OgreCave

(This is the first of what may be a series of highly speculative posts about the future of D&D.)

If you don’t read Mike Mearls’ LiveJournal, you have lately been missing some fascinating debate on the future of D&D. Basically, the elephant in D&D’s living room – World of WarCraft – is being directly addressed by Mearls, Ryan Dancey, and other folks whose attention means, well, rather more than ours does.

We’ve been saying for a while on the podcast that we’re starting to get the fear about a D&D 4th-edition announcement, maybe as soon as next year. So I’d like to toss out an assertion (possibly a false one) and a question.
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Over on the AEG forums, Spycraft doyen Pat Kapera announces the general plan for Spycraft at its new home, Crafty Games. I can’t quite figure out if that company name is awesome or terrible… but it’s Christmas time, so I’ll pick awesome. Looking over that schedule, it reads like it’s unrealistic, but when you think about it it’s actually pretty doable – several PDFs, two print products, and a whole lot of handwavey stuff with no real announced date. Also they get bonus points for linking to their website before it exists. (And now I guess we do too.)

Since the podcast is going to come late in the week, and I am tired of waiting to tell all about this in a podcast, here you go: I have played Primetime Adventures and damned if it ain’t just a Fun Machine. Details after the jump, although I don’t really expect this to get that long.
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For those who thought the previews of Etherscope from Goodman Games just looked too amazing to resist, you’ve certainly already purchased the PDF version. Now there’s a free character sheet to grab from the Goodman website, allowing cyberpunk Victoriana adventures to get underway with a more “official” feel to them. The print version of Etherscope is on its way to stores now, so even if you don’t feel like getting the electronic version, you won’t have long to wait.

“Jeez, did we really not post for like seven days?”
“Yup.”
“Man. Those lists take a lot out of you.”
“We’ll be done soon. That, and not a lot is happening out there.”
“Not that we didn’t already talk about in a podcast, anyway.”
“Yeah, um, we should maybe… do another one of those?”
“It’ll happen this week, keep your shirt on.”
“Whatever. Anything else new?”
“Not a thing. I was at Endgame yesterday staring at that famous new indie-RPGs shelf and realized that I’ve already bought pretty much everything I want.”
“Go you.”
“Yeah. But I did find the PDF of the preliminary version of the next indie game I am excited about. It’s called The Shab-al-Hiri Roach; it’s probably as near to a cheerfully morbid, Gorey-esque romp as a Lovecraft-inspired game can get.”
“…Interesting.”
“Yeah. The full-on, slick-looking commercial version comes out in the spring, I guess.”
“Sweet. Anyway, I guess I’m back to shaking people down for their list entries.”
“Word. Get a few hits in for me.”