OH... MY... GAWD!

Captain America In the news again!

This is why some people shouldn't breed

The Gray

The Gray
The greatest thing in the world is when a legend dies. For example… Captain America… Dead. I know he has died four other times before. Still…because of everything that is going on in the country, it hit me hard that he bought the farm! I also admit to having a knee jerk reaction…. Also announced this week was the death of the print format of both Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine. C’mon… those have been around for the last thirty years and are almost as old as Tabletop Gaming.

Here is the cool part about all this death and destruction… It is stimulating the hell out of the industry. If you go onto EnWorld right now the forums are on fire! Everyone is talking about how it really sucks that this is happening and how they are wrong for murdering such a staple of the industry. Maybe THEY are right and this is the biggest mistake made in the RPG industry. Maybe what they are saying about assassinating Captain America on the steps of the courthouse was a major story No-No.

The thing I like so much about this is that THEY aren’t seeing the big picture. Change motivates creativity and that is something that the people of both the Comics and RPG industry needs. How many times can you realistically tell the story of the same Comic Book Character before it becomes trite? How many times will a company come out with an umpteenth source book about elves or fighting warrior poets?

The crazy thing is that we as consumers buy all this garbage. I believe that a big reason for this is nostalgia. When we are young, everything holds the promise of lightning in a bottle. We look at everything with wide eyed amazement. Then we get older and we have seen it and done it before. It gets harder to amaze ourselves...

Give me a good old fashioned story wrapped in new characters and stunning new ideas. Kick down the walls of the box and walk around unrestricted. Don't let your geek flag fly... Set it on fire and run around screaming about all the great ideas spilling out of your head...

If the Giants of Entertainment can't come up with something that will wow...

Maybe the rest of us will...

Regards,
Walt

Hey there All...

So with the advent of the 4c Basic Rules "hitting shelves," publishers now have access to start to fiddle with them as they please. The rules are fast, light, and true to the original so that there will be little if any negotiation needed when going from the original Marvel Supers RPG and then to 4c. One enterprising soul named Mike MacMartin got a jump on things and created Open Office versions of the original document (RTF) files. Mike took it a step further and created a two page character creation checklist to help people jump in and craft groovy characters. Sweet! Those interested can jump back to the HAZARD Studios Loading Zone (downloads) and check out the files so far. And of course you know that I was going to shoot you a direct link...

In celebration of all the great stories that comics and games give us, Hazard has thrown a little page together to put all this stuff on. We created our Four Color Oriented Role Playing Engine page that will be hosting not only the files created by Ronin Arts, but also some fan and HAZARD made content. 4c was made for and by the fans and I think that it only be right that some of this stuff has a home. I know that I will not be the only one that has a hand in this but if we all do our part and promote the hell out of this thing... Good LAWD!

Some other pages to look into include:

The Guardian Universe Omega: Dilly Green Been Games have come up with a great way to present the 4c Rules using their home grown supers setting. The art is tight and the layout is a lot of fun...

ThatArtGuy From the Classic Marvel Website has stated that he has something in the works. If you want to see what this guy can do...simply go to the Classic Marvel homepage and find the GM's Screen that he did amongst the downloads. NICE!

IamTim from Seraphim Guard has splashed us with a great page toting his upcoming project... Super Anime Heroes! This looks like a lot of fun and a must have for fans of that genre (anime...um ... and er... ah... heroes!).

Keep your eyes peeled for more good action coming your way from Phil Reed of Ronin Arts and from all the folks working forge to generate this great content.

I could generate some exciting yet disturbing Army news... But that would just change the mood...

Until next time folks...

Play hard and play HAZARDous... Because safe games suck!

Regards,

Walt

Oh My Goodness!

Well, good thing mostly. When I signed back into the military, I did so with the intent that I would get to be all that I could be and all that jazz. I was running into the same problems as last time. I was toeing the line and stepping up when the unit needed something and I was getting JACK in return. So I told the people in charge that since they couldn’t hook a brother up I was going to walk down the hall and see what either the SF or the Infantry had to offer. No need to have me pretending to be an MP when they don’t want me, right?

I got a call last night telling me that the boys that make the decisions were afraid of me leaving and wanted to make things right. They are talking about getting me the stuff I need to do this job. I can be an infantryman. I could go SF or scouts and that would be fine but I have done the infantry before. I wanted to learn something new and the fact that I am getting a bit older means that me walking 50 Km is not exactly a good thing. So I am excited to see what the next drill brings and whether or not they are going to carry through with their threat to “hook it up.” In any event, lots of good things are planned for the next one so we will just have to stay tuned for future developments. As one of my superiors is fond of saying, “As soon as I find out you’ll be the third to know.”

FASERIP!!! Yep… it’s back and with a brand new bang. Phil Reed from Ronin Arts really came through with the Basic Rule Set for the FASERIP conversion. This open source “copyleft” document allows publishers and authors to take advantage of this great rule system and produce adventures and new content for the fans. So without further ado, here are the Basic Four Color Rules. We will have a new download page for all the goodies that HAZARD is planning for this up and running in no time.

Stay tuned for more good things…

P.S. If you have a few minutes and really need a break for something interesting…

http://socomhellweek.com

“The only easy day was yesterday…”

Where are my Fiddlers 3???

Life is meaningless and empty and I have nothing to live for… I am going to end it…

Yep. You were about to call nine-one-one and try and save a life weren’t you? You’re a champ! Everything is fine and life is great! I am insanely busy and there is plenty out there to get excited about at the moment… You guessed it… I am about to tell you what the good stuff is.

As I wrote about in an earlier post, I started GMing again with a great gaming group. Running a space opera setting, I ran the first adventure and the results were a lot of fun. Space prisons, hidden agendas and a mutant abomination plague all culminated in the PC’s narrowly escaping with their skins and a little booty in the form of a ship. It was Star Wars meets the Pitch Black and it was a lot of fun had by all. The setting was a revamp of something I was going to write novels in years ago but never got to. Well, I have a reason to get to it now. The setting in all its glory is being polished and finished in order to market it to potential publishers. Do I think that I will be the next great science fiction guru… nah, but it is fun to think like one in order to write this stuff.

My life as a soldier is also a bit strange at the moment. I am not really sure what I am going to do as far as re-enlistment goes but they have offered me the school that I need and the money that goes with re-enlisting. Since they are taking steps in the right direction I am inclined to sign my name again but I am always leery of things now because of stuff in my past. I need to make sure that I always get everything in writing and to make them see my position. The people in the army see the mission and in doing so sometimes forget that if you don’t take care of your soldiers, they will not be there for the next one.

Another cool bit of news is that the wife (hi Honey! >>>insert dorky husband wave here<<<) is still working on her skills as a colorist. She is getting very good at doing it by hand and once she has that dog under the leash (proficient) I will show her how to do it on the computer. Some of the programs are complex and can take a college course to get the most out of them. Despite that I have confidence that she will pick it up in short order. Sniff, Sniff, they grow up so fast.

Lots of other things running in the background but only rambled enough for now… I have to go and pretend to be professional…

Regards,

Walt