Archived News - April, 2001
Origins Awards Voting Opens
010430 - Online voting opens tomorrow for the 2000 Origins Awards. There's a new website just for the occasion.
Warlord CCG Ships
010430 - Oops. This one was hidden in my e-mail box from a couple days ago. Alderac Entertainment Group has released their latest card game, Warlord: Saga of the Storm. It should be available in stores now.
FASA Wrap-up Update
010430 - The end draws ever nearer: FASA made this announcement today.
"Got Flesh?" Buttons
010430 - Eden Studios has started a new promotional campaign for All Flesh Must Be Eaten. If you order an All Flesh Must Be Eaten product from their website, the company will include a free "Got Flesh?" button. I was very pleased to see that retailers are not be excluded from the promotion, and they should check the company's web page for more details.
Uplift 2, The Survey
010430 - Stefan Jones, author of GURPS Uplift, is looking for feedback from prospective buyers of an upcoming second edition. Read the details here.
Treasury of Archaic Names to Ship
010428 - Judges' Guild announced that the Treasury of Archaic Names will ship on May 1st.
Oriental Adventures Returns
010427 - Wizards of the Coast has posted their updated release schedule, including and October release date for the Third Edition version of Oriental Adventures, which looks like it will include a new campaign setting based on the Legend of the Five Rings line. Other notable releases include: Manual of the Planes, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers, and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
Gear Krieg RPG
010427 - Dream Pod 9 also announced that a tentative release date of late May for the Gear Krieg RPG.
Dream Pod 9 Shipments
010427 - Dream Pod 9 has shipped both Colonial Expeditionary Force Sourcebook for Heavy Gear and Word of the Dancers for Tribe 8.
Feng Shui Price Hike
010427 - Atlas Games has announced that the price of the Feng Shui hardcover core rulebook will increase almost 17%, to $35. The price hike goes into effect on June 1.
Frieza Ships
010427 - It looks as though R. Talsorian Games has shipped out Dragon Ball Z: The Frieza Saga. Look for it in your game stores soon!
Voyager Countdown: 5
010425 - Counting tonight's episode, there are only five more episodes left in the Star Trek: Voyager series. "Endgame," the two-hour series finale, will air on May 23rd. What does this have to do with gaming? Not a whole lot, directly. Except every gamer I know is also a Trek fan of one sort or another...
The End is Nigh
010425 - Pulsar Games has posted a 2-page .pdf sneak preview of their upcoming World's End, an alternative-present post-apocalyptic campaign world for their Blood of Heroes RPG. The link to the download can be found on this page.
Wounds Unlimited Folds
010424 - Wounds Unlimited announced that they are ceasing publication--at least "as an attempt at a money-making venture." You can read the announcement.
Sovereign Stone turns d20
010424 - I got a nice e-mail from Sovereign Press today confirming the rumors that they are converting the world of Sovereign Stone--created by the famous fantasy artist Larry Elmore--to d20. Their plan is to release two hardback products at GenCon 2001, and then aggressively follow these up with source books and ancillary products.
Their website has information for those who wish to learn more about the world, and a link to join their YahooGroups mailing list where they will be discussing and testing their creations. All are invited to join.
Aurora Preview
010423 - Aurora Games has an online preview of their self-titled science-fiction game. The preview is more of a teaser--just random excerpts from the book, though the things I wanted to see the most (maybe a sample character or just a hint what kind of dice mechanics/task resolution are in use) were completely absent. Still, it never hurts to check it out... You just might like it.
Supermegatopia Preview
010423 - Team Frog has an 8-page .pdf preview of their upcoming Supermegatopia RPG. Looks pretty cool to me!
Comic Writers to Game at Cons
010423 - D6Legend, producers of the West End Games line of DC Universe Roleplaying Game, are joining DC Comics at WonderCon and the Pittsburgh Comicon to present the chance for fans to play alongside three of the most popular writers in comics. At both shows fans in attendance can enter for a chance to win a spot in a demonstration version of the DC roleplaying game. Devin Grayson (Batman: Gotham Knights, User) and Greg Rucka (Detective Comics) will be participating in Oakland, CA, at Wonder Con and Ed Brubaker (Batman) will be on hand for the Pittsburgh show.
More details can be found in the full press release.
DreamMyst is dead--Long live Jeocom
010423 - The gamer-friendly IRC servers formerly known as DreamMyst.net have lost their domain name. Those servers that were once dreammyst.net have now joined JeoCom.net and have kept their support for such gamer-friendly features as /npc and /ambiance commands. If you're looking for gaming chat, or if you're a GRiP user, set your IRC client (or GRiP-Net software) to irc.jeocom.net.
Beta Die Roller
010422 - Tony Moller is looking for people to beta test his die rolling program. The program has version for both Mac and Windows, and supports a number of games with unusual rolling systems. From a business point of view I'd like to know how he got licenses to use all those trademarks and logos...
Anyway, if you want to check it out, go to his web site.
What's New 2...Growf!
010422 - When I first started gaming I would eagerly await each month for the new issue of The Dragon if for no other reason than to read "What's New with Phil & Dixie." Each month they would promise us their expose on "Sex & D&D" but would always get sidetracked.
Years later I bought the Dragon Magazine 25th Anniversary CD just so I could read all those wonderful scripts all over again.
Now Studio Foglio has Volume 2 of the What's New with Phil & Dixie Collection for sale from its website!
Now if I could only find the Fineous Fingers book...
Battlemats are back
010422 - Chessex has finally gotten its assortment of vinyl Battlemats and Megamats back in stock.
Animated KODT Returns
010422 - Kenzer & Co. has re-posted the truly wonderful Knights of the Dinner Table Flash Animations. If you have not checked these out before, you owe it to yourself to do so.
