Regards,
Sean
]]>How about I start with the article I wrote for the Savage Worlds fanzine, Sharkbytes, about what's going on with The Blur. My words, so I figure I can use 'em again. (I'll just modify 'em a bit, so I can include some of the upcoming plans for True20.) Sound good?
I’m glancing up from my keyboard to give you a quick update on what’s going on with Reality Blurs. I’ve learned a few lessons about not divulging too much too early, but, since we’re all friends here, I’ll go ahead and give you the inside scoop on some of the things we’ve got ticking along on the Savage Worlds and True20 fronts.
First off, let me thank you all for your continued support of RunePunk and our growing print line of Savage Worlds products. Orwell Industries came out in print a few months ago and, as of this writing, Starfall Jungles is now wending its way to a friendly, local game store near you. We hope to continue this model of releasing both digital and print products in this fashion to satisfy your Savage needs.
Now on to the news.
We here at Reality Blurs are still alive and kicking working on more Savage goodness than you can shake a stick at (provided you don’t have a lot of spare time to go stick shaking.) So, you might ask, what have you been working on in these seemingly quiet days since the release of RunePunk for Savage Worlds? Well, we’ve got more RunePunk goodness underway with numerous adventures and support materials including Darksummer Nights and Wizards of WildSky to name a few. I'll also pause here to mention that RunePunk for True20 is nearing its final stages of completion. I'm already into layout and lining up some really nifty art for inclusion in this beast. The development of RunePunk and the Shadow City of ScatterPoint is staying right on course and there are a number of options to be found within the True20 version that have not yet made their way over to the Savages. After the release of RunePunk: The Shadow City of ScatterPoint, we'll also be following it up with the abovementioned adventures for True20 as well. We really do like both Savage Worlds and True20 and we'll be moving forward with parallel development in some instances for the settings best suited to both.
A lot of our time has been taken up with the continued development of Iron Dynasty, our oriental steampunk samurai setting that is loaded with lots of martial arts goodness. We took a modular approach to the design enabling you to easily build anything from a ganso (inventor) to an onmyoji (wizard) to a variety of ninja (at last count, I easily saw a half dozen approaches to crafting a ninja). The Player’s Guide has been put to bed and I’m fleshing out the details of the Plot Point campaign and the adventure generators. If you liked what you saw in RunePunk, you should really be pleased with a novel new approach I’m taking to Plot Point design in Sins of the Samurai, the first RPG book for the Iron Dynasty. Along with the development of the RPG, we’re still working away on Iron Dynasty: Showdown Edition which handles the miniatures side of the world, enabling you to easily recreate the historical battles of Konoyo (the known world) and play out an entire campaign with your samurai warlord to determine the entire fate of Ni Ten. Stay tuned to our website as well as the respective forums for more details as they unfold.
I'll add that, though we have no plans to translate the miniatures vision of the world to T20, we certainly do have big plans to bring the Iron Dynasty in all its oriental rpg goodness to True20. I think that with the foundations of Gearcraft, we'll have a unifying element throughout some of our lines.
You may also be wondering about the fate of Agents of Oblivion. I’m glad to announce that it is entering the more robust stages of development. I’ve got the bestiary sitting on my desk. I’ve got lots of organizations and global conspiracies jotted down in disparate files and look to more fully focus on them once we get the Player’s Guide nailed down to our satisfaction. In the good news column, however, I’m looking at releasing some adventures for the setting, possibly along the lines of Starfall Jungle, to fill in the gaps in the meantime. This is, of course, talking about the Savage Worlds side of things. On the T20 front, I must say that things are developing quite rapidly and interestingly. During my mulling, I've outlined a number of supplementary materials for this line to have you drooling. Should I name a few? Agents of Oblivion: Guidebook to Oblivion is the core setting book. Agents of Oblivion: What Screams Are Made Of is the bestiary and we've got a lot of other things in the works. Some of them, I praytell, shall be shockingly surprising!
I'm looking forward to running games of RunePunk, Iron Dynasty, and Agents of Oblivion at the upcoming big shows!
