Posted: April 7, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: Campaigns, Characters, D&D, D&D 4e, Fluff/Inspiration, Legacy D&D, Meta, News, NPCs, Other Systems, RPG |
The Prismatic Art Collection is a Kickstarter aiming to create several pieces of high quality fantasy artwork. These pieces will be released as Creative Commons Share-Alike, so that they can be used by anyone in any product. This, by itself, is a very laudable goal. But the Prismatic Art Collection is more ambitious than this – they’re also aiming to recruit a diverse variety of artists to create this artwork featuring a diverse array of characters, male, female and of varying ethnicity. So you’ll likely see many new faces, both the artists and the characters alike – always a worthy goal to me.
I am a person with diverse interests in people, and most fantasy stuff doesn’t meet them. Hell, I’m a bisexual Puertorican male whose parents are Puertorican devotees of Hinduism – I generally don’t exist in fantasy at all! When I take on projects I try to represent people who are often made invisible in these fantasy stories and fantasy games. In the World of Adel I’ve made all kinds of characters, and in their stories and descriptions in my articles I try to include all kinds of physical characteristics, sexuality, sexes and genders. Because I’m interested and inspired by all kinds of people, and also because I want readers of all kinds to find people with whom they can connect on some level, or to believe that in my world they could exist as characters without barriers. I’ve consumed nothing but “ordinary” works for so long that I wish for more diversity.
I think that the inclusion of more people, ethnicity, sexuality and so on is a very reasonable and achievable goal, especially in fantasy, where there’s such a variety of ways to make that not only justified but interesting and inexorable in the history and culture of the fictional milieu. I feel very excited and happy with what I’ve done with Adel on that order, and I wish more people would try their hand at such projects as well. Thankfully though, I’m far from alone in these endeavors. As usual with Kickstarter, there’s various tiers of involvement. The more funding it gets, the more ambitious the project can become. I’d like to see some alchemists, myself! So head on over to the kickstarter site, look up some of the contributing artists and see what you think.
Maybe at some point someone will draw a couple of fox-eared villagers!
Posted: April 4, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: News, Other Systems, Products, RPG, Warhammer 40k |
Fantasy Flight Games revealed their upcoming Warhammer 40,000 RPG product “Only War,” a roleplaying game focusing on the Imperial Guard. A few details can be found here. Fantasy Flight had written in a past product catalog about a rules supplement focusing on the Imperial Guard, and it seems like they’re turning it into the whole new game line that it definitely deserves. Here’s a pretty choice quote about the basic feature of the game:
Take the role of a Guardsman with one of twelve distinct Specialties, offering unique skills to your squad to complement those of your comrades. Will you bring the light of the God-Emperor to the battlefield as a Ministorum Priest, or will you wield the Imperium’s most cutting-edge technology as a fearsome Storm Trooper? Perhaps you’ll tend to the machine spirits of the Guard’s many war machines as a Tech-Priest Enginseer, or lead the charge as your squad’s Sergeant. Whatever your function, you’ll be a vital part of the Imperium’s vast war machine.
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Posted: April 3, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, Fluff/Inspiration, Legacy D&D, NPCs, Other Systems, RPG, Spirits Of Eden |
The Andalian Southland is a fertile stretch of fairly low land with a cozy climate, broad plains, winding rivers, and a few truly thick or difficult areas of floral wilderness. Its biggest city is Impel, but it is most known for the villages dotting the map. Each village tends to its crops, gathers or trades for its materials, and protects and cares for all of the villagers within. At the heart of each village is its Guardian Spirit, a little deity that protects and helps the village in exchange for community, affection, and nourishment. Of course, Spirits being bound by their own laws, there are things they cannot do.
The little village of Mahal on the edge of the Nrwenya wood has seen an untimely and tragic event, and are still reeling from the occurrence, and trying to decide how they will proceed with what must be done.
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Posted: March 15, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: Legacy D&D, Meta, News, Other Hobby, Other Systems, Products, RPG |
This is tangentially related to tabletop RPGs, and it’s a kickstarter and everyone loves those, right? Well there’s a kickstarter up for a sequel to Wasteland, and you should probably give money to it if only so you can essentially steal a copy of what will likely be an incredible gaming masterpiece for only a paltry $15. Do you want a pizza or do you want Wasteland 2? You know you want Wasteland 2, don’t even answer that. Wasteland was a 1988 DOS/Apple II RPG that is the spiritual ancestor to Fallout, except instead of being full of goofy 50s aesthetics it’s got goofy 80s aesthetics, which in my opinion is exactly a million times better. The game has been entirely fan-funded now, but if you keep giving Mr. Fargo more of your money, the game can only get even better. There is no ceiling to the amount of money Wasteland 2 deserves. Here’s a blog with concept art.
(They also promised if they get the kickstarter up to 1.5 million dollars they’ll support Mac OS X. That would be great, so if you’ve got a Mac that isn’t boot camped, GIVE OUT YOUR MONEY.)
A lot of the trimmings of Fallout exist on some level in Wasteland, including nuclear annihilation, crazy post-apoc economics, moral choices, a sandbox world, crazy robots, and xenophobic technonudnicks. Wasteland never got a sequel because we live in an unjust world that actively hates us and our presence, so the team moved on to Fallout, and that was okay, because Fallout was great! But a sequel to Wasteland is just so much more exciting in every way. It is all the brainchild of this beautiful man. I played games like Ultima on old computers when I was younger and couldn’t afford the million dollars necessary to buy a Voodoo or a Rage 128 equipped PC and play “REAL GAMES.” I played a bit of Wasteland, and was pretty intrigued. So if you’re a fan of those cool old CRPGs with quirky settings and tons of choices and freedom of exploration, that came in huge boxes with gigantic manual tomes, poster maps, dialogue books and hint books, well here you go.
Posted: March 13, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: Characters, D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, Fluff/Inspiration, Legacy D&D, NPCs, Other Systems, RPG, Spirits Of Eden |
The Five Nations of Adel, as well as the lesser political powers of the world, are each led by a different style of government. It is the dream of many in Adel to shake hands (and brush shoulders) with the powerful among them, and thanks to the stability and potency of the governments and military powers of the world, the leaders below are unlikely to fall soon. Anyone who becomes influential and powerful enough may eventually capture their attentions, and even the smallest people can, either by luck or opportunity, become embroiled in their lives, their schemes, or perhaps, even their fateful demise. We’ll explore the rulers of adel, their follies and victories, and what the world might be without them.
Posted: March 1, 2012 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: D&D, D&D 3.5, D&D 4e, Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Legacy D&D, Meta, News, Other Hobby, Other Systems, Products, Rogue Trader, RPG, Warhammer 40k |
Today is DriveThruRPG’s GM’s day sale, which is typically their biggest sale of the year. This year it lasts a whole week, and has a nice countdown timer for you as well. I got some neat stuff from them on sales like this before, so if you like PDF’s I encourage you to check it out. What’s more, if you’re looking for one of the following products:
You can get 20% off by using the code: GeekLoveRules2012
So get out there and do some shopping! You might be interested in some products I’ve reviewed on DriveThruRPG in the past. See if perhaps they’re on sale, and maybe you’ll enjoy them too.
through this affiliate link, for any item, and some of the sale will be used to support this blog.
Spiritual Talk