 Unplugged Gaming News And Views |
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Give Your Characters A Dancing Lesson 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
Hasbro Rearranging Things Again 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: Dave Wilson, currently the President of Hasbro Games, now takes on added responsibility overseeing the Games segment made up of Hasbro Games and Wizards of the Coast. Vince Caluori, Wizards of the Coast's President and Chief Operating Officer, will report directly to Mr. Wilson... Wizards of the Coast and Tiger Electronics will continue to operate out of their Seattle and Chicago offices, respectively.So Hasbro has officially established a chain of command that starts with them. Will this have any significant effect? We shall see. In the meantime, WotC's Ryan Dancey has offered his thoughts on the D20 OGL discussion group: ...Hasbro for its part has treated Wizards with great respect. It has asked Wizards' opinion on a variety of topics, and has listened more often than you might expect. It has also required Wizards to conform to a level of fiscal discipline that Wizards sought but never achieved as a private company, and that has been hard on everyone involved. Hasbro has given Wizards more than adequate room to demonstrate that it can and should remain an independent, autonomous entity. Wizards' success or failure in achieving that goal is almost completely due to its own efforts and decisions, rather than some top-down meddling by suits from Rhode Island.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
More Conventions Looming 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.
9:36 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says...
9:00 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Green Ronin Website Improvements Map Tile Download
The Trouble With Harry 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. I thought there would be no game there at all, with the creatures game missing. Technically, there are creatures in Harry Potter, but all they really are is direct damage that recurs every turn until you kill them with a spell. The Items are enchantments, the Adventures are enchantments that say "your opponent suffers this until s/he does this, at which point this happens," and there are Wizard (character) cards that give you a special ability for the whole game. As far as the cards themselves, nearly all of the interest (for people familiar with Magic) is in the one-shot spells in your hand, and their special abilities. Truly an exception-based game. Given that the starter sets are static, small, and devoid of Items or Adventures - and that boosters cost $3.29 for just 11 cards - you could be forgiven for thinking the HP CCG was designed from the ground up to drive card sales, rather than create an interesting game framework. No more pretenses of being able to beat Mister Suitcase with a properly tuned starter. But something is going on in Harry Potter. On one level, I say that because too many people, particularly women aged 18 to 25, are going gaga over it, but I have also found - yes, firsthand - that there is a there there, as far as game design. Firstly, lapsed Magic players should have a look at it to see how it simplifies some of the basic mechanics we take for granted. And it simplifies them in elegant and ingenious ways, not in Portal ways. You'll be breathing sighs of relief over some of them. Secondly, where are my NetRunner peeps at? Represent. Um, yeah, this game takes the quasi-resource-management in NR - namely, the management of your time in the form of turn actions - and ties it in nicely with the new life-points mechanic, which is your deck. Yes, decking is the only way to kill and die - therefore, the decision over whether to draw cards late in the game can be a matter of life and death as well as a matter of finally drawing that combo. Then again, I actually thought there might have been an interesting game hiding somewhere in Pokemon, back when it was new. Fortunately, I had the wisdom not to buy any expansion cards, and therefore I was never disappointed. We'll have to see how Harry fares.
Fools' Paradise Coming Next Month Principia Malefex, the RPG of gothic horror in modern Britain, has announced their next product to scare the wits out of your players: The Fools' Paradise scenario supplement for Principia Malefex has gone to print and will be released at the start of September 2001, marking the firstThe supplement includes six scenarios and new fiction, with a full-color cover by Jon Spelling.
12:20 AM: Mike Sugarbaker says... 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.
Rio Grande Announces Fall Releases 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.
Collectible Miniatures, True Believers! 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 Peter [Adkison] recently signed a deal to take back the Primal Order from WotC. If he gets time in the next few years, I suspect he'll probably re-write parts of it and release it again.In case you missed it, Primal Orderwas conceived as a "cap system" that would fit on top of (nearly) any RPG, fleshing out the rules for deities. With Primal Order,gods don't just think they're badasses, they are. No, really. Games Unplugged Unchanged
Houston, We Have Denial 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?
Eric Noah's D&D 3 Site Shutting Down 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 will be closing down the site within the next few days. Several factors led me to this decision, and it's one that I make with some regret. I have enjoyed the past two years immensely, and I thank you for your patronage and support.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...
9:40 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says... White Wolf on the Prowl
Fading Suns Goes D20 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
2:53 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Pro-Am Adventures Surface
2:28 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says...
Download Nastiness 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... 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:
You've Loved The Carrot - Now, Meet The Stick 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.
9:13 AM: Allan Sugarbaker says...
Green Ronin Gets Arcane 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: Arcana: Societies of Magic details six different organizations that employ unique styles of magic to achieve their ends. The description of each society includes information of the group's history, goals, hierarchy, and leaders, as well as a map of its headquarters. New skills, feats, spells and prestige classes make it a complete package.The supplement will sell for $14.95. Gaming Outpost Joins Fiction Fantasy Network
8:48 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says... Uhh... oh-kay. Certainly inspires confidence, don't it? :-/
Friends and Foes Takes Flight Soon 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
4:50 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says...
4:17 AM: Demian Katz says... Rio Grande Catches Up
Going Native 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...
1:17 PM: Allan Sugarbaker says...
Sovereign Stone D20 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... 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... GenCon 2001: A Space Odyssey 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
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.
Gamebook Authors Interviewed Online 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.
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: Risk 2210 A.D. First Look Frag Ships, Munchkin Tags Along I also got my copy of Morton's List today. Be afraid, be very afraid.
4:07 AM: Demian Katz says...
Where's Sven? 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.
Troll Lord Games: The OgreCave Interview 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?)
4:58 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says...
2:07 PM: Mike Sugarbaker says...
4:24 AM: Demian Katz says...
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