[UPDATED: CONFIRMED!] Wheaton's Game: Putting Together The Clues!

So, with Wil Wheaton's statement that the game being played in his new Tabletop RPG show is NOT Green Ronin's Dragon Age, it's time to start putting together the clues. Here's everything we know so far. I figured that if I've spent 15 years doing this exact thing to compile information about D&D books, hopefully the process work for a web show, too! Note: I think I've fixed the issue preventing Chrome users from reading the article.

[UPDATE: I've had it confirmed by me by a whole bunch of people who already know that the game is, indeed, Fantasy AGE, in a fantasy/sci-fi blended setting created by Wil Wheaton, and that an announcement is imminent!]

• In 2014, Wheaton's Tabletop boardgame show wins an ENnie for its two RPG episodes which feature Green Ronin's Chris Pramas running Dragon Age for Wil Wheaton and the other stars of the episode.
• Wheaton states that "we're not using D&D. I really like the people at Wizards, but dealing with Hasbro is a giant pain in the ass".
• Green Ronin's Chris Pramas announces in January that this year they will be involved in what might be the biggest RPG news story of the year. "Our goal is to release Fantasy AGE in May. Then at the end of July we will release the game’s first setting book. This is our big GenCon release and part of something super exciting … that I can’t talk about yet. This will be the focus of our GenCon presence this year and perhaps the biggest RPG story of the year. Watch for an announcement in a few months."
• In January 2015, Green Ronin announces Fantasy AGE. "This will be strictly a rule book with no attached setting. The core of the game will be well-familiar to Dragon Age fans but there are some differences, the biggest of which is the magic system."
• A few days ago, just as the Tabletop RPG show starts fiming, Chris Pramas flew from Seattle to Burbank California, for reasons he says he can't discuss. These reasons are, however, exciting. "So much I can't tweet right now." The Green Ronin Twitter account posts "The Age of AGE is upon us."
• The announcement video features Wil Wheaton sitting next to a Dragon Age GM screen, with his coffee mug resting on one of the Dragon Age Set 2 reference cards.
• Wheaton states, just a couple of days ago, "It isn't Dragon Age. I brought my own GM screen from home because of reasons."
• He also posted "Ryan is the co-creator of the world and main storyline in the Tabletop RPG show, and he and I have been writing together for months, now, almost every single day, and yesterday we finally finished the hardest part of our work. Yesterday, we handed everything off to the lead RPG designer, and exhaled for the first time in weeks." Is this world being published?
• Wil Wheaton posts on his blog "I’m not quite ready to announce the details of the world we created for our RPG show, but I am ready to show this little glimpse of it, and I encourage you to make of it what you will…" (picture below)
• Wheaton also posts photos of Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey leveling up their characters. "Look at @yurilowenthal and @laurabaileyvo leveling up their characters! They are all grows up."
• Various photos of players with dice show 3d6, one of which is a different colour, which pretty much seals the deal.

So, putting all that together, what do we have? It sounds a LOT like the game is Green Ronin's Fantasy AGE (not Dragon Age) or Blue Rose with a homebrewed world created by Wil Wheaton and his son and published by Green Ronin. If it's not, this is one heck of a clever misdirection!

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[pedr]

Wheaton's Game: Putting Together The Clues!

Maybe i am overestimating the exposure the game can have from this show, but if the influence on sales from this tabletop show are any indication, it can be quite big for an RPG.

This is my take on it. I don't follow the four players' social media and YouTube channels, but many people do - I know that Hank Green and his brother, in particular have significant social media reach (I think John Green was one of the vloggers who interviewed Obama after the State of the Union).

There may be bigger news stories for RPG insiders who read ENWorld, hear about game companies' press releases, follow designers on Twitter, etc. But the link between this show and the main Tabletop show (watched by thousands who have never played tabletop RPGs, I expect) and between this show and the social reach of the players (I just checked: VlogBrothers has 2.5 million subscribers for instance, many of whom may not have ever played a tabletop hobby game let alone an RPG) is significant. If Green Ronin is referring to the Tabletop RPG Show then I'm pretty sure that it would be difficult for another company to have a bigger news story. Even Pathfinder 2 would have little attention outside the RPG press - consider how noteworthy we found it when mainstream sites published articles about the D&D playtest.

 

[Morrus]

I woke up to a bunch of emails, all saying the same thing: yes, it's Fantasy AGE, in a fantasy/sci-fi blended setting created by Wil Wheaton, with additional fiction pieces by established authors. An announcement is imminent.

