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Comments please! Our 2012 Iron GM World Championship at Gen Con My favorite part is our new animated logo at the end. We gave away 18 grand in prizes at our six hour event, and gamer/actress Jen Page of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising fame cohosted with us. Paizo's giving prize support at our events... because they ROCK!
Steven talks about how his stories sprang from roleplay gaming, the history of his books, the craft of writing, music, movies, funny anecdotes, fencing, and admits to some crazy stuff. We had a great time, and we hope you do too. Please give 'er a listen.
Jason and I enjoyed an informative chat on the fifth episode of the Iron GM podcast. Find it here: LINK You can also subscribe to us on iTunes. Although our show pushes our Iron GM tournament, a nationally touring show that tests GMing skill and rewards our winners with big prizes, the occasional wad o’ cash, and free trips to Gen Con, we always have a GM luminary grace us with their perspective on game mastery. Past guests: Chris Perkins, Monte Cook, Bruce Cordell, Pete Adkison, and now… the titan of smitin’... the king of +5 bling... the viscount of body count… We just switched over to a new site template so a couple of links are temporarily missing, but you can still access almost everything. Please, check out the latest show and give us your impressions.
I edited Mario's main game, Venture, and this, his expansion. The rules are substantial for a board game, yet easy to grasp. I'd say it takes you about a half-hour of play to become proficient. Despite the ease of play, I've seen strategists far greater than me treat this game like chess. "Man... I'll just play over here with the thirteen year olds."
[trumpeting heralds] Louis Agresta and I will be signing our Pathfinder compatible, for use with the Gaming Paper Adventures Map: Mega Dungeon 1, at the Gaming Paper Booth (Booth # booth #1456) at Gen Con between 2 and 3 PM on Friday, August 5th. Actress Jen Page and Ed Healy will be there too, filming our sweet humiliation if no one shows. For those not able to buy the adventure at the Gaming Paper booth this Gen Con, it will be available at the Paizo store quite soon. The early reviews have all been positive. So there's that. Right then, carry on. [/trumpeting heralds]
Jen Page of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising fame will join us in Indy to co-host our daily Atomic Array coverage from the con. She’ll also accompany Ed Healy and I to the ENnie Awards and she’ll co-host the Iron GM tournament on Saturday with Ed, me, and the inestimable Mr. Louis Agresta. Why am I telling you this? I’m boasting. Can’t a man boast? Jeez. Lay off.
If you'd be so kind as to click and follow the link above and then scroll down to the category, assign a value of , complete all your other votes, and then hit "Submit" at the bottom, we'd be forever grateful. Congrats to Paizo once again for securing so many nominations. So very much deserved! You may recall Atomic Array's recent 3rd Special Edition episode where we featured the line of fiction and spoke with James Sutter, Robin D. Laws, Howard Andrew Jones, and Dave Gross about their novels. Or our episode 50 conversations with James Jacobs and Greg Vaughan about and Pathfinder Module: The Witchwar Legacy. This morning we released our in which we revisit interview snippets from any games we featured that were nominated for an award. We also call famed novelist Jim Butcher to get his impressions of having an RPG based on his Dresden Files series nominated for a batch of ENnie awards. Atomic Array would also like to congratulate our esteemed competition. We'd like to but we just can't. It feels wrong. Ah, but I jest. The competition is stiffer this year than a zombie Olympics gymnastics team. Congratulations one and all! The bar in RPG podcasting is steadily rising to stratospheric heights.
The interviews on the RPG Countdown podcast are short because we talk to game designers and publishers about ten products for each show, but Paizo made it onto our countdown of the top ten RPG products twice this week with the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and Ultimate Magic. The sales figures we track base partially off information provided by participating retailers. Of course, if Paizo provided stats (not gonna happen), they would rule the countdown with an adamantine fist. ;) Also of interest: Dale McCoy, Jr talks about going to and Owen KC Stephens talks about Super Genius’ latest hot selling compatible products.
