Stargazer's World » D6

Ask The Readers: Who ya gonna call?

Stargazer — Mon, 09 May 2011 10:00:35 +0000

Recently I have rewatched one of my favorite films: Ghostbusters! Even though the movie is *gasp* 27 years old it has aged surprisingly well. While some of the effects may look a bit outdated the action and humor work as well today as they did in 1984. The 1984 film has not only spawned a sequel but also several computer games and even a pen & paper roleplaying game.

In 1986 West End Games produced the “Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game” boxed set which was followed later by a revised edition called “Ghostbusters International”. The system used in those games was a predecessor of the popular D6 System, which is now available under the OGL. Alas these games have never been a huge success and are out-of-print for many years now.

As it happens quite often, I was wondering whether a Ghostbusters RPG would actually work. As I see it, it may work great for one-shot adventures, perhaps even limited campaigns consisting of only a few sessions, but I have a hard time seeing myself running or participating in a full-blown ghostbusters campaign, at least not without some major changes.

So what would be needed to make it work? I think Ghostbusters International already had the right idea. Use the background from the movies and let players create their own Ghostbusters teams. The world is a big place and the guys from New York, can’t be everywhere, so why not start some franchises here and there? This approach let’s players create their own teams but you can still use all the common elements from the technology used to hunt ghosts to the implied background.

Since the Ghostbusters RPGs from WEG are long out-of-print it might not that easy to track a copy down, so most players interested to hunt ghosts must look elsewhere. One game immediately comes to mind: Jared Sorensen’s InSpectres. This indie game has pretty much the same premise as a Ghostbusters game and has a very interesting if unconventional approach to conflict resolution that encourages roleplaying and a narrative play style.

Have you ever thought about running a Ghostbusters game? Or have you even played one of the WEG games back in the day? As always I am very interested in your thoughts on the subject. Please share your thoughts below.

Hellgate

Stargazer — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:00:08 +0000

If you are into computer and video games you might remember the action RPG Hellgate: London. It has been released 2007 by Flagship Studios. Alas the game was much too ambitious and the game was plagued by technical and design issues. In 2009 the Hellgate: London servers were shut down and Flagship Studios closed its doors.

But there was still a lot to love about this game. The setting was pretty cool and in my opinion would make a great background for a pen & paper roleplaying game. In Hellgate: London demons have invaded Earth and the few survivors now hide underground mostly in subway tunnels. There are three factions who use their distinctive skills to fight the demon threat. The templars is an order of divine warriors who are excellent melee fighters. The image above depicts two templars. The cabalists are seekers of knowledge who use magic to fight the Great Dark. The third faction are the Hunters, highly trained ex-military operatives who use ranged weaponry and advanced technology. While the three classes cooperate to fight the demons, there’s also some rivalry and mistrust.

Since humanity is waging a constant war against the Great Dark, a Hellgate: London campaign is probably pretty combat-heavy. But there are a lot of opportunities for roleplaying especially when the different factions interact with each other. The setting also allows for pretty intense horror elements. While I am not sure if you can use it as inspiration for a long campaign, it should provide enough background for at least a couple of adventures. The mixture of the supernatural and high tech equipment may also hold a certain appeal to some.

While playing Hellgate: London this weekend I thought it might work to create a Warrior, Rogue & Mage variant set into the Hellgate:London universe. Using the three factions as attributes (Templar, Hunter & Cabalist) might actually work quite well, especially if you don’t mind allowing the player characters a bit more versatility than in the computer game. Alternatively I believe there are quite a few rules-light games you could use to run a campaign inspired by this computer game. Savage Worlds’ fast and furious game style might be a good fit, and the Open D6 system (especially MiniSix) might be another alternative. Heck, I think even a modified Dungeonslayers might work. If I didn’t work on too many projects already, working on a Hellgate:London campaign might be a fun thing to do.

What do you guys think? Does the Hellgate:London world have enough depth to turn it into a pen & paper RPG campaign? Please post your comments below!

Games I was sad to see go away…

Sunglar — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:06:56 +0000

I guess we’ve all had them. The system you love; the one you can’t wait for the next supplement to come out for. And then all of a sudden, BOOM, cancelled!

Thankfully in the age we live in most systems with a modicum of popularity live on in the internet. Some even thrive. Still it’s not easy seeing the one you love go away. If you’ve been playing long enough, before al Gore so generously gave us the Internet, you experienced it, a game line was cancelled and you had no more support, no new book coming out. It was like getting dressed for the prom and being stood up, if the prom was a game and corsages were dice!

Star Frontiers

What can I say about Star Frontiers that I have not said before? I remember when I first bought it. I saw it at the book store, I had already been playing D&D for a while and here was a game by the same company, TSR, for science fiction role playing, I had to have it. So I begged my mom for the $12 (I think that was the price but my memory is not what it used to) and purchased it. I examined the box, punched out the counters and soon was playing with my friends.

This was my first sci-fi game and I had so much fun with it. I played it through high school and into college. During those first months I got my hands in every supplement I could, which granted were not many, none of the local stores seem to have them. I had to mail order Zebulon’s Guide to the Frontier.

What I didn’t know was that by the time I discovered Star Frontiers the game was already dead! Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space (its proper name) was published in 1985. I discovered Star Frontiers in 1989, a good four years after. When I learned they were not producing any more supplements for the game I was heart broken. Mind you this did not stop me. I played the game for years; I believe the last session was played in 1993 or 1994. So it goes to show you, a game may be “dead” for a publisher but it lives on with the fans.

Despite my best efforts I’ve never completed my Star Frontiers collection. It along with the nearly, but not quiet, complete run of the Rom comic book, are among those nagging things I have to get around to completing one day.

TORG

Despite proclaiming my love for the setting but my dislike for the game on a previous post, I was saddened to see the TORG rpg cancelled. Back then I worked on a comic book store that carried a wide selection of games (and if you are curious the shop is still around and it’s where I got the Orcus mini) where I got most of the supplements for the game. Those I could not buy I read at the store on lazy afternoons. That’s how I kept informed of the Possibility Wars.

I may not have liked every twist and turn the storyline took, but it was fun and exciting, and it felt like being part of something greater. That kind of collaboration and involvement is easy to imagine in our digital age, but back them, well it seems amazing.

When TORG ended I felt like part of my gaming childhood, or adolescence at least, died. By then I was older, wiser, and expected different things from my games. Perhaps even took my games too seriously, but I have never given up hope of seeing a TORG revival. I guess you can’t keep a good game down!

