Serpent King Games is new home for the Dragon Warriors RPG

Press Release

Serpent King Games is new home for the Dragon Warriors RPG

1st February 2011, United Kingdom

Dragon Warriors, the classic 1980s dark-fantasy RPG recently re-released by Magnum Opus Press, is moving to new British publishing company Serpent King Games.

From 1st April the game will no longer be available from Magnum Opus, which had published Dragon Warriors through Mongoose Publishing’s Flaming Cobra imprint.

Serpent King Games will keep the existing Dragon Warriors books available, and will publish new supplements for the game. The first new release will be the Dragon Warriors Players Book, in July 2011, with another two releases planned for the first year.

Serpent King Games is industry veterans Gareth Hanrahan (former Mongoose Publishing writer and lead designer on the new edition of Traveller and the Laundry RPG), Jon Hodgson (art director at Cubicle 7 and cover artist for Dragon Warriors), and Ian Sturrock (ex-Mongoose writer responsible for the Conan and Slaine RPGs, but who also worked on most of the recent Dragon Warriors books).

"I’ve worked with everybody at Serpent King over the last ten years, and they are fiercely talented," said James Wallis, director of Magnum Opus Press. "Dragon Warriors and the Lands of Legend are in the hands of amazing people who are going to take it in some very exciting
directions."

Dragon Warriors is SKG's first project, but more great games are in the works. Check out www.serpentking.com for regular updates.

All rights in Dragon Warriors are the property of Fabled Lands LLP, and are used with permission by Serpent King Games Ltd.

For more information, contact info@serpentking.com

Internet Piracy Boosts Anime Sales, Study Concludes

I'm sure someone will look at the source of this link and discount it automatically, but I think that would be a mistake.

A prestigious economics think-tank of the Japanese Government has published a study which concludes that online piracy of anime shows actually increases sales of DVDs. The conclusion stands in sharp contrast with the entertainment industry’s claims that ‘illicit’ downloading is leading to billions of dollars in losses worldwide. It also puts the increased anti-piracy efforts of the anime industry in doubt.

One interesting point made:

One point of critique based on the main conclusions of the study, is that the observed relation only appears to be correlational. This may mean that the results could in part be influenced by significant third variables such as promotion and overall popularity. Since the report is only available in Japanese we were unable to confirm whether this was taken into account.

Obviously, any sort of study like this has to be taken with with a grain of salt. We don't know the hows and whys of the study, so there could be any number of factors that throw out the results. It is interesting that more and more place are coming out with data to suggest that the correlation between piracy and lost sales isn't as strong as anti-piracy advocates would like to present.

Foundsound Orchestra: 52 Weeks Project

Happy New Year!

Ok, my challenge for 2011 is to make a new Found Sound Orchestra track every week and post it here. No doubt quality control will take a hit at various times during the 12 months but hopefully by the end of the year those that have stuck with it will have enough decent songs to make a nice 10 or 12 track album. Please feel free to download, play and delete to your hearts content.

So, here we go – the first track is ‘Thankyou 3 times’. Spot the samples…….

Mister X: The Little Comic That Could

I was rummaging through my trade paperback shelves the other day and came across my copy of the first volume of iBooks Mister X trade. Shamefully, this well-designed and thought out book has never found a large enough of an audience (despite the book being optioned for film back in the 80s with Patrick Stewart rumored to play the lead at the time). Besides this trade I have a couple of Vortex issues that I came across at the time, and a couple of issues of the attempted Caliber relaunch in the 90s (Caliber does still, to this day stand as one of my favorite small press comic publishers of that decade).

Part of the problem, I think, is just the hit or miss distribution of small press comics back then. Back in the 80s, and through part of the 90s, distribution for most media (comics and music chief among them) were still fairly regional to the point of what may have been popular in one part of the country never got seen in others.

What was Mister X you might ask? The very short Wikipedia article can be found here. Dean Motter, the creator of Mister X has a bit more information about him:

In the late 1970s, Dean Motter edited and art directed Andromeda, a Canadian comic book series which adapted the works of major science–fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and A.E. van Vogt. During that time Motter and collaborator Ken Steacy created The Sacred & The Profane (Star Reach), which Archie Goodwin referred to as "the first true graphic novel" in the contemporary comics medium.

Motter achieved recognition for his album cover design during his tenure as art director for CBS Records Canada, and later with his own studio, Modern Imageworks. His record jackets and promotional graphics (for acts such as The Nylons, Triumph, Loverboy, The Diodes, Liona Boyd and Jane Siberry) have won several awards. Motter has been nominated for a Juno Award six times, and won twice. He won a Juno Award in 1983 for "Best Album Graphics" for his work on the Anvil album Metal on Metal. The following year, he again won the "Best Album Graphics" award for his work on the Seamless album by The Nylons, along with Jeff Jackson and Deborah Samuel.

In 1988, he co-wrote and illustrated Shattered Visage for DC Comics based on Patrick McGoohan's 1960s British television series The Prisoner. The following year he created the logo and basic cover design for DC's Piranha Press imprint.

