GM Advice - no time for introductions

Would love to credit the creator of this image, is it you?

Almost every RPG sessions I've seen, played, heard or watched has started the same way. No, not necessarily in a Tavern. Every game seems to start with character introductions.

The GM asks the players, in turn, to describe their characters. Player one starts telling everyone about how his character is an Elf, from Elfholm, who has 3 siblings that are all competing for daddy's attention. He describes this elf's hair, her eye colour. There's a description of what armour the elf is wearing, what weapons she wields.

Sometimes a player goes into in depth background details that take up a ton of time. Other times a player will say almost nothing at all.

Overall this process takes a ton of time, as each player gives their own description and/or background. In some groups this can take up most of a session depending on how much each player wants to share. What's shared often varies player to player. One player will read through their 5 pages of family history while the next player will only say: "I'm a human fighter with plate and a greatsword, I look like an average big tough dude." 

I am not a fan of this method of starting the game. I personally feel that an RPG game has no time for introductions.

Oddball Aeronauts 2 give away. Create a custom Captain!

Back on November 4th I announced that Oddball Aeronauts 2 was about to launch on kickstarter. Well, now it's live! Even cooler than this though is that maverick:muse has agreed to work with The Windsor Gaming Resource again to offer a really cool give away. A give away that's even better than the one we hosted last time.

For those who don't know or remember Oddball Aeronauts, it's a two player card game that doesn't require a surface to play on. That's right: no table needed. Oddball Aeronauts 2 adds new factions to the game and also adds multi-player rules.

It's a really unique and cool rock, paper, scissors based game with quite a bit added to make it more strategic and interesting. My favourite part though is the artwork and theme of the game. I guess anthropomorphic steampunk does it for me :) To learn more about the game, check out the (p)review that was posted back on January 22nd.

What you can win:

Last time we gave away the chance to design the Bounty Hunter card. This time we are going a step farther and letting the winner name a ship and design their own captain. The winner will also get a copy of all core 26 cards. Here's the details from +Nigel Pyne:

The winner picks the faction of their choice - Pirates, Pendragon, Mechinauts or Free Kingdoms. They then pick a name for their airship and will then receive all core 26 faction cards for their choice with their chosen ship name on the back of every one. Plus, they get to work with Lloyd to design a character that will then appear on a Mercenary Captain Card of their very own - their unique Captain that they also name and they can use that Mercenary Captain in place of a regular Captain in any faction deck. Or they can have their custom Captain unique to a faction - their choice.

How cool is that? 

Oddball Aeronauts 2 launches on Kickstarter tomorrow!

You remember Oddball Aeronauts don't you? The really cool game from +maverick:muse where you don't need a table top play on.

I wrote up a (p)review of the original game back in January and then hosted a give away during their very successful kickstarter in February.

The kickstarter was a great success and +Nigel Pyne and his team even delivered the game on time! 

Remember now? Good! 

A follow up to the original game is about to launch on Kickstarter tomorrow.

Edit: The kickstarter is live now!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lloydashpyne/oddball-aeronauts-2-double-the-trouble

DriveThruRPG 2014 New Year, New Game Sale

Okay this is a heads up post. This sale hasn't started yet but it looks like it's going be a great one.

50% off over 80 core rule books for different games. Based on the info I got in email it looks like Numenera, Dungeon Crawl Classics and White Wolf games will be part of this deal.

It officially starts on Monday January 6th.

The WGR would love your support by clicking the banner above before you go shopping. We get a small percentage of any sales and it doesn't cost you the buyer anything at all.

An interview with Emil Larsen, the man behind Burning Suns

This weekend I got the chance to do an email interview with +Emil Larsen of Sun Tzu Games about Burning Suns, a tactical sci-fi board game currently up on Kickstarter.

Diceships!

