Tabletop Gaming
And the news is in, the GSL isn't quite as restrictive as we recently thought it might be! It seems the GSL will require that product lines make the full conversion. How restrictive is this? We don't know until we see the definition of "product line," but it is certainly less restrictive than the company wide conversion that seemed in the cards two weeks ago.
I'm encouraged by this news and hope that we may yet see some Paizo and Green Ronin materials for 4e. There are still many companies who are (at least publically) on the fence, but I wouldn't expect to see firm decisions from anyone until they see the license.
Here's a tidbit:
There has been a lot of speculation around the details of the new GSL, and I feel like there is need for some clarification. Our intention is to encourage publishers to design for 4th Edition, not to jeopardize independent third-party games published under the OGL. With that in mind, publishers are going to be able to decide -- on a product line by product line basis -- which platform they will use for developing their products. If a publisher has an existing product under the OGL, we would love for them to update it to the GSL; however, that is not a requirement.
--Scott Rouse, Senior Brand Manager
For more info check the D&D GSL FAQ.
I've got to admit, when I first heard about Gleemax way back at Digital Life, I was skeptical. Partially this was because I'd just stumbled off the plane from Tokyo and was, frankly, no longer familiar with the direction formerly known as "up." Also, I underestimated both Wizards of the Coast and the momentum generated by their three-pronged approach to modernizing tabletop gaming, gaming reference resources, and social networking.
But their showing at GDC stepped up their game big time. From their position as platinum sponsor of the IGF awards, and the dead-awesome awards they had manufactured (a brain in a green sphere gripped by some kind of awesome bronze steampunk business), it became obvious that Wizards is taking Gleemax all the way. While an alpha of the site is open now, don't expect the full features to be rolled out until later in the year when D&D 4.0 arrives - and when the site does go fully live, a certain subset of gamers will be psyched to explore the community portal. More will follow, because WotC is giving Gleemax something for everyone.
Avalon Hill celebrates their golden anniversary this year... and they're celebrating by re-releasing some of their coolest and most enduring games. This week's Game of the Week was always one of my favorite board games... Diplomacy.
I don't know that you can really say much about this game... it's a legendary game for a reason. Perhaps the intrigue and deal making aspect are what draw me to it, since I'm an rpg guy. But the fact remains, this re-release is a chance to get into the game of international intrigue that has been going on for ... well, ages! Avalon Hill has scheduled the re-release for mid-March. For those who have never played the game, here's a tidbit from their website:
At the turn of the 20th century, the seven Great European Powers engage in an intricate struggle for supremacy. Military forces invade and withdraw, shifting borders and altering empires with subtle maneuvers and daring gambits.
Form alliances and unhatch your traitorous plots as you negotiate and outwit—in a delicate balance of cooperation and competition—to gain dominance of the continent! In Diplomacy, your success hinges not on the luck of the dice, but your cunning and cleverness.
Okay, it's here... slightly delayed by a bad internet experience, but hopefully back up and strong. This week's Game of the Week is from Titanic Games which has just released their next game. I rather liked the idea of Stonehenge, but Key Largo, already a hit game in Europe, seems to be more of a "hunt for the treasure" sort of game. It must be all the Disney pirate movies... but pirates are in. Hmmph. I'm in the ninja camp myself, but for those who like pirates - Go get thee some booty!
Here's what their website has to say about the game:
As the new century dawns, players ply the thriving trade of finding treasures in shipwrecks around the island. Before a hurricane hits, players need to search the many shipwrecks and sell the lost treasures to the island denizens for as much cash as possible.
[via Titanic Games]
Titanic Games recently released the first expansion for its Stonehenge: An Anthology Board Game. The expansion Stonehenge: Nocturne includes several additional pieces as well as rules for playing three new games with the stonehenge board and pieces, all designed by known names in the tabletop gaming industry. The whole idea of an anthology board game is a fascinating one - that game designers would use the same board and pieces for a variety of games with different rules - and I encourage any gamer to take a look. Here are some details on the new expansion:
This expansion continues the tradition of bringing the best board game designers in the world together to work on different games using the same pieces.
