24 June 2009

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ROGUE FEED ROGUE FEED

Colonial Gothic Revised — Proof Gaming as a Social Occasion

in hand
JUN 23, 2009 08:28P.M.
At exactly 5:00 PM CST today the doorbell at the Rogue Games
Compound was heard. When the elite crack security ninja team
returned they informed me that a Messenger in Brown had delivered a
package. Said package, once inspected, was the proof of Colonial Gothic:
Rulebook aka Colonial Gothic Revised.
So how does it look? Awesome.
Said book is thicker than the first version, hell it is thicker that Thousand
Suns, and looks so much better. Ariana, upon seeing the proof, had one
word to say: “Wow.”
Book will be printed sometime this week and then it wings it ways to the
warehouses.
JUN 23, 2009 01:36P.M.
It was suggested in the comments to another post of mine that I run a
“tight ship” when it comes to my gaming sessions given how much we
accomplish each week, but the reality is quite different. As I explained,
most of our gaming sessions run about six hours, of which no more than
half of that time is spent sitting at my dining room table and rolling dice.
There are many reasons for this, but chief among them is that our
gaming sessions are an adjunct to friendly get-togethers. Because we’re
all adults with other distractions and responsibilities, our Sunday
afternoon meetings are our only occasions to see one another face to
face. Consequently, a goodly portion of our time is spent simply talking,
whether it be about our mundane activities or our gaming-related ones.
Likewise, we generally start play after dinner, which I make while I
talking with my friends about this or that. It’s a long-standing ritual
going back many years and I can’t imagine a more “business-like”
arrangement where my friends arrive and we simply start gaming right
away. That would feel wrong to me.

But that’s because, especially as an adult, I see gaming a social occasion,

ROGUE FEED a time to indulge in some much-needed conviviality with dear friends.
Even once we’re playing, our sessions are broken up with digressions,
Colonial Gothic Revised: The interruptions, and other “frame-breaking” events that we simply accept
as part of the way we game nowadays. Looking back on my experiences
first review as a younger person, this isn’t really much of a change from the way we
JUN 23, 2009 05:46P.M. used to game in the early days. The main difference is that we usually got
together for much longer stretches of time and we generally didn’t make
Robot Viking has the first review of Colonial Gothic Revised. You can our own food. We often did have lunch or dinner together before we
read it here. I am a happy person right now. gamed. Such gatherings often involved my friend’s older brother and/or
father playing with us, so they were especially well liked and remain
> powerful memories of the best that this hobby offers.

So, in truth, my sessions tend to be rather rambling and unfocused,

because we treat gaming as but one part, albeit an important one, of a
larger social occasion. I suspect the reason why it seems we accomplish
so much is that we’re all of a like mind when it comes to the campaign
and what we want out of it. Consequently, the exploration of the
dungeon is done fairly efficiently, with a designated leader and
cartographer both setting the pace for how things proceed. Likewise,
we’re all very experienced roleplayers, so we quite easily fall into
extended in-game conversations without the need for much prompting,
which helps move along most sessions as well. In short, we’ve all been
gaming for nearly three decades and that makes it possible to get a lot
done despite the distractions of its also being our only occasion to see

