Oscar has also graciously agreed to let us host a give-away of one of his previous campaign books, The Legacy of Arrius Lurco, that he will even sign!  To enter just leave us a comment below with your favorite character death story before midnight on May 25th and we will roll for and contact the winner by June 1st.

If you like our podcasts and would like to help us keep it going you can always donate to use using the donate button on our main page or buy a shirt from our shop to help fund further podcasts.  If you donate $10 or more make sure to include your address and we’ll send you an official Goblin Beat Wild Die as well as dedicate an episode to you!

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We apologize for some of the sound in these episodes.  We had microphone trouble that wasn’t caught until editing and did the best we could to level out the sound.  If you like our podcasts and would like to help us get improved equipment you can always donate to use using the donate button on our main page or buy a shirt from our shop to help fund further podcasts.  If you donate $10 or more make sure to include your address and we’ll send you an official Goblin Beat Wild Die!

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We here at the Goblin Beat are excited about this new Companion and not just because it is being created by another Goblin-Owned company, although our editor did say that is all that really matters.  The Companion is filled with four articles detailing interesting articles to help spice up your games and three scenarios to play within those games as well as pre-made investigators that can be used with any of the scenarios.

As with any good KickStarter there are also plenty of stretch goals to be reached.  The first goal, to increase the interior art, has already been reached and future goals include more filler for your Cthulhu PIE (did you see what I did there?) in the form of yet more articles and scenarios like Dweller in Darkness which will give information about the little known Great Old One Bugg-Shash.

As with any CoC supplement it is possible to bring the information, especially the articles, into any other Cthulhu themed game.  Games such as Realms of Cthulhu for Savage Worlds have rules for doing the conversions and others like Cthulhu Dark are simple enough that you could do the conversions for yourself.

Check out this KickStarter and see for yourself if the stars are right to get in on what promises to be a very interesting addition to the Cthulhu roleplaying mythos.

Source: KickStarter

Awakening in an office building the investigators have no short-term memory.  Sirens blare in the distance and all of the PCs are suffering from fatigue and a general malaise.  Getting their bearings by looking out windows and reading papers on desks allows the investigators to realize they are on the fifth floor of a building at the site of a Nuclear Power Plant in Thibodaux, LA.

Entering the lobby and/or the largest office on the floor they find a man in a suit sitting with his head in his hands.  He is unresponsive until touched, and then he attacks whomever touched him.  Almost all of the workers at the plant have turned into zombie servants of Glaaki.  A cult of Glaaki have helped their master take over the compound.  They plan to overheat the plant and cause an explosion which they hope will sink all of southern Louisiana under the Gulf, thereby giving their master a new domain to rule over.

At certain points in the adventure when the investigators need prior knowledge or equipment they go into a flashback.  During the short flashback they have a decision to make and based on the decision they may either remember something important for their survival or have a piece of equipment necessary for stopping the cult.

The investigators must now decide how to stop the cult, a task that could be further complicated by the fact that someone in their group could actually be a member of the cult of Glaaki!

As always please let me know what you think about this hook and how it works out if you use it.  I’m planning to use this one myself the next time we play Cthulhu PIE so I’ll be sure to link to that podcast when it comes out.

We apologize for some of the sound in these episodes.  We had microphone trouble that wasn’t caught until editing and did the best we could to level out the sound.  If you like our podcasts and would like to help us get improved equipment you can always donate to use using the donate button on our main page or buy a shirt from our shop to help fund further podcasts.  If you donate $10 or more make sure to include your address and we’ll send you an official Goblin Beat Wild Die!

Thanks to everyone who listens and don’t forget to tell your friends about us and give us reviews on iTunes!

Please consider subscribing to our podcast on iTunes and tell your friends about us as well.

Whatever the truth, Torm Tura was not only a powerful warrior, he was also smart and conniving. While he ruled the orcs of what are now known as the Tormeric Planes no other race dared step foot in the region, including the gnolls who had long been their hated rivals. Upon Torm Tura’s death, after a reign of more than forty years, a length of time unmatched in orc history, the ruby vanished along with the body of the great ruler.

Now, hundreds of years later, rumors say the tomb of Torm Tura  has been found. Fearing the return of a powerful orc ruler the humans, elves, dwarves and others that live in or near the Tormeric Planes are looking about for a group of heroes to delve into the ancient tomb and secure the ruby before the orcs can do so. The gnolls also fear a return of the days of Torm Tura and are seeking the tomb for themselves, and of course the Black Hand orcs are doing all they can to find their way into the tomb in hopes of bringing back the glory days of their tribe.

If the heroes accept the commision to find the Ruby of Torm Tura they will not only be delving into an ancient and deadly tomb, filled with deterrents and death traps, they will also be racing orcs, gnolls and who knows what else to the resting place of Torm Tura himself. And who’s to say that the ancient orc is truly dead after all?

As always let me know what you think about this Adventure Hook and how it works out if you use it!

What do you think about these dice?  Are you planning to get some?  What other sets would you like to see?

Remember to give us a rating and subscribe to us on iTunes!  We’re trying to get on the list of top 200 podcasts in the ‘Other Games’ Category.  Tell your friends about us too and they can help out.  As always please send us your questions and comments and we may read them on a future podcast.

The easiest argument to make is that there is no point in getting attached to any character that is one pin prick from death every moment of every day (though if you play with our DM that is the situation for even a level twenty-five character). The squishiness of all low level characters means that you probably are not going to be fighting anything that you would run back to the farm house and tell your dear old mom and pop about but instead you will be taking care of the sewer rat infestation for someone else because they have better things to do. Seriously though while it is true that a bite from a sewer rat might kill me eventually if I decided it was not worth paying the insurance deductible to go see a doctor to not die; for a level one character that same bite could be instant death. Not from the plague the bite could give you but from the three points of damage the bite itself inflicted!

Another thing that I hate about lowbies is that they are cookie cutter copies of each other with different starting gear. If for example you are playing a wizard and your buddy is playing a warrior you will both hit that poor sewer rat with a stick about the same percentage of the time and do something similar in damage. A priest and a warrior are basically the same when it comes to “tanking” as both will take the same hit from the boss rat and take about the same amount of damage the priest will just die one hit sooner than his warrior friend because he will still refuse to cast his healing spell even when it is his life on the line. As you level of course this goes away as warriors build melee skill at a faster rate than his wizard buddy who is going to eventually become a demi-god when he gets a spell worth casting but the balance between classes is a talk for another day.

So what is it that eventually makes a character worth playing? What other than the obvious increases in power makes a character fun? At what point does the annoyance start to fade and an attachment start to grow? For me the line is around level ten to twelve. By midlevel the character has developed enough that in some way there is something special about it. Two people both playing a wizard could be completely different by level twenty but probably not by level ten. As characters level they become more specialized to fill the role that the player has in mind for them and it is this specialization that I would argue makes any character worth playing in the end.

Some people get all giddy about the idea of making some fresh characters and starting off on a new adventure with their friends. At this point in my RPG career all I can see is a group of people determined to try (and probably fail) to not to die together.

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Haunted Hollow is a quaint village where most everyone in town is in some way involved in logging.  Some folks fell the trees, others clear away stumps and yet others plant new seedlings each year so that the whole process can begin anew.  For years the small hamlet has gotten along in this way with little or no trouble but lately kobolds that live in the nearby mountain have begun attacking the townsfolk while they are within the woods.

