Ronin Round Table: Cross-Pollination in Game Design, or, the Myth of the Designer Knife Fight

Last time I mentioned cross-pollination is game design, or taking ideas from other gaming systems and experiences and using it in other games. This is a common practice and one that I sometimes feel not everyone realizes or expects. Check out some of the more tribalized corners of the internet and there’s this idea that designers and consumers of various games and companies are in some sort of weird secret war. The great Toon-Cyberpunk Massacre of 1994 aside, this isn’t true. I can say with confidence that I don’t get together every weekend to battle other Chicago area game designers with knives for whose design is best. Especially since Greg Stolze is a master of the kris and I heard Allen Turner once killed a dude with a spork, so no thanks. We also play a lot of games. Not just ours or even other games that seem similar to the ones we do, but a number of different products.

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Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: Vehicles

Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: VehiclesFrom hotrods to starships, many heroes and villains use different vehicles to get from place to place, and some even rely heavily on a vehicle as the source of many of their abilities. This Guide expands the game systems and information on vehicles found in the Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook.

Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: Vehicles

Ronin Round Table: The New Green Ronin Online Store

By Evan Sass

If there’s one part of my job and my freelance work that gives me the heebie-jeebies, it’s taking a system that works and has thousands of users or posts or products, like a forum or an online store, and either upgrading it or replacing it with something completely new. But that is exactly what we’ve done with the Green Ronin Online Store. Heebie. Jeebies.

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Wild Cards SCARE Sheet 7: Hoodoo Mama (PDF) and New Online Store!

Wild Cards SCARE Sheet 7: Hoodoo MamaThe seventh Wild Cards SCARE Sheet PDF is now available for sale in our NEW! Green Ronin Online Store, for just 99 cents!

They say the dead walk in the bayous of New Orleans, and that everything that happens in the city gets seen—through the eyes of dead pigeons and rats—and gets told to the city’s mysterious protector, Hoodoo Mama. They say the dead are her friends, and don’t tick her off, unless you want to join them… (For Mutants & Masterminds Third Edition.)

Wild Cards SCARE Sheet 7: Hoodoo Mama (PDF)

New Green Ronin Online Store!

People clicking the product links above will discover that we have completely redone our Green Ronin Online Store. If you had an account in our old store, your basic customer data (name, email address, and billing and shipping addresses) have probably been copied over. Please try to create an account. If you get a message saying that email address is already taken, just reset your password (you’re really creating a password, as we did not transfer those) to log in.

We hope the new store makes shopping easier for you. Please do let us know what you think, or if you have any trouble registering or logging in.

A Blog of Games : Season 3, Episode 8: “Marriage Between the Houses”

This week in A Blog of Games, is that the sound of wedding bells, or is it the clash of sword on steel? Inspired by Episode 8 of Season 3, A Game of Thrones. SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

A Blog of Games : Season 3, Episode 8: “Marriage Between the Houses”

Free RPG Day 2013

[EDIT: Sorry! Time’s up!]

As it happens, Free RPG Day falls on my birthday this year. Don’t worry, you don’t have to get me anything! Your continued support of Green Ronin is the best gift I could ask for. Instead, I’d like to give something to you. For the full 24 hours of June 15, you can download a bundle of free Mutants & Masterminds goodness. It includes the M&M Hero’s Handbook, the 10 pre-generated characters of the Sentinels, and Chapter 0 of the Emerald City Knights adventure series. If you’ve ever been curious about Mutants & Masterminds, now is your chance to check it out!

Chris Pramas

Free RPG Day 2013 Bundle

Ronin Round Table: Not-So-Secret Origins

[Note: It’s a special double-header Friday for Ronin Round Table. Here’s another post, from Steve Kenson, live at Origins in Columbus, OH!]

By the time you read this Ronin Roundtable, I should be attending the Origins Game Fair in downtown Columbus, OH, as a guest of honor, since the convention’s theme this year is "Superheroes" (if they don’t find a way to work the phrase "Secret Origins" into it, that’s an opportunity lost, if you ask me). So, I figured I’d take the opportunity to talk a bit about Origins and my experiences with it, as both a fan and game industry professional.

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Ronin Round Table : Gaming: It’s In The Blood

I’ve been gaming since I was three years old.

My parents were firm believers in games as a family pastime. We played kids’ games like Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Ropes and Ladders, and Candyland as soon as I was old enough, then graduated to things like rummy, Monopoly, and Clue as my reading skills and attention span developed.

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Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: Armor

Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: ArmorAlong with weapons, armor and protective gear are some of the first tools and technologies. Heroes lacking invulnerability, intangibility, or superhuman speed may rely on armor and other protective gadgets to survive the dangers of their heroics, and some make armor their primary theme. This Guide looks at all types of protective gadgets, from armor and shields to goggles and gas masks. For M&M Third Edition.

Mutants & Masterminds Gadget Guide: Armor

Ronin Round Table: Math, the Silent Killer or Zen and the Art of Licensed RPGs

By Jack Norris, Dragon Age RPG Line Developer

As will surprise probably nobody, I’ve been thinking a lot about adapting licensed media and non-RPG settings in general to games. Specifically, I’ve been considering the challenges each type of media presents when adapting it for a roleplaying game. So I figured I’d use today’s Ronin Round Table to share those thoughts and maybe give some insight into the strange and wonderful world of adapting licensed properties to tabletop RPGs.

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