Alternity

By this time the Internet was an integral part of my life and it was there where I learned of Alternity. TSR’s upcoming sci-fi game, a toolbox of rules and ideas that promised to do for sci-fi what AD&D 2^nd edition did for fantasy! (Say what you may about the system, I was a big AD&D 2^nd Ed fan, and played it for years.)

When it finally came out I snatched it up and soon after adapted a home brewed campaign I had been working on to the system. It was modular, fun, had a unique dice mechanic and is still today one of my favorite science fiction games I have ever played. It scaled easily to various genres of sci-fi and it allowed me to create the setting I wanted. Needless to say I was an immediate fan.

By this time I was not big on pre-published adventures (I’m still not a fan) so I skipped most of those. But I got most rule supplements. Many Alternity Fans are also fans of the Star Drive Campaign setting, but I was never enamored by it. Like many Alternity books it suffered from having really awful interior art. One campaign that had an amazing look and design was the Dark Matter book, the Alternity system take on modern role playing and the X-Files craze.

Both settings lived on long after the system was gone, but when Alternity was cancelled I lost what I liked most about the game line, the generic sci-fi rpg I could adapt for my compulsive home brewing. Thankfully Alternity lives on via a very active community alternityrpg.net. Every now and then I take the book down from the shelf, reread it and toy with the idea of starting a new Alternity campaign. I just might one of these days, I’ll let you know.

Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2^nd Edition

I never played Big Eye, Small Mouth (or BESM) 1^st edition, I heard great things about it. I have not been a fan of anime for many years but I did hear the game was easily adaptable for a super’s game. When the 2^nd edition came out I purchased it for specifically this purpose, to retool it as a superhero game. Guardians of Order actually did it for me and published Silver Age Sentinels. This was the last system I used for a supers campaign and despite its problems I loved it.

When they published the Tri-Stat dX system I used it for a sci-fi game, adapting the very same campaign I had played using Alternity some years before. When Guardians of Order went out of business I was sad to see the company go, but had hopes for the system when I learned White Wolf would publish the 3^rd edition under their ArtHaus imprint.

But then 3^rd edition came out and for me it lost some of the magic. The book was massive, and seemed so much more complex. It was so far off from the original BESM, it was not the game for me. So I realized the 2^nd edition I loved so much and the games that came from it were gone, and gaming was all the worse for it. At least dX is still out there so in a way the system I lived on.

Star Wars Saga Edition

As a child of the 70’s I grew up with Star Wars. I saw the original movie in theaters, endured the prequels and currently enjoy the Clone Wars TV series. So the attraction to a Star Wars RPG is obvious. I had the different editions of the D6 West End Games version, but never managed to get a campaign off the ground. Likewise the first two tries at a Star Wars rpg by Wizards of the Coast failed to capture the magic of Star Wars in the D20 format for me.

This all changed with the Saga System. For me it took the best of the D20 system and hammered it into a proper Star Wars game. I loved it from the time I read it; I played a short campaign using it and own most of the books. Those I have not purchased yet I’ll be getting soon. I think the Saga System is easily adaptable to be a generic sci-fi game, and toyed with the idea of adapting it for a Rifts game. Fan made conversions for fantasy and Cthulhu games show the versatility of the game engine.

Wizards’ decision to cancel the line was a sad moment for me. By then I had stopped playing D&D 4^th edition so the only products I was buying from them were the Star Wars books. When the line ended my last ties to Wizards of the Coast were severed.

I’ve said it before, you can’t keep a good system down, and one of the developers of the Saga System is working on a system neutral adaptation of the rule system e20 System Evolved. I find it very interesting, although some of the D&D 4^th edition elements in the preview worry me; I’m willing to give it a chance. I’m sure other Star Wars role playing games will come out in the future, the license is just too attractive. We’ll see what happens, but will it be as great as the Saga System?

Looking at this short list of games I realize three of the five games were sci-fi games, and another I used for a sci-fi game. I guess I’m still looking for the right game of this genre. So what systems have you enjoyed and were sad to see go the way of the dodo? I’d love to know…

Interview with the AntiPaladins: Mini Six Bare Bones Edition

Andrew Modro — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:10:40 +0000

Ray Nolan and Phil Morris of AntiPaladin Games recently released a drastically revised and expanded version of their Open d6-based microlite, Mini Six. This new "Bare Bones Edition" comes in a beautiful, easy-to-use 38 page PDF that weighs in at only 6.95 megabytes. Not only does the document include the Mini Six rules, it also offers variant rules for playing Mini Six closer to "base" Open d6 (as presented in the now-free d6 Adventure, Fantasy and Space books) and includes multiple setting seeds, all of which include background and crunchy bits tailored to the settings.

Phil and Ray graciously accepted my request to interview them about this fantastic new edition. As with my previous interview with them, both men took the time to respond to my questions. You can read the full interview on Polyhedral Dreams, my personal games blog.

Freebie: Bill Coffin’s Septimus

Stargazer — Sat, 22 May 2010 11:55:33 +0000

The only game ever released by WEG under the Open D6 brand was Bill Coffin’s Septimus. Now that Bill got the full rights to this game back by Eric Gibson, WEG’s owner, he has decided to release it for free over RPGNow/Drivethru RPG. So what’s Septimus about? Here’s the blurb from the RPGNow product page:

Bill Coffin’s Septimus sets the players inside a Dyson Sphere made from an unknown and unknowable alien technology. Faction pitted against faction to control the sphere and the amazing technology therein — a technology so great that no weakness cannot be eliminated and even death is not final. But, even as the obsessed techno-cult, the Sindivar Extant seeks to build a Utopia around Septimus’ many nanofoundries, a dark secret spreads. The same technology that is a boon to so many billions of people contains a flaw, a flaw that may have spelled doom to the great originators, a flaw that threatens to crush Septimus and its inhabitants, even before the greatest of secrets yet remains undiscovered

Whether you fight alongside the Extant and the Cadre, or whether you join one of the many factions seeking to wrestle power and wealth from the Cult, you are sure to find a game that is right for you. This 360+ page RPG comes packed with everything you need for many hundreds of hours of gaming. This books needs no additional material to play. It comes with the OpenD6 core rules, huge amounts of setting information, complete with area maps, plus the most exhaustive character generation and character option information ever in a single D6 System book.

Inspired by, and meant to capture all the fun of the Classic Star Wars roleplaying game by West End Games, this free-wheeling Space Opera also takes you science fiction fun to the next level. More mature and multi-tiered that Star Wars D6, Septimus includes elements of Cyberpunk, Transhumanism, Light Mecha, all the way to fantasy elements. Septimus’ vast territory only about 1 or 2% of which has been mapped, means an almost unlimited field to play in.

If you like the d6 System and space opera, you should definitely have a look at Septimus! You can download the complete game as a 364-paged PDF here.

