The Shatterpoint Explained

For those of you unaware, a "shatterpoint" is a phenomena that occurs in the extended universe of Star Wars. A shatterpoint is a moment in time recognized by those with Force precognizance to be an opportunity for massive and far-reaching change. Those Jedi or Sith who developed their ability to foresee the future saw these as moments that they couldn't hope to influence indirectly; a shatterpoint is an event that can completely change everything that was originally to follow. You can think of the climax of Return of the Jedi as a clear shatterpoint: Emperor Palpatine was a master of Force Precognition, yet he placed himself on the uncompleted Death Star and brought Luke Skywalker into his own throne room. He can't be a bad planner because, after all, he went from Senator of a Republic to an Emperor in about 10 years. Palpatine could see that Luke Skywalker had become a shatterpoint. Luke would either decide to become Palpatine's apprentice, murder his own father, and become a terrible Sith Lord and help the Emperor to stamp out the Rebel Alliance, or he would do exactly what occurred in the actual film. It was a huge risk, but Palpatine intervened hoping he could use the shatterpoint to change the future in his favor.

Well, the tabletop rpg genre is entering a shatterpoint right now. In the past couple of years Paizo's Pathfinder RPG has outsold Wizard of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons, a mainstay and veritable juggernaut in the community for 40 years now. The last year and a half has seen WotC perform an Open Playtest for the new edition of D&D, which has began its release as of last month. No doubt in retaliation, Paizo has announced for next year the book Pathfinder Unchained which will feature new and alternative rules to the system. Paizo staff have of late been candid about the fact that the system their game is built upon is nearly 15 years old and that there are a number of facets of it they feel could be improved upon. They have been hesitant to do so in the past due to the initial advertising strategy Paizo used which marked Pathfinder as a continuation of the 3.x d20 system past WotC's discontinuation of D&D 3.5. For the foreseeable future these two publishers will be at all-out war for control of the market.

Though there are still other competitors in the arena. Fantasy Flight Games have just recently released the Second Edition of their Warhammer 40k rpg Dark Heresy and are continuing to expand upon their Star Wars license with Star Wars: Age of Rebellion and next year's Star Wars: Force and Destiny. Smaller publishers have produced a number of new systems within the past year that challenge the way we gamers have come to think of the classic fantasy dungeon crawl. 13th Age, Numenara, and Dungeon World each provide a welcome and refreshingly modern alternative to the same old D&D all over again. Could one of these games find itself standing at the peak of the hobby? If Paizo could do it, then perhaps the possibility is there.

The goal of this blog from here on then will be to report on how this shatterpoint unfolds. I'll be reviewing the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook soon, along with 13th Age's 13 True Ways. You can also expect reports and analyses of my own games, those I run and play in. The future is an uncertain one, but I'm hoping you're willing to do what I plan to: just roll along with it.