As always you can check the new Free Stuff page for anything you might have missed in previous posts.
I think I'm going to focus my artistic efforts on sci-fi since the next big launch for Savage Worlds will be The Last Parsec. I can hardly wait. All this overtime money I have been earning needs to go somewhere.
Warning! Rant begins!
One reason I am eagerly awaiting it is because of Star Wars. I love the idea of the Star Wars universe but I can no longer game there because of the fans (and the EU).
No matter how many times I tell my friends that I am not going to use the EU (Expanded Universe), they will always whip out some nugget of information that...
a) Their character couldn't possibly know
b) Is not actually happening in my setting
c) Confuses the players who were trying to get a feel for my take on things and don't know the EU by heart.
So having an encyclopedic knowledge of a game setting is not going to add to the game play unless you are the gm as well and your players are interested in learning what you have to teach over the course of the adventure.
If you are not the gm and this knowledge is so dear to your heart that you find yourself correcting the game master every time he opens his mouth, I suggest you leave the table. You aren't going to have fun, the people around you are going to get tired of your interruptions real quick, and the more you press the issue - the worse you will look.
My players came to play a game that involves kicking space Nazi butt. They don't need someone like you to point out that the Nazis went to Argentina, and not the Moon.
So why do I hate the EU?
There were some decent books but look at the state of the Star Wars universe...
The movies... Empire and Sith defeated. Peace restored to the Galaxy. A new Republic is born.
The books...It's Tuesday so that means more Sith have showed up and overthrown the Republic of tissue paper. Vader's sacrifice was pointless. Luke's struggle was just a transitory victory. The new Sith get beaten, but then Tuesday comes around again.
And other than a Sith lord with lightsabers on is elbows and knees, jedi Ewoks, even a jedi Hutt, there is the jedi power creep. Every book has to outdo the threat of the previous novel or movie. "Death Star, pah! See my Sun Crusher!" And the authors have a choice, to have their characters use the tools already available to them in a new and intelligent way or...Invent New Jedi Powerz! Powerz Moar Powerful so they can stop the Moar Powerzful Sith! Guess which path the authors chose. The Force Unleashed was just a matter of time.
So I patiently wait for the Last Parsec, a mostly unknown universe, with expectation and glee. I'll strap on my goggles, prime my drives, and explore it hand-in-hand with my players. And the legends of my game will be the ones we make.
May the Force be with you. Not the Force you want, but the Force you deserve.
Game On!