Interview: Bill Coffin

Stargazer — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:00:44 +0000

Recently there was much talk about West End Games on this side of the internet and one name that cropped up regularly was Bill Coffin. Bill Coffin is a RPG industry veteran and the designer of Septimus, the only game that was ever released under the OpenD6 logo. I thought it could be interesting to talk with Bill about Septimus, WEG, the gaming hobby and the industry, so I asked him for an interview.

STARGAZER: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Can you please begin by introducting yourself to the readers?

BILL: My name is Bill Coffin. I am and RPG writer and designer, known primarily for my work with Palladium Books in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More recently, I published an RPG with West End Games called Septimus, a sprawling space opera game based on the D6 system.

Much of my work lately has been on getting a small publishing company off the ground called Reliquary Press. We publish fantasy, science fiction and horror novels. I have published my King Arthur novel, Pax Morgana, through it, but we’ve got some other titles on the market too, such as From the Herald’s Wearied Eye by Jessica McHugh, Succumbing to Gravity by Richard Farnsworth and Warhead by Ricardo Delgado, who is also an artist for Dark Horse Comics.

During the day, I’m a business journalist. I run Risk Management magazine as well as an associated blog (www.riskmanagementmonitor.com), podcast and Twitter feed. My work has been featured also in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and a number of other trade publications.

Most importantly, I’ve got a great family. My wife Allison and I have two children, and we live in New Jersey. It’s not nearly as weird there as that Jersey Shore program would have you believe.

STARGAZER: What was the first roleplaying game you ever played and how did you get into gaming?

BILL: I’m one of those old school gamers, so my first game was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, when I was about nine years old. However, I found it a little complex for my liking (and my brothers preferred something simpler), so we spent a lot of time playing that classic Moldvay Basic D&D boxed set, and from there we hit every other boxed-set TSR RPG to come out during the 1980s – Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Gangbusters, Top Secret…you name it.

What got me into gaming was that I had the luck of growing up during the golden age of the RPG hobby. Back then, RPGs were something new. It was before immersive video games, hell, even before cable TV and home video, so an RPG really was a doorway into other worlds. The replay value was off the chart, and for imaginiative players, it provided truly endless replay. When you’re a kid and your friends all game, getting a group together is never a problem. So I just got into gaming and never really left.

STARGAZER: Are your currently in a roleplaying group and what are you playing?

BILL: Nothing currently, alas. my gaming group is now very small, and we generally cant game except by way of e-mail, which has its pluses and its minuses. We’re getting a Pirates of the Caribbean” type of game going using D20 Modern as the ruleset, but since it’s PBeM, the actual rules stuff will be handled by me off stage, so the game remains as immersive and as narrative for the players as possible.

STARGAZER: What is your all-time favorite RPG?

BILL: That’s a hard one. Palladium Fantasy, I think. I played that exclusively for so long, and wrote so much for it, it’s kind of in my blood. However, the game mechanics of that are way too heavy for my tastes anymore. I much prefer something simpler, like AD&D or Castles & Crusades (a much more elegant retelling of the AD&D system).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness also has a huge place in my heart, mainly for the utterly superb After the Bomb setting, which my friends and I played the hell out of. Rest in peace, Erick. Your games did wonders for me.

STARGAZER: Can you tell us when you first got introduced into the "industry"?

BILL: Back in the mid-late 1990s, I took a break from novel writing (I had published two at that point) and submitted a sourcebook pitch to Palladium for fun. I got picked up rather quickly by Palladium, and the pay was great. Working with Palladium was really fun and rewarding, and it was just really easy to keep that going. After a while, I was working contracts on a regular basis. I suspect that maybe had I not gone full time with Palladium and just kept handling individual projects for them, things might not have soured between Kevin and myself. But I’ll never know. Alas.

STARGAZER: You are credited in quite a few RPG products. What game was the most fun to design and why?

BILL: Systems Failure was a special thing because Kevin had this wild idea for a game setting and I asked if we could just bang out a quick RPG for the setting, something small and light, like Robotech or TMNT. He went for it, and we got that thing turned around in just about a month. What a whirlwind job that was! I was really proud we pulled it off, and the fan response to the game was quite enjoyable. I got e-mail from more than a few real-life militia who said they had a copy of the game in their bunkers. A rare distinction, to be sure.

STARGAZER: You latest game, Bill Coffin’s Septimus, had a pretty troublesome history. As far as I know it has been cancelled at least once and you considered various systems before it finally got released at WEG’s first Open D6 product. Now Eric Gibson, owner of WEG has returned the rights to Septimus back to you. Can you tell us a bit more about Septimus’ history?

BILL: I’d like to begin by saying that my dealings with West End Games have really been with one person, Eric Gibson, who has since taken an indefinite hiatus from the gaming industry. Eric is a really nice guy who has only ever wanted to produce quality games for people. While we were never able to really make Septimus work as initially planned, I have no hard feelings about it, and I wish Eric the very best.

My deal with West End was originally based on a fixed period of time between my signing of our contract and Eric’s publishing of the game. I delivered the game, and that initial time frame expired, so I called in the cancellation option of my contract. While weighing my options for what to do with the game,Eric came back and offered to pay me up front for publishing rights to the game, which was to be released at last year’s Gen Con. It was a very fair deal, and I took it, but unfortunately, Eric couldn’t get the game published by convention time. He had a bunch of softcovers done up through Lulu (I have a few here at my house), and we sold a bunch at the show, but that’s about it. During all this time, there was the whole preorder fiasco, which pretty much happened apart from me. After a while, Eric decided to get out of WEG, and he very graciously returned the rights to Septimus to me, rather than have the game linger in limbo. I am very grateful to Eric for his consideration.

At the moment, I am sending out electronic copies of Septimus to anybody who asked for one. I’m also working on a version of the game that I can upload to vendors such as RPGNow and DriveThruRPG where it can be sold for $0.00. That way, the game will stay a free D6 product into the future. Of course, I need to square that with Eric, but I’m hoping he won’t mind.

STARGAZER: I think you once mentioned on the rpg.net forums that you were interested using FATE for Septimus. Is this still an option for a future rerelease of Septimus?

BILL: Anything’s possible. I seriously considered converting the game from D6 to FATE because I’m a huge fan of the FUDGE system, and FATE is a really nice retooling of that. There was also a fair amount of enthusiasm for FATE, so I might convert the game over for them, regardless.

One option put forth to me by a fan, and one that I have considered for some time, is to simply make a systemless setting book for Septimus, akin with what Green Ronin did for Freeport. That way, folks can take the system and do what they want with it.

