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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT5pjvTYl1w

As a fan of the setting I can’t wait to learn more about this game!

Related posts:

1. Privateer Press announces Iron Kingdoms RPG
2. Iron Kingdoms
3. Iron Kingdoms RPG source books now available in PDF

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.

Related posts:

1. Wu Xing Giveaways for February
2. The stars are right… For a winner! The results of the Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest
3. Fantasy Craft Giveaway: We have a winner!

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.

Related posts:

1. Annual GM’s Day Sale at RPGNow
2. GUMSHOE Sale on RPGNow
3. Another sale at RPGNow

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!

Related posts:

1. Let’s got to the frontier… The Star Frontier that is!
2. STAR WARS license speculation
3. Ad Astra: Twilight Star

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!

Related posts:

1. Kobold adoptions going on right now! Free Kobold Quarterly #11…
2. Spring is here… Can’t you smell the kobold? The Kobold Quarterly that is!
3. Preview: Kobold Quarterly 10

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…

Other Pathfinder articles include a collection of ooze themed spells and familiars, including the ooze magic school. Four new terrifying low to mid-level creatures that range from the creepy to the terrifying, a fifth level adventure, which begins with some railroading, but this a is a short adventure and due to length I’m willing to overlook it, since the rest is really entertaining. An article on older adventurers, including feats, which makes me reconsider the possibilities of my concept for the old hero and another one on Midgard themed fey hunters, with lots of campaign flavor BUT easily adaptable to any campaign.

But my favorite Pathfinder article (even more than the archery themed ones simply because this one is just so much more useful for me as a GM) was the article on four fully fleshed planar allies, with details on what negotiations with them would entail, personalities. Kudos! The weird article award goes to magical fish one for Pathfinder. You eat the fish and get some magical effect, from removing curses to permanent ability boosts, weird, interesting but weird…

For AGE you have 5 new specializations for the game’s classes. I love to see Kobold Quarterly expand the possibilities of this terrific system.  For D&D 4^th edition there is a bard themed article, new utility powers for gomes, tieflings and minotaurs (a race near and dear to my heart), and an article on nature spirits, dual-statted for Pathfinder. The recent announcement of D&D Next/5^th edition has made me take another look at the rule set, wondering what will be part of the new game. Whatever happens I hope in the future Kobold Quarterly gets to support all the games they already do and the new D&D!

There are systemless advice articles, like Monte Cook’s on the role of the GM. It might not be the most original, but there is some solid advice in there and he did bring up some interesting issues to consider. The mechanic for time sensitive adventure, called haste points, seems interesting, but I would have to test it out, I’m not sure how it will play out. The idea is solid and well presented, but they are something else to track in game and I’m not totally convinced I need that. The regular cartoons are here, funny as usual, I love Stan!’s humor, and I particularly liked D20 Monkey’s this issue, juvenile but funny. Read it, you’ll see. And of course, the closing one page article on the City of Zobeck by the one and only Jeff Grub!

The magazine is 84 pages long, full color, with terrific art, great layout and an appropriate ratio of articles to adds. I’ve said it before, it’s reminiscent of the old Dragon Magazine, but this is not a magazine just for the grognards like me, but for all fans of the major fantasy games out there. You can get the PDF of Kobold Quarterly #20 for $5.99 or the PDF+ Print bundle for $8.99, or better yet subscribe, well worth it in my opinion. Thank you for the makers of Kobold Quarterly for providing a review copy!

Related posts:

1. What about Kobold Quarterly, specifically the winter issue, number 16? A review…
2. Review: Kobold Quarterly Issue 14
3. Spring is here… Can’t you smell the kobold? The Kobold Quarterly that is!

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!

Pathfinder goodness: The White Necromancer, a fully fleshed out non-evil necromancer option; Druid archetypes; an article on magic shops, and making them more than simple wholesale magic warehouses, giving them flair and turning them into role-playing opportunities; and death themed archetypes for Druids, Barbarians, Monks and Summoners. There is a preview of the new Paizo’s Dragon Empire and Dragon Empire themed Arch-Devil. Overall, great content for all Pathfinder fans!

Then there are the AGE articles. I love that they are supporting this system and adapting Midgard content for it, in this case ten backgrounds for the game. A system less article on court adventures, including the power players and adventure ideas is a great source of inspiration for role-playing. There is another system less article on traps; the winner of the Relics of Power is published in this issue; a solo adventure; Mont Cook’s balance free bonuses ideas, bonuses that don’t impact game balance, adaptable to any edition, was my favorite article of the issue.

There is just one D&D 4^th edition article, with rules to play werewolf characters. It seems interesting enough, and I’m sure this will be popular. I was surprised that this was the only article written specifically for the system. True there are many excellent articles that can be adapted, but I was surprised. I guess they can only publish the articles submitted and wonder if this is a sign of the popularity of the games. Even if I don’t play the game, I know many D&D 4^th edition fans that love the magazine and hope to see continued support for the game in future issues.

All the usual suspects are here, the cartoons, book reviews and Free City of Zobeck closing article. Overall I loved this issue; it was full of Pathfinder articles which makes me personally happy. But I know fans of other games read the magazine and I hope to see more balanced content in the future. If you love a system, be sure to check out their Writer’s Guidelines and try to get published.

What about Divine Favor the Inquisitor?

Here is the final installment of the Divine Favor series; this time around it’s the Inquisitor’s turn. The cover is a little drab, just an Inquisitor in a battle pose, I am a fan of Christophe Swal’s art and I think using the same Inquisitor from the Advanced Feat cover was the right choice, but the art seems off and the ocher background left much to be desired.

Inside its 17 pages of content, with clear layout, the use of stock art, most of it appropriate, but there are a couple of odd choice, nothing that is terribly distracting. The new abilities and new inquisitions are refreshing and thread some interesting ground, expanding the possibilities of the class. There are some interesting archetypes, feats and spells. They all play well of one another and Stefen Styrsky provides a good closing to the series.

What about the Book of Drakes?

This is my favorite of the three books, and this is my favorite one. Drakes in Midgard are fascinating creatures, the idea of dragon-like creatures that are not as powerful and can appear in the game in very different roles than traditional dragons are an excellent option.

From the cover by Kieran Yanner, to the layout, to the interior art, this is a beautiful book to look at. And the writing is top notch too! Kudos to the design team… The ecology of the drake that opens the book is reminiscent of the old ecology articles of Dragon Magazine and a great introduction to the creature in Midgard. There are rules for drakes as companions, feats for them, class features, prestige classes, spells, and equipment, mundane and magical. I was NOT a fan of the rules for playing drakes, I think they are better allies or opponents that a playable option. The bestiary is great, providing drakes from CR 1 to CR 14, and rules for creating new drakes.

This is a great book that while officially a Midgard setting book, can be used in any Pathfinder game. The book is available in PDF and a print+PDF. I recommend the latter; this book is just too pretty not to have in print.

There you have it, three great books that have been out for a while now, but you can’t go wrong getting them. I hope you enjoy them!

Related posts:

1. A great opportunity and a good cause!
2. Pathfinder RPG Goodies: Venture Captain
3. Preview: “Open Game Table, The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs”

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)
• Players Roll the Dice for Dungeons & Dragons Remake (NY Times)
• 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?

Roberto:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I was a D&D fan boy for the longest time! Now with full disclosure out of the way let me summarise how I feel about D&D next, or 5th edition, or however they decide to brand it. Forecast: Positively optimistic!