And another huge standalone PF compatible adventure called Citadel of Pain, from Louis Agresta and YOURS TRULY?!(Coronets blare a stately fanfare) Gaming Paper’s Erik Bauer, along with West, Cook, Greenwood, Schend and Cortijo join Ed Healy and I on to preview this new line of Gaming Paper Adventures, a first foray into publishing from the company that won two silver ENnies in 2010 for “Best Miniatures Product” and “Best Aid or Accessory.” At show’s end, listen in as I punk each of these legends of gaming. Methinks I’ll never work in this town again… which is actually great timing because I couldn’t afford the taxes anyway. Enter our contest to win one of two copies of the Citadel of Pain adventure. I coauthored it and it is simply magnificent. I really can't say enough good things about it. ;)
Example: "Would you like to swing on a star..." I really wanted to, and then I had my chance. An extra dimensional super being known as The Little Prince flew by on his tethered flock of wild birds and scooped me up, taking me into deep space with him. A quizzical child to be sure, but seemingly quite dear. He showed me the loveliest star in all the universe and recalled that sweet line from an old song and I wept, stepped and then leapt for it. However, when my hands touched the star's flickering tendrils they atomized instantly. The Little Prince hunkered down on a comet stopping a moment to get directions and then just laughed and laughed as the comet sped him away. There was no air in space to carry sound to me, but he was jerking around in way that looked like giggling anyway... or some kind of celebratory Hawaiian jitterbugging. The little knob. Operas of pain whistled through my cavern head but a second later I awoke back on Earth amidst the smell of me-bacon. My career as a flautist is over now that my arms end in angry, carbonized stumps, so don’t question why I spit on sleeping stars whenever I get the chance. News of supernovae is the only thing that gets me to smile these days. I know that was a terribly long example, but you should admire me. You have no idea how long that took me to type with my tongue.
WHAT IS IT?
PRIZE SUPPORT
Winning GM earns the title Iron Contender and receives a free trip to Gen Con (airfare, hotel, 4-day badge) to compete in the Iron GM World Championship.
Every player who shows up to roll walks away with books and shirts and a one month subscription to Dungeon-A-Day courtesy of Super Genius Games. That’s $50 in sweet swagaliciousness. You’re welcome. SUPPORT LINKS This was our last regional semi-final at NeonCon in Vegas Want to keep up on where we’ll be appearing next? Join our Facebook group.
So at 11:11 tonight... (11:11 1/1/11 = 11111111 <-binary for "ÿ" which is Urdu for "absurd ritual") --look at your digital clock and, growling, rake your fingers before your field of vision as if your jagged claws were profoundly etching time itself. This will be the only time in history such an action is possible. I'll be doing it and I hope you'll join me. Together we'll open a portal to the eleventeenth dimension!
It's the , and we wanted to do it up right. Our good friend Greg Vaughan joins us to talk about his wintry Pathfinder Module: The Witchwar Legacy. We’ve also invited Mr. James Jacobs back on the show to give us a preview of World Guide - The Inner Sea, which will be coming out in February, but before then you can always grab a copy of the Inner Sea Primer from the Paizo.com store. Our giveaway this time includes a special treat, an Advanced Reader Copy of Pathfinder Tales: Winter Witch, by Elaine Cunningham. Ed’s Pick: The Winter Witch Rone’s Rant: “Every Man, Not An Everyman” The Eldritch Mr. Shiny deftly performs a song he composed around a poem I wrote a couple years back on Paizo.com about our diverse community here. Check it out because it's a lot prettier than my recent sentence construction.
Thanks to Jason Bulmahn and Paizo for their kindness and generosity. Thanks to the NeonCon crew all the Iron GM participants. And thanks to our stunning gamer girl Ashley McRoy and Coax Love productions for making this film. If you let the video play past the seeming end, there are some fun out takes. We're going to do this all over again at TotalCon in MA, then again at synDCon in DC, and we expect another Regional Semifinal or two after that and before our Gen Con World Championship.
Paizo board's own did you all proud. This guy gave his table the game of their lives (one of his players was a games organizer at a big ComicCon in Phoenix). Kassil truly earned all that swag and that and speaking of trips... what a trip it was seeing Jason Bulmahn hang around for the ending of our Iron GM event to personally sign all four of the Paizo hardcovers over to Iron GM Flounder. We'll interview Kassil and some of his players about the game in episode 2 of the Iron GM Podcast. Congrats. Big K! You are a rock star of gaming!
It’s been almost two months since our Iron GM event at Gen Con Indy 2010. We’ve been busy ever since, working diligently to bring you a circuit of Regional Championships hosted by gaming conventions around the US. The prize support at each con will be mythic to the tune of thousands of dollars in swag in for GM and players. Our next stop… NeonCon! Saturday, November 6th at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Come hang out with us, roll some dice, and REGISTER NOW! Any questions? Ask away. How about some copy from our site instead, you ask? No problem! Think you’re the best Game Master in town? Prove it!
Players, Looking for the Hottest Game Around?
How’s it work?
GMs have sixty minutes to craft adventures, placing the secret ingredients at the nucleus of their games, while Players have sixty minutes to build characters. After hours of thrills, Players rate GMs on special scorecards using tournament-tested criteria. Iron GM’s default game system is 3.5 OGL, but you are welcome to substitute an alternate game system if the Players at your table unanimously agree to the change. Just arrive, prepped to the hilt and ready to run 3.5 OGL. You want prizes?
