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Thursday, November 20, 2003
Looney Labs ships Stoner Fluxx
This is not a joke. Stoner Fluxx is a new version of Fluxx with appropriately (or inappropriately) adjusted Keepers and Goals, as well as some special rules you can probably imagine. Looney Labs will be donating one dollar to organizations such as NORML and the Drug Policy Alliance for each copy of Stoner Fluxx sold. The Looneys originally conceived this product with the title NORML Fluxx… I wonder if they got negged on that. I also wonder if this isn’t gonna backfire on them in a big way - their core audience of young-ish casual players probably has high overlap with those who would favor legalization in this country, but do they set foot in game stores often enough, and will they want to buy the game anew? And what about the families and schoolteachers that love Fluxx so much? And who has the Cheetos?
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
PIG releases Smuggler’s Bane
Politically Incorrect Games has just released a new PDF adventure for Deep7’s Arrowflight. Dubbed Smuggler’s Bane (which evokes Star Wars images for me), the adventure includes full-color maps and paper miniatures from PIG’s Disposable Heroes line, five of them unique to the adventure. If the $5 download had dice and players, PIG would have the complete package. The bandwidth would be a real pain, though.
GAMA running Origins trip contest
Apparently GAMA wants to flesh out its library of old Origins convention materials, ‘cuz we just got word of a contest. Anyone who sends in photos from previous Origins conventions, or program book covers, or entire program books, will be eligible to win a trip for two to Origins. Or a sports bottle. See the press release below for details, and start scrounging through your garage for that old program you’ve got stashed away.
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Sunday, November 16, 2003
West End Games sold; Torg 2.0 gets new life
As we’ve heard whispered on various industry lists, the long-languishing company that is West End Games has changed hands again. This time, the new owner of WEG intellectual properties and such is “Eric J. Gibson and the still forming Purgatory Publishing Inc.” Among the few projects already mentioned for the renewed WEG is Torg 2.0, which will hopefully finally see print. Reportedly, its first draft has been sitting at WEG as a 2″ thick unedited manuscript for years. Frankly, as a Torg GM, it’d be nice to get some better closure than the hastily thrown-together War’s End adventure. Wrapping up five years of storyline in one softcover adventure just didn’t work.
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Friday, November 14, 2003
More virtual cards for your virtual free time
If you’re like me, you had no friggin’ clue about Decipher Online Gaming, but lo, you can play both the Lord of the Rings CCG and the original Star Trek: TNG CCG in a manner similar to that of Magic Online. Also, look at this weird thing Sega is doing in Japanese arcades. Hold actual cards in your hand, but play with them on a touchscreen monitor? Brilliant, or the worst of both worlds?
Thursday, November 13, 2003
2004 Games 100 announced; New England is Game of the Year
GAMES Magazine’s 2004 GAMES 100 is up in its entirety at ye olde Funagain, and the veteran design team of Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum took Game of the Year honors with their tile-laying Pilgrim fiesta New England. Curiously, last year’s winner Dvonn is listed again this year to fill out the Abstract Strategy top 10. Whatever. Further down, there are even more “returning guests.” I guess it just underscores my theory that so little of interest happened this year that you may as well fill your shopping guide with standouts from years past. (OgreCave’s upcoming Twelve Games of Christmas lists will not do this, incidentally. Also incidentally, yes, those Funagain links will kick back a percentage of resulting sales to OgreCave, disclaim disclaim. If you’ve supported your local retailer lately, feel free to support us by shopping at Funagain.)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Game of Thrones Board Game Playtest Report
FFG’s in-house board game designs are just looking really sharp these days: they aren’t what you’d call mind-blowingly original, but they preserve the feel of their source material and keep the focus on fun, fun, fun. Game of Thrones: the Board Game is basically Diplomacy modified until unrecognizable. It has the standard starting board setups for each faction, which generally set your strategic direction; it has the tight board that’s guaranteed to get you into trouble with someone rapidly; it has the emphasis on raw, naked bloodlust. Wait, Diplomacy doesn’t have that so much.
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New Cyberpunk CCG, because the last one sold so well
Yeah, I still pine for NetRunner. Cyberpunk the CCG is an entirely different design and may get some things right that NR, God rest its soul, got wrong, at least from a marketing perspective. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi thing seems to be riding a wave in CCGs right now - rumor has it that even Magic is going to start making good on its pan-planar promise and incorporating sci-fi themes. You can download the beta version of the Cyberpunk rules; they look pretty straightforward.
Monday, November 10, 2003
Rio Grande Update
Rio Grande Games has once again found the time to release another newsletter. In addition to the usual notes on release date changes and such, five new games are featured: Nero, dealing with the struggle for Rome following Nero’s death; Age of Napoleon, a diplomatic and military strategy game; Alexandros, a game of economics in the wake of Alexander’s conquest; The Prince, a card game about the struggle for Papacy; and Maya, a pyramid-building strategy game.
Friday, November 7, 2003
Axis and Allies becomes one again in ‘04?
Avalon Hill has announced a new revision of good ol’ A&A to hit in March. It’s billed as the first major revision in 20 years, although splitting the thing into two parts seems pretty friggin’ major to me. There’s no word in either the press release (included below) or the web site on whether the Europe and Pacific versions of the game have a future. Announced changes include a reduced-size box, presumably along the lines of the new, svelte Risk 2210 form factor, and new territories on the board(!!). [Update: some clarifications are in the comments.]
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