Hot Stuff
With Magic: The Gathering set to expand its universe with the fivefold worlds of Shards of Alara this October, GayGamer and Velvet DiceBag are proud to host this exclusive spoiler card, Skeletonize, a flaming harbinger of death and eventual resurrection - in the enemy's hand. We're also sharing five other spoiler cards - after the jump - that each reflect the nature of one of Alara's sundered worlds.
What was long ago a single plane brimming with mana is now a sundered world of five realms, each divided along the lines of mana and with access to only three of the five colors of magic essence. Bant, Grixis, Jund, Esper and Naya represent five lands separated by magical alignment, each boasting an environment specialized to its mana color.
Make the jump to learn more about the Shards of Alara!
Greetings! I am currently a bit down because I wasn't at DragonCon (apparently the steampunk contingent stole the show--darn it I should have been there!), but that leaves me no excuse not to fill you in on the interesting things that happened this last week in our hobby!
• Chaosium released a sneak peek of its new product, Pulp Cthulhu, detailing one of its new occupations--the Reanimator.
• Wizards unveiled the Shards of Alara Orb of Insight for their new Magic: the Gathering set--write anything in the box and see how many times it will appear in the new cards!
• A new collectible miniatures game, Mutant Chronicles, is shipping now from Fantasy Flight Games.
• Games Workshop has a whole bunch of new Warhammer and Warhammer 40k stuff, including a new Dark Elf Battalion and bad-ass War Hydra, and a new 40k boxset that has everything you need to start playing the game--plus a new line of paints, Citadel Washes, that promise to make shading easier than ever before.
• Palladium's press release announced new products for the fall, including the Macross sourcebook for the Robotech RPG, and a new Zombie Apocalypse RPG called Dead Reign.
• A legendary Call of Cthulhu podcast has reached its end--YogSothoth.com's Bradford Players have completed Horror on the Orient Express!
More to come, of course, as the week progresses!
From GayGamer: On an article posted to John McCain's website yesterday in response to plagiarism charges from the liberal blogosphere, McCain's campaign bashes gamers in a venomous ad hominem attack tucked into the last paragraph:
It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.
Right - because gamers can't quite possibly understand the sacrifice our troops make to keep us safe. Good job, ignorant and bitter McCain campaign staffer; you've shown the same amount of savvy that a typical High School bully shows as he kicks around the little guy in the classroom.
In that one sentence you've not only insulted gamers like me who have utter respect for our troops, but you've insulted those members of the military who themselves enjoy rolling the dice and dungeon crawling as an enjoyable hobby. There are at least three members of my regular gaming group who are service members, and you just insulted every single one of them.
Way to go.
Smears the Left Can Fight For [McCain]
It is August! That month of hopefully-lovely weather, people slowly gearing up to get back to school, etc. etc. Hopefully you've got some good game on this summer so far, but if not, you have a whole summer month left to atone!
Here's some stuff that's going on (and I promise that this is one of the last big round-up posts in lieu of actual posting, because there's just two weeks to go in my job)!
• Five days left to vote in the ENnie awards! Go go go!
• Three days left in the BRP Adventure-writing Contest. Five to seven thousand words, every genre except Lovecraftian, possible publishing!
• Two weeks before Hunter: the Vigil!
• FFG's reprint of Dark Heresy in stores now, and the launch of the website for Red November, the game of gnomish submarine adventure (awesome)!
• Humans!!!, the companion board game to Zombies!!! in which you actually play the zombies (and yes, you can play the two together) is out this month from Twilight Creations!
Keep your eyes peeled--it might have been a slow couple of weeks in terms of product releases, but the end of August is going to get mighty busy indeed (much to the chagrin of people like me who have school to go back to).
VelvetDiceBag, as you may have noticed, has been kind of non-existent lately. Faerie Dragon already went over the reasons why he hasn't been here as frequently in the past couple of months, and on my part I was slewn first by an exam period and then a soul-sucking 4 a.m.-shift job that drained all energy I might have had.
But now that I'm getting used to said job, I'll do my best to post regularly on this, my far better job!
Let's take a look at what's been happening in Tabletop Gaming in the last few days.
• ENnie Award voting will begin shortly, after they resolve their technical difficulties. Keep checking back here for when the polls open, and check out the nominees here!
