Interview: Steve Long
I'm Steve Long, Line Developer for Last Unicorn's STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE ROLEPLAYING GAME game line and occasional freelance game writer.
Mag*Blast
Get ready for some screaming space battles in Mag*Blast, a card game for two to six players. In it, you'll find yourself blasting opponents' ships in an attempt to reach the heart of their fleet--the Flagship.
Magic in the Shadows
One of the things that has always impressed me about the Shadowrun game is how well magic, cybertechnology, and mythical creatures are integrated into the setting. The design team has done a very good job of ensuring…
Mastermaze
Though I am still mortal and have not been completely transformed by its arrival, I will freely admit that MasterMaze is a deeply impressive piece of work.
Maximum Tech
Realism isn't necessarily a good thing in a game, whether it's a role-playing game or miniatures wargaming, depending on the Game Master and the players involved. The amount of detail in a game is part of that realism,…
Mearls Does Milwaukee
I went to GenCon as Mearls the Gamer, not Mearls the Wannabe Game Designer or Mearls the Gaming Outpost columnist. This was my vacation, dammit! That being said, I tried to maintain a journal to record my thoughts and…
Morality and Consequences: Overlooked Roleplay Essentials
Almost twenty years ago, shortly after I first discovered Dungeons & Dragons and the 'grand thought experiment' which is role playing, I was regaled with the arguments of those who believed that this wonderfully…
Music in Gaming
While lack of background noise can be conducive to roleplaying at some times, and indeed switching around between CDs and cassettes can be extraordinarily distracting to a GM, music remains a fundamental part of…
Natural Selection: The Future of RPGs
During the middle of this decade, new competitors were introduced to the RPG niche. At the same time, the environment of publishing was changing. In the wild, these events would be called selection pressures. They…
Notes on Reviewing Miniature Figures
Hi, all. Walter O'Hara here, the GO miniatures reviewer. I've just received my first shipment of minis to review for the GO site. As I was unpacking the box, I realized that there is such a wide variance in the size,…
One Shots
One Shots is the first supporting product for Atlas Games' excellent Unknown Armies RPG. One Shots contains 5 stand alone scenarios complete with pregenerated characters. Each scenario is meant to be played in a single…
Origins Awards
The Origins Awards 1999 are right around the corner and Mike Mearls gives his opinions on which nominees should get your votes.
Parable of the Sower
Apocalyptic gaming has remained the red-headed stepchild of gaming genres: it's been there since the beginning, but it has never had a successful title as has fantasy, SF, or cyberpunk.
Pipeline
With the 21st century right around the corner, what does the future hold for our little hobby?
Printing
Printing is one of those mysterious processes that are so essential to any publishing endeavour (like roleplaying games!) but one which is shrouded in mystery. This can often be partly due to the printers themselves.
Providence Main Rule Book
The world known as Providence is a jungle realm spread across the interior of a sphere but geological instabilities have cracked the jungle floor, flooding the land with an ever-increasing amount of water.
Puppetland/Power Kill
Welcome to Puppetland, where you assume the role of a puppet. This puppet can be one of the following: Finger Puppet, Hand Puppet, Shadow Puppet, or Marionette Puppet. Each has certain things they can and cannot do...
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands
Remember Keep on the Borderlands, that module with the crazy dungeon and the keep full of people who did not have names? Well, forget that moldy old tome. Return to the Keep on the Borderlands (RTKB) is here.
Rolemaster Revised Edition
Iron Crown Enterprises has been a warhorse of the RPG field, managing to eke out a living while most RPG companies wither and fade...while I might personally prefer R. Talsorian's design aesthetic to ICE's in-house…
Sanctum
SANCTUM is an online card game in where you play one of the Twelve Houses. Your goal? Invade the opponent's home base, called a Sanctum. You do this by casting spells, and advancing your armies on the playing field. But…
Shadowrun 3rd Edition
The trappings of a typical cyberpunk dystopia are all there: ridiculously wealthy coporate elites dwell in isolated enclaves while the vast mass of the poor eke out a miserable existance in post-industrial ruins. In…
Sidekick Sourcebook
The Sidekick Sourcebook is the companion book to the Blood of Heroes RPG. In it, you'll find updates to previous rules, new powers, skills, drawbacks, combat rules, and more. There's also new characters that can be used…
Sorcerer RPG
The Sorcerer RPG goes along the lines of this: "You are a Sorcerer, but you do not 'cast spells.' Instead, you breaks the laws of what we humans call Reality to summon, bind, and command beings that are Not Supposed to…
Starbase Jeff
Starbase Jeff is a card game. It's not a collectible card game, because everybody has exactly the same deck, just shuffled differently. It's not a playing-card game, because, well, they're not playing cards. However,…
Tell It Like It Is
What's the Outpost's review policy? Why aren't some manufacturers happy with it? What should be done about it?
Thar Be Newbies!
It's the first editorial not by our editor. Mike Mearls discusses the friendliness and ease of the hobby to those just starting out in it.
The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky
On the other side of the spectrum from Maximum Tech is The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, which has enough flavor text to choke a camel.
The Dark Side of Gaming - Number Gaming
An article about the dark sin of "Number Gaming", which is focusing single-mindedly on numbers and winning instead of theme, content, and fun. This applies to most gamers, role-playing and wargaming alike. We all…
The Discard Pile: A Fresh Look At "Dead" CCGs
You've seen these 'dead games' gathering dust on dealers' shelves, or sitting around in online auctions, and not given them another thought. Many of them probably deserved to go, but better games may have slipped…
The Dragon and the Bear
For those who think 'real' history is lame, they have another thing coming: the Mongols.