Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #48: The Starbreed, Part Two (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #48: The Starbreed, Part Two (PDF)How is it the remaining two members of the otherworldly Starbreed outnumber the first three? There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Skulk and the Sisters in Scarlet, and the Starbreed in general. What is the secret of the Starbreed, and what are their plans for making a new home for themselves in Emerald City? Includes Part Two of The Secret of the Starbreed, a Mutants & Masterminds Third Edition adventure!
Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #48: The Starbreed, Part Two (PDF)

Warehouse Blowout Sale: Last Day!

Today is the last day of the Warehouse Blowout Sale in our Green Ronin Online Store. We’ve got plenty of great deals left in d20, True20 / Blue Rose, Thieves’ World, Mutants & Masterminds, card games, and more. Get your bargains while they last!
Shop the Warehouse Blowout Sale

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #47: The Starbreed, Part One (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #47: The Starbreed, Part One (PDF)They have come from beyond to save our world from disaster: refugees offering their help, and possessing the power of an entire army! Make way for Erebus, master of the mind, the powerful reptilian Draco, and the technomantic skills of Ironmonger. The Starbreed are here to help, all we have to do is let them… Includes Part One of The Secret of the Starbreed, a Mutants & Masterminds adventure!
Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #47: The Starbreed, Part One (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #46: Professor Zed (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #46: Professor Zed (PDF)The world is full of possibilities, imagine if you could explore all of them. Professor Zed did more than imagine, he made it happen, opening the way to an omniverse of infinite parallel realities. Now he’s back, having looted them of the secrets that make him a power to rival any in this world. Can the heroes stop him? They won’t be able to do so the same way twice…
Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #46: Professor Zed (PDF)

Ronin Round Table: Steve Kenson

Steve KensonWelcome back to the Ronin Round Table! My name’s Steve
Kenson and my official title at Green Ronin (in as much as we have them) is “Designer.” What does that mean? Well, I initially started out working for
Green Ronin as a freelance author, writing d20 System books like The
Shaman’s
Handbook. After I designed the first edition of the Mutants
& Masterminds
superhero RPG, I came on-board as developer to manage the
line. (You’ll probably be hearing more about the development process from guys
like Jon, Will, and Joe in future Round Tables.)

Although I enjoyed development and shepherding numerous game
books from conception to completion, a couple of years ago I wanted to step
back from development and focus on what I really got into the game industry to
do: namely write and design games! Since then, my work for Green Ronin has
focused on just that: writing and designing products from the DC Adventures
game (using the third edition of the Mutants & Masterminds game
rules) to parts of the Dragon Age RPG or the Threat Report series
of villains for M&M. I either pitch ideas to our developers, or work
with concepts they have originated to craft the text for different products. I
also do a touch of editing and development here and there, as we tend to wear
many hats at Green Ronin.

My latest project is a new series coming up for Mutants
& Masterminds,
called Power Profiles. Like our Threat Report series
(wrapping up at the end of 2011) Power Profiles is a series of weekly
electronic products, published in PDF format. Each Profile takes a look
at a type of super-power and the various game effects that fall under that
power. They offer numerous worked examples of how to build powers to suit
concepts and, as with Threat Report, M&M players and
Gamemasters can pick-and-choose the ones that look the most interesting to
them.

For example, the premier Power Profile looks at Fire
Powers, one of the more common comic book super-abilities. It talks about fire
descriptors in general, how to handle things like igniting fires and getting
burned, and offers sample fire powers organized into Offensive, Defensive,
Movement, and Utility powers, from Fireball and Flame Aura through Fire Form,
Rocket Flight, Fire Shaping, and Pyrokinesis, to new a few. Each Profile
also looks at ideas for Feature effects for the power such as creating tiny
match-like flames, spot-welding, or fireworks displays, as well as suitable
Complications like pyromania, fire-related accidents, power loss due to
smothering or dousing, or a truly “fiery” temper!

Power Profiles take the basic “toolbox” from Mutants & Masterminds and use things
from it to build all kinds of toys you can use in your own games, or just use
as examples when it comes to creating your own powers and characters.

We have dozens of Power Profiles planned over 2012,
and we’re looking for your thoughts and feedback as to what you’d like to see. I hope you get as much fun out of the new Power
Profiles
as we do bringing them to you!

Of course, I have design projects other than just Power
Profiles
planned for this coming year (and even beyond!). Check back in
here at the Round Table–chances are I’ll be talking about them as well
as time goes on.

