Friday Knight News - Best Laid Plans Edition: 7-SEP-2012 | Game ...

By Fitz, on September 7th, 2012

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September is here. It sneaked in behind August?s back when I wasn?t looking. And somehow with the Labor Day holiday I find myself a week behind. Go figure. All that catching up I was going to do over the long weekend? Yeah, that never happened.

At any rate, I hope this news roundup finds you in a good place heading into the weekend! My weekend involves gaming Saturday night (Zeitgeist!) as well as some soccer for my kids. I?m hoping somewhere in the middle of the chaos I?ll do a little more of the catching up I tried to get to last weekend!

As far as Game Knight Reviews goes, it was a quiet week with a review of the first of The Expedition Journals of Amestus Armen from Tim Loya Games (now available at DriveThruRPG!) and the wrap-up for the August RPG Blog Carnival (?What?s in *YOUR* backpack??) which ended up with some creative responses from a wide variety of different angles. Hopefully next week I?ll have a couple of reviews, an interview, and maybe even a few surprises.

So let?s dive into the weekend news and call it good, shall we?

Food for Thought

Games and Gaming

• Late last week,?Dave Chalker @ Critical Hits talked about some of the big name RPG projects he got excited about at Gen Con this year??Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight,?13th Age,?The Onyx Path from White Wolf, and more are mentioned.
• DeadOrcs @ This is My Game also wrote up a wrap-up of some of the events he attended at Gen Con 2012. Everything from events during the convention day to what happens after the dealer room closes, and much more. Great series of articles.
• So did Iddy @ The Id DM. And it sounds like he had a chance to meet many of the folks who he?d interacted with through interviews at his blog! That?s awesome. Hopefully I can do that at some point!
• Dice. All but one RPG I?ve played (Amber) has used them. I myself have collected more dice than I probably should have. But are they all truly random? Are some better than others? This is the question posed by the folks at Awesome Dice. And they have some interesting data to share with us.
• Did you make it to TactiCon last weekend in Denver? The Online Dungeon Master did. Somehow he signed up for seven 4 hour slots of gaming over the long Labor Day weekend.?Fiasco.?D&D 4e Dark Sun.?Chaos & Alchemy.?Smash Up. He was busy and more than a little insane!
• Evil campaigns. Ever played in one? I haven?t. But apparently Aaron (Wolf Samurai) @ RPG Musings has put some thought into it. Ultimately he has the same problem I do ? it?s tough playing a bad guy. But some of his tips could really come in handy playing a bad guy as a GM I think.
• Need more gaming? Fear not, Indie+2 is coming! Troll in the Corner has a great overview of the 2nd iteration of the online convention happening between October 29th and November 4th!
• So many gaming conventions, so little time? PAX 2012 happened recently and one of the fun events was the D&D Live Show of Acquisitions Incorporated. M @ Geek?s Dream Girl did a great job of capturing what must have been a rip-roaring good time? Wil Wheaton, Mike ?Gabe? Krahulik, Jerry ?Tycho? Holkins, and Steve Kurtz playing D&D before a live audience? I can?t wait for the video! (I?ll be watching for it here at YouTube? impatiently tapping my foot!)
• ?Matt McElroy @ Flames Rising also made it to PAX Prime and wrote about his adventures? Sounds like he kept extremely busy!
• We all start out as n00bs at one time or another. Playing D&D is just one more skill you have to develop with time and energy. So what can experienced folks do to help inexperienced combatants slow things down less? Ravyn @ Exchange of Realities has four great tips to help. Personally I?m a fan of the ?No pressure? approach!
• Steve Winter @ Kobold Quarterly takes a different approach to the n00b experience and suggests that we look back to our own first experiences with RPGs to help someone?s first time playing be something they?ll never forget! Make it fun and remember the rush of your first time!
• Do you need a modern or sci-fi weapons shop for your campaign but no time to create it? Check out part 2 of John Arcadian?s series @ Gnome Stew featuring five different stores, complete with encounters, NPCs, and secrets!
• Are you curious about some of the many OSR games out there to check out? Erik Tenkar @ Tenkar?s Tavern has posted a good list to start with?
• Have you ever tried converting a module from one game system to another? Apparently Sorcerer Blob @ Legend4ry has converted the DCC RPG module from Free RPG Day from DCC to 4e! Quite a process and he offers some interesting observations along the way?
• Meanwhile, John Stater @ Land of Nod is putting an interesting spin on some old familiar classes. Take a look at the Tomb Raider class and see what you think!
• Thorynn @ Skyland Games had a chance to try an online RPG session recently and wrote about his experiences using MapTool and Google+ Hangouts.
• I don?t know about you, but oozes were always a big pain in the butt for me as a player, whether playing at a table or in a CRPG. But I never thought of feeding undead to an ooze to create? something else. Ian Coakley @ Of Dice and Men definitely has some creepy ideas here!
• Or perhaps you?d rather involve the yuan-ti? David Guyll @ Points of Light has you covered with a some mutterings about using yuan-ti and ogres in his campaigns?
• Interested in how?Star Wars: Edge of the Empire plays so far with the beta from Fantasy Flight? Dice Monkey has a summary of their first session and it sounds like it went well!
• Wondering how to teach folks to play or run?Fiasco? Geek Ken has some terrific ideas. After watching the?Fiasco game on Wil Wheaton?s TableTop show, maybe I?ll give it a go at some point?
• Do you need a statue or idol? Mobius @ Ennead Games has 10 for you to pick from?
• Or perhaps your NPC or PC needs a scientific or mystical profession? Omlet @ Undeworld Kingdom has 20 to pick from? I like Charlatan personally. It?s not something I?ve ever seen on a list of occupations!
• Or maybe a cursed item to throw your players for a loop? LS @ Papers & Pencils has seven twisted items to cause heartburn for the most pure of characters?
• Did you know there?s a financial crisis in D&D 4e? Neither did I. But after reading this article from Michael @ Neuroglyph Games, I?m going to have to hoard my silver and gold more frequently?
• To your games or gaming groups sometimes grow stagnant? I?ve seen it happen and I?m sure you have too. Well, A.L. has some ideas on how to address it @ Reality Refracted.?I?m a ?wing it? kind of GM already, but I like the idea of setting more active goals and not playing it safe as a player!