I’ve written about it before, after playing D&D for most of my gaming life, from Basic to 3rd edition, I was in the 4th edition bandwagon. I can’t fault a company for wanting to make a profit, or attempt to improve their game, and for the longest time I believed the success of the brand was important for the continued existence of the hobby. I tried to play 4th edition, ran a 7+ month campaign and realized this iteration of the game was not for me. I embraced Pathfinder and have not looked back.

While I always played other games, I kept going back to D&D at the end of the day. And you may make the argument that Pathfinder is not far from D&D, but by cutting the D&D umbilical cord I ended up playing and discovering many games I might not have if my gaming money was tied up to the latest WotC release.

I know I am not the only one who’s made this comparison but its worth mentioning again, deciding to give up D&D was like a break up. That’s how invested I was in the game. They’ve put together a great design team, I want to see what they come up with. Their stated goal behind the new edition is laudable, bringing together the community seems like the way to go, and learning from the fiasco of not supporting the OGL I believe is important.

I even applied for the playtest… Looking back I realize it was a spur of the moment decision, my gaming time is precious as is and I don’t see myself giving up my current or future campaign to playtest the new D&D. I want to keep abreast of the process and may just do some special sessions to try out the rules with my peeps from Puerto Rico Role Players, so we’ll see.

On the flip side, I wonder if its too little too late. I believe there is the possibility of life in the hobby beyond D&D, and It would have to be a truly great game to get me to play D&D again. I’ve healed the wounds from the break up and I’m not completely convinced I want to get back together.

I think community participation, with its inevitable pitfalls, it still a great idea. So I believe this is a step in the right direction. I don’t want an MMO like board game, but I’d love for them to integrate the DDI tools into a game I like, I liked the DDI when I was subscribed, not the game it supported. I’d love to see PDFs priced right, online support, the building of a true community. Let’s see if WotC can manage that!

Again, I’m optimistic and will follow what they do, hopefully participate in the discussion. Realistically I will most than likely get the book (books?) when they come out and read them, whether I end up playing it is another matter. Here is me wishing the best to the design team, they’ll need it. To misquote Bette Davis in All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts, its going to be a bumpy ride!”

Michael Garcia:

I’m not sure what to think of this announcement. As a lover of the OSR I like the fact that they are taking opinions from the community. I’m fairly positive that the alpha and beta of Pathfinder from Paizo has a lot to do with this.

My fear is that they will be taking the opinions of the gamers that are vocal. My experiences show that most gamers are not. Not every gamer is a member of the Wizards Community, they don’t all have blogs, and we all know how forums go. Sigh, I’m afraid that the input is only going to be by whiny 14 year old 4e loving twitter folks. Long story short, I opted for the playtesting, which I have a feeling is only going to be Encounters, which I do not participate in. I’ll read it over, may play it, but I’m happy with my retro clones. I doubt they win me back, but I’m hopeful as D&D was what got me into the hobby in the first place. I would love to be proven wrong.

My hopes:

• Pencil, paper, dice only. I don’t want inclusion of electronics by any means.
• I don’t want to have to buy minis from a company that doesn’t even sell minis anymore.
• No subscriptions.
• The OGL to come back in one form or another.
• My wish, 1e with better art and layout.

Youseph:

I woke up Monday morning to a hopeful sounding Wizards of the Coast (WotC) post announcing the plans for the new version of Dungeons & Dragons.

Dungeons & Dragons is the granddaddy of all role playing games (RPG). Anyone who thinks of role playing games, weather they have played any or not, thinks of Dungeons & Dragons. There is a lot of power behind the name and the brand. I cut my teeth on RPGs with Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition and it has proved to be a gateway drug of sorts for me by opening doors to many other RPGs that I have enjoyed and invested in. But the grand daddy has been and will always be Dungeons & Dragons. I would love the chance to come back to it again at some point.

After reading the WotC announcement I immediately started searching twitter for any other posts regarding the new edition of the beloved game and found a couple of really good ones, including posts at CNN, The New York Times, and Forbes. each one of them seemed to have a little bit more info to add to the announcement than the last.

The biggest positive thing I have seen since the announcement of the new Dungeons & Dragons game is that WotC has been way more active with the community on Twitter (and I assume Facebook). It’s like someone with in the company read a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s ‘The Thank You Economy’ and realized the people they are selling Dungeons & Dragons to are people with feelings and opinions and need to be heard if they wish to keep making money.

As for the stacks of 4E books I have bought? Well you know. I find that all these books from all these other RPGs I have invested in prove to be a great resource of ideas and adventures when I am planning out a game. I think they will prove themselves useful for years to come.

Jay:

D&D Next is an interesting direction in which to take the D&D brand, given that Pathfinder has managed to make an abandoned ruleset successful.  Perhaps this is just a case of WotC trying to emulate a successful model, but ultimately I think that if done with sufficient care, this approach might result in a good product.

While it 4e wasn’t the success that Hasbro wanted it to be, I still felt that it was a valid game.  In fact, it introduced new ways of playing the game that were genuinely interesting, and I still hold the opinion that if it had been marketed as a different RPG instead of having the D&D name on it, it would not have experienced the severe backlash that it did from the fans of older editions.

I await the results of D&D Next with cautious optimism.  On one hand, they started on the right foot.  They found a way to make their announcement across multiple channels, and supported it with a strong social media presence.  They seem dedicated to keep those who were intrigued interested in the material by starting off with something as early as this month.  The talk about listening to the players is very encouraging, though it will take a strong design hand to stick to what works, after listening to what are possibly the most passionate (and outspoken) fans in the industry.

WotC is taking the right steps with promotion, and I’m hoping that the results of their design work will continue to show promise.  If this is Hasbro’s last attempt to make a commercially viable D&D, then they’re certainly going about it the right way.

Related posts:

1. My thoughts on the new D&D “red box”
2. My thoughts on the D&D Essentials Starter aka “Red Box”
3. My thoughts on OGL, GSL and beyond

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.

Back in 2009 I wrote a post called “Doctor Who RPG – Could this really work?”. I was really skeptical a Doctor Who game might even work. But this game has convinced me that it can actually work. The Player’s Guide lists a couple of options on how to assemble your team. Aside from playing the established team from the series like The Doctor, Rose, Donna, Captain Jack Harkness, etc., you can also play The Doctor and new companions we haven’t seen in the series, or it’s possible to play a UNIT team, Torchwood operatives or even Time Agents. The rules even allow you to create new Time Lord characters.

Character creation uses a straightforward point-buy system. You get points that you distribute among your attributes, skills and traits. The really interesting part are traits here. They are what make your character really unique. There are good, bad and special traits. Good traits give your character a special talent or ability, bad traits are weaknesses like being Unattractive or Selfish. Special traits allow you to create Alien, Cyborg or even Time Lord characters.

The core mechanic is quite simple. Whenever you attempt a difficult task, you roll two six-sided dice and add the relevant attribute and skill value to the result. You try to beat or match a Difficulty set by the GM. If you roll above or below the Difficulty it may have additional consequences beside succeeding or failing. That might not be the most unique mechanic out there, but it works fine and is easy to learn even for new players.

When it comes to conflict rules you’ll notice something pretty uncommon in roleplaying games: fighting is actually the worst option. At least when it comes to initiative. In Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Talkers act first, followed by Movers and Doers. So you want to fire that gun or throw that punch? Wait until everyone else is done talking, running and doing something. This rule actually helps a lot to emulate the tone of the series and it’s a welcome change to the usual “shoot first – ask questions later”. The rules actually advise to avoid gunplay if possible. Hiding and sneaking and talking down enemies is actually much more in line with what we expect from a Doctor Who game anyway.

