Game Arts Guild

The Dark Woods testing has concluded

2012-01-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

The inclement weather in Seattle has allowed us to finish all our testing for The Dark Woods. Thanks to everyone who was able to help with this. We still have some text, index and cover adjustments to make, but it's clear to us that we have nailed the balance and game mechanics now.

Are we there yet?

2011-12-31T22:01:00.000-08:00

The Dark Woods is still not quite ready yet. 99% sure it will be out 1st quarter 2012. Much of what we are doing for The Dark Woods is sort of boilerplate for the 2nd Edition of The Squawk RPG (probably 4th quarter 2012.)

TDW still cooking

2011-11-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

The Dark Woods isn't out of the woods yet. It's funny how tricky details like arranging cover art and formatting indexes can be. We are hoping to have more exiting news in December.

Follow us on Twitter

2011-10-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

You can now follow us on Twitter, which will automatically give you a heads up every time we post something to this site.
Follow @GameArtsGuild

Test The Dark Woods

2011-09-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

We have a new game coming out called "The Dark Woods." It is a team vs. team pen and paper RPG that doesn't use a game master. PCs are "sorcerers" who become more powerful from devouring the magical "essence" of their fallen enemies, this power warping them into inhuman forms. The teams of players take turns between playing their own characters and playing the forces battling the rival team.

It uses a fairly simple combat system, similar to the one in the Squawk RPG. So far it plays best with 4 to 6 players, and it is meant to be played through in a single gaming session of less than 7 hours. We are done with internal testing and the first draft of the game, and we would like a few groups of outsiders to test it before we publish it.

If you or any friends can test The Dark Woods before the end of October 2011, please e-mail us so we can send you a PDF at:

squawk@gameartsguild.com

PAX 2011

2011-08-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

At PAX this year we attended a panel that included authors of Dogs in the Vineyard and Panty Explosion. There were some interesting views espoused about creating and promoting Role-Playing Games:

Self publish - in today's publishing world, most outside publishers just aren't bringing enough the table to be worth their offers. Since you have to do all your own promotion anyways, don't use an outside publisher at all.
2nd Editions happen because it's hard to edit and test a game sufficiently the first time through. Having an editor (who works for you or is someone you know,) will make for a better 1st (and 2nd) edition.
For finding late stage playtesters, find an appropriate online community with interest in your project.

We noticed an extremely strong Pathfinder presence at PAX, which was a pleasant surprise.

There were also some very interesting displays from Geek Chic involving using a computer touch screen table top, which was used for both table top gaming and playing PC action RPG titles.

In video games, I found the whole Defense of the Ancients trend in so many of the new major titles to be a refreshing change from the usual Counterstrike & WoW type games that have dominated the computer game market for so long. The Free to Play model that some of these League of Legends type games use is particularly appropriate in today's austere economy.

TDW not out of woods yet

2011-07-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

We were intending to have The Dark Woods completed by now. However, it's most likely going to be released in September or October at our current pace.

web development

2011-06-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy this month working on a variety of projects, Squawk 2nd Edition, The Dark Woods, and some web-based projects. Over the last few years we have been dabbling in DHTML game development. Here are some older examples:

http://gameartsguild.com/scrollio/ Look mom, no flash!
http://gameartsguild.com/hands2d/ (Yes, it's an action RPG engine in HTML5.)

It's also interesting to note that we are close friends with the developer of the educational game "math:math" for Android:

http://www.appbrain.com/app/math%3Amath/com.appspot.lance_miller.MathMath

Here is a preview of a character-generator we have been working on for our up coming GM-less RPG book The Dark Woods, which is fairly smart-phone friendly:

http://gameartsguild.com/dwpc/

The end of the world as you know it

2011-05-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

An Earth-shattering event took place today. The Dark Woods was a board game we were developing back in the mid 90's that spun off the Squawk RPG, and today we completed some preliminary testing on a new RPG book version of it. We expect to publish a new version of it before the 2nd Edition of the Squawk RPG, and that when you play it, it will change how your expectations for RPGs forever. The Dark Woods does not use a GM, while the players split into teams and pit villainous monster PCs against each other. A character generator we are working on for it can be found at http://gameartsguild.com/dwpc/

Easter Miracle

2011-04-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

We attended the two big local conventions this weekend, Sakuracon and Norwescon, and still managed to have some Easter dinner. The Serpent Lord attended a panel with Neal Stephenson. (We are fans of his.) He was impressed with what the panelists were saying about their writing process (spar with weapons, eat, talk, write. This reminds us of our involvement with Tres Espadas.) But Neal Stephenson was late, and when he rushed into the room after the panel had started, he almost-tripped/stumbled over The Serpent Lord. The Serpent Lord was impressed with Stephenson's "ninja like reflexes" that kept him from falling on his face - a testament to the value of weapons sparring.