STARGAZER: Recently I noticed a trend that RPG bloggers start their own small publishing companies or pitch their designs to big publishers. What do you – as an industry veteran – recommend to anyone who is interested in getting a job in the RPG industry?

BILL: Don’t expect a whole lot of money out of it. I once heard the best way to make a small fortune in this business is to start with a large one. Now, with print-on-demand publishing these days, the barriers to entry for this industry are lower than ever, especially for outfits that choose to publish digitally. (Honestly, I hardly ever buy hard copy games anymore; almost my entire library exists on my laptop.)
I think the key here is this: if you love RPGs, and if you love writing them, then by all means, why not fire up your own operation and throw your work on the market? I know the bigger publishers would rather things boil down a bit, but if you’re a startup, this is a great time to get into the business. It really all comes down to something Kevin Siembieda once told me, and it is absolutely true: you have to be a fan of your own work. If you are, then you’re well on your way to making it. If you’re not, then you’re probably in the wrong line of work.

STARGAZER: The internet and the various social networks have changed the way game designers, publishers and artists communicate with their customers. How do you use the ‘net to stay in touch with your fans? Are you on Twitter?

BILL: I tend to use RPGnet a whole lot, but folks can always reach me at bill.coffin@gmail.com. I’m finally getting off my lazy butt and getting my own site up and running over at www.billcoffin.me (which will remain that way until I get billcoffin.com back). You can reach me on Facebook and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/bill_coffin.

I’m also a big fan of podcasts, and I occasionally get a guest spot on a cool show like Kicked in the Dicebags. I’d like to get my own podcast off the ground; the key is making sure the content is unique. I’m talking with fellow writer Jason Vey about something that mainly focus on writing and the geek stuff that inspires guys like us. I’d like to think folks would listen to something like that. We’ll see.

STARGAZER: Thanks again for taking your time for this interview!

WEG: This is the end

Stargazer — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:57:19 +0000

I never thought this would happen, but it seems Eric Gibson, owner of West End Games, will be selling TORG (and probably other properties of West End Games as well). According to an interview he gave to the Wild Die blog, TORG is already in the process of being sold, but he doesn’t know if the new owner plans to rerelease it under the original system or a new one.

The rights to Septimus will be returned to Bill Coffin, while the Open D6 game will be given to the community. As he stated in on forum post at the WEG Fansite, he wants to make changes to the OGL that allows the community to make use of the D6 system text copyrights, as well as the Open D6 trademark.

According to what he said in the interview, WEG will be closed when all the properties have been sold off. This is definitely the end of an era! I have criticized Eric Gibson several time before, but this time, I have to congratulate him for this decision. It takes a lot of strength and courage for a step like that and I wish him all the best for his future.

Microlite Interview with AntiPaladin Games

Andrew Modro — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:47:26 +0000

This interview originally appeared on Polyhedral Dreams on January 27th, 2010. There have been a couple small edits.

While I was waiting for Randall Stukey to be able to get back up and running following the loss of his old computer, Ray Nolan and Phil Morris of AntiPaladin Games contacted me about doing an interview. How cool is that? I eagerly pounced on the opportunity, and both Phil and Ray took the opportunity to answer my questions (sometimes individually and together in the same question, even). Their fantastic insights follow!

What should a microlite game be able to do?

Both: We guess it should be able to do what every other game does. Entertain it’s audience. Let the people using it model the genre/setting/experience they want to within reason. The reason there are so many different games is that they all have their own strengths they highlight. We think the question is what kind of player does a microlite game attract?

How do you decide what to include in a microlite game?

Phil: We may not be the best ones to ask this to. We pretty much tossed in everything we could think of that would be fun to have in a game. Magic? Check. Vehicles and monsters? Check. We tend to think that Mini Six is a fairly crunchy game but we have seen where others have thought of it as a microlite game.

Ray: When we first put Mini Six out there, we described it as light, and there was some disagreement to that label. I’m not sure what light or microlite are. Eye of the beholder, I suppose. One thing we don’t feel the need to do is be too illustrative. We listed a few perks and complications to help get things rolling, but that list is suggestive, not exhaustive. We didn’t include any rules about economy or gear prices, because gamers are already familiar with that sort of thing from nearly every other game they’ve played before. Bolt on whatever is necessary for your game.

If you’re uncertain about whether to include an element, how do you resolve that uncertainty?

Phil: For Mini Six it was just based on space more than anything. If we added rule that wouldn’t come up in most every game then we dropped it. We were trying to squeeze as much as possible into a self limited number of pages.

Ray: Adding more to a game seems easier than paring it down. At a certain level a game can become too simple. You might accidentally make it so that every player makes the same choices, so the fact that you have other options remaining becomes an illusion. It’s just getting rid of all the bits that don’t add much to the game or bog it down unnecessarily. Easier said than done, though. Sometimes, we accidentally dropped something important, we’ll be fixing that soon.

Do you feel there is a distinct line that, if a game crosses it, means the game is no longer “microlite”?

Phil: I can’t think of a distinct point where a game goes from being microlite to medium or even crunchy. What makes a game lite is as much a reflection of the attitudes of the players as it is the game design itself. There is just no consensus.

Ray: I think that a true microlite game might be understandable in just a few minutes by a group of average gamers. It’s probably not microlite if you need more notes than will easily fit on a character sheet.

Do you feel that more common or “big name” systems should be given the microlite treatment? If so, are there any you would specifically like to see?

Both: The only one that comes to mind for us is White Wolf. At its core, it’s a pretty simple, straight forward system spread among thousands of pages. We’re not saying that’s a bad thing because their flavor and setting material has attracted a large audience and is quality work. But you could strip it down to just a few pages that you could still play a full game with. Some other big ones, like GURPS, wouldn’t work in this manner because its strength is in the skills and advantage system they built. Taking those away takes away the mechanics at its heart. D20 has been given this treatment and it’s a popular variant. While not our personal cup of tea, Rifts, and Palladium could use not necessarily a microlite, just a total retooling. But even it still has its fans.

Do you prefer using microlite system variants to the full versions?

Phil: Our game group are somewhere in between. We have enjoyed 3.5 but have also found a great deal of fondness in Labyrinth Lord in recent years. Ray does push for us to try more microlite games, Risus for example, but we have to balance that with the more traditional gamers in our group that live for the crunch.

Do you have any preferences, comparing microlites to retroclones?

Phil: A retroclone is our group’s regular game. At our hearts though we are a couple of tinkerers. We will sometimes get a wild hair for a zombie invasions and other one off games and we will turn to a microlite style system to let us play these adventures. No system survives contact unscathed with us.

