Matt_James's page

We're nearing our FOURTH Stretch Goal.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vorpalgames/red-aegis-roleplaying-game

One of our Stetch Goals: RED AEGIS TACTICS
Chronospheric storms wrack the annuls of time and space as the anchors of power react violently against the impending invasion. Bloodlines vie for power as they call upon the prestige of their past, and summon forth the vestige of their famed ancestors. Glory to the victor as the death of all ages begin!

Red Aegis Tactics is a small tactical skirmish game that is designed for 2-6 players. Players construct an army using everything from axe-weilding barbarians, to spell-slinging archmages--from incredulous biker gang vagabonds, to futuristic space soldiers. This is truly the battle of all ages. Construct your army, deploy to the fields of battle, and defend the prestige of your legacy.

We've reached our funding goal, and now it's time for our first STRETCH GOAL. At $30,000, we'll add the Red Aegis Hacker's Guide to the Digital Boxed Set. The Hacker's Guide, written by full-time Paizo designer Stephen Radney-MacFarland, will include guidelines for incorporating RED AEGIS into your existing Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign.

My deepest thanks and appreciation to those who have supported us thus far.

RED AEGIS KICKSTARTER!

-Matt James
Vorpal Games

We've reached our funding goal. Now it's time for our first STRETCH GOAL. At $30,000, we'll add the Red Aegis Hacker's Guide to the Digital Boxed Set. The Hacker's Guide, written by full-time Paizo designer Stephen Radney-MacFarland, will include guidelines for incorporating RED AEGIS into your existing Pathfinder game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vorpalgames/red-aegis-roleplaying-game

Matt_James wrote:

Correct. The hack guide is a bonus that comes with the $50 level.

-Matt

Ok. I'm still somewhat of a newb with the whole kickstarter thing so its good to get confirmation.

No problem. Let us know if anything else comes up.

I'd rather hear how Red Aegis can help my current Pathfinder campaign in Midgard, but I get what you are saying. :)

Very curious about the Dynastic rules. Could you expand on that a little? The last time I used some they were for Pendragon, and I liked that quite a bit.

Hey Wolf, it’s awesome to see you interested in this! Thanks for the question and comments. The dynastic nature of the game is what has us completely thrilled to be designing it. We have been working hard to polish up the nature of it as to not confuse anyone who reads about it. I can, however, give you some juicy details of what we’re molding into a codified system.

One of our major motivations, with our gameplay experience, is to have hundreds, if not thousands, of years pass between each session. Your character in the new session will be a descendant of your past character, and will inherent characteristics of the applied dynasty. For example, if in the past, your ancestor slayed the great minotaur lord Kogulous, you would not only gain in-game story-based rewards for such a feat, you would also earn addition Prestige to use in the construction of your descendants in following sessions. Prestige is a value pool that is increased based upon the actions of your character. Some might view this as an alternate experience pool, and they wouldn’t necessarily be completely incorrect. That said, different players would earn at different rates, depending on their exploits in the campaign. In addition, we are implementing a dynamic system by which the storyteller/dungeon master/game master might change from session to session. What we’re calling the Arbiter will be a role that players will aspire to become, due to the increase in Prestige and other story-based rewards. This process is governed by an element of the game that revolves around the RED AEGIS itself. I don’t want to say too much more, as it might spoil that backstory before we have it codified and clearly defined.

Another interesting aspect, as your descendants traverse the timeline, is that your characters will be defined not by equipment, but by their followers. Followers will have specific skill-sets and professions that will aid your character, and will help define them as their dynasty evolves. This is going to allow for an immense amount of customization, and it’s something I’m eager to show off once completed.

We have contracted Stephen Radney-McFarland, and I expect he’ll be charging full-force to help us master the connection to an existing Midgard campaign that uses the Pathfinder RPG system. We are, as well, looking to add support for FATE, D&D (insert edition), and other systems. This, of course, depends upon our ability to raise the requisite funds.

This sounds like it should probably be in general roleplaying (or some such forum topic, I don't go down that way much).

As to the actual topic, I want to make sure I get the pricing right, to get the "hacker's guide", which contains the rules for how to hack apart your system and graft it on to Pathfinder, requires the $50 buy in for pdfs?

Correct. The hack guide is a bonus that comes with the $50 level.

-Matt

So it's not a Pathfinder setting but one of the stretch goals is PF compatible?

Correct. We want to provide some strech goals that allow for supporters to play in the game of their choice if they're not desiring to play in ours. Also, at the macro level, people will be able to use our dynastic system in conjunction with (for example) PFRPG at the micro.

It was great to get some design work in on this book. I really think everyone is going to love it. It was a blast and their are some REALLY awesome new baddies in here ;)

I'd have to imagine that 4th edition would be pretty boring to write for.

Not at all. It's no different than creating new stories for any other game, or creating/fleshing-out worlds.

joela wrote:

Matt_James wrote:

There is any number of ways these 'templates' or 'themes' can be applied. I am happy to see this idea so well received.

The Cobbler for 4e

Don't really care for the idea of having a template on top of a theme for a profession Themes should include (but not be limited to) professions IMO. This gets to the point of adding increasing complexity for ever less returns.

That works too, Jeremy. The underlying design principle here is that layers can provide a near limitless expansion of the game, instead of a rigid progression.

Some tips and tricks from Matt James, a designer for 4e.

I can't remember if I put it in the article (I'm so tired right now and should be sleeping), but I wanted to paint a big neon sign around being persistent. The cliche 'If at first you don't succeed, try try again" really applies here. Besides, you will inherently improve.

Oh, and don't forget to keep your queries somewhere. You might have some great ideas that could get lost. Just because they don't get snatched up right away, doesn't mean they won't later on.

There is any number of ways these 'templates' or 'themes' can be applied. I am happy to see this idea so well received.

But this book has me desperately awaiting for June to arrive, especially after seeing a sample from the book: The Wandering Tower. Because a tower-sized mimic populated by duplicating mimics, living walls, and blood-drinking ravens, with a half-dozen plot threads and story hooks to use with it, is pretty much 100% awesome.

Thanks! As one of the four designers of this project, I am pleased to see people getting excited about it. It will definitely be a more thorough product as far as detailed monsters/creatures go. As for its final media (boxed set or shrinkwrap), I have no clue. I'm hoping for a boxed set myself, but we'll have to wait I guess.

I agree that applying templates would be easier in 4e, but there may be some cross-game significance. It's a matter for finding the right way of implementing it. Anyways, thanks for the kind words.

KQ #15 is great. This one ranks in my top 3 of all of them so far. Keep up the great work!

As soon as my filter lifts, I'll be hitting this on Facebook.

This is a totally awesome thing you Kobolds are doing. My proverbial hat's off to you.

Working hard to wrap up this book for everyone. This a great cause and I hope everyone enjoys the sourcebook!