Monster of the Week Demo

 Brandon will run a demo game of the Monster of the Week RPG on Tuesday April 28th at 5:30 . Sign up sheet is in the store or you can message us on Facebook or comment here to reserve a space.

Monster of the Week uses the Powered by the Apocalypse game engine to allow players to recreate the adventures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the X-files or Supernatural.

Alice is Missing

 One of the most unique RPGs to have come out in the past few years is Alice is Missing. For those not familiar with the game, released by Renegade Press, it is a gamemasterless RPG, played silently by the participants, who only communicate through text messages. The Facilitator sets everything up and plays the role of Charlie Barnes, who returns to the town of Silent Falls inquiring about the whereabouts of their friend Alice Briarwood, from whom they have not heard in three days. Charlie reaches out to the other players, who take the roles of Alice’s other friends, who then work together to figure out what has happened to Alice. As all the communication in the game takes play via group and individual texts, every player must have a phone. The game itself only comes with a copy of the rules and the clue cards, which help determine what happened to Alice. A lot of the material, such as the timer, character sheets, soundtrack and props are provided online, meaning that players must have access to at least one computer during the game session. The game takes about 90 minutes to play, with the counter indicating when clue cards get flipped over to provide more information about what happened to Alice.

Given the topic, a missing teen age girl, Alice Is Missing spends a lot of time on player safety, telling players to determine Lines (subjects which should not be discussed in the game) and Veils (subjects which can be mentioned but not described in detail). There is also an X-card, which a player can play, or type X into the chat, to remove a topic from the game. Players are then given their characters and time to look them over and the timer is then started.  Over the course of the next 90 minutes, every 5 or 10 minutes the timer prompts the reveal of a clue card. At 30 minutes, the suspect cards are gathered, and one is revealed as the person responsible for Alice’s disappearance, at 20 minutes, a location card reveals where she is and at 10 minutes, another card reveals Alice’s condition. During the game, players are never at the same location at the same time, giving a game reason for texting. Likewise, players are encouraged to “Make Stuff Up” if it stays within the narrative of the game and moves it along consistently with the cards revealed. The game requires players to adopt the motives and relationships of their characters, meaning the more role playing each incorporates into the game, the more enjoyable it becomes.

The Hollywood Reporter announced Alice is Missing has been optioned for possible development as a movie. Unlike past movies based on games (Battleship and Dungeons and Dragons come to mind), I think Alice is Missing has a better chance for a successful movie than the preceding two.  Battleship just took the name of the game and applied it to a space combat movie. Some years ago, I got an opportunity to play Battleship:  Galaxies, which WotC released at the same time as the movie.  What had been a simple game developed into an unwieldy monstrosity that took hours to play and was not that much fun, which is why it got discontinued soon after. Similarly, the Dungeons and Dragons movies took the game name and affixed to a typical fantasy movie. The only thing I remember specifically D&D related from the first movie was a beholder floating in the background in one scene. D&D modules have stories to tell, D&D is a rules system for telling those stories. That is why I think Alice is Missing has a good chance of translating into a successful movie. It has a strong story, and the best movies tell good stories. 

Castle Shorts 2/28/28

Devon discussing Pirate Borg in this week's Castle Short

Revenant Society

 We got in the Revenant Society RPG today. The concept is that player characters are dead, deceased, kaput, etcetera in Paris during the 1910s or New York during the 1920s. The catch is, they cannot move on until they figure out who killed them and why. Uses the Apocalypse RPG system and only $49.99 for a beautiful hard cover book.

Independence Day

 Open until 9 p.m today.

Stop in today and select one from a table full of independent small press RPG supplements. Get one more with your preferred customer card and 1 for each 2 stamps you earn on a Castle Card. Yu Gi Oh players may take a free promo card from the selection offered and one more for each Lost Art Card they get today.

Game Poems

 A game poem is a one page game. It could be a role playing game or some other time of game. Basically it is a little game that you can pick up, read the rules and start playing immediately with games taking 15 minutes or less. The publisher released a signed book of 24 of them at GenCon 2010. It is a interesting idea that gets play among fans of indie RPGs.

