A couple weeks ago, I shared a slice of introductory fiction from my upcoming fantasy roleplaying game sourcebook, Masters of the Endless Flame. As we creep ever closer to the book’s publication, I’d like to take a few minutes to explain what, exactly, this thing is.
Masters of the Endless Flame is a book detailing the the leaders of a dangerous, apocalyptic cult. Yes, there are game stats (for Pathfinder), but the heart of the book isn’t overly concerned with how many spells or hit points everyone has. Rather, it’s about the characters’ schemes, conflicts, and relationships. The book is about a community. (Okay, it’s a community of power-mad zealots conspiring to bring about the end of civilization, but still. A community.)
Like all communities, the Order of the Endless Flame is made up of people with their own conflicting agendas and aspirations.
And that’s where the players come in.
Every conflict is an opportunity for a story — or in RPG terms, an adventure. Since it’s a book of powerful people and their conflicts, Masters of the Endless Flame is seeded with dozens of potential fantasy adventures. And once the players get caught up in the schemes of the Endless Flame, there’s no end to the trouble they can get themselves into.
To give you a tastes of what I’m talking about, here’s a diagram showing the relationships between the various Masters.
As you can see, with this much drama brewing, the players will have no problem finding a juicy conflict in which to get involved.
(For a previous example of this sort of product, check out Lords of Westmoor, a similar sourcebook I published earlier this year.)
