The Things That You Hear: Licenses And RPGs [UPDATED With Link]

When you're a blogger, or you have contacts within the tabletop gaming industry, you hear a lot of things that never make it out to the general public. Who isn't paying their bills and their freelancers tends to be the thing that you hear about the most. Which publisher lost a licensing deal over non-payment, that sort of thing. DMs on Twitter and private chats on Facebook and G+ give up some of the details on what is going on behind the scenes. Sometimes you pick up things around the gaming table. If you want this information to keep coming you learn to be discrete about things. You want your information to keep coming, after all. This is when a blogger should behave like a journalist and protect their sources.

For example, a piece of information that I have been sitting on for a while now is that one of the well known publishers, known mostly for their science fiction games but also with some fantasy showings, is planning on dipping its toe into the realms of super-hero games by landing a fairly major (to our smaller niche of gaming) comic book license. Will this get past the negotiation stages? I have heard that it has, but as we all well know that doesn't assure that a final product will make the game shop shelves. We will know it when we see it, however. I hope that the game does make it. The license will hold a certain amount of nostalgia for those gamers who are comic book fans, I think, and it will definitely make for an interesting game.

UPDATE: It appears that, while no announcements have been made, there is a holding page for the game on the company's website (http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/valiant/). If you want to keep secrets quiet, you shouldn't go live with your web pages. Actually, I looked for this a couple of days ago and couldn't find it. Hat tip to an astute reader for finding the link.

SECOND UPDATE: I've added some screen shots of the page. Just in case.

I am always leery of licensed games because, whether gamers like it or not, they are going to go away sooner or later. At some point the license will stop being profitable for someone in the equation and the game will go away. Yes, there is always the idea that licensed games will, by their nature, bring non-gamers into the fold, but I don't know if this is a prevalent as it would have been 10 or 20 years ago. Sure, there will be some crossover interest from people with the inclination who had never before gamed but I don't know that it is a big of a market as it once was.

Regardless, let's watch and see if there are any big announcements about a new license at the GAMA Trade Show, Origins or Gen Con this year. If this game is going to go through, that is when I would assume that it would start to be talked about.

UPDATE THREE: Expect to hear more soon.

Do you have a tip one something big coming up? Let me know about it privately and I will keep all of my sources confidential.

Examining With Great Power: Grim Realism

For those who may not know, With Great Power was a column in Polyhedron magazine that explore campaign and rule variants for the original Marvel Super-Heroes game published by TSR. Rarely longer than a page or two, these articles looked at different ways to play the game, alternate rules, or something in between.

This particular column, written by then line developer Dale Donovan, talks about making the game more grim and gritty. This was actually a common complaint of the game among players at the time. The era not long after the Marvel Super-Heroes game originally came out saw a darkening of comic book super-heroes, and their stories. Frank Miller's classic Daredevil run for Marvel Comics was one of the inspirations for this article.

The rules are pretty simple, and mostly boil down to retasking already existing rules (which is the best way to do variants).

This is what the article suggested that you change to the Karma rules in the role-playing game:

Continue to use Karma as described in the rules. This will, in most cases, keep the level of mortality about the same as in other Marvel campaigns, if that is what you wish. Good role playing though, especially in a grim setting, will sometimes result in a hero giving up his Karma to kill a particularly dastardly foe. In the Born Again story line in the Daredevil comic a few years back, the Kingpin of Crime methodically destroys Matt Murdock's life after he discovers that Murdock is Daredevil. If Daredevil had been a PC hero in my campaign, I probably wouldn't have objected if Daredevil had killed Kingpin in retaliation, especially if the PC Daredevil was role played as mentally unhinged as the comic's Daredevil was.

Use the villain Karma rules (page 20, Advanced Set Judge's Book) regarding killing the underlings of "master criminals." PCs would lose 30 Karma points for each henchman, underling, or goon working for the main villain who is killed, instead of all their Karma. After all, the thugs aren't important; it's stopping the villain that's the goal. And, if some goons get in your way, too bad—they probably deserved it anyway. All other normal Karma rules apply, though exceptions, like the Daredevil example above, would still be possible.

