I realize that you left the Desolation RPG open for individual interpretation by individual GM's to put their own slant on things for a reason. However, I wish you would have put a bit more detail in certain areas of the game (such as in the Before period, for example). I am having to write up my own history for the game setting and it is taking away from my writing adventures for my players. If you had listed an actual timeline for each of the events that you've included in the book, with specific dates for when specific events took place, that would have been a big help.

Having said that, in future products for this game, you should really have a completed listing of items, such as weapons and armor and other adventuring items, so that the players and GM's will have a better idea of what items are available in the After.

The second thing that I think you should have for any future products for this game is a completed Bestiary, with all possible permutations factored in already(broken, weave-touched, etc.). The thing I didn't like about the Bestiary that you included in the main book was that you didn't explain how to apply the effects you mentioned on the critters you provided in the book.

Another thing that I think could use some polishing is the points system. For example, say I wanted to create an NPC that was considered to be extremely powerful as compared to other NPC's of the same type. In the book, the highest that is available is 5. How do I adjust the points to reflect above a 5 (Like a 6 or 10 or higher, etc)? That wasn't very clear when I read through that part.

With all things considered, I think that this game is an excellent game. But, I do feel that there are some things about this game that are going to require more work on my part than I can put in at this particular time (for example, having to write a history for the period before there was an Ascondea.).

We're glad you like the game so far, but we defintely understand there are some open questions. Let me see if I can address some of them...

1. Timeline - We may have one of those that we used when writing the book. I will take a look and see if we can polish off something that is moderately useful and toss it online sometime.

2. Equipment - We will be fixing this in the first supplement. We will have standard equipment, plus some exotic/unique items to the Desolation setting.

3. Bestiary - I am not where a bestiary is in the future, but I'm sure we can come up with a pretty standard formula that can be applied to animals to create a default broken version. I am not sure how to create a standard weave-touched creature, however. We are defintely planning on trying to have a monthly "feature" on the website in 2009 - perhaps creature creation should be a topic.

4. Powerful NPCs - I think the chart for the NPCs on page 213 can be expanded linearly; add 3 to attributes, 5 to skills, 1 talent and 1 style point for every NPC rank.

We appreciate any feedback we can get, so thanks for taking to time to letting us know your thoughts!

I'd be curious to know what kind of additional history (or what historical gaps) you are writing. Its good to know what pieces of the setting people are interested in.

I'm working on a history for areas like The Swamp Kingdom (Loslolin) because all that I have read in the book is for Ascondea as that seems to have gotten the majority of the Before section. It would have been helpful if there had been a bit more material on where people from the other lands came from originally before they ended up where they did.

Although we were unable to provide a lot of history about the various nations and regions, hopefully we still managed to create some places with distinct feels for your characters to hail from. We had some short notes on various histories, but they ended up on the cutting room floor.

If you have any questions about what inspired a particular area, don't hestitate to ask.

And as always, once you're done, feel free to share your histories here one the forum.

Matt

Couldn't some items like the Beastiary be online?

Hullo, Matt,



I still maintain that a sourcebook on the world Before would be a valuable addition to the game.

The places on Scondera, as they are detailed in the main DESOLATION book, provide enough info on things to whet the appetite, as well as allowing a player to have a good grasp of the character, but it would have been nice to have lots of detail and all. I could see folks wanting to run a campaign in the period Before, leading up to the Night of Fire, and then going on from that point, perhaps after jumping to the period after the Thaw, but the world would need a lot more detail on areas and the like, to do so.

Still, something to consider for the future, yes?

Hullo, Harlan,



I think while some new creatures and beasties can definitely be put on-line, an official bestiary for the game should be done in a game supplement or a few in each book that comes out for the line. Look at the forums here, and the scant traffic and all, and it would appear that no one knows of or is playing DESOLATION. Putting a lot of beasties up for free would do more harm to the system than promote sales, since people would download the free beasties and use them in whatever rpg they are running.

That said, I have a couple of new beasties that I've done up for the scenario I'll be running at CanGames this year (more on that in the appropriate section of the forums when I hear back from the convention folks), and may well decide to post them up here on the forums.

Anyone with beasts for an online bestiary, we can find them a home over at www.hexipedia.com

Silverback's been doing an excellent job at getting the Hollow Earth stuff up and running but there's definitely room for Desolation!

Are there any specific events you'd like to pin down, for the timeline?