» Dungeons & Dragons
Thursday, February 25, 2010
PAX East on final approach, and selling out fast
One month from tomorrow, on March 26, PAX East, the second location for the Penny Arcade Expo, will hit Boston, MA full force. The new show, a spinoff of the original PAX in Seattle (dubbed “PAX Prime” by many), had already sold out of full-show passes over three weeks ago, and with only a few hundred single day passes currently left for Friday and Sunday – well, if you were on the fence about going, you’d better commit or forget. This inaugural show’s official schedule just went up yesterday, adding to the considerable excitement that resulted two weeks ago when Wil Wheaton was announced as PAX East’s keynote speaker. If you can’t make it out to Boston, OgreCave will have a representative at the show in the form of Lee Valentine, frequent Cave dweller and one of our staff writers. Actually, he’ll be there whether you attend or not, so… yeah.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
DunDraCon 34: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG in development
Though Goodman Games hasn’t announced it yet, and Joseph Goodman’s only given vague hints of “something fun in the works”, a few of us at DunDraCon 34 this past weekend got a taste of this secret RPG project. Goodman was playtesting an early version of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, which was exactly what fans of the DCC adventures would imagine – a streamlined, deadly, 1st Edition D&D throwback with some D&D 3.5e influences. As already mentioned, no release date or details have been announced as yet, but I’d wager we may see it in stores early 2011, possibly sooner. In the session I joined, character building took less than five minutes, and cast each of us as not one, not two, but three 0-level peasants out to strike it rich as glamorous adventurers. You can probably guess why we made so many characters – yes, the mortality rate caused comparisons to a session of Paranoia, but we had some truly horrible luck as well. We’ll talk more about my preview of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG in the OgreCave Audio Report (which the Ogre shamans are casting resurrection on as I write this) sometime next week.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Kobold Quarterly offers free issue download
The crew at Kobold Quarterly just let us know about the special offer they launched today. From now through January 31, gamers can go to the KQ Store and use the coupon code “KQ10Free” to download a free PDF copy of Kobold Quarterly #10. Released just prior to Gen Con ‘09, KQ #10 features an interview with Paizo’s Jason Bulmahn, an Ecology of the Hill Giant article, and contributions from John Wick, Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, and more. If your download doesn’t work – the kobolds tell me their website’s already getting slammed by demand – send ‘em an email, and they’ll sort it out for you. In any case, don’t pass up the opportunity for a free taste of what the industry needs more of: a great gaming magazine.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 4
This is it – Christmas looms on the horizon, just one day away. But say you’ve forgotten to get a gift for someone, a fellow gamer, and there’s no time to get to the stores anymore. Fear not, for the Cave dwellers have compiled one more list of gift suggestions in our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009. This fourth and final list provides An Aetheric Guide for Christmas, our traditionally last-minute PDF/downloadable product list. Just read through the list, select a few pre-screened OgreCave recommendations, and download your gifts as needed. You don’t have to risk wading through last-minute shoppers – they’ll be like a pack of sugarplum-crazed elves by now.
Here’s wishing you a safe, happy holiday season, from the staff of OgreCave. Seasons greetings!
Friday, December 11, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 2
Another weekend of holiday shopping is here, and you’ve probably formed some ideas of the larger-cost items you’ll be picking up (or requesting from others). In case your mind’s not quite made up yet, the OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009 continues with its second section, Twelve Days of Roleplaying. This list of gift suggestions is entirely RPG related, and the Cave dwellers have chosen a range of roleplaying goodies that would make great gifts.
Our board game list will be up shortly (work and sickness have caused delays), followed by our traditionally last-minute downloadable product list. So listen closely each night – those bells might be a jolly Ogre… or more likely, an Ogre stepping some other jolly critter.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
OgreCave review – The Grinding Gear
Things are settling to a nice pseudo-calm around here, so we’ll start throwing some goodies up onto the site real quick before something else crops up to delay us. Gerald leads the charge with his review of The Grinding Gear by LotFP Publishing, an old school “deathtrap dungeon” of considerable quality. Read on, and see what Gerald thought of this nasty little vacation spot for adventurers, or browse through our library of previous reviews.
