All posts by Ed Jowett

Era: The Consortium 10th Anniversary! Choose from 2 new versions of the Rulebook and get 3 brand new Expansions free! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/consortium-10-anniversary?ref=9rxwxt

Hi everyone!

It’s an exciting day, because the Era: The Consortium 10th Anniversary Kickstarter is here!

We’ve got some awesome rewards, let me take you through what’s going on:

Handy graphic by the ever awesome Leo Weiss!

So what are you waiting for? Get into Era: The Consortium‘s vast universe to play any sub-genre of Sci-Fi that you want, or grab the Pocket Edition to join us in the Living Campaign!

Don’t forget that you can join us on Discord to play the game.

See you on the Kickstarter!

– Ed

Welcome to the 10th Anniversary of Era: The Consortium!

Hi everyone!

Era: The Consortium is 10 years old!

I really had no idea when I started that 10 years would produce 200 books, comics, audio dramas, miniatures, novels, art books and a movie! In fact, the full list for just Era: The Consortium is:

Quite impressive, and there’s more still to come – even this month!

We’re running an event on Discord

You can find loads of info, including what prizes you can win, on our free Schedule Booklet.

Copies of the rulebook, expansions and more are available, and there are even rewards just for getting involved with any of the competitions!

We’re incredibly proud that we’ve made it to 10 years, so we hope you’ll join us for this event!

Some details follow below about what’s going on:

1. Celerity Cerebral Consortium Challenge

A fun name which embraces my tendency to be slightly wordy – A quiz where you discover what you know about the Consortium, and win prizes for answers!

This challenge is a series of quizzes across the entire Anniversary month. You can participate by heading over to #⁠consortium-celerity-challenge and putting down your answer in the form of an emoji.

You can even answer questions that happened before you joined the event! Everyone is welcome to join the quiz at any point during the celebrations.

The last day you can enter is 6th November 2024, when we will assess your points and dish out your rewards!

2. Raffle

Grab yourself a raffle ticket to win an Era: The Consortium 10th Anniversary Definitive Edition Rulebook! This is THE ultimate version of our Era: The Consortium rulebook, with everything we’ve learned from 10 years of running the game.

More tickets give you more chances to win. Entry is cheap but the prize is enormous.

The lucky winner will be announced on our server on 4 November 2024! Will it be you?

3. Character Competition

Submit your Era: The Consortium character concepts to ⁠#consortium-character-competition and be one of the three winners!

To see what information you need to give (not Stats!), and what the prizes will be, head over to #⁠consortium-character-competition.

The competition closes on 4 November 2024 and the winners are announced on 6 November 2024.

4. Creator Game Night

Try Era: The Consortium with the creator of the game! He and a small number of GMs will do a demo session to help you get to know the game and the universe through his eyes.

This was held on 19 October 2024 at 19:00 BST, with great success!

More games are happening, which can be found in our #⁠game-schedule channel!

5. London Comicon Adventures

Amidst all of the fun and exciting Anniversary events, we will be going to MCM Comicon London on 26 October 2024! You can meet us there to hear us talk about finishing your creative projects on the Creator Stage.

But by far the most exciting thing is in the Platinum Suite at 12:45, where we will work with you to create a Tabletop RPG in just one hour!

In May, we created Era: Sharkninja, which will be available for demonstration and purchase in that session. What will we create this time?

6. And perhaps most importantly… a 24 Hour Game!

The Consortium started through a 24-hour game almost 20 years ago.

We’re going to honour that through a series of online sessions over 24 hours between

2nd November at 16:00 GMT

and

3rd November at 16:00 GMT

The Consortium will be reshaped through a change to the Living Campaign! Your actions will decide the future of the civilisation…

You can join as many sessions as you like – in fact, several people have already signed up for all 8 sessions! – but you should definitely try to join us.

Participation in even one session gets you a copy of the Rulebook Primer, which is enough to play the game, create characters and have access to the rules, and is compatible with expansions and campaign books!

So, in short… we’re excited!

We hope you’ll join us for this once-in-a-decade event!

And, if you can’t make it, consider joining us on Patreon to help support the Consortium, other Era games and get loads of materials to run your games or explore the universes.

– Ed

Era: Friction, a game where you become an Action Hero and harness the power of Continuity Errors, is on Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-friction?ref=5czh3k

Hi everyone!

I’m thrilled to tell you that our next game is finally ready – Era: Friction!

The world is in trouble!

Enter a world of huge explosions, over-the-top villains and big guns, where you can bend the rules of reality to make sure you win!

Step through the smoke to reveal your overly-muscled body, grab your rocket launcher and M60, prepare your martial arts skills and don’t forget your trusty handgun for when you run out of ammo. 

It’s time to save the goddamn day!

Era: Friction is a Tabletop RPG harnessing the power of the Era D10 System to bring a world of 80-90s Action heroes to life!

This genre holds a place close to our hearts, as they are the movies that we grew up with. We wanted to bring them to the tabletop, because it doesn’t feel like any game had truly embraced the genre (including the ridiculous parts) until now!

