Answers deserve Questions

Games Discussion Feng Shui
1

Earlier today I saw that the holding pattern of Glimpse of the Abyss has come to an end. Even though it means more work and a longer wait, I'm glad to hear the news. The update is appreciated.

In another thread, Jeff mentioned that it'll be a while yet and the earliest we'd see the book would be late '06. A more realistic timeframe would be early '07. Look in the thread "New Board, Old Questions" for the reference.

Now that we know the project status for Glimpse, I have to ask...

Will this be the last supplement for Feng Shui? Or are there more ideas swimming in Atlas' heads for FS?

If you were lacking specific ideas, here's one:
Hidden Gateways
128 pages Hardcover.
Find out what happens to the distant future after Bonegal and Boatman inevitably pass away. Live through the terrors of all three World Wars. See for yourself the feirceness of the Dinosaurs. Don armour and ride through the Crusades. Walk the Egyptian deserts during Ra's rule.

This book would describe the rare gateways that do not go to the four known junctures. Understand what the world looks like without the major factions involved, and get to know the major players in forgotten times. With this supplement for Feng Shui the pulpiest ideas can be realised.

The only thing stopping you is your imagination.

...just a thought....
Cheers,
Neil.

2

My guess is that this will be the last FS supplement for a while. To be honest, Feng Shui has been hit hard by the weakness of RPGs in the past few years. A lot of the game's base of sales were in the USA, and in my observations the US is where we've seen the worst decline in the RPG market (as well as the biggest boom in the d20 bubble).

Ars Magica is doing pretty well, and I think there are a couple of reasons -- the new edition obviously helped (it let a lot of stores and distributors and for that matter consumers try the line for the first time and keep up with it, without feeling like they needed to order 20+ existing titles in order to stock it properly); but also Ars Magica has always had a much bigger percentage of its sales to non-US distributors, and those sales have remained fairly steady even while the US market underwent a lot of turmoil (including a number of distributors who used to represent a good chunk of RPG sales for us going out of business in recent years).

For Feng Shui, I think this means that the game will need a new edition before additional supplements will make financial sense. I'm not sure if the game needs a new edition on its own terms, but in terms of marketing -- persuading a lot of retail stores to try the game out -- it's probably a necessity. I've heard tell that even in good times there's a typical turnover of 20% per year for game stores -- new stores open to replace old ones, sure, but they don't necessarily stock the same titles, especially when it comes to older games. Thus there's a sort of natural erosion of the market reach for any game over time, and it's surely magnified by a scarcity of new releases...drooping sales make new releases unviable; a lack of new releases continues the drooping sales... You get the picture.

Anyhow -- no final decision has been reached, and certainly no specific plans, but that's my off-the-cuff thinking on the topic. In the meantime, the latest reprint of the core rulebook is still available (and still sells pretty well every month), as well as most of the supplements. And in due time, we will at last see Glimpse of the Abyss. :slight_smile:

3

I think you might be right that Feng Shui probably doesn't require a new edition. The rules are clear, the plot is juicy, and the game play is fun. Not a whole lot more that you could ask for in a game.

I find it dissapointing to see what d20 is doing to the standard gaming diet. Though I am thankful that my group still plays a variation of systems, it is getting harder and harder to encourage newer players to take a leap of faith and learn new mechanics.

How would I imagine a new edition would look?

Main Book - Everything a player needs to play. Term explainations. All the character templates that have been added to the game (ideally with 2 page layouts to describe what makes them different in each juncture). All the mechanics and schticks in one place: Guns, Driving, Creature, Magic, Hardware, Arcanotech, and Group too. Essentially all the rules to date. Hopefully there would be less cross-referencing and more examples.

You can't forget the colour information too. But I'd keep it down to a description of what starting players might now about each of the junctures. Keep it broad-strokes so that a player can properly decide if they would be from the '69, 1850, '96, '56, Netherworld, or the Underworld.

GM's Book - There have been countless times I wished my players had not read about Fast Eddie Lo, the Four Monarchs, and even the Lodge. Thankfully, my wishes have been granted for the most part (so far). It would be good to remove the temptation of the "forbidden fruit" from the player's book. This would have a good explaination of how to build GMC's with a variety of examples, where the meta-plot is and where it's going, general faction information, lots of information about the acutal Sites.

Faction Books - Dragon, Hand, Lotus, Jammer, Architect, Monarchs, and Underworld. Here's where the plot really moves forward. In the last books, there were goals mentioned - - which ones have succeeded? Which ones have failed?

Players Options - I've found that Iron+Silk gets used pretty often at our table. There are a few odd things that have come up that have needed to be ad-libbed, but it's been a great guide for that too.

One Big Adventure - Having a few small adventures is one thing, but to have a full campaign for new GMs to cut their teeth on, and old players to see new tricks from, would be great. It's good to see how the writers of a game wrap all the details together into a full story with sub-plots and running gags. Sometimes it's just nice to take the pressure off of being creative for a few months.

These are just some ideas. But my pet-peeves still remain the same. I end up cross-referencing between too many books. Reading the player creation rules isn't as easy as actually making a character. I don't know how much different a new edition would be in those regards, but hope that ultimately the game stays alive.

Gee, I didn't mention what shouldn't change. Keep the dice system, it helps the action remain fast and furious. I enjoy the looseness and creativity of the game.

Still looking forward to the Abyss,
Neil.

4

"And in due time, we will at last see Glimpse of the Abyss."

[color=darkblue][size=200]YEEEEEAAAAHHH, BAY-BEE!![/size]