Ray: I only recently became aware of the microlite movement, as such. I’m dying to try some out, but we have a few gamers that are more traditional.

How did you decide to create Mini-Six? Was it a response to the delays in the Open d6 project?

Phil: It is an odd little accident that led to Mini Six. I was responding to someone’s post on forum explaining the basics of the D6 system. Then when Ray saw the post he thought it would be fun to try and put all the rules of the game on just one page. Mini Six is the result of that failure.

Ray: Actually the first page of Mini Six is the result of that attempt. If you only printed out that page I think Mini Six might qualify as a true microlite game.

Both: We were really excited about Open D6 when we first heard that WEG was going that route. We still are excited about it. We have had projects that have been stewing for a long time. Now it’s just a matter of finding the time to go forward with them.

Do you have any plans to modify or expand Mini-Six in the future?

Both: Expand? Not really. Modify? Yes. We need to fix a few errors, and we are going to trim a little bit of redundancy out. The rules at their core are not going to change. We are working on settings for it that will have material tailored to fit, like perks and complications. We have a few small new ideas to include in the core, but not much.

Anything else you’d like to tell people about Mini-Six?

Both: We think of it as an homage to a great system. We didn’t intentionally set out to make a microlite game or any game. Mini Six is part of a greater family of games that we think fits a spot between the lightest games and the crunchy stuff. We’re just waiting for the Standard Trademark License to give it that stamp.

My thanks to Ray and Phil for their willingness to answer my questions, and especially for seeking me out while I was caught up doing other things. Mini Six is available on the AntiPaladin website for free download. If you like the d6 System and enjoy microlite condensations, or have been curious about d6 but don’t want to dive headlong into the full system itself, go check it out.

Communication is the key

Stargazer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:53:15 +0000

I usually don’t rant on my blog and I although don’t post my thought on the industry that often either, but there’s something that got my blood boiling. Perhaps you remember the Open D6 project, I’ve been posting about. Eric Gibson, current owner of West End Games, had a great idea: releasing the D6 System under an open license and creating a website where people not only can upload their custom rules but where you also can download a ruleset based on your wishes. You want a D6 ruleset suited for Fantasy, using Body Points and the D6 Legends dice mechanics? Just click a few buttons and you can download your customized rulebook or send it to Lulu for printing. That still is a great idea, alas the OpenD6.com website is still a placeholder site.

Over a year ago, Eric Gibson updated the WEG website for the last time and announced that the D6 System was going to be released under an open license. In the following months he repeatedly posted about his plans and ideas on various forums (mainly on then WEG Fan Forums). During last GenCon the first Open D6 publication by WEG was finally released: Bill Coffin’s Septimus (which had been cancelled once already and was considered vaporware at some point). And then Eric stopped communicating: No more updates anywhere. So, after several months, people assumed the project was dead, that something must have been happened to Eric or that the company must have gone bankrupt.

Luckily, Eric had already made the D6 rulesets available under the OGL some time ago (with the help of the fans I have to add) but the lack of a trademark license forbids the use of either the Open D6 or D6 System trademarks. So people invented new names to release their version of the D6 rules under the OGL: Six-Sided Fantasy and Mini Six were just two of the projects that were started while Eric was “incommunicado”. The latest project was the Open D6 Resurrection wiki, which I posted about just a few days ago.

And guess what, now Eric Gibson suddenly returns, announces that Open D6 is far from dead as a project and that he’s unhappy about D6 “fragmenting”. He also tells people that it was their fault if he seemed MIA since they didn’t try to contact him hard enough. When I (and other people) tried to explain to him that communication is key for any company, I was accused of “preaching” to him. Ok, perhaps I was preaching, but I am just concerned that Eric Gibson’s lack of communication with the dwindling WEG fan base will probably hurt not only the Open D6 project but his company West End Games in the long run. Communication with the fans is very important in this day and age, especially if you are an indie publisher. Sometimes even a short news post letting people know that a project is still alive is all what is needed. But nothing kills the relationship between a RPG company and its fans faster than being out of touch for too long. And I am pretty sure that I am not the only fan who feels alienated by Mr. Gibson. But perhaps he just knows best what’s good for his company.

Just my two cents.

Open D6 Resurrection Wiki

Stargazer — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:30:26 +0000

The official Open D6 project may be dead (or at least of uncertain status), but there are still enough dedicated fans willing to resurrect the idea. One of those fans recently created a wiki for the so-called Open D6 Project Resurrection. But let the wiki’s creator speak for himself:

Open D6 was a project started by Eric Gibson the owner of West End Games as a means of making the D6 System more available and customizable to the fanbase at large. With the disappearance of Mr. Gibson from the professional arena for over half a year Open D6 Project Resurrection (also known as Open D6 Resurrection) takes the OGL and runs with it. This wikia is intended to be used as a compilation and resource center for materials created through Google Wave.

If you are a fan of West End Games’ D6 system, you may want to check out the wiki and perhaps even contribute an article or two.

Freebie: Mini Six

Stargazer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:51:51 +0000

In the last months I have posted several times about West End Games’ D6 System and the OpenD6 project. A few months ago, Eric Gibson, owner of WEG released the cinematic RPG from the ‘80s that powered the very successful Star Wars RPG series under the OGL. But alas he never released a trademark license of any kind, and the long-announced OpenD6 website is still MIA. So, the fans took over.

The first step was Sycarion’s Six-Sided Fantasy SRD. And recently AntiPaladin Games provided us with Mini Six, a rules-light version of said rules presented on just 8 pages (7 pages + the OGL).

The first two pages contain all the basic rules you need to play Mini Six, including character creation and combat. There is even a small list of perks and complications, that help to flesh out characters.

The next pages contain rules for vehicles (including stats for fantasy, modern and sci-fi vehicles), magic, a complete bestiary and optional rules like using Body Points instead of Wound Levels and a No Attributes Variant.

Antipaladin Games announced today on Twitter that they are going to release a better laid out version of Mini Six soon. And I applaud this, because the only thing that keeps Mini Six from being the perfect rules-lite game is the pretty basic and cramped layout. But aside from that I wholeheartedly recommend anyone to have a look at this fine game.

Six-Sided Fantasy SRD released

Stargazer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:23:09 +0000

While WEG’s Eric Gibson hasn’t shown up on the WEG Fan Forums for ages and things are generally looking grim for the future of the OpenD6 project, a fellow RPG blogger has provided us with the Six-Sided Fantasy System Reference Document.

The Six-Sixed Fantasy SRD consists of several well laid out RTF files that provide you with all the rules necessary to run a fantasy game or create your own variant rules. Please note that all trademarked material and all references to WEG trademarks have been removed from the SRD.

