05/28/2019: Surveys almost complete and other news
about 7 years ago
– Wed, May 29, 2019 at 01:27:06 AM
Hi everyone, I'm just popping in to let you know that the surveys are almost ready to send out surveys! They should be ready by the First of June.
In other news, things are coming along nicely. I've received the first Plot Point Campaign, and the other two are being written.
I've received the rough draft of the weapons section. Remember I said that we're doing some basic weapons, and providing a bunch of customization options. We're doing that with everything, so even though the gear chapter might appear to be big, that's because it'll have a ton of modification options for everything from weapons and armor to clothing and vehicles.
Most of the city trappings are done. The World Chapter is nearly completed. I've brought on Jason Blair to do the life in 2095 section because his work on Streets of Bedlam makes him uniquely qualified to write about gritty subject matter.
John Dunn, the creator of Accursed, is also on the team to do some new biohorrors. His background as a geneticist ensures he'll come up with some wild stuff, which is going to add a lot of fun to our Cleaning Crew Campaign Theme!
Finally, I want to preview some new artwork. Here are some Golemmechs and Robots you'll be seeing in IZ 3.0.
5/9/2019 update: Dark Pathways designer journal 1: history
about 7 years ago
– Thu, May 09, 2019 at 11:48:35 PM
Hi everyone,
In this update, I want to discuss Dark Pathways a little bit.
I haven’t done any real development on the book yet (still a ton to do with the core books), but I do have some basic ideas I’m going to share with you.
Historical Concepts
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about this alternate world. My creative process when I do world building generally starts with a rough outline of the history of the setting. Now that might seem easy enough because…Earth, right? Not really.
This Earth has elves, dwarves, orcs and such. As I mentioned during the Kickstarter, I’m not interested in creating a Savage Shadowrun. So, you won’t be seeing any kind of awakening or storylines reminiscent of Earthdawn; but you will see a world that has a long, long history in which these mythological races have evolved right along with humanity, even taking part in some of the world’s most notable events/periods.
For example, it’s pretty fun to imagine hordes of Orcs riding with Genghis Khan as he sweeps across Asia! Maybe Genghis Khan was an orc himself! Maybe Helen of Troy was a beautiful Elf?
Where was I…oh yeah; a long history.
So, when I started thinking about this history, I thought the most curious way to go about it, was to loosely base it off select passages in the bible of all things….specifically, the creation event.
Now, I know you’re thinking Seven Days??? I hope you die in a fire David Jarvis!!!
No, not seven days, because that passage has been misinterpreted. The Hebrew word for “Day” is Yom, which CAN mean days, but it can also mean eons, or ages, depending on context. The inconsistencies in Genesis in terms of the order of creation.
In Genesis 1 we find God calling the cosmos (heaven and earth, and all that is in them) into existence. Then in the rest of Genesis (beginning in Genesis 2) we have the account of what came of (or developed out of) God’s initial creation, how humans responded to God’s call to be his image in the world.
Pay attention to the part where I said “what came of or developed out of” initial creation. Kinda sounds like evolution to me. There are other passages in the bible that describe “The day of the Lord” being a thousand years, and even prophecies about Jesus Christ reigning for a thousand years, which could imply… well let’s do the math.
1 day = 1000 years.
365 days in a year
1000 years x 365 days (1000) = 365 MILLION years.
Interesting.
Anyhow, history is rife with archeological evidence pre-dating the events of the bible. It’s not even open for debate.
So, given all of these years of history pre-dating the bible, I came upon an idea that the bible is really just the history of one tribe; the tribe of Juda. The rest of human (and nonhuman) history begins to unfold through other historical documents and places (like the Epic of Gilgamesh, or the Pyramids), all of which represent other tribes.
Once that hit me, it was really easy to imagine a wide array of cultures all over the world springing up, but what about elves, orcs, and such?
Simple. They’ve always been there. Now, the myths make a bit more sense, because they aren’t myths; they’re historical tales. Dragons exist. Fairies, elves, dwarves…even vampires, werewolves and other monsters…All Real.
But… Cthulhu? The Great Old Ones?
Sure.
Hecate, Vishnu, Kali?
Absolutely. Given the fact that magic is real in an urban/cyberpunk fantasy game there are a lot of avenues to explore.
Hell. Maybe Moses was a druid.
Are they “Gods”…? Maybe, Maybe not. I’ve been watching American Gods, and I have a few ideas about that, too.
But I digress.
So, now I’ve got a bit of history baking in my mind about this world, how it unfolds throughout history, and as I look forward, I can start to see new cultures emerging, new archetypes, and technologies necessarily based not only in the world we see around us, but other elements perhaps created through the use of magic, or through pure technological genius.
Imagine if Dwarves perfected hydrogen fusion, or anti-gravity. Who knows?
One thing for certain, is this thing is probably going to be much more detailed, much longer than I originally thought.
Anyhow. I have to get back to my work.
Thanks for your time.
04/29/2019: Cybernetics questions [FEEDBACK NEEDED]
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 01:33:04 AM
Hi everyone,
I'm about to do my re-write of cybernetics, and I've been doing my due diligence on this. I looked back at Pinnacle Entertainment's Science Fiction Companion to refresh my memory, and what I've found, is that there aren't a ton of cybernetics in there BUT what is there covers a TON of things. That is the brilliance of Pinnacle Entertainment's work and the Savage Worlds game system as a whole: They make it so dang easy to do whatever you want with a few simple rules.But that also poses a problem for me because I know they will be updating all of the companions, and I REALLY don't want to do redundant work.
That said, a bunch of you have come to me privately and talked about cybernetics, and how you feel they should be addressed, and one common thread is that you want both specificity AND variety. Since you all have a vested interest in this book being the best that it is, I thought it best to come to you and pick your brain.
Do you want extensive lists of different types of cybernetics? Or do you want something really streamlined and won't override the Sci-Fi Companion when it eventually comes out, because I can go both ways, here.
Please, jump in and tell me what you want. This is your book, and it's important to get you rules that you want to see.
