CCP Cancels WoD MMO

Sadface.  Via Gamespot:

The studio says it was "falling regretfully short" in its goals of creating an vampire-themed MMO. Following the cancellation, 56 employees at the Atlanta, Georgia studio have been laid off. Some of the team are said to have been offered other roles within the company, with the remaining staff at the studio now working on games set in the EVE universe.

Employing Horror Despite Technology, pt 2

Following up Monday's post about counteracting the use of cell phones in a modern Horror RPG setting, I'm going to talk about the Internet today.  One of the major threats to supernatural entities is exposure, and the internet is the ultimate in exposure.  Here are some ways to handle it.

Employing Horror Despite Technology, pt. 1

A recent hypothesis was recently posed to me by a friend about how supernatural suspense/horror would be different with the use of modern technology -- cell phones, the internet, and other forms of instantaneous communication.

MMO Champion's Timeless Isle Chest Guide

In what appears to be the fastest way to gear a level 90, Blizzard has released epic loot tables in chests in the new Timeless Isle zone. After playing in it for an hour, I have 4 pieces of 497 purple gear, and I've not even started the chests. Here's MMO champion's chest guide.

Kickstarter: V20 Hunters Hunted

After successful campaigns to get the 20th edition of Vampire full support, White Wolf is throwing together a new Hunters Hunted.  The original was a core manual for playing with vampire antagonists, rather than protagonists.  This expands on the concept, bringing modern technology to the hunt, and bringing new hunting grounds -- in particular, the internet.

Shaping a World

Perhaps above all else, I feel like depth is important in a setting.  I want to feel like things are well thought out, or have some sort of plan.  If I don't feel connected with a game/book setting, I find myself more frequently disengaging, which means less connection with a character and a game world.  In order to provide this for my players, I like to do extensive setting research before I'm comfortable getting to the point where I'm ready to present it.  Here are ten tools that I've found rather useful in writing a setting, given that I've primarily run historical games or games based in real-world settings (Cthulhu, Shadowrun, World of Darkness).