Hi everyone! I’ll be honest, I laughed when I saw this one was a prompt. I think it’s probably a good moment to reflect back on the last 7 years or so and talk about the “Shade” that means most to me – Shades of Vengeance! To me, Shades of Vengeance is about something. It’s…
Hi everyone! “What are the top couple of pieces of advice you’d give to new RPG creators?” I take that to mean I’m only allowed to give two, so hold on… 1. Believe in yourself If you want to create something then sitting on the idea for ever will mean that it never happens. Put…
Hi everyone! Today, I’m going to be talking about this image, which is absolutely the first thing that popped into my mind on the prompt “Forest”. Being inspired is often a very hard thing. While I generally don’t struggle much with it, I often find it extremely useful to pin down the details by having…
Hi everyone! I found another image for the RPGaDay2020 event, thanks to someone else posting. I thought it was cool, so I’m using it for this post! Today’s topic is “Tribute”, and I think it’s a good opportunity for me to talk about something very close to my heart: credit where credit is due. I…
Hi everyone! I’m back again today, and there’s only one thing I want to talk about based on the “Vision” prompt. It probably is somewhat linked to the fact that this game has been on my mind for several days for a variety of reasons! Era: Forbidden was a game I put together with my…
Hi everyone! I like to do this every year – #rpgaday2020 being the latest – and give my thoughts on various aspects of RPGs, and my experiences within the community. I’ve missed days 1 and 2 because of GenCon, so I’ll do the first three days quite briefly right here and move onto the next…
Hi everyone! We’ve been super, super busy during lockdown – like all of you, I’m sure! I wanted to take a moment to reassure everyone we’re very much still here and talk about a few things we’re doing that might interest you! Our team is running daily games (and have been every day since the…
The Era: The Consortium Living Campaign has now been running for just under 3 months and we’ve seen a lot of changes to the Consortium as a result!(Asking “What is the Living Campaign?”? – read this! https://www.shadesofvengeance.com/era-the-consortium/living-campaign/) We’re about to publish the first official update of the position in The Era Zone Issue #5, and…
Hi everyone! Did you know that we’re offering daily games online at the moment? We’re trying to combat the insanity invoked by staying inside all day every day – I feel it as keenly as you, believe me! – by offering a wide range of Era games via our Discord: https://discord.gg/6C4H9Cv For those who don’t…
Hi everyone! We have a wonderful new team member, Angel, and she’s been helping me to get several of the books that we never quite got up on the website onto the store! As a result, you’ll see quite a few new items if you look at the store now, particularly a lot of “Character…
Hi everyone! It’s been a very difficult month, and I apologise for the lack of posts. Like many of you, I’m self-isolating from the outside world, and that’s meant a big change to lifestyle. We’re making fantastic progress on Era: Survival – funded, and working towards that vital first Stretch Goal. That will mean that…
Hi everyone! Fantastic news for fans of our post-apocalyptic game today, as we launch our latest Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-survival-expansions-2?ref=96fdfm Era: Survival – Expansions into the Unknown 2 aims to offer at least three brand new expansions for games taking place in the world of Gaia, where Infection runs rampant. But we’re hoping to do much more…
Hi everyone, Ed here from shades of vengeance. And today, I’m going to talk about how I and today I’m going to give you my top three pieces of advice on how to direct an audio drama. 1: Live the universe! When you are directing an audio drama, you are bringing that universe to life for…
Hi everyone, and welcome to the final part of “How to Make Your Characters Real”! In this part, I’m going to be talking about how you decide the way in which characters act, focusing in some simple techniques to ensure that your character acts in a realistic and consistent manner. Let’s assume you have your…
Today’s Spotlight is about one of our newer RPGs that really tackles the psychological and supernatural aspects of horror. You are a member of one of the few defenders of humanity fighting against an unseen enemy. The five clans who became known as ‘The Chosen’ have been fighting this enemy – the Anonassi – for…
