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Galactic Magic for Starfinder

Galactic Magic for Starfinder

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Since its inception, Paizo’s Starfinder RPG has been a science fantasy game. The deep melding of magic, science, and technology is built into the setting from the foundation, and classes like Technomancer and Witchwarper really exploit a mystical connection with scientific and technological knowledge. One of the major deities, Triune, is deeply tied artificial intelligence and computer technology. Many of the rulebooks released for the series have included magical devices and new spells.

Despite all of the emphasis on magic, though, Starfinder has not previously had a supplement fully devoted to magic. They’ve had a variety of technology-focused supplements like Armory, Starship Operations Manual, and Tech Revolution.  (Tech Revolution, it is worth reminding people, introduces mechs into the game. Seriously, look into it.)

The drought of magical supplements finally ends with the recent release of Starfinder: Galactic Magic (Paizo, Amazon), which sets the stage to add mystical flavor to the game.

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Guns and Gears in Pathfinder Second Edition

Guns and Gears in Pathfinder Second Edition

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I recently covered Pathfinder‘s exploration of the magical arts in my review of their Secrets of Magic rulebook. At the more physical end of the spectrum, the Guns and Gears supplement explores the role of firearms, clockwork devices, and other forms of impressive technology from the Pathfinder world, including the introduction of rarer classes into Pathfinder Second Edition: the Inventor and an update on the Pathfinder classic Gunslinger class.

With this book, they’ve definitely recognized that these two mechanical systems are in many ways very different, and might have very different audiences. While some might want a character to walk around with a gun, they aren’t interested in going full steampunk (or even clockwork punk) by incorporating this level of technology into the game setting on a regular basis. On the other hand, a player might want the technological aspects of steampunk, but feel that the firearms themselves don’t fit with their play style. As such, they book really splits these two sets of rule systems apart, so you can use the portion of the book you want to as see fit, or adopt all of these rules for your game. …

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Diving Deeper into Pathfinder‘s Secrets of Magic

Diving Deeper into Pathfinder‘s Secrets of Magic

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Magic is the cornerstone of a fantasy roleplaying game (although a good strong sword and armor usually helps). While over the years since it’s release Pathfinder Second Edition has had no shortage of emphasis on magic, from the classes, spells, and items contained in the Core Rulebook to those in the Gods & Magic supplement and the Advanced Player’s Guide, their release of Secrets of Magic really represents the most significant exploration of magical systems within Second Edition Pathfinder to date. In addition to the various magical systems and spells, this book provides two Pathfinder classes from First Edition, reworked for Second Edition: the Magus and the Summoner.

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Goth Chick News: The Scary Games I Can’t Wait to Play in 2022

Goth Chick News: The Scary Games I Can’t Wait to Play in 2022

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I realize that persons of a certain age have literally been witness to dramatic (and drastic) evolutions. Consider the term “gamer.” Webster’s online dictionary defines this term as, “a person who plays video games or participates in role-playing games.” However, until the early 1990’s the definition stated only, “a person who plays or participates in role-playing games.” Literally, the term “gamer” immerged along with Gary Gygax and Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970’s, but now encompasses previously unimaginable experiences like VR.

Given the current Webster’s definition, I myself am a gamer and have been for… well… awhile, though there are younger gamers who might scoff at my saying so. However, when one has amassed enough expendable income to commission the building of a water-cooled supercomputer called “Winston” whose primary function is to run the mother of all VR gaming systems, I’m pretty comfortable with the label. And though I would likely be brutalized in the Warcraft waiting room, I have a significant talent in a certain type of gaming environment, most of which involve… wait for it… horror storylines.

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Twilight: 2000 Reflections

Twilight: 2000 Reflections

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For Black Gate, I spent much of 2021 re-visiting Twilight: 2000‘s first edition adventures and sourcebooks. Twilight: 2000, published by GDW in the mid 1980s, absorbed into its setting much of the worries and fears of the late Cold War — but turned it into a game. The Soviet Union and China begin a war that eventually brings in the rest of the world. While the war is starts out as conventional, the temptation to use tactical nuclear weapons cannot be held back. The world inches across into nuclear Armageddon.

While Twilight: 2000 was not unique in suggesting a nuclear apocalypse, it did have a compelling twist that differentiated it from things like Mad Max or By Dawn’s Early Light: it happens in the immediate aftermath. Armageddon is happening — society is breaking down. National governments like the US or USSR exercise very little control. Environmental devastation is in the early stages. Yet people continue to live. Some even continue to fight the war. Most try to simply survive.

