For years, a whole bunch of my friends kept telling me that I needed to meet Todd Stashwick, because we would be fast friends who share a ton of extremely nerdy interests. Todd is the dungeon master for an ongoing D&D campaign a few friends are part of, and he runs these really great one shots set in a world of his own design, called The Dark Age of Theer.
Our paths never crossed, I think, because they are parallel to each other, and there wasn’t ever a reason that they would link up … until Todd was cast as Captain Liam Shaw in Star Trek: Picard. For Ready Room, I get to watch all the finished episodes long before they are released (I will now pause to receive your envy. Imagine my hands are on my hips and I am beaming) and from the moment Todd came across my screen, I was like “Holy shit this guy is incredible and I hope I get to interview him!”
I mentioned this to some friends, who happened to play D&D with Todd, and that’s when I realized that the guy so many people were telling me I should meet because we are spiritual siblings and the guy who I freakin’ LOVED in this show was the same guy.
Fast forward about a eight months, and Todd invited me to play a one-shot set in his Dark Age of Theer, at his house, in his Nerd Lair (which is almost identical to my game room, down to the arcade cabinets and vintage 80s nerd toys). It was incredibly fun, so when Todd asked me if I wanted to play another session with the same character in the same world, but this time we’d do it in front of a bunch of Trekkies on the Star Trek cruise, of course I said yes. It was super fun, especially watching Michelle Hurd discover and fall in love with D&D, in real time.
Todd’s campaign setting, The Dark Age of Theer, is
… a fantasy game world designed by Todd Stashwick and David Nett specifically for ProgCore-style play. It is built to feature the Three Pillars of Wonder, Mystery, and Danger, and to offer fertile ground for any fantasy roleplaying game, as well as stories told in other mediums. In this Dark Age of Theer, magic is rare and met with fear or wonder, the ruins of a majestic, ancient civilization mock all with their horrible grandeur and tempt adventurers with mystery, and dragons are terrifying symbols of the unknown. Its denizens live in wonder of the ruins of ancient power all around them, their lives are defined by all that is mysterious and unknown, and danger lurks around every corner.
The Dark Age of Theer is part of what Todd calls ProgCore Fantasy:
ProgCore Fantasy is a style of play, an agreement between players and game masters, that focuses on recapturing those breathless moments of early play. It’s about intimate, ephemeral experiences for players and characters alike. It’s about how you feel when you’re playing the games you love. ProgCore Fantasy is system-agnostic: it does not ask you to learn a new game, or switch from the game you love, only that you agree to pursue the Three Pillars of ProgCore Fantasy: Wonder, Mystery, and Danger.
The ProgCore Fantasy style is grounded in the intimate fantasy of the 1970s and 1980s: movies like Rankin & Bass’s The Hobbit, Dragonslayer, Legend, Labyrinth, Ladyhawke, and more; books by Tolkien, LeGuin, Zelazny, Leiber, and others; the music of Yes, Styx, King Crimson, Queen, Rush, and others; the art of the Hildebrandts, Michael Whelan, Alicia Austin, Erol Otus, Roger Dean, Bob Eggleton, and others. We see ProgCore Fantasy as an opportunity to take what’s beautiful from this golden age of fantasy art and media, discard the systemic prejudices endemic to the era, and use it to tell stories from myriad perspectives. We’re putting new wine in old bottles.
A lot of these influences inspired me when I was developing Titansgrave (just add in some Thundarr the Barbarian) so you can probably imagine how excited I was to explore the lore and details of the setting. And if you can imagine that, you can probably imagine how excited I was when Todd told me he was planning to develop The Dark Age of Theer into something pretty epic, with a team of extraordinary collaborators, and would I like to contribute to it as a writer?
Fuck yes, I would! I get to write some fiction, develop some lore, and add it to the legends that shaped this world.
ProgCore: The Dark Age of Theer is “A Multimedia Fantasy RPG Experience: System-Agnostic Sourcebook + 5E Compatibility, Actual Play, Original Soundtrack, Animation, & more”. It’s a wonderfully ambitious project that I’m so excited to be part of. If you’re interested, you can find out more details, including how to back it, right here.
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kemit flail SO HAPPY YOU TWO FINALLY MET! I am so, so glad because I met you both around the same time YEARS AGO in Portland during the Days O’ Leverage and after moving to LA, seeing you at TWWP pours one out for the chickens and firemen and Todd at various comic book things made me feel more at home in a big, scary new place.
That you two have become friends and collaborators is, I am certain, as joyful to me as every other one of the people who have been telling you that you two would be best buds! 🙂 I love when people I care about become friends; it’s the best! I am so EXCITED for ProgCore: The Dark Age of Theer!
A moment of silence for the chickens and firemen.
The “Shithead from Chicago” is not only an amazing actor, gaming geek, and all around good dude, but also a fellow Prog Nerd!?!?! Just when you don’t think you could love the guy more, he just goes and gets more lovable! RIGHT ON!!!
Two members of Stsr Trek universe meet and share much of life’s nerdastic wonders, including joining in the universe writing, breathing fresh life to the project, and each other..A serendipitifantastiwonderus congratulations, foe the both of you!
PICARD S3 was my introduction to Todd and finding him on X was like following the White Rabbit into the rabbit hole of D&D. I watched the first charity campaign and fell in love with his storytelling. Since then, I’ve listened to him talk about Theer and his plans and waited agog for the Kickstarter launch.
His love and passion for D&D and Theer is palpable and contagious, and I’m watching that total climb in delight, because damn that man deserves all the love in the world. (I’m delighted you’re involved as well, lol.)
This is going to be great. I already backed the KS and can’t wait for the release.
Ask Stashwick to introduce you to Amy Hennig, one of the most amazing people I’ve met in my 28 years of working in the videogame industry and literally one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I think you two would get on like a house on fire and now that I’ve written that I’m not really sure why that’s a saying? Anyway, carry on.
Hey Wil,
My wife and son are current enjoying our way through the Big Bang Theory. The tree of us have never watched it before. So much fun! We wanted to let you know how much we are enjoying your guest appearances. Sarah shouted out is that the kid from Stand by Me at the same time as I shouted out is that Wesley from Star Trek. Sums up our two different teenage interests :).
We paused and chatted about what i had learned about your early life, from the things i’ve listened to you talked about. My son Daniel (15) was quite taken a back from the thought of a child being taken advance of / abused like that. We just wanted to send you a hug from a crazy little family in Melbourne Australia. And to also let you know it looks like you are having so much fun playing a fictional evil version of yourself on TBBT. Thanks mate Andrew, Sarah & Daniel and Bonjour the cat.
RPGs have been huge for me. My best friend was my original DM in high school. I’m still playing with him on a bi-weekly basis and I started over 40 years ago. There’s one character that’s somehow made it through 38 years and managed to survive. There is nothing like the wonder, mystery and danger of a really good game. I totally get what they’re trying to do. So I pledged and posted this on my FB page. And by shear coincidence, a ‘memory’ on FB for me today was a photo I posted of my original, 1981 dice box, which I still use. Thanks for writing about and for it, Wil!
I read this, and the entire kickstarter project page, but I’m afraid I still don’t get what progcore actually is. It’s apparently inspired by media I love, which seems like a good start. But other than that I am really confused. What does it mean by ‘intimate’? Aren’t Wonder, Mystery, and Danger central pillars of any fantasy RPG?
This project is very intriguing, but the woolly definition of progcore, which appears to be a main tenet, gives me pause. Can somebody help me out?
Y’know, over on BlueSky John Scalzi was talking about doing a prog album….