» Geek Culture
Friday, March 5, 2010
Ogres tweet and have Faces
In case you aren’t in the know just yet, OgreCave’s voice is echoing in more directions than ever before. For those who have joined the massive Facebook nation, you can become our fan at OgreCave’s Facebook page, facebook.com/OgreCave, and find bonus goodies there like our Oddness Observed by Ogres gallery. Also, most everything posted there and here on the main site gets announced on our Twitter feed, at twitter.com/OgreCave, so if you’re inclined to be as connected as possible, we’ve established a side cavern to the Cave there. We’ll have these linked in the sidebar for future reference shortly, and if we set up shop anywhere else, you’ll be the first to know.
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.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Things are super: BASH-ing the Marvel out of me
A couple weeks back, and for the first time in over two decades, I joined in a superhero RPG session. This was big for me – I got burned out on comics long, long ago when Peter Parker was revealed as a cheap knock-off clone of the “real” Spiderman, or was revealed to eat babies in his spare time, or some nonsense. Sure, I dabbled from time to time thereafter, reading an issue or two of whatever my friends recommended, but for all intents and purposes, I had stopped pursuing comics as a hobby.
Anyway, in this case, it was BASH! Ultimate Edition by Basic Action Games that drew me back in – the invite was hard to pass up when it came from Chris Rutkowsky, the game’s creator. (My one-session impression: a clean, quick system with decent flexibility. We’ll have a full review soon-ish.) In all, I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and was surprised to continually flash back to memories of the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG, circa oh-god-I’m-getting-old (‘84).
All of this is my round-about way of saying that, apparently, I’m not the only one reminiscing about the RPG of True Believers these days: earlier today, co-designer Jeff Grubb posted a nostalgic timeline-like list on the Marvel Super Heroes RPG that provides a glimpse into the secret wars world of designing not merely a spandex-clad roleplaying experience, but dealing with licensing issues (always a fun time). If you ever gamed in TSR’s version of the Marvel Universe, or wish you had, this is a must-read.
By the way, Basic Action Games just announced a print plus PDF bundle through IPR, so if you picked up a copy of the original edition from your Gamers Help Haiti downloads, and want to see more, this is your chance.
Steve Jackson tops gaming geek list
Make no mistake – we applaud Steve Jackson’s victorious rank of #1 on this list of 30 Great Gaming Geeks. But, wow, look at who Geekosystem placed him ahead of: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (the Penny Arcade guys) are at #12, Richard Garfield is way back at #16 – hell, he even beat Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, and many other iconic gaming characters. Even Evil Stevie himself is shocked by the outcome. Still, congrats, Mr Jackson, just the same.
Gamers Help Haiti raises $178,900
From the moment it started, it was clear the Gamers Help Haiti charity fundraiser at DriveThruRPG would pull in big numbers. Indeed, convenience and reward made for a very successful charity drive – to the tune of $178,900, far beyond similar game industry charity events. For you slackers that didn’t contribute yet, you can always go directly to Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross and donate yourselves silly.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Gamers Help Haiti at DriveThruRPG
Gamers have shown again and again how they can rally to the aid of those in need, and right now there’s no one in greater need than the earthquake-stricken citizens of Haiti. DriveThruRPG is running one of the most successful gaming charities in a while, Gamers Help Haiti. The DriveThruRPG vendor community has banded together to contribute a staggeringly long list of donated product downloads to the fundraiser – valued at over $1,400 – which can all be yours for a small $20 donation benefitting Doctors Without Borders. Those who can only afford a $5 or $10 donation will be gratified to hear that DriveThruRPG has pledged to match their contributions. However, those who can afford twenty bucks and chip in during January will receive the gigantic list of downloadable products within a few days. As this is being posted, Gamers Help Haiti has already raised $82,650 since launching Wednesday. Convenient and rewarding in more ways than one, this is how to rack up big charity drive numbers – have you helped out yet?
[EDIT: The results are in. Click through for the details.]
