Saturday, February 7, 2015

Great Job, Robots and Electricity

Well, first off I have some excellent news.

After more than seven years, I am finally and totally out of the restaurant industry.  This Monday, I started a new job at the local hospital as one of the housekeeping staff. Nothing grand, but the pay and environment are both better than I've been in for the last few years. In one jump, I've gone from dirt poor to solidly middle class. That means soon, I'll be able to put a little more into my art budget, but more importantly, my life in general has improved exponentially.

Now, what have I been working on?

Well, I've sent in a compilation of all the Black Tokyo feats and traits to Mark and that should be up soon. Beyond that I'm working on a few major projects this spring.

First, you'll see Black Tokyo: Electric Town, which is a meaty sourcebook detailing a huge hunk of Tokyo. It's going to have tons of content, both in terms of world information and plot hooks, and new powers, gadgets and abilities for your heroes, as well as a nice little bestiary section. Sometime after that, expect Black Tokyo: Cannibal Japan, which should be the sickest and creepiest thing I've ever written.

After that look for Battlechangers: Ironworks. The prospective cover is up top. Remember Battlechangers, the standalone Transformers homage RPG I did back in 2011? Well, I'm going to convert it over to Pathfinder as a race book. Want to play a 20 ft tall transforming mecha in any D20 based game? Want to build a Decepticon and step on Hobbits (names filed off in both cases)? Want to play a futuristic red sports car that transforms into a robotic Midwife in Otherverse America, or a bullet train samurai in Black Tokyo, or an asteroid mining pod that becomes  a smuggler bot in Heavy Future? Of course you fucking do.

Right now I'm about half way done with the Battlechangers: Ironworks draft, and it's coming together pretty well. Mechanically, its much different than Battlechangers, due to the dramatic differences in system, but it retains all the flavor. It's pretty unbalanced, but not quite as unreasonable as I feared it would be. Battlechangers are definitely a powerful race in PFRPG terms, far superior to the average Elf or Dwarf PC when the game begins, but the power-scale differnces aren't as obscene as I first thought they would be.

Most of the mechanics are in place, so if anybody wants to playtest Battlechangers: Ironworks, contact me for a rough draft copy. I'll try to get back to you ASAP.

CHRIS



4 comments:

Unknown said...

Congrats on the new job, may this one last as your life gains some fresh air.
I read through Horrors of the Lifechained and have a new respect for the Nemesis and Genesis. Their influence creates intersteller predators, fortresses with a heartbeat, even chimeras that could devour as many civilizations as they birth. Great artwork and crunch, I now hope that the cosmic deities of the Lifechained do not get a paizo or drivethrurpg account to bolster their ranks.
I somewhat rejoice that the Psiwatch is being phased out of your multiverse, perhaps Metamorphisis North will relocate to Otherverse America and become a fourth superpower in the new war. Save who or what you can, salvage any ideas and insert them into the rest of the multiverse.
I was coming up with the idea that your multiverse could share one galaxy as a mega setting. Otherverse America happed, with bits of Psiwatch layered between 2030s and 2100s. Black Tokyo would exist due to some experiment with the prior universe blending with the collective unconscious of Japan, but would still be mostly isolated due the strange forces at work. In space, both the Culture and the IGC Galaxy Command are on life support after being ripped open by a unified hoard of Lifechained strangely using both Nemesis and Genesis broods/models. Now arrogant elites are facing tv headed bible thumpers, reigniting hatreds long thought lost. Both are squabbling over anything of value, while more civilizations are visiting Earth, for various reasons. Because of the influx of new cultures and people, both lifer and choicer have to deal with becoming part of a bigger stage, and APEX is just happy both nations are not quarreling with posthumans. All while Masters of Endara starts to gain attention as a crown jewel of the Necklace worlds. Ambitious and full of what ifs, Otherverse Milky Way is waiting.

Chris A. Field said...

Metamorphosis North was originally in OA- I originally intended that iconic character Cassie Fenersis/Crucible, formerly worked for them, while she built up her own weapons company, but I drifted away from that, and had her do a stint in the USAF instead.

Redoing Battlechangers has ironically made me want to do more with OA, broke me out of the Black Tokyo mold I've been in.

As for insane crossover, I'm not sure the revised OA will be quite that crazy, but it'll definitely incorporate some of my other worlds and content. I'm actually somewhat tempted to go the anime sci-fi route- set the revised Otherverse America on an earthlike world that is not earth, and just make up a bunch of crazy shit.
CHRIS

ejheckathorn said...

A question, if I may.

In a couple of your earlier posts, you made mention of a title called "Advanced Edge", in a way that seemed to me to imply that it had been released. I can't seem to find it anywhere on DriveThruRPG, however. Am I looking in the wrong place, or has it just not been released yet?

Thank you, and am looking forward to the Battlechangers PDF!

Chris A. Field said...

Ejhekathom,
Advanced Edge is complete and I thought I sent it to Mark for posting, but I think it might of just slipped through the cracks. I resent it and it'll be out soon.
Email me if you want an early copy.

Thanks for letting me know about overlooking this book.
CHRIS