New website added
A new website has been added in the Links section, Athas Reborn, a mod for Neverwinter Nights.
New templar
Bryan Bock, known to the fan community as Sysane, has been invited to join the athas.org Templarate and he has accepted the invitation. Welcome aboard.
Three new templars
With the restructuring of the Templarate, we have cleaned up the athas.org staff page and removed inactive or practically speaking inactive senators, overcouncil and templars from the active team member list. The list reflects our resource pool more accurately now.<p>
However, we have also appointed three new templars: Christopher Nahumck, Scott Stoecker and Robert Aldrich. All three have made significant contributions to athas.org´s work, and we welcome them all to the New Templarate. </p>
Restructuring the Templarate
The Athas.org Overcouncil has decided to restructure the Templarate and its role. As you might know, the Templarate was originally founded as a rules body split into bureaus. Each bureau had responsibility for the development of a certain aspect of game rules. Over time, the DS 3 Core Rules have stabilized and several of the bureaus have become silent and/or inactive. Several projects have been launched in the bureaus, though, from the Terrors of Athas supplement, to the Athasian Emporium and the Advanced Being Rules. Some projects made it to completed status, others are slowly progressing, and some have become completely inactive. All over, though, the bureau mailing lists are silent as the grave. To counter this development, it has been time to rethink the role and organizing of the Templarate.<p>
In the end, we´ve decided that the bureaus will be removed. They are restrictive towards their members activities and an unnecessary level of bureaucracy. Therefore, we are flattening the organizational structure and changing the mandate of the Templarate. The aim is to make the Templarate more attractive to new and old members alike, by giving them the flexibility to work on the projects they want to pursue - and the power to do so. Templars can initiate projects and coordinate them on their own, ranging in scope from a City-State of X project (large) to adventures (medium) or new spells and powers (small).</p><p>
The Senate still decides which projects are granted official status, and it is generally recommended to get Senate input before initiating large projects. The Senate can also provide guidance and suggest priorities if need be. Other than that, templars are free to work with what they like and how they like. In essence, the Templarate will function as a project team roster, where people can sign up for the projects they want to work on. For existing projects, a project manager decides whether there is room for and practical with new members.</p><p>
I hope these changes will breathe life back into the Templarate and make it more attractive to everyone involved. Hopefully this will spark some interest, so we can revitalize some of the projects on hold or progressing slowly.</p>
Two new senators
Athas.org is proud to present two new senators that have risen through the ranks of the Templarate to join the Senate. The senators are Bruno Santos and FabrÃcio Lopes. Both have come from the Dark Sun Brazil website team, and have been working with us for some time.
Trade Lords released
We have released the new Trade Lords accessory, which is a supplement to the original Dune Trader product.
Project status update
These are the projects with top priority at the time being. All are at a completion rate between 70% and 100%. You can expect (at least) one release now in January.<p>
Faces of the Forgotten North - First release in the Lost Cities series.
Trade Lords - An expansion to Dune Trader.
Athasian Emporium - An equipment guide.
Prestige Class Appendix II - PrC fan contributions</p>
New NPC Class: Psychic Adept
The Overcouncil has adopted the psychic adept NPC class as official:
Avangions, Redux
An updated version of the Avangion has been posted. <p> </p> This version of the Avangion has been a total revamp of the prior system due to feeback from both the bureau and the boards. <p> </p>Added features include: (but are not limited to) <ul> <li>initial feat prerequisites have changes slightly to better represent the avangions special nature[feat:5] </li>
</ul>
Wisdom of the Drylanders, version 2 (expanded)
Wisdom of the Drylanders, version 2, with new articles, art, maps, NPC blocks, feats, and PrCs, is now available here. Thanks to all that assisted and contributed!
Lost Cities of the Trembling Plains continues to progress on target for this year. Lost Cities and subsequent projects will continue to give you a better picture of the forgotten north.