Finally, I’m happy to report growth in our staff. With new developmental policies and procedures in place and a more solid workflow, we should be able to get more of our creative ideas and stuff into your hands more rapidly than ever before. Hopefully, I’m not jinxing this by putting it in words, but you know how design and development can sometimes seem like we’re just rolling dice and drawing cards. Honestly, we’re working as fast as we can to deliver the best we can. Remember: just because we're quiet, doesn't mean we're not working! ;)
Regards,
Sean Preston
President, Reality Blurs
www.realityblurs.com
You might be wondering what happens to us when we're below the radar. Well, we're writing away. We currently are developing multiple items right now. Some nifty stuff for RunePunk, the working title of the current thing I'm working on is called Grunge, and still fleshing out Iron Dynasty: Sins of the Samurai of which I'm particularly excited. I've been entertaining a number of artists and narrowing down precisely what we're looking for to represent the look and feel we want moving forward.
We've an exciting year ahead and we'll reveal more as we move forward. One of the best things is our continual growth in retail outlets and something we hope to nurture as we move forward, so be sure to ask for Reality Blurs products in your FLGS.
Regards,
Sean
]]>First off, you're probably wondering about the RunePunk GM Screens. Well, they're coming. A few have made the rounds and the word is good, so you can be looking for them in the not-too-distant future. In fact, we may be offering some goods up for sale straight from us before too terribly long.
Next up, DarkSummer awaits. It may or may not be bundled with the screen as we're still ironing out some details on this project.
Finally, in our RunePunk trivecta, you'll be glad to hear of the Clockwork Dragon project and the adventures that will await you.
Have no fear, RunePunk is a passion for us. A terribly dark and shadowtwisted passion, certainly, but a passion nonetheless. More darkness will be served in due time...in due time...
Regards,
Sean
]]>What a beautiful, blustery day it is in Memphis as I curl up before my computer on the love seat and rattle out these long overdue words for your edification. Life has been a crazy, chaotic maelstrom and so is the creative process, so somewhere within that morass is a keen sense of balance that might go unnoticed by the untrained eye. One might pause to ask themself where one can go to train their eyes, but that is one of those things best left to the professionals, whoever they are.
As for me, I think and dream and write. Not necessarily in that order.
Of late, Iron Dynasty has taken the primary thrust of our in-house efforts, though work continues apace on Agents of Oblivion and some new RunePunk supplementary materials. The scope of Agents is just very large and very large things can take a lot of time. With RunePunk, writing for such a unique setting presents challenges all its own and I have to go through the immersion process every time I haven't visited that chaotic crumbling city of ScatterPoint in awhile.
Let's move back to Iron Dynasty, the focus of this particular entry for today. What is it? How's it going?
Iron Dynasty is an exciting world of Oriental adventure enabling you to take on the role of a cinematic hero in your own katana wielding adventure. It is high adventure, Japanese style! We put a few fantastic twists on the whole genre and added in the creative flair you've come to expect from Reality Blurs. If you've seen it in a Japanese flick, from gritty to high fantasy, you can certainly find it here. Whether you want to create a ferocious ronin, mysterious ninja, yakuza gang leader, or a master of the unarmed arts, you can. There are also multitudes of arcane backgrounds to whet your appetite from onmyoji, shinsei, to ganso...you'll learn what all those are in due time.
The flavor of the Orient is present without being cumbersome. You'll definitely find the familiar sense of fantasy you may be used to, but so much more. The Iron Dynasty naturally lends itself to heroic play with the levels of intrigue and mystery you'd expect with a game steeped in the East.
Watch the space for upcoming news. ;)
Regards,
Sean
]]>Sometimes, I feel like I'm about a year behind. I'm working on secret stuff, not so secret stuff, and lots of other stuff that you may well know about to varying degrees. The thing is, parallel development can slow you down on some fronts, while speed you up on others. Admittedly, I might go stir crazy if I were forced to work on just one thing, but I haven't had that displeasure as of yet.
At any rate, I get down to a lot of brass tacks in the Dirt, so here I'll discuss what's foremost in my mind, and that's Agents of Oblivion. I've done a lot of tooling and retooling to get things right. Part of the delay was a good one. The immediate acceptance of RunePunk, our first setting book for Savage Worlds, took up a good bit of time and energy in offering out of the gate support and I was inundated with questions and emails. However, Agents of Oblivion is ramped up and I'm on the final push of the Setting Book and already have the first two follow up book sketched out as well. AoO is going to have strong support with both campaign materials, supplements, and adventures. I'm considering the adventure paths that are growing in popularity as a way to tell one story in the AoO universe. As there are some many different directions to take AoO, you'll be glad to find we're always working on a Campaign Builder supplement that goes into a lot of detail about how you can further own your campaign and tailor it more specifically to your group. As Agents of Oblivion takes a baseline approach, detailing out over thirty (or has it grown to forty) organizations and a like number of cultures, you'll not find yourself lacking for adventure ideas. As I've stated elsewhere, extensions of the rules have been put introduced to further ratchet up the AoO experience without being overly cumbersome. Vehicle construction rules, vehicle lists, the Narrative Chase System, and more have created a system that is streamlined, but detailed enough to let you share the stories you want to with your group.
