A Role Playing Games Blog
Posts by Stargazer
Just when I thought the Iron Kingdoms RPG was vaporware …
3February 7, 2012
When you’ve followed the blog for a while you might have noticed that I am a huge fan of the Iron Kingdoms setting by Privateer Press. But I also thought that D&D 3.0/3.5 was a bad fit for the world and I always hoped they would either create a roleplaying game system of their own design or rerelease Iron Kingdoms for a more fitting system.
In June last year they announced an original Iron Kingdoms RPG that was supposed to be not necessarily compatible to the Warmachine and Hordes rules, but close enough, so that players familiar with the skirmish games can learn the roleplaying game rules quickly. But after that initial announcement I haven’t heard from that project again.
But as it seems, it’s not vaporware after all. They haven’t announced a release date as far as I know, but there’s a video in which the people from Privateer Press talk about the RPG.
As a fan of the setting I can’t wait to learn more about this game!
Feb-Wu-ary!
0February 7, 2012
Third Eye Games’ Eloy Lasanta just reminded me that February 2012 is the 2nd Annual Wu Xing Giveaway Month. So what does that mean?
At first you get a free copy of Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade with any purchase over $5 at the Three Eye Games’ online store. Aside from that you also get 4 chances per day to win a free PDF copy of this fine game. Here’s what you have to do (quoted from the official site):
1. Follow us on Facebook: Fans of Wu Xing on Facebook can post daily to the Third Eye Games Page (answering random fun questions about Wu Xing) and receive 1 entry into the daily drawing. Find our Facebook page HERE.
2. Follow us on Google+: Fans of Wu Xing on Google Plus can post daily to the Third Eye Games Page (answering random fun questions about Wu Xing) and receive 1 entry into the daily drawing. Find our Google Plus page HERE.
If you answer both the Facebook and Google question, the answers have to be different.
3. Tweet about the Giveaway: Be sure to follow @ThirdEyeGames on Twitter and retweet the Daily Giveaway posting to your Twitter to earn 1 entry into the daily Drawing.
4. Join the Newsletter: Any fans that have signed up for the newsletter automatically receive 1 entry for each drawing. Increase your chances of winning just by clicking HERE.
The lucky winners will be announced on the official Third Eye Games site.
Cubicle 7 Sale at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG
0February 3, 2012
Recently Cubicle 7 has reduced the prices for a lot of their products on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. You can get the excellent Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein (read my review here) for mere $10 for example.
Other great games like The Laundry RPG, Abney Park’s Airship Pirates, Starblazer Adventures, Legends of Anglerre and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space are available for the low prices of $12 or $15 (for the Doctor Who game) respectively.
I am not sure if it’s a limited time sale or a permanent price reduction, but if you always wanted to pick up one of these games, this might be the best time to do so.
How not to run a Kickstarter to fund your RPG
2February 1, 2012
Kickstarter and similar services like IndieGoGo provide a great way of raising funds for creative projects. In the last year I’ve backed a couple of projects and all of them turned out great. Especially the Technoir Kickstarter was a fun ride.
But there are probably far more projects that never get funded or that turn into a train wreck after funding. I wouldn’t necessarily call me an expert on all things Kickstarter, but I have some ideas what you can do to prevent failure.
The most common problem is that even though you have a great idea, nobody seems to want to back your project. And usually you can see why this happens with one glance. Especially when I put some money on the table to fund a roleplaying game I want at least a PDF copy of the game. But I’ve seen Kickstarter projects where you had to back $20 or more for getting anything besides a “thank you”. Sorry, usually $20 is about my maximum I pay for PDF products that are already released. I don’t give you $20 for the hopes of getting something even when it looks interesting.
Dungeonslayers: First sneak peek at the 4th Edition
1February 1, 2012
Reports that the English version of Dungeonslayers 4 is vaporware are highly exaggerated. DS 4 is alive and well and Christian Kennig has released the updated character creation as a teaser today!
The 10-paged PDF contains the character creation rules, hints at the new hero classes that you can pick after reaching level 10 and gives you the opportunity to check out the artwork and layout of the upcoming book.
By the way, the German version of the game is available in a very cool boxed set, or as a free PDF version. So if you can speak German, why not check it out now?
Get Kobold Quarterly #14 for free
1January 30, 2012
Back in August 2010 I wrote the following about KQ#14:
Currently I play none of the games which are regularly covered by Kobold Quarterly, but so far I’ve enjoyed reading every issue I got my hands on. Aside from a lot of material for games like D&D 4th Edition, Pathfinder or even Dragon Age, a large portion of the magazine contains articles that apply to any fantasy game. And in most cases the game-specific articles can be at least be used to inspire. And because of that Kobold Quarterly can truely be called “The Switzerland of the Edition Wars”!
Recently Open Design LLC decided to give away KQ #14 for free. Just go to the Kobold Quarterly store and use the code “KoboldWelcome” at the checkout! This offer is valid until February 14th 2012. So what are you waiting for? Get you free copy now. It’s definitely worth it!
Are a lot of (F)LGS deaths self-inflicted?
13January 26, 2012
Sometimes I feel a bit sad about the fact that I have no local gaming shop where I can browse through the latest RPG products, talk shop with the regulars and join into store-organized games. But I usually come to my senses real quick and remember the gaming shops I’ve known over the years.
The common myth is that local shops are getting killed by online shops, but in my opinion this is only part of the truth. Over the years I’ve come to realize that FLGS death is at least 50% suicide.
Let me start by telling you about the shop I regularly visited during the late 1990s. It was a small, dark and pretty cramped store in a backstreet about 15 minutes on foot away from the train station and every other major store. So if you didn’t know about it’s existence in the first place, you never found it by chance. But that was in my opinion not the reason it had to close down in the end.
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