As a result the town council has put out a call for adventurers to help fend off the kobolds and put a stop to their attacks.  When the player’s characters arrive they are thus greeted warmly by the populace and treated to half price rooms at the only inn in town.

The next morning however the chest containing all of the gold the town had raised to pay whomever freed them from their kobold problem goes missing.  What’s worse, it is found in the room of one of the players!  The townsfolk accuse the characters of being thieves and tricksters and oust them from town.

The whole problem in Haunted Hollow comes down to the haunting.  Throughout the history of the small town there have always been rumors that the town and surrounding forest are haunted.  Strange things will sometimes occur with no other explanation than ghosts or spirits.  Once at the start of the harvesting season all of the horses in town were suddenly gone and so there was no way to pull the carts carrying wood from the forest to the mills.  The horses were eventually found the next morning dispersed throughout the upper floors of every building in town and many days work were lost getting them all back down to ground level.

The simple answer to all of these strange things, and to the gold showing up in the room of one of the players is pixies.  The pixies have lived in the forest since long before the coming of humans and don’t care one bit for the chopping down of trees.  They have mostly left the humans alone though because they haven’t ventured too close to the pixies’ home.  This season though the wood cutters are coming ever closer to the home of the pixies and as a result they have used their tricks to lure kobolds down from the mountain to attack the humans by making the kobolds think the humans are stealing from them and preparing to wipe them out.  As a result the kobolds have decided to act first.

Starting with their entry into town on the first day, have the players notice laughing sounds from time to time coming from nearby.  Once they are tossed out of town they might even manage to spot a pixie rolling about in some flowers laughing at how well he did at getting the adventurers kicked out.  Once the player’s begin to realize what is going on in Haunted Hollow they have many choices to make.  They could decide to go kill the kobolds and salvage their reputations only to find out the kobolds think that they are protecting themselves.  They could try to leave and get caught in the middle of a fight between the woodsmen and the kobolds.  They could even try to track down the pixies and find out the truth of what is happening, at which point they would need to try brokering a peace between the humans and pixies while dealing with the kobolds either by fighting them, bargaining with them, or tricking them into returning to their mountain.

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

What is great about a KickStarter like this where the main goal is to continue a project or a show is that there is already a wealth of existing material to look over.  If you haven’t heard of or seen this show yet I would encourage you to go give it a try now.  The characters are funny, quirky and above all relatable.  And who doesn’t love a female elven barbarian or a half-halfling bard?

The Standard Action brand is also expanding beyond its web series roots to create a card game and a comic book series, both of which can be obtained by backing the KickStarter.  If you are interested you can even back at a level where you can have a character in the card game or comic as well as getting a copy!  There are also fun rewards such as getting a personalized sound clip from one of the cast to use for your ring tone or what-have-you or even a short video clip to wow your friends.  If you are a fan of the show there are also add-ons that let you get DVD copies of season 1 and season 2.  Each DVD is a $20 add-on or you can opt for the $25 special edition which includes commentaries, outtakes and behind the scenes videos.

It’s fun to see a well thought out KickStarter take shape and it looks like many hours went into this one before it was released to the public.  So go check out the KickStarter, watch the first 2 seasons of the show, and decide for yourself if this is something that deserves a third season.  I think you’ll agree that it does and hopefully you’ll decide to help make it happen.

Other than a completely customizable watch face it also shows the caller ID of whoever is calling you so you can see without fumbling for your phone.  Then you can even dismiss the call to voice mail by pressing a button on the watch.  Handy!  Similarly you can see incoming text messages right on your watch.  It even has a vibrating motor to alert you when you get a notification like that.  It also has a 3 axis accelerometer so you can have apps that react to how its positioned like making the backlight turn on when you just bring your arm up to look at it.

Oh it’s also waterproof so you can swim in your pool or even shower with it.  Imagine being able to change tracks on your phone that’s playing music on the sink while you shower!

As far as RPG games are concerned I can already think of a few custom apps to put on there:  a dice roller that lets you pick how many of how many sided dice you

want then shake to roll.  How about a custom life counter you press the up or down side buttons to increment and decrement as well as shake to reset?  I would also imagine a custom app that lets you pick from various background music or sound effects on your phone like a soundboard a DM could use while their phone was plugged into the stereo for super RPG immersion.

Comment below if you have any ideas for a custom app for this smart watch or if you plan to get one.  I know I plan to get one really soon!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Moolu had actually been discovered by a wizard’s apprentice who was gathering herbs for his master when he nearly stepped on the goblin babe. Being that it was the new moon, the woods were dark and Moolu was swaddled in a hide the goblin’s had stolen from a nearby human village. Naturally, the apprentice mistook the gurgles and coos for those of a human baby, and didn’t discover the truth until he had rushed into his master’s chambers shouting, “I found a baby in the woods!.” The master took one look at Moolu’s disgustingly twisted visage adorable, green face and bade Farlane dispose of the babe at once. Needless to say, Farlane could not bring himself to do it and raised Moolu secretly in the wilderness, with the help of an elderly monk friend who lived alone in the forest. Farlane and the Monk taught Moolu to read and his interests were steered towards survival and wilderness skills. He learned the skills of the ranger and had plenty of practice moving silently as he avoided human and goblin patrols alike. Recently, Moolu was captured by a party of goblins “recruiting” for the war effort against the hordes of Toxisa, a green dragon. Normally very careful in the forest, Moolu’s curiosity about his origins finally got the better of him as he approached the goblin war party in an effort to establish a connection with his own kind.

Moolu’s strengths include stealth and wilderness knowledge. He has a basic understanding of magic as was related by the apprentice who found him, but cannot cast magic himself. He also is extremely adept at dual wielding his trusty rapier and short sword, gifts from his teacher, the mysterious elderly monk who shared his humble home with Moolu for 16 years until the day he was captured.

They only asked for $5,000 to get their project funded to pay for printing and manufacturing but with almost a month left they already had a ton of people pledging to back this project and made it up to $23,106!  I already backed it at the $10 level to get a set of six.  Take a look at the different levels you can back it and get your rocket dice today!  They only have 26 days to go before they become available to order separately and normally at a higher price.

Comment below and let us know if you plan to or already backed this great project to get some rocket dice of your own.

Edmund Ralfone is a respected police detective.  He is also the leader of the Cult of Hollow Earth, a group whose goals include gaining power and immortality for it’s members by way of transformation into Ghouls.  As the cult leader, Edmund is entrusted with many artifacts the cult has collected over the years including the Disk of Oberu, a black disk measuring five inches in diameter and almost an inch thick in the center, tapering down to less than a quarter of an inch along the rounded edge of the disk.  The disk also has carvings and symbols etched into its surface which are almost impossible to see as the Disk of Oberu reflects little if any light.

The disk came to the Cult of Hollow Earth with a story that it was used by an ancient arcanist to control a creature of night so dark as to be nearly invisible as it flew along the night sky.  The arcanist had, so the story goes, used this creature to dispose of his enemies by having it catch them in its grip while they slept, carrying them to incredible heights and dropping them to their death.

Edmund hadn’t thought much of the artifact until his own enemies, both within the Cult and without, became such an issue that he had to find a way to deal with them or risk being eliminated and replaced.  Edmund spent several days studying the disk and found that by setting it on the correct side and spinning it counter-clockwise while saying an incantation it could be activated.

