Quest - Make Your Own Game

Quest is a tool created by a clearly awesome dude by the name of Alex Warren, that allows you to create your own text based adventures and even turn that game into an app. It simplifies all the coding involved,  into an interface that anyone can use. Best of all, its completely free.





I'm sure many people reading this have wanted to create a game at some point, most of you probably do every week at the gaming table but putting that game in an interactive format for random people to play, that takes a lot of fairly specific knowledge, well not any more. Quest is a tool that you can download or use right in your browser.

When beginning to create a game you are given two options, to either make a  'Text Adventure' or a 'Game Book'. A text adventure is similar to a MUD, you are given a description and you type in commands, such as, "I look at sword". The game book option is of course like a game book such as the Fighting Fantasy series.

The software makes creating your game unbelievably simple, walking you through every step so that there is no need to know how to code at all. But for those of us who like to get our hands dirty a code view is also available. You can also add sounds and images to make your game completely unique.

Another amazing feature is that you can turn your game into an iOS and Android app with very little effort and even sell it on the app store and google play, or give it away for free.

Although certainly not the only way to make your own text based game, Quest is a very powerful tool and bridges a gap for a lot of people, hopefully helping out a lot of budding game makers.

Visit www.textadventures.co.uk to download Quest and check out the wealth of documentation and games available  all for free.

P.S. I was made aware of this by someone on twitter this morning, but I was mostly asleep at the time and have no idea who that was. So if in the unlikely event you happen to be reading this THANKYOU fellow game book enthusiast.

Podcast: Fighting Fantasy's Clash of Princes

On Saturday I sat down with my good friend Scott Malthouse from Trollish Delver to record our play through of the Fighting Fantasy book 'Clash of Princes'. This was a pretty special play through though, this book(s) is a two player adventure. It works really well and we had a blast, despite it being an abysmal disaster. Also we made it a drinking game, the rules were simple:
1. Drink if you loose stamina
2. Drink if you fail a roll
3. Drink when Status or Action changes (unique to these books I believe)
4. Down your drink if you die.

Shadowrun Online : Everything you need to know

"Shadowrun Online - is a cross-platform, online PC, Mac, Linux(see FAQ), iOS/iPad, Android Tablet and Ouya based tactical turn-based RPG set in the award winning world of Shadowrun. Create one account and play your game across multiple devices in whatever way you prefer!"

The aim of this article is to provide one neat and shiny place for all the information about Shadowrun Online. I will be updating this as often as I can, but I am just one guy, admittedly a kick ass guy but nevertheless just one guy so a few things may slip through my net so please feel free to point me in the direction of any new information in the comments at the bottom of this page.

Numenera - Monte Cooks New Project

If you are reading this and don't know who Monte Cook is then you must be some evil hellspawn (and even then you don't really have an excuse). Either that or your just new to the hobby, either way all you need to know is that he designs games, and he is awesome.

After leaving the D&D Next R&D group Monte started work on his latest project Numenera a Si-Fi - Fantasy RPG with a heavy focus on the story.

Monte has gone to Kickstarter to fun the project and before the first day was up he had already made double of the original goal of $20,000 and he has already released what he will do with the game when higher goals are met.

The game is described as,

"Numenera is set a billion years in the future. Civilizations have risen and fallen on Earth. Even though the current inhabitants live at about a Medieval level of technology, the leftover remnants of these advanced societies lie all around them. Some of these are extremely helpful: advanced tools, valuable means of communication and learning, transportation, defenses, and weapons. Others are dangerous: genetically altered monstrosities, flesh-warping radiation, creatures transplanted from distant stars, and clouds of out-of-control nanobots, just to name a few. This setting, called the Ninth World, provides all manner of opportunities and challenges to those that call it home."

There isn't much information about the game yet, but it's setting and promise of story driven gameplay has already got me excited about this. I will be pledging my money to it as soon as I get paid. $60 dollers will get you a hard backed full colour printed version of the corebook, plus PDF's of the Player's Guide and corebook and a character creator app, easilly worth the money in my opinion.

Or if you have a lot of money to throw around how about dropping $10,000 to have Monte Cook himself fly to your house and run a game for you.

I will be keeping up-to-date with this project and will be covering how it progesses. So far it certainly looks promising.