Burning Suns caught my eye for a few reasons. For one I really dig 4x Sci-Fi board games. Stuff like Twilight Imperium and Eclipse. I was addicted to Masters of Orion back in the day and it's great to see that board gaming has finally really started to capture that feel. Burning Suns looks to do some new things in the genre. There's currently over 700 possible factions in the game (possibly more to come with stretch goals), that totally blows away any other game I know. There's also some really cool looking miniatures that integrate dice into their design. Emil calls them Diceships. There's also a neat alignment system worked into the game.

Personally I found this rather long but detailed review by Undead Viking to really showcase what makes this game stand out:

Anyroad, enough of other people talking about Burning Suns, lets here it from the man himself:

---

Moe: First off, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I remember when Burning Suns was on Kickstarter the first time around and I fully remember being firmly on the fence about backing it. What I don't remember though is why exactly I decided against backing at that time. Obviously I wasn't the only one since you ended up doing a do over, which this time around has already hit your funding goal. Congratulation on that achievement.

Emil: "Thanks a lot Moe, and thanks for taking your time to interview me - I really appreciate that :)"

M: So my first question is: what's different this time around? What did you do wrong the first time, what wasn't right and what did you do to fix it this time around?

E: "It's an interesting point you raise, because I believe I did a lot of smaller errors that together made the campaign fall short of it's funding the first time around.  

To make it easy for your readers to go through, I'll just point out the things that might have kept you from pledging on my first campaign.

• Include the rules of the game (in a nice layout).
• Use pictures/illustrations of the available pledges.
• Include shipping in the pledge and streamline the amount of available pledges.
• Do an engaging trailer (that makes people want to read a bit more of your page).
• Don't put all your cool USPs (unique selling points) like minis into stretch goals, you need some initial pull on the campaign.
• Make sure to build a "substantial" fanbase before going live.
• Use your Kickstarter preview option as a correction and optimization tool, not a cheap last minute marketing tool. 

Yea, it's been great and we hit the goal quite fast - Which is definitely a testimony to me learning from my mistakes ;) Plus people have been very supportive and helpful all the way!"

M: I personally thought your three tiered stretch goal system is brilliant. Rewards based not only on how much money the project has raised but also the amount of social media attention it has generated and the actual number of backers. I love the fact that even someone contributing $1 is helping to unlock new things for the game and make it better for everyone. This question was also asked by one of my google plus followers: so how well is this new style stretch goal system working for you?

E: "It's working VERY well, so well I'm positive a lot of new project creators will be using the same formula.  

Burning Suns is much more established on both Facebook and BoardGameGeek after this Kickstarter, mostly due to my very loyal and helpful backers who really wanted to help. And I gave them some tools to make that help visible.

I used the amount of backers as a promo goal, since the amount of backers would determine how important my "Print'n'play" options would become. These were combined with my stretch goals that made it financial possible to upgrade many of the components in the game.

One thing I made sure was that to calculate that these goal wouldn't overlap, but instead come up as a kind of stair, since that makes a world of difference always being able to spot the next goal ahead."

M: One of my Google Plus friends +Eric Franklin was a bit worried about this stretch goal system. He asked the following:

"My only concern is that all three categories of stretch increase the cost of production and two of them add minimal money to the project. The "Viral" goals, for example, add zero money to the project but have the potential to significantly increase its cost to produce (art isn't cheap)."

Would you care to address that Emil?

E: "[He's] right, at a glance it may look like that.  

But I'm making sure that my artwork isn't "just" used for a single purpose. It can both be used on components and as high resolution wallpapers etc. So when I'm structuring the different artwork, I'm always making sure we start out with something big and have the opportunity to use it several places.

Furthermore - I don't really believe in "free", people should get something for their effort, so giving them cool stuff like artwork for spreading the word, is a worthy expense on my project - and viral always add value :)"

M: 700 empires! Sorry over 700. That seems insane. I thought Cosmic Encounters was the Space game with the most factions but you have them beat by a mile. Obviously this number comes from the very unique three part player board. Where each player gets a race, an ideology and a structure, I've got two questions in regards to this: first off how the heck did you get up to over 700 and second, how is it that you can keep that many variables balanced?

