Showing posts with label other RPG's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label other RPG's. Show all posts
Friday, June 14, 2013
Free RPG stuff tomorrow
Free RPG Day is almost here, specifically on Saturday, June 15. Go here to find your nearest participating store.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Over The Edge goes OGL
Atlas Games has released the rules system for Over The Edge (one of my all-time favorite rules-lite RPG systems) under the Open Game License, under the name WaRP (Wanton Role-Playing) System, in celebration of OTE's 20th anniversary.
Check it out here.
Check it out here.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Professor M.A.R. Barker 1929-2012
As has been posted on several other gaming blogs, the Tékumel Foundation has announced that Professor M.A.R. Barker, creator of the world of Tékumel and the Empire Of The Petal Throne RPG, passed away on Friday.
R.I.P., Professor.
R.I.P., Professor.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
New DriveThruRPG charity pack
DriveThruRPG has a new charity pack that allows you to get a number of Indie RPGs on the cheap while helping to combat child prostitution. Check it out.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Notes from the Underground: Dragon*Con 2011
My wife and I, along with a couple of our friends, spent the Labor Day weekend at Dragon*Con. While there were a few extra stresses to deal with this year as opposed to previous ones, overall we still had a very good time. I'll get a few pics up this Friday, just to give everyone some eye candy.
A few random observations, in no particular order:
* While I love the overall scope, madness and energy of Dragon*Con, I wish there were some smaller cons in the Atlanta area. I've been told that AWA is a good con to attend, but I'm not that into anime. It would be especially nice if there were a good small- to mid-sized gaming con in the area.
* I did get to do a little gaming this years. Savage Worlds isn't my first choice for a gaming system, or even my second, but it's a decent enough system, and some of the problems I would have with the system in campaign play aren't really an issue in a one-shot game. The scenario was entertaining, the characters were fun (dealing with D&D style adventurers, but choosing archetypes that went against racial stereotypes, such as a halfling warrior, a giant rogue, a half-orc sorcerer, etc), and the GM was excellent. Much fun was had here.
* Didn't get to attend any panels this year, but I did score several deals in the dealer's room, mostly consisting of over a dozen Essential and Showcase collections picked up on the cheap, giving me literally thousands of pages of Golden and Silver Age goodness to dive into. Also picked up the hardcover collection of the first 13 issues of Invincible for half price, to see what the fuss is about.
* No OSR style games as part of the official gaming programming - lots of newer D&D (3rd and 4th editions), and a decent chunk of Shadowrun, plus other stuff I wasn't really that interested in. Not that last year was that different in terms of the programmed stuff, but at least last year I saw pick-up games of Castles & Crusades and 1st ed AD&D in the open gaming area - this year I didn't even see that.
* Speaking of Old School gaming, Larry Elmore was selling a shirt with the image from the cover of the '83 Basic D&D box, with the words 'Old School' above it. I know some hardcore OSR types would have aneurisms at the thought of Elmore being connected with the OSR, but I thought the shirt was amusing, and was glad when my wife picked one up for me.
* I only made one other gaming-related purchase, but given that my local comic book/gaming shop was not able to order one for me ever since it was reprinted, I was thrilled to finally be able to purchase a copy of PostModern Magick.
* Attended the blood drive again this year, attempting the 'double red' donation (where you donate two units of red blood cells instead of one, while returning your plasma and platelets to you to keep you hydrated and healthy) for the first time. According to LifeSouth, 3,499 people showed up to donate. That. Is. Awesome.
* I had been asleep for about an hour on Sunday night when I got a call from my wife. They had just missed the last train to get from the con site to our hotel (about 14 blocks away, or 3 train stops). My wife and one of our friends would be able to make it back to the hotel, but our other friend was having problems with his feet and really needed a lift. More importantly, there was a young (college age) lady - it was her first con - who lived up in Sandy Springs (a suburb north of the Atlanta area), and she had no idea how she was going to get home for the night. Could I get the car out of hotel parking and pick her up along with our friend, and give her a ride to her home? Well, when I was younger, I often had people help me out of tight spots with no thought of recompense, so yes, yes I could. To paraphrase Heinlein, don't pay back, pay forward.
* I spent the last hours of the con playing in a Gamma World scenario. I was hoping that when it billed itself as '4th ed Gamma World', that it was referring to the 1992 4th ed rulebook. As it turns out, '4th edition' in this case refers to the most recent version of the rules, which are based off the 4th ed D&D ruleset. The GM was good, and the scenario was appropriately absurd, but even with the GW rules being a streamlined version of D&D4, this just pretty much confirmed that I probably wouldn't enjoy playing in a game using the D&D4 rules, especially when dealing with combat.
* I was pleased that my wife's costume of the Masque of the Red Death was very popular, and got her many compliments. She put a lot of work into that outfit, and deserved every accolade she received.