**UPDATE 11/08/2012**
Today Numenera achieved its first reach goal at $60,000. That's three times the original goal. Needless to say people are very excited about this game. With this goal reached Monte has said that the book will be extended from 300 to 400 pages, adding new setting material. Here is the full description:

"At $60,000, I will expand the main rulebook. I had been thinking about 300 pages, but we'll make it 400 pages. This means considerably more setting material, creatures, NPCs, and, of course, more gorgeous art.REACHED!"

**UPDATE 12/08/2012**
Funding is still going strong with another $10,000 gained and another goal reached. This time around Monte has promised to write a 32-page illustrated adventure that will be available as a PDF and print on demand. Here is the full description:

"At $70,000, I will personally write a 32-page adventure for Numenera. This will be released as a PDF and print-on-demand book, softcover, with art and maps--the whole shebang. I'll add the pdf in for free to anyone who gets THE REAL DEAL and the print adventure at all levels $180 and above."

Hopefully the funding will keep on coming and Monte and his team can come up with something truly special for us all.

**UPDATE 14/08/2012**
In just two days Numenera has gained another $20,000. Meaning another two stretch goals have been reached. Meaning Monte will be completing his trilogy of adventures to be released along side Numenera. Below are the descriptions:

"At $80,000, I'll write another 32-page adventure and distribute them into the existing reward levels as described above. REACHED!"

"At $90,000, I'll complete the trilogy of adventures and do the same. Just to be clear, this means that everyone ALREADY getting the THE REAL DEAL will get a 96 pages of adventure for no extra charge. The same is true for people selecting THE ULTIMATE EBOOK FAN level. Those contributing $180 or more will get them as print adventures.  REACHED!"

There are only two more stretch goals to go now, but with over a month left more may be needed if the this enthusiasm keeps up. 

Shadowrun Online - Will it happen?

Some of you may have heard of a little game called Shadowrun. If not, you are truly missing out. It mixes Fantasy with Sci-Fi with amazing results. A popular pen and paper RPG for over 20 years, it has had a few forays into the realm of video games with mixed results. Recently Jordan Weisman, credited as one of the creators of Shadowrun way back in 1989 started a project on Kickstarter called, 'Shadowrun Returns' and it was a huge success, getting over 4 times it's original goal. Following this success Weiseman is trying Kickstarter again. This time to fund 'Shadowrun Online'.



If you are a fan of Shadowrun chances are you have already heard of this project and hopefully you are excited about it. Excited enough to pledge some money. The game is described as

"a cross-platform, online PC, Mac, Linux(see FAQ), iOS/iPad, Android Tablet and Ouya based game, with deep, rich story, sleuthing intel called "legwork", tactical single player, co-op, and player vs. player role-playing action, plus large in-game community hubs, all set in the unique and persistent world of Shadowrun."

It will feature a free-to-play, no money upfront game using micro-transactions and a premium subscription service, plus an optional one off payment for access to a 'Campaign Server' where all in-game items are free and no extra costs. 

It certain seems like they are trying to cater for everyone here. Personally I think this is a great idea, free-to-play seems to be the way to go today if you want to reach a wide audience, but there is a lot of stigma surrounding this pricing model and free-to-play micro-transaction ridden games can often be ignored by gamers. So offering a more tradional option as well is a great move.

You can check out the prototype footage for the game below.

Well I've got to say, this game looks pretty awesome. In fact I'm so excited about it I actually pledged money on Kickstarter for the very first time to help get this project made. The problem is though, it only has (at the time of writing this) 10 days to go and it hasn't reached the half way point yet. As each day goes by it is looking more and more likely that Shadowrun Online won't be funded. This of course doesn't mean the game will never be made, they have clearly made a good start on it already. But it will certainly delay the project for a good while. If your love Shadowrun or just want to play a new, interesting game set in a rich setting then consider pledging some money. I would happily thank every single pledge if the game is funded and that isn't enough for you, how about some cake?

Find out everything about Shadowrun Online right here.

Check out my review of the Shadowrun: Runners Toolkit

Shadowrun: Runners Toolkit Review

Image from DeviantART

So for those of you who don't know, Shadowrun is a game set in a dystopian future where mega corporations run the world and physical and mental enhancements are just part of life. Oh and magic and Elves and Dwarves and frigging Dragons! are running around, and this is totally normal.

Now I've been wanting to play Shadowrun for a while, and figured I better start planning my campaign, in preparation of this I bought myself the Shadowrun: Runner's Toolkit. It turns out it is one hell of a collection of handy reference and game material.