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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.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Beware of lurking ninja
Today is the Day of the Ninja, December 5th, and we nearly failed our Spot check. We didn’t manage to get a Games of the Ninja mini-feature put together this year (feel free to check out last year’s page, though), partly because we couldn’t think of any new ninja-related games we’re dying to play. So, here’s the question: if you were to celebrate the stealthy assassins today – and who wouldn’t? – what game(s) would you be throwing down with?
Friday, December 4, 2009
OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 1
If you haven’t noticed the holiday decorations yet, you just aren’t paying attention – around here, it started showing up Halloween morning. It seems like folks are anxious to get back to celebrating the season, and retailers are ready to receive the droves of gift givers. Don’t let the anxiety get to you, though – you’ve got the first part of our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009 on hand to help. In this first section, Twelve Stocking Stuffer Games, the Cave dwellers have selected a solid group of inexpensive gift goodies for a variety of interests, from casual gamer to hardcore.
We’ll have the rest of our ninth annual guide up in the days ahead, so be sure to check our lists, check them twice. Being naughty or nice isn’t a factor – we don’t judge.
Can Wormhole make papercraft gaming work in the box?
This might be really dumb or really smart: I honestly can’t tell. Wormhole is a complete starship-combat minis game for $25 MSRP. How has this amazing feat been accomplished, you ask? Well, the models are printed on paper, without so much as a single die cut. Gamers are to assemble and glue their fleets in the time-honored, or at least Boing Boing honored, tradition of papercraft, of which the ships they display are far from the most complex examples.
These cats are doing a bang-up job on their web presence; given the very thorough tutorial videos on the web site, assembling this stuff actually looks easier (but a lot more time-consuming) than some plastic card-model games I’ve messed with. The question is, will hobby gamers accept the “hobby” half of a papercraft game? From what little of the rules are in plain sight, it doesn’t look like Wormhole will draw the casual types, but the risk is there won’t be enough perceived table-candy payoff for hardcore minis fans… and it doesn’t seem as though people attracted to this sort of game are all that recession-conscious. (Me, I would pay $35 for something with a few die cuts.)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
PAX 2009 – Gaming News Updates uploaded
We’ve got a trio of OgreCave Gaming News Update podcast episodes just posted from our trip up to Seattle for PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo 2009. First up, our bi-weekly update mentions a few PAX highlights (though this will be nothing compared to our upcoming PAX ‘09 Audio Report episode). Then we have an interview with Will Schoonover of Steve Jackson Games, who tells us all about the current state of things for the company, and describes the upcoming Nanuk in full detail. Finally, we had a chat with Matt Forbeck about his Guild Wars novel, all the other projects he has a hand in these days, and his thoughts on PAX, the industry, and bygone companies. Have a listen, let us know what you think, and be sure to check back for more.
Friday, September 11, 2009
PAX 2009: The Northwest really wants to kill you
It turns out that when you get 70,000 gamers together, a couple of them will be sick. It also seems Allan is a robot and therefore impervious to H1N1. Or else my car’s AC doesn’t work very much like an airplane’s.
If it seems like the PAX pox is the only news coming out of the show, that’s because it is – announcements on the digital front typically still happen at E3, and tabletop ones quite naturally happen at Gen Con. Now that I can once again move without groaning, however, I do want to point out some news that hasn’t gotten very big play and might change how some people feel about Arcane Legions.
This is a game that I’m pretty excited about, despite being demonstrably terrible at it and despite its mild but still vexing degree of collectibility. If random sorting is a deal stopper for you, consider these quanta: 1) boosters are sorted by faction, just like the fixed infantry and cavalry boxes. 2) Boosters are also being sold in “booster bundles” – sets of eight boosters that guarantee you one of everything in the faction. (This model was pioneered by our own Lee Valentine in PowerStorm, it should be pointed out.) A bundle isn’t exactly a cheap thrill, but it’s a way better deal than your average small-scale minis game.
Also their website is looking suave, although it still isn’t clear what the Centurion Club is or how to join it.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Gen Con 2009 attendance almost holds steady
The Gen Con Indy 2009 wrap-up press release (also pasted below) provided this year’s head count, reported as “over 27,900 unique attendees”. This means Gen Con was down less than 2.5% from last year’s total of 28,600 visitors. Gen Con’s long-established status as an annual gamer pilgrimage seems to have helped it weather the rough economic times better than Origins ‘09 or GTS ‘09, which each experienced 18% attendance drop-off. Of course, current economic optimism may have helped Gen Con a bit, too…
Additionally, Gen Con raised $12,000 in charity funds, and no one refused the gaming-tainted cash (unlike last year). So no righteous indignation for you, Joe Gamer.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
This Just In from Sunday afternoon at Gen Con 2009!
