Tuesday: Two Things I Think

Catching up on a few weeks of news-type-stuff:

• Modiphius has a new license for a Conan RPG. Let's see there was the TSR Conan game, the GURPS Conan books, the seemingly cursed Mongoose d20 version ... is this really a big deal in 2015? I'm a pretty big Conan fan (original Howard books mainly, the movies to a point, the comic books and later authors less so) and this doesn't really get me excited. Part of that is probably because despite owning or having owned in the past all of those versions of the game I've never been able to convince my players to do a Conan game. Part is probably because I think GURPS did a pretty good job of it and Savage Worlds could do a pretty good job of it so I don't really feel the need for yet another version of it. I guess we will see how it goes. I'm also not sure it's ever made a decent amount of money for a game company as a licensed property but I suppose people will keep trying. Color me mildly curious.

• Looks like the same company also picked up the license for a new version of Mutant Chronicles. Awesome - a new edition of a game that wasn't that popular in the first place and the previous editions were put out 17 and 22 years ago. Maybe they hope to ride the nostalgia wave? I really liked the original version of the game and I still own a copy, but I think a big part of the attraction was an RPG that was about as close to Warhammer 40,000 as you could get when there wasn't a Warhammer 40,000 game available. Now there are at least 5 of them and they seem to be pretty popular, so who is going to play this again? For those who do like the setting, well,  I'm not sure I need yet another system for this when I suspect Hero, GURPS, or Savage Worlds (there is a SW conversion listed on the KS page) or even FATE could handle it just fine. They have some pretty big plans based on their Kickstarter too and that makes me pause as well - besides the actual core game there are a bunch more books and bags and minis and dice and t-shirts and other knick-knacks that seem to be the downfall of so many RPG crowdfunding efforts. I hope it goes well for everyone involved.

• History on the development of the "Known World" D&D setting is here. I still have a soft spot for this setting as it and Greyhawk were the first two published campaign "worlds" I encountered circa 1981. There was a lot here I did not know so I'd say it's worth a look if you're at all interested. 

• Excitement over WOTC taking down infringing apps here and here. I don't see anything terribly surprising here. If you're trying to make money off of WOTC stuff and you're not paying them for the privilege, they're going to have a problem with it at some point. Lots of comparisons to Paizo but Paizo is operating under the OGL with a lot of its content which changes things considerably.

• In a discussion on the new Sage Advice column at WOTC we already have people refusing to buy a perceived 5.5 edition of D&D. The DMG's been out for less than 2 months. I see internet gaming forums remain the bastion of rationality they have been for years now. Do some gamers really have this much trouble living in the now? Sheesh.