Blue Shiva's blog

I first heard about this late last week, but I was hoping to get more details about "who" the buyer might be. Please note that many of the rumors circulating online have been squashed and dispelled. At this time, no one knows who the buyer is -- not even those of us who work in the industry.

From this news article - http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13803.html:- Read more...

Ever get stuck trying to name your dwarven cleric? Sometimes, simple names just won't do. Harry the dwarf may not give you that fantasy feel, but what about Ronir?

In this new dwarf name generator database, there are countless possibilities. Over 50,000 first names and 10,000 surnames are available for dwarves in the world of Audalis and beyond.

From the dwarven name generator website:- Read more...

The big news this week was that WizKids has ceased operations and closed up shop.

Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”- Read more...

The average RPG is roughly between 50,000 to 150,000 plus words. A chapter in an RPG can range somewhere from 5,000 to 20,000. The writers that typically work off of an outline can be committed to write as little as 2,000 words to 20,000 or more.To give you some scale, if you typed your work in 12 pt font, Times New Roman, the average page in your word processing software would be about 500 words. So, if you're committed to write 20,000 -- that's approximately 40 pages.- Read more...

I hope you're getting ready to enjoy a spooky Halloween as much as I am. In the spirit of this holiday I thought I'd share with you some of the RPG sales going on today. There's also a few freebies in the mix, too. Talk about sweet!

ARKHAM HORROR - Those Cthulhu-worshipping folk converted the characters from Penny Arcade into playable characters that you can use in ARKHAM HORROR.- Read more...

Just in time for Halloween, the folks over at Flames Rising are running a contest over the next, few days. Simply, you read the post, and try to guess from the clues and the images what the new RPG is all about. Apparently you get extra points for guessing the system and the publisher. I think that there are some definite clues hidden in these paragraphs.- Read more...

What's in a character name and how important is it? Well, a character name can indicate gender, ethnic background, location and sometimes even what period of history that character might be living in. Sometimes, picking a character name can be rather daunting because your mind just draws a complete blank.

Here are some links that can help give you some ideas for naming your character.- Read more...

In an earlier post, I had mentioned that reviewers were essential to gaming. In it, I said:

Reviewers are a vital part of gaming because they are the ones that take the time, the energy and the effort to play, read and review games that you want to play. A good reviewer will cover products in detail--regardless of what's important to them as a gamer--because they understand that gamers have different wants and needs.- Read more...

In the last season of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, the characters sit around playing D&D. Andrew -- the GM -- wears a cape and Giles complains about being a stunted dwarf. Galaxy Quest is a satirical look at Star Trek fans and convention goers (something gamers have in common with Star Trek folks), but there are other films and TV series that have gaming as a primary focus or theme for the show.- Read more...

Reviewers are a vital part of gaming because they are the ones that take the time, the energy and the effort to play, read and review games that you want to play. A good reviewer will cover products in detail--regardless of what's important to them as a gamer--because they understand that gamers have different wants and needs. From character creation to combat, mechanics can be a vital part of reviews because there's a lot of systems out there. A reviewer may talk about format, layout and the artwork which are all part of the product's production value -- perfect for collectors.- Read more...

There is nothing like a small convention to get your gaming juices flowing. With less people and a more enclosed space, the focus on gaming tends to have a different feel than the larger cons. First, the pressure to "meet" and "greet" new players is a lot less -- you can really get to know the people you're playing with and they might even be close by to your town or neighborhood. Second, the sessions tend to have less time restrictions. While I enjoy running demos at large cons, the goal is to have shorter demos to accommodate people's busy schedules.- Read more...

Several writers and game designers from the gaming community and beyond are participating in a month of monster madness at Flames Rising.

From the Flames Rising monsters press release:- Read more...

Flames Rising horror webzine broke this story about Nox Arcana, a band dedicated to providing theme music for horror games, Halloween and beyond.- Read more...

RPGLife is proud to feature PEWFELL: the Epic Fantasy Sitcom (COMIC) on the site. Pewfell is also a member of RPGLife and provides insight and commentary on the design of his gaming webcomic. - Read more...

Zachary Houghton, judge for the ENnie awards that takes place at GenCon in Indianapolis every year in August, delivered his resignation yesterday.- Read more...