Oct 2011
Rogue Games welcomes you to Philadelphia
10/31/2011 11:30 Filed in: News | Colonial Gothic
![[RGG 1780] Flames of Freedom - The Philadelphia Affair thumb](005brgg-1780005d-flames-of-freedom---the-philadelphia-affair--thumb.jpg)
The Philadelphia Affair is the second chapter of the Flames of Freedom campaign. It follows Boston Besieged, which was nominated for a Gaming Genius (Golden Pawn) award in the Best Adventure category and won rave reviews from rpg.net, Roleplayers’ Chronicle, and elsewhere.
Written by Colonial Gothic creator Richard Iorio, The Philadelphia Affair, takes players into the City of Brotherly Love in the midst of the Second Continental Congress. As delegates struggle to forge a new nation out of thirteen fractious colonies, the hunt for a missing person leads to a deadly plot that could destroy the city and cripple the quest for independence.
Available in print and PDF formats, this 112-page book includes detailed source material on the history of Philadelphia and conditions in 1776. Kindle and ebook versions will be available shortly.
The Flames of Freedom campaign will continue in Shadows on the Hudson, which is scheduled for release in late 2012.
To preorder a copy today, and get the PDF version immediately for free, visit the Rogue Games Online Store here.
Details:
Flames of Freedom: The Philadelphia Affair
$13.99 (book + PDF)
$6.99 (PDF Only)
Order
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You might want to check this out
10/30/2011 02:16 Filed in: Colonial Gothic | News
Halloween is tomorrow.
Maybe you want to start celebrating a little early.
Welcome to Philadelphia.
Yes, this is part two of Flames of Freedom.
Pre order starts now, officially tomorrow. Books will ship in about two weeks.
Maybe you want to start celebrating a little early.
Welcome to Philadelphia.
Yes, this is part two of Flames of Freedom.
Pre order starts now, officially tomorrow. Books will ship in about two weeks.
Rogue Games Facebook Page
10/29/2011 10:18 Filed in: News
Ok, I am building a Rogue Games Facebook Page.
I know, no earthy shattering news, but I plan on using it as we start the new year.
To view the page, click here.
Now back to finalizing Flames of Freedom: The Philadelphia Affair.
I know, no earthy shattering news, but I plan on using it as we start the new year.
To view the page, click here.
Now back to finalizing Flames of Freedom: The Philadelphia Affair.
(Chicago) October 28, 2011: Rogue Games threatens you with Threats.
(Chicago) October 28, 2011: Rogue Games threatens you with Threats.
The World is a danger filled place.
Monsters lurk in the shadows waiting for the moment to strike upon the unsuspecting. The Jungles or Moran teems with threats both mundane and magical. Though most threats are from the physical world, there are many threats originating from nether realms.
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats is your guide to the dangers that lurk upon The World. Here you will find numerous monsters, and other dangers inspired by pulp fantasy and myth. Each monster is fully fleshed out, and ready to be used as is. For Gamemasters wanting to create their own unique creatures, new traits are introduced giving you more options in your own creations.
Beside threats of a more mundane sort, you will also find fully detailed threats that serve as the springboard for any campaign. From an ancient dragon who runs a cult, to a giant mustering forces so that he can control all trade through the mountain passes, to a group of thieves who use the cover of a bakery to profit in a special type of “dough,” Threats is your guide to the unique adversaries found in Shadow, Sword & Spell’s The World.
Grab your swords, summon your cohorts, and prepare yourself to face some of the most dangerous threats found in The World today!
Details:
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats
ISBN-13: 978-0-9826598-7-8
MSRP: $12.99
Pages: 120 B&W 6”x9” Softcover
SKU: RGG 3030
Out February 2012
The World is a danger filled place.
Monsters lurk in the shadows waiting for the moment to strike upon the unsuspecting. The Jungles or Moran teems with threats both mundane and magical. Though most threats are from the physical world, there are many threats originating from nether realms.
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats is your guide to the dangers that lurk upon The World. Here you will find numerous monsters, and other dangers inspired by pulp fantasy and myth. Each monster is fully fleshed out, and ready to be used as is. For Gamemasters wanting to create their own unique creatures, new traits are introduced giving you more options in your own creations.
Beside threats of a more mundane sort, you will also find fully detailed threats that serve as the springboard for any campaign. From an ancient dragon who runs a cult, to a giant mustering forces so that he can control all trade through the mountain passes, to a group of thieves who use the cover of a bakery to profit in a special type of “dough,” Threats is your guide to the unique adversaries found in Shadow, Sword & Spell’s The World.
