First Review of RAG

R.E. Davis, aka the Reverend Lazaro, has posted a review of Resolute, Adventurer & Genius on his blog, The Chaos Grenade. Blue Hex would like to thank the Rev for his support!

Progress Report: Vehicles

The stats chart for basic vehicles is finally done. This will allow us to test combat and vehicles involving chases as well as just characters. My main concern right now is that things will be too crunchy compared to the rest of the system, moreso than whether or not everything will work as written. If playtesting shows that what we’ve got down is too heavy and complex, I’ve got ideas for a fallback system that is much simpler, though it will rely on actual ranges (measured in feet or yards) rather than the narrative range bands.

The Ubiquitous GMing Section

RAG will include a section for GMs, like just about every RPG. What goes in there won’t include any advice on how to play or run an RPG — the game will assume you know that already. What I’m working on will be a little bit of history and suggestions on how to “pulp-ize” individual decades from the 1910s to the 1940s. The heyday of pulp action-adventure is generally considered to be the 1920s and especially the 1930s, but pulp action and adventure stories can trace their roots all the way back to the 1800s, and the science fiction of later decades is obviously descended in large part from these stories as well. There will be a bit of advice on villains and plots, and some suggestions on how to model certain types of characters to round things out.

Post-Labor Day Update

After a nice long weekend, we’re back to work. The initial character creation testing was quite positive. We didn’t think we needed to make any modifications to the process at this time. Actual playtesting will show us where the bugs are (and I’m sure there will be some). Since we have enough to build characters, we have enough to build foes as well, and that means it’s time to start testing the engine!

Mark Meredith of Dice Monkey and the RPG Circus podcast is currently working on a spy/thriller genre Wyrm System game (think James Bond, Mission Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and so on) with a strong 2010s flavor that he is calling Pointman, Hacker & Thief. I’ve been given the privilege of getting a look at his work. If you’re a spy game fan and/or a Wyrm System fan, you should be excited — it’s sleek, it’s sexy and it’s very much a Wyrm game. Play looks like it will be very close to WR&M, and it will use a simple and intuitive mechanic for not only chases, but hacking as well. This mechanic differs from RAG‘s chase rules, but that’s fine, because different genres can be emulated in different ways. We’re all hoping to see more from Mark very soon, and he and I will be putting our heads together to discuss various things.

Blue Hex Goes Live

Welcome to the new Blue Hex site, the home for Blue Hex games and news. Our first product, Resolute, Adventurer & Genius — pulp action-adventure roleplaying in the vein of Evil Hat’s Spirit of the Century and White Wolf’s Adventure!, using the Wyrm System created by Stargazer Games’s Michael Wolf — is proceeding through development and is entering its first “alpha” playtesting stage, wherein we take hold of the initial concepts and shake them like there’s no tomorrow. The Hexagon Squad, our playtest and brainstorming group, is growing and they’re eager to get their hands on RAG, so we’re looking forward to what is to come. Watch this space!