I quite enjoyed the two hour premiere (2 episodes slapped together) of Pillars of the Earth last week and the next installment airs tonight. This is exactly the kind of show I've been wanting to see of late. Gritty, extremely well produced, solid performances all 'round, and 12th century England. Anyone else see it? What did you think? Do you think they'll cancel the show right as we're loving it, or wait until we're full-on addicted?
The podcast released its episode today. It clocks in at 21 minutes, makes the perfect meal on the go, and guarantees to fool your friends and make you the life of the party. Oh fun. Tune in to hear about and about the other ENnie nominated games we’ve spotlighted on our show! Could I find a way to say ENnie again? M’yep.
VENTURE is a visually beautiful game. It has a beautiful gamemaster screen and great art on the cards. The rules are clear and easy to learn. It's the typical dungeon crawling fantasy boardgame, but with a fresh look. The heroes work together to complete the objectives of the quest. The most monsters have 1 hit point, which is very good to me, because it speeds up the game. I really don't like the boardgames, with many hit points monsters. The battles then are too slow. But this is not happening in this game. The dice help in this, because I don't have to make maths. The system uses 6 sided dice with symbols on them, so I just hace to see if the successes are enough to hit the monster. Every round the characters can make some actions. I 've really liked the Stop and Reorganize action. It happens, when there are no monsters on the board and so the heroes can make together all the actions of the game. This action speeds up the game. Another good action is the Rest or Resurrect action. The heros delete all the wounds, when they find a shrine. In this way the heroes cannot die, unless they 've found the Boss monster in the end of the scenario. There are 10 scenarios in the game and many others in the official site of Venture. In most of them there is only battle. I'd like to see more clever quests, with riddles, clever traps or curses and some story in them. What I'd like to see is more different kinds of monsters. Also I want more event cards, with real events, like help the prisoner or meet a ghost that gives the heroes a small quest, and not only battle events. I like this game very much and I want to see it published in a physical box along with all its expansions. Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
0one's just released today. I was the editor on this project. It was a lot of fun to work on (Did a guy identifying himself as an editor just end that sentence with a preposition? No... he ended it with this here parenthetical statement). Check out the game pieces and the artwork. :) Are they not both NEAT and KEEN?
I was reading along with a few PbPs and I was curious to hear any summaries of experience GMs and players would care to share. 1. What PbP are you or were you in?
is very proud to spotlight the PFRPG compatible Conflict Roleplaying game!
We interview game creator Mark Scott about Conflict Roleplaying, a game that works with the PFRPG rules to enable player vs player and team vs team matches between your Pathfinder characters. * One on one (settle that who-ate-the-last-slice-of-pizza grudge!), two on two (now that's a fun double date), and because the game streamlines the combat rules... even teams of four on four aren't a bookkeeping nightmare. * No need to roll up new characters! Just take your PF character and tack on a few new mechanics in order to enjoy this style of play. * The maps are custom crafted for PvP and TvT tactics and they are absolutely incredible. * The many mission types you can choose from bring the fun in a big way and you can even extract your characters from their [b]Pathfinder Adventure Path[b] for a night to let them enjoy some Conflict. This is a great way to let players blow off some steam and to take a breather from all that plot digestion, and it's ideal for when you GM different groups of players and want to put, or if you have some old gamer friends visiting and you want to hand your regular players a nasty (though thoroughly enjoyable) surprise! Paizo and the Conflict site both sell the PDF but you can get hardcopy and the maps HERE. You guys are already talking about Conflict on another Paizo thread which you can find HERE.
"A gamer should enjoy ____ time in the flesh pits of Callendria." I know we're supposed to say his or her when gender is undetermined (although many works create their own internal egalitarianism, switching back and forth between the two, based on certain custom criteria), but why can't we just go back to accepting a singular usage for their and they? We were doing it over a century ago and it's still what sounds right to most people's ears. It would make everything so much easier. Formal English writing is walking on eggshells without it. Who's with me?! ::Charges off naked down the street ala Old School.::
And yes, Paizo staff is eligible. ;) offers a cornucopia of fresh gaming goodness this Thanksgiving. Wolfgang Baur and I spent a half hour chatting it up with world renown fantasy artist/children's book creator/movie producer . He visited our Open Design Podcast to talk about The Spiderwick Chronicles, and to give advice to artists looking for greater exposure and advice to publishers looking to improve their communications with artists. He also explains how playing D&D helped him and his co-writer Holly Black craft a world in such fine detail that they blew the minds of film folk in Hollywood. Hey, does that mean we’re all developing talents that could get a film made? Personally, I do believe so. We have a contest to win a sketch of a quickling from the pen of Ditty Lizard himself - hope he doesn’t mind that new nickname… it pleases me. Listen in to learn how to enter our random drawing contest. invited Wolf and Ed Healy up to WotC HQ to talk about game advice, what it’s like being Mike (his job experience anyway), and hints at a new board game based on a much beloved D&D game setting. He also gives a shout out to the Pathfinder RPG. Gamers loving gamers. So sexy... Regular Features:
In episode 6 we ran a Halloween costume contest. Check out the entrants in our latest show page's slideshow. Guest Bios: is a fantasy artist, childrens’ book creator and motion picture producer. DiTerlizzi co-created The Spiderwick Chronicles, and was an executive producer on the 2008 film adaptation of the series. He won a Caldecott Honor Medal for his adaptation of The Spider and the Fly. In the gaming industry, he best known for his work in Magic: The Gathering and on the Planescape product line for Dungeons & Dragons. For years, was one of the most prolific freelance writers in the gaming industry. His name appears on numerous game products, including a variant Player’s Handbook entitled Iron Heroes. In 2005, he joined Wizards of the Coast as a staff designer. Most recently, he is Lead Developer for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition.
