Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

As of today, it’s official. В There will be a Dungeons and Dragons Fifth (5th?) Edition coming to your gaming table as early as Spring of this year. В Well, in playtest form, anyway.

Why playtest form? В For the first time, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) has promised that they will have a huge open playtest and incorporate as much of the feedback into their final as makes sense for the game. В The end goal is to produce a game that will make as many people as happy as possible and bring everyone back to playing by the same rules (clever subtext: avoid the mistakes of 4th Edition and get people to stop spending money on Pathfinder.)

Given that this news broke this morning, I’ve had a good half-day to ponder what the release of Dungeons and Dragon Fifth Edition means and to the best of my ability, I’ve come to these conclusions.

Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition: The Personal Viewpoint

Even though this is the Heroic Journey Publishing blog, I couldn’t help but share a few personal thoughts. В Mainly, I’m excited about Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, but then again, I’m one of the few people who liked 4th Edition. В (Yeah, I know, weird, huh?) В While I’m not the world’s biggest D&D fan, I did enjoy the ideas behind a lot of what went into 4th Edition, namely healing surges, Skill Challenges and powers.

In fact, I find it funny when people say 4th Edition killed role playing since Skill Challenges almost forced it.

With all that said, I look at Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition as a potential watershed, or at the very least, a cool time in the history of gaming. В We just don’t get new editions of Dungeons and Dragons that often and for some reason, I don’t think that WOTC will deliver a product people don’t like this time as long as they listen to fan feedback and take advantage of it.

Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition: Heroic Journey’s Viewpoint

With my personal feelings aside, HJP is looking at Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition with cautious optimism. В While there is no reason to believe WOTC won’t create something commercially viable (and fun to play), there is more to a Dungeons and Dragons game than just the core books. В We all know that WOTC will step on the supplement treadmill as soon as it can and produce copious amounts of material for their new game (an Eberron source book, a Forgotten Realms book, martial combat books, wizard books, adventures, a Something of Elemental Evil book, Neverwinter, etc. etc.)

However, what really interests us a publisher is how open the final license will be. В The greatest strength of 3/3.5 was the openness of the Open Gaming License (OGL), which allowed just about anyone to write material for Dungeons and Dragons, D20 Modern, or D20 Future. В The secondВ Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition came out, an entire subset of the RPG publishing community sprung up to produce OGL material for various D20 games. В As far as HJP is concerned, this is a Good Thing.

Why the OGL Is Good

First, while we acknowledge that not all of the material was of the highest quality (some far from it in fact), there were some true gems from all that OGL material (Ptolus anyone?) В  Secondly, we are all for factors in the industry creating opportunities for more people to publish (full disclosure: HJP does have a line of OGL products it is considering) as this generates excitement for the industry and aligns with our core values. В Third, and the most compelling for WOTC, is the buy-in the OGL created. В Suddenly anyone who wanted to write material could and, in doing so, they knew they were leaving their stampВ indeliblyВ on at least a small part of the Dungeons and Dragons world.

Then Came the GSL

When Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition dropped, it was also open, though not as open as OGL games. В It used a different license, the Game System License (GSL), which restricted the genres of which material could be created and it restricted how the core material could be used. В These restrictions, along with the fact that WOTCs tools for organizing powers do not support third-party material andВ how annoying it is to create 30 levels of powers for classes (believe me, I tried), stifled the creation of additional material.

To this day, for the most part, books available for 4th Edition are written by WOTC. В Still, 4th Edition was technically open. В Part of me wonders if perhaps some of the reason why 4th Edition didn’t do so well is due to the fact it lacked buy-in by player/creators.

Make Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Open

All of this, then is a fancy way of saying keep Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition open! В The kind of open like the OGL was instead of the GSL.

We support Tracy from Sand and Steam in his Open Letter to Wizards of the Coast where he asks WOTC to make their new game open for expansion.

The fear around HJP is that, ultimately, Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition won’t be open at all. В While this won’t keep everyone from creating new feats, powers, items or whatever for it, it will undoubtedly stifle that spark and all our campaigns will suffer for it. В The only good news is that individuals will continue to create material for their favorite fantasy game, it’s just that their favorite game will continue to be Pathfinder and the unity of rules WOTC is striving for will continue to avoid them.

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Mecha Combiners

So after a bust of activity brought on by some really great games at KantCon, I have delivered the final draft of Mecha Combiners to the editor.В  (Cue applause) As I sit back and reflect on the work, I keep thinking that “final draft” sounds so optimistic since I know there will be at least two rounds of back and forth between myself and the editor.В  Along with rewrites.В  Woot.

