Developments in RPGs, August 2012

Or “That’s What I’m Doing Wrong….”

August brings GenCon, the largest gaming convention in America and arguably the largest focused primarily on roleplaying games. GenCon always incites a flurry of activity -- shared in our optimistically frightening Internet Age with millions worldwide from a host of correspondents both professional and amateur (though no less enthusiastic) across numerous electronic venues -- from official press releases about new games, news of awards, web correspondent podcasts, and reports from game industry luminaries to personal con-goer reports, seminar recordings of varying quality, and an avalanche of photos from the convention.

I haven’t been to GenCon for years, though I suppose I’d now find the experience quite overwhelming in my advancing middle age. While I’d like to think I’d enjoy returning there, I’m having fun casually keeping up with the most notable developments thanks to various web reports primarily gleaned through my Google+ circles, which understandably have a number of game industry professionals and other game enthusiasts in them. GenCon or otherwise, August seems the month -- in the waning days of summer before kids return to school -- when the adventure gaming industry makes the big announcements.

Three major developments in roleplaying games made their debut in August bolstered by buzz generated at GenCon: the next phase in the D&DNext playtest; news of a third iteration of a Star Wars roleplaying game in the hands of yet a third company; and the beginning of a Kickstarter campaign for Numenera, a revolutionary roleplaying game by the legendary Monte Cook.

All three projects have interesting aspects about them that tap into online gamer communities, and a few make me ponder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” They’re worth examining for valuable bits of self-edification, both in what they do quite well and where I feel they don’t quite hit the mark.

D&DNext

Wizards of the Coast seems to have embraced the Internet Age’s global electronic community in its design philosophy for the next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons. Within the bounds of its own design parameters and creative team the company has harnessed the power of its consumer base (arguably the most numerous, loyal, and vocal of all gamer fans) to preview elements of the system, playtest them, and provide feedback. It’s not quite a true collaborative effort, but one that helps make fans feel special, as if they’re working with and truly contributing to the next version of the beloved, oldest, and most popular roleplaying game brand.

The major announcement at GenCon heralded the next phase of the D&DNext playtest and a continued symbiotic relationship with the game’s fans; but it also revealed two interesting bits of news to further reinforce the game’s development and release. Apparently the next iteration of the game is scheduled for release in 2014, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of its original publication. This also gives Wizards of the Coast, its designers, and the fans two years to collaboratively develop and later market what one hopes is a signature product to reunite a gamer population fractured by multiple editions and breathe life (and economic viability) into the D&D brand. Aiding this is the company’s decision to release the D&D backlist in electronic format next year. I’m not quite sure whether this includes only 4th edition material or books from previous editions, but it’s a solid support move further bolstering its efforts at expanding the online D&D community.

One cannot ignore other factors that might drive Wizards of the Coast to revise D&D and do so by reconnecting with the brand’s numerous fans. Parent company Hasbro has corporate demands that always seem to threaten D&D and Wizards of the Coast’s survival itself, as evidenced by the abominable annual tradition of holiday layoffs. The company and the flagship roleplaying game brand also face stiff competition from Paizo’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, which attracted droves of former D&D enthusiasts unhappy with the game’s previous edition and, some claim, have exceeded D&D’s sales and popularity in recent months. The fractured gamer community has also realized the value of old school renaissance games emulating beloved aspects of D&D editions long past (often free) with strong online followings, further drawing from gamers who might otherwise buy into and continue playing D&DNext.

Star Wars RPG

In August 2011 Fantasy Flight Games announced it had acquired the rights from Lucasfilm to license Star Wars-themed miniatures, card, and roleplaying games. At GenCon 2012 it released the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game, a starfighter dogfight game reminiscent of but obviously not quite the same as the World War I and World War II Wings of War aerial combat game the company used to distribute in America for the Italian company Ares Games, designer of the original game and its updated reboot, Wings of Glory. Also at GenCon 2012 it released its entry in the long, storied history of Star Wars roleplaying games, the Star Wars Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game Beta. It’s intended as the first of three Star Wars-themed roleplaying games covering the “classic” era trilogy. While the first release would cover the “fringes of society, the scum and villainy of the galaxy, and the explorers and colonists of the Outer Rim,” subsequent core books would cover the Rebel struggle against the Empire (Age of Rebellion) and finally “figures of legend: the last surviving Force users in the galaxy” (Force and Destiny).

