Sunday 26 May 2019

ALIEN RPG report - Cinematic Starter Set

'In celebration of the official 40th Anniversary this Saturday, Free League will offer a meaty 168-page Cinematic Starter Kit for their highly-anticipated Alien RPG – debuting their first Cinematic module Chariot of the Gods written by Alien RPG setting writer and sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska – as a complimentary bonus gift for anyone who pre-orders the Alien RPG Core Rulebook at alien-rpg.com. The Cinematic Starter Kit will be available for download as soon as the pre-order purchase is confirmed.'

I'm reading the ALIEN RPG Cinematic Starter Set from Frial Ligan - this game is going to be amazing; It's got a history, from Weyland's TED talk to post Fiorina 161, and it not only covers the alien but also the governments, corporations and factions.

It's giving the players a chance to play the horror of Alien, the action of Aliens or the mystery of Prometheus. If you wanted to do something that doesn't involve the alien and stick to some corporate craziness - like Outland - then that's cool, too. There are plenty of options for all kinds of games.

I'll be starting the rules soon, but up to yet I'm loving what I'm seeing.

Also, the GM is called the 'Game Mother'. Brilliant!

More thoughts and reactions soon!

Friday 24 May 2019

UK Games Expo - less than a week to go!

In the next few days gamers, traders and publishers will be preparing for three days of some of the best tabletop gaming the world has to offer. That;s right - the 2019 UK Games Expo is on us!

I'll be there on the Saturday mixing it up with games, gamers and gangs of gaming gamers. Yes. It's all about the games.


ABOUT UKGE

Now in its 13th Year, UK Games Expo (UKGE) is the largest Hobby Games Convention in the UK. A fun event appealing to families and the general public as well as the enthusiast.

Held in the NEC and Hilton Hotels, Birmingham.

OPENING HOURS

Friday. Trade Halls Opening: 9.30 to 6pm.

Saturday. Trade Halls Opening: 9.30 to 6pm.

Sunday.Trade Halls Opening: 9.30 to 4pm.

LOCATIONS

Hall 1

This has at least 14000 sqm of trade space. Some of the key attractions include the Haba Family Zone, Playtest, Children's Roleplaying and the Games Quest Shop and Drop.

Hall 2

11,000 sqm. Half of this Hall is filled with even more exhibitors as well as a huge open gaming space and one part of our board game library.
Many of the tournaments and championships take place in here.

Hall 3a

Using circa 2000 sqm. Home to our Bring and Buy as well as more tournaments and championships taking place in here.

Toute Suite (Just outside Hall 1)

Home of most of our Profantasy Seminar Track activities.

PIazza Suites (between Hall 1 and Hall 2)

Used for most of the Cartamundi Publisher Designer Track activities.

NEC Lakefront

The Viking living history village will be here.

Hilton Hotel

Meanwhile, 3500 sqm of space at the Hilton Hotel will remain the focus of the Roleplaying Game sessions, live entertainment and more open gaming space; with the entire Palace and Kings one huge open gaming space, allowing 2000+ gaming enthusiasts to sit and game. Also the UK Games Expo Food Festival will be here.

Getting between the Hilton and the NEC. The two venues are very close. It is about a 10 minute walk.

