 August 2001 Archive
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« July 2001 | Main | September 2001 »
10:57 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Atlas Games announced the next product in their Penumbra line of D20 adventures, The Last Dance by Chris Aylott. In this scenario, adventurers get pulled into a ghostly dance from the past, and must change history or become permanent members of the performance. Boasting an artifact that amplifies magic, a creature that feeds on it, and sorcerous music as well, characters are sure to get their hit point's worth. Arriving in November, the 40 page adventure will be for levels 4-6, and retail for $9.95. The Game In The Brown Paper Wrapper
11:03 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Hasbro, not content to stop fiddling with things, is making some minor changes in Wizards of the Coast's upper management. Here's a quote from the press release: In fact, if there was ever a person who was a better fit for the gaming industry as CEO of the "biggest company" than Peter Adkison, that person might just be Alan Hassenfeld [CEO of Hasbro], who is very much a big geek just like the rest of us who delights in play, imagination and creativity. Wizards of the coast has more employees than it did before Pokemon. It has more revenue than it did before Pokemon. It has more resources than it did before Pokemon. Being bought by Hasbro has had less effect on Wizards than the first seven digit purchase order from Wal*Mart did. Pokemon's decline is having more of an effect on Wizards than any request or demand on the part of Hasbro corporate ever has. And Wizards trajectory forward is being determined primarily by decisions made by Wizards, by Wizards managers, than by Hasbro.Cautious concern seems to be the prevalent feeling in the gaming community right now, with everyone waiting for the other shoe to drop. Stay tuned. Precedence Builds Sack Armies Into Website
11:07 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... It's been pointed out to me that I failed to mention a game convention so close to my home, it could've pounced and used my intestines as a bow tie. ConQuest is taking place in Palo Alto, CA this weekend, and numerous companies are scheduled to be in attendance, including Steve Jackson Games, Wingnut Games, and the Wizard's Attic guys. I just might make it out there, depending on how the cursed house painting goes.
09:36 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Just when you thought the cons were done and you could settle into your normal routine, a new swarm of 'em arrives to lure you out into the light once again.
09:00 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... White Wolf has set the release date for Victorian Age Vampire as October 2002. Can't wait for a look? Tough, the book doesn't exist yet. However, Justin Achilli's outline for authors is up for everyone to look at, and should stir up some excitement. Looks like it will be another winner. Green Ronin Website Improvements Map Tile Download
03:20 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Two weeks ago I was all set to write this snarky post about how Richard Garfield had, in record time, become the Paul McCartney of gaming - alternating between Wings-esque abominations of pablum like What Were You Thinking? and Beatles Anthologies of retreaded former glories, like the Harry Potter CCG. Well, it turns out that Garfield's name doesn't appear anywhere in the credits of Harry Potter, despite the interview he did about it in an interior design magazine, of all places, and the fact that it is basically Magic Lite.
09:15 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Principia Malefex, the RPG of gothic horror in modern Britain, has announced their next product to scare the wits out of your players:
12:20 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Munchkin is long. Or very, very random. Maybe the latter always leads to the former, I don't know. We played with four players, and although you should always factor in some inflation for a first game, it took in excess of two hours for someone to get their "character" from level 1 to level 10. Munchkin's design is similar to that of Chez Geek in that there isn't any designed-in gravity - the combined forces of randomness and players conspiring against the current leader can theoretically keep things going forever, especially if you have lots of players. I was just down at Endgame chatting with folks, and John Wick's old article about reviews (now lost to the mists of paid-subscription-land) came up in conversation. Heads at Endgame agreed with Wick that opinion should be kept out of game reviews entirely, or at least cordonned off into a single paragraph at the end. I don't think I agree, but I will say that I came away from Munchkin wanting to write a bad review, despite the fact that I never got bored during those two hours, and actually laughed a lot. So now I just have no damned clue what my opinion is worth anyway. But if it helps you make an informed purchasing decision any, I'll say this: two avowed fans of Chez Geek dropped out of our Munchkin game early, because the level of randomness made them feel powerless. This despite the fact that one of them had the "Chicken On Your Head" curse in his hand. Funny cards only go so far, I guess. So, this (Munchkin) is a more extreme version of that (CG). If you loved the concept when you heard it, and screw-your-neighbor games like Chez Geek don't piss you off, I'd recommend you go ahead and pick up Munchkin - on the person-hours-of-fun-per-dollar principle, it beats most of the movies you've seen lately. Just don't tell me you didn't know what you were getting into.
