e23 News Archive: August 2009

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August 31, 2009: Er . . . Look! Shiny!

So your heroes finished the dungeon in record time, and now they're waiting for their reward. You do have a suitable reward planned, right?

Quick, roll 2d6 and multiply the numbers. Then count from the front of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: 40 Artifacts to determine their treasure.

See, that wasn't hard now, was it?

-- Paul Chapman

August 30, 2009: Today Is for Spaceships

Seems like some days are just dedicated to certain books.

Take today for instance. I'm clicking around, and surf over to the What's Hot page, and spot GURPS Spaceships in its perch in the #2 spot. Dang, 1250+ copies already?

Then I get the all-too familiar pop-up, indicating my inbox has another shipment of electrons asking for my attention. In between the male enhancer ads and offers from Nigerian princes, it looks like the Spaceships playtest list has reactivated. Blast, I haven't even finished exploiting GURPS Spaceships 4: Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha yet!

After reading a few of those messages, I had to deal with a small landing craft in the warehouse, delivering [FNORD] for next Thursday. It looked quite a bit like the shuttle on page 19 of Traders, Liners, and Transports (aka Spaceships 2).

All these ships have got me hankering for a round of Triplanetary . . .

-- Paul Chapman

August 29, 2009: One Big Book. Many Supplements

GURPS Infinite Worlds was the first world book released for the Fourth Edition line. Over the following years, three supplements of slightly smaller size were released: Lost Worlds, Collegio Januari, and Britannica-6.

This "book plus supplements" idea sounded like a good one, so we did it again with Martial Arts (Fairbairn Close Combat Systems and Gladiators), then again with Thaumatology (Age of Gold and Magical Styles). It even sounds like we'll be doing something similar with the upcoming Low-Tech.

What? That's the way virtually every RPG supports their line, and this is nothing but a transparent attempt to mention as many GURPS releases as possible in a single news entry? I would have never guessed!

-- Paul Chapman

August 28, 2009: These Fists Were Made for Punchin'

Perhaps not an exact Nancy Sinatra quote, but the sentiment was there . . .

And what's that sentiment? I've always interpreted it as "Sometimes the best way to deal with a situation is to beat the snot out of it." Further, I've discovered that sometimes the method of snot-beating involves no tools at all. Luckily, Dr. Kromm is familiar with this idea, and endorses it heartily in Action 3: Furious Fists.

If you're familiar with the Action series, you know it covers the world of the summer blockbuster. Remember the movie you paid to see on the big screen, even though you knew it was going to be horrible, just to see the explosions? Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Action 1: Heroes gave us the low-down on building heroes for the genre; Action 2: Exploits handed us challenges and threats for said heroes. Now Action 3 brings the hulking big guy, the untouchable fast guy, the stealthy ninja, the athletic traceur, and the lethal-weapon master to our cinematic toolkit, as well as the advantages, perks, and techniques every open-hand master needs.

Didn't you hear me? I said ninja! Really, that plus the "Dr. Kromm" bit, probably sent you clicking away to the shopping cart. Chances are, I'm just typing to myself here . . .

-- Paul Chapman

August 27, 2009: Space: 1889? Yes!

Some games are fun, but just never find the sort of following that allows them to flourish. (And the less said about the games that aren't fun, the better.) Some games were fun, but, due to extenuating circumstances, had left the market place. For instance, I never saw Space: 1889 on store shelves.

But I've heard tales of campaigns. I've seen the jaw-dropping miniatures battles based on the world at Origins. And this year at Gen Con, I saw Heliograph reviving the classic material in print form.

And e23 has the PDFs to prove it! Not only the core Space: 1889, but also a combination of Sky Galleons of Mars and Cloudships & Gunboats, two supplements covering the brilliantly impossible steampunk vessels brought together into one file. There's also the newly expanded Complete Canal Priests Of Mars, and nearly a dozen more.

The original Victorian steampunk roleplaying game is back, and it's here to stay!