Like Wizards of the Coast’s strategy with D&DNext, Fantasy Flight seeks to harness the power of fans in developing the game, both those who want to roleplay in the Star Wars universe and those familiar with the similar system in the company’s Dark Heresy roleplaying game set in Games Workshop’s popular Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Edge of the Empire Beta rules consist of a 224-page softcover stripped of most of the artwork and background material (according to the Fantasy Flight website for the game). It also includes stickers to put on dice for the “special dice” required to play the game (much like Dark Heresy). Unlike Wizards of the Coast -- which offers its D&DNext playtest documents for free with a lengthy sign-up and non-disclosure process -- Fantasy Flight charges $29.95 for the beta version of its Star Wars roleplaying game, available at GenCon, through its website, and at select retailers. While one might assume this sum ostensibly covers the cost of printing, it no doubt helps fund further development of the game and provides licensing revenue to Lucasfilm. Already one can find some grumbling on the internet about paying for the privilege to playtest someone else’s game.

Full Disclosure: Frequent readers and those familiar with my notorious reputation know I worked on West End Games’ D6 System Star Wars Roleplaying Game ages ago, and even did some writing for Wizards of the Coast’s version, too. I have a long history of playing D6 System games and generally advocating for easy-to-learn mechanics that quickly involve players -- whether longtime gamers or casual fans of the setting -- in the action of a beloved genre. If I had to sum up general approaches to Star Wars roleplaying games, I supposed it might boil down to this:

West End tried to appeal to Star Wars fans using accessible six-sided dice and linking all rules to a basic dice-pool game mechanic I can still teach complete newcomers within 15 minutes.

Wizards of the Coast seemed to port the Star Wars galaxy into the Dungeons & Dragons mechanics of the time (3rd edition D&D) to attract the established D&D audience instead of drawing in new, non-gamers who loved Star Wars.

Fantasy Flight Games seems to be adapting the Star Wars galaxy to its own system used in Dark Heresy complete with special dice (in my mind alienating casual Star Wars fans seeking to try roleplaying games); and getting playtesting advice while still making money on the print playtest edition…then getting players to buy the full edition when released.

Only time will tell how the gaming and Star Wars fan communities will view these developments -- particularly the use of specialized dice and pay-to-playtest materials -- but my experience leads me to believe that Star Wars fans and gamers would pay any amount for the right product. As always, the Star Wars license remains a license to print money.

Monte Cook’s Numenera

While I’m not terribly interested in D&DNext beyond casual professional interest, and I follow any Star Wars roleplaying development as a matter of course, Monte Cook’s Numenera roleplaying game has captivated my attention on several levels like few other roleplaying games ever have. (Technically this isn’t a GenCon development, but one announced shortly beforehand in a move of public relations brilliance.)

The science fantasy game is set one billion years and eight great civilizations in earth’s future. The game’s several websites have already showcased some of the amazing full-color concept art that captures the setting’s tone. Cook’s concise yet vivid introductory pitch sums it up best:

Humanity lives amid the remnants of eight great civilizations that have risen and fallen on Earth. These are the people of the Ninth World. This new world is filled with remnants of all the former worlds: bits of nanotechnology, the dataweb threaded among still-orbiting satellites,  bio-engineered creatures, and myriad strange and wondrous devices. These remnants have become known as the numenera.

Player characters explore this world of mystery and danger to find these leftover artifacts of the past, not to dwell upon the old ways, but to help forge their new destinies, utilizing the so-called “magic” of the past to create a promising future.

The setting itself seems enticing enough, especially in the hands of someone as imaginative and talented as Cook; but from what he’s already revealed about the system at his website, the game will incorporate some innovative system concepts.

Characters can fall into three “types” roughly corresponding to fighters, wizards, and rogues, though their names reflect the far future society they inhabit. Character creation follows a simple process of choosing a descriptor and focus to add to the type  to outline a concept -- such as “I am a tough glaive who controls beasts” (Cook’s example, with “glaive” the fighter type) -- with later game ramifications. Subsequent blog posts have outlined original ideas for using experience points and numerical stats tied to the text descriptors.

