The Next Round of Dorkland! Roundtables

I have really been enjoying doing these Dorkland! Roundtables. Sure, the technology is still in a beta phase and there have been bumps and hiccups because of that, but I have really enjoyed getting to have conversations with people who love tabletop gaming and are passionate enough about it to want to talk about it over the internet. The upgrade to Google's Hangouts on the Air, over regular hangouts, has made a real difference in being able to hold a focused conversation with designers and not have to worry about random people deciding that they need to come into your Hangout to grief, or try to hit on women.

James Maliszewski of the Grognardia blog and designer of Thousand Suns, a Science Fiction role-playing game. James is a respected gaming "pundit" and authority on the history of our hobby who is often credited as one of the early proponents of what has become known as the Old School Renaissance, a growing group of gamers interested in the traditions, history and early days of tabletop role-playing. He also has demonstrated his chops as a gamer designer with the 12 Degree, which has been used in Rogue Games Colonial Gothic and Shadow, Sword and Spell, as well as James' Grognardia Games published Thousand Suns. According to the game's blurb Thousand Suns is "a roleplaying game that takes its inspiration from the classic literary "imperial" science fiction of the '50s, '60s, and '70s written by authors like Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Gordon Dickson, Larry Niven, H. Beam Piper, Jerry Pournelle, and A.E. van Vogt, among others."

I will be talking to James on June 18th at 9pm EST (United States).

The next Dorkland! Roundtable after that will be my first actual panel discussion and it is something that I am very excited about. I will be talking with five designers who have all created super-hero games, some are newer names that you might not be as familiar with while others have been around in game design for a while. All of them are united by a passion for comic book super-heroes that has driven them to design games around them. The panel will be:

• Industry veteran Jeff Dee. In addition to being on of the early, and inspirational, artists for a good number of TSR's D&D and AD&D products, Jeff is know for having created the Villains & Vigilantes role-playing game while still in high school. Jeff has also developed the game Living Legends, a spiritual successor to V&V, and is back on the gaming scene with Monkey House Games doing a new edition of Villains & Vigilantes.
• Steve Kenson has created material for pretty much every super-hero game that has been on the market, since he became a professional designer. He has created both the Mutants & Masterminds game (for Green Ronin) and Icons (for Adamant Entertainment). When not designing for games he also writes fiction for Shadowrun and Battletech, among other properties.
• Marget Weis Productions Creative Director Cam Banks has spearheaded two of the new school approaches to super-hero role-playing with Marvel Heroic Roleplaying and the Smallville Role-Playing game. MWP is unique in that it has sort of "dueling" licenses with both DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. and Marvel Comics and has games dealing with the characters of both companies at the same time, and with close to the same system. Both Marvel Heroic Roleplaying and Smallville run off of variants of the company's innovative Cortex+ system. Like Steve, Cam is also published fiction writer.
• Joshua Kubli of Imperfekt Gammes has created the Invulnerable Tabletop  Super Hero RPG. Joshua is the new kid on the block on this panel, and is probably nervous about appearing alongside all of these others. Joshua also designs a series of sandbox science fiction adventures for Occult Moon. He definitely has nothing to be worried about appearing here.
• Chris Rutkowsky of Basic Action Games designed BASH! (Basic Action Super Heroes), currently in its Ultimate Edition. Other publishers, like Vigilance Press, also produce licensed material for the BASH! game. The genesis of BASH! was Chris' desire to create a game with minimal math and overhead that could be used with kids in an after school program that he was involved with.

While normally Dorkland! Roundtables are about an hour in length, due to the number of guests involved this super! Roundtable will likely be about an hour and a half (just to give all the people a chance to talk) and will start at 9pm EST (Unites States time) on July 2nd.

If you are a game designer or publisher and would be interested in a future Dorkland! Roundtable, please contact me via Twitter or Google Plus and we can talk about getting you scheduled to appear on one of the future broadcasts. All Dorkland! Roundtable are initially live streamed via YouTube and Google's Hangouts on the Air and archives are available for viewing on YouTube and Vimeo.

Gen Con Launches Educational Partners Program

INDIANAPOLIS (June 6, 2012) – Gen Con LLC has entered into a partnership with the Indiana University School of Informatics at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis that will make the IU campus the first institution in the nation to participate in Gen Con’s Educational Partners Program.

“Given the academic reputation, enrollment size and proximity of the campus to Gen Con, partnering with the IUPUI seemed like a natural fit for Gen Con Indy 2012,” said Adrian Swartout, CEO of Gen Con LLC. “The IU School of Informatics at IUPUI offers some innovative specializations such as Storytelling Fundamentals and Gaming, and their students and faculty will add a unique voice to discussions on current topics in the industry.”

With its new Educational Partners Program, Gen Con hopes to give programmatic access to selected academic institutions, allowing students and faculty to interact with key members of the game industry and participate in educational, informative seminars.

“We are proud to collaborate with Gen Con on its Educational Partners program,” said Mathew Powers, assistant professor at the IU School of Informatics at IUPUI. “The School of Informatics uniquely integrates computing, social science and information systems design to explore how people use computing and technology to live, work, play and communicate, so it only made sense for us to collaborate with Gen Con, which is known world-wide as the best place for the creation and development of truly original gaming fare.”

Gen Con will celebrate its 45th anniversary this fall, as well as its 10th anniversary at its show in Indianapolis, August 16-19. According to the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, Gen Con Indy 2011 provided more than $36 million in economic impact to Indianapolis, largely attributable to its record turnstile attendance of 120,000.

For questions regarding the Education Partners Program, including how to get involved, please contact Jake Theis, Gen Con Senior Marketing Communications Manager, at jake.theis@gencon.com.

The Sound of Music: How You Can Use Music To Explain Your Campaigns

Today I get to talk about two things that I like in one post: gaming and music. Campaigns all have a tone and a feel to them, sometimes no matter how hard you try to describe the feel of a campaign to a prospective player the words just escape you. That's where music can come in. Sometimes music and songs can describe things that your words fail. For example, do you have a Cyberpunk game coming up? Try using Susie van der Meer's Somebody Has to Pay from the great Run Lola Run soundtrack. One thing to keep in mind...I hate movie scores and I think that they're abysmal for trying to set the tone for your own campaign. For me the connotations from the source movie are just too high. Yeah, you could say that I have a double standard, since I just linked to a movie from a soundtrack, but for me that is something different.