Wednesday 22 May 2019

PRE-ORDERS FOR FREE LEAGUE’S ALIEN RPG BEGIN ON MAY 25 WITH A SURPRISE DEBUT OF THEIR FIRST CINEMATIC MODULE

The ALIEN Roleplaying Game Pre-Order Bundle

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 22, 2019) – On May 25, 1979, Alien first graced the silver screen. Forty years after the Alien franchise first inspired and shocked the world, Free League Publishing has a xenomorphic surprise of their own in store. Quite literally.
Last month on Alien Day (4/26), Free League and 20th Century Fox Consumer Products announced their upcoming tabletop RPG series set within the Alien universe, which is set to release this holiday season. Yet for fans eager to explore that universe for themselves, they don’t need to wait any longer.
In celebration of the official 40th Anniversary this Saturday, Free League will offer a meaty 168-page Cinematic Starter Kit for their highly-anticipated Alien RPG – debuting their first Cinematic module Chariot of the Gods written by Alien RPG setting writer and sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska – as a complimentary bonus gift for anyone who pre-orders the Alien RPG Core Rulebook at alien-rpg.com. The Cinematic Starter Kit will be available for download as soon as the pre-order purchase is confirmed.
Based upon Free League’s award-winning Year Zero game engine, the full Alien RPG Core Rulebookcontains 300+ pages of mythology, artwork, and custom mechanics for open-world campaigns and deep, diverse space explorations on the Frontier. While Campaign Mode provides the tools for long-term gameplay, Cinematic Mode challenges players to start and complete an accessible, authentic tabletop RPG experience in one game session with no prior preparation necessary. A streamlined version of the Year Zeroengine, Cinematics deliver only the most crucial game rules for each scenario with pre-generated characters, stories, and challenges – capturing the intense drama of an Alien film.
Free League has big plans for Alien and their new Cinematic mode, which is why they’re sharing the Starter Kit months ahead of the Core Rulebook.
“We’re trying something new and we want to know what people think,” says Free League co-founder and Alien RPG game director Tomas Härenstam. “In fact, anyone who pre-orders the Core Rulebook will receive exclusive access to our development process with opportunities to provide feedback and earn a play-tester credit in the final publication.”
The Starter Kit isn’t the last Cinematic module that fans can expect from Free League. “Chariot is the first in a trilogy of Cinematic modules from Andrew E.C. Gaska in the future,” shares Härenstam. Each Cinematic in the trilogy will explore a different style of gameplay, introducing a different perspective in the Alien universe and a different source of antagonism. Yet while each Cinematic module is designed as a stand-alone experience with new characters, settings, and challenges, the overarching narrative of the trilogy is connected – telling one complete, canonical story by the end.
“That’s what so liberating/challenging about designing and playing in Cinematic mode. You could be space truckers one session. Colonial Marines the next,” says Gaska. “The fun is figuring out how to work together, learn on the fly when the stakes are high, and try your best to survive the night. The constraints really make the whole experience feel more thrilling and terrifying. Like you’ve been dropped into your own Alien movie. And even if your character dies, the night is far from over for you as a player.”
As all characters aren’t likely to survive, Cinematics are engineered with death and replay value in mind, providing an ensemble cast of playable characters and branching narratives with multiple story paths and possible endings. “It’s rewarding to play and replay each Cinematic event, as you learn with experience, try new characters and creative solutions, and encounter new challenges over time,” shares Gaska.
Starting on May 25, Free League will accept pre-orders for the Alien tabletop RPG Core Rulebook and a variety of limited-edition 40th Anniversary goodies and gear exclusively at alien-rpg.com:
  • STANDARD EDITION includes the Alien RPG Core Rulebook in a hardcover format with approximately 300 full-color pages of beautiful artwork and complete game rules for both the Cinematic and long-term Campaign game modes. A PDF of the book is included. Price: $49.99
  • STANDARD BUNDLE includes the standard Alien RPG Core Rulebook, along with a deluxe Gamemaster Screen, two sets of custom dice (one set of 10 Base Dice and one set of 10 Stress Dice), a set of 50 custom cards (for initiative, weapons, and NPCs), and a set of useful maps and markers. A PDF of the book is included. Price: $99.99 ($50 discount on the total retail price)
  • 40th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED-EDITION offers the Alien RPG Core Rulebook with a special commemorative book cover. Exclusive to this pre-order campaign, the 40th Anniversary Limited-Edition will never be printed again. A PDF of the book is included. Price: $89.99
  • 40th ANNIVERSARY BUNDLE includes the Alien RPG 40th Anniversary Limited-Edition Core Rulebook, along with the deluxe gamemaster screen, two sets of custom dice (one set of 10 Base Dice and one set of 10 Stress Dice), a set of 50 custom cards (for initiative, weapons, and NPCs), and a set of useful maps and markers. A PDF of the book is included. Price: $139.99
  • THE COMPANY SPECIAL EDITION includes everything from the 40th Anniversary Limited-Edition Bundle, as well as signatures from the Free League team on both the commemorative cover and a Limited-Edition 27” X 40” poster of the Alien RPG cover art by Martin Grip. Price: $249.99
Fans can also customize their own package with individually priced add-ons.
The 40th Anniversary Edition of the Alien RPG Core Rulebook is exclusive to the Free League store and its 40th Anniversary Pre-Order Event, which begins 5/25/19 at 9am EST and ends 8/4/2019 at 11:59pm EST. Official retail solicitations for the Standard Edition will begin in July, but retailers are encouraged to contact Free League with any questions to welcome them into the 40th Anniversary fun as well.
For more news and previews on the Alien RPG series, visit alien-rpg.com. Then follow Free League Publishing on Twitter and Facebook, where fans can discover art and gameplay development ahead of the game’s release.
ABOUT 20TH CENTURY FOX CONSUMER PRODUCTS
20th Century Fox Consumer Products licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of 20th Century Fox Film, 20th Century Fox Television and FX Networks, as well as third party lines. The division is aligned with 20th Century Fox Television, the flagship studio leading the industry in supplying award-winning and blockbuster primetime television programming and entertainment content and 20th Century Fox Film, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures throughout the world. For more information on all Alien products and activities, go to www.AlienUniverse.com.
ABOUT FREE LEAGUE PUBLISHING
Free League is a critically acclaimed Swedish publisher of speculative fiction, dedicated to publishing award-winning tabletop role-playing games, board games, and art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. Our best-selling RPG Tales from the Loop swept the 2017 ENnie Awards, winning five Gold ENnies for Best Setting, Best Writing, Best Art, Best Game, and Product of the Year. The game is inspired by a series of iconic art books published by Free League – Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and The Electric State – exploring artist Simon Stålenhag’s original sci-fi universe soon to be realized in the upcoming TV series from Amazon Studios. Most recently, our fantasy RPG Forbidden Lands became the 3rd most successful RPG Kickstarter of 2017 and dubbed one of the best RPGs of 2018. Other tabletop work includes the post-apocalyptic RPG Mutant: Year Zero, the sci-fi RPG Coriolis – The Third Horizon, the fantasy RPG Symbaroum, and the Crusader Kings board game. To learn more, visit freeleaguepublishing.com.
ABOUT GENUINE ENTERTAINMENT
Genuine Entertainment is an award-winning producer and paladin in genre entertainment, specializing in strategic licensing for entertainment franchises and fandoms that demand quality and authenticity in equal measure. It’s our mission to build brands by building worlds and fan communities, making meaningful contributions with premium content and consumer products that extend brands into new markets and genuinely connect with fans across multiple categories. Recent collaborations include such genre greats as Alien, Altered Carbon, Avengers: Infinity War, Blade Runner 2049, Dune, Game of Thrones, and World of Darkness. To learn more, visit: www.genuineent.com.