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Learn RuneQuest by playing an Online Solo Adventure: The Battle of Dangerford

Learn RuneQuest by playing an Online Solo Adventure: The Battle of Dangerford

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The Battle of Dangerford (Chaosium, 2021)

Happy New Year, fantasy gamers! If you’re like me, all your resolutions this year involve trying new games. At least two dozen. And maybe a truckload of snack foods.

Yeah, but which games? There’s a ton to choose from. Fortunately Chaosium has made it a little bit easier — by publishing their newest RuneQuest solo adventure online completely free. And also structuring it so that you can learn the rules as you play! The title is The Battle of Dangerford, and it really is a simple as it sounds:

Learn to play RuneQuest in the best way possible — by playing! The Battle of Dangerford is a single-player scenario designed to teach you the rules of the game as you play. Take on the role of Vasana as she joins her Sartarite brothers and sisters in an epic clash against the invading Lunar Empire.

Get all the details below — or jump right in here!

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Five Reasons Hades Deserved that Hugo

Five Reasons Hades Deserved that Hugo

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Hades (Supergiant Games, 2021)

When I looked at the list of Hugo winners this past week, I was thrilled to see one of my favorite video games had won for Best Video Game.

(And then I froze and said, “Wait, there’s a Hugo for video games??” Answer: yes! This was the first year an award was given for Best Video Game, and it was proposed as a special award category. The last two years have seen a sharp rise in the video game market as first time gamers and previously casual gamers suddenly found themselves with a lot more time and a need for both entertainment and a new way to connect with others. Hopefully, this will be established as a continuing award category for the WSFS, but time will tell.)

Hades, developed and published by Supergiant Games, now carries the honor of being either the first or the sole winner of this category, and it solidly deserves it. Is it the best game in the last twenty years? No. There are bigger, grander, more ambitious games out there. Dragon Age comes to mind (Origins or Inquisition, anyway), as do Skyrim and Call of Duty. But with that conceded, Hades is absolutely a worthy Hugo-bearer. Why?

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The State of the Unions: Twilight: 2000

The State of the Unions: Twilight: 2000

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In this journey exploring the Twilight: 2000’s first edition adventures and supplements, we have two remaining items (other than the supplements of weapons and vehicles) that address the state of the United States and United Kingdom. Both are supplemental releases that allow players and referees (gamemasters) to conduct adventures and campaigns.

The Survivor’s Guide to the United Kingdom is the only official supplement by the late GDW that covers the isles. And the situation is not good in the old country.

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Relive the Glory Days of BattleTech with Shrapnel Magazine

Relive the Glory Days of BattleTech with Shrapnel Magazine

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Shrapnel magazine, issues 4-6 (InMediaRes Productions, March, June & September 2021).
Covers by Florian Mellies (left) and Ken Coleman (middle and right)

I bought a few issues of the new Warhammer paperback magazine Inferno! last year, and was impressed enough to start looking around for similar publications. It wasn’t long before I found Shrapnel, the Official BattleTech Magazine published by InMediaRes Productions, and I picked up the first three issues.

Shrapnel is edited by John Helfers and Philip A. Lee, and published four times a year. In many ways it’s a spiritual successor to the old BattleTechnology print mag from the early 90s, edited by William H. Keith, Jr. and Hillary Edith Ayer. Shrapnel began life as a stretch goal for Catalyst Games’ 2019 Clan Invasion Kickstarter; organizers committed to four issues if they hit the goal. The campaign raised a whopping $2,580,000, and Shrapnel has been with us ever since.

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Surviving World War III in Iran– Twilight: 2000

Surviving World War III in Iran– Twilight: 2000

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In the RPG by GDW released in 1984, Twilight: 2000, the action starts in Europe, specifically Poland. The players, members of the US Army’s 5th Mechanized Division, find themselves stranded in enemy territory when the last major offensive of World War III flounders and then implodes. The world inched across the line of nuclear holocaust. The American, Soviet, German, and Polish governments are hardly worthy of the name “government.”

The adventures and setting information that GDW published in subsequent releases favor heavily game play in Eastern Europe and then the war-shattered United States. While excursions to Greece and Norway are to be found, for the most part, players wander Poland, Czechoslovakia, and perhaps Ukraine in an effort to simply survive and find a way home — even if that is making a new home.

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