PoD version but not the pdf version), but I'll make sure that matter gets sorted out one way or the other - I want to see my handiwork on my bookshelf, after all.

Alzrius said:

I'm a bit curious. You mention this as a trilogy with Steam & Steel and Mechamancy; how well do these books complement each other? Do they seamlessly integrate, and not overlap in what they cover and how they cover it? Were they meant to be a trilogy?

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They complement each other as diverse takes on the same basic concept of "technology in D&D." The trilogy thing arose from my noting that ENP seems to publish an awful lot of these sorts of books, and that, looking at it in a certain way, the three books cover all the possible ways of having technology interact with a magic-rich world - Steam & Steel introduces technology that acts like technology, Mechamancy features magic that acts like technology, and The Fantastic Science presents technology that functions like magic. And of course, the core rules themselves cover magic that acts like magic.

What I mean by acting like technology is that the results of the knowledge in questions are useable by anyone and capable of being mass-produced (to some significant degree). Systems that act like magic instead focus the relevant esoteric knowledge in the hands of a select few masters (wizard-types or technologists, depending).

Essentially, Fantastic Science presents a spellcasting tradition, akin to arcane or divine magic or psionics, that happens to be based on technology instead of magical spellcasting, with all the particulars that that implies. One of the selling points of the book is that it allows DMs to introduce technology into their setting without necessarily introducing an Industrial Revolution at the same time, although there are some suggestions for going that route if you want to.

You could use all three books together, but they'd be essentially independent versions of the same "technology in a world of magic" theme.

Hmm... That'd be pretty interesting, actually. I would present it in the context of a conflict between two cultures, one ruled by a technocratic organization coveting their knowledge and taking the role traditionally filled by wizards in a campaign setting (Fantastic Science) and the other heavily influenced by a guild of craft-mages producing magical artifacts for the use of the masses (Mechamancy). Use Steam & Steel's toolkit approach to develop the really revolutionary science/magic hybrid technologies that arise from the conflict of ideas. It'd be an interesting inversion of the usual respective roles of magic and science.

Wonderful!

So, when can we expect this marvel? I have a techie player who'll be whimpering esctatically when I let him start using it Will it be available in PDF via Enworld's store and RPGnow, Etc or will it be print?
Whats the price range? I can scarcely wait!

EDIT: Oops! Missed the mid-November note in the blurb above. Far sooner than I expected!

Kelleris said:

Did anything in the teaser particularly make you wonder, JQM? I can probably spill the beans on a few details here without having Ryan yell at me for giving the book away...

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No, nothing in particular. Just a quick glance at the stat blocks and the memory that EN Publishing's published some other classes from the WotC boards before.

Your names for gadgets are cooler, by the bye

Frostmane said:

So, when can we expect this marvel? I have a techie player who'll be whimpering esctatically when I let him start using it.

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A "marvel" that inspires someone to "whimpering ecstatically"? Thanks! A little creepy, though. The book will be available at the ENWorld Game Store and RPGNow, as far as I know, and PoD at RPGNow.

Frostmane said:

Whats the price range?

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It should be a bit less than 10 dollars for the pdf, and I think around 20 for a print copy. Considering that the teaser is somewhat less than a twelfth of the book, that's a pretty good deal, I think.

John Q. Mayhem said:

Your names for gadgets are cooler, by the bye.

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Thank you. It was for this that I spent enough time browsing a dictionary and a thesaurus that I should probably have put them in my acknowledgements.

Good to see that at least some people are looking forward to this. The book is my first published effort, so I'm anxious to see how it does, as you might expect.

Well,
My player would call his..response something a touch more dignified: I call them as I percieve them.

Congradulations on your first publication,sir! At this quality I trust you'll soon have many more to your credit. I look forward to the release of this book with the keenest anticipation and best wishes for its sucess. I'll do my part.