Digging through a box the other night, I found a bunch of old mix CDs that I had made for some old campaigns. Most of them had never moved past the planning stages but I saved them anyway. The CD in question was labelled "Santeria" and I am going to assume that it was for one of my many modern horror/conspiracy/magic games. From the choice of songs, I am going to date this CD at about 2005.

I listen to this now and a couple of the songs are clunkers, and I could have probably demonstrated the tones that I wanted in the campaign a bit less heavy handed. One of these songs I hate to admit that I listen to, like would be too strong of a term but there are some personal resonances to the song. It's amazing what history and relationships will do to a song.

I know that I was being cutesy with following Sublime's "Santeria" with Amy Winhouse's "Rehad" because I have always felt that Bradley Nowell would have had a much greater impact on American Popular music if he hadn't died of a drug overdose. I don't think the irony of Amy Winehouse's death was lost on anyone.

What I am going to do with these nineteen songs (provided I can find all of them on YouTube) is trace a pathway through them and show how they can be used to demonstrate the themes of a campaign. Now, this isn't an actual building tool. These songs didn't inform the actual campaign, instead they were intended to be used to explain the campaigns to others.

Be warned that some of these songs are not safe for work. Some of them might just get you odd looks from co-workers if you're listening to them at work. It also may be that some of these videos are not available in all countries. There's not a whole lot that I can do about that but wish you luck on finding them for yourselves.

After the jump, the songs from the long lost mix CD and a bit of explanation on how they can help to explain the tone and feel of a game.

GenCon Is Coming!

INDIANAPOLIS (May 31, 2012) – Gen Con Indy 2012 is approaching rapidly with less than 80 days remaining before the convention. This year’s show stands to be the largest event in the convention’s rich history with attendance numbers dramatically outpacing prior years. THE BEST FOUR DAYS IN GAMING™ returns August 16-19, 2012 to the Indianapolis Convention Center.

Top Headlines for Gen Con Indy 2012

• Gen Con’s 45th Anniversary- First held in 1967 by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, Gen Con has remained the “must-attend” event for the gaming community for 45 years. To celebrate its anniversary, Gen Con will award 45 complimentary badges for Gen Con Indy 2013 at this summer’s show.
• Celebrating 10 Years in Indy- In 2003, to accommodate expansion, Gen Con moved to the Indiana Convention Center, and now, will commemorate its 10th year in Indianapolis.  According to Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association (ICVA) estimates, Gen Con brings approximately $36 million dollars in annual business to Indianapolis.
• Badge Sales at a Record Pace- Last year, Gen Con reached a four-day turnstile attendance record of more than 120,000. This year, badges are moving at an even faster rate. With just a month left in pre-registration, badge pre-sales are up more than 22% year-over-year, putting Gen Con Indy 2012 on a record-smashing pace.
• Exhibition Space Sold-Out in January- With the growing number of attendees at the show, Exhibition Hall space for game creators and manufacturers has achieved higher demand than ever before. Exhibition space sold out in January 2012, creating a waiting list of more than 40 exhibitors.
• Largest Event Registration Opening in Gen Con’s History- With the surging rate of badge pre-orders, it follows that Event Ticket sales would increase as well. While badge pre-sales are up more than 22%, ticket sales on Event Registration opening increased by more than 50% year-over-year and more than 100% since 2010!

To attend
Gen Con Indy will be open to the public Thursday, August 16, through Sunday, August 19, 2012. Thursday through Saturday the Exhibit Hall is open 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. 24-hour gaming takes place at the convention center and at area hotels during the four-day event.

Everyone attending Gen Con Indy must purchase a badge. A badge allows the individual entrance to the show, admittance to the Exhibit Hall, Art Show, Anime events, seminars and any events happening in the public areas that do not require an event ticket. There area different badge types, from standard badges (4-Day or 1-Day) to Family Fun Day badges that can provide admission for a family of four for $40. For more information about attaining a badge visit www.gencon.com .

About Gen Con
Gen Con LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game convention in North America. It was acquired in 2002 by former CEO and Founder of Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, who owns the company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture and community. For more information visit the website at www.gencon.com. For up-to-the minute details, check out www.facebook.com/genconindy

Wizards of the Coast Announces R.A. Salvatore’s 2012 Book Tour

MAY 30, 2012 – To celebrate the upcoming release of R.A. Salvatore’s Charon’s Claw on August 7th, Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce that Salvatore, a 24-time New York Times bestselling author, will head out on a multi-city book tour this summer to meet fans and autograph copies of his newest novel. 

See below for more information about Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore, as well as the complete summer book tour schedule for Charon’s Claw. Additional details about Charon’s Claw and the D&D® suite of products can be found at DungeonsandDragons.com.

Contact: Marisa Wohl for Wizards of the Coast mwohl@360publicrelations.com / 617-585-5767

R.A. SALVATORE’S CHARON’S CLAW -- 2012 BOOK TOUR

August 6

    Redondo Beach, CA – Mysterious Galaxy Books (7:30pm – 9:30pm)

August 7

    Los Angeles, CA – Barnes & Noble – The Grove (7:00pm – 9:00pm)

August 8

    Menlo Park, CA – Kepler’s Books (7:00pm – 9:00pm)

August 9

    Tacoma, WA – Joint Base Lewis-McChord
        McChord Main Store (1:00pm – 3:00pm)
        Lewis Main Store (4:00pm – 6:00pm)

August 10

    Austin, TX – BookPeople (7:00pm – 8:30pm)

August 11

    Houston, TX – Space City Con

August 13

    Lexington, KY – Joseph Beth (4:30pm-6:00pm)

August 13

    Cincinnati, OH – Joseph Beth (7:30pm – 9:00pm)


August 14

    Columbus, OH – The Book Loft (7:00pm – 9:00pm)

August 15

    Carmel, IN – Barnes & Noble (7:00pm – 9:00pm)

August 16 – 19

    Indianapolis, IN – Gen Con 2012

September 1

    Atlanta, GA – Dragon Con 2012


About Charon’s Claw
The third book in the Neverwinter Saga, Charon’s Claw follows Drizzt Do’Urden as he draws his swords once more to aid his friends. In this final book in the saga, Drizzt assists the beautiful elf Dahlia as she enacts revenge and helps an old foe break the bonds that have held him hostage for more than a hundred years.

About R.A. Salvatore
R.A. Salvatore is best known as the creator of the dark elf Drizzt, one of the fantasy genre's most beloved characters.  With over 17 million books sold and numerous game credits, Salvatore has become one of the most important figures in modern epic fantasy. His first published novel was The Crystal Shard in 1988, and since that time Salvatore has published more than 50 novels, with 24 New York Times bestsellers to his name, including The Halfling's Gem, Sojourn, The Legacy and Neverwinter, Book II.  For more information about R.A. Salvatore, please visit www.rasalvatore.com or find him on Facebook.

