Green Ronin Launches Engine: The AGE Roleplaying Game Magazine

Green Ronin launched the first issue of Engine: The AGE Roleplaying Game Magazine on Thursday. The magazine will feature new material for AGE System games with the first issue focusing on Fantasy AGE and Blue Rose. From the launch announcement:

Right now, fans of the Adventure Game Engine tend to be scattered amongst its various games. After premiering the system with the Dragon Age roleplaying game, we evolved it into Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, Modern AGE, The Expanse, Cthulhu Awakens, and the upcoming Fifth Season (preorders available!) roleplaying game. Historically fans have either stuck to single games or done some hacking with Modern AGE and Fantasy AGE.

Well, we want to change that a bit, and help build a pan-AGE community. One of the initiatives for this? Engine magazine, a source for articles about AGE games, with new rules, ideas, and commentary for all AGE System gamers. Issue #1 drops now!

In our premiere issue:

• Apprehension: Rules for fear and dread for Blue Rose and Fantasy AGE, with notes for other games.
• Enemies & Allies—The Nyx: A marine monster for Fantasy AGE or any other AGE game.
• Frolic in the Vale: A boisterous faerie folk encounter for Fantasy AGE.
• Masons & Mystics: The Architecture Arcana for Fantasy AGE and Modern AGE.
• Taking the Scepter: Talents for rulers in Fantasy AGE.
• The Thistle Cup: A fully detailed Aldis tavern for Blue Rose.

Use them as-is or use AGE’s hackable rules to fit them into your story, campaign, or world. We give you the fuel, but you start the Engine!

The first issue is available on DriveThruRPG or from the Green Ronin online store for $5.99.

 

[dave2008]

That is good news I guess, but what I really want is someone to launch an RPG magazine that cover a whole bunch of different systems (maybe with a D&D bias).

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

That is good news I guess, but what I really want is someone to launch an RPG magazine that cover a whole bunch of different systems (maybe with a D&D bias).

A beautiful dream, at least. I'd like to have Pyramid or Space Gamer or Shadis or White Wolf back as well, but those days seem like they're gone forever - at least as physical mags.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

That is good news I guess, but what I really want is someone to launch an RPG magazine that cover a whole bunch of different systems (maybe with a D&D bias).

Not sure if this magazine will ever reach Kickstarter, but: Polyhedral Magazine

Website is still active: Polyhedral Magazine

 

[Morrus]

That is good news I guess, but what I really want is someone to launch an RPG magazine that cover a whole bunch of different systems (maybe with a D&D bias).

Many have tried. Nobody buys them.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Many have tried. Nobody buys them.

Well, not enough people buy them, anyway. A few nostalgic old gamers (self included) might buy anything that looks like it captures the magic of those old mags I mentioned, but there aren't enough of us to keep the lights on and the presses running.

 

[Abstruse]

Most of the content that worked best for those sort of magazines moved online. Patreons, YouTube channels, podcasts, blogs, etc. Reviews, third-party content for games, general advice on gaming, etc. The market's changed sand people typically would rather pick that up piecemeal from various sites instead of from a single source for multiple games.

It worked better back in the 90s when it was an impulse purchase at the game store. You go in, look around, didn't find what you were looking for, felt guilty for not buying anything, so you grab the newest issue of whatever just to support the store. Nowadays, that role is served by dice or the WizKids randomized mini packs.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

The market's changed sand people typically would rather pick that up piecemeal from various sites instead of from a single source for multiple games.

Yep. The internet changed everything. Why buy a magazine where half of it is for games you aren't interested in when you go read blog posts, forums, and social media sites for the content you want?

And on the flip side, why muck about with submitting articles to a magazine when you can just write a post instead? You might even reach more people that way than an old magazine article would have - circulation numbers were tiny for most gaming mags.

I get why they're gone, but that doesn't me miss them any less.

Guess we'll see if a much more focused house organ can still make it with this new mag. It still works for White Dwarf, but I suspect that's mostly a loss leader that gets treated as part of their advertising budget.