E: "Haha, yea - in that regard I got most space games in existence heavily outnumbered ;) 

The concept of the 3 part empire building provides a strong multiplication factor, and since you can find a lot of factors on each component (ideology, race and structure) that can be tweaked, it means that I'll be able to keep designing new stuff for quite a while. 

It all started out with 6 x 6 x 6 different components in the first game, and for this campaign I added 1 extra of each, since then the backers have unlocked 2 more, getting us to 9 x 9 x 9 different empires (729).

There are several answers to [keeping things balanced]. You can find some of my pointers on this topic in one of my updates (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/suntzugames/burning-suns/posts/598623) related to a talk Richard Garfield held in Copenhagen a few weeks ago.  

Another thing is how my campaign and final development phase have been structured. Together with my backers I'm going to arrange a lot of beta test activities on the game (hopefully with over 400-500 gamers), tournaments and more. Things to really polish the game before launch. I'm really using the "crowd" in crowdfunding, unlike make Kickstarter campaigns, which is more or less pre-order pages."

M: You seem to be very dedicated to making your fans and backers a part of the game. Having their impact help shape the game and it's world. You not only stress this in your video and backer levels but also in your updates. I've seen very few designers willing to let their backers vote on which artwork to use for example. Can you talk more about this, what your plans are and why you think it's so integral to the project that your fans are involved?

E: "I think it's pivotal to the concept of a crowdfunding project, that you're looking for more than just funding. Otherwise you could argue that a business angel is just as good. But with the backers of my Kickstarter project, it allows me to gain access to a lot of great minds and thoughts about the project, the stories, the mechanics - practically everything.

It's of course important that you state the general directions and that you remain true towards your concept and ideas. But tweaking it to the appeal of your backers, and polishing based on their feedback is immensely important if you want your product to be more than just a flash in a pan. And that is exactly my goal with Burning Suns, I want it to last."

M: I'm a big fan of organized play programs, especially ones that reward the organizers and participants. I'm often running release events and demos at the FLGS and it's always cool to have something to show for it. Things like laser cut tokens, special dice and oversized cards seem popular this year. I see you are really hoping to have public play support for Burning Suns. What type of program do you imagine there being for Burning Suns?

E: "That's a tough question. As of now the sky is the limit. 

I'm still just dipping my toes when it comes to organized play and programs. Hopefully a lot of backers will come up with good ideas. I've also had a lot of great suggestions from backers, and a handful have already announced that they would love to promote the game and do some presentations here and there. 

I think it's important that the community develop this part, and make demands based on those needs. I shouldn't go and dictate what people should do, just like I'm not going to dictate any tournaments. I want my game to be tournament friendly and balanced, but it's the community who will ultimately make the demand. 

Hopefully it'll be high in many regards :)"

M: You seem very interested in publishing not just a game, but a world, a fiction for Burning Suns. Between the newly launched burning-wiki http://www.suntzugames.com/burning-wiki.html and things like writing contests on Board Game Geek, almost every backer update gives us another peek into the Burning Suns world. A few questions on this. What came first, the world or the game? Just exactly how big are your plans for this world, do you expect it to spill out past the board game into other games or possibly novels? As most people know I'm not just a big boardgame fan but also a huge pen and paper RPG fan and when I see someone creating a world like this I can't help but ask: will there be an RPG in this setting sometime in the future?

E: "You're not the first to ask - so as I said, maybe the demand will rise to a level were it can/must be developed. 

The game came first, and slowly developed into something almost too big to comprehend in one game. In that regard I've also been contacted about plans to maybe share the IP with other designers/creators. 

I would love the universe to expand further - which is also why I did the writer's contest on BGG and why there's going to be a couple of short-stories taking place in the Burning Suns universe. 