04:29 AM: Demian Katz says... In a recent newsletter, Rio Grande Games laid out their plans for Fall releases. In addition to several titles which have been discussed before (Dvonn, Lord of the Rings: The Search, Shark and Where's Bob's Hat), the schedule includes a number of interesting new games that will see simultaneous U.S. and German releases. These include two $10 card games (Gnumies, David Parlett's game of partying aliens, and Gargon, in which players steal amulets from flying fantasy beasts), an environmentally-aware business game (Waste), a racing game which puts snowboarders under attack from Abominable Snowmen (The Yeti Cup) and Spies, Incorporated, a somewhat familiar yet interesting-sounding game of strategy and deduction designed by Wolfgang Kramer. Most of these titles should be out by October or November.
11:52 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Wiz Kids' kung fu is superior. Having just recently gained the license to make a CMG similar to Mage Knight that's based on DC Comics properties, they have now gained the license to do the same for Marvel Comics. The rules to the Marvel CMG will be written by the lead designer of D&D 3's Dungeon Master's Guide,Monte Cook. While the two games will be separate, and won't be compatible with Mage Knight or the upcoming Battletech CMG, the super-powered characters willbe able to take on each other. My god... it's like the Secret Warscombined with Crisis on Infinite Earths,only more expensive and painted in China. While you wait for the Battletech CMG, DC CMG, and Marvel CMG, you can check out the beta rules for large scale Mage Knight battles (at the bottom of their downloads page). That's what I'm talkin' about. Massive warfronts of figures. Two hundred... and forty dollars... worth of Mage Knight. Awww yeaaah. Adkison Buys Back Primal Order Games Unplugged Unchanged
11:37 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... ICv2 brings the world an official statement from mega-distributor Diamond that they aren't interested in buying TSR. Of course, rumors have been flying at least since Origins about TSR getting sold, and any number of potential buyers have been discussed, so maybe Diamond just lost a bidding war. (Doing my part to keep the mill running... don't mind me...) They're Baaaaaack Is That A Heat Dial Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?
11:02 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... This just in: the biggest, and arguably best, site for D&D 3 and D20, Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3 News, is shutting down in the next few days. The invaluable resource and news site has lead the charge in all things related to D&D 3, and is thought by some industry insiders to wield more power than Wizards of the Coast's website. Here's a bit of the sad announcement posted on the site: I'm sure some of you have questions ... I will say that it's NOT a) some tragedy or other big life change in my life, nor b) some WotC/D20/OGL conspiracy. As to the future of the site, that's still up in the air. I believe parts of the site will move to another site at some point. Other than that, there are details to work out and when I know more I'll be sure to share.OgreCave will be sure to keep you posted on how this resolves, and where the site's resources end up when the dust clears. We wish Eric Noah all the best, and salute him for an outstanding tour of duty.
10:34 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Green Ronin has posted some art from their upcoming Spaceship Zero RPG,and has let the world at large know about their revised plans for the Freeport: The City of Adventuresourcebook. "It's now going to be a 160 page hardback sourcebook ... it features a beautiful poster-sized map of the city." The book is being written by the combined efforts of Matt Forbeck, Hal Mangold, and Chris Pramas, and is on schedule for a November release.
09:40 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Over at Mongoose Publishing, they've posted a preview of the upcoming Necromancy book in the form of designer's notes. Matthew Sprange reveals a bit about the process of making mages of death fun to play again without unbalancing them. White Wolf on the Prowl
04:07 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... In a press release, Holistic Design let the world know that their stylish Fading Suns RPG setting will make the leap to the D20 System this November. Not only that, but "Fading Suns: D20 will include Open Gaming rules for high-tech devices and artifacts, ranging from blasters and energy shields to cybernetics." Fading Suns already has elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror. As Bill Bridges, Fading Sun's line developer, put it, "What better way to grow the Open Gaming community than a game that includes both swords and blasters, theurgy and cybertech, starships and divine artifacts?" The six-year-old, highly detailed setting will reach D20 in the form of a softcover sourcebook, and retail for $25. White Wolf's Ravenloft Cover Posted
02:53 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Wingnut Games has posted the Quickstart rules to StuperPowers Deluxe. The humorous RPG of superheroes with silly or useless powers will be arriving in October, and weigh in at 112 pages. Pro-Am Adventures Surface
02:28 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... If you haven't been by the Cheapass site in a while, go take a look at the site and see what you think. Personally, as much as I like the company's products, I can't say anything good about the main page. It's entirely unintuitive, serving only to drastically slow you down as you find your way around the site. The rest of the site is fine and useful, but the main page has got to go. However, your mileage may vary.