You’ll take the role of a character who can manipulate reality through “Friction Points”, changing what you need through the continuity errors which are part of this world!

Change your shotgun into a handgun when your enemy has a hostage, adjust your clothing to blend into a crowd, or pool the group’s resources to make a car appear on a skyscraper roof so that you can drive it into a helicopter… 

The possibilities are endless!

The Digital Version is available for £8 ($10 USD) and the Physical Version is available for £10 ($12 USD).

Join us now!

– Ed

How to be Creative – My Method for ensuring YOUR Creative Projects Start… and Finish! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/how-to-be-creative?ref=4bf642

Hi everyone!

I believe that everyone can be Creative!

A lot of people ask me how I do it, and I like to help them wherever I can, because I always love to learn what others have come up with! Not just how I find the time, but how I build universes, ensure that they work, make characters real and then ensure that the whole project actually ends! I’ve done this well over 150 times now (and there’s an image on the Kickstarter with some projects you might have heard of to remind you!). Paired with The Writer’s Journey (also available if you missed it), this is pretty much everything I know about creating, condensed into a pocket-sized book!

So what’s this book about?

I take you, step by step through the process I follow to ensure my projects have the best chance of succeeding:

  • How I get started
  • How I keep the project of track
  • Searching for inspiration
  • Creating universes
  • Living inside a universe
  • Telling the right amount and leaving the rest to the reader
  • Making characters real
  • Description versus visualisation
  • Looking for support or a team
  • Common issues and how to handle them
  • …and much more!

This Kickstarter will bring this book to life, creating both digital versions and a print run for you to enjoy, learn from and most importantly, bring your projects to life with!

– Ed

Era: Balam on Kickstarter now [Funded] – Jump in your fighter and protect humanity from aliens:

Era: Balam is on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-balam?ref=8uepvq

This space fighters game is an exciting and dynamic game of space-based dog fights against an unending alien armada bent on the destruction of humanity!

But you won’t be playing as just a human in this game – you will experience the unshakeable bond between a pilot and their ship as you fight for humanity!

—

In this game, you are a pilot, with your own “Paladin” one-man ship, sent out to explore space and defend Humanity! Together with other pilots, you’ll form a squadron and head out into the black…

This game offers rules for space combat, salvaging materials and upgrading your fighter, a list of bases you can visit (both friendly and not-so-friendly), space-based dogfights and a variety of weapons from bullet-based to plasma cannons!

This is the RPG for you if you like games such as Homeworld, Freelancer or Elite: Dangerous!

Era: Balam is a Tabletop RPG harnessing the power of the Era D10 System to bring a solar system at war as aliens invade!

Join us to enter an awesome universe!

Empty Shell – Era: The Consortium Novel on Kickstarter now!

Hi everyone!

I’ve just finished a novel in the Era: The Consortium universe and you can join us now to bring this story to life on Kickstarter!

Earth is a distant memory, almost two thousand years passed. Humans and aliens in Empty Shell exist in an interstellar society called the Consortium. The rules and traditions are imposed by the powers on the various worlds that make up Senate and the Big Eight companies.

On Belisama, where our story begins, one of the Big Eight rules: Gaia Adaptation and Adjustment. But concerns are beginning to grow in the mind of one of the executives that corruption has taken root. Rather than mobilise internal investigation, she chooses to call on an outsider whom she has worked with before.

Enter Diego Herrera, a dedicated, neurodiverse detective who likes solving problems… and has a few problems of his own!

Together with a group that collects along the way – an incredibly intelligent alien intern who is misunderstood by her human parents, an outwardly pleasant agent of Internal Operations with a secret, and a smuggler captain with a history who grows plants throughout his ship – Diego’s job to solve the crimes that have taken place lead him across the Consortium and allow him to glimpse a big change that’s coming to everyone who lives within it…

A 370-page Science Fiction novel! If you like Star Trek, Firefly, Dune, the Vatta’s War series by Elizabeth Moon, Mass Effect, or other Sci-Fi Adventure stories, we know you’ll love Empty Shell!

Era: Dragonsong (High Fantasy TTRPG) on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-dragonsong?ref=5020qf

Hi everyone!

We’ve just launched our latest game, Era: Dragonsong, on Kickstarter. I say our latest game, but the truth is that this has been around for ten years, ever since shortly after I first wrote Era: The Consortium.

Era: Dragonsong is a High Fantasy Tabletop RPG harnessing the power of the Era d10 system to bring a world of ancient magic and mysterious floating archaeopolises to life!

Unlike many other fantasy settings, where wizards and warlocks are rare and treated with fear or suspicion, the world of Era: Dragonsong sees magic as a fundamental part of everyday life. 

With magic flowing through every person and woven into the fabric of society on every level, spells will always be at your beck and call whether you’re a fierce barbarian, a silent monk, or an arcane sorcerer. 

How you choose to use the magic is up to you… 

Era: Dragonsong is a Tabletop RPG based in a world where magic is as ubiquitous as air or water.

Eight unique races dance to the tune of creation, which is known as the Dragonsong.

