Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! New Star Trek Adventures, Monsterpocalypse coming back, BattleTech video game coming soon, something about some game getting a new edition that seems like a big deal, and more!
A big new product was announced this week! That’s right, the first sourcebooks for Modiphius’s Star Trek Adventures. The first is The Beta Quadrant Sourcebook. If you’re not that into Star Trek that you’ve actually tried to find canonical maps of the galaxy (which is hard to do because, well, they didn’t really write the original show with a map in mind) and you only know of the Alpha Quadrant from its frequent mentions in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, you might not know that a good deal of the stories from Star Trek are actually in the Beta Quadrant. It is the quadrant of the galaxy that includes the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire as well as the home planets of the Vulcans, Andorians, and Humans (technically, the Sol System is on the dividing line between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants). This sourcebook includes character creation information for the Benzites, Bolians, Efosians, and Klingons and information on the ships of the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Gorn Hegemony, Orion Syndicate, and civilian craft. The book will be available in May of this year with a retail price of $34.99.
Also out in May is The Command Division Supplemental Rulebook. This book includes expanded rules for social encounters and diplomacy including new 2d20 Social Conflict options. It goes deeply into what the Command Division is like in Starfleet and how officers of that division fit into the overall structure. Optional rules for running an entire fleet as an Admiral are also included, but it’s not stated if you must take the Starfleet Admiral Vow of being evil or, at best, a morally grey jerk (which is pretty evil for Starfleet). Ship designs for the Nebula, Sovereign, Steamrunner, and highly demanded NX classes are included along with shuttles and support craft along with new character traits for piloting and command. This book does not yet have an announced page count, but the hardcover will also retail for $34.99.
Okay, that’s not the news you were wanting. You were wanting to know all about the new edition of a classic game. You’re in luck, as Privateer Press announced the return of Monsterpocalypse. This skirmish miniature game focused on battling kaiju fighting over territory. Which, in typical kaiju fashion, happens to be a variety of locations humans would rather they not fight on. The designs for the new game will feature all-new sculpts for the miniatures which will now be “hobby models”, meaning they will require assembly and painting as opposed to the original game, which came pre-painted and ready to play. The game itself will be a new edition but still stay true to the original format of using a gridded map with strategic locations for power-ups and a core mechanic focused on managing dice pools for actions split between your monster and your units. There’s no firm release date or retail information announced yet, but the new line will be out this fall (which means there’s a good chance there will be a large presence for the game at this year’s Gen Con).
Of course, that’s not the big story of the week. The big story is about the historic playtest of a highly popular game. And yes, the playtest period for the BattleTech video game is over and pre-orders are now available! This tactical video game based on BattleTech comes from Jordan Weisman’s Harebrained Schemes video game studio and follows up their previous Shadowrun Returns games with a similar take on the giant stompy robot genre. The game is set in 3025 (so no Clans) and is a turn-based isometric skirmish combat game featuring updated designs of many classic BattleMechs from the original game. The game features a mercenary-based campaign mode as well as a skirmish mode for both PvP and single player matches. While this game doesn’t put you in the cockpit the way the MechWarrior video games did, it does manage a good recreation of the tabletop wargame experience of the original BattleTech without as much bookkeeping and some impressive graphics. And yes, they are using classic mechs including the Unseen (which has caused renewed friction with Harmony Gold that, as of yet, hasn’t hampered any of the BattleTech line). The game is available for $39.99 with a pre-order bonus of a custom skin for the Shadowhawk, or you can get the Deluxe Edition for $49.99 which includes bonus material such as the soundtrack, wallpapers, an artbook, and more that were previously only available to Kickstarter backers. The game comes out this April.
Yes, fine. Paizo announced Pathfinder Second Edition. The new playtest will launch officially on August 2, 2018, though Paizo will hold several early playtest events at conventions including this weekend’s GaryCon in Lake Geneva. It will be an Open Game License product just as the previous edition and, while there will be rules changes, there is no indication that this edition of Pathfinder will be based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition the way the original game was based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. In fact, it would be very difficult for Paizo to do this as the amount of material that Wizards of the Coast has released under the OGL for 5th Edition is far less than what it released for 3.5. And information released since the previous announcement such as Jason Bulmahn’s discussion of the new streamlined action economy goes counter to that idea as well. Because of how recent this news is, how big it is for the tabletop roleplaying industry, and how much information is coming from different sources, I can guarantee you that even as I’m typing this (let along posting it to the site), anything I say will probably be already out of date. Which is why Morrus has set up an EN World Wiki Thread for Pathfinder Second Edition to keep track of all the information as it comes out. I’d highly recommend bookmarking that site and checking frequently for news. You can also share your feelings on the EN World reaction poll.
