Flaming Monkey

After visiting the timfire website, I realized that it was going to be a while longer before I finally got my hands on a copy of The Mountain Witch:

(9/23/05) UPDATE ON THE PRINT VERSION: Fortunately, I was able to get the necessary corrections made to the file (thanks Joshua)! Yay! The books have been ordered, so it will be another 2, maybe 3 weeks. Sorry again for the delay!

I’m starting to think that it’s my Dark Fate never to actually own this game for myself, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for everything going smoothly from this point on for both Tim and The Mountain Witch. While I’m waiting I could probably contact Brendan at IPR and get the half of my order that is Burning Wheel (Revised) shipped to me now, but instead I think I’ll just keep things as simple as possible and be patient until the second printing of MW is done.

Greg Stolze posted this to The Forge yesterday.

Those of you who’ve followed the successes of the Ransom model (the funding mode for Meatbot Massacre and …in Spaaace! may be interested to know that a new game’s in limbo, waiting for gamer dollars to buy its freedom.

The game is “Executive Decision” and it’s a real-time LARP set in the Oval Office. Players assume the roles of the President and his closest advisors as they confront a crisis and have to pick the best option based on limited information and political pressure. It’s diceless and rules-light (the resolution mechanic is pretty much “talk to the President and he decides”) but there is a scoring system that determines which player won the game. It’s fun. That’s the good news.

The better news is that it’s a collaboration between Ron Edwards, D. Vincent Baker, Dennis Detwiller, Chad Underkoffler, and me. You’ll see some A-Game when this comes out.

The best news of all is, we’re ransoming it for charity. 100% of all proceeds will go to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina (and, by the time we’re done, possibly that other one too).

More will be revealed at www.gregstolze.com but if you’re ready to poke some cash in now, you can go straight to http://www.fundable.org/groupactions/ExecutiveDecision and do your good deed for the day.

It’s an excellent idea, and, given the talent involved in creating the game, I’ll likely be helping to ransom it out, especially since the proceeds are going to the Red Cross

[via anyway]

What game do I currently most want to see finished and published so I can buy (and play) it?

The Shab-al-Hiri Roach by Jason Morningstar

To quote from Jason’s current version of what will be the back cover copy:

The Shab-al-Hiri Roach is a dark comedy of manners, lampooning academia and asking players to answer a difficult question – are you willing to swallow a soul-eating telepathic insect bent on destroying human civilization?

No?

Even if it will get you tenure?

Yes, it’s yet another post about Dogs.

Vincent has a post up on anyway where he both lays out the details of the upgrade offer for current DitV owners and explains exactly what’s changed since the first edition.

Dogs in the Vineyard, Illustrated Edition – Upgrade Deal

Having seen the new version, I’m likely to end up getting one despite the small number of rules changes. It really does look good.

Here’s my revised wish list of indie games, based on both seeing some of Jack‘s GenCon loot and reading threads on The Forge. I’m posting it in large part as a reminder to myself, but it’ll also give you some idea of how my taste in games tends to run (in case you hadn’t figured it out already). Recommendations for more games to add to the list are always welcome.

• The Mountain Witch [ordered from IPR, waiting for second printing]
• Burning Wheel (Revised) [ordered from IPR]
• Under the Bed [ordered direct]
• The Shadow of Yesterday (revised edition)
• Polaris
• Dogs in the Vineyard (second edition) [waiting for the details of the upgrade deal]
• Primetime Adventures (second edition) [still on the fence about this one]

I already own the original editions of all of the games I’m contemplating getting the new editions of, but I think they’ll be worth the upgrades.

On The Forge:

Topic: [DitV] I don’t want to say ‘yes’ and I don’t want to put dice on the table…

I’m one of the players in the game Michael Croft is talking about in this thread, so it’s particularly interesting to see some other takes on what went on during the session. I have yet to GM a Dogs game myself, but I think that what happened is probably something that happens to a lot of first-time DitV GMs, especially those who have run “old-school” style games where the GM is supposed to do exactly what Michael was doing. There are definitely a few pieces of good advice in the thread for dealing with it though.