Wonder if Wraith Recon has been abandoned by Mongoose.
The one FLGS in town which stocks Wraith Recon, the store owner mention only one person so far has bought any of the books.
I had to special order mine. So far I have the Enemies Within
and Mission Pack 1: Skies of Fire as well as the main book. There were suppose to be a couple more but don't see them on the Mongoose site. Damn.
It looks like they haven't done anything new since 2008.
It sort of seems as though WotC is doing pretty much everything at the moment. They've put out more adventures and sourcebooks for 4e than they did for 3.5 in as much time, they took over Dungeon and Dragon, and they've cornered the miniatures and battlemap market. I'm at a loss as to what would be leftover if I wanted to supplement their products.
I keep repeating this over and over - stop doing the same thing WotC is flooding the market with and you'll have a shot at some success. I mean I hate to kick a company when its down. Loosing a business hurts but so many companies seem to want to try and step on WotCs toes and then they wonder why they get creamed. If your company makes a fantastically beautiful campaign setting with an interesting twist then you need character classes to support your campaign setting and they should go in the players book - otherwise don't make classes.There are all sorts of area's were Wizards has not really done much and these could be niches for a 4E publisher.
Well I mentioned this in a later post - WotC is wedded to the Delve format which is excellent at doing certain styles of adventure and sub par for other styles. Specifically the Delve format almost requires that encounters remain static. They are frozen in time until the moment the PCs show up. Make adventures that are dynamic and you have a niche that WotC is unlikely to pay attention to.
WotC wants to just touch on each of their campaign settings and then move on - make a large really in depth campaign setting with many support books and, if it catches the fancy of many gamers, you could have a very successful niche product.
Off the top of my head, some of the 3PP d20 settings which had more than a few published books during the 3E/3.5E era.
- Ravenloft (Sword and Sorcery)
- Blackmoor (Zeitgeist)
- Dragonlance (Margaret Weis Productions)
- Aereth (Goodman)
- Iron Kingdoms
- Kingdoms of Kalamar (Kenzer)
- Arcana Unearthed, Arcana Evolved, Ptolus (Malhavoc)
- Everquest d20 rgp
- Warcraft, World of Warcraft d20 rpg
- Rokugan (AEG)
- Scarred Lands (Sword and Sorcery)
- Freeport (Green Ronin)How many of these have been converted to 4E?
The only ones I can think of offhand:
- Kingdoms of Kalamar updated to 4E and released only as a PDF. (Kenzer seems to more interested in using Kalamar for its Hackmaster 5E rpg).
- Scarred Lands "creature collection" was converted to 4E and published as a book, but nothing else yet.So far somewhat underwhelming.
XRP is doing Freeport, Goodman Games is still setting all of their adventures in Aerth, and someone (Red Brick I think) is doing Earthdawn. Blackmoor was also released, but I forgot who's doing that.
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Adventures. Adventures, adventures, adventures.There are all sorts of area's were Wizards has not really done much and these could be niches for a 4E publisher.Which areas are those that aren't things already inside DDI Character or the Monster Builder? From my perspsective, once you start removing anything covered by those, you are more likely to find that your product is systemless rather than for 4th edition (which is fine, but then you wouldn't be a 4E publisher anymore).
Considering that all through the 3x era, and I suppose the beginning of the 4e era (I haven't looked at any of their recent offerings, as I don't DM 4e, or DM much of anything any more), this was WotC's Achilles heel (with a few exceptions, of course), adventures are the one area to excel in 4e support.
But then, if you remember, Scott, I've been advising that for 3pp 4e parties since the beginning (as have you). ;)
I'm not sure where they stand, but I think that Dias Ex Machina is publishing their Amethyst setting (Published through Goodman Games) (I think it is sort of an alternate world that is futuristic modern/fantasy setting). Not sure where their products stand as I can't seem to find an easy link on their site that might lead me to one of their products on sale. (They did have an adventure for Free RPG Day, can't seem to find how to get that easily either, though I did find a download for an addition for the adventure.)
Edit: Goodman site has a statement saying that the book hits stores in September, but the lack of recent dates on the announcement(and my overall irritation in navigating around) makes me more unsure about what is up with it.
I will have to look more through the One Bad Egg products, so far I think I only got the Unbroken PDF, I should see if there is anything else that interests me when I have my mind on it.