11:30 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Viking Games has posted an 11-page preview of their D20 book, Monster Menagerie.Check out the stats and descriptions for several beasts, including the Banshee, and the Mantoid, which sounds suspiciously similar to a Tri-Kreen from Dark Sun.
10:49 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Due to a number of developments, not the least of which being Hasbro lobotomizing the electronics division of Wizards of the Coast and feeding the properties to Infogrames, the Master Tools D&D 3 software has been delayed until the first quarter of 2002. Considering how far the product vision had strayed, it's probably a good thing. How far afield did Master Tools range, you ask? Well, the mapping utility was useless for tabletop gaming, serving more as a primer for a non-existant online game. Ryan Dancey, the man behind the D20 and Open Gaming Licences, is now the man in charge of getting Master Tools back on course. And he's not gonna take any crap, either, as you can tell from a glance at the WotC message boards:
09:15 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... This ICv2 report has a (precious) few more details about the WotC d20 crackdown we reported on early in the week. They say: "Is this a laudable attempt to standardize procedures and enforce a necessary discipline on sloppy publishers, or is it the stunned reaction of an organization that has created a runaway train?" I say it's nothing so glamorous in either direction - WotC is simply acting with the automaticity of a corporation bound by rules. What they're trying to do is avoid the Yo-Yo effect - that is, the means by which a company loses control of a brand by failing to protect it. The word "Yo-Yo" wasn't always a generic term for that toy that comes on a string; it was once a corporate brand name. Long ago in the hazy mists of the 50's, courts ruled that, when the Duncan toy company failed to assert its dominance adequately over the term "yo-yo," they forfeited their copyright on the term. (They got the domain, though.) This is why a number of entertainment companies have sent cease-and-desist letters to Internet fan sites and such - whether or not they recognise the value of fans who do their promotional work for them, they leave themselves open to a legal attack on their copyright unless they guard against every little offense. The OGL is WotC's attempt to let third parties publish D&D material without running afoul of this trick in copyright law, so it's no surprise that they're staying on their toes when it comes to enforcement of the license. The d20 System Trademark License, on the other hand, is a diabolically shrewd play that keeps other publishers from being able to benefit too much from the OGL's largesse. Under the OGL, you can use all of D&D3's rules, but to use that precious d20 logo - and to otherwise take the all-important step of telling people you're D&D-compatible - you've got to leave certain things out. When I first wrote my analysis of the OGL and d20 for Gamers.com, I noted this little piece of brand warfare somewhere amid my general fog of confusion. What we've seen since reveals a possible counter-strategy: companies like Atlas Games and Sword and Sorcery/White Wolf have established their own, easily recognizable brands (Penumbra and Scarred Lands, respectively). There may come a point at which those brands will be as strong as the d20 logo, making it possible to produce, say, a Scarred Lands core rulebook, with all those nice OGLed rules and no d20 restrictions. Whether a smaller company would risk WotC's wrath like that, I don't know. Maybe we'll find out someday.
09:13 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Citizen Games has a preview up of the Desperado RPG, which uses the D20 System. This looks like a pure western game, with none of that horror or fantasy stuff. Still, I'll be interested to compare this to Pinnacle's Deadlands D20.
11:38 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... In October, Green Ronin will present Arcana: Societies of Magic, a D20 sourcebook on mystic organizations, secret or otherwise. Written by Kevin Brennan and James Maliszewski, this promises to be a good one. Here's the details: Gaming Outpost Joins Fiction Fantasy Network
08:48 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... The official Star Wars website has announced some preliminary details about Episode II. Specifically, the name of the movie has been announced as Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Uhh... oh-kay. Certainly inspires confidence, don't it? :-/
06:35 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... I checked with Fantasy Flight at GenCon about their expansion to the Lord of the Rings boardgame (formerly a WotC game). There was a single, unopened copy of the expansion, Friends and Foes,at a booth dedicated to nothing but the boardgame. From looking at the back, the game will have added feature cards and a single, double-sided board (Bree and Isengard are the two locations on the board). Also, enemy cards will be introduced, which I couldn't determine much about. In fact, according to the guys at the booth, there's a chance the expansion will be out a bit early, arriving in stores late September rather than October. The next expansion is targeted for a Fall 2002 release, with the ominous title of Sauron. I spent Friday night at GenCon teaching the guys from Realm of Imagination to play LotR. Todd's efforts as Frodo made this cooperative game more cutthroat and competitive than I thought possible. And they still came close to destroying the One Ring. "Frodo, get away from the tiki statue. Dammit, Frodo, stop trying to get Pippin killed!" Warhamster Rally On The Way
04:50 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... New card games were everywhere at GenCon this year. Let me see what I can remember...