Squawk RPG Errata

2011-04-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

We have been working on an Errata for the Squawk Role-Playing Game, which we have published here. This Squawk RPG Errata lists fixes for all the known errors in the Squawk RPG. This Squawk RPG Errata is a work in progress, and will be updated regularly as we find more fixes for issues in the Squawk RPG.

Dino-dog & Gen Y

2011-03-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

The Serpent Lord has posted some interesting Squawk-related dinosaur illustrations, and commented on the state of RPGs in the last decade, on his blog here: http://theserpentlord.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Scratch vs. Scratch: New KO

2011-02-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed already, there are actually two versions of the Scratch Role-Playing System out there, the Knol version and the Wiki version. The Knol version of Scratch is a static online version of what has been printed in the first edition of the Squawk Role-Playing Game book. The Knol version is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

The wiki version of the Scratch RPS is the latest version of Scratch, the version that we are using for our current projects under development. In general the wiki version of Scratch is better, including our latest improvements. The biggest change so far is that the Knockout ability has been rewritten to be simpler and to be more fitting with the other abilities.

Squawk Character Sheets

2011-02-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Although the Squawk Role-Playing Game is simple enough to play on scratch paper, these character sheets will help you keep track of modifiers from equipment and allies with craftsmanship ability. Four character sheets fit on one 8.5 x 11" page.

Download the free PDF.

Squawk on RPG.net

2011-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

Two updates about the Squawk Role-Playing Game and RPG.net:

Thanks to Tommy Brownell, the Squawk RPG finally got mentioned on RPG.net (we had been trying since Thanksgiving): http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15127.phtml
We have moved the Scratch Role-Playing System that Squawk uses from Knol to the Wiki on RPG.net: http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Scratch

Tommy Brownell reviews Squawk

2011-01-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

Tommy Brownell reviewed the Squawk RPG on his "Most Unread Blog Ever" site. His blog posts tend to get reposted elsewhere, so this is great for us.

If you haven't read Tommy's blog before, I strongly recommend it. He tends to cover a very wide range of pen and paper RPG material, and gives thorough reviews on everything he covers.

Gafflings

2011-01-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

The second intelligent species we designed that ended up in Squawk was the Gaffling. Here is a document that describes them and shows various illustrations you may not have seen before. We have always been big on intelligent dinosaurs, even when our games were not primarily about intelligent dinosaurs. In those games, the Gaffling was our "intelligent dinosaur" species.

Myrmidon Design

2010-12-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

The oldest Squawk intelligent species design is probably the Myrmidon. Seth's first sketch of what would later become the Myrmidon was probably done in the late 1980's, shortly after playing Shadow of the Beast on the Amiga. For the first years of the creature's gaming life it was referred to as the "skeet" and had 4 arms and 3 eyes. Here are sketches showing variations on the Myrmidon design over the years (not in chronological order):

Press Release

2010-11-24T18:51:00.003-08:00

The Squawk RPG is a science-fiction role-playing game for 3 to 5 players (including Game Master). Players control intelligent avians, dinosaurs and other reptiles who explore the Abaddon planetary system and it's many unique worlds, cultures and technologies. They overcome extraterrestrial monsters, wild dinosaurs, space pirates, and other savage perils along the way.

Half of the Squawk RPG is a campaign (a series of adventures) that allows Game Masters to run the game with minimal preparation time. The campaign allows players to follow a central plot, or explore the Abaddon system, moving freely in many directions. The campaign includes more than 100 possible encounters to challenge the players, depending on which parts of the Squawk RPG universe they decide to explore. Random encounter tables for each world - and rules that allow players to search for specific encounters - keep the campaign new and exciting even when the same group of players have played the campaign before.

The Squawk RPG uses the simple and easy-to-use Scratch Role-Playing System, which is included in the book. Navigation maps help readers explore the planets and moons of the Abaddon system easily. Over 100 illustrations of creatures, technology and places help readers visualize this unique setting. Experienced tabletop gamers will be able to play this game within minutes of opening the Squawk RPG book, and this is an ideal role-playing game for new players as well.

You can buy the paper Squawk RPG book at these sites:

(CreateSpace gives us the highest commission.)

Amazon.com

Or you can buy the Squawk RPG e-book at these sites:

If you run a shop or store, e-mail us at squawk@gameartsguild.com so we can get you books at an appropriate price for your business.