Giant floating fortresses of magic and riches float in the skies, moored to the ground by impossibly vast, unbreakable chains. When one of these “archaeopolises” crashes to the ground, then wealth, power – and sometimes ruin – come to those who venture within its dungeon-like halls.

The innovative and balanced approach to magic in the Era: Dragonsong rules allow anyone and everyone to wield amazing abilities, removing the harsh restriction of magic users to be unarmoured, feeble scholars. 

A magic user can look like anyone, and in this case, they look like you! 

Simply choose what you want from the eight magic schools, divided between Divine and Arcane spells, and set out for adventure into the wilderness beyond.

The Races of the Dragonsong world are divided into the Light races, who live above the surface, in the sunlight, and the Dark races, who dwell in caves, mines, and tunnels. 

While neither are inherently good or evil, their cultures and experiences differ radically because of the environment that shaped them.

The Era: Dragonsong rules and setting provide a powerful base for you to tell any fantasy story that you wish. With a combination of races, locations, and ideas (both classic to the genre, and refreshingly original) you’re all set for any adventure your heart desires!

Era: The Empowered 5th Anniversary Edition

Hi everyone!

We’ve just launched our latest Kickstarter, and it’s a big one: the 5th Anniversary of Era: The Empowered has prompted us to go to Kickstarter with a new Definitive Edition book and awesome deals for anyone who wants to catch up with the world!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/empowered-5th-anniversary?ref=cws5u1

I hope you’ll join us in bringing this game to life!

And don’t forget to check out our social media for brand new videos that talk about each Event in the timeline in detail!

– Ed

Stardust Falling – A Novel from the Era: Lost Legend Universe – is on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/stardust-falling?ref=9cebxs

Hi everyone!

We’re still working away over here, and the team and I have been working in particular on the next novel that we want to bring to you from the world of Era: Lost Legend, Stardust Falling!

This novel follows the main story of the Era: Lost Legend Core Rulebook, with some awesome and cool additions to the story that we were unable to fit in the Rulebook back when it was first printed.

I’m super excited to be bringing this to you all now, so I do hope you’ll check it out!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/stardust-falling?ref=9cebxs

Don’t forget to share it, if you think there’s anyone you know who might be interested in an epic science-fantasy novel, whether they are a fan of Era: Lost Legend already or not!

– Ed

How do you start (and complete!) a Creative Project?

We believe that everyone has the ability to create! We feel that people should be helped bring their stories and visions to life as a creative project!

After a decade of experience in publishing a variety of critically-acclaimed books, games, comics and audio dramas, we want to help others do the same!

Our veteran creative team have been on stage at conventions all over the UK. We have run over 30 panels at MCM Comicon, plus at UK Games Expo, StrategyGamingCon, and even Animé North in Canada!

Unfortunately, these panels don’t give us the time we want to explain everything in detail!

We have therefore decided to create a podcast to detail how you start, work through and complete your creative project. 17 episodes of this podcast have been recorded, but we want to deliver you the best possible quality production, so we’re seeking a small amount of funding for editing and distribution. This will allow us to bring the podcast to anyone who wants to learn how to be creative!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/creative-podcast?ref=eo9ocp

We look forward to seeing you there!

Rampage is Angry!

Yeah, he does that! https://youtu.be/GjeiOlnO8iU

Seems he’s annoyed by the level of attention Violete is getting in “his” story! Make sure you check out the Kickstarter and soothe his ego! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/violete-unstoppable-audio?ref=43reh6

The Kickstarter ends on Sunday, so don’t forget to check it out!

Rampage was voiced by the amazing Adam Dergiman, who also contributed this and a few other soundbites (if you’ll excuse the pun!)

– Ed

Violete: Unstoppable Audio Drama is on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/violete-unstoppable-audio?ref=9se9ua

Hi everyone!

We’ve just launched our latest Kickstarter, which is a brilliant audio dramatisation of Violete: Unstoppable
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/violete-unstoppable-audio?ref=9se9ua

It’s the third and final of our Empowered shorts, so check it out and don’t forget to spread the word!

We’ll be offering loads more samples as the days and weeks pass, so be sure to keep checking in.

– Ed

Find out what are we delivering this year! Part 3: Shades of Vengeance (Games & Novels)

Hi everyone! Today, we’re doing the third and final post about what’s coming this year, exploring what’s coming from Shades of Vengeance in terms of RPGs, Card Games, Novels and more!

What games have we already had?

We’ve had a pretty busy year! Delivering the artwork for the Era: Forbidden project has continued to be challenging. We have hired two new artists to deliver our latest Core Rulebook as soon as possible.

Experience the world explored through Era: Survival games with our latest novel and audio book!
Enter Era: Survival’s world with Life on Gaia!

As Life on Gaia was so successsful on Kickstarter in January, we will be looking at the collected stories from some of our other games. The History of the Future, the Era: The Consortium novel, was also received very well. We’re planning to continue with Era: Lost Legend’s story next!

We have finished writing and editing Era: The Consortium’s four new expansions. In fact, they are either with the proofreader or with Kickstarter backers already! I’m very pleased with our third wave of expansions, and I know you’ll love them too. I’ll be bringing those onto the store before long, but I don’t have any further plans for Era: The Consortium until next year apart from that!

