The kickstarter for Green Ronin’s Advanced Bestiary is in its final hours. The book, a creature compendium for the Pathfinder RPG, is funded with 901 backers and $41,000 (easily beating its goal of $20,000). The book was originally published in the waning days of D&D 3.5 and went on to provide inspiration for Paizo’s monstrous … Read more
The apocalypse is back on. Ken Hite’s The Day After Ragnarok is a campaign setting for Savage Worlds and Hero System that in which the Nazis’ managed to summon the Midgard Serpent in the waning days of World War II, only to see the Americans slay it with a nuclear bomb. The original campaign book, … Read more
I love Delta Green. I rarely get to run it, but Delta Green and its sequel, Countdown have more than earned their place on my game bookshelf. This is thanks to its modern horror take on the Chtulhu mythos and compelling scenarios like “The Night Floors”, in which a certain play dooms an entire apartment building.
I backed the Numenera Kickstarter today after I had a moment of panic over breakfast that I’d missed the deadline. The kickstarter for Monte Cook’s far-future science fantasy role-playing game has four days left to go, and has hit the amazing total of $338,450.
That’s just … huge. The kickstarter has broken all of Monte’s stretch goals and yielded an impressive line up of game materials. You can read about them on his web site. Of course, the question now becomes … can he deliver? Given his track record with Dungeons & Dragons, Arcana Unearthed, and Malhavoc Press in general, I’m confident he will. Or at least, I’m confident in the print materials. I’m not so sure about the character creator; that strikes me as being more complicated than he might originally have anticipated (just look at how long for D&D to get a worthwhile character creator).
It didn’t take long for Monte Cook to find something to do after his much-discussed departure from the D&D Next design team. He’s launched a Kickstarter to fund Numenera, a rules-light, far future role-playing game Here’s how he describes it: I’m really excited to announce that I’m working on a new game. It’s called Numenera, … Read more
A year after announcing they secured the license, Fantasy Flight Games released details on their upcoming Star Wars Role-Playing Game and launched a beta test. There’s not much in the way of details about how the game is played. Based on the beta FAQ, it apparently uses custom dice like Warhammer Fantasy; the beta book … Read more
Master mapmaker Chris West has launched a kickstarter project to fund “Deep Vistas”, his latest collection of maps. These six maps are focused on underground adventuring and include: Stalactite Gate, Slave Pits, Chapel of Scarabs, Dark Elf Courtyard, Silent Garden and Chasm Bridge. They’re gorgeous looking maps, and although they’re obviously fantasy themed, and have a very “Vault of the Drow” feeling to them, it’d be easy enough to use them in horror or science fiction campaigns as well. There are different funding options but the best is likely the $36 for all three double-sided maps.
The Financial Times is running an article about German/euro-style board games such as Settlers of Catan and Carcassone that covers why the games are so popular in German, how they’ve expanded beyond its borders to the UK and America, and the sustainability of this niche market.
It’s a good read; I think there’s a real concern here that the market is being over-saturated with board games, as the Germans pump out more and more new games. There’s all the makings of a bubble there (and if we’re talking bubbles, then it’s already happened). But while the German market may be coming supersaturated, I think there’s still plenty of room to grow in the United States. Heck, I think they’ve only barely touched on what’s possible here — sure my gaming group has been playing these kinds of board games for years, but the larger population still things board game equals Monopoly or Sorry.
There’s been a bunch of good news on the superhero role-playing front lately. Green Ronin has announced Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition and DC Adventures, which is a DC Comics-based superhero RPG.
The first DC Comics book, DC ADVENTURES drops in August 2010. Three subsequent books detailing heroes and villains will be released later this year and in 2011. Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition will use the same ruleset, and be released in Fall 2011.
At the same time Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion is now available in print (it had been out in PDF earlier this year).
Fantasy Flight Games has announced the Deathwatch Role-Playing Game, the much-anticipated third core rule book for Warhammer 40k. Players take on the role of Deathwatch Marines fighting a desperate war to restore Imperial oversight of the Jericho Reach. Space Marines are one of the most iconic aspects of the 40K universe, and I know a … Read more
