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Heya Folks,
So as of today I am no longer a member of Super Genius Games. The company and I had ceased to be a good fit, so we can to a mutually satisfactory agreement that has me no longer being a member of the Super Genius Entertainment LLC, and no longer the lead developer of Super Genius Games. I sincerely wish SGG good fortune in all its future endeavors, and I am very proud of the work I did while part of it.
A lot of that work is going to come with me in my new venture, Rogue Genius Games, which I am in the process of spinning up. I have also brought Warlords of the Apocalypse with me, and thus those of you with preorders are now my customers rather than SGG's.
To be clear this has nothing to do with my joining Green Ronin (though the timing is a heck of a coincidence), and I have every intention of continuing my work on things like the Godlings, Time Thief, and Talented product lines. Though it's going to take a little time to get my feet back under me. (I'll also need to get my tagline in these forums changed.... maybe "Developer Green Ronin, Rogue Genius Games").
I am sure more questions will come as we move forward, and I'll have a lot more to talk about when the ink is a little dryer.

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Speaking of being a Ronin, here's my introduction.

Anguish |
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Man. Clear as mud.
Look, whatever. Doesn't much matter to me where you're at, it's your work that I've mentally got flagged as "good 3rd-party material".
I guess what I'm saying is that the "I'm now working at this company, but I'm still working for that company only now I'm not working for that company any more but I'm still working for this company and while I'm at it I'm going to work for the other company" drama is a headache, but I'll still buy your stuff, as long as it has your name on it as well as/instead of "this", "that", or "the other".

Sethvir |
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I'm happy to hear the Talented line will continue, and it is wonderful that Warlord of the Apocalypse will go with Owen.
And I agree with Anguish that Owen = must-buy 3pp! Long live Rogue Genius Games!
Seconded or thirded as the case may be! Or as one of the guys I game with says, "That's good chicken!"

Bearded Ben |

Speaking of being a Ronin, here's my introduction.
That link doesn't work, but here's what he was trying to link to.

Christina Stiles Contributor |

Christina Stiles wrote:I'm happy to hear the Talented line will continue, and it is wonderful that Warlord of the Apocalypse will go with Owen.
And I agree with Anguish that Owen = must-buy 3pp! Long live Rogue Genius Games!
Seconded or thirded as the case may be! Or as one of the guys I game with says, "That's good chicken!"
Owen is good chicken? Hmm.

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:That link doesn't work, but here's what he was trying to link to.Speaking of being a Ronin, here's my introduction.
Thanks!

Readerbreeder |

Best of luck to you, Owen! I look forward to Rogue Genius Games products. Did you bring any specific IP with you besides Warlords of the Apocalypse?
I have a couple of questions, if you'll forgive me (I may have missed something that everyone else knows about). Did Christina and Owen depart Super Genius Games together? Is Christina going to be a part of Rogue Genius Games, or is she going to begin (or be a part of) some other enterprise?

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Christina is currently a free agent, although the CSP products she developed for SGG are coming with me to RGG.
I am leaving with many of our Pathfinder pdf lines, including most Genius Guides, all the Options books, Mythic Menagerie, Anachronistic Adventurers, most #1 with a BP, Loot 4 Less, Kragnar, Codex Draconis, and Houserule Handbooks.
Obviously sorting that and figuring out what I am going to do with it all is going to take time.

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SGG still exists. There's still (for example) a whole set of Strike Force 7 products both in existence and in various states of readiness and the Dungeonaday.com site that I am not taking.
Certainly I was heavily focused on Pathfinder products, and wrote and developed a LOT of them. And I suspect SGG will be much less a Pathfinder presence. And I don't know what their long-term plans are (and they may not either just yet).
I do plan to continue producing a lot of these lines, and they'll be under the RGG banner rather than SGG, but SGG was more than just me writing Pathfinder stuff. :)

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The timing of it is quite a coincidence but life is full of coincidences. I am curious, however, as to why you leaving, Owen, automatically means Christina has left as well. Just the matter of fact way it was stated seems like there's something there I'm missing.
Did you take the Pathfinder classes with you? Like dragon rider specifically? (I know you've been working on an expansion for that with wyverns and stuff, right?) And what will this mean for the products you've taken, new covers with Rogue Genius Games on them? New citations over at d20pfsrd.com?
Anyways, regardless I wish you well. I've enjoyed your products before and hope that you continue churning them out and really I don't care where you do so, your own stuff or revamping Green Ronin's stuff, either way it is a win. Best wishes to both of you.

