I started the Amethyst Pathfinder edition, dubbed Renaissance two weeks ago. It is still in the alpha phase, but progress has been extremely rapid. Not even two weeks into production and Renaissance is now passed 188 pages. Races, lifepaths, classes, skills, and feats are ALL done. After this, we got prestige classes, equipment, setting, and monsters. At this rate, first draft will be done by the end of November. It could come out before Ultramodern4 is this pace keeps up.

I am still hoping to maintain the freedom of character creation we had begun with the D20 Amethyst in 2008 and perfected with our recent Amethyst Evolution book. For now, I wanted to leak a few of our "alpha" phase classes. These are still being tested.

LAUDENIANS
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5’10” – 6’7”
Average Weight: 40-55 lbs.
Average Starting Age: 150 years
Estimated Life Expectancy: Unknown (10,000 years?)

Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom; +2 Intelligence or +2 Dexterity; -2 Constitution or -2 Strength
Size: Medium. As a Medium creature, you have no special bonuses or penalties due to your size.
Speed: 35 feet
Vision: Normal
Languages: Laudenian, one human language, and one additional fae language. If you have a high Intelligence score, you can choose any additional languages you want.
Racial Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Spellcraft

Adept User: You receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Emergence: You know where and when to be to strike the critical blow. You know where and when to be to strike the critical blow. When wielding a light melee weapon, you can use Wisdom in place of Strength as your primary melee attack/damage attribute. If you are wielding two weapons, both must be light weapons for this ability to apply.
Equilibrium: If you have 4 or more ranks in Acrobatics, you gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of +3, and a +7 dodge bonus to AC when taking total defense actions instead of +6.
Light Body: Reduce all fall distances by 10 feet (2 squares). If bull rushed, you are pushed back 10 feet; for every 5 by which the attack exceeds your CMD, you are pushed an additional 10 feet.
Special Ability -- Slide Waltz: Your body can move like water, swaying around an opponent with ease.
Ability Type: Extraordinary
Action: Swift
Attack of Opportunity: No
Uses Per Day: As many times as your Wisdom or Intelligence modifier.
Effect: Select one Medium or smaller creature within 5 feet (adjacent square). You can move to any location that is within 5 feet of the target (effectively any unoccupied square adjacent to the target).

NARROS
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 4’ – 4’9”
Average Weight: 195-395 lbs.
Average Starting Age: 75 years
Estimated Life Expectancy: 1,000 years

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution; +2 Charisma or +2 Wisdom; -2 Dexterity or -2 Intelligence
Size: Medium. As a Medium creature, you have no special bonuses or penalties due to your size.
Speed: 25 feet. Your speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.
Vision: Darkvision. You can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Languages: Narroni and one human language. If you have a high Intelligence score, you can choose any additional languages you want.
Racial Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Survival

Big Boned: You suffer s -3 penalty to all Swim checks.
Iron Roots: You have a +4 racial bonus to your CMD against a bull rush or trip. You are treated as a Large creature when dealing with wind effects.
Militaristic: You are proficient in any two melee weapons of your choice (even if techan).
Stone Blood: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Fort saves but suffer a -1 penalty to Ref saves. You also gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
Final Word: If you are reduced to 0 or less hit points, you do not fall unconscious until the end of your next turn (regardless of damage taken). On your next turn, you can take only a single standard action. If you use that action to attack the enemy that reduced you to 0 hit points or lower, you automatically hit (you still roll).

I will continue to update this thread if you guys want to know more about our progress…

On Sunday, October 18th, I was interviewed by the boys of Gamer's Haven. Fans will remember I was interviewed by them before, back in 2010, after the release of Amethyst Foundations. They had praised the final product with some caveats dealing with issues later addressed with the errata or with Amethyst Evolution.

Ethan Parker had stated they had done a review for Evolution and wanted to interview me on the details. Although, they were once avid 4E players, I definitely got the impression they had all shifted to other systems, namely Pathfinder and Savage Worlds. In fact, I believe the interview was extended from its standard 30 minute length to the 90 minute result based solely on me stating that our next Amethyst book was a Pathfinder update. Most of the remaining interview dealt with the development of Amethyst Renaissance as well as upcoming release of Ultramodern4, the latter being released as an OGL. After the interview, they go about discussing what they go out of it as well as praising Evolution in their official review. I can't wait and see what think of Renaissance, when it gets released.

You can listen to the podcast on the Gamer's Haven website.

http://gamershavenpodcast.com/2011/10/18/gamers-haven-episode-87-dias-ex-machina-games/

As some of you've figured out by reading Amethyst's facebook page or reading the articles on LivingDice.com, we recently made a relatively big announcement.

Ultramodern4, our universal 4th Edition science fiction / modern game system will be offered as an OGL. Anyone can download the bare files for free. Any publisher under the GSL can use them in their own game. We will not be distributing the final production for free, just the raw rules. So if you want the layout and the art, we hope you'll pick up the final product.

Call it an act of faith, so that people can download the rules, see if they like them, and purchase the game based on that opinion. Not only that, but we would do OUR part to help the GSL community…as much as we can actually do. The OGL files will be released a week or two after the release of the final production PDF / POD. As for the release of the actual book, I'm still hoping for a winter 2011 release. It will still depend on men who are not me, namely my layout guy, my editor guy, and my artist guy. Once all those come together, the final product will be released.

It all came about because of forum that was found distributing 3rd party D&amp games. After talking with the men and women of the site, I began to consider a new business model, effective for those without the advertising budget of WOTC. Is it a risk? Sure it is; WOTC has privately disclosed that they thought the OGL for 3rd edition was a mistake. It might have been for them, but we are willing to give it a shot. Whether or not it succeeds will depend on many conditions, it not sucking being a pretty big one, the condition of the D&amp 3rd party market being another. And finally there is the fan variable, whether or not after having acquire the free product a fan will still pay for it.

Meanwhile, Amethyst Renaissance is moving at a shockingly fast rate. If it keep on moving this fast, It'll out before Ultramodern4 (Renaissance requires little editing and no new artwork). If Renaissance sells well, I can see the next Amethyst book coming under both systems simultaneously.

Of the 25 Limited Edition Amethyst Evolution books I received, 10 have already been taken. That leaves only 15 (wait….carry the 5….yeah, that's right) for those people interested.

The other news to report is that the Amethyst Pathfinder edition, known as Amethyst: Renaissance has officially opened its playtesting phase. Interested parties will need join the forum on www.diasexmachina.com and then message the administrator. They will gain access to the playtest forum where they will need to check up on occasion to find new and updated files as well as discuss the evolving rules. Initially, we only have races, but classes and equipment will follow soon after.