Martial Arts & Tres Espadas

2010-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that Martial Arts is a common theme in our games. Over half the Game Arts Guild has full contact martial arts experience, and some of us have internal martial arts experience with Aikido and Tai Chi. Lately some of our members have been involved in a full contact weapon sparring club called "Tres Espadas." Seth (The Serpent Lord) is thinner of the two fighters in this video:

http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/11/naginata-vs-glaive.html

I am the thinner of the two fighters in these videos:

http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/07/staff-vs-buckler-from-20100710.html
http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/07/knife-vs-knife-liver-kick.html (knife vs. knife segment)

And the larger guy we are both up against in all three of those is a playtester mentioned in the acknowledgement section of the Squawk RPG book. The guy in the black shirt in these two videos is a Game Arts Guild member:

And last but not least, here's a battle between two Game Arts Guild members in the cold November rain:

http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/11/weapons-upgrade.html

Notice that the footage above is not LARPing, but a martial arts exercise.

RPG Now and DriveThruRPG

2010-11-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

We will officially be doing a press release soon, because the Squawk RPG is on Amazon, on RPG Now:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=85789
and on DriveThruRPG:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=85789
so people can now purchase the book in paper or electronic form. We are still trying to figure out how to make this accessible to brick-and-mortar RPG shops. If you run a brick and mortar store and want copies of the Squawk RPG on your shelf, e-mail us at squawk@gameartsguild.com , and we'll figure out how to get you those books at a price that should work for you.

The Truth vs. the Correct Answer

2010-11-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

When you are playing Squawk, the GM's answers to players who's characters are trying to determine the origins of their universe should be something like "no one is sure. There are no fossils to verify evolutionary theory, and there is a missing link of machinery when it comes to microorganisms and nanobots." That is the correct answer; "Squawk is something of an alternative universe where large mammals just don't exist," or "Squawk takes place so far away that it is completely unrelated to Earth" are other explanations used previously. (For more information on how to treat this topic while playing the Squawk RPG, see the last blog post "Squawk's Creation Debate.")

However, when we were working on this book, there was a graphic we used to keep in mind from our own personal designer's perspective what the "real context" of Squawk is. Basically Squawk takes place about 5 million years ago in another part of the Milky Way Galaxy:

The Terraformers (a type of biomechanical robots called "Golems") were critical to life being spread throughout the worlds of Abaddon. So both sides of the debate mentioned in our last post are right: the origins of life in Abaddon depended on biomechanical robots, and most of the life there evolved one way or another. The "good guys" (Symbiotic Order) are more-right, but the Clockmakers are not completely wrong.

Squawk's Creation Debate

2010-11-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

One of the big political issues in Squawk is an argument about the origins of life in the Abaddon system. One side of the argument is the Symbiotic Order's view, and the other is basically the Monopolis Corporation's view. Abaddon lacks rich fossil records because life really hasn't been there that long. Therefore the question of "intelligent design" for Squawk characters is twisted - on one side the religious order believes in Evolution, and on the other side the areligious corporate scholars have come to the conclusion that life has been intelligently designed. Here's a "poster" Seth made a while ago but didn't end up in the book, which is relavent to the "Debate at Ariel University" encounter in the Squawk RPG (p.130): Debate Poster

Logo updated

2010-11-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

We have updated our official logo. The previous one had a very "Vegas" looking design because it had 2d6 and no d20.

Squawk Hex Mat and Tokens

2010-10-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a new hex mat and tokens for playing Squawk with the Grid rules. The 8.5" by 11" hex mat is divided into 1" wide hexes. You may need a few pages this size for big battles. Click on the image to download both the hex mat and the tokens as a single PDF.

Indexed & back in stock

2010-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Squawk RPG book was "out of stock" on Amazon for a little while because we were polishing the book with an index, some slight cover changes, and many grammar corrections. Amazon says it is now "in stock" again.

Props for Scratch Grid Squawk

2010-10-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

We decided not to focus on using the Scratch RPS's Grid rules in the book; we included the grid rules for those who would want them, but the book isn't focused on supporting those rules. Here are some props for a Skand, Titan, and Lyndwrym:

(These were in turn made from 3D models in Blender before this book project started, models for a Squawk RPG computer game we worked on some years ago.) And if you don't have any hex paper, we made some of that as well:

Buy the Squawk RPG Book

2010-09-22T08:56:00.001-07:00

You can now order the Squawk Role-Playing Game book at Amazon.com. ($19.95 USD and eligible for free shipping if you buy it with another book that costs at least $5.05.) The factory proof looks great. The 5.5" x 8.5" trade paperback format is bigger than I had imagined, feeling more like manga than a paperback novel.

We included a map of the Abaddon system on the back cover, so you won't get lost.

I let BFG include any of my sketches he wanted - including some that are not my favorites. As a result most pages of the book have artwork that helps you visualize the inhabitants and locations of Squawk's unusual science fiction setting.

I wish we had this book the last time I played Squawk!

Finished Editing Squawk RPG Book

2010-09-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

I am the new spokesmodel for D&D Starter

We finished the final editing on the Squawk RPG book this weekend and I still had time to endure two long, grueling days of pure geek pleasure at PAX.