August 26, 2009: History, Delightfully Repeating Itself

From the primordial ooze that was the adventure gaming scene of the 1980s there crawled a system bold of acronym and flexible of design. It was HERO. (Actually, it was part of Champions and some other games first, and then it was released on its own, but I'm establishing a narrative here.) It devoured genre after genre, growing to become the preeminent means by which gamers could pretend to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Then, tragedy struck, and the plucky little system was cast into limbo for a time.

In '01, however, a rift in space-time cracked the shell of HERO's prison and it rose from the ashes as a fifth edition! It quickly retook its place of honor (and quickly cleaned up any mixed metaphors that may have been written about it). With the Earth firmly back on its axis, things were once again Good and Right. HERO, however, is not one to rest on its laurels.

Behold! HERO System 6th Edition has arrived! What's changed? No idea, I haven't read it yet. The most obvious change, however, would be that what was once one has seen some bifurcation. There's Characters and Combat and Adventuring. Those links let you get 'em separately, but this link right here will get you both as a bundle.

-- Fox Barrett

August 25, 2009: If It Ain't Broke . . .

. . . It ain't in this book. The whole point of Into the Future: Derelict Starships is to provide Gamed Masterlings with a little literary nudge when it comes to describing wrecked starships. The collection of notes and descriptions are indexed, since the idea here is to save you time. Never again be stuck for a description when your players manage to pry open that airlock that you thought impregnable! ("Wait, when the heck did I give them C4?!")

I suppose I shouldn't say "never." It's hardly a statistical impossibility that you won't go through every single entry in the course of your games. It's just highly improbable. And if you're regularly beating the odds like that, you really should be using this super power in ways that would better benefit society.

Like taking me to Vegas.

August 24, 2009: Browning, Yee, and Me

While I was at Gen Con, Thomas (y'know, the last guy to do my job whose more on the programming side of things now) introduced me to the people over at Expeditious Retreat Press. Suzi and Joseph were very nice, and didn't comment about my vacant stare or anything! (It had been a very long journey by that point.) So, since they were nice to me, I feel it only fair to do everything in my power as The Great and Powerful Wizard of e23 to do something nice for them!

Which pretty much just amounts to mentioning how great they are on the e23 front page. Sorry, guys. I should have multi-classed.

But, hey, they are pretty cool, and their books are just as cool. Possibly even more so! There's only one way to be sure. Go buy one of their One on One Adventures or Lands of Darkness books, and then go meet them at a con. I'm sure they totally won't mind standing there while you hold up the books next to them to contrast and compare coolness.

-- Fox Barrett

August 23, 2009: (Re)Making History

I've been watching Xena again lately. I say "watching," but really it's more "in my chosen domicile, I find myself sharing a space with a TV that is playing Xena." Sometimes Hercules, too. I remembered watching it as a kid, and I'm sure I must have had a very good reason. As my roommates made their way through these cinematic celebrations of unbridled anachronism, I got to thinking. First was, "Wow, this is really, truly, amazingly terrible."

Then came, "but strangely, I'm okay with that."

Xena is bad for all the right reasons. (Is that King Arthur talking to Julius Caesar? Oh wait, they're fighting. Suddenly I don't care anymore.) And, more importantly, it reminded me of Diana: Warrior Princess. Flagrantly disregarding your own history while making crazy yodeling noises and beating up cartoon-like villains? Best game ever.

-- Fox Barrett

August 22, 2009: Still Neat, Despite My Meddling

These Battle Axe Expansions just keep coming out faster than I can write jokes for 'em. Just about the time I get one squared away, another one slips in from the corner of the room and clobbers me. I'm left there, face-down on the floor, little ring of stars and tweeting birds circling my head, while the new expansions ransack the place and laugh at my inability to stay on top of things.

My dramatization is, perhaps, a bit heavy on the drama side.