Add your games to the Living Campaign, and change the zones of control in the Consortium!

Except the Living Campaign! This idea has been met with wide encouragement, and I hope that we’ll be able to continue for a long time. Don’t forget to check it out: https://www.era-games.com/era-the-consortium/living-campaign/

The first of our 5th Anniversary projects has also complete, with Era: Hitman v1.1 over 350% Funded on Kickstarter. We hope to update several games during the rest of the year, including Era: Balam, a new version of Era: The Empowered (read on to find out more!) and the possibility of an Era: The Empowered Definitive Edition all being discussed within the team! Which would you most like to see?

Encouraging Creativity!

The Writer’s Journey, our “Choose Your Own Adventure” book which helps you learn to write is now available on our store.

After a successful Kickstarter in March, we will be looking at what more we can deliver!

I have an idea about turning our frequent panel, “How to be Creative” into a book. Does that sound interesting to you?

RIGHT NOW: Prototype Games!

We’re in the process of bringing you the chance to try out our prototypes! I’ve been playing several of these at conventions on Discord in recent years, and they are 90% there. I decided that The Era Zone could take on a new form, delivering new games that work with just the Era d10 Fundamentals: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/prototype-era-games?ref=3c3i7m

Upcoming Games

We also have two more games coming this year:

Era: Deadwest has been in a similar difficult place with artwork for some time. This pocket game is otherwise ready, and I’d like to get it out to backers by the end of the year! I will post more about what to expect soon, so keep an eye out!

Adapt has been waiting an extremely long time to come to the world! This light-hearted game came out at work one lunchtime recently and restored my faith that people will enjoy it. I’ve decided to put it on Kickstarter a little later this year, so keep an eye out!

And that’s everything that I have planned right now! I hope that’s enough for you – with at least 2 new games, a novel, prototypes of upcoming work and several expansions, it’s going to be keeping us busy!

– Ed

#AudioDramaSunday Experience a Titan’s Rise in the Consortium!

This #AudioDramaSunday, join Elliot Draigon as he enters Consortium society on Taranis, something which is much harder than he could ever realise as a 10-year-old child! A Titan’s Rise is one of our major audio dramas. It’s the best time to get acquainted with it, because we just funded Season 2!

https://www.era-games.com/product/a-titans-rise-1/

The Plot of A Titan’s Rise

A Titan’s Rise is the story of a cyberpunk future where corporations rule three solar systems, and a boy who is separated from his parents by the actions of the corporation-controlled Senate of the Consortium.

We follow Elliot’s life as he grows up alone on Taranis. He quickly learns that his new home has huge secrets, that everyone around him has a hidden agenda. Even an intelligent and driven young man like Elliot is not free of the corporations’ influence on Taranis. As a result, this young man fights back, trying to make his own destiny. His path leads him to Smertios Security, where he trains for the one thing he cares about: commanding a starship.

When the starship Elliot serves on is called into battle to fight the largest enemy fleet encountered in centuries, he is already one of the senior officers. His actions in the fight influence the outcome of this battle, and the shape of the Consortium for years to come.

Can he become the person the Consortium needs him to be? Only time will tell…

  • It’s a full-cast Audio Drama, voiced by professional voice actors.
  • Each of the 4 episodes is 20 minutes long, for a total running time of about 1h20m.

Elliot Draigon is destined for greatness…

A Titan's Rise Part 2... coming soon!
One day, Elliot will be a powerful voice in the Big Eight! But he has a long way to go.

Check out what Part 2 has in store here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/a-titans-rise-season-2

Join us on Kickstarter now for new and awesome Prototype Games in The Era Zone 2022! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/prototype-era-games?ref=3c3i7m

Era d10 is a fantastically adaptable Rule Set! Over a decade, we’ve brought 10 different game lines to life with Era d10… and we’ve had dozens more ideas that we haven’t managed to publish yet! We’ve also published many issues of The Era Zone, bringing new content for each of our existing games.

Building a Tabletop RPG properly takes a while! There are many aspects to consider, from playtesting new rule ideas to artwork and setting material. But sometimes, you have a quick idea which “just works”, and it has to be put on one side for the ongoing projects. Over the years, we’ve built up a number of these concepts. We hope to publish them one day, but for now, we’re too occupied with other projects.

The Era Zone 2022 is supported by the free Era d10 Fundamentals Booklet!

Enter ZineQuest, bringing you The Era Zone 2022!

We’re not changing what The Era Zone is about – it’s a celebration of universes brought to life by Era d10. But we are changing how we deliver that! This year is going to bring you multiple new worlds to explore and new rules to play with.

We’re bringing these prototype ideas to life, supported by the community-funded Era d10 Fundamentals booklet.

Each zine will contain a unique, never-before-printed game that our team has been messing around with for anywhere up to a decade!

We’re starting with our long-awaited fantasy offering, Era: Dragonsong, and then our Era d10 Lite rule set will be introduced with the first Stretch Goal!