Ecstatic, Edmund cleared his evening schedule and performed the acts to summon the Nightgaunt but to no avail.  The disk began to glow a faint sickly green but no Nightgaunt came forth.  After trying several more times, Edmund eventually went to bed disgusted.

Unfortunately for Edmund he missed two important facts in his research.  First, the Nightgaunt only appears when the summoner falls asleep, creating a conduit to the Dreamlands which brings the creature to our world and sends the summoner to the Dreamlands.  Second and more importantly, the disk must be hidden from the Nightgaunt.  If the Nightgaunt can find the disk then it is no longer bound by the summoner’s will.  Even worse, it can use the disk to force the summoner to do its own bidding while he walks in the Dreamlands.

As a result, the summoned Nightgaunt appeared as Edmund fell asleep and quickly grabbed the disk.  It immediately left Edmund’s home and flew around the city, killing two victims that night while it forced Edmund to work for it within the Dreamlands.

Now, two days later, a desperate Edmund Ralfone is looking for someone to help him “solve” the strange murders plaguing his city.  Four victims in three nights have been killed by apparently being dropped from great heights or by being eviscerated by some strange wild animal.  Edmund managed to get himself assigned to the case but doesn’t have much time.  He needs to retrieve the Disk of Oberu and take control of the Nightgaunt before his enemies within the Cult of Hollow Earth begin to put together the pieces.  He also needs to solve or at least stop the murders before his inability to do so results in having another detective assigned to the case.

Edmund approaches the Investigators (Players) with an offer of a job and a reward if they can help solve his case.  He is able to give them access to crime scenes and autopsy reports.  He is willing to pay a pretty hefty price if the Investigators are able to retrieve the disk.

The ensuing adventure could go in many different directions after the Investigators are brought in to help.  If they are able to quickly retrieve the disk they may be having a drink the next night to celebrate when they hear on the local news that another murder has occurred.  At that point they will probably realize that Edmund was more than he claimed and lead to their uncovering the Cult of Hollow Earth.  If they are slow to find the disk and stop the Nightgaunt things could get even more complicated.  Another detective could be put on the case and may or may not approve of the Investigators’ involvement.  Edmund’s enemies within the cult could realize what is going on and start looking for the disk themselves, even going so far as to tail the Investigators and possibly attack them once the disk is found.

There are many other possibilities that could occur as well.  Even if things go well and they manage to stop Edmund and the Nightgaunt, the Investigators are then left holding the Disk of Oberu.  It could be very tempting to use such a powerful artifact at some point in the future which could have any number of strange side-effects.  The disk could also contain other properties besides the ability to summon the Nightgaunt.  And of course if anyone else knows about the artifact, it is a safe bet that someone will eventually come looking to take it for themselves.

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Produced in Europe, the game isn’t exactly cheap to get a copy of the game if you live in the US, coming in at around $100 for the basic game, but if you are a fan of these types of games it could be well worth it to get a fun tabletop game from a proven company.  As added incentive, href=”http://goblinbeat.com/2013/03/achtung-cthulhu-kickstarter-gets-ice-cold/”>Modiphius Entertainment who are still running their own KickStarter have partnered with Devil Pig Games with a stretch goal.  If this KickStarter reaches £47,500 they will add an Achtung! Cthulhu themed set of tiles and punch boards as a KickStarter only exclusive!

One of the arguments for daylight savings time is that it’s supposed to help conserve energy, but I have to wonder who uses less energy an hour earlier in the day? In my case, the shower has to run longer while I stand there trying to knock the cobwebs away. That’s extra water lost in addition to the energy burned to heat it and pump it up to the bathroom.  And during this time the artificial lights burn while that precious sunlight we are killing ourselves for is blocked out by closed windows and drawn shades. I would love to hear one good case for how this annoying practice helps even one person anywhere in these United States of America.

When I was a child, I used to like the “Fall back” portion of daylight savings time. I felt like I was getting to sleep in every day until my body readjusted and I felt rested because of that extra hour of sleep. As an adult, I look back on this and pity myself for not realizing I was gaining nothing.  Rather, I simply got to set my clock back to the time it was supposed to be if we did not have daylight savings time to start with. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot so you can feel good when you can walk on it again, but all the while you did it to yourself.

There are other countries out there that have implemented daylight savings time and since quit the practice. I think it is high time America took a good look at why it still observes DST. What claims can be made in its favor and are supported by actual data? Why should our regular measurement of time which serves only to mark a full rotation of the earth on its axis along with a full revolution of the earth around the sun ever change? Especially just so we can change how we experience the rising and setting of the sun? Sunrise and sunset change every day any way.  If it mattered that much, we should change our clocks every day too so we can have every precious second of daylight that we pretend we need.

I would say F daylight savings time… but clearly, it has already F’ed me.

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Stark had a truly deranged childhood as he was born in the midst of a zombie outbreak that took over an entire island continent that was evacuated and quarantined.  Certain factions have succeeded in controlling the advance of these zombies to other regions of the world, but there has been no success in ending zombie domination of the island.  He had the distinct privilege to be born into a tiny community of humans that were not allowed to evacuate, but somehow survived years of zombie onslaught.  Stark never got the chance to know his father who died getting Stark’s mom to safety as she was in labor with him.  So, it was with the help of a protective older brother and an emotionally broken mother, that Dawson learned to survive under the most hellacious circumstances.  Their small band didn’t dare attempt to leave the island since any vessels seen leaving the island after evacuation were destroyed on sight for fear of spreading the infection.  When he was 15, his group decided to attempt escape in the hopes that the island was no longer being watched.  However, once the tide had taken his party out into the sea, an explosion rocked the makeshift vessel.  Stark saw his mother’s flesh peel from her bones as the heat from the blast struck her.  He jumped overboard and after struggling to stay afloat on a piece of wreckage for three storm-racked days was picked up by a wary but kindhearted fishing boat captain 200 miles away.  Now that he is off the island he wants to find out who is responsible for the zombie infection as well as his mother’s death.  He wonders if his brother survived but seriously doubts it.  Anger and thoughts of vengeance fill his ever-waking moment.

Since he’s always had to get by without access to manufactured goods, Stark can be extremely resourceful, from making his own ammunition and repairing weaponry to hunting/snaring game and foraging.  He also is adept at melee combat against multiple opponents, not taking normal minuses for being flanked, and he has an amazing knack for obtaining advantageous positioning across a variety of terrain. Mr. Dawson can be extremely cold and deadly, rarely hesitating to dispose of a threat; however this makes it difficult for him to connect with others outside of a combat situation.  He has been a loner for many months and trusting others is very difficult for him.

Several ideas for gaming jumped right inside my head the first moment I saw them sitting on someone’s head.  One neat idea for D&D would be a better way to send secret messages between the players or even from the DM to the players or player to DM.  Imagine sitting around the table and a message pops up in your field of view.  This way you can read the message without anyone else even knowing you got a message in the first place.  The old way of writing a note on paper, or whispering in their ear gives away to the other players a message of some kind has been shared.  With Google Glass you could make the whole thing a big surprise!  Of course you’ll still need to get out your phone and TYPE the message but no one will know who it went to.  Another great idea would be for a DM to have things like initiative order, current player’s stats or HP etc. and other information in the field of view all while never taking their eyes off of the map or board.  Maybe even put the story or dialog for the current part of the campaign in the DM’s eye so they can read it while looking at the players instead of looking down at a book or paper to read.  This would make the storytelling part of the game more focused and intense and help get the players into the game.  There are a lot of different aspects of the game that could be shown to the players in their Glass while playing such as current HP, who’s turn it is, and maybe even some sound effects in everyone’s ear when something happens that could be controlled by the DM’s smartphone/tablet.  I could easily come up with hundreds of ideas if you’d give me just a few hours but I’ll leave SOME of the work to WOTC!

