Technofantasy for Fantasy AGE 2e!

[Aldarc]

Fantasy Age has come out with a book for one of my favorite niche genres: post-apocalyptic science-fantasy! Fantasy Age Technofantasy: Science Fantasy Adventures After the Fall

History Lesson: So back in the day, Wil Wheaton's playthrough of Green Ronin's Dragon AGE game helped persuade him that he wanted to work with Green Ronin for his own setting Titansgrave: a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy setting inspired by Masters of the Universe, Heavy Metal, and weird late '70s and '80s science fantasy. This was around the same time that Green Ronin was already planning a more generic Fantasy AGE. Wil Wheaton did a playthrough of the Titansgrave adventure on Geek & Sundry. However, when G&S acquired new ownership, this left the Titansgrave IP in dispute between Wil Wheaton and the new owners. (I believe the litigation is still on-going.) This unfortunately left Green Ronin having to hold off from publishing more for what was a fairly hot stream back in the day. Titansgrave came out in 2015, before I had even left the US for Europe. And Green Ronin had not made anything for Titansgrave in that time. However, during the pandemic - you know which one - Green Ronin was playtesting a Fantasy AGE update that later would become Fantasy AGE 2e. I helped playtest that game, and I ran Titansgrave with my partner to playtest the game. Fantasy Age was really the first TTRPG that my partner had fun playing. That brings us to today, though actually a month ago.

November 2024: Green Ronin released Technofantasy, which in some ways feels like the Titansgrave supplement with the serial numbers filed off, but Technofantasy is not a setting. It's a 64-page rules supplement for bringing your Fantasy AGE 2e games to the realm of post-apocalyptic science fantasy, particularly the aforementioned '80s cartoon style. The game lists Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Thundarr the Barbarian, Wizards, Vampire Hunter D, and more as inspiration. It even lists Titansgrave. Fancy that. Sadly no mention of Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light. The nice thing about this particular genre for me is that there is a certain "anything goes" when it comes to the setting: e.g., swords, lasers, magic, wizards, scientists, mutants, aliens, fantasy creatures, spaceships, etc. all have a place in the setting. It's a versatile approach that's practical when you are creating cartoons for selling a bunch of toys.

The book contains some updated rules and character options from the original Titansgrave supplement: updating the FAGE class options for genre, the playable Saurians, alchemy, and laser guns. But Technofantasy also includes the updates for the robotic Oreans (FAGE Companion), alternate ancestry options for pre-existing ancestries, new backgrounds, new foci, new specializations, vehicular combat, and brings in more science-fantasy appropriate arcana traditions (i.e., Digital and Machine arcana).

As someone who loves the niche genre of post-apocalyptic science-fantasy, which feels surprisingly absent in TTRPGs, this is a much welcome product that makes me want to play Fantasy AGE again.

 

[schneeland]

Wil Wheaton did a playthrough of the Titansgrave adventure on Geek & Sundry. However, when G&S acquired new ownership, this left the Titansgrave IP in dispute between Wil Wheaton and the new owners. (I believe the litigation is still on-going.) This unfortunately left Green Ronin having to hold off from publishing more for what was a fairly hot stream back in the day

Ah! I always wondering why there was never any follow-up products to what seemed like a decent setting. But that explains it.

 

[Aldarc]

Ah! I always wondering why there was never any follow-up products to what seemed like a decent setting. But that explains it.

The original plan was that the first Titansgrave book would basically be the starter book for both (A) a future setting book and (B) a much larger adventure path that would take the adventure further past where it ends in the actual play. So the legal issues meant that neither the setting book nor the AP ended up seeing the light of day.

I only found out about this product recently, but I guess that Green Ronin decided to go ahead with creating a rules supplement that just files some of the serial numbers off the Titansgrave material. There are even a few clear nods to the Valkana setting, including the write-up for the Saurians, which alludes to some of the TG setting backstory.

 

[schneeland]

The original plan was that the first Titansgrave book would basically be the starter book for both (A) a future setting book and (B) a much larger adventure path that would take the adventure further past where it ends in the actual play. So the legal issues meant that neither the setting book nor the AP ended up seeing the light of day.

Makes sense. And it's really a shame that these books never saw the light of day - I think a number of people (me included) were waiting for them and it would have drawn quite some interest towards the AGE system. After all, even if it felt a bit railroady, the actual play was pretty solid and had some relatively high profile people in it (for me personally, this was also my entry to TTRPG streams/actual plays and I only discovered Critical Role from there).

 

[Aldarc]

Makes sense. And it's really a shame that these books never saw the light of day - I think a number of people (me included) were waiting for them and it would have drawn quite some interest towards the AGE system. After all, even if it felt a bit railroady, the actual play was pretty solid and had some relatively high profile people in it (for me personally, this was also my entry to TTRPG streams/actual plays and I only discovered Critical Role from there).

That was my number one issue with the actual play and the adventure. It's a little too linear for my tastes; however, the first part worked well for my partner, who is used to more linear stories in computer RPGs like KOTOR/SWTOR anyway.

The actual play was also how another one of my friends got into Critical Role.

 

[GMMichael]

The game lists Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Thundarr the Barbarian, Wizards, Vampire Hunter D, and more as inspiration. It even lists Titansgrave. Fancy that. Sadly no mention of Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

Sounds like it should be called Plasticgrave.

But given that Modern AGE supports "dystopian future" gaming, and Fantasy AGE should land neatly in the middle of the above-listed inspirations, I don't see that a new rulebook is needed. A setting book would be about perfect, though.

 

[Aldarc]

Sounds like it should be called Plasticgrave.

But given that Modern AGE supports "dystopian future" gaming, and Fantasy AGE should land neatly in the middle of the above-listed inspirations, I don't see that a new rulebook is needed. A setting book would be about perfect, though.

Technofantasy is intended to be run with the Fantasy AGE set of rules, which are different than those of Modern AGE. Plus "post-apocalyptic science fantasy" and "dystopian future," IMHO, are not the same.

 

[The Soloist]

Very cool, but this game sorely needs the expanded and revised 2e Bestiary. It's been more than a year since the 2e core book came out. GR has its hands in too many AGE spin-off games. It's slowing their output for FAGE.

I feel better now that I got that off my chest!

Carry on.

 

[Aldarc]

Very cool, but this game sorely needs the expanded and revised 2e Bestiary. It's been more than a year since the 2e core book came out. GR has its hands in too many AGE spin-off games. It's slowing their output for FAGE.

I feel better now that I got that off my chest!

Carry on.

I think that’s fair but they also published a FAGE supplement for their Cthulhu Mythos in the meantime. That said, I agree that a 2E bestiary and maybe some adventure books for FAGE would help.