RPG Review, Issue 15, March 2012

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RPG Review, Issue 15, March 2012 RPG REVIEW Issue #15, March 2012 Indie Game Special: History, Design and Industry ... Liz Danforth Interview … HeroQuest Reviews … Indie Actual Play Reviews … Tunnels & Trolls … Character Development … Pedagogy of Play ... Console Game Reviews .. Movie Review : John Carter… Industry News 1 RPG REVIEW ISSUE FIFTEEN March 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Administrivia, Editorial, Letters many contributors p2-3 Hot Gossip: Industry News by Wu Mingshi p4 Interview with Liz Danforth with Liz Danforth p5-9 HeroQuest2 Review by Chris Jensen Romer p10-19 Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes by by Chris Jensen Romer p20-23 The Bell, and Where Character Comes From by Morgan Davie p24-26 Pedagogy of Play by Sean Nittner p27-31 Indie Actual Play Reports by Sean Nittner, Lev Lafayette and Michael Cole p32-45 Tunnels & Trolls Bestiary by Karl David Brown p46-50 Nations of the Intellect by Karl David Brown p51-54 Independent Games, Systems, and the Industry by Lev Lafayette p55-57 Book Review: The New Death by Lev Lafayette p58 Console Game Reviews by Matt Lindus p59-60 Movie Review: John Carter by Andrew Moshos p61-63 Next Issue by many people p64 ADMINISTRIVIA RPG Review is a quarterly online magazine which is available in print version when I get a spare weekend or two to try to put it all together. All material remains copyright to the authors except for the reprinting as noted in the first sentence. Various trademarks and images have been used in this magazine of review and criticism. This includes HeroQuest and Sartar Kingdom of Heroes by Issaries Inc, Mouse Guard by David Petersen and Les Crane, Best Friends by Gregor Hutton, Agon by John Harper, In A Wicked Age by D. Vincent Baker, Hollow Earth Expedition by the Exile Game Studio, and Don©t Rest Your Head by Evil Hat Productions, The New Death and Others by James Hutchins. John Carter is distributed by Disney Films. Any use of images, material etc, is not to be construed as a challenge to any intellectual property and is under "fair use". Any use of images, material etc, is not to be construed as a challenge to any intellectual property and is used under "fair use". Text is in Nimbus Roman, headings in Nimbus Sans, front page in Utopia. Any errors or omissions are unintentional. EDITORIAL Being two moths late in publications is a record even for an irregular, volunteer, magazine such as this one, with its nominal quarterly presentation. Nevertheless, I am pleased to say that much of the next issue is already in preparation, and I would not be surprised to see if it actually comes out on time. Before discussing the content of this issue it is worth raising a question of some moral danger. What do barbie dolls, sex games, and Dungeons & Dragons have in common. Now if you come up with some obscure reference to Phil and Dixie from The Dragon and their never ending quest to actually cover ªSex in D&Dº, you are certainly deserving of grognard status. However the real answer is a rather unfortunate determination by Ebay that inclusion of any of the 2 RPG REVIEW ISSUE FIFTEEN March 2012 above does not constitute a breach of their listing policies, because they are all potentially roleplaying. It is an extraordinary set of correspondence, I submitted a complaint to Ebay that some sellers were clearly confused between ªroleplaying gamesº, which is meant to represent the sort of material that this ©zine covers, but instead also include dolls for children (instead of ªpretend playº), and the Karma Sutra sex talk game (seriously, that was an item ± I have no idea what category that was supposed to be in). The inclusion of doll©s sets, toy trucks, Karma Sutra sex talk sets, and children©s masks have absolutely nothing to do with our hobby. To allow such items in the category reduce the value of Ebay©s service to customers who are doing the right thing by listing and searching in the correct category. Enough of a rant of the disappointing behaviour of a corporation failing to satisfy its own policies, and on to the more pleasant topic of this issue of RPG Review, a special issue dedicated to independent roleplaying games of which yours truly has written a piece on the history and industry of such games. These are supplemented by several short reviews and actual play reports, largely led by Sean Nittner, who also contributes a sense of method of Pedagogy of Play. For Reviews we have two from Chris Romer from the poster-child of independent and narrativist games, HeroQuest2, along with Karl Brown giving an article on nationalities for his own indie game, Gulliver©s Trading Company. Finally, Morgan Davie discusses the origin of character association in the course of a gaming episode