Book 0 - Prologue

[Skywalker]

I also think Journeys is a better title for a book than Travels

[First Age]

I'm really looking forward to running this game. My pitch for the Furnace Games convention is below. Since then I'm being asked to run a Google+ Hangouts game of it. It's certainly garnered some interest!

Here's my game pitch for Furnace:

Loch Varn
Shadows of Esteren

Session 2 (Saturday afternoon)
Max Number of Players: 6
Length of Game: 3.48 hours (Predicted by a hated Magience time keeper)

You are surrounded by an oppressive field of maze like ruins. Twisted metallic beams and rubble that fade around you in the shivering gloom. Only a few guttering torches lie on the floor lighting the surroundings.

Arrows and bolts are fizzing above your heads, spitting longing death out of the gloom. Looking around, you meet the fearful eyes of your comrades. You recognise them, but you do not know how you are there, or where you are, how long you have been fighting. After exchanging a few shots into the darkness you have to withdraw, running stumbling, desperately wondering if this is only some nightmare. Yet you feel so alive as death spins around you.

Explore, perhaps for the first time, the Shadows of Esteren in the depths of the Tri-Kazel peninsula. A medieval fantasy with Celtic inspirations and Gothic undertones. As men undermine their own place in the world they must also face the Feondas, a threat as ancient as it is dreadful, a threat that has remained beyond understanding from before the time of the oldest songs.

Tags: Fantasy, Gothic horror, French, Gorgeous

[Dragoslav]

Great pitch. It's made me excited for the game all over again.

[Clovis]

Indeed! It really makes for a great teaser, and I particularly enjoy the touch of humor with the "3.48" hours part. Overall, you can get a powerful epic yet grim feeling from this pitch. Nice job!

Oh, and the "Gorgeous" tag is very flattering

By the way, do you intend to run these Hangouts you have been asked for?

[First Age]

Indeed! It really makes for a great teaser, and I particularly enjoy the touch of humor with the "3.48" hours part. Overall, you can get a powerful epic yet grim feeling from this pitch. Nice job!

Thanks! I'm busy enthusing my local gamers and will be running it at Furnace too. I'd like to run the game at other conventions that I go to.

Oh, and the "Gorgeous" tag is very flattering

Accurate, very accurate.

By the way, do you intend to run these Hangouts you have been asked for?

Looking likely. It will be later in the year but I have a group of five who are keen and they are distributed over the UK, so Hangouts will be the way to go.

[Clovis]

Thanks! I'm busy enthusing my local gamers and will be running it at Furnace too. I'd like to run the game at other conventions that I go to.

By the way, when you say "Furnace", you mean this Furnace, right? I just want to make sure, since I didn't know about this convention, and it is the first result that came up on Google.

Looking likely. It will be later in the year but I have a group of five who are keen and they are distributed over the UK, so Hangouts will be the way to go.

A'right! I'll be interested in knowing about the results then.

[Kryptovidicus]

That's indeed a great pitch, very direct and mysterious at the same time.
I would join the game in an instant.

[First Age]

By the way, when you say "Furnace", you mean this Furnace, right? I just want to make sure, since I didn't know about this convention, and it is the first result that came up on Google.

I do. Eighty gamers meet in October for a weekend of five intense sessions of tabletop roleplaying. It'll be great to run the game there and share some of the Prologue books too.

There is a good chance that I'll be starting a Hangout game before then. I think the important thing for Shadows of Esteren is that it gets played and talked about. We should also think about how we can write contributions to the game, particularly new adventures.

I can't get to it at work, but hopefully we are all participating positively on the forum.rpg.net Esteren thread? I'll be posting o there in the next couple of days.

[Clovis]

Eighty gamers meet in October for a weekend of five intense sessions of tabletop roleplaying. It'll be great to run the game there and share some of the Prologue books too.

Nice! I look forward to seeing how your game session, and the convention as a whole, pans out!

When you mention "share some of the Prologue books", do you mean that you bought several ones of them, and that you intend to give some of them away during Furnace?

I think the important thing for Shadows of Esteren is that it gets played and talked about. We should also think about how we can write contributions to the game, particularly new adventures.

I definitely agree (duh)! I can honestly say that Shadows of Esteren is a deep, original, and easy to handle game, that can appeal to both novice Players and more seasoned ones. However, it still suffers from being relatively obscure among English-speaking role-players. We have gotten incredible support from many amazing people so far, but now, we are counting on you to help us keep the game alive!

I can't get to it at work, but hopefully we are all participating positively on the forum.rpg.net Esteren thread? I'll be posting o there in the next couple of days.

Indeed! I didn't know until recently how active the thread dedicated to Shadows of Esteren was, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it amounted to more than 60 pages.

Still, don't forget to post about your experience on the official forum as well. After all, it's the main base of operations for Shadows of Esteren!

[Nelyhann]

I would like to share this with you :

This is Kickstarter!

Some of you have started to receive their rewards ... Today, a small post and two photos!

Initially, the Book 0 Prologue is a soft cover book. Here's how it came out in France, funded by our editor:



Not bad: 80 pages full color book.

But feel the difference. Here is the version funded by this Kickstarter, by YOU :





It's really magical. We were able to go beyond what we wanted for this book. It is a great pleasure for authors to see their work highlighted this way.

THANK YOU all for this great adventure.

Enjoy your trip in Tri-Kazel! And please share with us your feedbacks!

The Esteren Team