Later this month Goodman Games should be rolling out Points of Light by Robert Conley (a.k.a. estar on some boards). I'm looking forward to this book for a number of reasons. Rob is a talented and cool guy and Goodman Games is one of my favorite publishers nowadays, so this is the sort of thing I'd probably buy on general principle. More importantly, Points of Light is a modern design (complete with slick production values) of the classic Wilderlands-esque sandbox style of campaign presentation. With four different mapped and stocked settings, no less! And it's systemless, so you can use it for your shiny new 4e or OD&D, anything in between, or some other fantasy system of your choice.The other day I was telling a fellow fan of the old school gaming scene that I was working on running some old school demos at Armored Gopher Games, my friendly local game store. Demos are supposed to be good for the store, right? They're supposed to get players enthused about a game that they will then presumably buy from the FLGS. The problem being is that as I type this, I know of only two games that I consider old school that are in distribution. Those would be Castles & Crusades and Labyrinth Lord. (I would count Hackmaster as well, but the supply seems to have largely dried up until the new edition is published.) Now, I have nothing against either of those games and I have no objection to promoting them. But those two games are a terribly small slice of the entire old school pie. With Points of Light taking the field, I could pick any crusty old fantasy game or new-fangled clone and still have something that the dudes at the Armored Gopher can sell.
Additional links:
Goodman Games preview page for Points of Light
RPGsite thread with excerpts
You know, just for a second there, I was thinking the post would be about a campaign where neocon orcs had taken over the good kingdom.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's systemless [...]
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting for several years now to say this, but they've never quite given me the right excuse 'til now:
Goodman Games, I love you.
I love an RPG book that's 100% stuff.
I am so out of the loop, didn't even know this was on the horizon, but looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the kind words and the post.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest thing about pitching this product was explaining what it was. I had to write up one of the lands up before Joesph Goodman understood what I was selling.
"Well it isn't a dungeon, but it isn't like Greyhawk style setting either. It shares elements with the Wilderland but is smaller and more easily customized. Plus you can make a line out of this like the DCCs. Oh heck I just going have to write it up"
So hopefully this, along with the other factors, It will hit a sweet spot in the market.
One encouraging thing was going to the last chapter of the 4th edition D&D in June and seeing how they presented Nentir Vale. Make my job explaining what Points of Light is a lot easier.
Its not my thing, but I wish the company good luck with it. I love Castles & Crusades almost as much as Basic D&D though. I would use C&C more, but Basic is compatible with Advanced 1&2 and has more classes and races for me to use than I can shake a Wiimote at.
ReplyDeleteAnd it has Ravenloft which I am a total fanboy of in its original 2 box format with Fabian artwork and Lord Soth down in Sithicus.
I wish more companies would make system agnostic settings. Heck, it may be an idea for Palladium to just buckle up and do. Brilliant settings but a game engine that isn't to many folk's taste.
Imagine having Beyond the Supernatural's setting info without all the silly numbers so it could be plugged into Call of Cthulhu or New World of Darkness?
Rifts easily locked into Mekton?
Systems Failure or Splicers with Dark Heresy?
Oh great googly moogly!