A Worthy Kickstarter

For those unaware here is currently a Kickstarter in progress to create a documentary about Dungeons and Dragons and the people who created it.  I know many of you are probably burnt out from contributing to such awesome kickstarters as Reaper's miniatures bonanza and the Gamers 3 film, but I really feel that this is an important one worthy of every Gamer's time, attention, and money.  

The kickstarter is set to end on Sunday and as of right now it has not reached its goal, though it has made great lengths in the last few days from people getting the word out (specifically Lisa Stevens from Paizo).  Even with its recent surge it has a ways to go so check out the videos below about the story these guys are trying to tell.  I think you'll find you are interested enough to contribute to this movie getting made. 

Reaping in the Money

Wow... the Kickstarter is over and the grand total is in...

$3,429,236

That includes a huge rush right at the end to unlock Cthulhu.  Rejoice those who pledged money, and get ready to Reap what you sow.

 

Reaper Kickstarter Set to End

For those who have been living under a rock, Reaper has a Kickstarter going.  Said Kickstarter was to help usher in an expansion of their Bones line and do so quickly by getting the money up front.  They set a very attainable goal of $30,000, with the usual stretch goals in case they went over. 

Indeed they did go over... they went WAY over.

As of this writing their pledge amount sits at a jaw dropping $3,093,064. As Mike over at 1d8 said, this might be the greatest gaming deal of the century.  A $100 pledge get's you over 200 on their miniatures.  If you want in you better get over there, it ends in less than three hours.

From 5th back to 1st

WotC has been busy as of late.  First they announce fifth edition and now they are going old school and announcing that they are reprinting the 1st edition core rulebooks.

From the announcement:

In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.

To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.

Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.

I think it's awesome that they are reprinting the books.  Tapping into the OSR market is a good businesses decision and one that is long overdue.  The fact that a portion of the proceeds are going to the Gygax Memorial Fund is great news, and a classy move by WOTC.  There seems to be a real culture change taking place over at Wizards.

Just like the reprint, it is long overdue.

A Beautiful Free Campaign Map AND a Free Custom Map Giveaway!

I love this map.  It is without a doubt on of my favorites of the series.  I hope you love it too, because now it's yours to use in your games.  Like all of our Free Map Monday Maps, this map is 100% free for your personal use. It is devoid of city/town markers, mountains, forests, or anything else which leaves you free to add anything you want to the map with ease. Please feel free to leave thoughts on this map or the series of free maps in general in the comments section or email us by clicking on the "Email Us" scroll in the far right hand column.

But that's not all this week!  I've mentioned that once things calmed down we would have another Free Custom Map Giveaway, well that time is finally here. 

Have you ever wanted to have a great digital version of your campaign map but lacked the skill and know-how to translate your vision into reality?  Well we at the Labyrinth are here to help one lucky person make their dream come true!  That's right we are going to give away a free custom made map to one of our lucky readers.  Our rules are slightly different than last year's contest, so please read carefully.

Entry:
Entry to this contest is simple.  There are only thee requirements: 

1. You comment on this post stating that you want to enter the contest and describing the subject of the map that you want (world, kingdom, dungeon, town, or etc) in 100 words or less.  
2. You must be a follower of this blog when you Enter via Comment
3. We must have a way to contact you (Since you are a follower this is pretty simple, just don't disable every means of contacting you!)

It really is that simple!  Entry will be open for one week at which time we will select the best entry and furnish one lucky person with a great custom map.

So now you are probably asking yourself, "What if I win?  How is this going to work?"  Well if you are our winner we will contact you through your Google profile.  You then have five days to respond and accept your prize.  That's when the fun begins!  Communication will take place back and forth so that we get an idea of  what the map should look like, what colors to use, name locations, etc.  We will furnish the winner with working versions leading up to the final version to make sure we are on the right track and the winner is happy with the progress. 
The map will be the property of the winner with the artist(s) retaining the right to display them in their portfolio only.  Finally, we will show the finished version (with watermark) on this site so everyone can see how it came out.

