What is happening in the RPG Industry & Community.
When Apple unveiled their new multi-touch tablet device, the [horribly named] iPad, I watched as half of the internet sung praises of Apple to the heavens while the other half spoke of disappointment. In the tabletop roleplaying community, I saw a trend of tech-minded gamers hail the tablet as the messiah of digital roleplaying.
What if you could roleplay at a table that actually contained all the game logic? It recognized your mini when you placed on the surface and presented an array of options available to your character and resolved the challenges based upon GM and Player input? In addition, you were not constrained to play within the rules (game logic), but could play “freestyle” any time you wish by simply switching of the rules?
OBS and the small press publishers they partnered with, like my own Nevermet Press, are doing a great thing. And the gamers that have contributed, well, I am simply in awe at what we’ve been able to do. Besides crashing the OBS sites with our massive response, we also managed to raise more than $50,000 dollars in a single day. As I write this, OneBookShelf, publishers, and gamers have raised $85,560 that will go to Doctors without Borders. That damn impressive!
Forget about Dungeons & Dragons themed sodas and grab pint of fantasy inspired beer! Fantasy Brewmasters aims to provide “incredible beers based on fictional worlds.” They are a community of artists, writers, and craft brewers that cater to the roleplaying gamer crowd.
You have five days left to enter submissions for Jonathan Jacob’s second volume of his RPG blog anthology, the Open Game Table. The nominations close this Friday.
It is no secret that I am a veteran, having spent four honorable years as an active duty Marine. So whenever I see programs that help bring a little piece of home to the troops, I try to support it as much as I can.
I am proud to announce that Nevermet Press released our first PDF last week. We took the system agnostic web content for our first villain, The Desire, and turned it into a resource for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
Dave Chalker officially announced that the RPG Bloggers Network will be handed off to Duane O’Brien of A Terrible Idea. You can read the announcement at the RPGBN Google Group.
News update concerning the future of the RPG Bloggers Network as well as highlighting a new RPG social network, the Role Play Media Network.
Recently, I have seen a few more digital game tables appear on the radar that are using multi-touch technologies. Multi-touch allows users to interface with a program via pressure sensitive screens that can be manipulated with your fingers.