Author Topic: Director's Briefing - September 2017  (Read 2433 times)

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Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Director's Briefing - September 2017
« on: September 01, 2017, 01:18:45 AM »
Welcome

To the seventy-sixth Briefing and the ninth scheduled Briefing of 2017.

ICE was at GenCon 2017

Reports from our representatives at GenCon 50 indicate that the convention was a success. Many fans of ICE’s products going way back were delighted to discover that there is still an ICE, that we still make great games and that there will be a new Rolemaster edition. Colin will be bringing you the after-action reports, but I would like to say thank you to Aaron, Monte, Mark, Bruce and Andrew and all the other volunteers for all their hard work in making it possible for this incarnation of ICE to attend and have a successful GenCon.

ICE at GenCon 2018?

Yes. We’ve already agreed with Pointy Hat Games that we should combine forces again for next year’s GenCon.

Shadow World

Terry is still hard at work on the enhanced version of Jaiman. Concurrently we have Craig John creating some of his splendid illustrations for Jaiman.

HARP, HARP SF and Adventure Modules

On HARP Bestiary, Colin has submitted all his updates for the normal and dangerous animals chapter and his water monsters chapter, so only has to write his portion of the introductory chapter (he and Thom were probably hoping I would forget that they owe me some designer notes!) John Duffield is still battling demon stats in the Abyss. I should have a clear evening or two this month to work out what new art we need to commission and what of our existing art resources can be reused for Bestiary. (I can work out the big list of required art on the train with my tablet, but playing match the art need to existing art needs more screen estate and easier multitasking.) If I am really clever, I will do this in a sufficiently systematic fashion that the resulting spreadsheet / database will make the same process for RMU Creature Law much less painful.

“A Wedding in Axebridge” (by Chris Seal) is with Terry for layout, jostling for his attention with Jaiman. A firsst layout draft is expected in a week or so. Chris Seal has already sent me several large chunks of the Caer Glais draft, his followup campaign module, and I’ve made a small preview of its deep history for the Guild Companion.

I completed my editing pass of the draft of the Garden of Rain adventure module by Brad White. It is really good. I have asked Brad to add in RMSS/FRP and RM Classic stats. Brad has already written RMU stat blocks (compatible with Beta 2). Dependent on timings and whether any elements of RMU change that affect what Brad used, the RMU stats will either be in the book or will be available as a free download.

I have started the revisions to the manuscript previously known as Something Wicked, carefully removing material from the professions chapter that has been covered elsewhere. There will be at least four new professions introduced – the Demonologist, the Mentalist, the Warlock/Witch, and the Wildmage. The Demonologist and the Mentalist are intended as additional variant Mage professions, such that the Demonologist is the magical counterpoint to the Elementalist and the Mentalist is the magical counterpoint to the Thaumaturge. The Warlock/Witch is intended to support the literary and fantasy stereotypes of the classical witch and witches’ coven. The Wildmage is a self-taught magical practitioner whose spell set is as individual as they are. In Rolemaster terms, the Wildmage is closest in spirit to the Rolemaster Arcane Companion’s Chaotic – unlike the Chaotic, the Wildmage does not have a fixed set of spells – they are assigned semi-randomly.

HARP currently lacks a full-blown caster of mental magic. The original College of Magics manuscript introduced a caster known as the Mystic, but for space reasons, it was omitted from the 2004 published edition. As the focus of the reworked “Mystic” spells will occupy the same conceptual space as Rolemaster’s Mentalist and Seer professions, calling it a Mentalist makes sense. Looking to the future, a HARP Mentalist profession will make it easier to support Shadow World using HARP mechanics.

ERA for Rolemaster and RMU

Max has been busy creating another dataset for ERA. This time he brings us the RMSS/FRP Fire & Ice: The Elemental Companion dataset. This is available from OneBookShelf at the following link:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/220190/ERA-for-Rolemaster-RMSSFRP-Fire-and-Ice-The-Elemental-Companion?affiliate_id=76493

He is also carefully adjusting ERA so that it will be able to handle the transition to RMU mechanics seamlessly, and is in conversations with the RMU team on various rules issues and clarifications.

Until next time

Back to editing drafts, writing my own and gently nagging freelancers. The next scheduled Briefing will be in October 2017.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2017, 12:50:53 PM »
Not much on the RMU front I am guessing?
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2017, 03:01:54 AM »
Waiting on Jonathan and Joeri for the Creature Law drafts,  so it's not something that's easy for me to report on, in the same way that when a Shadow World book is with Terry, all I can sensibly say is he is working on it.  If it is something that I am writing, then it is obviously easier for me to write more detail in the Briefings. Once a draft moves into the editing, artwork, layout phases, again I have much more ability to say useful things.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline Hurin

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2017, 10:14:02 AM »
Thanks very much Nicholas. It is nice to know that the work continues.
'Last of all, Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed'. --J.R.R. Tolkien

'Every party needs at least one insane person.'  --Aspen of the Jade Isle

Offline pastaav

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2017, 02:51:37 PM »
Would it not be worth considering to not wait on Creature Law and release the rest? The development of RMU has already taken ages and I am unsure about how large the target audience is for Creature Law.

This is very harsh...but IMO unless Creature Law is much improved compared to the previous draft I think having it around might have a negative impact on external reviews. IMHO you can run a good game with the base rules and a basic NPC table. Possibly also with some selected monsters like Armslaw used to have.

Waiting a couple of years for something that I doubt I ever will be using is rather depressing. The material in Creature Law could be saved for companions and we get the new edition in our hands so that we can start to play.
/Pa Staav

Offline Ynglaur

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2017, 08:06:36 AM »
FWIW, I would be fine if RMU was released without Creature Law.  I like Creature Law a lot, and would use it, but it's not critical (even if it's a hit).

Edit: I don't want to come across unappreciative of the work people are putting into CL.  Again, I think it's a great resource.  I'm just impatient.  :)

Offline grona73

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2017, 11:30:22 AM »
Why wont you guys release old versions as a whole bundle when new rmu comes..

Offline NicholasHMCaldwell

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2017, 12:20:25 PM »
Not sure what you mean by whole bundle hete.

Best wishes,
Nicholas
Dr Nicholas HM Caldwell
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
Publisher of Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Shadow World, Cyradon, HARP & HARP SF, and Cyberspace, with products available from www.drivethrurpg.com
Author: Mentalism Companion, GURPS Age of Napoleon, Construct Companion, College of Magics, HARP SF/HARP SF Xtreme

Offline grona73

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Re: Director's Briefing - September 2017
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2017, 02:14:56 PM »
i mean as a whole bundle like rmfrp core with all the books in in one price.