Review: “Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions”
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there are only cryptic, pseudo-feudal, mostly ineffective systems of law. The entirety of the text of Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions, is based on this premise: as a Rogue Trader, you can undress and run rapturously naked around the house of the divine Emperor of Mankind, and He will be really disappointed in you, you stupid twit, but He won’t do much about it. Until at some point you might be so naked that the neighbors may call the cops. You will reach a new level of streaking debauchery, hitherto unforeseen by anyone. People’s eyes will melt at your glorious nudesensce.
And then a skull-faced maniac with arm-claws will murder you in your sleep.
Hostile Acquisitions is a very useful book for the Rogue Trader line because it helps define the actual power of a rogue trader. With the main book, you knew that the rogue traders were extremely powerful and exorbitantly wealthy individuals given power to conduct business and colonize worlds in the far reaches of space, with the blessings of the Imperium. Though you were essentially above the law, you probably didn’t know much about Imperial law (as a player) other than the pervasive “chaos and xenos are bad, and if I talk to them I’ll get cooties, and then I’ll be killed by a skull-faced maniac.” [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication: Book Review of “Low Town”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, and actually getting work done. Whereas I normally review books in a vacuum, this time I am reviewing a book and weaving some lessons learned into my own Pain of Publication series.
Low Town is the debut novel of fellow Dickinson alumni, Daniel Polansky. Mr. Polansky knew many of the same people I did in college, but even in a small liberal arts school like Dickinson our paths never crossed. It’s a damn shame because Low Town is a rollicking mash up of two great genres: noir and fantasy. The author skillfully weaves a first person narrative in a way that vibrantly develops the setting into a living, breathing, festering, and foul supporting character unto itself.
Setting
The book is named after the impoverished underbelly of the Imperial Capital and the vast majority of the action takes place in this fetid urban sprawl. The book follows a man simply known as The Warden: an independent drug dealer with a wonderfully checkered past. He ends up caught in a tangled web of child murders where his own conscience and the machinations of others forces him into solving one last mystery. Although we only see things through the eyes of The Warden, we get a good feel for the supporting cast and an incredible appreciation for the misery that is Low Town. The author pulls no punches depicting graphic violence and frequent drug use. There is a sense of history to the world, but the author walks the tight rope of unfurling the past slowly and only inasmuch as it bears an impact on the story of The Warden. Proper nouns and slang give Low Town its own feel without impairing the readability of the novel. However, only three or four characters besides The Warden manage to stick out. This did not bother me though, as the same word count that often goes into character development was instead packaged as setting development. Low Town was great, but if you like your fantasy noble then stay out of Low Town. [Read the rest of this article]
Review and Giveway: Dungeon Mapp for iPad
The iPad has proven to be a pretty handy tool for roleplaying games. Previous articles have talked about some of the common uses, and I’ve found in the months since getting mine that it’s a lot easier to carry around a gaming library with me, and as a result, I’m more inclined to buy gaming PDFs. However, they’re still not necessarily a platform to run tabletop RPGs from, despite having many of the functions.
Dungeon Mapp (iTunes link) fills in a missing piece of that equation for those who play RPGs on a grid, most notably the past few editions of Dungeons & Dragons and its spinoffs. Dungeon Mapp is an app for the iPad that lets a DM build dungeon maps (or wilderness, or several other terrain types), as well as populating the maps with extra features. You can then use it to entirely run your combats from within the app, placing party members, monsters, and managing initiative all from within the program. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Dark Delve”
I was checking my email yesterday when I saw a request to review an Xbox indie game called Dark Delve by a fellow named Mark Harvey. He even sent me a code to download it for free! Given our corporate policy to give great reviews to anybody who gives us free stuff*, I hope that my immortal soul was worth the $1 cost of the game.
Let me start this by saying I have a weakness for indie games, especially “studios” that are a one-person operation. I grew up on shareware games from the early days of PC gaming, back when 256 color VGA was a luxury. I played my c64 so much I broke a Wico Bat Handle joystick. THAT IS VERY DIFFICULT.