About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. Wizards' players and fans are members of a global community bound together by their love of both digital gaming and in-person play. The company brings to market a range of gaming experiences under powerful brand names such as MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and KAIJUDO. Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information about our world renowned brands, visit the Wizards of the Coast Web site at www.wizards.com.

2012 Diana Jones Nominees

The Nominees

The shortlist for the 2012 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming has five entries. Listed alphabetically they are:

Burning Wheel Gold

An RPG system by Luke Crane
Published by Burning Wheel

Burning Wheel Gold (BWG) is the newest edition of the Burning Wheel fantasy roleplaying game system initially published in 2004 by Luke Crane. If you're looking for a big system that can stand up to long-term campaign play as well as D&D but is designed with contemporary design sensibilities, BWG is the game for you.

The Burning Wheel system has introduced a host of design innovations over the years. A few examples: with the fail forward mentality a missed die roll isn't a failure, it's an unexpected outcome; instead of the GM designing adventures, players direct the action by listing their beliefs and what they intend to do about them; players can make world-setting contributions by creating NPCs using the Circles mechanic or historical facts using the Wises mechanic; and players develop rich character concepts using an elaborate (and fun) Lifepaths mechanic reminiscent of Traveller.

The latest edition, BWG, cleans up old rules problems and brings together material from a number of different books into one comprehensive and attractive hardback tome.

Crowdfunding 

When historians of the hobby-gaming movement look back on 2011, they will certainly note the production of several fine games and gaming products, including others appearing on this diverse, exciting shortlist. The truly defining shift, however, will be found in the introduction of crowdfunding. By combining consumer micro-capital and community-building, all to the ticking of a suspenseful pre-order clock, it truly warrants the overused label of game-changer.

Forward movements in art forms have always depended on the opened purse strings of a few key patrons. By democratizing patronage and widening the field of opportunity for all game designers, this broader market transformation well deserves recognition as a cauldron of present and future gaming excellence. Within this recognition comes an acknowledgment of the movement's dominant force, Kickstarter.

Nordic LARP

A book by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola
Published by Fëa Livia

Nordic Larp is a history of the Nordic larp scene, from its inception in post-D&D fantasy through experimental drama, historical recreation and far freaking weirdness, done as a massive and profusely illustrated coffee-table book, written by two gaming scholars. The book documents more than thirty larps that took place over 15 years, including ones with animatronic dragons and a space opera played out on a submarine.

Nordic larps have become an elaborate art form, featuring detailed costumes, interesting settings, and varied plots. While these larps can be massive productions in terms of time, players, and material, they can also be maddeningly ephemeral, with no official or comprehensive documentation. Stories pass from community to community, but ultimately “I guess you had to be there.”

The Nordic Larp book assembles photos, memories, and designer notes, allowing the reader to survey these fantastic and sometimes legendary events. These records are bracketed by an introduction that summarizes the recurrent elements of the larps and a final essay on Nordic larping as art, theater, and game. Nordic larping is a major, dynamic branch of the gaming family tree, fully deserving of this massive, beautiful book that takes larping and game-history as serious business.

Risk Legacy

A board game by Rob Daviau
Published by Hasbro Inc.

One does not expect to find ground-breaking innovation in a revamp of a classic family game from a market-leading publisher, but Risk Legacy produces not just one but three startling leaps forward. It is a board-game designed for campaign play; it does not allow players access to all the components, units and rules at the start of play, instead having in-game events unlock sealed sections of the cleverly built box; and it demands that the players permanently change the game, putting stickers on the board to alter it, and destroying other components. The game-world reacts to victories and defeats, and the game becomes a permanent record of its play, different for every group.

Risk Legacy combines these ideas into a brilliantly playable whole that’s recognisably Risk, yet something brand new. Rob Daviau and Hasbro must be applauded for such a risk.

Vornheim

An RPG supplement by Zak S.
Published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Vornheim radically strips the fantasy RPG city supplement to its foundations and erects dizzying Gothic buttresses of pure playability. Combining specific encounters terrible and wondrous with superb, table-tested techniques for on-the-fly urban adventure creation, Vornheim illuminates one fantastic city and all fantasy cities.

Literally not an inch of this book is wasted space: all of it provides game masters with tools, tables, and terrifying inhabitants perfectly suited to the powerful senses of possibility, wonder, and nightmare logic buried deep within fantasy gaming's very nature. Zak S's rococo, idiosyncratic production design and stark, febrile art brilliantly contain and present the mad glories within its covers – as with a proper necromancer's tome, merely opening the book plunges the beholder into a world of demonic genius.

The winner of this year's award will be announced on Wednesday 15th August, at the annual Diana Jones Award and Freelancer Party in Indianapolis, the unofficial start of the Gen Con convention.

About The Award
The Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming was founded and first awarded in 2001. It is presented annually to the person, product, company, event or any other thing that has, in the opinion of its mostly anonymous committee of games industry luminaries, best demonstrated the quality of ‘excellence’ in the world of hobby-gaming in the previous year. The winner of the Award receives the Diana Jones trophy.

The short-list and eventual winner are chosen by the Diana Jones Committee, a mostly anonymous group of games-industry alumni and illuminati, known to include designers, publishers, cartoonists, and those content to rest on their laurels.

Past winners include industry figures such as Peter Adkison and Jordan Weisman, the role-playing games Nobilis, Sorcerer, and My Life with Master, the board-games Dominion and Ticket to Ride, the website BoardGameGeek; and the charity fundraising work of Irish games conventions. Last year’s winner was Fiasco by Jason Morningstar.

This is the twelfth year of the Award.

More information is available at www.dianajonesaward.org or at the Award’s Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Jones_Award.

Contact
For more information or an invitation to the announcement of the 2012 Diana Jones Award you can contact a representative of the DJA committee: committee@dianajonesaward.org

Dorkland! Roundtable with Sean Preston

My second Dorkland! Roundtable, this time with Sean Preston of Reality Blurs. I am really enjoying the live streaming format, more I think than I like the video archiving. Sean and I talked for almost an hour about tabletop RPGs, Savage Worlds, who our favorite pulp characters are, and many other very important things.

