goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
Probably the first question that needs to be answered is: "Why a 2nd edition?"
I wrote the original .45 Adventure rules over five years ago, and in that time we have released six supplements, as well as some things appearing in our Thrilling Expeditions books. That has meant a lot of rules spread out in several places - and in some cases, rules that could conflict with one another.
With that in mind, I set about putting a second edition together. But I ran into a problem fairly early on. It seems that the fixes to the rules confusion were creating far more complexity than they were alleviating.
After some intense discussion, I decided to build second edition from scratch rather than create a hodgepodge of rules fixes compiled in one book. Some of those things that made .45 Adventure what it is will remain, and some things, that had gotten needlessly complex, have been removed.
So, what will you get with this new edition?
- A revised combat system that should be simpler to remember with all the various modifiers altered. No more -2 this or -5 that. There will still be modifiers, but they will be easier to remember. The system is subtle but still requires some thought when playing.
- The three Grades from the original rulebook will remain, but the Grade 1s have been downsized so that players can use them as singles in small games or as squads in larger games. And all the archetypes will get cleaned up and re-balanced with the new rules.
- All the rules for super science, military forces and horror (yes, you heard that right, horror) will be in one book. Now your mad genius can battle your evil cult with robots and tentacled beasts slugging it out.
- And for those who hate having to come up with scenarios, we'll have a random scenario generator that gives you setting, goal, Encounters, and special rules. All you have to do is bring the heroes and villains and you're ready to go.
- Finally, the best part of all, none of your miniatures will become obsolete, they will all still be usable with the new system.
As we did with the first book release, there will be a demo version of the rules made available about a month before the release date. Those people lucky enough to play in our demo games at Historicon (or who make it to the test games we run at Maplewood Hobby in New Jersey) will get some stuff early as we hand out beta versions of the Quick Reference Sheets.
The book will be released in December. Whoa! That's five months away! I know, I wanted to make sure word got out as I will be taking the PDFs and books for 1st edition down from the webstore immediately because I don't want people to buy the old rules and then feel cheated when they discover that a new edition is coming out (anyone still wanting the old editions can email me and order anything we still have in stock).
This new edition will not affect the other games that use the current 1st edition system. Only .45 Adventure, Dragon Bones, Amazing War Stories, The Gargoyle: Death Soldiers of the Jade Hood, and Super Science Tales will be removed. Their contents will be combined into one single 2nd edition volume.
Be sure to head over to The Speakeasy forum, as I will be discussing new things for the rules there and providing early looks at some of the changes.