Archived News - January, 2001
Rolemaster Rebirth?
010131 - A group of Rolemaster fans is attempting to raise capital in an effort to acquire the publishing rights from the bankruptcy court. Their home page can be found here. A statement of their intent can be found here. Note: Their web designer should, IMHO, have his keyboard taken away. Apparently this person thinks it's really neat to have pages reload every ten seconds. If the "clicking" doesn't drive you crazy, then you'll be annoyed by the fact that it's continuously filling your "back" button's history.
Strong Comeback for Judges Guild
010131 - Judges Guild, one of the most venerable companies in the industry, now has a large number of items back in stock! Items include: Fantastic Wilderlands Beyond, Book of Treasure Maps, The Thieves of Fortress Bababaskor, Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Of Skulls and Scrapfaggot Green, Pirates of Hagrost, and Frontier Forts of Kelnore. Also, a number of back issues of Pegasus, Judges Guild Journals, and The Dungeoneer are available. (From the "shameless plug" department: All these items can be ordered through RPG Realms, who kindly sponsor the RPG Gazette.)
Free Rune Preview Available
013101 - This March, Atlas Games will be releasing an RPG based on the Rune computer game. You can download a free 22 page preview from Atlas' Rune page.
GenCon 2001 Pre-Registration
013101 - You can now preregister online for GenCon 2001. The form can be found here. (Actually, you could do this for a while, I just haven't reported it before.)
MageKnight Updates
013101 - WizKids has new MageKnight rules available for free download at their Web site. Also available are an updated FAQ and Errata listing.
Sega pulls plug on DreamCast
013101 - Not that this has anything to do with role-playing games, but Sega announced today that they will be discontinuing the DreamCast game console. The console will be marked down to $99 dollar this Sunday, and the company will continue to release games for the next year.
Gazette Errata
010131 - Special thanks to RPG Gazette reader Gordon Hundley from the UK for catching a mistake! In the "Traveller Short Adventures at Printers" story below I mistakenly stated that the product was "...the third release in the Collector's Edition." Gordon sent me a nice e-mail to remind me that this is the fourth release. The first three were: Books 0-8: The Classic Books, Supplements 1-13 The Classic Supplements, and Adventures 1-13 The Classic Adventures.
What makes it worse, it that I actually own all those books! :)
I've corrected the story now. Thanks again, Gordon!
If anyone else ever catches an error, feel free to drop me an e-mail! (The address can be found on our Contact Info page.)
Gold Rush Holds Hero Supplements
010130 - Gold Rush Games has made the most logical choice and decided to hold the release of several supplements for the Hero System until the release of the 5th edition.
InQuest Gamer Fan Awards Voting
010130 - Time is running out if you want to vote your favorite game of 2000 for an Inquest Gamer Fan Award. Deadline for voting is February 28, 2001. You can vote here.
Conspiracy GURPS?
010130 - It looks like Conspiracy X may soon sprout a GURPS supplement. Eden Studios has announced a May, 2001, release for GURPS: Conspiracy X. I think this is the first time I've seen a GURPS supplement published by anyone other than Steve Jackson Games.
Eden Player Registry Available
010130 - Players of any of Eden Studios many games may be happy to know that there is now an online player registry. It allows players of any of Eden's games to find others of their ilk. It can be found here.
Space: 1999 Episodes released on DVD
010130 - If you're a GM for science fiction campaigns like me, you probably share my love for old SF television series. If that's the case, you'll be interested in learning that the first six episodes of Space: 1999 were released on DVD today.
Champions: New Millennium 2nd Edition
010130 - Hero Games is now selling copies of Champions: New Millennium (2nd Edition). What else needs to be said?
GW Gets Lord of the Rings License
010130 - Games Workshop has acquired the license to develop and market a tabletop wargame based on the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie by New Line Cinema. The rules will be written by Rick Priestley himself, who is probably best known as the creator of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. You can read the press release here.
Note: Much like the story below, this one technically is a miniatures combat game, and not role-playing, but based on the feedback I've received so far, you want this kind of news, too!
SJG Announces Ogre Miniatures Policy
010130 - Steve Jackson Games announced that they will only sell individual Ogre Miniatures directly, and not through normal distribution chains. The company claims that it's not trying to bypass your local gaming store and that purchasing these items from them will not result in "significant" savings.
Note: I almost didn't run this story because Ogre is a "miniatures combat" game, and not a role-playing game! In the end I figured that all the "miniatures combat" gamers I know are also role-players, so I ran the story. Feel free to send me e-mail and tell me if I made the right (or wrong) decision!
Return of The Medieval Bestiary
010129 - Atlas Games has shipped The Medieval Bestiary: Revised Edition, a supplement of animals and legendary creatures for Ars Magica. Look for it in stores soon!
Cute and Fuzzy Seizure Monsters Preview
010129 - Guardians of Order has a sneak preview (in .pdf format) of material from their upcoming Cute and Fuzzy Seizure Monsters supplement to Big Eyes, Small Mouth. The preview can be found on their home page.
Jovian Chronicles Rulebook Available
010129 - Dream Pod 9 has also restocked the core rulebook for their Jovian Chronicles line.
