Category Archives: genesys

Free League Have Been Busy On The Alien RPG

Alien, android, genesys, netrunner, news, RPG

Last week Free League announced a partnership with Titan Books (an off shoot of Forbidden Planet if memory serves me correctly).

In the official announcement this partnership has been described as “a collaboration to publish a unified storyline set within the ALIEN Universe. For 2022 and into 2023, the editorial and writing teams will share assets and coordinate plotlines to form a cohesive narrative across three original novels and the multiple award-winning ALIEN RPG.”

In the next year Titan Books will be publishing three new Alien novels.

  • Alien: Colony War by David Barnett (April 2022)
  • Alien: Inferno’s Fall by Phillipa Ballantine and Clara Carija (July 2022)
  • Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary SanGiovanni (February 2023)

The first two can be pre-ordered on Amazon already. Which funnily enough but hardly a surprise I have pre-ordered.

If unsure which version of the books to pre-order, as there are three versions, audible, kindle and good old physical?

You first need to be aware of the following snippet of information about these novels. “ALIEN RPG lead setting writer Andrew E.C. Gaska will develop three unique RPG scenarios which will appear as bonus features in the books, one per novel.”

I seriously doubt these scenarios will be in the audible version (which I did spend a credit on to pre-order). But I’m not sure that the kindle version will have them either. The only edition I would bet money on that definitely will have them is the physical (hence why I pre-ordered it).

However Titan Books aren’t the first to do this sort of thing.

Back in 2017/8 FFG did something similar when they released four novellas set in the Android universe that had in the physical versions exclusive content for the Genesys RPG Shadow of the Beanstalk source book. Such as “a 16-page color insert detailing the treacherous Los Scorpiones gang …”

That exclusive bit was annoying as it was very challenging to get the actual physical edition, especially here in the UK. I did manage to get them all. But I don’t think the print run was very big.

This shouldn’t be an issue with the much more popular Alien franchise.

In other Free League Alien RPG news (yes they have been very busy it seems) a new cinematic adventure called Heart of Darkness has just gone on pre-order.

Heart of Darkness is “written by sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska. It is a stand-alone adventure, but also serves as a conclusion to the Draconis Strain Saga begun in the cinematic scenario Chariot of the Gods and continued in Destroyer of Worlds. The scenario is designed for 3–5 players plus the Game Mother, and is a spiraling descent into soul-crushing madness.”

What does your money get you?

Basically the following:

  • The main Heart of Darkness scenario book.
  • A huge double-sided map (format 864x558mm) of the Erebos plasma trawling space station.
  • Seven pre-generated characters to choose from.
  • Custom cards for secret messages and personal agendas.
  • Player maps and handouts.

Plus when you pre-order you get early access to the PDF’s. The actual physical version will not be out until sometime in the Summer I believe.

There is a VTT bundle for this as well.

I do like that buying from Free League also gets you the PDF version. Other publishers do this as well, such as EN Publishing. It’s a nice incentive to buy direct from them. But I am a bit conflicted on this. Pre-ordering and early access I’m happy with. But for those that can wait, and want to support and buy from their FLGS, surely Free League and other publishers can come up with a way for those to get the PDF as well as part of their purchase.

Anyway I’m an impatient so and so, so come payday Heart of Darkness will be added to a virtual shopping cart.

Dragons and Androids

android, D&D, genesys, netrunner, news, RPG

From time to time instead of writing a new post about something I’ve already written about I have been known to actually update the original post instead.

My post that shares some recent videos from Arcane Library and Sly Flourish about generating ideas for adventures using random tables is one such post. So if you want to see the update just click here.

As the above image demonstrates I did in fact cave and get Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. I can’t wait to use it within my campaign. But first we need to get our sessions started again. No new date has been set yet!

In other news FFG in partnership with Dark Horse Comics are releasing a third art book in their series based on FFG intellectual property called The Art Of The Android Universe.

The Art of the Android Universe will be “showcasing the design and art from the hit table top games set within the Android Universe!”

Cool I’m a big fan of the Android universe. I have been ever since I first got into playing Android Netrunner. I just love this vision of a cyberpunk future that FFG have come up with.

