Blood and Guts II: Deep Blue Sea

Been awhile since I posted on this, but Blood and Guts II: Deep Blue Sea is close to final and will be released in a few days.

And if you're curious and would like to see a little of the non-crunch section of the book, a primer on the history of naval warfare, you can read up on it here, here, here, here, here, and, wait for it... here.

Whew, that's a lot of previews but what can I say, I'm working the streets, making things happen for you guys.

Around the web

There's a thread at ENW about the best products of 2006. Of course, 90% of the answers are Wizards products but who am I to argue with that. People are voting for them because everyone BOUGHT them.

Looks like PHB II is a consensus.

Of course, it's not all happy-talk out there on the streets, so people are also listing their worst of 2006 in the same thread.

Rollin'

First bit of news:

So, my draft of the Game Master's Guide to WWII is done! And like all good plans, the book lineup we announced um... a couple days ago, has not survived first contact with the enemy. It occured to me that people might need small arms before they need vehicles, so I'm doing a Small Arms of WWII book now.

I had intended to put small arms with the ground vehicles, but I dont think I like that idea so much anymore.


Second bit of news:

I've got some more installments of "10 questions" on the way. Up next, Fraser Ronald of Sword's Edge Publishing and Russ Morrissey, proprietor of the biggest d20 website on the planet other than WOTC's official site.

Third bit of news:

My comics are here! So, expect some old school reviews of The Invaders, Marvel Team-Up and Power Man/Iron Fist in the coming days.

Another map view

I think I finally got this little starting campaign area looking the way I want.

I have to say I really am liking the new capabilities in CC3 and how easy it is to use (the only real complaint one could have about previous versions).

On the horizon

It's nice to see that Sony isn't letting the PS2 die just yet. Better still, there's a couple of interesting RPGs on the horizon that seem sort of Final Fantasy-ish.

In late January there's Rogue Galaxy, a game by Level 5, one of the companies that produced Dragon Quest VIII, one of the best console RPGs of all time. Even better, the game looks to be a sci-fi RPG, or at least science fantasy.

In February there's Ar tonelico, a game that looks trippy as all holy hell but also pretty damn good.

I think Rogue Galaxy is a definite buy given what I've seen of it and the company behind it. Ar Tonelico is one I'm waiting on the reviews for.

Still, more RPGs is always a good thing.

Blood and Secrets review

There's a new review up of Blood and Secrets at RPGNow. There's more at the link but here's the summary.

LIKED: The Rank system is top rate. The production values are good and the game mechanics are pretty good. DISLIKED: Seems to only assume two agencies exist and these are large scale agencies at that. Also, just not enough general 'crunch' to get stuck into. QUALITY: Very Good VALUE: Satisfied

RATING: [4 of 5 Stars!]

Podcast report: Accidental Survivors

D20 Modern has it's own podcast at long last, called Accidental Survivors. The podcast is hosted by Fraser Ronald of Sword's Edge Publishing. He was also the author of Blood and Guts II: In Her Majesty's Service, published by Sword's Edge to support our Blood and Guts II line.

The latest edition of his podcast is all about modern resources and has a great listing of PDF products and general information websites that will greatly enhance your modern game.

And of course, there's more than a few RPGObjects books mentioned, which is really flattering and just overall awesome.

Chuck