Although he isn’t taking the same online community-based approach to playtesting as Wizards of the Coast and Fantasy Flight are with their games, he’s captivating potential and current backers to the game’s Kickstarter campaign with frequent glimpses into his design process and the game mechanics under development across Cook’s broad spectrum of online venues: his blog, the game’s website, and the Kickstarter page. The response to the Numenera Kickstarter campaign has been phenomenal, easily reaching the $20,000 funding goal and hitting double within 20 hours; as of this writing on August 21, reaching well beyond $120,000! Cook has offered numerous opportunities to buy into the game, the most notable being “The Real Deal” which for $60 includes the hardcover, full-color rulebook, plus a host of PDF resources including three adventures (for a total of 96 pages), Player’s Guide, a Ninth World Bestiary (also 96 pages), and a PDF of the rulebook for electronic reference. The Kickstarter campaign “stretch goals” also include altruistic goals that put copies of the rulebook in the hands of libraries across the country and soldiers serving overseas.

I’ll freely admit I’m jealous of Monte Cook: his prolific output, his innovative imagination, his long career in the adventure gaming industry, his massive hordes of loyal fans, and his thoughtful insight on many issues (and not just game-related, either, as evidenced by his positive A+ campaign for August). Numenera promises not only to be both a fantastic roleplaying game and world, but also to offer an amazing game design journey in the year Cook spends developing it and sharing the experience with his fans.

Axis & Allies Miniatures Take Flight

The news that Avalon Hill/Wizards of the Coast is releasing a third Axis & Allies Miniatures game in February 2012 -- Axis & Allies Air Miniatures: Angels 20 -- might seem great for gaming aficionados of World War II aerial battles, but recalls several problematic issues regarding the game’s scale and marketing as well as the company’s tradition of annual holiday layoffs, which included Axis & Allies Miniatures lead developer Rich Baker.

 

Already at issue is whether the release of this game really constitutes “news.” Lead designer Rich Baker announced Wizards was developing the game back in February 2011; and while I don’t consider myself wired into every new development in the gaming scene -- this only recently came to my attention -- I haven’t seen any great deal of pre-release buzz about it online from either Wizards of the Coast or the game’s general fans.
 
Nonetheless Baker recently released more details about the game both on his Wizards community blog and to Axis & Allies Forumini, an online community with a PDF fanzine supporting the Axis & Allies Miniatures games. The game releases on February 21, 2012, with weekly previews of components and gameplay expected to begin in mid-January (a promotional strategy previously used for releases of other Axis & Allies Miniatures sets). The Air Miniatures: Angels 20 base set retails for $39.99 and includes six 1/100 scale (or 15mm) painted plastic aircraft minis -- 2 Me109s, 1 Me110, 2 Hurricanes, and a Spitfire to complete the Battle of Britain theme -- plus tokens, dice, 4 maps, and a rulebook. Those planes are part of the 30 total aircraft offered in the Angels 20 set, acquired through randomized booster packs of three planes each for $24.99; the collection includes aircraft from the major and several minor players in World War II, from powers like America, Japan, Great Britain, Russia, and Germany to Italy and Finland. The scale remains consistent with the core land-based Axis & Allies Miniatures Game. Previous aircraft minis released for that game were 1:240 (about 7 mm) scale, smaller than the 1:144 (12mm) scale used by Wings of War WWII, now WW2 Wings of Glory. This means planes for the Air Miniatures Angels 20 game average about 3 inches long.
 
Scale & Marketing Issues
 
The release of the Axis & Allies Air Miniatures: Angels 20 game in a 15mm scale using the fixed base set with randomized boosters sales model raises some issues for gamers, some minor (the scale) and some major (the marketing).
 
While the scale means more detailed models (albeit without propellers…), it offers varied compatibility with other games; it won’t work representing aircraft from WW2 Wings of Glory (technically 1:144 or 12mm), but it does fall into the 15mm scale for the popular Flames of War game. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern -- it is Wizards of the Coast’s game, and the company should naturally seek to keep people playing its game and not using its models to play and perpetuate interest in other companies’ games.
 
For Air Miniatures: Angels 20 Wizards of the Coast is using a marketing strategy successful for the company in the past, a sales policy pioneered by Magic: The Gathering and continued with miniatures and card game releases; randomizing booster packs so players purchase unknown minis from a given set they must then trade or resell to get what they want.
 
