October 2003 Offworld Report: RPGs and Gaming
01/10/2003 . Source: Jessica Martin 

Half-Life raises its game, Futurama gets onto the PC, the howlers to avoid when designing RPG adventures, plus reviews of rulebooks for Unknown Armies, Twilight of Atlantis, and Dungeons and Dragons: The Dungeon Master's Guide

A prime crop of role-playing game gems found offworld the 'Nest for October 2003, in this month's monthly round-up of the 'best of the rest'.

DIGITAL GAMING

On a Bender
PlayStation 2 gets its very own Futurama adventure game.

Killing Ewoks
Star Wars fans have two dreams - a lightsaber duel with Darth Maul, and exterminating the Ewoks. This free online game, Star Bears, delivers both.

The Old, Old Republic
Look at the 3-D role-playing adventure for the X-Box, 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic'.

Robot Fighting
The Playstation 2 game 'Silent Line: Armored Core' gives a new riff to the giant robo action genre.

Move Over Lara
A challenger to Lara Croft's position as everyone's favourite cyber comes to the Game Cube.

The Lionheart Alternative
An alternative reality fantasy RPG for the PC 'Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusades', featuring Galileo, Machiavelli and da Vinci.

Building a Nation
Why Rise of Nations is a really absorbing real-time strategy game.

Half-Life Sequel Ups The Ante
Creators say the sequel to very popular Half-Life game's going to be worth its five-year wait.

RPGS & Boardgames

Character Control
What to do when characters run amuck?

The Master
Review of Dungeons and Dragons: The Dungeon Master's Guide version 3.5

Unbound on the Rebound
Look at the new downloadable fanzine for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG, Unbound. The first issue has three scenarios with illustrations and maps.

Wizards Rule: Not Okay
Wizards of the Coast quietly revise its open source d20 system, to require re-writes or removal of the D20 logo if they discover content violating their standards of decency.

Twilight of Atlantis
Review of this d20 System sourcebook detailing the last days of the Empire and City of Atlantis before her enemies fell upon her many colonies.

Rings Traded
Review of The Fellowship of The Ring Trading Card Game.

The Unknown Army
Review of the Unknown Armies rulebook.

Monster d20
Review of 'Monsters: New Allies and Foes' - six new monsters for the d20 System.

The Construct Companion
Guidelines and tips for fighting Golems and Constructs as detailed in ICE's upcoming Construct Companion sourcebook

Adventure Design Fumbles: Items
More howlers to avoid when designing adventures - this time the focus is on magic items

Wolfgang's Guide To Screwing PCs
What the heck has Wolfgang been doing behind Fat Gregor's back now?

Going Goa'uld
Could this be hottest role-playing game of 2003? Join Stargate Command and jump into some pitched battles with the evil Goa'uld.

Falling Sky
Review of 'When the Sky Falls' a fantasy Event Book covering a meteor crash in your game world.

Morningstar
Review of the world of Morningstar and the gateway to Thraxis.

Games for Two
Ideas from Xavier Van Aubel about what you can do when game partners are few and far between.

The Hamlet of Thumble
Review of this fantasy sourcebook for Thumble, a quiet and peaceful halfling settlement located on the east side of the River Noddon.

Pramas Interview
Interview with Chris Pramas, now the founder of games house Green Ronin. Chris talks about his work on games like Warhammer FRP, Feng Shui and the Guide to Hell.