Broken Frontier

Mark Smylie and Archaia Studios Press’s roleplaying game, ARTESIA: ADVENTURES IN THE KNOWN WORLD, won the Origins Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year at last weekend’s Origins Game Expo. New supporting supplements for ARTESIA: ADVENTURES IN THE KNOWN WORLD, ASP’s first roleplaying game, are planned and in development by newly hired editor, Joe Martin.
 
ARTESIA: ADVENTURES IN THE KNOWN WORLD(ISBN: 1-932386-10-6, $39.95, 352 pages, full-color, 8.5” x 11”) is based on the award-winning graphic novel Artesia. The first issue of the latest comic book series, ARTESIA BESIEGED, hit stores last month.
 
Smylie, a long-time artist for a variety of roleplaying games in the industry and the creator of the ARTESIA comic book and graphic novel series, developed, wrote, painted, laid out and published the book on his own. Calling it a “labor of love,” a surprised Smylie said, “When I first saw the list of nominees, I automatically assumed I didn’t have a chance; I was up against books from such established and talented publishers as White Wolf and Eden. I’m extremely honored---and shocked---to win. Saying ‘I’m happy’ would be an understatement.”
 
Using a modified and easy-to-use Fuzion-based roleplaying system as well as an adaptation of R. Talsorian Games’ LifePath character-generation system, ARTESIA: ADVENTURES IN THE KNOWN WORLD takes players into the strife-riven realms of the Known World, where war and magic, fantasy and mysticism take center stage as religions, warlords and empires vie for power.  More on the game can be found at http://www.theknownworld.com/main.html
 
** “Artesia is a must for fans of the comics and is requisite reading and play for hard-core fans of truly epic high fantasy…It is probably one of the most amazing RPGs ever made.” --James Mishler, Scrye Magazine
 
** “A beautifully produced RPG with an innovative, elegant game system and an excellent fantasy background... ARTESIA: ADVENTURES IN THE KNOWN WORLD starts out with a well-developed, and deep game world [and] supplements that with a solid game system that's well thought-out and elegant.  Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)” --Shannon Appelcline, www.RPG.net

This year marked the 32nd annual Origins Awards. The Academy of Adventure Game Art & Design, consisting of people of the game development community, initially reviewed a broad selection of the year’s best products and short-listed them for various categories in the Origins Awards. Academy experts scored their category nominees from 1 (least deserving) to 5 (most). All scores from all members were totaled with the highest vote getters for each category/award determining the designated Origins Award.