Questions about the project that come up often will be posted here. If you’ve got a question, join our Substack to ask it! |
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These responses are from by the founder and primarily director of Ashen Frontiers, Jacob Rodgers. Questions are drawn from various sources. | ||||||||
| What flavour Post Apoc is it? Like, what caused the ash in "Ashen Frontiers?" | ||||||||||
So in the core systems, wizards often have a way of resting and getting some of their spell power back. In Ashen Frontiers, very similar options exist but the Magos destined to become The Tyrant discovered/invented a way to recover magical mojo without resting, but by tapping into Primal power in a destructive fashion – doing damage to living things and generating ash as a byproduct. His final rise involved arcane power such that it broke the world, caused the sun to grow larger in the sky (ie affected the planet's orbit), destroyed access to almost all of the Planes of the multiverse (so there was no completion from gods), and created The Ash, a vast desert of sand and ash. The Tyrant rules from Plakos, his capitol where his Hierants (clerics) wield the powers of the Elemental Planes and administer his laws and policies. But some do oppose The Tyrant and most of those gather in the small city of Eletera where the freedoms of speech and association are greater than in Plakos. Hopefully, that's enough info to get a sense of the setting. | ||||||||||
| Will you be partnering with another publisher for Ashen Frontiers? | ||||||||||
| This is a question that comes up very often, as we* develop Ashen Frontiers. As the setting develops, one of the core conceits is that it is a book (we’ll share more about how that will work soon). And, of course, if we get enough support, then things might progress that way. But it is too soon to talk about those hopes and dreams. We will share more in time, as it develops (or if it develops, perhaps). Ashen Frontiers is my personal project, and does not belong to any publisher. | ||||||||||
| Will this setting depict slavery or enslaved people? | ||||||||||
| The unequivocal answer is no. Dead stop, no. But there are layers to the question that we are aware of, so let’s expand a bit: We know that Hasbro has said publicly that a Dark Sun revival would be plagued by its past, even if modern-day adjustments were made, and we agree with them. This is not an attempt to resurrect Dark Sun, this is a new post-apocalyptic fantasy setting inspired by what has gone before. As my former boss once told me: "we've always done it that way is never a good reason". Instead, we are presenting a more modern approach. There are gladiatorial arenas in Plakos, and there are folks that fight in them. For the chance at winning fame and fortune, not because they are forced to do. Also, we are very serious about hiring a diversity consultant and running all of this stuff by them before committing to anything becoming ‘official’ in any capacity. All of this is development in-progress and if we learn we need to adjust things, we will do so. After all, from a purely business perspective, if nothing else, why would you ever want to turn away prospective customers? | ||||||||||
| * I (Jacob) tend to us a sort of royal ‘we’ since I am often part of a team and want to acknowledge the contributions of advisors and patrons. If there’s anything you like about Ashen Frontiers, it’s likely because of them. If there’s anything you don’t like, it is almost certainly my fault. | ||||||||||