A few random observations, in no particular order:
* While I love the overall scope, madness and energy of Dragon*Con, I wish there were some smaller cons in the Atlanta area. I've been told that AWA is a good con to attend, but I'm not that into anime. It would be especially nice if there were a good small- to mid-sized gaming con in the area.
* I did get to do a little gaming this years. Savage Worlds isn't my first choice for a gaming system, or even my second, but it's a decent enough system, and some of the problems I would have with the system in campaign play aren't really an issue in a one-shot game. The scenario was entertaining, the characters were fun (dealing with D&D style adventurers, but choosing archetypes that went against racial stereotypes, such as a halfling warrior, a giant rogue, a half-orc sorcerer, etc), and the GM was excellent. Much fun was had here.
* Didn't get to attend any panels this year, but I did score several deals in the dealer's room, mostly consisting of over a dozen Essential and Showcase collections picked up on the cheap, giving me literally thousands of pages of Golden and Silver Age goodness to dive into. Also picked up the hardcover collection of the first 13 issues of Invincible for half price, to see what the fuss is about.
* No OSR style games as part of the official gaming programming - lots of newer D&D (3rd and 4th editions), and a decent chunk of Shadowrun, plus other stuff I wasn't really that interested in. Not that last year was that different in terms of the programmed stuff, but at least last year I saw pick-up games of Castles & Crusades and 1st ed AD&D in the open gaming area - this year I didn't even see that.
* Speaking of Old School gaming, Larry Elmore was selling a shirt with the image from the cover of the '83 Basic D&D box, with the words 'Old School' above it. I know some hardcore OSR types would have aneurisms at the thought of Elmore being connected with the OSR, but I thought the shirt was amusing, and was glad when my wife picked one up for me.
* I only made one other gaming-related purchase, but given that my local comic book/gaming shop was not able to order one for me ever since it was reprinted, I was thrilled to finally be able to purchase a copy of PostModern Magick.
* Attended the blood drive again this year, attempting the 'double red' donation (where you donate two units of red blood cells instead of one, while returning your plasma and platelets to you to keep you hydrated and healthy) for the first time. According to LifeSouth, 3,499 people showed up to donate. That. Is. Awesome.
* I had been asleep for about an hour on Sunday night when I got a call from my wife. They had just missed the last train to get from the con site to our hotel (about 14 blocks away, or 3 train stops). My wife and one of our friends would be able to make it back to the hotel, but our other friend was having problems with his feet and really needed a lift. More importantly, there was a young (college age) lady - it was her first con - who lived up in Sandy Springs (a suburb north of the Atlanta area), and she had no idea how she was going to get home for the night. Could I get the car out of hotel parking and pick her up along with our friend, and give her a ride to her home? Well, when I was younger, I often had people help me out of tight spots with no thought of recompense, so yes, yes I could. To paraphrase Heinlein, don't pay back, pay forward.
* I spent the last hours of the con playing in a Gamma World scenario. I was hoping that when it billed itself as '4th ed Gamma World', that it was referring to the 1992 4th ed rulebook. As it turns out, '4th edition' in this case refers to the most recent version of the rules, which are based off the 4th ed D&D ruleset. The GM was good, and the scenario was appropriately absurd, but even with the GW rules being a streamlined version of D&D4, this just pretty much confirmed that I probably wouldn't enjoy playing in a game using the D&D4 rules, especially when dealing with combat.
* I was pleased that my wife's costume of the Masque of the Red Death was very popular, and got her many compliments. She put a lot of work into that outfit, and deserved every accolade she received.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sandy Peterson talks Call Of Cthulhu
(yes, I've been horribly negligent on my posting - not certain when work will calm down enough that I can post in a more timely fashion, to be honest)
Just passing on a link where Sandy Peterson, the creator of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, talks about the genesis and creation of the game. There's some interesting stuff there for both COC fans and RPG historians:
"However, the good folks at Chaosium did not respect Lovecraft. Greg’s exact words were 'HPL is a terrible writer.' That was mild, compared to some other Chaosium opinions."
"In the very first game I ever ran of Call of Cthulhu (long before the rules were finished), my players found a book which enabled them to summon up a Foul Thing From Otherwhere (a dimensional shambler) and decided to do so. At the moment they completed the spell, the players suddenly chimed in with comments like 'I’m covering my eyes.' 'Turning my back.' 'Shielding my view so I don’t see the monster.' I had never seen this kind of activity in an RPG before - trying NOT to see the monster? What a concept. You may not credit it, but I had actually not realized that the Sanity stat, as I had written it, would lead to such behavior. To me it was serendipitous; emergent play. But I loved it. The players were actually acting like Lovecraft heroes instead of the mighty-thewed barbarian lunks of D&D."
Well worth a read.
