» 2007 » September
Friday, September 28, 2007
Robotech RPG returns to Palladium
That’s right, and I get to launch the first missile at Lynn Minmay. Er… In yesterday’s press release (also copied below), Palladium announced a new licence with Harmony Gold to begin publishing Robotech RPG products once again. According to Kevin Siembieda, publisher and founder of Palladium Books, the company’s goal is to “make the upcoming new Robotech and Robotech The Shadow Chronicles RPGs even more fun and exciting than the original RPG to please long-time gamers and enthrall a new generation of fans.” There may well be a new generation ready for Robotech, considering the success of another recent transforming robot movie whose name escapes me right now. Hollywood’s thinking along the same lines, after all: Warner Bros. has optioned the property for a live-action film. Competing with Optimus much? You better believe it.
Read More…
Friday, September 21, 2007
Audio Report – Coming down after con season
We still have a bit of the shakes from all the convention news of the past month or so, so we let it all out in the latest OgreCave Audio Report episode. From how Gen Con developments reflected on our 2007 Ogre’s Choice Awards to the Penny Arcade Expo, and from Rackham’s recent issues to troubled local conventions, we manage to have a theme and be all over the map. Jump into the story already in progress, or check into previous episodes – it’s all good.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The magic is in the hole: Project Donut semi-unveiled
It has been revealed that Peter Adkison-backed Hidden City Games, publisher of Clout Fantasy and US license holder of Pony Crack, has commissioned Burning Empires designer/publisher Luke Crane and InSpectres and Lacuna creator Jared Sorenson to create… well, probably an RPG, right? Except for there’s this page that leads to one of those things that would be an ARG if it had a budget, and given Hidden City’s involvement, this game is going to have a budget for some value of “budget”… and since this project was apparently kicked off by a game of the notoriously ARG-leaning Lacuna, well… even if this didn’t look to be the first major commercial surfacing of story-games design, I’d put money on its being pretty interesting.
Friday, September 14, 2007
New Crossbows & Catapults: The art of flinging battle carroms
Since it didn’t have the same endless barrage of Saturday morning commercials that the original game had, the latest incarnation of Crossbows & Catapults, a joyous game of disk-flinging combat, managed to sneak into Target and other major stores unseen by my circle of gaming buddies. It was only while cruising through the store for other purposes that I spotted Battleground: Crossbows & Catapults from Australian company Moose Enterprise. Boasting Orcs and Knights instead of Vikings and Barbarians, this new version’s already beckoning to my gamer nostalgia with its War Chest base set and two expansions (with more on the way). Not that I don’t still have the original game that I crack open from time to time, mind you. But as this comparison gallery shows, the components got an upgrade. We don’t even have to use the word “carrom” anymore, as the kids these days prefer “Attack Disc”. Sometimes change is a good thing.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Want a peek of the Gleemax online board gaming? Maybe you’ve already had it
So here was my little mystery story tonight: go by Cheapass’ news page, be surprised to find a press release from GameTable Online. In the press release, find this: “Instead of subscribers in thousands, we have yet to break the 200 subscriber mark.” Oh, wait, that’s pretty interesting but not what I’m talking about. Here it is: “The great news is that a recent sale of the license to use our game platform, now called Metagameâ„¢, and contract game work have provided us with the resources to [...]” Well, wait a minute; this release was posted in June, and who might have been shopping for a board game engine around then? Ohhhh. A trip to the Metagame website confirms it: the same engine that powers GTO will be powering the online board games on Gleemax. So if you’d like a preview, I guess subscribe to GTO.
But man… 200 subscribers? It makes a kind of terrible sense, given how many of those crappy free play-by-web games are out there that people put incredible amounts of work into for no compensation at all – not even players. GTO’s offering is pretty far from terrible; it’s well-executed, attractive and solid. And I happen to know how bloody much work it takes to code that. Hell, making the crappy kind is more work than I want to do. And it still only gets you 200 subscribers. I guess enough people are willing to make this kind of thing for free that the value just gets driven down. Well, okay, and the case for subscribing to a mildly random selection of board games is quite different from, say, the case for D&D Insider’s playtable (which will run on a completely different engine, just to be clear). But it doesn’t bode well, although the analogy is still not perfect, for the financial success of efforts like WotC’s upcoming Uncivilized, or that one game I was going to start a company and do someday, or of, um, the Gleemax online board games. *sigh* Glad I could cheer us all up!
I’m in ur Magic, walkin ur planez: crazy new upcoming card type merits a look
If you’re like me and have a spot of Magic: the Gathering in your past, but have more or less lost interest in all the little furniture-rearrangements and wacky new kitchen appliances they’ve added to that house over the years… well, it looks like as of the next big block of cards, they’ve added a whole new room. The Planeswalker cards have an entirely new currency (Loyalty points), don’t interact with all the other cards in conventional ways, and (like a lot of other recent new stuff in MtG) seem crazy-powerful. It really feels like they’ve added a chunk of new game, rather than sub-games. And the above-linked article is surprisingly readable if you have only primary-school-level Magic knowledge (again, like me). Will this become a thriving part of the game, or is it the new phasing? Discuss.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Rackham files for fancy European bankruptcy
Tabletop Gaming News reports that Rackham, publishers of AT-43 and Confrontation, is under “legal protection,” which is how they say Chapter 11 in Europe apparently. Here’s a PDF press release and another PDF about this whole legal-protection thing if you’re curious. (I guess “PDF,” similarly, is European for “web page.”) This certainly sheds new light on their recently announced partnership with Fantasy Flight (again with the PDF).
When nerd cultures collide, the winner is you
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Supercrew, which I’m pretty sure is the first roleplaying game to be published in English the game text of which is entirely in the form of a comic book.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Gygax and monkeys, sort of
Wondering what Gary Gygax is up to now that Gen Con Indy has come and gone? Of course you are. It seems Gygax will be translated into cartoon form yet again, as the Code Monkeys series on G4 Tech TV has announced his guest spot next Wednesday, September 5th at 9pm ET. It could never live up to his Futurama appearance, though. After all, Al Gore threatened to take his dice away.
A periodic hour of awesome with editors Allan and Mike. Subscribe!
You are currently browsing the OgreCave weblog archives for September, 2007.
-
Recent Reviews BASH! Ultimate Edition
(Basic Action Games)
WEGS 101: Old Skool
(Gamewick Games)
Doctor Who RPG
(Cubicle 7)
Thunderstone
(Alderac)
Dragon Age: Origins
(BioWare)
Mansions of Madness
(Chaosium)
Summoner Wars
(Plaid Hat Games)
Secrets of
New Orleans
(Chaosium)
Claustrophobia
(Asmodée Editions)
The Grinding Gear
(LotFP Publishing)
Adaptoid
(nestorgames)
Ticket to Ride:
Europa 1912
(Days of Wonder)
More...
Categories
- Board Games (349)
- Card Games (266)
- Computer and Console Games (130)
- Contests (21)
- Conventions (170)
- D20 (270)
- Dungeons & Dragons (292)
- Features (30)
- Game Design (14)
- Gamebooks (38)
- Geek Culture (32)
- Industry (404)
- Interviews (29)
- LARP (16)
- Miniatures Games (270)
- OgreCave (436)
- Playtest Reports (17)
- Reviews (117)
- Roleplaying Games (669)
- Uncategorized (591)
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- June 2002
- May 2002
- April 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
- April 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- November 2000
- September 2000
Back to the