Liz Courts is a game designer and artist who has two different Patreons. One is focused on creating a Pathfinder NPC portfolio and eventually a city populated with characters created by her along with input by her Patrons, expanding as well to Starfinder. For just a $1/post pledge, you can get access to the NPCs created so far. And because this is based on per-post rather than monthly, you don’t have to worry about pledging for sporadic updates during busy times and, if you set up a monthly limit, don’t have to worry about going over your pledged amount. Her other Patreon focuses on her art and, while slightly less tabletop gaming focused, does feature a lot of cool art of fantasy and science fiction characters. This campaign is monthly and features more structured tiers including a $1 level to access Patreon-exclusive posts and polls, $3 level for behind-the-scenes photos and art, $5 level for exclusive live streams and a postcard, and a $10 level that gets you a discount on merchandise in her store. And if you want samples of both, she’s recently launched a new website called Dark Sun Studio that features more information about her art and her game design work.
Steve Jackson Games has started to outsource more of its Munchkin line to other companies recently and have made good choices so far, including the Munchkin Deluxe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from IDW Games. Oh, and expect to do a lot of scrolling to find game information because there are several images of comic book animated GIFs explaining how Munchkin works using art in the style of TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. In fact, Eastman shares artistic duty on this game along with Tadd Galusha and colorist Jay Fotos. The game features two editions, the Deluxe Edition with full-color art and the “Duoshade Variant” Deluxe Ultimate Edition which features art closer to that of the original 1980s comic book. The game itself (both versions) are available for a $30 pledge and a “Cowabunga Bundle” includes a Kickstarter exclusive reprint of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 for $60. This project is fully funded and runs until Wednesday, March 21.
Liminal is a new urban fantasy roleplaying game based on original intellectual property and a brand new rules system. Sorry, that’s just kind of rare these days. The game focuses on Liminals, who are those who live on the border of the “real world” and the hidden world of magic and its associated dangers. There are multiple factions that influence the game world and players are encouraged to create characters together in order to create an interwoven tapestry of alliances, rivalries, and other plot hooks. The project lists many influences, including Ben Aaranovitch, Jim Butcher, Emma Bull, Susanna Clarke, Harry Connolly, Neil Gaiman, Benedict Jacka, and Helene Wecker, if you want to get an idea of what to expect from the setting. The core book is available in PDF for a £8 (about US$11) pledge, add on all stretch goals for £20 (about US$28), a black-and-white copy for £35 (about US$49) pledge, or a color copy for £50 (about US$70). This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Thursday, March 29.
That’s all from me for this week! Find more gaming crowdfunding news by following our Kickstarter news tag, and don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enworldnews.com. You can follow me on Twitter @Abstruse where I will be complaining about how much it costs to ship stuff as I sell some surplus recording equipment, follow Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history and Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
A big new product was announced this week! That’s right, the first sourcebooks for Modiphius’s Star Trek Adventures. The first is The Beta Quadrant Sourcebook. If you’re not that into Star Trek that you’ve actually tried to find canonical maps of the galaxy (which is hard to do because, well, they didn’t really write the original show with a map in mind) and you only know of the Alpha Quadrant from its frequent mentions in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, you might not know that a good deal of the stories from Star Trek are actually in the Beta Quadrant. It is the quadrant of the galaxy that includes the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire as well as the home planets of the Vulcans, Andorians, and Humans (technically, the Sol System is on the dividing line between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants). This sourcebook includes character creation information for the Benzites, Bolians, Efosians, and Klingons and information on the ships of the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Gorn Hegemony, Orion Syndicate, and civilian craft. The book will be available in May of this year with a retail price of $34.99.
Also out in May is The Command Division Supplemental Rulebook. This book includes expanded rules for social encounters and diplomacy including new 2d20 Social Conflict options. It goes deeply into what the Command Division is like in Starfleet and how officers of that division fit into the overall structure. Optional rules for running an entire fleet as an Admiral are also included, but it’s not stated if you must take the Starfleet Admiral Vow of being evil or, at best, a morally grey jerk (which is pretty evil for Starfleet). Ship designs for the Nebula, Sovereign, Steamrunner, and highly demanded NX classes are included along with shuttles and support craft along with new character traits for piloting and command. This book does not yet have an announced page count, but the hardcover will also retail for $34.99.
Okay, that’s not the news you were wanting. You were wanting to know all about the new edition of a classic game. You’re in luck, as Privateer Press announced the return of Monsterpocalypse. This skirmish miniature game focused on battling kaiju fighting over territory. Which, in typical kaiju fashion, happens to be a variety of locations humans would rather they not fight on. The designs for the new game will feature all-new sculpts for the miniatures which will now be “hobby models”, meaning they will require assembly and painting as opposed to the original game, which came pre-painted and ready to play. The game itself will be a new edition but still stay true to the original format of using a gridded map with strategic locations for power-ups and a core mechanic focused on managing dice pools for actions split between your monster and your units. There’s no firm release date or retail information announced yet, but the new line will be out this fall (which means there’s a good chance there will be a large presence for the game at this year’s Gen Con).