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one another each week.
Of course, none of us would want to give up those distractions; they’re
half the reason why we get together at all.
ROGUE FEED
The Rhythm of the Old School
JUN 23, 2009 09:30A.M.
Running the Dwimmermount campaign has been a valuable experience
on many levels, chief among them being how much fun I am having
playing “D&D” again. I really can’t emphasize enough the pleasure that
this campaign has brought me. As I’ve said repeatedly in this blog, it’s all
well and good to theorize and philosophize about this stuff — obviously
— but, without play, it’s all largely meaningless. This is a hobby, after all,
not a debate club and it’s play that really matters. I’ve had fourteen
sessions of this campaign since January (the most recent of which I’ll
post about later today or tomorrow) and they’ve all reminded me in
various ways why I not only entered but stuck with this hobby for nearly
30 years. I think we all need to be reminded of that regularly or else the
old school movement will, like many other movements, eventually
become hollow and lifeless.
The other thing of which the Dwimmermount campaign has reminded
me is that the much-derided resource management of old school games
— the mythical “15-minute adventuring day” — is actually a boon rather
than a bane. In the majority of our sessions, the party’s explorations into
Dwimmermount cease because the players decide that they’ve used up
too many of their finite resources — spells, potions, hirelings — to
continue without seriously risking their own deaths. They then head out
of the dungeon either to nearby Muntburg or (more likely) three-days-
ride-away Adamas to re-supply.
The result is that, with a few exceptions, most forays into
Dwimmermount are not very long and typically occur at inopportune or
at least unplanned times. That is, the players can’t anticipate when one
of their front-line fighters is going to be slain by a giant ant or when their
magic-user will run out of sleep spells. These events may in fact occur
just as they’re about to explore a new section of the mountain-dungeon
for which they’ve been searching for some time or that they know will
contain both great riches and great danger. But prudence — that fine old
school virtue — dictates that discretion is almost always the better part of
valor. Thus, they leave the dungeon keen to return as quickly as they can,
because they are often on the verge of some new discovery. The finitude
of their resources regularly ensures that they never have their fill of the
dungeon in any given session; they are kept hungry for more, which
ensures that the megadungeon holds their interest.
That’s not the only benefit of managing finite resources, however. All
these trips back to Muntburg or Adamas to re-supply and seek out new
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24 June 2009
hirelings to replace their fallen comrades are opportunities to roleplay
and to explore the world outside the dungeon. Some referees could
simply let the PCs buy what they need without incident, treating it as a
purely mathematical exercise and there’s nothing wrong with that. Not
every trip back to Adamas is an occasion for me to throw some random
encounter at the party or to introduce some eccentric NPC — but many
are. I relish those opportunities, because they’re where I get to ground
the characters and the dungeon in a larger context and to create a “web”
of connections that I can then later use for ideas, both within and
without the dungeon.
Many of the emerging “plots” of my Dwimmermount campaign were
extemperaneous inventions of mine as a result of rolls on a random
encounter table or simply riffing off one of my players’ comments about
his character’s activities in the city. Those inventions were made possible
by the fact that the PCs aren’t self-sufficient. They have to leave the
dungeon and return to their home base, sometimes several times in a
session. I don’t see that as a flaw in old school gaming; I see it as
something praiseworthy, for, without it, there’d have been no Jasper the
alchemist or Saidon the spoon-wielding cleric of Typhon or the Argent
Twilight or many other now-integral elements of the campaign. Because
the characters only adventure 15 minutes a day, as the saying goes, they
had to fill the other 23 hours and 45 minutes with something. That
something is the stuff from which a campaign is made, the stuff that
keeps the players coming back week after week keen to keep playing.
Resource management is, in my opinion, one of the key features of old
school gaming. Its removal, or at least its watering down, is a marker for
the end of that style of play. I also happen to think the impetus behind its
removal is built on a fallacy, one that equates any form of “downtime” as
antithetical to fun gaming. My experiences with Dwimmermount over
the last six months have taught me that, while resource management
guarantees that, at some point, the characters must pause for a time,
that’s not always a bad thing. The action may end when the PCs leave the
dungeon, but that doesn’t mean the adventure does.
ROGUE FEED
In which the work is done
JUN 22, 2009 05:44P.M.
After a long time in writing, layout and in work, the pre-order for
Colonial Gothic Revised is now ready. I am happy to have this game
done, and I am also very happy that people can now order the book and
get the PDF right now. Here’s the press release that went out early this
morning:
(Chicago & Toronto) June 22, 2009: Colonial Gothic Revised is
available for pre-order!
Newly revised and expanded, this edition of Colonial Gothic builds
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
upon what has come before and presents new options and guidelines for
running a supernatural historical horror roleplaying game set during the
dawn of the American Revolution. Also included in the book are three
new original short stories penned by Jennifer Brozek.
Beginning today, June 22, 2009, you can now pre-order Colonial
Gothic Revised direct from IPR, and in doing so, you get a free copy of
the Rulebook PDF now. Be the first to discover the horror lurking in
the colonies, and be the first to see all the exciting additions to the game.
The question remains: whose side are you on?
Details
Price: $24.99 (print)/$9.99 (eBook/PDF)
Page Count: 298 page
Size: 6″x9″ b&w softcover
Click here to order now!
Posted in Rogue Games Tagged: news, Rogue Games, thoughts
ROGUE FEED
[13 Chapters in 13 Weeks] Short
Stories
JUN 22, 2009 05:07P.M.
There will be two posts this week about the changes in Colonial Gothic.
This week I plan on writing about Chapter 7 which begins the massive
amount of background found in the game. What I want to talk about
today is one of the bigger changes to the game — fiction.
Fiction is something I typically do not like in my rulebooks. The reason is
that I think fiction clutters a game and blurs the line between what a
gamebook should be. For me, a gamebook should be about the game. It
should contain all the rules and items you need, and fiction should be
saved for books.
Still in thinking about Colonial Gothic’s revision, I realized that the game
missed the boat in trying to get across the style and feeling of the game.
Fiction, when done correctly, is perfect for doing this. So making the
decision that I wanted fiction, it almost did not happen. Why? No writer.
Now, one can rightly ask, why didn’t I write it. The answer is simple, I
am not a fiction writer. I do not have the skills. I write game material,
and that is far different than fiction writing. So thinking about the
fiction, I could not find a writer who could do what I wanted.
So it was at GenCon 2008 that I was at the booth taking a break — I
was by myself and there was a lull in the hall — that I met Jennifer
Brozak. Colonial Gothic’s cover and title caught her eye, and the next
thing I know we’re having a great conversation about the game and the
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24 June 2009
like. At the end of our chat, she said she be in touch, and that was it. Few
days later I get an email and she says she was interested in doing some
work and pitched the idea of writing some fiction. I had found my writer,
and the rest is history.
Working with Jennifer has been great, because she gets what Colonial
Gothic is about. Using history as the springboard, and the effort to keep
it as “real” as possible. So, Jennifer wrote three short stories: Curious
Words, Safehouse and Where Loyalties Lie. All three stories help show
off what the world of Colonial Gothic is like. Of the three my favorite is
Curious Words. Why? I am a sucker for stories like this, and Jennifer did
an awesome job of pulling me in.
As for what else Jennifer has planed. Well she is already working on a
PDF supplement for later this year, and we are talking about a few other
projects. I can safely say as long as she wants to work with us, she always
has a place at Rogue Games.
ROGUE FEED
New Art Added
JUN 22, 2009 11:15A.M.
Carl Nash has submitted some new art, and it has been added to the
Shoggoth.
ROGUE FEED
Colonial Gothic: Poor Wizard’s
Grimoire
JUN 22, 2009 10:01A.M.
The second supplement that was released (August 2008) and added to
the background as well gave new magical options. Here is the run down,
chapter by chapter of any changes that need to be made.
Chapter 1
First up, as pointed out above, Rituals are now known as spells, and
there are two types of spells: Common and Arcane. All spells for the most
part are unchanged. There are a few slight changes, which are designed
to give both the player and the GM more information on how spells
function in the game. Here are the only changes to the spells found in
Colonial Gothic: Poor Wizard’s Grimoire.
Common Spells
Beauty’s Face
Actions: 2
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 24 June 2009

