Stargazer's World » Dark Heresy

Come one, come all, to the greatest geeknic on earth!

Sunglar — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:00:03 +0000

I try (I really do) not to toot my own horn, or try to use the blog (too much) to promote another project I’m involved with, Puerto Rico Role Players. I guess there is some crossover, as I share posts from the blog on the Facebook group for Puerto Rico Role Players and oftentimes write about activities the group organizes here, but mostly after the fact. I don’t recall actually using the blog to promote an upcoming gathering. This post aims to correct that.

For over a year a group of RPG fans from Puerto Rico has been gathering to share our love of gaming, food and camaraderie in different places across the island. The group was formed over two years ago and after forging an electronic community and doing some demos at local conventions we finally decided to hold a social activity to get to know each other better. We settled on getting together on a park or other public place and someone suggested the idea of calling it a geeknic. He actually got the idea from geeknic.org, everybody loved the idea and we ran with it.

So far we’ve held five successful geeknics and we just keep growing! The geeknics are typically what we call “fiesta del sorullo plus” which roughly translates to a bring what you’ll eat and drink and a little extra to share! This upcoming 6^th geeknic, which in keeping with previous naming conventions we have called the Undiscovered Geeknic, will not be the exception. I’m preparing my famous (and artery clogging) Gordopleta© (my very own version of Tripleta) for participants, but usually it goes pretty fast so if you want a taste you better get there early.

There are games already planned, some Dark Heresy, some Pathfinder, and even a mysterious game the GM is being tight lipped about. Usually someone brings along a board game, Three Dragon Ante and Munchkin have been pretty popular, some people just sit back and share game stories, not that gamers do that. So we’ll have something for everybody.

I realize that probably most of our readers in Puerto Rico are also members of Puerto Rico Role Players, but on the odd chance you are from the island and did not know about us, are visiting this upcoming weekend, or have friends, families or acquaintances in Puerto Rico who may be interested in learning more about RPGs, playing a game or just hanging out with fellow geeks, pass it on. We’ll be meeting at the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park, Sunday July 3^rd from 9 AM to 6 PM. Be there for the greatest geeknic on earth!

I hope if nothing, this inspires to get together with a couple of friends and share your love of gaming with others. Thanks to the folk at geeknic.org for such a wonderful idea. Here is the link for the event in Facebook… Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Deathwatch: In-Depth Preview Video

Stargazer — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:17:46 +0000

This game sounds more intriguing every time I learn something new about it. And the new concept of “Squad Mode” vs. “Solo Mode” that’s explained in the video sounds like a very cool idea for such a game. I can’t wait to play it sometime.

By the way, the preview adventure “Final Sanction” is now available from the official site.

Deathwatch: Final Sanction

Stargazer — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:41:14 +0000

Fantasy Flight Games’ preview adventure to the upcoming Deathwatch roleplaying game is finally available for download at RPGNow. Deatchwatch is another RPG set into the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This time players adopt the roles of mighty Space Marines, member of a Deathwatch Kill-Team. These teams consists of Space Marines from different chapters who work together to fight as the forefront of Mankind’s war for survival against xenos, heretics and demons.

The free PDF consists of 40 lavishly illustrated pages and contains not only the basic rules you need to play, but also 4 pre-generated characters (a Dark Angels assault marine, a Blood Angel devastator marine, a Space Wolves tactical marine and an apothecary from the Ultramarines chapter) and an introductory adventure.

Deathwatch basically uses the same rules as Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader but Space Marines are far stronger and tougher than normal human characters. This is simulated by “unusual characteristics”. In Dark Heresy for example a character with Strength 45 has a Strength Bonus of 4. A Space Marine with a Strength of 45 and Unnatural Strength (x2) has a Strength Bonus of 8. The free PDF provides no rules for character creation, but since all pre-generated characters have Unnatural Strength AND Toughness, I am pretty sure that this is a common trait of all Space Marines.

Because of their supernatural strength and toughness Space Marines are capable of overcoming hordes of enemies. Deathwatch introduces special hordes rules with allows GMs to treat hordes of enemies like one vast creature, which vastly simplifies combat.

Another new concept in Deathwatch will be Demeanours. Demeanours are special traits linked to the various Chapters and are meant to highlight what makes each Chapter unique. The Ultramarines apothecary for example has the Favoured Son demeanor which allows him to reroll Fellowship Test when dealing with either Space Marines or members of the Imperial armed forces.

I have avoided reading the adventure in the end, since I don’t want to spoil myself in the case I get to play it in the future. But I am sure it’s of the same high quality as the rest of this booklet.

I am sure fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe have eagerly awaited Deathwatch and will probably be very happy with this free preview adventure. When I am not totally mistaken Deathwatch should make its debut at GenCon, so I’ll make sure I pick up a copy there!

UPDATE: It seems the PDF has been removed from RPGNow. I have no idea why that happened, but the PDF is now available from the official site as well.