That's ultimately our shared purpose is having fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have working on it. While it may be slow out of the gate, it will quickly have support material behind it, so no worries.
Regards,
Sean
I've got some nifty narrative chase rules developed. Check. I've got the campaign factors together, which I mentioned over on the True20 forums the other day...
And there is more. Oh yes, there will be blood. Heh. Okay. That's a line from some movie or other, but the name escapes me. Just stick with me. I'm a bit fatigued after working on those aforementioned chase rules that are not quite like anything I've seen, but, hey, I haven't seen everything, but after some playtesting they seem to move pretty well. Might well include a more detailed chase system as well, for those wanting more crunch. I'll have to see what John does with that. (We're waiting, John.) ;)
I'll talk more about this in the AoO section of the website, so you don't think I'm obsessed with a fancy new toy. I've got several other irons in the fire. DarkSummer for RunePunk is going through some additional hands and I've got one keen guy taking his first stab at drafting something for print, so we'll see what he comes up with. I think it's in capable hands.
What else? Iron Dynasty Showdown Edition has been smoothed out and we'll see how people dig it at the shows this summer. It's got a nice oriental flavor, plus the addition of the kikai and the gorgeous minis Stacy has put together, I think people will be chomping at the bit for it.
I've also got a pretty big announcement about RunePunk, but I'm gonna sit on that until next week. Yes, I promise I'll post next week.
Until then, browse around. I've updated other pages too, y'know.
Later,
Sean
In case you missed it, the RunePunk Primer , a free sneak peek into our dark steampunk fantasy, is now available for your downloading pleasure, so check it. It's chock full of goodness. We hope you enjoy it. Check out what other RunePunk excitement looms on the horizon at www.runepunk.com.
We're still working away on our other projects- Iron Dynasty is still moving along quite nicely as is Agents of Oblivion and secret projects. We must always have our secret projects. Right?
Until next time.
Take care,
Sean
]]>We've been busy concocting up some goodness. A bit of RunePunk, a touch of Iron Dynasty, and a pinch of Oblivion. We've got some One Sheets and freebies for RunePunk coming through the que while we let Iron Dynasty simmer and get into the heady blackness of Agents of Oblivion. Also, we're looking forward to getting some more Powers & Perils back into the mix. No idle hands here. Promise.
Also, I'm gearing up for the MidSouthCon 25 where Iron Dynasty demos will be given, marking it as the first Iron Dynasty reveal with Stacy Young rattling the katanas and showing off his mad skirmish skills. I'll be sitting on a lot of panels talking about various facets of the gaming industry, as I understand them, and getting in a game of RunePunk or two. If you can make it, that's great. If not, I'll give you the scoop on how things went down next week.
Regards,
Sean
I've had the pleasure of reading through some wonderful One Sheets prepared by Dave McGuire and Barry Green, two of the first RunePunk players on this sphere. Barry suffered through the multiple incarnations of the development cycle while Dave scored one of the first copies of RunePunk out of my trunk and shared a nice lunch with me at that neat restaurant in Columbus, Ohio during Con on the Cob last year. Y'know, the one with the X-Wing out front. Right?
I'm hoping to get them into layout and onto the website shortly.
In the interim, I've been keeping myself busy working on some Agents of Oblivion jazz. Things are darkly spiraling ever closer to my vision for the setting. I'm in the zone and having a wonderful time crunching and flavoring as required.
Oh yeah. I haven't slept much lately. I do some of my best writing in a fugue state, so it's okay.
Until next time.
Regards,
Sean
]]>What's in the work for RunePunk? Well, first things first. The book is shipping and hitting the streets any time now. As our first hardcover release, we're absolutely excited about it "getting out there". Additional support materials for RunePunk are already well underway and you can expect some nifty stuff such as the RunePunk PDF, Figure Flats, GM Screen and additional adventures over the course of the upcoming year. Things you'd normally expect with any new release.