Friday 3 May 2019

I always come back to the D6 System

Whenever I toy with a new setting I always go over a few systems to see what fits. Do I create my own? Keep it simple? Use an existing one? Have a look at OGL systems?

However, I always seem to come back to the D6 System, especially for science fiction, as it seems to have everything I need. AntiPaladin Games' Mini Six is a favourite version of mine, mainly because I don't have to write the rules and gamers can get the them free.

I guess that's because I played the WEG D6 Star Wars game from 1987 to the early 2000s, and created a huge campaign setting to adventure in, so the system is properly impressed on me. The system itself is so malleable it can be used for all kinds of things, from high adventure to dark and brooding, and the cinematic feel the rules have give plenty of scope and freedom top the GM. I always loved the Star Wars first edition rules because of their simplicity, and the Rules Companion added a bit of flavour to that. Subsequent editions made changes that I felt uneccessarily complicated things, so I always went back to basics.

I always come back to the D6 System. AntiPaladin Games definitely produced the best version of it, for my tastes.

Wednesday 1 May 2019

Interview - Brian Fitzpatrick of Moebius Adventures


I've been having fun with 'Aliens & Asteroids', a game 'written to evoke the terror of being on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere being stalked by creatures only wanting to survive and thrive', so I thought I'd reshare an  interview I did with Brian Fitzpatrick of Moebius Adventures in January 2018.


Hello, Brian, and welcome to Farsight Blogger! Tell us something about yourself and how you ended up wandering the wonderful worlds of roleplaying games.

Thanks for having me!

As far as my entry to the wonderful world of role-playing games, I was lucky enough to be a geeky kid in the early 1980s and managed to find a group of like-minded individuals who were playing AD&D. I think the first time I played was 1982 and I was hooked from that moment on. And my geeky nature worked to stoke the fires of my imagination, tapping into my love of reading where I discovered the Lord of the Rings, Robert Heinlein, Piers Anthony, and many many others, not to mention my fascination with myths and legends from around the world. Maybe not as exciting as the 80s setting of Stranger Things, but just as awesome!

Though there were a few lean years for RPGs in high school, I found them again in college and have never looked back. I've lost track of the number of RPGs we've played, from D&D and Palladium Fantasy to Ninjas & Superspies, Vampire, Heavy Gear, Battletech, Call of Cthulhu, and many others. And after college in the mid-1990s, I teamed up with a buddy of mine and we started Moebius Adventures. We've been tinkering in one way or another for a very long time!

These days, I still play some D&D 4e and 5e fairly regularly, but most of my time is devoted to working on our OSR game Mazes & Perils or our latest science fiction offering, Aliens & Asteroids.

