I started out replying to jdrakeh in the thread where we were, but my response had become such an epic thread jack that I felt that to preserve our civil society I would start a new thread and not disturb those who are discussing who is still publishing d20 material.
Have you ever met Henry?
He is all about the story!
I haven't spoken to him personally about this particular project but my gut instinct tells me it will be so much story, art and maps that that will be it's biggest selling point. Arcanis fans tend to be much more intersted in the story unfolding and exploring the world than most of the gamers I've encountered. I think that's why it's still smaller than other campaigns as far as numbers, but a steadily growing, committed and a very loyal player base. I can only guess how many needs to be sold to be profitable, but I know many players (myself included) who will be buying two.
I am most certainly biased as I am friends with Henry from when I lived in Miami through the 90's until '03, but to tell you the truth, I had no interest in D&D and was unaware of 3rd ed until I ran into Henry one afternoon as the Codex Arcanis was coming close to printing. His enthusiasm for the setting as he was telling me it's inovations in setting, races and most importantly Gods have NO alingment in Arcanis, only the people who worship them do and no one has seen or heard from one of them for a very long time (and this was before Eberron by a couple of years) was infectious. All these things sent off signals to parts of my gamer brain that hadn't been stimulated in a very long time. I bought the Core Books and the rest is, as they say, history.
Since my involvement with Arcanis I have gotten back into the gaming community. I am running and promoting Arcanis here in Lexington, KY. And now I run a small convention (with lots of potential) and D&D Game Days. I'm happier today than I have been in decades. And that's all because Henry is such a great story teller that I HAD to go buy 3rd ed so I could play in Arcanis: the World of Shattered Empires. Before that I hadn't gamed since a disasterous Vampire LARP that left a very sour taste in my mouth for role playing three years before and had pretty much given it up to go play EverQuest, which I just couldn't get into.
My prediction is that Henry sees what Chris Pramas sees, which is that a setting without a system tied to it can be played with pretty much any rule set with a few exceptions. I believe there will be a similar ratio of story to mechanics as is found in the Codex Arcanis. The absolute most I would expect would be 10% of the content being rules. Thise rules will fit seemlessly with the current rule set the Living Campaign is using. And I wouldn't be suprised if there was a True20 conversion in the works, PCI was a finalist in the True20 setting search after all, and published a really great book, Calipahte Nights. And Freeport is part of the Arcanis setting. There's a conversion document to align it with the campaign already. So I think that the indicators are good for something along this line.
Funny thing is, when the d20/OGL thing all started I thought that pure settings with out rules would be how third party publishers would enter the market. I was overwhelmed at all the rules that came pouring out into the market. That's another reason I liked Arcanis right away, it was D&D in some ones home brew, and it continues to feel that way. But only because I've been playing since it's inception. Since, there has been a plethora of Arcanis specific classes, feats, skills and spells. Not my cup o' joe. It makes it difficult for me to recruit new players. To many new rules and books. Rules especially. I think the d20 crash after 3.5 was released would have been far less drastic if that's what had transpired. The only rules publishers should have to deal with is setting specific Prestige Classes.
I would not only look out for the Arcanis World Book (which will be ~$120 US broken in to four payments, but also the Censure book. If you're a fan of Arcanis then you should be familiar with Scott Charlton's work. He wrote a majority of the Codex, Carnival of Swords and In the Shadow of the Devil. I think he is one of the best setting writers in gaming today. Censure is his best work yet. Scott can layer stories into the setting to give it the depth and history that creates verisimilitude. Again, I am biased. He and I are pretty good friends, but man can this cat write.
So, in closing, the Arcanis World Book will be similar to the upcoming Freeport book, with little crunch just as the Codex Arcanis is. It will be ~$120 with online payments in four installments. When will it be released? That's always the most frustrating question with regards to PCI product. These guys have pretty high standards and really work hard at crafting a world that leaves me wanting more.