In the Dark Heroes department, Agents of Oblivion is coming together nicely. I've crafted some stuff for Ed Wetterman related to AoO that is going to integrate into the upcoming 12 Hours to Midnight by 12 to Midnight. I can't say much more than that at this time except it was fun stuff that will put proof in the pudding regarding our colloborative efforts. We're definitely on the same page when it comes to horror. I'm also getting further and further into the whole AoO vibe and it's delightful. We know AoO can't be all things to all people. If it were, it'd lose it's distinctiveness, so I'm churning decidely in one particular direction and I find it very, very creepy as do the people I share it with, so that means I'm doing it right.
You can find an AoO vignette located in the Agents of Oblivion section.
Take care and leave a light on!
Regards,
Sean
Hopefully, you'll like the direction we're going with things. It will be even easier to update on our side and easier on your side to follow the products and news that interests you most.
Take care!
Sean
I'm not going to reflect on what's gone on before. This is the mad lab where dreams are made and screams are heard and what good is a mad lab if you don't experiment, right?
I should let you know that though the lab looks quiet from the outside, we've been quite busy working on various bits of salacious entertainments for your gaming pleasure. Well, perhaps not quite salacious, but definitely entertaining. For those loving the True20, you'll find that Erica Balsley and I worked on the True20 Companion for Green Ronin. What a blast it was working with Erica. A pleasure as always. Look for her dark influence in Agents of Oblivion: The Big Book. Matthew Kaiser worked on the Companion as well. Kinda nifty to see three of the AoO folks make the GR cut. Good jobs all around. You're wondering, why post that here? Well, it has a street date coming up and will be well worth every penny you spend on it.
I'm working closely with the Iron Dynasty gang and the playtesting seems to be on solid footing. I've got the PG done, detailed histories of the lands, and a comprehensive outline and structure for the rest of the book, so it's well on track. I worked on that over November and December while collating notes on AoO which has picked up momentum since the first of the year. In addition to RunePunk, we're aspiring to see Agents of Oblivion True20 Edition, Iron Dynasty, and AoO SW hit before this year ends. We also intend to have one sheets and support products for all our lines as well. We'll give more detailed reveals as we get further along in the year.
One thing that warrants mention is Iron Dynasty: Showdown Edition which is a close colloboration between Stacy Young and myself. He's taking the world of Nagano, the lands of the Iron Dynasty, into a different direction where you can experience some of the epic battles between magic and mecha, warlords and war machines, for yourself. The factions and variety are truly outstanding and I can't wait to play! This brings additional depth to a robust campaign world and you be confident it's in good hands.
Enough for now. I'll try not to be a stranger. :)
Regards,
Sean
RunePunk awaits your arrival.
While we wait for the two of you to get better acquainted, I shall tell you we're not resting on laurels here. Those are for other people with better laurel resting abilities. Nope.
We're sharpening are katanas, getting our ninja on, and fighting off the forces of evil in two settings that have nothing to do with each other.
That's right. Iron Dynasty and Agents of Oblivion are two cross-genre settings that do not cross. (Even I'm not that mad.) But do share the commonality of having me at the helm, scribbling away like a madman, and a modular sense of design and a blending of disparate genres. No. It's not done for the sake of shaking things up. That was RunePunk with its blending of technologies and magic. Iron Dynasty takes a very different approach. The pastoral lands are being threatened by the encroachment of dark magics and advanced technologies and one must wonder if the land everyone is trying to save must change to survive? Elements of myth are being brought to the fore as these issues are addressed. This is a brighter land than ScatterPoint. Sunlight dapples across the daffodils even as a katana sprays crimson across the fields of green. In the distance, the dragon roar of a kikai is heard as it makes its way on a mission of oppression....
Agents of Oblivion is falling into place with things I dare not yet share. Trust must be held closely on this one, but revelations will manifest when the time is right.
Until next time, get ready for RunePunk: Steam & Shadows.
Regards,
Sean
As mentioned elsewhere, RunePunk is off to the printers in the morning. How strangely odd and fascinating, but I shan't rest on laurels here. No. Not me!
I'm already exploring the darker recesses of my mind as development ramps up on Agents of Oblivion. The mythology is unfolding and the intertwining of the various organizations, such as Oblivion, Pandora, and those yet unmentioned, weave a delicate and nefarious tapestry about the world in a struggle for the very survival of all humanity.
The flavours of fear are fermenting feverishly in my brain and already spill upon the page in dark, crimson swirls...
Look for me at Con on the Cobb. I may be mentioned to discuss Agents of Oblivion if you can get me off the topic of RunePunk. ;)
Regards,
Sean