Indie RPG News Roundup, November 22
Here we go, the Thanksgiving edition of the Indie Role-Playing Game News Roundup! Happy Thanksgiving! Which only has any meaning for you guys who are in the United States. For the rest of you, Happy Thursday! Today is a day set aside to be thankful for our blessings, which we celebrate by mass consumption of food, usually with relatives we only marginally like, followed by something very passive like watching football (okay, "American football," sorry...). At some point, we have to wash all those dishes, which we're not NEARLY so thankful to get to do, but I digress.

We tend to spend much of the Thanksgiving weekend (which is usually four days) playing video games, board games, and role-playing games with friends. Which makes it one of my favorite holidays. In between visiting friends and family (or preparing for said visits), I'm personally planning on getting in some Frayed Knights development in, or playing some more Eschalon: Book 1. It's a happy thing.

So what's happened this week in the world of indie computer RPGs?

Eschalon: Book 1
As was previously announced, Eschalon: Book 1 was released. And initial reports seem to be pretty dang positive. I'm having a lot of fun playing it, that's for sure. It's very old-school, and doesn't exactly redefine the concept of the RPG (for which I'm actually thankful, for a change --- I've not been overjoyed with recent re-definitions), but it is competently done and a lot of fun.

Additionally, Basilisk Games has agreed to let Rampant Games offer Eschalon as an affiliate. Which pretty much means nothing to you unless you are me. It's just one more place to get the game. Since I'm all about getting the word out on the indie computer RPG scene, though, it sounds like a good thing.

Finally, patch 1.01 for Eschalon: Book 1 is now available. This is only for the full version of the game, NOT the demo. It addresses some annoying bugs, but also improves the gameplay based on player feedback. For example, the "x" key now opens up the inventory, equip item, and stats windows all at the same time, and vendors now sell more arrows for you ranger-types.

Download the Eschalon: Book 1 Patch 1.01

Read the Patch Notes


The Broken Hourglass
Planewalker Games notes, "On the PWG site, we have published a new article explaining the outlook and role of two of the Tolmiran gods--Arithaan, a cold and distant sort, and Uulix, the god of almost everything that isn't nailed down."

Read "Stagnation and Death: A Look At Tolmira's Pantheon"

And they get bonus points for using the word, "Pantheon."


Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest
On Amaranthia.com, the date for Aveyond 2 is now listed as "December 5th." So we may be only two weeks away from release. So if you haven't finished the first Aveyond game, get cracking! (Okay, technically, the free RPG "Ahriman's Prophecy" was the first Aveyond game...)


Avernum 5
RPGVault has an interview with Jeff Vogel about his new (for Mac users, "upcoming" for us Windows abusers) indie RPG, "Avernum 5." An interesting thing to note is that he's only planning on six games in the series. Anyway, since Vogel has been at the whole indie RPG thing before anybody really dubbed it "indie" or anything, it's always worth reading.

A good quote: "Avernum 5 has nicer graphics and sound than Avernum 4. We redid a lot of it to add a nice bit of flash. However, we're still a small indie company. If you need nice 3D graphics and full stereo sound, you probably won't be happy with our games. We focus on what we can do - provide a huge game with a cool story and lots of variety."

Read the Jeff Vogel Interview at RPGVault


Once again, Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Gaming!

Labels: Indie RPG News

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