Friday, September 30, 2011

Rogue Games Kickstarts Containment RPG

(Chicago) September 30, 2011: Rogue Games Kickstarts Containment RPG

The Second World War has ended and a the battle for the world has begun, a war fought not with armies and fleets but in the shadows and whose battle lines are not clearly drawn. Two years ago, Germany and Japan were the enemies and the USSR an ally, but times change and the West now turns to former Nazis and their expertise in a bid to stop the red tide of Communism from washing across the world.

Containment is an espionage roleplaying game set at the dawn of the Cold War, with players assuming the roles of American, British, or French espionage agents as they grapple not just with Communist infiltration but with the dark legacies of Nazism -- including black magic and super-science. Flexibly designed, Containment supports play either as a straight-up historical espionage RPG covering the years 1947-1953 or as a game of occult conspiracy in the aftermath of World War II.

Written and designed by Richard Iorio II (Colonial Gothic & Shadow, Sword & Spell) and James Maliszewski (Thousand Suns), Containment harkens back not just to an earlier time in world history but also to an earlier time in the roleplaying hobby, when games came complete and ready-to-play in a single box. Containment therefore includes the following:

  • Rulebook: All the rules needed for play.
  • Gamemaster’s Book: Everything the GM needs for play: world background, campaign advice, character advancement rules, adventure creation guidelines, and sample threats.
  • 2 Adventures (one a straight up espionage adventure, and the other set in the occult conspiracy)
  • Dice
If this Kickstarter project succeeds, Rogue Games will not only publish this boxed set, but keep it in print for others to enjoy. Further support for the game, in the form of sourcebooks and adventures, may appear in the future, if there is sufficient interest. If successful, Containment will be released in the following formats:
  • Boxed Set (includes everything mentioned above)
  • PDF version (includes everything but the dice)
  • eBook version of the game (includes everything but the dice)
Here is a breakdown of the proposed budget for the project:
  • Printing is the estimated cost of printing approximately 500 copies of the boxed set.
  • Shipping and Handling is the expected total cost of packing, shipping, and handling to send the boxed set to supporters, based on past sales and fundraisers.
  • Writing & Graphic Design goes to Richard & James (the writers) and Richard (Graphic Designer), to pay them for work they have done, and continue to do, in creating the games Rogue Games publishes.
Rogue Games believes that a complete, boxed roleplaying game is neither a thing of the past nor an expensive pipe dream and asks your help in making Containment possible.

To become a backer, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ri2/containment-the-rpg.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Speak Out With Your Geek Out: I Am A Geek!

There's really no getting around it (even if I somehow wanted to avoid it), I am a geek. Not only am I posting this to a blog that I call Dorkland, but I am tapping away at this particular post on a smartphone.

I am a lucky geek. Despite growing up in a smaller town in Indiana, I managed to have a pretty tolerant time of my formative years. No football players, or other jocks either, ever stuffed me into a locker, tried to beat me up, bullied me, or threatened me with violence. I never had to worry about being different at any point.

Like I said, I am a lucky geek.


Because of this, I've been lucky to be able to fly my geek flag, and be proud of it. True, there were ups and downs, just like there always are in life. However, I've always been open about who I am (and why I knew so much about computers) and I've been lucky to work places where nobody gave a crap. I've read comics and gaming books at lunch time in work cafeterias. Sometimes someone would ask a well-intentioned question, showing interest in my hobbies, but most of the time they would just go about their own business because they didn't care.

For me, every day is one where I speak geek, because it is who I am. I love music, of all types. I love comic books, and will happily spend hours arguing if The Hulk is stronger than Thor (for the record I am on Team Thor in this argument...Hulk is mighty but Thor is still a god). I love some good, thought-provoking speculative fiction and escapist fantasy. I read paranormal romance. I love and create role-playing games.

In short...I am a geek.

I am a bit sad at the reason behind why Speak Out With Your Geek Out got started. Jon Finkel, a world champion Magic The Gathering player got publicly mocked for being a geek in an online article about a woman looking for dates (allegedly) on the site OKCupid. He gets called out, not because he was a horrible date or abusive or a dick, or anything like that. No, he had the audacity to be a geek. Not just a geek, but a successful geek who had managed to make a hell of a lot of money doing what he loved doing.

We should all be so lucky to be able to make the kind of money he has made, doing something he loves, geek or non-geek.

So, because of that he gets mocked. I'm not going to insult or belittle or rake the woman who wrote that article over hot coals. It's been done enough already. Too much if you ask me. Really, all the negativity from the geek side doesn't cancel out the negativity from the non-geek side. It just makes for more negativity, and that doesn't do any of us any good.
If you read this today, or any day in the future for that matter, honor what has happened, honor who you are, honor every other geek out there (whether you know them or not) by proudly doing something geeky. Read a comic on a bus. Read that D&D book at the coffee shop. If someone asks you what you're reading look them in the eye and tell them. You never know, you might be meeting the next member of your gaming group, or even a future partner.

Every day is a day to be proud of being a geek. Speak out every day.

[Note: As I wrote this on my phone, I will go back and likely revise/edit and probably add an image or two. Fear not if this should change slightly on multiple viewings].

Friday, September 02, 2011

Speak Out With Your Geek Out

Are you a geek? Well, if you're reading a blog with a name like Dorkland! there's a good chance that you are one. Because of a recent article that appeared online mocking a certain Magic: The Gathering world champion (that we're not going to encourage by linking to because the website pays according to the number of clicks that an article generates) there's a movement afoot to get people to talk, with pride, about their geekiness. Does it matter what kind of geek you are? Hell, no. Are you a comic geek? Check. Are you a gamer? Check. Are you a music geek? Check. Hell, are you a geek about geek music? That gets you two check marks. Really, it's time for us to stop being ashamed of who and what we are and it's time for us to be proud of being geeks. It is time, my friends, to show the world our numbers and to show that we are happy and proud of who we are.

You can get more information at the Speak Out With Your Geek Out website: http://speakoutwithyourgeekout.tumblr.com/

For those of you Twitterati out there, the offical hashtag is ‎#speakgeek.
SPEAK OUT WITH YOUR GEEK OUT

Sometime during the week of Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th post about what geeky hobby you love. Then, tell us why we should try it, too. Leave your fears (and edition wars) at the door. Forget about your latest rant. Tap into that well of positive energy and share in the excitement of all things geek.Let us invite those who would stereotype us to sit at our table and share our interests.

UPDATE: The Facebook event is public and live! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190025581068159

As of time of this writing, there's a little over 400 people who have said that their going to talk about this and the Speak Out With Your Geek Out people would like to see 1,000 people pledged to talk about their geekiness in a positive way. I, however, don't think that's enough people. I know that there are so many more of us out there in the great, big world, and I would like to see at least three times that number. That's right, I think we can hit 3,000 geeks around the world, getting down with geek selves.