Is there still hope for Open D6?

Stargazer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:01:41 +0000

A long time ago Eric Gibson, current owner of West End Games, announced that he plans to turn the D6 System into an open system. I believe he made that statement in his first video update on the official site (which he posted in December 2008). While a lot has happened in the background this is still the latest news on the WEG site.

On GenCon this year, Bill Coffin’s Septimus made its debut as the first OpenD6 game and although this book is not listed on the WEG site, you can buy it through RPGNow and probably at other places as well. From what I’ve seen so far, Septimus seems to be a nice game, but I am pretty sure that most gamers are totally oblivious of its existence.

In the meantime a fan helped Eric to add the OGL to a couple of d6 System books that are now freely available:

D6 Adventure (weg51011OGL.pdf)
D6 Space (weg51012OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy (weg51013OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy Creatures (weg51015OGL.pdf)
D6 Adventure Locations (weg51016OGL.pdf)
D6 Space Ships (weg51017OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy Locations (weg51020OGL.pdf)
D6 Magic (weg51024OGL.pdf)

But if you don’t follow the discussions on the WEG Fan Forums you might get the impression that WEG and the OpenD6 project are dead. Several people including me tried to convice Eric Gibson to at least update the WEG site or setup a temporary site for Opend6.com, but alas to no avail.

Around GenCon, the OpenD6 web developer announced that the beta test should start any minute now. But as far as I know this beta test hasn’t started yet. The project still seems to be in limbo. The last thing I heard was that they still have trouble getting the servers up and running…

And if you ask me the whole project is much to ambitious for a one-man show like WEG. If Eric Gibson just released a D6 System SRD and a proper OpenD6 trademark license on a simple website, a lot of people would’ve already jumped on the bandwagon. Now only the few hardcore fans are still waiting for something that may or may not materialize. The rest probably already forgot about West End Games… which is sad.

What do you think? Is there still hope? Do you understand why Eric Gibson avoids making updates to the WEG site? As always I am very interested in your thoughts.

OpenD6 beta coming soon

Stargazer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:18:20 +0000

It seems the beta test of the OpenD6 website is just a few days to weeks away. As the developer of the software that will power the OpenD6 site wrote on the WEG Fan Forums, they will start internal testing soon and shortly after that a closed beta test will start. If you are interested to participate in this test, just sign up for the forums and send a PM to user The87.

In the meantime you can still access the following D6 books for free:

D6 Adventure (weg51011OGL.pdf)
D6 Space (weg51012OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy (weg51013OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy Creatures (weg51015OGL.pdf)
D6 Adventure Locations (weg51016OGL.pdf)
D6 Space Ships (weg51017OGL.pdf)
D6 Fantasy Locations (weg51020OGL.pdf)
D6 Magic (weg51024OGL.pdf)

They are hosted on the WEG site and are endorsed by Eric Gibson. Please note that the OpenD6 trademark license has not been released yet, so if you want to release you own OpenD6 product make sure you contact Eric first. I am not sure if it’s possible to create a game using the D6 System without using WEG’s trademarks.

OpenD6 logo revealed

Stargazer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:04:36 +0000

Recently the web developer who is working for Eric Gibson to create the OpenD6 website revealed not only the OpenD6 logo but also posted an early screenshot of the OpenD6 website. The logo is ok-ish, although I don’t really like the color.

The details on how the OpenD6 site should work are pretty interesting, but again the look of the site is pretty underwhelming. Especially the 3D buttons and the gradient background is reminding me of early ’90s webdesign. I hope this is just some very early version, and they’ll make some changes to it. Yuck!

You can follow the development of the OpenD6 site on the Falcon Hat Web Development Blog.

Bill Coffin’s Septimus will be WEG’s first big release under the OpenD6 banner!

Stargazer — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:27:53 +0000

West End Games and Bill Coffin’s Septimus are not dead after all!

Recently Eric Gibson, current owner of West End Games, announced that the secret project, he’s been working on for quite some time now, is in fact Bill Coffin‘s Septimus and that it will be the first WEG product under the OpenD6 banner! Perhaps you remember that the first attempt to release the game as a setting for D6 Space failed last year and WEG had to refund all preorders.

But things are looking good and the Septimus game will finally see the light of day this year at GenCon! According to Eric the only major difference between the original planned release and the new one will be the b/w interiors.

So, what is Septimus about? Until today I didn’t know myself, so I downloaded a copy of the Septimus Quick Start rules (PDF), that are still available at the WEG Fan Forums. SEPTIMUS is a science fiction role-playing game set in the far future and in a distant corner of our galaxy. The focus of the game is SEPTIMUS, a Dyson sphere, that has been found in a fringe region of the galaxy. Within this massive artifact trillions of people have found a new home. SEPTIMUS is both a utopia and your worst nightmare regarding to who you might ask. I think it would be beyond the scope of this mere blog post to describe SEPTIMUS in all detail, so I recommend you have a look at the Quick Start rules to read a primer on the setting. You should also check out ODDS Issue 2 which features an interview with Bill Coffin.

I hope this is only the first of many good news from WEG! It’s good to hear they are back on track!

Ad Astra: PDQ vs. D6 1:0

Stargazer — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:49:43 +0000

Yesterday my gaming group assembled to play our first session of “Ad Astra”. Alas I wasn’t able to finish everything I wanted to have written down at that point, but we decided it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. I initially planned to use D6 Space for Ad Astra, but when we sat around the table, ready to create characters, I had an idea. I have been reading Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies for some time now and I think that the PDQ# system can easily be used for SF, too. So I ask my players if they would be willing to give it a try. So, I pulled out my copy of the PDQ# rules and started creating characters. I haven’t run a PDQ game before, so I am not 100% sure how it will turn out but my players are excited and more than ready to give a narrative game a chance.

Two of my players wanted to play espers, so I told them that one of the qualities they could choose, has to be Esper and that this quality would start at Average (0) instead of Good (+2). This makes espers a bit weaker (they can’t soak as much damage as others) but the versatility of the esper quality should make up for it.

As for vehicular/space combat I think of giving each vehicle/space ship a couple of qualities and a weakness of their own. Or I try to adapt the S7s rules for vehicular combat to space ships, when my approach doesn’t work out. When I remember correctly another S7S fan has already started a Star Trek conversion for PDQ, so perhaps I can borrow a few ideas from that project.

But fans of the D6 system should not worry, I haven’t abandoned D6 altogether. It is possible that we’ll return to using D6 at a later date and perhaps I will at least release some of the D6 stuff I’ve created so far for you to use.