Comment below with any idea you might have for using a heads up display in D&D.

Setting

This is ostensibly a fantasy Hook but could easily be tweaked for a modern or even sci-fi setting.

Hook

The heroes respond to the call of a Lord whose lands are being terrorized by a werewolf.  After some investigation it turns out that the werewolf is actually the Lord’s young son.  Once the players realize this their heroes have some tough choices to make.  Do they tell the lord about their suspicions?  Will he believe them if they do?  If they kill the werewolf, all that will be left behind is the body of the young squire, so unless there are witnesses the Lord may jump to the conclusion that the adventurers murdered his son.  Even if there are witnesses the Lord isn’t likely to hail them as heroes and pay them handsomely as he had previously promised.  The most they could hope for is to be paid and asked to never return.

If the Lord can be convinced of the truth perhaps his son can be locked away while he is under the moon’s sway.

Better yet perhaps there is a way to cure the young boy’s affliction.  The adventurers may be able to trace back to the first appearance of the wolf and find out there was a strange group of travelers in the village near that time.  If these travelers can be found, and the original werewolf slain, the boy’s curse may be broken.

Alternatively this could be a family curse which requires the Lord to make some sacrifice or find water from a magical spring to free his son and allow him to return to normal.

That’s it for this week.  Let me know what you think of this Hook, especially if you use it.  If you have ideas for an Adventure Hook you’d like to see on the site or a particular setting you’d like to see a Hook for let me know as well.

With this “Modiphius plans to create a stunning full colour 248 page hardback if the goals are met. Assault on the Mountains of Madness builds on the legacy of HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and promises to reveal more of the continent (than the hapless investigators are likely to want), along with a treasure trove of cool accessories to bring the world to life.” If you have ever read Lovecraft’s book then you are most likely already excited beyond words. If you haven’t read it you should give it a shot. It’s a short book and one of Lovecraft’s very best works.

The art for this book also looks great (as seen below) and up to the usual production standards of Modiphius as seen in their Zero Point campaign. Head over to the KickStarter page for more information on this adventure and the general setting.

“It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth’s dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be left alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.” ― H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness.

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

The game pits you against an opponent on a hex grid map.  You square off against one another using 1 of 4 races (Fishmen, Robots, Veggiemen, Adorables).  Every race has the same 5 basic troop types and one special class that vary by race.  The players take turns producing new troops, moving their troops, and attacking their enemy.  Each soldier creation, movement, or attack costs you Wits.  You start each round with a set amount of Wits plus extra ones for each Witt square you control.  The 5 troop types vary in how far they can travel each turn, how much damage they can withstand, and how much damage they do with an attack. The various troops also have different attack ranges associated with their attacks.  For example a Scout can move up to 5 tiles per round and do 1 damage, but only has an attack range of 1 and total life of 1, meanwhile a sniper moves 1 tile per round has 1 life, but can do 3 damage up to 3 tiles away.  The object of the game is to either destroy your enemy’s base that has 5 total life, or destroy all of their troops and occupy their spawn points.  If a round ends and they have 0 troops and you are occupying their spawn spaces the game is over.  There are plenty of other nuances to the game about earning extra widgets during a turn by destroying enemies, etc. and using the special classes of each race, but the game is pretty straightforward other than that.

When you first get started with the free version you only have access to one race and the ability to have 5 matches at a time.  There are different options for purchasing the additional races, and the ability to have more games going at once (Up to 20).  The bundle is the best way to go b/c you get access to all races, and you can have up to 20 games going at once.  You may be asking yourself, why would I continue to play this game every day…  Well if you are anything like me then you like to win, dominate your opponents, and essentially be the best.  Outwitters will rank you after your first five matches into different Classes/Leagues, and with each win and loss you earn more points towards your rank and you can see yourself moving up the leaderboards within the different ranks, plus its funny totally destroying a guy’s entire army when he had no idea he was going to lose on his next turn.  The creators of the game also hold month long tournaments for its purchasers of the game, as well as put out updates for the game regularly with new maps, and recently the 4^th race.  All of these were free to anyone had purchased the full version of the game.  They are actively keeping the game updated and improving upon it, so you can expect to get your moneies worth once you have the full version of the game.  I travel a lot so I use this game to pass the time in airports and the hotel when I am on the road, and it never lets me down.  Unless I don’t count my Wits correctly and fail to destroy a soldier on my turn just to watch him get healed and massacre my guys the next.  You will definitely come back for more once you try this out, and the best part is that it is free to try out.  You will not be disappointed, because the opponents will always play differently so your strategies need to change for every different battle you are in on every map.  Some players are more aggressive, more defensive minded, or even very methodical in their troop creation and will slow play you into a trap.  Bottom line is it doesn’t get redundant or repetitive!

The Good: Easy to learn, Great Gameplay.  Challenging opponents that you are matched against based on both your ranks, so you won’t get matched against someone who has played for a year.  Different races allow for different playing styles.  Different maps call for different strategies.  You can have multiple games going, so you don’t have to wait on everyone to take their turns constantly.  Time needed to play a few rounds is minimal.  No match is ever the same.  Developers are continuing to support and update the app.  High replay value.

The Bad: 2vs2 matches take way too long to play. The Adorables race and maps are too cheesy/pink.  You need an internet connection to send your turns, so if you don’t have Wi-Fi for the ipad or a cellular service on your device for any reason…aka no offline play.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

The Good

Fans of Salvatore’s patented fight scenes will find quite a few although fewer perhaps than in any other Drizzt book I have read.  Plenty of beloved characters from the Drizzt pantheon get involved in the story at some point as well as well as a little of the Drow intrigue one expects to find in these books.  There is also some halfway decent character development for the previously mentioned Ambergris and Afafrenfere.  When the book ends I found myself genuinely curious about what these two might get into next and what types of adventures are awaiting them.

The Bad

The relationships.  The interpersonal relationships within the book, including the strange love triangle between Drizzt, Dahlia and Entreri introduced in the last book continues to get more bizarre and unbelievable within the Last Threshold.  Many of the scenes would have felt more at home in a teen vampire show than within a Drizzt novel.  What makes it worse is that there is a point within the book where Dahlia starts to become three-dimensional and comes very close to being an interesting character, only to toss it all aside towards the end of the book and go right back to being the crazy black widow she is introduced as in the very first book of this series.

The Ugly

The Story itself.  There really is nothing driving the story forward throughout the book and as a result it begins to read more like a travel log than a novel.  Interesting things do happen but they seem disjointed with no real purpose, no true antagonist and no quest or adventure to speak of through the whole book.  It almost seems as though the emotional and moral fog that Drizzt has experienced throughout the whole series culminates in this book and causes the story to slow and falter.  The story moves along in fits and jerks until it finally fizzles out.