This art book will be a great resource for GM’s wanting to run an adventure in the Android universe. I’m pretty sure it will compliment The Worlds of Android book very nicely as a source of inspiration.

The Art of the Android Universe is due out according to its Amazon UK page on the 16th December and will be £33.99.

Embers of the Imperium delayed

genesys, news, RPG

Earlier in the year Edge Studio (new home of the Genesys RPG) and FFG teased/announced the next source book for Genesys, Embers of the Imperium, a Twilight Imperium setting for the system.

Yesterday Edge Studio broke news that Embers of the Imperium would not be making the planned release of by the end of the Summer. Various reasons were given to why there is a delay to the release, such as development backlogs and the process of setting up the company.

Edge Studio have set a new target date of hopefully having the Embers of the Imperium finished and released by the end of the year.

The delay to Embers of the Imperium must have been known for a while. So why wait until days before the supposed release date to announce the delay? Were they hoping for a miracle? This should have been communicated to the community much earlier.

However frustrating this delay is, the companies lack of communication and interacting with the Genesys community is even more frustrating. They still don’t have a functioning website, it’s just a holding page.

In the same announcement about the delay, Edge Studio also teased another upcoming Genesys book, “Embers of the Imperium is not the only Genesys book we’re working on right now. We’re not quite at the point where we’re ready to release details about it, but we can confirm that the manuscript is written and is being playtested.” I’m hoping it’s a Tannhauser source book or more Android. But everyone will have their own preference to what they hope this will be.

Finally in the Edge Studio they announced that they are participating in the Free RPG Day by producing a free Genesys adventure set in the Twilight Imperium universe called Ashes of Power.

“This 40-page-booklet contains a simplified set of rules for Genesys, a full adventure by veteran writers Max Brooke and Michael Gernes, and four pre-generated characters (and there will be two additional pre-gens available for download on Free RPG Day). That, combined with the now free Genesys Dice Roller app, means you can try out Genesys without spending a single cent.”

Unlike previous free adventures for the Genesys RPG that were produced for the first two source books to demo the game at cons. This one sounds more like the free starter kit adventures some other RPGs have released such as the Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 A.D. one, with the cut down core rules includedm. This makes the adventure a great taster for players and GMs alike.

I like that they have made the Genesys Dice Roller app free. That’s a great step in helping people play the game. The custom physical dice currently go for £17 on Amazon.

Edge Studio also confirmed that Ashes of Power is “a preview of Embers of the Imperium. Both are set in the sprawling space opera epic of Twilight Imperium, a far future where various powerful factions vie for the vacant imperial throne and right to rule the galaxy. You take on the role of a team of Keleres who are sent to a recently rediscovered planet to track down a missing Keleres informant. Of course once you get there, you’ll need to navigate a unique culture comprised of three very different species, and survive when you inevitably run into a group of very unpleasant individuals with a vested interest in seeing you dead. After all, there are ancient secrets lurking on Herool’s Truce…”

I have asked Edge Studio whether Ashes of Power will be available to download for those of us that don’t have a participating LGS near by. However the post I asked this on was deleted when they updated it! And the question unanswered and lost. Although I have re-asked the question this morning and awaiting a response. The Free RPG Day takes place on 16th October.

The full press release

Quest Models

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, DM/GM Tips, Eberron, genesys, Judge Dredd, Paranoia, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, Uncategorized, W.O.I.N.

This recent video by Sly Flourish is one of many short DM advice videos that he has released recently. They are rather nifty, and brilliant for those with busy lives.

The reason I’ve embed the video and talking about it here is that I think this advice is pretty universal to which ever RPG system you are playing.

The three common quest models Sly briefly covers in the above video are:

  • Kill the boss quest
  • Recover the artifact
  • Rescue somebody

Sly points out that it’s the flavour that makes these quest models interesting. To aid in that flavour I think the adventuring party needs a patron of some kind. Whether that patron is a crime lord, guild leader, a fixer, wealthy, powerful, a corporation (I think you get the idea) they are a handy plot device to use to introduce one of the quest models above, and not just away to give the party useful equipment.

For instance they could have to eliminate a rival crime lord, steal a top secret device/plans from a rival corporation, or rescue hostages.