Used RPGs

 We posted a few more out of print RPG items in the eBay store. you can see them here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness

 Remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from your youth? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG released in 1985, two years before the cartoon and toys swept the nation. Palladium Books was the first company to recognize the potential impact of the Turtles and was the first company to ever license the rights to them

Eilodon City In the Sky

 In the 1990s, buoyed by the success of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, every publisher that designed a fantasy RPG decided it also needed a setting for the players to adventure in. Ergo, ICE decided to release Shadow World as a campaign setting for its Rolemaster (or as it was known back 25 years ago, Rulesmaster or Chartmaster) RPG. Eilodon City in the Sky was a city setting for Shadow World. Moderately well received and reviewed, Shadow World never gained much traction , even among Rolemaster players, who prefered to use the rules in their own games. Rather surprised to see this second edition of Eilodon come in  with books in an RPG collection we purchased as we had never heard of it and it seemed to slip under the radar.

RPG and Magic Collection

Picked up a good sized RPG collection over the weekend with several 3.5 D&D books, a number of Call of Cthulhu books, quite a few Rifts sourcebooks, a number of small press RPGS and a stack of Dungeon, Dragon, White Dwarf and Heavy Metal magazines.

We also bought a decent Magic collection with quite a few rares and Mythic Rares in it. Devon spent much of Sunday processing them into the display case and binders. We should get the rest of them in the binders and case tomorrow.

Pacesetter Games

Always interesting to see what happened to old games, in this case the 1980's Pacesetter Games line, which produced Chill, Time Master and Star Ace. When the company dissolved, the product lines were purchased by Don Bingle, who sold new materials for the systems at the Orphyte website. However, Orphyte has dissolved and the rights to the games sold off to three different entities

Paranoia RPG

Followup  to today's FB live video about the Paranoia RPG, players need a very dark sense of humor when playing this game. They also need to understand that they are at the mercy of Friend Computer and they are essentially cogs in a machine. It is fun to argue back to the Computer as long as you understand that the outcome will be that character's immediate termination for treason.  Anyone who takes the game too seriously is in for disappointment. That is why you have 5 additional clones. You are probably going to say something wrong, push the wrong button or go into the wrong place and get killed.

Of course, if you are the sort who thrives on creating chaos in the game,  you can do that and even get away with killing fellow player characters, because almost any action can be justified as "treason". Of course, do it to much and your fellow players will probably kill you off, because almost any action can be justified as "treason".

Every player belongs to a secret society and has a mutant power, both of which are treasonous so revealing them is grounds for termination. Generally, players have secret objectives to complete during their missions. Successfully completing those missions, since the purpose of them is generally to undermine the stability and direction of Friend Computer, is treason.

Successfully serving Friend Computer, AND surviving the mission, will often raise your status up a grade and get you an additional clone but that is not the purpose of Paranoia. Moreso than any other game of which I know, with the possible exception of Toon, having laugh out loud fun during the game is the point. Do not play this game if you want to develop an intricate backstory for your character and have them surmount numerous challenges, growing their legend along the way. That won't happen in Paranoia. You will die, laughing.

RPG of the Week Tunnels and Trolls

If you are looking for an easy to learn and easy to play RPG, you cannot do much better than Tunnels and Trolls. T&T, considered by many the second RPG to hit print (it released about 6 months after the original D&D did) and one of the simplest as well. With spell names like "Take That, You Fiend" "Hidey Hole" and "Freeze Pleeze", it is obvious that designer Ken St. Andre  had a sense of humor when it came to spell creation, among other things. Still TnT is a very well designed game and is still in print, just like D&D and unlike so many of the RPGs that debuted in its footsteps.

Star Trek RPG

Modiphus has announced yet another Star Trek RPG, coming out later this summer:

Today StarTrek.com announced the launch of our pre-order for Star Trek Adventures

We're currently sharing solicitations with your usual distributors for the range of Star Trek products, expected to hit retail early September. The Borg Cube is expected to ship later in September, due to production pipelines. 

Demand for these is expected to exceptionally high, so please confirm orders as soon as possible (your distributor will advise dates). 

