April 20, 2012
Tsar is printing! Notices for shipment have gone out, so if you have not yet received one, please email me at [email protected]s e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Books will ship May 28, with shipment from Paizo (if you bought from their site) about a week later. Greg flies up the week before so we can sign and number the copies ordered directly from us!

RA Reloaded is very rare and expensive…so yes, we are redoing both a Swords and Wizardry and a Pathfinder version  (pre-sale in about a month)—including 20 or so new levels (I am finalizing the last 2 this next week). This puts it over 50 levels!

We added a number of lower level areas (character levels 1-10), a village, a Temple of Tsathogga with a  three level dungeon of its own, and several deeper levels (wait until you see my treatment of the will-o-wisp on Level 12C).  I am also making it a faux-leather, stitch bound hardcover that will look like a Bible, and we are doing a series of 50-60 battle maps (miniature scale) of key encounter areas. Everything is drafted except 2 levels I am behind on (5B and 13C)—maps are in, art is ordered, and editing is in progress! Go Skeeter, John (Stater) and Dawn! The SW version will feature a red cover, and the Pathfinder version will be blue. Retail price is TBD (probably about $100). We may do this as a kickstarter project so we canm print more and get it into distribution. Please let me know your thoughts about this. We could offer premium packages at higher donation amounts--not sure what all would entice folks (a trip to Dallas or PaizoCon with the Frogs perhaps?). For all you collectors--what about copies of my original maps and texts etc.? Possibly extra "subscriber only" module add ons? Let me know what you think--I would like to be able to fund higher to afford to get into brick and mortar stores again.

I think the highest level of support should include free copies for all Acaeum members, at whatever cost. Thanks Martin!!

Kidding aside, the more goodies the better!

Matt and I are discussing perks now--I do want to really do something special for guys who help fund this--news soon

ashmire13 wrote:I'm in for a RA Reloaded for SW right now, save me one! And I'll go in as a backer early doors if necessary too. Good Luck Bill!

I will definitely go for the S&W version but I wish it were AD&D or one of the AD&D clones instead. How does S&W handle such high level play?

I will be getting both, sounds like a great project

Mythmere1 wrote:

ashmire13 wrote:I'm far happier with S&W than PF personally, and with Matts involvement it would be better to support his product too.

From what I've read of the S&W boxset, its pretty AD&D rule orientated anyway?

Yes, I'd really say that playing a S&W module using the 1e rules can be done out of the box without any conversion at all. The other way around, where you're using the S&W rules to play a 1e module, you might run into areas where AD&D has a specified spell or item that doesn't exist in S&W because it wasn't added until 1977+.

Works for me, as I'm 1st ed AD&D anyway. I didn't see any big changes to S&W and think its a great system. Just wish there was more S&W on FGG etc

Using S&W Complete (instead of Core or White Box) gets you a good bit closer to AD&D.

But regardless of which baseline version of S&W you use, I like to think of it as using the AD&D books as supplements to a S&W game. If a module refers to a spell that isn't in S&W, just pull out the PHB and use the spell as-is. Ditto for monsters, magic items, classes, etc. The DNA of the various systems are so similar that the slight numerical/scale differences are mostly just in the noise. Who cares if the NPC cleric has a spell that PC's don't have? (etc.)

Edit: I think I misunderstood Jason's point a bit, so hopefully the above isn't too big of a derail.

An AD&D/S&W version of Tsar would really be something!

Mythmere1 wrote:

JasonZavoda wrote: my thought was that a AD&D clone version of Tsar or Rappan Athuk would be much preferable for use with AD&D.

For someone who uses all the whistles and bells of the AD&D rules, this is true; most especially when you're talking about monsters that have spells or use psionics.

My exposure to FGG and S&W has been Tome and the difference between the basic information in S&W format and even pre-UA 1e AD&D is very great, even with no bells, whistles or psionics.

I started playing with the Holmes basic set but that was the first and last D&D rules set that I used. When AD&D was released I'd found the game I was looking for. Never cared for Unearthed Arcana or the direction that the rules for skills over roleplaying took (and felt that the tremendous amount of damage that weapon skills let fighters get away with was a jump the shark moment for the game).

S&W is an OD&D clone isn't it? Not even the basic, expert, companion, masters, Immortals (becmi) or Rules Cyclopedia D&D, but the old woody/white box stuff? What I am looking for is something more like an OSRIC version of Tome, Tsar and Rappan Athuk, but S&W is head over heels better for me than Pathfinder (which doesn't feel to me like the same game as AD&D at all, while OD&D just requires adding material). I just wish there was a purely (or damn close) AD&D option to choose with the FGG material.