ID4 Resurgence: I See Your H.G. Wells Clone and Raise You FOOTFALL and ROBOTECH

Independence Day is probably my favorite adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic tale War of the Worlds. It captures the desperation of defending a world against an overwhelming force and does a nice job of updating "microbes" into a computer virus in a way that requires no small amount of suspension of disbelief, but somehow still seems appropriate. One of the best things about the film was that it knew what it was and didn't care to be anything more. It was just a good time bundled into a nice 2 hours and 25 minutes.

It looks like the sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, is happy to follow the formula of its predecessor. Just as ID4 borrowed from one of the all-time classic SF stories, arguable THE STORY that established the Invasion narrative plotline that every invasion movie has followed, the new movie looks like it is inspired by a host of classics as well. From the Macross inspired reverse engineering of alien technology in preparation of invasion, to the larger than life "war ending" impact crater of Footfall, this trailer has a little bit of everything.

I cannot wait for this to come out!

New Editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES Coming in June

I've been a fan of the Iron Kingdoms since Privateer Press released The Longest Night, part one of their Witchfire Trilogy of adventures for D&D 3rd Edition, in 2001. The combination of steam driven battle mechs with high fantasy sorcery scratched an itch I didn't even know I had. I ran the adventures for my gaming group, though our adventures quickly drifted away from the scripted story, and purchased various editions of the Warmachine and Hordes rulebooks. I've even purchased the main box set for the customizable card game and the Iron Kingdoms inspired adventure board game The Undercity. I also own all of the Iron Kingdoms RPG books.

Sadly, as is too often the case, I haven't had as much time to play games in the Iron Kingdoms as much as I'd like to and this is one of the reasons why I'm excited that Privateer Press is releasing new editions of Warmachine and Hordes. With the new marketing push, maybe I can convince my gaming group to give the Iron Kingdoms RPG a try.

Stewart Wieck and Nocturnal are Resurrecting West End Games.

On April 13th of this year, Stewart Wieck announced that Nocturnal Media had purchased West End Games from it's past owner Eric Gibson. West End Games (WEG) was founded in 1974 and like many early companies in the role playing game hobby, started off as a publisher of wargames. Prior to their transition into a role-playing game publisher, WEG produced a number of classic wargames including Cosmic Encounter, Junta, and Kamakura. The company made a major leap into "hobby" wargames when they published Bug-Eyed Monsters and Web and Starship, both designed by Greg Costikyan, in 1983 and 1984. When WEG finally jumped into the role-playing game market, they did so with quite a splash with the Paranoia role-playing game, a game that combined a simple rules set with a comic sensibility that mocked Cold War fears and the role-playing game hobby.

WEG would eventually add a host of high quality licensed role-playing games like Star Wars and Ghostbusters and unlicensed games like The Price of Freedom and Torg to a strong line of hobby games that included Tales of the Arabian Nights, Druid, and Tank Leader. For a time, WEG was one of the biggest brands in the hobby and their rapid decline came as a surprise to many fans, but the company managed to limp along as it moved from one owner to another. None of the owners could quite manage to recapture the particular combination of mechanics and settings that made WEG a force in the hobby.

Now the company has transitioned into the hands of Stewart Wieck, one of the leading names in the modern gaming hobby, who has a long history in the gaming hobby dating back to his days with White Wolf Publishing (a company he co-founded in high school) and which includes stints working on the Star Wars and Torg properties as a freelancer.

While some may be skeptical that Wieck can revive WEG and bring success back to the brand, I'm fairly optimistic about the endeavor. Wieck has a long track record in the industry and his company Nocturnal has done a good job with Pendragon. Additionally, Wieck has a detailed knowledge of the direct to digital RPG marketplace. One of the first things that Wieck is planning as WEG owner is to add Print on Demand versions of the WEG "in house" d6 RPG gamebooks. He is also planning to do a Kickstarter launch of the classic WEG board game Web and Starship.

 

 According to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Web and Starship is a :

Board and counter Wargame (1984). West End Games (WEG). Designed by Greg Costikyan.

Web and Starship is a Hard SF Wargame played on a two-dimensional map of nearby stars, with the third dimension represented by notations on the display. The setting is asymmetric; there are three players, each of whom has different capabilities. The Pereen can travel between stars by means of an instantaneous "Web", but must use slower-than-light probes to add new planets to the network, while the Gwynhyfarr use Faster Than Light ships, which are too small to move large amounts of material from one star to another. As a result, the Pereen will generally win in any ground combat, while the Gwynhyfarr forces are superior in space engagements. The third player, Earth, has access to both the Web and faster than light starships, but begins the game with limited versions of both Technologies, which only slowly improve. Earth is initially located directly between the Pereen and Gwynhyfarr spheres of influence, leading to a great deal of diplomacy as player alliances form and reform. The result is an interesting exercise in strategy in which gameplay is generally focused on economic expansion, interrupted by intermittent warfare.

