Mythras is in the Wild!

Mythras, the full-featured deluxe rulebook of the Design Mechanism Engine is now available in print and PDF. I just placed my order, and now you can too right here for the modest price of $39.95.

Given the fact that Chaosium's future appears to be aimed at highly world-specific pet projects, I think Mythras may just be the best default system for the kind of fantasy gaming I want at this point. I'll post a review of the core book ASAP!!!

Monday Blaaaagh!!! Kickstarter Book of the Righteous; Plus: 13th Age and Mythras

I remember when I had lots of time to do stuff....sigh. Anyway! Some random stuff this Monday:

The Book of the Righteous Kickstarter

Green Ronin has their Kickstarter going for the 5th edition version of Book of the Righteous. It's not to goal yet but as of writing has three weeks to go. I'd be tempted, but I'm not a long-term investor, and the physical release is listed as March 2017. That's a long ways off....and if there's one thing I've learned it's that the farther out a Kickstarter date is, the less likely it is that I'll still be interested in a given Kickstarter by the time it finally shows up.

And that's assuming it isn't delayed!

I'll wait until this is available for print release. The fact that the release date is so far out tells me this is a "fishing for interest" Kickstarter....work has not begun, and they are testing the waters. This is not great; Kickstarters are essentially turning in to a market testing strategy but are only receiving the feedback from people who apparently have a lot of disposable income to throw away on hypotheticals. I'd absolutely buy this book, but I'm not going to hand off $45 in the hopes that the book is worth it at the end, that I still am interested, or that nothing disastrous goes wrong between now and then. This isn't a vote against Green Ronin, don't get me wrong; I'm just refusing to buy in to the idea that Kickstarter is the best way to handle a release like this. 

Other Stuff

Classic Fantasy/Mythras: if I took all the blog hits on these two subjects as a sign, I should really be doing more content for both. I'm still waiting patiently for CF to get a physical release (preordered) so that puts a tiny crimp in prepping content related to it, but anytime I do a blog tied to something The Design Mechanism (or Chaosium, for that matter) is behind I get four to five times the normal hits. Interesting. And good news for BRP-based games.

13th Age: Pelgrane Press released High Magic & Low Cunning, which is a sort of "encounter book" of highly customizable scenarios with an emphasis on combat in unusual locales, each tied to the various icons. It's a great book, really interest in premise and design. More interesting is the map pack, which contains a ton of high quality, full color maps you can use with the book. My pre-order arrived last week and I really advise 13th Age fans to check it out. Heck, the maps alone would be useful to any GM who likes to mix and match.

Runequest 6 Hardcover on Indiegogo

There's an Indiegogo event for Runequest 6 in hardcover format, which has been much requested by fans (including myself). At $65 (which includes S&H in the US) that's not a bad deal, especially for what is easily the best and most well-conceived fantasy RPG to be released in the last few years. Anyway, there are thirty days left on it as I write this, so plenty of time for me to plan to contribute.

Monster Island is here!

It's out on RPGnow, as The Design Mechanism is always timing their releases for when I've just had a huge number of expenses and can't afford to buy something at that moment (very long and depressing story). Looks like it's available in print on TDM's site as well (here), and there is also a "Companion" set in PDF at both locations, too. I still don't see the sourcebooks showing up on Moon Design, though.

I snagged the Book of Quests on Ebay through one of the reliable regular vendors over there (Troll and Toad) as my FLGS has had a hard time getting this stuff in. I'll have to keep an eye out for it there, or maybe I can order it through TDM in a week or two.

Anyway.... I need to get a campaign going with the new RQ6 rules, I am way past due for starting one up. Maybe I can squeeze it in on a bi-weekly Saturday evening. FYI Book of Quests is so good that I might break my long-standinjg habit of not using modules to actually run the scenarios in that one. Pete, Loz and co. are doing some out-of-the-park amazing stuff over there.I should post a formal review, come to think of it. Maybe in a week or so.