Stonehenge: Nocturne features three wildly different games by four world-class designers. This expansion's designers are Klaus-Jürgen Wrede (designer of Carcassonne), Andrew Looney (designer of Fluxx), and the team of Bruno Cathala and Serge Laget (designers of Shadows over Camelot). The games uniquely showcase the personalities of their designers, giving players a wide variety of play experiences.
Nocturne also expands Stonehenge by introducing pieces for sixth and seventh players. Previously published games can also be played with these extra pieces.
Okay, so I confess... I love my Order of the Stick. It's one of the best web comics out there and I get a kick out of reading it whenever it's posted. This week's Game of the Week is dedicated to that awesome comic and the tabletop game based on it from APE Games - The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan. Other than an unseemly long name, I've nothing really bad to say about this game, which I got for a friend over the holidays. Like most of my favorite games on the market it allows for players to be cooperative or to stab each other in the back... I like that freedom - it allows the game to be versatile and really makes the game experience different depending on who you're playing with. Now if only it revealed dark eldritch secrets (like what gender Varsuvius really is)...
Welcome back to Free Game Friday! Last week I looked at Ars Magica, so for this week I've decided to highlight a less rules-intensive RPG that you can just dive into with minimal effort and appropriate amounts of beer and pretzels. What I speak of is the game with more purple stick figures than I've ever seen collected in one place—Risus: The Anything RPG.
I'm not going to explain the rules here—heck, it's only six pages long, so any explaining I do would be silly since you should really just read the damn thing. As briefly as possible, though: it's meant for funny games but can be adapted to more serious ones, character creation takes about 20 seconds, instead of "character classes" there are "Clichés," the core rules end after the first four pages (the last two pages being "Advanced Rules"), but the hardcore Risus fanbase has made tons of expansions for the game into various genres just in case you want to go more in depth (including translations of the game into Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Danish, Croatian, Dutch, Czech, Polish and Norwegian).
Risus is a +3 hoot, wonderfully effective at making a satisfying and amusing game when you and your group are totally burnt out, and best of all—it's free!
Making one of the most natural fits I've ever seen in gaming, WizKids games and Disney have cooperated to bring the ships and crews of the phenomenal Pirates of the Caribbean movies to the Pirates constructible miniatures game with the new and aptly-named Pirates of the Caribbean expansion. To hype the expansion, the two companies are putting on a giveaway with a few thousand prizes and one heck of a grand prize:
WizKids Inc. announced today prizes for the Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel™ game sweepstakes. The sweepstakes grand prize is a trip for four to a Disney Theme Park, including round-trip airfare to a Disney resort, hotel room, tickets to a Disney resort and $1,000 spending money. There will be other Pirates prizes for thousands of instant winners.
To enter, all you have to do is grab a booster pack of
Pirate's Pirates of the Caribbean expansion, fill out the sweepstakes card inside, and send it in. Sounds easy. For more details, you can check out the
contest's full rules and details.
Contest or no, any game where I get to send my tentacled beastie after Jack Sparrow gets my gaming dollar!
The first article in the new electronic version of Dragon magazine debuted Wednesday, and on Thursday it saw its first significant alteration through the revisionist magic of online publishing. The article, "The Ecology of the Death Knight," goes into extensive detail about death knights young and old—from Lord Soth to some well-marked spoilers about the print version of Dungeon's Savage Tide Adventure Path—also hitting on some characters and relics from D&D's early days. One of these nostalgic nods is to Dungeons & Dragons thinly-veiled take on Moorcock's Stormbringer, the devastating sword Blackrazor.
There's only one problem... The picture of Blackrazor... well... it kind of looked like a... um... well, the kids online are calling it a vajayjay (whatever that is). Ahem… in two different ways.