The idea is that the Burning Suns game will create the pillars for other great articles to stand on, inspired and developed by backers around the world :)"

M: My last question: one of the things I saw on your project page that made me cringe was this: "Money Back Guarantee" You are willing to pay people back if they don't like it and will ship the game back. Isn't this highly risky?

E: "I've been inspired by Jamey Stegmaier who has been a great support during the project, and I thought that it was a good idea to put a Money Back Guarantee like he did, simply because it's an offer I believe they are entitled too. Furthermore, I believe very strongly in my game being of great value in game play AND in components. I would be surprised if people really would want to send the game back when you take into consideration of what they are getting for their money."

M: That's all I wanted to ask, do you have anything you want to add?

E: "We're entering the last phase of our Kickstarter campaign (http://kck.st/1d2sRN6) - and there's still some cool stretch goals that I know we would all love to reach, getting more minis to the table! So when you read this - be sure to go and help us out with a pledge, and become part of the final development of Burning Suns :)"

M: Well Emil, thank you very much for your time and the opportunity for my readers and I to learn more about Burning Suns. I'm really looking forward to seeing the game and bringing it out to a Windsor Gaming Resource event and giving it a shot.

E: "Thank you so much for having me in this interview Moe, I really appreciate that! And I'm looking forward to sharing Burning Suns with you and all our backers, it's going to be awesome! :)"

---

So there you have it. It sounds pretty sweet to me. Sound good to you? Well go back it right now! The kickstarter ends on October 5th!

13 hours left in the H.P. Lovecraft sale

In honour of Lovecraft's birthday DriveThruRPG is hosting a sale on Mythos based games.

Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft! The master of weird fiction & father of the Cthulhu Mythos! We're celebrating Lovecraft's birthday with a sale on select Cthulhu Mythos RPGs and Fiction! Select products are 30% off all week. 

Click here to see all 415 items covered by this sale.

The Great Canadian Board Game Blitz returns to Windsor

August 17th The Great Canadian Board Game Blitz returns to Windsor Ontario.

This all day, no elimination, five round board game tournament will be hosted at The Green Bean Cafe's downtown location, otherwise known as The Windsor Star News Cafe, on the third floor of 300 Outlette Ave in the Windsor Star's new offices (the old Palace Theater). The event will run from Noon until 9pm. Doors will open at 11am.

For this years event we will have five rounds:

Round 1 - 1 hour
Round 2 - 1 hour
Round 3 - 1.5 hours
Dinner 1 hour
Round 4 - 1.5 hours
Final Round - 2 hours

Each round players will score points based on their ranking in the game. These points are weighted by the game length (so you get more points for winning a 2 hour game than a 1 hour game). At the end of the event prizes will be awarded based on points earned.

The player with the highest total will win a day pass to FanExpo Canada to participate in the Great Canadian Board Game Blitz Finals. Additional prizes will be awarded for first through fifth place. There will also be a ton door prizes (possibly enough for everyone to walk out with something).

You can find out more about The Great Canadian Board Game Blitz including the full rules and scoring system over at: http://www.gcbgb.ca/

The cost to participate in this Blitz is $5. 100% of the proceeds are going towards prizes. The more people that enter the better the prize pool will be.

This will be the fourth time we have hosted a Great Canadian Board Game Blitz here in Windsor. Each previous event has been awesome and we've seen more and more people out ever year. We've got room for 40 people so let's make 2013 a record year.

You can sign up to attend on the Windsor Blitz Facebook Page

The game list for this event can be viewed on google drive: 2013 Windsor Blitz Game List

Sponsors for this event include: Hugin & Munin, Brimstone Games, The Green Bean Cafe and the very generous Russell Brothers. 

It's Christmas in July over at DriveThruRPG

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, DriveThruRPG.com is where the discounts are at!

That's right, Christmas in July is here! Get 25% off of thousands of products by dozens of great publishers! Put the jingle bells on, and keep some jingle in your pocket, too!