Grab your swords, summon your cohorts, and prepare yourself to face some of the most dangerous threats found in The World today!
Details:
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats
ISBN-13: 978-0-9826598-7-8
MSRP: $12.99
Pages: 120 B&W 6”x9” Softcover
SKU: RGG 3030
Out February 2012
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats taught me a few things
So what is Threats? Is it a monster manuel type book? A collection of NPCs? A book helping you create monsters of your own? In order: yes, yes and yes.
Threats is a book I have thought about doing for awhile. I have always wanted to do a book that was focused on creating threats for players that a Gamemaster could pick up and run as is. I wanted a book that was more than just monsters, but animals, plants and the like. Plus I had some ideas for creature traits that I did not have when I was working on Basic and Expert.
So Threats is reaching the end. What will you find in it? Here’s a break down:
- Creatures of myth and legend
- Creatures inspired by Lovecraft
- Devils
- Demons
- New animals
- Plants and insects
- Unique creatures
- A few mercenary bands
- New creature traits
- A piece on effective creature design
So as the title of this post mentions, Threats taught me a few things. So what did I learn?
Patience. This book was hard to write, and not for reasons you think. Coming up with monsters and the like is easy. What is not easy is deciding which ones to include and which ones to drop. What is also hard is deciding on how you want to present information. There are many example of monster manuals, but what I could not find was something like what I wanted to do with Threats.
Threats also taught me when to pull back on detail. At times this book was turning into nothing more than details about The World, and because of this I lost the plot so to speak. So I went back, stripped it all out, and decided to rewrite the book. I rewrote the book five times. It was this process of rewriting that I hit on the perfect mix.
Threats is a good book. It will not change the world, but it is a book I am proud of. It has a lot of cool ideas, and the details I hint at about The World, really have inspired me to create more for this game. Which is a good thing, because I have a lot of ideas.
Update on Rogue Games Distribution
10/19/2011 08:29 Filed in: News
As I mentioned a few days ago, starting January 1, Rogue Games will be taking over all distribution of our games. I have been busy talking with distributors, and this has been a very good thing. Yesterday Rogue Games has been set up to distribute through Alliance. I am waiting to hear back from a few others, but the list of distributors our games will be found listed with is growing.
More details to come.
More details to come.
Coming Janurary 2011: The Knight Templars
10/17/2011 02:44 Filed in: News | Colonial Gothic
(Chicago) October 17, 2012: Rogue Games Delves into the Knights Templar Secrets.
Coming January 2012, Rogue Games offers for the first time in print, Colonial Gothic: The Templars.
From Parzival through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to The da Vinci Code, the Knights Templar have had an enduring hold over the popular imagination. At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, they went from being one of the most powerful organizations in medieval Europe to prisoners and fugitives. They were questioned under torture and their leaders were executed for heresy. Officially disbanded in 1312, the Knights Templar ceased to exist.
The legend of the Templars has proved harder to destroy. Rumors persisted of hidden treasure, of a curse that blighted a dynasty, and of a secret so powerful that it threatened the very basis of the Church. New organizations such as the Freemasons looked back to the Templars, and became shrouded in myth and conspiracy theory themselves.
Written by Graeme Davis (Colonial Gothic: The Gazetteer) The Templars is the first in a series of Colonial Gothic sourcebooks covering secret societies and other organizations.
Within these pages you will find detailed and authoritative information on the activities of the Knights Templar in the world of Colonial Gothic, including their acknowledged and secret histories, their structure and organization, their goals in the Thirteen Colonies and around the world, and the implications of membership.
Although they do not show their hand openly, the Knights Templar remain a force in the world of Colonial Gothic. Their hand is seldom seen, but it pulls on many strings.
Details:
Colonial Gothic: The Templars
ISBN-13: 978-0-9826598-6-1
MSRP: $10.99
Pages: 84 B&W 6”x9” Softcover
SKU: RGG 1667
Out January 2012
From Parzival through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to The da Vinci Code, the Knights Templar have had an enduring hold over the popular imagination. At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, they went from being one of the most powerful organizations in medieval Europe to prisoners and fugitives. They were questioned under torture and their leaders were executed for heresy. Officially disbanded in 1312, the Knights Templar ceased to exist.
