I am hesitant to leap straight in to trying to sell Players and GMs on our game when it still carries the dead on the vine reputation that it does in Austin because of it's lack of new material or public announcements about it's development direction, Without some solid and realistic assurance that the upcoming Magic and Martial Arts book will have a solid release date that they can eagerly wait for while they explore the material of the core rulebook.
Just a weekend or two ago I bumped into a former manager of Austin's biggest venue for RPGs and he chastised me as an extension of Shard Studios ( which I actually am not an employee of, but have been seen to assist at demos for ) for not doing more with the IP. Of course I let him know that Scott and Aaron are working on the next book but he was understandably skeptical because he was advised there would be a release a year ago or more.
There are hurdles to overcome to be sure, but I hold out hope that Shard will live on and grow. In my opinion, it's nearly gone long enough for Shard Second Edition to be created and released. This time with better art, a considerably more streamlined rules system and a vastly more fleshed-out setting. i would love to see each nation of Dàrdünah get it's own little supplement book, The Isvarate of Tishinia, The Amin of Sustruum and so on. With detailed maps of each country and scads of story hooks specific to the area. As well as detailed dossiers on the top Sunborn lines in that nation that shape it's internal and international politics.
And a separate Suthra Guide devoted only the the alien, arthropodic and insectoid fauna of the Shard world. Describing their ecosystem and their contributions to or hindrances to , Janah society.
Also I've said this before and I'll say it again. There are complete versions of the World Guide and Magic and Martial Arts book for the previous generation of Dardunah before it was called Shard. Release that material online as free or pay .PDF files with complete explanations that the material is not wholly compatible with the canon rules as they have been published, but proving that immense thought and work really has gone into this game and is just being refined for public release. I know fans of shard would jizz in their pants to suddenly have two whole new books to play with. Even if they have to do conversions in order to use them.
The fact that doing this would surely cost a few hundred thousand dollars does not escape me. Maybe it's time to sell this to a parent company with the resources to finish the product.
Just a weekend or two ago I bumped into a former manager of Austin's biggest venue for RPGs and he chastised me as an extension of Shard Studios ( which I actually am not an employee of, but have been seen to assist at demos for ) for not doing more with the IP. Of course I let him know that Scott and Aaron are working on the next book but he was understandably skeptical because he was advised there would be a release a year ago or more.
There are hurdles to overcome to be sure, but I hold out hope that Shard will live on and grow. In my opinion, it's nearly gone long enough for Shard Second Edition to be created and released. This time with better art, a considerably more streamlined rules system and a vastly more fleshed-out setting. i would love to see each nation of Dàrdünah get it's own little supplement book, The Isvarate of Tishinia, The Amin of Sustruum and so on. With detailed maps of each country and scads of story hooks specific to the area. As well as detailed dossiers on the top Sunborn lines in that nation that shape it's internal and international politics.
And a separate Suthra Guide devoted only the the alien, arthropodic and insectoid fauna of the Shard world. Describing their ecosystem and their contributions to or hindrances to , Janah society.
Also I've said this before and I'll say it again. There are complete versions of the World Guide and Magic and Martial Arts book for the previous generation of Dardunah before it was called Shard. Release that material online as free or pay .PDF files with complete explanations that the material is not wholly compatible with the canon rules as they have been published, but proving that immense thought and work really has gone into this game and is just being refined for public release. I know fans of shard would jizz in their pants to suddenly have two whole new books to play with. Even if they have to do conversions in order to use them.
The fact that doing this would surely cost a few hundred thousand dollars does not escape me. Maybe it's time to sell this to a parent company with the resources to finish the product.
"Daggra" means "Enemy" in Tibetan.
"Chora" means "Thief" in Sanskrit.
The post was edited 3 times, last by Ghorüm ().