So, a busy week caught up with me today. I'll take this rather later opportunity to talk a bit about the other Star Wars game that Fantasy Flight released at GenCon - X-Wing Miniatures.Earlier today, The Coriolis Defect RPG kickstarter campaign kicked off. If successful, I'll be one of the contributing writers on the project.
The Coriolis Defect is an RPG of re-history in the making. The PCs can "rewind" time briefly, altering the story by changing the past.
The Coriolis Defect is focused on thematic, narratively-driven gameplay, stories of "re-history in the making." The characters share a rare genetic anomaly, dubbed the Coriolis Defect. This anomaly allows them to briefly rewind history, offering a limited means to travel back in time.
For more on the RPG itself, see the The Coriolis Defect website.
To join in and contribute to the campaign, see The Coriolis Defect kickstarter page.
Star Wars Celebration VI marked my second journey down to Orlando for the great gathering of Star Wars fans. I had a fantastic time at Celebration V, and eventually worked out a way to go again this year. Though they were held once every 3 years, I hear they're moving it to every two years, as it was this time around. Hopefully, it won't always be the week after GenCon. That said, it will probably be the week OF GenCon at some point.
Anyway, having nearly not fully rested up from GenCon the week before, not to mention the day job in between, I hopped an early Thursday flight, to arrive just before noon.
FFG Demo at their booth at GenConGenCon proved to be even more exciting than I anticipated. I was reasonably sure that the new Star Wars RPG from Fantasy Flight Games would be announced - something I was greatly looking forward to because I'm one of the writer/developers on the product. Having been under a non-disclosure agreement, I couldn't say a word throughout the process.
Prior to the announcement, FFG hung a black banner over one of their Star Wars banners, with a sign that said something along the lines of "new game to be announced at the In-Flight Report," which is their product seminar. The seminar room was very full. FFG walked through their various product lines, production updates and the occasional question. Once they got to the end, they had "one more thing" and announced three Star Wars RPG core rulebooks, each a standalone game.
I had a great year at GenCon this past week. Friday, especially, was a good day. In the afternoon, the new Star Wars RPG Edge of the Empire was announced. I'm one of the writer/developers. See my Star Wars Wednesday post for the rundown on it and how it upped the excitement level for the entire show.
On top of that, the ENnie Awards were that evening. My D&D product Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale took a silver ENnie in the Best Monster/Adversary category. It was my first ENnie win, and a blast to be able to walk up on stage with my fellow writers (Brian James and Steve Townshend - Matt James was elsewhere) and lead developer Jeremy Crawford to accept the award. I told my wife, when else do I ever get to make an entrance to the tune Back in Black (which was WotC's selected acceptance music)?
Other GenCon comments and events in no particular order:
It is time for GenCon once again. As far as Star Wars is concerned, this means checking out the new X Wing Minis game from Fantasy Flight. I also hear there is a group running a Wizard's Star Wars Minis tournament, with new maps from Christopher West. Saga and d6 RPGs continue to show up on the schedule, as well as in pick up games.
It is also ineresting to see where people with interest or influence on the games show up. This year, the Order 66 podcasters have turned into a full on game company, complete with a booth and product to sell - their kickstarter success, the Edition Wars card game. Chris West will also be around with new maps on offer. Rodney Thompson continues to help develop the new version of D&D. I expect others will also reappear along the way.
My map for the Fane of the Sea God Level, written by Charles Ryan.For years, Dungeon A Day posted daily dungeon encounters by Monte Cook for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 OGL. It was a massive dungeon. Eventually, he brought in Super Genius Games to keep the site running and complete the Dragon's Delve mega dungeon. Afterwrads, Super Genius continued with smaller dungeons, and added the Pathfinder rules along the way.
Sadly, the site was forced to close to new subscribers last year. Fortunately, Super Genius received enough interest to start a new Kickstarter campign to make the original material available to newcomers. They hope to gain enough funding to add to the original material, and more.
Regular readers may remember that I was one of the site's cartographers near the end of Dragon's Delve and other adventures. If the kickstarter works, I may get the opportunity to do more of that in the future, plus something more...
ENnie Award voting is now open. Go vote for Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale for Best Monster/Adversary. Thanks from my fellow authors and I.
Here are a couple of my earlier blog posts, from when it was released.
Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale for Dungeons & Dragons has been nominated for an ENnie Award for Best Monster/Adversary! My fellow authors Brian R. James, Matt James and Steve Townshend and I would love your support. Voting starts July 20, and the awards are announced at the ENnie Awards Ceremony at GenCon in August.
This is my first ENnie Award nomination for a D&D product.
My latest Dungeons & Dragons 4e adventure, Hunt for the Heretic, went live today on D&D Insider, Dungeon magazine (for subscribers only):
"Deep in the Astral Sea, a mysterious force has been raiding, plundering, and destroying isolated settlements and astral ships. The heroes must brave the bizarre and dangerous environment to follow this trail of destruction and hunt down whatever force is behind it."
Those who follow me on twitter or my facebook fan page, know that I've gotten into Kickstarter projects. Maybe that's not surprising, given the rise of crowdfunding over the past few years from sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. For various reasons, I wasn't in a position to jump in to some of the earliest projects that caught my interest, which was disappointing since I knew the people involved.
Instead, I tried to promote some of them here, especially those that were somewhat Star Wars related, either by game or by a past freelancer. Christopher West's maps that were Star Wars minis compatible, and Gary Sarli's e20 project come to mind, and even d20 Radio's Edition Wars. Well, in that vein, I've backed a new project that I think may appeal to fans of West End Games' d6 system.
I added an excerpt of the map I produced for Greg Rucka's Alpha novel to the cartography gallery. You can read more about the details in my earlier blog post.