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News from Promethea
5November 29, 2011
Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein is undoubtedly one of the most impressive games I reviewed this year. It stands out from a lot of other games because of its unique alternate history setting that combines elements from the classic novel “Frankenstein – The Modern Prometheus” with real history. For more information on this awesome game, please check out my review and the interview with author Iain Lowson.
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.
Legend – Help raising money for Child’s Play and get a cool RPG in exchange
0November 28, 2011
Rule of Cool Gaming’s Legend RPG has probably the most generic name a fantasy RPG could have, but it’s actually a pretty interesting product. The rules may look quite familiar at first glance because it’s based on the d20 System SRD. But it’s not just another d20 variant, but a “new and novel system dedicated to cinematic combat and a smoother gameplay experience”.
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.
A dearth of ideas…
0November 25, 2011
As I sit here pondering about role-playing games, in my turkey fuelled semi-conscious state of mind, the mind wanders to all those unused campaign ideas that pile up through the years. If you are a Game Master you know what I mean, all those snippets and ideas that show the promise of becoming a game, or maybe, just maybe, a full fledged campaign. I have dozens, if not more of those. But for myriad reasons, time, player interest, whatever it may be, many of these ideas remain just that, a good idea,
I’ve been lucky to use many of those ideas; my last few campaigns over the last 4 years have been the realization of finally using those ideas. That’s why I keep notes, play with the ideas every so often and write them down. I’ve found that helps.
But this post is NOT about this, it’s about something else…
Freebies: Atomic Highway
0November 17, 2011
Atomic Highway, an excellent post-apocalyptic roleplaying game written by Colin Chapman is now available for free! Here’s what Colin has written in the announcement on the official Radioactive Ape Designs site:
RIDE FOR FREE!
The Atomic Highway pdf is now free to download! Atomic Highway and its fans have been really good to me these two years since its release, so I felt it was time to release AH into the wild, so to speak. Now, anyone who wants to check it out can grab it for free at DriveThruRPG, in perpetuity.
Grab it from DriveThruRPG!And while you’re there, Irradiated Freaks is now down to $4.99. What have you got to lose?
Atomic Highway is my favorite choice when it comes to post-apocalyptic RPGs and the underlying V6 Engine could work great in other genres as well. I am still hoping that Colin will release a generic V6 rulebook one day for us to tinker with. In the meantime, you should check out AH, especially now that it’s free! If you want to learn more about AH, please check out my post about it.
Guerrero, Pícaro y Mago
0November 16, 2011
The deed is done!
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!
Update: WR&M in Spanish
1November 8, 2011
Yesterday I got the final PDF of the Spanish translation of WR&M. I have to admit I can’t judge the quality of the translation since I don’t speak Spanish, but I am very happy with the layout and the artwork of this book. The guys from Arcano XIII really put a lot of work into this project, there’s no doubt about that.
When everything goes as planned they’ll officially release it on their blog on the upcoming weekend. I’ll update this post with a link to the PDF as soon as it goes life.
Fleeting Moments: RPGs That End
1October 24, 2011
“The best way to plan a chronicle’s size is to come up with a number of sessions or months you’d like to lead it as a Storyteller, then reduce that by 20 percent.”
—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. (more…)
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