Friday, October 30, 2009
OgreCave reviews – Death, Frost, Doom & Something Wicked
The fear continues as our Screams from the Cave echo across the internet with more reviews. First, Gerald has his review of Death, Frost, Doom by LotFP Publishing, a creepy mood-piece for old school D&D gamers. The Lee gives us his full analysis of A Touch of Evil: Something Wicked, the horror boardgame expansion from Flying Frog. More fear will come to light tomorrow as well, so check back with OgreCave for more Halloween-style games.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wizards scores partial victory in copyright lawsuit
So, you may recall how Wizards of the Coast had taken the seemingly extreme step of removing its PDF products from the internet, and then sued eight people for copyright infringement, back in April. Well, two of those defendants have settled, and agreed to pay Wizards damages totaling $225,000 (also copied below). Is that really how much WotC would’ve made selling electronic copies of D&D 4e? If so, can they really afford not to get the PDF products back up and running? I mean, it’s not like pirates can’t scan books to make their own PDF copies. The pulled products still look like an overreaction mandated from on high at Hasbro.
Read More…
Monday, October 5, 2009
OgreCave review – Points of Light II
Gamemasters can never have too much inspiring resource material, and Gerald has selected a potential resource to examine for us. His thoughts on Points of Light II: The Sunrise Sea may tell you whether you need to track down a copy of this fantasy setting sourcebook for yourself… or for your DM, perhaps.
Friday, September 11, 2009
One Bad Egg ceases all production
It’s always sad to see a respected game company shut down, and indeed, many of them either fade away quietly or flame out in spectacular fashion. Today One Bad Egg made the announcement the correct way – openly and honestly – that the company is going dark. Founding member Fred Hicks made the official post (also copied below), which sites disappointing sales of OBE’s D&D 4e products and “a collective lack of the wind staying in our sails”. The company’s website will remain available for a year or so, and products will begin to transfer over to Highmoon Media in October to reside there. Click below for the full announcement.
Read More…
Sunday, August 16, 2009
This Just In from Sunday morning at Gen Con 2009!
It’s Sunday, and Gen Con 2009 is in its final stretch. This Just In… From GenCon! has posted its Sunday 11am show, with co-host Derek Rex from Pulp Gamer, and guests John Wick and Robin Laws. Until host Ryan Macklin gets back home, OgreCave will be providing the show notes, so here’s the latest write-up:
- Derek’s been meeting army buddies, attending Phil & Calye Lacefield’s wedding, attending the RPG Podcaster meet-and-greet, and more, all at Gen Con.
- The White Wolf party
- Robin has been at the Pelgrane Press booth, pushing the Gumshoe system, and getting ideas “into the bloodstream of gaming.”
- John Wick’s Shotgun Diaries (see the cool little YouTube preview) and Houses of the Blooded have blown out of the show.
- Epidiah Ravachol’s Time & Temp
- Joe MacDonald’s Ribbon Drive and it’s mix CD.
- Jeremy Keller’s Chronica Feudalis
- Paul Tevis’ Penny For My Thoughts
- Serial Homicide Unit
- Mist-Robed Gate
- John was impressed with the Pathfinder RPG, and it has inspired him.
- Thoughts on what has and hasn’t been impacted by the economic downturn.
- A plug for Action Castle.
Check back after the 3 pm Sunday show for more notes, or just hang out at OgreCave for a while, ‘cuz we like you and appreciate your business.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
This just in from Saturday morning at Gen Con 2009
Allan isn’t doing this one, dammit! LOVE ME.
Show notes for the Saturday 11am This Just In… From GenCon! episode are as follows:
- A Penny For My Thoughts
- Complete ENnie results. Congratulations to All Games Considered and a whole lot of other winners.
