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July 25, 2005
Earthdawn PDF Books We've recently finished up some more PDF reprints of FASA-era Earthdawn books. They are available through Drive-Thru RPG. Here are direct links to the products currently available: Arcane Mysteries of Barsaive Denizens of Earthdawn, Volume I Denizens of Earthdawn, Volume II Horrors Magic: A Manual of Mystic Secrets Mists of Betrayal In other news, we're putting the finishing touches on the Earthdawn Player's Compendium. James is finishing up the index and internal page references, and then its off to be approved by Ross Babcock at FASA. Once he gives the okay, we send it to Booksurge... and a couple of weeks later it is available! Here's the tentative plan for the release. We plan on having a PDF version of the rules available shortly after Ross gives his okay, with the hardcopy available to be ordered about two-three weeks later. At this point, it looks like the hardcopy won't actually be available until early September -- but for those of you who can't wait to see the new book, it will probably be online in August. Visit our official website -- www.earthdawn-classic.com for the latest information on release dates. July 14, 2005
Origins Seminar Transcript Well, after a bit more work than I had originally thought (I'm such a perfectionist sometimes), the transcript for the Future of Earthdawn seminar is up. It's broken into three parts. Part One is an introduction of the people involved, a peek at the books themselves, and an overview of what our plans are for the next few products. Part Two describes the publishing model and business plane we're using, as well as a bit of history with regards to how this all came about. Part Three is the wrap-up, with general Q&A, as well as a few other semi-random tidbits. Enjoy the inside info, and feel free to visit the Earthdawn Classic Website and post your comments or questions on the forums! July 04, 2005
Home at last A few hours of travel, and I'm back in the Maine woods. I'm pretty wiped out -- I took a nap this evening, and I'm going to be crashing out here in just a few minutes to try and get caught up on some sleep before I head back to work tomorrow. I'll post a more detailed update in a couple of days, once I get my notes organized. I've also got a bunch of pictures that never made it into the blog, and I plan to make a gallery page to display them. It was (as I think I've said before) a wonderful experience, and one I hope to repeat at some point in the near future. Now, if you'll excuse me, my bed is calling! July 03, 2005
It's over Origins has come to a close. Quite frankly, I'm wiped out. A more complete report will have to wait until tomorrow or later this week. Right now, James, Dammi, and I are going to eat a pizza, pack our bags, and crash out in preparation for our flights home. It was a lot of fun, we met a lot of great people, and learned quite a lot. This convention has opened my eyes to the 'realities' of the RPG industry, and I fell pretty safe in saying the same for the other guys. So... off to pack, eat, and go to bed. I'll catch up with you all soon. Day Four We slide wearily into the last day of Origins. It's been a blast so far -- I've met a bunch of people (somem of whom I've known for years, but never met face to face). The plan for today is to hit the dealer room, see what deals and specials there are, and then play a massivve round-robin Earthdawn game (the brainchild of Tiffany Ragland). We have several GMs, and we're each going to run for 45-minutes to an hour, and then swap off the adventure plot with the next person in line. It's bound to be interesting. Well, I need to get going, get some breakfast, and make a character for this thing. Tiffany is expecting us. The con wraps up early tonight... so I will more than likely post a big wrap-up this evening (assuming I don't just crash and burn in bed). July 02, 2005
Later that day... Some tips for surviving a convention: * Wear comforatble and sturdy shoes! You're likely to do a bit of walking, and having shoes that don't support your feet very well is a bad idea. * Stay hydrated! Soda is good for the sugar and caffeine boost to keep you going, but water is better for you in the long run. * Make a plan! At least have a rough idea of what you're going to do, and make a reference sheet with the important information you can fold up and stick in your pocket to look at on short notice. * Eat when you can! For short periods of time, it is possible to trade food for sleep. As one person I met said, "Two meals a day and six hours sleep, or six meals a day and two hours sleep." * Have fun! Today was my big "sightseeing day". I spent the morning wandering the convention, taking pictures of the hall, events, and that sort of thing. Rather than squeeze it all in here, I'll put together an "Origins Gallery" for you to peruse (it probably won't happen until I get home next week). I ran my last session of Journey to Lang today, and it went really well. I