In the early 90′s, I used to run a BBS. I made sure to keep my filebase stocked to the brim with shareware games. A few software companies like Apogee, Id Software, and Epic Megagames put out some “commercial quality” games (remember Doom?), but there was a huge explosion of hobbyist coders releasing some really cool games. (One of my favorites was Galactix.) Even back then, these smaller games didn’t usually have the smooth polish of a commercial game (or especially a console game) — but they always had something compelling about them that kept me coming back.
For awhile now, I’ve been watching the Xbox Indie Games marketplace with more excitement than their regular fare. Sure, a lot of crap comes down the pipe, but occasionally I find something that transforms me back into a happy teenager and evaporates all my time for a day or two. I’m happy to say Dark Delve fits squarely into this category. [Read the rest of this article]
Quitical Hits Review: “Quarriors”
Quarriors is a deck building game that uses dice instead of cards, published by WizKids. 2-4 players gather dice that represent monsters to impress the Empress of their realm. Average playtime seems to be near half an hour, and this review is based on three plays.
Gameplay
Play begins with twelve base dice and you roll six at random for your turn. Resources generated by those dice can be used to summon monsters, buy spells, and acquire new monsters. Each die can come up with resources, a reroll, or a monster/spell. Monsters cost resources to bring out, spells typically happen without paying for them and then have some in-game effect. Some monster dice have different level monsters that cost varying amounts for different levels of potency. Summoned monsters have to survive your opponents turn before scoring. First one to score a preset number of points wins. As a bonus, when you score, you can “cull” dice form your dice pool to cut out your increasingly outclassed starting dice. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab RPG Series Scents
OK, quick word association game: when you think of the words “D&D” and “scent”, what immediately comes to mind?
Probably not something pleasant. Luckily, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is trying to change that, or at least make that scent something more interesting than “Odeur de corporelle.” Seventeen vials of liquid character await, but are they worth the price? Will they get you laid?? This is dangerous reporting, folks.
The “RPG Series” includes 6 races, 6 classes, and 5 alignments – Good/Evil, and Chaotic, Neutral or Lawful. Intended to be blended together rather than be stand-alone perfumes, one should combine drops from 4 vials to create a character. Each vial sells for $17.50; though there is a no-return policy, you may purchase an “Imp Ear” of any of the RPG collection scents for $4.00, or 6 for $22.
PROS
- Uniqueness/Customizability
- Role-Playing enhancement
- Ability to buy a trial size for a reduced price
CONS
- High cost
- Good roleplaying does not necessarily mean a sexy scent
First things first: despite what the locked cabinet at the drugstore may have lead you to believe, perfumes and scents are not meant to be gender-specific. Sure, there are smells that lend themselves toward “masculine” or “feminine”, but it’s really a matter of interpretation. In fact, I found myself pleasantly surprised by some scents; for instance, I expected “Lawful Good” (note there is no scent for human, your own brand suffices I suppose) and “Paladin” to smell unabashedly masculine, which would have sent me into a rant about sexism. Instead, I found the combination to be more subtle: Flowery, but somehow strong underneath. Indeed, this was not a scent that I could imagine a guy wearing out to attract women. Also worth noting is the subjective nature of both the nose and the bearer of the scent; these perfumes might not only smell different TO you, they might smell different ON you.
Here’s the main issue: if you want to wear something to spice up your D&D adventure, this is a perfect product. Each scent I tried rang true to the words the vials bore. Again, since the scents are meant to be combined, some of them are almost offensive on their own. “Good”, for instance, smells sickeningly sweet yet fits nicely into a number of combinations. But I doubt many among us are going to shell out $70 for a full set of perfumes that make one smell like a dank, moldy cave (I’m looking at you, “Chaotic Neutral Dwarf Fighter”!)
If you’re looking for something that smells a particular way, something that you’d use to attract mating partners, use your no doubt well-trained imagination. I found that most of the scents I expected to smell “nice” smelled nice. “Evil” smells dead sexy, period – no real shock there! Most of the races you would expect to smell…unique and character-filled…do. I thought “Neutral Orc Fighter” was a great role-playing scent – kind of like a truck-stop bathroom, though more on the side of the air freshener used within. Conversely, Elf is not the most masculine smell, though that can be tempered. A particular favorite was “Chaotic Evil Elf Rogue” – very sexy, springtime in the woods, but exotic and spicy. Certainly appropriate on man or woman.
