Announcing: Age of Wonders

Welcome to the Magiverse! This is the first of a series of articles about the Age of Wonders. The Age of Wonders extends the scope of Basic/Expert-style RPGs to outer space. Instead of “science” magic supplies all the wants of future. The Magiverse would not be possible without the keen editorial eye of Erin D. Smale. It is he who not only coined the term but without his wise observations Age of Wonders would be a lesser work. So thank you Erin!

The Age of Wonders depicts a science-fantasy future that blends magical energies with technical anachronism, space opera with planetary romance, and the traditional treasure-hunting elements of fantasy RPGs with the unlimited variety of outer space exploration. Every effort was made to ensure that the usual character classes were compatible and that “swordplay” is still relevant.

In the Magiverse, technology is powered by barely mastered arcane forces – the laws of time and physics take a back seat to heroic adventure. Effects are more important than their causes, and a good story is more important than the boundaries of science. Thus, asteroids, planets, and moons have breathable atmospheres, unless the lack of oxygen is important to the story; “magic items” are futuristic gadgets, difficult to make, nearly impossible to understand, and only mostly reliable; vast interstellar distances take only as much time to cross as the current adventure’s plot requires.

This approach creates a new backdrop for familiar play: Characters advance in level by defeating monsters and retrieving treasure, though all of space is the campaign’s wilderness, and dungeons are ancient alien ruins on dead planets, abandoned pirate outposts on rogue moons, or derelict space vessels floating in the wastes of space. Indeed, while The Age of Wonders includes space vessels, magi-carbines, and Stirge flying packs, its core very much remains a faithful adaptation of the world’s most popular fantasy role playing game.

The Age of Wonders, uses the Old-School Essentials (OSE) framework to support the Magiverse’s defining pillars.

Required Books
Age of Wonders slots in very nicely with Old-School Essential’s modular format. Players and referees need the following Old School Essential and BX Options books:

1. Core Rules
2. Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules
3. Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells
4. Classic Fantasy: Monsters
5. Classic Fantasy: Adventures and Treasures
6. We further recommend BX Options: Class Builder

Of course there is nothing preventing anyone from using AoW with other “compatible” rules.

The Legacy of BX Space
I would be remiss if I did not mention that BX Space began something that once it was re-cast into the Magiverse left atoms and rayguns behind. So Age of Wonders is a comprehensive revisualization of what a retro-future might look like. With “science” if not “rubber science” out of the picture all wants are supplied by magi-clockworks, organisms, and magic became the glue that binds all together. AoW has grown greatly from the seed that was BX Space.

The Cart Before the Horse
Age of Wonders is currently available from DriveThru RPG as a PDF, PWYW. I think this is fair considering that BX Space was free to all; though it only covered levels 1-3, I recognize that times are economically tough and not everyone has money they can freely spend. It makes sense to keep things “digital” and therefore affordable. In the old days people shared much without thought of monetization. However, if there is sufficient interest in Age of Wonders I’ll consider going the extra mile for a printed version.

In the meantime stay tuned for the next article!