So I’ve only got 14 pages left to outline for the 80 page Cyrus section. The outlining is actually the biggest step. It is where I take all the conglomerated Cyrus information and decide what is actually going to make it into the final book. With a large bullet point list of things that I want to include, detailed with Setting Information, Adventure Hooks, Cool Factors, NPC names, and lots of other stuff, the remaining writing is easier. It is looking really good at this point and I’m feeling great about how Matt’s world of Cyrus is shaping up. We are pushing hard to have a final sellable book by Origins this year, but I’ll make no guarantees. We’ve been six years in the making and playtesting and I don’t want to have a half-assed product out there with my name on it.

Also, to whet your whistle, here is a bit of preview art, done by the incredibly awesome Avery Liell-Kok.

In it you can see the Rings of Cyrus, an idea of Matt’s that I wasn’t totally sold on until I saw this video:

Of the approximately 78 left, 34 are done and ready for editing . . .

It is no secret that I’m a huge fan of running a game with some background music. Some of the other Gnomies from Gnome Stew and I share the love of  music, and you should check out these articles on music in games.

• Creating Deep and Simple Playlists
• What Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog Can Teach You About GMing

That isn’t what this post is about though. This post is about a really great resource to use to make great ever-changing music playlists. That resource is Pandora. I’ve been loving it at work, so much so that I paid the $38 upgrade fee to get the Pandora One desktop player. I made a station based off of Yoko Kanno’s music and realized how great Pandora can be for making a playlist.

All you have to do is setup a Pandora station based off of a soundtrack that you really like. Go to the Station setup and add in a few similar songs from other soundtracks or classical music that has the right feel and Pandora does the rest. You don’t worry about playing the right song at the right time, Pandora just shuffles between music that is similar to your seed music. Set up a few stations with general moods that you want to imbue. Drop in baroque classical and more refined soundtracks for good "Dealing with Nobles" music.  Seed a station with some deep Cantus music, stuff from the fountain soundtrack, or FF7′s Sephiroth theme song – one winged angel – for that epic Big Bad Evil Guy feel. Pull some Louis Armstrong, Ink Spots, Roy Brown, Miles Davis, and various other Jazz for a great noir game soundtrack.

One important thing to note is that the best music for background game music is mostly instrumental. Words often distract from the mood you are trying to set.  Give it a try and see how you like it.

(Image of Pandora one used for illustrative purposes)

Here at Silvervine Labs (which are only slightly less fun than Muppet Labs) we’ve made a breakthrough in character sheet technology. With hours and hours of endless research (ok, I changed a setting that I didn’t know about before) we have made the Interactive Character sheet able to be saved with form information intact.

Unlike most character sheet PDFs out there*, the Silvervine Games Character sheet can be filled out electronically and then saved  to your desktop. You can open it back up and update your character. Go make use of this great new innovation in character sheet technology.

Find the new character sheet in our downloads section – here.  If you find yourself un able to save the forms, you might need to update your adobe reader software.

* This is totally unsubstantiated. This is according to most PDFs that I’ve seen produced. There are a few awesome sites that provide some kickass third party character sheets out there, so this functionality might exist.

I’ve just finished running the final official playtesting game before the core rulebook is released. This game was a test of high level play and had an awesome ending.

General conclusions?

• Silvervine plays much like other games at higher levels. "Regular" challenges are easy for players (especially in the ever-telescoping party we played with) but they can still be challenged with special powers and interesting strategies.
• High level play in Silvervine is much more cinematic and narrative based. Powers can be brutal but are subject to good dice rolls.
• Players had a whole lot of fun being badasses and a lot of their later level purchases were to justify their long-term goals.

There are at least 2 non-official games of Silvervine being played that we know of, and Brian Keller has been running a bunch of games at New York conventions. With the rest of the work on the Core Rulebook being minimal, it won’t be long before every game being played is with the final product!

- John

After a small amount of work, we have the SVG Newsblog all set up.  If you are using the old newsfeed, switch it over in the next week or so. The old feed will shortly disappear into the ether.

New Feed:

http://www.silvervinegames.com/blog/feed/

What You Can Expect From The New Newsblog

• News Updates
• Developer Diaries in one concise place
• Sneak previews of new projects
• Silvervine insights direct from the developers
• Gaming advice
• Information about new contests like the Player Picture Project
• Links to new downloads, free game aids, and new products we put out

So switch over from the old feed to the new one and check back here often. Feel free to leave a comment and connect with SVG developers. 

In a lot of the playtest games we’ve run, one thing that people have commented on is the ability to easily make a flight capable character within the Silvervine system. The ability to fly can really change the balance of some game systems and thus it is often limited or held until later levels.

Flight can definitely unbalance a game, but it doesn’t have to. In a system like Silvervine, where there are many other options for movement that balance flight out, flight becomes just one more way to move your character. Focuses like Minor Levitation and Jumping can put non-flying characters right on par with the winged ones. Many of the ranged attack and magic options force characters into range if they want to attack.

continue reading »

Still working on some behind the scenes stuff with the look and feel of the new blog, but here is some news for you. We’ve just submitted our events for ANCON – Another Game Convention.

Ancon is a game convention held in Hudson Ohio and caters to a lot of gamers local to Silvervine’s home base. We’ve got some special things planned, including a 16 player tournament on Sunday. If you are in Ohio or the surrounding environs, go check it out!

We’ll post more updates and our schedule as soon as it gets approved!

Due to multiple issues encountered with our old way of generating an RSS feed, as well as our desire to post more meaningful information than just news updates, we’ve started setting up a wordpress blog. The new blog will feature news and project updates as well as articles by developers and answers to player questions.

Find the new newsblog here:

http://www.silvervinegames.com/blog/

Subscribe to the new RSS feed here:

http://www.silvervinegames.com/blog/?feed=rss2

We are still working on the blog format and style, so things will be changing over the next week or so. We will be porting over the archives in some format, but that may not occur for a while.

Here are a few of the pictures that have been completed in the end of 2009/beginning of 2010 SVG rush. We have 2 more slots open and a few submissions left to go through. This is your last chance to get your character featured in the pages of the Silvervine Core Rulebook. We may redo the PPP down the road for other books, but this is your ground floor chance.

Click an image to see it full size.

How to get your character in the Player Picture Project -

• Make a character with our Quick Character Creation Guide, then fill out and email us a copy of it and the Player Picture Project Release.
  
  Email us here.
  
  Feel free to use the excellent excel character sheet made by Jeremy Lotze.
• Make a character at one of our convention appearances.
• Have a signature character in one of our extended playtests, or start up your own extended playtest.