Range: Touch Distant Eye

Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Others, Self Actions: 4
Sanity: 0 Range: Special
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution ÷ 2
Celestial Music Performed On: Self
Sanity: 4
Actions: 3
Range: 20-foot radius Prayer to The Twelve
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Self Actions: 2
Sanity: 0 Range: Touch
Duration: 1 Hour
Dispel Performed On: Self, Others
Sanity: 3
Actions: 2
Range: Touch Plague
Duration: Instant
Performed On: Others, Self Actions: 3
Sanity: 0 Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Fish’s Breath Performed On: Others
Sanity: 6
Actions: 1
Range: Touch Quake
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Others, Self Actions: 4
Sanity: 0 Range: Eyesight
Duration: Instant
Insight Performed On: Others
Sanity: 7
Actions: 3
Range: Touch Thunder
Duration: Instant
Performed On: Other Actions: 2
Sanity: 0 Range: 50-foot radius
Duration: Instant
Reveal Performed On: Others
Sanity: 3
Actions: 2
Range: Feet equal to caster’s Resolution Transport
Duration: Instant
Performed On: Self Actions: 5
Sanity: 0 Range: Miles equal to caster’s Resolution x2
Duration: Instant
Shadow of the Moon Performed On: Self, Others
Sanity: 9
Actions: 1
Range: Touch Chapters 2 to 4
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Others, Self • No changes.
Sanity: 0
Appendix
Arcane Spells

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• Now found in the Colonial Gothic Rulebook. Performed On: Self, Others
Sanity: 0

Covering Cloud
ROGUE FEED
Actions: 4
Colonial Gothic: Secrets Range: Feet equal to caster’s Resolution
JUN 22, 2009 10:00A.M. Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Objects
Colonial Gothic: Secrets was the first supplement released (May 2008) Sanity: 0
and it contains a lot of information and background. Some things have
been merged into Colonial Gothic Revised, but for the most part very few Discerning of Spirits
changes need to be made. Here is the run down, chapter by chapter.
Actions: 3
Chapter 1 Range: Touch
Duration: 1 Round
• Alchemy is now part of the Magic Skill as a specialization. Performed On: Others
Sanity: 0
• Multiple Action Rule – Gone and replaced.
Gift of Tongues & Interpretation of Tongues
• Books – Still in play. There will be a small update in a few weeks as
to how long it takes to read a book. For now it is up to the GM to Actions: 2
decide how long it takes to read a book. Range: Special
Duration: Round’s equal to caster’s resolution
Chapter 2 Performed On: Self
Sanity: 0
• No changes.
Inspiration
Chapter 3
Actions: 1
• No changes. Range: 20 feet
Duration: 1 Day
Chapter 4 Performed On: Objects
Sanity: 0
First up, Rituals are now known as spells, and there are two types of
spells: Common and Arcane. There are a few slight changes, which are Shield
designed to give both the player and the GM more information on how
spells function in the game. Here are the only changes to the spells found Actions: 1
in Colonial Gothic: Secrets. Range: Sight
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Common Spells Performed On: Self
Sanity: 0
Bless
Spirit of the Fire
Actions: 1
Range: Touch Actions: 2
Duration: 1 Day Range: Touch
Performed On: Objects Duration: Hours equal to caster’s Resolution
Sanity: 0 Performed On: Self, Others
Sanity: 0
Clear Vision
Arcane Spells
Actions: 2
Range: Touch Animate Dead
Duration: Rounds equal to caster Resolution

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Actions: 8 Actions: 10
Range: Special Range: Touch
Duration: Instant Duration: Instant
Performed On: Others Performed On: Others
Sanity: 10 Sanity: 12

Bone Dance Spirit of the Wood

Actions: 6 Actions: 2
Range: Special Range: Touch
Duration: Instant Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Others Performed On: Objects
Sanity: 8 Sanity: 4

Grace of Healing Strength of the Earth

Actions: 5 Actions: 2
Range: 1 Person Range: Touch
Duration: Instant Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution
Performed On: Others Performed On: Self, Others
Sanity: 4 Sanity: 2

Form the Cloud Alchemy

Actions: 6 • Alchemy is now found in the Colonial Gothic Rulebook.

Range: Touch
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution Chapter 5
Performed On: Self
Sanity: 6 • No changes.

Healing Wind Chapter 6

Actions: 3 • Monsters are now found in the Colonial Gothic Rulebook.

Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Performed On: Others
Sanity: 5 ROGUE FEED

Invocation of the Stone The Colonies

JUN 22, 2009 09:58A.M.
Actions: 2
Range: Touch Though the Colonial Gothic discusses the thirteen colonies, that detail is
Duration: Rounds equal to caster’s Resolution a little sparse. The following sections have more information about the
Performed On: Self, Others colonies.
Sanity: 3
Colonies
Mark
New England
Actions: 1
Range: Special • Connecticut
Duration: Instant
Performed On: Object • Massachusetts
Sanity: 2
• New Hampshire
Raising of the Dead

