Ogre's Choice Awards 2006
Ogre Cave offers their opinions on the best products of 2006. Among the winners are True20 (best role-playing game), Player's Handbook 2 (best RPG supplement) and Caylus (best board game).
The list has a few surprises, mostly in the form of games I hadn't heard of before despite being popular enough to win categories. The castle-building board game Caylus was a new one one me, as was the runnerup RPG Artesia (and the comic book it's based on) and the card game winner Perplex City.
GenCon (Almost) Live
If, like me, you really, really wish you were at GenCon right now, but like me, you really, really can't go, then check out GenCon (Almost) Live a community podcast project in which the hosts of various gaming podcasts post audio clips, photos and blog entries from the Gaming Holy Land. Unfortunately there's not a lot of "there" there yet, but give them time (and the chance to recover from the first two days of 24-four hour gaming).
Battlestar Galactica RPG Announced for 2007
Sovereign Press will release the pen-and-paper Battlestar Galactica RPG in 2007, with "fast play" preview rules available in Fall 2006, according to ICv2. It will be based on Season 1 of the reimagined SCI-FI Channel series, and be based on the same ruleset as Sovereign's Serenity RPG. It'll retail for $39.99.
Overall, I think this is a good thing -- there's plenty of depth to the series, and plenty of opportunities for political, military and Cylon intrigue throughout the fleet. The gut instinct is to run something based off Galactica, but I think a more interesting campaign could involve political squabbles -- and an eventual run for office -- on one of the smaller ships.
As far as Sovereign Press producing the game, well, I am a bit apprehensive. The Serenity game has gotten rave reviews from the folks who've played it, but the notorious lack of a character sheet -- which took something like six months to finally appear online -- coupled with holes in the combat system and hte lack of an index, does make me a bit nervous. That said, they've got the experience of Serenity now, so hopefully they won't make the self-same mistakes.
Update: 9/4/2007
Uncle Bear: Of Chinese Takeout and Chocolate Tomatoes
Berin expounds on his theory of gaming systems as food, and the GM as the sheft, in this lengthy post inspired by comments during the lengthy -- and interesting -- thread for "Jumping the Dire Shark". In related news, the blog for Silver Agents, the play-by-post game Berin's using to demonstrate his theories, has been launched. Read the full story.
Uncle Bear: Common Sense: The Roleplaying System
Berin begins his quest for a rules-light, story-intensive diceless RPG to drive his upcoming online campaign. Read the full story.
CNN: Shifting Sands Reveal Buried Mystery Ship
A derelict ship is cut up for scrap then buried in a sand dune. Years later, the sand erodes away, revealing the ship again. Through in some horrors from beyond imaging, and you've got an excellent Delta Green scenario. Read the full story.
Treasure Tables: Wikis for GMs, Part 1
Advice on how to use wikis to organize and improve your RPG campaign. Read the full story.
Treasure Tables: Adventures Ripped from the Headlines
Is your weekly game looming before you, and you don't have a single adventure hook in mind? Then check out this blog posts, which discusses using real-world news (or in some cases, fake news from real tabloids) for inspiration. Read the full story.
UncleBear.com: Putting Things in Little Boxes
Understanding the appeal of power gaming. Read the full story.
Ars Technica: Anti-Game Activist Jack Thompson Under Investigation
Thompson's the only things about video games that's made me want to be violent. Read the full story.