Questions about the Oathbound revival

[DMH]

Since the official thread on Oathbound comes up a blank page*, I guess I will start a new one with a few questions of my own for Greg, Darrin and/or Tom.

Will Legacies continue? If not, we will at least see issue 2?

Which style of prestige races will there be?

Is there any significant changes to the setting that you can tell us about now?

And for those who don't know about Oathbound going Pathfinder, it is being released through Epidemic Books. I wonder if they have any viral advertising planned?

* http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=107727 I wonder why?

 

[Derulbaskul]

Oathbound is a great campaign setting. I am pleased it's making a comeback. Good luck to the new publishers.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Since the official thread on Oathbound comes up a blank page*, I guess I will start a new one with a few questions of my own for Greg, Darrin and/or Tom.

I might as well jump in here since I don't think Todd or Greg spend much time at this site.

Will Legacies continue? If not, we will at least see issue 2?

I'm not aware that Greg has any plans to bring this back. While it was pretty cool that the first one acted as sort of a grab bag of Oathbound goodness, it's kind of a taxing process to put these sorts of things out. It's like trying to run a magazine while trying to publish regular books at the same time. It can be done, but it helps to have a larger staff. That said, I could see where maybe an Oathbound annual could have potential, but there's been no discussion of this at this point to my knowledge.

Which style of prestige races will there be?

Greg is handling prestige races. To be honest, my design work doesn't include any prestige races this time around, so I'm not even sure what the answer is here.

Is there any significant changes to the setting that you can tell us about now?

Oathbound Seven will act as sort of a new core book and the timeline has been advanced a bit. Beyond that, it isn't really my place to spoil this.

And for those who don't know about Oathbound going Pathfinder, it is being released through Epidemic Books. I wonder if they have any viral advertising planned?

Do messageboards count? Seriously though, again, this is Greg's area. Maybe if I ask really nicely, he'll jump in here and provide a few more answers than I can.

 

[Grey Stranger]

Oathbound Revival

Greetings all, and thanks for your interest in Oathbound! Darrin kind of covered the basics here, but I'll butt in. I got the rights to Oathbound in 2006 when Bastion closed shop. However, it was a bit of a surprise, so I ended up sitting on it for a while wondering what to do about it until Darrin convinced there was enough fan support to bring it back. Todd Morasch (also formerly of Bastion Press) and I founded Epidemic Books in September, initially to continue the Oathbound setting, but also in the long run to introduce some of the other really cool stuff we have been working on. For now though, we are very focused on Oathbound, and development started in October on two books, Oathbound Eclipse, and Oathbound Seven, the new Oathbound core rulebook for Pathfinder. There's also an adventure in the works, but it will be separate from the sourcebook this time. It's been hard to pin down a release date for a new company since we are kind of starting from scratch here, but I anticipate stuff will be available this spring.

The new Oathbound is designed both for old fans as well as new players, and the Oathbound Seven book should have everything you need to play an Oathbound campaign in Pathfinder, plus a fair amount of new history and content for the old fans. We don't just want to pick up where we left off, but to breathe some new life into the setting. There will be a few surprising changes, but I like them, and feel that the fans will find them exciting as well.

For more information, check out our website:
Epidemic Books - Latest News

 

[joela]

Paizo

Linked to Paizo message boards

 

[Grey Stranger]

Will Legacies continue? If not, we will at least see issue 2?

Ah, well we have no plans for this at the moment. We have our hands full with starting the company, raising money, writing two books and an adventure, and marketing/distribution. We do intend to support the setting on a regular basis, and the Legacies may be a good way to do it, but we aren't at a point where we can make this decision yet.

Which style of prestige races will there be?

Well, Tom spent a lot of time revamping the Prestige Races for Oathbound, and there are three styles that I know of, the original, the Wildwood method, and a final one, which didn't really see the light of day. Oathbound Seven will present this third one, with an option to use the original system if you prefer. However, after Oathbound Seven, we will not be focusing too much on the Prestige Races, since there are already so many out there, and we have some new things up our sleeves. Eclipse has 3 new prestige races planned.

Is there any significant changes to the setting that you can tell us about now?

Yes. Well... I'm not ready to give away too much yet, but Oathbound Seven picks up Seven years after the original books. For most of that time, Penance has been engulfed in a massive and bloody war, and there have been some winners and some losers. Payin Highmark fled the wars and founded a new city at the top of the world in the cauldron of Eclipse, and refugees have been pouring in for some time now, upsetting the balance of power in this distant land and setting the stage for the Eclipse product. Also, while there are still Seven bound on the Forge, they may not quite be all the same as they used to be.

And for those who don't know about Oathbound going Pathfinder, it is being released through Epidemic Books. I wonder if they have any viral advertising planned?

We've talked about it, but have been too focused on writing to put much time into it. I'm open to suggestions though!

One thing we are doing that I'm excited about is that we are trying something new with the Eclipse book that should make it much more fun to read and dynamic than the typical campaign sourcebook.

 

[DMH]

Well, Tom spent a lot of time revamping the Prestige Races for Oathbound, and there are three styles that I know of, the original, the Wildwood method, and a final one, which didn't really see the light of day.

Steve released the Player's Guide to Oathbound as a freebie and it can be found on Dragonwing's forum so the fans who looked for it do know what the third version looks like. And I like it not as much as the original but much more than the classes.

Yes. Well... I'm not ready to give away too much yet, but Oathbound Seven picks up Seven years after the original books. For most of that time, Penance has been engulfed in a massive and bloody war, and there have been some winners and some losers. Payin Highmark fled the wars and founded a new city at the top of the world in the cauldron of Eclipse, and refugees have been pouring in for some time now, upsetting the balance of power in this distant land and setting the stage for the Eclipse product. Also, while there are still Seven bound on the Forge, they may not quite be all the same as they used to be.

Interesting. It should be very interesting to see what is going to happen with the Kiln since Bathkol was killed 900 years ago (according to a couple references in the Arena books).

We've talked about it, but have been too focused on writing to put much time into it. I'm open to suggestions though!

Sometimes my humor is a little too subtle. Viral-Epidemic.

Though I will be mentioning this elsewhere online and to the local game stores- any little bit that can help. I hope the other fans do likewise.

One thing we are doing that I'm excited about is that we are trying something new with the Eclipse book that should make it much more fun to read and dynamic than the typical campaign sourcebook.

Can't wait to see it Greg. If you ask Tom or Steve, I was very active on the Oathbound board- pestering them with questions and posting my own critter ideas. (Sadly, I had more posts than almost everyone else combined.) The setting is just so cool and flexable.

 

[DMH]

Is there going to be any more material on Wildwood or Arena?

The reason I mentioned Legacies 2 is that I thought it was finished or close to finished when Bastion folded. The article on dragon lairs sounded so interesting.

 

[kenmarable]

YYYYYAAAAAAAAAA *gasp* AAAAAAAYYYYYYyyyyyy yyy yy ........

This is very cool news. I can't wait to see these products! Also great to see Todd and Greg back!

 

[catsclaw227]

I am excited about this as well. I know this is being written for Pathfinder, but I might do some back-ally 4e conversions for my gaming group.

I sent a group into Penance (they were 8th level) back in the late 3.0/early 3.5 era. Good times, for sure. I loved how the setting was geared for mid-high level games, though I preferred the mid-level stuff.