Public Squawk RPG Beta Concluded

2010-08-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all of you who participated in the Squawk Role-Playing Game book beta testing. If you have any feedback that you have not yet sent us, please send it to squawk@gameartsguild.com

We are well into our final editing process. For example, all of the planned changes to the Scratch Role-Playing System from beta feedback have already been made: http://knol.google.com/k/scratch-rps

defense changes

2010-07-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

There have been 3 new changes to the Scratch RPS (and thus also the Squawk RPG,) related to defense:

First and most importantly, the core rolling mechanism is that instead of trying to roll over a difficulty level to succeed, we now have a roll (plus ability bonus) instead equal to a difficulty in order to succeed. This means that defense is now what your attack roll + ability bonus has to be in order to successfully attack that target (equal to or greater than the target's defense.)
Second, we are now again listing character's defense explicitly (after tgh/2.)
Third, all healing rolls now have a difficulty level of 10 (they used to vary more than this.)

Use Scratch-Knol for testing

2010-06-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

We have rewritten the combat examples in the Scratch RPS so that they better explain some of the more complicated things that can happen in basic Squawk RPG confrontations. From now on Beta Testers should reference the Scratch RPS knol for the rules instead of the Scratch RPS rules in the Squawk RPG Beta PDF.

Balancing Begins

2010-06-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

There are two changes we have made as result of beta testing feedback, which beta testers should now start using until further notice:

When searching for a specific encounter, if the party rolls the same encounter twice, they automatically find the encounter they are looking for rather than repeat the random encounter.
The damage levels have changed for shooting and knock-out abilites (these details can be seen at the Scratch RPS Knol.) In a nutshell, shooting only damages 2 hit points unless the attack rolls a 20 when it then instead damages 5. Knock Out now damages 5 instead of 6, but still damages 7 if a 20 is rolled. (In combat between vehicles, rolling a 20 no longer damages any extra hit points.)

Help testing? squawk@gameartsguild.com

2010-05-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have had some helpful editorial feedback from the RPG.net forums. We have rethought some of the book structure as a result, and so far we are:

dividing the book into two sections, one for players and one for GMs,
massively reworking the introduction to explain the book better,
giving a very brief genesis story for Abaddon, (something we have never done before,)
clarifying that you really must read most of the appendix and intelligent species sections before trying to generate a character (least bit actually play,)
creating a more robust table of contents, and
moving the intelligent species section back to before the characters section.

Editorial opinions are appreciated, and that forum is a great place to put that kind of feedback. However, what we need more is a few groups of players & GMs to try to play through the book, and let us know what parts of the book are too difficult or too easy. We realize that the Squawk RPG beta PDF we put out is not as clear on how to play this game as we had assumed. If you want help understanding the Squawk RPG beta PDF so that you can help us with testing, e-mail squawk@gameartsguild.com and we will answer your questions as quickly as possible.

Squawk RPG beta is now

2010-05-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

From now until the end of July 2010 we are inviting the general public to test the Squawk Role-Playing Game. Download the beta version of the Squawk RPG book. We are looking for feedback from players and game masters, especially about which parts of the game are too easy or too difficult. Please e-mail feedback to: squawk@gameartsguild.com

The size of the book is 177 pages, with a page size of 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Most of the book is one massive adventure or "campaign". We will use feedback from this beta testing to perfect the final version of the book, which we hope to release before the end of August.

Pre-Beta editing complete

2010-05-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

We finished the pre-beta editing for the Squawk Role-Playing Game earlier today. Now we are putting a beta PDF together for testing purposes. Once the PDF is ready, we'll officially announce that beta testing is open to the public. That announcement will be on this site, and a similar invitation will be on the RPG.net forums.

The Scratch Role-Playing System

2010-04-15T08:36:00.001-07:00

The Squawk Role-Playing Game now uses the Scratch Role-Playing System instead of the Mano a Mano Role-Playing system. (Most versions of Squawk in the past have used Mano a Mano.) Scratch is a simpler and more generalist Role-Playing System (not as focused on close-range combat as Mano a Mano.) We made this decision in 2009, because it is easier for both for us as developers of the book and for new Squawk players. This still means that the Squawk RPG will have a normal all-rights-reserved copyright license, while using an "open source" role-playing system (Scratch, which like Mano a Mano uses a Creative Commons license.)

What is the Squawk RPG?

2010-03-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

The Squawk Role-Playing Game is one of the first projects our development team started, and we have aspired to make a publicly available version of this game in one form or another since the mid 90's. It broke off from another project called "The Dark Woods," and has appeared on some of our websites in the past. In 2008 we began working on a Squawk RPG Book, and we expect to have this book available for sale online in 2010. For more information on the Squawk RPG, check out The Serpent Lord's personal notes on Squawk.

Old News

2010-03-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

The Game Arts Guild has been around a while in one form or another. Check out http://gameartsguild.com/old_news/ for an index of our old news from 1997 to 2009.