It’s Sunday, the final day of Gen Con 2009. To go out on a high note, Ryan Macklin has recorded the final ’09 episode of This Just In… From GenCon! from the show floor. The Sunday 3pm show has multiple guests from Pirate Jenny – Emily Care Boss of Black & Green Games, Danielle Lewon of Cream Alien Games, Anna Kreider of Tasty Bacon Games, Michelle Mishko, and Willow Palecek from The Forge. As promised, OgreCave has the show notes, so here’s the final write-up for this year:
- Convention goers have been excited about Pirate Jenny. The indie RPG landscape has evolved, and titles are more spread out between The Forge, Pirate Jenny, and such.
- Arm dragons are neat.
- Fear of the recession affecting customer turnout has been replaced by relief.
- Penny For My Thoughts is very nearly sold out.
- Kagematsu – the RPG nearly sold out the first day.
- Willow won a Shadowfist CCG tournament.
- RPGirl, a zine on women gamers.
- The community of RPGBloggers.com, and two great tastes could go great together.
The OgreCave crew extends its thanks to Ryan and all his co-hosts and guests for a cool series of TJI shows this year. We’ll be happy to watch your back again in the future. We’ll also have to corner you for an interview or podcast appearance, so don’t wander off.
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 evening at GenCon 2009
This Just In… From GenCon! has posted its late Saturday afternoon show live from the big event. This time around, Ryan is joined by co-host Ed Healy of War Pig Radio, and guests Eddy Webb of White Wolf Publishing and Brennan Taylor of Indie Press Revolution. We’re still helping Ryan out with the show notes, so read on and be enlightened.
- The 3-2-1 rule (hours of sleep/meals/showers per con day). Ed appreciates the very cool cosplayers, and Ryan saw the coolest save point ever.
- Rough Magicks and Shadows Over Filmland (reviewed here), both from Pelgrane Press
- IPR is everywhere at Gen Con, and Brennan comments on how the show’s going.
- The girls of Pirate Jenny, mentioned again, will be on the eighth episode of This Just In… – stay tuned!
- Eddy speaks of Geist: The Sin-Eaters, which is selling better than Hunter so far, and general convention thoughts.
- Starblazer Adventures
- Eclipse Phase is selling out its limited copies.
- Someone from Atomic Array got mugged by LARPers.
- Alpha Omega, and a Twitter war at the Diana Jones Awards
- The Gen Con iPhone app – good idea, needs work
- ENnie Awards and amusing abbreviations
One more day of the Best Four Days in Gaming to go, and OgreCave will have your show notes. Feel free to explore the Cave, by the way – we only pummel those who don’t read a review, an interview, the daily news, follow us on Twitter, and listen to our podcasts. So you’ll be fine… right?
Friday, August 14, 2009
This Just In from 5 pm Friday at Gen Con 2009
Gen Con 2009 rages on, and the Friday evening episode of This Just In… From GenCon! is online for all to hear. OgreCave is helping out with some show notes, so here’s the lowdown for the Friday 5pm show, with co-host Sean Nittner from Narrative Control, and guests Will Hindmarch & Jeff Tidball from GamePlaywright.net:
- Much love is expressed toward Things We Think About Games (some of it sordid).
- Putting faces to names: Clark & Amanda Valentine of The Dresden Files RPG; Joe MacDonald of Ribbon Drive; John Wick.
- @RyanMacklin offers love for Twitter, and for retweeters @fredhicks, @GamerTraveler (Daniel Perez), and @CUnderkoffler
- The vote: chairs.
- Gorilla Games’ Who Would Win, over at booth #403.
- Another Pirate Jenny shout-out, next to the t-shirts and corsets.
- More talk of Geek Chic, and how the company is working to bring the game table back into the family room.