Get more games the more we are Funded!

The more we are funded, the more games we will be offering you in the form of Zines. We aim for every Stretch Goal to bring you a new world and game style to experience!

We have plenty of ideas, and they are detailed in the Stretch Goals of the Kickstarter.

See you there!

– Ed

#AudioDramaSunday Survive the Post-Apocalypse through Life on Gaia

This #AudioDramaSunday, you can experience the post-apocalypse in the safest possible way: listen to it, read by a scotsman! Life on Gaia explores the wasteland from our Tabletop RPG, Era: Survival. Check out Life on Gaia.

We have produced both the original Audio Book and a smaller book with several extra stories: Tales of the Outlands.

The audio books have also been released on Audible, so you can get hold of them here:
US: https://www.audible.com/pd/B07XVDH3C9/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-164475&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_164475_rh_us
UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07XVCTS4J/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-164475&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_164475_rh_uk

Life on Gaia Tales of the Outlands Cover Image
Both Life on Gaia and Tales of the Outlands are also available on Audible!

The amazing Leo Cosh reads the stories, bringing the characters to life with his own take on their personalities.

Thanks to careful and detail-oriented directing and editing by Ed Jowett, this horrifying world has come to life in vivid detail!

The Plot of Life on Gaia

A hundred years ago, a biological weapon was set off… or did a parasite evolve? Who cares, really? It was airborne, infectious and attacked Humans – that’s the point.

It’s been a century, 100 years, since the parasites first spread across Gaia. No-one knows where Infection came from and, honestly, no-one cares all that much anymore. Over the last ten decades, one thing has become clear: there will never be a cure.

The number of Humans left alive dwindles every day. Society has splintered, forming Factions. Some promise to save us, offer medicine that can temporarily immunise people against Infection, while others are bent on imposing totalitarian regimes across what remains of society.

This collection of stories is set in the aftermath of a cataclysm. Survivors adapt, and some have goals beyond living each day as it comes, while many form factions, some allied and some pitted against each other in the struggle for limited resources.

This anthology explores the world, factions and dangers of Gaia. Join those who fight to save humanity, those who wish to cleanse the world in flames and those who hide underground waiting for time to be their saviour.

Therefore, in this world, surviving is a matter of wits and cunning….

The Cast

Leo Cosh as the Narrator and Characters

Ed Jowett as the Announcer

#AudioDramaSunday Experience the Consortium with Radio Free Taranis

This #AudioDramaSunday, you can enter the Consortium with Midnight Terry as your guide!

Radio Free Taranis is an audio drama based around the life of a disenfranchised member of Taranis’s population. Midnight Terry speaks to anyone who wants to listen every week via pirate radio, informing them of the Big Eight’s activities, the Resistance’s faults and making suggestions about how people can more constructively stand against the Consortium’s evil.

This is a great way to get an idea of how the ordinary people on Taranis see the Consortium and truly experience the world as created!

Get three episodes for free this #AudioDramaSunday!

You can get hold of three of the episodes for free today, so head on over to our store and download them: https://www.era-games.com/product/radio-free-taranis-free-broadcast/

However, if you like the story and want to hear more, please consider grabbing the whole season. Remember, we can only continue to make this awesome content with support from people like you! https://www.era-games.com/product/radio-free-taranis-the-first-season-audio-drama/

The Plot

Midnight Terry is an independently-minded individual whose sister disappeared shortly after getting an excellent job at Hayden Bank. Lost and confused, he began broadcasting, hoping to reach Faith or someone who had seen her.

He quickly realised that he has more to offer than just calling for her. Taranis is crying out for help and advice, and there are very few people willing to give it. As a result, he decided that he would be that person, research the Big Eight’s and the Senate’s corruption and reveal it to the people.

Quickly becoming a hero to many, Terry teamed up with an advertiser and began improving his broadcast…

The Cast

Leo Cosh as Midnight Terry

Ed Jowett as the Edvertiser and the Smertios Security Officer

Jennifer Hale as Faith

Ed. Text: Jluy 11th, 2022. Ed. #gamemaster monday.

#GamesMasterMonday – Ed | Shades of Vengeance

Hey everyone! This week we have a special #GamemasterMonday with not only a GM, but the creator of the Era Universe – Ed!

Ed’s love for tabletop gaming can be traced back to his youth. When he was five, he received the RPG computer game Megatraveler 1 and fell in love with it. The expansive universe, hundreds of people to talk to and breadth of the world led to him taking notes about who wanted emeralds or what cargo sold best! He later played D&D 2nd Edition and then 3rd Edition.

His first experience as a GM was with running a game of Paranoia, mainly because the large group had to split in two and didn’t have a second GM! As the group explored various games, he also took a strong liking to Vampire the Masquerade, the Storyteller system from which eventually inspired the Era d10 rule set.

When I asked Ed what his favourite book to write was, he answered “Era: The Consortium” without hesitation, going on to explain that it is the culmination of his lifelong love of sci-fi.

His favourite game to GM is Era: Forbidden, however, because it runs with smaller groups and allows you more time to have character development. You can find him running these two games almost weekly on our Discord server!