Hi everyone, Ed here, and I’m back with another “How to Make Your Characters Real!” Today, I’m going to be talking about how characters won’t always share all of the information that they have about themselves from the very beginning. They might have very detailed reasons for being the way they are, but most people…
Hi everyone! We’ve just launched our latest Kickstarter, The Era Zone 2020!https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/the-era-zone-2020?ref=aqgkct It’s, once again, offering support materials for every one of our games! You can join us on Kickstarter, where you’ll be able to get a subscription throughout the year (Digital or Physical) and help this attempt to continue producing material for all of…
Today we’re taking a dive into the Era: The Empowered universe and learning about Artemis – the supposed leader of the Old Gods. This group awaken to “reclaim” Terra. Before engaging in battle with the hero team Aegis, the ‘Goddess of the Hunt’ makes herself known with a live broadcast over Terra, and a challenge…
The most infamous day of February is days away, a time for dates, gifts, and frenemies! You read that right – especially if you’re a speedster named Blue-Shift. The fastest person on the planet is not only playable in our RPG but her story is being told in our fabulous comics! In “Frenemies”, you get…
Hi everyone, Ed here from Shades of Vengeance again!I’m back with another entry in my “How to Make your Characters Real” series. I hope that you are finding these useful and interesting. Of course, if there’s any subjects that I’ve not covered that you’d like me to talk about, please just ask, I’ll be more…
Since spring is still a while away, make use of the grey skies and winter cold for some extra ambience as you try to work together to overcome the apocalypse! In Era: Survival – Colony, band together as you choose your role to organise and defend against the threats towards your settlement: natural, mutant and…
Hi everyone! I’m back again to talk a little more about how to bring your characters to life in an engaging and realistic way. The reason that I think this is important actually relates to the fact that, when you have a character which is solid and believable, it makes the story that you’re trying…
Hi everyone! Era: The Consortium’s Living Campaign has just launched, and that means anyone can get involved with the universe! All you have to do is play a game set in 451CE, where the Consortium has decided to eliminate the Resistance, and the Resistance is not going to give up easily. Focus on an outpost…
Hi everyone, Ed here again! I’m back to talk more about making your characters real. The advice in these posts could apply to roleplaying games, when you create a character, or it could contribute to your storytelling or novel writing. It could even help with designing a world, or writing a movie or any number of…
Greetings Roleplayers, Storytellers, and those who love a laugh! With one of our favourite conventions, CON-Tingency, on the horizon, I thought it was time to tell you a little bit more about Era: Lyres; our take on low fantasy storytelling. This is a game about grabbing all the glory with none of the bloodshed (because…
Hi everyone! Ed here, and today I’m going to kick off a multi-part set of articles that are based around ideas I have on how to make your characters real. The first thing I’m going to talk about is inspiration. How do you arrive at your character? Also, how do you make sure that when…
Good Evening! With Valentine’s Day only a month away (!) This spotlight is for all you cyber-cupids out there; on Radio Free Taranis you can join anti-Consortium lothario Midnight Terry for the best pick up lines this side of the future. Get suggestions for conversation starters and memorable opening lines you’d never have thought of,…
Hi everyone! When I started both Era: Survival and Era: The Chosen, I asked myself one simple question very carefully: What is the difference between Survival Horror and Horror? I thought I would write about my thoughts on this today, and try to explain my answer to that question! The Survival Horror genre is different…
Hey folks! I hope your New Year is off to a super start! Speaking of “super”, those of you who want some more superhero action have come to the right place: we’re expanding our Era: The Empowered Universe with another “Tales of the Empowered” book! Like volume 1, this anthology collects heroic exploits, breathing more…
Hi everyone! For us, one of the most important things we do at Shades of Vengeance is enable you to bring your stories to life. We do this quite a lot of ways; through Roleplaying Games which encourage storytelling, through the card games which encourage you to build your own stories, and through small projects…
