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This is Audio EXP for the 27th of January, and the episode title is “Now That You’re Dead and the battle for ‘RPG'”
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #228]
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Bloat Games is in the Spotlight thanks to votes from Geek Native’s patrons and the interview with Eric Bloat, the man himself, is up on the site.
Eric’s been kind and told us a little about Bloat Games’ future plans. We know that there’s an Old-School Essentials version of the ‘We Die Young’ is on the way.
‘We Die Young’ is a supernatural RPG, set in the 1990s and at the start of the Grunge movement. That speaks to me!
Even bigger news from Eric: a whole new RPG, this one is called ‘Now That You’re Dead” and it’s described as Odd Thomas meets Stephen King’s The Shining, with some The 6th Sense and X-Files too.
I can see how that works, and I think there are some clues from Dean Kootnz’ Odd Thomas about the death aspect but only faint ones. I don’t know the story that well but since it rings bells I must have devoured it in my Dean Koonz phase.
However, it was our brief exchange about the acronym RPG that lingers in my brain. I noticed that Bloat Games used TTRPG to describe their in-Kickstarter Evolved superhero game. I asked Eric about it and his reply was clear cut; using RPG is a pain, even if it’s the original, because people confuse it with computer games. I’m paraphrasing.
It’s easy to conclude that Eric isn’t as defensive about the hobby’s acronym as I sometimes feel; he’s just being practical.
So, is it time for RPG news sites like Geek Native and others to rebrand and become TTRPG news sites?
Of course, Geek Native has other news, too, and weird finds, which we’ll touch on in this highlights podcast.
Don’t forget, it’s nearly the end of the month, and if you’re a podcast Patreon then you can vote for the next publisher to be invented in the RPG Publisher Spotlight.
Zine Quest kicks off in February, we’ll see what that flood means for the blog and podcast since but for this week I wanted to talk about Green Ronin’s latest Kickstarter.
The Mutants & Masterminds publisher has the next edition of Valiant Adventures to call their own, and it’ll use the Mutants & Masterminds system or a slightly modified version of it.
Valiant is a comic book publisher that often makes the lists of the biggest in the world, albeit miles behind DC and Marvel. That’s before Dark Horse got bought by Embracer, and despite the years of being embattled, Valiant has fought through. It turns out that Valiant is a good name for the company.
Bloodshot, their not-entirely-dead, assassin anti-hero, got a Vin Diesel movie. It didn’t do well. In fact, Bloodshot barely gets a mention in the Valiant Adventures RPG pitch, and Manowar X-O seems to be the lead character.
I think Shadowman is my favourite and most recognisable hero, although I concede Faith was a scene darling, justifiably, for a while.
At the time of recording, Valiant Adventures, the RPG, has been funded on Kickstarter, and it has more than three weeks for more funds to come in. Green Ronin has $33k in pledges against a $30k funding goal.
I think the license makes sense for both Valiant and Green Ronin. This is neither company’s first rodeo; neither seems to have much to lose, and both could carve out wins.
Also on the way is a D&D VR game, as Bronwen wrote up. Resolution Games, whom we know for Demeo, is officially working with Wizards of the Coast.
Bronwen is a VR fan, and I’m sold, but just waiting on the lottery win while technology advances and both of us can see how this could work.
You might remember how popular Second Life was. I still log into the occasional MUSH and resist creating a character, but I check to see how many people are there.
Well, imagine a virtual chat room in which you are a fantasy character. Yeah, sure, you can go onto imagine what a VR Dungeons & Dragons experience might be like but you don’t need to go that far. I’m convinced that just the escapism and community of a novel and safe-space chat will make VR D&D a success.
The question is whether Resolution Games agrees, whether they’re right, and whether they’ll do it. Of course, production delays are a constant terror, and Hasbro will no doubt be careful about license terms, too.
Okay, so ‘D&D VR’, ‘Valiant Adventures’ and ‘Now That You’re Dead’ are three RPGs on their way; probably, here’s one that’s not coming any more. We’re not getting the Rebel Moon TTRPG.
That’s mixed news. Maybe you disliked Zach Synder’s sci-fi so much that you’re glad the world won’t see a Rebel Moon RPG. Maybe you liked the world and wanted to explore it, but Netflix fell out with Evil Genius Games, who had been making the RPG, and cancelled the project.
Evil Genius wasn’t pleased, especially with Netflix’s suggestion that the breakup was Evil Genius’s fault, so legal action had kicked off.
The good news, despite the loss of the game, is that the two have settled. Netflix even said kind things about Evil Genius.
Evil Genius has said they’re doing another sci-fi RPG, so perhaps we’ll see some of the Rebel Moon efforts ported over there.
Of course, it’s not impossible that Netflix will commission someone else to a Rebel Moon TTRPG but I think we’ll have to see how successful the second movie is.
Sticking with diplomacy for a bit, I thought it was wise to point out this week’s Genre Police article from our professional GM Ben. In I’m in Charge, Ben shares insight on what to do if two players are clashing over which PC is the party leader. Sometimes they might not even know they’re doing it.
I know, as a player, I’m sensitive to this. I especially hate bad and entitled leaders. I also know I tend to shirk leadership PCs and then, sometimes, with guilt, being a big mouth character with strong opinions who tries to in-game railroad decisions.
Before we outro on three bundles, I wanted to share another conflict, this time an internal one, and found by Bronwen. The news is that there’s a Jurassic World reboot in the works.
It’s an internal conflict because I can’t decide whether this is great or terrible news. Spielberg is likely to be involved, although likely only as an exec producer, while stars like Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Chris Pratt won’t be.
Bronwen suggests something new entirely would be nice, and that’s hard to disagree with.
Two bundle deals this week are in the Bundle of Holding. One is Axes and Anvils from Shields Up! Publishing and is all about dwarf clans. The second is Tin Star Games’ Relics, about fallen angels and tough choices.
The last is from a publisher not normally one to do bundle deals – Wizards of the Coast. Right now, via DriveThruRPG, you can get Print Demand, PDF and Roll20 editions of Chains of Asmodeus for D&D.
On that note, try to avoid travelling through the nine hells if you can, and I’ll see you next week.
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