Sadly, Sean had some technical problems as Google Hangouts didn't seem to like his webcam. He could talk, or he could be seen...but not both. We figured that hearing his voice was better than nothing, and the little black box probably represented him as well as anything. I do hope that they get rid of the boxes at the bottom of the screen for the streaming and just go with the video flip-flop as each person speaks. I think that will be a better way of handling things and I don't have to worry about looking so fidgety when I'm on screen.

Enjoy.

If you have any feedback, please let me know either here (in the comments) or over on Google Plus.

Dorkland! Roundtable with Fred Hicks

I figured that I should put this up here on the blog, for people who may end up searching for the blog or my Roundtables. Fred and I talked for an hour about Fate, gaming, the Dresden Files, Don't Rest Your Head, and a few other things. I also fidget a lot.

Dorkland! Roundtables with Sean (Reality Blurs) Preston and Kirin (Old School Hack) Robinson

Well, with the next set of Dorkland! Roundtables, I received the good news today that my Google Plus account was finally approved for Hangouts on the Air over there. What does that mean for you? Well, it means two things: 1) we can have a decent, uninterrupted conversation between myself and the guest on each Roundtable (which means not having to have a Public chat and worry about "drive by" Random Internet Jerks trying to interfere) and 2) that the discussion will be livestreamed out onto the internet so that it can be watched by those who may not yet have Google Plus accounts (it also means that we can archive the discussions on Youtube for future blackmailing fun).

The Dorkland! Roundtables are an evolving experiment in new media, bringing fans of tabletop gaming access to the publishers and designers that they may not be able to get outside of one of the big gaming conventions. The bonus is that you (the viewers) do not even have to leave your home in order to take part in watching these. I am sure that there will be tweaks to things as we go along, as each of these has been a learning experience.

So, our next two Dorkland! Roundtables (keep in mind that the times for the live streams will be 9pm EST/6pm PST):

On May 28th I will talk to Sean Preston of Reality Blurs. You probably know Sean and his company from such Savage Worlds supplements as Realms of Cthulhu, Agents of Oblivion and Shaintar. We will talk about all of these fine games, and hopefully more when we talk to Sean on the 28th. If you, or a friend of yours is a fan of quality Savage Worlds supplements, be sure to check this Roundtable out.

On June 4th (the following Monday), I will talk to Kirin Robinson of Old School Hack fame. Kirin won a Gold Ennie last year at GenCon, and we will talk about that, his game, and many other things as well.

If you have questions or comments before or during either of these Dorkland! Roundtables you can post them to me on Twitter or my Google Plus profile. If you're a tabletop game designer or publisher, I would like to talk with you on a future Dorkland! Roundtable. You can contact me in the same ways, if you are interested.

Warrior & Wizard RPG: The Little Retroclone That Could

One of the hot things in tabletop RPGs right now is the "retroclone." For those who may read this and not know, a retroclone is a reproduction of an out of print game that relies on the legal concept that you cannot copyright game mechanics, only your exact wording of those mechanics. That basically means that anyone can come along and rewrite the expression of your rules with a completely new wording (that obviously explains the same basic mechanics underneath) and have a new game. This is something that has been happening a lot the last few years in tabletop gaming. The Open Gaming License and the various d20 SRDs have gone far in creating the foundation on which clones of earlier editions of D&D can be built, making these the most popular retroclones out and about. This makes sense, since D&D is the dog that wags the tail of tabletop gaming.

There have been other retroclones as well. There was a World of Darkness clone that came and went, which apparently disappeared because the creator had some legal issues that weren't properly skirted in his writing. I think it is still out on the internet in a place or two. Phil Reed did a super-heroic retroclone called 4Color that never really seemed to catch on like it should have. I'm sure that there are others out there that I don't know about, either.

Early today on G+ I posted a link to Warrior & Wizard, a retroclone of the old, out of print, Fantasy Trip game. It is a nice piece of work from author Chris Goodwin that really deserves more attention than it has probably received. That's why I made that post, and that is why I am making this post on my blog. Warrior & Wizard is available in two versions (both with the same text), one released under the OGL (to better allow mingling with other OGL-released open content) and one released under a creative commons license.

I put a copy and paste of the original author's document up in an editable format Google Document in my Google Drive folder, so that people can find and easily download something. I hope that you check it out, enjoy what you see and work up your own hack of the game. Hopefully the creator sees all of this and it spurs him to some further work.

Here's the link to Warrior & Wizard on Google Drive. [8/17/2018 Update: Because of the Kickstarter bringing back Steve Jackson's first RPG, The Fantasy Trip, I've taken down the link to this project.]

What unrepresented retroclone do you think needs more attention? You can mention it in the comments. Let's make this about those games that really aren't getting a lot of attention already out with other bloggers or forums. I think most of the D&D clones get enough attention already. What isn't being talked about out there?

Valiant Debuts Archer & Armstrong #1 Cover

Valiant is proud to present Mico Suayan's skull-smashing cover for Archer & Armstrong #1 – the Summer of Valiant's next sensational series from the New York Times best-selling creative team of Fred Van Lente (Amazing Spider-Man) and Clayton Henry (Incredible Hercules)!

Obadiah Archer was raised to uphold three things above all else: the values of his parents, the love of his 22 brothers and sisters, and his lifelong mission to defeat the ultimate evildoer. Now, after years of training, Archer has been dispatched to the heart of America's debauched modern day Babylon, aka New York City, to root out and kill this infamous Great Satan. Unfortunately, dying has never been easy for Archer's target – the hard-drinking immortal known as Armstrong! Together, this unlikely pair of heroes is about to stumble headfirst into a centuries-old conspiracy that could bring the whole of ancient history crashing down on modern civilization.

It began with X-O Manowar, Harbinger and Bloodshot – could it all end here? Find out on August 8th when two mortal enemies come together to make an epic first impression on the Valiant Universe, only in Archer & Armstrong #1!

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #1 - ON SALE AUGUST 8th!
Written by FRED VAN LENTE
Art by CLAYTON HENRY
Cover by MICO SUAYAN
Pullbox Exclusive Cover by CLAYTON HENRY
Variant Covers by DAVID AJA & NEAL ADAMS

About Valiant Entertainment
Valiant Entertainment is a character-based publishing and licensing company that owns and controls some of the most cherished comic characters ever createdacross all media worldwide. Since their creation in 1989, Valiant characters have sold 80 million comic books and have been the basis of a number of successful video game franchises. Valiant's extensive library includes over 1,500 characters, such as X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Harbinger,Shadowman, Ninjak and Archer & Armstrong. Visit:

ValiantUniverse.com
www.facebook.com/ValiantComics
www.twitter.com/ValiantComics

R.I.P. Adam Yauch

This is going to be a controversial statement but, I think that in the long term (and in terms of musical legacies of my generation) that that Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys are going to end up with a cultural and musical signifigance that's going to surpass Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. If it hasn't already.

