All the best RPGs have wizards in 'em, right?
Let's just get this one out of the way, first: There's a Dresden Files RPG out there, and while I've only heard things second-hand, I'd say fans of the series (like me) will want to pick it up just for the margin notes alone. The book is "written" as a collaboration between Billy the werewolf, Harry, and Bob the Skull. Given that Harry and Billy have semi-regular RPG nights, you could almost see them coming up with this text eventually, anyway. It uses the Fate System, which, after reading several examples of play in the text, looks almost like a negotiated concert of creative character stat/attribute application between player and GM. I think I'd also dig the setting because, if it's done like the novels, there isn't so much emphasis on hiding from both the mortal world and the Nevernever: Mortals either know about magic and accept it (in their fashion), or they block it out and disbelieve what they see. I've been in too many campaigns where you're afraid of even smiling at someone for fear that half the city will see your fangs and the next thing you know, the city's conveniently got a "Vampire-B-Gone" squad with stakes, holy water fire hoses, and flame-throwers, and they've just pulled up behind you.
On the computer RPG front, it's looking like Fallout: New Vegas is bringing quite a bit more RPG into their game via traits. These shape your character by giving advantages in one area, while limiting them in others, whereas Fallout 3 pretty much just had bonuses or straight "this will increase/decrease X" perks. Coupled with skill books having (reportedly) only temporary effects, New Vegas sounds like it's going to require a bit more planning as to what you want your character capable of doing.
A site note: Starting this week, Full Frontal Nerdity is moving to Tuesdays and Thursdays, and both strips will be hosted here. There are a lot of reports of (a bit o' salaciousness warning) what may or may not have gone on, but it's looking like IESB.net is inoperative. So that means the FFN guys will be relocating all of their bid'ness back to the home base, and they'll probably still take the occasional shot at the movies, along with comic books, gaming, and whatever else happens to pique my their interests at the time. There's a potentially sick-n-twisted RPG called "Kidworld" I've recently run across that might make for an interesting few strips, but there are some realities of the game world I might have to tone down a tad...
I hope everyone out there still has all their various bits attached if you celebrated the 4th of July. What was going to be our son's first exposure to fireworks was rather thoroughly rained out, he was more than delighted with the rain pounding on the car roof as we drove home. I also saw several hearty souls shooting off fireworks the downpour. As a person who has lived in a small town with many creeks and small ponds, I can testify to the fact that if you can manage to get them lit, most fireworks will operate under water, sometimes with amazing results. And if you think I'm going to allow my son to get up to any of those shenanigans, then my wife has a few words to say, especially if she catches me helping him make a PVC-based launching device. :)
While I await the call from some kind of child safety authority, here's a few things I found over the weekend:
- Need inspiration for a post-apoc novel or RPG? How about a disused Soviet space center?
- Here's some claymation, hilarity, and a little something you may not have known about the Final Frontier in 'I am Beautiful' starring Worf and the Wilhelm scream.
- Some good environmental news, or at least, the potential of some: bioengineered petrochemicals without the petro. I'd heard about plants making polymers and such a long time ago, and I'm glad to see work continuing. Whoever makes a tree that grows plastic fruit, however, gets fed to the nanites.
- A movie version of Doctor Who is rumored to star Johnny Depp. Is this awesome? (Y/N)
- If the previous link made you do something requiring the application of cleansing material, may we recommend an appropriate soap?
- Rock-n-LOL is a kind of grappling-hook game where you attempt to make your square-shaped avatar happy by gathering as many gumdrops as possible by moving around via a dotted line that can attract or repel you.
- For the C-64 era crowd who liked point-n-click adventures, here's a map of Maniac Mansion.
- My wife might someday use an iPad in her school for recording data about her preschool students. If so, it should have this decal. Also, leave it to Simon Pegg to come up with the best iPad joke so far.
- "Twilight" has caused Neil Gaiman to remove a vampire character from an upcoming novel.
- Okay, this next game has little silhouette-men that bleed copiously when you shoot them, but let's just assume they're all bad guys who deserve what's coming to them. In Ricochet Kills 2, you have to fire a limited amount of bullets to rebound them off of walls and obstacles to take out every victim on the screen. It gets quite challenging to figure out the proper angles in later levels.