hey im new here and ive been buying up Feng Shui like crazy.ive been playing awile and just got back into it.new company and everything this great! but i was just wondering though,on the shadow fist card game there is about to be 10 groups in the secret war.is there going to be sorce books for the new groups coming out for the rpg? and an book for the 1937 time rift opening?
Last I heard there were no plan to include any new factions/junctures from Shadowfist- sadly it seems that Atlas is kind of winding down the Feng Shui line for the moment. There should be enough different bits and pieces from the source books to homebrew them up, mind you.
If you're buying up like crazy, the 'complete' list of books is currently:
Back For Seconds (Daedalus)
Marked For Death (Daedalus- scenarios)
Feng Shui
Seed of the New Flesh
Golden Comeback
Seal of the Wheel
Elevator to the Netherworld
Four Bastards (scenario)
In Your Face Again (scenario)
On Location (GM Screen)
Thorns of the Lotus (reprint)
Blood of the Valiant (reprint)
Gorilla Warfare
Friends of the Dragon
Iron and Silk
Blowing Up Hong Kong
Which will be joined by Glimpse of the Abyss when it comes out.
If it comes out... le sigh
I wonder if Feng Shui is effectively dead, at least from the new product perspective. Doesn't seem like Atlas has a great deal of interest in it nowadays.
well i have ordered or already have everything .but the Abyss.there is a peek in some places for the Feng Shui,they sould make it their flag ship product
It has not been formally re-announced, but our whiteboard plan is to see Glimpse of the Abyss released at long last in June. It looks like it will be a 96-page softcover, rather than the 128- or 144-page hardcover we had originally expected so many moons ago.
After that, we have no immediate plans for more books. The game keeps selling at a modest pace, but the RPG market is soft, and publishing more books for it is just not the optimal way to commit our limited resources (in particular, our time, which is the most scarce resource).
Someone more official may want to correct me, but back when Daedelus collapsed and Atlas licensed the RPG from Robin Laws, a decision was made to keep the RPG and card game properties separate. Thus, any characters, factions, or plot development from the Shadowfist card game are essentially the intellectual property of Z-Man Games. And yes, in theory Atlas could license or work out an agreement for that material with Z-Man Games and produce sourcebooks that contain that material, but there are some problems with this:
- There is no line developer/production lead for Feng Shui. Whatever work needs to be done is being handled by Jeff Tidball when he has time for it.
- There are no in-house employees working on any new material for Feng Shui. All of the new material is being done either as contract work or by freelancers.
- As John Nephew said, sales are modest, but overall the RPG market is "softening" as the retail distribution chain finishes its implosion. Without some kind of marketing gimmick to drive new sales, investing in more Feng Shui books would be pretty high risk for Atlas.
As far as the future of the line... some of my thoughts:
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A new edition could be interesting, and although I've suggested it to Robin Laws before, he's usually a bit too swamped with other projects to seriously consider it. However, since he still holds all of the rights to the game, any new edition would ultimately have to go through him by his say-so.
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There's been some pushing towards Print-On-Demand and PDF publishing (Robin's latest game, The Esoterrorists, is an experiment in that direction). If there are any new sourcebooks coming out for Feng Shui, I'm guessing they will probably be PDF only and available through e23. Some public discussion with the fans on their disposition towards PDF publishing might be worthwhile.
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I've got a few Feng Shui projects I've been working on that I need to pitch to Atlas (including a campaign that could open up a pulp juncture) that might work well as PDF downloads, but most of them are a bit rough around the edges at the moment. Since Atlas doesn't have a lot of resources to dedicate to editing/production/layout, I would guess keeping those costs down would be a concern.
understandable. just thought it would be great that one hand washes the other. thanks for the replys guys it was very in-forming.
untill the 5 devil monks turn good guys peace. 
oh yeah i was wondering do the supplment books have player types in them. i mean anyone know with ones have them and which ones dont. i just looked back at my books and i dont have all of them just the sorcebooks 
Got there before you 
. I asked Atlas and the upshot seems top be that they won't make the money back licensing third party stuff as they would need to review it, but anything you want to publish free of charge (possibly making money from amazon affiliates or ads) is more reasonable. If there are other people plotting similar things we may be able to pool resources- but we would have to check with Atlas bods.
I don't come to the boards as often as I used to but recently there was some talk of Atlas hosting Play by Post at this forum. Of all games, I think Feng Shui is well suited to PBP. The one I participate in it at RPOL does quite well.
I could envision an Atlas PBP possibly reinvigorating interest in Feng Shui and if the market recovers, leading (one day), to a new interest in the game.
I'm a die hard Ars fan, but Feng Shui is 'flagship' worthy. People just don't get it.
I've always held the opinion that Atlas 'problem' is there games are to good. The consistently make games that are so well written that they don't need A)Supplements or B)New Editions. This means they end up making a run, people buy it and then the game is done. Certainly Feng Shui has room for supplemental material, but Over The Edge it's a nigh perfect stand alone game. Great for us, bad for sales.
Well I'm interested in Sensi and Queex produceing fan material cause over the years these guys have had tons of cool ideas. I'm not a publisher, but I listen carefully. I think the future of supplements for indie-games may be PDF's. As long as companies can secure the files and fan-boys pay for them over copy them, it would seem that in terms of cost that may be a way to keep smaller games going. But again, I'm not a publisher so what do I know.
Oh yeah, if the boards start a PbP I'd consider participating as a means to show off FS.
We'll still be glad to see it, anyhow! More slimy, spiny and overly-eyeballed things, hurrah! And with some new Creature Powers, we can just keep homebrewing things the players haven't encountered yet anyway ...
Just to update everyone as to where thing are at with Glimpse of the Abyss, the manuscript has now been revised to include the playtesters' notes, and is awaiting layout (which I will also be doing). There's not anything I can see that's standing in the way of its whiteboarded release date this summer.