» 2004 » January
Friday, January 30, 2004
Arkham Horror revisited at Yog-Sothoth
Our friends over at Yog-Sothoth have scored in a major way: the site has just been allowed to post Return to Arkham Horror, the previously unpublished supplement for the classic Arkham Horror board game. Written by Keith Herber and Richard Launius, the 22-page PDF contains everything Yog-Sothoth could scrape together for the supplement, including “player mats, new cards, counters, dimensions, rules and the second edition ‘Arkham Gazette’.” Chaosium still plans a 15th anniversary version of Arkham Horror, tentatively set for release this June. I’m sure the PDF supplement will whet gamers’ appetites for more Arkham mayhem.
[EDIT: Now I’m hearing that Chaosium no longer has the rights to produce Arkham Horror, and hasn’t for years. According to one source, the game will be produced by another company later this year. Why the game is still listed as “Upcoming” on Chaosium’s website, I dunno.]
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HarnMaster free for download
Columbia Games is allowing people to download a PDF copy of HarnMaster Third Edition. With the free download, you’ll get an e-coupon toward other Columbia products. Other goodies are available as well, but it’s a limited time offer, so if you want all 160 pages of Harn goodness, grab it now.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Duel Masters: might not suck completely
After reading the article in Undefeated and hearing opinions from a couple of local retailers, I have to say that it looks like Duel Masters will be a credible game design as well as an actual, good business move for WotC. If you want the next Pokemon, it makes sense to go over to Japan and form an alliance with their creatives to make it. Game Trade says the game will get a glitzy launch in New York on March 6th, and the cartoon series hits Toonami about a week later. WotC has plenty of other good game properties, but what it needs right now is growth, so I’m happy to see something that might deliver it. Sustainability, or at least coming out of the inevitable crash with more dollars than you went into the whole enterprise with, is another question…
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Lone Wolf RPG [non] sighting
For those of you anticipating the Lone Wolf RPG, coming from Mongoose Publishing in April, here’s a taste: a first glimpse of the cover and product info. Hey, I said a taste. You’ll have to wait a bit for something you can truly savor. [UPDATE: Apparently, I was wrong. Matthew from Mongoose stopped by the comments to correct my error.]
Reporter falls prey to another collectible game
Okay, so I wasn’t that impressed with the initial release of the D&D Miniatures Game. The figures looked good, but not outstanding, and I didn’t want to get sucked into another collectible product line. But there’s no hope for me now: I’m hooked. The D&D Miniatures Game is growing on me like a patch of green slime, and there’s little doubt I’ll be checking out the Archfiends expansion when it arrives in March. I’ve heard there’s a gorgeous Silver Dragon that’s part of the 60 figure set as well, but there’s no Archfiends previews yet on the official WotC page.
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Monday, January 26, 2004
A sign of economic recovery?
Rio Grande Games has released their first newsletter of the new year, and they report that 2003 was their most successful year yet. This can only be a good thing, as it presumably means lots more German games coming our way. Check out the PDF file for a taste of what’s coming up next!
Friday, January 23, 2004
OgreCave review: Torches & Pitchforks
Matthew has gone out monster hunting in Torches & Pitchforks by Green Ronin. He’s reported back on the stylish card game, and gives us his verdict in his latest review. Have a look.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Decipher: Leaving Los Angeles
An announcement on the company’s website today stated that Decipher’s Los Angeles office is shutting down tomorrow. All of the RPG product lines will continue to be managed from Decipher’s main HQ in Norfolk, VA. Here’s the full announcement:
Decipher announces today that effective January 23rd it is transferring responsibility for the RPG product lines from its Los Angeles office to Decipher headquarters in Norfolk, Va. We want to thank all of the Los Angeles RPG Studio staff, contract writers, and contract artists for the excellent product they have helped us create over the past two years. We are very proud of the award-winning products they helped us produce.
Well, a few of their RPG team members had already left (Christian Moore among them), and others didn’t work from the office anyway. Maybe this won’t have much of an effect on Decipher’s RPG lines, or even have a positive one. What? I can hope, can’t I?
Green Ronin licenses The Black Company
In another sweet arrangement, Green Ronin has licensed The Black Company series of fantasy novels. Expect a d20 roleplaying sourcebook, The Black Company Campaign Setting, in the Fall. This news is sure to make a lot of gamers very happy. Any guesses as to what will get licensed next?
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004
This is not even mostly a nostalgia moment
It’s a little annoying how people seem to want to remake old computer games over and over instead of pushing gameplay forward, but there are a few classic games that, if remade to find a new audience, would push gameplay forward. Archon: Evolution is a 2D DirectX facelift of the classic chess-variant-with-pummeling for the C64 and other old boxen, set to probably debut this year sometime. It’s a spare-time effort by some of the original game’s developers, along with new friends. Now, if we could just get someone to do Herzog Zwei…
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