We’ll keep the notes going tomorrow. If you’re new to OgreCave, come on in and sit a spell. We have reviews, interviews, daily news, podcasts, and other neat stuff.
This just in from 11:00 am Friday at Gen Con 2009
The sounds of Gen Con 2009 continue to flow through This Just In… From GenCon!, and we’ve got show note duty. For the Friday 11am show, with co-host Chris Hussey from Fear the Boot, and additional guests Sean Patrick Fannon and Carrin Seabolt from DriveThruRPG, here’s what we have:
- Fear the Boot is ambushing folks in lines and in elevators.
- A twelve person game of original D&D sparks discussion of player group size preferences.
- Big lines at Paizo Publishing, Privateer Press, and multiple lines at Fantasy Flight Games as they stagger releases throughout the show.
- Gamers are still willing to buy big ticket game items, economic downturn or no. At the same time, DriveThruRPG has had record sales each month lately.
- Rackham’s Confrontation line.
- A shout-out to Marcus King at Titan Games (who writes Behind the Counter over at RPGnet). Great deals at the show.
- The gorgeous cardstock scenery of Fat Dragon Games.
- The Brave New World movie proof is being celebrated with a concert and after party, featuring Makeshift Prodigy. And Matt Forbeck, of course. DriveThruRPG has a BNW sale going on, as well.
- DriveThruRPG planning POD publishing for nearly everything it stocks, and as proof, printed 50 limited edition copies of the original Brave New World rulebook, available at the AEG booth.
- A mention of Savage Saturday Night
- Phil Lacefield and Calye “Chainmail Girl” Shovan are getting married as a Gen Con event. Congrats!
- BattleTech’s 25th anniversary coffee table book from Catalyst Game Labs
- Everyone’s invited to Sean and Carrin’s WeddingCon 2009 this December, just outside Atlanta, which sounds like a cool idea.
Check back this evening for the Friday 5pm show notes, or just peruse OgreCave in general for game reviews, daily news, podcasts, and more.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
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.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
In which two of Mike’s obsessions combine to destroy him
LEGO Games. Not available until next year in the US, Lord only knows how good any of them are, and many of the site links lead you to the lame Flash teaser that we Yanks are apparently meant to be restricted to. Rumor has it, though, that those succulent, succulent black rubber dice with four LEGO pips on each side are already available via popular LEGO-shopping means.
Monday, July 27, 2009
ENnies 2009 voting open
This year’s ENnies are open for voting business now. If participating in the RPG-focused awards appeals to you, head on over and fill in a ballot. The polls close this Saturday, August 1st, and as always, the winners will be announced at Gen Con in Indianapolis.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Family Games 100 contributor list announced
Following in the footsteps of the excellent Hobby Games: The 100 Best – which we recommended in our 2007 Christmas Gift Guide – Green Ronin has been hard at work on its follow-up book, Family Games: The 100 Best. Edited once again by James Lowder, the 400 page paperback will offer essays on favorite games from a wide range of game industry luminaries. The contributing authors for the new book have been announced, and include Alan R. Moon (Ticket to Ride), Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering), Mike Selinker (Risk: Godstorm), Keith Baker (Eberron), James Ernest (Kill Dr Lucky), Kevin Wilson (Decent), Luke Crane (Mouse Guard), Fred Hicks (Don’t Rest Your Head), Stan!, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (co-founders of Games Workshop), a foreword by Senior Director of Product Acquisition for Hasbro Games Mike Gray, and an afterword by author and actor Wil Wheaton. Due to release later this summer, this is sure to be another must-read.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Original Talisman designer self-releases follow-up after 26 years
So this is interesting: Bob Harris, who designed Talisman for Games Workshop in 1983, has published a short-run limited edition of Mythgardia, a new fantasy adventure game that, at first glance, both does and doesn’t remind one of Talisman. It is self-published and seems to straddle the line between handmade prototype and “real” product (although it is professionally printed), but for bragging rights and a first glimpse at the evolution of a classic, who cares? Small editions like this one from legendary designers generally get scarfed up at Essen or something, never to be seen again; here’s a rare chance to buy one online (for a bit less than collector’s prices).
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.
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.
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