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Message: <blockquote data-quote="grymn" data-source="post: 4463749" data-attributes="member: 18354">DevBlog 001 - A Vision of the FutureWelcome to my humble development blog for the Sands of Destiny campaign setting. My name is Jerry and I am the lead developer and co-writing for the Prime Codex, currently in development. First off, I want to thank you for your interest in the development of this project. I hope to both give some insight into the setting, and a handful of interesting previews along the way as we move forward into the release of the Prime Codex in the first quarter of 2009. (I'm hoping for a January release myself, but I can't really set that in stone as of yet)The first thing I really want to delve into is more about how the setting will be developed and presented. With the Sands of Destiny, I really want to provide a constantly evolving world for gamers. I asked myself what things would look for in a setting that would elevate it above others and make me want to use it for my own home games (outside from the premise and design of the world itself, of course). The highest things on my list were full continuous support, having some impact on the setting, and modularity (should I wish to use elements of the setting in another setting). So, these are things I hope to integrate at the presentation level of the setting.On the support front, preceding the Prime Codex (which is meant to be a Campaign Guide for both players and DMs alike), I intend to have regular support on <a href="http://www.sandsofdestiny.com" target="_blank">www.sandsofdestiny.com</a> in the form of web enhancements and articles. These are going to be substantial pieces of constant (not unlike the support 4th Edition has been getting from its owners). This content will be free for all, though those with the Prime Codex will benefit most from it. We've already started developing this content along with the Prime Codex! It will include a healthy dose of both crunch and fluff to further define and enhance your games. Since the setting is a labor of love for us, we intent to sink the majority of the profit we get from the Prime Codex into this free content. From time to time we'll even take this free content, update, add to it and put it into print for those of you who wish to donate to the development of the setting. All of the money earned on these books will be put towards the development of the free content and other aspects of the setting's presentation and support.The second item I had in my list of necessities was the ability to have some impact on the ongoing evolution of the setting. This is another element that has been planned for the setting, post launch. We want the fans, players, and dungeon masters who use the game to have a little bit of influence in where the setting goes and how it is developed. This is going to be accomplished with several different processes. After the Prime Codex, we'll be hosting regular polls to get the communities opinions on certain things that will happen within the setting, different new concepts, and even what the next book (or support content) we will produce. This will make up the first layer of community involvement in the setting. The next layer will be contests (judged by us and/or the community) that will allow players to get their own ideas into the setting- such as characters, powers, paths, events, locations, etc. In addition to having the winners idea incorporated into the canon of the setting, we're going to see about trying to have some additional prizes as well (to be determined).The final item on my list was modularity. What I mean by this is making the setting a complete functional setting while making it easy for a DM to cannibalize elements and pieces into their own homebrew world or other setting for use in their home game. I've made it a goal to do this by adding snippets of design insights within the Prime Codex (and future books and writing articles for the website that will help to pull out your favorite elements for use elsewhere. Its more of toolkit approach. Essentially, the Prime Codex is meant to be a toolkit to build your own version of the Sands of Destiny setting, while we'll present our version through future books and online content.Next time, I'll get into some details about Immortals, Legacies and Legacy-tech.[The Actual DevBlog can be found at <a href="http://www.sandsofdestiny.com" target="_blank">www.sandsofdestiny.com</a>, for those interested]</blockquote>

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