• Wizards announced the 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Player's Guide for September. Of most interest is the introduction of two new races, the Drow (oh no) and the Genasi (elemental humanoids--I've had a soft spot for them ever since I played a custom Steam Genasi in Planescape).
• Chaosium announced a 1920s Call of Cthulhu sourcebook for August, Secrets of Morocco. The Secrets series is always top-notch quality and jam-packed with useful information, so I'm looking forward to this.
• The new Magic: the Gathering set, Eventide, came out recently. An excellent article was posted on the set's journey through art, rules, design and development.
• Three weeks remain until the release of Hunter: the Vigil, and previews are still in full force on White Wolf's website.
• Fantasy Flight Games is gearing up to release their A Game of Thrones CCG Core Set, with daily previews.
More to come, day by day!
Christie's, apparently, in 2003 sold a beautiful Ancient Roman green glass d20 (what, you thought we invented them?) , with a distinct and different symbol on each face. Scholars don't know what game it was used for, but we do.
Of course, it's XVMMCMXXV (17925) dollars, but this is the ulimate gamer bling and I'm sure there's at least one gamer who's filthy rich out there who snatched it up.
...Right? It had to be a gamer. Or else I might cry.
[Via: BoingBoing]
Whether grognards like myself like or hate the new edition (and there seems to be quite the mix), the fact remains that Wizards of the Coast is the big fish in the small pond of the role playing game industry. The flagship rpg product, the one everyone knows and everyone recognizes, is Dungeons & Dragons. As I mentioned in my last entry, I tried the game this past weekend with the introductory adventure and quickstart rules, having only the Players Handbook in hand. I'll discuss that experience later and in some detail because I think there are probably a lot of gaymers who are still in the process of making a decision on 4e.
Today I surrendered and bought the books - cancelling my online order (it was delayed in shipping until at least July 10th) - and buying the books from my friendly local gaming store (which, as I've said before, is not all that friendly, though at least the cashier is a hot little number). They kindly gave me a substantial discount as a longtime customer, for which I'm grateful, since the cost of the books is hurdle to starting in the new system. For what it's worth, while I always support my local gaming stores when I can, you can probably already find cheap copies on Ebay. Why? Because while I rather like a lot of aspects of the new edition... most particularly that I think my players have more fun playing it than 3.5... many others who had high hopes have not.
So if so many people hated it, why am I making it the game of the week? Because there must be some balance. For every person who has told me they hate 4e, I've also had someone tell me why they love it. It's not perfect, and thanks to Paizo, it doesn't need to be. Those who want to continue with the 3.5 system and rules that flow from that system can continue with Paizo's Pathfinder system, or just use 3.5 as is or with Monte Cook's book of his own house rules (which I featured here some time ago). For those who need the official system, who must have only what is endorsed by Wizards of the Coast - congratulations. I pronounce the system somewhat sound, playable, and fun. It may not be perfect, substituting streamlining of effects for flexibility in places, but it has its own qualities to recommend it, which I'll discuss in depth in the coming weeks in a new feature that will replace Scrying the 4e Crystal Ball.
This game will not be D&D for everyone. It slays sacred cows (magic missile can miss, and yes that just feels wrong to me, too), and it changes many aspects of the game. Wizards seem more playable at low levels than they were, fighters seem more playable at high levels than they were. Much of the game is now about the team rather than the character, and you'll have to work at making your character unique, because the rules will not do it for you. But I think, despite great early trepidation, that the game is a good one. Try it out if you can. If 3.5 is definitely your choice... think about trying Pathfinder. I'm still reading the alpha release of their rules, but they look like they're doing something interesting over at Paizo too.
With 4th edition of the new D&D game out, I felt a need this weekend to take the new rules for a spin, and not just because of World D&D Game Day on Saturday. Unfortunately, despite its participation in the day on an official level, no 4e gaming was going on at the nearest FLGS and the better one (which is slightly further away, hey gimme a break, gas is $4 a gallon) was full by the time I cornered the manager of the nearby game store to find out that indeed no 4e gaming was going to take place.
Fortunately, my regular gaming group meets on Sundays and agreed to do a test. I purchased Keep on Shadowfell just after its release and my gaming group (sans one player) gave it go. That gave us a group of five players, which is conveniently what the rules recommend (and also the number of pre-gens available). Saved from trying to figure out character creation over the weekend, I focused on learning the rules. Many of the changes came as no surprise, I have, after all, been reporting what little we've been able to learn for the past six months. I have a controversial opinion, I know, but frankly, while I love 3e and 3.5e, I think this game (so far) plays better for my group.
