When we at Crafty Games announced Fantasy Craft last fall the number one request was that it be a standalone product. People loved the idea of traditional adventure gaming with the powerful and versatile Spycraft system but they only wanted to use one book to make it happen. Plus, they worried about rules from what’s perceived to be a modern action-espionage product interlocking to create a different genre.

Simultaneously, we’ve been developing Henchman Edition, a lighter, faster, and sleeker version of the rules for the growing part of our fan base that want to use them but can’t quite wrap their heads around the full Spycraft 2.0 experience. The response on this product has been overwhelmingly positive but ultimately it’s yet another book you’d have to add to the expanding collection.

I posted the following in a gear thread over on the forums, but it seems blogworthy for posterity...

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I'm still months away from putting pen to paper with Crucible, but I think about it a lot. Just this morning, I brainstormed some of the naming conventions for the setting, which is one of the ways I scour the dusty halls of my brain for big picture concepts. This is a process that's been ongoing since early in Spycraft 2.0 design, when Scott, Alex, and I started talking about developing toolkit settings for the game (the big picture thinking, not the naming conventions). In my experience, big picture thinking is one of the best ways to approach a new setting.