Conclusion

Obviously any die-hard Drizzt fan is going to read this book, but I feel that with very few exceptions they will be disappointed.  This is the first time I’ve ever been glad to finish on of these books just to be done with it and not because I was interested to see what happened next and how the story ended.  If you have been following the Neverwinter Saga from the beginning then you might as well pick this book up, although it might be worth it to wait and see if there will be any more books after this one.  If not I would consider simply skipping this one and coming up with your own ending.  If another book does come out though and you want to continue the adventure then you will have little choice but to power through this book first.

Rating: ★½☆☆☆ 

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Matt also requests that you include your favorite color in your entry…not sure why but he probably has a reason.

The contest is open to all legally aged residents of their respective countries.  The winner will be chosen at random from all entries present as of midnight Eastern Standard Time February 27, 2013 and notified within two weeks.  Duplicate entries will be removed.  Some restrictions may apply.

Thanks to Chris and Modiphius Entertainment for sponsoring this Give-Away and be sure to check out their KickStarter for even more Nazis and Old Ones!

 Update – A winner has been chosen!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Of course this is all complicated by the need to trade treasure cards with other players to have someone with enough of a single treasure type  to claim it and by the dreaded rising of the waters.  During each players turn they may take three actions (move, trade, shore up an adjacent section of the island, claim a treasure), draw 2 treasure cards and finally draw Flood cards.  Each Flood card matches one of the island tiles and causes a dry tile to flip over to its flooded side or a flooded tile to sink into the abyss and no longer be reachable.

To make matters worse the treasure pile also contains ‘Waters Rise!’ cards.  These cards cause the water level to rise and more sections of the island to sink each turn, up to a maximum of 5 before the entire island sinks in one fell swoop.

Review

The attractive tin the game comes in claims that this game takes thirty minutes to play, which is about right but the game play is so fast and intense it feels like much less.  Having played this game with multiple groups of players from age 8 and up I have found that it is always fun and exciting.  The pieces are all incredibly well made and the attention to detail on the island tiles is amazing.  I can’t help but imagine a movie version of this game every time I play through it with the main characters using their various strengths to help each other make it through the island only to jump aboard a helicopter at the last second while the last pieces of the island sink around them.

I would recommend this game to pretty much anyone from a hard-core gamer to a casual enthusiast.  The replay value is very high and the cooperative play style does a great job keeping younger kids from getting angry with one another as they do in many other games.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

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Once fully backed the basic release will be the two guides mentioned above as PDFs as well as available soft cover copies of each book.  One of the later stretch goals will make these hard cover books and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a later goal turn the black and white books into full color, depending upon how well the project ends up being backed.  The only other stretch goal currently visible is an Eastern Front Guide but other things that have so far been hinted at include other front guides as well as adventures.  There is also plenty of room for some interesting add-ons.  I would like to see some custom wild dice and possibly even a deck of cards.  If the cover art is any indication these could be some very beautiful books. The Noir feel of the Investigator Guide is particularly well done.  There is still a lot of time left (48 days as of this post) but don’t wait too long or you’ll miss out.

Oh, and here is the link to the podcast where we talked about our D&D Next thoughts way back when. Those were the days!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

Thanks for letting us know what you’d like to hear and we’ll be sure to try and accommodate any requests.  Thanks!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

No matter what your backer level though you immediately get access to the current pdf version of the new Fate Core book and all backer levels $10 and up also get a PDF version of every expansion funded by the KickStarter!  This KickStarter has already blown the minimum funding level way out of the water.  They currently sit at over $330,000 of the $3,000 the project had set as the minimum goal.  This is beyond great for any RPG fan looking to check out the system because almost all of the stretch goals already met benefits you immediately.

Look for the Goblin Beat to run a couple of 1-shots on our actual play podcast very soon with the new Fate Core System.  We can’t wait to try it out and see what we think.

Oh and I almost forgot, the $400,000 stretch goal?  An all new Dresden Files Accelerated book!  We are all big fans of the Dresden files here (the Goblins make us watch re-runs of the show on a bi-weekly basis) so there is no doubt we’ll be playing that if/when it gets funded.

One last bonus piece of information for all of you Atomic Robo fans out there (Matt!).  Evil Hat is working on an upcoming RPG game based on Atomic Robo as well!

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else. Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

The original version of the Interface Zero setting was an award nominated hit and 2.0 promises a sleeker  more streamlined version of the same system.  As if that by itself wasn’t enough there are stretch goals (some of which have already been met) to have well-known industry veterans create source books for different locations.  As of this moment the Japan source book stretch goal is close to being reached and it will be written by none other than all around great guy and friend of the Goblin Beat, Stan! Brown.

As with any good KickStarter project there are also plenty of add-ons and Interface Zero 2.0 has some sweet ones.  Firstly, the obligatory custom wild die, which can be had for $2, print editions of the book, custom bennies, custom playing cards and even hardbound copies of the book are available.  Recently they have also added an Explorer’s Edition available as an add-on, the price of which varies depending upon which backer level you select.  If you haven’t seen the Explorer’s Edition bound books before  they are 6.5″ x 9″ and fit great in the hand.

So what do you think, ready to get your Cyberpunk Savaged?  Check out the video below for more information.

The custom box the deck comes in is well crafted in various shades of green, leaving no doubt about the eldritch horro r inside. Inside there are a couple of bonus cards, one double backed card and one with an image of H.P. Lovecraft being caressed by a motley assortment of Elder Thyngs.

The back of the Lovecraft card also has a list of what creatures are located on what card. Each of the face cards has a creature from the mythos upon it, Hastur, Cthulhu, Dagon etc. are all captured upon their own card. The Aces also have some nice artwork although there are no actual creatures upon them and the Jokers have creatures upon them as well (Nightgaunts?).

Those of you who listen to our podcast will note that we have recently been running Realms of Cthulhu adventures. Realms of Cthulhu uses Savage Worlds as the base rule system for Call of Cthulhu inspired games. The big pay-off with these cards is that Savage Worlds uses playing cards for the initiative system. So you can actually use this deck of cards when playing Cthulhu games, which is the exact reason I purchased a deck of these cards.

Any Cthulhu fan will enjoy these cards but I would go so far as to say that any horror/Cthulhu fans that play Savage Worlds should feel bad about themselves if they don’t have at least one deck of these cards.

Cthulhu fhtagn!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Please consider giving us a 5-star review on iTunes as well as subscribing to our podcast as those two things help our ratings more than anything else.  Thanks for listening and as always please send gaming questions and comments to podcast@goblinbeat.com and we will possibly answer them on the air!

This one activity actually gets kids to run around and play outside, teaches them about subjects which will help them in school, and helps them learn how to better interact with their peers and adults.  Now the folks at Renaissance Adventures have created a KickStarter to allow them to create game books for anyone to run their own Adventure Quest games with special emphasis on parents, educators, gamers and even entrepreneurs that would like to run the games as part of a business.  On top of that they have also created a RPG version of the game.  According to their claims you can seamlessly go from LARP to RPG and back with the same adventure/story.

The idea of having my kids engaged in playing games outside instead of asking to play a video game is intruiging to me.  If you’d like to know more check out their KickStarter page and see what you think.

Not much to say on this one.  Just give it 5 seconds with Rad’s bird feces covered face to distract you.  Someone in makeup really got on a roll.  Originally portrayed as  a quirky but noble wizard, Radagast is relegated to bunny driven sleighs and comic relief devoid of comedy.  I understand leaving Tom Bombadil out of LOTR, and I would also prefer a Radagast without a principle role that eats up screen time in an already over indulged script.

