Ex-TSR just announced on FB that he will be continuing the tradition of Oerth (the setting for Greyhawk) by writing a new campaign set in Empyrea.
I for one am VERY excited!

grodog wrote in Empyrea:

MadCatUSA wrote in Empyrea:Ex-TSR just announced on FB that he will be continuing the tradition of Oerth (the setting for Greyhawk) by writing a new campaign set in Empyrea.
I for one am VERY excited!

More info @ https://www.facebook.com/frank.mentzer/ ... 2056345207

Thanks Grodog! I saw the notice on my phone and wrote the announcement from work.  

Press Release:
Historic Dungeons & Dragons® Campaign Returns

Loxley, Madison, WI, August 11, 2017

Legendary game designer Frank Mentzer, famed for his worldwide version of the Dungeons & Dragons® game, has teamed with fiction author Ted Fauster to revisit one of the earliest known D&D® fantasy worlds. The game continues to be one of the most popular of all time, and Mentzer's version is still available in fourteen languages, on every continent.

In 1981, Mentzer was given written permission from E. Gary Gygax (co-author of the original game in 1974) to establish and develop this little-known portion of Oerth, one of the game's original settings. This new realm of Empyrea has a 40-year history (starting with simple materials from Judges Guild) and is still actively used. The artist Darlene, who painted Gary's maps in his 1980 product, will create similar maps for this one. Other famous artists of that era -- including Caldwell, Dee,  Diesel, Easley, Elmore, Holloway, Jaquays, and Otus -- are being invited to join the project.

Empyrea is on the mysterious and isolated continent of Aquaria, east of Gygax's World of Greyhawkâ„¢ setting. Until now, knowledge of this portion of the world has remained largely a mystery, as the broad and dangerous Solnor ocean separates the two. The continent is briefly described in the Advanced D&D® adventure "Egg of the Phoenix" (Mentzer & Jaquays, TSR Inc., 1987).

"It's time to share this Dungeons & Dragons® world with hobby gamers," Mentzer says. "Unlike others, Gary approved this personally. Empyrea combines both traditional fantasy and science fiction elements. Magic is dominant, but technology lurks. And it's one Realm… this isn't a cluster of medieval city-states like Greyhawk."

Author Ted Fauster has accepted the role of Creative Aide, which was Mentzer's original title when he worked with Gygax at TSR in the 1980s.

Mentzer and Darlene will finance the set through crowdfunding, with support from Judges Guild. It will be compatible with the most recent Fifth Edition D&D® game (D&D 5E) as well as Mentzer's own world-famous "Red Box" edition of the game.

An official start date for the Kickstarter will be announced shortly after the GenCon® 50 Game Convention in August.

For More Information, contact:
Loxley LLC
Mentzer:        LoxleyKey@gmail.com
Fauster        :        ted@tedfauster.com
(Ownership of trademarks indicated is not disputed)
•

Empyrea Update
Mon 28 Aug

The archetypical Game Creator was once a young white male with dreams and a day job.

Forty years of RPGs have matured both the Creators and the market. But there are too few Creators who are able to wear all the hats -- not just inspiration & creation, but business organization, economics, marketing, internet (formerly the Madison Avenue Advertising Game), and more.

I think it's time for more specialization. I want to create a business environment in which the Creators can create, and the Business folks can do Business. The Creator shouldn't need an MBA just to exist.

Hence Loxley, my new Design House, which will Create things to feed to the Business Ring. I've spoken of the esoteric Nash Equilibrium, and that's one piece of the puzzle. But...

The real story is People.

I believe in you. YOU, the gamer, the reader, the fan... no kidding. Look:
For forty years we've been spoon-feeding you our ideas as if they were important. And they WERE important, they got you started, right?
Flash -- We are the threshold, only the beginning. For 40 years we've watched new Creators arise, and some have been recognized, and some even found careers. Some of them, like Marc Miller and Greg Stafford and Ken St. Andre and Gary Gygax, built this city for the rest of us. But the vast treasure is YOU, the people who want to live here.

I believe that every single self-identified hobby gamer has Great Ideas, and most of them are being overlooked.
I think we (the 'Industry') haven't done enough to empower your Voices. We're so contorted, ear to the ground and nose to the grindstone and focusing on the Business, that we lost focus on You, and it became about Us.

Along the way I'm acutely aware of being an Old White Privileged American Male. I'm now reaching out to 30-somethings, women and minorities, others... because I'm ignorant, out of touch. But I know that, and I need to connect to the Real World of tabletop gamers. You are the Future, not me.

The OGL was a good first step, encouraging hundreds to put pen to paper, to share their creations.
I have a vision of a quantum leap in gaming, and many share it now, and we're jumping soon.
Empyrea is about Empowerment and Equality, and it's Yours.

A new moon is rising. It is now mostly dark, as are all New Moons, but the light is coming.

More to come...
(reposted from my FB page)

ExTSR wrote in Empyrea:Loxley, my new Design House

Wait... I'm a little slow these days... "Loxley" as in "Robin of Loxley" (a.k.a. "Robin Hood")?

Loxley is (so far) an experimental Design House trying to develop partnerships within an overall Cooperative approach to the small pond of the RPG biz. My rep has luckily ripened instead of rotted, so I'm able to bring people together.

The name is from the Franklin kite experiment. We're trying to be the conduit for creative lightning, sending it down the string to the existing industry infrastructure. We hope other creators will share the methodology within the Loxley umbrella.

"Empyrea/Appraisal", a veryrare 50-piece experiment, summarizes the (hard science) backstory that still applies to the campaign and its style/flavour, yet doesn't affect play to any noticeable extent. DM notes.

Things happening soon.
Have a largish team in place already. Speedy August.

Lock 'n' load...

Subscribed. Thank you, Frank.

Plan and simple, this is going to be EPIC! I'm so excited about this...

--Thor