Image Source Scott Smith

If we can talk Wieck into republishing Bug-Eyed Monsters as well, there are at least two WEG products that will be added to my must own list.

Fantasy Film Friday: HAWK THE SLAYER (1980)

For gamers of a certain age, Hawk the Slayer inspired the imagination as much as Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. The film's story is staid, predictable, and pretty forgettable, but the overt sternness of "Crow," the over acting of Jack Palance, and the "Sword of Mind" made it all worth it. I cannot overstate how many times I watched this film as a wee lad, but I will say that my love of this film does a lot to explain why I'm less critical of films like Seventh Son. All I care about is whether the cast is having a good time.

There are several reviews of the film on the internet, if you want to read a review, but this being a gaming blog (supposedly) I will be providing Savage Worlds statistics for Crow...the Elf for Savage Worlds and Shadow of the Demon Lord.

Name: Crow  (Savage Worlds)

Race: Elf

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6

Skills: 
 Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d8, Riding d6, Shooting d12, Stealth d8, Survival d8, 
Throwing d6, Tracking d8

Charisma: -2; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 (1)

Hindrances: All Thumbs, Code of Honor, Loyal, Outsider

Edges: Marksman, Quick, Rock and Roll!

Gear: Bow (Range 12/24/48, 2d6), Dagger (Str+d4), Leather (+1, Covers torso, arms, legs)

Special Abilities:

• Low Light Vision: Ignores penalties for Dim and Dark lighting.

• Rock-n-Roll! edge gives Crow an RoF of 2 with his bow instead of normal bonus.

While Savage Worlds has been my "go to" system for quickly stating things up for gaming, because of it's Fast, Furious, and Fun nature, I've decided to provide statistics for Crow using Robert Schwalb's excellent Shadow of the Demon Lord system. Partly because of the easy to use and learn system that allows for a lot of customization, and partly because the background of Hawk the Slayer includes the intrusion of a Demon Lord into the world of our heros.

Name: Crow (Shadow of the Demon Lord)

Ancestry: Elf                      Level: 7

Classes: Warrior (Novice), Fighter (Expert), Nightstalker (Master)*

Professions: Tracker, Artisan (Bowyer), Exile, Highwayman, Hunter

*Class featured in Terrible Beauty expansion.

Strength: 11 (+1)      Agility: 14 (+4)      Intellect: 10 (+0)      Will: 12 (+2)

Size: 1                        Speed: 12               Perception: 11          Defense: 15

Health: 42                 Healing Rate: 12

Corruption: 0           Insanity: 1

Talents: Shadowsight, Spell Defense, Bewitching Presence, Iron Vulnerability, Catch Your Breath, Weapon Training (longbow), Combat Prowess, Forceful Strike, Swift Shot, Combat Expertise, Durable, Darksight, Shadowblend, Silent Moves.

Special Abilities: Immune to damage from disease; charm, and disease.

Equipment: Adventurer's Pack, Longbow, 40 Arrows, Dagger

I think that each system brings out some of the intricacies that made Crow an entertaining character. If you are interested in playing either Savage Worlds or Shadow of the Demon Lord, you can purchase them by clicking on the hyperlinks.

Rules of Good Gaming

There are those who think that there is only one simple rule for being a respectful gamer who provides good gaming experiences for fellow game players. While it might seem easy to just say, "don't be a [expletive deleted]" when asked what your personal house rules are, I find that it's often useful to be a little more specific than that.

For example, I have 8 year old twin daughter who are either participating in whatever game is being played, or just out of eyesight (and within earshot) playing Minecraft, whom I would rather didn't even hear the [expletive deleted] part of that statement overly often. But a lack of profanity isn't really the most pressing issue for me when it comes to gaming with friends, not by a long shot. Most people are considerate around 8 year olds. This is why I was glad to see RDigby's Gamer's Guide to Good Behavior on Deviant Art.

The first column of his tidy infographic and the first item of the second column cover the things that really get to me. I really appreciate it when people help me maintain the condition of my board games and rpgs. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to buy a new book/game because someone spilled something on it or lost some pieces (this is particularly true for games like Squad Leader). In these cases, it isn't usually about any person being a [expletive deleted]. Instead, it's about not going out of one's way to be extra-conscientious. I like my gamer friends to be extra-conscientious.