2.) Azog

Not a major figure in Tolkien’s version, but now seems to be slurping up the screen in a vainglorious attempt to showcase CGI.  In the book he is reported to have been killed years earlier.  I have no problem with creative license as long as it serves to better the story, but the whole Azog backstory just muddies up an already crammed and forced extrapolation.   A simple quest story doesn’t need it.  The primary villain in Tolkien’s tale is Smaug; The Necromancer is secondary and enshrouded in mystery.  With a primary and secondary villain in place, there is definitely no room for a contrived demonstration of total CGI, Azog the Destroyer!

3.) Expanded Discussion of Witch-king of Angmar’s Sword

No one ever needs to see LOTR celebrity brands, Galadriel and Saruman in an extended scene discussing the blade and the necromancer.  This whole scene sweeps attention away from the upmost quest: retrieve what was lost under The Lonely Mountain.  Understanding that we all perceive what we read differently, and a director’s creative license may deviate from the text, it still should be said that Tolkien’s original tale kept the reader focused on a quest with a simple purpose beset by difficult adventures.  The extended witch-king discussion not only shamelessly parades LOTR characters sans pretense, it beleaguers an already languished pace, slowing down the pages and making room for sequels.

Ultimately, what sends this movie that I wanted so badly to be good into Azog the headless orc’s latrine are the diversions from the quest!  The soul of an original There and Back Again story turns into Jackson’s bloated exploitation of what has become a very valuable franchise in cinema.  It seems more CGI and character branding can earn its keep at the box office and look fair indeed, but surgical modification of a beloved text for the purposes of branding rarely lends itself toward catharsis.

Billed as “an interactive visual novel” by m.gaia studio, this solo rpg has a contemporary setting, but is based on the 19^th century play, Faust by Goethe.  Actually, your only choice of character is a male named Faust.   He is offered a seemingly preposterous deal by a mysterious old lady at a bus stop: sell pieces of your soul for anything you may want.  Using supernatural powers, she quickly convinces Faust that she is for real.  Since the game hinges on him wagering his soul and refusing the deal just prolongs the inevitable, Faust soon enters into a pact with forces beyond his comprehension.

Currently, only chapter one is available, and the character creation screen is simple and logical.  Faust begins with six points to distribute across 4 attributes (Health, Intelligence, Charisma, Manipulation), but cannot initially add more than three points to any attribute.  During the course of the game, there are problems that Faust needs to solve and anytime he sees his reflection, a demon offers to help for a percentage of Faust’s soul.  Depending on the situation, if he has high enough scores in certain attributes, he can save some of his soul and get the job done on his own.

Overall, if you’re looking for an action-packed, fast-paced game, than this isn’t for you.  If you would like something that takes some careful decision making and you like the idea of watching a story unfold as you take part in it, then this game may be a lot of fun.  It’s also perfect for a smartphone, because it’s so easy to put it down and come back later to where you left off.  You can play the free demo version on your computer here or download it through your smartphone’s app search feature.

This is a kickstarter.com game still in pre-production, so if you want to find out more about the developers or about donating,  check out soulgambler.com

We continue our Savage Worlds podcast, a Realms of Cthulhu adventure from Super Genius Games called Midnight Harvest.

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

The hardbound book is well put together with pictures and little extras that really lend to the overall feel of the book.  Setting rules are laid out near the beginning of the book, the most obvious of which is the Sanity rule, which is a Savage Worlds adaptation of Chaosism’s Sanity rules.

What’s Inside

The book starts out with information that everyone needs to know including details about creating an investigator, changes to skills, hindrances and edges as well as new ones specifically created for RoC.  This is followed by information about available equipment during the three different time periods covered within the tome: the 1890′s, 1920′s and modern.  This is a great quick reference, especially if you are playing in one of the earlier time periods and need to know what type of weapons actually existed during those times (no machine guns in the 1890′s!).

The aforementioned Sanity rules are included in the Setting rules section along with one of my favorite rules: Fate is Unkind which disallows players from using a benny if he/she rolls a double one.  This rule has a tendency to raise it’s head at the most exciting of times.

After that we get into the murky waters of the Keeper’s section which includes detailed information on the Cthulhu Mythos, how magic works within RoC and a great chapter devoted to helping you craft your own Mythos Tales.  The book also contains a full adventure, detailed information about a slew of Mythos Creatures and a short section specifically dedicated to helping you convert from Call of Cthulhu to RoC.

The Verdict

This book is a wonderful resource for any Savage Worlds player interested in playing a Horror/Suspense style game.  While those looking to create Cthulhu style games may get the most out of RoC any group that enjoys playing in a realistic setting with horror and suspense elements will find a wealth of information and help within the pages.  While it is possible to buy this book (along with most Savage Worlds books and supplements) as a PDF I would encourage anyone truly interested to grab an actual copy of the book.  Being able to flip through the tome while your players look on, with dread Cthulhu staring at them from the cover, can really add some tension and fun to the game.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

This week we talk Savage Worlds with Jodi and Clint Black.  Jodi works as an editor for many Savage Worlds products and her store Beautiful Brains is sponsoring this week’s contest!  Clint is the Savage Worlds Brand Manager at Pinnacle and also one of the authors of Necessary Evil.  Join us as we talk to them about all things Savage and enter a comment below telling us your favorite Savage Worlds supplement(s) for a chance to win a copy of Necessary Evil signed by Clint and Jodi.

The contest is open to all residents of the US and Canada.  The winner will be chosen at random from all entries present as of midnight Eastern Standard Time January 5, 2013 and notified within two weeks.  Duplicate entries will be removed.

Good luck and thanks to Beautiful Brains for sponsoring this contest!

As always we appreciate all 5-star reviews on iTunes as well as subscriptions.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter @TheGoblinBeat and look for us on Google+.

Along with the adventure Pinnacle also released a free PDF full of pre-made Noir characters called Deadlands Noir: Archtypes.  All of the main character types you would expect are here, the Private Dick, the Hobo, the Reporter and Deadlands specific ones like The Arcane Detective, the Patent Scientist and the Harrowed.  There are nine characters in all, complete with backgrounds, equipment and powers (when needed).  In true Pinnacle fashion this PDF is freely available so check it out and get a taste of what Deadlands Noir is all about.

Personally I’m tempted to do a Realms of Cthulhu mash-up with this adventure and see what happens!

We continue our Savage Worlds podcast, a Realms of Cthulhu adventure from Super Genius Games called Midnight Harvest.

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

We continue our Savage Worlds podcast, a Realms of Cthulhu adventure from Super Genius Games called Midnight Harvest.

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

This setting is already well fleshed out and they have plans to add more locales to the book throughout the development process.  You can see a current map of the areas they plan to develop below.

Early Map for Legends of Sinbad

Players can meet or play as members of many different cultures including Vikings from the Norselands, citizens from Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, druidic barbarians from Celtic Kingdoms, members of the Eastern Roman Empire as well as the expected Arabic Abassid Caliphate.  There are also mythological monsters like the kraken, frost giants, dragons, trolls and more to deal with as each culture also contributes the creatures from its mythology.