Heavy Gear Restocks
010129 - Dream Pod 9 has restocked both the Northern Vehicle Compendium and the Southern Vehicle Compendium for Heavy Gear.
Traveller Short Adventures at Printers
010126 (updated 010128) - Reliable sources reveal that Far Future Enterprises has sent Traveller Collectors' Edition: Short Adventures to the printers. The book should be ready to ship by mid-February.
This is the fourth release in the Collector's Edition, but the first to feature previously unpublished material. The new material is made of of two adventures: Memory Alpha, and A Plague of Perruques. Other content includes all six Traveller Double Adventures (12 adventure in all), JTAS Special Supplements 1 through 3, as well as material from The Traveller Book and Deluxe Traveller.
SJG Announces Award Nominees
010127 - Steve Jackson Games announced the company's nominations for this year's Origins Awards. They include GURPS Steampunk, and Cardboard Heroes Dungeon Floors. Full details can be found here.
D&D NPC Background Generator
010126 - Wizards of the Coast has an online script to generate backgrounds for non-player characters in Dungeons & Dragons. You can find it here.
Tyranids to be Unleashed
010126 - Warhammer 40,000 fans will be delighted to know that Games Workshop will release Codex: Tyranids on Monday.
Hero acquires Witchblade License
010124 - Hero Games has acquired the license to produce a role-playing game based on the Witchblade series of comic books from Top Cow Productions. If the name sounds familiar to you, but you're not a comic fan, you may be familiar with the TNT television series which was also based on the comic.
Eden Studios hires John Goff
010125 - Well, sometimes the headline just says it all, don't you think? But just in case you weren't paying attention when you read it, Eden Studios has hired John Goff to be the line director for their Conspiracy X line.
FASA to Close Doors
010125 - FASA announced that they will be closing their doors on April 30, 2001. The company will continue to sell inventory until that date. FASA is one of the old timers in the industry, having been around since the early 1980's. For those who like to wallow in pain, the official announcement can be read here.
The closest thing to a silver lining is that Battletech, Shadowrun, and part of the Ral-Partha line are being acquired by Wizkids, best known for their MageKnight line.
Steve Jackson Rants
010124 (Updated 010125) - Steve Jackson, the founder of Steve Jackson Games, went on a public rant (his word, not mine) today, complaining about new policies enacted by the Origins Award Committee. At issue is a new rule that states that each company or author can only nominate one product in each category. Steve Jackson feels this gives an unfair advantage to larger game companies because they will no longer have products "splitting the vote" and competing against each other.
More d20 Adventures
010124 - Fiery Dragon Productions is planning a February release for The Silver Summoning, the next in their "Silver" line of d20 adventures. Perhaps more interesting is the company's marketing idea that they call Runes of Passage. From what I understand, certain products include increased adventure support through password protected web sites.
Hero is Delayed
010124 - Hero Games also announced that release of the upcoming Hero System Fifth Edition has been officially delayed until late the GAMA trade show in late March.
Return of the Ultimate Supermage
010124 - Hero Games is releasing a new version of The Ultimate Supermage, which is expected to be available in February.
Colored Fudge
010124 - Grey Ghost Games announced that Fudge dice are now available in five new colors.
Cthulhu Report
010124 - Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu rulebook has gone to the printers for a reprint. It's always a good thing in this industry when a product sells well enough to require reprints! In addition, they've started shipping Unseen Masters, a set of three mini-campaigns set in modern New York.
When Sparks Fly
010124 - Cumberland Games announced the availability another free set of Sparks. Sparks are "printable miniatures" formatted as True-Type fonts.
Games that Rise from the Dead
010124 - Eden Studios has started taking votes for this year's Zombie Awards. For those who don't know, a Zombies are awards given to games that have been cancelled by one company, but then raised from the dead by another company.
Elric of d20
010124 - Chaosium has revealed that Worlds of the Eternal Champion: Dragon Lords of Melnibone, a Young Kingdoms sourcebook for the d20 System, is in the final steps of preparations and is planned to go to the printers in a couple weeks.
Gridiron Deals
010123 - Wizards of the Coast announced today that they've signed NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper to help market their upcoming NFL Showdown card game. So far there's no word of big name endorsements for their upcoming NBA Showdown.
Whither Trek?
010123 - It's been nearly a month since Decipher's license for the Star Trek franchise went into effect, and there's still no sign of the next RPG that will boldly go. The company is proudly advertising its CCG line, but is absolutely silent on the RPG front. But fear not, brave gamers, for your flat-footed reporter is busily tracking down this story.
The Lost City
010122 - Steve Jackson Games continues their quest to play GURPS in every possible setting. The company today announced that GURPS Atlantis has gone into playtest. SCUBA anyone?
Past and Future
010120 - QuikLink Interactive is now including a reprint of the first three books of the Classic Traveller line. Books 1, 2, and 3 are now bound together as a single 5.5" x 8.5" perfect bound volume. It includes a new introduction by Traveller creator Marc Miller. It's bundled in their aptly titled Traveller Edition of GRiP. (GRiP is a program to allow gamers to play their favorite pen-and-paper games over the net.)