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• Rhode Island
Middle Colonies
• Delaware
• New Jersey
• New York
• Pennsylvania
Southern Colonies
• Georgia
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Virginia
ROGUE FEED
Conversion Notes
JUN 22, 2009 09:40A.M.
With the release of Colonial Gothic Revised, fans of the original version
should quickly notice a few things have changed. When you factor in the
first two supplements, you might be confused to what is playable and
what is not. This small guide is designed to help you quickly convert over
the first supplements to the new version of the game. If you have bought
any of the eBooks – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Defeated Dead,
and Elizabethtown – they’ll be updated. In addition those who bought
them will be getting the updated eBook delivered to them from the site
they bought it from.
Changes in Colonial Gothic
The game you have played since August 2007 (this is when Colonial
Gothic was released) is still the same. Some rule tweaks were made, and
this has been talked about in depth on our blog Rogue Dispatches. There
you can read 13 Chapters in 13 Weeks, which discusses the changes to
the game chapter by chapter. In addition, uploaded on the Rogue Games
website, as well as the Rogue Games Scribd site is the Colonial Gothic
Primer. The Primer, as many of you know, is what we write before we
start a game. The Primer is all about telling you what the game is about,
what you do as a player, what a GM does, and how the game works. The
Primer also gives you the basics of the rules. If you have not done so
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24 June 2009
already, you should download it now and read it.
Sections
• Colonial Gothic: Secrets
• Colonial Gothic: Poor Wizard’s Grimoire
ROGUE FEED
Interview: Dennis Sustare
JUN 22, 2009 09:00A.M.
In examining the early history of the hobby, it’s often easy to forget the
diversity of individuals and ideas that were extant at that time. Because
both fanzines and conventions were thriving and because there was an
openness to new approaches, it was quite possible for such individuals to
disseminate their ideas widely, often attracting the attention of the
companies publishing RPGs. One such individual was Dennis Sustare,
among whose many contributions to the hobby were the creation of
D&D‘s druid class and the first RPG in which the players portray
animals, Bunnies & Burrows. Mr Sustare kindly agreed to answer some
questions I put to him about these and other related matters.
1. How did you become involved in the role-playing hobby?
Previously I played chess, go, and board wargames (such as the Avalon
Hill games). In grad school at Wisconsin, in a small on-campus wargame
convention, there were a few people playing early versions of D&D with
Chainmail combat rules. I was intrigued, and got into a local gaming
group of other grad students (astronomy, biochem, chemistry, law, and
myself in zoology). This was back with the original three D&D booklets,
in the woodgrain box (plus the Chainmail rules).
2. You’re specifically thanked in the credits of Supplement III
to OD&D, where you’re called “the Great Druid.” There’s also a
druid spell in AD&D called “Chariot of Sustarre,” which was
named in your honor. What role, if any, did you have in the
creation and/or development of the druid class?
When the thief class was released in the Greyhawk supplement, as an
addition to the original fighter, cleric and magic-user, we became
interested in other possible classes beyond these four. I wrote up and
mimeographed a set of rules for a new druid class, for our internal play.
After some playtesting in our game, I revised it with a new mimeograph
rule set, still just for our own use. But when we went to early GenCons, a
copy got into Gary’s hands, and thanks to some advocacy by Tim Kask,
they revised the rules once more and published them in the Eldritch
Wizardry supplement. Tim added the Chariot spell at the time (it was
not one of my original spells, and the misspelling of my name was
deliberate). I consider this my first published game design, although
Bunnies & Burrows was released the same year (1976).
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
3. What were your inspirations in creating the druid class? I
once surmised that the class had been based on the character
of Dalan from Henry Kuttner’s “Elak of Atlantis” tales, while
Erik Mona of Paizo mentioned Talbot Mundy’s Tros of
Samothrace as a likelier possibility. Were either of us close to
the mark or was there a different inspiration for the class?
Nope, sorry. I never read the Talbot Mundy stories, though on looking
them up now, they sound interesting. I read lots of Kuttner and Moore,
but don’t recall ever reading the Elak stories.
Instead, I was familiar with druids from literature about early England,
especially during Roman times. The most immediate inspiration, of
course, was their mention as a monster in Greyhawk (but not as a
character class). Initially, I was trying to make them related totally to
plants and animals, but felt they needed a little more firepower
(literally).
4. One of your most famous creations was the game Bunnies &
Burrows, which you wrote with Scott Robinson and which was
first published in 1976. Besides Richard Adams’s novel
Watership Down, what inspired you to undertake this project,
since it was quite a departure from other games that were
published at the time?
Scott and I were both zoology grad students at Wisconsin. Once we got
interested in roleplay, we thought it would be fun to try to design an
animal-based fantasy roleplay game. In our early development of the
game, Scott usually ran scenarios and I was the sole player many times.
Since Scott Bizar, at Fantasy Games Unlimited, was enthusiastic about
publishing many different roleplay variants, I submitted the polished
rules to him, and he happily accepted them for publication. Charlie
Loving did the 1st edition illustrations, after playing in some early games
during development. When it was revised for second edition, Jeff Dee
added illustrations, including a new cover.
5. How was B&B received in the gaming community when it
was released?
I think as just one more of a multitude of roleplay variants that began to
flood the market. including those with various genres of science fiction,
pirates, pre-revolutionary France, gangsters, superheroes, samurai, and
many more. Those few who actually gave it a fair try usually wound up
enjoying it, though.
6. You also wrote Swordbearer, a fantasy RPG that included
numerous innovations, such as an abstract wealth system and
a magic system based on the of Asian philosophy. Did
Swordbearer arise out of a dissatisfaction with our existing
fantasy RPGs or did the game have a different origin?
Once B&B came out, several other publishers were interested in my
doing some designs for them. Arnold Hendrick approached me from
Heritage to develop an FRP competitor for D&D. My original design for
Swordbearer (which went through several title changes... I requested
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24 June 2009
Avatar as my first title, but Heritage did not think anyone would know
what that was) had much more original design than the final form. For
example, I had created all new non-Tolkien races, but Heritage nixed
most of them, since they wanted the game to utilize the races
represented in their existing miniature lines. I was not dissatisfied with
existing fantasy RPGs as such, but was trying to create a system that
would not lead to such “Monty Haul” campaigns. This was what led to
the abstract wealth system, based on social class rather than mere
accumulation of unending piles of gold coins. Once Swordbearer was
released, unfortunately, Heritage was already on its way to its demise as
a game company. I also produced Heroes of Olympus (based on Greek
myth) for Task Force, and scenarios and other small games for Heritage,
Steve Jackson, Paranoia, Citybook, etc.
7. B&B placed an emphasis on problem solving and
overcoming obstacles through wits and Swordbearer was, as
you say, an attempt to avoid the Monty Haul syndrome to
which many RPGs fell prey. Would you say that this is a
reflection of your preferred gaming style?
Absolutely. This is the main reason I always preferred mature GMs who
created a rich, complex and challenging background, rather than just
drawing another 1000-room dungeon with a random monster and
treasure in each room. Some of our most entertaining adventures
involved extended attempts to defeat a single, diabolically clever trap, or
to fulfill a particularly demanding quest. It is also why I tended to enjoy
low-level adventures much more than high-level ones. Low level
characters cannot just set off tactical nukes every time they encounter a
new group of monsters.
8. Like a number of tabletop RPG designers, you eventually
made the transition to the video games industry. Did you find
the transition difficult and what, if any, differences did you see
between the two industries?
Actually, my transition was from Assistant Professor at Clarkson College
to the video games industry. I never made a living from tabletop RPG,
and did those designs mostly for fun. But I knew people in the industry,
and when Paul Jaquays offered me a job at Coleco, I snapped it up. The
transition from college teaching was not so tough, since I was treated as
more of a professional at Coleco than I had been as a professor. The main
challenge was constraining the video game designs to the idiosyncrasies
of specific platforms, since the demands of systems such as Atari 2600
were so different from ColecoVision or IntelliVision. Also, Coleco was
