Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved

[Psion]

Here I saw Monte had posted and might give us a clue.

No such luck, eh?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I have always wondered at this sort of mentality, providing a compliment and then SMACK! a thinly veiled grumbling. Makes no sense to me and is there really a point to it in a thread like this?

Jason

Well, if all I said was, "Gee Mike, you're perfect!" I feel that I'd be lying. I've been reading his material since, well, I guess it would be day one.

I am glad to hear that the work on Legacy of Dragons is more the way future books will be handled as I felt that was one of the strongest monster books to come out in the last year and have gotten an immense amount of use out of it. A good combination between the general monsters ala Tome of Horrors 2 and high detail, like Creatures of Freeport, with an excellent balance.

On the published side, that is interesting to note. I had assumed, wrongly, that Mike would've already had several irons in the fire and that the 'official' move to Malhavoc was just to announce to the world that hey, you've got a new superstar.

As far as not priding yourselves in churing out books, well, there is a downside to that too as Mongoose gets a lot of press and people talking regardless of how their products actually are but once again, opinions vary. I loved Conan, others hated it due to the editing problems.

Speaking of that, at this product's (Arcana Evolved), is there any chance this is a full color book? That's one of the things I'd love to see from more publishers. I know at the advertised price, it's either got to be a huge book like the Iron Kingdoms one or have something really special going for it.

 

[Fiery James]

I know at the advertised price, it's either got to be a huge book like the Iron Kingdoms one or have something really special going for it.

Or both!

And Mearls is working on some cool stuff.

- JB

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Hmm. Wonder if AE involves big things? Hmm. Not sure about that.

By the way, Book of Iron Might was mentioned at the Malhavoc seminars (I'm stoked!) and Mystic Secrets: Lore of Word and Rune, launches next month IIRC. Plenty of goodness in both those books before Monte starts posting more hints about AE. I also have to say that Mike did all of Mystic Secrets - I sent him playtest comments before GenCon - and it wowed me. It comes close to answering one of the questions posed in this thread. Unfortunately, I can't say which one.

 

[shadow]

If I were to guess I would say that it would be a 3.5 update. Seeing that everything is going 3.5 these days along with the hordes of fanatical 3.5 diehards, an update would be natural. Of course, that is just pure speculation.

 

[teitan]

Joe, no offense to you, I wasn't meaning why say "solid work but this was weak" but why say it in a general conversation instead of in a review or a discussion of the products Mike has done to date? Loved Durgam's FOlly by the way.

Jason

 

[SJ]

Gah, I was running an AU game during the seminar, and since returning to hear about (& see the S&S catalog) the new Arcana Evolved release I'm about to have a disabling twitch attack. Even though I realize Monte and Mike kept said cat safely in the bag, I was bummed somewhat to have missed it.

I mean, what could this thing be? We have Eldritch Might, Iron Might, Mystic Secrets, Diamond Throne, Legacy of the Dragons....lots of stuff out there or on its way. About the only thing we haven't seen since last August is AU adventures, and that's not my guess.

So, is AE "the really big, ultra-cool thing he's [Mike] working on now"?

--Shana

 

[2WS-Steve]

I harbor a foolish hope that Mike or Monte is working on Darkspace...but realise it's foolish because (re?)acquiring the license probably would have generated some news or a press release.

Anyway, I'm glad Mike's getting a chance to work at a more human pace. Writing's much more pleasant when you can spend more time developing your ideas and have the freedom to go back and make extensive revisions if needed. Also, in an industry that seems to burn its writers out pretty regularly, a more normal pace will likely mean that we'll get to keep Mike around longer.

 

[Monte At Home]

So, is AE "the really big, ultra-cool thing he's [Mike] working on now"?

Nope. Mike's working on something big and ultra-cool for much later in the year next year. Arcana Evolved is something I wrote, and something that we'll officially announce in (probably early) October.

But one big, ultra-cool thing at a time. Beyond Countless Doorways fits that bill at the moment, in my opinion.

 

[Krug]

Since it's evolved, maybe it's the world of The Diamond Throne updated to D20 Modern? Or even D20 Future? Heh.