We mentioned a second Amethyst Errata. It will be arriving this week. In other news, Evolution is waiting on final artwork before proceeding with layout. Art is a serious subject with us and we've one amazing artist…but he is also only one. The consequence is the delay in quality…it will be worth it.

So let's talk about the upcoming errata. What will it include?

1) Everything from the old Errata. Well, this is a given. All the old fixes will be included.

2) Revised Races. In mid 2010, WOTC released their Essential line, which revised the core races of the original PLAYER'S HANDBOOK. Simultaneously, they released an updated errata for their traditional 4E books which included these new race revisions. So, following their lead, Amethyst will be revising its races to follow the same paradigm shift. These revised races will be in both the errata and in Evolution.

3) Revised Classes & Monsters. The release of PLAYER'S HANDBOOK 3 and MONSTER MANUAL 3 shifted the power slightly with both monsters and classes. As a result, several classes and monsters have received a mild tweak. This comes in the form of an increase in AC or hit points as well as a few new class features.

4) Adjusting to Revised Rules. The recent RULES COMPENDIUM released by WOTC includes all the amendments made with the numerous errata. Some of these rules were changed in such a way as to counter certain elements that Amethyst presented. We have adapted these rules to allow these elements to remain viable.

5) Vehicles. Amethyst Evolution is introducing aircraft into its setting. Because of this, we have been compelled to return to the vehicle rules to make them more effective in combat situations. Both vehicle combat as well as the Vehicle Operation skill have been revised. These revisions have also been reprinted in Evolution.

For those wondering what's going on, for the past two weeks (during the holiday season), we here at DEM have decided to return to our vehicles. Our initial rules were simple, and even though no one complained about them, I always had a few issues over their deployment. With that in mind, we've decided to give them an enhancement.

To coincide with these improvements, we added in over a dozen new alternate powers and feats, vehicle modifications, and the biggest addition of all, aircraft. We avoid fixed wing airplanes and kept with vertical takeoff vehicles. So now techans can acquire a York Wasp, an Angel Hammerhead, or even a Mann Pantokrator.

Not leaving echans out, we are also offering blimps and dirigibles.

Yes, you heard right, blimps.

Both techans and echans can acquire lighter than air vehicles to avoid the pesky annoyances of ground monsters. You can outfit them with sails, steam boilers, or photovoltaic cells. As for ground vehicles, you can get increased armor, improved suspension, power upgrades, and one modification I couldn't help but include…

Nawz!: You gain the NAWZ! daily power.

NAWZ! Feat Power
Your customized vehicle has a slight modification you haven’t told anyone else about.
Daily * Martial, Vehicle
Minor Action Personal
Effect: The speed of your vehicle increases by +2 for the rest of the encounter.
Special: This is not counted as a vehicle action

The new vehicle rules are going into the next errata.

Speaking of which, hopefully in the next few days, maybe even for New Years, DEM will be releasing the 2.0 Amethyst Errata, which will update the rules in preparation for the release of Amethyst Evolution. This will include all the rules of the original errata plus a bunch of new ones. Many of these changes are actually enhancements made to adapt Amethyst to the evolving rule system that is 4th Edition D&amp.

Every once and a while, we here at DEM like releasing a preview that utterly confuses people. This image is a figure of a much larger illustration offered as a high-res download for those people purchasing the upcoming Amethyst Evolution. What is it, you ask?

Only time will tell...

Couple more links today:

First, we have The Hopeless Gamer. Some time ago, he did some coverage of Amethyst. He's now followed up with not only a two-part review of Foundations (written by his GM), but a ten question interview with yours truly.

http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/12/behind-screen-part-1-sleepy-dms-frist.html

http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/12/behind-screen-part-2-sleepy-dms-post.html

http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/12/10-questions-with-amethyst-creator.html

And then we have Castles & Cooks. He recently posted an article about how you can use certain games with your favorite film or TV franchises. When he reaches Avatar, I was happy to see which game he recommended.

http://castlesandcooks.com/2010/12/06/double-feature-movies-gaming-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-53

Two months ago, I did an interview with Gnomes Stew, regarding the future products of DEM. Since I did this interview, we did announce that we were indeed splitting factions into Factions and Evolution, the latter to be released first. However, it is still an informative interview and I love supporting the "gnomes".

We'll have more information in the weeks leading to the release. For now, here is the link to the interview:

http://www.gnomestew.com/specific-rpgs/whats-up-with-dem-games-3