smiorgan Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 (edited) Any news of this title? It made a brief appearance around GenCon. The last I heard from Rick Meints was Quote Cthulhu Dark Ages is being redone. After the Vampire Wars is being worked on too. They'll be back soon enough. How soon is soon enough? How worked is worked on? Is it more like getting another editing pass to catch the few remaining typos and layout glitches or more like totally rebuilding it on the foundations of the new RQ-BRP to and combining it with enlightened-not-nephilim-magic to become the definitive urban fantasy rpg of the next decade? Edited December 10, 2015 by smiorgan Quote
Rick Meints Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 It is not being rewritten, but we have been debating on recommissioning some of the art and redoing the layout. Most feedback received was contents = good, layout and art, not so good. Dark Ages is being reorganized and is having new layout and artwork done. Chaosium is very focused on publishing books with writing, editing, art and layout that wow people, like the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors. Unfortunately, we can't fix every title overnight with the limited time and budgets we have. 5 Quote Hope that Helps,Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.
smiorgan Posted December 11, 2015 Author Posted December 11, 2015 3 hours ago, Rick Meints said: Chaosium is very focused on publishing books with writing, editing, art and layout that wow people, like the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors. Unfortunately, we can't fix every title overnight with the limited time and budgets we have. I appreciate that enormously. Over the last few years Chaosium content continued to be mostly good or very good but editing-layout-art standards had gone down from the very good levels of classic Chaosium, while the rpg industry average had improved in the meantime. Quote
rsanford Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 11 hours ago, Rick Meints said: It is not being rewritten, but we have been debating on recommissioning some of the art and redoing the layout. Most feedback received was contents = good, layout and art, not so good. Dark Ages is being reorganized and is having new layout and artwork done. Chaosium is very focused on publishing books with writing, editing, art and layout that wow people, like the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors. Unfortunately, we can't fix every title overnight with the limited time and budgets we have. Rick one other thing you might look at for After the Vampire Wars is the laminate material on the cover. My copy isn't holding up as well as my other Chaosium books. Great book though! John Snead is a wonderful writer! 1 Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Rick Meints Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 The problem with the cover laminate is mainly because the Gen Con copies were made via Print on Demand. The rerelease will not be done like that. Quote Hope that Helps,Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.
jsnead Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 On 12/11/2015 at 6:31 PM, Rick Meints said: It is not being rewritten, but we have been debating on recommissioning some of the art and redoing the layout. Most feedback received was contents = good, layout and art, not so good. Dark Ages is being reorganized and is having new layout and artwork done. I just saw this post after looking for info about After The Vampire Wars, and am pleased to see that the reason it's not yet in general release is that Chaosium is making sure it looks even better. I'm really proud of that book and would happily write a Vampire Wars Companion for it if there's interest. 6 Quote
rsanford Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 It's a great book John and fits oh so perfectly with Enlightened Magic (Which I am now reading for the second time). I tend to play more traditional sword and sandals fantasy games but I imagine that ATVW allows BRP to have a play among urban fantasy gamers particularly those playing in the World of Darkness. Having said that I would recommend beefing up the offering with new supplements set in the same world. World of darkness is such a wide an deep offering it will take a lot to compete. 1 Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Mankcam Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) On 12/11/2015 at 0:31 PM, Rick Meints said: It is not being rewritten, but we have been debating on recommissioning some of the art and redoing the layout. Most feedback received was contents = good, layout and art, not so good. Dark Ages is being reorganized and is having new layout and artwork done. Chaosium is very focused on publishing books with writing, editing, art and layout that wow people, like the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors. Unfortunately, we can't fix every title overnight with the limited time and budgets we have. As an aside, will the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors be available in hardcover at some stage? I have the gorgeous pdf, but couldn't find the print edition available yet in the current Chaosium catalog. Regarding the new After The Vampire Wars it's great to see that the hold-up is mainly concerning getting production standards up to par. BTW, for game mechanics does it use BRP BGB? Or has it been revised to be consistent with CoC 7E or the upcoming new edition of RQ? Just wanted to know, out of interest. Edited January 2, 2016 by Mankcam Quote " Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"
fmitchell Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 15 minutes ago, Mankcam said: As an aside, will the new Petersen Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors be available in hardcover at some stage? I don't know about hardcover, but it's part of the Call of Cthulhu 7 Kickstarter so it should be out in dead tree form soon-ish. (Emphasis on ish.) 1 Quote Frank "Welcome to the hottest and fastest-growing hobby of, er, 1977." -- The Laundry RPG
Baulderstone Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 3 hours ago, rsanford said: It's a great book John and fits oh so perfectly with Enlightened Magic (Which I am now reading for the second time). I tend to play more traditional sword and sandals fantasy games but I imagine that ATVW allows BRP to have a play among urban fantasy gamers particularly those playing in the World of Darkness. Having said that I would recommend beefing up the offering with new supplements set in the same world. World of darkness is such a wide an deep offering it will take a lot to compete. Knowing that it's the kind of setting that meshes well with Enlightened Magic increases my interest. I'm certainly going to pick this up when the new version comes out. 1 Quote
jsnead Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 16 minutes ago, Baulderstone said: Knowing that it's the kind of setting that meshes well with Enlightened Magic increases my interest. I'm certainly going to pick this up when the new version comes out. I specifically designed After the Vampire Wars as an urban fantasy setting which included Seers & Enlightened Sorcerers & Alchemists (from Enlightened Magic), as well as vampires (with new rules for old powerful vampires), three sorts of sort of shape-shifters, psychics, fae, and half-fae (and everything but the fae are possible options for PCs.) 2 Quote
Rick Meints Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 The Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors will be sold as a Hardcover book. 2 Quote Hope that Helps,Rick Meints - Chaosium, Inc.