It's time to pass the mic.

Rest in Peace, Adam, you've deserved it.

Review: Valiant's XO Manowar #1

I thought about doing a comparison to this issue and the first XO-Manowar #1 from the 90s, and then I decided that would not only be silly but it would probably be unfair to the creative teams of both books. About a week ago, I received a PDF of the first issue of XO-Manowar from the new Valiant Comics. You've probably read about this book on the various comic media site. The book has has massive preorders that (while nowhere near as big as the first first issue) are still pretty staggering for the comic book market of today. There may be some minor spoilers, so tread carefully.

Is this book worth those big preorders? Well, I can't really comment on that but what I can say is that this is an excellent comic that is well worth the cover price of admission.

Dorkland! Roundtable Launches With Jason Durall and Fred Hicks

One of the great things about the internet is that it lets you do things (because of distance, resources, or whatever) that you wouldn't normally get to do. It also is great for allowing table top role-players of all stripes and predilections come together and cross-pollinate their ideas. In ways that even the forums of the 1990s and early 2000s were not capable of doing, entire communities are being built  around "Social Media" sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and entire new communities, like the Old School Renaissance, are growing up around blogs and their comment areas. Gamers are getting an unprecedented level of interaction with their favorite publishers, creators and designers because of the internet.

One of my favorite parts of gaming conventions are the panels. With panels, designers, creators and publishers get to share ideas on a topic and interact with fans, and other peers, who happen to be in the audience. It is a great way for people to learn more about their favorite creators, and to find out about their upcoming plans. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to go to conventions and take part in this. That's OK, because this where the internet gets to come in to the rescue.

One of the great tools of Google Plus is their "hangout," basically a multiperson audio/video chat that lets anyone with a Google Account and a web browser take part in things. No need for installing or running software. I have been using a Google Plus hangout for about a month now to run a Swords & Wizardry Whitebox game for a group of people around the country (and in Canada). It is a great tool and it can be easily utilized to create a "virtual game convention panel" that people can attend without having to travel, or even leave their homes. So, basically what I am going to do (under the auspices of this blog) is to host a bi-weekly moderated chat/panel discussion with a different table-top gaming designer, publisher or creator. These "Dorkland! Roundtables" will be beamed into your homes via the internet.

Our first Dorkland! Roundtable will be with Jason Durall, designer/editor of the current edition of Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying game. Jason will also, tentatively, be joined by Ben Monroe, a long time Chaosium freelancer who worked on the upcoming fantasy game from Chaosium: Magic World. This roundtable will be Monday, April 30th at 10pm EST/7pm PST. We will talk about BRP, game designing and influences and inspirations.

Our second Dorkland! Roundtable will feature Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions (and hopefully another Evil Hatter or two) to talk about their games, Kickstarter, and whatever else comes to mind...or you ask about. This roundtable will be on May 14th at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

Participating in these live discussions will require a Google account, and having access to Google Plus through a browser. You will also want to circle the Page for this blog, as well as my personal page to be able to take part, and be able to follow and find out about future developments on this new way of connecting to other gamers out there. Hopefully soon I will be announcing further roundtables with other gaming individuals.

Valiant Entertainment Unveils New Logo

To officiate its return to monthly publishing this May, Valiant Entertainment is proud to unveil a new interpretation of the iconic Valiant compass logo by award-winning graphic designer Rian Hughes. The newly redesigned logo -- along with Valiant's new distinctive trade dress, also designed by Hughes -- will first see print on May 2nd with the release of X-O Manowar #1 by New York Times best-selling author Robert Venditti (The Surrogates) and Eisner Award-winning artist Cary Nord (Conan).

"It is always a challenging and interesting project to design the visual identity of a publisher from the ground up in every detail -- logo, trade dress, title logos -- and to cohesively pull all these elements together so one strong visual identity emerges. Rebooting the Valiant line's design has been one such great project. The Valiant characters have a strong fanbase and heritage, and so the new logos are fresh and modern as befits a forward-looking publisher while still paying tribute to the originals, just as has been done with the characters themselves," said Hughes, whose previously published work includes logos and design pieces for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, MTV Networks, Virgin Airlines, Penguin Books, Archaia Entertainment, and the BBC, among many others.

Originally founded in 1989, Valiant Comics is one of the most successful comic publishers of all time and has featured work by many of the industry's top creative talents, including Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Barry Windsor-Smith, Joe Quesada, David Lapham, Bryan Hitch, Steve Ditko and many more. Reincorporated as Valiant Entertainment in 2007 by CEO Jason Kothari and Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani, the company is set to return to monthly comics publishing this summer with four new monthly titles featuring its most popular characters -- X-O Manowar #1 in May, Harbinger #1 in June, Bloodshot #1 in July, and Archer & Armstrong #1 in August.

"Rian and our Executive Editor Warren Simons put an incredible amount of energy into making sure that the new logo and the look of the books themselves accurately reflect our perspective on what the Valiant Universe was and can be," said Shamdasani.

"The day that Valiant titles return to the shelves of comics shops worldwide is one that fans have been eagerly awaiting for some time," said Kothari. "This powerful, yet versatile new logo is the perfect way to signify a new era for Valiant both as a company and a premier creative brand."

This is the just the latest in a series of creative endeavors Valiant has announced to coincide with its "Summer of Valiant" relaunch. Most recently, the publisher announced that it would be the first to produce animated, QR code-augmented covers for X-O Manowar #1 and Harbinger #1, as well as a series of "Pullbox Exclusive Variant" covers available only to comic shop customers who subscribe to Valiant's new #1 issues.

For more information, visit ValiantUniverse.com.

Looking For A Kickstarter That's More Than A Preorder? Reading With Pictures

(Chicago, IL- April 19, 2012) Reading with Pictures, a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity, announced today the official launch of their fundraising campaign to create The GraphicCvr Textbook. This groundbreaking project will enable educators to take comics beyond supplementary reading and into the core curricula.

The Graphic Textbook brings together some of the finest creative talents in the comics industry – including Fred Van Lente, Ryan Dunlavey, Janet Lee, Amy Reeder, Katie Cook and Roger Langridge – with the leading experts in visual literacy and comics-based curriculum – including Dr. Katie Monnin and Dr. James Bucky Carter – to create a gamechanging educational tool for the classroom and beyond that’s tied to a revolutionary impact study overseen by Dr. David Rapp of the Learning Sciences Department of Northwestern University.

