Sept '03 Offworld Report: RPGs and Gaming

Krynn returns as a Dragonlance campaign setting for roleplayers, why Everquest now has a GNP somewhere between Bulgaria and Russia, and Two Fisted Tales arrives - the RPG pulp that can handle everything from Flash Gordon to Sam Spade, Tarzan and the Shadow.

September 2003's round-up of all that is worth mentioning offworld the 'Nest when it comes to matters roleplaying game related.

COMPUTER RPG’ING

Side Quests: Just Say no
The grumpy gamer asks are side quests the bane of decent RPG’ing?

The Ice in Icewind
Preview review of Icewind Dale II, the sequel to Interplay’s Forgotten Realms game from 2000.

ARTICLES

To Boardly Go...
The history of popular boardgames is pondered by Dave Shapiro.

Goldstein on Games
SF Site’s Marc Goldstein looks at the world of computer RPGs.

Money for Nothing and Your Dragons for Free
Looks at the lucky few making a real good living buying and selling goods which only exist in online fantasy RPGs.

Keeping it Short
Anthony Simons wants to play 25 games in 4.5 minutes. Mad.

No Space for Space Hulk?
Why Greg Aleknevicus has to spend a silly amount of time on a game he actually never plays.

Assistant Required
Miss B looks at the adorable race that is known as Assistant Moderators

The Next World Over
An eleven-point checklist for creating better SF planets for your RPG.

Perfect Hell Holes
Robert Wenner looks at how to avoid silly mistakes when designing buildings and dungeons for adventures.

The Whiff of Powder
Nicholas HM Caldwell shares his thoughts on RPG in the era of rapier and musket. AKA flintlock fantasy.

To Begin with Krynn
Robert Defendi brings back the lands of Krynn as a Dragonlance campaign setting.

Going to Gaelcon
Convention report from Ireland’s largest games event, Gaelcon. Probably the best games con in the world?

My Kingdom for a …
Most fantasy heroes ride one, but what the heck do you know about them? The use and life of horses comes under the RPG spotlight.

REVIEWS

Lock and Load
David Sinclair reviews ‘Big Bang: The Mostly Illustrated RPG Guide to Firearms, Volume One’ from Alternate Realities Publications, and discovers the best generic RPG gun book now covers four game systems.

Dangerous Denizens
Review of a new monster book from Kenzer & Company, ‘Dangerous Denizens: The Monsters of Tellene’. Eric Christian Berg discovers it’s not just dry stats - but also has lots of background, location, mythology, and culture.

Heroes with Zero
Dan Davenport reviews ‘Spaceship Zero: The Sci-Fi Serial Roleplaying Game’ from Green Ronin Publishing. In it he finds a SF RPG with a fantastic Lovecraftian twist.

The Great Unknown
Harry Albany reviews the ‘Unknown Armies Rulebook’.

Ring Bearers
Review of TCG’s ‘The Fellowship of The Ring’.

Two Fists are better than One
Review of ‘Two Fisted Tales’, the RPG pulp that can handle everything from Flash Gordon to Sam Spade, Tarzan and the Shadow.

Battling Bots
Review of the Battlebots boardgame.

NEWS

Firefly Bulks Up
Firefly Games, the company behind Monster Island, hires a new Marketing hat, Christina Stiles.

Mafia Moves
Update on the campaign to resurrect out-of-print ICE products.

ONLINE MULTI-PLAYERS

That Big Old Star Wars Galaxy
Massively multiplayer online RPGs seems to be flavor de jour – and here comes ‘Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided’ to add to the fray.

Earth and Beyond
Look at the new online multiplayer from Electronic Arts.

Used Elf Fighter for Sale
Looks at how RPG characters from Sony's massively multiplayer online fantasy RPG Everquest are selling on eBay for up to $700. Everquest now has a GNP somewhere between Bulgaria and Russia.

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OTHER CONTENT - September 2003

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Blake's 7 Revival On Track For A Rebellion Reborn Paul Darrow inks a rights deal with the estate of the late Terry Nation to bring back Blake's 7 to the TV screens. (NEWS) Todd Lockwood: Wizard Of The Brush Wizards of the Coast's most talented fantasy artist is interviewed. His canvases can literally take your breath away. Typically large and imposing, beautifully composed and superbly painted, they bring to vivid life all the classic tropes of heroic fantasy. (ARTIST INTERVIEWS) India's Hollywood Takeaway Billed (inaccurately) as the first Indian science fiction film, Koi ... Mil Gaya mixes elements of many films, especially E.T. and Charly. Mark finds a movie which, while groundbreaking as a Bollywood film, rarely transcends American cable fare. (FILM REVIEWS) Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over The third installment of the immensely popular kiddie secret agent series. While the previous two editions were joyful enough to behold, our Frank reckons Game Over feels mightily labored and lean. (FILM REVIEWS) Sept '03 Offworld Report: Science Fiction & Fantasy Interviews with Dan Simmons, Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card and Stan Nicholls; the roots of space opera are explored, Robert Silverberg looks at the Cleve Cartmill Affair, and the great Farscape rescue gathers pace. (NEWS) Sept '03 Offworld Report: Weird Science The Loch Ness Monster is dead, the pulse-engine gets ready to replace the jet engine, DNA computing evolves, the Pentagon plans their nanotech warrior, and Russian scientists announce their plans to construct a nuclear power station on Mars. (NEWS) Sept '03 Offworld Report: RPGs and Gaming Krynn returns as a Dragonlance campaign setting for roleplayers, why Everquest now has a GNP somewhere between Bulgaria and Russia, and Two Fisted Tales arrives - the RPG pulp that can handle everything from Flash Gordon to Sam Spade, Tarzan and the Shadow. (NEWS) Sept '03 Offworld Report: Anime, Manga and Comics Illustrator Bryan Talbot is interviewed, the Punisher movie picks up pace, and the re-release of the classic original Flash Gordon Volume I strips by Alex Raymond gets a well deserved review. We also make time for Cowboy Bebop and the Dirty Pair. (NEWS) The Word from Readercon Evelyn reports back from the world's finest purely literary science fiction con, Readercon 15 and discovers the Golden Age of science fiction is .. well, now. (CONVENTIONS) The Long and Wyndham Road Sue looks at John Wyndham's recent centenary, and finds that thanks in no small part to the additional medium of television and film, the Triffids at least still haunt us. (ARTICLES)

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