one of the first companies to divide up tasks among specialties, rather
than requiring designers to have all abilities at once. So we had graphic
designers, programmers, writers, and musicians, with the game
designers more like what game producers do today. Many of the Coleco
products were based on licensed arcade properties, so we would
exhaustively play and analyze an arcade game, then try to design a game
that would capture the feel of the arcade on the video game platform. My
scientific background of investigation really helped me, especially
combined with my RPG design background.
9. Do you still play tabletop RPGs and, if so, which ones?
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
Not really. When I attended the inaugural meeting of the North Texas
RPG Convention (just held in the Dallas/Ft Worth area), I did play in a
couple of games, such as one using Matt Finch’s Swords & Wizardry
rules, which are similar to the earliest D&D rules. But that was the first
time I had played F2F RP for many years. I have a character in
Adventure Quest Worlds, but that is the only online multiplayer game I
am in right now. And I no longer design for MUDs or MUSHs. It’s
tempting to design a scenario for Matt’s S&W system, but I am going to
resist that temptation.
ROGUE FEED
Pulp Fantasy Library: Glory
Road
JUN 22, 2009 07:48A.M.
When thinking of fantasy, the name “Robert Heinlein” is not one that
immediately comes to mind. Heinlein made a name for himself as a
science fiction writer, which is why it’s difficult to know what to make of
his 1963 novel, Glory Road. The novel had first appeared earlier the
same year as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and,
as was once a common practice, particularly for genre fiction, it was
collected together and published in a complete form.
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24 June 2009
Glory Road tells the tale of a veteran named Evelyn Gordon, who is
spending some time on the French Riviera after having been discharged
from the military after serving in an unnamed conflict in Southeast Asia
(presumably Viet Nam, but this is never stated in the text). While there,
he answers a newspaper advertisement that puts him in touch with a
woman of — literally as it turns out — unearthly beauty named Star, who
enlists his aid in a quest for a mysterious item known as the Egg of the
Phoenix. Along with Rufo, an older man who acts as Star’s assistant,
Gordon and Star encounter a wide variety of dangers, from tricks and
traps to minotaurs and dragons, in their quest for the Egg, an item whose
true purpose and nature are very different than Gordon initially
imagines and whose discovery opens up even wider vistas for him to
explore.
As I noted, Glory Road is an odd book that doesn’t sit comfortably
within the science fiction genre for which Heinlein was well known.
Neither is it a pure fantasy. Instead, it straddles both genres, borrowing
liberally from each, which may explain why many modern Heinlein fans
dislike it. For myself, I’ve long felt that Glory Road was Heinlein’s
attempt to produce a “sword-and-planet” novel after the fashion of
Burroughs, but on a stronger science fiction. The result is a very uneven
novel, but a fun one, provided you aren’t distracted by the typically
Heinleinian disgreesions into his then-evolving socio-political
philosophy. The book thus has an odd feel overall. Some readers may see
this oddity as contributing to their enjoyment, while others may see it as
detracting from it. In either case, Glory Road is another book from an
era before the boundaries between science fiction and fantasy were less
well defined and even a writer as solidly in the former genre could freely
borrow from the latter without too much comment.
ROGUE FEED
Colonial Gothic Revised is
Available for Pre-Order!
JUN 22, 2009 06:00A.M.
(Chicago & Toronto) June 22, 2009: Colonial Gothic Revised is
available for pre-order!
Newly revised and expanded, this edition of Colonial Gothic builds
upon what has come before and presents new options and guidelines for
running a supernatural historical horror roleplaying game set during the
dawn of the American Revolution. Also included in the book are three
new original short stories penned by Jennifer Brozek.
Beginning today, June 22, 2009, you can now pre-order Colonial
Gothic Revised direct from IPR, and in doing so, you get a free copy of
the Rulebook PDF now. Be the first to discover the horror lurking in
the colonies, and be the first to see all the exciting additions to the game.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
The question remains: whose side are you on?
Details
Price: $24.99 (print)/$9.99 (eBook/PDF)
Page Count: 298 page
Size: 6″x9″ b&w softcover
Click here to order now!
ROGUE FEED
Information Requested
JUN 21, 2009 10:39A.M.
Anyone out there know much about the latest version of the Elric RPG? I
was a big fan of Stormbringer back in the day — a game I still consider
one of the best fantasy games ever written — but I no longer have my
copy and I have a strange hankering to re-acquire it. I suppose I could
just hunt down a used copy on eBay or elsewhere, but, being the
punctilious sort that I am, I prefer to buy only mint or near-mint copies
of old games, which can get very expensive. If the new version of the
game were any good, I’d be happy to pick it up (not to mention the
Hawkmoon companion game, which is even more up my alley), but I’m
reluctant to do so without some good word of mouth about it. I can’t
seem to find any reviews online and I know there were some complaints
about the Mongoose RuneQuest game, which makes me wary.
So any inisghts or comments on the matter would be appreciated.
ROGUE FEED
[Lost Works]Mortak the Silent
Knife
JUN 21, 2009 08:28A.M.
I have always liked hobgoblins. When I was younger and making my first
forays into the world of Dungeon Mastering, I latched on to the race. I
think part of the reason I did was because everyone was using orcs and
goblins and I wanted to use something different. As I grew older and my
campaigns changed, I still used hobgoblins.
In my long running D&D campaign I made my hobgoblins into a race
that was not a tribal warlike society. For them honor and strength was
what determined a hobgoblin’s place in society. Instead of being cannon
fodder with no goals, my hobgoblins were a race that felt it was their
divine right to rule and conquer. Hobgoblins, for me, were not a
brainless barbaric race, but a thinking philosophical one.
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24 June 2009
Mortak the Silent Knife was one of the three NPCs that I submitted for
Atlas’ Uncommon Character. Mortak was not accepted, and I thought I
would use him in Empire’s End which I wrote for Crookedface
Games, but that game never saw the light of day. Sadly, he did not fit
the view of hobgoblins or the feel of the city. Eventually he ended up in
Scrollworks.
Mortak the Silent Knife
Ever since he was a young hobgoblin, Mortak knew he was different. He
hated taking orders, and he felt that he should only listen to himself.
Growing older he came to the realization that very little of the wealth
that the tribe looted actually stayed with the tribe. Most of it went to the
chieftain, and as he got richer, the tribe got poorer.
An agile and sneaky hobgoblin, Mortak was also gifted with a keen
intellect. Tired of the life of poverty, and risking his life for so little, he
hatched a plan to quietly steal from his tribe. At first no one realized
what was going on, since Mortak was careful to take only small items.
With each item he stole, Mortak wanted more, and before long became
addicted to stealing. One day his greed got the better of him and led to a
life change.
Developing the habit of sneaking into the chieftain’s tent, Mortak would
help himself to whatever he wanted. One day Mortak got careless and
was not paying attention, when he was discovered by one of the
lieutenants. Before he could raise the alarm Mortak killed the lieutenant
and fled. Realizing he was now an outlaw, and that no tribe would give
him sanctuary, Mortak enjoyed his outlaw status and the freedom it
brought him. He had broken free of the shackles of tribal tradition and
vowed that he would only answer to himself. This was what led him to
the human city Omatet.
Knowing humans are wealthy, Mortak reasoned that a human city could
make him wealthy as well. It was easy for a hobgoblin of Mortak’s skill to
sneak into Omatet undetected, and hide from the guards. Once inside, he
stayed to the shadows stealing what he needed to survive. His stealing
led him to begin accumulating a great deal of wealth, and the more he
had the happier he became. After living in the city for a year a thief by
the name of Oregor Kalss spotted Mortak. Suspicious and extremely
curious, Oregor shadowed Mortak as he broke into a jewelers shop and
successfully stole a number of large gems. Seeing how adept the
hobgoblin was at thieving, Oregor approached him and took Mortak
under his wing.
The two became partners in crime, and were soon known for being
extremely talented and lucky. No job was impossible for the pair, and
their daring deeds became legend. It was they who robbed Kalvin the
Moneychanger, and it was they who stole the Moon’s Eye (a diamond
rumored to have been as large as Mortak’s head.) Slowly word spread
throughout Omatet’s underworld about the hobgoblin, and at first people
either avoided him or tried to kill him. Every attempt on Mortak’s life
met with disaster, and soon no one dared to cross swords with him. Then
one day, Mortak’s and Oregor’s partnership came to an end.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 24 June 2009