While this is supposed to foster a sense of community among players and a burgeoning after-market industry in cards and minis, it can frustrate gamers who simply want to purchase particular minis they want for a collection without having to go on eBay or find others to trade with in their area (a concern for those of us living in regions one might consider medieval frontiers). The high price tag for boosters -- $24.99 -- is a sizeable chunk of cash to pay for three randomized minis. When was the last time anyone invested in a game without knowing what was inside the box? Granted, the boosters contain three minis from a pool of 30 or so, but that’s not much consolation if someone’s trying to assemble enough planes for a specific campaign or force, such as Flying Tigers versus the Japanese, or Luftwaffe versus Soviets on the Eastern Front. Similar aircraft packs in this scale, particularly for Battlefront’s Flames of War, retail for around $52 for three unpainted minis of a particular aircraft. Gamers must weight their uncertainty options: pay more for specific aircraft they need to paint, or pay half for pre-painted minis they might not necessarily want. At $24.99 this still represents a serious financial gamble with a high potential for consumer disappointment.
 
Both the scale and marketing issues feed another concern; unlike Wings of Glory, which one can play using aircraft cards included in the base game instead of models, Air Miniatures: Angels 20 does not have an option to use cards or other markers in lieu of miniatures. Gamers will, of course, find a way and aren’t prohibited from porting minis from other games, even if out of scale, or creating their own markers to use, especially since the base game purportedly includes reference cards for all 30 aircraft in the set. But purists prefer similar scale and historical authenticity, something hindered by the scale and marketing for this game.
 
Designer Involvement
 
One questions Wizards of the Coast’s dedication to the future support and development of the game line when it fires lead developer Rich Baker two months before releasing the latest Axis & Allies Miniatures game. Sure, the company has a long, infamous history of firing staffers (at the December holidays, no less) and hiring them back as freelancers, especially to create supplemental articles and scenarios to post on the website; there’s nothing (to my knowledge) prohibiting Baker from freelancing for Wizards of the Coast, as many former employees have done in their post-Wizards career, so one hopes for the benefit of the Air Miniatures: Angels 20 game that he contributes to it going forward. Overall, however, the move to fire the lead designer doesn’t bode well for development or release of new sets.
 
Kudos to Rich Baker for his excellent work on the entire Axis & Allies Miniatures line and good luck to him in his future work.
 
Personally Speaking
 
Readers who follow Hobby Games Recce know I have an interest in World War II games and a soft spot for aerial games like WW2 Wings of Glory. I plan on checking out the Axis & Allies Air Miniatures: Angels 20 game for myself when it releases (the base set’s already on my Amazon.com wish list…), since World War II -- and the Battle of Britain, along with other aerial campaigns -- remains a focal interest of mine.
  
I’m happy the base set focuses on a particular aerial campaign, one early in the war and perhaps the most integral to the course of the overall conflict; and I’m encouraged to hear the base set has a non-randomized roster of miniatures inside. I’m not a fan of randomized booster contents, and, given their high price point, I doubt I’ll buy into the game much beyond the base set given the financial investment in booster packs and the content uncertainty of their randomization. I’d love to see other “starter sets” with non-randomized miniatures focusing on other classic aerial campaigns, such as the Eastern Front and Pacific Theater (including the Flying Tigers).
 
Having played past Axis & Allies Miniatures rules I’m sure the gameplay remains fun and relatively easy to grasp; Rich Baker and his design team have always made sure the game had an authentic feel without overbearingly complex rules, making for a comprehensible “light” wargame to introduce newcomers to the concept of the miniatures wargaming hobby.
 
I’d be happier if I could also interchange the minis with my WW2 Wings of Glory game and use those game’s minis in Air Miniatures: Angels 20, depending on which game system I ultimately prefer. I’d be even happier as a consumer if I could purchase the planes I wanted instead of gambling that I’d get Finnish and Russian planes.
 
These personal concerns aside, I view the Axis & Allies Air Miniatures: Angels 20 game as a worthy addition to the Axis & Allies Miniatures game line; I’m still on the fence about whether to recommend the game to others based on its high price point and randomized-booster sales model. I encourage readers to research the game before buying it and take an inward look at what they and their player-friends enjoy in an aerial combat game.
 
