Today’s a special day for me -- Fat Goblin Games released my first, for-pay book (I had another article in the short lived Open Gaming Monthly a few months before, but I wasn’t paid for that) three years ago today, October 6, 2013. It was the Call to Arms: Axes & Picks book, which has been well received. I’ve sold over 160 of these books in the past three years since then, but bigger than that, I’ve worked on over 50 other books since then, some for other publishers but many right here for Fat Goblin Games. I’ve also had the chance to work with a LOT of new talent and bring them into the Goblin Hoarde.
New writers like our most recent addition to the team, Ben Dowell
|Ben lives in rural Indiana, somewhere between Indianapolis and Chicago; the exact location changes every decade or so. His love of all things gaming started on an Atari 2600 and grew with him. Nearly 20 years ago, he was introduced to table top gaming with Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition. Ten years ago, he homebrewed a ninja-based game for his son. Now, he runs games for the whole family and a host of friends and acquaintances.
Ben joined the ranks of professional RPG developers in January of 2016 when he co-founded Epic Level NPC, a nod to his D&D roots. His next goal is fulfill his childhood career choice, and become a werewolf.
Our newest book from Ben is vs. Stranger Stuff Adventure: The Mad Gasser
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon
Based on an actual urban legend from his hometown, Ben was able to craft an adventure not just for our vs. Stranger Stuff game, but also included rules to play with our vs. Ghosts game, allowing the the "truth" of whom or what the Mad Gasser is to be up to the GM. Those options include:
- An escaped mad man
- A gas leak
- Military experimentation
- A cryptid beast
- or even a Nazi Ghost!
But an adventure involving possible Nazi ghosts isn't the only thing we have coming from Ben Dowell. Planned for release next week, we have vs. Stranger Stuff Adventure: Creepy Clowns.
Cuz we're always looking for a way to use this guy again.
And like with his The Mad Gasser adventure, this too will be quite a bit longer than the first few adventures we put out for vs. Ghosts. The premise of Creepy Clowns is taken right from today's headlines!
|The Fall Festival is only a few days away. School will be on break, a carnival is in town, and it’s all capped off with Halloween! Unfortunately, there’s always a few bad apples that want to take things too far. Lately, a group of “creepy clowns” have been scaring people in town. Can the kids in town convince the creepy clowns to cut it out before someone gets hurt? Or worst, before they cancel Halloween?!|
Now, clearly we're playing on the recent problems across the country with "phantom clowns," which also goes all the way back to at least the 1980's, but we do in the adventure try to point out that clowns are getting a bad wrap these days.
Regardless, we hope you'll be able to enjoy that storyline when it drops early next week, just in time for a Halloween adventure!
But That's Not All -- vs. Moon Men!
We also have an entirely new and different vs. M Engine game in the works:
vs. Moon Men is a roleplaying game in which players take up arms against alien invaders from another (but very nearby) world! Steal a ray gun and take the fight to them, or fight from the shadows while avoiding Big Lunar. Fight for freedom, stay out of the way, or help the invaders (but only if you’re a jerk). From the streets of Moscow to the backwoods of Tennessee, the Moon Men are here, and somebody needs to stop them!
The Moon Men didn’t come in peace, so send them back in pieces!
I'm not saying this is what they are going to look like, but it also might be...
vs. Moon Men is coming to us from Jason Owen Black.
|Jason Owen Black has been gaming since before he was old enough to be on the Random Starting Ages table. He has a B.A. and an M.A. in history and a graduate certificate in gender studies, and uses that education to write better game than he would have otherwise, hoping to keep his head down long enough for his student loans to be forgiven. He grew up near Detroit but followed the siren call of game design and rainy winters to move to Seattle. You can follow him on twitter @owenstreetpress or check out his website at jasonowenblack.com|
Jason has some neat new ideas for ways to play things out with the vs. M Engine, and then The Fattest Goblin Himself and I are going to steal those and continue to work on our "Next Big Thing"...
...but more on THAT later.