I’d not seen this offer on Humble Bundle - thanks for the heads-up 

 Might be good to include illumination distances for various light sources, as well as how long they last before burning out.

Just wondering if there is a rough ETA on when we might get our claws on this…?

This is excellent news, and a huge relief.  These changed licensing arrangements posed an existential threat to the D&D influenced hobby, and the collective of players put aside its day-to-day differences and spoke with unity.  Glad WotC seemingly listened and have done the right thing.  Long live Hyperborea! 

Matt Finch discusses implications for OSR and retroclones here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HMtk9SAjUI

My overall impression from the discussion was more positive than I had been feeling up to that point in that it seems Swords & Wizardry is well placed to break free from the WotC licence.  I wonder if this may make for a model of how Hyperborea might move forwards.

A bright light in these dim wintery Hyperborean times.  Yay, huzzah for Santa-claws…

Presumably, with the system as originally set out by Ghul (where the side with initiative do all their actions, and then the losing side do all theirs), a stationary archer with initiative can declare a hold action with an intention to shoot any advancing opposition.  They can then take their shot when the other side moves.  This seems fair even though it’s no longer the turn of the archer because each side would have declared actions at the start, and if that’s what the winning archer intended to do, then so be it.

shankspeare wrote:

... will any of the awesome charcoal art be staying? The Bard in particular might be some of my favorite RPG art.

Second that.  I hope the plan is to retain the 1st ed art.  I love those charcoal/pencil pictures...

BlackKnight wrote:

I always understood it as Belief makes the illusion real. If you fail saves, the illusion should be "real" to you...
 

The issue relates to illusions being touched or hit.  In AS&SH, I seem to recall that, if touched, the illusion is effectively dispelled (no save required). 

Castles & Crusades has an interesting take on illusionists in that the sorcerer is able to create a quasi-reality - the term 'illusionist' being somewhat of a misnomer.  In this sense, illusionists are the most powerful of sorcerers, being able to forge their own (quasi) reality.  In game terms, this seems to me to be a good take on the illusionist, because it makes their craft both more attractive to a player (because their incantations cannot be readily dispelled by someone merely touching it) and as NPC antagonists (for the same reason).  I imagine a successful save against an illusion spell represents the protagonist using force of will or some such to reimpose their own subjective realty on the way they perceive the world and hence break - in their mind - the quasi-reality of the 'illusion'.  Or something like that, anyway... 
 

Super excited about the new edition.  The next few months are going to really drag whilst waiting to get my claws on this...

I can see the logic of shortening the name, but it seems to me that the full title is as much of a feature as it is a bit of a mouthful - one of it’s stand out characteristics.  Perhaps an eye-catching ‘Hyperborea’ on the front cover (I can see the large font now in my mind’s eye - looks great!), but the full title on the inside, or similar...?  Anyway, this is Jeff’s baby and I’m excited about this whatever he decides to call it.

Rob