This isn’t the first time that Sly has talked about quest models. In the video below he talks about “The Three-of-Five Collection Quest”.

“The Three-of-Five Collection Quest” is a variation of “recover the artifact” quest. Sly also lists three other quest models within the above video, the “heist”, “kill the lieutenant” and “destroy the thing”. But in reality to the initial list from the quest models video we are only adding one new quest to our tool box.

  • Kill some-one
  • Recover the thing/heist
  • Rescue somebody
  • Destroy the thing

I would argue a heist is a variation of the recover the thing quest model, if not the same thing. I don’t see any difference between the “kill the boss” and “kill the lieutenant” quests. They are basically go kill some-one for some reason. So I think count as one.

UPDATE: adding a fifth quest model escort/protect someone/thing.

With these handful of quest models it should be easy to come up with quests for your campaign or even at a push on the fly.

Oh while I’m talking RPGs. It struck me as I was binge watching Leverage for the third or fourth time that the Leverage team is the perfect party make up for a cyberpunk (Red or Android) party.

I’m not sure what the mastermind role would map to, but they are basically the brains of the group. But every other role maps I believe. At a push this could be a D&D party too. What do you think?

Twilight Imperium the RPG

genesys, news, RPG

[said in the voice of The Rock] Finally! Genesys gets a new source book!

Announced yesterday by FFG and Edge Studios on pages 4 and 5 of the Twilight Codex issue 2 that they released was the news that the next source book for the Genesys RPG system will be a TI4 setting.

Pages 4 and 5 from Twilight Codex issue 2

The Twilight Codex is a web-based publication (basically a pdf you can download) that highlights rules updates and showcases new content for Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition and its Prophecy of Kings expansion.

So it’s the natural place for FFG and Edge Studios (who are now the guardians of the RPGs that belonged to FFG) to announce a sourcebook set in the Twilight Imperium Universe.

We can get a hint of things to come by looking at Chapter 6: Space Opera of the core rulebook. This chapter looks at the setting Space Opera and uses Twilight Imperium as its example. I am looking for psionics to be expanded much in the same way netrunning rules were in Shadow of the Beanstalk.

Hopefully we will also get adversary cards to go along with source book.

I would say this announcement has been long over due by Edge Studios. Whose silence over upcoming Genesys related stuff has been infuriating and given the impression that the system may be deceased.

The new Genesys setting was not the only announcement within the pages of the Codex. There were also details of two novels set in the Twilight Imperium universe.

Twilight Codex page with book details.

It would appear that FFG are giving Twilight Imperium the Android treatment. It’s a shame Android isn’t getting some more love. But I’ll take the Twilight Imperium stuff gladly.

Start of my horror notes

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, genesys, Judge Dredd, netrunner, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, W.O.I.N.

Today I decided to start making some notes about horror in relation to RPGs instead of just dumping clippings into a note app entry on my iPad.

I’m using the excellent iThoughts mind map app to organise them. It allows me to create something like below.

Basically I’ve captioned headings, sub headings, etc and turned them into mini mind maps on one big mind map.

The plan is to expand each of the mind maps with further notes. Which naturally will take sometime.

But thought I’d share this incase it’s of interest to anyone.

Some sources for running horror in RPGs

D&D, genesys, magic, MtG, RPG, W.O.I.N.

With a stomach bug taking me out of action for a day or three, I’m slowly getting back to the new normal.

Which means I’ve been doing a bit of research that I should have been doing a while back.

Earlier in the year I was watching the Gen Con YouTube channel and their three streamed Alien RPG sessions for the Chariot of the Gods cinematic scenario (these are one shot adventures, that use precon characters and have a high body count!). During the start of the first session the GM quickly runs through what amounts to a session zero. It was when he stated that he was a fan of body horror, and he will be describing things in detail.

That left me a bit confused. What was body horror? It’s not a term I was familiar with. I knew slasher flicks (Friday 13th, Halloween etc), video nasties (hey that was my teenage years in the 80’s, although I pretty sure the majority were banned for the shit acting), and torture porn (Hostel).

But body horror? Nope not heard of it.