As much an avid gambler as an avid loser, Oregor never seemed able to
hold on to money for very long. The gambling debts began piling up, and
as luck would have it all his marks came due. Not having enough money
to pay the debts and knowing the location of Mortak’s horde, Oregor
took everything and paid his way out of his troubles. The next night
Mortak discovered that his money was gone, and that his partner was
missing, so he searched every alley and bar looking for Oregor.
Finding him in a brothel, and drunk from three days of partying, it
seemed that Oregor took more money then he needed and spent the rest
on booze, drugs and women. Without batting an eye Mortak killed
Oregor where he laid, and this is when Mortak’s troubles began.
Unknown to him, it was a crime among the guild to kill a fellow thief. By
killing Oregor, Mortak became a wanted outlaw of the guild. The
punishment for his crime was death, and once again Mortak went into
hiding.
Mortak the Silent Knife
Male hobgoblin 6th-Level Rogue
CR 6; Medium Humanoid (6 ft. 4 in. tall); HD 6d6+12; hp 42; Init +4
(Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 16 (Dex, Ring), Atks +4 melee (1d6/[19-20/x2],
short sword) or +8 ranged (1d4+2/[x2], darts +2); AL LE; SV Fort +6,
Ref +9, Will +5; Str 11, Dex 19, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 11.
Skills: Bluff +9, Disable device +11, Forgery +11, Hide +8, Listen +5,
Move Silently +16, Open Luck +12, Profession (Trapper) +11, Sense
Motive +9, Spellcraft +3.5, Swim +9, Use Rope +9.
Feats: Dodge, Great Fortitude, Mobility.
Languages: Hobgoblin, Common