The legend of the Templars has proved harder to destroy. Rumors persisted of hidden treasure, of a curse that blighted a dynasty, and of a secret so powerful that it threatened the very basis of the Church. New organizations such as the Freemasons looked back to the Templars, and became shrouded in myth and conspiracy theory themselves.
Written by Graeme Davis (Colonial Gothic: The Gazetteer) The Templars is the first in a series of Colonial Gothic sourcebooks covering secret societies and other organizations.
Within these pages you will find detailed and authoritative information on the activities of the Knights Templar in the world of Colonial Gothic, including their acknowledged and secret histories, their structure and organization, their goals in the Thirteen Colonies and around the world, and the implications of membership.
Although they do not show their hand openly, the Knights Templar remain a force in the world of Colonial Gothic. Their hand is seldom seen, but it pulls on many strings.
Details:
Colonial Gothic: The Templars
ISBN-13: 978-0-9826598-6-1
MSRP: $10.99
Pages: 84 B&W 6”x9” Softcover
SKU: RGG 1667
Out January 2012
The Year to Come
Graeme and I had a long phone conversation yesterday.
At the end of said conversation we had rethought and remapped the release schedule between now and the end of next year. Said schedule is packed with some cool things. Counting Shadow, Sword & Spell, there are thirteen releases planned. If we take out the Shadow, Sword & Spell releases, we are looking at 11 new books for Colonial Gothic. Some of these books will be familiar, due to the fact they have existed as original PDFs.
We have decided that some of the older PDFs have been showing their age, and are in the process of reediting, and laying them out for print release. By doing this, we can now offer them to gamers who might have passed up on them due to their availability being as PDFs. So which PDFs are being promoted if you will? Here’s the list:
All three will be released throughout next year as new print books.
In addition, a few of the PDFs, will be added to upcoming releases. One of them, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is going to see some major additions. Why? It is important to the first half of Flames of Freedom: Shadows on the Hudson. Some out there got a small taste of this in a few games I have run.
What else is in store? Some very cool things for the summer and winter of 2012. I do not want to spoil it all, but if you love this game, as much as I do, there will be some cool releases which will make you very happy. Looking ahead to 2013 (yeah that far) I know there is at least one book I am writing due out in January 2013.
When I look at Shadow, Sword & Spell, Threats will be out the start of the year, and Companion at the end of the year. As for the middle of the year? Something is coming.
So why have things been a little slow as of late? Life has stepped in the way. The summer was very rough, and a bout of sickness slowed me down. Now that it is over, and a lot of the hurdles have been cleared, things are coming back online. One of the big changes is that Rogue Games will be taking over distribution of our own titles. Come January 1, 2011, we will no longer be represented by Studio 2. As a result of this, I’ve been busy signing with distributors to insure that our games are available, and that no delays happen. How has this gone? I am happy to report very good. I am heartened at the responses I have gotten, and who have decided to pick us up.
January 2012 is going to be a big year for Rogue Games. There is a lot planned and a lot of surprises in store for you through out the year. Have no doubt, that the countdown to 12-12-12 12:12:12 is no joke. Those who know what is coming, are very happy. :)
So that is where things stand. Over the next week I will have posted the schedule for the next six months.
Thank you for your patience and thank you for your support.
At the end of said conversation we had rethought and remapped the release schedule between now and the end of next year. Said schedule is packed with some cool things. Counting Shadow, Sword & Spell, there are thirteen releases planned. If we take out the Shadow, Sword & Spell releases, we are looking at 11 new books for Colonial Gothic. Some of these books will be familiar, due to the fact they have existed as original PDFs.
We have decided that some of the older PDFs have been showing their age, and are in the process of reediting, and laying them out for print release. By doing this, we can now offer them to gamers who might have passed up on them due to their availability being as PDFs. So which PDFs are being promoted if you will? Here’s the list:
All three will be released throughout next year as new print books.
In addition, a few of the PDFs, will be added to upcoming releases. One of them, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is going to see some major additions. Why? It is important to the first half of Flames of Freedom: Shadows on the Hudson. Some out there got a small taste of this in a few games I have run.
What else is in store? Some very cool things for the summer and winter of 2012. I do not want to spoil it all, but if you love this game, as much as I do, there will be some cool releases which will make you very happy. Looking ahead to 2013 (yeah that far) I know there is at least one book I am writing due out in January 2013.
When I look at Shadow, Sword & Spell, Threats will be out the start of the year, and Companion at the end of the year. As for the middle of the year? Something is coming.