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The timing of it is quite a coincidence but life is full of coincidences. I am curious, however, as to why you leaving, Owen, automatically means Christina has left as well. Just the matter of fact way it was stated seems like there's something there I'm missing.
Did you take the Pathfinder classes with you? Like dragon rider specifically? (I know you've been working on an expansion for that with wyverns and stuff, right?) And what will this mean for the products you've taken, new covers with Rogue Genius Games on them? New citations over at d20pfsrd.com?
Anyways, regardless I wish you well. I've enjoyed your products before and hope that you continue churning them out and really I don't care where you do so, your own stuff or revamping Green Ronin's stuff, either way it is a win. Best wishes to both of you.
Quick clarification ... unless I'm mistaken, Christina was always a freelancer - she did work for Owen and SGG but she was not actually an official member/employee of SGG.
Owen of course was very much an official member/employee of SGG :)

Christina Stiles Contributor |

Quick clarification ... unless I'm mistaken, Christina was always a freelancer - she did work for Owen and SGG but she was not actually an official member/employee of SGG.Owen of course was very much an official member/employee of SGG :)
I joined the team as a developer of my own line. Here is the release: http://www.supergeniusgames.com/news/sgg-adds-developer-christina-stiles/
But, I was only with them a short time, and my contact there has always been Owen. Therefore, when he decided to leave, I exited with him. My departure is very much less significant, of course--I have only done 5 products with them to date. Also, I still develop for Misfit Studios, where I self- publish things like Rogue Mage and Pathfinder PDFs. That hasn't changed, and now I do some few things through my own company.
That is all the story at this time. Owen and I are talking more this weekend, so who know where that conversation may lead? I'm a big fan of his work and he has my utter respect. I know he will do well with his own endeavor.

Oceanshieldwolf |
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Wow. Well, I definitely look forward to seeing the new trade dress and layout RGG uses.
I was actually under the misguided impression SGG was Owen. Hopefully Owen will continue to create some rigorously mechanik'd play options for both players and GMs.
One door closes, and 1d100 demiplanes composed of portals to a myriad of possible other demiplanes containing further myriads of portals to a myriad of planes appears. At least, that is the accepted Wisdom (check).
Go well Owen.

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As expected, my departure from Super Genius Games has raised some questions. Here’s a rundown of the ones I’ve been asked most often and their answers.
Q: I thought you *were* Super Genius Games?
A: SGG existed for two years before I came along, and my relationship with them started by writing a Call of Cthulhu adventure. It was begun by Hyrum Savage and Stan! for their own projects. Though Stan! has also announced his departure, Hyrum remains and still has things I had little involvement in (such as the Strike Force 7 game line for Savage Worlds).
Q: So, what does this have to do with your Pathfinder Developer job at Green Ronin?
A: Nothing. I am still working for GR, and my departure from SGG has nothing to do with my taking up a different Pathfinder Developer position.
Q: What does this mean for Warlords of the Apocalypse? And the Talented line of books? And more Godling stuff? Or Time Thief? Or Kragnar?
A: The terms of my departure include me taking some game lines with me, including most of the pdfs I wrote for SGG, and the Warlords of the Apocalypse project. I will have more to say on WotA as soon as I have some things pinned down.
Q: What are you going to do now?
A: I am launching Rogue Genius Games. Details of that venture are still being worked out. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on it soon.
Q: Rogue Genius Games? Isn’t that a little close to Super Genius?
A: Yes, it is. The name has the blessing of all the Geniuses, and was selected to try to maintain a sense of continuity since I’ll be continuing the “Genius Guide” line of products.
Q: So is Rogue Genius Games looking for freelancers?
A: Yes. But I may need a week before I'm sending out many responses. (Though I am already in talks with a few folks, so maybe not... )
Q: Hey, why the split?
A: It is *really* tricky to know how to talk about these things. The inner workings of any group is often complex and private, and it's always more so if you are both friends and business partners. I have always felt that private matters are best kept private by not trying to walk up to the line of how much you can say without saying too much, even at the risk of sounding too mysterious. So all I really feel like adding on this subject is we may not be business partners anymore, but we are all still friends.