Then again it didn’t surprise me, these days I rarely watch any horror movies. I suppose I could have asked my friend James. He’s a massive horror fan. Boy does he watch some obscure stuff. But I never got round to it.

Over the months afterwards I got the rulebook for the Alien RPG, I already had the D&D Curse of Strahd (CoS) adventure, and the desire to run a horror based game of some sort buried itself away in the back of my brain.

With the recent release of another D&D horror inspired adventure, Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden (IDRotF) that desire to run a horror based game floated to the forefront once more.

But what information was out there to help run such a game?

Well within the pages of CoS we are given page 7 Marks of Horror. Which is a page of tips for running horror. Whilst in IDRotF all we get is a breakout box warning about the content (see image below).

But this fails for me as a warning. You actually have to go to D&D Beyond to get an idea about the content and some great advice for running horror in D&D in the post Creating Terror without Being a Jerk.

But none of this stuff told me what body horror was.

Then I remembered that the Pathfinder RPG had a horror adventure book. What did that have inside?

In Chapter 6 – Running Horror Adventures it defined body horror as…

“This visceral subgenre concerns itself with the organic terror of the flesh, including disease, physical corruption, and transformation. At its basest level, body horror is the revulsion felt upon hearing a bone break or seeing a joint violently bend in the wrong direction. Elaborated upon, it’s the terror of becoming physically monstrous and the awfulness that might hide within.”

Cool I was a lot wiser now.

I can see how that would fit in with the Alien RPG and the cinematic scenarios. Although I feel that the Alien RPG would be more cosmic horror with some body horror moments (facehuggers, chestbursters). The Pathfinder book has some pretty cool stuff in there that is of use for other systems.

In my internet journeys I stumbled across a quote by Stephen King (see below) and his book of essays about writing and horror Danse Macabre. It’s a bit old now.

But going by that quote still relevant. So I picked up the audible version of the book.

There is a little but brief information within the Alien RPG about running a horror session. Shockingly light really. There is also a section on Horror as a tone within the Genesys RPG core rulebook.

That’s been the disappointing bit with D&D and the Alien RPG. The brevity or lack of information.

But I feel between King and the Pathfinder book I now have enough to equip myself with running a horror based RPG session. But more importantly use the correct language whilst talking with the players, and be comfortable knowing where the lines should be based on the players feedback. Which is where I should be when using a pre-written adventure/scenario.

I’d like to think that once I’ve finished King and the Pathfinder chapter I’ll have basic tools and knowledge to create my own horror one-shot. Whether it’s a cinematic scenario for the Alien RPG (I do love the Alien universe), uses the Genesys system (ideally with the Android setting), Cyberpunk Red, D&D or Judge Dredd/Strontium Dog.

Genesys RPG Gets A Reprieve

genesys, news, RPG

I’m not sure how well last weeks US trade show for the gaming industry GAMA was attended. But with all that’s going on in the world currently it happened.

For fans of of the Genesys, Star Wars and L5R RPGs by FFG that was a good thing.

Since the New Year those RPGs have had an uncertain future. As we moved in to 2020 the news broke that the RPG team was part of the announced redundancies within FFG. Then the end of February saw rumours leak that FFG would no longer be producing them. That their current commitments of announced products would be met and that’s it.

It looked like this was it. They had run their natural course. They were deceased RPGs. They were no more. Ok I’ll stop trying to turn this into a Python dead parrot sketch.

Then last week Asmodee (the parent company) during the GAMA trade show held a keynote.

Like all things these days there were people in the audience live blogging the keynote.

It would appear that these RPGs are not no longer. That the development of them has been moved to a new studio based in Europe called EDGE Entertainment.

The existing books (and I’m assuming ancillary products of dice, game screen, and adversary cards) will still be printed. That new books will be developed. And that they will work with existing ones. They will not be new editions (ie second editions).

This is pretty good news.

Genesys The Expanded Players Guide

genesys, RPG

It’s sad that my “light” reading these days while having a soak in the bath (yep had to return that image to your mind) are various RPG books.

I find them (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) a relaxing and inspiring read. After reading a few pages whether it’s about character creation, running combat or some campaign/world background, I can’t help but have ideas buzzing around in my head.

