This week:
Game Chef, David Schirduan’s giant list of short game reviews, Epistolary Richard discussing dice mechanics in Jason Morningstar’s games over time, Kickstarter stretch goal writer payment, Robert Bohl’s Misspent Youth, Jason Morningstar’s games Night Witches and upcoming Winterhorn on Shut up & sit down, Ghost Court going public, FFG’s universal Genesys system, and DropDice’s Zombie hack “Grit & Guts” of John Harper’s Lasers & Feelings.
Thoughts, Blogs, and Interviews
Game Chef 2017 starts today!
This year’s Game Chef analog (non-eletronic) game design competition is on! It will run from today, June 30 to July 10, with the theme “borders” and the ingredients “yarn, echo, smoke, and cut”. Find out more on the official site. And then, if you like, go on to write a playable game draft in a little over a week!
David Schirduan’s RPG Reviews
+David Schirduan has a big list of informative capsule reviews of RPGs. He lists games he finds interesting and has a few words to say about each one.
The evolution of dice mechanics in Jason Morningstar’s games
+Epistolary Richard published an interesting article on the London Indie RPG Meetup Group blog last October which I only found out about today. It’s an analysis of the dice mechanics in Jason Morningstar’s games and who they’ve developed over time. (Thanks to my friend Gerrit for recommending this on Pocket!)
Are stretch goal writers paid?
+Michael Prescott wondered aloud on his G+ stream whether Kickstarter stretchgoal writers are commonly paid for their work. An interesting discussion ensued with several actual stretch goal contributors and campaign creators chiming in.
Upcoming Games on Kickstarter and Elsewhere
Misspent Youth
+Robert Bohl has a new edition of his game Misspent Youth on Kickstarter. He says he needs to fund a slightly updated new print run, but there will be some new material as well: a supplement (“Misspent Youth: Sell Out with Me”) with many new settings as well as rules hacks.
The game is about friendship and teenage troublemakers trying to change the world. If you want to know more,
- +Brie Sheldon has an interview with Robert about it,
- while the Gauntlet has a podcast episode all about the game.
- Oh, and +Wil Wheaton has a whole TableTop episode coming up with him and others playing the game! Check the TableTop playlist on Youtube to see it once it’s up (which should be very soon, I’ve heard whispers of “July 5th” but can’t remember where)
Winterhorn (and Night witches) mentioned on Shut Up and Sit Down
+Bully Pulpit’s upcoming game Winterhorn, about state security taking down an activist cell, has gotten a small but interesting writeup and a quick peek at the game material in Shut Up & Sit Down’s Origins wrap-up. Night Witches, about female Russian fighter pilots in WWII, also gets some attention.
Ghost Court coming to Retail July 1st
+Bully Pulpit’s silly party roleplaying game/larp Ghost Court, about ghosts and the living settling their disputes in court, went through a successful Kickstarter campaign last November.
Backers have been receiving their copies all over the world and now it’s time for the game to released to the public: it will be available in game stores in the UK, US, and Canada starting tomorrow, July 1st - according to their most recent Kickstarter update.
Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPG Engine goes Universal
This week, Fantasy Flight Games announced Genesys, a universal RPG system based on their popular Star Wars RPG series (Edge of the Empire etc.). The main draw of this appears to be the unique narrative dice results, which allow effect combinations that go beyond the partial successes many other games implement, including things like big successes that come with unforeseen “too much of a good thing” consequences later.
On the one hand I’ve heard people say this system does the same things you can do with pbtA and other games, but needing fancy expensive dice (and I tend to agree), others I know have always wished for a way to use those fancy dice in other games and settings.
Game Downloads
New Lasers & Feelings Hack for the Zombie Apocalypse
“A Point of Inspiration” (or +DropDice on G+) has released their next Lasers & Feelings hack, “Grit & Guts” on Facebook and this time you play as survivors of a zombie apocalypse.
Here is their Google Drive folder with all the L & F hacks they’ve made, which are numerous.