I'll give a full review tomorrow, but I think it's safe to say that 4e is D&D, but not necessarily the flavor of D&D that is right for everyone. I'll explain those sentiments tomorrow.
Today, June 7th, is the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day! Hundreds of Friendly Local Gaming Stores all over the world (and even locations set up in Iraq and Afghanistan for serving military personnel) have a big action-packed day to celebrate the release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, so if you have a chance to drop by you'll probably have a blast.
I'm certainly picking up my own copy of the game sometime this weekend, and I'm still very optimistic. In not too long, we'll have a big VelvetDiceBag weigh-in post where we air out our opinions and you post yours!
In the past eight months or so (can you believe it's been that long?), I hope I've showcased a big variety of RPGs, showing that there was more to the hobby than D&D--tons and tons of games by small presses, medium-sized presses and even no presses at all that are well worth your attention and maybe even perfectly suited to your group. Nevertheless, D&D has a special place in my heart as my first RPG and I'm very excited--I hope some of that excitement rubs off on you guys!
*rub rub*
In a glorious return to Way-Out Wednesday, I'm going to be looking at a game I like so much that I can't help but grin like a madman when I hold it in my hands--Unknown Armies. See?
Atlas Games' Unknown Armies isn't as indie as most of the games featured in this space before (it's made by Atlas Games, after all), but it's so off-the-wall and in the indie spirit that it certainly warrants being here. The work of the inimitable Greg Stolze and John Tynes, Unknown Armies has a big following and praises are sung universally--it is the fourth highest-rated game of all time on the Rpg.net Game Index--again, completely warranted. It's really something special.
It's a horror game, at its core. A modern-day occult horror game where just about everything is sinister, bizarre, and just... neat. The two main kinds of characters are Adepts, magick-users who belong to bizarre modern-day schools of thought, and Avatars, people who align their entire lives to a universal archetype, thus gaining powers associated with that archetype.
The kinds of Adepts include Dipsomancers (who gain power by drinking and can only use magick while drunk, and can take the idea of the drunk getting away with anything and thereby cheat the rules of reality itself), Videomancers (who gain power by watching specific TV shows, lose it when they miss their shows, and bring TV program tropes into existence), Cliomancers (who harvest energy from famous locations and affect history and memory), Epideromancers (who gain power from hurting themselves and can then control the flesh of other people), Bibliomancers (who gain power by collecting books and play around with information and knowledge), Mechanomancers (who give up their memories to fuel their clockwork creations)--the list goes on, and on, each more intriguing than the last. (I haven't even mentioned the Pornomancers.)
Avatar archetypes include The Mother, The Savage, The MVP, The True King, The Messenger, The Mystic Hermaphrodite, The Woman That Everybody Can Have (Everybody But You), and just about anything else you can think of.
What's more, there are hundreds of fan-made Adept schools and Avatar Paths at the fantastic Unknown-Armies.com.
Even without going into the bizarre ways to do magic outside of schools, the multi-faceted setting with metaplot characters who are actually interesting, the fantastic passion and obsession-focused character creation, the cabal of magick-users working at McDonalds who infect their customers' food with magic that manifests to them later, the nifty dice mechanics, the Madness Meters that are known to be the best sanity/insanity system in the world of RPGs (outdoing even Call of Cthulhu), and the mind-blowingly good in-game fiction that can find its peer only in Nobilis--even without going into all of that, Unknown Armies seems pretty cool, right?
If you like modern-day settings, horror, off-the-wallness (to the extent that seeing the new car commercial with the sumo wrestlers washing a car in slow motion prompted my friend to say "this is SO Unknown Armies"), game fiction good enough to read for pleasure before bedtime, and maybe even a game that will change the way you see the world forever after you read it like all good art should, Unknown Armies is your game.
P.S. Hot gay action on page 23, accompanied by overnight body-changing and a god who looks like a seahorse.
P.P.S. PDF preview of the first 40 or so pages available here.
With the new Magic: the Gathering block beginning with Shards of Alara on October 3rd, 2008, the folks at Wizards have announced a few changes that will be a comin'.