Heading the list is the Star Trek Adventures Core Rulebook a full colour hardback allowing you to create your own Star Trek stories of discovery and adventure on the final frontier. Featuring a complete 2d20 game system from Modiphius Entertainment, with an extensive exploration of the United Federation of Planets and its galactic neighbours in the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants.  Guidelines for Gamemasters old and new, on how to run an adventure and a full catalogue of aliens and antagonists including Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, the Borg and the Dominion.

The Star Trek Adventures Core Rulebook Collector's Edition, has all the features of the basic rulebook, but comes with an impressive special edition cover featuring the hull of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D rendered by The Light Works, who provided the 3D model for the Star Trek: The Next Generation Remastered series, making it the most accurate model of the Enterprise D available. 

The Star Trek Adventures RPG Limited Edition Borg Cube has been called the "coolest box in the history of gaming" by Geek and Sundry and has everything you need to play Star Trek Adventures and then some. It contains a "1701-D" Collectible Edition Core Rulebook, with four sets of miniatures including the crew of the Original The Next Generation Crew, Klingon and the Romulan crews, a padded tray for all four sets of miniatures by KRMulticase, three dice sets by Q-Workshop, Heat & Momentum Tokens, a PDF Collection (also available to retail customers) and an exclusive miniature of Lore (with more to be added as distribution and direct orders grow), all collected in an ultra cool Borg Cube box marked with a uniquely numbered official Star Trek Adventures hologram. One side of cube pulls out to use as an exclusive oversize Borg Gamesmaster Screen. Consider yourself assimilated! 

SRP £395 / $495 (actual value of £530 / $680) NOTE This is a very short discount product due to high costs, please check with your distributor for pricing. PDF's will be distributed directly to customers - more info will be shared later as we are exploring the best route for this. 

Collectable RPG Pricing

Pricing of out of print RPGs can be all over the place, especially for those produced by smaller companies or that are long out of print. Case in point, the first edition of the Chill RPG from Pacesetter Games. Four sellers have the book by itself and the boxed set listed on Amazon for between $7000 to $9000. I have a copy in stock I will happily sell your for $100. That's a 98% discount. What a deal!

An even better example of the vagaries in pricing on RPG books is the Batman Soutcebook for Mayfair Games DC Heroes RPG, published back in 1987.  One set of sellers has the book priced from $4 to $10 for a used copy, while another group has the same book in conditions ranging from "Good" to "Like New" at prices ranging from $38 to $66. And here's the 1st edition of the Paranoia RPG, with prices ranging from $60 to $550. Unlike RPGS from TSR, which have a fairly consistent price range, prices on other RPGs appear to get set at whatever the sell things they can get.

Decline of Print RPG Sales

.  In the store, we have seen printed RPG sales fluctuating betwixt 5 and 10% of total store sales.   We have seen three overarching trends:

1.         

       Concentration of sales among the top selling RPG lines.  About three lines account for 80% of total RPG sales.  Everything else in the RPG category accounts for the other 20% (It’s the 80/20 rule in action again).

2.      

       Lack of interest by customers in venturing outside their comfort zone.  There are very few “Igors” (cue Dork Tower reference) who are willing to try a brand new RPG just because it pops up on the new release shelf.  Most stick with the tried and true, going for the new Pathfinder, Dark Heresy, or, much less than in days of yore, Dungeons & Dragons, though how much of this is due to dissatisfaction with the current system and how much is due to not wanting to buy new books with D&D Next looming on the horizon, I can’t say.

3.        

      Huge decline in sales of used RPGs.  Pre-eBay and PDF, sales of used RPGs accounted for a huge amount of our RPG sales.  In fact, we didn’t even want to deal in used RPGs when we started out.  Our customers kept bringing in stuff they wanted to get rid of and, at the time, the markup and turnover on them was huge.  Today, markup is still huge, but turnover is a fraction of what it used to be as customers could satisfy the thrill of the hunt much more easily online and those who just wanted content could readily find PDF versions of almost everything out of print for free or very low cost, if they looked hard enough.