Aliens & Asteroids sounds like my cup of tea; the darkness of space and the horrors that dwell there? Yes, please. What do you think this game brings to the science fiction roleplaying experience that’s different?

Glad to hear you're excited! I know I am! We've been having a great time playing at my FLGS with a fun group, romping around the universe, battling aliens, and trying to save humanity from the awful Dread (our big baddies)!

Originally I wanted A&A to be an OSR-inspired game of space marines and battles on alien worlds, but the system we developed felt very forced and clunky. Thankfully my friend Alan Bahr (Gallant Knight Games) chimed in with the ideas that became the Inverse20 system, so we came up with a very light system that is VERY easy to learn and yet has adapted to everything we've thrown at it so far. Keeping the system light has allowed us to explore more fast and furious adventures along the lines of Aliens, Predator, The Expanse, Firefly, Babylon-5, and more -- letting us focus on the story and using simple mechanics rather than bringing in a lot of overhead we didn't need.

The universe of A&A is a bit like the Expanse mixed with Aliens and a little Call of Cthulhu. If you've ever played the video game X-COM 2, we've gone for a very squad-level feel that still allows for gonzo heroics and a bit of the panic that sets in when you're facing creatures of unknown origin simply shrugging off any weapons fire and are definitely not of any world you've ever seen.

And when you pull in the Dread, things go from bad to worse. The Dread are on a mission to devour the life energy of the universe and something tells me Earth would be a really tasty morsel!


What was the attraction to the darker side of science fiction? Is it something you’ve always been interested in?

Honestly, I've always loved Lovecraft's ideas surrounding alien forces and intelligences that we simply cannot fathom. The Universe is a big place and I see a bright future once humanity hops to the moon, Mars, and beyond. But I also think that when we head into the dark, there will be things waiting for us we won't be ready for. It's true that humanity already has a pretty dark streak and is capable of beauty and horror in equal amounts, but when we work together against a common enemy we can do some simply amazing things. We'll just have to see what happens when we get that far.

That said, A&A presents a dark future with a lot of hope. At my own game table I've seen people band together to save complete strangers from horrors that make even the brave men and women of the space marines tremble in their boots. I think there are some great opportunities for amazing stories to be told to light the darkness for a long time.

Can you explain a little more about the Inverse20 system? How does it work?

Inverse20 is based on a few basic concepts. Each character has a set of attribute values like Toughness and Education that can be used to quantify their strengths and weaknesses. Each character takes traits to help define what they're good at, such as Guns or Medicine. And based on those two ideas plus the difficulty of a task, a player gets to roll one d20 or two d20s to determine success or failure. If you are shooting a gun but don't have the Guns trait, it's your Accuracy attribute. If you roll your Accuracy score or less, you hit! If not, you fail. If you roll a 1 or right on the attribute value, that's a Critical Hit. And if you roll a natural 20, that's a Critical Fail.

If the task is easy or you have a trait that makes it easier (like the Guns trait when shooting weapons), the roll is at an Advantage. That means you roll two d20s and take the most advantageous result (either the lowest or the die that's right on the score you're aiming for). If it's a particularly difficult task, it may be at a Disadvantage. In that case, you roll two d20s and take the highest number. And with No Advantage, it's just a single d20.

This task resolution system keeps things simple at the table and moving quickly as a result. We dig it and I hope to develop a few other variations on it, including a fantasy version I've been tinkering with.

The Kickstarter was successful and the game is due soon. Once the initial core book has been sent out, what kind of support can the game expect in the future in the form of scenarios and supplements?

Yes! I'm very excited for us to get the A&A core book out in February, but that's just the beginning!

We have a long list of projects on the horizon, from new professions and traits, to setting books describing different locations in the A&A universe, to adventures on alien worlds! Though we had a few stretch goals we didn't get to see realized during the Kickstarter, all of the folks willing to write for us then are on the hook to provide some great stuff for us through the rest of 2018 and beyond. I'm very excited to see what they come up with and I think we have plenty of ideas to keep us busy for a good long while!

What else does Moebius Adventures have planned for the future?

Though A&A has been our main focus over the last 6 months, we have some fun things planned for our Mazes & Perils line as well as some collections of older titles that may finally see the light of day. Beyond that, I really want to explore some older ideas from the Moebius back catalog in the cyberpunk and fantasy realms to keep things hopping. Our new partnership with Gallant Knight Games has provided a great springboard for some fun projects to come!

Art from Outland Entertainment and Jason Adams
Art from Outland Entertainment and Jason Adams