“I always felt like I was destined to tell stories, and when you’re GM’ing and you have a committed group in the right place, the story flows naturally. The kind of stories that unfold there can move you, or surprise you, or make you feel like humanity can achieve anything. It stops being only you who has a say when that happens.”

When I asked him what he wanted to say to new players, Ed replied that he wants you to know that all of our GM’s are experienced in helping new people and a vast majority of them had never run a game before… but it’s also super easy to pick up and learn. Most people can pick up the system and be playing within 20 minutes!

You can always join our Discord and play for free before you buy a Rulebook to see if it’s the right fit for you!

Want to try Era: Hitman? Join our session on 8th July at 7:30pm BST (2:30pm EDT)! https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv

Hi everyone!

We’re running a session of Era: Hitman to celebrate our current Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-hitman-v1-1?ref=5nv6z9)!

Everyone is welcome to join us for that, for as long as there are spaces (and if we run out, we’ll be pleased to offer more sessions!). Just hop on Discord (https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv) and let us know that you’re interested in playing!

If Discord doesn’t work for you for some reason, let us know in the comments below, we’ll find a way to let you play!

– Ed

Era: Hitman v1.1 on Kickstarter now!

Hi everyone! Ed here.

I don’t believe that our games are finished when they are printed and sent into the world.

The only way that the best quality can be delivered consistently is by being aware of what it takes beyond the playtesting and printing. Some of the additions that I created for The Era Zone, along with thoughts I’ve had about the character sheet, make excellent improvements to this game, so I decided to re-visit our most popular Pocket game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-hitman-v1-1?ref=1kpvg9

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-hitman-v1-1?ref=1kpvg9

I’ve been working on improving Era: Hitman for some time, and I’m certain that you’ll like the results. The book now includes:
– A mission generator, originally published in The Era Zone, which I have used a dozen times at conventions to create instant, awesome sessions!
– A brand new character sheet, which includes usage costs for the Kinetic Abilities and a rearrangement of the elements.
– Several small fixes / typos / rewordings that were needed from v1.0
– and much more…

Join us to bring this new version to life by funding a print run of physical copies and making the dream of a bigger, better Era: Hitman a reality!

– Ed

A Titan’s Rise Season 2 on Kickstarter now!

Hi everyone!

We just launched a brand new Kickstarter for EraScapes: A Titan’s Rise Season 2! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/a-titans-rise-season-2?ref=2q2x0s

This is the culmination of almost 4 years of work, through adversity, the fall of governments, the pandemic and more, so we’re very happy to present this second chapter in the story of Elliot Draigon.

But it’s more than that…!

A Titan’s Rise Season 2 also goes beyond everything we have explored in the Consortium so far, pushing into the end of 452CE and hinting at what’s coming next in the universe’s epic story. You’ll hear what’s coming here first, as well as starting to get some hints about how all of the disparate events in the Consortium fit together!

For anyone who already knows the Audio Drama, there are options to just get hold of Season 2, but a remastered version of Season 1 with additional music has also been created for your enjoyment by the amazing Michael Herrman who took over the editing of Season 2!

I hope you’ll join us in making this dream, and the next step of the Consortium’s story, a reality.

– Ed

Life on Gaia… Live on Kickstarter now!

Hi everyone!

I’ve just launched the Kickstarter for Life on Gaia.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/life-on-gaia-a-post-apocalyptic-anthology-novel-make100?ref=1fftl2

We’re aiming to get £500 in order to fund a print run of this novel-sized anthology of Era: Survival stories!

There’s loads of info on the Kickstarter, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/life-on-gaia-a-post-apocalyptic-anthology-novel-make100?ref=1fftl2

I hope you’ll join us in making this dream a reality!

– Ed

Blue-Shift: Frenemies – Now In Audio!

Hi everyone!

Great news today for all you Blue-Shift fans out there, because the amazing EraScapes team has voiced and produced an enhanced and extended audio version of one of our best-loved comics, Blue-Shift: Frenemies!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/blue-shift-audio-drama?ref=ajmg3e

For those of you who don’t already know the plot, it’s all about a speedster who goes out for a date, then finds herself in the middle of a group of supervillains robbing a bank… who then rescue her! Confused and lost, Blue-Shift will have to decide where the difference between “good” and “right” are.

I was honoured to be able to work with that team, and I have added additional scenes (including more from everyone’s favourite newscaster, Rajesh from Metro News!) during my adaptation of the story to audio. I’d definitely say this is a fantastic accompaniment to the current comic (which you can grab from the Kickstarter if you don’t have it yet!), even beyond what we achieved with the comic.

I hope you’ll join us there and, just in case you need more persuading, here’s a playlist of some awesome snippets from this project:
https://soundcloud.com/erascapes/sets/blue-shift-frenemies-audio-drama-samples

Enjoy, and please join us in making this story a reality!

– Ed

What’s Next?

Hi everyone!

I have a tradition, when coming to the end of a year, of talking about what we have done and what’s coming.