had a full table of eight players, and we all had a great time. Here's a pic:  (Back row -- left to right): Tiffany Ragland, Tom Prevendoski, Gregory Park, Kathy Czechowski, J Scott Eubanks, Diane Donaldson, Josh Harrison. (Seated -- left to right): Laura Gardner, Ed Czechowski, Scott Wood Well, off to grab some dinner, and get ready for my LARP this evening! Catch you later! Day Three... So... blogging the con is a bit harder than I thought it would be. Here's a brief rundown of yesterday: 10:00 -- I play in the first round of the Mage: The Awakening demo tournament. The game does virtually nothing to expose the mechanics of the new Mage, it is actually a "prelude" style game; one of the characters is awakened at the end (the only surviving character -- and it wasn't mine). It was fun, though, and I got the chance to meet Matt McFarland (aka "BlackHatMatt" from the RPGnet forums), one of the writers for the new Mage. I am voted to go on to the next round, but a scheduling conflict with my Saturday Earthdawn game prevents me from actually attending. 12:00 -- I cruise the dealer's room. I see (to my amazement) copies of the new Mind's Eye Theatre books from White Wolf. They weren't supposed to be out until the 17th of this month. I learn that they had a limited run (about 200 copies) printed and shipped specifically for Origins. Since I have pre-ordered my copies already, I do not pick them up. I do pick up Exalted: The Authocthonians, Werewolf: The Forsaken, the Mage: The Awakening Demo pack, and "Issue 0" of the new Exalted comic book. I also pick up a huge stack of swag from the Atlas Games booth -- the new Ars Magica supplements, Unknown Armies Second Edition, and two supplements for that. I make plans to return the next day to pick up packs of dice for Mary, and fill out our Dork Tower, Nodwick, and KoDT collections. 13:00 -- I run into James, who says he is about to call the hotel to find out if the books were delivered. 14:00 -- Just as we're about to get under way with the seminar... James arrives with a CafePress box with the books! Huzzah! The seminar goes smoothly, and we actually spend a couple of hours afterward talking about various things with the attendees. Sadly, there was no sign of Andrew & Tiffany Ragland (who planned to be there for the seminar). 19:00 -- I run session #2 of Journey to Lang. I get three players, all of whom are familiar with Earthdawn. The game goes pretty quickly, and we're out of there by 21:15. I take the opportunity to hike down the road... 21:45 -- I arrive at the Renaissance and manage to get involved with the second night of the Requiem LARP. My character gets on the Prince's bad side pretty early when he is found making out with somebody else on the table in the Prince's boardroom. 00:45 -- I get back to the hotel after the LARP and give Carlton a call. They've managed to hook up with Andrew & Tiffany, and are at a bar just down the street. I hoof it over, only to find that last call has already gone. We head back to the Doubletree, and find the bar there just closed. Andrew gives a wonderfully persuasive speech to the lady at the front desk (they had travel troubles getting to the Con), and she convinces the bartender to get a round of beers. We then sit up for the next several hours talking shop. 04:00 -- Finally turn in. I am now getting ready to head out for the next day. I need to hit the dealer's room, run my third session of Journey to Lang, and get ready for the last night of the LARP. In the middle of this, I will probably have to catch up with Andrew and Tiffany, and meet one or two of the other people who are coming in for tonight. I have a whole bunch of pictures, but they'll have to wait until later. Stay tuned! July 01, 2005
Day Two... Just a quick update before I head out to grab some breakfast and head on up to my first event of the day. The Requiem LARP last night was very cool. The premise was this -- it was set in 1937, and the Prince of Columbus had opened his home to visitors; there was a large refugee camp on the outskirts of the city and the feeding was good. We were all playing pre-gen characters (with only the roughest of backgrounds), arranged into coteries, and given a few general goals to work towards. My coterie were the "Revivalists" -- a nomadic group of kindred who traveled around under the guise of a religious revival group. The leader of the group was a Lancea Sanctum, and ended up as an old-time southern preacher always talking about the power of the blood of Longinus, and the dark gifts he had given us. My character in this little group was Strecksherr -- a Mekhet Carthian who acted as the coterie's business manager. His main goal was to make money, and take lessons from the group to help out the Carthian movement. Anyhow... I can go on and on here, and I need to get going. On tap for today -- Mage: The Awakening at 10, the Earthdawn Seminar at 2, and my second session of Journey to Lang at 7. Updates later! |
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