Ideas for future products.

Hello,

Thank you for your suggestions!

As you may know, we’re working on getting the 2nd Edition of the Grand Tome of Adversaries reasy and it will include a Rakshasa as an entry.

Additionally, I’m in negotiations with some writers to get a sourcebook on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth/Empire written.

Lastly, Rites & Relics has an entry for Alchemy and Voodoo, but more is always better.

Additionally, I’m in negotiations with some writers to get a sourcebook on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth/Empire written.
That’s interesting
I’m from Poland, and my players often want to play characters like polish nobleman or Cossack; once we even tried to make a fighting tradition with saber as weapon of choice (for Wh 1ed). It would be good to have official setting for such Witch Hunters, especially because Commonwealth was an interesting and diverse country, with its own folklore and myths.

Dace and Kumo, good to see some new faces around here.

I completely understand your concerns about diversity, Dace. The inclusion of the Falcons of God, an Islamic order, was a big reason I signed on for 2nd Ed. As important role as religion plays in WH, I feel it has to cast a bit of a wide net. Now we need Hindu and Buddhist orders and the basics are covered.

Given how big an influence Solomon Kane is to Witch Hunter, I think an Africa sourcebook/adventure makes a TON of since. I’d certainly line up for that one. The only problem I can see is that Africa is so big and diverse, it would be hard to cover everything. North Africa/Barbary Coast is going to be different from the Nile region (Ottoman Egypt) from Sub-Saharan Africa. You’ve got Dutch colonies all down the East coast. And then there is the whole Heart of Darkness business that’s going to make things really interesting.

But if a solid writer came along with a good proposal, I’m sure Paradigm would be all over it. And judging from Aztec Empire, I think you’d be very happy with it.

Tom

What book is Falcons of God in?

They were new order included in the updated of the Blessed and Damned orders that were an incentive in the core book kickstarter. I expect they will show up officially when the B&D update comes out.

At any rate, doing a single book for it would be hard. I imagine it would be better to do a book that highlights the major aspects of the continent as opposed to exploring every nook and cranny. So take on the obvious big aspects and leave the little stuff for later. This is an approach I would expect them to take with say the Middle East and Asia as they too are both large regions that vary depending on where you are at.

Agreed. I think there might be a variety of approaches PCI could take on this. Personally, I think a crazy idea that might work is to use the model Paizo uses for Pathfinder but leverage the OP campaign. In other words release a “players guide to…” ahead of a major storyline in the living campaign. Keep it short and sweet, maybe 64-96 pages tops. You could easily release it as a PDF then, if the popularity and demand are enough, publish a print copy with GM info at the end of the campaign cycle. Rinse and Repeat.

Of course, that’s easy for me to suggest. Clint probably gained a dozen gray hairs just reading this suggestion.

Otherwise, I’d encourage you to start writing! There’s no reason the WH setting needs to be beholden to the OP. And more independent contributions would probably help raise awareness of the entire property.

Tom

I really hate the fact that I missed the Kickstarter. It never even showed up as a blip on my gaming radar until I saw that the second edition book was now being sold as a pdf on drivethru. Which is sad because I would have loved to have contributed to it and gotten all those incentive books

I understand. I’ve been thinking about that a bit since the GToA book failed to meet its goals a few weeks back. For a game that’s been around since 2008, that was nominated for an Ennie and got plenty of good reviews, that doesn’t have a lot of competition in its niche, it seems to have pretty poor visibility. And while this really is PCI’s issue to fix, I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do as a fan to evangelize the game and get more conversation going about it. Obviously just blasting away at social media isn’t going to do it.

I see that working. I also wouldn’t mind an overall big book. Or maybe a plot/setting book. I loved the Aztec book. I felt it moved the plot and the Central American region forward both at the same time.

I’d be fine with a big book too. The Aztec book is very nice and very informative. But I’m trying to think realistically about PCI’s market. If you can leverage the OP players, so much the better.

I think they could mimic that with other world books. So develop a threat in Africa that may draw in Witch Hunters, then develop some local Orders and chart out some of the nearby region. What I think will be difficult to avoid though, and something to be mindful of, is not making it too colonial. I only say this because my day job is a grad student who studies race, religion and the Middle East and over the years as I’ve gamed I’ve come to distaste the very Euro – colonial feel of some products related to non whites in rpgs.

They already have that with the Heart of Darkness, the mother of all Hellpoints. Plus, the Dutch colonies are going to be a magnet for the New Dawn. Africa has so much going on, the hard part would be finding the best place to build from.

I honestly wish I had the time to write. Or rather I felt more confident when writing for non academic purposes. Ask me to churn out a 20 page research paper on how poverty effects the Middle East or what black atheism looks like and I’m solid. As me to do a gaming write up and I feel like I struggle and stall.