Aimed at grades 3-6, The Graphic Textbook features a dozen short stories (both fiction and non-fiction) that address topics drawn from the list of Common Core Standards. The accompanying Teacher’s Guide will include Standards-correlated lesson plans customized to each story, research-based justifications for using comics in the classroom, a guide to establishing best classroom practices and a comprehensive listing of additional educational resources, both in print and online.

Josh Elder, President and Founder of Reading with Pictures, explains “This project has been years in the making, and it's been developed with input from hundreds of educators, academics and students nationwide. With their help, we're going to create a comic that teachers will actually want to use and a textbook that students will actually want to read. And we've done it while respecting our contributor's rights and keeping our product price below the gong market rate. We know that there's a need for this product, now we just need your help to prove it."

The Graphic Textbook will be financed entirely through a Kickstarter campaign set to launch on April 13 and run through May 17. The finished product is set for a spring 2013 release in both print and digital formats.

Back us on Kickstarter at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingwithpictures/the-graphic-textbook

Visit our website at www.readingwithpictures.org

Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ReadingWithPictures

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/ReadingWithPix

Eldritch Enterprise's The Forest of Deceit in Review

I received a PDF in my email recent, a module from Eldritch Enterprises called Forest of Deceit ($7.50 in PDF form over at RPGNow). This is part of a series of modules that feature contributions from names that should be familiar to fans of Old School D&D: Frank Mentzer and James Ward. Forest of Deceit, however is by Christopher Clark, rather than either of those two men.

Forest of Deceit is intended as the introductory or "set up" module to a series of interlinked adventures that flesh out an area of the setting. According to the module, there are three more "chapters" or adventures for this setting yet to come. This can be good or bad for GMs, because if the adventures don't catch on (or there are long delays between each release) then that can adversely impact the campaign.

While designated as an adventure, what Forest of Deceit really is would be a series of short woodland encounters, intended to be used as the adventurers travel to the city of Namar (to be outlined in an upcoming adventure). The encounters are interesting, and are linked thematically by being in a wooded area. There's nothing that really ties these encounters to the Forest of the title, so a GM could easily drop them into any sort of woodlands encounter. As a matter of fact, I may use one or two of these encounters in my own Swords & Wizardry Whitebox campaign.

My main complaint with this adventure is that a lot of pages are wasted by reprinting the monsters. Each encounter is self-contained, with its own monster write ups, but each of these write ups is then reprinted in a six page bestiary section. Those six pages could have been better utilized with another encounter or two. And while speaking of the monsters, I have to say that I found the "shorthand" used to give stats to the monsters in this module a bit confusing, since they don't exactly sync up to any of the old (or new) school fantasy games. Since most of these monsters are fairly common, finding write ups for them in your system of choice shouldn't be hard, but I think that I would have preferred if they had gone with using the stats from an existing Old School game (anything from Castles & Crusades to Labyrinth Lord to Swords & Wizardry) rather than this approach. The OGL has made it so much easier to create compatible materials for so many games that this would have been so much easier to make something compatible than to come up with yet another way to reinvent the wheel of monster write ups.

Is this module worth the money? Well, that's a tricky question. I'm sure that someone will find a use for the material in this module, so for some that answer is an obvious yes. However, at $7.50 (for the PDF) for 34 pages of text and front and back covers, I am not sure if this is worth the money as it is. I think that this module could be much more successful if the encounters from it are integrated into a book with more of the Namar setting information integrated. That way GMs and players won't be left hanging when they finish these encounters but still do not have the city that is supposed to be their destination. With these couple of flaws, I can see this PDF being worth more in the range of $2-$3, rather than the $7.50 that it costs. There's too much introduction and not enough follow up to really make this worth the price of admission.

Hopefully this module does not set the tone for other Eldritch Enterprises modules. I would like to think that Ward and Mentzer have a lot more experience at setting up these sorts of modules, but only time will tell.

Valiant Comics Presents Harbinger #1 Lettered Preview

In this preview of the first issue of Harbinger, from the new Valiant Comics, we see that the names might be familiar but the characters and situations are updated and different. Coming this June to your Friendly Local Comic Store. Click through for the preview pages.

Valiant is proud to present a six-page lettered preview of Harbinger #1 -- the first issue of a super-hero legend reborn from New York Times best-selling author Joshua Dysart (Unknown Soldier, BPRD) and Harvey Award-nominated artist Khari Evans (Carbon Grey)!

Teenager Peter Stanchek is on a dangerous path, but wields an even more dangerous power. Skipping across the country in a desperate attempt to stay one step ahead of the authorities, Pete is quickly realizing that he's a psionically-powered "harbinger" with the potential to control minds, manipulate matter, and forever alter the course of human history. But behind the scenes and half a world away, Pete's plight has not gone unnoticed by respected philanthropist and fellow harbinger, Toyo Harada. Will Harada offer Pete the chance at the things for which he's longed -- family, inner peace, control? Or will this unlikely hero find himself inducted into a secret network of conspiracy and subversion?

Read minds. Bend steel. Break all the rules. This June, the foundations of the Valiant Universe will shake as Peter Stanchek learns the true price of power, only in Harbinger #1 - on sale June 6th!

HARBINGER #1 – ON SALE JUNE 6th!
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art by KHARI EVANS
Cover by ARTURO LOZZI (APR121252)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by MICO SUAYAN (APR121253)
Variant Cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE (APR121254)
QR Voice Variant by JELENA KEVIC-DJURDJEVIC (APR121255)
T+/$3.99

New From Pagan Publishing - Delta Green: Strange Authorities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COSMIC HORROR MEETS TECHNO-THRILLER ESPIONAGE IN ‘DELTA GREEN: STRANGE AUTHORITIES’

Arc Dream Publishing Presents a Collection of the Award-Winning Cthulhu Mythos Horror Fiction of John Scott Tynes

April 18,  2012 — John Scott Tynes merges Lovecraftian cosmic horror with techno-thriller espionage in “Delta Green: Strange Authorities,” now available from Arc Dream Publishing.  Cvr

“Delta Green: Strange Authorities” is a 388-page collection of award-winning Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. It includes the short stories “The Corn King,” “Final Report,” “My Father’s Son,” and “The Dark Above,” and the Origins Award-winning novel “The Rules of Engagement.”

“Delta Green: Strange Authorities” is available in trade paperback from Amazon.com, Ingram Book Company, and Arc Dream Publishing, and in ebook for Kindle, Nook, iBooks and other devices.

