I have a few items of news that might be of interest to some of you out there:
For those who did not attend Origins and may not have heard, let me say this loud and clear <
“ARCANIS IS NOT DEAD! ONLY THE FIRST STORYARC IS OVER – ARCANIS IS BEING REDESIGNED AS THE SHATTERED EMPIRES RPG AND IS SLATED TO BE AVAILABLE AT ORIGINS 2010!”
You have no idea how many times I’ve been asked that. Hopefully this should clear up that misconception!
The world and story of Arcanis is far from over. There are still many, many tales to tell and the need for Champions to continue to fight the good fight and hold back the tide of night that threatens to engulf the people of the Known Lands is as critical as before.
Now I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but let me try and answer some of the most frequently asked ones:
Q: Is the game going to run on 3.x, 4th Edition, Witch Hunter, Pathfinder, etc?
A: No. For a variety of reasons, mainly that we wanted to design a system that truly complimented the world setting and accentuated the type game we wanted to present, we are developing our own system. The system for the Shattered Empires RPG will be quite different from any of the systems named above.
Q: So what’s the system like?
A: As noted above, we’re still in development, but 6 play tests of the Core Engine has been run and, while a few minor issues were found and quickly resolved, all the play-testers seemed to have enjoyed themselves and really liked what they saw.
Q: How do I get to playtest the new system?
A: Thank you, but the play tests beyond these initial ones will be done with a few groups already selected, many of them volunteers from our IK/IQ program. However, we hope to have a Quick Start rule set available for everyone in January 2010. This is your chance to run through the game as it stands at that moment and give us your feedback before the book goes to print. More on this as we get closer to January 2010.
Q: So is there going to be a “Living” Component to the game like Living Arcanis?
A: Yes, though we won’t be calling it “Living Arcanis” anymore. The good people at WotC allowed us to continue to use that label until the end of the first storyarc, for which we are grateful, as “Living” is their Trade Mark. Now that we are no longer affiliated (and haven’t been for a while) with the RPGA nor are we using the D&D system, we are going to re-brand into something else.
Eric suggested we call it the Arcanis Saga, though knowing that you, the ever-irascible player base, would start calling it @$$, we decided against that. Names like the Chronicles of Arcanis or the Legends of Arcanis have been bandied about, but no firm decision has been made.
The Campaign will be structured a bit differently as well. No more 6-year story arcs – my sanity couldn’t take another one. Instead, we are designing two or three year story arcs that should make it easier for new players who begin somewhere in the middle to get up to speed, as well as keeping the stories tighter and more focused on the plot at hand.
Each year, (which kicks off at Origins, btw) we will release a Campaign Guide for that year’s story arc. This book (about 96 – 128 pages) will give players and GMs focused insights as to the area we will be playing in as well as have new “crunch” that is unique to that area, (in the parlance of the old system, new Feats, Prestige Classes, spells, magic items, etc.).
I’ll have more information in the next update, but based upon a vote taken by the members of the LA_Talk Yahoo Group, the setting for the first year of the new campaign will be the First City and the Blessed Lands.
Q: What about the Elorii mods you promised?
A: Those are in the works, though they may be released a bit later than I had hoped as we really need to focus on the Core rulebook to make the deadline we have. They’ll be out as quickly as I can write them.
Q: Is the new campaign picking up where we left off?
A: No. The new campaign starts about 40 years after the end of the old one.
Q; So for those of us playing the longer-lived races, can we play them in the new campaign?
A: No, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, we will NOT have a conversion from the old system to the new. The two systems will be different enough that doing a complete conversion will be an exercise in futility and frustration.
To be clear, everyone will be making new Heroes to play in the new campaign.
Q: Will we be able to play all the old races?
A: Yes and No. When we created Arcanis for use with the D&D systems, there were many tropes that we had to take on. Many of these we managed to put enough of a twist so as to make them our own that they will be staying. Others are just baggage from that other game will be replaced with other, hopefully, more interesting races.
Q: So who’s staying and who’s going?
A: As of right now, the following races will be playable in the new Shattered Empires RPG: Humans, Vals, Dwarves, Elorii, Dark Kin, Ss’ressen and Gnomes.
Those that didn’t make the cut: Half-Orcs, Hobgoblins and Half-Hobgoblins. The niche that they used to fill will be replaced by other creatures.
Q: Does that mean that what happened before will no longer have taken place?
A: No, but in those few areas where these races were pivotal, that “history” will be changed to bring it in line with the original concept and flavor of Arcanis.
Well, I think I’ve covered all the basics. If I missed something, please let me know and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.
Thanks for sticking with us and know that everyone at PCI is working hard to make this new game and campaign better and bigger than the last one!
Best,
Henry Lopez
President
PCI
