Lots of great stuff happening in the world of gaming. It’s hard to keep on top of it all. Seems every day there’s another announcement of a new game, a new title, a new event, and the like being made.
Here are a couple of bits of news that caught our immediate interest.
The Stream of Annihilation (Dungeons & Dragons)
It’s a live streaming event on Twitch coming June 2nd and 3rd–this Friday and Saturday–all day long (10am to 10pm each day). It’s all part of the big reveal for the next big Dungeons & Dragons storyline.
Wizards of the Coast is calling a bunch of the big names in D&D live play such as Critical Role, Acquisitions Incorporated (the “C” Team), Dice, Camera, Action!, Misscliks, and Maze Arcana along with overseas groups such as England’s Yogscast’s HighRollers and Australia’s Dragon Friends. There’s talk of D&D ending up utilizing a “multiverse” model thus linking various D&D campaign worlds like Eberon and the Forgotten Realms to each other.
The groups will be running previews of the games they’ll be playing later on in the year with the new D&D storyline. There will also be interviews and reveals on new related products. The show will be hosted by Anna Prosser Robinson and Kelly Link.
Look for news on Neverwinter Nights, D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds and Roll20, WizKids and more.
Those two days are just going to be packed. To follow it all, go to Twitch.tv/dnd 10am Friday morning.
For a more detailed description of what all is coming up at the end of the week, Dungeon Life helpfully offers this video:
See you there! (This is where working from home has its benefits.)
Starfinder Launch Countdown
August 2017! GenCon!
Yeah. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time now. The good folks at Paizo are exploring 6,000 years into the future of the Pathfinder world and presenting us with a full-on science fiction flavored universe–Starfinder! It’s an expansion on the Pathfinder rules, but, more importantly, a standalone game with its own core rulebook, adventure paths, and other supplementary materials.
I say “science fiction flavored” as opposed to just straight science fiction because it’s more a science-fantasy sort of universe. As much as story and character elements feature spaceships, mechs, laser pistols, faster-than-light star hopping, aliens and more, there are also magic, swords, and familiar fantasy races in play. While I admit to being a bit of a purist when it comes to my space opera, I’m surprisingly okay with what I’ve seen so far of the melding of fantasy and science fiction. Paizo has been working on this for quite a while, and playtesting the hell out of it, so I’m sure it’s going to work out fine and be a fantastic setting for many future tabletop RPG nights.
Kudos, also, to Paizo for the constant stream of preview material they’ve been releasing. Check out the site for class and race previews and other teasers and tidbits ahead of the August release.
For another good feel for how Starfinder will play out, check out the playtest from Paizo HQ on YouTube.
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At around the ten minute mark, we get space goblins.
Go, Paizo!
Green Ronin Publishing in Overdrive
A lot has been coming out of Green Ronin lately and it’s worth checking out.
Coming to print is Blue Rose: The AGE RPG of Romantic Fantasy. Using the system made popular by the Dragon Age RPG, Fantasy AGE, and Titansgrave, the legendary setting of Blue Rose gets the same rules treatment. To quote the website “…tell stories of heroic envoys of the Sovereign’s Finest as they protect their homeland of Aldis from threats like the shadowy Kingdom of Kern and the fanatical Theocracy of Jarzon, as well as monsters and artifacts from the cruel reign of the Sorcerer Kings. Aided by the rhydan—their psychic animal allies—the champions of the Kingdom of the Blue Rose safeguard the light of the world against the power of Shadow.”
Also arriving is the Freeport Bestiary using Green Ronin’s Freeport city setting for Pathfinder. “This 180-page full color sourcebook includes a wide variety of threats, from classic Freeport adversaries like serpentmen and fire spectres to new monsters like corsair drakes and witch beasts. It’s the perfect complement to Freeport: The City of Adventure and can be used to add spice to any Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign.”
At some point we’ll be seeing D&D 5e sourcebooks for Matt Mercer’s Exandria setting as seen on Critical Role. In addition, Green Ronin has announced that they have licensed Greg Rucka’s Lazarus series from Image Comics for their Modern AGE roleplaying system. World of Lazarus should be out sometime in the Fall.
And that’s just a bit of what’s going on in the tabletop RPG world. Barely scratching the surface, but already a lot to take in.
Cheers!