But my point stands! Battle Axe Expansion #5, Factions and Battle Axe Expansion #6, Elemental Powers are here and I'm at a loss as to how to make fun of 'em. I guess you'll just have to enjoy them for their own merits. In the end, this is probably for the best.

-- Fox Barrett

August 21, 2009: Ye Badde Boyse

Sooner or later, your party is going to screw up. They'll ransom one too many noble heirs, ransack one too many pig farms, or defile one too many bishop's robes. You just can't go around raising Hell (literally) and not end up on the wrong side of a lawman's sword. Unless, that is, your group was smart enough to become the lawmen themselves.

Both these arrangements are covered in the latest issue of our award-eligible magazine Pyramid. Pyramid #3/10: Crime and Grime looks at both sides of the town jail, and throws a few magical curveballs in just for fun. Buy it now and bring some law and order to your games!

Uh, unless you have a subscription. If that's the case, you've already purchased it and no amount of jibber-jabber from me will convince you to purchase it again. Go download your PDF and lock up some hapless adventurers!

August 20, 2009: Inn and Out

For some, an inn is a place of rest and respite. After a long day's journey, it is a welcome roof, a plate of food, and a soft bed. Here shall the weary find a moment's peace before beginning their travels anew.

If you're an adventurer, however, you can forget all that garbage. Inns are the lifeblood of your profession, and you've no time to sit around sipping mead and putting up your feet. You have plans to make, or Mysterious Strangers to talk to, or bar fights to start, or . . . or any number of things that will get you out of the inn ASAP and into a dungeon. So to minimize the amount of time you spend in the exposition phase of your adventure, Arion Games offers this Paper Miniatures: Fantasy Inn Set. Just get to the inn, print up what you need, break a face or two, and dash off to your adventure!

Of course, you'll still need to provide the inn itself. Arion can't do everything for you, after all. Unless you want to build the inn out of people. Which, I admit, does have a certain David Lynch appeal to it.

-- Fox Barrett

August 19, 2009: Yes, It Has a Weird Name

No, it's not at all what it sounds like.

So Panty Explosion does not, perhaps, bear the best of titles.Do not let this moniker of seemingly questionable taste throw you off, however! The game itself isn't some exploitative romp through tasteless jokes and thinly-veiled pornography. In fact, it's a very well-written roleplaying game about psychic high school girls in Japan facing off against Unspeakable Horrors From Beyond the Mouth of Hell. You have all the usual high school baggage to deal with as well, of course. Your precise mixture of Demonic Hellbeasts vs. High School Drama (itself a sort of Demonic Hellbeast, when you think about it) is up to you, and the game has more than enough cultural information to have you up and Japanese schoolgirling in no time.

Pick up a copy and see for yourself why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Just, ah . . . be prepared to explain to people, in a calm and rational matter, why you're reading a book called Panty Explosion. This will come up. Trust me.

-- Fox Barrett

August 18, 2009: Dialing It Back A Bit

Perhaps I took you a little too far into The Weird with yesterday's excursion into the realm of vegetable-based roleplaying. If so, then allow me to take a small step back toward something decidedly more sapient. Like the animal kingdom.

Look over at the utilitarianly named Familiars RPG. As perhaps you have surmised, this is a roleplaying game about familiars. You know what a familiar is, right? Those oft-forgotten woodland critters that accompany the magic users in your group. The ones that blip in and out of existence as their presence is flippantly recalled and just as quickly lost to the din of door stomping. That thing that isn't a ring, amulet, or pair of boots, but still gives you a +1 bonus to sneaking.

Right! Them! Well, now you can see what the heck they're doing when they're floating around, forgotten and unattended, in RPG limbo.

-- Fox Barrett

August 17, 2009: Yeabuwha?

So here I am, clicking around the site, trying to find one of our older or less-publicized products that looks interesting, and what do I come across? Veggie Patch. It's a roleplaying game, and your characters are vegetables.