Status update

Stargazer — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:34:48 +0000

Some of you may have noticed that I posted some Ad Astra stuff this morning and another post will go live soon.
So I am not completely gone. I just can’t turn my back from my blog completely… But I probably won’t return to a daily schedule anytime soon.

So, what am I doing right now? Aside from going to work and all that stuff, I waste a lot of time surfing the net and looking for inspiration for my projects. I really should be working on my SF campaign setting Ad Astra, but since I now entered the phase where I have to create the “crunchy” parts, things get more complicated. It’s pretty easy for me to churn out pages of fluff, but modifying d6 Space’s Metaphysics or d6 Adventure’s Psionics to suit my needs is harder than I thought. I also need stats for gear, weapons and a lot of space ships before I can even think about running the game. I hope my players can wait for a few more weeks.

I am also still reading “Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies“. The setting is awesome. What surprised me the most is that the nations of the 7 Skies are actually unique and not just fantasy versions of European nation in the 17th century. I also can’t wait to try out the PDQ# system that S7S uses.

I also bought a copy of “Questers of the Middle Realms” on RPGNow, a humorous fantasy RPG using the PDQ rules. The setting, the “Middle Realms” is a bit generic, but QotMR shows that PDQ can be used even in a high-fantasy campaign.

That brings me to my PDQ Horror project. Inspired by Chgowiz’ posts about the solo games with his wife, I decided to start a solo game with my girlfriend. I wanted to try something new and after some consideration we chose contemporary horror for the setting and PDQ (or perhaps PDQ#) for the rules. Alas I am still struggling with the basics of the setting, since I don’t want to repeat all classic horror clichés. But it’s pretty hard to be truly original.

Stargazer signing off!

Open D6 update!

Stargazer — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:00:06 +0000

Over at the WEG Fan Forums Eric Gibson, the owner of West End Games, has posted an update on OpenD6. For your convenience, I want to quote his post here:

OpenD6 OGL
Moving forward, OpenD6 is ACTIVE. By that I mean the the system is now open as previously discussed. I have yet to publish the actual SRD for the D6 System, but that is coming. For the record, all of the text copyrights to the 51000 series of books is cover by OpenD6 and will be released as part of the evolving OpenD6 SRD.

The 51000 series of books include:
51005 The D6 System: The Customization Roleplaying Game (a.k.a. the D6 Cookbook)
51011 D6 Adventure
51012 D6 Space
51013 D6 Fantasy
51015 D6 Fantasy Creatures
51016 D6 Adventure Locations
51017 D6 Space Ships
51019 D6 Gamemaster Screen and Aid
51020 D6 Fantasy Locations
51021 D6 Adventure Creatures
51022 D6 Space Aliens I
51024 D6 Vade Mecum of Magic

The previous is all released under the OGL v1.0a. Per that license, I’m designating the D6 System, and OpenD6 and any derivative trademark as Product Identity (PI) meaning it is not open under the OGL. Rather, the trademarks to the D6 System will be subject to a separate System Trademark License (STL). I still need to put together the exact wording of the STL, however the skinny will simply be, to use the D6 System and OpenD6 trademarks, you have to submit any newly developed share-alike OpenD6 material (non- PI) to me, or ultimately to the OpenD6 website (when it is finally working fully) for archival. There are not other content restrictions. Simply put, whatever you were going to release as open under OpenD6′s OGL, should be archived in a single central location and that location is OpenD6.com.

Ultimately, someone will ask if the Legend System (D6 legend) is covered under this license. Yes, it is. However Legend system was never produced in a purely generic form and I cannot as easily indicate what may and may not be used. Legend is, for all intents and purposes, merely a variation of the basic D6 System and, since the OpenD6 OGL allows you to create variations, Legend is naturally covered. Putting the Legend system into the OGL is another matter however. It is very time consuming to create text for the OGL and naturally my focus must be on creating commercial material that we have in the works for GenCon. To that end, any assistance anymore wishes to provide in creating the text is a easily dissected or dissectable format either for Legend, or D6 will be appreciated.

OpenD6.com
As most know, OpenD6.com’s back end system is being actively worked on by a passionate and underpaid developer. Though still much more has to be done on this ambitious project, a lot of progress has been made. The database is set up (though recent discussions have suggested changes are needing to be made regarding rules classifications, requisites while will ultimately determine how the server processes the rulebook designs) and is able to take data and the Workstation (the interface that you enter and edit rules data) is nearing completion. the OpenD6 workstation not supports images as well as text. This is useful for rules that require charts, maps, or other graphic features for full functionality, is simply if a developer wishes to include flavor art.
The website will now dynamically generate PDFs of individual selected rulests which is the first step in possibly the most ambitious part of OpenD6 — fully customized rulebooks.

I really, really interested in OpenD6 and I hope it will be a great success not only for Eric but for the whole RPG community. I can still remember the outburst of creativity when the d20 System was released under the OGL. I hope the same thing will happen with D6. It’s a great system and it would be a shame if it would be lost to history. But with OpenD6 it has a chance to live through a renaissance!

Theseus Class Medium Starfighter

Stargazer — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:04:30 +0000

As I mentioned before I am working on a SF campaign setting for d6 Space. One of the things my players requested were space battles featuring space fighters much like in games like Wing Commander or FreeSpace. As inspiration I used concept artwork from the Homeworld series. There were quite a few ships that matched my idea of what a space ship should look like and I then started to look for a nice and easy space ship construction system for d6 Space.

In the end I used a web based ship construction system for the old Star Wars d6 system created by Chris Curtis and WEG Fan Forums regular Grimace. It makes construction of all manners of space ship very easy. In the end I just had to make a few adjustments to make the stats work in d6 Space since the rules don’t match 100%.

To make everything a pleasing for the eye I have started putting together a small booklet for me an my players using the aforementioned concept art and a DTP program. So, I present to you the Theseus Class Medium Starfighter:

You can click on the image above to see a larger version. I’ve also uploaded a PDF version for your convenience. I will probably post more details on my upcoming SF campaign in the near future.

Some news on Open D6

Stargazer — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:23:18 +0000

On the 25th the WEG Fan Forums organized a chat with West End Games owner Eric Gibson. Now the chat transcript is finally available, and I can give you some information on what was revealed during that chat.

As announced last year, the D6 System known from games like WEG’s Star Wars will be released as Open D6 under an open license. Until know it was a bit unsure what license Eric wants to use, but he spilled the beans in the chat:

[20:34] <@Grimace> Hellsreach, you’ve mentioned that Open D6 will use the OGL for potential publishers. Is this still the case? And if so, for those of use that don’t know about OGL, can you provide a brief ditty on what it will entail?

