And Here It Is - Wil Wheaton's TABLETOP RPG Show Is TITANSGRAVE: THE ASHES OF VALKANA

Wil Wheaton has made the official announcement! As we already know it's Green Ronin's Adventure Game Engine (AGE) which powers Dragon Age and the upcoming Fantasy AGE. The show is called Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana, and starts on June 2nd 2015.

Interestingly, Wil mentions that he worked together with Green Ronin to develop the Fantasy AGE system.

The world is written by Wil and his son Ryan, and is inspired by the 1978 Heavy Metal movie (I haven't seen it, sadly) and the 1980 cartoon show Thundarr the Barbarian (which I have also sadly never seen). Goblins with laser rifles, that sort of thing.

Watch the video below. And see here for all our fun, exciting clue-gathering and speculation which led to us figuring out eveything but the name in advance!

[video=youtube;4Er6gDch9Lc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Er6gDch9Lc[/video]
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[Henry]

"Ariel! Ookla! We Ride!"

I freakin' LOVED Thundarr as a kid.

Word of warning for all who have not seen it, though -- It is very much a 1980's cartoon, so it might feel a bit silly to 2010's sensibilities who aren't watching it with rose-lenses intact.

That said, I didnt realize that DVD set was still available -- I REALLY want a copy for home, because the writing was a heck of a lot of fun (though damned if i cant find any quotes online but for the obvious ones!) Ariel was the closest thing to an audience stand-in for that show.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

I doubt that they are using the AGE system just because of marketing reasons or anything like that... I really feel that Wheaton does what he does because he enjoys it and he likes to roleplay. He's a gamer. It's what he loves to do. I doubt he does much from a motivation of getting more money... and he is simply probably really good friends with the folks at Green Ronin, which is a much smaller company than the likes of Hasbro and he probably didn't want to deal with the headache of working with a large company. It's also possible that he wanted to create and release a campaign setting for all of us to enjoy, and Green Ronin was cool with the setting idea he has come up with. It's a definite win-win-win for all of them and us.

 

[Veander]

Still not sure why he would choose this system. Is there really thatch red tape with any of the D&D systems? I mean seriously why would Hasbro/WotC provide problems for good press like a YouTube show with Wil Wheaton? I will have to finish watching session 1 but so far I feel like this isn't at all like the D&D I play and presenting it this way will only disappoint any new people. But at the end of the day it's better Wil's doing anything than nothing for the hobby.

 

[Veander]

Still not sure why he would choose this system. Is there really thatch red tape with any of the D&D systems? I mean seriously why would Hasbro/WotC provide problems for good press like a YouTube show with Wil Wheaton? I will have to finish watching session 1 but so far I feel like this isn't at all like the D&D I play and presenting it this way will only disappoint any new people. But at the end of the day it's better Wil's doing anything than nothing for the hobby.

And yeah that was my first post since 2009... Lol

 

[Morrus]

Still not sure why he would choose this system. Is there really thatch red tape with any of the D&D systems? I mean seriously why would Hasbro/WotC provide problems for good press like a YouTube show with Wil Wheaton? I will have to finish watching session 1 but so far I feel like this isn't at all like the D&D I play and presenting it this way will only disappoint any new people. But at the end of the day it's better Wil's doing anything than nothing for the hobby.

Partly because he has a good relationship with Green Ronin, and partly because he likes the system, I imagine..

I don't know about the red tape aspect, but I don't think that you actually need permission to play someone's game on video. He probably just wanted a company he could work with easily as some of the publishing side of the project isn't done by him (getting WotC to publish Titansgrave is probably difficult).

 

[Von Ether]

Still not sure why he would choose this system. Is there really thatch red tape with any of the D&D systems? I mean seriously why would Hasbro/WotC provide problems for good press like a YouTube show with Wil Wheaton? I will have to finish watching session 1 but so far I feel like this isn't at all like the D&D I play and presenting it this way will only disappoint any new people. But at the end of the day it's better Wil's doing anything than nothing for the hobby.