In the description of the box contents I mentioned Story Points. These are a meta game currency the players have access to that they can spend to get additional clues when they are stumped, add something to an important roll, tweak failed result to save themselves or bend the story in favor of the players. Gadgets come with their own Story points, too. So they can be used for tasks they were not really designed for. The number of ways you can use your Story Points to do the exceptional are countless.

The Gamemaster’s Guide contains all the rules from the Player’s Guide but a) in more detail and b) described from the GM’s standpoint. In addition to that it explains how to run games, design adventures and gives basic gamemastering advice. A major portion of the Gamemaster’s Guide covers Time Travel. No Doctor Who game would be complete without it and in my opinion time travel is one of the hardest things you can do in a tabletop game. Especially paradoxes can be a major pain, but the book gives good advice on how to avoid them. It also explains what happens when you really screw up. Do you remember the Reapers from the episode where Rose tried to save her father? Yup, they are in the book as well.

The Gamemaster’s Guide also contains a lot of information on the Whoniverse, Timelords, the TARDIS and the aliens you might encounter on your travels. All the basic adversaries from the series are covered like the Dalek, Cybermen, the Ood and even the Autons. Some of those aliens can even be played, if the GM approves, but some of them might not be suited for every campaign.

The Adventures Book contains two complete adventures and a whole bundle of adventure ideas you can use as inspiration for your own campaigns.

Overall Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space is a great roleplaying game for fans of the series. It doesn’t matter whether you are a new gamer or a gaming veteran. The rules are easy to learn and are perfectly suited to the tone of the series. I’m not sure if I would recommend the game to someone who doesn’t know the series, but it’s a must buy for every fan!

By the way, the game is currently on sale on the official Cubicle 7 store. You can get the boxed set + PDF bundle for the low price of $36! You can also get the PDF version from RPGNow for $34.99.

Please note that the review was based on a review copy of the boxed set provided by the publisher.

No related posts.

There seems to be some controversy around this product. I have to admit I haven’t bothered to look deeper into this, but I believe one reason is that Carcosa is not what you would consider family friendly. Like LotFP it doesn’t hide the fact that it is for adults only. Among Carcosa’s inspirations the author lists the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E.Howard, Lin Carter and Michael Moorcock. And a setting inspired by the writings of these people can’t be all bad. And trust me, it isn’t.

While the cover is nothing special, the interior artwork of the 143-paged book is pretty awesome. Even though it’s black & white artwork only, the style used fits the setting perfectly. The image below is a perfect example.

The layout, fonts and artwork really make you want to leaf through the book all day. Some drawings are so detailed you can spend quite a few minutes discovering new stuff. But let’s now have a look at the content itself.

Carcosa is a planet about 150 light years away from Earth and home to thirteen races of men. There’s no common fantasy magic, but characters may have psionic powers and Sorcerers may use rituals to summon entities right out of H.P. Lovecraft’s nightmares.

The setting was designed for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess or some other D&D retro clone in mind, but you could easily use it for other games or just as an inspiration for your own campaign. The setting is not as detailed as for example the Forgotten Realms or some other classic D&D settings, but there’s enough material to run a game set in the world without being bogged down by the minutiae.

What I realized pretty quickly is that Carcosa was not designed as something you can play out of the box. A lot of descriptions are kept rather vague to make it easier for the GM to mold the setting to his or her wishes. But since it’s meant for fans of old-school gaming this should be no big issue.

But the building blocks you’re provided with are just awesome: Space Alien Technology, Artifacts of the Great Race (yes, the one from Lovecraft’s stories), Psionics, Sorcerous Rituals, really cool and unique monsters and more. The book also contains a hex map of a portion of the planet with descriptions of every single hex on that map. That’s an instant sandbox right there.

In my opinion Carcosa is a very interesting product, well worth it’s price. If you are into old-school gaming in general and weird science-fantasy settings in particular, you’ll definitely enjoy using Carcosa even if it’s just for cannibalizing ideas.

You can get the PDF Edition from RPGNow for $21.25 or directly from the publisher for €13. There’s also a print and PDF deal for the hardcover book and the PDF which sets you back about €32. For 5€ extra you get a poster and a map, too. I have to admit I am very tempted to get that bundle as soon as I got my next paycheck!

Related posts:

1. Review: Cthulhu Rising
2. Diaspora
3. Iron Kingdoms RPG source books now available in PDF

• Adventure Companion (FantasyCraft)
  The Adventure Companion for Fantasy Craft by Crafty Games not only contains three fully detailed campaign worlds, but also new classes, specialties, feats, tricks and paths you can use in any Fantasy Craft game. As a bonus the PDF edition of the Adventure Companion contains the material that was cut from the printed version!
  Read my review here.
• Age of Cthulhu 5: The Long Reach of Evil
  The Long Reach of Evil is the 5th installation in Goodman Games’ Age of Cthulhu adventure series. The 72-paged PDF contains three adventure modules for Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu. The adventures are set into the 1920s and span the whole globe. According to the product description the PDF also contains a copious amount of handouts which is always a great plus for any CoC adventure.
• Smallville: The Watchtower Report
  I’ve heard a lot of good things about this game, but I haven’t picked it up yet. But if you already have done so, the Watchtower Report might be worth a look. The 150-paged PDF focuses on antagonists and opposition and also contains a Season Ten update to the Smallville RPG. If you are into the Smallville RPG, this might be worth your while, especially because you can never have enough antagonists in a superhero game.
• Huxtropy
  Huxtropy is a supplement for D&D4th Edition that introduces card magic to the game. Spellcasters can use huxtropy decks as arcane elements and you can reskin rangers and warlocks into card-wielding characters. Upon purchase you not only get the rules in printer-friendly and full-color formats but also a file containing all new power cards. But that’s something you should expect from a supplement dealing with card magic.
  I am not into D&D 4th Edition, but this looks like a fun idea worth trying out.
• Shambles
  Last but not least, there’s Shambles by A Terrible Idea. Zombies have been quite popular recently. There are zombie books, movies, board games, and of course also a few RPGs. But usually the zombies are the antagonists and not the heroes of the game. Not so in Shambles. In this 56-paged rules-light RPG you are one of the undead who still clings to his or her life. Shambles is very funny and very unique and one of the games you just should check out. Read my review here.

To get the 20% discount on these titles you have to use the following coupon code during checkout: HolidayHooplah2011. This code is good until January 18th, 2012. Happy holidays to you all!

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2. 20% discount @ DriveThruRPG
3. Get 20% off of selected titles at DriveThruRPG this month

And I am quite glad that there will be more support for this great game in the future. The beginning will be made by “Resistance”, which should be out by May 2012. There’s already a small sample of this first LoF supplement available at the official site, so check it out. And it seems Colin Chapman, who is known for his post-apocalyptic roleplaying game Atomic Highway (which he’s now giving away for free!) and who has written the first supplement for my own Warrior, Rogue & Mage, will be involved in that project. Colin does great stuff, so I am sure “Resistance” will be great as well.

The other news is that there will be a LoF card game. How cool is that. Iain Lowson hasn’t shared any details yet, but it will not be a CCG, which is great in my book. According to the announcement on the official LoF site, it will be more light-hearted than the rest of the LoF material. I am not sure if it will be family-friendly though. Actually I doubt it.