AKA What's the strangest nickname you've ever been given, folks? So a client of mine new to the country has been working on his English and it's coming along nicely. He adopted two cats and they're so timid that they hide from everyone and even he can't get too close to them. I walk into his home and not two minutes later the cats are a foot away, gazing up at me. He says, "No one gets near them! You are a master of p*ssy!" As vainly gratified as I'd be if that was the title of my biography, I explained to him that cat master would draw less stares. I was instantly reminded of Arthur, a sunny little Austrian boy with a speech issue who used to call across the field in first grade, "Hey Yone! Yone! Wanna play baseball, Yone?!" Inwardly I cringed a little because everyone laughed, but I never wanted him to feel bad about it so I always just responded to the name. So you may now call me Yone or Master of P*ssy. "Master of p*ssy I'm petting your fur!
Anything like this ever happen to you guys?
On the 29th episode of the Atomic Array podcast (<--link) Wes and James bring you a detailed preview of the Council of Thieves adventure path, and Jason talks up the Pathfinder RPG. Oh, and we have two copies of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook to give away! Listen in to find out how - and please don't post the contest particulars... we want listens! ;)
An atmospheric, slow horror tale set in 1595, about a commission of Finnish/Swedish and Russian soldiers marching north together to agree upon and set territorial division after their war. Things... go poorly. I think fantasy and horror gamers might appreciate this small film for its rich characters who are perfect at maintaing tone, and for the foreboding mysteries within the story... likely to get gamers filling in the blanks for themselves. This film may not be for everyone but Sauna went in directions I haven't seen pulled off so subtly in many years.
RPG Countdown keeps track of the hottest selling digital RPG products over at one bookshelf (Drive-Thru RPG and RPG Now). Our show aims to be a reliable information source for what’s really selling out there, shedding light on the shadowy (sales) figures in this biz. Regrettably we have only a few sources of information at present, but we’re looking to change that. Paizo, E23 Studios and RPG Objects may all be contributing their numbers soon, which would be great. I'm guessing that Pathfinder PDF sales this year should be staggering. Most of the items we discuss on this top 100 list can be bought at the Paizo store.
Aside from our latest full episode evoted to the and the adventure path, Paizo appears on Atomic Array’s daily ‘casts from the Con. Listen to the Paizo staff sounding quite happy as they serve up heaping helpings of Pathfinder product to an endless line of loquacious and interesting customers stuck on line and forced to talk to us. Oh if only you could see Paizo’s towering monument, casting a long, blotting shadow upon the rest of the convention hall! As Jason Buhlman explained: “It’s made of books.“ We’re covering Paizo daily, so tune in and reduce your stress, because our podcast is as interesting as watching fish in an aquarium! YEAH! Links: <-- These are hyperlinks, if you click them, magical soundlings happen. Our last 'cast is tommorow. More Paizo coverage to come!
He had a heart attack while walking in NYC his morning, while visiting family. He made so many good films.
Paizo gave Ed and I copies for our August 14th episode of Atomic Array, in which we'll look at the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and preview the coming adventure path, Council of Thieves. We'll also be having daily coverage from Gen Con, including coverage of many games using the Pathfinder RPG rules. Aside from being staggeringly brilliant, this book is dimensionally So big and so heavy, in fact, that although I'd like to bring it to the Con to get it signed by the Paizo staff (and contributors), I'm going to have to go ahead and ask ahead of time if this is possible, because that's one less pair of jeans I can fit in my suitcase! So will everyone at Paizo sign my book, wear my pin, and whisper sweet nothings? I need assurances here! I'm so very proud of you guys, and this utterly amazing contribution to the gaming world.
^
That's a hyperlink. You click on it and just WAIT for the magic!
You say you want to know about Clinton Boomer leading the way for Well of course you do, and we’ve got the scoop. Listen to for details!
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