When the news broke on ENWorld's forums late Wednesday night Scott Rouse, the Senior Brand Manager for Dungeons & Dragons, had this to say:
Jesus H Christ!
Guess what I get to go and ask to be fixed tomorrow?
The image has since been replaced with an old first edition image of Blackrazor—saving the young from being blinded and the old from fainting spells—but you can still see the complete discussion
(and a lot of clever anatomy terms) on the
ENWorld thread about the image titled "Okay... that's just vulgar...". And, if you're
that interested, one poster saved the original image
(page 2, post 64, or after the jump; Warning, questionably NSFW content). You can also check out the new, grandma-safe version of the
"Ecology of the Death Knight" as long as you have a D&D Insider account
(soon to be a $15-a-month value) or a WotC forums log-in name.
Honestly, I was a little warry about the new online incarnation of Dragon, but now I'm totally looking forward to the next article... and hopefully a little elf on elf action.
Kevin Siembieda and the madmen over at Palladium announce a new take on an old anime with the resurrection of the Robetech RPG.
“We look forward to working with Tommy Yune and Harmony Gold to create a brand new series of RPG titles for the next era of Robotech gaming.” said Kevin Siembieda, publisher and founder of Palladium Books. “It is our intention to make the upcoming new Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® RPGs even more fun and exciting than the original RPG to please long-time gamers and enthrall a new generation of fans.”
As the game has been out of print since 2001, I'm looking forward to having tons of charts and my old custom
Veritech Fighter back. The press release also says the new rulebook will be printed in "popular manga size," which is kind of an interesting choice. Hit the link or check out the
press release for the full details on the upcoming game, ambitiously scheduled for release next month.
And while you're over on the Palladium site there's an interesting read about their recent criminal financial crisis and how this pillar of the tabletop RPG community has survived. Good on Siembieda and crew and best of luck!
Last week you might remember me gushing about the supposedly newly-released Pokemon Trading Figures game, even going so far as promising a review—a gesture that was totally not just a way to legitimize my current bout of poke'-fever. Twice I dared Toys-R-Us this past week (totally not once on Saturday to nab a manaphy) as well as a number of other game stores and not-so-game stores since I figured the buggers would be everywhere, all to no avail. Raising the question: Where are all the pokies?
While I expected Toys-R-Us to be none too concerned with minor details like release dates (the resident pokemon expert I was pointed to had never even heard of the game), my frustrations finally led me to interrogate a employee at a local Mom-and-Pop game store, which revealed what sounded like a probable answer. Hear tell that, in light of some recent concerns about lead paint in children’s toys (is lead really that delicious?), the good folks at the Pokemon company decided to hold back their next new cash cow, supposedly to verify that the figures aren’t more poisonous than a level 100 arbok's gunk shot (yeah, I went there). But fear not poke'-pals, I've been assured that this delay is only brief and that Pokemon Trading Figures will be on shelves by mid September. Even then, though, I might think twice about lavishing my new piplup with kisses like I'd planned.
Who knows how many games you've bought, rescuing them from the dusty shelves of game stores the world over. But now, it's time for them to return the favor.
How many pages of gaming material will it take to save your life? To find out, Greg Porter of BTRC (Blacksburg Tactical Research Center)—a doughty little gaming company short on reknown but high on arms—decided to test out his personal arsenal on a few boxes worth of Gen Con 40th Anniversary guidebooks. Putting the 314 page convention guides through all manners of torture, Porter tests swords, axes, crossbows, rifles, shotguns, and a variety of other weapons on his collection all in the name of gaming science! He's since set down his findings in this free PDF, complete with pictures of the mayhem and his own witty commentary. Warning, don't look if you're a die-hard bibliophile or shocked by scenes of soft-bound brutality!
Hit the jump for one of BTRC's past ballistic tests using the Hero fifth edition rulebook as the victim below. Turns out that Hero is in fact not faster than a speeding bullet.
And girls who like girls who like breastplates!
Game of the Week
Are you the werewolf?
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