» 2004 » January
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Chaosium goes dark
Despite repeated product delays (Secrets of Japan, anyone? Thought not), Chaosium is getting a more regular product flow going lately. Cthulhu Dark Ages is obviously just kind of another repackaging, and takes more than a page from White Wolf, but the cover looks sharp for a change, and I bet this will be pretty interesting. It should be in your store in February.
Monday, January 19, 2004
New contest: Ogres in Love
In preparation for Valentine’s Day (well, a gamer’s preparation, at least), OgreCave and Mongoose Publishing have a little contest for you. Well, it’s actually an excuse to celebrate the impending release of The Slayer’s Guide to Ogres, with our Ogres in Love contest. No, no, stop screaming. Have a look at the contest, throw together your entry, and you could win a free copy of the book. Then you’ll be all set to go out and slay some ogres… umm… wait a minute…
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Two for One at Invisible City
In order to catch up with their game-a-month schedule, Invisible City Productions has just released a pair of free games. The first, Zombie Rancher, is a humorous strategic board game of undead farming (hey, what else can you do with a flesh-eating corpse but eat it?). The second is the more abstract Accellerator, a maze game with a particle physics theme. Whatever your taste in board games, this makes a nice start to the new year!
Friday, January 16, 2004
Dracula’s Revenge webpage launches
Human Head Studios has launched a webpage for its upcoming board game release, Dracula’s Revenge. So far, there’s not much more than some wallpaper to download, but there’s sure to be more updates in the weeks ahead. Can’t wait to slay me some bloodsuckers.
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Mean Streets get more crowded
Deep7 wants to tell you about some of its new friends in Usual Suspects, a new PDF supplement for Mean Streets. More than twenty new friends, actually, all detailed enough to become ongoing characters in your film noir campaign. At $3.95, I’d pick up a copy just on the off chance I’ll need one of the “more eccentric characters, such as trawler captains, antique dealers and nightclub waitresses.” And since all the proceeds from Usual Suspects will go to The American Cancer Society, you can contribute to the greater good while you equip yourself for more gaming.
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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
More goofy **** from Hasbro
Hey, because if we combine Shadowrun Duels with Z-G, that ought to go over: XEVOZ is not just a metal band from 1979 but a new collectible action-figure-parts game from Hasbro, for the 6-and-up set. From the nicely done demo, it looks to basically be a simple dice game using figures as a score track. GR seems to have most of a press release. Ooh, the loading widget on the XEVOZ page Flash applet goes all the way to 101%, so I guess they have some advanced technology after all.
Monday, January 12, 2004
APE brings Big Top, Anathema
APE Games has finally released two card game titles I’ve been waiting to have a look at: Anathema and Big Top. Of the two titles, Anathema is obviously the darker, themed around the Salem Witch Trials. Illustrated by Drew Tucker, whose murky, brooding works in Magic and Jyhad are widely recognized, Anathema pits 2-4 players against each other as they try to capture cards. Big Top lets players act as circus owners, investing in up-and-coming acts and making sure the show goes on. These cards are illustrated by Alessandra Cimatoribus (of Torres fame), having a distinctly non-”burn-them-at-the-stake” look to them. Both full-color games are based on classic, time-proven card games, so playability shouldn’t be a problem. Anathema carries a pricetag of $11.95, while Big Top is a bit more at $19.95.
OgreCave Reviews: Deathtrap Dungeon
Demian has brought us his analysis of Deathtrap Dungeon from Myriador Ltd. So how did the classic Fighting Fantasy gamebook turn out when translated to the d20 System? Have a read and find out.
Thursday, January 8, 2004
Carcassonne: The Castle Playtest Report
I admit that our newest poll is more cryptic than usual, particularly if you aren’t already a fan of the Carcassonne franchise. Carcassonne is now large enough in Europe to challenge the hegemony of the last big megahit, everyone’s favorite settlers from a little spot called Catan. More to the immediate point, it is now getting remixes from superstars: namely, this new two-player design from Reiner Knizia.
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Counterassault for MechWarrior hits streets
The newest Mechwarrior: Dark Age expansion, Counterassault, has hit stores (see the full release below), though I can’t say I’ve heard much about it yet. The “positive heat effects” certainly sound interesting though, as something that could change MW’s overall gameplay. One of my local stores has an extremely active MW league and can’t keep each expansion in stock; others hardly sell any of the game. As with any collectible game, seems it’s all about building the community to sell it, and supporting that community. That, and the “first taste’s free” approach.
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