News from Around the Net: 16-DEC-2011

By Fitz, on December 16th, 2011

Beware… The holidays are fast approaching!

For those of you keeping track, it’s 9 days until St. Nick slides down chimneys worldwide and shares joy with good little girls and boys. And apparently Krampus is by him side, ying to Santa‘s yang, delivering warnings and coal to that *other* list. It’s amazing that sled of theirs doesn’t get arrested for consuming too much “leaded” eggnog and breaking physical laws left and right!

That said, I know you’re not here to read while I wax philosophically about Santa’s alcoholic eggnog-induced trips around the world. You’re here to check out what’s new and interesting in the world of games! And on that note, I’m trying something new this week. I’ll be focusing on the top 3-5 items in each major category and then including a colorful grid of all the other articles I gathered during the week. Change isn’t always well received and I want to know what you think, whether it’s good or bad news.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Food for Thought

Wil Wheaton, despite his acting and writing successes, is really just a geek at heart. He plays video, board, and roleplaying games just like the rest of us. And this week he expressed an important sentiment that I think sometimes gets lost in the signal-to-noise of our daily lives. Make time to play the games you like with the people you love. Whether it be friends, family, or fellow geeks, I hope to do just that over the next couple of weeks!
Ryan Macklin had a different message this week, but one that’s just as important for those of us who are shy when we should be direct: Ask for Things. I don’t do this enough and am always shocked when I do to find that [gasp] sometimes the world says “yes!”
If you don’t like art featuring half-naked ladies, you might want to skip this article from Scott Taylor at Black Gate about fantasy art featuring redheads. If you do, consider it an early holiday gift. The ladies in this art must be allergic to clothes…

Games and Gaming

(Random Table) Chris at Rolang’s Creeping Room has done a few great posts this week centered on random tables. One was a Table of Wizard Obsessions, on which I rolled… Apparently my wizard believes himself to be the friendly magical protector of elves and forms of government. I wonder if he’s part of the 1%? The other table finally answers why monsters wander. My favorites on this one are (1) “visiting relatives” and (13) “lost, totally lost.” I think I’ll use this in my next campaign! Or maybe you’re looking for some inspiration for a new dungeon? Check out the Megadungeon Origins Table! My dungeon is a prison that used to be the city of undead… Sounds like many of the Skyrim dungeons!
Meanwhile, SuperSooga at SoogaGames did an experiment using Google+ Hangouts to collaboratively design a dungeon. My favorite result is that there was a theological debate between pixies, frogs, and clams! They ended up with a dangerous map and seven pages of notes on locations, random events, traps, and more…
After all the graveyard-related content created by the Grumpy Celt at Nevermet Press’ blog, it’s nice to see him creating some more lively articles of late. Oroborus University: Inn without End provides an overview of the location used for training future innkeepers their trade, but something just isn’t right with some areas on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. The Oroborus hits me a bit like the hotel room in John Cusack‘s 1408 – creepy…

Publisher News

If you’re the GM and are lucky enough to hold gaming sessions at your house, there’s a new Kickstarter project you might want to check out. Realm Coins aims to create actual metal coins that you can use at your game table! Now I love props, but I’m not sure I want thousands of coins to lug around with me… That said, they’re already 4/5 of the way to their $5000 goal! I wish them the best of luck!
When I heard about the Dungeonmorph Dice project back in April, I thought it was a very cool idea – merging dice and the geomorph map generator into one quick tool. So I was equally excited when I heard that the dice are now ready along with a deck of cards, a font, and even battlemats employing the designs. Easiest holiday shopping for myself I’ve done in a while…
Chris Tregenza at 6d6 continues to release details about the 6d6 business plan, seeking input, and sharing numbers with other small publishers. This week he talked about what 6d6 needs to sell to be viable and paying writers 1/3 of the sales price…
Rite Publishing has just released The Secrets of Forgotten Magic Items for Pathfinder, featuring magic creation feats, dozens of items, a monster, and tons more. I love the concept of beefing up PC-created magic items!
Purple Duck Games and author David Ross have teamed up to create Random Encounters Remastered, sure to generate some GM interest. Instead of simple random encounter tables, this guide will help you create an entire encounter, with terrain, NPCs, and monsters.
Crafty Games just released the Mistborn Adventure Game based on the novels of Brandon Sanderson with an entirely new system… The build-up to this release has been quite impressive – any early impressions out there?
And if a bit of dark fiction is up your alley, check out Strangeness in the Proportion from author Joshua Alan Doetsch, set in the new World of Darkness from White Wolf!

Reviews

MJ Harnish at Wired’s GeekDad blog did an in-depth review this week of the deluxe box set for Mouse Guard. And by all accounts, it’s not just a great box set, but a terrific game as well!
NewbieDM took the time to take pics of all the tiles in the new Dungeon Tiles set from WotC – Shadowghast Manor. Apparently it’s made up of a nice mix of outdoor, indoor, and underground tiles.
I wish I had more time for reading game world-based fiction, especially after reading David Stonehouse’s review at Geeklore of Master of Devils by Dave Gross set in the Pathfinder universe. It sounds like the story starts with a bang!

Tools

The folks at Skyland Games introduced us to something I had no clue was out – iOS apps for Paizo’s Critical Hit and Critical Fumble decks! Apparently iCrit and iFumble are available for $1.99 a piece in the iTunes app store, which means they’re cheaper than the decks in addition to the fact that they added sound effects!
Looking for Labyrinth Lord modules? Check out this great resource from Mark at Mithril & Mages!

And for the rest of the stories, check out the feed from Bundlr at the end of the article…

I hope everybody has a great weekend!

As always, if you feel I missed something (and it would be impossible NOT to), drop me a quick note via the contact page or drop me an e-mail at news(at)gameknightreviews(dot)com and I’ll add it to the list for next week!

Here are the rest of the stories at Bundlr!