Having recently returned from Origins and heading off next month to Gen Con, I’m reminded of the 3-2-1 gaming convention advice: “Every day, get at least 3 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower.” Now the folks at Geeky Clean are providing some added incentive in the form of RPG-inspired soaps.

Just because you play a 12th lvl barbarian, doesn’t mean you need to smell like one!

Varieties include Barbarian Scrub, Magic Missile and Fireball, Mana, Health, and Druid’s Balance. Many come with an embeded d20.

[Hat Tip]

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After blogging about roleplaying games for about a year, as well as publishing in print Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Jonathan Jacobs is moving on to other projects. Rather than bemoan the change, however, Jonathan has chosen to celebrate his experience with an audio collection reminiscent of the This I Believe series on NPR.

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Well it seems that the acquisition by Rebellion has finally spurred some developments at Cubicle 7. A release schedule has been set for the Dr. Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG, with delivery expected in October. But that’s not all. The company also appears set to become a publication hub and distribution conduit for RPG developers in the indie press market. Partnerships have been announced with Boxninja, Postmortem Studios, and Adamant Entertainment. As a result of these partnerships, we’ll hopefully see better representation in the retail channel for Boxninja’s 3:16 – Carnage Amongst the Stars, Postmortem’s “100″ series of generic supplements, and Adamant’s Mars and Thrilling Tales lines for Savage Worlds.

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GOLD, our favorite internet drama about competitive roleplaying, concludes its first season with Episode 6: And the Gods Will Have Their Way. From the American team captain to the British captain:

This sentence right here is the longest I’ve thought about your training. You could be training with [expletive] St. Cuthbert himself and it wouldn’t stop my guys from crushing you like a glass golem at a stone elemental convention!

And because a series of self-referential satirical videos isn’t enough, we should soon be seeing the release of a GOLD CCG!

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Saturday saw crowds on the show floor and in the gaming rooms. I find the shopping better early and late, so it was extended time in the Board Room for me. Some of the hotest games were Dominion: Intrigue, Finca, and Smallworld. Of course, besides the latest games, there are still some traditions maintained at Origins. Outside the Board Room all day long could be found teams of people negotiating the fate of the Western world in the game of Diplomacy. And late at night, when it’s really time to finally get some sleep, it’s hard to back out of a couple of games of Werewolf.

Another tradition at the con is the Origins Awards, and this year I think the dedicated board gamers will be a lot happier. In the category of Card Games, Dominion actually came out ahead of Monty Python Flux. Pandemic won the Board Games category. Other highlights included Mouseguard winning in the RPG category and Say Anything in Children’s, Family, and Party Games. For the rest of the details, check out the full report at Critical-Hits.

Sunday was slow—just enough time for a few more games of Dominion: Intrigue and a quick check for discounts on the show floor before people had to run off and catch their flights for home.

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In Drowning and Falling, from Bully Pulpit Games, you get to play a character who must fall. Or drown. I believe that these terms can be taken figuratively, so the game does not necessarily end with the death of your character, but then where’s the fun in that?

All profits are donated to ORBIS International, whose mission is to eliminate avoidable blindness and restore sight in the developing world, where 90% of the world’s blind live.

Another fun-looking Bully Pulpit game is Fiasco, wherein you play the protagonist in a scene out of something like Fargo or Blood Simple: grand ambitions, with poor impulse control.

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Day two of Origins opened with a bang on Thursday, with the show starting up in full steam (word to GAMA – I like having the conference open a day longer, but make Wed. more worth our while!). All of the major events started today, including the TerrorWerks event (check out our coverage later for an overview of this Origins staple). With the exhibition hall open, Origins has a ton going on today, including:

• Medieval combat tutorials (using bopper LARP weapons of course)
• The Exhibit Hall itself – home to move vendors than you can shake a stick at, selling everything from new releases to old classics (I tool a pretty serious look at some early 80’s Games Workshop games I’d never heard of before…)
• New game releases, including
• • Dominion: Intrique – the standalone expansion to last year’s hit release (and current Spiel de Jahres nominee
  • Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs. Imperium – the long awaited expansion to to RtfG that brings direct player conflict to the game
  • Formula D: Map Pack 2 – Bringing the streets of Valencia and the famed Hockenheim Ring tracks to the game
  • Steam – Martin Wallace’s sequel to Age of Steam
  • Starblazers the RPG – the massive epic RPG from Mongoose based on the classic British scifi property [edit for my own Japanimation bias!]
  • Tales of the Arabian Nights – Z Man Games’ massive storytelling game
  • Battletech Strategic Operations – the newest extension of the retooled Battletech rules
• The Dice Tower Dinner – Tom Vasel’s annual trip to Max & Erma’s open to boardgamers near and far
• The Board Room Wits & Wagers Tournament – a massive team game of Wits & Wagers held in the Board Room

All of this is of course in addition to open gaming with board games, miniature games, CCGs, CMGs, RPGs and LARPs!

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I personally started off this second day of Origins with my first trip through a TerrorWerks event. For those not familiar with it, TerrorWerks is a special event run by PST Productions, a group that runs scenario-based LARPs across the country, but is probably best known for their yearly event at Origins. This year’s event is set in a small town, where Humanatek (a Unatek company) has had a slight problem with one of their genetic experiments – apparently its turned the test subjects into marauding zombies – armed marauding zombies… Its your task as a group of up to 15 researchers, security guards and convicts (hoping for early release because of good behavior and their willingness to be test subjects) to figure out what has happened and escape the facility.   

Essentially, the event is a LARP using airsoft weapons and a 45 minute time limit. I was part of the first group to go through the new Homecoming event, so realize that there were a few bugs they were still working out. Our group was 13 strong, with 5 of guards, 4 convicts and 4 researchers (I played the role of biochemist). The event starts off fairly slowly as you enter the research facility with little to guide you as to the best route. Fortunately, you’re rapidly beset upon by zombies (who really did have nice costumes) who help to quickly establish roles – convicts are brutes who scavenge, security guards defend and researchers cower…I mean use their skills and wits. The puzzles are interesting without being too difficult for the situation and time involved, but some of them are based on finding items – not easy to do when you’ve got zombies constantly attacking and the lights set to 20%… Its worth noting that only one of the actors has a significant role, the synthetic main computer and the young lady handling our session did an outstanding job. I won’t spoil the ending, but the game’s ending seems overly scripted and time dependent, making for some very awkward moments in the last 10 minutes as the party just isn’t sure what they need to be doing.

Overall, TerrorWerks is an interesting experience. I found myself running for cover, being genuinely scared by the zombie who snuck up behind me and delivered one of my two points of damage during the session and having no problem getting into character and suspending disbelief. Some of the set work could be better and I’m nearly positive that latter sessions of the game will be better than the one I was in as the team will have the opportunity to work out some of the kinks and bugs that always a plague a first event. The entry price of $20 is a bit steep for a 45 minute play time, but its a unique experience that you’re not likely to get anywhere else.

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Goodman Games and Profantasy Software and Pelgrane Press want you to nominate your own favorite FLGS to receive over $1500 in free RPG and electronic gaming products. Other publishers may join in the bandwagon as the nomination process continues.

After the nomination process is over, you will have a chance to hack vote for the best game store in America.

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If Hasbro can do it with Monopoly, why not with D&D?

Head over to RYZ to design sneakers with D&D themes for your chance to win $1000 and some autographed D&D material. And, of course, to have literally ones of people around the world wear them on their feet.

Competition starts on June 30.

(source)

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