And the Star Wars License Is Revealed!

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce that it has entered a comprehensive licensing partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd. for the worldwide rights to publish card, roleplaying, and miniatures games set in the popular Star Wars™ universe!

Find out more at the FFG website.

At first I thought that announcing this now was an odd choice, being two days before the start of GenCon and all, but as I thought about it I realized that now FFG will have the big buzz for the duration of the convention (even without a Star Wars game at the con). Gamers love their Star Wars and this news will eclipse all the big releases in my opinion.

What is now going to be interesting to see is what Margret Weiss Productions are going to be announcing as their new license in a couple of days. No where near as big, to a lot of gamers, I'm sure but still interesting to watch for.

Dungeons & Dragons Returns to the Legendary City of Neverwinter; Fans Vie for Glory in the City of a Thousand Fates

Exciting, New Suite of Neverwinter Offerings Unveiled at Gen Con Indy 2011

AUGUST 2, 2011 – INDIANAPOLIS – Wizards of the Coast today announced that its iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons®, will return to one of the most well-known and fascinating cities within D&D lore and the Forgotten Realms novels – the city of Neverwinter.  Along with the new D&D Neverwinter Campaign Setting comes an extensive suite of products and in-store play offerings, including a new comic mini-series, a board game, organized play sessions, and a new novel from New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore.  Wizards of the Coast will showcase new Neverwinter product offerings at Gen Con Indy 2011 on August 4-7 at Booth #2031, and fans can also get in on the adventure at www.ExploreNeverwinter.com.

“The Neverwinter suite of products and programs offer something for all players and fans, both new and seasoned,” said Liz Schuh, Dungeons & Dragons Brand Director, Wizards of the Coast.

“With so many different ways to engage with the city, players will be immersed in the storyline and find themselves vying for glory alongside their fellow adventurers no matter how they choose to play.”

Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter offerings include:

Neverwinter Mass Adventure at Gen Con 2011 – Show attendees of Gen Con Indy 2011 will have the opportunity to participate in a Neverwinter adventure using a series of QR codes to guide attendees to different Wizards of the Coast sponsored special events and locations. Attendees will be challenged along the way to choose between a quest for glory, a quest for power, or a quest for riches with hints provided by D&D on Facebook and Twitter.

Neverwinter Game Day – On August 6, join D&D players around the world for an epic day of Dungeons & Dragons.  This year, D&D Neverwinter Game Day spotlights an exclusive adventure entitled Gates of Neverdeath, in which characters are introduced to the intrigues and dangers that await in the city of Neverwinter.  For the first time, players will create their own D&D characters at the event and play in a prelude adventure to the upcoming D&D Encounters season!  Visit the Store and Event Locator to find participating retailers.

D&D Encounters: Lost Crown of Neverwinter & Fortune Cards – Beginning August 10, players both young and old will gather on Wednesday evenings in local game stores around the world to experience the D&D Encounters Lost Crown of Neverwinter season.  D&D Encounters is the first D&D Organized Play program designed exclusively for weekly play at retail locations worldwide – and this summer, adventuring parties will be hot on the trail of the Lost Crown of Neverwinter.  D&D Neverwinter Fortune Cards, which launched this summer, enhance D&D Encounters game play by adding an element of unpredictability as each card provides a game effect that enhances attacks, defenses, or other benefits to characters. 

Neverwinter Campaign Setting – The Neverwinter Campaign Setting is the ultimate encyclopedia on the inner workings of the city of Neverwinter, containing everything from history and geography to character themes.  It is the first-ever RPG book focused solely on one city and conveniently presents Neverwinter content in a single hardcover format containing information for both players and DMs. 

D&D Lair Assault – Beginning this September, devoted Dungeons & Dragons players worldwide will have the opportunity to gather at their local participating game stores as part of a new, highly tactical D&D Organized Play program named D&D Lair Assault.  The first challenge, Forge of the Dawn Titan, will feature thrilling “convention-style” play that players and spectators alike are drawn to, challenging players on two levels – character building and tactical knowledge. 

     

The Legend of Drizzt: Neverwinter Tales Comic Mini-series — For a lighter story, fans can pick up the new 5-part mini-series The Legend of Drizzt: Neverwinter Tales comic mini-series this summer.  Published by IDW and co-written by R.A. Salvatore and Geno Salvatore, the comic mini-series delves into the characters that inhabit Neverwinter as the city teeters on the brink of chaos.

D&D Heroes of Neverwinter Facebook game – For lighter digital game play, fans can also take part in the D&D Heroes of Neverwinter game on Facebook, a turn-based strategy game launching this summer with pre-fabricated or user-generated dungeons, gifting and more.  

