Saturday, June 15, 2013

Lamentations of the Free RPG

There are five game stores in Madison, Wisconsin and only one of them was participating in Free RPG Day.
That store wasn't carrying the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Free RPG because "This is a family store. We don't carry R-rated games like that."
This same store seems to carry all things Call of Cthulhu, Game of Thrones, and Warhammer. You don't get much more R-rated than those three.

Update: Two of my friends found a copy for me at a Chicago gaming convention. After flipping through it, I only found one picture that could be construed as objectionable material and it's way in the back, and some of my old White Wolf books have similar pictures in them. Remember kids! Lame excuses do not win you customers.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

FTL: Faster Than Light

When designing a science fiction game with spaceships that travel between star systems, you have to decide how they are going to work.
Will they be realistic or fantastical?
If realistic, nothing goes faster than light, so will you have near-light speed ships? Will they be sleeper ships or generation ships?
If fantastical, will they use a warp drive, a hyperspace drive, or gate technology? Will they take time or is it nearly instantaneous?

Star Wars uses hyperspace and it takes time
Star Trek uses warp drive and it takes time
Stargate uses gate technology and it's nearly instantaneous
Battlestar Galactica uses warp drive and it's nearly instantaneous
Farscape uses hypespace and it's nearly instantaneous

One thing I've definitely decided for the system I'm writing: It's not going to have the word "star" in the title.