Mister X, at best, was a mystery. Who was Mister X? What was he doing? How did he find all those tunnels? For some, this strength was a great weakness. Many of the stories only had vague resolutions, as the enigma of the main character was central to the theme of the book and the stories.

The question remains: Why should we care? Well, I think the important reason why we should care about Mister X/Dean Motter is that he was a trailblazer. Books like Mister X, while obscure then and now, are important for the fact that they prepare audiences for what comes later, like the works of groundbreaking creators like Grant Morrison. Thematically I know that I can see similarities between the works of Motter and Morrison, even though I doubt that they were intentional. Both of these creators made books that were "essays" on their internal landscapes, using comic books as a media for bringing out these musing, and while Motter never did super-hero books, his Mister X or his Prisoner comics presage much that later comic creators would do, and at the same time he showed that the linear narrative of the comic book could be successfully usurped by the more non-traditional narrative styles of speculative fiction. For helping bring these sorts of depths of storytelling to comics alone, Motter is an important figure.

I suggest checking out the first trade of Mister X, if only for the incredible work of Los Bros Hernadez on the art of the first four issues. They really set the tone for the issues to follow. Amazon has some used copies listed here.

History of the Mash-Up: International Bastard Pop Weekender 3

Back when mashups were only being made in the UK and called Bootlegs, a lovely chap by the name of Deep Disco Force (Nick) organised a series of gigs/weekenders/piss-ups in his home town of Trier, Germany and invited GYBOers to go along and do their thing at his International Bastard Pop Weekenders.

I went to number 3 in March 2004 and took a video camera. I made a film about it. Well, that was SEVEN. YEARS. AGO!!!

I thought the time was right to put it on Youtube for all y'all to see. So, here it is: the trailer, main movie (in two parts due to YT's 15min rule), plus some DVD extras too. Not in HD cuz there was no such thing back then, of course in those days, I used to wear an onion on my belt - it was the fashion at the time... Dribble, bleurgh, etc.

Huge, huge thanks to all the lovely guys I met who've become firm friends and who so generously gave their time to talk to me on-camera whilst everyone else was getting drunk and having fun.

 

 

 

This post is via ThriftshopXL on the GYBO boards from this thread. These videos have some great stuff to see.

Former WotC Employee Charged

Not sure how I missed this one:

A former Wizards of the Coast employee has been charged with felony theft for allegedly stealing $45,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering promotional cards, according to SeattlePI. The theft came to light when large numbers of promo cards were spotted being offered by a Burien, Washington retailer at a Portland convention. The retailer ended up turning over 1700 cards worth nearly $45,000 at market prices to WotC.

The cards were allegedly stolen from a Wizards of the Coast storage locker to which former employee Donald Henry had access. Henry has been charged but not jailed in the case.

I guess I was a bit boggled by the fact that Magic cards could be worth $45k, and here I gave a box of them away when I quit playing. Anyone out there know what position this Donald Henry had with Wizards? (via ICV2)

NYE in Second Life: The Almost Everywhere New Year's Eve Prom Party

We're going to have a party. It's New Year's Eve and it's Second Life. A selection of the mighty, mighty DJs from Radio Riel will be bringing you wide ranging selection of music from different genres and eras as we attempt to ring in the New Year in as many time zones as possible for all of you. The party starts at 2:30pm (Second Life Time) and goes until 12:30am (also Second Life Time). Here's our line-up:

Carter Denja - 2:30pm - 5:30pm SLT
Gabrielle Riel - 5:30pm - 8:30pm SLT
Walton Vieria - 8:30pm - 10:30pm SLT
Edward Pearse - 10:30pm - 12:30am SLT

 Here's the SLUrl for the Edison Ballroom: http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse%20Bourbon/165/135/27 Everyone on the Grid is welcome to join us for what is going to be a night of fun. Dress in your prom favorites from retro styles of the 50s and 60s to your favorite Pretty in Pink character to a zombie prom queen.

Find out more about Radio Riel.

MTVGeek: Top 10 RPG Products Of 2010

A list from the MTVGeek website (which I never knew existed before now). At least it doesn't have Kanye West's new CD on it. :) Actually, joking aside, it is a list with some depth to it even if a fact or two aren't completely right.

2010 has been a banner year for role-playing games and accessories -- here's 10 of the best!

DJ Earworm's United States of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop The Pop)

You can the MP3 (and comment on it) here.

Tabletop RPG Gamers, Communication and the Fun of "Social Contracts"

*sighs and takes a deep breath*

Twice now in the last week people have tried to make a discussion over at RPGNet about "social contracts" and using better channels of communication to make gaming groups last longer and play better. Twice now in the last week those discussions have been shouted down, mostly by the same people, who say anyone who needs these sorts of things are obviously either socially dysfunctional themselves or obviously play in groups that are full of dysfunction. "Normal" people don't need these sorts of things, they say, because people who can function socially don't need to talk about what's right and proper because non-dysfunctional people know what's right and how to interact with others. All you need is to not "be a dick," they say. "Don't be a dick" is the extent of their help and insight into these issues. I know which side of the "don't be a dick" fence it puts these people on for me.