No, not "brain dead." Plants. Someone has taken the likes of Bunnies & Burrows to a whole 'nother level that I can't even begin to fathom. Go on. Click that link up there. Look for yourself. I'll wait here. See? A game about being an honest-to-goodness vegetable. And here I thought the game I played about cheese farming was high-concept.

We are through the looking glass here, people.

-- Fox Barrett

August 16, 2009: No Business but Show Business

Let's see what I can pull out of the vault today. Big money, big money, no whammies . . . stop!

Okay, it looks like I've got a copy of Hollyworld. Written by Greg Porter? Oooh, off to a good start! Low price point at only two-and-a-half bucks. Very nice. Light, tongue-in-cheek writing style. So far, so good, but what's the hook? Ah, here we are! "A fast and cheap little roleplaying game where the world really does act like it does in the movies." The idea is that everyone on the planet is in a movie, knows that they're in a movie, and is ultimately just looking to finish the day slightly more famous than they started it.

Which means, of course, that the game is short, brutish, and hilarious.

-- Fox Barrett

August 15, 2009: Roleplaying without a Net

By the time you read this, I've got to be at Gen Con. So, um, hello from Indianapolis! That also means I'm not back at the office in Ausin writing up these little things I write about new products. So here's "an oldie but a goodie" instead.

This particular goodie-oldie is Spirit of the Century. It's a game that applies the pulp attitude not only to its setting, but also in how it approaches roleplaying itself. It's built to be played with almost no prep work, and runs on a modified version of Fudge. All the thinkin' goes down during the game itself. Two-fisted roleplaying by the seat of your pants!

That's not to say that the book itself is some kind of slap-dash production that Evil Hat just phoned in and stuck a price tag on. Quite the opposite! This beauty weighs in at over 400 pages. You're getting a full game here, it's just . . . different. I dare say, it's completely different from anything you've ever played before. Sure, it might not be as "easy" as running a dungeon crawler, but you'll get out of this game everything you put into it and then some.

-- Fox Barrett

August 14, 2009: Shades and Earpiece Sold Separately

I thought about going with an easy The Bodyguard joke here, but I'm not actually that familiar with the flick. I couldn't find a good way to twist and warp the "and I, ee-I, ee-I will always love you-OOOOU-oou" bit to my own devilish purposes. At least, not without breaking the "family hour" rules of e23. I mean, it would be easy to just word the joke as [REDACTED].

Anyway, this week we've got another batch of ready, willing, and able characters for Transhuman Space. We've placed inside the pages of Transhuman Space: Personnel Files 4 - Martingale Security a conglomeration of rough men ready to do violence so that others can sleep at night. There's also some suggestions for what you can do with them, so you could say that it's also kind of a tiny campaign guide as well.

You don't have to say that, of course. It's just one option. The other is to go buy a copy for yourself. Um, I suppose not purchasing the book is entirely within the realm of possibility as well, but that's something else I think I'm not supposed to talk about.

-- Fox Barrett

August 13, 2009: Wish I'd Thought of It First

Since I'm busy with all kinds of Gen Connery, I decided to write up some ads for older, and perhaps forgotten, products. So, let's dig around the vault and see what we . . .

Zombie Rally? That sound promising! Let's have a look here . . . "zombies" . . . "competitive racing" . . . "ghoul-line." It's a game about a zombie foot race? A zombie foot race. Racing zombies.

I may have just found the best game ever.

-- Fox Barrett

August 12, 2009: On What Is and What Is Not

Gen Con is keeping me busy, so here's another not-exactly-new item. Today I've pulled Grand Fleets from my e23-shaped hat. What is it? Hah! What isn't it?

Actually, it isn't quite a few things. It isn't a marmoset.It isn't a recipe for delicious pancakes. It isn't a lasting solution for peace in the Middle East. Really, I'm starting to wonder why I even put forth the idea that it would be better to define the book by what it is not. In retrospect, that was a silly thing to do. So I suppose I'll backpedal a bit.

Grand Fleets is a miniatures game about boats! And ships! And things that blow up boats and ships! (My personal favorite bit is that last part.)

