A Role Playing Games Blog
News & Reviews
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.
Port Loren Travel Agency! Star Frontiers Virtual Con 2012
0January 31, 2012
I am a longtime fan of Star Frontiers, I’ve written about it before, and every now I then I visit the fan sites still supporting the game. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this, the Star Frontiers Virtual Con 2012!
Imagine my surprise when I realized my first sci-fi game turns 30 this year… Now I understand the white hairs. I didn’t start playing it in 82, heck I was not playing RPGs back then. If memory serves I picked it up in 88. I played that game so much, it was one of my longest running games, my longest running sci-fi, the game where I first tried running two separate campaigns that influenced each other. I did a lot of experimenting and developed many of my DMing skills with Star Frontiers.
Is the game prefect? No, it definitely shows its age, and despite the enthusiasm fans still have for it, I wonder if I could run a campaign using the system. I would definitely run a pickup game, or participate in one. That’s why the concept of the virtual con intrigues me. I want to participate, and while it sounds interesting, the registered participant’s page only lists two people. Still I’m intrigued and if time and the new class schedule allows I may just join them.
If you are a fan of Star Frontiers, check it out!
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!
What about the Kobold of Winter, aka #20? A review…
0January 20, 2012
“The Winter Kobold is coming!” If those were the words of House Stark, Eddard would have faced a different fate! Because the know Kobolds are powerful, dangerous creatures. Well at least that’s what Wolfgang Baur, the folk of Open Game Design and all the authors and contributors make me think issue after issue. I am a fan of the magazine and they keep pushing the envelope and producing quality content consistently. But let’s leave strange references to A Song of Ice and Fire behind and dive in into the issue at hand!
The theme this issue is archers and its well served. Let’s see, it opens with the Elven Archer, a race specific class for the Pathfinder RPG. It’s an interesting mix of the ranger and the rogue that fits a traditional fantasy niche. The article has some typos (and you all know I’ve got plenty of those, so I shouldn’t be nitpicking), but I found it interesting and it’s a perfect fit for my long running campaign. The notes on adapting the class for other races, cultures, or even weapons make it useful in other contexts. There is also an article on magic arrows, which again provides what in my mind are some archetypical magic arrows. These two articles seem plucked from my adolescent love for RPGs updated for Pathfinder.
What else is there? Read on to find out…
Oldies but goodies! Some great digital game supplements for the New Year…
0January 12, 2012
It’s really strange that I just classified as “oldies” some books that became available in digital format just a few short months ago. I guess it’s the nature of the digital age, the immediacy, and the ease of publishing that has changed my perspective. But the fact that these supplements where published some months ago doesn’t make them any less amazing.
These books where provided by the publisher for review and even if I took my sweet time to get to them I am always really flattered that publishers will submit their products for review. Thanks, that doesn’t mean I’ll pull my punches!
So without further ado, the reviews…
What about Kobold Quarterly #19?
Issue 20 of Kobold Quarterly just came out, and I plan to review it much faster than the previous issue, but the issue at hand (pun intended) is 19, the Fall issue. I’ve reviewed previous issues and the wonderful people at Open Design have made me a fan, with a mix of nostalgia for the old Dragon Magazine coupled with great new content for some of the most popular fantasy RPGs in the market right now, D&D, AGE and Pathfinder. So what’s good in this issue? Glad you asked!
Our thoughts on D&D 5th Edition
11January 11, 2012
I have to admit that I was totally oblivious to WotC’s big announcement (which was first published by the NY Times) until my team member Youseph told me about it. But I don’t really follow D&D news for quite a while now. But since D&D is the grand daddy of all roleplaying games out there you can’t really ignore it either.
So, what the news at WotC? What the community suspected for quite some time now, is actually true: WotC is already working on a new edition of D&D. If it will be called D&D 5th Edition or something else is still unclear, but Mike Mearls obviously likes the idea of just calling it “Dungeons & Dragons” and drop the edition number altogether.
This time they want to do it right and bring back the highly fragmented D&D community. This also more or less proves that D&D 4th Edition wasn’t as successful as the decision makers at WotC and Hasbro hoped for. I suspect the success of Paizo’s Pathfinder and probably even the Old-School Revolution are responsible for that.
While their goals are laudable I fear they are doomed to fail. They plan to create a new edition of D&D that shall please both fans of the recent D&D 4E but also bring back the OSR crowd. They intend to manage this by creating a modular ruleset and community involvement during the design and playtest phases. I have to admit that a highly modular D&D game could be quite interesting. The Unearthed Arcana book for D&D 3.5 was one of my favorite books back when I still played D&D. Being able to pick and choose the rules options you like in your D&D game might be pretty nifty, but in my opinion it’s very hard to pull off.
Community involvement in the design phase may also be pretty problematic. Only a small portion of gamers does participate in online communities or attend gaming convention. How do you make sure that the game appeals to this silent majority and not only to the quite vocal minority that actively participates in the design process?
I have to admit that I’m not that invested in that topic as I was a couple of years back. I wish WotC all the best and if the next iteration of D&D is a roleplaying game that sounds fun to play, I might give it a try. But if it’s not my cup of tea I’ll just play something else. There are so many interesting games out there, so that I am not dependent on Dungeons & Dragons.
Before I let the team speak their thoughts, let me share you some interesting links for you to check out later:
-
Charting the Course of D&D (Mike Mearls, Official D&D site)
- Wizards of the Coasts announces new edition of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’(CNN)
- Gamers React To New Dungeons And Dragons (Forbes)
So, what are my fellow team members’ thoughts on that topic? How do you feel about WotC’s announcement?
Review: Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
8January 9, 2012
Roleplaying games based on licensed material are usually hit or miss. Either they are either utter crap or totally awesome. Luckily the game based on one of my favorite TV series is the latter. Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space is not only a perfect adaption of the series but it’s also perfectly suited for new gamers. The game’s presentation is flawless and the rules are fast, easy to learn and support the mood of the series. But before going into detail, let’s have a look at the boxed set itself. Yes, the game comes in a boxed set!
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Unboxing
As you can see the box contains not only three rulebooks (86, 140 and 32 pages respectively) but also pregenerated characters sheets, unfilled character sheets, gadget cards and a shitload of story point counters and a full set of dice. Throw in a few sheets of scrap paper and a couple of pencils and you’re good to go! The boxed set really makes it easy to jump into gaming without setting the hurdles too high.
The Player’s Guide starts with a short story set into the Whoniverse called “Shaking the Box” which is followed by a short introduction into the Doctor Who universe and roleplaying. Oh, did I mention that the game is based on the “new” Doctor Who series started by BBC Wales in 2005? It features a lot of still photography from the series, especially the David Tennant episodes. As far as I know an updated version of the game is in the works which will feature the 11th Doctor as well. But I digress. (more…)
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