We have been gaming all day and yesterday at my house with Steve Winter. How can we help you Frank?

Gaming all day? How odd... ;>

Bill, I don't know why you couldn't register, odd; it'll take ANYbody, even me.
Praps a typo? If it's a valid format it gets logged...

Subscribed.  Juat let me know what you need....

ExTSR wrote in Empyrea:Author Ted Fauster has accepted the role of Creative Aide, which was Mentzer's original title when he worked with Gygax at TSR in the 1980s.

Frank:  what more can you tell us about Ted Fauster?  I didn't find any RPG writing/design credits for him at RPG.net or rpggeek, and other than his fantasy novels listed on Amazon or his web site, I don't know anything about him (which is to say, that I don't know anything about him ).

What brought him to your attention, and made you decide to bring him into the Empyrea project?  As creative aide, what will his role be in the Empyrea projects (and others, if applicable)?

Allan.

ExTSR wrote in Empyrea:psst. Don't tell anybody.

Gotcha Mugsy... Mum's da woid....

Greetings!

Let's start from scratch.
My name is Frank. A long time ago I worked for TSR and Gary Gygax, and I wrote some things.
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Now it's 35 years later, and most tabletop hobby gamers don't know me. Many have never heard of me. There are a lot of great games out there, and it's hard to pick one. Thank you for your time and interest.

When I was Gary's Creative Aide, we talked about my Campaign. We decided to publish it, but Gary wanted it very distant, with no active connections to his continent. That's what he wanted so that's what I did. Earlier plans didn't materialize, so the time is now, sadly 9 years after my friend left us.

Empyrea is based on three premises: magic instead of Technology, a sentient but indifferent Planet who knows how everything can be in balance, and royals who place quality of life (for all) above unbalancing mass whims (like war and wealth).

These premises have far-reaching consequences, and I have spent decades extrapolating the results and applying them to an entire continental society. (I have over a thousand chatroom game logs, i.e. my laboratory.)
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Our story is about Empyrea at its height. It is geographically constrained on all four sides, and Evil wants to spoil the party. But at the moment it's a comfortable Realm, the sort of world in which your current player characters have thrived. They'll find a second home in Empyrea.

We plan to release the core set by next Summer (Kickstarter in October). If it is well-received, we'll offer a whole line of supporting products. We're trying to make Empyrea available for various Fantasy RPG systems, and a science fiction interface for the offplanet setting. These are plans, but only the future will reveal the results.

SPOILERS: Additional sub-plots involve orcs trying to be civilized, dragons deciding not to be adventurer-fodder any longer, an undersea race of giant squid who actually rule the planetary ocean, a Lost World right next door, giants who may have an offplanet heritage, and Immortal beings who might just erase everything and start over.  But that's all in the background, and won't affect you... much.

Why will this take 9 months to produce? Because Loxley is assembling fantastic talents from all fields, but few are doing it full-time. You'll soon see 30 names. These tremendously talented people work with many companies. We just have to deal with the logistics.

Thanks again for your interest. More to come soon.

Frank

Hey Frank,
admittedly I'm not that familiar with the Empyrea setting you created but looking forward to the Kickstarter. You mentioned in an earlier post about Gygax providing written request to elaborate on your setting. I'd love to hear more about that or see it. Is this historical TSR document something that is going to be included in the kickstarter book/box set? Or can you post a scan of it here?
Thanks!

I just wanted to publish my ol' fantasy campaign. Then I asked some artist friends, then some writer friends, and it escalated, like remembering who to invite to a party. I've been lurking about for 35 years, and have a lot of professional acquaintances in the field.

Here's the full team (core and contributing) in alphabetical order:

Tim Beach, Peter Bradley, Anne K. Brown, Clyde Caldwell, Liz Danforth, Darlene, Jeff Dee, Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Alyssa Faden, Ed Greenwood, Allen Hammack, Tracy Hickman, Don Higgins, Jennell Jaquays, Harold Johnson, Tim Kask, "Diesel" LaForce,  "Leomund" Len Lakofka, Steve Marsh, Frank Mentzer, Anna Meyer, Douglas Niles, Ogmios, Erol Otus, Mark Quire, Stephen D. Sullivan, Theo Uram (dropped), James M. Ward, Margaret Weis, Chris Wiese, "Skip" Williams, Steven Winter

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Link to the live Kickstarter. Sorry, I have no idea how to give it a name other than what automatically shows here.