in ªThe Bellº - nothing to do with the over of RPG Review, which is about independence of a different sort ± maybe. Our supplementary items this issue starts of with a real feature (yes, you can have a supplementary feature), an interview with Liz Danforth, artist and game developer of one the earliest indie RPGs, i.e., Tunnels & Trolls. (I must keep reminding myself when typing her name not to confuse with Liz Davenport). Matt Lindus contributes once again brief reviews of recent games to hit the console, Andrew Moshos with the relevant movies of late, and I©m putting my own hat in the ring with a book review. Last, but not least of course, is our gossip queen, Wu Mingshi. With the sheer weight of publications, and especially indie game publications, now reaching in the level of dozens per year, we could quite clearly dedicate RPG Review to nothing else but independent RPGs, Of course we don©t do that, but inevitably it does mean that this issue may not include personal favourites. For this we can but ask for forgiveness and humbly suggest a contributed article for our next issue, science fiction RPGs. There are, of course, quite a number of independent SF games which would be suitable ± and for astute observers who noticed we had a SF theme in issue 8.. well, yes. That was two years ago, and it barely scratched the surface then. Rest assured there will be more, and more. Such is the nature of our ever-developing hobby. But here©s an issue; once upon a time game-designers wrote systems that were designed to last. Granted many were absolutely terrible, with appalling sense of game-balance and progression or destroying any suspension of disbelief by miserable failures at reality-checking, and a result crashed and burned a year after publication. Today, I cannot help but feel that the cleverness of many indie game designers, with the finely tuned sense of balance, narrative progression and tension, along with their capacity to at least avoid problems of verisimilitude, has lost something as well. So many games today are designed to be played for several sessions at best. Whilst I adore the punk do-it-yourself ethic, I would prefer designers to work more cooperatively (remember ªPerrin, Stafford, Turney and othersº?), and produce better games with deeper levels of granularity, and more lasting exploration. It is that hope I still have for independent games. Onwards! Lev Lafayette, [email protected] 3 RPG REVIEW ISSUE FIFTEEN March 2012 HOT GOSSIP : INDUSTRY NEWS by Wu Mingshi Aiyah!, Mr. Lev, I think you miss your own funeral. But on lah! Loyal friend Mingshi come to rescue and tell you an zhua! First I pass up serious news. I know you like school stuff about roleplaying games, but boh tak chek for my mother tongue. Lah, I promise you every time no politic, but I like not my gahmen. But new books for four-eyes: "The Functions of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems and Explore Identity", "The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games", "Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games", and "Worldbuilding For Writers, Gamers and Other Creators Volume One: Star, Planet, Moon". Why not you write book like this, Mr. Lev? You know bakero! Worldbuilding book by Matthew Wayne Selznick, others publish by McFarland. You tell me next issue is science fiction again. Well, good! Many new books. Mongoose make 2300AD book for their Traveller. Mingshi think good idea, Mongoose Traveller is zai, and old Traveller have too many system and too many rules, and all very confusing. Mongoose Traveller achieve new watermark. Also, new RPG Degenesis is little like science fiction, but after disaster. Rain of asteroids on Earth! This one publish by Posthuman Studios, which sounds a little bit like what Mingshi want to grow up. We so ak kah liao with Adamant Entertainment now they give us Soul-Thieves of Mars, adventure for Savage Worlds under the moons of Mars. Also even more kuku is Chuck Wendig and Evil Hat make Dinocalypse Now from Spirit of the Century. Prevent assasination of FDR! Confront psychic dinosaurs! Ah, la! Final story on science fantasy, Chaosium have new book for Basic Roleplaying call The Chronicles of Future Earth "where humankind brushes shoulders with beings and creatures strange and monstrous" and "the Venerable Autocracy of Sakara, the greatest Ð and oldest Ð Empire on Urth, rules over half the world, led by an immortal God-Emperor whose very word is law". Sound scary! But also sound like Hawkmoon. So good! Final, Mingshi speak of 800 pound ang mor gao, also known as "Dungeons & Dragons". Maybe you play play once or twice? Well, Mingshi all blur with new announcement from Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition! All too soon, too soon, Mingshi thinks.
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