And if it’s a system I haven’t managed to play yet, yearn to get it to the table. You can tell when that happens because I will post a hopeful call for players to try the game on the clubs Facebook page. A day or two later that enthusiasm and excitement is turned into disappointment by the lack of responses.

My current reading has seen me diving in and out of the Genesys source books. With a lot of that time spent in the latest volume for the Genesys system the Expanded Players Guide (EPG).

I really, really like the EPG. It’s such a great addition.

Let’s look at what the EPG brings to the table and why I like it so much.

The EPG is broken into three parts. Those being New Settings, Expanded Rule Creation and Expanded Alternate Rules.

In the New Settings we get three new example settings, ‘Age of Myth’, ‘Monsterworld’ and ‘Post Apocalypse’.

Unlike the Core Rulebook settings these new settings are not mapped to FFG IP. Like the other settings though these are broad overviews and meant as a starting point for building your own game worlds.

The ‘Age of Myth’ is slightly different to traditional fantasy. You are looking at Greek and Norse mythology and how they viewed the world. If you want a good look at this setting watch this video by Dael Kingsmill on the subject. But be warned her focus is more for using the setting in D&D. However Dael does a great job of explaining the difference between a fantasy and myth setting. I also like the job the authors of the EPG did.

‘Monsterworld’ is the gothic horror, setting. So think Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

I think ‘Post Apocalypse’ speaks for itself. However reading and watching The Road by Cormac McCarthy would be a great piece to get inspiration from. Or playing the classic video game The Last of Us. Although if I was thinking of using this setting and it is covered by one of the four The End of the World books by FFG I’d be tempted to use one of them instead.

FFG also provide a handy table that maps skills and talents for the settings to those in the Core Rulebook.

Add these example settings to those in the Core Rulebook and I think FFG have now covered the majority of the genres that most people will ever want or need.

However if they have missed one, or you want to come up with your own based on one of the provided examples or some other source material, FFG have provided a whole chapter of Expanded rules for creating a setting.

For me this is an amazing chapter that is system agnostic. It has some great tables to roll against for the generation of ideas or you can just pick one of the entries. These tables cover common tropes, technology level, world structure, etc. There is an Expanded Setting Creation Sheet you can download off the FFG website to record things on.

In the second part of the EPG we get rules for creating our own vehicles. Additionally there are some stats for common vehicles for land, air and water. I’ve not gone through the creation part yet. But the new vehicle stats are useful, and can go straight into a lot of settings.

We also get rules for creating quick adversaries plus a new challenge level system in this section. I really like the quick adversaries creation. It was fun creating those dinosaurs in previous posts using these rules. The new challenge level system is a welcome addition for judging how balanced an encounter is.

There is also rules here for creating specialization trees aka skill trees using talents. I really like this and currently creating a specialization tree for a runner in the Android setting. This is very video game RPG like.

In the third and final section there are “…new talents and spells designed to work with our magic rules“. It also has “…some alternate rules for character advancement and social encounters, and new tones.”

I’ve not spent any time in this section apart from briefly skimming the new tones, Heist and Noir. Apart from the new rules they introduce for each tone. I think these are pretty applicable to any system, and also another great source of inspiration.

If you play using Genesys system then this book is a must have. It certainly ticks all the boxes for me.

Some timely twitter D&D tips via Sly Flourish

D&D, genesys, RPG, W.O.I.N.

On Sunday there were a couple of tweets by Sly Fourish that I found timely reminders and great advice for DMs/GMs. Although aimed at D&D (hence the hashtag) they were both applicable to any RPG system in my opinion.

So without any sort of permission I thought I’d share them here below.

The Sly Flourish tip I’m totally guilty of. I need to take this into account more within my session prep. At the moment if they get to showcase them it’s more by luck.

The DnDTweets tip is a great reminder that stuff still happens while the adventurers are doing their thing. Plots of NPCs advance, stuff happens. It reminded me what is Angrath the Minotaur pirate currently doing? I could even throw Vraska into this thought process. I’ll write more on this and what I think is going on in a session prep post with all the disclaimers for my party.

I hope others reading this find the tips useful.