Neverwinter, The Neverwinter Saga Book II by R.A. Salvatore – With a fascinating cast of new secondary characters, Neverwinter launches on October 4 and takes the dual-scimitar wielding dark elf Drizzt and brings him to an area of the Realms he’s never adventured in – Neverwinter.  With the last of his trusted companions having fallen, Drizzt is alone—and free—for the first time in almost a hundred years.  Forced to see the dark deeds of common men, Drizzt begins to find himself on the wrong side of the law in an effort to protect those the law has failed.  The paperback release of Gauntlgrym, The Neverwinter Saga Book I by R.A. Salvatore that lays the groundwork for all of the Neverwinter product offerings this fall, just released on July 5^th. 

The Legend of Drizzt Board Game – Launching October 18, this thrilling board game is based on the adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden, as told in the New York Times best-selling Forgotten Realms novels by R.A. Salvatore. Players take on the role of the legendary drow ranger or one of his famous adventuring companions, battle fearsome foes, and win treasure and glory.

 

Dungeons & Dragons is the iconic roleplaying game of fantasy and imagination that is part storytelling, part social interaction and part chance.  Visit DungeonsandDragons.com for more details on the Dungeons & Dragons follow D&D on Facebook and Twitter.

About Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast Web site at www.wizards.com.

Spin Master to Debut at Gen Con 2011 as Sponsors & Family Fun Pavilion Exhibitors Redakai™ and Spin Master Games Will Host Tournaments Daily

INDIANAPOLIS – July 19, 2011- Spin Master is excited to make its debut at this year’s
Gen Con with the launch of its exciting new Trading Card Game, Redakai™ as well
as featured games from Spin Master Games; Stomple™ and the 50th Anniversary of
Stratego™.

“Spin Master has a strong history of launching hits. Their balance of innovation and
love for classic gaming is a great fit for Gen Con. Seeing children react to Redakai™ is
awesome; we are glad to have such strong support in the Family Fun Pavilion,” says
Scott Elliot, senior director of sales for Gen Con.

Featured in the Family Fun Pavilion, Spin Master will be hosting a variety of events over
the course of convention. The Redakai team will spearhead Learn to Play techniques,
Sealed Pack Events, Constructed Events, and a Championship Tournament while The
Spin Master Games team will host Adult and Junior Tournaments for both Stratego and
Stomple.

“Gen Con is extremely important to the game industry,” says Mark Sullivan, EVP of
Marketing for Spin Master Ltd. “Supporting the Family Fun Pavilion will be a great
opportunity for so many people to learn our new games, Redakai & Stomple as well
as play old favorites, such as Stratego. After all, they say it’s The Best Four Days In
Gaming.”

Redakai™ is an all-new boys action property, which features fresh new strategic
gameplay, amazing Blast3D™ technology and a televised series on Cartoon Network
produced by Spin Master Ltd and Zodiak Kids/Marathon Media.

50th Anniversary Stratego™ for half a century, the red and blue armies of Stratego
have battled in homes across America. The Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition honors the
heritage of Stratego with the original nostalgic theme, an elegant folio package and
all the strategy and excitement that have made Stratego a family favorite. Experience
exclusive never-before-seen cannon game pieces that allow you to name and destroy
your opponents pieces. Enter the epic strategic battle with the 50th Anniversary edition
of Stratego!

Stomple™ is a strategic marble stomping game. Outwit your opponents by stomping
their marbles before they stomp yours and out maneuver by leading their stomper
trapped with no escape. If you outstomp the competition, you win!

Schedule of Events:

Redakai
Learn to Play
• All new players can stop by the Events area or their Booth in the exhibit hall to
learn how to play the game.

Sealed Pack Events
• Any player who buys a structure deck or championship tin product at their booth
or events area is eligible to participate for free in one of their many sealed pack
events throughout the show

Constructed Events
• They will also have daily constructed events for Redakai experts to bring their
custom collection of cards to take on all challengers.

Redakai Championship
• The whole event culminates in their first ever Redakai Championship on
Saturday morning
• The winner will be named their first Champion and win an ipad2!
• Other exciting prizes, online coverage of the event and winning players/decks,
and appearances by the design team behind Redakai make this an event not to
be missed.

League Prizes all con long!
• Everyone who plays in any events in their Events area during Gen Con is eligible
to win league exclusive prize cards just for playing!
• Earn stamps for each game you play and get achievement cards as you play
more!

Stratego
• Players win two rounds and they advance to the championship on Sunday (Junior
& Adult)
• Winner of Tournament receives – $500 American Express Gift Card, Games Prize
Pack and the EXCLUSIVE Stratego 50th Anniversary Edition
• 2nd Place – Exclusive 50th Anniversary Stratego Game & Stomple Game
• 3rd & 4th Place – Exclusive Stratego 50th Anniversary Edition

Daily gaming events culminate into a championship event on Sunday for Stratego

Stomple:
• Each Stomple game is a stand-alone tournament played daily
• Meet and play the inventor of Stomple each day
• Each day in the training room, play the giant game of Stomple every day!