Last but not least there will be a LoF short story anthology! Yay! That’s great news. The short stories in the original Dark Harvest book were awesome and I am definitely looking forward to this anthology. Hopefully there will be a Kindle edition as well.

If there are any questions regarding these future releases, feel free to post them in the comments below. I will convey all your questions to Iain Lowson in hopes he’ll share a few more details with us.

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I have to admit I haven’t had the time to give the rules a closer look, but the rulebook looks really nice. It features a very cool and clear layout with some excellent pieces of art. Creative lead Jacob Kurzer has provided us with a review copy of the game, so expect a full review in the near future, but my initial impression is quite positive.

The game features eight classes like Barbarian, Monk, Paladin and Shaman that can be further customized by the players through choosing different “tracks” along which the characters develop. Each class comes with a number of tracks but there are extra tracks that can be used either to create monstrous characters or to customize your character even further.

But what definitely sets Legend apart from a lot of other games is the fact that all proceeds from the core product will be donated to Child’s Play. And until December 9th Legend is available on a pay-what-you-want basis. Until now the game has raised about $866 to improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world.

The Legend RPG is about 179 pages long and doesn’t come with a fledged-out setting. It definitely worth a look and with your purchase you’re actually helping children in need.

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1. Legend of Zork
2. Exchange of Realities
3. Pre-pre order Ashen Stars now and get a lot of cool stuff at release!

Warrior, Rogue & Mage has been translated into Spanish! You can check out the game’s announcement on the Arcano XIII blog and download the complete game here.

As I said before, the guys behind the translation project have done a great job and the final product is just looking great.

The team around José Muñoz is currently thinking about translating all the existing supplements and some of the Arcano XIII members are developing their own material for the game.

If you are a Spanish-speaking roleplayer, please check Guerrero, Pícaro y Mago out. I hope you enjoy it!

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1. Warrior, Rogue & Mage en Español
2. Update: WR&M in Spanish
3. Warrior, Rogue & Mage Revised Edition finally available at DriveThruRPG

I still have a couple of old ideas floating around I could pick up for NaGa DeMon but for some reason that doesn’t feel right to me. I want my NaGa DeMon game to be something totally new. But for weeks now my creativity is at an all time low.

Basically I am currently hoping for a great idea that can be turned into a game into a couple of hours to a few days, so that I can use the rest of the month for doing the layout and playtesting the game. My first draft of WR&M was done in just 12 hours or so, so I think it’s not totally impossible to pull something like that off.

So the only thing I need now is inspiration and perhaps a few days of peace and quiet to get back into a creative mood. Wish me luck!

By the way, what are your plans for NaGa DeMon? Are you going to participate? Do you already have an idea what to do? As always any comments are highly appreciated.

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1. NaGa DeMon, NaNoWriMo and Scrivener
2. My NaGa DeMon diary #1
3. NaGa DeMon: I surrender!

Of course there are a few rules (it wouldn’t be fun without those!):

• Create the game in November
• Finish the game in November
• Play the game in November
• Talk about your experience

By the way, the NaGa DeMon is not just about pen & paper RPGs. If you want to create a boardgame, wargame, cardgame or even a computer game, you can do so and it’s still part of the official NaGa DeMon! I am basically working on some game design project all the time, but perhaps I will use this event to see a project through next month!

And there’s one more thing. For a while I have followed the development of the Windows version of Scrivener. Scrivener is software that was initially developed for Mac only that was meant as a tool for writers. I think explaining all the features of this software would definitely be beyond the scope of this post, so it’s perhaps best you check out the official website for more details. What I have been wondering for a while now was if you could use Scrivener to help you in game design, too. And November may actually be my chance to do so!

You can get a special NaNoWriMo Trial Edition of Scrivener for free that you can use until December 7th. And if you are among the NaNoWriMo winners you’ll get a 50% discount on the full version of Scrivener. And even if you don’t manage to churn out a novel of 50,000 words next month, you still get a 20% discount  by entering “NANOWRIMO” as coupon code at the purchase!

But there’s more. I actually found a very interesting blog post on “Population: One” today, that shows how you can use Scrivener for RPG Writing. If you are interested in using Scrivener for NaGa DeMon, you definitely should check the article out.

Related posts:

1. My Plans for NaGa DeMon
2. NaGa DeMon: I surrender!
3. My NaGa DeMon diary #1

—Promethean: The Created, by Bill Bridges, Conrad Hubbard, et al.

Chapter 4: “Storytelling and Antagonists”

Everything ends, no matter how we may wish otherwise. Roleplaying games are no different. Sure, there are plenty of stories of twenty-year-long campaigns of Dungeons & Dragons to be heard; you might even know of or participate in one yourself. If so, congratulations! By and large, though, most games will end in a few months to a handful of years. Groups dissolve. Stories reach an end and have few other places to go. It is the way of things.

There are games out there that do not wait for the end to either blindside or creep up on the players. They often avoid the sweeping, epic scope of the “campaign” that is so familiar to Dungeons & Dragons and similar RPGs. These games are small affairs: sometimes filled with whimsy, sometimes bittersweet, and almost always with something to say.

I’m going to talk about those kinds of games for a short while. Then we’ll end.

As we must.

Inevitability

“Here’s what I do know: most of the world thinks being good for goodness’ sake isn’t good enough. People you help will turn on you. People you love will manipulate you. And sometimes it seems everyone in the world is more sure of their beliefs than you. That’s this game, in a nutshell.“

—They Became Flesh, by Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat

“Author’s Notes”

Promethean: The Created from White Wolf, Dō: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis, and the upcoming They Became Flesh by Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat are all great RPGs that have a goal in mind.

Promethean: The Created

In Promethean, your character is a Frankenstein’s monster—cobbled together from the parts of the dead, instilled with life through unspeakable forces, and reviled by all that is proper and natural in this world—who seeks to find humanity. The Pilgrims of the Flying Temple are young kids with good intentions and a penchant for getting into all kinds of mischief as they help out with problems both comically absurd and touching, who eventually grow up and find their destiny. Players assume the roles of fallen angels in They Became Flesh, and are torn in several directions between God, Humanity, and their fellow Fallen, making decisions that inevitably edge them ever closer to their final judgment.

An RPG with a clear end goal has a great advantage: focus. Knowing what that goal is, and being aware of the in-game steps you must take to influence the outcome, gives a you a greater impact on the story of your character.

Admittedly there is nothing preventing players and GMs from collaborating like this in other games: Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Requiem, Savage Worlds… In fact, Promethean’s method is quite similar to this. Mechanically it plays much like any other World of Darkness RPG; the main difference is it explicitly acknowledges its intention for an ending, and roughly how you should approach that as a player or as a GM.

Dō and They Became Flesh have more intrinsic approaches: the resolution mechanics contribute, bit by bit, toward a character’s eventual destiny.

Each time a Fallen uses his or her traits in They Became Flesh, there is a minimum number of dice the player must use. The player can roll any amount of dice they wish beyond that. Roll doubles, and those dice leave the pool forever, locked to an ability. A player never gets more dice. When they run out, the Fallen is judged, the outcome decided by where the dice have ended up.

Dō: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple

Whenever a pilgrim of the Flying Temple tries to help someone, or get out of trouble, the player draws differently-colored stones out of a bag and his or her choice between them decides the outcome. The stones a player chooses are tallied at the end of every session, and added to an overall total. If the pilgrim is retired at the end of an adventure, the totals of those stones determine what he or she goes on to do.