 

[Blackwarder]

Blah, people Cpt.dnt keep the secret for only 24 hours...

Warder

 

[skugga]

Blah, people Cpt.dnt keep the secret for only 24 hours...

Warder

I've trying not blab for hours...it's been killing me.

5hrs before it broke is better than I expected though.

 

[Morrus]

It's a good thing. A bad thing would be nobody caring. A good thing is excited people picking apart clues and uncovering information. That's what you want for your project.

So my sources were all second-hand. Given that so many people knew and emailed me, what's the secrecy deal? I'm mildly confused. I'm gathering it's linked to the Indiegogo campaign, but I don't have access to that. Both Tabletop folks and Green Ronin were sprinkling clues around like candy, so it was pretty obvious (and, also clearly, deliberate) so the confirmations I got didn't really amount to anything new. They pretty much told us themselves, what with dice photos, and tweets about travelling to Burbank, and photos of sets with GM screens, and clues about big news and Fantasy AGE settings, etc.

If they didn't want us to know, they wouldn't have done all that. These are all professional people - they don't do these things accidentally!

I think it's wonderful that folks are so excited about it. I can't wait to see the show. I've always thought RPGs made for unwatchable videos, but if anybody can do it, these guys can!

 

[TrainedMunkey]

It's a good thing. A bad thing would be nobody caring. A good thing is excited people picking apart clues and uncovering information. That's what you want for your project.

If they didn't want us to know, they wouldn't have done all that. These are all professional people - they don't do these things accidentally!

I think it's wonderful that folks are so excited about it. I can't wait to see the show. I've always thought RPGs made for unwatchable videos, but if anybody can do it, these guys can!

This, tabletop RPGs make for a very unwatchable show. I can barely make it through the first few minutes.

If Will and company can make this exciting and get some non-Grognard press, it could indeed be a huge story.

What movie can we add the game to? Any Spielberg flicks coming out? Can we get an end credits scene of the Avengers playing an RPG?

Fingers crossed that we get an RPG resurgence.

 

[Agamon]

The show will be excellent, I'm sure. The TT episodes of Dragon Age and Fiasco were among the best ones. But I really don't care what game they play. I don't think that will be that big a factor in how well the show goes. I ended up buying DA because of the show, and played with other fans of the show that wanted to try it. We ended up not really enjoying it though.

So while it's great we get a TT RPG show, and this will certainly help GR's bottom line, I'm not going to be fooled twice, myself. Wheaton and his actor friends could play freeform roleplay and it would be fun to watch, honestly.

 

[TrainedMunkey]

The show will be excellent, I'm sure. The TT episodes of Dragon Age and Fiasco were among the best ones. But I really don't care what game they play. I don't think that will be that big a factor in how well the show goes. I ended up buying DA because of the show, and played with other fans of the show that wanted to try it. We ended up not really enjoying it though.

So while it's great we get a TT RPG show, and this will certainly help GR's bottom line, I'm not going to be fooled twice, myself. Wheaton and his actor friends could play freeform roleplay and it would be fun to watch, honestly.

I have never played the game.

Something that I have run into recently with one of the groups that I am currently running, is that each group is different, i.e. some groups enjoy the roleplaying aspect, some enjoy the rollplaying aspect and others enjoy the exploration. I made the mistake of running Tyranny of Dragons with a group that doesn't like roleplaying.

Was it the system or the setting that you found unenjoyable?

 

[Jester David]

Maybe i am overestimating the exposure the game can have from this show, but if the influence on sales from this tabletop show are any indication, it can be quite big for an RPG.

I'm sure it'll do great things for the game system. But DragonAge hasn't been on the ICv2 charts for a couple years and never made it higher than #4. A solid bump will get it back on the charts, and at best will move it to #3 or #2. Which is still big, but nothing compared to anything the #1 game does.

And, arguably, because it's a separate show now, it's easier to ignore. Casual TT watchers are less likely to find those episodes, like they would when they were part of the regular rotation. So the only people watching will be the ones already interested, which should limit the appeal to new players.

 

[Morrus]

I'm sure it'll do great things for the game system. But DragonAge hasn't been on the ICv2 charts for a couple years and never made it higher than #4. A solid bump will get it back on the charts, and at best will move it to #3 or #2. Which is still big, but nothing compared to anything the #1 game does.

What's wrong with being #2, or #3? You don't have to be the biggest in the world to be a success.