Just passing on a link where Sandy Peterson, the creator of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, talks about the genesis and creation of the game. There's some interesting stuff there for both COC fans and RPG historians:
"However, the good folks at Chaosium did not respect Lovecraft. Greg’s exact words were 'HPL is a terrible writer.' That was mild, compared to some other Chaosium opinions."
"In the very first game I ever ran of Call of Cthulhu (long before the rules were finished), my players found a book which enabled them to summon up a Foul Thing From Otherwhere (a dimensional shambler) and decided to do so. At the moment they completed the spell, the players suddenly chimed in with comments like 'I’m covering my eyes.' 'Turning my back.' 'Shielding my view so I don’t see the monster.' I had never seen this kind of activity in an RPG before - trying NOT to see the monster? What a concept. You may not credit it, but I had actually not realized that the Sanity stat, as I had written it, would lead to such behavior. To me it was serendipitous; emergent play. But I loved it. The players were actually acting like Lovecraft heroes instead of the mighty-thewed barbarian lunks of D&D."
Well worth a read.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Recent superhero RPG news
Monkey House Games has filed a lawsuit against Fantasy Games Unlimited over the publishing rights for the Villains & Vigilantes RPG. Given that for decades FGU let the publishing rights to V&V (along with their other various games) lie fallow, I hope this is resolved quickly in MHG's favor.
Also, it seems that Margaret Weis Productions has acquired the rights to publish games based off of the Marvel Comics universe. While I'm not a big fan of the Cortex+ system, MWP has had a decent amount of success with licensed products in the past, so this looks like good news for gamers who are also fans of Marvel comics.
Also, it seems that Margaret Weis Productions has acquired the rights to publish games based off of the Marvel Comics universe. While I'm not a big fan of the Cortex+ system, MWP has had a decent amount of success with licensed products in the past, so this looks like good news for gamers who are also fans of Marvel comics.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Runequest returns... again.
It looks like a company called Design Mechanism has cut a deal with Issaries Inc to publish yet another new edition of Runequest. Good news for RQ fans, although with Mongoose continuing to publish their version of RQ under the new name of Legend, there is the question whether or not the RQ audience is large enough to support two different (if not hopefully fairly compatible) versions of the same game Best case scenario, both versions do well, and the fans get support from two different companies that they can use for their games. If not, the divide between the version that supports the Glorantha setting and one that offers a more generic fantasy setting may fragment the RQ community enough that neither side wins.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Free RPG Day 2011
Just a reminder - Free RPG Day for 2011 is this Saturday, June 18.
Be sure to check with your local gaming shop to see if they're participating.
Be sure to check with your local gaming shop to see if they're participating.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Mongoose to no longer publish Runequest
Info here.
More specifically, they're ditching the links to Glorantha. Given that this was a matter of licensing between two companies, this isn't terribly surprising; such deals ending are a matter of when, not if. It looks like the rule system itself will be rebranded as something called Wayfarer.
More specifically, they're ditching the links to Glorantha. Given that this was a matter of licensing between two companies, this isn't terribly surprising; such deals ending are a matter of when, not if. It looks like the rule system itself will be rebranded as something called Wayfarer.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
DriveThruRPG helping New Zealand
DriveThruRPG has put together a RPG bundle charity package to help out people in dire need, this time the victims of the earthquake that recently struck Christchurch, New Zealand. For a meager $20, you can get over $300 worth of RPG PDF's.
Go help someone out, and get some cool swag while you're at it
Go help someone out, and get some cool swag while you're at it
Thursday, February 17, 2011
SJG's 'Report to the Stakeholders', 2011
Steve Jackson Games has released their annual Report to the Stakeholders, giving a look at how SJG did last year, covering both the good and bad, and to a lesser degree touching how the RPG industry is doing in general. If you have any interest in the ins and outs of the RPG market (even if you're not necessarily a fan of SJG's products), it's pretty much required reading.
The fact that the sales of GURPS is being driven more and more by PDF's, rather than books, is probably something that's telling of the industry in general (WOTC excluded, of course).
Edit: Posthuman Studios has also put up a year end review, which serves as a suitable 'compare-and-contrast' with SJG's report.
Second Edit: Green Ronin also has their yearly report posted.
The fact that the sales of GURPS is being driven more and more by PDF's, rather than books, is probably something that's telling of the industry in general (WOTC excluded, of course).
Edit: Posthuman Studios has also put up a year end review, which serves as a suitable 'compare-and-contrast' with SJG's report.
Second Edit: Green Ronin also has their yearly report posted.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Of Cylons and Browncoats
It would appear that Margaret Weis Productions will be losing the rights to the Battlestar Galactica and Serenity licenses at the end of the month. Such is the way of licensed RPG properties. As a result, MWP is knocking down the prices of their PDF's for these games, so if you want to pick them up on the cheap, now's the time to do it.
Battlestar Galactica
Serenity
Battlestar Galactica
Serenity
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