- That ENnies Twitter account. Twitter is a real thing for gamers, folks – holdouts might want to reconsider.
- Geek Chic. Look, it’s linked again!
- The Pathfinder line. Told you it’d be a theme.
- Geist: the Sin-Eaters, the big White Wolf release.
- MWP’s Supernatural RPG.
- Dresden Files RPG, amidst general discussion of licensed games.
- Pelgrane Press, purveyors of
PailTrail of Cthulhu. - The Pirate Jenny booth.
- Ye olde Forge booth, and the more linkable retail source IPR.
- Serial Homicide Unit
- Zombie Cinema
- Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife
- Principia and How to Host a Dungeon
- Revolution! and The Stars Are Right
- At-Will, an intriguing site devoted to D&D 4e.
- Smirk and Dagger, at the show with their new one Shootin’ Ladders, thematic sequel to Run For Your Life, Candyman!
- Jess Hartley on how to schmooze Gen Con.
- Apparently the Hite Trifecta is actually a quintuple: Greg Stolze’s Grim War [linked now, thanks Hobbes], and The Antarctic Express are also at the show. That’s on top of Rough Magicks for Trail of Cthulhu, The Day After Ragnarok for Hero 6 as well as Savage Worlds, and Cthulhu 101.
All OgreCave tourists and visitors are directed to the information booth. See you again this afternoon, if not sooner.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Pathfinder SRD available at launch
Remember all the waiting for a certain 4e game license? Paizo Publishing’s not taking that route. Instead, when the Pathfinder Core Rulebook went on sale yesterday at Gen Con and online, Paizo posted the Pathfinder RPG Reference Document. Please note the apparent cut-and-paste of a certain Open License version 1.0a. To complete the siren call to disenfranchised 3.5 gamers, Paizo has also posted a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Conversion Guide, providing a guide for updating existing campaigns to the Pathfinder system. There’s no denying it now – this is serious competition for D&D. It just needs the name recognition, which will be tricky.
Everything old is psionic again: Dark Sun setting for D&D 4e in ‘10
Yeppers. As the linked interview notes, Dark Sun has much more distinctive flavor than a lot of the other settings WotC could have revived. It sounds like a considerable number of crunchy bits will be distinctive to this book as well.
Plenty of other D&D tidbits have been announced, including one that caught my eye: D&D Heroscape for a February release. We’ll bring you more on that one when we can. Also a Ravenloft board game for next Gen Con – it’s a bit curious that WotC didn’t start doing board games based on D&D-related properties sooner.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Reaper to produce Pathfinder RPG miniatures
Paizo Publishing announced an agreement today that Reaper Miniatures will produce monthly metal miniatures to support Paizo’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo has had excellent miniatures through Crocodile Games in the past, but now we’ll get to see what Reaper does with the line. No word yet on whether any preview figures are at Gen Con this week – a Fall release is expected for the start of the line. The full press release is below.
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Dominion wins 2009 Diana Jones Award
Huzzah and congratulations. My game group played three consecutive games just last night; I’m pretty sure that’s a record for us. Dominion beat out multiple big-name nominees, which are listed over here.
Other news coming in via Twitter: lots of people hate lots of airlines.
Friday, August 7, 2009
This week in alleged WotC digi-fail: D&D fan site policy (not) unveiled
Long story short, said policy – actually a fan site kit policy for a kit of approved fan site content – is unclear in spots and totally forgets to talk about what happens when you go outside the content contained in the kit. Because it’s a policy for a kit, not fan sites in general. This analysis is pretty good, but confuses that latter point and seems to think this is all 100% malicious on the part of WotC legal. Me, I’m disinclined to ascribe to malice what can be fully explained by incompetence. Looks like they’d better put a rush on that wider fan site policy statement, because if they think they’re gonna weasel out of this by providing an approved kit, they’re doomed.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Pathfinder RPG sells out in preorders
As expected, the demand for the upcoming Pathfinder RPG is high – even higher than Paizo Publishing may have anticipated. According to a press release Paizo sent out today (see below), the initial print run of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook is sold out through distribution. The 576-page RPG will be on sale at Gen Con ten days from now, but even at $49.99, news of its preorder blow-out is sure to drive brisk sales at the show. Of course, those who don’t mind electronic files can still grab the $9.99 PDF version at paizo.com, but purists who need the physical product should act fast and find a copy at their local stores, or risk waiting for the reprint around November.