This is why I'm actually very grateful for the group I - too rarely at present - get to play games with. They may tell [expletive deleted] jokes more frequently than I'd like in an ideal state, and come to think of it I might be guilty of this as well, but they are always responsible with my game materials.

Shadow of the Demon Lord is Frighteningly Good [Part One] -- Could It Be Satan?

Robert J. Schwalb prefaces his new role playing game Shadow of the Demon Lord with a brief discussion of how he entered into the role playing game hobby. As with many of us, his introduction to the hobby was Dungeons & Dragons. Based on the fact that Schwalb asked Frank Mentzer to write a foreward to the game, I'm going to venture a guess and say that Schwalb and I share the fact that our introduction to D&D was Mentzer's excellent re-edit of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic set. I had a lot of fun with that game, and by the sound of it Schwalb did as well.

Schwalb's preface makes something else clear, we both had to "grapple" with the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and how that affected the way people viewed the role playing game hobby. It's in his description of his personal reaction to the Satanic Panic where Schwalb and I differ.

In my own personal experience with Dungeons & Dragons, by which I mean the way my friends and I played it, devils/demons were viewed as imaginary generic villains to be defeated by devoted Paladins. In my young mind's eye, the devils and demons of the game were cartoony and less genuinely malevolent than they were "Maleficent." They were there to be defeated in the same way children defeated witches in fairy tales. When I encountered people who worried for the safety of my soul, I was more confused than angry. I remember when my parents moved to the Bay Area and we lived with a coworker of my father's while we found a more permanent residence. One night, while I was playing a game on the Atari, one of our hosts mentioned this sinister game that was threatening the souls of young children. I didn't hear the panic in the person's voice, I only heard the words Dungeons & Dragons, so I quickly interjected in an almost bored way, "yeah, I play D&D and I love it." This did not go over well with our hosts, but I don't remember the rest of the conversation. Yar's Revenge was more important than any criticism of D&D. It wasn't until a game group I was a part of had to play Star Frontiers instead of D&D due to "satanic" elements that I became annoyed.

Why wasn't I worried? Let me give you a glance at some of the evil horrors that threatened to consume the soul of a D&D player.

Here we have Asmodeus as he was portrayed in the AD&D Monster Manual. Don't get me wrong, those eyes are a bit disturbing. As for the rest of the image, I'd seen more disturbing get ups when I took BART over to Berkeley...and I'm just talking about the other customers at the local comic shop. Asmodeus doesn't look particularly "cool." He looks like typical 70s "sleeze" and that had zero temptation appeal. He certainly doesn't look frightening.

The devils got a little more frightening with Baalzebul, the Lord of the Flies, but a horned beast head with fly eyes is only so frightening. Given that the image ins sharp line art, it lacks any real frightening impact and a guy who is "The Lord of the Flies" doesn't sound like he has a lot to offer a 10 year old. I mean c'mon, he's the Lord of things that eat poop. I'll just stab him in the face, IN THE FACE, with my Holy Avenger for the XP thank you very much.

 

This isn't to say the artwork wasn't good. I really like the illustrations in AD&D, it's just to say that none of these images had any verisimilitude or compelled me to fall into devil worship. I'd rather tell a good story about good conquering evil. In a world where evil exists, and where we often feel helpless to fight it, it's nice to have a place where you know that Good will be victorious.

That's my experience. Schwalb's was a little different. 

According to game designer Robert J. Schwalb's preface to Shadow of the Demon Lord, "D&D had been [his] game -- at least until it was decided there was too much Satan in its pages for me to play and keep my soul intact, and so I was forced to find other games to scratch my roleplaying itch. The Old World of Warhammer provided a far darker and scarier place than anything that D&D had to offer and thus it had me entranced." 

When I first read this, I almost read it as Schwalb thinking that D&D had "too much Satan" in it. Upon many re-readings, I've come to think that like my friend who was forced to play Star Frontiers instead of D&D to avoid "Satan" In my case, this created a journey from D&D to Flash Gordon -- and eventually superheroes. In Schwalb's case, this was a journey from Satan, to what my group jokingly called "Super-Mega-Ultra-Satan."  

Let's just compare those D&D "Satanic" image above to the "non-Satanic" influences of Warhammer. Let's just say that Schwalb hit the nail on the head when he says it is a far darker and scarier place than D&D. When one looks at the Chaos books of Warhammer, you can see why my friends call it "Super-Mega-Ultra-Satan." 

