» 2005 » September
Friday, September 30, 2005
Order of the Stick allies with Paizo, Dragon Magazine
The spectacularly popular online comic strip The Order of the Stick and its parent company, Giant in the Playground Games, is now relying on Paizo Publishing to handle distribution of the company’s print products. And as long as OOTS creator Rich Burlew is getting involved with Paizo, it seems only natural that Dragon will benefit from the arrangement. Starting with issue 338 in late November, Dragon will contain new, stand-alone “mini-stories featuring the characters from the online comic.” Also of note is the reminder (in the press release, below) that Burlew was runner-up in WotC’s setting search contest (you know, the one that resulted in Keith Baker’s Eberron), and the coy mention of plans in the works for other gaming products from his company.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Twilight Creations announces they’ve a-sploded my brain
Zombies!!! 5: School’s Out Forever features “‘Guts’ Tokens” and “[n]ew universal ‘Guts’ rules for use with any Zombies!!! set.” If you’ve ever seen the fine Peter Jackson film Brain Dead a.k.a. Dead Alive, you should be getting the fear right about, ohhhhhhhhh, now.
Audio Report: better late than sparkly-sounding
Y’all gave us a lot to talk about last week, and talk we did, for 50 minutes of goodness. The sound is still a little wonky but there aren’t any irritating artifacts this time. Thanks for your patience on that front. Leave comments here on our requested topics or others, and we might discuss them on the show if they’re up before, um, we record tomorrow night. (Seriously, we do have a technique on deck that will greatly increase our response time and sound quality.)
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
In startling and innovative move, WotC announces big dragons for D&D Minis
I’m just teasing, of course - the game really needs these and I’m psyched for them on some level despite being a non-player - but it’s not as if there was much doubt they’d do this eventually, given the buzz about the AT-AT. Yes, a Black Dragon with a 4×4″ base will hit in June of 2006, followed in (when else?) August by a 6×6″-based Red Dragon. The line of non-collectible big-atures is called Dungeons and Dragons Icons. Wasn’t there a bad Hasbro Interactive game by that name at one point? Anyway, we’ll let you know when pictures show up. Click on through to the other side for the press release.
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Monday, September 26, 2005
Head for the shelters: D&D movie sequel arrives Oct 8th
In case the warning hasn’t reached you yet, here it is: the sequel to the Dungeons & Dragons movie exists, and is nearly upon us. Hide your loved ones, and beware the Sci Fi Channel on the evening of October 8th, as that is when Dungeons & Dragons II: Wrath of the Dragon God will manifest fully for any brave enough to witness its arrival. Here’s the description from the SciFi.com website:
Five heroes undertake a quest to prevent the rise of a dragon god and an evil sorceror. Mark Dymond (the James Bond film Die Another Day), Bruce Payne (reprising his role as Damodar from the original Dungeons & Dragons) and Clemency Burton-Hill (the upcoming miniseries Supernova) star in this fantasy epic.
Will it be as terrible as the first movie? Maybe, maybe not. But just in case, I’d get those Remove Curse spells readied… and maybe a Consecrate as well… or Regenerate, for those eyes you may gouge out…
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
OgreCave reviews: Westbrook and Stars
Our reviewers are hard at work evaluating game materials so you don’t have to. This time, Justin tells us about Beginnings: Westbrook from 3am Games. And I’ve finally gotten around to posting Demian’s thoughts on The Stars Are Right, one of this year’s revised Call of Cthulhu releases from Chaosium.
OgreCave Audio: distorting time and decency
This week’s program, or possibly last week’s, is interactive. That’s right; tell us what you think in the comments of this post right here. You’ll have to listen for more details, as well as the sad tale of my capitulation to the siren call of Warmachine, Chris’ current theories on the roleplaying market, and our reviews of a few recent big splashes. Hit it, maestro!
Friday, September 16, 2005
Urge to Let’s Kill rising
Are you into darkly humorous card games? Are you into stick figures? Are you confused yet? What I’m getting at is Atlas Games‘ October release, Let’s Kill: Second Edition, a gruesome little game that indulges your inner axe murderer. Players gain fame by killing off annoying people (cheerleaders, beatnicks… you know the sort) in creative ways. The game’s cards, such as “Sniper Rifle, Clocktower, and a Box of Oreos,” aren’t for children or the easily offended, which the artwork can still achieve despite being black & white stick figure scenes with the occasional slash of red. Our copy of the game’s original release, then from Sancho Games, is one of my wife’s all-time favorites, proving once and for all that I married the right gal. Atlas will sell the revised, updated Let’s Kill for $19.95.
What the World Series of Poker needs is more critical hits
Here’s a nice consolidation of the recent chatter about Celebrity Dungeons and Dragons having in essence been pitched to Comedy Central a ways back. Paget Brewster was involved; I bet she fancies a half-elf bard.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Possibly the best title since The Penguin Ultimatum…
It’s free game of the month time at Invisible City, and they’ve come up with a memorable title if nothing else. Uncontrolled Squid is a game for two teams, and the basic rules are so simple that they can be summarized in a couple of sentences. Every player starts with a full suit of standard playing cards. Each turn, without discussion, every player on each team plays a card face down. They’re revealed simultaneously, and whoever plays the highest card wins the round, unless there’s a tie, in which case the lowest card wins the round. The rest is down to psychology and group dynamics. Of course, there are multiple variants to make things more complex. As always, the dollar-to-enjoyment ratio promises to be high.
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