Stone Horizons Announcement Thread

[One Horse Town]

There is the castle and there is outside. They are one and the same.

Welcome to Stone Horizons, where the castle is everywhere and the castle is everything!

Adventure in a world that is contained within the ubiquitous castle.

Rid the dusty corridors of lurking menaces, vermin, political rivals, or corruption.

Climb the social ladder.

Visit long forgotten wings that have not seen the tread of humans for millennia.

Sail seas that are hemmed in by the architecture of ages past.

Clamber over the roofs of a thousand, thousand buildings that stretch beyond the Stone Horizon, only to be met by another vista of the crumbling castle.

Stone Horizons

All you need to create characters and the area of the castle in which you start play is found within this book. Inside are 92 castle features including Hammock Clusters, Bridge Dens, Gatehouses, Libraries, Aviary Towers and many more. Utilise the Customs & Communities tables to create a unique and interesting area in which to play. There are more than 100 skills and special abilities, rules for creating Affiliations & Rivalries with other denizens, guidelines for assigning Goals & Ambitions to your character and using your Status to rise above the masses.

Creating your character also creates the area in which you start play!

Estimated at 256 pages – ETA October 2008

Veiled Horizons – GMs handbook

A companion book to Stone Horizons, this book contains all that the GM needs to create plots, problems and politics for the area in which the players find themselves. The heart of this book is the Problems & Politics master table. From this resource, the GM can create an almost infinite variety of problems to plague the castle. More than 250 entries are exhaustively examined, from Sulphur Frog swarms, to earthquakes, trade wars, Night Terrors and more.

Veiled Horizons also contains NPC generation information, so that the GM can populate the game area with interesting and unusual characters for the players to interact with. Watch out, they may have a secret!

Estimated at 128 pages – ETA October 2008

Stone Horizons – The Architects

This book takes a detailed look at the mythical builders of the castle – The Architects. Within this book you will find information on how to run this enigmatic race and ready to use profiles simulating mentors, despots or even Gods! Also to be found in this tome are 70 special features that the depths of the castle may hide, from Weeping Walls, to Stasis Chambers and Control Pillars. Lastly, you will find information on the artefacts that the Architects left behind. Items and machines that are far more technically advanced than anyone can build today.

The question on everyone’s lips is, ‘Are they still around, and if they are, do they want the castle back?’

Estimated at 128 pages – ETA December 2008

Future Publications

The Bones of the Earth

This details a whole political area ready to accept or damn your characters! More details to follow.

(Note: All estimates are subject to change. I’m a part-timer after all! This is currently the plan, however.)

To be published by Flying Mice Games.




Stone Horizons draws inspiration from the following sources:

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

The primary inspirations taken from these books are the feel and flavour of the game world and the naming conventions. It's a sprawling world of crumbling towers, cyclopean architecture and hidden grottos, populated by Doctors, Professors and Archivists.

The Riverworld Saga by Philip Jose Farmer

The Architects are similar in nature to the manipulative race found within this series of books. The Dark Design & The Magic Labyrinth in particular has informed my creation of the mysterious Architects.

The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly

The idea of hidden and ancient technology that is scattered through the Horizons comes from the Keep of Dare that serves as humanity's saviour in these books. Hidden depths, strange glowing orbs and vats that do goodness knows what.

Mordant’s Need by Stephen Donaldson

These books primarily informed my choices as to the sort of politics that can become important within an enclosed space (in the case of SH, a whole world of enclosed spaces). The first book takes place almost entirely within one castle and the plots and schemes that take up the book are a nice indicator of what a typical game of SH will contain.

Play tests

A full-scale alpha play test (with input from Flying Mice Games) will be announced in the next couple of months. Stay tuned to this thread to find out details!

[Danger]

Excellent!

I am touching myself in glee at this news!

[Ian Absentia]

I'm touching Danger in glee as well!

!i!

[One Horse Town]

Just so you know, i'm not touching either of you...

[Drew]

Wow, it's actually happening! Well done mate, it's a great idea that looks exceptionally well implemented. Your imagination, enthusiasm and transparency throughout the design process sold me on the idea months ago.

So, will this be distributed via PDF, POD or a traditional print run? At least one inquiring mind wants to know.

[flyingmice]

Wow, it's actually happening! Well done mate, it's a great idea that looks exceptionally well implemented. Your imagination, enthusiasm and transparency throughout the design process sold me on the idea months ago.

So, will this be distributed via PDF, POD or a traditional print run? At least one inquiring mind wants to know.

PDF and POD.

-clash

[Drew]

PDF and POD.

Excellent.

[Danger]

But...but...October is just so far away.  I want this now.

Would stamping feet and holding my breath help speed things up, hmmmm?

[One Horse Town]

But...but...October is just so far away.  

Seems bloody close to me mate!

[One Horse Town]

Despite loads of shit happening recently, i'm confident that the first playtest of Stone Horizons can commence on the 1st July 2008.

This playtest will include a compressed version of the setting, a compressed equipment guide, but fully formed chargen. Full NPC creation rules will be included, along with a compressed Problems & Politics guide for GMs.

Please register interest in this thread if you want to be involved in the official playtest. Ideally, i want 3 or more groups involved. Full playtester credits will be printed in the books (and i'll see what i can sort out with clash regarding copies).

I am working on a questionairre and check-list for playtesters to fill out with feedback and any comments they may have.

[flyingmice]

Despite loads of shit happening recently, i'm confident that the first playtest of Stone Horizons can commence on the 1st July 2008.

This playtest will include a compressed version of the setting, a compressed equipment guide, but fully formed chargen. Full NPC creation rules will be included, along with a compressed Problems & Politics guide for GMs.

Please register interest in this thread if you want to be involved in the official playtest. Ideally, i want 3 or more groups involved. Full playtester credits will be printed in the books (and i'll see what i can sort out with clash regarding copies).

I am working on a questionairre and check-list for playtesters to fill out with feedback and any comments they may have.

 Well me, D'OH!

-clash

[One Horse Town]

Well me, D'OH!

-clash

I figured that was a given!

BTW, i sent you a PM a while ago regarding some artwork. Check your inbox!

[One Horse Town]

1 week left for anyone wanting to register their interest.

[One Horse Town]

Annoyance dogs the amateur, it seems. See my signature for the latest news.


However, i am interested in hearing from illustrators who might be up for some work on Stone Horizons.

You must be comfortable with drawing architecture, buildings, panaramas, and slightly quirky characters. Line drawings preferred, although chapter headings can be more ambitious. PM me if you are intrigued - or have been following along.

[HinterWelt]

Annoyance dogs the amateur, it seems. See my signature for the latest news.


However, i am interested in hearing from illustrators who might be up for some work on Stone Horizons.

You must be comfortable with drawing architecture, buildings, panaramas, and slightly quirky characters. Line drawings preferred, although chapter headings can be more ambitious. PM me if you are intrigued - or have been following along.

Oh, the guy who did the Turris cover, Irish guy who was great to work with....

Looking... John McSweeney. A good guy.

Oh, also, I cannot RECOMMEND THE CARMONA BROTHERS ENOUGH! They rock on toast with grape jelly and then some. Jesus and Javier Carmona Esteban. They are rock solid reliable and do great monsters/character/awesome goodness.

Bill