Play the PCs as outright villains. Again, this is not recommended, as it's not in the heroic tradition of the comics or the game, but I can see where it might be fun to play your favorite Marvel villain and trash the Avengers or the X-Men. Use all the villain rules in the Advanced Set Judge's Book, pages 19-21. These rules are intended to help the GM run his NPC villains, but you can easily apply them to PCs as well. This means that PCs would gain Karma for committing crimes, beating up heroes, putting those defeated heroes
in deathtraps, etc.

I know that there are still a number of people playing the original Marvel Super-Heroes Roleplaying Game around the world, games still pop up on Google+ from time to time, so these variants may be useful to players/GMs in those games. They can also be useful for players of the 4C RPG as well.

You can download a PDF version of the article here.

The Apocalypse May Be Rescheduled

By Stephane Gaudry (Flickr: Demolition of the ECVB power plant) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

People who know me know that I like post-apocalyptic things. I loved Jack Kirby's Kamandi and OMAC (if you don't think that OMAC was post-apocalyptic you need to reread the comics), and as a kid I watched Thundarr every week. I even run Rifts every week (even though I would argue that setting is more like a post-post-apocalypse, sort of like Unhallowed Metropolis).

You're probably all wondering why I'm saying this. It is only because I've been working on the Swords & Wizardry Field Guide for City of Clocks, and I have a couple of other projects in the queue. Having all of this to keep me busy, of course, means that my brains keeps telling me that I need to write an RPG in homage to the first edition of Gamma World. Not a retro clone, we have plenty of those. More like a game that starts from the point of being the old Gamma World game, but adding some bits and pieces to it. Obviously there would have to be magic, because there's a magic-user in Thundarr. I would use the various D20 SRDs as the starting point for the work, and reconstruct the parts of the old Gamma World game that I like under the OGL.

I like the fact that the game was classless, for example. It was pretty ballsy of TSR at the time to not just rebuild D&D and slap a "science fantasy" label onto the game. But it also has that old school sensibility that I like, where the rules are the starting point and characters develop through play, and the actions of their players.

How long will I be able to hold this off? I don't know, but I'm planning on being strong.

We Have Been Playing Rifts

For a few months now, the weekly Google Hangout group has been playing the Rifts RPG from Palladium Games. We've been having fun. We started on Rifts Earth, moved to Phase World and now the characters are on the 21st century Earth. They aren't sure which 21st century Earth, however.

This does present challenges. There's a Hatchling Dragon and a Imperial Guardsman in the group, both powerful mega-damage characters. There's an Atlantean Ley Line Walker with some hefty spells. There's a Technomancer and a Rogue Scholar. Really, the last two are probably best suited for moving to "modern day" Earth. There is nothing saying that I can't introduce mega-damage creatures into the mix. This actually might be a good way to introduce the Minion War stuff that I have been interested in bringing into the campaign because I think this would make for a good challenge for the characters. I haven't decided yet. I'll give them a week or two to get the lay of the land in their new home before I start pulling any rugs out from under them.

In case you're interested, here are the videos of our sessions so far:

I am trying to make the make more of a sandbox for the characters, as you can see in the last couple of sessions that has led to a bit of paralysis on the part of the players, but we will get over that hump. I am thinking some Mega-Heroes from Heroes Unlimited, or maybe a couple of Godlings who are "undercover" on the Earth of the 21st century as super-heroes before deciding how hellish we may go.

The game has been fun. It has been a lot of fun for me to just be able to throw anything at the characters, and know that they will more than likely survive it (even at first level). I want big, and this will be the game that will give it to us, I think.

Horror Writer Nancy A. Collins Relaunches Horror Classic Vampirella

March 5, 2014, Mt. Laurel, NJ:  Dynamite is proud to announce that Nancy A. Collins, the author of Sunglasses After Dark and Vamps, will revive the iconic horror series Vampirella with a #1 issue in June.  Collins will be joined by talented artist Patrick Berkenkotter (Avengers/Invaders) for the new ongoing series.  Superstar illustrator Terry Dodson will provide the main cover, while a veritable who's who of industry talent will provide variant collectible covers.

"I'm very excited about taking over the reins on Vampirella," says Nancy Collins. "I've really been enjoying myself so far. In celebration of her 45th anniversary, I'm returning the book's focus to its horror roots and giving Vampirella a slightly darker edge.  Dynamite has been wonderful to work with, and have given me a great deal of support.  It's been some time since I last wrote for comics, and it feels great to be back!"