Note this applies to PDFs only. 

Head over to DriveThruRPG now!

It's Read an RPG Book in Public Week!

It's that time of year again. The 2nd Read an RPG Book in Public Week of 2013.

This great event was originally proposed by The Escapist blog and is celebrated three times a year. You can read all about it over at The Escapist's Read an RPG Book in Public Week webpage. You can also check out their Facebook Page.

During these weeks, roleplaying enthusiasts are encouraged to take their favorite RPG rulebooks out with them and read them in public - on the bus, in the coffee shop, at lunch, at the park, or anywhere (as long as it isn't disruptive to work, school, church, or any other functions).

What's the point?

The point is to make the roleplaying hobby more visible, to get it "out of the basement" and into public areas where more people can see it. This will make others more aware of the hobby - some may ask you what your book is about, giving you the opportunity to explain the hobby to them. A few of those may be interested enough to try it themselves. Former gamers may see what you're reading and think about the great times they used to have with roleplaying, and possibly even try it again.

Personally my wife and I have already made some plans to head down to our favourite local coffee shop so I can catch up on some of the games I've bought in the last year that I haven't had a chance to touch yet.

Savage Worlds 10th Anniversary Sale at DriveThruRPG

Quick post to pass on some info that Pinnacle just sent to me:

In celebration of Savage Worlds TENTH ANNIVERSARY, we’re having a VERY RARE sale!

Most of our Savage Worlds settings and adventures are 25% off for two weeks only--from July 15th to July 30th.

If there's something you've been thinking about getting for a while, this might be the time to do it!

Pinnacle sales are like chupacabra sightings—rare, unpredictable, and elusive at best--so act fast!

Click the banner above of follow this link:

Pinnacle on DriveThruRPG

Huge Pathfinder sale at DriveThruRPG 40% off 1000s of PDFs

Quick special announcement. This week and this week only all Pathfinder stuff is on sale 40% off at DriveThruRPG! That's over 1000 PDFs on sale!

If you follow this link, you actually support the Windsor Gaming Resource as well as getting a great deal on Pathfinder stuff:
  http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/rpg_pathfinder.php

The Tabletop Drop - a great way to get new RPGs cheap and help a good cause

This morning +Keyon Thomas contacted me and asked me to spread the word about Tabletop Drop. I looked into it and it seems like an awesome concept that I'm happy to spread the word about.

Tabletop Drop is supports two great causes. The first is a charity called Reach out and Read. 10% of the proceeds from Tabletop Drop go to this program that is dedicated to getting books into kids hands. The second great cause is accessible roleplaying games. A core rulebook for a popular RPG can easily cost over $50. The games involved in Tabletop Drop are pay what you want.


So buy buying your games through Tabletop Drop you not only help a good cause, you won't break the bank. Right now there are four great looking RPGs featured on the Drop and a new set of games will be dropping in 19 days at the time of this post.

The RPGs featured in the first drop:

• Carmine is an alchemical fantasy RPG with a custom system, introduces the mist-laden world of Carmine, the last bastion of humanity. Will you solve the mysteries you discover in this world or will you succumb to the horrors that await?

• Tier, the Enhanced Role Playing Game, is a system built off of DnD 3.5, offers simplified roll mechanics and an innovative classless system for a deeper connection and bigger hand in character’s development. 

• Spears of the Dawn, an African-inspired old-school RPG from the makers of Stars Without Number. Myths and legends await you in the wild and brooding Three Lands where one misstep can mean riches beyond your dreams or a horrible, gruesome death.

• Legion, the Sci Fi RPG that allows you to play the role of a militaristic hero who’s goal is to deliver the galaxy from unimaginable evil and destruction. Legion uses cooperative storytelling to create adventure, mystery, and action that will sate any RPG fan’s thirst.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to http://www.thetabletopdrop.com/ now and fill up your digital bag of holding knowing you saved some cash and helped out a good cause.

