Secret Fire RPG
Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame for The Secret Fire RPG
The Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame for the Secret Fire RPG has now launched on Kickstarter!
Secret Fire RPG: The Way of Tree, Sword & Flame Kickstarter
It’s not everyday that I get the chance to self-promote an RPG I’m involved with on my blog (sorry if its a bit self-promoting!). Last year I blogged about writing my first piece of freelance work for George Strayton’s Secret Fire RPG. The first supplement: The Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame has now launched on Kickstarter, together with some rather nice stretch goals. It had a bit of a shaky start though and had to be redone after Amazon screwed things up, but that’s one of those things you can’t plan for with Kickstarter.
Check out the Secret Fire Games Facebook page here. While not all of my material may have made it into The Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame – and there may be a good reason for that (and it’s a good one!) – I’m happy with how it has all worked out. I may have more to say on that at a later date but can’t for now 
Here’s a “taster” pic of one of my creations, the Void Herald. These powerful demonic critters may or may not be in The Way of Tree, Shadow & Flame…
By the way, a lot of those Lovecraftian descriptions from the spell lists in the original Secret Fire RPG book were created by me. If you’ve ever played in a game I’m running you know what to expect in the Way of Tree, Shadow and Flame!
Where to get the original Secret Fire RPG
The original rulebook for the Secret Fire RPG is available to buy in both PDF from DrivethruRPG and RPGNow, and from Lulu in paperback.
2013 – Looking forward
I’m going to try and write a bit more about the last year gaming-wise in a separate post (more on this to appear later). I’ve started doing this every year, as a sort of retrospective of things happening in the Edinburgh Games community, ORC and elsewhere. For now, here’s a very short post detailing some of my plans for 2013, looking forward RPG-wise.
- I’m trying to get the first part of the Mandragora: Ashes of Freedom RPG written, most likely using the FATE rules set.
- There’s a blog article on “Magic as technology” that I want to try and finish.
- I’m waiting on publication of my first RPG work for The Secret Fire RPG.
- DMing an introductory D&D 4e campaign at ORC called A Watch upon the Border.
- Possibly restarting Ashes of Freedom with DNDnext rules.
- Running the AD&D adventures Dragon Mountain and Return to the Tomb of Horrors when the AD&D rules are republished in 2013.
- Running Werewolf: the Apocalypse again – I got rid of my 1st edition stuff years ago, but got in on the 20th anniversary Kickstarter edition. When will you rage?
- Running a game of the fantastic-looking Shadows of Esteren.
- And finally… I’m forty in 2013, so I’m planning a wh40kforty event along with a friend (who also turns 40). We’re coming up with a linked campaign using various RPGs and battles in the wh40k universe, set in the Midwinter Expanse, a nebula of our own creation located close to Ultramar.
D&D4e – A Watch Upon the Border
I’ve always been someone who adapts to circumstances as they happen, but hate being an early adopter! Working in IT, I always wait until the first service pack is released before upgrading an Operating System (OS) and I tend to carry that over to gaming rules-sets as well. I’ll freely admit that Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition (4e) hasn’t really fired my imagination as previous editions have done, although Ashes of Freedom was originally a 4e setting.
Looking back now I can see where I went wrong with games like Against the Odds and season 1 of Ashes of Freedom (I run campaigns for a year usually then take a break, similar to the format used by TV). I was trying to shoehorn a rules-set into a campaign setting, not the other way around. 4e is heavily combat-orientated, designed largely with the power-gaming “Munchkin” player in mind or so I’d thought – similar to most computer RPGs. I’ve decided to give 4e a second look. As part of a drive to get more folk participating in ORC Edinburgh‘s activities, I’ve decided to run a short mini-campaign, possibly to get some would-be GMs fired up to run their own games too. It is probably going to focus on a group of low-level PCs stationed on the border between Volkrania and the Eastlands.
It will be called “A Watch Upon the Border”. Most likely it will feature pre-generated characters (from Essentials/PHB), although those first in will have a choice. It will focus on adventures in the east of Volkrania, the Ashes of Freedom setting, but will take place some years before; between the end of the Orcgate War and the Purge of Fire. The PCs will be low level, but there will be plot hooks aplenty that I can work in as the stage is set for future events in AoF. Player-wise, I’d be looking for 4-6 players. It’s only going to be a short campaign but by using pre-gens it means anyone can pop in and play. The forum thread I’ve created at ORC Edinburgh can be found at http://orcedinburgh.co.uk/forum/Games–Players-Wanted/13411-d-d4e-border-watch.
One of the biggest problems for me in the past has also been the miniatures and terrain – and that’s expensive! However I think I’ll be able to muddle through with the miniatures I have, and an improvised “battlemat”. The miniatures I ordered as part of the Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter (Vampire level) won’t be here until next year. However, I’m also investing in the Legendary Realms Terrain Kickstarter as well – their stuff is very nice. There’s another reason too: Legendary Realms is the Official (TM) scenery of The Secret Fire RPG, a game I worked upon last year, both in development and playtesting. Look out for the Demons supplement I wrote coming out soon from Secret Fire Games!