All finalists get a t-shirt for the Stratego and Stomple events

For more information please visit www.spinmaster.com and visit them at The Spin
Master Booth #219.

About Gen Con
Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game
convention in North America. It was acquired in 2002 by former CEO and founder of
Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, who owns the company headquartered in Seattle,
Washington. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture
and community. For more information visit the website at www.gencon.com. For up-to-
the minute details, find us at www.facebook.com/genconindy and at www.twitter.com/
gen_con

About Spin Master Ltd.
A multi-category children’s entertainment company since 1994, Spin Master has been
designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer products for children
around the world and is recognized as a global growth leader within the toy industry.
Spin Master is best known for such popular brands as boy’s action phenomena and
2010 Boys Toy of the Year winner Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, and award-winning
brands Air Hogs®, Aquadoodle™, Tech Deck™, Moon Sand™, Liv™, and Zoobles™. The
company has also marked an entry into children’s media with the launch of Spin Master
Entertainment, a subsidiary focusing on the design, development and production of
television and other media properties. Spin Master employs 900 people with offices in
Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico, Munich, and central Europe.
For additional information please visit: www.spinmaster.com.

For more information, please contact:

Spin Master Ltd.:
LLC
Rachel H. Griffin
Director of Global Communications
T. 310-871-3919
E:RachelG@spinmaster.com

Gen Con
Stacia Kirby
Media Contact
T: 206-363-1492
E: Stacia@speakeasy.net

Dear Syfy and Alphas

Dear Syfy and Alphas,

I really want to like your show. Really, I do. I admit that I started watching it because David Stratham was in the commercials, but I thought you had some cool concepts.

Thought.

Sadly, you seem intent to keep up this pseudo-scientific claptrap to make the show "believable." In a show where a guy can "see" Youtube videos and "hear" cellphone conversations, or where a guy can bounce bullets through air conditioning ducts, realism isn't the buzzword that you should be looking for. Also, if you're going to use an "ability" with an existing name (Synaesthesia I'm looking at you), please use it properly.

Look, you have a great concept for a show here, and that is already putting you one up on on Heroes already, but you really need to fine tune things if this show is going to keep going. If you're going to give us Wanted meets The X-Men then rock on and give us everything you've got...just quit trying to rationalize the show into something that you think we need an excuse to like. I want to like Alphas, and I've enjoyed the first two shows....but I am really not sure if I'll keep watching it at this point.

Oh, and as long as you're listening....please don't add time travel to the plot. Thank you. :)

Let's Talk About Unspeakable Oath #18

Yes, I know...I am a few issues behind the curve. Hopefully I will be able to catch up, during or after GenCon.

I have fond memories of the original print run of Unspeakable Oath. I was lucky enough to find the issue introducing Delta Green on a news stand when it came out, and that is what introduced me to Pagan Publishing and books like Golden Dawn and the Delta Green sourcebooks. While I have never been overly enamored with Golden Dawn, it just has too much Arthurian material that borders on the cliched, I have been a fan of Delta Green since that issue, having been lucky enough to run a few of my own DG campaigns over the years.

All of this brings us to Unspeakable Oath number eighteen, which is the triumphant return of the magazine. Arc Dream Publishing, the new home of the works of Pagan Publishing, has had some ups and downs in getting the Pagan Publishing material back into the public eye, but they have managed to overcome these problems and return to producing some of the best material for Call of Cthulhu available. Yes, that might be a little biased, but as someone who has a preference for the contemporary era in my Call of Cthulhu gaming, it's nice to see published material that is as close as the Delta Green material. All we need now is a post 9/11 update, and I think I will be happy with the setting for the rest of my life.

Live at GenCon 2011

I will be doing liveblogging, photography and hopefully some audio interviews as well. I am going to be combining this blog with the resources of other social media sites around the internet to bring you what I hope will be some of the best coverage of GenCon out there. In addition to this blog, be sure to also follow my Twitter feed (look to the right side of this blog for a link to my Twitter feed), as well as the Dorkland blog over on Tumblr (http://dorkland.tumblr.com) for supplemental posts. Audio interviews will be posted to this blog, as well as the Tumblr site, via the Soundcloud website.

It is (hopefully) going to be a busy four days around here. If anyone has any suggestions for things they would like to see (in photos mostly) drop me an email at christopher.helton at gmail dot com and I will see what I can do about getting photos. If you are an RPG publisher or professional who would like to arrange an interview, or perhaps provide material for review purposes, also please contact me at the above email.

Random Musing: Old School Modern (And Not What You Think...)

Those moments when I can't sleep is when the strange ideas creep into my head:

What would some like d20 Modern have looked like if it had been made at the same time as OD&D?