Email or comment with questions.  Best of luck to everyone!

Neverland Premieres Tonight

Syfy's Neverland premieres tonight at 9pm est.  It looks pretty great, and with Walking Dead on its midseason break there is no reason not to tune in. 

For those of you who don't know about Neverland check out the trailer below. 

Pathfinder MMO on the Way

Paizo has officially licensed the Pathfinder MMO Rights to Goblinworks.  Details about the game are still somewhat scarce but here is some info from the Goblinworks website...

Pathfinder Online takes place in the world of the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, an industry-leading tabletop roleplaying game based on more than a decade of system development. The Pathfinder world includes elements inspired by classic and modern fantasy, from lost cities shrouded in misty jungles to decaying pyramids in deserts of burning sands to a fantastic island metropolis where folk from countless kingdoms live side by side with all manner of exotic creatures. If a player wants to tell a fantasy story, the world of Pathfinder has a place for it. (For more information on the world of Pathfinder and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, please visit paizo.com/pathfinder.)

Pathfinder Online is a hybrid sandbox/theme park-style MMO roleplaying game where characters explore, develop, and dominate the River Kingdoms, a treacherous no-man's-land of squabbling kingdoms on the edge of wilderness. Players explore, adventure, develop, and dominate their domains by playing fighters, rogues, wizards, or any of Pathfinder's many character types, or they can use the game's archetype system go beyond the standard options to create nearly any sort of character imaginable.

Pathfinder Online's robust trading system puts players in control of the world's economy with player-created items, consumables, fortifications, and settlements. Character-controlled settlements can grow into full-fledged kingdoms that compete for resources as they seek to become the dominant force in the land, raising vast armies to hold their territory against the depredations of monstrous creatures, NPC factions, and other player characters.

Social organizations scale from small parties of a few adventurers to player nations inhabited by thousands. As settlements develop, the surrounding wilderness develops more complex and challenging features, including randomly generated encounters and resources as well as exciting scripted adventures.

The design process for Pathfinder Online has only just begun, and there is plenty of opportunity for gamers to get in on the ground floor of this exciting new project. Paizo and Goblinworks are committed to soliciting player feedback about the Pathfinder Online project, and will track the game's development here at goblinworks.com. Add your email address in the box on this page to receive regular updates on the Pathfinder Online project!

Early indications seem to be that we are looking at another World of Warcraft clone that can't hope to compete against the juggernaut that inspired it, but we'll see.   I wish Paizo and Goblinworks luck.  Even if I don't like MMOs and don't think this game will be very good, I would like to see them succeed. 

Hell it's not like it could be much worse than the piece of shit that was the Dungeons and Dragons MMO...

Avengers Trailer

Just in case you've been living under a rock, and so often these days I know I do, here is the Avengers Trailer.  With so many characters no one character get's much face time, but it looks like it could be a really fun movie.

Dark Tower Canceled

Movies based on Stephen King's books usually suck.  Not always, but it's a general rule.  I can't explain it and I certainly don't blame the source material.  

So with that being said I'm not sure how to feel now that plans to make Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series into three feature films and two miniseries have fallen through.  It seems that despite the promise of the project, the cost is simply too staggering and risky for Universal to commit to.  

If you are a fan of the Dark Tower series who hopes to one day see it appear on screen then not all hope is lost.  Howard's production company Imagine Entertainment is going to be pitching the idea to other studios.  We'll see if any of them feel that Dark Tower is worth a big (and expensive) leap of faith. 

Game of Thrones: Brienne of Tarth Cast

Writer George Martin announced recently that the part of Brienne of Tarth will be played by Gwendoline Christie.  Christie is a British actress of considerable size (6'3) which makes her a good fit for the Maid of Tarth.  According to Martin the casting of Christie was easy and he believes that she will thrive alongside the rest of the cast. 

