Archived News - August, 2001
Vigilante Ships ... sort of
010831 - Steve Jackson Games is shipping Vigilante. "Shipping" is a relative word, as the company says that the game is not available in stores but only from its website. I bet that makes the retailers happy. And there's absolutely no description of the game available. Is it an RPG? A board game? A supplement? A dice game? Dunno. But whatever it is, the cost is $10.00.
Traveller Fiction
010830 - The official T20 (that's the version of Traveller for the d20 System) site has two Traveller short stories by the rule-book's author Martin J. Dougherty. Check out Pandora's Box and Diplomatic Extraction.
MicroTactix starts Referral Program
010830 - MicroTactix has started a referral program. By putting a banner on your website, you can get 5% of whatever someone happens to buy from MicroTactix within 24 hours of him clicking the banner. If I read this right, you need to have $50 credit before the company will mail you a check, which means that you need to generate $1000 in sales. The average cost for a MicroTactix product is $10, so you will need to generate about 100 sales before you see the money.
Fool's Paradise at Printer's
010830 - Fool's Paradise, a scenario for Principia Malefex, has gone off to the printer's. The book should be available in September or October.
Geo-Hex Sale
010830 - Geo-Hex is offering a 20% discount on some of its product line. Its products are often over $100, so a 20% discount can be significant! Check out the specials here.
Power Failure attacks RPG Gazette
010830 - A power failure at our server's location brought us down for about 15 hours last night and this morning. The power is back, though, and so are we...
Heart of Oak Reprinted
010829 - Fantasy Games Unlimited has re-released Heart of Oak, a set of miniature rules for the Age of Sail. I might have to pick this one up, as I'm halfway through the Hornblower series now...
Chaosium Character Sheet Downloads
010829 - Chaosium has created a downloads page filled with all sorts of character sheets for its games.
Free JAGS Adventure: Season of Worms
010829 - The JAGS folks have just released a free survival horror adventure entitled Season of Worms. This is a one-shot cinematic adventure where the players get two sets of pre-generated characters: the popular, arrogant high school students who venture up to the abandoned house (and all die in the second act!) and the group of outcasts who have to try to survive the horror they have awakened.
FarScape RPG
010829 - Alderac Entertainment Group has acquired the rights to make an RPG based on FarScape on the Sci-Fi Channel. The game will use the d20 System and is expected to ship this winter.
Combaticus Almost Done
010828 - The really cool folks at Alien Menace stroked my ego by giving me a mention, so it's only fair that I give them today's top story. While I can't be bought, I can be flattered! :)
Combaticus, the company's upcoming combat game/RPG supplement, is in final play-test and is nearing completion.
CyberCon goes Quarterly
010828 - CyberCon is now going to be a quarterly event. The next one is planned for October 19th through the 21st. Details can be found at the website.
Floral Design Contest
010828 - Neal Levin of Dark Quest Games sent me an e-mail to let me know about the company's Floral Design Contest. Yes, it's RPG related. Prizes are gift certificates for Amazon.com.
Hasbro/WoTC Realignment
010828 - Hasbro announced that Dave Wilson, currently the President of Hasbro Games, now has the added responsibility overseeing the Games segment made up of Hasbro Games and Wizards of the Coast. Vince Caluori, Wizards of the Coast's President and Chief Operating Officer, will report directly to Mr. Wilson.
Hmmmmm....
Deadlands D20 and Weird Wars Character Sheets
010821 - Pinnacle has posted a .pdf character sheet for its Deadlands D20 and Weird Wars RPGs.
White Wolf releases Adventure
010821 - White Wolf has released its Adventure RPG. It should already be on the shelves of your local gaming store.
StuperPowers Deluxe Quick-Start
010821 - Wingnut Games has posted free quick-start rules for its upcoming second edition of StuperPowers Deluxe.
Free Zorro Preview
010820 - Gold Rush Games announced the release of The Legacy of Zorro Quick Play Rules. The 8-page .pdf booklet is available as a free download from the company's Zorro download page. It a very scaled-down version of the rules, four pre-generated characters and a sample adventure.
Also available for download are some free cardstock figures and "The Bandit's Lair," a free 8-page adventure.
NBOS releases Fractal Mapper 6.0
010816 - NBOS Software has released version 6.0 of its Fractal Mapper program.
Green Ronin plans Arcana
010816 - Green Ronin is working on Arcana: Societies of Magic another d20 System sourcebook. This one details six different organizations that employ unique styles of magic to achieve their ends. The description of each society includes information of the group's history, goals, hierarchy, and leaders, as well as a map of its headquarters. New skills, feats, spells and prestige classes make it a complete package.
Arcana is currently planned as an October release.
Alien Menace drops Online Playtesting
010815 - Alien Menace announced that it will no longer be doing "the whole Internet based group playtest thing." Details can be found on the company's web page.
Alderac releases Evil
010815 - Alderac Entertainment Group has released Evil, a d20 System sourcebook for playing on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. It includes new prestige classes, spells, and clerical domains. More information can be found here.
Munchkin Card Submissions
010815 - Steve Jackson Games has set up a card-suggestion page for a possible add-on or sequel to its Munchkin card game.
Talsorian to Publish Gundam
010815 - R. Talsorian Games has announced that it will be publishing a game supplement for Gundam. More details can be found here.
Chain of Being Preview
010809 - I received an e-mail from Dan Geyer of Limestone Publishing letting me know about his company and its upcoming RPG Chain of Being. The game is a humorous fantasy role-playing game set in a rather unique fantasy world. It uses a custom gaming system (being a rules-junkie, I'm intrigued by what I've read about it so far), but will also be compatible with the ubiquitous d20 System. It is set to be released in the summer of 2002.
