The Mutant Epoch RPG

The Mutant Epoch tabletop adventure role-playing game from Outland Arts is apparently set to be released this month.

I've been keeping tabs on the development of this game off and on for quite a while and I am definitely looking forward to grabbing a copy of this game.

Click on the following link or the picture below to go to Outland Arts' website

Star Wars and Zombies?

As a Star Wars fan I am intrigued by the release of Death Troopers, the first ever horror novel for the Star Wars universe. The books is written by Joe Schreiber and should be available in a bookstore near you, or online, Tuesday October 13th. I've already got mine ordered.
I don't really play Star Wars RPGs anymore, but I may break out my d6 or d20 SW book and try running a one-shot based on this premise. As a lifelong fan of zombie horror and of Star Wars this seems like genre mixing made in geek heaven.
While it is gratifying that there is so much zombie activity in nearly every form of media, and very cool to have zombies in SW, it is also kind of sad that someone felt it was necessary use a gimmick like this in the Star Wars universe. Still I'm a sucker, I did buy all of the Marvel Zombies comics after all, so I have to get this book. Besides, it would make a good halloween game for Star Wars gamers.

Death Troopers (Amazon.com)

Board Game for Readers

A new board game lets people who love to read revel in their knowledge of books. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: A Game of First Lines challenges players to identify the author or title of a book with only the book’s first line as a clue. It’s that simple and that challenging. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night covers everything from novels to poetry, from mysteries to children’s books, from science fiction to books made into movies, and six other categories, so there is something for every interest.

The game, which features hundreds of clues, a design that blends modern and old-world imagery, and wooden pawns is currently sold at a dozen Chicago-area bookstores and is available online at www.goodreadgames.com. The game retails for $39.95.

I did it! No D&D for me...

With the exception mentioned in my last post, I managed to go through the holidays D&D free and my plan worked. I have found that my little bout of RPG abstinence has left me with a renewed interest in not only D&D, 4e in particular, but gaming in general.
I have campaign ideas seeping out my ears, I can't write them down fast enough. I also have been energized and can't wait to set up a D&D, Hollow Earth Expedition, Dead Reign or Serenity/BSG game. I don't think that it was just the lack of gaming that recharged my batteries, but what I did during my time off. What did I do? Well with the exception of spending a lot of time on my PSP (see previous post) I read some books, surfed the net and watched some movies, all of which I think were contributing factors.
First let's start with the books.
"Hollow Earth: The long and curious history of imagining strand lands, fantstical creatures, advanced civilizations and marvelous machins below the earth's surface" by David Standish and while the title may be long the book itself is just about 300 pages and a pretty quick read. It tells the story of where the idea of hollow earth came from, the real life people who believed in it and tried to find it, what people believed they would find there, as well as the stories written about it. It is a very interesting book which inspired me to do some googling to learn more. The hollow earth is a topic overflowing with gaming potential and I can't wait to get into it.
"World War Z" by Max Brooks is another book I managed to finally finish during this time which has me itching to run Dead Reign or throw a bunch of zombies in my next D&D game. If only they had the Necromancer class up and running.
"Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth" by Max McCoy is the book I'm reading now which is only feeding my desire to run a hollow earth/pulp game. I can't wait to put some PCs up against Nazis in the center of the earth.
Dreseden Files by Jim Butcher, I actually read two more Dresden novels during this time and am eagerly awaiting the release of the the RPG.
I also managed to fit in a Forgotten Realms novel, Mistshore, and have recently gone back to reread the Campaing Setting so guess where my next D&D game is going to take place.

Next are the movies, most of which were directly linked to the books I was reading in some manner. I watched several Zombie movies, Dagon, Call of Cthulhu, all the Mummy movies (#3 was not my favorite BTW), all of the Indiana Jones movies, Serenity, past seasons of BSG, Tombstone (I'm your Huckleberry), and all six Star Wars during this time.
Between the books, the great blogs on RPGBN, and movies I actually had time to enjoy gaming. I know that sounds weird given that I didn't do any, but it did help. I think it was the fact I was able to step back and just be a geek, a fan and not have to worry about coming up with any content. I didn't do many posts on the Gazette so I was able to just be a fanboy for a while. I didn't even do more than an handful of posts on the various RPG forums. I just blocked out all the bad and concentrated on the fun parts of being a gaming geek. The things that attracted me to gaming in the first place.
This may not work for everyone, but I have to say that taking a break worked wonders for me. I'm more jazzed about everything, including 4e, than I have been in a long time. I've also managed to decide on which systems I want to run regularly, a dilema that has plagued me for a while now. For the forseeable future the primary game systems will be D&D 4e, Serenity/BSG, Mutants & Masterminds, Dead Reign and Hollow Earth Expedition. I realized that I spend so much time trying to find systems that had the things I wanted I was overwhelming myself with games. Granted many were very good, but these are the ones I think that offer everything I want to do. I plan to cut back all my gaming purchases to just these systems/games, which I realized cover nearly everything I could want to run. Well maybe with the exception of Dresden Files when it comes out, but that's it.
It's good to be back.

Also I would like to mention the great reviews done by Kurt Wiegel, nearly all of which I have watched over the past month. If you haven't checked out his vidoes on YouTube you definitely should. The reviews are great and give you just about everything you need to know about the games he covers before buying.

Top 10 Books to Read for Halloween 2009

I am an avid reader and naturally gravitate towards horror books at this time of year. What follows are some of my all time favorite books that get me in the Halloween spirit. Most of which are great for coming up with ideas for your Halloween RPG session. Especially the H.P. Lovecraft stuff if you are a Call of Cthulhu player.

1. Don't Open This Book
2. Everything's Eventual
3. Nightmares and Dreamscapes
   
4. Black Seas of Infinity
5. The Bad Place
6. Skeleton Crew
7. World War Z
   
8. Waking Up Screaming
9. Book of the Dead
10. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark(I read this every year when I was a kid)