These are excellent mechanics, because they give a player direct control over his or her character’s path, while still giving a nod to the whims of chance. A player could certainly go with the “right decision” at any given moment and just find out where they end up as a result, but there is also the option to sculpt a character’s long-term path, fraught with short-term complications.

In doing so, each of these games says something. Perhaps more powerfully, each of them allows you to say something, through your choices.

Destiny

“One day, your pilgrim will end her pilgrimage. The many little decisions along the way will culminate in her fully realized destiny.”

—Dō: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, by Daniel Solis

Chapter 4: “Advice”

Several years ago, when Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition had not yet appeared on the radar, I played a paladin in my friend’s 3.5 game. The party was less a group of adventurers and more of an elite military force, subject to politics and orders from the top. We were sent to enlist the aid of pirates against an invading nation.

Arriving on their island, I immediately noticed the sheer debauchery of the pirates. Their lord had a harem, they dealt with slaves, murder was commonplace. My paladin bristled. Here was something he cared for not at all. In order to get their help, the pirates wanted our characters to eliminate the threat of some lizardmen who had been harassing them.

It turned out the island had once been home to the lizardmen, and they’d been displaced and slaughtered by the pirates. I knew what the right thing was for my paladin to do. Alas,  I didn’t have that option. It came down to diplomacy with the lizardmen, or combat. At the very least I was able to choose the diplomatic solution. Staging a full-scale rebellion and overthrowing the pirates would have, to put it gently, derailed the entire focus of the campaign.

My friend wasn’t a poor GM, though obviously there was some room for player-GM collaboration in the situation. Sometimes you get overwhelmed. Sometimes you put a lot of work into something and want to see it happen. I don’t blame him, but at the same time I’m sad I didn’t have the opportunity to have my character take the path I felt most appropriate to him.

Games like the ones I’ve mentioned here tell you what kind of endings you can expect to see. It may sound restricting, but they do an incredible job of giving you, the player, leeway. They encourage, even demand player-GM cooperation, or provide an engine that drives the story forward to its various conclusions. They set the stage and say, hey, do something with all this.

Personally I’m a huge fan.

Other Games

It’s hardly my intention to imply these are the only three games that do what they do. None of them float your boat? Perhaps these will suit you:

Blowback by Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat

This modern television spy action-thriller stuff-goes-wrong game encourages episodic gameplay (via “jobs”), while still having a sense of connection (through the relationships your characters develop and the answers they seek to find). The mechanics drive each job toward its end, while like Promethean, the long-term end is an encouraged matter of agreement between players.

Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North by Ben Lehman

Polaris is a melancholy game about a tragic, beautiful people who lived in a time before. Their civilization lies not in ruin, but in void. Nothing remains. You will die, or you will become what your people fear most. Your character will be torn in many directions and will accumulate scars of weariness and heartache, driving them ever-toward their unfortunate destiny.

My Life with Master by Paul Czege

The players collaboratively create a mad scientist, magician, or what have you, then suffer under his or her infernal whims as Igor-like assistants who crave companionship, love, and all those things they are denied. Eventually one will successfully resist the yoke of the Master, pushing everyone into an endgame culminating with the Master’s death.

Did I miss any? I can guarantee it. Hook us up in the comments.

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I also expected the game using Crafty Games’ Fantasy Craft system. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the game uses an all new system. Don’t get me wrong, I like Fantasy Craft. It’s a very cool rule system and I think more people should check it out. But it always was a bit too rules-heavy for me. It’s basically on the same crunch level as Pathfinder or D&D 3.5, but I just don’t have the time for such rules anymore. I want my game rules to be light. But I digress.

So yesterday I downloaded the aforementioned primer to see what all the fuss was about. And I was blown away. The rules are really, really light-weight and have a very narrativist feel to them. That was something I haven’t expected, but I like it. I like it a lot. I think I have to “borrow” some of their ideas for the game I am currently working on. I hope the Craft Games’ guys don’t mind.

I also quickly realized that the game was no classic fantasy but sounded very unique and the world had some Victorian feel to it. At least that’s what the interior artwork reminded me of. I think I’ll have to get one of the Brandon Sanderson novels soon to learn more about the world. I already downloaded an excerpt from the Kindle book, but I haven’t had the time to give it a closer look.

Alas there are a few things I don’t really like about the primer. The description of the rules is terribly vague. I had to read the paragraph about how to read the dice results several times before I had a faint idea how it’s supposed to work. It get even worse when it comes to conflict. There’s talk of “action dice” you get, but there’s no explanation what these dice are, how many you get, and so on. Perhaps a few examples would have helped.

But overall the primer did what is was intended to do: it piqued my interest. It made me interested not only in the game, but also in the novel series. And I definitely recommend you check it out.

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The Polish-language site releases free to use RPG adventure ideas on a regular basis. At this moment about 100 adventures are freely available for RPG fans to download and use for their games.

They now decided to make the switch to English in order to provide their material to a much broader audience. But in order to do so they need to raise enough money to pay for professional translators to keep up the quality.

Supporters will not only get satisfaction that they supported the RPG fan community but also all ebooks currently published by the Ancient Scroll for free! Don’t worry, these are already in English. In addition to that you’ll get your name and link in their partners section.

If you want to learn more about this, please check out the official campaign page.

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While flipping through it I noticed that the game has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 US License. That means you can take the rules and design your own game around it and even sell it as long as you share it under a similar license and give the author of Anima Prime proper credit. You can also share material you wrote for Anima Prime under the same conditions. That’s always nice, especially because CC is much less complicated to work with than the OGL. There’s also a free edition available at the official site that comes in a simpler layout and without the artwork, but aside from that it should contain the same content as the paid version.

From what I’ve seen so far, the rules are not too complicated and the dice pool system it uses seems to work fine. Combat is a bit more elaborate and allows the characters to perform fancy moves, summon “eidolons” and there are “soulbound weapons” at the characters’ disposal.

The artwork and layout are pretty nice, especially if you are in the manga style. The 196-paged PDF also comes with a setting for you to play in, but the rules also contain quite a few tips on how to create your own setting.

All in all Anima Prime looks like a fun game. I’ve always wanted to run a game in a Final Fantasy-inspired world and it seems as if Anima Prime could handle this perfectly. If you are even remotely interested in the genre, you should at least check the free version out.

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Rough Draft 5 is the final iteration of the normal d6-based rules. But he didn’t stop there. Rough Draft 6 uses a new d12 mechanic, which is something I actually planned for the SF variant of Wyrm. From what I’ve seen WYRED has a lot of promise and if you are into the genre you definitely should check it out!

You can get the details on both releases here.

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A couple of days ago they sent me a layout example and I have to admit it looks very nice. Check it out:

The final PDF version is not done yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as it’s out. I feel honored that people actually find my little game interesting enough to do the hard work of translating it into another language. By the way, the Spanish version is not the only translation of WR&M currently in the works. As far as I know there are currently people working on a German and a Hebrew translation of WR&M. I can’t wait to see them released as well!

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By the way, Sean, what did you do to Kurt that made him be afraid of you?

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Sean’s latest project is “Agents of Oblivion”, a roleplaying game setting for use with Savage Worlds that combines the modern espionage genre with horror elements. But I think Sean can explain this better than I can, so I asked him to answer a couple of questions for us.