Resource Post Script
 
Fans of all the Axis & Allies Miniatures games will find the Forumini site serves as a good online resource for the game. It hosts an online community with active forums promoting all aspects of the Axis & Allies Miniatures games, from house rules, new scenarios and campaigns, and rules clarification discussions to upcoming events and new developments (there are already forums set up for the Air Miniatures: Angels 20 game). The infrequently published newsletter contains a nice mix of articles about the historical background, modeling, after-action reports, and opinion with a good-looking layout. Finding the newsletter on the site, however, remains a challenge; right now links sit at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar on the forum pages themselves, not on the home page. If you’re an aficionado of the Axis & Allies Miniatures games Forumini should be in your internet browser bookmarks.

NG International Fate Uncertain, Fans Keep Playing

Only a month ago I wrote about the Italian company NG International (a.k.a. Nexus) that produces the Wings of War games and accessories of which I’m so fond. After severing a relationship with Fantasy Flight Games as American distributor for their games (ostensibly to directly serve the distributor tier themselves), NG International seems to have closed its doors, as a flurry of rumors recently reported. Much of this speculation emerged this past weekend on various forums, some with from posters claiming to be owners or staffers; the NG International website, which hasn’t been updated much since the announcement about the distribution shift, still remains online with no mention of new product developments or the current status of the company (not surprising, since nobody likes to announce they’re going out of business). Nobody’s sure if the company has closed completely or is undergoing a reorganization, or if any other entity is seeking to acquire rights to continue producing the Wings of War game.
    

Discussions of the situation on various message boards runs the range between cautious optimism and the understandable anger and feelings of betrayal that comes when, for whatever reasons, a company and beloved game disappear in a cloud of uncertainty. As of this writing, NG International hasn’t released any official press release or announcement about the status of the company or its games; not that companies in financial or other trouble go to great lengths to advertise their misfortunes. Until someone makes some kind of official announcement, internet speculation among fans and others continues to run rampant.
    

Despite all this uncertainty, I continue to maintain that no matter what happens to their favorite analog games, fans will find ways to continue playing and enjoying them (the fate of digital games, however, remains another matter entirely, as I recently reflected).
    

Many people -- both fans and gamers -- loved West End Games’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game using the D6 system. Frequent readers know that I personally worked on the game line for five years before West End hit financial troubles, lost the license, and effectively shut down production on further products (besides laying off the staff, etc.). Despite the game’s apparent “death,” many people still play it today, whether in nostalgic one-shot games or entire evolving campaigns. I still run Star Wars D6 scenarios at conventions and they usually fill up with enthusiastic players. The Internet Age has ensured renewed interest in and life for Star Wars D6 roleplaying, with online fan communities, web pages for personal campaigns, fan-produced sourcebooks, and even new iterations of the D6 System, like AntiPaladin Games’ excellent MiniSix variant ruleset (available as a free PDF download).
    

Wings of War has similar resilience thanks to online communities like the Wings of War Aerodrome, avid players, and fans capable of creating their own miniatures, scenarios, and new cards for aircraft, targets, and maneuvers (some of which they can share on the internet). Some toy companies and a few game manufacturers produce period aircraft miniatures near the 1:144-scale planes NG International released for Wings of War (though these are primarily World War II aircraft); I noticed several I should have picked up during a recent visit to a Hobby Lobby location; I also wonder how aircraft figures from the Axis & Allies Miniatures Game might work. Although the miniatures certainly add an appealing visual element to the game, one can still play using aircraft cards in lieu of minis.

Wings of War aficionados soldiered on in the face and last month’s distribution change; despite some mixed feelings and understandable disappointment with the most recent news, they continue to enjoy playing and creating new materials for their favorite game.

Update Aug. 2, 2011: Seems like the website ICv2 is reporting from a reliable Italian source that NG International is in fact liquidating, having fired or lost all its employees but its CEO overseeing the final arrangemetns; let's hope another company picks up the rights to develop, produce, and sell new material for Wings of War.

Book Bargains at What Price?