Which is sad, as I’ve been giving some serious thought to doing a WH Order based on some African stuff. My ideas currently lean towards Ethiopia. Namely because A. they have a very deep Christian and religious traditions that for the purpose of this game you can easily tie back to King Solomon and B. for this time period they are one of the few spots in Africa that was, for the most part independent (if I’m recalling my history correctly). I’ve been looking at how I would work out these ideas (I started tossing them about after writing a review for the Core book) in between assignments and my Masters thesis but haven’t moved to far as I don’t feel confident enough in the system to write mechanics for it or do more than outline a few general ideas.

But it’s the summer and I have fewer pressing projects at the moment so who knows.

I’m also currently toying with ideas related to the Persian Immortals. We’ll see

But you know what, we need more of that. We need more setting details. We need more obscure facts that can be twisted outward. The write up I did on Frankfurt was pretty academic. Not much fluff there. And the stuff that got fluffy wrote itself. Wait, there are hot springs in the mountains to the north that the rich and powerful believe have therapeutic properties? Over COURSE there is something sinister going on. The Odenwald? Same thing. The hard part was tracking down all the factual information that made the city feel real. Everything else only took a sentence here or there.

Enough of this stuff gets out there, the more the setting gets recognized, the more people are going to check it out. I’m not sure this “live by the OP, die by the OP” ecosystem is healthy. Plus, it really doesn’t take much time to stat up a monster, or post some details about a cool location. Hell, Henry posts enough links. We just need more people to grab those threads and run with them. I have a plan to do just that once I run out of projects I’ve already outlined.

Tom

I understand. I’ve been thinking about that a bit since the GToA book failed to meet its goals a few weeks back. For a game that’s been around since 2008, that was nominated for an Ennie and got plenty of good reviews, that doesn’t have a lot of competition in its niche, it seems to have pretty poor visibility. And while this really is PCI’s issue to fix, I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do as a fan to evangelize the game and get more conversation going about it. Obviously just blasting away at social media isn’t going to do it.

It’s always been a low radar kind of game in my book. I discovered 1st Edition by accident when I was looking through an online rpg bookstore. My current faves tend to be that way. I love the The Void but it’s very low key too. But how large is their social media presence? I know they’re on FB but I don’t think I see them on G+ or with a Twitter account where they could post updates and what not.

I’d be fine with a big book too. The Aztec book is very nice and very informative. But I’m trying to think realistically about PCI’s market. If you can leverage the OP players, so much the better.

What are the OP players?

They already have that with the Heart of Darkness, the mother of all Hellpoints. Plus, the Dutch colonies are going to be a magnet for the New Dawn. Africa has so much going on, the hard part would be finding the best place to build from.

Well if I had to write a book on it, a chapter on the Heart of Darkness (of which I have no real info on since my knowledge of the setting comes from 1st and 2nd Core books and then the Aztec book) and the surrounding area and what local WH groups are doing about it. I would also then broaden the major orders to include whomever is actually keeping that area in check. I would do a bit on Ethophia since they were one of the few actual free African kingdoms of the day. You’d need to touch on the slave trade on the west coast. Then a bit on South Africa and then wrap up with North Africa which would include the Barbary states.

It wouldn’t be as tightly focused as Aztec was but I think it would make for a nice book.

But you know what, we need more of that. We need more setting details. We need more obscure facts that can be twisted outward. The write up I did on Frankfurt was pretty academic. Not much fluff there. And the stuff that got fluffy wrote itself. Wait, there are hot springs in the mountains to the north that the rich and powerful believe have therapeutic properties? Over COURSE there is something sinister going on. The Odenwald? Same thing. The hard part was tracking down all the factual information that made the city feel real. Everything else only took a sentence here or there.

I’ll see if I can set some research time aside to take up a minor project like this then. Or at least to develop a more local outline for a minor order or two.

Umm…YES PLEASE! One of my projects is the ancient Egyptian pantheon through the WH lense. So I’d love to see your interpretation of such things.

I’ll see what I can do. I’ve taken an interest in Persian/Iranian history so I hope to be able to put something together. We’ll see

Organized Play. People who come to the game through the living campaign.

and

The Heart of Darkness is right there in the history section. It’s the place in Africa where Lucifer fell. A black festering pit. The mother of all Hellpoints.

Thanks!

Please do. I think there is a lot of Pre-history that would make for great fodder for WH.

I’ll post something over the summer then. Most likely it wouldn’t be like a full description, more general ideas on both a Persian and Ethiopian order and then maybe work backwards from there. Though for a Persian Immortals I think I’d mix in some Zoroastrianism and for Ethiopian maybe try to combine Jewish with later Coptic beliefs.