As the debut "Our Lady of Shadows" story arc begins, supernatural heroine Vampirella is sent by the Vatican to investigate the kidnapping of a little girl by the Cult of Chaos... only to become the centerpiece of a ritual invoking Lady Umbra, the sister-bride of Chaos.  Of the fateful repercussions, Collins says, "Vampirella's life is turned completely upside down, and she finds herself having to team up with the strangest bedfellow imaginable in order to battle both a demonic threat and an elite Vatican hit-squad."

Nancy A. Collins has spent the last twenty years writing novels, short stories, and comic books for fans of the supernatural, paranormal, and fantastical.  Her prose works include Sunglasses After Dark, featuring punk vampire slayer Sonja Blue, the YA series Vamps, a collection of Weird Western tales called Dead Man's Hand, and a collection of Southern Gothic stories entitled Knuckles & Tales.  Her comic book work includes Swamp Thing, Jason vs. Leatherface, Machina Jones, and Predator: Hell Come A'Walkin.

Artist Patrick Berkenkotter is a staple of Dynamite Entertainment, having contributed artwork to such titles as Red Sonja, Dark Shadows/Vampirella, Project: Superpowers, and two Dynamite/Marvel crossovers, Avengers/Invaders and The Torch.  "I cannot sing Vampirella artist Patrick Berkenkotter's praises loudly of often enough," says Collins.  "His pencils are spectacular, and he's able to make her sexy, menacing, and bad-ass all at the same time.  I think the fans are going to be pleased with his work when they pick up Vampirella #1, and I hope they take me to heart as well."

"My first exposure to Nancy's writing was in the pages of Swamp Thing, and I've always remembered her run.  When Gail (Simone) suggested Nancy to write one of the anniversary stories in Legends of Red Sonja, it was a great reminder of how good of a writer Nancy is.  As we were prepping for Vampirella's relaunch, and were discussing potential writers, Joe (Rybandt, Sr. Editor) commented that since we all liked Nancy's Red Sonja story, why not approach her.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Patrick illustrating Nancy's story, and Terry Dodson coming on board as the main cover artist really compliment the series as we go in to Vampirella's 45th Anniversary.  I'm confident that fans are going to love Nancy's take on Vampirella, and be in it for the long haul.  It's that damn good."  States Dynamite CEO/Publisher Nick Barrucci.

Dynamite will celebrate the new Vampirella series with a variety of cover options, including a Main cover by Terry Dodson (X-Men, Wonder Woman), Retailer Incentive covers by Jenny Frison, Sergio Fernandez Davila, Jack Jadson, Mimi Yoon, Ken Haeser, and a Subscription cover by Stephanie Buscema dedicated to those hardcore fans who place preorders with their local comic retailers.  Sergio Fernandez Davila (Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure) has also created a Retailer Exclusive Variant image that can be tailored to promote individual comic shops.

Vampirella #1 will be solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors' April Previews catalog, the premiere source of merchandise for the comic book specialty market, and slated for release in June 2014.  Comic book fans are encouraged to reserve copies of Vampirella with their local comic book retailers.  Vampirella will also be available for individual customer purchase through digital platforms courtesy of Comixology, iVerse, and Dark Horse Digital.

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To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/.

For art and more information, please visit: http://ww.dynamite.com/

Alien Legion Returns Again!

In a galaxy savaged by strife, torn by civil war, boiling with spilt blood, Alien Legion is a cosmic military force doing its damnedest to keep the peace by being always ready for war.

At the tip of the Legion's multi-species spear is Force Nomad – the worst of the worst fashioned on the white-hot forge of battle into the best of the best. Now the squad's grizzled veterans are on what should be a boring milk run; shepherding refugees fleeing a civil war ripping apart their system. Could be a good chance to to toughen the newbies of Nomad into soldiers... until straight-up peacekeeping descends into full-scale war!

This brand-new series brings together the creative giants behind the legendary original Alien Legion stories: Chuck Dixon (Punisher War Journal, Savage Sword of Conan, Batman and the Outsiders) and Carl Potts (The Punisher, The Incredible Hulk) with fantastic art by Larry Stroman! (Wolverine, The Punisher).

A must-have for any fan of the original run, this is also the perfect point for new fans to hit Alien Legion's hot LZ! Get to it, ya damn bospors!

ALIEN LEGION: UNCIVIL WAR #1 hits stores on June 25.