Ronin Round Table: Chris Pramas

In October we had our yearly Green Ronin Summit. This is when all of our far-flung staff members rendezvous in Seattle for three days of debriefing, planning, and camaraderie. We look back at the previous year and plan for the coming year, with a lot of discussion and debate along the way. The Summit is the one time of the year we’re all together in the same room in a non-convention environment, so we try to make the most of it.
One of the topics discussed was communication with our customers. Everyone at GR has an active web presence. You can find me on Twitter (@pramas) and Facebook and of course we have forums. Many of us travel to conventions throughout the year where we meet people and talk about Green Ronin. Over the past year, for example, I’ve been to conventions in London, Brazil, Las Vegas, Olympia, Indianapolis, and of course Seattle.
Despite all that, we decided at the Summit that we could do better. From the number of times we got asked the same questions, it was clear that our message was not always getting out there. One of the ways we’ve decided to address that is with a weekly company blog. Each Friday a different member of our staff is going to write about goings on at Green Ronin. You’re reading the first of these Ronin Round Table posts right now. Topics will be eclectic, for such is the nature of our Ronins, but the overall effect should be to keep you all up to date on what we’re doing and what to expect in the future.
I thought I’d kick things off with an update on what’s happening the rest of this year. The long-awaited Chronicle Starter for A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying just hit stores for the first time. We also announced the hiring of a new staff developer for SIFRP, Joe Carriker. He’s already hard at work on next year’s products, and we hope to get a lot more material out for the game.
The Gamemaster’s Guide for Mutants & Masterminds is at print and should be out in early December. Though an M&M book, it’s also well worth it for DC Adventures GMs. Since the games share a rule set, all the material inside is as applicable to DC Adventures as it is to M&M. Speaking of DC Adventures, Heroes & Villains Volume 2 is in the approvals process. We’ll provide an update about the book’s release when it comes out the other side of that.
Dragon Age saw the release of Set 2 a couple of months back, and that led to Set 1 selling out again. We have a reprint underway and that should also release towards the end of the month. Will Hindmarch recently came onboard as our new Dragon Age developer, and he’s working with me on a playtest document for Set 3. We intend to do another open mechanics playtest like we did with Set 2. We’ll have more to say about that before Xmas.
Longtime fans know that I write a message each January about what’s coming up that year, and I will maintain that tradition. For now though I will say that our short term plans are to concentrate on the games we have and regularize their release schedules. We are not taking on any more licensed games, as we already have plenty to do with Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, and DC Adventures. Don’t take that to mean we have no surprises coming up, however. We made a lot of plans at the Summit, and there is coolness aplenty in the works.
Thanks for reading. Come back next Friday for a look at the exciting world of Steve Kenson.
Green Ronin's staff photo, taken at our 2011 GR Summit in Seattle. Back row: Bill Bodden, Marc Schmalz, Intern Kate; Middle row: Chris Pramas, Rich Redman, Hal Mangold, Nicole Lindroos, Will Hindmarch; Front row: Jon Leitheusser, Steve Kenson, Evan Sass; Not pictured (since we hadn't hired him yet): Joe Carriker.
Green Ronin’s staff photo, taken at our 2011 GR Summit in Seattle. Back row: Bill Bodden, Marc Schmalz, Intern Kate; Middle row: Chris Pramas, Rich Redman, Hal Mangold, Nicole Lindroos, Will Hindmarch; Front row: Jon Leitheusser, Steve Kenson, Evan Sass; Not pictured (since we hadn’t hired him yet): Joe Carriker.

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #45: Jade Spider (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #45: Jade Spider (PDF)A shadowy killer stalks the streets and towers of Emerald City, striking at will. Who is the mysterious master of the secret Jade Spider Style of martial arts, and can the heroes learn what they need to know to stop him, or will they too fall victim to the Jade Spider’s silken strike?
Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #45: Jade Spider (PDF)

Faces of Thedas: Tallis

Faces of Thedas-TallisDragon Age developer, Will Hindmarch, here to announce a free bit of DLC for our Dragon Age RPG. It’s Faces of Thedas: Tallis (PDF), featuring an exclusive interview with Felicia Day, writer and star of the web series, Dragon Age: Redemption, plus RPG stats for Tallis, Day’s character from the series and the Dragon Age II DLC, Mark of the Assassin!
As a gamer who’s played a lot of RPGs adapted from TV, movies, and games, I always want to ask actors and writers about the characters they portray so their perspective can inform roleplaying at my game table. When I heard that I’d be the new shepherd of the Dragon Age RPG, just as Redemption and Mark of the Assassin were about to debut, I figured I had to pursue the chance to get Felicia Day’s insight on Tallis, a character she created. As a writer, actor, and a gamer, Day is a rare expert on how those roles overlap–and how they differ.
Plus, Tallis is such a terrific character for inspiring and complicating adventures that I thought she’d be a great addition to Dragon Age RPG campaigns all over. I hope you enjoy this free RPG DLC! Back to work for me!

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #44: Ku Tu the Eternal (PDF)

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #44: Ku Tu the Eternal (PDF)From ancient Olmec ruins arises an alien threat, buried for thousands of years. Ancient and undying, he is… Ku Tu the Eternal! Once god-king of an ancient empire, the cosmic-powered menace intends to rule once again, aided by his flying stone heads and his savage pack of jaguar-men!
Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #44: Ku Tu the Eternal (PDF)

A New Ronin Joins the Ranks!

We enjoyed hiring new staff so much last month that we decided to do it again!
Joe Carriker is our new Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (SIFRP) Developer. He was most recently at CCP/White Wolf working as a content developer on the upcoming World of Darkness MMO RPG. Before that he was the developer for Vampire: The Requiem and the Scarred Lands, so he brings a lot of experience to the table. Mutants & Masterminds fans have seen his work in the Book of Magic. Now he’s immersing himself in Westeros and helping us push the SIFRP line into the future.
Welcome, Joe. You’re a Ronin now!