-- Fox Barrett

August 11, 2009: Talk Amongst Yourselves

Depending on when this runs, I'm either at Gen Con or so busy getting things in order for Gen Con that I may as well be in Indianapolis. Either way, I'm trying to keep the queue full of stuff so that you fine folks have a reason read the e23 front page. Sure, strictly speaking I may not have anything new to talk about for the next few days. That doesn't mean I can't go digging around e23 for weird, wonderful, and otherwise underappreciated products to bring out front.

Like 10 Million Ways to Die, for example. While I suspect it does, in fact, not feature literally 10,000,000 ways in which to bring about an untimely end to your characters, it does have quite a few. It's a system-neutral guide to pushing your critical hits from the mundane ("roll damage again") to the decidedly grotesque ("oh, ew, you knocked his jawbone into his brain!").

Truly, when creativity meets over-the-top violence, nobody loses. Well, maybe that fellow with the jawbone in his brain, but other than that. Maybe.

-- Fox Barrett

August 10, 2009: The Book Extra-Terrestrial Secret-Muslim Lizardman Zionists Don't Want You to Read!

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching. Or maybe it does. Or maybe it's just a meme designed to make you think they're not, when they really are. Or it's a meme designed to make you think they are when they really aren't, which in turn is slowly driving you insane. Or maybe you're just thinking about this a little too hard.

Thankfully, Postmortem Studios has done all your thinking for you! Here are 100 Conspiracies for you to pick from, browse through, laugh at, or find hidden truths in. They all have a decidedly modern slant, but they don't have a specific set of rules in mind. The next time your game needs a visit from little green men in black, this is the book for you.

Provided your security clearance is high enough. It is high enough, isn't it? Okay, good. Say, could you go stand outside for a couple minutes and stare at the sky? Oh, no particular reason.

-- Fox Barrett

August 9, 2009: Elegant Minis, From A More Civilized Time

What do you get when you add one part clockwork, one part steam engine, one part dystopia, and one part "Science!"? A big mess!

Wait . . . I mean "steampunk"! Yes, steampunk, that bizarre little intersection of Jules Verne and William Gibson. The popularity of the genre is easy to understand. Who doesn't enjoy the occasional steam-powered giant robot or clockwork cyborg arm? So why aren't there more miniatures out there for the Neo-Victorians among us?

Ah, but there are! At least, there's a set here for you to buy. It's called Paper Miniatures: Steampunk Set. I'm not entirely sure just what that fellow on the cover is holding, but I certainly hope it isn't a melee weapon.

-- Fox Barrett

August 8, 2009: Better Make This One Quick

Wait, seriously? Is this for real? We're selling a PDF for only $0.50? But we've already spent most of that just talking about it! How the heck are going to make money on a PDF that sells for 50 cents?

What's that? Shut up and write the ad? Well, okay. Guess I should make it a short one. Here goes:

Buy Paper Miniatures: Fantasy Court Set!

-- Fox Barrett

August 7, 2009: Japan. Perhaps You've Heard Of It.

In recent decades, Japan has done an admirable job of exporting its popular culture to our TVs. But there is more to this collection of islands than its giant robots and magical prepubescents. There's layer upon layer of history here. There's ancient mysteries and beliefs completely foreign to our Western outlook. And, perhaps most important of all, there's dudes with big honkin' samurai swords.

GURPS Classic: Japan covers two eras, the first of which is the Sengoku era. It's a time when Japan is busy rearranging itself through a series of wars, insurrections, and unifications. If the opportunity for adventure there isn't obvious, you haven't watched enough Kurosawa films. The second era is that during the rule of the last of the Tokugawa. This is Japan at its most insular, just before Admiral Perry cracks the island back open and the Mejii Restoration threatens to crack the country apart.

Which is all very fascinating, of course, but needn't be the focus of your game. You're welcome to buy the book so that you can finally satisfy your entire gaming group's cries of  "I wanna be a ninja this time!"