The D&D White Box is back in a big way

Just announced a few minutes ago on their websites, Wizards of the Coast will be releasing a premium edition of the Original Dungeon & Dragons White Box. Not only do you get the original little books but it includes all of the later released supplements. In addition it's presented in a beautiful wood box and includes some pretty cool looking dice.

From the WotC site:

Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG

Original Edition Premium Reprint

Wizards RPG Team

A premium, deluxe edition of the Original D&D "White Box"!
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974 and was the very first roleplaying game, introducing concepts that have persisted throughout later editions. It included three small rules booklets in a white box.
This deluxe, premium reprint of the original "White Box" features new packaging and includes the following seven booklets:

• Volume 1: Men & Magic
• Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure
• Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
• Supplement I: Greyhawk
• Supplement II: Blackmoor
• Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry
• Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes

Each booklet features new cover art but is otherwise a faithful reproduction of the original, including original interior art.

Item Details
Item Code: 45390000
Release Date: November 19, 2013
Format: D&D Boxed Game
Price: $149.99; C$172.00
ISBN: 978-0-7869-6465-9 

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/45390000

Gygax magazine gets official launch date

I just received an email update from Jayson Elliot in regards to Gygax Magazine. It seems we finally have an official launch date:

It's been quite a wait, but it's finally time! The first issue of Gygax magazine will be unboxed at 2pm EST on Saturday, January 26th at The Brooklyn Strategist. We'll be streaming the unboxing live at GygaxMagazine.com for everyone who can't be in New York City that day.
As soon as the first box is opened, you'll be able to order single copies or subscriptions online. (And of course, we'll have them in the store as well.)

The staff of Gygax magazine, including Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, Jayson Elliot, Jim Wampler, and James Carpio, will be online for a video Q&A. We'll have some other special guests that day as well.

After the unboxing, we'll keep the video running while we run gaming events all afternoon. There will be a limited number of online seats available to join the in-store games via the virtual tabletop Roll20. A followup email will be sent next week with a link to a form where you can sign up to play online.

Keep following us on Twitter and Facebook for more details as we get closer to the unboxing day! We'll be sending a followup email next week with details for anyone who wants to attend the event in person.

Mark your calendar:

Saturday, January 26th
2pm Eastern Standard Time

GygaxMagazine.com

The Brooklyn Strategist

333 Court Street
Brooklyn, New York
See you there!
-Jayson

SnarfQuest returns in Knights of the Dinner Table

Jolly Blackburn from Kenzer Co. just let this image slip over on Facebook. It looks like SnarfQuest is coming back in a big way, this time in Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine.

I'm a big fan of this comic from way back in the day. From the pages of Dragon Magazine to the graphic novel and later even a board game, that well wasn't so hot. I'm really looking forward to seeing Snarf and the group return. I think it's time to start collecting Knights again.

What do you want to play next? For me it's Airships

What do you want to play next?

With an ever changing work schedule and the holidays hitting hard and fast I haven't been getting in as much gaming as I've wanted to. I recently took a trip up to Toronto where I spent far too much money on new games. The sad part though is that I still haven't had a chance to try some of them yet. So right now the top of my playlist is Airships from Queen Games.

Airships is an interesting looking dice based game. Each player is trying to build the best fleet of zeppelins while at the same time contributing to the building of the biggest zep. of them all: The Hindenburg. The interesting part about this one is that you start with just a simple crew and very little tech and you have to roll dice to get better stuff. Your starting bits give you two white D6. Now on your turn if you want to buy better engines, you have to roll these two dice and try to get the target number on those engines. If you make the roll you get them and if you fail your turn is wasted. What those engines do is give you more dice to roll, either more white or the better Red or Black dice. You continue like this using dice to buy better bits to give you better dice to buy better bits, scoring points for completing airships along the way.

The mechanics are unique to any other game I own and I really want to give Airships a shot. I'm hoping to bring it out to the Board Games at the Green Bean event this Friday.

