Forgotten Futures X - it's dragons all the way down...

[ffutures]

I've been keeping very quiet about Forgotten Futures X because I've been conducting super-secret negotiations with a certain author for the last few weeks. Yes, FF X will be the first licensed release, based on a book that is still in copyright... (fx drum roll...) Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (AKA papersky), a World Fantasy Award winning novel about life, love, manners, inheritance, and lawsuits in a world where the war beteen humans and dragons ended in a draw, and dragons now live in something a lot like Victorian society (apart from the odd bit of slavery and cannibalism). I won't be able to include the novel, but while it isn't currently in print it's readily available and a wonderful read.

So far I'm still writing the introduction, but the main things I expect to include are

• A rewrite of the game rules for dragon player characters. BODY and combat damage will be going WAY off the usual scales for this one...
  
• Lots of dragon-specific skills appropriate to the setting and the character's age, sex, etc. (e.g., since most male dragons have huge claws females are generally the only ones who can write, huge males are generally the most likely to have flame, etc.)
  
• A lot of stuff on dragon society and religious and social heirarchies.
  
• Appropriate character traits (e.g. "Secret - ate his brother as a hatchling"; "Scarlet woman" [female dragons turn red after their first sexual arousal; if this does not lead to marriage there's a lot of social stigma], "Insanely litigeous," and so forth).
  
• Dragon technology, arts, etc.

Also the usual adventures and adventure outlines etc.

If all goes well I hope to release it simultaneously in HTML and PDF versions early next year, and will release the next version of the FF CD-ROM at the same time.

Anyway, expect to see a lot more about this as I get into it; as usual I'll be looking for feedback on my ideas etc., and it will help immensely if as many people as possible read the book first (plug plug), you really won't regret it.

Later: Forgot to mention that the first chapter and a lot of other stuff is on line here:

http://www.zorinth.net/bluejo/books/dragon/dindex.htm

A lot later: Apparently there's going to be an Orb edition of the book, no idea when as yet.

Comments

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Looking forward to it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Congratulations - you just volunteered to be a beta tester...

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Sounds fantastic. And I'm even now trawling amazon for the book.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's pretty cheap - I got the hardcover for £3.20 plus shipping, think it came out about a fiver. That was the same vendor (a1 books) that has them at that price now.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Forgot to add that if I can ever find the damn thing I will have a spare copy for sale, the one I bought ages ago and never got round to reading. But I spent a week looking for it after Jo suggested this project, so it's obviously very well buried.

[armb.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds fun.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

When I was up in Montreal for Farthing-Party, Papersky mentioned that you were doing this, and I mentioned to her that I would LOVE to be a beta-tester for this.

And the said that I should tell you, not her. I'd love to be one of your beta-testers.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

OK, won't have anything ready for testing for a while, but when I do I'll issue a call for volunteers.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

I'd like to volunteer myself, miseri and swestrup as beta testers. (Actually, maybe I should mention it to them first...)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Watch this space - hopefully it won't be too long before I'm asking for volunteers properly.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

I might not be able to find anyone to playtest with, but I'm at least potentially interested in playtesting / beta-reading.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'll ask for readers when I've written more of it, won't be for a while.

[catrambo.livejournal.com]

Way, way nifty.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - my last two projects fell through, this one feels different from the start and I'm pretty sure will go well.

Sounds like some major changes for FF RPG

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

So far I've run half an adventure using FF rules (The Channel Tunnel! Hurrah!), and found that one or two house rules really livened the game. One of the changes we did was to add "plot points" as another use for bonus points during a game. This really livened the game up, by letting the players add plot elements that would add interest. I also gave out bonus points if a player added a plot element that put his character into peril or danger.

Now with dragons coming into play, I think we'll run into problems with humans vs. dragons in combat. It could come down to dividing the dragon's skill/attribute by the human's and you get 1 vs 10. :-)

Any chance of getting on the playtest list?

Re: Sounds like some major changes for FF RPG

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

So far I'm mostly working on background stuff, it'll probably be a few weeks before I get to serious rules stuff. I'll be posting here as things are ready to be read.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I'd be glad to playtest your Tooth and Claw RPG.

My creds: I co-wrote World Tree RPG. I've done lots of playtesting for Ars Magica over the last decade. I've read Tooth and Claw, and so did at least one of my players.