Mortak has managed to stay alive by foiling all attempts on his life. The Magic Items: 4 darts +2, ring of protection +2, bag of holding (type 2)
guild is growing increasingly embarrassed by not being able to deal with
a problem member. Mortak is seen as a sign of weakness, and every day Posted in Games, thoughts Tagged: d20, Games, Lost Works, thoughts
he lives, is another day the prestige of the guild fades. Mortak, on the
other hand, considers all of this a bothersome inconvenience. The
hobgoblin has bigger plans—to overthrow the guild and replace it with
his own organization. ROGUE FEED

Mortak is a talented thief and a deadly fighter who relies on the Yet More Drow
reputation of his race. Though he pretends to be stupid he is not. Mortak JUN 21, 2009 07:33A.M.
enjoys being underestimated and lulling opponents into a false sense of
security. A private individual, Mortak does not say much. He is confident
in his abilities, as well as being very greedy. There is nothing that he
would not do for money. Mortak is loyal to no one but himself and the
only way to gain his loyalty is by paying him.

Adventure Hook

The guild is angry that Mortak is still breathing, and are embarrassed by
their numerous failures. Realizing that bigger guns are needed, the guild
sets up a cover operation and contacts the PCs. The PCs are told that
Mortak is a serial killer and a worshiper of dark and depraved gods. They
spin a tale of the hobgoblin killing children and drinking the blood of his
many innocent victims. Promised a very large bounty, the PCs are asked
to find the black-hearted hobgoblin and kill him. Tracking him through
the city the PCs finally encounter him in his lair. Much to their surprise
Mortak is not the depraved killer the PCs were led to believe he was. Do
they kill the hobgoblin or do they listen to his offer?
The irreplaceable Trent Foster has kindly scanned four images from the
Mortak has slowly been building a power base among the criminals of pastel-colored editions of the Giants-Drow modules, which I now post
Omatet. His goal is to destroy the current guild and replace it with his here:This is a nice Sutherland piece that shows the Drow and their pack
own, and the PCs are approached to help Mortak destroy the current lizards, something that doesn’t get illustrated very often for some reason.
guild. If they agree to join, the PCs find themselves fighting a secret war
in the alleys and slums of Omatet. The culmination of which is a final
battle in the headquarters of the current thieves guild. The risks are high,
but the rewards more than outweigh the danger.

OPEN CONTENT

11
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 24 June 2009

Here’s another example of “white Drow” and the likely model for the Jeff
This is a rather well-done DCS piece showing a collection of Drow
Dee (?) illustration that appears in the later printings of the module.
warriors, using both hand crossbows and atlatls. I like it a great deal,
since the blackness of the Drow’s skin is made very clear here and it’s
quite unsettling.

On the subject of the “white Drow,” I wonder if perhaps, early in their

conception, the Drow were, like many subterranean creatures, assumed
to be albino or at least very pale in their skin color. That would make
sense and would be another connection to Elric. I know that when I re-
imagined the Drow in the late 80s for my home campaign, I made them a
race of ghostly, albino elves because I thought it “made more sense.” I
have no support for this theory, but I do wonder if there might not be
some truth to it.

This is a rare Dave Trampier illustration of the Drow, although they

aren’t recognizably dark elves in my opinion. Only the bucklers give
them away.

ROGUE FEED

Another Perspective
JUN 20, 2009 10:26A.M.

Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games has weighed in on the topic of how

well the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons is doing from his
perspective. He offers some very interesting data, which, if accurate,
suggests that things aren’t as gloomy for third party publishers as Clark
Peterson suggested in his recent post on the same subject.

I have no horse in this race myself, since, as I’ve repeatedly said, 4e holds
even less interest for me than 3e. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see
someone step up and attempt to put things into a historical context. I’m
not sure what to make of it all, but it’s good that there’s open discussion
of this topic, as I find it all very fascinating.