04:17 AM: Demian Katz says... Galloglass Games has made two recent announcements. First of all, their twisted rail game HellRail has returned to print courtesy of Mayfair Games and is now available for sale. Secondly, a new mailing list aimed at discussing the issues involved in publishing cheap card and board games has just been formed. Check out Spit and Bailing Wire at Yahoo! Groups. Rio Grande Catches Up
11:02 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... One of the more entertaining single-space booths was the tribal tent of Outside the Asylum Productions, who were at GenCon promoting their boardgame, Nomad. In the game, which is packaged in a strange tent-like box, are several cloth gameboards and a number of game pieces. Each player uses a small circular cloth for his tribe board, and places it near the larger central map cloth. This central map is a beautiful full-color cloth map the tribes roam around on, going where the resources take them. The game concept, the game components, and the game packaging all intrigued me, and I might have bought one if it weren't for the game price -- $49.95. [As I reported at Origins - hah! -misuba] Grab Their Sack. They Like It Oh, and I met a D20 publisher that traded some of his stock for a copy of D&D 3's Manual of the Planes. I didn't see the book for myself, so I can't tell you anything about it, but at least one copy is floating around out there already. It will be interesting to see Jeff Grubb returning to his old haunts.
10:54 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... One of my roommates ran a scheduled playtest game of the new Tekumel RPG being developed by Guardians of Order. The new game uses the Tri-Stat system, used throughout most of the GOO product line. Though I didn't have a chance to join in, my roommate said the players thought the combat was fast, while as GM, he thought it was slow. Nothing conclusive there, I guess. I've already resolved to check it out for myself when it comes out in a couple months.
01:17 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Apparently, yesterday's posts didn't show up. They should now be displaying just fine, so check out my preliminary report on GenCon 2001. I'll be adding more later today.
11:56 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Over at booth #347, Sovereign Press had the entire line of last year's Sovereign Stone RPG, now converted to the D20 System. There always seemed to be activity there, partly because Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were at the booth, signing everything from Dragonlance to their Sovereign Stone novel. Don Perrin was also hanging out, and he showed me the three new Sovereign Stone miniatures, sculpted by famed artist Julie Guthrie, that were now available from Don's other company, Perrin Miniatures. A handout on the Codex Mysteriumwas available for perusal, so I read about the massive spell listing (over 200), prestige classes, magic items, and some guilds/special oranizations. The Codex should be available in October, followed in November by an adventure called Escape into Darkness. Restless Dead and Nazis at the Pagan Booth Godlike, expected to be at GenCon, will be heading to press in a week or two. The superhero RPG is set during World War II, and will include complete D20 conversion rules. With Dennis Detwiller and Greg Stolze (of Delta Green and Unknown Armies,respectively) involved, this is one of the few superhero games I plan to check out. Other than Godlike not making it to the show, Pagan seemed to be doing very well this year. If only the guys at Wizard's Attic had known about Pagan's secret stash of plaid and patterned Cthulhu dolls, more cultists could've adopted an evil friend. My two year old calls ours "Tulu." Hey, the kid's gotta learn to respect her elder gods.
