Cool Things: Review + Hack

Here’s a couple of cool things, one new and one I’ve been totally forgetting about for months.

First! Michael Wight, aka stupidgremlin, wrote up a really cool hack of Witness the Murder of Your Father and Be Ashamed Young Prince inspired by the recent film release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It’s called The Bear Is Loose Within The Circus (direct download link). I particularly like how he added a layer to the stones used in the game, calling the ones you keep secret Secrets, representing literal secrets each agent has, and those on the table Assets, and now that they’ve been revealed they’re “part of the Public Record.” If you’re more into spies than feudal succession, check this hack out.

Second! Paco Jaen, mastermind behind the scarily comprehensive G*M*S Magazine site, recently posted a very perceptive and complimentary review of Annalise.

The dynamic approach to story, setting, character and plot development could become the perfect remedy for writers block, and a wonderful game for people who need great story telling combined with near complete freedom to invent and imagine…5 Stars to this gem of a game that everyone should know about!

Read the full review here. Thanks Paco!

Annalise En Français

The fine folks at Les Editions Boite à Heuhh have translated Annalise into French, and as far as I know it’s now available through their website. They also posted a cool video walkthrough of the book (in French, which I have only the most basic understanding of, but it sure sounds & looks nice.)

Thanks to Ludovic and the team over there for the nice work, I look forward to seeing the book!

Another Vampire Game, You Say

There’s a call-for-submissions-ish thread over at Story Games that caught my eye – The Taste of Blood: An Anthology of 30 Short Roleplaying Games About Vampires.

How can I resist?

Some quick ideas:

• A short/lite version of Annalise centered around an actual Vampire (so, a more locked-down Guided Play Scenario)
• A Vampire Slayer game, action/adventure/splatterpunk centering around team synergy and the forces that could split that synergy
• Buried at the Crossroads, a two-player (or possibly solitaire) RPG about a man who rises from the crossroads with a terrible thirst and no memory of the crimes that led to this fate
• An alt-modern day setting where vampires are a minority population group, possibly a CSI-style procedural setup? (There’s a comic series that’s basically this, but I can’t remember what it’s called)
• Bloody Thrones, a historical/fantastic/feudal setting centered around the terrible Vampire Kings and their machinations. Players are possibly those at court tasked with carrying out the will of their lords, or possibly part of a rebellious underground movement (or both)

What seems promising out of those? I’d want to keep it short, obviously, but grabby.

If you’re thinking of contributing, what are your ideas?

One Of Those Good Problems

I’m sold out of Annalise!

Well, that’s a lie. I’m sold out of my personal stock for direct sales of Annalise. Indie Press Revolution still has 23 copies, out of the initial 100.

However, retailer orders have been coming in stronger than I expected! Which means that those 23 copies are going pretty quickly.

Now, here’s the part where you go “so, when will they be available again?”

And it’s the part where I go “not soon!”

Cashflow, as always, is a bitch. Basically, I sure won’t be able to put money into printing more books until after the end of the current quarter. Something like late October.

So, basically, if you’re interested in picking up the game in print before November, now’s a good time. The PDF will, of course, be available constantly.

Thanks again for the strong positive response to the game! I’m delighted and a little startled. I can’t wait to hear about the games y’all play.