Of course, that’s not the big story of the week. The big story is about the historic playtest of a highly popular game. And yes, the playtest period for the BattleTech video game is over and pre-orders are now available! This tactical video game based on BattleTech comes from Jordan Weisman’s Harebrained Schemes video game studio and follows up their previous Shadowrun Returns games with a similar take on the giant stompy robot genre. The game is set in 3025 (so no Clans) and is a turn-based isometric skirmish combat game featuring updated designs of many classic BattleMechs from the original game. The game features a mercenary-based campaign mode as well as a skirmish mode for both PvP and single player matches. While this game doesn’t put you in the cockpit the way the MechWarrior video games did, it does manage a good recreation of the tabletop wargame experience of the original BattleTech without as much bookkeeping and some impressive graphics. And yes, they are using classic mechs including the Unseen (which has caused renewed friction with Harmony Gold that, as of yet, hasn’t hampered any of the BattleTech line). The game is available for $39.99 with a pre-order bonus of a custom skin for the Shadowhawk, or you can get the Deluxe Edition for $49.99 which includes bonus material such as the soundtrack, wallpapers, an artbook, and more that were previously only available to Kickstarter backers. The game comes out this April.
Yes, fine. Paizo announced Pathfinder Second Edition. The new playtest will launch officially on August 2, 2018, though Paizo will hold several early playtest events at conventions including this weekend’s GaryCon in Lake Geneva. It will be an Open Game License product just as the previous edition and, while there will be rules changes, there is no indication that this edition of Pathfinder will be based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition the way the original game was based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. In fact, it would be very difficult for Paizo to do this as the amount of material that Wizards of the Coast has released under the OGL for 5th Edition is far less than what it released for 3.5. And information released since the previous announcement such as Jason Bulmahn’s discussion of the new streamlined action economy goes counter to that idea as well. Because of how recent this news is, how big it is for the tabletop roleplaying industry, and how much information is coming from different sources, I can guarantee you that even as I’m typing this (let along posting it to the site), anything I say will probably be already out of date. Which is why Morrus has set up an EN World Wiki Thread for Pathfinder Second Edition to keep track of all the information as it comes out. I’d highly recommend bookmarking that site and checking frequently for news. You can also share your feelings on the EN World reaction poll.
Liz Courts is a game designer and artist who has two different Patreons. One is focused on creating a Pathfinder NPC portfolio and eventually a city populated with characters created by her along with input by her Patrons, expanding as well to Starfinder. For just a $1/post pledge, you can get access to the NPCs created so far. And because this is based on per-post rather than monthly, you don’t have to worry about pledging for sporadic updates during busy times and, if you set up a monthly limit, don’t have to worry about going over your pledged amount. Her other Patreon focuses on her art and, while slightly less tabletop gaming focused, does feature a lot of cool art of fantasy and science fiction characters. This campaign is monthly and features more structured tiers including a $1 level to access Patreon-exclusive posts and polls, $3 level for behind-the-scenes photos and art, $5 level for exclusive live streams and a postcard, and a $10 level that gets you a discount on merchandise in her store. And if you want samples of both, she’s recently launched a new website called Dark Sun Studio that features more information about her art and her game design work.
Steve Jackson Games has started to outsource more of its Munchkin line to other companies recently and have made good choices so far, including the Munchkin Deluxe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from IDW Games. Oh, and expect to do a lot of scrolling to find game information because there are several images of comic book animated GIFs explaining how Munchkin works using art in the style of TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. In fact, Eastman shares artistic duty on this game along with Tadd Galusha and colorist Jay Fotos. The game features two editions, the Deluxe Edition with full-color art and the “Duoshade Variant” Deluxe Ultimate Edition which features art closer to that of the original 1980s comic book. The game itself (both versions) are available for a $30 pledge and a “Cowabunga Bundle” includes a Kickstarter exclusive reprint of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 for $60. This project is fully funded and runs until Wednesday, March 21.
Liminal is a new urban fantasy roleplaying game based on original intellectual property and a brand new rules system. Sorry, that’s just kind of rare these days. The game focuses on Liminals, who are those who live on the border of the “real world” and the hidden world of magic and its associated dangers. There are multiple factions that influence the game world and players are encouraged to create characters together in order to create an interwoven tapestry of alliances, rivalries, and other plot hooks. The project lists many influences, including Ben Aaranovitch, Jim Butcher, Emma Bull, Susanna Clarke, Harry Connolly, Neil Gaiman, Benedict Jacka, and Helene Wecker, if you want to get an idea of what to expect from the setting. The core book is available in PDF for a £8 (about US$11) pledge, add on all stretch goals for £20 (about US$28), a black-and-white copy for £35 (about US$49) pledge, or a color copy for £50 (about US$70). This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Thursday, March 29.
That’s all from me for this week! Find more gaming crowdfunding news by following our Kickstarter news tag, and don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enworldnews.com. You can follow me on Twitter @Abstruse where I will be complaining about how much it costs to ship stuff as I sell some surplus recording equipment, follow Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history and Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