Elric and Void Lead New Wave Of European Graphic Novels From Titan Comics

Following the phenomenal runaway success of Snowpiercer, Titan Comics continues in its bold mission of presenting the highest quality European graphic novels to a brand-new audience!

Titan Comics is thrilled to announce that Elric: The Ruby Throne & Void will be published in deluxe hardcover editions this September!

Elric: The Ruby Throne is the first in a series of graphic adaptations of legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock’s signature creation Elric. Written by Julien Blondel and beautifully illustrated by Robin Recht, Didier Poli & Jean Bastide, this new comic adaptation of the Elric of Melniboné novels has been produced with the full and enthusiastic endorsement of Moorcock himself, who provides an exclusive introduction to this edition!

“The best graphic adaptation of the story,” writes Moorcock, “has to be the current one by Julien Blondel and his team. This is perhaps the first graphic version of Elric fully to capture the sense of utter decadence I tried to convey in the books.”

Gripping science-fiction thriller Void is illustrated by superstar artist Sean Phillips (Fatale, Criminal, Sleeper) and written by Herik Hanna (Bad Ass). Concerning the sole survivor of an interstellar prison ship, this tense and atmospheric graphic novel is Phillips’ first venture into science fiction!

“We’re very excited to be launching a range of European graphic novels, spear-headed by Mike Moorcock’s Elric and Sean & Herik’s Void,” said Nick Landau, Titan publisher.

From late 2014, Titan Comics will follow Elric: The Ruby Throne and VOID with a host of new projects including best-selling medieval thriller The Third Testament: The Chronicles of Legion, which is the prequel to Fabien Nury & John Cassaday’s I Am Legion, and The Rage; a shocking horror about zombie children.

Void will hit comic and book stores from September 2, 2014.

Elric: The Ruby Throne will hit comic and book stores from September 16, 2014.

Void and Elric: The Ruby Throne will also be available to read on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com

To keep up-to-date with news from Titan Comics, visit www.titan-comics.com , join us on Facebook or follow @comicstitan on Twitter.

Orin Rakatha RPG Kickstarter

Always complaining about not having enough campaign settings to try out? Well, if you are there is a new Kickstarter for you: Orin Rakatha, a decades-old fantasy LARP campaign that is putting itself to paper. We'll move on to the general information on the project next but before that I want to point out that this article -- and all following Kickstarter articles -- will be a bit different as I will also giving my opinion on how the the projects have been set up. That will be towards the end, and since we are still near the beginning -- let's move on.

Orin Rakatha is a fantasy setting that has been designed over some 27 years by associations of LARPers in the U.K. The books will be system-less but feature stats for Pathfinder (and potentially others, like FATE and 3.5).What's the actual setting like? From the Kickstarter page: "a land ravaged by abhorrent creatures, warring nations and powerful magic. Where the only sanctuary can be found within magical sentient towers that the people band together to live within." The 'sentient towers' is the part that sticks out here to me, but there wasn't really much else about them on the page, unfortunately. We'll get into that later in the article, up next is the pricing and goodies.

The Orin Rakatha Kickstarter has a pretty good range of backing levels but the ones we're interested in are the book levels. Starting with the lowest -- just the PDF -- you can get your hands on all of the books in PDF form for as low as £10 in a limited 'early bird' special, with the normal price being £15. For a printed copy you can get just one book for £20 or all of them in soft back for £35 (shipping outside the U.K. is extra). Finally, if a hardbound copy is what you are looking for, there is a limited edition one on offer for £50. Apart from books there are also various ways to get your character into the books and setting material -- either with just text or with art and even a 28mm miniature likeness.

And so we arrive at the new part of these articles -- my thoughts on the Kickstarter project itself. The first thing that caught my eye on the page was the concept art -- there is a good bit of it and I don't know how it all really relates to the setting (there is some description text, but without more context it doesn't help too much), but I really liked the concept art.

The page has a tidbit of information on the setting -- a chunk of which I pasted in above -- but not enough to give me a good sense of what this setting is really about and why I would want to run or play in it. Instead there seems to be a good deal of text given to talking about how Orin Rakatha is a decades old LARPing campaign that has seen a lot of work and such over the years. That is fine, but not really what I am looking for here. I wanted more setting information, less background to the development of it.

