While we have certainly had periods of high Star Wars activity and announcements over the years, this past couple of weeks seems like a new high water mark. New TV and streaming shows, a new preview for the new movie, and a brand new theme park is already expanded with an even more immersive experience.
It all looks like fun.
Read MoreLast week was Gen Con, along with Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars announcements.
Read MoreFantasy Flight Games made a number of Genesys roleplaying game announcements at the FFG Inflight report on Wednesday night at Gen Con 2019, most of which I have had some involvement with.
Read MoreMy first work for the Numenera RPG appeared unexpectedly at Gen Con. Explorer’s Keys, Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera was available at Monte Cook Games’ booth. Explorer’s Keys has everything you need to immediately run a Numenera session with no preparation. As part of that, it includes my first game related published cartography in quite a few years. It was fun, and given how weird the Numenera setting is designed to be, it makes for some entertaining approaches to map making. I’ve updated my cartography portfolio with a couple of them.
My contributions were for the adventures Embassy of the Inconstant Moon, Protomatter Heist, Goliaths in the Earth, Flight of the Seraph, and Microfuge State. Flight of the Seraph was also featured as the Gen Con Numenera adventure and included in an exclusive collection of Monte Cook Adventures given to the game masters running their sessions.
One of my maps is related to the weird ship featured in the Numenera short film The Strand:
While copies of Explorer’s Keys were on sale at the Monte Cook Games booth, it releases sometime this week or next, and is available for preorder on the Monte Cook Games’ website. I presume it will also become available at DriveThruRPG as well upon release.
Tonight at Gen Con, Fantasy Fight Games announced Genesys Foundry, a new community content program for the Genesys RPG available on DriveThruRPG.com. Genesys Foundry features products, adventures, settings, and more for use with Genesys itself, as well as the campaign settings of Android Shadow of the Beanstalk (sci-fi), and Realms of Terrinoth (fantasy). Products are distributed primarily in PDF format.
Power Play is my second Genesys Foundry product, and I'm happy to have been asked to participate in the initial offerings. Power Play is a mini-campaign for the Android Shadow of the Beanstalk sci-fi setting. It takes place in locations within Heinlein, the major colony on the Moon. Heinlein also happens to be one of the areas I helped develop for Android Shadow of the Beanstalk, so it was fun to develop a new campaign for it.
Here's the back cover copy, with more information:
Mysterious cybernetic malfunctions are attracting unwanted attention to 8CMod, an advanced, thriving lunar black market cybernetics clinic. 8CMod is more than a problematic unlicensed medical practice, however. Investigators soon try to unravel a web of organized crime, corporate corruption, and ambitious individuals out to seize control of one of Heinlein's standout companies.
This Android mini-campaign gives Player Characters the opportunity to manipulate the future of a specialized organized crime syndicate and an important lunar corporation. Do they expose dirty deals or maximize advantages over them? Do they play the part of kingmaker, or try to seize power and wealth for themselves? No matter their choices, they gain new enemies and allies before things are through.
This mini-campaign is suitable for 4 to 6 moderately experienced Player Characters of a variety of archetypes. It includes new locations to visit, new NPCs, new computer systems to hack, and multiple ways for the PCs to make their own Power Play.
Tonight at Gen Con, Fantasy Fight Games announced Genesys Foundry, a new community content program for the Genesys RPG available on DriveThruRPG.com. Genesys Foundry features products, adventures, settings, and more for use with Genesys itself, as well as the campaign settings of Android Shadow of the Beanstalk (sci-fi), and Realms of Terrinoth (fantasy). Products are distributed in PDF format.
Instant Adversaries is my first Genesys Foundry product, and I'm happy to have been asked to participate in the initial offerings. It's an accessory that helps game masters quickly create customized adversaries at the table, with minimal effort, by picking a few key items off the page, and customizing where needed. There are similar options for creating all kinds of vehicles.
This product isn't meant to replace or generate primary NPCs for a campaign, but to give the GM a tool to quickly create NPCs needed unexpectedly. I often try to use and modify pregenerated NPCs from books or adventurs on the fly, but I always seem to need to tweak a characteristic, add a skill, or swap equipment. I inevitably forget the exact changes sometime during the encounter. Instant Adversaries allows me to create what I need, and provides a handy reference throughout the encounter. Here's the back cover copy, which explains in a bit more detail:
Create basic adversaries right when you need them. Instant Adversaries provides a quick and easy way to generate stats for NPCs and vehicles on the fly.
Pick the prime characteristic for the NPC.
Choose from a list of stats built around that characteristic, alter the list, or choose your own.
Select a list of skills for general character types, or customize as needed.
Pick a talent or two from a basic list.
Quickly generate stats for soak, wound threshold, strain threshold, and defense.
Create minions, rivals, and/or nemesis NPCs.
Generate basic vehicle and weapons stats.
Pick a vehicle type: ground, air, water, space or exotic.
Chose a specific civilian or military vehicle from the list. Alter specific stats as needed.
Select the attached vehicle weapons, if any.