Tim Bannock

ALIEN Roleplaying Game
ALIEN Roleplaying Game

The ALIEN Roleplaying Game Cheat Sheet

07/25/2024 / / 0 Comments

UPDATED 7/25/2024 – I’ve significantly updated the cheat sheet while prepping for an upcoming cinematic scenario. If you have the previous version, definitely check out this new one as it is a huge improvement: page references, full Stealth Mode rules, quick references for Synthetic and Xenomorph rules, and more!

I don’t know what Fria Ligan has done to me, but they sunk their claws in deep when they announced the ALIEN Roleplaying Game coming later this year. I quickly pre-ordered, have been preparing to run the included starter scenario, and have devoured the content people are creating on the ALIEN RPG Forum.

Since I’m picky about what I want on my GM screen, I made the following cheat sheet. This combines a lot of what you’ll find on the forums, but lays it out slightly differently to suit my tastes. Check it out!

Download the PDF Cheat Sheet for the ALIEN Roleplaying Game from Google Drive.

Don’t hesitate to comment or reach out to me on social media (hit the links in the widgets or at the bottom of the page) if you catch any mistakes!

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Happy gaming to ya!

Storytelling by Tumisu
Storytelling by Tumisu

Turn Any Adventure Into the Best One-Shot to Run Easily

07/18/2024 / / 0 Comments

Beleaguered GMs everywhere suffer burn out, and even well established, well prepared GMs might have habits that make running a game difficult. Maybe it’s in choosing which adventure to run. Maybe you overprepare, juggling more information than the players will ever see, and you feel like you’re wasting valuable time. Maybe you just get caught up in the excitement of it all and dream of long campaigns, while in reality you’re lucky if enough players show up to the first session.

I’ve got a process that will help you out! Using cutting edge learning techniques, we’re going to tackle these problems. This process will give you the ability to design and develop a one-shot or mini-adventure quickly, and by using this method, you’ll have an easier time recalling all the information during the game session when you run it.

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Cortex Prime Game Handbook cover snip

The Future of Cortex RPG: Marketplaces and Licensing

07/05/2024 / / 0 Comments

The Cortex system has had a complex journey, passing through several owners. Originally developed by Margaret Weis Publishing, the game mechanics were licensed to lead designer Cam Banks, then sold to Fandom, and finally to Dire Wolf Digital (DWD) after Fandom exited the tabletop roleplaying industry. This tumultuous history has created challenges and opportunities for DWD, particularly in the areas of community marketplaces and licensing for content creators.

The Cortex Prime Game Handbook is renowned for being a versatile “LEGO set” of rules that allows players to design their own game experiences. Award winning, even. This modularity makes it comparable to systems like GURPS and Fate, yet unique in its lack of a singular “core game.” Unlike Fate, which has a permissive license encouraging extensive modifications, Cortex currently lacks such a framework, limiting its appeal primarily to game designers, but not just them, specifically ones who aren’t looking to become content creators themselves—a potentially very small audience in the heavily DIY roleplaying game industry.

Let’s talk about the vision versus the state of the game, and then consider the future of Cortex, all in terms of marketplaces and licenses.

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Cortex Prime Game Handbook cover snip

How to Revive Cortex Prime – An Open Letter to Dire Wolf Digital

06/28/2024 / / 1 Comment

In August 2022, Dire Wolf Digital (DWD) acquired the Cortex RPG from Fandom, including the Cortex Prime Game Handbook and Tales of Xadia: The Dragon Prince Roleplaying Game. Despite this transition, the game remains alive, but in need of revitalization. A dedicated and vocal fanbase remains active on the Cortex RPG official Discord, and meanwhile, the larger tabletop industry hasn’t moved on either, despite some fans’ fears. In fact, Cortex is still widely discussed and recommended across forums and social media. It has garnered hours of content and hundreds of thousands of views in the past few years, even as DWD has remained silent on its future. New products are still being launched as recently as last week (June 2024).

A deep dive into the current state of Cortex RPG, conducted with the help of dedicated fans, revealed several strategies to change the perception of Cortex as an under-supported game. These ideas can help Cortex achieve the potential Fandom saw when they purchased it in 2019.

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HEROIC The Role-Playing Game by Zenith Entertainment Group
HEROIC The Role-Playing Game by Zenith Entertainment Group

Astonishing Super Heroes Lives On in HEROIC The Role-Playing Game – Now on Backerkit

12/26/2023 / / 0 Comments

It was announced months ago that the FASERIP retroclone remix Astonishing Super Heroes was not going to be receiving the planned second book, Spectacular Origins, but the future was not bleak! We can finally announce the official news explaining what’s up!

HEROIC The Role-Playing Game by Zenith Entertainment Group has just launched on Backerkit!

Andrew Collas of ZEG has assembled a superpowered team of writers and editors to forge a new path forward, completing everything that Astonishing Super Heroes set out to do and so much more! This includes significantly revising an expanded list of powers, among a great many more revisions borne out of prolonged play tests. This will make HEROIC perhaps the single most comprehensive take on revising and streamlining the original FASERIP rules to bring them to a modern audience.

I’m truly excited to see ASH live on in a new and better-supported form. Please show your love by pledging to help out on Backerkit, and follow along with all the news and more gaming goodness at Zenith’s Facebook!

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