Read More…
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Two RPG events that should be happening regularly in every town
First, the Tucson Gamemasters’ Conference. More or less speaks for itself.
Then, the weekly Dungeons and Divas game at Guardian Games here in Portland. An article ran on this in one of the local alternative weeklies, and that on its own is interesting both as a barometer of perceptions of D&D as well as of what is perceived as cultural progress for it.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Random Encounter interview: Jamie Chambers
Just over a week ago, we told you about Signal Fire Studios and Metamorphosis Alpha. We wanted more details though, so we went straight to Jamie Chambers, President of Signal Fire, for the skinny on plans for the MA relaunch. Our Random Encounter interview with Jamie offers a quick Q & A session on the new company and upcoming releases.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Paizo celebrates number 7
It can’t be seven years already, can it? Paizo Publishing is holding a little celebration sale in honor of the company’s seventh anniversary: seven products are on sale for seven days at $7 apiece – the 7-7-7 sale. The Harrow Deck, our selection for Best Accessory in last year’s Ogre’s Choice Awards, is among the discounted products, as are some Pathfinder and Game Mastery materials and The Anubis Murders by the late Gary Gygax. Paizo’s sale ends on the 7th, so your time to strike is now.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
2009 Origins Award winners
We’ve known the nominees for a while now, and resisted judging too harshly for having a t-shirt in the “Game Accessory” category. This year’s winners were awarded in a ceremony overseen by James Ernest last night at Origins. A notable winner was the Mouseguard RPG for Best RPG, despite being up against the Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition Player’s Handbook and Trail of Cthulhu. (I could say it “eeked” out a win, but then I’d feel ashamed.) Serenity Adventures won for Best RPG Supplement, and Magic: The Gathering – Shards of Alara was named Best CCG Supplement. As many expected, Dominion took the title as Best Card Game, while Pandemic got he nod as Best Board Game. Click below for the full list of nominees and winners.
Read More…
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Laptops? We don’t need no stinkin’ laptops
Andy Kitkowski at Story Games points out a Japanese tabletop-RPG gamebook and comprehensive play aid for the Nintendo DS. In a kinder universe than this one, we would not have to ask where the hell the iPhone app was for D&D Insider.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wizards rewarding customers this weekend
Perhaps as a warm-up to next week’s Free RPG Day, Wizards of the Coast is holding a Gift With Purchase Weekend starting tomorrow, June 12, and running through Sunday, June 14. At participating retail stores, gamers who buy WotC products totaling $15 or more will get to choose a free gift, selected from the following items:
- A pair of Magic:The Gathering Half Decks
- A D&D Miniatures: Demonweb booster pack
- A Star Wars Miniatures: The Clone Wars starter set
- The Orc King, a D&D hardcover novel by R.A. Salvatore
If there’s a WotC book or some miniatures you’ve been waiting to pick up, this may be your time. Just get there early, as it’s one gift per customer, while they last.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
OgreCave reviews – Dragon Warriors & Citadel of the Corruptor
A pair of lovely new reviews have just gone up in our RPG section. First, Demian has become acquainted with the new edition of Dragon Warriors from Magnum Opus Press, and he clears up why the RPG used to be mistaken for a gamebook. Then Gerald joins our illustrious (dubious?) Cave-dwelling crew with his review of Dungeon Crawl Classics #61: Citadel of the Corruptor from Goodman Games. Have a look at these write-ups, or browse through our review index for much more.
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