Shane Ivey, editor and president of Arc Dream Publishing, says: “John Scott Tynes’ stories of ‘Delta Green’ are obsidian splinters of fear and beauty. John brings a sense of humanity, of its love and confusion and despair, to the mind-bending terror of the Cthulhu Mythos. These stories have been too hard to find for far too long and I am thrilled to make them available to new readers.”

The sequel to “Strange Authorities,” Dennis Detwiller’s “Delta Green: Through a Glass, Darkly,” is also available in trade paperback and ebook from Arc Dream Publishing.

ABOUT JOHN SCOTT TYNES: John Scott Tynes is a game designer and writer in Seattle. He currently designs Xbox 360 videogames for Microsoft Studios. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Pagan Publishing and Armitage House and his best-known projects include “Unknown Armies,” “Puppetland,” “Delta Green,” “The Unspeakable Oath,” and “Call of Cthulhu D20.” His film “The Yellow Sign” is available on DVD from Lurker Films.

ABOUT ARC DREAM PUBLISHING: Arc Dream Publishing produces novels and tabletop roleplaying games that have won awards and wide acclaim. Its product lines include “Delta Green,” “The Unspeakable Oath,” “Monsters and Other Childish Things,” “Wild Talents,” and “Godlike.” In 2011 Arc Dream Publishing released the novel “Delta Green: Through a Glass, Darkly,” which continues the tale that began with the stories in “Delta Green: Strange Authorities.”

ABOUT DELTA GREEN: “Delta Green” is a modern setting for H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Delta Green itself is a conspiracy of federal agents, soldiers, intelligence officers, and “friendlies” who secretly and without sanction use the resources of the U.S. government to thwart supernatural horrors that no legitimate agency could face. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day — but often at a shattering personal cost.

###

WEB: deltagreen.com
TWITTER: twitter.com/#!/shaneivey
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/deltagreenrpg
DELTA GREEN MAILING LIST: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dglist/

Some Records Store Day Releases

Here are a couple of the releases that you can look forward to on Record Store Day.

First we have a collaboration between The Flaming Lips and New Fumes, with a very NSFW music video after the jump.

Record Store Day

It's time again for Record Store Day (sadly not free like Free Comic Day or Free RPG Day, but you take what you can get). The fun starts on Saturday April 21, 2012.

Here in the Saint Petersburg, Florida area Bananas Music and Daddy Kool Records are taking part in the event. I believe that Daddy Kool is going to have live music as part of Record Store Day.

Here's the list of the special stuff that is being released just for Record Store day.

I'm looking forward to a few of the things, the Beach House and Regina Spektor singles look cool, and there is a single for Starman from David Bowie. There is all sorts of good stuff for all sorts of musical tastes.

Here's a couple of great quotes from artists who are involved, or have been in the past:

"My early record shopping experiences were my musical backdrop. It's not just the ability to touch, see and smell an album and the artwork...it's the fact that you are in a Real Place with Real People...and not just any people: other music-obsessed freaks like you. I discovered so many bands by just hanging out, talking to shopkeepers, getting recommendations from some random dude who was flipping through the Nick Cave bootleg box as fervently as I was. Every time I am in a different city on tour, I make a point to hit the indie retail record stores to see what they're spinning and selling, because i just LOVE being there...my own personal and sometimes anonymous church. You can't get that feeling sitting behind your computer, ever."

- Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls)

“Independent retail has always been the backbone of Porcupine Tree’s exposure in the US, and from the very beginning, the band was proactive in trying to associate with as many indie retail stores/chains as possible. We’ve always respected the aesthetics of the “pure” record store, and the importance of knowledgeable staff who can recommend great stuff to you because they truly love music and know what they’re talking about, and are not selling vacuum cleaners or washer/dryers in the next section over. Porcupine Tree would never have reached its level of retail exposure without the indie stores, we’ll always stand with them.”

- Steve Wilson (Porcupine Trees)

"The indie record shop is the nucleus of the nerd...the internet has it's temptations but physically digging for booty? there's no substitute."

- Ursula 1000 (DJ on ESL – Thievery Corporation label)

"Before all of them were shut down by itunes and downloading, my local indy record stores were perhaps the only reason life was worth living. It’s strange to think that there was a time that an album you've never heard of could be sold to you because of cool artwork and a successful listening station session. Every Tuesday, you'd walk in, say what's up to the same 3 people who are always there working, and feast your eyes upon the 'new releases' shelf. Seldom did I walk out with any money left. And I was fine with that. Now my city doesn't have any independent record stores."

- Mac Lethal

“We are drowning in a sea of Myspace, blather, and too much information. Music is everywhere and nowhere. The independent record store is the solution, a place staffed by friendly (or not) people who are actually paid to weed through this crap and help you find the good stuff.”

- Dean Wareham (Luna)

Valiant Comics Solicitations for July 2012

The July solicitations for Valiant Comics are out! This looks like another strong month for the company. I can't wait to get these books into my grubby hands.

BLOODSHOT #1
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Manuel Garcia & Arturo Lozzi
Cover by Arturo Lozzi
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by Mico Suayan
Variant Covers by David Aja & Esad Ribic

The Summer of Valiant continues!

It's the start of a new mission for one of comics' all-time best-selling superheroes in Bloodshot #1 — the first issue of a new ongoing series from acclaimed writer Duane Swierczynski (Immortal Iron Fist, Birds of Prey) and the lethal artistic tag team of Manuel Garcia (Checkmate) and Arturo Lozzi (Immortal Weapons)!

Your name is Angelo Mortalli. Your brother is trapped behind enemy lines and on the verge of — no. That's not right.  Your name is Raymond Garrison. You've retired from the dangers of the field, but a desperate plea from your oldest friend plunges you into a vicious firefight that — no. That's not right, either. You are Bloodshot.  You are the shade of gray that freedom requires. The perfect confluence of military necessity and cutting-edge technology. A walking WikiLeaks that is a reservoir of dirty secrets that could set the world on fire.  And you've just been captured.  

On sale July 11 • $3.99

HARBINGER #2
Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Khari Evans & Lewis LaRosa
Cover by Arturo Lozzi
Variant Cover by Doug Braithwaite

Outside the law. Inside your head. Welcome to the Harbinger Foundation.

The hunt for Peter Stanchek intensifies after an epic battle with Pittsburgh S.W.A.T forces him to use his powers out in the open. Now he faces the most difficult decision of his life. Continue to put his friends in harm’s way…or abandon them for the safety of Toyo Harada’s Harbinger Foundation?

