Nuketown

January 2010

Thoughts on the end of Star Wars: Saga Edition

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 01/31/2010 - 11:22am

Some suspected it, but now it's official: Wizards of the Coast is dropping the Star Wars license, and with it, the Star Wars: Saga Edition role-playing game and its counterpart, the Star Wars Miniatures Game.

It seemed likely that this would happen sooner or later once D&D 4E was released; I'm sure it's difficult for Wizards of the Coast to justify continued research and development on two rule sets (namely Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition). Saga Edition was a useful testbed for Wizards when they were trying out new ideas for 4E, but its clear that they've decided to go in a very different direction with D&D and future RPGs.

Star Wars just wasn't part of the picture. As a result, Galaxy of Intrigue and The Unknown Regions will be the last two books in the series.

Gamers Helping Haiti

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 7:27am

OneBookShelf, the company that runs the virtual RPG storefronts DriveThruRPG and RPGNow, is offering a $20 mega bundle as a fundraiser to help the survivors of the Haiti earthquake. Donate $20 to Doctors without Borders through the web site, and you'll receive $1,500+ worth of PDFs. View complete list of products in the bundle, broken down by company. The bundle sale ends January 31, 2010.

Why I want an Apple iPad

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Wed, 01/27/2010 - 11:01pm

I want an iPad. It’s not because I’m a raving Apple fan boy or obsessed with the latest gadget – it’s because it fits the way I want to use technology, and addresses frustrations I’ve had with contemporary form factors. There are three specific products that I want to use with a tablet:

  • Pen-and-paper role-playing game PDFs.
  • Comic books and magazines
  • Ebooks

They’re all print-based, and they share characteristics that don’t easily translate to a laptops, netbooks, or PDAs. I’ll preface all of this by saying these are my opinions; you may find reading an eBook on an iPod Touch to be liberating, love Marvel’s pan-and-scan tools for comic books on your Windows 7 desktop computer, and have no problem paging through PDFs on your netbook. If so, more power to you … but I find these options less than optimal.

Embrace Nature with D&D 4E's Primal Power

Posted in by Jonkga on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 5:30am

WotC’s supplement,Primal Power: Options for Barbarians, Druids, Shamans, and Wardens  presents expanded choices for each of the classes that draw power from the Primal Power Source.

It offers new possibilities for these classes in the same way that the books Divine Power, Arcane Power, andMartial Powerdid for their respective classes.

Elemental Chaos awaits in D&D 4E's The Plane Below

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 6:51pm

When I ran my 4E D&D playtest campaign, I decided to make it larger than life. That meant going planer. The churning unpredictability of the planes, the potential for exotic locations, the alienness of its inhabitants calls to my imagination. The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, which details 4E's churning elemental wastes, is just my cup of tea. Or it would be if it had retained more of the 3E cosmology. As is it's more like a cup of chia; worth a sip, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Arthur Dent beverage metaphors aside, The Plane Below is a 159-page source book that builds on the foundation laid down by last year's The Manual of the Planes. The Elemental Chaos is 4th Edition's catch-all planar setting for D&D's traditional elemental planes, as well as the Nine Hells, the Abyss, and the rest of the rest of the D&D cosmology that isn't the Astral Plane or Ravenloft.

Download a Free Issue of Kobold Quarterly Through Jan. 31

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 01/24/2010 - 12:48pm

If you've ever wanted to try out Kobold Quarterly, but didn't want to put down the change for a single issue PDF or subscription, here's your chance. Open Design is making issue #10 available as a free download ... but only until the end of January. Here's the official word:

Some sneaky rogue stole the keys to the kobold’s vault! While our minions frantically scramble to change the locks, you can take advantage of our misfortune and download a FREE issue of Kobold Quarterly magazine. Go to the KQ Store, add issue #10 to your cart, and enter the coupon code KQ10Free at checkout to snatch a PDF copy from our shelves. In its pages you’ll find:

  • Jason Bulmahn on the Pathfinder RPG
  • Ed Greenwood’s Dwarven Goddess
  • Ecology of the Hill Giant
  • Wicked Fantasy: the Haffun
  • Secrets of the Halberd
  • Monte Cook’s Game Theories
  • Rampant Elf Lust
  • And so much more!

Visit the Kobold Quarterly web site for complete details. By way of endorsement, I'll say that if ever run a fantasy game again, it will be because of Kobold Quarterly. I've got a print subscription, and each issue makes me nostalgic for my old Greyhawk campaign... and gets me thinking about how I might return to it.

Off the Bookshelf: Twilight, The Gathering Storm, Star Wars Atlas

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 12:44pm

Cover: Twilight

Over Thanksgiving break, my wife and I made a deal: I'd read Twilight if she read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It took me a month of on and off reading, but I finally did so. Completing that teen romance horror novel let me read the book I've been waiting months for: The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of the Wheel of Time.

In between the two I've been sneaking quick reads of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas, which is sure to become an indespensible reference for my Star Wars RPG campaign.

The Feed: Gearbox Software Reflects On Borderlands And What's Next

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 6:49pm

G4TV's The Feed interviews the developers at Gearbox Software about Borderlands, including their decision to ditch the realistic graphics in favor of cell-shading and the "Diablo for Guns" game mechanic. It's a good read for fans of the game, and offers some nice insights into the risks and payoffs in this surprise hit.

Live your own story with Dragon Age: Origins

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 6:17am

The highest compliment I can give Dragons Age: Origins is that everyone who plays it wants to tell me about their character. In a pen-and-paper RPG, that’s a major social faux paus, but with Dragon Age I think it’s a sign of just how into this game people are getting … and how well it’s namesake gimmick is working.

Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360/PS3/Windows) opens, as so many RPGs do, by having players pick their physical appearance, species (human, elf, dwarf) and class (rogue, fighter, mage). Your picks drive more than your abilities in the game though; they also establish which of six origins stories will be associated with your character.

Smaug the Magnificent ... in candy

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 5:17am

The good folks at Miss(ed) Manners have done it again: they've recreated one of J.R.R. Tolkien's most epic scenes ... in candy. This time around, it's the conclusion to The Hobbit, featuring the Battle of the Five Armies and the assault on Lake Town by the dragon Smaug.

As with their previous creations -- The Battle of Helm’s Deep, The Battle of Pelennor Fields, The Mines of Moria, the diorama is truly a sight to behold. A red licorice Smaug rises from a frosted Lonely Mountain to ravage a gingerbread Lake Town. Gummi bear armies of goblins, orcs, humans, dwarves and elves battle for the treasure under the mountain, while overhead eagles and giant bats fight for ariel supremacy.