Looks interesting. Has anyone tried it?I'm wondering if anyone can name any 3PP campaign settings unique to 4e.The Kingdom of Dardarrick, the setting for Mongoose Publishing Wraith Recon 4e supp.
We interviewed Wraith Recon at Gen Con
I read the book cover to cover but have yet to play it. It has play features which make it stand out from other settings. Your high fantasy characters become special forces and have the ability to perform military style actions, even calling in air strikes. You have an intriguing chain of command and specific gear for this style of play. Sexy stuff.
In another case, if the Earthdawn guys see a good reception with half decent sales for their recently released third edition Earthdawn books, I wouldn't be surprised if they shift most of their effort into producing supplements for the third edition while the 4E D&D version is placed on the backburner (perhaps indefinitely).
That's unfortunate. I would pick up the 4E Earthdawn book in a heartbeat, as it fits in perfectly with 4E's 'points of light'.
OTOH, I have almost no interest in their books if they keep the Earthdawn mechanics.
That's unfortunate. I would pick up the 4E Earthdawn book in a heartbeat, as it fits in perfectly with 4E's 'points of light'.
OTOH, I have almost no interest in their books if they keep the Earthdawn mechanics.
We're not porting any of the mechanics from Earthdawn into Age of Legend 4E. We feel that the Earthdawn flavor is what makes the game worth doing; 4E's mechanics already have all that's needed. But you can expect new monsters, some paragon paths, equipment, etc., though we haven't decided if anything warrants an entire new class yet or not... We're more interested in providing a solid setting and adventures (at least for the moment).
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We're not porting any of the mechanics from Earthdawn into Age of Legend 4E. We feel that the Earthdawn flavor is what makes the game worth doing; 4E's mechanics already have all that's needed. But you can expect new monsters, some paragon paths, equipment, etc., though we haven't decided if anything warrants an entire new class yet or not... We're more interested in providing a solid setting and adventures (at least for the moment).
That's unfortunate. I would pick up the 4E Earthdawn book in a heartbeat, as it fits in perfectly with 4E's 'points of light'.
OTOH, I have almost no interest in their books if they keep the Earthdawn mechanics.
W00t!
I'm sort of in the opposite boat. I played an older edition briefly several years ago and became accustomed to the mechanics. I would be more inclined to get back into it, with the mechanics similar to the older editions.I don't know how I would feel about a 4E D&D version of Earthdawn, without seeing it first. I would guess that such a book could be relatively crunch lite, similar in spirit to the Pathfinder Golarion campaign setting book.
Well you're in luck, because we just came out with 3rd Edition. ;)
EDIT TO ADD: Just noticed you were the one mentioning 3rd edition upthread. =)
In another case, if the Earthdawn guys see a good reception with half decent sales for their recently released third edition Earthdawn books, I wouldn't be surprised if they shift most of their effort into producing supplements for the third edition while the 4E D&D version is placed on the backburner (perhaps indefinitely).
Well, this has less to do with sales than with other issues. There was a pretty horrible tragedy that befell the Age of Legend 4E line developer (and Father of RedBrick), James Flowers, a short while back, which kind of threw some things on the backburner. While a couple of us developers are still working on some things for it, no one is trying to rush James to get things going again. The way we see it, we'll all be there when he's ready, and until then he has our full support, and we have other games to focus on (like Equinox, for example!).
Thanks for the update Hank. This sounds a bit like the spirit of how the 4E Eberron campaign setting book was done.I assume we won't be hearing anything about release dates until sometime in 2010? Sounds like Age of Legend 4E is still in the planning stages.
Though I do look forward to the upcoming third edition supplements, whenever they are released.
You bet! And yeah, it's a safe assumption that nothing will be out this year for it. As for Third Edition, you can expect a steady supply of sourcebooks (at least 1 per month for quite a while), plus my second Earthdawn novel, Immortal Twilight, is *finally* being released this month. ;)
...plus my second Earthdawn novel, Immortal Twilight, is *finally* being released this month. ;)Yeah, I wish. =) There's some talk about working on negotiations for something like that--which is why Immortal Twilight was put on hold for so long--but then we found out that it might take a year or more, so we decided we couldn't wait any longer. If those deals go through, *then* you'll see our novels in places like B&N and Borders (Mongoose isn't currently distributing our novels as they are our RPG products).