Right now you can secure your copy of the PDF version of the book for $10 on KickStarter with the usual added levels for differing levels of backing.  Right now the KickStarter is only focused on a PDF version of the book but they promise a print option if funding gets high enough, which it seems likely to do since they just started and are already over 90% funded.  There is also talk of a PathFinder conversion if backing is sufficient so those of you who enjoy PathFinder might be interested as well!

Source: KickStarter.com

The Good

Wasted Land does a good job following the basic rules of Call of Cthulhu.  The story-line is also engaging and adds an extra element of depth to the turn-based strategy action.  I was as interested in finding out what happened during the next mission as I was in blowing up more reanimated corpses and Leng Spiders.  I also enjoyed being able to customize the investigators between battles, spending experience gained during missions to increase skills I decided were important to particular characters.  By the end of the game I had a well trained team of specialist mythos-killing machines.

The difficulty of each game was also well balanced.  I never found myself breezing through a level on auto-pilot.  The threat of failure and character death was always real and kept me on my toes.

The Bad

Several elements of game-play were frustrating.  Some are attributable to playing the game in a touch-screen environment, like having difficulty clicking on the correct characters whenever large scale melees break out, and others are simple game flow problems that could use some work.

One of my main issues with the game is I have no idea what some of the skills are used for, even now after I’ve finished the game.  Knowledge of Cthulhu Mythos for example seems like it would be very important to a Call of Cthulhu game but I have no idea how it is actually used in the game and whether or not I wasted experience increasing the skill on some of my characters.  I also never figured out how to add extra ‘AP’ (action points) into an attack to increase the chance of it succeeding.  In the tutorial you are told you can do this but not exactly how.  I tapped on every part of the screen I could think of but was never able to get this to work.

Lastly I found myself frustrated by the fact that there is no way to ‘give up’ on a level and go back and re-equip your group.  I ended up playing one level 3 times because I had chosen equipment poorly and had no way to go back and change out what my team was using.  It would make the game infinitely more playable to allow the user to go back and retool their group after a failed mission.

The Verdict

Overall I really enjoyed this game and will most likely buy the $2.99 add-on which lets you play an additional set of scenarios, this time as the bad guy!  I would recommend this game to anyone fond of turn-based strategy, Cthulhu, or horror genre games.  The few problems I mentioned above were annoying but weren’t bad enough to keep me from finishing the game, which is saying something because I normally get bored with games long before I’ve completed them.  The story and the escalating level of Mythos involvement were both well done and kept me highly interested from start to finish.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

You can also read all about the development team’s ideas on prestige classes in the source link below.  Enjoy!

Source: wizards.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

Source: peginc.com

I can see the campaign playing out now:

A player with the wiimote gets initiative.  The interface on the TV pans over to that character’s current position on the map.  It then shows the fog of war and the black areas where that character can’t see or doesn’t know about.  They can then pick from a menu which actions they want to take and pick on the map where to move.  When it’s time to attack, check a skill or otherwise roll dice the game automatically picks up the correct set of dice (2d6 and a d20 for example) and the user has to shake and throw the wiimote to roll the dice!

Then when a monster gets initiative the Wii U gamepad vibrates and makes a neat sound through its speakers to signal it’s the DM’s turn.  While he picks through menus and such on the gamepad’s touchscreen there could be several animations and sounds playing through the TV to add suspense or give players clues depending on the options the DM picked on his screen such as flickers of light from certain directions or sounds from certain directions.

You could even use the MotionPlus features of the wiimote when it’s a player’s turn to have them very carefully disarm traps like a virtual game of Operation where one wrong move will spring the trap instead!  Then as that character’s disarm trap skill increases the disarming traps “mini game” would get easier requiring less perfect motions of the wiimote.

It would be fun to be a part of the design phase of this game and I think I could come up with several metric tons of ideas.  Being a Wii U owner myself I can see exactly how all of it works together and could easily dream up new ideas on a daily basis.  Maybe I’ll keep updating this post with any new ideas I come up with?  Who knows!  Leave a comment and help add to the ideas!

Android lovers aren’t getting left out either, the game is set to release soon for Android as well as for Mac.  A new PC version is already available for $19.99.

Source: BaldursGate.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

Source: KickStarter

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

Check out the guide and if you find things you want print it off and hand it over to whatever relatives you think might be willing to help feed your D&D addiction.  Or if you are on the other side of the coin you can print this off to give to your D&D loving loved one and have them check off the things they would like Santa to bring!

While I understand that viewpoint, as a DM that is about to move his campaign into the Feywild I have and will continue to invest a lot of time and world building into the portions of the Feywild where my PCs venture.  If/when we decide to move forward into D&D Next I would like the process to go as smoothly as possible and it sadly looks as if the support for the Feywild as we know it is being pulled back by a large degree.  Of course that will probably not be the worst of my problems if I decide to move the campaign into the next edition of D&D.  Players are never happy when you move existing characters into new editions.

Check out this week’s Wandering Monsters and let us know what you think.

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

I quickly setup a campaign for our podcast using Savage Worlds rules and the world of Warhammer 40k as the setting, and I think it is safe to say that everyone loved the rule system as much as I do.  Savage Worlds uses regular playing cards for initiative, where the highest value card goes first, the next highest second and so on.  I bought a dark set of playing cards from Bicycle to go with the feel of our game which helped to set the mood as well.  Combat is fast even when using our dry erase grid map, and everyone learned how to use their characters within the first round of combat, which took less than five minutes with four players!

Bennies were another big hit with the group.  In Savage Worlds each player starts every session with three bennies.  You can use anything to represent these but we bought a few packs of the actual Savage Worlds bennies, which are specially made poker chips.  Any time a player’s character fails a roll they can spend a benny (short for benefit) to roll again.  They can also spend a benny when their character is hurt to make a ‘soak’ roll and ignore the damage.  Bennies also work great as mid-session rewards for players; if they do something amazing or do a great job role playing their character you can reward them immediately with a benny.

The mechanics of the game are also simple, every trait and skill that a character has is given a value of d4, d6, d8, d10 or d12.  To use the given trait or skill the player rolls the associated die and on a 4 or higher they succeed.  There are a few cases (such as opposed rolls) where this gets a little more complicated but that is the main mechanic in the game, and it is simple and works great.  It is so simple in fact that I also now run a campaign once per week for my kids, where they are local heroes in a small town in a fantasy setting.  They all picked the game up within the first few minutes as well and are constantly talking about how much fun they have, and the youngest is only four and a half!

Currently I’m preparing another campaign using the Realms of Cthulhu setting for our podcast that we will change out with the Warhammer 40k and our normal D&D podcasts.  If you have read many of the reviews on our site then you know I am a huge fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and I’m extremely excited to get started with those games.  Look for a review of the Realms of Cthulhu setting guide soon.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Similarly to the first book this story revolves largely around Garviel Loken, Captain of the 10th company of the Sons of Horus Space Marines.  The remembrancers assigned to the expedition that featured in the first novel are also prevalent in this story.  The worship of the Emperor, which was seen in one or two characters in the first book, explodes as the tragedy of Horus’s near death causes the mortal members of the 63rd expedition to turn somewhere for guidance and hope.  The fighting on Davin 3, one of the planet of Davin’s moons, is particularly interesting as we see the forces of Chaos in large numbers for the first time in the series.  Here the entire imperial force that assigned to govern Davin has been converted into forces of Nurgle, mainly plague zombies.  This part of the book is very interesting and overall False Gods does a great job of both keeping the action going and forwarding the over arching story of the Horus Heresy.