The rest of the page basically just mentions that they really want better art, gives a brief description of each book and then the breakdown of expenses and risks. I liked the clear breakdown of expenses -- hopefully it will be something that is stuck to and prevents the wasting of funds (which has been a problem in Kickstarters before).

The funding point may be just a bit too high, as this is largely a system-less setting, but it isn't completely out of the park. Taking off a portion of the art budget to lower the funding goal and setting that up as a stretch goal might have helped to ensure funding is met. The backing levels are good, though it being in GBP does make it a bit pricey for me, at least. I liked the wide use of incorporating backer's characters into the setting and the range of price options for that. You tend to see that in just the higher backing levels of many projects, but its something that a system-less book could really set as a selling point. I might would even go further and include one more lower option in the same vein, if it proved popular enough.

Lastly, the video was alright. It had some humor in it, which is appreciated. The sound levels were a little off during a couple small parts, though. Mostly, it just briefly covered what the page had, which is just fine.

Overall, the biggest complaint that I had was not enough information about the setting on the page. They are selling the setting and the focus of the page should be on that. Especially since there is the nice concept art all over the page -- I would like to know more, which is good, but the information needs to be there.

And that wraps that up, I think. If you would like to see some of the fancy concept art mentioned above, or poke around to see what you can learn for yourself, be sure to check out Orin Rakatha's Kickstarter page and their website.

Aaron Allston 1960-2014

News shotgunned through the wires last night that designer and novelist Aaron Allston collapsed at a convention, followed shortly by reports of his dead. Unfortunately, those reports were verified on Facebook and by email this morning.

Some may know of Allston's work through his Star Wars novels, or his original Doc Sidhe novel. Some may know of him through his work on Champions, Justice, Inc. or Lands of Mystery. Some may know of him through his revision of the D&D rules published as the Rules Cyclopedia, or the Hollow World setting for that. Some may know of him for his early work at Steve Jackson Games and on Space Gamer. He was all of these things and more.

I never knew Allston, but his work spoke to me, first as a gamer and then as a designer. He was one of a small handful of designers who were authoritative on the genres of comic book super-heroes and the pulps. Both Justice, Inc. and Lands of Mystery had an impact on my pulp gaming, and on my designs for pulp games. I don't know if he ever saw Pulp Fantasy, but he was one of the inspirations to which it was indebted.

His version of the D&D rules have been my definitive version for so long that, outside of my playing Swords & Wizardry, I'm not sure if I will ever have, or need, another version of Dungeons & Dragons.

I went through my game library and took a few photos of the things in it that he produced.

Today in the Daily Illuminator electronic newsletter, Steve Jackson had this to say:

Aaron was also the best GM I've ever known. The Champions campaign he ran for the SJ Games staff was memorable. A couple of us didn't actually know the Champions system at all, but Aaron made it not matter, and we all had a fantastic time.

Over on G+, +Allen Varney crafted this eloquent obtituary and tribute to Allston:

Aaron Allston, 1960 to 2014. You wrote large upon all of our lives, and you will not be forgotten.

Sneak Peak At The New Doctor Who Comics From Titan Comics

DOCTOR WHO: THE TENTH DOCTOR #1
Regular cover by Alice X. Zhang

THE TENTH DOCTOR IS BACK, IN AN ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES! NEW COMPANION! NEW HORIZONS! UNFORGETTABLE NEW FOES! ALLONS-Y!

Eisner Award-winning writer Nick Abadzis (Laika) and fan-favorite artist Elena Casagrande (Angel, Suicide Risk, Doctor Who, Star Trek) take control of the TARDIS for their first five-issue arc with the Tenth Doctor! And don't miss the second arc, by fellow series architect Robbie Morrison (Drowntown, Nikolai Dante, The Authority)!

On-sale July 23, 2014


DOCTOR WHO: THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR #1
Regular cover by Alice X. Zhang

THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR RETURNS IN AN ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES, WITH A TIME-TWISTING LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN! GERONIMO!

Series architects Al Ewing (Loki: Agent of Asgard, Mighty Avengers, Trifecta) and Rob Williams (Revolutionary War, Ordinary, Miss Fury, The Royals: Masters of War, Trifecta) kick off a whirlwind adventure through eternity for the Eleventh Doctor, with artist Simon Fraser (Nikolai Dante, Grindhouse, Doctor Who)!

On-sale July 23, 2014