Mankcam Posted January 2, 2016 Posted January 2, 2016 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Rick Meints said: The Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors will be sold as a Hardcover book. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear, and my main reason for checking these forums this morning. You have made my day Rick, cheers mate! Edited January 2, 2016 by Mankcam Quote " Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"
Simlasa Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 So. for those in the know, what sort of feel is ATVW going for? What might be its 'Appendix N'? I'd bite if it's leaning towards China Mieville or the Watch series... where does it sit on the spectrum between light and dark? 'Cinematic' and 'gritty'? GURPS Cabal and Ghostbusters? Quote
Chaot Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 1 hour ago, Simlasa said: So. for those in the know, what sort of feel is ATVW going for? What might be its 'Appendix N'? I'm interested in this question too. ATVW has kinda flown under my radar until this thread. Quote 70/420
jsnead Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 My goal in creating the setting was supernatural noir. I created it as an urban fantasy setting which owes more to some of the relatively recent urban fantasy literature, like the Harry Dresden novels, Robin McKinley's Sunshine, and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake vampire hunter novels. It's a setting where the supernatural was mostly secret until a few years ago, then there was a terrible war, and now there's a fragile post-war peace as well as new dangers, and everyone has secrets from the war. Quote
Simlasa Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 So... looking at descriptions of those referenced authors... somewhere between Twilight and Buffy... with more sex? Dresden Files is the only one I'm even partially familiar with... but I'm more of a fan of Constantine... so still not sure if this is my sort of thing or not... but Mr. Snead's name on it is holding my interest for the moment. Quote
jsnead Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 No so much so, but I do have a section in the storytelling chapter about running paranormal romance (as well as ones about running noir & war stories). 1 Quote
rsanford Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) Actually I got a strong True Blood vibe when I read it. The fact that the supernatural had just come into the open, the existence of the fae and Magic rules akin to whichcraft just reinforced that notion. At the worst it would be very easy to run a true blood type game with ATVW. Let me clarify. I am sure you could do a Dresden or Twilight setting easily with ATVW. However by design or coincidence ATVW is PERFECT for True Blood and that's good for me. I don't normally do urban fantasy but I will do a true blood type game using ATVP in the future. Edited January 4, 2016 by rsanford Added clarification Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Aelwyn Posted January 4, 2016 Posted January 4, 2016 It's neither light nor dark, because you could easily run either type of campaign. You could do everything from a very light campaign for very young children involving goblins, friendly ghosts, and talking animals, all the way up to something completely brutal where the characters end up alive but stuck on meathooks in the Siberian vampire enclave. Or perhaps the characters are the ones sticking the NPCs on meathooks, if they're into that. I got the early edition and wrote a review here: Sounds like Chaosium may fix most of the problems I noted. If the lamination problems are fixed, typos are fixed, and interior art is replaced, this will be a first-class product, even without pre-rolled characters and a ready-to-play scenario. 1 Quote
rsanford Posted January 5, 2016 Posted January 5, 2016 No reason the fans couldn't do a setting taking place in smaller towns (mostly) in southern Louisiana. Use Enlightened Magic, ATVW and the Gurps Voodoo rules (maybe a ATVW companion that provided an Enlightened Magic approach to Voodoo) and you would be set. 1 Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Mankcam Posted January 5, 2016 Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, rsanford said: No reason the fans couldn't do a setting taking place in smaller towns (mostly) in southern Louisiana. Use Enlightened Magic, ATVW and the Gurps Voodoo rules (maybe a ATVW companion that provided an Enlightened Magic approach to Voodoo) and you would be set. Yeah New Orleans could be perfect at the major metropolitan base, really dressing up the iconic nightime Bourbon St flavour, with jaunts out in the smaller backwaters and swamps. You could definitely add the Enlightened Magic rules as well as some Voodoo stuff from the CoC New Orleans book - lots of possibilities Edited January 5, 2016 by Mankcam 1 Quote " Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"
rsanford Posted January 5, 2016 Posted January 5, 2016 So John Snead how much begging would we have to do to get a Voodoo book the same caliber as Enlightened Magic... You know thinking about it, if you had some authentic voodoo rules in conjunction with Enlightened Magic a setting similar to Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches wouldn't be too hard. I bet a lot of people would like to play in a setting like that... Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
TrippyHippy Posted January 5, 2016 Posted January 5, 2016 There are Voodou rules in the Blood Tides sourcebook (pirates). Very good they are too. 1 Quote
Simlasa Posted January 5, 2016 Posted January 5, 2016 So it's sounding more like I could do something like Nightwatch/Daywatch with this. Cool. It's also brought to mind a movie I once saw at some late hour called 'Perfect Creature'... about vampires living openly among humans and running a church where humans went to donate blood... but there are still secrets. 2 Quote
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