So why have things been a little slow as of late? Life has stepped in the way. The summer was very rough, and a bout of sickness slowed me down. Now that it is over, and a lot of the hurdles have been cleared, things are coming back online. One of the big changes is that Rogue Games will be taking over distribution of our own titles. Come January 1, 2011, we will no longer be represented by Studio 2. As a result of this, I’ve been busy signing with distributors to insure that our games are available, and that no delays happen. How has this gone? I am happy to report very good. I am heartened at the responses I have gotten, and who have decided to pick us up.
January 2012 is going to be a big year for Rogue Games. There is a lot planned and a lot of surprises in store for you through out the year. Have no doubt, that the countdown to 12-12-12 12:12:12 is no joke. Those who know what is coming, are very happy. :)
So that is where things stand. Over the next week I will have posted the schedule for the next six months.
Thank you for your patience and thank you for your support.
Shadow, Sword & Spell: What's next?
10/09/2011 12:08 Filed in: SS&S
Subject line says it all.
Things have been slow on Shadow, Sword & Spell as of late, and that is due to the simple fact that I lost the plot.
My entire focus for two years was getting Basic and Expert done, and once done, I felt that I had said everything I wanted to say. I struggled with trying to figure out what I wanted to do, because for me, Basic and Expert was all you really needed.
I worked on a few things, but nothing seemed to click.
So I worked on Colonial Gothic.
When the inspiration struck, I cannot say, but recently I finished the draft of Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats, and have been working on Companion. Of the two, Threats is closer to being done, and if all goes well (and it will) Threats will be out early next year. Companion I am not sure yet, because I am still working on it.
With these two titles, I then returned to City and found the hook I lost. I am still not sure on this book, but there are ideas.
With that being said, I am left with a question:
What would _you_ like to see?
Yeah, I want to know. There are so many fantasy games out there, that it is hard to know what way to go sometimes. So in the end, I am left with the simple question, that I want to know what you, the fans and players, want to see. There is a lot of material in notes on The World, as well as rough adventure ideas. I know what I would like to see, but I am not sure what I like, is what you will like.
So here you go tell me what you want to see. I really want to know.
Things have been slow on Shadow, Sword & Spell as of late, and that is due to the simple fact that I lost the plot.
My entire focus for two years was getting Basic and Expert done, and once done, I felt that I had said everything I wanted to say. I struggled with trying to figure out what I wanted to do, because for me, Basic and Expert was all you really needed.
I worked on a few things, but nothing seemed to click.
So I worked on Colonial Gothic.
When the inspiration struck, I cannot say, but recently I finished the draft of Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats, and have been working on Companion. Of the two, Threats is closer to being done, and if all goes well (and it will) Threats will be out early next year. Companion I am not sure yet, because I am still working on it.
With these two titles, I then returned to City and found the hook I lost. I am still not sure on this book, but there are ideas.
With that being said, I am left with a question:
What would _you_ like to see?
Yeah, I want to know. There are so many fantasy games out there, that it is hard to know what way to go sometimes. So in the end, I am left with the simple question, that I want to know what you, the fans and players, want to see. There is a lot of material in notes on The World, as well as rough adventure ideas. I know what I would like to see, but I am not sure what I like, is what you will like.
So here you go tell me what you want to see. I really want to know.
Two Golden Pawns Go To Rogue Games
10/01/2011 01:59 Filed in: News
A few months ago, we mentioned that we were nominated for a few Golden Pawn Awards. The results are in, and we are pleased to announce that we won two. For what? Take a look:
First off James and I want to congratulate Greg Videll on being recognized on his win for Thousand Suns: Starships. He worked hard on that book and it warms our hearts to see it recognized.
The win for Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic is special to me because of the work put into that game. It motivates me to get back to work on the line and it is the shot in the arm I needed.
To see the rest of the winners visit here.
Congratulations to the rest of the winners.
Golden Pawn Pro Award Winners
Winner of the Best New RPG:
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic by Rogue Games.
Winner of the Best Roleplay Aid Setting, Ambiance, or Expansion:
Thousand Suns: Starships by Rogue Games.
First off James and I want to congratulate Greg Videll on being recognized on his win for Thousand Suns: Starships. He worked hard on that book and it warms our hearts to see it recognized.
The win for Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic is special to me because of the work put into that game. It motivates me to get back to work on the line and it is the shot in the arm I needed.
To see the rest of the winners visit here.
Congratulations to the rest of the winners.