-- Fox Barrett

August 6, 2009: Be A Community Organizer!

Or a community designer, at any rate. What the heck am I blabbering about now? Why, City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities, of course! I'd explain that it's a guidebook for designing communities, but I should hope that much is self-evident. That doesn't stop me from expanding a bit for a few more sentences, however!

I'll start by mentioning what kind of communities this guide is going to have you designing. It's those of a decidedly "ye olde towne" slant. Fantasy hamlets, Renaissance metropolises, Dark Age dirt hovels. Places where you might find swords, inns, and the like. While that does rule out any spaceports or old west saloons (awww!), the info here is system-neutral (yaaay!). So you can drop your village into any game, be it a high-magic affair full of ancient dungeons and fearsome dragons, or a painstakingly simulated game about dirt farming.

"Roll to see if I die from dysentery." What fun!

August 5, 2009: Wherein I Turn My Back On The Written Word

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's true, then Bad Baby Clip Art, Fantasy Locations is quite possibly the most bang you will ever get for your PDF buck. If that's not true, then . . . Um. Hrm. Then I guess you're getting a book full of pictures.

Which isn't so bad. Sure, it's no opus spanning tens of thousands of words. On the other hand, it does have a lot of pictures. You won't have to hurt your brain with all those silly scribbly-wibbly bits. Those pictures are a lot easier to read than words. 

Trust me on that one.

-- Fox Barrett

August 4, 2009: . . . But On Land.

A land ship is a lot like a "ship" ship, except that it's on land. You might have guessed that from the name, but as ships aren't typically land vehicles, I felt it prudent to be specific. So why should you care about land ships? What, isn't  "because they're cool" enough?

No, huh? All right, that's fair. Well, how's about the fact that they're central to a new game we've got called Land Ships, Set #1, Mini-Game #9. It's a hex-filled romp through the world of giant steam machines blasting the ever-loving tar out of one another. Kinda like H.G. Wells meets an M1 Abrams.

See? Told you it was cool.

-- Fox Barrett

August 3, 2009: And The Hits Just Keep Coming

Bad Baby isn't done with Battle Axe just yet. Still more expansions are rolling down the infotubes to us at e23. The latest two of which are the appropriately named Battle Axe Expansion #3, Beast and Battle Axe Expansion #4, Monsters.

Do you need both expansions to play the game? Probably not, no. Can the game still be enjoyed without them? Yeah, more than likely.

But why risk it?

August 2, 2009: Canned Characters!

Oh. This is the 13th century? Hm. Canning won't be invented for a few hundred years. I'm really sure what to call A Medieval Tapestry, then. See, it's a collection of characters built for the fourth edition of Ars Magica. You just pop open the book, pop out the character, and get to magin'.

I suppose I could call them "salted characters," but that just makes them sound like peanuts. "Dried characters" isn't much better. "Characters fresh off the vine, so eat them quick or they'll spoil" is a touch cumbersome.

Oh well. Guess I'll just stick with A Medieval Tapestry. It has a certain poetry to it, I suppose. But, sigh, it's no food metaphor.

August 1, 2009: Yes, I Am A Hopeless Metalhead

Return of the Stormrider. If my (somewhat embarrassingly) deep seated love of heavy metal albums has taught me anything, it's that this title is a heavy metal album. I mean, seriously . . . Return of the Stormrider? You may as well call the thing "Lightning Axe Across the Bloodied Plain of Valhalla." Or "Fire Kings Of the Steel Castle." Or "Glory, Honor, and Stab."

Oh, sure, it looks like a book. It has pages like a book. It explains all the intricate details needed to run an introductory adventure for Ars Magica. Just the same, I shan't be fooled. I know the leathery musk of "true metal" when I see it. Or, "smell it," I guess. My metaphor sorta self-destructed there.

Anyway, pick this thing up, and cast your fists skyward! Rock on, for the Metal Gods! Uuah-aaaah, yeah!

-- Fox Barrett

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