Against The Darkness

The store recently received a copy of Against the Darkness, “A Roleplaying Game of Vatican Horror and Conspiracy”, from Tabletop Adventures. I’ve known one of the principals in the company via email from the GPA (Game Publishers Association) and was intrigued by the game when I saw them showing it off at a convention I attended last week.  I’ve always been a sucker for modern day horror RPGs (long time fan of Call of Cthulhu and I still run a game of Pacesetter Games’ Chill on rare occasions), so when I saw ATD in Tabletop’s display rack, I asked them enough questions about it that they finally gave me a copy (I also bought two copies and a GM pack for the store so they made some revenue off me).

Against the Darkness really intrigued me because of the similarity in themes between it and the anime, Trinity Blood.  Both involve representatives of the Catholic Church and the Vatican, fighting against the forces of darkness, save that Trinity Blood focuses on vampires as the main villain and is more overt in the conflict between the church and the vampires than ATD.  In ATD, the darkness is always there, but it hides in the shadows and the players must venture there, outside the ken of their fellow men.  The quality of the book looks good as well, the only problem I have is that Tabletop has saddle stapled it with no room for a logo on the spine. Ergo, if it (and the GMs pack) gets shelved spine out, well, it vanishes, leaving only the folded over cover of a book to attract the customer’s eye. The company is looking into the economics of producing a book with a printable spine and probably will come out with one in the future.

Lots o' Small Press Releasing

Quite a few indie RPGs are releasing supplements next month. Due to the slow sales on most of their lines (when was the last time YOU bought a supplement for Qin: The Warring States), we will only bring in a few of them, except for special orders, of course. We will pick up the Victoriana expansion and the Gamescapes (because more maps are always good), but likely skip the others, unless, as I said, we get some pre-orders in for them. In general, if there's a game you like, the best way to ensure we stock it and expose it to more people is to pre-order it. That indicates to us there is a market and that if you like it, other people will as well.

