Empyrea Update
Loxley, 01 Sept: Empyrea Kickstarter Announced
Frank Mentzer's Empyrea begins on Monday 02 October—a Kickstarter for a boxed campaign set usable with multiple fantasy RPG systems.
This set is the first big step, created with the help of many friends. Watch for details coming throughout September.
The core set has a lot to cover, and must be brief. The ambitious Empyrea product line will eventually include adventures, novels, details of all cities and major areas, and other supporting products.
Empyrea Online is a future Community project, where many fans can design the details of the Realm. We hope to make parallel-world Empyreas available for most popular RPG systems. We'll need your help describing it… that’s a lot of real estate! The gateway has opened; throw your hat in the ring at EmpyreaOnline.com.
This is thrilling! Lots more news to come. Thanks very much for your interest.
—Frank Mentzer
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Please tell us why Doc went evil.
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Oooo...
Indeed!
Please tell us why Doc went evil.
Frank has been waiting for the right opportunity for a full-court press as it were and now is the time, it seems. :D
Speaking of Frank, I got some more news!
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Greetings.
Let's start from scratch.
My name is Frank. A long time ago I worked for TSR and Gary Gygax, and I wrote some things.
Now it's 35 years later (!), and most Tabletop Hobby Gamers don't know me. Many have never heard of me.
There are a lot of great games out there, and it's hard to pick one. Thank you for your time and interest.
When I was Gary's Creative Aide, we talked about my Campaign. We decided to publish it, but Gary wanted it very distant, with no active connections to his continent. That's what he wanted so that's what I did. Earlier plans didn't materialize, so the time is now, sadly 9 years after my friend left us.
Empyrea is based on three premises: Magic instead of Technology, a sentient but indifferent Planet who knows how everything can be in balance, and royals who place Quality of Life (for all) above unbalancing mass whims (like war and wealth).
These premises far-reaching consequences, and I have spent decades extrapolating the results and applying them to an entire continental society. (I have over a thousand chatroom game logs, i.e. my laboratory.)
Our story is about Empyrea at its height. It is geographically constrained on all four sides, and Evil wants to spoil the party. But at the moment it's a comfortable Realm, the sort of world in which your current player characters have grown and thrived. They'll find a second home in Empyrea.
We plan to release the core set by next Summer (Kickstarter in October). If it is well-received, we'll offer a whole line of supporting products. We're trying to make Empyrea available for various Fantasy RPG systems, and a Science Fiction interface for the offplanet setting. These are plans, but only the future will reveal the results.
SPOILERS: Additional sub-plots involve Orcs trying to be civilized, Dragons deciding not to be adventurer-fodder any longer, an undersea race of Giant Squid who actually rule the planetary ocean, a Lost World right next door, Giants who may have an offplanet heritage, and Immortal beings who might just erase everything and start over. But that's all in the background, and won't affect you... much.
Why will this take 9 months to produce? Because Loxley is assembling fantastic talents from all fields, but few are working on Empyrea full-time. You'll soon see 30 names. These tremendously talented people work with many companies. We just have to deal with the logistics.
Thanks again for your interest. More to come soon.