By Gavin Dady
Hello friends. This month we are going to look at our next set of releases, look at some of the changes that we have taken from the community feedback on the core rulebook update, look at the progress of some products, talk about future products and perhaps see a secret or two…
Frost Atronach
This month sees the release of the fearsome elemental Daedra that is the Frost Atronach. Summonable by mages skilled enough in the mystic arts, the Frost Atronach is a powerhouse of melee combat. Its icy, spiked fists are capable of multiple blows, and potentially chilling its target. The Atronach also poses a threat once defeated as it can explode in a shower of icy slivers!
Revised Rulebook Update
We’ve now completed our review of the revised rulebook and it’s going back into the layout team to chase down all those pesky Page XX’s and make some of the changes suggested by the community. There were over 196 suggestions made and we’ve reviewed every one of them. Some we just can’t do – like changing the rulebook to an A4 hardback, for instance. Some we rejected because we felt that the existing rules were fine, but perhaps weren’t explained well, so we’ve expanded and clarified many rules. Some were to remove contradictions (You now no longer forced to both stop in place AND continue moving if you Fall). Some were to fill gaps that we noticed whilst looking at other rules (you now can’t just Jump down off of Large Terrain – you actually have to climb down or risk Fall damage). Some we reviewed and feel are too fundamental a change for now so have opted not to follow up on.
There are a couple that I would like to highlight now, though. Bear in mind that final names and wording might change:
- Adversaries will now be affected by Shock and Frost damage. We’ve created two new conditions, Chilled and Shocked (like Burning), for when you take these types of Elemental Damage.
- The Magic and Enchanted damage types have been clarified, with Magic now becoming its own Damage type specifically. Enchanted is still there, but we are likely to use Magic Damage in its place in the future. Also, Dragon Shouts are Magic Damage.
- The rules for Adversaries trying to Spot Hidden enemies have been updated, and what they do when they can’t see anyone has been clarified.
- Terrifying has been tweaked slightly to remove the possibility of triggering it three or four times in one round. Ysrald really isn’t THAT terrifying.
These are just some of the many changes we have made. Look out for further news on the Revised Rulebook next month.
Histories Volume 2, Settlements and Character Progression
Histories of the Empire: Volume 2 is progressing well and the manuscript has been approved by Bethesda. We are now moving on to art direction and layout, gathering the images, maps, diagrams and shooting new photographs to fill the book with beautiful images. The same artist that drew our gorgeous Playmat and Skyrim Boardgame map has been contacted to work on the fold-out map of Blackreach that is the background setting for half of the campaign.
We are also going into closed playtest on our next two systems – Settlements and Character Progression. We’ve wanted to do a more detailed levelling system since the game’s inception – being able to take a hero from their first encounters all the way through to being a mighty champion of Skyrim has always been our aim. Having a place to hang your axe and helm in between adventures and derring-do was also something we wanted to do.
We’re now opening up a closed public playtest for these two products. If you’d like to help shape the future of the game, and have a peek behind the curtain of the Dev process, you can sign up using this form.
You will be required to complete the Modiphius NDA, which is linked off of the form.
Chapter 4
The more eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that there’s only one release this month – the Frost Atronach. That’s because we are going to be slowing our release schedule down from two sets a month to one for the remainder of Chapter 4. We’ve found that the release schedules for our print products and our models have become increasingly separated for various reasons. The Chapter 3 Card Pack was released in the same month as the *last* set of Chapter 3, which is not where we want to be. By slowing the release rate of models, we can avoid outpacing ourselves and try to get the print products back on track. We’re still releasing all the same products, just over a longer period now.
That’s all for this month. See you in the wilderness, brave adventurers. Oh, and watch out for those that have been blessed by lord Hircine….