Still, for now I can sit back and relax.В  And by relax I mean blog, work on Gen Con pregens, and put together the playtest drafts for Mercenaries, Transformables, and Kaiju.

With that said, I’m pretty excited about Combiners.В  All of the playtests (once the rules got solidified) have produced some really fun games.В  I just hope that my writing is up to the challenge of transferring the fun in the game to the written page so that others canВ experience that same enjoyment.В  If not, I guess I can come to your house or game store and run a few sessions.

Also, the first art order has gone out for Combiners.В  Hopefully the artist will take the commission because I like her work a lot and the right art will make this book come alive.

With that said, let’s look to the future…

The Schedule

Just so everyone knows what’s going on, here’s the schedule for releasing Combiners.

1. Submit Final Draft
2. ReceiveВ First Art Order
3. Edit Draft
4. Create a New Character Sheet
5. Create a Playtest Draft (This will be the full book without art.)
6. Release Draft to Public as a PDF
7. Collect Feedback
8. Produce Final Book with More Art

So, one step down…7 to go.

More soon.

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Just so your not all thinking we are all Mecha ALL the time here are a couple other games we are working on.

Two games I am working on are:

Cthulhu-Calls: Fate Based Cthulhu something that needs to happen I think. You can follow my design notes over at www.cthulhu-calls.com

Manifest Destiny:First Contact – A game which will utilize a brand new system where How you roll will matter as much as What you roll.В  Stay tuned here for updates on that game.

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Talking with Mecha Creator Chris Perrin today we decided to give a little preview of what we have in the pipeline for Mecha.

Mecha Combiners

Ever wanted to have your mecha combine into a supermecha, form blazing sword, and
wreak havoc on you foes. It’s Combiner time!

Mecha Combiners is the first published supplement for Mecha and features new rules that
show off the sheer destructive power of a Combiner and a fantasy Japanese SRS in which
to cause mayhem.

Mecha Living Robots

A mecha is a robot linked to a pilot, but what if it was its own pilot? It could live and die
on its own, fight on its own, and maybe even transform.

Get ready for Mecha Living Robots. Built on the Mecha rules, this supplement gives you
everything you need to wage your battle between two robot forces: one obsessed with
dominating our world for its natural resources and the other that will stop and nothing to
protect us.

Mecha: Battle of the Kaiju

When giant lizards, apes, and invaders from outer space attack, only mecha can save our
planet. Join the men, women, and machines of Department 4 to protect our world or find
your own story battling against these terrible creatures.

Dirge of a Dying Earth

The Earth is singing her last note. Food withers on the vine. The young are born sick
and perish far before their time. She’s dying. Then comes a vision: an ancient crystal
that calls out with a promise of renewal and rebirth. A group of villages, armed with
machines of the past, must quest for the catalyst and the code for the chance to save this
world and themselves.

Mecha Mercenaries

War’s not just fighting, but an opportunity. Mercenaries fight not just for the glory of the
kill, but for the thrill of profit. Now, so can you. Mecha Mercenaries is an expansion of
the Mecha core rules, giving the game a grittier feel and featuring a new skill for pilots,
contract negotiations, and a SRS that takes pilots to the stars in search of the next battle
and their next meal.

Mecha: Operatives of the Cold War

Germany, 1950. The flames of World War II, the first to see heavy use of mechanical
tank walkers, or mecha, have cooled. The world Superpowers, the United Soviet
Socialist Republic and the United States of America, have settled into an uneasy Cold

War, each hoping the other will blink first. Fought in the dark of night, in the back allies
of a divided Germany, and in countries far away from the public eye, you and your team
of spies are all the stand between your nation and those who seek to destroy it.

Also We have some awesome freelancers who started as Mecha fans and now we’re honored to call them writers; 2 of whom we are planning on publishing and another we are talking to.

Jacob Ross’s – Paladin Service

The world is in danger and the only thing that can stop it is the Paladin Service.В В Five teenagers are granted special powers and a mission to save the world.В В Paladin Service gives you everything you need to run a Tokusatsu (Power Rangers) game with new rules, GM tips, and a complete SRS describing the valiant teenager’s fight against a great evil.В В Also,В Paladin Service featuresВ mechaВ В combiners for that additional mecha-combining awesomeness.В В (Combiner book not required for play.)

and

Jake Bakers – Mekayana

All the flash and magic of Bollywood comes to Mecha.В В The dancing, pageantry, and the leading roles combine with awesome mecha action for a giant robot experience like no other.В В Mekayana builds on theВ Mecha core rules, giving you everything you need to stage your own mecha-ized version of Bollywood cinema, and adds optional rules for judging how well the audience loved your performance.

Comments are welcome and speculation is encouraged as we look forward to a great upcoming year of Mecha.

