Superweapons. They're a staple of Star Wars. Sure, they were over used in the early books, novels and comics, but they also provided a highly defined and specific target and goal for the story. Eventually, the stories moved beyond the superweapon of the week into other topics, but....
Have you used a superweapon in your Star Wars RPG game?
Why not?
It's been awhile since I talked Star Wars Miniatures (Simon aside). It's a topic I ought to touch on more often. I'd like to post scenarios, but they (usually) take so long to balance, it's hard to justfiy versus other gigs at the moment.
However, I do have two past squads worked up some may find interesting.
I hope everyone enjoyed last week's April Fools day posts. The "obviously omitted" rules from Wednesday were a lot of fun to do, and those who checked back on April 1st itself got some RPG and minis stats for Simon the Killer Ewok. A couple of notes: the rules were far more popular than Simon, and I actually did send a previous version of those midi-chlorian rules to Rodney Thompson (Wizards Saga line developer) back in 2008 for April 1st. Last week's version was much improved, and a few people noted what I thought of as a joke within the joke - you could eventually use them in play, after some more development and tweaking.
I don't report a lot of Star Wars non-gaming news, but for those who missed it, the official forums at starwars.com are shutting down at the end of the month. They'll be read only until June or so, but then they will be removed. No word on the blogs, and I'll keep posting there while I can. I've suspected for a long time the blogs would go away with the end of the Hyperspace online fan club, given the lack of upgrades. Didn't expect the forums to also go away. There was an announcement last year that another company was coming in to help run the Lucas sites, so I gather this is all part of that process.
On to this week. Since it's the end of the current Clone Wars season, I wanted to follow up on the final episodes, without major spoilers.
Wizards posted a preview of the upcoming Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentier Vale based on last month's Rule of Three poll. You can see the preview (along with others) here, and download the stats for the Wandering Tower, winner of the poll (but not one of my contributions).
This product is due to be released in June 2011.
Normally, I would add an excerpt or example of my most recent cartography work to my online portfolio when completed. However, as my most recent example was for the subscriber based DungeonADay.com (and therefore unavialable in the near term for this use), I went ahead and created a new map using the same techniques I used in the DaD Fane of the Sea God maps. While those maps adhered to the DaD style, I used different details for this map. The overall effect is similar.
I am always looking for new cartography freelance projects. Please contact me if you have a project that needs need a map (or a writer). You can see my portfolio here.
A brief trip to the mailbag this week. I've received different versions of the following question from time to time regarding my contribution the the Dawn of Defiance SWRPG Saga campaign, Episode 6: Core of Corruption:
After running DoD 6 a time or two and having distance from the material, are there any extra encounters, skill challenges or errata you've added or would like to add to the module? - Garrett
These past two weeks, I had the opportunity to contribute a pair of dungeon maps to DungeonADay.com, as a guest cartographer for the Fane of the Sea God areas. For those who don't know, Dungeon A Day came from the mind of prominent Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition designer Monte Cook of Malhavok Press. Posting one encounter/room per day, 5 days a week, it's about to reach dungeon level 16, not including side quests and related encounters. It is a subscription based site, so you won't be able to see my work (unless you subscribe, of course). In this case, the maps are heavily influenced by Dungeon A Day's established style, by their regular cartographer, Ed Bournelle of SkeletonKey Games.
Super Genius Games took over the day to day content handling of Dungeon A Day late last year. Charles Ryan (former Wizards of the Coast Brand Manager, among other credits) recently joined the effort, and wrote the Fane of the Sea God areas. It's been good to work with Charles (for the first time) and Stan! on the project.
Dungeon A Day is an 3.5 Open Game License project, and they recently added Pathfinder stats to their encounters. Those interested can either subscribe to the service, or I believe they are selling individual pdfs of some of the early levels. See the site for more information.
Sometimes I wonder just how many people have been involved in creating the vast Star Wars universe we know now. The sheer number of writers, artists, model makers, costume designers, sound editors, CGI artists, game designers, musicians and more is just staggering. Sometime after they move on to other things, we as fans and creators eventually wonder what they're up to now.
Last week, an old RPG name resurfaced in an interview in the first issue of D6 Magazine - Bill Smith
No, I didn't make it to D&D Experience (DDXP), though I would have loved to go. I haven't been since it was called Winter Fantasy. And 2nd Edition was current. And it was in Wisconsin. Anyway, Wizards is hosting a number of seminars, starting off today with a discussion of new products. There is a bit of new info on Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale, out in June. Much of this has been released before, some not:
There are at least two websites liveblogging the DDXP seminars, the host Baldman Games and Critical Hits. It is interesting in that they are both using google docs, but different approaches. For the Products Seminar, baldman's version has a lot of detail, but updates in chunks of information at a time. Critical Hits' version is showing up live as it is being typed. You get more of a feel for the flavor of the event/audience, but less specific info.
Any fan of the game ought to read both. It's the most up to date info available right now. Also, check out the seminar live blogging over the rest of the weekend.