Studio Agate’s new take on 7th Sea’s world of swashbuckling & sorcery will be coming soon to Kickstarter in 7th Sea: 3rd Edition.
7th Sea, when it was first published by AEG back in 1999, was a game of swashbuckling, sorcery, and high adventure on the seas of an alternate, magical Earth-inspired world called Theah. Set roughly in the 17th century, it featured musketeers, pirates, duelists, and of course, people able to tear open bloody holes in reality with their magical powers. Using a unique dice system known as “roll and keep,” it cut a Dumas-inspired swath across the tabletop landscape.
Then there was a million-dollar Kickstarter that launched a second edition, though this was not without its problems – problems that concluded when Chaosium stepped in and acquired the IP and made sure to finish the fulfillment.
After a positive-if-mixed reception owing to mechanical changes and Kickstarter fulfillment woes, 7th Sea changed developers again, when Chaosium announced that French design studio, Studio Agate, was taking over the development and creation of the seafaring RPG. All that to say now, after an extensive survey among fans of both editions, Studio Agate and Chaosium have begun the pre-launch sequence for the Kickstarter for 7th Sea 3rd Edition.
7th Sea: 3rd Edition – Coming Soon To Kickstarter
Look, these days, you gotta announce that you’re going to announce. Nobody just has a grand opening, you gotta soft launch before you hard launch. And that’s true whether you’re talking about restaurants, relationships, or RPGs.
But I’ll say this: I’m excited for it. Studio Agate are clearly fans of the game and the world and the lore, and 3rd Edition isn’t a reboot, but it does take steps away from the game’s 2nd Edition, which soured some in the community. Instead it looks back to some of the things that led to the original edition carving out its niche.
In this case, that’s the idea of the roll & keep dice system, or at least the ethos that goes with it. The original 7th Sea was more of a crunchy, systems-mastery kind of game where everyone played by the same general rules. It’s the same kind of ethos behind systems like 3rd Edition D&D, though interpreted differently. The new Kickstarter pre-launch page talks a little about the evolution of the rules:
“The new system will be inspired by Roll & Keep, but in a modernized form; keep the best elements from 2nd Edition while rebalancing and refining them; include innovations like “Paths,” inspired by the modular systems our studio has developed; and of course, bring plenty ofp anache, for a heroic, dynamic system that lets you truly embody bold, larger-than-life heroes!”
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You can read more about Studio Agate’s design thoughts here. This comes after an extensive survey of the community. And as the developers are quick to point out, “this is not a reboot!” but rather an evolution of the lore and timeline of the world of Theah, with a goal to “deepen the internal consistency of the world.”
So if you like swashbuckling and cool, creepy magic, you’re going to want to check this one out folks.
Find out more about 7th Sea: 3rd Edition at the link below!
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