Winter Doldrums
webm...@sjgames.com
Winter Doldrums
As we trudge through the winter months, there is still much ado about Ogre! First up, we've published our latest submissions for Ogrezine II. WIll Hutton brings us an interesting look at using today's artificial intelligence programs to play Ogre in "Teaching a Computer to Fight Itself". You may remember Will as the author that updated "Operation Newspaper" to ODE/Ogre Sixth Edition standards. And although he may be unintentionally releasing Skynet upon the world, his article is an interesting read. I anticipate seeing more from Will. The next submission is "Defend the Negev!" by Israel Barker. It is a scenario focusing on Israeli park rangers fighting off a rogue Mark II. I'm especially pleased to publish this as there is very little out there making use of the Mark II. It is nice to see it get some love! Please, enjoy the scenario. With these, we are nearing the end of the articles for Ogrezine II; we've just a couple left. That;s not to say that I don't want you submissions! I've already got a couple for Ogrezine III. Keep sending them in! We anticipate having the full published zine out by the end of next month. Stay tuned.
Speaking of zines, although not Ogre-related (at least, in regards to sentient cybernetic tanks; there may be plenty of other Ogres!), please let me draw everyone's attention to two other Kickstarters going on. First up is Hexagram, the premier zine for The Fantasy Trip. Not only can you pledge for the zine (at $3!), but you can order all sorts of The Fantasy Trip goodness as well. Knowing how much is packed into Ogrezine, can you afford not to support Hexagram for $3? Next is Delayed Blast Gamemaster, published by our very own Phil Reed. Evoking the RPG zines of days gone by, this is a systemless zine designed to support the GM in provoking ideas and concepts for a fantasy RPG. Those of you familiar with Phil's Dungeon Challenge Cards and Outdoor Encounter Cards are familiar with his work. Delayed Blast Gamemaster takes these ideas to the next level.
In other news, our Pocket Box Kickstarter is roaring along. There are no fewer than 13 games, as well as a fistful of expansions, available to choose from and we still have almost three weeks to go. But most pertinent to Ogre fans are that Ogre and G.E.V. are both available, Shockwave has been unlocked, and the Ogre Reinforcement Pack stretch goal is less than $8,000 away as of me writing this. And that's not even mentioning that Battlesuit is one of the games available to select, too. Sign me up for that bad boy! (I'm thinking Ogrezine III might have an article or two for that game!)
I'm sure most of you have already availed yourselves of this opportunity, but for the few of you who haven't, the Backerkit for Battlefields will be closing in the near future. This expansion for Ogre will not be released to the general retail market, so if you want it, now is the time to place your pre-order. As a reminder, this will include the most up-to-date rulebook, maps G3 and S3, with G1 and S1 printed on the reverse, no fewer than 12 (!) sheets of counters, including counters for LADs, Combat Engineers, Heavy Weapon Teams, revetments/entrenchments, and 3-D constructs of Ninja, Radars, a Vulcan, plus so much more. You don't want to miss out on this supplement.
We are putting the finishing touches on the POD version of Ogre Scenarios: Books 1-3. Expect to see that in the near future. And once Ogrezine II is put to bed, we will have the POD book of Ogrezine I & II available shortly thereafter. GURPS Ogre and The Ogre Book are already part of our print-on-demand library. Check them out.
Finally, you may have heard about this little soiree we're hosting down in Austin in April. FnordCon is our first home-grown convention, and we're really excited about it. I'm even flying down from CT to participate! There will be Ogre galore (possibly including a little surprise for everyone!), as well as The Fantasy Trip, playtests of Car Wars, and so much more. I really enjoyed meeting many of you at Origins last year, and hope to meet many more at FnordCon in April. This will likely be my only Con this year. Details may be found here; I'll see you in Austin!
-- Drew Metzger
(Post #59)