Evade text clarified

In The Dark Woods, we have changed the description of the "evade" action on page 7. Here is the old confusing text:

Evade allows a character to to add a movement ability level to his agility and strength until his next turn or until he is held, whichever comes first. A character without one of those abilities can also evade, but his agility and strength do not change.

Here is the new text which should be more clear:

Evade allows a character to add the level of one of his movement abilities to his agility and strength until the end of his next turn or until he is held, whichever comes first. A character with no movement abilities can also evade, allowing him to escape on his next turn if he is not held, but his agility and strength do not change.

We worked hard on these 32 pages for over a year, and we don't expect any more changes like this, but you never know.

Character Generator Update for TDW

We've updated The Dark Woods character generator to have the exact same layout as is in the character sheet in the book: http://gameartsguild.com/tdw

It also has details on what each ability is used for built into the ability selection menu, to help you save time when generating characters. It also has a separate tab for the minions character sheet.

50 Free TDW PDFs

If you or anyone you know wants a free copy of The Dark Woods RPG, have that person e-mail squawk@gameartsguild.com saying they want a copy, and we'll send them a coupon by e-mail for a free download from DriveThruRPG. We decided to give out 50 copies for free before the printed book comes out in a month or two (PDF normally costs $5.)

The Dark Woods PDF: $5

We released the PDF version of The Dark Woods today. Within weeks we'll also be releasing a book version on DriveThruRPG as well. At that time we'll be offering a discount to people who want to buy both the book and the PDF at the same time.

Here is a promotional video for The Dark Woods:


Here's our official The Dark Woods website: http://gameartsguild.com/content/index.php?title=The_Dark_Woods

New tileset on Open Game Art

We've been experimenting with HandS2D and content from OpenGameArt.org. As a result Seth expanded an existing tileset and released it here: http://opengameart.org/content/isometric-64x64-medieval-building-tileset

MiniMaM

The natural heir to the now mostly inactive Free Game Arts is http://OpenGameArt.org . Today we released an older 2D RPG experiement we did in Pygame called MiniMaM: http://opengameart.org/content/minimam-fantasy-rpg-characters

The Dark Woods testing has concluded

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?

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

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.

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Test The Dark Woods

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

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.