12
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
Random Thougts
JUN 20, 2009 10:01A.M.
Last night it hit me — I have not only done a lot of writing, but art
direction, editing and general getting books (print and eBooks) out the
door. Since the first of the year here is the run down:
Books Done
• Piper (everything but the writing and layout)
• Defeated Dead (everything but the writing)
• Elizabethtown (everything but the writing)
• CG Revised (everything but the layout and editing)
• TS: Foundation (everything but the layout and editing
Books in the Works
• New CG Adventure (final edit and then layout — eBook)
• New CG Demo (final writing for GenCon, then up on website
September)
• New CG eBook Sourcebook (writing stage for Halloween)
• New CG eBook Sourcebook (will do art direction, layout, editing
this will be released November)
• Shadow, Sword & Spell (writing, on track for next year release.
Playtesting starts this fall)
• TS Big Ships (will do art direction and editing when manuscript is
in)
• CG Sourcebook (next year release, waiting for writer to finish
manuscript)
• CG Soucebook (next year, this is one of two Graeme Davis is
writing, editing and art direction)
• CG Soucebook (next year, this is the second of two Graeme Davis is
writing, editing and art direction)
• TS Project (early stages)
• Fantasy Project (later this year, editing and art direction)
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24 June 2009
• CG Enemies (my next book, writing stage and last research being
done, release depends, I do not want to crowd next year)
• CG War (research stage)
• CG [title withheld] (research and writing stage, this one I am
keeping close to the vest it is a good one)
• SS&S Books (writing with James three of them in early stages of
development, game needs to be done first)
Damn, that is a long list.
The thing is, the list does not worry me. It makes me glad that the
passion to create, design and write is still with me. It is a lot of work, a lot
of long nights, red eyes, headaches, broken promises, but in the end it is
worth it. Why? I create. I get to see the ideas James and I kick around,
grow and become games that not only we love to play, but others are
loving to play. It is rare to hear now in this age, but I love what I do.
Posted in Life, thoughts Tagged: colonial gothic, game design, Rogue
Games, SS&S, thoughts, thousand suns, writing
ROGUE FEED
Multiple Character Disorder
JUN 20, 2009 08:13A.M.
Reading Moorcock’s writings as a high school student effected me
greatly. One way it affected me was that it continued to prove to my
peers I was “different.” The intellectual elite inhabiting high school were
dumbfounded as to who Moorcock was, and were quick to pass him off
as “just a science fiction writer.” Even the so-called “Sci-Fi Geeks” looked
puzzled when they saw the covers of Breakfast in the Ruins,
Gloriana Or the Unfulfilled Queen, and the numerous Eternal
Champion books. Besides highlighting my “strangeness” to my peer
group, Moorcock’s writings impacted my role playing.
Intrigued with the concepts of the Multiverse and with the idea that
there are reflections of the same person in every reality, I began shaping
my characters around this. I had three character types that I always
played, and though they had different backgrounds they shared a
common theme. These characters often had vague memories of their
other lives. Few knew of what I was doing, but when they found out, they
were surprised.
The three archetypes were siblings and avatars of long forgotten gods
who existed at the start of the universe. During this time the universe
was a single gem floating on the Sea of Time. This gem housed a single
reality that was created and protected by the One. Under the One’s watch
the stagnant blandness flourished. Everything had a pattern to it, and
order was the way things were done. The One had three children and as
they grew older they began speaking out against their father and his rigid
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 24 June 2009

order. The three made their bid to not only take control of the universe playing there was always a subtle undertone that there was something
so that they could interject new life into it. The three underestimated larger at work.
their father and a battle was fought between the One’s army and the
forces led by the siblings. The two sides fought, and their battle caused Posted in Games, thoughts Tagged: game design, Gaming, thoughts
the fracturing the gem to shatter and its shard to float on the Sea of
Time. The fracturing led to the creation of the numerous alternate
realties, and to the reflections of the three children in all realities.

The gem’s destruction had repercussions across the realities, and

unknown to the siblings the gem served as a prison for Chaos and
Entropy. With the breaking of the gem Chaos and Entropy was free to
extract their long contemplated revenge on the One. Seeing that the One
had died, and that the gem’s shards had created infinite realties, the two
wrecked havoc across them. The children with their universe in shards,
and their power spread across all realties, began trying to put the gem
back together and imprison the forces of Chaos and Entropy once again.

With this background I created my three archetypes. The archetypes

were used as templates to base my characters on, but because the
archetypes existed did not mean I always played the same characters.
The beauty of the alternate realities was that I could make any character
and would fit in with any game I was playing in. The archetypes did not
determine the sex of the characters either; they simply gave my
characters a deeper meaning and a role in a much larger struggle.

My first archetype was the eldest child, and he was known as Warrior.
Warrior was the personification of battle and combat and his approach
to the problem was very straightforward—kill all agents of Chaos and
Entropy. When creating characters based on the Warrior their
personalities were straightforward. These characters were very direct
and saw themselves as the only one able to fight the forces of Chaos and
Entropy. Where others were happy being followers and minor players,
Warrior based characters wanted and desired to be, the leader.
Sometimes they would have knowledge of the war, but often times they
would have only a vague recollection.

The second child was Arcane, and she was the favorite of the One. She
was the thinker and historian of the siblings, and when the gem was
intact it, was Arcane who created the sixth element known by many as
magic. Unlike her brother Warrior, who took a direct approach in the
war, Arcane preferred to stay in the background and have others do her
fighting for her. Arcane based characters would often not know about
their other selves, but did have a strong belief in reincarnation.

The last child was the youngest and known simply as the Jester. The
Jester was the trickster of the group and relied on his charms and
personality to have others fight his battle for him. He did not want to be
a hero, but often to his displeasure he was always forced into the role,
and no matter how much he fought against became one.

All three of these archetypes were then used in any campaign I was
involved in. Often the game masters would have no idea of the back-story
and the campaign within a campaign I was playing. In my own
campaigns, I would use the archetypes as major NPCs and the events of
the campaign would be built around them. Regardless of the game I was

14