[belaran]

The Faescients !!!

[AJCarrington]

A new design update has been posted on Tumblr, along with some art:

[AJCarrington]

Design update #4 is live; some nice new art, from K. Hardy, as well:

[Sendaz]

Ah, the Moss Ellyllon Cantina no doubt

[TonyK]

Ah, the Moss Ellyllon Cantina no doubt

And the band's playing a hide drum, pan flute and a recorder.

[AJCarrington]

Cover:



As noted here, now available.

[AJCarrington]

Final Dev blog here.

Cover art by Alyssa Menold:



Another nice piece:

[Marzhin]

I'm curious what reactions'll be to this one.  It's probably the most "this isn't for everyone" book I've seen in a long time -- just the nature of this beast, I guess -- but I think the folks who dig it are gonna really dig it.

I need to find some time to read it properly, just been browsing through it in the afternoon (yes it's evening where I live) and I'm liking it so far. It feels like a refreshing take on the Shadowrun tropes, and after quite a few techno-centric metaplots I appreciate a visit to the metaplanes for a change, with all their weirdness and magical intrigues. In spirit, Court of Shadows reminds me a lot of Harlequin's Back, with a setting that feels less "random" and more connected to the "regular" Sixth World.

A few notes:

    I appreciate that while not directly making links to Earthdawn it's not actively contradicting it either. The few mentions of the "Age of Legend" brought a smile to my face.
    On a similar note: when I try this setting with my players, I'll totally have them meet some creepy elves with bloody thorns protruding from their bodies.
    I think some things are a bit confusing. Stuff the writer(s) probably felt was obvious but really isn't.
    For instance Brane Deigh is described as a changeling, which I guess refers to the folklore that fae replace (meta)human babies with fae babies. But then the word changeling is also used for doppelgangers, which seem to be an entirely different concept.
    Another example: "Working with an Adept" is listed as one of the ways to find the way to the Seelie Court, but what an Adept is or why they have their entries to the Seelie Court doesn't seem to be explained anywhere (not by searching Adept in the pdf in any case). Is it meant to be the same thing as the regular "physical/mystical adept" archetype?
    Last but not least, the way the Seelie Court is retroactively worked into the history of the world sometimes feels forced and unnatural, like the War of Sorrows being mentioned as the source of the racism/bigotry against magical/metahuman races, or people searching for the Court after the Awakening in the hope to "cure" their awakened/goblinized children. If the latter was said to be specific to Ireland I would say why not, but the text makes it feel like it was a worldwide craze, which feels very artificial.

That's just the things I've noticed so far.
Oh, and I love that cover art. Any hope for a wallpaper version?

[Aria]

Only had a chance to skim, all the art is great!

[Prime Mover]

After first skim and early fiction I'm hooked.  When have free time later tonight plan on reading from front to back.  I was on fence with this and holding judgement till I got to see it.  Seems like gonna see tie in with fiction and tarot cards.  Always been big fan of "event" source material and this looks likes its going to fit that bill. Been awhile since we've had something earth shaking that adds to the game (AI infection has never captured my imagination like say bug spirits, Cartels, Early Artifacts story or Death of our Dragon President).  Looking forward to digging back into it.

[adzling]

Picked it up and haven't got that far yet so impressions are still preliminary.

The layout and design is attractive and it has a working table contents so at least it's got those very basic elements right (I can't believe I have to say that, but there you go).

The writing is pretty good although the little fluff stories haven't grabbed me much, just not that compelling for me.

At the moment I'm vacillating between "this could be interesting" and "wtf is the point of Srun with a different setting".

Still not sure which side i'm going to come down on in the end, I'll keep forging ahead and see where I land at the end of the book.

[Prime Mover]

Bit of a Planescape vibe.  Ties into lots of old SR lore while still being a fresh take.  Middling stats on some of power players (I'd be tempted to use legend rules with a few of Fae).  Scratches at surface of Faes Artifact horde.  In some ways feels like an intro to bigger things to come. Lots of setting, factions and plots, a ton of plot threads to pull at.

[Marzhin]

Another thing I find a bit unclear is what, exactly, is a fae. Sometimes the text even seems to imply elves and dwarves are fae themselves.

Can I have a confirmation that the following definitions are correct?

- Fae: denizens of the Faery metaplane. Includes the usual creatures/spirits from British folklore (knockers, leshii, etc.), but also some creatures from other folklores such as kappas.
- True Fae: fae who were already around at the time of the Fourth World. Not a lot of them remaining.
- Tuatha De Danann: fae that look like elves and are often confused with them. Essentially an elf metavariant native to the Faery metaplane. Have mixed with metahumanity over the years, and these bloodlines are the ruling families of Tir na Nog.

The Metahuman races are NOT fae, but the fae view them as "cousins", elves in particular. They can join the Courts and play quite important roles in Faery politics (for instance Lady Brane Deigh or Liam O'Connor).

Did I get it all right?

[Rapier]

So far so good for me.

I am disappointed the Path magic rules were not included in the book though.

[Prime Mover]

Is Path magic something elves of Tir Na Nog use or did it originate in Fae realms?  Gonna have to go back and reread Tir na Nog now.