Airships is the top game on my to play list. What game do you hope to get to the table next?

24 Hour RPG 2012 contest results

The official results are in for this years 24 hour RPG contest over on rpggeek.com.

Congratulations goes out to everyone who entered. I now know just how hard, and how much fun entering one of these is. Special props to the winners. Lowell Francis Todd Sanders and Steffen O'Sullivan.

It is difficult to split the results down in great detail due to the nature of the single transferable voting system, but here are the top few positions that are at least partially discernible (with the proviso that these results are not directly meaningful, but rather a rough guide):

1st - Arclight Revelation Tianmar
2nd - Our Dust Earth
3rd - The Wind in the Willows RPG
4th - Men of Romance
5th - Eaten Away
6th - Breathless
7th - The Diminutive RPG
8th - One Night Only
9th= - Debrief / Noah's Mark
11th= - The Oathbreakers / We are all Star Stuff
13th= - Farmtopia / Holiday Heroes

Here's the official post on rpggeek:
http://rpggeek.com/thread/889328/2012-rpg-geek-24-hour-contest-results

Tim Kask shares more Gygax info on Dragonsfoot

Dragonsfoot is probably the most well known online gaming forum dedicated to the old school. It's definitely one of the biggest and most respected. It makes sense that Tim Kask would choose that forum to share quite a bit more info about the upcoming Gygax Magazine.

"The last couple of days have been more fun than I have had in a long time. I refer, of course, to the leaking of the news that a new magazine called Gygax Magazine is coming out next month. Just monitoring several FB threads yesterday took a lot of time.

Because this community has been very kind to me, I will share with you in what detail I can before the release. So, here are some snippets of the advertising packet or quotes from replies I wrote yesterday:

* Gygax Magazine will be released next month, December 2012.
* The magazine will be available in both print and digital formats.
* The name Gygax Magazine refers to Ernie and Luke.
* We registered the TSR trademark in 2011, but we are a new company, and not associated with the original TSR or Wizards of the Coast.
* Gygax Magazine will cover a wide variety of RPGs and strategy games, focusing on the games of today while preserving the traditions and history of the industry.
* We'd prefer to talk more about the contents of the first issue when it's available, but we hope people will love it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Gygax Magazine is myself, Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler. Our first issue is out in December; since it's not finished yet, we've been pretty quiet about things until it's ready.

Just to address some of the questions, I thought it was best that I leave a reply. We do own the trademark for TSR, and have since December of 2011. We are a new company, not the old TSR, as they were purchased by Wizards in the '90s. The trademark was abandoned about nine years ago, and we registered it in 2011. 

We decided the best thing to release first as TSR was a gaming magazine, because we wanted a way to bridge the traditions of the old guard with the awesome new games that are out today. " - Jayson Elliot

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

When I googled Gygax Magazine earlier this evening, I was taken aback by the number of hits. Some of the stuff I read was nasty and suspicious, even a bit mean-spirited; the speculations ran the gamut of possibilities; most of the buzz is very positive.

I was approached by Jayson nearly a year ago and asked if I might be interested in allowing him and his incipient staff to pick my brain regarding putting together a crackerjack new gaming magazine. Jayson produced his bonafides in the form of a very classy music ‘zine he had produced. I enthusiastically agreed to come on board as a consultant, and am glad to say that they always listened to both my answers and my suggestions, and I shared my publishing philosophy with them, still pretty much the same as when I started Dragon, Little Wars and Adventure Gaming. Jayson has assembled a very impressive, small and tight staff. My position with the mag is merely Consulting Editor; additionally, I will produce a regular bully-pulpit column each issue and the occasional game article. (My first feature article will be in #2, an in-depth look at a game called Samurai Battles that is part minis, part board and has overtones that are remarkably similar to the currents running through minis at the dawn of role-playing.)

