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Interview with Martin Ralya

By Exxar on April 15th, 2011

The reason’ I’ve been quiet for the last two weeks is that I had quite a lot of work, including doing an interview for http://www.fantasy-hr.com“>Fantasy Croatia with Martin Ralya, the founder and owner of http://www.gnomestew.com/“>Gnome Stew and http://www.enginepublishing.com/“>Engine Publishing. We talked about blogging, http://www.gnomestew.com/gnome-gnews/announcing-gnome-stews-second-book-masks“>Masks, http://www.enginepublishing.com/eureka-501-adventure-plots-to-inspire-game-masters“>Eureka and other stuff, and Martin was very forthcoming, providing some incredibly insightful and meaty answers.

You can check the interview http://www.fantasy-hr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3030:interview-with-martin-ralya&catid=77:clanci-drustvene-igre&Itemid=174“>here. Martin is a great guy, and if you have any questions for him you can reach him, as always, at martin (AT) gnomestew.com.

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Pyramid 3/29: Psionics

By Exxar on March 28th, 2011

http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pyramid_3_29_psionics.jpg“>http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pyramid_3_29_psionics.jpg” alt=”" width=”250″ height=”324″ />The latest issue of http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/“>Pyramid landed a couple days ago, and I promptly picked it up. It’s a very crunchy issue primarily aimed at those who use http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/psionicpowers/“>GURPS Psionic Powers, but can of course also be used in other contexts. The articles within are: Expanded Psychokinesis by Christopher R. Rice, Random Psionic Tables by Antoni Ten Monros, Eidetic Memory: Magic as Psi by David Pulver, The Edge of Psience by Kenneth Peters, Thoughtjustice by Andy Vetromile, Tokyo Psience Police by David Pulver and an appendix titled Averting Psychic Disasters! by Jason “PK” Levine. Read on for a review.http://www.rpgcentar.com/2011/03/pyramid-329-psionics/#more-235” class=”more-link”>Continue reading Pyramid 3/29: Psionics →

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The second book from Engine Publishing revealed: Masks

By Exxar on March 21st, 2011

Martin Ralya of Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing http://www.gnomestew.com/gnome-gnews/announcing-gnome-stews-second-book-masks“>revealed today the next book that every GM’s favorite gnomes have been working on after http://www.enginepublishing.com/eureka-501-adventure-plots-to-inspire-game-masters“>Eureka. Well, as he said in the announcement, it was already kinda revealed in the Gen Con event listings that just came out, but Martin gave us the entire scoop. The book’s full title is Masks: 1,000 Characters to Populate Your Worlds.

I was a bit flabbergasted when I just read “Masks” that stood alone in the announcing article title, but it all fell perfectly into place when the full title of the book was revealed further down in the article. Just like Eureka has everything a GM could ever need in regards of adventure ideas, Masks is intended to be the definite resource on all things NPC. As its title suggests, it will contain 1,000 system-neutral NPCs for every situation, and I’m sure there will be additional options for using each NPC multiple times without the players knowing it.

Two thumbs up for the gnomes and other fine folks working on the book (all 21 of them), and best wishes that the book be released when intended – for Gen Con, of course. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

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House Rule: the Cinematic Dual-Weapon Attack Tweak

By Exxar on March 19th, 2011

One of the main reasons I started this site is that I wanted a proper place to share my GURPS resources with the rest of the world. Funnily enough, I kept delaying posting any materials because I wanted to shape them up a bit fist and, well, I’ve posted none so far. But a discussion I read on the GURPS forums today motivated me to finally do something about it, in the form of a new house rule. So there you go – the Cinematic Dual-Weapon Attack Tweak.

The Cinematic Dual-Weapon Attack Tweak

Dual-Weapon Attack and Rapid Strike aren’t mutually exclusive any more – you can use them both during the same turn, performing a Dual-Weapon Attack with one of your attacks and a Rapid Strike with another. Heck, you can even perform a Dual-Weapon Attack and then perform a Rapid Strike with one of the resulting two attacks.  Each of those options can still be used only once per turn, however. In essence, Dual-Weapon Attacks becomes a cheap version of Extra Attack which can only be taken once.

So, what’s the reasoning behind this? Read on.

http://www.rpgcentar.com/2011/03/house-rule-the-cinematic-dual-weapon-attack-tweak/#more-212” class=”more-link”>Continue reading House Rule: the Cinematic Dual-Weapon Attack Tweak →

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The Ogres are coming!

By Exxar on March 13th, 2011

http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ogre_6th_575.jpg“>http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ogre_6th_575.jpg” alt=”" width=”575″ height=”288″ />

Not the giant, smelly sort, but the gigantic, metal, nuclear-powered ones. Yesterday Steve Jackson published an http://www.sjgames.com/ill/“>open letter to distributors about the upcoming 6th edition of Ogre, the cult board/wargame which was his first design back in 1977.http://www.rpgcentar.com/2011/03/the-ogres-are-coming/#more-221” class=”more-link”>Continue reading The Ogres are coming! →

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The next book from Engine Publishing is 60% written

By Exxar on March 10th, 2011

Martin Ralya of Gnome Stew and Engine Publishing posted http://www.enginepublishing.com/news/our-second-book-is-about-60-written“>this on the company’s site yesterday. http://www.enginepublishing.com/eureka-501-adventure-plots-to-inspire-game-masters“>Eureka is one of the most useful RPG-related books I’m aware of and my personal favorite as a GM, so I’m very eager about their next title.

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Mytheon

By Exxar on March 5th, 2011

http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mytheon_250.jpg“>http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mytheon_250.jpg” alt=”" width=”250″ height=”170″ />Mytheon is a free-to-play fantasy hack ‘n’ slash MMO released a couple days ago. I kept bumping into it every now and then in various online media during the last month or two, and through the several trailers released during that time it seemed like it could serve as a fun respite for fans of classic, mostly greek mythology. So I gave it a shot.http://www.rpgcentar.com/2011/03/mytheon/#more-198” class=”more-link”>Continue reading Mytheon →

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Let’s get this show on the road

By Exxar on March 2nd, 2011

Although I didn’t plan to continue posting just yet, I felt inspired when I learned about Black Crusade. You can see the result below… And since it’s an appropriate occasion, I promise to post at least once a week from now on, even when I’m in a complete RL clinch. I hope to post more frequently than that, but I’ll be a little more cautious with expectations this time around.

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Rant: Black Crusade etc.

By Exxar on March 2nd, 2011

http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/black_crusade_splash_575.jpg“>http://www.rpgcentar.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/black_crusade_splash_575.jpg” alt=”" width=”575″ height=”187″ />

Being out of the loop for the last week or two, it is only today that I noticed FFG announcing Black Crusade, a new game in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay line. As much as I like those games (and indeed I like them VERY much), I cannot help myself and not view this as FFG milking the cash cow, among other things.http://www.rpgcentar.com/2011/03/rant-black-crusade-etc/#more-170” class=”more-link”>Continue reading Rant: Black Crusade etc. →

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Necromancy

By Exxar on February 26th, 2011

If anyone is still reading this, I’d like to apologize for letting the blog die after Spiel, but one thing led to another and I ended up not having the time to post anything. I should have given a quick heads-up, though. Anyway, since I’m almost done with uni now I’ll be resurrecting the place within a week or two, start posting again and actually upload some of my game materials this time around.