Upcoming games I am excited about

Stargazer — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:02:37 +0000

I believe in a couple of post I came across much like a grumpy grognard who attacks everything new and is clinging to the good old times. But actually I am very open to new things and always on the search for the next cool game out there. I am not someone who has stuck to one particular game for decades, I ran and played dozens of different RPGs and there are always a couple of titles I am very excited about.

Eclipse Phase
Eclipse Phase is an upcoming game from Posthuman Studios and published by Catalyst Game Labs. The official site actually manages to describe the game pretty well in a single sentence: “Eclipse Phase is a pen & paper roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror.” I think when you read this you actually have a pretty good idea of what the game is about. And from what I’ve seen so far, it looks pretty cool (at least when the campaign setting is concerned). But what makes the game even more interesting that Eclipse Phase will probably the first commercial game that actually fully embraces Creative Commons. The game rules and the setting will be released under the CC Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 license. That’s pretty good news especially for everyone who want to write his own stuff based on that game and post it on the internet. I wish other companies would make it as easy.

The 400-paged core rulebook shall be out this summer and is supposed to cost around 50 bucks.

Rogue Trader
When a couple of years ago Black Industries announced a series of roleplaying games based on the Warhammer 40,000 franchise I was overjoyed. I am a big fan of Warhammer and 40K and the lack of a 40K RPG bothered me for quite some time. The first part of the series was Dark Heresy, which was praised by gamers and critics alike. In the meantime Games Workshop licensed their RPG lines over to Fantasy Flight Games. FFG is currently working on Rogue Trader. Rogue Trader will be mechanically pretty close to Dark Heresy but focus on another aspect of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In this game you actually play a Rogue Trader and his closest counsellors. Rogue Traders are more or less privateers that plunder and profit in the name of the Imperium of Man.
I know from Dark Heresy that we can expect very high production values and pretty solid rules from Rogue Trader. And the setting may be even more interesting, since in Dark Heresy the focus of the setting was too human-centric if you ask me. In Rogue Trader you will probably get a better feeling for what this huge setting has to offer. The upcoming core book will probably set you back approx. $60.

Dresden Files RPG
This upcoming RPG is based on the novel series by Jim Butcher. I believe a lot of you already know the series or have watched the TV adaption, so I don’t go into detail here, but I think it’s sufficient to say that the Dresden Files RPG is a game of modern fantasy (and perhaps even horror) which plays in a version of the modern world where magic is real and supernatural creatures stalk the living. Harry Dresden is one of those people who try to “carve out his little corner of sanity in the world”. I haven’t read the books but I’ve watched several episodes of the TV series and the background sounds intruiging.
What makes everything a bit more interesting is the fact that the game is developed by the guys from Evil Hat Productions and will use an updated version of the FATE rules. You can read more about the game at the official website/blog.

Leviathans
Ok, this is no RPG but a tactical boardgame by Catalyst Game Labs. Here’s an excerpt from the original site:

Leviathans is a game in development by Catalyst Game Labs that simulates combat between warships that have taken to the air in an alternate history 1910. The king leviathans, the battleships, are the largest vessels. Maneuvering in support are the smaller ships of light cruisers, destroyers, and others ships. Will you captain your fleet for king and country, expanding your nation’s power and becoming legend? Or will you fall from the sky, forgotten?

From what I’ve seen so far this might be a pretty cool game which instantly reminded me of some FASA titles like Crimson Skies or the Renegade Legion games. And since I am a fan of flying ships of all kinds, they had me at “warships that have taken to the air“. The world of Leviathans may also make an interesting background for roleplaying games, don’t you think?

What are the upcoming games you are currently the most excited about? Please let us know in the comments below!

Forsaken Bounty

Stargazer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:29:58 +0000

On Free RPG Day a free copy of Forsaken Bounty, the introductory adventure to the upcoming Rogue Trader RPG by Fantasy Flight Games, was available at participating game shops. Alas not everyone was able to get his hands on a copy.

But don’t despair, because FFG finally made the adventure (including game rules and a couple of pregenerated characters) available as PDF documents. There is a web version and a high-quality print version that is a whopping 78.5 MB download. So, if you want to give it a try, you can download everything at the Rogue Trader support site!

PLEASE NOTE: If you are part of my gaming group, please avoid reading the adventure, since I might want to run it sometimes in the future. You’ve been warned!

Plans for New Year’s Eve

Stargazer — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:37:34 +0000

Christmas is over and it’s time to make plans for New Year’s Eve. This year we are not having a big party (if I ever had a big party at New Year’s Eve) but some friends will come over to play “Dark Heresy” (Video review). I have ordered my copy as soon as it was out but we hadn’t found an opportunity to try it out. So this is our chance.

Initially I planned to run “Monte Cook’s World of Darkness” (Video review), but between digesting the Christmas goose and watching Doctor Who episodes I just couldn’t get my head around some of the more complex rules. And most members of my group have already played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, so the transition to Dark Heresy shouldn’t be such a big step.

I am currently preparing one of the introductory adventures and I really hope my group will like it so we can expand it into a fully fledged campaign. I have always loved the Warhammer 40,000 setting and in my opinion Dark Heresy could be a lot of fun for the players and the GM alike.