Thimbleweed Park and Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 31, 2017

Ron Gilbert’s early-90’s-esque point & click adventure game Thimbleweed Park has been released, and is now for sale at the expected haunts. Ron Gilbert is the mastermind behind the SCUMM engine and many of the classic Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts adventure games, including the legendary Monkey Island games. He was also the founder of Humongous Games, […]

Filed Under: Game Announcements - Comments: Comments are off for this article

League of Utah Writers – Spring Conference – and a Pulp Fiction Class

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 29, 2017

I’ll be teaching a class with David West a week from Saturday (April 8th) at the League of Utah Writers Spring Conference. We’re currently scheduled for the first hour. The spring conference is a short one–not quite a full day–but it’s also inexpensive and a great chance to network and learn from local writers. The […]

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Genres vs. Descriptors – A Better Way?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 27, 2017

So in games, literature, film, and TV we often talk about genre (and subgenre). It’s an overused term with lots of different meanings. In programming, we call it “overloaded.” In a broad sense, it is a category for placing a product where people who are seeking similar products can find it. This is, on its […]

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Good Crunch, Bad Crunch, No Crunch

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 23, 2017

I’ve written about this before, but I’ve recently encountered some people who have responded to the stories of crunching (particularly in the games industry) with a universal backlash that all crunch is bad, and that you should never crunch. In my mind, his equates to an admonition that you should never, ever work hard. And that […]

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Rogue One merged with A New Hope: Some thoughts and my own little headcanon

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 22, 2017

Stop now if you haven’t seen Star Wars: Rogue One. Unless you don’t mind spoilers. The video includes the last couple of minutes of Rogue One, and I mumble on about it a little bit . You have been warned.   One last chance…   So… Rogue One won’t be out for home release for […]

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D20 Traveller Bundle

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 21, 2017

Okay, this is kinda cool. I liked the D20 version of Traveller (called Traveller20 or T20), though we only played once. I’ve been a fan of several versions of the game. The “Bundle of Trouble” has a bunch of PDFs of the T20 game available now for pretty cheap… cheaper than the original hardback core rules cost […]

Filed Under: Deals, Dice & Paper - Comments: 2 Comments to Read

FanX 2017

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 20, 2017

Friday and Saturday, I was at FanX, the sister-convention for Salt Lake Comic Con. FanX is a little smaller and more focused on the celebrity visits. We had some great ones this year. Sadly, Stan Lee had the flu and couldn’t make it, but he did Skype in for his panel. Hopefully he’ll be able […]

Filed Under: Books, Events, Short Fiction - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Starfighter Inc – “Hard SF” Space Combat?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 17, 2017

Starfighter Inc is supposed to be a “Hard Science Fiction” space combat game. I’m intrigued, but for me, they will definitely going to have to jump through some hoops to rationalize it and make it fun. Hard science fiction can be extremely dramatic and interesting. But as a space-fighter combat setting, I see it being as […]

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Appendix N and the Real Story of Pulp Fantasy

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 16, 2017

Okay, I promised a little more about Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons and Dragons by Jeffro Johnson this week. Last time, I discussed the ramifications on “old-school” gaming style, how the bibliography in the Dungeon Master’s Guide suggested a much wider scope of story and fantasy that early versions of D&D tried to […]

Filed Under: Books, Retro - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Heading Out to FanX 2017

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 15, 2017

FanX in Salt Lake City is a little more abbreviated this year — only two days instead of three. All things considered, I’m really okay with that. As usual, I’ll be a vendor this year, working the Xchyler Authors & Utah Authors table, but at least half of the time I’ll be wandering around the […]

Filed Under: Books, Events - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Appendix N – Breaking the Old-School Fantasy Game Code

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 14, 2017

For the Frayed Knights games, I really wanted to capture the old-school spirit of not just computer RPGs, but also the style of tabletop D&D games I remember playing and envisioning as a kid. Things were different back then. If you read the old modules (both by TSR and third-party publishers), the original rulebooks from […]

Filed Under: Books, Design, Impressions - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

No Man’s Sky – Am I Ready for More Punishment?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 13, 2017

New computer. New update for No Man’s Sky. Am I ready for more punishment? I guess I am. However, the new installation meant my old status was not recorded. So I started over from scratch, instead of in my new galaxy. I’m actually okay with that, even though my starting planet had already been discovered […]

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Indie Games: The Floor Hits a New Low

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 10, 2017

I went to the nickle arcade a couple of weeks ago with my family. We had a great time, playing a bunch of classic arcade games. Some of the more popular games required two, three, or even four nickles to play. Which is still a lot less than the $0.25 they were originally slotted for […]

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

MMOne: vomit-worthy VR Motion?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 8, 2017

I will never be able to afford it. (“Recoup my initial investment in six months?”) But I want one. It would be good for my diet… I would never hold down a complete meal again. Worth it.  

Filed Under: Virtual Reality - Comments: Read the First Comment

WITCHY EYE released

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 7, 2017

Author D J Butler is a talented storyteller, which is the important part here. He’s also  a lawyer, a corporate trainer, a scholar, and a very tall fellow with an epic mustache. I think the latter is where he gets his super-powers, like if Samson was played by Tom Selleck. Just saying. But I ought […]

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Spring Sale at GOG.COM

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 6, 2017

In case you haven’t already bought out the whole store (I feel like that some days), GOG.com is having a big Spring Sale. Sadly, most of my wish list wasn’t for sale, but hey… Dungeon Rats! We’re good! Anyway, check it out, and enjoy. GOG.com Spring Sale

Filed Under: Deals - Comments: Comments are off for this article



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