A Game of Thones is #1

A Game of Thones was not a number one best seller when it was released in 1996.  Fast forward to today, and not only will you find it atop the NY Times best seller list, you will find the sequels on the list as well.  I think we can be fairly confident that in a couple of weeks we will see a fifth book from the A Song of Ice and Fire series on that list as well!

Game of Thrones Starts Racking Up Rewards Nominations

HBO's Game of Thrones is already started to collect awards nominations.  According to the author, George R. R. Martin, the show has already been nominated for both a Critic's Choice Award and a Portal Award.  Several of the actors from the series have also been nominated, including Sean Bean. 

Here is a complete list of the Critic's Choice Nominees.  To see a complete list of the 2011 Portal Awards click here.

Heroes of Neverwinter: New D&D Game Coming to Facebook

Atari is working on a new game called Heroes of Neverwinter, but unlike most games that they produce this one won't be for console, it'll be for Facebook.  They are working on the game with Liquid Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast and aim for a summer release, though they haven't confirmed an actual date yet.

As far as actual game play here is a description:

Heroes of Neverwinter is a turn-based multiplayer role-playing game where players customize a character and then recruit other characters to form an adventuring party. This party ventures into dungeons to kill monsters and collect items from chests, which can then be used to upgrade the character’s combat statistics or to buy new items and equipment for their character. Like EA2D’s Dragon Age Legends, Heroes of Neverwinter also encourages players to recruit friends’ characters to their party, which creates unique social interactions as players “shop” among their friends for those with the ideal character class and level to make up the best possible party.

The full article can be read here. 

I can tell you that I won't play this game.  I'm not big with Facebook and have never played a single Facebook game, but I'm sure there are D&D players who have and will appreciate this game.  It's good at least to see D&D stay relevant with the changes in technology in video games.  For those of you who love Facebook and D&D, keep an eye out this summer because this is a match made in heaven for you. 

No Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition at Gen Con?

I've really grown to love Call of Cthulhu.  I enjoy the game more than enough to buy the core rulebook from Chaosium.  I held off from buying the 6th edition rulebook because back in February word spread that there would be a 7th Edition which would be available at Gen Con this year. 

According to what I've been reading lately it seems that that will no longer be the case.  Rumors say that 7th Edition will be pushed back to 2012, but that there will be an Anniversary Edition available.  To celebrate 30 years of Call of Cthulhu Chaosium has decided to release a hard cover 320 page leather bound book... but with the 6th edition rules.  

I'm really torn here.  On the one hand I'd like to get the new rules (though with CoC there are very few changes between editions), but on the other hand I really like well made hard cover books and am willing to pay extra for quality.  Those who aren't interested in paying a premium probably won't be interested as this book costs $64.95.

I think this is all going to come down to whether the book is available at Gen Con or not.  I'm going to want to get myself something cool at the Con, and a leather bound Call of Cthulhu book certainly qualifies. 

The Avengers Gets a Second Villain

This according to Latino Review.  Major spoilers... be warned!

Here's hoping that the Avengers doesn't suffer from having too many villains without focusing on any of them.  That seems to be one of the major pitfalls of making a comic book movie.  There is this desire to cram in extra characters, especially villains, and no one get's ample screen time and the movie sucks.  

Still, in Joss Whedon I trust.  I fully expect (and hope) that he succeeds and the movie is good. 

Paizo Picks Up Wizards of the Coast's Slack

A while back Wizards of the Coast decided to discontinue production on their line of pre-painted plastic miniatures.  A lot of people, including me, were disappointed at this.  Though I don't play 4e, their minis were still really cool, durable, and best of all painted (I can't paint a mini to save my life!).  