Also, it's amazing. My old Warhammer Realm of Chaos books are favorites of my collection.

When you look at Robert J. Schwalb's new role playing game Shadow of the Demon Lord, you can see the influence of both D&D and Warhammer. The cover of the rulebook has a demon that is clearly influenced by D&D's Orcus, but the style and horror elements are dialed up to 11 and are pure Warhammer.

 

None of these comments should be viewed as a criticism of Schwalb's game, which I think is one of the most exciting games both thematically and mechanically, I've seen in some time. Instead, they are an overview of some brief thoughts of how amazing it is that in attempting to avoid "demonic" imagery, a player ended up playing something that would probably have freaked out the Patricia Pullings of the world far more than D&D if they ever happened upon it.

Given that the theme of this blog is gaming with kids, most of the future entries in this series will be about how to adapt Schwalb's extremely versatile system to "kid friendly" topics like Scooby Doo and Skylanders. Having said that, I had to write a post looking at how the Satanic Panic continues to influence game designers and gamers. 

I know that the Satanic Panic affected the way that I gamed for a time. It forced me to encounter new genres and styles of play. I still resent the stupidity of the critics of RPGs back in the day, but I can use a little motivated reasoning to find the silver lining of the clouds. Thanks to Robert J. Schwalb, some of that silver lining now includes "Super-Mega-Ultra-Satan."

Exciting News from the New TSR - The Publishers of Gygax Magazine

I recently received an email from the new TSR discussing their scheduled lineup of new products and it is a real doozy.

When I heard that a rag tag band of old school gamers and old school game company employees had acquired the trademark to the name TSR, I was a bit skeptical. This skepticism remained even after they announced the production of a new gaming magazine entitled Gygax Magazine. My skepticism was primarily rooted in the fear that the new company, which was clearly going to be an OSR (Old School Renaissance) inspired venture, would err too much on the side of D&D OSR and not be a celebration of the entirety of Old School Roleplaying games. My skepticism soon translated into enthusiasm when I received my first copy of Gygax Magazine. Where I had expected a magazine dedicated to various D&D clones, and would have enjoyed those articles as I am a fan of D&D retroclones, what I received was a magazine that included articles covering a wide variety of games and genre.

It was like reading Dragon Magazine during the period when Dragon was more than just a house organ. Gygax Magazine is more the Dragon that published "Crimefighters" than the magazine that dedicated itself to "all 2nd edition all the time." The magazine continued its strong mission of supporting multiple genres, even as the company has had to negotiate some legal obstacles and the loss of some key partners, but the end of the legal battles (and the loss of Luke an Ernie Gygax as partners) resulted in the company deciding to end future publication of Gygax Magazine.

These recent obstacles had me once again worried about the future of the company, but then I received an email about their projected lineup and my excitement has returned.

This year, TSR plans the release of three lines of products.

The first is a line of adventure modules designed for use with a variety of old school game systems. This line of adventures is called, fittingly for one which is supporting multiple systems, the Pantheon Series.

 

As you can see from the image, the Pantheon Series will include Fantasy (Multisystem), Science Fiction (Metamorphosis Alpha), Superheroes/WWII (Godlike), and Espionage (Top Secret).  The lineup of authors includes highly regarded designers from the early days of gaming and support for an interesting set of games. The first adventures in the series were originally published in Gygax Magazine, but future entries will be original to the series. I think that this is a bold move by the company and will test how much newer gamers are willing to support the more free wheeling support fostered in the early days of the hobby.

Next on the list of products is a more conservative, but equally anticipated, 5th edition D&D adventure series. The series opens with Trouble at IronGarde Watch by Frank Mentzer and James Carpio. Mentzer was the editor of the classic BECMI edition of Dungeons and Dragons and has a wonderful sense of what makes a great fantasy adventure.

 

TSR's next offering demonstrates their willingness to fully commit to being an rpg publisher. Code Name: ACRID HERALD is a brand new Espionage role playing game designed by Merle Rasmussen, the designer of the classic first edition of Top Secret for the original TSR. The game is in its early stages, and the title is only an internal playtesting title, but I look forward to seeing what wonders lie in store. When Top Secret was first published, role playing games were young and Espionage wasn't a widely accepted game setting. Modern gamers, and game play styles that are more story oriented, provide a richer environment for Espionage games. The current spy game market has some excellent entries, but there is room for a new player if the game hits the right sweet spots. I'm looking forward to what Rasmussen has in store.