Player's Guide Update Part II

[Jraynack]

The character classes section is now done - the following new classes will appear in the player's guide: The Feudal Lords Cleric, the Inquisitor, and the Summoner. The Possessed might make the final cut, but we may hold out to better streamline the class.

The Healer class is cut - we merged a few abilities into the cleric class and now some powers a cleric has is expanded on what type of holy symbol she wears (wood, gold, etc.).

It is pretty much downhill from here since most of the other new rules for the system is complete. It is a matter of organization for these new rules and an expansion on some of the areas presented in Chronicles of Yrza the Crow. We also want to give brief details on some other cities in the region and maps. I do not want to give a tentative date but we are hoping to release it at the end of December or January.

Furthermore, there is at least two mini adventures are planned for the guide and perhaps a full length adventure for 1st level characters.

Any questions, concerns, or comments, please place them here.

 

[Matthew_]

Good to hear that this will soon be finished. What are your plans for the Feudal Lords Campaign Setting in the wake of Dungeons & Dragons 4e? I recall reading that you were developing an RPG 2D6 String System. Is that still in the works or are you planning to support Feudal Lords through other means?

 

[Jraynack]

First of all, sorry for getting back to you this late in time - I was away on holiday (got back this evening).

Now, for your question -

Feudal Lords The Player's Guide to Cthonia is the last major 3.5 system book we produce. Hopefully, it allows players to get a look and feel for the world, begin playing in it, and when 4th edition is released, able to decipher what our direction will be (we feel most of our rules for the new edition will piggyback with few changes). Like all other publishers, we will get a 4th edition SRD, but when is another matter.

As a small publisher, we will probably have access to it when you do. As soon as we get a grip on the mechanics, we begin translating our rules for the Feudal Lords setting into a 4th Edition setting.

After the release of the Player's Guide to Cthonia and until a 4th Edition release, we will support the Feudal Lords setting with our new Any Edition line of products (fluff, info, and adventure seeds, no rules). Our Medieval Landscapes: Peasant House is a perfect example of this.

2d6 String System We are still interested in producing this product, but there are snags. Though combat, weapons, items, magic system, and other like rules for the system is well developed, character creation is a headache. It is on the back burner for now, however I have thought about making a few noncollectible .pdf games to highlight the 2d6 String System.

We also have permission to redo the original Dark Age card game (new art and card layout of course). We might release this in a noncollectible .pdf format. I believe we might get back on track with the system either during the downtime up till 4th edition or sometime in early 2009.

I even toyed around with the idea of getting a forum to help develop the the 2d6 String RPG.

I hope this is clear, but let me know if there is anymore questions.

 

[Matthew_]

No problem, I hope that you had a good holiday.

I am glad to hear that you will be continuing to support the Feudal Lords Campaign Setting for the forseeable future and am looking forward to seeing what you do with it. It's hard to be at the mercy of an edition change, but I think that on the whole the benefits currently outweigh the drawbacks and your For Any Edition response was a good decision. I occasionally catch myself thinking how suitable Feudal Lords would be for True20, but I imagine that would result in an undesirable narrowing of your consumer base.

I wonder if you could just comment a little on the sorts of things we can expect to see in the Player's Guide to Cthonia. I very much enjoyed your Sub Class mechanic and am hoping to see other ideas useful for low level play. A template that allows you to tweak the progression of a Class has a lot more appeal for me than, for instance, the Squire Base Class, which treated level progression too much like career stages for my liking. In which direction is the Player's Guide to Cthonia leaning?

I was also wondering about your treatment of Humanoids. The Orcs of the Hill Lands have received quite a bit of attention, but are there Humanoids in Cthonia that appear in the Player's Guide? I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the 'Humans in funny suits' route that 3e has taken and seems to be upholding for 4e. I prefer my monsters to be, well, monstrous, rather than simply primitive or misunderstood. The seeming equivalence of the Orc and Turcomen cultures that inhabit the Southlands didn't sit very well with me, so I am interested to know if there will be similar dichotomies in Cthonia.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Jraynack]

The holiday was fair, thanks - can't complain though since it was a holiday.

We are at the mercy of an edition change, thus somethings we wanted to do for the Feudal Lord campaign (prestige paladins, gnome changes, and the like) will wait until we see what 4th has in store.

Therefore, player classes from the PHB remain largely unchanged (save for the cleric) - for now.

In Player's Guide, expect to see a lot more things to do with action points, especially with feats. Also, we begin drawing distinctions between being a peasant, noble, freeman, etc. The book will not be the campaign setting, but serve as a base from which to build when 4th comes out.

The Hillands (or southlands) is in for a cultural overhaul. Orcs, for instance, are only a hundred or so years old as a race, created by the union of trolls and humans. Orcs, in the setting, are trying to find themselves as a race and their place in the world - in a world that will not give them room to breath, thus they are forced to carve their own piece of land.

We want most adventurers struggling with human lords, clergy, corrupt merchants, and the like as well as trying to free themselves from being political pawns (The Shew Stone adventure is a good example of this). Monsters, as you said, should be monstrous.

The Squire prestige class is replaced by Squire feats - feats that are useful but become even more so if you advance in a knight prestige class. As for other mechanics, we are selective in what we are putting into the guide because we are not sure what 4th edition holds. It seems a lot of their ideas - "points of light" - roles of demons and devils, etc. seem to fit nicely with what we initially had planned. But they are so cryptic in what they are releasing, it is hard to tell.

So for now, expect the new rules to be innovative ideas that compliment the old rules of 3.5 - we hope most carry over to 4th, but we have to wait and see. As for True20, I feel the setting will fit nicely into that rules set.