Kickstarter

• Brom. The word alone evokes fantastic imagery and has for years? So why wouldn?t you want to support his Kickstarter project and get a hardcover art book featuring a retrospective of art from his 30 year career? This one has only begun to explode and it still has four more weeks to pick up speed!
• Looking for a shiny, high-drama fantasy RPG from Japan? Check out the Kickstarter for Tenra Bansho Zero! The art really embodies the Manga spirit and looks gorgeous!
• If manga?s not your thing, how about crazy cows searching for unexploded bombs? Yes, you read that right. It?s the premise of the new Kickstarter for?Unexploded Cow from Cheapass Games!
• How about Matt Forbeck?s?Monster Academy novels? A fiction trilogy where some young fantasy monsters must ?learn to be good ? or die.? Cheerful! But the cover of the first book sold it for me ? ?I will not eat people.? written several times on the blackboard.
• The GM?s Real-World Reference project from Tristan Zimmerman is just about out of time and looks like a GREAT resource to have on a GM shelf. After all, much of what we do as GMs starts with an idea from the real world? Jump in on this one!
• Or if maybe the real world holds no appeal and you?d rather consider abandoning Earth for someplace new, why not check out the Kickstarter for The Artifact RPG. Apparently we?ve found a manufactured world (no, not Magrathea) bigger than Earth but designed for humans ? in fact, there?s some there already!
• Oh! Oh! A family card game! Not since?Creatures have I seen anything that I knew would be a big hit with the whole family??Scrapyard Warriors looks like it might just fit the bill with some serious creativity!
• Need a bit of a reality check and some tips before you kick off your own Kickstarter project? Bill Heron @ Mandragora has some solid suggestions and things to watch out for. And I tend to agree with his point about badly-produced PDFs?
• Erik Tenkar @ Tenkar?s Tavern also has some tips after seeing a poorly executed Kickstarter for?DCC RPG?
• Billiam Babble is one of the folks in the blogosphere who?s openly said he?s against crowdfunding of RPGs? But now that DriveThruRPG is supporting it, he may be coming around to the idea?
• Over at ?sky full of dust,? they have a great interview with Uri Kurlianchik, designer of D&D Kids and his new game RATS! RATS! is being funded through IndieGoGo, so go check it out.
• Remember I mentioned the?Conclave?Kickstarter last week? Well, they have a new video showing some of the gameplay ? new effects and features seem to be added daily!

Publisher News

Reviews

Tools

That?s it for this week on the news front. If you want a bit more, check out (just updated these, sorry):

There?s definitely plenty of news go go around!

Before I go, I have to give a hearty congrats to Ameron (Derek Myers) @ Dungeon?s Master for getting published in?Dragon Magazine! That?s awesome!

I also have to give a shout out to those of you looking for places to guest post! Berin Kinsman @ Asparagus Jumpsuit is looking for guest posters for the AJ blog. Submit an article pitch! (I?m looking for folks for here also. Let?s do some writing together!)

If you?re interested in a few dungeon design contests??Check out the post from Erik Jensen @ Wampus Country?for three places looking for your work!

And a shout-out to Sean Fannon, who is leaving the DriveThruRPG team to do more game design work. I wish you all the best Sean and know we?re all looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Ok, so I guess I had a few ?last things? there!

I hope everybody has a great weekend!

As always, if you feel I missed something (and it would be impossible NOT to), drop me a quick note via the contact page or drop me an e-mail at news(at)gameknightreviews(dot)com and I?ll add it to the list for next week!

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Source: http://www.gameknightreviews.com/2012/09/friday-knight-news-best-laid-plans-edition-7-sep-2012/

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