Crafty Games State of the Company - Summer 2009
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Greetings agents,
We usually post these updates around Christmas but this last holiday season was particularly busy for us and we felt it was more pressing to get new product out the door. We did, and this little enterprise of ours has matured and expanded by leaps and bounds. With news piling up (and a couple timely items), we thought we should post another round of the nitty gritty. So, this is Rumor Control. Here are the Facts…
MASTERCRAFT
Our new system, Mastercraft, will premiere in the Fantasy Craft game line (more on that in a bit). Mastercraft is important for us in a lot of ways. It’s lighter and faster, conceived ground up for an audience that wants to love Spycraft 2.0 but can’t quite get past 500 pages of densely interconnected, very specialized rules. It’s got (nearly) all the power and utility of its forefather, filtered through years of experience in the field, and plays less like a tournament game and more like a tactical storytelling collaboration between everyone at the table.
Mastercraft rules are easier to remember so there’s less reference at the table, and easier to use so no complex calculation is needed to get from decision to result. Everything you love is here — action dice, campaign qualities, scalable NPCs and adventures, extremely competent characters out the gate, new things to do every single level, tightly scripted universal game balance — and there are plenty of new innovations, like narrative control (which allows anyone to define the world — but not contradict it — in their favor) and cheating death (allowing players and GMs to cooperatively advance the story while sparing a hero an untimely demise).
Though Fantasy Craft is an independent game — everything you need to play is in one book — the rules are easily ported to Spycraft 2.0 (and vice-versa). Mastercraft titles will be 100% compatible so as the library grows, you’ll be able to mix and match to taste, building any RPG you like, and as with all our games your License to Improvise is in full effect. A quick visit to our forums offers a wealth of kit-bashing goodness to choose from, not to mention an army of experienced peers ready and eager to help you realize your perfect vision.
FANTASY CRAFT
As of this writing, Fantasy Craft is nearly done. The first five chapters are complete and in their second and third rounds of review. Chapter 6 is off to layout and the final chapter is about 85% written and maybe 50% edited. We’re so close to the finish line that we’ve started a log of important accomplishments, which you can read through and ask about here…
http://www.crafty-games.com/forum/index.php?topic=2593.0
The Fantasy Craft print book definitely won’t make GenCon but we’re still hoping we can get the PDF out by then (or shortly thereafter). Watch our website’s front page for news.
We’ve got a full line of print and PDF goodness slated to follow the core book, which we’ll detail around the time Fantasy Craft is released.
SPYCRAFT
Not one but two new books are imminent for our flagship line! Spycraft Declassified: Shadow Play collects and updates many of our PDF releases and articles for Mongoose’s Signs & Portents magazine, all well suited for core play, and Spycraft Declassified: Odd Jobs does the same for some of our less traditional offerings. Shadow Play is due in July and Odd Jobs is due in August. Both should be available at GenCon.
Our plans for the World on Fire setting have shifted somewhat. There was simply too much material to fit in the proposed heroic faction PDFs so we’re going to put out two new print books! The World on Fire Player’s Guide will contain all the background and character options for the heroic factions and will also feature the long-awaited conclusion to the original Spycraft story arc. We’ll follow that up with the World on Fire Campaign Guide, a general resource for running adventures in the setting along with a brand new saga-length struggle against the Alliance of Evil Geniuses. We’re hoping to get both books out this year but it’s possible the Campaign Guide may slip into 2010.
Another change of plans: the Vow of Silence setting, originally planned as a series of factional PDFs, will instead see print as one collected volume in 2010. It will still utilize the Spellbound magic supplements, which we’ll finish out as Spycraft 2.0 PDFs through 2009 and early 2010. We plan to then convert Spellbound to Mastercraft for a compiled print release alongside Vow of Silence.
Finally, we’re working on a whole range of continuing PDF support. The closest to completion include a couple movie tie-ins you’ll see this summer (including one for a certain formative inspiration for Spycraft) and More than Human: Maximum Chrome, our cybernetics expansion.
CALL FOR FREELANCERS
As you can see, there’s a lot going on — even for our extremely talented stable of writers, editors, illustrators, and graphic designers! We’re always looking for fresh blood and we can put writers to work immediately! We’re an RPG company so we can’t promise you the moon but our terms are fair and we pay on time, every time. If you’d like to join the team, please drop us a line at pat@crafty-games.com.
PRESS SUPPORT
Likewise, we’re looking for new websites, blogs, magazines, and other venues to help spread the word. If you’d like updates about Crafty Games releases, or if you’d like to schedule interviews with our staff or have other promotional ideas, please let us know! Again, the email is pat@crafty-games.com.
“POWERED BY” LICENSING
A reminder that our “Powered by” license is still 100% free! Would you like to publish a product for Spycraft 2.0 or Fantasy Craft? Have a wacky idea for something new? Let us know! Same email.
STAFF UPDATES
A couple final items and we’ll leave you to your field ops, already in progress. First, Crafty Games partner Scott Gearin has decided to retire from our little collective. Join us as we wish him well in all his pursuits! Original partners Alex Flagg and Patrick Kapera remain on staff and longtime associate Steve Hough continues as the company’s visual director.
With Scott’s departure, Crafty Games will no longer be producing the Farthest Star world setting. That project’s always been dear to him and so we released it into his care so he can see it through. We can’t wait to see the finished product!
WHERE TO GO FOR MORE INFORMATION
You may have questions. We may not have mentioned something you’d like to know more about. You may simply want to send us cookies and jam. Fortunately, we’re easy to reach! You can find us at the Crafty Games forum or at the Mongoose booth at GenCon every day from 2pm to 4pm. We’re also hosting our annual Full Disclosure seminar at GenCon (Friday at 7pm in the Marriott Indiana Ballroom C), and a chat at RPG Bomb on Wednesday June 24 at 9pm EST (6pm PST). We look forward to chatting with you!
http://www.crafty-games.com/forum/
http://www.rpgbomb.com
This broadcast focuses only on immediate concerns and announcements (i.e. through the end of the year), so look forward to another update this winter. Until then, stay Crafty!
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