Astraterra has been very popular since its release in Finland in the summer 2014. We sold out the whole first printing in 9 months and there has not been another printing since. This means that the books have been out of stock for a year and a half already. I’m constantly getting inquiries of the new printing and its schedule, but I have not felt ready for a new printing just yet. There has just been too many open questions and over-lapping projects happening. But after the latest Ropecon, I had to reconsider. There were so many people asking for Astraterra.
There’s Always Something to Fix
When you release a printed RPG book, you always have stuff that you would like to fix, tweak or delete and/or replace. It was the same thing with Astraterra. Even though the game has received very good reviews and people rated the rules quite well in a survey I did in 2015, there has been some good feedback and suggestions for improvement.
In part because of the English translation was already being worked on, I did not want to touch the core rulebook and I was instead considering to release some sort of Guide for Advanced Explorers with some new optional rules in it, but after reconsidering the situation, I realized that there would not be better opportunity to make a new edition of the game. I’m of the mind that it’s always better to have the up-to-date rules in the core rulebook, instead of a bunch of optional, alternate and additional rules that often feel more like bug fixes and patches to me.
With a new edition I could actually fix the few things I want to fix and add more character and character advancement options that have been requested and to expand the setting and rework the tech-treasures – also known as astratek – and their rules. Among a bunch of other small things. You know, there’s always something to fix 😉
The New and Improved Astraterra RPG
OK. So, the English version of Astraterra will be based on the new and improved 2nd Finnish Edition of Astraterra. This of course means that the English version will be yet delayed a bit – I know, I would like to get this released already too 🙂 – but on the other hand, now the English version will be an updated version of the game with all the stuff that our Finnish players and GMs have asked for, plus some other ideas I’ve had on my mind for some time already. Also, there will be two new species and roles (more about these very soon), new illustrations and expanded setting.
The first edition of Astraterra was already 176 pages, so with the new content that will easily go over 200 pages. With the Finnish 2nd edition I’m breaking the core rulebook into two separate books: the player’s book with all the rules and character options and the game master’s book with all the fluff, critters and tech-treasures. I will need to see what would be the best way to do this for the English version, but it’s either one or two books.
While we are working with the Finnish 2nd edition and the translation, I will be posting more about the Story of Astraterra and possible some play-test reports too.
So, When Is It Coming Out!?
The new target for the Astraterra’s English pre-orders (i.e. Crowdfunding through Indiegogo) is to have it soon after delivering the Finnish 2nd edition pre-orders (I would estimate January 2017) and the release would be about 2 – 3 months after the pre-orders have ended.
The Quick Start Rules
As soon as I get the new layout for the 2nd edition set up, and the rest of the new rules written down, I will make English Quick Start rules for Astraterra. The Quick Start rules will be available in pdf format through DrivethruRPG and RPGnow and they should be enough to get you started. I’ll let you know, when that is available for download.