Stargazer: Thanks again for taking your time to answer a couple of questions about Reality Blurs in general and Agents of Oblivion in particular. It’s an honor to have you. So, let’s start with AoO. What exactly is it about?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion is what we like to call “the perfect cocktail of horror and espionage”. Heck, we believe this so much we put it on the cover as the tagline. Now, before anyone thinks we’re being cocky or anything, we know everyone’s definition of the perfect cocktail may differ, so we cheated a bit by providing you with all the ingredients to mix your own, suitable to your own refined palate. For those who’ve followed us for a number of years, you know we are all about providing sandboxes and allowing you the freedom to customize the game and still have all the pieces work together without any hassle. At its core, Agents of Oblivion is a spy game with conspiracies and aliens and rival organizations and magic and things that go bump in the night. Well, that’s how I play it. We provide seven different campaign styles—cocktail recipes to extend the metaphor—you can tailor to your own sensibilities.

Stargazer: What were the main inspirations for Agents of Oblivion? Are there any other games, books or movies that played a major role in the creation process?

Sean: I’ve long loved the spy and horror genres and thought they could fit naturally together. As a longtime video gamer, the concept for Agents of Oblivion initially arose not long after I got a Savage Worlds license (back in 2004) and I put together a list of genres I wanted to develop into product lines. This was on the original list and it came to me when I was playing the original Splinter Cell game (before it became the franchise it is today). I thought how cool it would be for Sam Fisher (the protagonist) to have some cool powers he could use and realized there were no games out there that could do this in the manner I was talking about for the spy genre. I scribbled down some notes and realized there was a real opportunity to step into this space. I wrote an adventure (Starfall Jungle, our second product ever) and then entered it into Green Ronin’s True20 Setting Search competition. It later appeared in the True20 Worlds of Adventure and was quite popular.

That was some history, so now let me get to the heart of your question. Inspirations for Agents of Oblivion are as follows (in no particular order) (and some came out subsequent to most of the formative work being done, so are included as good source materials for folks).

Movies/TV Series: The James Bond series, 24, Fringe, Alias, The X-Files, The Shield, Supernatural, Dark Skies, Threshold, Warehouse 13, Ronin, The Bourne Trilogy, The Third Man, Three Days of the Condor, The 39 Steps, North by Northwest, The Ipcress File, Enemy of the State, The Manchurian Candidate, The Jack Ryan series, The Call of Cthulhu, In the Mouth of Madness, Pan’s Labyrinth, Law & Order, Hellboy, Le Femme Nikita, Mission Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Torchwood, and Doctor Who

Books: The Dresden Files, anything be Ian Fleming, Len Deighton or Charles de Lint, Monster Hunter International, and The Laundry series

RPGs: Top Secret, James Bond 007, Spycraft, Conspiracy X, Dark Matter, Delta Green, and Cold City

Some interesting facts, I looked to The Dresden Files year ago (before the excellent RPG ever existed, but while it was in development and I did look forward to its release) as a great example of modern urban fantasy. Monster Hunter International was something I was only recently turned on to and it’s a great read. A number of shows, namely the short-lived Threshold, Torchwood, and Supernatural, came out after the setting was fleshed out and I would watch them and say to myself that this sure reminds me of Agents of Oblivion. It was cool to see other media exploring some of the same space I was. Delta Green is something I didn’t read until after the formative work was done. I was culturally aware of it, but people were calling out superficial similarities to the two properties before even reading AoO, so I felt it was wise to read what they were doing to make certain I wasn’t retreading well-loved territory. I was relieved to discover that was not the case. We’re firmly in the spy camp (though you can capably adventure into paramilitary and full-on military operations if you like, though that was not the central part of its design premise). Dark Matter is a great setting and one I looked at after our core material was developed (and again for the same reason). We explore some of the same territory (with the whole “investigating weird stuff” mission statement). Agents turns it on its head a great deal with the introduction of the whole espionage angle. Cold City is something I examined closely early on (subsequent to AoO’s True20 development) and it is a hyper-focused setting in a sliver of time and place and gave me a lot to mull over. I don’t know what direct influence it had on me at the end of the day, but it left a lasting impression. I’m still intrigued by their whole Secret Agenda model and that’s something I can certainly see refashioning down the road. It’s obviously there. Right? It’s not something we wanted to explore with the initial release. Perhaps down the road…Finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning Spycraft 2.0. While the first book was not on my radar at the time, this hefty tome held a place close to my computer during my work. I was inspired by the amazing amounts of stuff they shoved into those pages and it blew me away. For the spy side of things, it was incredibly rich and granular and challenged me to take some of the presented concepts and incorporate them into Agents of Oblivion.

Stargazer: Like many of your other games before, AoO uses the Savage Worlds rules. Were there any difficulties adapting SW to the espionage genre? And what additions to the core SW rules can we expect from AoO?

Sean: While I’d like to say everything fell with great alacrity upon the keyboard, there were certain obvious challenges, the biggest of which was handling resources. The false start was making the number of points a variable based upon half of Tradecraft +2. This created a double-dipping effect as Tradecraft also served as the delimiter (such as “you must have minimum Tradecraft to take this bit of gear). As a result, there were agents with very little gear of limited use and others with a lot of gear with a lot of juice. Aside from that, it was impossible for us to create any sort of comprehensive loadout packages—there were just too many variables. By making it a flat number of Resource Points (4 at Novice and scaling up), we could create three standard loadout packages (one for each branch) without too much muss and fuss. This greatly improved play. Aside from Tradecraft (which is a new skill), we added a few others, such as Demolitions and TechOps. These were introduced to create a bit more niche protection. By intent, Savage Worlds is not very granular. These added bit of granularity allowed a bit more flexibility when addressing the modern world and is offset by Agency training and loadouts.

I should underscore the biggest design goal for Agents of Oblivion is flexibility. You choose a branch at character creation and have the opportunity to shift branches each time you advance. There are no prerequisites to be in one branch or another. The three branches are Assault, Occult, and Operations and each provides you with a branch benefit which you can change at the start of each mission (essentially, a free Edge). Couple this with the loadouts (again, various gear, spytech/training, and Single Use Devices) you can swap out between missions, and you can radically alter your agent from one adventure to the next, allowing the Director (the GM) to present the characters with lots of different challenges. This also speaks to promoting character continuity and excitement and the opportunity to sample certain Edges and things you may never take otherwise. You can tailor your agent to the situation as presented to you (which may not always be how it turns out).

Powers are stripped of Power Points in an elegant fashion and, if you have Arcane Training, Powers are wide open to you. No more Rank requirements, though you suffer penalties if you reach beyond your grasp. Additionally, there are Power Mods which fundamentally change how your powers work. You can take heal and later take Power Mod: Range and heal from across the room or take the Power Mods: Area of Effect and Selective and heal your allies in the heat of battle! Your mind is probably already thinking of other (more nasty) things you can do with Power Mods already.

Extended Trait Checks, originally revealed in Iron Dynasty, were developed for Agents of Oblivion (just as Defining Interests—which originally were written for Iron Dynasty first appeared in Ravaged Earth, such is our way) and will be new to many folks. They offer up an easy way to handle things which can have a dramatic impact in play—such as defusing a bomb or hacking into a computer system before the guards show up.

For the Director, we offer up seven different campaign frameworks using campaign factors (AC-HOT). They are Alien, Conspiracy, Horror, Occult, and Tech. By adjusting them, you can create the type of game you want to play. We have mission generators, creature generators, and The Spy Sampler where we have detailed overviews of the campaign frameworks presented earlier in the work.

As you can tell, there is a lot going on in Agents of Oblivion and its inherent flexibility should shine through.

Stargazer: There’s a two year old players’ guide for AoO available at the official Reality Blurs website. How close is the material presented in this document related to the final book?