My one problem, for drawing influences, is that I can't really think of any contemporary "fantasy adventure" fiction or shows that could have been an influence. All of the stuff that I personally remember from the late 70s that had a contemporary setting was much more SF-oriented. Unless I use the SHAZAM/Isis television shows as a model. I don't know if anyone wants that. I know there has to be something, but either I didn't see it, or it shot by me completely.
 

I want something that is specifically fantasy in a (then) contemporary setting, and not just the fantasy fiction/movies of the time. I also don't want science fiction or science fantasy. I am thinking something along the lines of OD&D Modern, an equivalent to the d20 Modern core book but in old school terms.

Thoughts?

Update

What if OD&D Modern was influenced by Phillip Jose Farmer? #oldschoolmodernless than a minute ago via Spaz Favorite Retweet ReplyChris Helton
dorkland

ICv2 - No Titles Over 100K Again

In spite of the debut of DC’s Flashpoint event comic there was no periodical comic that sold over 100,000 copies once again in May and only 3 out of the top 25 comics posted gains in circulation. DC’s Flashpoint’s debut at #2 has to be considered disappointing. Several retailers contacted by ICv2 have indicated that they sold out of their initial orders, which means that Flashpoint might well have been under-ordered by retailers who are increasingly suspicious of the never-ending parade of comic book “events.”

Marvel’s Fear Itself event, which debuted with sales of over 125,000 copies last month, dropped a whopping 32,000 copies from issue #1 to #2, though it should be said that two of the three top 25 titles that actually posted gains, Avengers #13 and Secret Avengers #13, were both Fear Itself tie-ins.

Father’s Day Tribute To Jack Kirby From His Son

Two weeks ago we ran a blog post here at CO2 Comics titled The King and The Man that compared excerpts of interviews with Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby who recollected their dramatically opposing perspectives of the creation of the FANTASTIC FOUR and much of the Marvel Universe.

The post sparked an animated debate throughout the internet in forums and discussion boards on comic related sites, highlighted for us at CO2 Comics by a brief and pleasant correspondence with the son of a legend, Neal Kirby who politely defended the validity of his father’s position.

This week as, we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day, Neal Kirby has delighted us again by offering CO2 Comics the opportunity to post a very touching Father’s Day letter that he has written as a tribute to his dad."

Double Agents and Moles: Options For Agents of SWING

Ever since George Smiley, the espionage genre and its fans have been interested in moles and double agents. These operatives were a cornerstone of Cold War espionage. The question is, how do you do this with your Agents of SWING games?

With NPCs, this is easy enough to do...in fact the upcoming Nefarious supplement will no doubt have some villainous double agents and defectors to plague your SWINGers. So, how do you add the drama of double agents to your play group?

Ever Agent of SWING character has a cover. This is even more important for a double agent that it is for a "straight" operative. Your character, the double agent, is walking a tightrop of truth and deception every day of their personal and professional lives. The Deceit skill is a job requirement, a survival skill, for your character. Important stunts from the core rules for a mole could be: Disguise of the Mind, Eye For Detail, Five Minute Friends, Hide In Plain Sight, and Honest Lie. Aspects that you might use to create a character who is a mole: More Than Meets The Eyes, Deceptive, Keeping It Bottled Up, and Strangely Sympathetic. You should have a double meaning to aspects that directly deal with your character's nature as a double agent, after all they shouldn't give things away to easily and you want to be able to activate them during play without getting your character into trouble.

The important thing to remember, particularly if you are planning on keeping your character's status as a mole secret from the other players, is to not lay it on too thick with methods of deception, or overly obvious hints about your character's true nature. For example, the "Keeping It Bottled Up" aspect mentioned above could have to do with the pressures your character faces in hiding their double life, or it could be that they close up and bottle all of their stresses in their life. On the surface, both of these choices could be justified by the same behavior.Keep in mind that your character will still have to do their day to day cover job within SWING and the group, so the bulk of their aspects, skills and stunts will need to reflect that. Their secret bosses won't like it if your character's cover is blow too easily, after all.

You also need to inform Control of your desire to create a character that is a mole. They may wish to approve any character concepts like this, to make sure that it fits in with the concept of the game and the campaign they wish to run for you and the other players. Remember that role-playing is a group activity and your idea for a fun character shouldn't ruin the fun for the other players.

There is a consequence to being a mole. Yes, that was intentional. Whenever you take any Mental or Social Consequences for your double agent character, it is a good idea to take consequences that flirt with or jeopardize your character's standing within SWING and/or the group of characters. This is particularly true of when you take a Severe or Extreme consequence for your character. You do not have to reveal you are a mole, even with an Extreme consequence, that would be too easy, but you can give broad hints. Being a double agent means straddling a razor's edge, and sooner or later your character will slip up.