Coming in November

CB7209 Victoriana: The Havering Adventures $24.99 SRP	CB75620 Gamescapes: Gatorglades Swamps $12.99 SRP
Suave. Sophisticated. And deadly... Meet the Haverings, Victoriana's most infamous family: Nathaniel, head of the family and proof that the upper classes aren't always in charge; beautiful and decadent Susanna, Nathaniel's distinctly improper wife; Jonathan, fallen to terrible vice; Selina, a survivor from the gutter and the family's moral heart; Tobin, wizardly academic with a criminal side; and Patterson, because every now and then a gentleman needs a manservant to put the boot in... Havering Adventures provides full statistics for the Haverings, for use either as player characters or NPCs, and three action-packed ready-to-play adventures showcasing the Haverings' unique talents. - In "Lost Luggage", track down a rogue suitcase with some very unusual contents. - In "Behold, the Valiant ones shall cry", take to the skies in a luxury airship brimming with intrigue and secrets. - In "Dead Man's Hand", learn the secrets of a strange artefact being exchanged across the poker tables of London. Havering Adventures also contains a wealth of detail on the Victoriana setting, including horse racing, the Royal Family, and poker. And remember, as Nathaniel Havering says, "It's not really gambling unless you have something to lose..." Fancy your chances?	Swamps, full of gators, 'squitoes , and disease. Who'd ever fight over such a place? Lots of people through history, that's who! We give you a tabletop full of swampy battleground on one side of this battle mat and a swamp encampment on the other. Whether they're anti-government rebels, marsh bandits, voodoon zombi-masters, or the advanced scouts of the Great Dragon's warband, this set of maps can fit into most any campaign setting. Gamescapes are double-sided gaming maps printed to the highest quality on strong laminated card and coated with an easy-wipe surface to give you years of gaming pleasure. This set is printed with the classic 1" square grid overlaid.
CB75621 Gamescapes: Fantasy Battleground $12.99 SRP	CB76800 PF: Coliseum Morpheuon $34.99 SRP
On one side of this tabletop battle mat you'll find an army camp that's fit for any fantasy campaign. As troops prepare for battle among the tents, men will be sharpening their blades, adjusting their armor and making ready for... battle! On the other side of the battle mat you'll find the results of all that preparation - the battlefield itself. Broken weapons, blood and mud. Just put your markers or miniatures down, and you can feel bones crunch, flesh slice. Any more realistic and you'd need to wear armor yourself. They call it a battle mat for a reason! Gamescapes are double-sided gaming maps printed to the highest quality on strong laminated card and coated with an easy-wipe surface to give you years of gaming pleasure. This set is printed with the classic 1" square grid overlaid.	One hundred teams enter. One team leaves! Explore the Chimeric Ampitheater, a complete setting and adventure for any campaign - guaranteed! The Coliseum Morpheuon beckons your characters to travel the Realm of Dreams to enter a competition unlike any other. Set against the intrigue-laden setting of the Chimeric Ampitheater, the party will have to survive the contests in the arena - and because they happen in dreams, anything can and will happen! But more than that, they must learn to survive in the equally dangerous political atmosphere outside the Arena between fawning and manipulative patrons, rival slave team owners, vengeful monster trainers, and the ever mysterious and menacing Khan of Nightmares who controls all that happens within the Coliseum Morpheuon. Coliseum Morpheuon is a legendary setting and adventure which can be dropped as-is in any campaign. Written by Clinton J. Boomer (Rpg Superstar finalist, Pathfinder Campaign Setting, Council of Thieves: The Infernal Syndrome) and Jonathan McAnulty (Kobold Quarterly: Ecology of the Froghemoth) with stunning artwork by Jason Rainville (To Kill or Not To Kill) and fantastic Cartography by Jonathan Roberts (Sea To Shore and Sunken Empires)
CB76900 War of the Dead: Chapter One $24.99 SRP	CB7406 Qin: Tian Xia $29.99 SRP
WHERE WERE YOU ON THE DAY THE EARTH DIED? An unexplained cataclysm is infecting the world. Millions are dying and rising as flesh-consuming ghouls. Entire cities are roaming graveyards, and even the countryside is overrun with creatures in search of living flesh. You begin in the first days of the outbreak, trapped aboard the maiden voyage of a state-of-the-art cruise ship that quickly becomes a floating graveyard. As you manage to escape back to land, the world around you is just about dead. The military can’t stop the spread of the infection, the government has relocated to the Rocky Mountains, and those remaining are banding together for survival—some seeking safety in numbers and others seeking to use their numbers to overpower and dominate the weak. Can you survive in a world looking to eat you and turn you into another walking corpse? Can you trust other survivors not to kill you and take your supplies? More importantly—when you discover something that could save the world, will you be strong enough to deliver it to the right people? War of the Dead as a four-chapter adventure series that takes you from the first stages of the outbreak, and all the way into a world forever war torn and changed by the advancement of the Living Dead!	“Xianyang, the capital of Qin and the most beautiful city of all Zhongguo. Her streets are bright and clean. Her districts are ordered and peaceful. Her population enjoys the peace which the order brings and her citizens can go about their daily business without fear. But more than all that, which differentiates Xianyang from her sisters of the other Kingdoms, is her heart! This city vibrates with an energy rich and strong, her life pulsates through her avenues, her spirit inspires her inhabitants. Xianyang is the ideal, a city with multiple facets, and inexhaustible richness. And me, I am the guard of this noble soul, at the same time father, husband and brother of a city which history will remember as the glorious one capital of an Empire called to last ten thousand years and more. And there is nothing I wouldn’t do to preserve her beauty, her force, her identity.” Chao Guang, governor of Xianyang Xianyang is an essential supplement for Qin: the Warring States roleplaying game. The first book of Tian Xia, not only contains the first four scenarios of an epic campaign but also describes the fabulous capital of Qin, under all its aspects: her history, operation, political organization, population, secrets, etc. Rich in information, Xianyang allows Gamemasters eager to submerse their players in the wonders of the city and interact with the inhabitants within one of the largest cities of Zhongguo, capital of the most powerful of its Kingdoms. Xianyang contains: • A detailed description of the capital of Qin (including its history, its geography, its many districts, the royal City, its organization, its secrets, etc). • Deatils of more than seventy characters populating this large city (from simple workman to powerful ministers and courtesans) without forgetting the major historical figures of the time (the King Ying Zheng, Li If, Han Fei Zi, Zhao Gao, etc). • Complete information on the secret services of Qin. • The first four scenarios of the Tiàn Xia campaign, which propels the players to the forefront of affairs and will lead them to play a key role in the great History of the reunification of China.