You can follow the link to see the previews.
Dark Tower Released
010808 - RPG Realms has released its long-awaited D20 System conversion of Judges' Guild's classic Dark Tower adventure. Look for it soon in your local gaming store.
Trancendence 3rd Edition Released
010808 - Dark Dreams has released Transcendence, 3rd Edition. This is a free dark-fantasy RPG built using the d20 System and published under the Open Gaming License.
"Iron DM" Contest
010808 - PlanetADND.com is hosting a 500-question trivia contest for DM's. The winner of the Iron DM contest will receive a copy of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
GULLIVER v5.2 & GULLIVER Lite Released
010808 - The mysterious entity known as T. Bone has released version 5.2 of his(?) GULLIVER rules rules set for building and gaming creatures of all shapes and sizes in GURPS. He(?) also released GULLIVER LITE v1.0, a 24-page condensed version of the full rules set.
GURPS Steam-Tech Cover
010808 - Steve Jackson Games is offering a preview of the cover for its upcoming GURPS Steam-Tech accessory.
Star Wars Episode II Named
010807 - There's a story at the official Star Wars site saying that the name for the next movie is Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. And here I was hoping for Killer Clones from Outer Space. :)
The story also gives a plot-line synopsis that sounds an awfully lot like the first movie...
Campaign Magazine Released
010806 - The folks at Corsair Publishing released the first issue of Campaign magazine at GenCon. I got to flip through an issue, and I liked what I saw...
Forbidden Kingdoms Intro Kit
010806 - OtherWorld Creations is offering the Forbidden Kingdoms Intro Kit as a free (20 megabyte!!!) download. You can find the link for the download on the company's homepage.
Harry Potter TCG launches on Tuesday
010806 - Wizards of the Coast will be launching the new Harry Potter Trading Card Game in London tomorrow. You can read the full press release here.
All Flesh Pop-Under Ad
010806 - You would think that the people at Eden Studios would know better, especially with all the negative press that X-10 has been getting for its obnoxious pop-under ads, but when you visit the All Flesh must be Eaten website you get a very annoying pop-under for AFMBE products from Cafe Press. *sigh*
New The Lord of the Rings RPG Demonstrated
010805 - Decipher was also demonstrating its new The Lord of the Rings RPG. It uses the same basic system as the Star Trek RPG outlined below, only with a magic system, of course.
New Star Trek RPG Demonstrated
010805 - I'm back from GenCon. I saw lots of things there, but the thing I was most eager to see was the demo of Decipher's new Star Trek RPG. It's a skill-based system that uses a basic 2d6+skill+attribute modifier+other modifiers to try to meet or beat a target number based on the task's difficulty. The die roll is "open ended" so that if you roll double-sixes, you roll another die and add that to your total. As long as your keep rolling sixes, you get to roll another die.
All-in-all the system looks good. My initial thought is that it lacks some of the elegance of the old Icon system, but initial thoughts can be deceptive. After all, my initial thought of the Icon system was rather negative, but I grew to be rather fond of it as I played it!
Poul Anderson Dies
010802 - This has almost nothing to do with gaming, but fantasy and science fiction author Poul Anderson has died.
Guardians of Order announces Silver Age Sentinels
010802 - Guardians Of Order announced it will produce Silver Age Sentinels, a superhero RPG using the company's Tri-Stat System. The new game will invoke the themes and ideals of Silver Age comics (such as heroism, teamwork, and good versus evil) placed in a modern context, though it can also be used for a wide range of superhuman campaign types, including: far-future Earth, high-fantasy, World War II, modern-day urban darkness, near-future fascist America, Gold Age pulp, Victorian steampunk.
Don't hold you breath, though. The game isn't expected to ship for a full year. Starting next month, though, GOO's website will feature a section on to showcase the creation of the game. The section will be updated monthly, with production art, designer notes, web chats, character stats, and much more.
RPG Gazette Needs a Logo
010801 - I'm looking for a logo for RPG Gazette. Being a free service, I can't really pay anything for one, but I'm thinking about picking up a little something to offer as a "prize" to whomever comes up with a logo that I like and can use. Look for something in the next week or so...
GenCon Begins
010801 - GenCon officially began about three-and-a-half hours ago as I write this. I'll be trolling the dealer room on Saturday to bring you the lastest. Look for my update on Sunday.
DragonStar Web Page
010801 - Fantasy Flight Games has started a web page for DragonStar, a gaming universe for the d20 System that blends classic fantasy with star-faring science fiction. The product is expected to ship in November.
Dream Pod 9 Ships Products
010801 - Dream Pod 9 has shipped Terranovan Spaceship Compendium (for Heavy Gear) and the Nomads Sourcebook (for Jovian Chronicles).
Atlas Ships Products
010801 - Atlas Games has shipped Maiden Voyage (for the D20 System) and Crouching Wizard, Smashing Hammer (for Rune) to its distributors. Look for them in your local game shop soon.
SJG Ships Products
010801- Steve Jackson Games has shipped a number of products, including GURPS Atomic Horror (Second Edition), GURPS Screampunk ( a 32-page mini-sourcebook that mixes of horror and GURPS Steampunk), GURPS Cabal (a horror/conspiracy source book), and GURPS Traveller Planetary Survey 5: Tobibak.
Stories older than this are in the RPG Gazette Archives.