Our initial publicity has been a bit misleading and incomplete—this will not be a one-trick-pony magazine. We want this to have the same zest for capital G gaming as the early days of The Dragon andLittle Wars, and a philosophy I followed with Adventure Gaming. That means that we will spend our time showcasing what we think are great games regardless of who makes it. We want to have a little something for everyone in every issue. I proved that it could be done with the success of the aforementioned magazines.

I was asked if the new TSR planned to produce “the next great rpg”. Good gawd, NO! In an interview I did with a blog, I pointed out that we at EE were asked the same thing. My reply was that there was no way that the four of us could possibly agree on a set of rules; we had no plans to even try.

We have an absolutely stellar Table of Contents in this first issue, crammed with names of talented writers and designers, both old and new. We have some eye-popping art by some big names and names that we expect to be big soon. Our first cover is outstanding: our second will blow you away. We plan to have pieces about all sorts of games, some rules/brand-specific and others not. We are considering a regular figure feature, and perhaps one on painting them. By the same token, we might steer you to a great card game (though pretty probably not CCG’s). We have so many approaches to our beloved hobby that we can take; we plan to take a variety each issue.

We are in no way legally connected to any company in existence before 2011. Gary’s widow owns all of his IP and has already shown by her overt hostility that it is not worth going there.

Our intent is to celebrate gaming in its myriad forms. Gary’s two oldest sons are not going to do anything cheap or tawdry to diminish their father or his legacy; he raised them better than that."

You can find the original post as well as follow up conversations here: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=23223&p=1301822#p1301822

Update: in addition to this it looks like Luke Gygax has done an interview over on Loremaster:
http://loremaster.org/content.php?282-Loremaster-Interview-with-Luke-Gygax

Tim Kask lets slip some info about Gygax Magazine

Over on the Old School Gamers Facebook Group Tim Kask, one of the contributors to Gygax Magazine let slip some more details. What I'm really glad to see is that they are planning on supporting multiple games and multiple formats including print. I'm definitely excited about this one.

From Tim:
Gygax is a gaming magazine for new and old players alike .We are looking forward to the games of tomorrow and today, while preserving the traditions and history that got us where we are now.

Our articles and features cover current independent and major publisher games such as Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, The One Ring, Shadowrun, Godlike, Labyrinth Lord, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Warhammer 40k Roleplay, Traveller, and others, as well as classic out-of-print games with a modern following, like AD&D, Top Secret, and Gamma World.

Our features include comics by Phil Foglio (What’s New With Phil and Dixie), Jim Wampler (Marvin the Mage), and Rich Burlew (Order of the Stick). Contributors include Jim Ward, Cory Doctorow, James Carpio, Ethan Gilsdorf, Dennis Sustare, and many more.

Publishing quarterly in print as well as PDF and iPad editions, we hope each issue of Gygax will be an
anticipated and treasured addition to any gamer’s library.

TSR Lives again? Well sort of

So how many of you gamers have seen this yet?

Have you checked out: http://tsrgames.com/ or maybe http://gygaxmagazine.com

There's been a ton of speculation today over what this is all about. Well ENWorld managed to get some answers and I have to say I'm excited by what they found.

"Hi guys, this is Jayson [Elliot]. I'm the editor for Gygax Magazine.

Gygax Magazine is myself, Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler. Our first issue is out in December; since it's not finished yet, we've been pretty quiet about things until it's ready.

Just to address some of the questions, I thought it was best that I leave a reply. We do own the trademark for TSR, and have since December of 2011. We are a new company, not the old TSR, as they were purchased by Wizards in the '90s. The trademark was abandoned about nine years ago, and we registered it in 2011.

We decided the best thing to release first as TSR was a gaming magazine, because we wanted a way to bridge the traditions of the old guard with the awesome new games that are out today."

Here's the original post over at ENWorld: http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/332022-gygax-magazine-update-gygax-family-involved.html

Props to Gareth Skarka for originally posting about this on G+