There are more games, more comics and more audio planned, everything you would expect, along with some things you might not. But the most important thing that’s coming is none of these…

We’ve struggled through 2020, as many small businesses have. We’ve done our best to make ends meet and continue production as sales fell through the floor and in-person conventions halted. Online conventions, unfortunately, do not favour smaller “stands” in any way, because the majority of people look at the shiny things and then leaves the site – we have made no convention-related sales this year, despite being present and running games at several online conventions.

I don’t have good news coming at the end of this, but I don’t have bad news either.

We’re struggling on, continuing to do our best and trying to put new things into the pipeline. We’re working on several comics, getting some audio dramas finished and a few games projects that have been waiting for a while finished and out of the door.

We’re only able to do this thanks to your help, so rather than talk about all the amazing things we have planned for next year, I wanted to say thank you.

We’re only able to continue creating because of people like you. And we love creating, we don’t want to stop. So please don’t forget to check out Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/SoV) if you have something spare, watch our for our Kickstarters next year and be ready to get some more of our games if you want us to continue making them. I know that a lot of people out there do.

– Ed

#AudioDramaSunday – How to approach the booth.

Hey Folks!

It’s been a while, but I’m back with another how-to for #AudioDramaSunday! We’ve been doing some recording for an upcoming project, so all of this is rather fresh!

Today, we’re talking about the all-important things you should do to make sure your time in the booth is the best possible!

1. Get Physical (No, I don’t mean punch the director!)

Before recording, get a full body warm up going along with your vocal warm up. Shake yourself out from your head to your toes, do some push-ups or squats.

If you want to challenge yourself, singing while planking can kill two birds with one stone! (It’s really difficult, though!)

2. Take care of yourself in the booth

Stretch out and stay hydrated between takes. Depending on the weather, your soundproofing or size of your recording space, it can get hot (Our studio is nicknamed the hotbox for a reason)! Be prepared to take small breaks and step out to cool down instead of rushing because of the heat!

Speaking of staying hydrated…

3. Swallow the right way.

Yes, before you look at me like I’m mad, just listen!

Swallowing before a take or taking a drink without rinsing it around your mouth will often reduce your mouth clicks. Not rinsing it around your mouth is very important, because that tends to cause a massive number of clicks.

Mouth clicks are well-known as one of the worst things a voice actor can do, so simple techniques to ensure they are minimised are super important! People have been dropped from projects (in the wider world, not from ours yet!) for the number of mouth clicks, so it’s definitely something to watch out for.

4. Use warm ups to prepare – and be ready to improvise

Get in the zone before you hit the script!

Whether it’s warming up in character or discussing key moments an the emotions in them with the team, if you keep your mind on the world you’re building it will give you more confidence to nail those takes and make you more familiar with the material.

Improvising a few bits as the character you’re playing can let you build more of a personal connection with them, as well! It can be great fun and even produce additional material you might use later – we recently did several minutes of improv for both Midnight Terry and the Edvertiser while recording Season 2 of Radio Free Taranis!

This is part of an ongoing series of articles I’m writing about our experiences of writing and performing audio dramas for the EraScapes division of Shades of Vengeance.

We’re always looking for more help, so if you’d like to get involved with our projects in some capacity, please contact us at erascapes@era-games.com!

Era: Survival tabletop rpg game

Near the end of #EraMo now!

Hi everyone!

We’re in the last week of EraMo, and the community has produced a massive amount of work!

I’ve spent most of my time split between Era: Survival expansions (now there’s only one left to finish writing!) and writing sessions for the various games each day.

Between the group contibuting, we have written over 130,000 words, more than 40 sessions for gameplay in the era universe, an entire RPG that will gain artwork and be released as soon as we can, 3 comics, online, automated character sheets and even work on a bot that will help us administer our online game sessions on Discord (join us there: https://discord.gg/A6Hx8bAMpf )!

When I think that this idea started with me wanting to do something “like NaNoWriMo, but I usually write short stories”, I’m extremely proud that so many others feel like they would like to contribute. Of course, I’m hoping it will get even bigger next year, but I think for now, I can just thank everyone who has been working on it, encourage them to finish the week in the way they have worked until now, and focus on my work to make sure I don’t fall behind!

Please don’t forget to check Patreon for the best of the sessions I have written this month! https://www.patreon.com/SoV

And don’t forget to check out our latest Audio Drama Infiltration: The Bug War #2 on Kickstarter now (don’t worry, you can still get #1 if you missed it!): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erascapes/infiltration-bug-war-2-audio?ref=5pafkr

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

– Ed

A Very Brief Update!

Hi everyone!

I’m going to keep it short this week. Last week, I was not able to join you because I have just moved house from my home of 5 years and that was pretty exhausting! Even so, creation halts for nothing, so I have delivered Violete #2’s Digital Rewards this week, along with preparing a new comic project, which I hope to launch imminently!

I’ve recently reached out to a few indie writers to collaborate on comics and I’m obviously working through the last of the Survival expansions (3 to go, all almost done!). Beyond that, I’m looking at Era: Forbidden’s Core Rulebook and trying to expand the range of sessions that we have available for people who want to run games.