The box includes:

• A Landscape poster
• A sticker saying "Shadowrun"
• 5 books (more on that soon)
• 4 double sided glossy maps
• 6 double sided reference sheets
• A GM screen

Contacts, Adventures, Sprawl Sites

Inside this book there is a very long list of contacts that the players may have each with possible uses for that contact, places you could meet them, similar contacts and a detailed description of how and why a player may develop that particular contact.
It also includes over a dozen adventure frameworks, these layout the background to many different kinds of adventures, it gives you NPC's, their motivations, how much they are willing to pay, pretty much all the details you would need to know to quickly run an adventure. Plus it has a bunch of tables for rolling up random runs.
It also has details on several sprawl sites, these are locations which can be used for lots of different reasons, these sprawl sites also match to the maps that are provided which makes the information even more useful.

Packs
This is the Pre-generated Auxiliary Character Kit System (PACKS), it offers an alternative to the character creation system in Shadowrun. It simplifies character creation into an 8 step process, where the player selects different kits, each of which have 'build points', you simply add these build points up to a certain number and ta da! with a good concept in mind you have made a character pretty quickly. I really like this, it saves from having to pour over pages of skills, metatypes, spells, adepts etc. Of course some people like this and they can of course still use the traditional process but I for one think character creation should be quick, the tinkering can come later.

Compiled Tables
This is a simple one, it's 48 pages filled with tables for pretty much anything you could ever need. It lists weapons, clothing, security devices, biotech, chemtech, vehicles, spells and even how long different types of forgery takes. This information is of course available in other sources but having it all in one handy book for quick reference is great.

Anatomy of a Shadowrun
This is an interesting one, a step-by-step walkthrough of a Shadowrun and I mean a literal step-by-step. It goes through everything the players and game master do, plus all the fiction behind it. This is something I have seen attempted before but never this well. It goes into every detail, explaining exactly what is happening and gives advice. This is perfect for new players, giving them brilliant insight into how Shadowrun is played.

On the Run
What kind of beginner box would be complete without an introductory adventure? Well the Runner's Tool Kit isn't about to disappoint us now. On the Run is a pretty exciting run written to help the Game Master at every step. It gives advice and references relevant pages in the main rule book. It's structured in an easy way to follow and gives you all the information needed to run it. My only problem with it is that there is maybe a little too much information, it is a lot to read and even reading through it all before hand, remembering everything would be very difficult, but if you were to split it up into a few sessions that would become much easier.

Reference Sheets
These are awesome.

I suppose I should probably say a bit more. There are 6 double sided reference sheets of very high quality, they are made of a sort of glossy cardboard, very difficult to rip or tear or even fold. One sheet goes through the steps of character creation, another explains how melee combat works, another explains autonomous drone combat. They reduce what are fairly complicated actions in to simple step-by-step guides.

Game Master Screen
The box also includes a GM screen, its fairly standard, 4 panels providing quick reference to some of the most commonly used rules in the game. Its very good quality, just like everything else in the box. Though it is folded weirdly meaning the center folds inwards when opened, with a bit of use this will most likely become less of an issue, but it is a pretty big design flaw.

Overall this is most certainly worth the money I paid for it. It will be a great help in running a game of Shadowrun. If you haven't played a game of Shadowrun before, then I highly recommend this. Hell, even if you have been playing for years, the information in this little box is well worth it.

De Profundis RPG

De Profundis is described as a psychodrama using H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu (who knew this was in bloggers dictionary) mythos. It certainly isn't like a normal RPG with dice and a game master. In fact in order to play the game the players must spend most of the play time away from each other. The game seems to mix fiction writing, LARP and online RP'ing like MUSH's all together into one horrifying -but awesome- game.

The idea is each player creates a character in the established world, it recommends the 1920's (for obvious reasons) or modern day. You keep close to how the world really is (was) but put a Lovecraft twist on it. The players correspond via letters and collectively tell the story of their decent into madness.

A few friends and I have just recently started a game of De Profundis and even though it has literally just started I've already been giddy with excitement. I know that sounds ridiculous but there is something exciting about role playing in such a different way.

We went against some of recommendations in the 'rule book'. For example it says that players should try writing actual letters to each other, I guess it gives a sense of legitimacy. We opted to go the techno root and are using email. At first I was a little apprehensive about this as I kinda liked the idea of writing letters, I never get letters, but then we realized that we have the whole internet at our disposal.. Soon we will have completely in-character blogs, twitter accounts (@NateCulture), we can link to online articles, share photos, videos, sound, pretty much anything we want and that seems much more awesome to me.

If you want to check it out for yourself you can get it right here. And you definitely should!