I did enjoy this book and will certainly continue to read the Horus Heresy series but I’m still a bit sour about how quickly Horus decided to turn his back on the Emperor and attempt to put himself in charge of the destiny of mankind.  Next up: Galaxy in Flames!

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

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source: giantitp.com

Let that sink in for a minute (Cthulhu…children… Christmas…)

Okay, now that your mind has been broken in a way that only the Great Old Ones could approve of we’ll continue. This KickStarter is to create a full run of published versions of this great story. The KickStarter only started up yesterday and has already reached over half of the funding goal ($5,000) but there is still time for you to get your backer status and get a signed copy of the book, or even have Stan! create a sketch of you!

Go check out this great KickStarter and wait patiently for the arrival of your book, or the rising of Cthulhu, whichever comes first. I can’t wait to read this book to my own lil’Shoggys on Christmas night for years to come.

source: stannex.com

Everyone who ever enjoyed one of those games should back this.  Even if you don’t play computer games anymore you should still back this game for all of those kids who should have the same chance you did to play an awesome adventure RPG Sierra-style.  So stop reading this, go here, and back this game which is certain to be great.  Then tell your friends.  You can also see a brief explanation of why these two designers are doing the KickStarter in the first place below.

source: peginc.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

Base Raiders uses the FATE RPG system to let players enter a world where all the Super Heroes and Super Villains have mysteriously vanished.  Soon afterward a “few of their secret labs, headquarters, and lairs were raided, but many more remain hidden. The secrets of gaining superpowers began to leak out. A new class of self-empowered ‘base raiders’ emerged. Many abandoned bases still wait to be discovered. Treasures, unique artifacts, and secret knowledge can be found in the bases, prizes worth risking death from the traps and guardians left behind.”

The players take on the role of Base Raiders, turning themselves into super powered beings.  This looks to be a very cool concept and the KickStarter is already fully funded!  You have until November 25th to back it and get in on the action and help push to some of the stretch goals like a Savage Worlds conversion guide, which we would love here at the Goblin Beat.

source: kickstarter

Here’s the deal: if you have a pulse, you should read Atomic Robo. That means that unless you are zombie, you need to read this comic. If you are a zombie, first of all: BRAAAIIIIIINS! Secondly, go read The Walking Dead. No, don’t just watch the TV show, read the actual comic book. I don’t mean to sound bigoted, but man you zombies sure are a lazy bunch.

So, what is Atomic Robo you ask? Awfully glad you asked, otherwise I was just going to quit writing this damn article, go get a beer and enjoy some classic 80’s cartoons. But, since you did ask so nicely, I will tell you. Atomic Robo is a comic book that is written by Brian Clevinger and illustrated by Scott Wegener. The basic story is that Nikolai Tesla built an atomic-powered, self-aware robot in the early 20th century, who loves two things: science, adventure and snarky comments. Okay, three things. This backdrop sets up a rich store of potential stories for Atomic Robo because it gives the creators basically the past 100 years to draw from, and they take advantage of that throughout the series to the benefit of all readers.

Brian Clevinger’s writing is both clever and interesting. It is snarky without being off-putting (I have not quite mastered that technique yet). The parade of memorable and downright kick-ass characters, both real and fictional never seems to end: Tesla, Carl Sagan, Dr. Dinosaur, H.P. Lovecraft, and Evil, Undead Thomas Edison are just a few. That’s right, this series delivers Cthulhu, talking, genius velociraptors and necromantic masters of electricity. Seriously, what more could you want?

What’s that? War stories? Got those covered, too. As a matter of fact, my favorite Atomic Robo storylines are the ones about his service during World War II taking on the evil Nazi threat presented by a brain-in-a-jar known as Helsingard. The latest series, entitled “Flying She-Devils of the Pacific,” is in its 3rd issue and follows Robo in the post-World War II Pacific Ocean. So, far it is also a great read and has not disappointed.

Let us not forgot the great art by Scott Wegener. Although Mr. Wegener has been known to bitch and moan about having to draw one of my favorite characters, Dr. Dinosaur, he does so with finesse and panache – the drawing that is, not the bitching and moaning. There is no doubt that the art style can be called “stylized,” but it is done in a way that I find really appealing. No, the proportions are not real-to-life, but that is because they are not supposed to be, jerk. When Wegener is drawing characters, he checks the realism at the door in favor of getting across the feel and mood of the character, and I think that is the right call. The characters are extremely expressive and there are many panels where you know exactly what is going on by the expressions seen in the panel without any text needed. At the same time, Wegener does a great job of drawing extremely detailed and challenging subjects, which usually consist of some sort of military equipment like fighter jets, tanks, etc.

Honestly, I don’t think this little blurb of mine does it justice, so this is what you should do: 1) Sign up for a Comixology Account, 2) Download the Free Comic Book Day Editions of Atomic Robo (as indicated by the name, they are, indeed, free), 3) Read the comics, 4) Wonder what the hell you were doing with your life before you read Atomic Robo, and 5) Fork over some of you hard-earned money to buy the rest of the Atomic Robo Comics.

You’re welcome.

This looks like a winner to us, what do you think?

source: blacklibrary.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

To win you need to live somewhere in the contiguous 48 states here in the USA and leave a comment below.  You will need to like us on Facebook and/or follow us on twitter  so that we can contact you if you are the winner.  Also make sure we can figure out who you are based on your comment by using the same name you use on Facebook or including your @TwitterName in the comment.

The contest is over on November 10th at Midnight Eastern Time so get your entries in and good luck.  The winner will be chosen at random within 48 hours of the contest ending and notified during the following week.  Don’t forget to have everyone in your gaming group enter for better chances.

The players take on the roles of solders, agents and resistance fighters struggling to defeat the Old One menace and help the Allies retreat before the Germans or the Tentacles kill everyone involved.

Although The Goblin Beat will play with the Savage Worlds rule set there is also a Call of Cthulhu version of all of the Achtung! adventures.  That means all of you percentile die lovers out there can get in on the action as well.  I can’t wait to run these adventures for our group.  If you have already ran one of these Achtung! adventures tell us what you thought, you can be sure we’ll review them after we get a chance to play them as well.

source: modiphius.com

Oh, and don’t skimp out on the big announcement at the end of the press release. Don’t want to ruin it for you, but it may or may not have something to do with something Star Wars on the big screen.

“BURBANK, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

“Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm, a leader in entertainment, innovation and technology, including its massively popular and “evergreen” Star Wars franchise and its operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, animation, visual effects, and audio post production. Disney will also acquire the substantial portfolio of cutting-edge entertainment technologies that have kept audiences enthralled for many years. Lucasfilm, headquartered in San Francisco, operates under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and the present intent is for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.“

source: wizards.com/dnd

source: gamesmithsllc.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

Let us know what you think about Fantasy Grounds below and tell us your favorite Savage Worlds setting (mine is currently our custom Warhammer 40k one).

 source: peginc.com

We appreciate any and all 5-star reviews on iTunes and likes on Facebook. Tell your friends about the show and send any comments, questions or ideas to podcast@goblinbeat.com

source: blacklibrary.com

source: Wizards.com/dnd

source: wizards.com

source: kickstarter.com

source: peginc.com

source: Black Library