The bottom line? It’s hard for me to give one. I really enjoyed mixing and matching day to day, but that’s really not an option unless you have a lot of cash hanging around – I’d be happy to help out anyone with that particular problem, by the way! The creativity and hard work that clearly went into these products certainly deserves partaking in a few sample sizes. Each individual scent is paired with a few descriptive words on the website to make your choices easier. Who knows? You may find something that is truly, uniquely you – or whoever you’d like to be.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab RPG scents are available now from their website. A free sample of their product was provided for purposes of this review.
Review: “Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game”
The guys over at Gnome Stew came out of the gate strong with their first publication Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters last year, presenting plenty of snippets designed to jump-start the process of adventure creation, with multiple genres available to fit any game setting.
It should be no surprise then that their sophomore publication not only holds up to the high standards of content, design, and variety, but in some ways surpasses. Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game is what it says: 1,000 NPCs ready to be dropped into any game. While they don’t have any stats (like Eureka, the book is systemless), you’ll find each NPC has a full name, a brieft summary, a quote from the character, appearance, roleplaying advice, a description of personality, motivations, background, and a set of traits (that are shared across multiple entries.)
A full example of one of the 1,000 entries follows:
Professor Hilda von Tegelmanner
Double-Crossing Ghost
“Und so you see, the spirits they remain here, ja? Und they have something they must do, but that something might haf already been done, ja? So they are stuck in this loop of how-you-say, something-doing, ja?”
Appearance: Frumpy and plain-looking, she wears sensible but out-of-date clothes.
Roleplaying: Professor von Tegelmanner speaks in a strong accent, and tends towards long-winded lectures on tangential subjects.
Personality: Although very gregarious, she’s also quite nerdy and academic.
Motivation: She is bound to hire and betray adventurers.
Background: Hilda was a professor of the supernatural, specializing in hauntings and ghosts. Having grown bored simply theorizing on her subject of interest, she sought an avenue to its practical application. She settled on hiring adventuring parties from a nearby tavern to guide and protect her as she visited various purportedly haunted sites. She grew too bold after a number of successful trips, however, and acquired the services of con artists. They abandoned her deep within a haunted cave, taking her money and heading off to their next job. Hilda knew enough about hauntings to arrange her own afterlife as a ghost who would take vengeance on her betrayers. But after doing so, she herself was trapped in the cycle of betrayal and revenge, and has hired an endless stream of adventuring parties over the years only to bring them to their doom deep in the haunted cave. She is completely unaware of her metaphysical state.
Traits: (KS) Academic, eccentric, scholar
The book is divided into three genres that cover most RPG settings: fantasy, sci-fi, and modern, with each one further subdivided into villains, allies, and neutrals. Many of them are also adaptable across the different genres, or cross genres already like the germanic ghost listed above. The traits also cut across genres, so that if you need an academic, you’ll find a variety in each genre.
Along the bottom, you’ll also find a list of names, so flipping to any random page will give you a name for when you need it.
Now, the basic uses are pretty obvious. If you need a pre-made character to populate your adventure, whether it be an innkeeper, an employer, or an adversary, you can flip open the book and go to the appropriate section and find something that suits your fancy, with plenty of indexes to track down what you need. With this book, there’s literally a thousand characters at your fingertips to use for planning or if the PCs meet someone you didn’t plan (which as we know, is pretty likely.)
However, the unexpected value of Masks is that each NPC is packed with adventure ideas and plot twists. In this way, it supplements and in some ways exceeds Eureka in the raw amount of GM fuel it provides. Just looking at Professor von Tegelmanner gives me the impetus for an entire adventure, or a perfect supplement to take an ordinary plot (rescue someone) and use one of the Masks NPCs to add an extra level (their partron is a ghost who betrays adventurers) and you’ve added another dimension. You could probably even use the book to grab a few of the NPCs listed and use them to power an entire, interesting character-filled adventure with criss-crossing motives and nuanced quirks.
What I’m saying is that GMs out here need this book. You may be fine coming up with awesome NPCs on your own and don’t think you need something like this, and what I’m telling you is that this book is more than just a thousand characters, it’s a million stories.
Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game opens for pre-order today. A review PDF was provided by the publisher for this review.
2011 Origins Report
Cthulhu Sculpture Made From Chains Outside The Art Show
Another year, another Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. Since Gen Con tends to be both my super busy show and the one with more duties for me as Press anyway, I swore to make this year at Origins more of a “hang out and play” kinda show. That said, the advantage of Gen Con for playing is that it’s easier to just send out a tweet saying “hey, I’m looking for something to play” and actually get a group together.
So, I didn’t get in as many plays as I was originally planning, but that’s OK, I still got to play in a few pretty awesome games. I managed to fit in some playtesting (both of my own stuff and other people’s stuff) and conduct a bit of business as well, so for me, it’s easy to call the show a success.
More important to all of your for sure are the games themselves. So here’s a rundown of my games played, purchased, and perused that stood out. [Read the rest of this article]
Let Sleeping Dukes Lie
When I was but a lad of 14, I used to play a lot of shareware games. It was much easier to convince my parents to pony up $2 for a disk full of PC games than it was to get them to blow $50 on another NES game. At the time, I was very much into games like Commander Keen and Jill of the Jungle. It was also about this time I played a little game by Apogee Software called Duke Nukem. It was pretty typical of PC platform shooters of the time, but I will confess to enjoying the crap out of it and its sequel. I liked the game’s catchy title and the main character’s crew cut and really didn’t think too much about it after that.
Imagine my surprise 5 years later when Apogee (now 3D Realms) drops another Duke Nukem game. This time, it’s in 3D, the graphics are better than Doom’s, and there are scantily-clad women. Also, he swears. Then I remember I’m 19, and these things aren’t really all that new to me. I regard Duke3D’s more lascivious offerings as an interesting novelty, and move on to more important things. Like blowing up aliens. Even back then I remember rolling my eyes at some of the jokes. Pigcops? Really? And with no other accompanying animal-stereotypes? I was at least expecting to kill some rabid were-weasel lawyers.
It does bear saying, though, that the joke where he threatens to rip off a boss’s head and *OMG S-WORD* down his neck and then does (complete with newspaper to read) may have been the hardest I have ever laughed. If you’re going to go over the top, go all the way.
After that, well, you’re all familiar with the story. Poor ol’ Duke got cancelled and sold to other companies and cancelled and put through the most spectacular development hell any of us have ever heard of. I was incredibly worried the day Duke Nukem Forever came out last month. I was about 12% sure the world was going to end. Conversely, after the Worst Development Cycle Ever, I was over 90% sure Duke Nukem Forever was going to be really terrible.
It wasn’t terrible. It was worse than that. It was disappointing. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: Fiasco Companion
Companions are a tradition of the RPG hobby. Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Rolemaster, Runequest, Shadowrun and Warhammer have all had Companions at one time or another. Sometimes “Companion” was omitted from the title (like 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ Unearthed Arcana and Champions II and Champions III for, well, Champions), but for a while in the 80s it seemed like every RPG of consequence had one.
Companions are not 128-page volumes dedicated to a niche subject like the psychic alien zombies of Lichtenstein, either. Virtually a second (or third or fourth) corebook, Companions contain – cheek-by-jowl in a single convenient 64- or 128- or 256-page volume – new crunch (player options and antagonists), rules variants and extensions, GM advice and genre analysis. The advice and discussion of genre tropes in Champions II is still markedly better than half of the pap new DMs try to learn from today. While Companions aren’t always the best supplements available for their RPG, their batting average is good.
Enter the Fiasco Companion, the latest member of this proud cadre, which can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them. It ticks most of the boxes: variants, extensions, crunch (in the form of four new playsets designed to illustrate principles explored elsewhere in the text) and advice (including chapters on using Fiasco in the classroom and as a creative tool outside of roleplaying, plus tips for playing online and facilitating in the absence of the GM role). While Fiasco’s designer, Jason Morningstar, didn’t take this chance to share how his love for the Cohen Brothers (and similar flicks) inspired his greatest hit, and the “GM” advice is aimed at all players of this GMless game, it fits the mold well. [Read the rest of this article]
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