I just received word that Paizo has teamed with WizKids have teamed up to fill the void.  This is good news, and not just for fans of Pathfinder.  This is good news for everyone who likes to use miniatures in their games but can't paint, likes cheap minis, and doesn't want to worry about damaging a fragile pewter figure.  T

he teamup is also something to be excited about.  Paizo has been offering quality products for a few years now and has built up quite a reputation in the gaming community.  Most people know WizKids for their miniature games like HeroClix and Mage Knight.  With the two working together this line seems destined to be a quality product.

The new miniatures will be available fourth quarter of this year. 

First Look At Bane From New Batman Movie

Here is a first look at Thomas Hardy depicting Bane in the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.  Also the Official site for the movie is up, but it just has some ominous chanting. 

D&D Lair Assault: 4th Edition Takes Final Step to Becoming a Board Game

"The D&D Lair Assault program is designed for players looking for more complex, strategic, and highly tactical challenges. The D&D Lair Assault program is tailored to groups of players who enjoy solving tactical puzzles, optimizing characters, and using rules to their advantage. Each D&D Lair Assault challenge features complex encounters prepared in advance by the Dungeon Master.  Players are then pitted against their DM in an attempt to solve highly customized and creative challenges."

That is from here.  I found out about it at Geek Related.  Here is the official Wizards of the Coast announcement from a few days ago. 

I almost wish I hadn't read any of it.  There is so much to be disturbed about in the above statement that I won't even go into it.  I will say that I don't understand the people at WotC that are currently in charge of Dungeons & Dragons.  On the one hand they almost acknowledge that 4e is going in the wrong direction and attempt to right the course by releasing Essential.  Then on the other hand they go and release their ridiculous collectible cards and now they are doing this. 

Congratulations Wizards of the Coast you are now managing to piss off and alienate even the 4e crowd.  Maybe they figured they had pissed off fans of every other edition so they might as well go for the complete set.  Not all of those who play 4th edition are pissed of course, some really like the sound of this.  But is it really a good idea to fracture your market yet again?  It just doesn't seem like good business sense to me, but then again neither did refusing to sell old school PDFs.  

George R. R. Martin Finishes A Dance With Dragons

Writing is not easy, especially when you have millions of fans clamoring impatiently for your next book.  There has been a lot of pressure on George R. R. Martin to finish his series, A Song of Ice and Fire.  Many have feared that he will, "Pull a Robert Jordan" and leave the series unfinished, but Martin has constantly expressed his commitment to finishing the series.   

Today he took a big step toward doing just that by finishing his fifth installment, A Dance With Dragons.  There has been quite a long wait for this book, but I think the wait will be worth it when we finally get our hands on it.  

A Dance With Dragons is set to be released July 12th of this year. 

Dungeons & Dragons Prefumes

What does a Lawful Good Elven Cleric smell like?  Now you can find out with the RPG series by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.  It isn't just a perfume in a normal sense.  Rather than just getting a bottle of a single sent, you built your sent just like you built an RPG character. 

In most pen and paper fantasy RPGs, three of the primary attributes that you must choose for your character are race, class, and alignment. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG scent series was designed to emulate the character creation process, and are meant to be layered in order to create a character concept. In short: you layer your class, race, and the two fragrances that compose your alignment to construct your character scent. RPGs in all their myriad forms – CRPGs, MMOs, and old school pen and paper – have brought me immeasurable joy. This is my homage. This series is dedicated to my first DMs – my parents – for laughing off the nutter-perpetuated AD&D Satan Scare of the 80's. Thanks for taking the time to play with your little girl. I miss you, and I love you.

Elf, Dwarf and Orc are among the "Race" components, but there are also an assortment of options for alignment and class.  A plethora of different scents can be made from all of these components, just like a plethora of characters types can be made. Each different component has a brief description of what it has to offer.  Building a scent seems a lot like gourmet cooking in a lot of ways.  Each component bottle is 5ml and costs $17.50.

This is strange, but I'm sure it can also be a lot of fun to the right person.  Though somewhat pricey it could be a great gift for the geek girl in your life.