It's a quiet Sunday, so I figured I'd post some project updates on some of the creative side of things I'm involved in.
[h=3]What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.[/h]
This weekend I started a very small playtest program for ten groups. They are playtesting N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game (it's companion O.L.D. comes a bit later). The current playtest draft is nearly 200 pages long, but there's still months of work to be done on the game. One of the new N.E.W. playtesters has posted a short blog post about it. There will be more playtesting opportunities later; this is a very preliminary set hitting the core system. I expect to launch the Kickstarter for it early this year - I'm currently looking for a Kickstarter manager to fully run it for me, as previous Kickstarters have made it clear to me just how much work it is (and how insane the art budget is going to need to be...), and I'm run off my feet with projects and responsibilities right now!
[h=3]ZEITGEIST Layout, Tokens, and Cover Art[/h]
The ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution adventure path is proceeding apace (Pathfinder and D&D 4E), and the Kickstarter-fueled compiled hardcovers are due soon. We've sent the Expanded Player's Guide to layout (both 4e and PF), and we expect to have the Campaign Guide and the first five adventures ready to go to layout by the time the Player’s Guides are ready. Depending on how long it takes to lay out, we might miss our original January ship date goal by a hair, but I hope to get the PDFs to people by the end of the month.
Next, a bonus for all the gamers out there who play online. Our cartographer James Hazelett also makes digital tokens, and he designed a set of tokens for the first ZEITGEIST adventure, Island at the Axis of the World. Every antagonist and monster is present, so of course avoid this if you don’t want to see spoilers. Those who would like to use, print, or just see the tokens can get them freely at EN World’s downloads site.
For those who have already played or read the campaign and might be willing to offer some feedback, we’ve posted the list of contents for the NPC portraits and the handouts in the Premium Handouts pack. I’ve still got about a week for people to offer feedback before we’ll finalize those handouts.
We also have a set of Hero Lab files for the Pathfinder version of the entire first act of the campaign, which we’re finalizing now and hope to make available in the coming weeks.
The final part of today’s update is just to show off the newly-received cover illustrations for the last four adventures, courtesy of artist Shen Fei. Nothing here is any more spoilery than what you’d see in a movie trailer. I dub it Player-Safe.
Adventure #10: Godmind
Adventure #11: Gorged On Ruins
Adventure #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven
Adventure #13: Avatar of Revolution
[h=3]RPG Superstar[/h]
I'm a guest judge on Paizo's RPG Superstar this year. Right now, the first round of public voting is open. It's all about wondrous items, and you can vote by clicking here - you get to choose the best of two randomly presented items.
[h=3]What's O.L.D. is N.E.W.[/h]
This weekend I started a very small playtest program for ten groups. They are playtesting N.E.W. The Roleplaying Game (it's companion O.L.D. comes a bit later). The current playtest draft is nearly 200 pages long, but there's still months of work to be done on the game. One of the new N.E.W. playtesters has posted a short blog post about it. There will be more playtesting opportunities later; this is a very preliminary set hitting the core system. I expect to launch the Kickstarter for it early this year - I'm currently looking for a Kickstarter manager to fully run it for me, as previous Kickstarters have made it clear to me just how much work it is (and how insane the art budget is going to need to be...), and I'm run off my feet with projects and responsibilities right now!
[h=3]ZEITGEIST Layout, Tokens, and Cover Art[/h]
The ZEITGEIST: The Gears of Revolution adventure path is proceeding apace (Pathfinder and D&D 4E), and the Kickstarter-fueled compiled hardcovers are due soon. We've sent the Expanded Player's Guide to layout (both 4e and PF), and we expect to have the Campaign Guide and the first five adventures ready to go to layout by the time the Player’s Guides are ready. Depending on how long it takes to lay out, we might miss our original January ship date goal by a hair, but I hope to get the PDFs to people by the end of the month.
Next, a bonus for all the gamers out there who play online. Our cartographer James Hazelett also makes digital tokens, and he designed a set of tokens for the first ZEITGEIST adventure, Island at the Axis of the World. Every antagonist and monster is present, so of course avoid this if you don’t want to see spoilers. Those who would like to use, print, or just see the tokens can get them freely at EN World’s downloads site.
For those who have already played or read the campaign and might be willing to offer some feedback, we’ve posted the list of contents for the NPC portraits and the handouts in the Premium Handouts pack. I’ve still got about a week for people to offer feedback before we’ll finalize those handouts.
We also have a set of Hero Lab files for the Pathfinder version of the entire first act of the campaign, which we’re finalizing now and hope to make available in the coming weeks.
The final part of today’s update is just to show off the newly-received cover illustrations for the last four adventures, courtesy of artist Shen Fei. Nothing here is any more spoilery than what you’d see in a movie trailer. I dub it Player-Safe.
Adventure #10: Godmind
Adventure #11: Gorged On Ruins
Adventure #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven
Adventure #13: Avatar of Revolution
I'm a guest judge on Paizo's RPG Superstar this year. Right now, the first round of public voting is open. It's all about wondrous items, and you can vote by clicking here - you get to choose the best of two randomly presented items.
