These are the first four products planned for release from bySwarm. The two modules will explore the Dark Golden Age of a world recovering from the Collapse of magic just three years prior. The characters will explore ancient tombs in search of what magical items remain and find themselves in the middle of Beastfolk and human schemes alike.

While the modules are set in the Dark Golden Age campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game System, the Beastfolk Races and Godless Divine products will be suitable for any setting utilizing the Pathfinder system.

Module: Into the Dark Golden Age

This module will be a free download to introduce newcomers to the Dark Golden Age campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game System. It is intended to take a party of 1st level characters to 2nd level.

Target release: February 2012

Beastfolk Races

This product will include Beastfolk, feats, traits, and other Beastfolk-specific things. They must be well-playtested by then. Paizo will be releasing the Advanced Races Guide for Pathfinder in April 2012. A playtest for Advanced Races Guide will begin in the fall of 2011. The Beastfolk Races product page has more detail.

Target release: May 2012

Module: The Bandit Kings of Halag

A group of 2nd level characters set out to influence the bandits of Halag, a lawless place liberated by Beastfolk from human masters. While set in the Dark Golden Age, it will be usable with other campaign settings as well.

Target release: July 2012 / Gen Con 2012

Godless Divine

This product will include alternative systems for divine magic and god-less realms for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game System. New material includes our system for Cleric Domains and deities, Domains, spells, archetypes, and more.

Target release: December 2012

Dark Golden Age development is progressing well with lots of ideas brewing. I am running two different groups now in the setting with one of those groups having a very playtest-oriented plan. The first group is a family group including my wife, daughter, and friends. They are starting out at 1st level which is always a challenge, especially when the party has no clerics.

The Dark Golden Age and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

After a month of discussion and voting, the system has been selected for the first bySwarm project - the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Almost everyone that voted had Pathfinder Roleplaying Game as their first or second option with more than half having it as their first choice. There will be a lot of opportunity to write setting material as well as to develop new feats, spells and other mechanics that capture the feeling of the Dark Golden Age!

Stage 3 - Building the Setting

The site is all ready to go to start building the setting. There are a couple features that I am still working to complete in the coming days, but you can start contributing now. You can start contributing from the Create page. I'll be creating some demo videos to help explain some of the features.

http://byswarm.com/node/add

You'll also notice a little block in the upper right of the content. It will have an arrow if you didn't write it. If you like that piece of content for any reason, click on the block to give it a vote showing that you like it. It could be because you think it's creative, perhaps it inspires you or maybe the writing is really good.

Gen Con

As you start to plan your summer vacations, I highly recommend putting Gen Con Indy on your short list of places to visit. We now have four different distinct sessions in ten different slots! Whether you are a contributor or completely unfamiliar with the efforts of the Swarm, these sessions will be useful for you. We will have seminars for using bySwarm as well as RPG play sessions that will introduce the Dark Golden Age.

http://byswarm.com/gencon

Dark Golden Age: http://byswarm.com/setting-concept/dark-golden-age

Status Update

There are just a few days left to submit a review for the setting concepts. Once the reviews close, I will verify the results and announce the winning setting concept. We will be accepting setting concept reviews through February 27th. It is not too late to help set the direction for the next revolution in RPG design.

Top Setting Concepts: http://byswarm.com/contest/top

Our Team

I want to again send out my thanks to everyone that's participated in the Swarm so far. I feel like we are really starting to come together as a team. Even if you have not been very active or never even posted anything at all, the opportunity to be a part of the team to build an RPG setting is only going to get bigger.

As we move into the future, I wanted to say a words about what separates the Swarm from being just an ordinary forum or discussion board. On a regular forum, everyone is there with a common interest, but they do not typically work together towards a common goal. As a part of the Swarm, we are not just together with a common interest. We are also a team working to create something together. Teams go through many stages, and I see the team starting to come together. As we start working more collaboratively, let's remember that we all have the same goal - to be involved in creating a new RPG setting.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an RPG setting concept. We received a number of creative and exciting concepts from the Swarm, and now we have to do the hard work of writing reviews of the concepts that have been submitted. Many of you have already reviewed a number of concepts, and we send you our thanks for that effort! In fact, anyone who submitted a setting concept or who posts a review will be added to a special group called the Hive.

Now that the setting concept submissions are closed, we'll be accelerating really quickly as we get ready to move into the next stages. To prepare, I've been working on the functionality for system selection as well as for the actual construction of the setting itself.

LAST DAY!

Today is the final day for setting concept submissions. Have you put in your entry yet? If not, you only have hours left to go.

3 days left!

It's Wednesday, and we have barely 3 days to go before the deadline for setting concept submissions. Have you put in your entry yet? We've received fourteen great concepts so far, and there's been some lively discussion about the concepts.

The setting concept that the Swarm chooses will be the focus of our RPG development work for the next year. That means the ideas you submit today could be what all the members of the Swarm are developing for a long time. Making such a big mark for a new RPG publisher could be a great entry point for anyone wanting to break into the RPG industry.

Let's chat

On February 20th, the last day for submissions, Mike will be logged into Skype and available for any discussions that people would like to have. We could talk about a setting concept you are writing. We could talk about the other setting concepts. We could talk about the company and what we have planned for the next several months. It's up to you! Mike's address on Skype is mike.bohlmann so feel free to give him a call any time on Saturday.