Last week Borders announced they’d be liquidating the stock in their remaining 399 stores nationwide, yet another occasion to discuss the merits of analog versus digital books and games, this time from the perspective of brick-and-mortar purchases versus online sales (something I’ve discussed before). Overall this is disappointing news -- thousands of employees will lose their jobs, 399 storefronts will go vacant, and communities will lose another coffeehouse-type gathering place with free wi-fi access -- and it accelerates the trend away from brick-and-mortar stores toward online media shopping, a major factor that led to Borders’ demise.
    

Experience or Convenience
    

In the days before the internet people traveled to physical stores to search for and buy what they wanted; occasionally they ordered from catalogs by phone, but these were usually specialty items from particular retailers renown for certain products. At brick-and-mortar locations they could find what they wanted and browse other options, actually hold and inspect products firsthand, and interact with staff (with varying degrees of knowledge) for questions and advice about items. Today people can find many products online, often at greater discounts (without taking into account widely varying shipping charges) and without spending the time, effort, and gas driving around to different physical retail locations. Going to a brick-and-mortar store offers an experience, though one that doesn’t always result in a satisfying purchase or a larger discount. Online shopping offers greater convenience and often better prices, but the experience remains limited to searching products on a database, reading product details, and maybe perusing some reviews of dubious origin and quality.
    

Today every business worth its salt has an online presence, either to promote its brick-and-mortar locations, enhance them with online ordering, or serve as wholly online retail entities. But consumers turning to online venues to make book and other media purchases remains one of the major factors in Borders’ demise. It’s a vicious cycle affecting many businesses today. More people turn to the internet for online shopping, draining sales from brick-and-mortar stores which disappear, limiting people’s physical shopping choices and sending them to online venues for satisfaction.
    

Some kinds of stores by their very nature encourage gathering or interaction of like-minded customers in a community hub; book and game stores remain two prominent ones that offer a more varied experience that most retail outlets. While people certainly engage in social interactions in supermarkets and other stores when they inadvertently run into friends and acquaintances, they don’t specifically go there seeking a social gathering spot for those who share their interests. Granted, online forums and other websites can serve this function to a limited extend, but it’s little more than a shadow of the actual experience of shopping, hanging out, and interacting with others at a game or book store.
    

A recent visit to my Friendly Local Game Store demonstrates this. I don’t usually go there to hang out (at a 45-minute drive from home it’s a bit too far, and I don’t have lots of time to do much more there than shop), but the clientele and staff is extremely friendly and they have half the store dedicated to gaming space. I was browsing the shelves displaying new releases -- right near the open gaming area -- when I overheard someone setting up for a minis game lamenting that another game store I’d visited in the past had recently and quite suddenly closed (though it maintains another location in the area). This was surprising news, and we talked about it for a few minutes; then I took up the conversation with the friendly fellow behind the counter before continuing with my shopping. Had I not stopped by that day, I’d never know the other store had closed (as of this writing the store’s website still shows it’s open, not that folks are keen on advertising news that they’re out of business).
    

Although online shopping venues offer more convenience, physical stores can provide a more rewarding experience, a vital element when catering to customers engaged in games, literature, and general fandom pursuits.
    

A Trip to A Liquidating Borders
    

I visited a Borders in liquidation this past weekend, not so much to be a scavenging vulture looking for the carrion of good deals on books and other merchandise, but to look for a particular book I wanted to read (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, which never captivated me before hearing about the upcoming Disney adaptation, though I loved his Pellucidar books…yes, I know it’s available free online through Project Gutenberg, but I like actual, physical books) and a few other titles for my wife and little one. I was also running errands nearby, including the aforementioned stop at my Friendly Local Game Store.
    

I really prefer Barnes & Noble stores over Borders, but where I live I have little choice. Although the nearest Borders (30 minutes away) is somewhat smaller than most other Borders, it filled my need to browse the stacks to check out new releases or other titles that spoke to what interested me at the moment. The second-closest Borders is 45 minutes away and slightly larger. The nearest non-Borders bookstores (both Barnes & Noble) are both about an hour away. I like browsing in bookstores because I never quite know what I’ll find, especially among the bargain shelves; I like to keep an open mind about the kinds of subjects I’ll read, both fiction and non-fiction.
    

When it comes to print or electronic books, I prefer print (though I’m guilty of publishing roleplaying game materials in electronic PDF files more out of financial and business practicality than anything else). I don’t order books or CDs online much, though I’m doing it more out of necessity these days; usually it’s a last resort when I’m seeking something specific that a physical search of brick-and-mortar stores turns up nothing.
     

