The end of the world as you know it

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 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
2. 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

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

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

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

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

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:

• http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/11/mace-vs-stick.html
• http://espadastres.blogspot.com/2010/11/falchion-vs-cutlass.html

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.