11:45 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Okay, I'm back. Getting *to* GenCon was a minor nightmare that took 28 hours, but getting back went quite smoothly. Plenty of thunderstorms in both directions. And since my trip to GenCon was on non-OgreCave business (I'm working for Wizard's Attic and Skotos Tech on a project to expand RPGnet. Check out the press release if you have a minute), I didn't have enough time to track down a web connection while I was there. Anyway, for those of you who couldn't make it to GenCon this year, or those who already want to start reliving this past weekend, let us begin... The dealers' hall was packed this year. Traditionally, Thursdays have good sales but lower attendance, sales slow a bit on Fridays, and Saturdays see the families arriving. Sundays have good sales and attendance, both from panicked last minute purchasing and gamers who previously ignored the exhibit hall. This year, Thursday was more crowded than veteran attendees had seen in a long time, and impulse buying reigned. Wizard's Attic sold out of their more than 100 stuffed Cthulhu dolls, and in one day, Guardians of Order surpassed their sales for all of Origins. Sales and attendance stayed high for the con's duration. This was the year of D20/Open Game Licence fallout. My Homebrewed RPG Shields got quite a workout as anyone with a campaign and access to Kinkos showed up with their D20 products. Some of those new D20 companies may be in trouble already, though, as Ryan Dancey posted a warning today to everyone on the OGL mailing list: Some computer game companies were at GenCon as well, getting in on the action. In fact, the block party this year was sponsored by Microsoft, not WotC. Bioware ran many demos of the next big thing in D&D on PCs, Neverwinter Nights, which was the only computer game that really caught my attention. The game was gorgeous, well designed, and very smooth -- at least while it was on their souped-up machines. Two different PA announcers assaulted those walking the exhibit hall, including a woman who was truly pathetic at publicly addressing anyone. Her habitual name mix-ups, long pauses, and general crappiness earned her the title "silly bint" from a respected game designer visiting from the UK, and less polite names from nearly everyone else. Let's get into the game specific news: WizKid's Battletech Plans Revealed Decipher's New Star Trek RPG Won't Disappoint
06:20 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Well, I'm on layover in the Denver airport, but I'll be movin' on home soon. I'll have some GenCon posts for you tomorrow, and an image gallery shortly thereafter. Stay tuned.
07:45 AM: Demian Katz says... Since appearing more or less out of nowhere a few weeks ago, AdvancedFightingFantasy.com has grown into a remarkable resource for fans of the classic Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. In addition to the usual reviews and solutions, it has some exclusive looks at books that never made it into print along with lots of interviews with the artists and authors behind the series. The latest interview, conducted in three parts, may be of particular interest to OgreCave followers since its subject is Andrew Chapman, author of the freely downloadable Invaders gamebook that we reported on a couple months back.
03:30 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... For all I know, Allan's still stuck in Oakland Airport, cell phone dead and out of quarters, reduced to trying to sneak some stale breakfast bacon out of the dumpsters. Or he's at Gen Con, either unable to get online or too busy with his special top secret work to actually post. So here's what I have to tell you:
04:07 AM: Demian Katz says... Guardians of Order, makers of the popular anime RPG Big Eyes, Small Mouth and its many spin-offs, has just announced that their Tri-Stat System will reach yet another popular genre next summer. With the release of Silver Age Sentinels, players will be able to adventure in the many potential worlds of "four-color-style" comic books. Of course, a lot of people are already doing this with their own homegrown rules, but presumably the new book will still be a useful resource; GOO tends to be thorough.
04:59 AM: Demian Katz says... If things seem a little bit ominously quiet around here, that's probably because Sven has left for GenCon. If you can't make it to the convention yourself, you might enjoy visiting Wizards of the Coast's Virtual GenCon from time to time over the next few days. If you have a keen eye, perhaps you'll spot our resident ogre's looming presence. Of course, don't forget to come back here -- we should have some live reports from the convention if Sven can only track down an Internet-ready terminal.
05:20 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Ever wonder what it's like to be Gary Gygax's publisher, or what the guys who put those CD-ROM d20 modules on your game store's shelves were thinking? Read all about it in the first of what are sure to be many OgreCave interviews. (Peep Colin's fly new corner graphic while you're at it! And let me know if it looks strange, would you?)
04:58 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Just as surely as that dead wrestler has a posse, Brave New World author Matt Forbeck's upcoming hybrid fantasy/sci-fi world for d20 now has a web site. There's also a new page for Reiner Knisia's Lord of the Rings board game, now that FFG is its new publisher. More Vortex info is up as well.
02:07 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says... Just in time for Gen Con, for Allan to get on the plane and not be able to post about it, and for hell to freeze over, it's Sven's review of Sack Armies - technically, of the first set, Expeditionary Forces, which is now available in a store near you and downloadable in preview-trainer form, hurrah!
04:24 AM: Demian Katz says... Just in case you weren't satisfied with the Cthulhoid hybridizing found in games like Pokéthulhu, John Wick will soon bring a new unspeakable horror to light. He's just announced that Necronomonopoly, "The Satirical Sanity-Blasting Game of Real Estate Acquisition and Bibliophilia," will be available from Wicked Press during the first quarter of 2002. Details are scarce at the moment, but my hopes are high that this will prove most entertaining. |
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