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Hey I figured the silence should end. So sorry about all the quietness out of us lately but we have been huddled down in HJP Labs and are getting ready to announce a HUGE event… shh … Oh what the heck

Mecha Combiners is coming. I currently have open on my laptop the first official playtest version pre edits and let me tell you its coming along nicely and it will be awesome.

Aside from that we have some nifty SRS’s coming in and they will be available soon… just give us a little time to format them. Enjoy.

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Important Announcement

April 1, 2011 (Minneapolis, MN) – Citing “irreconcilable creative differences,” Heroic Journey Publishing President Mark ReedВ and Mecha creator Chris Perrin have decided to split.

“This decision was not reached lightly.В  The fact of the matter is that Mark Reed is jerk,” Perrin said this morning in a briefing to the press.В  “So, I’m done.”

The dissolution of the relationship between the parties was not, however, without issue as, by contract, Heroic Journey Publishing is half-owner ofВ Mecha.В  This caused the two parties, Mister Perrin and Mister Reed, to split the property.В  However, neither of the two parties wanted to split the royalties on the game.В  Therefore, both parties’ legal representation met in a closed door setting and advanced what they are calling “the Solomon Option.”

Both Mister Perrin and Mister Reed immediately agreed to it.В  Therefore, henceforth, Mecha has been split with each party receiving every other word in the book.В  For instance, the opening sentence “This book owes to a lot to so many people.” is now broken up.В  Mister Reed owns “This owes a to many” and Mister Perrin now owns “book to lot so people.”В  Both parties are happy with the layout being done on their new books and hope to getВ them published before the other.

The negotiations were not entirely unamicable.В  Mister Reed consented that Mister Perrin could have rights to the words “laser” and “sword” while he kept rights to “this” and “that.”В  Mister Reed feels that his version is far more readable while Mister Perrin believes his version is far more awesome.

Will this strategy work?В  Only time will tell.В  Look for both versions of Mecha soon on DriveThruRPG.com.

Happy April Fool’s!

The Aggrieved Mister Perrin

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Mecha Setting Creation

In honor of Ryan Macklin’s post How to Better Utlize Facebook, this post will cover my thoughts for setting creation in Mecha with the intent of starting a dialogue regarding rewrites I plan to do for a revised version of the game.В  However, in honor of my own writing style, I will first meander a bit and explain how this post came about. Go to the break for the solution.

Why This Post

A post on Story-Games.com from Cedric P was the impetus for the following post.В  He first asked if Mecha was still supported (which, I will admit was a little embarrassing) and then provided some invaluable feedback for the game (for which, by the way I can’t thank him enough…both the feedback and the kick in the butt.)В 

One of the areas that Cedric felt could use some extra attention was the setting creation section.В  In Mecha, setting creation takes up 2 pages (really a page and a half)В and as I read over the rules, they’re not fantastic.В  It’s interesting because I realize what I wanted to say asВ I wrote that meager page-and-a-half,В butВ now asВ I sit back, I realize I didn’t accomplish my goal.

At this point, all I can do is chalk it up to a lesson learned and try to do better with the following thoughts.В  Starting now…

Settings and Mecha

Here is my one major issue with Mecha setting creation.В  In Mecha, setting is both really important andВ totally irrelevant.В  And I think that theВ me who wrote Mecha a year ago felt that at some level, but didn’t articulate it very well.

Why is setting in Mecha irrelevant?В  Mechanically, it basically makes no difference.В  In terms of the rules of the game, fighting in a swamp in power armor and fighting in space while piloting semi-organicВ mechanical wolves makes no difference.В  This isn’t a game like, for instance, Burning Empires where there is a world to burn and that world will affect dice available to roll or anything like that.В 

On the other hand, setting is irrevocably tied to the game because it is a role playing game and without an engrossing setting there’s no conflict and without conflict there’s no reason to play the game.В  Mecha is not fun unless you are fighting for something.В  Believe me, counting exploding D6 dice pools isn’t much fun without a purpose.

The Problem

So I’ve established that there’s a need for setting (to faciliate fun), but at the same time, I don’t see there needing to be a big to do or strict set of rules to build the setting.В  So, at some level, what I am going to have to do with setting creation “rules” is to provide my best advice on how toВ optimize the creative process.В  In doing so, I will document the process I have gone through to create several settings and present that process to potential setting builders.В 

To illustrate these points, I will use an example that was put together by Wayne Humfleet and I so that I could try to record our creative process.В  I shall leave it to you, O gentle reader to see if this process is repeatable and makes sense.

