Star Wars Wednesday - An Obvious Omission

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About this time back in 2008, I sent a proposal off to Wizards addressing a clear oversight in the Saga Edition rules. Although it was surprising that the fans were not concerned about (or seemingly aware of) the omission, it was obvious to me we needed to include it to make sure that all aspects of the Saga were accurately portrayed within the game. Now, several years later, I dug out my original proposal and realized it was sorely lacking in game balance and explanation, likely due to the revolutionary changes it would have introduced to the game, plus it was early in the Saga Edition design process (for me, anyway). So, I present below, a newly updated version to add to the Force chapter of the Core Rulebook.
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Fantasy Map Cartography

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Normally, I would add an excerpt or example of my most recent cartography work to my online portfolio when completed. However, as my most recent example was for the subscriber based DungeonADay.com (and therefore unavialable in the near term for this use), I went ahead and created a new map using the same techniques I used in the DaD Fane of the Sea God maps. While those maps adhered to the DaD style, I used different details for this map. The overall effect is similar.

I am always looking for new cartography freelance projects. Please contact me if you have a project that needs need a map (or a writer). You can see my portfolio here.

Star Wars Wednesday - DoD 6 Question and Comments

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A brief trip to the mailbag this week. I've received different versions of the following question from time to time regarding my contribution the the Dawn of Defiance SWRPG Saga campaign, Episode 6: Core of Corruption:

After running DoD 6 a time or two and having distance from the material, are there any extra encounters, skill challenges or errata you've added or would like to add to the module? - Garrett

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Star Wars Wednesday - Humor and Art

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It's been one of those weeks where an disparate collection of news came to my attention from my inbox, twitter feed, facebook, email and somewhere else I'm likely forgetting at the moment. Anyway, I could split this up into two posts, but really, I'm just going to plunge ahead like a speederbike through the trees.  BETWEEN. BETWEEN the trees.
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Dungeon-A-Day Cartography: Fane of the Sea God

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These past two weeks, I had the opportunity to contribute a pair of dungeon maps to DungeonADay.com, as a guest cartographer for the Fane of the Sea God areas. For those who don't know, Dungeon A Day came from the mind of prominent  Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition designer Monte Cook of Malhavok Press. Posting one encounter/room per day, 5 days a week, it's about to reach dungeon level 16, not including side quests and related encounters. It is a subscription based site, so you won't be able to see my work (unless you subscribe, of course). In this case, the maps are heavily influenced by Dungeon A Day's established style, by their regular cartographer, Ed Bournelle of SkeletonKey Games.

Super Genius Games took over the day to day content handling of Dungeon A Day late last year.  Charles Ryan (former Wizards of the Coast Brand Manager, among other credits) recently joined the effort, and wrote the Fane of the Sea God areas. It's been good to work with Charles (for the first time) and Stan! on the project. 

Dungeon A Day is an 3.5 Open Game License project, and they recently added Pathfinder stats to their encounters. Those interested can either subscribe to the service, or I believe they are selling individual pdfs of some of the early levels. See the site for more information.

 

Star Wars Wednesday - On the Other Side of the Galaxy

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Sometimes I wonder just how many people have been involved in creating the vast Star Wars universe we know now. The sheer number of writers, artists, model makers, costume designers, sound editors, CGI artists, game designers, musicians and more is just staggering. Sometime after they move on to other things, we as fans and creators eventually wonder what they're up to now.

Last week, an old RPG name resurfaced in an interview in the first issue of D6 Magazine - Bill Smith

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Star Wars Wendesday - Jedi Jumpbike

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This past week saw the conclusion of the Clone Wars' "Mortis" trilogy, which I commented on in last week's Adventuring in the Tree post. The final episode was very good, and Knights of the Old Republic fans should definitely check out Filoni's comments on characters originally planned to appear in the episode...and why they ultimately did not. This week I'll do a 180 from the philosophical gaming environment and talk about a new take on some existing tech that caught my attention in the episode - a collapsible speeder bike.
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Star Wars Wednesday - Adventuring in the Tree

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No, this week's title has nothing to do with Wookiees or Ewoks, unless you want it to. It ties to something Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni said in the commentary of the Clone Wars episode, Altar of Mortis. For those who haven't seen it, and no spoilers here, the Mortis trilogy delves in to the supernatural side of the Force way more than usual. It's something we've really only seen in the extended universe, and reminds me more of the Knights of the Old Republic era or some of the scenes in the more recent Fate of the Jedi novel series. Anyway, Filoni said to his writer to treat the episodes like they are all within the tree* from Empire Strikes Back, and that they're full of metaphor and, I presume, illusion.
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Star Wars Wednesday - Backyard Hoth

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So, I'm a few hours early, but here we go. Today was a snowday for most anyone here in the midwest, thanks to the snowmageddon/snowpocolypse/etc/etc/etc dumping massive amounts of snow, closing interstates, and shutting down anywhere people would want to go today. I could go on about how the latest Clone Wars episode is very interesting and I'm looking forward to the how this develops and oh by the way Sam Witwer was in on the epsiode and so forth...but instead, I give you this, from my backyard:
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MV and Product Updates from DDXP

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No, I didn't make it to D&D Experience (DDXP), though I would have loved to go. I haven't been since it was called Winter Fantasy. And 2nd Edition was current. And it was in Wisconsin. Anyway, Wizards is hosting a number of seminars, starting off today with a discussion of new products. There is a bit of new info on Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale, out in June. Much of this has been released before, some not:

  • Includes monsters stats and organizations they are part of.
  • Raven Roost Bandits
  • Ironwood Circle
  • Tigerclaw Barbarians
  • Drow Group
  • 8 Sheets of tokens, monster on one side, bloodied version on the other
  • 2 maps, generic locations usable in any campaign

There are at least two websites liveblogging the DDXP seminars, the host Baldman Games and Critical Hits. It is interesting in that they are both using google docs, but different approaches. For the Products Seminar, baldman's version has a lot of detail, but updates in chunks of information at a time. Critical Hits' version is showing up live as it is being typed. You get more of a feel for the flavor of the event/audience, but less specific info.

Any fan of the game ought to read both. It's the most up to date info available right now. Also, check out the seminar live blogging over the rest of the weekend.

 

 

Star Wars Wednesday - Running Published Epic Length Campaigns

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Adventuring in the Star Wars universe takes many forms: the one-shot adventure, the homebrew campaign, the convention “classic” adventure, the living-style campaign, and the long term published campaign. Campaign length ranges from a few adventures, to epic length storylines played across dozens of sessions and multiple months or years. Campaigns are plotted well in advance, grow organically out of the choices made by players and gamemaster characters, or more likely, a combination thereof. While these are all great blog subjects, today I’m focusing on the long-term, epic length published campaign.
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Star Wars Wednesday - Clone Wars & Starwars.com

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This past weekend marked the mid point of Clone Wars season three, and with it the Savage Opress episode trilogy. After seeing the season three trailer and other material at last summer’s Star Wars Celebration, I’ve been looking forward to the new shows. The series has improved steadily through season two and I hope it continues to do so. I have a few comments on the new episode, but I’ll save them until the end of this post as they’ll contain some minor spoilers.
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