Girl Genius Card Game Ships
010416 (Updated 010422) - Cheapass Games has shipped the Girl Genius Card Game, based on Phil Foglio's comic series. (Note: The web site is useless. It promises more details about the game as the release date gets closer, but I guess that never happened.)
Update: I wonder if the good folks over at Cheapass Games are readers of this site. They've updated the Girl Genius Card Game web page to now include a very short synopsis of the game. Thanks, guys!
SRD (Finally) Released... Almost!
010418 - The Source Reference Document (SRD)--that's the basic rules that make up the d20 System--has finally been released under the open gaming license. Sort of. Only the first eight sections have been released as I type this. Go to the Open Gaming Foundation for the SRD.
Interestingly enough, despite Wizards' claims elsewhere to the contrary, I didn't see any provision in the OGL that actually forbids a publisher from including character creation rules. The d20 website says this is forbidden, but d20 is a separate license from the OGL... Is there a lawyer in the house?
In related news, Wizards of the Coast have started a new d20 page. Check it out if you want.
GURPS Discworld & Traveller Supplements Ships
010418 - Steve Jackson Games has shipped GURPS Discworld Also, a supplement for GURPS Discworld. Also shipping were two supplement for GURPS Traveller: Deck Plan 3 Empress Marava-Class Far Trader and Planetary Survey 1 - Kamsii/Core.
RPG.net Legal Defense Fund
010416 - The kind folks at The Gaming Outpost have started a RPG.net Legal Defense Fund to help the Antuneses raise the necessary fund to continue their defense in the ongoing lawsuit over RPG.net.
Never one around when you need one
010416 - GURPS Cops has entered playtest. I don't know what that mean in terms of release date, as I've seen Steve Jackson Games go to print after only a few weeks, and I've also seen playtest files languish there for (literally) years...
GRiP Beta Release
010412 - Brave GRiP users can now download a beta release of version 3.1.73. New features include: a new interface that integrates GRIPNet into iGM and iPC; the ability for Gamemasters to list their active games in GRIPNet, and for players to automatically connect to the game by double-clicking on the game listing; GRIPMaps can now be saved as a bitmap (BMP) image; and improvements to the Character Sheet Designer.
Digital World of Darkness
010412 - Interplay's Digital Mayhem division announced plans to develop interactive entertainment projects based on White Wolf's Hunter: The Reckoning line. The exclusive multi-year agreement with White Wolf will allow Digital Mayhem to develop, publish and distribute interactive entertainment projects based on the characters and fiction from the World of Darkness universe. Announcements regarding specific platforms, game titles and features will be released in the weeks ahead.
For more information read the full press release.
Feng Shui Face
010412 - Atlas Games has shipped In Your Face Again, a 128-page anthology of scenarios for the Feng Shui RPG.
Parlez-vous français?
010411 - Mad Irishman Productions--makers of the finest character sheets on the 'net--now have French versions of some of their D&D sheets.
Hero 4th Edition PDF
010411 - Hero Games is making the 4th Edition Hero System Rulebook available as a $19.95 .pdf download.
25mm Floor Plans
010411 - Dirk Collins is offering free "print and play" 25mm floor plans at his web site. are available. His "license" even allows for commercial use! His plan is to offer each floor plan free for 28 days, after which it will be taken off the web to be made available for a nominal charge.
My observations: The fact that D&D's 3rd edition has moved from 25mm to 30mm scale does not affect the usability of these maps. The maps are a nicely done, but the hexes have a skewed aspect ratio that makes them more "tall" than they are "wide." Still, they're free, and can help out a GM in a pinch.
Upcoming Chaosium
010411 - Chaosium has made known that they are working on a 20th Anniversary Edition of Call of Cthulhu, and a 5th edition for Stormbringer.
Blood Magic Errata
010410 - White Wolf has posted errata for Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy.
Feat Index
010410 - Wizards of the Coast has posted a rather nifty index of feats for Dungeons & Dragons.
No Room at the Inn
010405 - The announcement has been made--all of GenCon's "official" housing is now booked.
Centuri Knights Preview
010404 - Guardians of Order have posted a preview of Centuri Knights, a SF sourcebook for their Big Eyes, Small Mouth system. You can grab it from their download page.
Psionic Beasties
010403 - Wizards of the Coast is offering some psionic monsters available as a .pdf download. Grab them now, if you're into that sort of thing!
Dominion Armoury Preview
010402 - Dominion Games has posted a preview of the Armoury of their upcoming Dominion Rules 2.0.
Mad Irishman's Adventure Record
010402 - The best character sheet artist of all time, Patrick M. Murphy, better known as The Mad Irishman has posted his latest creation: Adventure Record for 3E.
Another Free Adventure
010402 - After skipping a month, Wizards of the Coast has posted another of their monthly free original adventures.
Alliance Grows
010401 - Alliance Game Distributors announced that they have acquired the majority of assets and liabilities of Berkeley, California-based Berkeley-Topline Distributors (BTL) and its sister company Sports Memories Inc. (SMI).
In addition, Alliance has also reached an agreement to purchase selected assets of San Marcos, California-based Barchetta Distribution, a deal that is expected to close within the next thirty days.
You can read the full press release here.
Wizards has April's Fool Fun
040101 - Wizards of the Coast has gone all out and posted a whole "April's Fools" home page! (Note: I'm not sure if this link will still work after the first). Great stuff! I especially enjoyed the "Wizards of the Coast to Buy France" headline.
Ubicorm IAC Games
040101 - Ubicorm appears to be a new bargain gaming company offering d20 supplements.
Gamer's Usenet Archive
040101 - MsgBot.com is offering an archive of gaming related USENET newsgroups. This will be useful to those of you who used to rely on DejaNews before they sold out.
Stories older than this are in the RPG Gazette Archives.