I'm not speaking for Wil, but if I was him I'd weigh these two factors. I can do this project with either ...

Personally working with the president of the company that I have a friendship and understanding with (and hopefully is a straight shooter that I will listen to with an open mind) and use a product that his is hungry to promote "You'll turn my homebrew setting into an official product, you don't say?" And it doesn't hurt that the president is one of the best in the biz and a former WotC employee.

OR

Working with the best in the biz, but you and them constantly have to get approval from suits that are one to three step removed from the market and the audience. And God forbid they decide they want to influence the project. Wil's been in Hollywood all of his life. He's seen what the suits can do to a creative project.

Spoilers for Episode 1 *****
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Seeing as how the first mission is to save a beer caravan, I can guess that I wasn't too far off the mark.

 

[Veander]

I'm not speaking for Wil, but if I was him I'd weigh these two factors. I can do this project with either ...

Personally working with the president of the company that I have a friendship and understanding with (and hopefully is a straight shooter that I will listen to with an open mind) and use a product that his is hungry to promote "You'll turn my homebrew setting into an official product, you don't say?" And it doesn't hurt that the president is one of the best in the biz and a former WotC employee.

OR

Working with the best in the biz, but you and them constantly have to get approval from suits that are one to three step removed from the market and the audience. And God forbid they decide they want to influence the project. Wil's been in Hollywood all of his life. He's seen what the suits can do to a creative project.

Spoilers for Episode 1 *****
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Seeing as how the first mission is to save a beer caravan, I can guess that I wasn't too far off the mark.

This is the part of the show I'm enjoying so far - beer caravans. My current D&D group essentially does this. Lol

 

[nightwind1]

Still not sure why he would choose this system. Is there really thatch red tape with any of the D&D systems? I mean seriously why would Hasbro/WotC provide problems for good press like a YouTube show with Wil Wheaton? I will have to finish watching session 1 but so far I feel like this isn't at all like the D&D I play and presenting it this way will only disappoint any new people. But at the end of the day it's better Wil's doing anything than nothing for the hobby.

Who the heck cares if it's "like D&D"? It's NOT D&D. There are many, many more games than just D&D.

I, for one, am glad it's not D&D, because I think (IMHO) that D&D is overblown. It's an okay game, but there are many better ones available.

Again, IMNSHO.

 

[Herobizkit]

I missed a LOT of cartoons in the 80's, which is odd, given that I was 4 years old in 1980 and I watched cartoons every Saturday that I could.

That said... I never saw Thundarr the Barbarian. I think I had a bias against "people" cartoons and dismissed them like "bleh people, let's see cool things!"

That said... I watched Heavy Metal in my early 20's and I thought it was just awful. I watched Heavy Metal 2010 and still think it's awesome (largely because of Michael Ironside's performance - he has the best lines in the movie).

THAT said, I watched Wil's science fantasy production and I have a sincere feeling that science fantasy is going to be the next go-to theme in RPGs for the next short while as a result. Pathfinder already beat him to the punch with Iron Gods, and Monte Cook has TWO sci-fantasy worlds on the go.

Never underestimate the power of celebrity endorsement or marketing... could you imagine a world where the ONLY way we knew about new products/services was by word-of-mouth?

 

[aramis erak]

I doubt that they are using the AGE system just because of marketing reasons or anything like that... I really feel that Wheaton does what he does because he enjoys it and he likes to roleplay. He's a gamer. It's what he loves to do. I doubt he does much from a motivation of getting more money... and he is simply probably really good friends with the folks at Green Ronin, which is a much smaller company than the likes of Hasbro and he probably didn't want to deal with the headache of working with a large company. It's also possible that he wanted to create and release a campaign setting for all of us to enjoy, and Green Ronin was cool with the setting idea he has come up with. It's a definite win-win-win for all of them and us.

I recall seeing a video of him running the Dragon Age RPG... and reading that he really enjoyed it.

(Note: I don't watch his vids. I generally don't do gaming videos. Sometimes, I'll listen to "Main Man" rants - they're a hoot, with good ideas too... )