Robot Viking

Alternate Multiplayer Rules for Dungeon Command (and Blood of Gruumsh Review)

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:54:17 +0000

This week sees the release of Blood of Gruumsh, the latest expansion for the D&D miniatures battle game Dungeon Command. If you haven’t tried multiplayer Dungeon Command, here are some alternate rules to make your dungeon melees more exciting. First off, a quick review of Blood of Gruumsh. It’s an orc-themed set with an owlbear [...]

Using Obsidian Portal for a Shadowrun Campaign: A Case Study

Ryk Perry — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:55:58 +0000

How do you keep track of your campaigns? Do you write it down in a master list? Do you rely on an exceptional memory? What about if a campaign takes a hiatus? Here’s how I’ve used Obsidian Portal to solve some common campaign problems. Obsidian Portal is a wiki hosting service for role playing games. [...]

Interface Zero 2.0 Reboots Savage Worlds Cyberpunk System

Ed Grabianowski — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:46:52 +0000

With a successful Kickstarter already assured, Gun Metal Games is set to release a second edition of cyberpunk RPG Interface Zero. Built for the Savage Worlds Deluxe system, Interface Zero 2.0 updates and streamlines the rules, adds more gear, and moves the game’s timeline forward two years. With ten days still to go, the Interface [...]

Games Workshop Defends Questionable Trademark, Incites Internet Holy War

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:37:49 +0000

Games Workshop, makers of various 40K miniature and RPG games, has been defending their trademark on the term “space marine,” forcing Amazon to remove an indie author’s book because it had the phrase in the title. The always quick-to-anger Internet people were inflamed. Is GW in the right, or does the mob have a valid [...]

Blood of the City, a Sword & Sorcery Novel about Growing Up, and Vengeance

Ed Grabianowski — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:49:27 +0000

Robin D. Laws’ Blood of the City is a brutal vengeance story, a fantasy novel that’s more Tarantino than Tolkien. Luma is a half-elf urban druid (called a cobblestone druid, among other names, in the novel). This is a concept I’ve seen in gaming books before, but I’ve never seen one depicted in fiction. Druids [...]

The Best Multiplayer Cards in Gatecrash

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:01:13 +0000

The latest Magic: the Gathering set, Gatecrash, is officially available this weekend. Which cards from the set will create the most impact in a multiplayer game? If you’re a Commander or Planechase fan, or you play a lot of two-headed giant or Archenemy, you’ll get more mileage out of these cards than in a heads-up [...]

Duels of the Planeswalkers — Mana Mastery Strategy Guide

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:22:07 +0000

The latest Duels of the Planeswalkers deck pack included a five-color beast called Mana Mastery. What does wielding all five of Magic’s colors get you? A whole freakin’ lot. Mana Mastery is the first five-color deck available in Duels of the Planeswalkers. You might think getting the right mana necessary to cast all the four [...]

Duels of the Planeswalkers — Rogue’s Gallery Strategy Guide

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:20:30 +0000

Wizards has continued to release new deck packs for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, so I’ve decided to start putting together strategy guides for them as they come out. The latest deck pack included a Dimir deck called Rogue’s Gallery. This is a slow deck that wins primarily by grinding out card advantage. It’s a [...]

Razor Coast: a Tale of Abject Failure and Eventual Redemption

Ed Grabianowski — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:14:15 +0000

About three years ago, author Nick Logue made big plans to create his own company (Sinister Adventures) and release products for his Razor Coast setting, one filled with pirates and high adventure. Logue fumbled the ball badly and left a lot of people waiting for unfulfilled pre-orders. Now Lou Agresta is manning the helm to [...]

Burning Horizon Brings Space Combat and More to CthulhuTech

Billy Gibbs — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:55:47 +0000

The folks behind CthulhuTech have always done one thing very right, and that is flavor. Say what you will of their mechanics, their setting information and fiction is among the top tier of RPGs. More to the point, they recently released another setting book moving their metaplot forward: Burning Horizon. At its core Burning Horizon [...]

An Interview with Night’s Black Agents Creator Kenneth Hite

Ed Grabianowski — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:19:29 +0000

I’ve written a review of vampire/espionage thriller RPG Night’s Black Agents over at io9. The review includes an interview with NBA creator Kenneth Hite. Check it out!

Interview with Pathfinder Online CTO Mark Kalmes

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:58:19 +0000

The million dollar Kickstarter campaign for Pathfinder Online is drawing near the end (and just over $300K short as I write this). To help explain Goblinworks’ and Paizo’s grand vision for a sandbox MMORPG world that’s shaped by the players, Goblinworks’ chief technology officer Mark Kalmes answered some of our questions about the game and [...]

Playing Magic: the Gathering as an RPG — a Test Run

Billy Gibbs — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:31:56 +0000

About a year ago, Robot Viking’s Pillager-In-Chief wrote an article for io9 brainstorming ways for making Magic: the Gathering into an RPG. Unaware of this, the west coast Vikings decided we would try to make a Magic RPG work. We later discovered Ed’s article and we shamelessly stole some things from it, but with some [...]

You Can’t Keep a Good Zombie Down

Ed Grabianowski — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:56:24 +0000

Hello fellow vikings! After taking about a quarter of a year off from this site, I started to miss it. I’d like to make the announcement official: as of this week, Robot Viking is back. I have no grandiose relaunch plans or site redesigns (although if you access the site with a mobile device, check [...]