On sale July 11• $3.99

X-O MANOWAR #3
Written by Robert Venditti
Art by Cary Nord
Cover by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic
Variant Cover by Mico Suayan

The smash hit series of the summer continues!

With the X-O Manowar armor now in his possession, all that stands between Aric and freedom is a legion of alien soldiers.  When he at last comes face to face with Commander Trill — the man responsible for his capture — the enormous power of the Manowar armor reveals its potential in a new and electrifying way. Can Aric lead his band of fellow prisoners off the Vine colony ship and back to Earth, or will their revolt be put down?  Who will live and who will die?

On sale July 18 • $3.99

About Valiant Entertainment
Valiant Entertainment is a character-based publishing and licensing company that owns and controls some of the most cherished comic characters ever createdacross all media worldwide. Since their creation in 1989, Valiant characters have sold 80 million comic books and have been the basis of a number of successful video game franchises. Valiant's extensive library includes over 1,500 characters, such as X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Harbinger,Shadowman, Ninjak and Archer & Armstrong. Visit:

ValiantUniverse.com
www.facebook.com/ValiantComics
www.twitter.com/ValiantComics

The Dogma of Appendix N in Fantasy Gaming

One thing that I never thought that AD&D/D&D was very good at was simulating the fiction of the fabled Appendix N. I don't think that it really needed to because, even as a kid, I always felt that the books in Appendix N were meant more as a guideline to inspirations than what the game was actually supposed to be about. This is supposition, but in hindsight I get the impression that after D&D came out Gygax & Co. were surprised to find out that their tastes in reading weren't as universal as they thought that they would be and that is what led to the inclusion of the Appendix N in AD&D 1e. It seems almost to be an early example of the geek social fallacies in action.

Here's the problem. What might have been intended as a "here's where our head is at with fantasy fiction, some stuff that we like that might make your D&D games cool" has been turned into a near dogmatic "THIS IS WHAT D&D IS SUPPOSED TO BE!!" by more than a few fans and publishers (who are obviously fans as well). The cries of "Appendix N Gaming!" seem to be calling for a game that never was, or at least a game that I can say that I never saw. I do think that if we are going to call for more Appendix N games, we definitely need to have more games inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Recent sad performances in the Box Office aside, Planetary Romance and Lost Worlds styles of games are sorely underrepresented in published RPGs. I understand the reticence of publishers, considering the overzealous nature of the Burroughs Estate when defending what it believes to be its rights.

Anyway.

I guess what I am saying is that we need to look at things like Appendix N for what it was intended to be: an inspiration upon the games of those who might not have read the same books as the Founding Fathers of gaming. The books listed therein are not the destination of a fantasy game, but they are the journey towards it.

Tweet and Heinsoo Craft 13th Age As A 'Love Letter' to Their Favorite Dungeon-Crawling Fantasy Game

13th Age, an upcoming RPG (currently in playtest) to be published by Pelgrane Press and designed by Jonathan Tweet (designer of Ars Magica, Over The Edge, Talislanta 3e and Lead Designer for D&D 3e) and Rob Heinsoo (who has designed and/or edited for Nexus: The Infinite City, Over The Edge and D&D 4e) is already gathering buzz and interest around the internet. A press release here has some of the details of the upcoming game.

A couple of interesting quotes from the press release:

"Our goal with 13th Age is to recapture the free-wheeling style of old-school gaming by creating a game with more soul and fewer technical details," said Tweet, who spoke alongside other game industry veterans on panels at Norwescon 35, a fantasy, science fiction and gaming convention in Seattle.

Tweet continued, "13th Age makes the play group’s campaign the center of attention, with a toolkit of rules that you can pick and choose from based on the kind of game you want to play. The mechanics of 13th Age draw from classic games as well as newer, story-based games."

 and

Although they can't yet share details about 13th Age with others, playtesters have been enthusiastic about it on online message forums. Playtester Adam Dray said, "Tonight, the one player who comes to the game for mostly social reasons said after a test combat, 'That was fun!' and engaged with her character in a deeper way than she ever has."

 Another playester, Eric Provost, said simply, "I want to play this until I can't play anymore."

I am sort of surprised that there isn't more buzz going on about this game. This sounds like the sort of thing that Wizards of the Coast is attempting to do with their upcoming edition of D&D. I'm about to do something uncommon for Bloggers in RPG circles and say that I can't really comment or compare and contrast these two games because I haven't seen the playtest documents for either. To see which of these games actually reaches these goals, I am going to have to wait for each of them to come out...just like the rest of you. I am curious to see what comes about with The 13th Age, if only because Tweet has created two of my favorite games in Ars Magica and Over The Edge.

A poster at the Something Awful boards did have this to say:

So yeah, there is a playtest going on. For awhile the NDA was simply don't distribute the files and a bunch of information was posted (see every post after this one). Now, it's don't talk about the game beyond the broadest of terms. Here's some of those broadest of terms. Keep in mind this is playtest and everything could change next round.

• I am enjoying this playtest.
  
  
• The playtest document is 200 pages of text, and extremely put together for such an early draft. The underlying framework is very exposed. There's a monster on a business card section as well as instructions on how to tweak monsters in general.
  
  
• There's lots of advice on how to play the game; everything from which classes have the least fiddly bits to track, to "this mechanic ties into our design goals this way; this mechanic ties into D20 traditions this way."
  
  
• The whole thing is riddled with optional rules. There are tons of "this is the rule, don't use it if you don't want to. Rob certainly doesn't," and, "if you ignore this rule, do X to fix the math."
  
  
• Combat is simplified. Maps are still used, but distances are relative and broad. Minions are faster to run, status effects and modifiers are simplified, combat moves faster after each round.
  
  
• This isn't a complete revision of D&D traditions (at least not yet). Alignments, ability scores and binary skill checks are all in, but have been reduced in importance, modified, or their most obnoxious elements have been otherwise diminished.

So, some interesting stuff. Let's see what happens with it, as it develops. I did manage to grab an exclusive look at a piece of pencil art from the upcoming game. This is an Orc Lord, which I am assuming is going to be a bad guy.

Hopefully we will hear more about this game in the months to come.

Law Versus Chaos in RPGs: The Universal Church of Truth in My Games

This is a sort of "posting of notes" or "working out the words to a tune in my head" type of post. If these ideas seem rambling, or not finished, that is probably true. I just want to get some of them out and onto "paper," probably mostly because of the online game that I am going to be running soon. Warning: Metaphor heavy posting follows the jump.