Chthonian Stars and Traveller, not totally dead

Wildfire has finally made the announcement on the future of Chthonian Stars and it is not a total loss for those of us who looked forward to the game being available for the Traveller rule system.

Chthonian Stars Set For Release!

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of Chthonian Stars: the Cthulhu Saga I, an original Lovecraftian sci-fi/horror setting for the classic Traveller roleplaying game. This project was to be published by Mongoose Publishing, though developed by WildFire, the team that created the award-winning CthulhuTech. Over the last month, these two companies have agreed to part ways.

There's good news for Traveller fans, however, as WildFire will be releasing both the Chthonian Stars Core Setting and the Horrors of the Void monster books as PDF's on DriveThru RPG – with the option for physical copies through OneBookShelf's new print-on-demand program. The Core Setting is scheduled to be released in April 2011, as originally planned, with Horrors of the Void following in June 2011.

On the other hand, WildFire will be taking Chthonian Stars in its own new direction, starting in June 2011. Through their partnership with Sandstorm Productions, WildFire will be re-tooling the product for proprietary release. The brand new Chthonian Stars will likely see a name change, and be home to a brand new system. The entire product will have a focus on accessibility, making it easy for new players to pick up and play the game.

The new Chthonian Stars Core Book will be available as a complete roleplaying book in June 2011, through standard distribution and retail. The revised Horrors of the Void monster book will be available as the first supplement in September. The rest of the line will follow in 2012, starting in January.

Details about these books final sizes, page counts, and price points will be available as they are solicited.

The pdf releases of the core book and the first supplement are welcome concessions to us Traveller fans. Beyond that, there is no mention of Framewerk, so I will give the game a look. Hopefully, they will use a system I am already familiar with, but if it's FATE or Savage Worlds, I'll have to give it a pass.

-Rognar-