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Really? Coolio. B&N or Borders or both?
...plus my second Earthdawn novel, Immortal Twilight, is *finally* being released this month. ;)Yeah, I wish. =) There's some talk about working on negotiations for something like that--which is why Immortal Twilight was put on hold for so long--but then we found out that it might take a year or more, so we decided we couldn't wait any longer. If those deals go through, *then* you'll see our novels in places like B&N and Borders (Mongoose isn't currently distributing our novels as they are our RPG products, atm).
Send me details when it's ready to be released. I have a lulu account as well.
Send me details when it's ready to be released. I have a lulu account as well.
Will do!
Will Equinox be published through Mongoose too?
Yep! =)
And as far as Earthdawn through 2010, we actually have the product schedule worked out (internally, at least) through 2012 (though everything is subject to change, of course).
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Will Equinox be published through Mongoose too?Yep! =)
And as far as Earthdawn through 2010, we actually have the product schedule worked out (internally, at least) through 2012 (though everything is subject to change, of course).
Has there been any talk of an ED Pathfinder edition.... Oh, wait! Can't due to the GSL. Darn.
I thought the draconian parts of the GSL were removed. In particular with respect to publishing a product line for more than one system.
Yeah, that's right. And I actually tried convincing them to have us switch to Pathfinder while I was an intern at Paizo, and James was leaning that way for a little while, but then he decided that we couldn't/shouldn't, because we already made the public announcements about 4E and so forth, and we had already started the development work. ;)
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I thought the draconian parts of the GSL were removed. In particular with respect to publishing a product line for more than one system.
Yeah, that's right. And I actually tried convincing them to have us switch to Pathfinder while I was an intern at Paizo, and James was leaning that way for a little while, but then he decided that we couldn't/shouldn't, because we already made the public announcements about 4E and so forth, and we had already started the development work. ;)
Oh! Coolio. Well, maybe next time with Pathfinder RPG 2.0 and ED 6th Edition ^_^
We're not porting any of the mechanics from Earthdawn into Age of Legend 4E. We feel that the Earthdawn flavor is what makes the game worth doing; 4E's mechanics already have all that's needed. But you can expect new monsters, some paragon paths, equipment, etc., though we haven't decided if anything warrants an entire new class yet or not... We're more interested in providing a solid setting and adventures (at least for the moment).
Sounds good. Toss in rules for those last couple PC races (the T'skrang and the obsidimen) or at least ways to model them (goliaths as obsidimen?), a bunch of Horrors, and plenty of info on life in the kaers... what better start for a fantasy campaign is there then "You've never been outside the protected bunker that your family has lived in for generations because there are demonic monsters outside. The door is now open - go find adventure!"
I'd like to also see you include rules to try and model how magic items were in Earthdawn (or at least how I remember them being in 1st Ed)... items that would grow in power as the characters learned more about their history. This is something that should be fairly easy to do with the magic item and ritual rules in 4E.
XRP is doing FreeportHaven't heard much about this recently.
I'm converting the NPCs as we speak. :) I should *cross fingers* have the 1st run of the manuscript done in about a month, and then editing and re-writes. Hopefully 4e Freeport will be out in Dec of this year, but it may be delayed some.
Joseph Browning
Expeditious Retreat Press
Thanks for the update.
Will the 4E Freeport book be similar to the Freeport companion books for True20, 3E, Savage Worlds, etc ...?
Since you're here, will a 4E version of the 1-on-1 Adventures Compendium ever see the light of day?
When will we see 4E Nevermore?
Correct. The 4e Freeport book will be similar to the other Freeport companion books.
There won't be a 4e conversion of the 1-on-1 line.
4e Nevermore is in the editing stage. :)
Joseph Browning
Expeditious Retreat Press
Lemme guess. ;)Other than the titles Earthdawn already announced on Mongoose's web page, future titles will be:
- Namegivers of Barsaive, Volume One
- Nations of Barsaive, Volume One
- Adventure Compendium
- Burning Desires
- Shards Collection, Volume Two (with Blackout, Betrayal's Sting, Westhrall's Passage, A Tear for Jaspree).(ie. Judging from the titles in the Earthdawn Classic Edition section on www.redbrick-limited.com).
Yep! Among many others. ;)