Read more »

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Mecha Update

Okay, so it’s been a while since I’ve done a lot of writing about Mecha. I have no good excuse, so I won’t try to offer one.

Instead, I’ll just announce that we have some good news!

Mecha is not dead!

Yep, you heard it here first.В  (Or maybe you heard it on Story-Games.com or RPG.net)В  Anyway, you’re hearing it now.В  In fact, I have the publisher’s go ahead to produce five supplements for the Mecha RPG.

Even cooler, a really talented writer named Jacob Ross has sent in the final manuscript forВ a brand new Mecha SRS called Paladin Service, which is a Tokusatsu-style mecha anime game.В  (If you don’t know what Tokusatsu is, it’s okay.В  I had to look it up.В  It’s basically Power Rangers or could also be … wait for it … Voltron.В  Does that mean that there are Voltron rules for Mecha coming out?В  Read on…)В  Anyway, I am extremely excited about the work Jacob has done and can’t wait to see that book get published.

Oh, and Tanuki, if you are reading this, where is the Bollywood SRS?В  Serious?!

Other Mecha Supplements

So, like I said, I will writing or co-writing 5 supplements, several of which should be ready in time for Gen Con.В  Each one fills a niche that the basic Mecha book didn’t have room to cover.В  They are:

Combiners

So yes, this is the official announcement.В  Combiners is being written.В  What are Combiners…think Voltron… many mecha forming one.В  “I’ll form the head” and all that.В  In fact, my hope is that the game will be called Mecha: I’ll Form the Head, but I have a feeling I’ll get sued.В  In which case I’ll call it Beast Queen Stoplion.В  (Not really.)

I have the first draft of the rules “as recorded by” Mark Reed with Mark doing a lot of the flavor text.В  It’s sitting in my inbox collecting dust.В  I need to work on it and work on it soon.

Living Robots

After Voltron, the next most requested supplement is Transformers.В  For now, we’re simply calling them Living Robots.В  Most of the ideas I have for this are taken directly from threads across RPG.В  The basic idea is that robots have their out of combat stats (ie pilot stats) and their in-combat stats (link stats.)В  I’m going into playtest with that idea.В  We’ll see if works.

Mercenary Companies

My favoritist part of BattleTech was always starting my own mercenary company.В  By extension, Mecha needs rules to do the same.В  The challenge here will be to have all the fun of running a merc company without adding too many numbers to crunch.В  I am also seriously considering adding another skill to this setting: Logistics.

Kaiju

The least well thought out of the five books.В  I am going to camp on my friend’s couch and watch kaiju movies until inspiration hits me.В  I may tap Jacob Ross for this one as he seems a fan of the genre.

Dirge of a Dying Earth

Dirge is a setting that came out when I was writing the Mecha core book.В  Each of the Configuration descriptions have a quote from a pilot that uses that Configuration.В  The vast majority of the quotes are from the three settings in the game.В  However, a few were from books that had been kicked around in playtesting.В  One of those was Dirge of a Dying Earth.В В  The funny thing is is that was all I had.В  That title.В  Nothing else.

So one night in a playtest, I sprung this setting on my players.В  In the game, everyone created characters in a post-apocalyptic setting who discovered their mecha and then started to go crazy.В  We never finished the game, but eventually they would be given a choice: destroy the known universe or let evil win.

So, I’ll be writing up that setting here shortly.

Okay, that’s what I got.В  I would appreciate any feedback.В  Thanks!

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I screwed up. I admit it. I thought I knew what I was doing but it failed. For all those who pre-ordered you are still waiting on your books. I have them, I went in thought I knew how to fill out simple forms and well What do you know. It didn’t work like I thought. For that I apologize. I will and have been re shipping all of the preorders out again and this time it will be done right as I have enlisted some help to make sure I get it done right.

I don’t know how I messed it up I just know I did, this is the first time I have done my own fullfillment and the plan I had failed. We have a new plan and learned alot so be patient a little longer I will post again when I have information on things.

Thank you all for being so patient with me and the staff here at Heroic Journey, I am in debted and awe by your awesomeness.. Thanks to all.

Mark Reed

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Hey Guys and gals who pre ordered Mecha Hardback… Which makes you all awesome. Just wanted to let you the pre order books are coming in Today, I am supposed to go down and pick them up noonish central time and will be shipping them out by the weekend at the latest. I will need to see how my day goes and when I can spend an hour at the shippers.

For those few books over seas I will be sending them a little different and probably out Next Monday since I will be using our UK Printer and shipping them out from there it should cut down on the overseas thing by a wide margin.В  I will post again about this once all the books are shipped and I can get a better handle on how long it will take.

Thanks for being awesome guys and gals and I hope you have been enjoying the PDF.

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