As I nosed around the forums hoping to find info that might narrow down a determination of whether to get the core rules softcover or the hardcover "omnibus," I stumbled across word that a second edition of the game was going to be coming in the nearish future.
I'm all ears as to any specifics as to what might be changed system-wise, what sort of release date is being considered, how this will be released (possibly KS?), etc.
It's in development, yes. Continuous improvement of the system, based on all the feedback. I don't quite yet have a release date planned, though I can say it's coming along quite well. There are indeed several rules changes to how characters are built and how skills are represented. It has six ability scores too, because DEX and LOG were far too heavily weighted in importance in the original edition. It also embraces some of the released products to date.
I don't think we're thinking KS, though if we do we will certainly be discussing it here, so stay tuned!
Any potential timeframe on this? I just bought this today and I'm a litte crestfallen to come here the very same day to learn that the 2nd edition may be out before I even get a chance to play this edition (since I wouldn't be able to play for awhile). Likewise, I'm disinclined to buy any of the supplements now.
Will owners of the 1st edition get any break on the 2nd?
I ran into this same problem when I finally got on the bandwagon and upgraded from 1st Edition AD&D to 2nd edition and then 3rd edition came out a month later, lol.
Yes, owners of 1st Edition will get special discount. We aren't trying to bilk our customers, we just want everyone to have fun and play games.
The second edition will be released in 2016, but I don't have a specific estimated date yet. As we continue our development and play testing, we'll eventually move to an outside play test to seek feedback. When that time comes, we'll firm up our release date and announce it here.
Thanks.
Any update on this?
Sorry - no update currently.
We've run several sessions since the last post, and have tweaked a few things, but nothing huge to discuss. Our primary focus at the moment has been on FrontierSpace, our sci fi offering, which consumes a LOT of time. That's one of the downsides of being a small company; when you focus on one thing, other things get slowed down. Sad but true.
A quick question about the upcoming 2nd Edition. Back in April an example character was posted on the Covert Ops Google+ site. One of the main changes was increasing Abilities from four to six.
In the existing rules one of the options for creating characters is distributing predetermined scores of 50, 55, 60 and 65 between the four Abilities. I figured that with six Abilities this was likely to be expanded to distribute 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 between the six Abilities.
I noticed, however, that the example character had Abilities of 45, 50, 50, 60, 65 and 70. is this an error or is there some other method being used to create the Ability scores?
EDIT - I created a new thread for this question; hope nobody minds.
Curious if there's anything new in this project to get excited about. Looking forward to it, of course!
well - yes and no. The second edition incorporates all rules presented in all supplements into one volume. Additionally, it draws on some lessons learned relating to the abilities, skills, and how they're determined/used. It allows an on-the-fly mating of ability to skill so you don't have some of the uncharacteristically strange side effects the previous system created (like, for example, someone being a better deceiver just because they had a high DEX... since Thief skill was previously based on DEX alone). It also breaks up DEX and LOG because those abilities were too heavily weighted in the game rules. Basically, it is an edition that listens to a lot of feedback and aggregates everything under one roof.
But - it doesn't expand the setting really. That's one thing I am trying to consider, if the setting needs expanded or not. Currently the setting is very lite because it doesn't assume everyone will use these modern rules for this presented setting, and therefore only provides it as one possible setting. On the other hand, it's hard for us to do a second edition and not evolve the setting some. So that's one area we're still deliberating.
Also, since DwD Studios is really just a couple guys trying to do as professional job as possible while still having day jobs and families, we put the second edition on hold while we work on FrontierSpace, giving us time to collect even more feedback from the first edition of Covert Ops.
Very reasonable. Mainly I'm glad to hear its not dead. I'll see if I can provide any feedback I feel might benefit. Do you have a place you'd prefer for that kind of submission?
If you don't want others to read it you can click on the "Submit" button on the main page of this site, it should be visible in the top-right region. Otherwise, feel free to post it in the forums.
Great news about the line. Figured you guys were neck deep in Frontier Space. As I'm hoping to start using the system over the summer and would really love to lean towards the newer attribute system, any insight you can share to help out a new GM.
Any word on this recently?
Sorry, TheophilusCarter - no updates to share at this time!
No worries, just curious. I'll have to content myself with Art of Wuxia for a while. :D
Checking in on the health and status of this project. Still breathing?
I'd wager this project is not dead since we did get a new supplement for 1E (Moongate Dossier, which was awesome BTW).
Are there any news on the second edition? Or has it been declared KIA?