You may have noticed in a few posts I sometimes use “we” when talking about the parts of Far Away Land and the upcoming books. It might feel like a royal “we,” but it’s actually more specific. For the last year I have had someone working alongside me on Far Away Land. Their help has come in many forms including scheduling social media posts, helping me focus and prioritize tasks, proofreading various drafts, generating ideas, talking through the structure for the 2nd Edition, etc. They also helped me get back into running games. In addition to all things mentioned here, they have been a tremendous help and creative influence on the Book of Lore, having written many of the stories, inspired much of the art, or created text based off the art I provided. I say all of this in the interest of transparency and as a reminder that collaboration (between creators, or even between players and GMs) can be a great thing. This has been a massive project and having someone to work alongside has taken off much of the stress and made the entirety of the journey more exciting.

 

Following up on the post of the Core Rules Cover: Another of the available books in the upcoming Kickstarter will be Bestiary I which features 350 creature entries. This book compiles creatures found in the Tome of Awesome, Creatures Vol. 1 and 2, Seas of FAL, and some entries from Adventures in the Materiosphere. Here’s the cover that features a Velveteen Worm and some wormknappers!

 

I posted an image of the Enchiridion of Awesome cover last month. That book contains both the core rules and the bestiary and comes in around 470 pages. But, folks will have the option to get the core rules and the bestiary as separate books as well. Here is the working cover of the core rules.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Far Away Land, I wanted to share some notes on where it currently resides in the gaming landscape. On DriveThruRPG, the Tome of Awesome (which is the core rulebook for the First Edition of the game) is a Gold bestseller with a 5-star rating. In addition to the Core Rules, each of the expansion books are Silver or Gold sellers, also with 5-star ratings. Along with these ratings and sales are a handful of reviews from various places, each of which praised Far Away Land’s design, mechanics, and aesthetics. And there are a bunch of free adventures that support the game. 

My goal with the Second Edition is to continue this trend. My company, Simian Circle Games, is small and until the last year, has consisted only of myself doing all writing, design, layout, art, etc. My goal with Second Edition is to create an awesome game, to build an awesome fantasy world that feels new and unique and fun, to swallow the viewer in visuals and artwork and lore that makes them interested in something I have spent so many hours creating. Far Away Land is my passion project. I love the FAL universe, and with the Second Edition, I hope this love and passion shows through and extends to others who have taken the time to get to know the game and the world.

 

Two adventures will be provided in the Kickstarter. These will be familiar to folks with first edition as they will include The Wizard’s Spiral which is a Level 0 Grinder and Isle of the Rat Wizard which is an introductory adventure for Level 1 PCs. The goal of both of these adventures is to provide players with easy to access content to immediately get started in FAL. The Wizard’s Spiral allows GMs to run a grinder event in order to weed out weak Level 0 PCs while Isle of the Rat Wizard allows Level 1 PCs to test their mettle. Both adventures have been updated for the new rules of course.  

In the 2nd Edition of Far Away Land, I am really intent on players being able to create stories and narrate as much as possible during play. I think it is an easy way to get players involved in the game and give them a sense of ownership and agency over their interactions and actions. It gives them that wonderful moment to shine and be the center of attention. That feels good.

The new magic system reflects this style of play by allowing for a more freeform approach to magic that provides players and GMs a list of descriptors and effects to build the basic definition of a spell. The system uses two keywords, a descriptor (like provoking or weakening) and an effect (like plume or blast). With this two-word combination, the player (within guidelines) is free to determine the spell specifics. As a character increases in their magical abilities, the effects of that spell likewise increase. For example, a low-level wizard with a spell that creates light might be able to conjure up something like the light of a candle while a high-level caster with the same spell might be able to create a flash of light blinding a room full of goabs! The high-level caster could even have the option to modulate its power as needed.

I really believe this system can create spells that feel linked to the PC, who is free to change the name of the spell to personalize it once it is defined, and allows for more nuance and storytelling.

 

On Tuesday, July 9th, we will provide the link for the prelaunch signup link Far Away Land Kickstarter. Things are coming together, proofs of The Enchiridion of Awesome along with the Core Rules and Bestiary I have been ordered. The Book of Lore is in the layout process with art and finalized writing being completed. All books will of course be completed prior to the actual project launch which we will be announcing in an upcoming post!