[20:35] Yes, OpenD6 will be OGL with the D6 Specific trademarks released under an STL, much the same way a 3e D20.

[20:35] <@Grimace> I’m completely unfamiliar with the way that worked. What does it mean if I want to publish something under Open D6?

[20:37] The Copyrights, rules and everything else will be freely available. It is a sharealike license meaning everything you publish under OpenD6 will be colvered under the OGL as well UNLESS you indetify it as Product Identity.

[20:37] What type of freedom can we expect to have as far as system modifications?

[20:37] The trademarks for D6 And OpenD6 are PI for example.

[20:38] You have full and complete freedom. Unlike the D20 STL, there is not protected rules. The only thing the the STL with require is that you upload your OGL covered material to the OpenD6 website, thus we maintain a single unified archive of everything OpenD6.

[20:40] <@Grimace> Regarding the “OpenD6 website”, what all is going to be accepted on that? Can I just put up a single item, or does the stuff have to be fleshed out?

[20:40] There are a few small publishers that certainly plan to use OpenD6. In addition, I’ll soon submit a request to most other publishers to do the same.

[20:40] Obviously any publisher will want to gauge how OpenD6 is recieved by the fans before they commit resources.

[20:41] Concerning the website:

[20:41] The website’s primary purpose is to build and present the contents of the OpenD6 database.

[20:42] information will be submitted using a custom interface where you will be able to set up the specifics of your submission

So, the D6 system will become totally free under a modified OGL and any rules added by a third party has to be added to the Open D6 website, so that everyone has always full and free access to the rules. I like that.

Eric Gibson has also some interesting ideas for the website that will come in pretty handy for players and gamemasters:

[20:46] There is not plans to put out a full generic ruleset for OpenD6, but the ultimate goal is for the user to construct their own rulesets and have it packaged and exported as a PDF. There may be way (no promises) for OpenD6 to iterface with a POD printer such that a user can cunstruct their unique custom rulebook and have it printed just for them with a few clicks.

Wow! If you ask me that’s pretty cool. So imagine you are working on a fantasy campaign using the Open D6 rules. You go to the website and select all the rules you need in your world, download the rules as a single PDF, print it out and you can even give copies to your players. No need to buy expensive rulebooks. And everyone gets a personalized rulebook suited to his or her needs.

The first Open D6 product by WEG is planned for GenCon this year (which is in August, when I am not mistaken), so I am pretty sure the the OpenD6 site will be open to the public before August, but Eric Gibson also hinted at a text dump release of all the rules earlier:

[21:02] OpenD6 as planned is a lot of work to get it up and running, but I know not everyone can wait (and should not have to), so in the mean time I’ll be releasing a text dump of virtually all the information contained in the 5100 series of WEG books. That is: D6 Adventure, D6 Space, D6 Fantasy, and all there supplements.

[21:03] This is happening very, very soon as in, within 1 week.

There are of course a lot more details in the chat transcript that I didn’t post about, so, don’t hesitate to check out the chat transcript out yourself. And if I have the time I will format the chat transcript in a more reader-friendly fashion and post it here. Thanks to The Game Guy for hosting the chat in the first place!

Vaede Mecum of Magic released for free

Stargazer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:05:28 +0000

Today West End Games has released Vaede Mecum of Magic (aka d6 Magic) for free. It’s a supplement for d6 Fantasy and d6 Adventure that expands on the Magic system presented in those books. As far as I know it had never been released in print before and you can now download it for free from the original WEG website.

The 109-pages PDF does not only include new rules for the existing Magic system but also introduces several variant Magic systems, a spell creation system, rules for magic items and a lot of precalculated spells from ten different schools including such exotic schools like Chronomancy and even Technomancy.

The PDF’s layout is pretty basic and it contains no illustrations. Overall the PDF has all the trappings of an unfinished product, but since it’s for free, it doesn’t really matter. You get a lot of material for your d6 System game and that’s all that counts.

Thanks to Eric Gibson for making this book available to the public!
For more details and discussions check out this thread at the WEG Fan Forums.

UPDATE: There’s another thread with some info on D6 Magic.

“Game over, man”

Stargazer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:22:12 +0000

That’s probably one of the most well known quotes from the movie Aliens, one of my personal favorite SF movies. The sequel of the SF-horror-classic “Alien” featured a group of colonial marines who fought the Aliens that had destroyed the colony on planet LV-426.

In a way the colony base was some kind of modern version of the dungeon in fantasy roleplaying games. And since we are currently in the middle of a renaissance of old-school games, a new Aliens RPG could be quite interesting. I remember there was an Aliens roleplaying game back in the late 80s or early 90s but I never was able to get my hands on a copy. And I tried to find some information on that game on the ‘net but failed.

But some fans have already created Aliens RPGs based on several gaming systems. The probably most extensive version I found is based on the FUZION rules and can be downloaded at website Serena Dawn Station which also features a Ghost in the Shell conversion for d20 Modern (something I’ll have to check out in the future).

Recently TheGamerGuy, admin of the WEG Fan Forums, has posted some Aliens stuff on his blog. He’s currently working on a Aliens campaign using D6 Space rules and has decided to share what he has compiled so far. Aside from a couple of character archetypes, you’ll find stats for the alien xenomorphs. That should be enough to create a couple of Marines and kill some nasty aliens!

History of West End Games

Stargazer — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:54:36 +0000

The newly created WEG Wiki features an interesting article about the history of West End Games. Here’s an excerpt for your convenience:

Previously a producer of board wargames, the company began producing roleplaying games in 1984 with Paranoia. The high production values demanded by the wargames industry made them one of the few companies who could compete with TSR, and they were able to acquire the license from Columbia Pictures to produce an RPG based on the film Ghostbusters. This game, Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game, formed the basis of the D6 System which was to be heavily used in many of their licensed products.

The wiki still needs a lot of work (the only pages currently available are the aforementioned article and a homepage), but such a wiki could be a great asset to the WEG fan community in the future!

The WEG Fan Forums are back online

Stargazer — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:19:25 +0000

Some of you may have noticed that the West End Games Fan Forums have been down for several hours while they were transferred to a new server. But it seems the forum is back online although a few things are not working as they should. But I am pretty sure that the site’s administrator “The Game Guy” will have everything up and running in no time.

If you are even remotely interested in the games WEG published in the past (like TORG, Star Wars, etc.) you should check the forums out. It’s a nice and helpful community there and you can talk freely about your ideas for the D6 System, discuss the future of TORG or share your stories from Paranoia there.

By the way, Eric Gibson (aka hellsreach), the current owner of WEG is a regular poster on that forum. And according to what he posted recently, we will get another update on the future of WEG and the D6 System soon.