• After a "tremendous amount of feedback," they have decided that they are releasing too many cards each year and card sets will be smaller. Shards of Alara will have 249 cards, and each of the next two sets in the block will have 145.
• The concept of rarity is also changing with the institution of the new level of rarity--the mythic rare, with not a gold expansion symbol but kind of a fiery red-orange expansion symbol. Intense indeed, these babies will replace the rare in about 1 out of 8 booster packs. Shards of Alara will have 15 mythic rares, 53 rares, 60 uncommons, 101 commons and 20 basic lands. The next two sets will have 10 mythic rares, 35 rares, 40 uncommons and 60 commons. The way foils work will stay the same, with foil mythic rares actually being more frequent than usual.
• Boosters will have 1 common card replaced with a basic land. Boosters will therefore consist of 1 rare (or mythic rare), 3 uncommons, 10 commons, 1 basic land, and 1 tip card or token.
• A new product is being introduced, the intro pack, acting as an experienced player's introduction to the new set's mechanics and setting (as opposed to, like, the internet), and will be the "best tool for introducing new players into the game." It'll include a 41-card precon deck with 1 premium foil rare and 1 non-foil rare, a booster pack of the current set, an insert with the new set's mechanics and info on the precon deck, and an insert to teach newbies how to play the game. There'll be 5 intro packs with each set, and SRP is $12.29. Theme decks, however, will be discontinued.
• Coming up in the fall is the Planeswalker's Guide, an extensive book about the new set--this one in particular is called The Planeswalker's Guide to Alara, coming out September 2nd, 2008. In the winter will be a new Planeswalker novel series, in the Spring the new block will get its own set, and the Fat Packs are getting a redesign with 6 instead of 8 boosters and a current novel instead of a set-based novel (boo! Boo!).
The week's articles at Magicthegathering.com will be dedicated to those changes. The first article is The Year of Living Changerously, in which Mark Rosewater begins to explain what went through WotC's heads. (Myself, I think most of the changes are pretty cool, besides the reduced set sizes. I mean, 330 cards in Mirage meant that there were that many more cards to love!)
Some pretty big stuff went down this week in this hobby of ours. The most noteworthy is probably the fact that many people got their copies of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition early--and, as we've learned from the music industry time and time again, when one person gets an advance copy of something, everyone gets an advance copy of something. VelvetDiceBag does not promote piracy, however (unless it's of the Freeport or Stormwrack or 7th Sea varieties) --if you did indulge yourself and downloaded a copy and enjoyed it, we urge you to buy the real thing when it comes out. Pretty please?
On the Chaosium and Cthulhu side of things, I previously reported the first unlimited edition of the gorgeous Call of Cthulhu dice. Also of note is Chaosium's agreement with Sixtystone Press to create Call of Cthulhu supplements (a good move, considering they're focusing on their BRP-system line lately) , and the folks at Yog-Sothoth.com just released the new Yog Radio podcast, featuring an interview with S.T. Joshi. That made me really, really excited--my final English paper in Grade 12 was on the works of Lovecraft, and as anyone who's done academic research of Lovecraft will tell you, basically everything, every academic treatise and biography of Lovecraft, was written by S.T. Joshi and it's all excellent. Do yourself a favour, check out the interview, and read some of the ample works of Joshi online.
At Magicthegathering.com, it was Evil Twin week. There are a bunch of excellent articles up, my favourites being How to Sneak Overpowered Cards Past Development and The Evil That Designers Do.
Not much from White Wolf except for two (admittedly intriguing) previews of the new freehold-focused Changeling book, Lords of Summer, and a revelatory look-ahead at Hunter: the Vigil, a game that looks quite good but whose cover is marred by a sunglasses-at-night-wearing douche smack in the middle of it.
The Escapist had a really cool article about the nature of the roleplaying game as a modern phenomenon, called Dungeons & Dragons Owns the Future.
The new Palladium press release has details on T-Shirts, a new Rifts anthology, and their release plans for the summer. Mayfair games announced its plans for GenCon. (I'm not even going and I'm still excited!) A new RPG company debuted, Myth Merchant Press. The much-awaited documentary, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, found a distributor in Anthem Pictures.
That's it for now! Hopefully next week we'll be back to a more regular posting schedule. Thanks for your patience!
And girls who like girls who like breastplates!
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