Hey there everyone! I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that the manuscript for the Witcher TRPG is in Poland, going through approvals! Lisa and I are on the edges of our seats and with luck we should be hearing back very soon!
-Cody Pondsmith
The Witcher RPG is getting closer and closer, but while you’re waiting, many of you might want to know that the Witcher RPG will be printed in languages other than English. Here are just a few of the publishers who will be bringing out Witcher RPG translations.
Chinese – Beijing Labyrinth Culture
French – Arkhane Asylum
German – Truant Verlag
Italian – Need Games
Polish – Copernicus Corporation
Spanish – Holocubierta Ediciones
Mike Pondsmith recently sat down and began to write a series of articles about the development process of Mekton Zero. Thank you for joining us for this first Dev Note.
In Mekton Zero, you don’t just create one character; you actually create two. One is your “Pilot” character—the person who drives around in a giant robot. But the other Character is the MEKTON your Pilot drives. Drives is actually a poor way of describing the relationship between your Pilot and their MEKTON. A better way to describe this relationship would be interacts with. On Algol, mecha are considered to be somewhat dimly sentient—about as bright as a really stupid horse—and your relationship with a given mecha is somewhat similar to that of a rider and their mount rather than a driver and an automobile.
The Profession you choose will usually shape the Mekton you end up with. All of these designs have been built in the original MEKTON ZETA construction rules, and then converted into the simpler MEKTON ZERO format. As a rule, we encourage GMs to set the basic parameters (All Military, All Civilian, Mixed Used Suits, all Experimental) for all the players in a single game group. But within those parameters, there’s a lot of possibilities.
One thing that makes Mekton Zero different than other mecha games/shows is that every mecha is unique. If two players both end up with Maulers, it doesn’t mean that those two Maulers are identical, because just like Pilot Characters, MEKTON Characters also have stats, skills and personality quirks. Having Stats means that there can be a pretty wide variation even between the same make and model of MEKTON.
I really wanted to make MEKTONS more than disposable vehicles. This meant giving them some reason to be memorable. The breakthrough came when I realized that in almost every mecha show, the hero mecha is treated like an individual, even if it really is just a hunk of steel. Some shows (like Zoids) take this even further, giving the mecha a definite awareness. I didn’t want to take the player’s agency away from them, but I wanted their MEKTONs to be more of a personal vehicle. The compromise is a vehicle that has enough awareness to be interesting, but never enough to act independently of its “master.”
Hey there everyone,
Cody here! I've managed to un-glue my face from my layout monitor for a little bit to write another dev note! I don't have a lot to talk about as far as system at the moment but I can say that we are so deep in layout that I think I see glimpses of light at the other end. Months of changing border colors and retyping introductions and we're almost there! In the mean time we've been hard at work in the last stages of layout and writing the last lore bits. We've sent out play test pamphlets to a lot of wonderful people around the globe to get their input and have them try their best to break and exploit the system. So far, feedback has been very positive and our brave play testers are generally having a great time. Like I said, past that I don't really have a ton to say at the moment. Layout tends to be a long and boring process. We did get to go to Pyrkon in Poznan, Poland where we met up with a bunch of great people and got to do a Q&A with the fans over in Poland. The convention was amazing and I'd go back in a heart beat. Anyhow, it's time for me to go back to the dark pits of the Talsorian Layout Dungeon. If everything goes smoothly, I'd like to get on some time late next week and do another dev note about our progress and where we are at the moment. Until then, best wishes to all!