Sean: It’s not available anymore, but I’m more than happy to talk about it. When we released it, it was largely complete, but there were still some refinements we needed to make to it. It was roughly edited at the time—which is forgivable for a free PDF, right?—and many of the core concepts are still in there, just tweaked. We still have Resource Points, Spytech, SUDs, and other such items largely unchanged. Some of the work we needed to do was dependent upon bringing it into line with Savage Worlds Deluxe and expanding some of the material to work well within the changes. The original PG gave you the sense of the direction we were taking, the new work takes you to the destination. In retrospect, it could be viewed as a rough cut. The most beneficial feedback upon reflection regarded two major things—the loadouts and the power system. While they were clear to us, I realized, based upon the large number of questions, they were not quite properly explained or executed. They were near misses. I went back in and cleaned up the verbiage for the magic system and retooled the loadouts which created a cascade effect requiring modifications to Tradecraft, Resource Points, and Field Requisitions. People pointed out the muddled stuff and we made proper course corrections. While it is possible some of this could have been caught in edit, it was far more beneficial to have it exposed earlier on in the design process. Additionally, there were still some questions about the final direction we would be taking Agents of Oblivion. The largest of which was, do we consolidate all of our information into one play style or provide multiple options? If you recall, we released this just prior to our release of Realms of Cthulhu and some uncertainty existed in my mind (though not the crews) of how people were going to respond to the different play styles offered up within those pages. People really appreciated the extra effort we took with that approach, so we wanted to offer up such a sandbox in AoO.

Stargazer: I recently thought about running a game inspired by Charles Stross’ short story “A Colder War”. It’s set into an alternative timeline where Mythos creatures and even Chtulhu himself are weaponized by the superpowers during the Cold War. Do you think it would be possible to run a game like that by introducing elements from Realms of Cthulhu into Agents of Oblivion for example? Or does Agents of Oblivion support “lovecraftian” elements out of the box?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion, as originally conceived, was Mission Impossible meets Cthulhu. When Reality Blurs acquired the Cthulhu license for Savage Worlds, we opted to keep them a bit more separate in terms of product identity and focus. However, as the guy who designed the mechanics for both, I wanted to ensure they played well together (which, I admit, did factor into going with a Power Point free system for magic). Within Oblivion, there is a branch called Sigil tasked with dealing with eldritch horrors. It’s neither explored nor alluded to in Agents of Oblivion. All that being said, I have a clear vision of Sigil and notes about them sketched out and they’ll be making an upcoming appearance down the road—I cannot say exactly when, though I know

Stargazer: Is there anything else you want to share with us about AoO before we move on? Oh, by the way, when do you plan to release it?

Sean: Agents of Oblivion is out now! We released it electronically on October 10^th and it climbed to Number One on RPGNow the first day. This was no mean feat since we try to drive traffic directly to our site with special deals, like the preorder bundles we’re offering right now. I’d like to thank everyone for their show of support. You guys responded fantastically and it was truly gratifying!

Stargazer: In the introduction to this interview I mentioned Iron Dynasty. It’s a game that impressed me a lot. Can you give our readers a short description of what the game is about?

Sean: Iron Dynasty is our game of Heavy Metal Oriental Action. In other words—and here’s the thing because I called it this originally in-house—Samurai Steampunk. While an oriental fantasy, it is based off of historical Japan in a lot of ways before I liberally blurred it up and made it very much a sandbox setting where you can play a lot of different ways. I have three words: giant bamboo mecha! If you like Kurosawa flicks and high-action oriental gaming, you’ll be sure to dig it. I know I’m gushing, but for just pure fantasy it’s my go to game. It’s filled with spell-slinging ninja, angry oni armies, crazy giant robots, and angry ronin. You’ll even find some pirates in those pages and can finally see for yourself who wins in the old ninja versus pirates face-off. It sounds gonzo and can certainly go that way. However, it’s carefully balanced. We here at Reality Blurs like our chaos controlled.

Stargazer: The ID product page lists a few upcoming products. Aside from the Fantasy Craft version of Iron Dynasty there’s also Iron Dynasty: Art of War for the SW Showdown system. So will there be full range of ID miniatures? What else is planned for Iron Dynasty?

Sean: Miniatures are a very risky proposition even in the best of times and we haven’t grown to the point where I’d feel comfortable making such a large investment. There are a number of existing miniatures suitable for Iron Dynasty out there. Now that you mention it, I really need to get Art of War out there! We’ve been focusing on a lot of support products for Iron Dynasty, including a big series of Guidebooks and Kesshi Tales. We’re trying to find a window to release Iron Dynasty for Fantasy Craft (and it will be getting the accompanying support materials. Next up, we’re looking at a plot point campaign, however, we’ve not firmed up the particulars yet, so I’d be remiss at saying more than “we have things in various stages of development”. Yes, I realize it is the typical, cagey stock game designer answer even as I type it, but if I had more particulars we were ready to share, I’d let you know.

Stargazer: As far as I remember Reality Blurs was one of the first, if not the first, Savage Worlds licensee. What made you jump on the Savage Worlds bandwagon that early?

Sean: We were, in fact, the third licensee to make a deal with Pinnacle (back in 2004) and are now viewed, I suppose, as part of the Old Guard. We are the last remaining original licensee with Pinnacle making a deal with 12 to Midnight for their Pinebox material and them sadly shutting down independent operations and Legion (with its principles of Simon Lucas and Robin Eliot) to be subsequently reformed as Triple Ace Games (with its principles of Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams and Robin Eliot). Ed Wetterman of 12 to Midnight and I have been buddies for a number of years now and he worked on Agents of Oblivion with me and presently serves as its line developer.

My path to Savage Worlds is rather unusual. I had been running a weekly game of 3.5 D&D and the players were delving through a massive dungeon. I had worked on this new level to reflect a change in tone from traditional orcs and goblins to a more Lovecraftian vibe (yes, this was in 2004, but I’ve long been a fan of HPL). The introductory scene was to paint a picture to them of this darker, more twisted atmosphere and was exciting…on paper. In play, it didn’t work out well. The one combat took hours and my players (as well as myself) felt it was (rightly so) a huge grind and we yearned for less debates about the mechanics, speedier play, and more fun. I jumped on the computer and began evaluating a LOT of systems. At the time, HARP (by Iron Crown Enterprises), FATE, and Savage Worlds were the three frontrunners. HARP had a lot of crunch and reminded me a lot of MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying)—I knew this was something my guys, ultimately, wouldn’t really play. I saw FATE as having lot of potential yet neither the system nor I had evolved enough yet for me to really take said plunge (though it certainly has come a long way in the last few years). Savage Worlds immediately drew me in. I knew Shane had something special. I was familiar with Deadlands and I liked the way you could simply and elegantly create characters like those found in novels and cinema, yet, these characters still retained a certain degree of humanity, of vulnerability. While you could be an axe-wielding barbarian or a masterful sorcerer, you were not guaranteed victory regardless of your power level. Uncertainty is a very powerful element to include in a game. This keeps the players’ attention. As a longtime GURPS player (once upon a time), I liked how Savage Worlds offered up a really clean core system and had plenty of opportunities for extensibility. Though I entertained no thoughts for a long time of ever becoming a designer, I was compelled to send off a pitch to Shane about RunePunk and when my crew came over the following week, I showed them my copy of Savage Worlds and 50 Fathoms and said “We’re playing this now as I’m going to be developing for it.” They thought I was crazy then and probably even more so now!