Respectfully,
Edward Kopp: Arcanis at Large
Yeomanry LG Game Day in Lexington, KY
jdrakeh said:
Have you ever met Henry?
He is all about the story!
I haven't spoken to him personally about this particular project but my gut instinct tells me it will be so much story, art and maps that that will be it's biggest selling point. Arcanis fans tend to be much more intersted in the story unfolding and exploring the world than most of the gamers I've encountered. I think that's why it's still smaller than other campaigns as far as numbers, but a steadily growing, committed and a very loyal player base. I can only guess how many needs to be sold to be profitable, but I know many players (myself included) who will be buying two.
I am most certainly biased as I am friends with Henry from when I lived in Miami through the 90's until '03, but to tell you the truth, I had no interest in D&D and was unaware of 3rd ed until I ran into Henry one afternoon as the Codex Arcanis was coming close to printing. His enthusiasm for the setting as he was telling me it's inovations in setting, races and most importantly Gods have NO alingment in Arcanis, only the people who worship them do and no one has seen or heard from one of them for a very long time (and this was before Eberron by a couple of years) was infectious. All these things sent off signals to parts of my gamer brain that hadn't been stimulated in a very long time. I bought the Core Books and the rest is, as they say, history.
Since my involvement with Arcanis I have gotten back into the gaming community. I am running and promoting Arcanis here in Lexington, KY. And now I run a small convention (with lots of potential) and D&D Game Days. I'm happier today than I have been in decades. And that's all because Henry is such a great story teller that I HAD to go buy 3rd ed so I could play in Arcanis: the World of Shattered Empires. Before that I hadn't gamed since a disasterous Vampire LARP that left a very sour taste in my mouth for role playing three years before and had pretty much given it up to go play EverQuest, which I just couldn't get into.
My prediction is that Henry sees what Chris Pramas sees, which is that a setting without a system tied to it can be played with pretty much any rule set with a few exceptions. I believe there will be a similar ratio of story to mechanics as is found in the Codex Arcanis. The absolute most I would expect would be 10% of the content being rules. Thise rules will fit seemlessly with the current rule set the Living Campaign is using. And I wouldn't be suprised if there was a True20 conversion in the works, PCI was a finalist in the True20 setting search after all, and published a really great book, Calipahte Nights. And Freeport is part of the Arcanis setting. There's a conversion document to align it with the campaign already. So I think that the indicators are good for something along this line.
Funny thing is, when the d20/OGL thing all started I thought that pure settings with out rules would be how third party publishers would enter the market. I was overwhelmed at all the rules that came pouring out into the market. That's another reason I liked Arcanis right away, it was D&D in some ones home brew, and it continues to feel that way. But only because I've been playing since it's inception. Since, there has been a plethora of Arcanis specific classes, feats, skills and spells. Not my cup o' joe. It makes it difficult for me to recruit new players. To many new rules and books. Rules especially. I think the d20 crash after 3.5 was released would have been far less drastic if that's what had transpired. The only rules publishers should have to deal with is setting specific Prestige Classes.
I would not only look out for the Arcanis World Book (which will be ~$120 US broken in to four payments, but also the Censure book. If you're a fan of Arcanis then you should be familiar with Scott Charlton's work. He wrote a majority of the Codex, Carnival of Swords and In the Shadow of the Devil. I think he is one of the best setting writers in gaming today. Censure is his best work yet. Scott can layer stories into the setting to give it the depth and history that creates verisimilitude. Again, I am biased. He and I are pretty good friends, but man can this cat write.
So, in closing, the Arcanis World Book will be similar to the upcoming Freeport book, with little crunch just as the Codex Arcanis is. It will be ~$120 with online payments in four installments. When will it be released? That's always the most frustrating question with regards to PCI product. These guys have pretty high standards and really work hard at crafting a world that leaves me wanting more.
Respectfully,
Edward Kopp: Arcanis at Large
Yeomanry LG Game Day in Lexington, KY