My visit to a liquidating Borders was sad. I was disappointed that I didn’t find anything on my list, but that was secondary to the subtle yet pervasive feeling of “schadenfreude,” that wonderful-sounding German term for enjoyment gleaned from other people’s troubles. I arrived shortly after the store opened…within minutes it was swarming with customers, many of whom were simply there to feed like sharks on chum at the discount bins and shelves. Those bargain hunters who wandered into the stacks weren’t shy in voicing their disappointment that most subjects were discounted only 10 percent. Obviously the percentages will increase as time passes and the liquidators seek to move merchandise out of closing stores.
    

More disheartening was the look of many Borders employees, many of whom I vaguely recognized from previous visits. One struck me quite poignantly: this kind fellow just a few months before, near Easter, had enthusiastically hosted a story time in the children’s section; during the current visit he mechanically checked shelves and answered a customer’s question with weary fatigue in his voice. He’s among thousands of Borders employees soon to lose their jobs, one of life’s most stressful experiences (and one I’ve been forced to struggle through myself as the result of a company’s closing). This is the face of the recession in America and its troubling economic consequences for the average person.

Gamers Will, uh, Find A Way

“Life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It spreads to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh, well, there it is.”

-- Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Jurassic Park

Fantasy Flight Games recently announced it will no longer distribute future releases for the popular aerial combat game Wings of War (read the entire announcement here). Although at first glance some initially viewed this as the end of game support and new releases, it’s clear the game’s creator and manufacturer, the Italian company NG International (a.k.a. Nexus), is taking on the role of selling directly to American game distributors. While Fantasy Flight Games will continue to sell off its existing stock to gaming stores and direct orders, NG International will release future new product (and sell stock no longer available through Fantasy Flight) using the three tier distribution chain of manufacturers/publishers, distributors, and retail stores the gaming  hobby has mostly followed throughout its short lifespan. From all the online scuttlebutt it seems like NG International has already established relationships with major American game distributors for some of its other games, so the availability of Wings of War and its new releases shouldn’t be adversely affected by this distribution change.

There’s a good deal of talk on the internet among the game’s many fans. After clearing the initial confusion over what exactly the change meant to the future of the game, most discussion has focused on how effectively NG International can work with American game distributors to move product into the retail market (the “friendly local gaming store,” or FLGS) and into the hands of the game’s enthusiastic players…and most people have adopted a “wait and see” attitude rather than getting too upset. NG International’s already been proactive with the Wings of War fan community by posting an FAQ about the change on its website.

I’m a fan of the game, specifically Wings of War: The Dawn of World War II, and tempered my initial impressions of the announcement with some reflection on the resilience of gamers and their imaginations. I’ve written about this topic before, but it bears mentioning again: in an imagination-based hobby like gaming that attracts intelligent and creative participants, gamers will find a way to continue playing, modifying, and enjoying games even after a publisher discontinues them.

The Wings of War hobby has already proven this. Gamers have an ability and a hobby that allows them to create their own material to play a game indefinitely, whether they’re creating their own scenarios and campaigns for a favorite roleplaying game or designing new cards and miniatures for a game like Wings of War. The Wings of War Aerodrome provides a common online forum where fans of the game can share new materials, including new airplane cards, maneuver decks, target cards, gameplay aids, and campaign resources. Even seeing the game played at conventions demonstrates fan innovation. The first time I attended Guns of August, a gaming convention in Williamsburg, VA, several tables hosted Wings of War games, from basic demonstrations to more involved games featuring original bomber models and maneuver decks to interpret the abilities of newly created aircraft.

At this point fans are waiting to see how NG International’s distribution will differ from Fantasy Flight Games’ -- whether new releases will flow on a more regular basis, whether they’ll make it into players’ usual local gaming stores, and how much additional online and convention support the company will provide for the game. I’m not aware of Fantasy Flight Games’ degree of convention support for Wings of War events, and its free online support offerings remained limited to PDF copies of the game rulebooks (unless one wanted to register with them, a threshold some aren’t always willing to cross); here’s hoping NG International offers a bit more on both counts…certainly the game’s fans already have.