Beyond that, we’re looking forward to offering more multi-table events for CON-Tingency 2021 (along with a number of other things), and running our ongoing games… plus getting a new card game ready for launch, Era Zone 8 finished off and a few other bits and pieces for 2021!

It’s always busy here, but we’re well-organised and things are going very well!

– Ed

Era: The Consortium – Revival

Hi everyone!

I wanted to take a moment this week to talk about one of my favourite books that I’ve ever written, which is an expansion for Era: The Consortium called Revival.

Initially, the plans were relatively modest – a 5-session campaign which explored the intersection of Era: The Consortium’s Science Fiction and Era: Survival’s Survival Horror universes. I planned to work with Johnathan Lewis on writing it and we set up a set of sessions and a storyline.

John wrote the majority of the stories, with a little help from Jennifer Martin. As they did so, I wrote the campaign end and quickly realised what I could potentially offer within this campaign.

It transformed from a fairly minimalist 30-page book into a huge 150-page masterpiece, supported amazingly by the story, isometric maps of every room within the spaceship that the characters might explore, a full bestiary and 13 sessions for players to enjoy. It is the single expansion which I immediately point at when I’m ask which is the best.

This is how I believe sessions and campaigns should be delivered and it is my fond hope that I’ll be able to do more of this in the future.

Why am I talking about this right now?

I’ve never been able to run the campaign in full – I ran sections to make sure everything worked, but it was before the story was finalised and it wasn’t able to finish.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been running Revival in full for the first time with a small group, via Discord, and it’s been an incredible experience: everything that I always hoped would work well has been excellent and the group are embracing the essence of the campaign in the way I had always intended.

You can get hold of Revival and play for yourself (it’s got everything you need, all you need is the Rulebook Primer or Core Rulebook) from our store. If you’re a fan of Dead Space, Aliens and similar genre intersections between Sci-Fi and Survival Horror (as I am!), it’s a must.
Digital: https://www.era-games.com/product/era-consortium-revival-digital/
Paperback: https://www.era-games.com/product/era-consortium-revival-paperback/
Hardback: https://www.era-games.com/product/era-consortium-revival-hardback/

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy Revival if you choose to look into it!

– Ed

Join us for EraMo!

Hi everyone!

Before I go into the primary part of my post today, I’d just like to remind everyone that Era: Forbidden ends this weekend. We’ve had a fantastic month, with loads of actual plays and a lot of games on our Discord (link at the end). I hope you’ll consider joining us and supporting our latest game: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-forbidden-an-rpg-of-hope-in-an-invaded-world?ref=3j18oq

Some of you may be familiar with NaNoWriMo, where the aim is to write a novel in a month. Unfortunately, because of the nature of what I do, I find it very hard to focus on a single game for a month – other things would go by the wayside.

However, I strongly believe in the principles of NaNoWriMo, which is to rapidly get stuff out into the world – writing 2000 or more words per day.

So I came up with EraWriMo, where I write 2000 words per day minimum, but it can be about anything relating to Era universes – sometimes it’s short stories, sometimes it’s rules… That works super well for me.

When Leo got a little more involved and we started producing audio dramas, he decided to do 5 minutes per day of audio material, almost like “sketches”, which we would later edit together into a piece. At that point, I couldn’t call it EraWriMo any more, because it’s EraAudioMo as well. The great thing about this sort of thing is that you can motivate each other when things are hard. Last year, we had someone else join us who did audio drama work, inspired by Forbidden.

We would like to open this up to anyone who would like to be creative, whether it’s writing, audio, artwork, composition, or anything else that works for you! Obviously the focus for us is on Era games, but it’s really about creating. We’ll be happy to guide you where we can as well, if you’re unsure!

We’re mostly coming together on Discord, where I’ve made a special channel for it: https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv

I hope you’ll consider joining us for this celebration of creativity!

– Ed

New Releases, New Challenges!

Hi everyone!

I’m going to keep my update a bit shorter this week, as I’m a little short of time. I’m sure most of you are aware already that Era: Forbidden has been released on Kickstarter this week, and we’re already almost (87%) Funded! Launching a Kickstarter tends to make me very busy, and that’s why this Update is very slightly late – sorry about that!

The other primary thing of note this week is that The Era Zone issues 6 and 7 have just been released on the Shades of Vengeance Store!

Issue 6 is a “Crossover” issue, where I combine many of the different Era games together and explore what new mechanical and storytelling options that can give a group: https://www.era-games.com/product/the-era-zone-issue-6-july-2020-digital-version/

Issue 7 is more like the normal issues, and features the first part of a new Consortium session, as well as a new segment we’ve launched in this issue called the “GM Toolkit”. This ongoing segment aims to offer insight into how I handle certain situations, such as traps, enemy encounters and so on – definitely worth a look if there’s anything you’re not sure about when running Era d10 games! https://www.era-games.com/product/the-era-zone-issue-7-september-2020-digital-version/

If you have any questions you’d like answered in the GM Toolkit, you can get in touch with us on the Discord (https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv)!

I’ll be back next week with some more news, so until then, stay safe!

– Ed