I struggled with this prompt because I couldn’t think of a “simple” game I own, and it seems like most of my RPGs are pretty complex. And then I thought of Fiasco. Described as a game about “powerful ambitions and power impulse control”, Fiasco is inspired by all of those movies whose characters start with great ideas and … Read more
Star Wars: Saga Edition is my favorite licensed RPG. My Shadows of the Force campaign ran for a number of years and took place during the Knights of the Old Republic era. The campaign pitted the heroes against a pirate fleet and a resurgent Sith threat (of course). It was a great time to be … Read more
Star Wars Aracade is a vector graphics-based video game released by Atari in 1983. Additional versions were released for home consoles (albeit with inferior graphics). The game plays a minor role in Ready Player One, serving as the inspiration for the arcade museum planet of Archaide. Quote The planet’s only surface feature was a web … Read more
On Radio Active’s 100th episode I talk about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a shoot-and-loot video game based on the Borderlands franchise, go on a solitary, geeky retreat to work on RPG and podcast projects, and contemplate the golden age of online role-playing games. Nuketown News Radio Active’s 100th Episode It finally happened – Radio Active hit … Read more
Atari released Star Raiders for the 2600 in 1980. Somehow, someway … I never played it, yet based on Wikipedia’s accounting, it inspired many of the games I love including Wing Commander, and Star Wars: X-Wing. In the novel Ready Player One, it gets a single mention alongside such 2600 classics as Yar’s Revenge and The Empire Strike’s Back as well as the … Read more
Parker Bros.’s The Empire Strikes Back Atari 2600 game is – according to Wikipedia – the first-ever Star Wars licensed video game. It takes place on the ice planet of Hoth, with the player on a doomed mission to destroy imperial AT-ATs (aka imperial walkers) before they can reach the rebel base. It plays a minor role … Read more
Behold the firepower of this fully armed and operational Geek Tree! Continuing Nuketown’s new tradition of themed Geek Trees (because I have way too many geeky ornaments), this year, I went with a Star Wars theme. It features 48 ornaments ranging from Luke Skywalker (1997) to Obi-Wan Kenobi (2021). The geek tree itself is a 9-foot tall narrow artificial tree … Read more
Three characters, three campaigns, three current situations: Zor Nabat (Star Wars: The Republic): Czerka Corporaton acquired a government license to extract water from the ocean world of Glee Anselm, home of the Nautolan species. Czerka, being the epitome of the evil megacorp, doesn’t care about the ecological fallout. Zor, who’s family business was destroyed by Czerka, … Read more
My main gaming group, the Blackrazor Guild, are serial campaigners. We almost can’t help ourselves; if a campaign gets past the first few sessions, it’s very likely to run for for a year or two. Our biggest, most memorable campaigns were all multi-year affairs: Our namesake Blackrazor Guild campaign The Redshirts (aka Return to the Temple … Read more
I’m playing in three games right now, so I’ve got three answers, plus two honorable mentions. Star Wars: The Republic Zor Nabat Male Twi’lek Corporate Officer (Level 3) Background – Bankrupt Focus: Inspiring Leader The upstart corporation Cobbatha Collective Designs excelled at developing aftermarket add-ons for commercial starships. Cobbatha had its start in the slums of … Read more