Stargazer: Over the years Reality Blurs has released products for True20, Savage Worlds and Fantasy Craft. Are you currently planning to support other game systems as well or perhaps even to design your own system?

Sean: Yes.

Stargazer: While I was compiling these questions I talked with a couple of friends and asked them if they had any questions they wanted to ask you. I was a bit surprised that most of them haven’t heard of Reality Blurs yet, a few have heard of your games though. I think you actually jokingly called Reality Blurs “the biggest RPG publisher nobody knows” yourself. Do you have a theory why a lot of gamers haven’t heard from you yet? And is there anything your fans can do to help you change this?

Sean: This one has stymied us internally for quite some time and all we have is mainly theories. I’ll posit a few for you and maybe you or your readers can provide some illuminating answers for us. The most obvious reason is we’ve been historically deliberate in our work. As such, we have a solid reputation and reach a higher level of awareness we aren’t able to capitalize upon as we diligently work on the next thing. We’ve been taking steps with it and this year has been particularly good to us, so I think brand awareness is starting to spread. I’ve been a lot more active in social media and have religiously posted The Razorwise Report on the Reality Blurs site. Another thing—and this may sound weird—but we don’t make a bunch of mistakes in our work. A lot of questions generated on websites and forums are questions about why does x work or how does y work. If we’re on our game, you won’t have to ask us. Other reasons are a number of our games have had things working against us until now. RunePunk is a whole lot of fun, but it is a difficult elevator pitch. Would I change that as my initial release? I’ve thought hard about it and I learned a lot and showed folks I can do some outré design work and it is where I really cut my teeth with Savage Worlds. As we’ve progressed, we’ve increased the number of our releases and are working with settings more within the norm in a number of ways. You might’ve thought Realms of Cthulhu would be our break out game (we considered it as a possibility) and it did radically heighten people’s awareness of my design chops both within and without the community and is well regarded, we just need to give the fans something of real substance to dig their teeth into—essentially, the Savages need a setting to call their own. With Echo, I hope to deliver upon the promise of potential found within Realms of Cthulhu as I clearly define and share my vision of the Mythos. In some ways, I did my job too well, as the Sanity system sings, I recall getting a lot of buzz speculating how it couldn’t be done. Agents of Oblivion is an easy sell compared to a lot of the things we’ve talked about. Horror-espionage? Superspies and alien? Mission Impossible Meets The X-Files? This is something which resonates strongly with gamers and we’re hitting this at the right time, I think. Savage Worlds has greatly matured and its base is expanding and I’m taking strides to be known beyond the community.

I’m proud to claim a base of smart, well-read folks. However, they generally do not post often or are very active on the web. They prefer to email me directly. I get a lot of regular correspondence from folks who write to say “great work” or “thank you” or “you made my day!” This is cool. This shows I’m making a connection with folks and, evidently, folks feel comfortable talking with me. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is something the letter writers and everyone who likes Reality Blurs can do.

Post publicly. I note the people who have issues generally post publicly. I don’t mind that, but if you want to show your support do these things.

1. Spread the word about us at conventions, local game stores, wherever.
2. Through social media. Help me get to a thousand followers on Twitter. Why not? Make that happen. If you’re not a follower, use your social media outlets to spread the word.
3. Through websites.
4. Support your local game store.
5. Tell your friends.
6. Help us get an active community going on our forums.
7. Send suggestions on what I can do to heighten our awareness. Better yet, post them on our website.

This was a good question and I may have gone a bit long. I thought once upon a time focusing on expanding my brand would be simply perceived as mercenary, but we’re offering some good stuff here. Help me connect. I’m often lost in layout and the reverie of writing and lose touch with the outside world. Together, we can put Reality Blurs on the tip of everyone’s tongue!

Stargazer: Before I let you return to work on Agents of Oblivion there’s something I need to know. What was the first roleplaying game you ever played and how and when did you enter the “industry”?

Sean: I recall being born with a D20 in my hand. Or near enough. I go all the way back to the beginning with Original D&D and Chainmail and all the early loveliness. I was in the industry as a kid, just from the retail side. My family had Viking Hobbies, a hobby store which introduced roleplaying games (D&D at the time, later others) to the Mid-South area of the United States (Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas). I recall doing playtests for Yaquinto (Man, Myth, & Magic anyone?) and meeting Jean Wells. Mainly, I placed orders and such and ran tournament games. Prior to starting up Reality Blurs, I had done some freelance stuff for Neverwinter Nights with Bioware. That’s an interesting story. I became active in the community on day one and they soon after made me a moderator in the DM’s Section. I went on to create the DMFI (Dungeon Master’s Friendly Initiative) and eventually to work a bit with the guys there on The Witch’s Wake, the first free module they released using some of the document support I drafted up. It was my first time behind the curtain, working with developers, and getting to see the early iterations of work. I did do some playtesting for Green Ronin for Warhammer Third Edition for a short time, but within a month of that time I had started up the company and the rest is history. I’ll add a far shorter answer here at the end: Reality Blurs started up in June 2004 (or thereabouts).

Stargazer: Thanks again for taking your time, Sean. It was a pleasure! One last thing, do you have anything to share with our readers that I forgot to ask?

Sean: I think I covered just about everything, though I’d just like to invite people to follow me at RealityBlurs on Twitter and Facebook and to put me in their Google+ Circles for the latest news and mad ramblings and deals. They should also check out The Razorwise Report at realityblurs.com where I regularly post about writing, design, and whatever other things that cross my mind at the time. I better get back to it—I’m sure I should be working on something! Thank you. I enjoyed this immensely.

Stargazer: Thanks for your answers, Sean! As always it was a pleasure talking to you! Take care!

Related posts:

1. Interview: Shane Hensley and Matthew Cutter
2. Interview with Chad Underkoffler
3. Interview with David Bezio

“You have in your hands a rules set that lets you play anything from “Spellslinging Spy vs. Alien Brain Eater” to “Harry Palmer vs. That Unpleasant Fellow from Bulgaria.” They haven’t glossed over any of the little nuts and bolts you need to play a realistic spy game, if that’s your desire – they’ve just streamlined it to be Fast, Furious, and Fun. That I can use one setting to play both those extremes is impressive as hell.”

These are the words he wrote for the introduction of Sean Preston’s Agents of Oblivion, the latest Savage Worlds campaign from Reality Blurs. The 218-paged book contains everything you need to horror-fueled espionage action using the Savage World rules (you need a copy of the Savage Worlds rules). I am sure many of you have been waiting for this fine book to be released and if you haven’t you don’t know what you’re missing! Trust me, Sean outdid himself with AoO!

By the way, there are a couple of pretty cool bundles available at the Reality Blurs shop right now:

• The New Recruit (Agents of Oblivion PDF) for $10
• The Elite Agent (Agents of Oblivion Print + PDF) for $25
• The Sigil Operative (Agents of Oblivion PDF + Realms of Cthulhu PDF) for $20
• The Director (Agents of Oblivion Print + PDF and Realms of Cthulhu Print + PDF) for $50

If you don’t own a copy of Realms of Cthulhu yet, I recommend you consider the Sigil Operative or The Director Bundle. An espionage campaign with Mythos elements sounds just to awesome not to try! ^_^

Update: AoO is now available from RPGNow, too!

Related posts:

1. Dungeonslayers: The Runes of Oblivion
2. Ia! Ia! Check out this great Realms of Cthulhu sale!
3. Realms of Cthulhu Giveaway Contest