Some MMOs to watch out for.

Some? How many?

  Truth be told, initially it was '3 MMOs to look out for'. However, I could not get myself to stick to just 3 and therefore I dispensed of any specificity for that reason. So without further ado, here is my favourite to-watch-out list:

• Elder Scrolls Online (ESO): It is Elder Scrolls and it is online, what more do you need! With an estimated release sometime in 2013 (I am guessing Q4 2013), it is one of the most highly anticipated MMOs, and with the highest Hype rating on MMORPG for games in development. One only hopes that the Online version is going to do justice to the heritage of the franchise. Oh, and it is cross-platform!                                                  

• ArcheAge (AA): Fantasy MMO from South Korea! Yes, the feel of the Avatars is slightly Manga-esque but it is to be expected. In any case, it looks very impressive and beautifully crafted, with more very exciting and sought after feature, but sadly, rarely seen. Features include housing (yay!!), naval combat and adventuring, massive PvP and siege combat and a wide selection of option for designing your favourite character/class. It is about to go in its 4th Closed Beta Testing (unfortunately only for Korean players), so I expect a release in a couple of years.

• Neverwinter (NW): Who hasn't played DnD, who hasn't played Neverwinter Nights? NW is hopefully going to be an online flagship for the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, worthy of the Neverwinter name. Big selling point for me is the Foundry editing tools, which will allow players to build their own adventures, campaigns and zones within the game. Big minus, in my book, is that, unlike he Neverwinter Nights series this will windows only... makes me a sad panda. You can register now for the Beta, which means a probably release date of Q3 2013 if all goes well.

• Pathfinder Online (PFO): Possibly not a title well known outside of the pen and paper RPG circles. It is posing as a sandbox game, and we certainly need more of those. In my opinion, a big advantage of PFO is that it was funded mainly through Kickstarter. Why is that a good thing, you may ask. It means it was funded by the community itself. No restrictions and overwhelming control by big publishers and CEOs. The community at large decided it wanted the game out, and invested their $$ on it... that can only be a good thing I guess. We don't have any reliable information on a possible release date, but I would hazard a guess it would be for Q4 2015. ... and I also forgot, windows and Mac version!

• Shadowrun Online (SRO): As with PFO above, SRO will be most familiar to the traditional pen and paper RPG crowd. And as with PFO, it is also funded mainly through Kickstarter. As someting of a RPG veteran, and since Shadowrun was one of the first RPGs I played, I am eagerly looking forward to it. You can check some of the released videos of it, but really with Shadowrun it was always the setting that was the major selling point. And I expect the online version will be no different. Also it is truly cross platform game, accessible through Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Android, iOS and on Ouya.

 Another game might have made it to my list would have been World of Darkness, a game based on the White Wolf's World of Darkness setting (Vampire: The Masquarade, Werewolve: The Forsaken, etc.) and created by CCP (Eve Online). Unfortunately the information on its progress is little to no existent. On a positive note, someone posted on MMORPG.com that CCP is currently doing internal testing and hoping for something to show at Showfest 2013.

Want your dream game, why not build it yourself? Enter Kickstarter!

Kick...what?

Kickstarter logo, with their
'Fund & Follow Creativity' motto

    Just to clear things. Kickstarter is what has been described as, crowd-funding website, which has been around since April 2009. So it is not really a new thing, therefore, why the hell did I chose to write about it, you may rightly ask. Well firstly, because, although Kickstarter had an impressive start, it was really during 2012 that it took off in a big way. And it was in 2012 it saw several landmark goal reached. 

   Most notable landmark, the 1st project to gather more than $1M pledged. And ten the flood gates opened. Just over a month passed and the adventure game Double Fine Adventure set a new record, a staggering $3.3M ! Till the time of writing this, the record holder is the Pebble: E-Paper Watch, with over $10M pledged.

How does it work?

 Although you can get all details you need at the Kickstarter website, the basics are pretty straightforward. First you need a project in mind ... obviously. This can be, almost anything. Abook, a record with your garage band, a revolutionary eco-friendly farm, some shiny hi-tech gadget, game or art project. Really, there are very few things you cannot do. So, you post your project, set a goal for $$ needed and hope you manage to gather it before a pre-set due date. 

  Obviously, there are much more than that going on, especially if you want to succeed. Just having your firends and family chip in is simply not enough. So, firstly, you need to put a fair amount of time to build an exciting and informative page on Kickstarter. But even that, on its own is not enough. You need to build awereness, reach out to as wide an audience as possible, through social media, relevant forums, blogs and so on.

   To lure prospective backers, Kickstarter has a system of rewards in place. To put it simply, depending on the amount of money pledged, a backer is elligible to specific rewards, provided of course the project funding is successful. 

So what does this has to do with gaming?

 If anyone, hasn't participated in, or followed, discussions in groups, forums,etc., about homebrew rules, game setting, campaigns and so on, is simply lying. Back in the days when I was still playing World of Warcraft, I can't remember the times I heard comments of the type "If only I could have the money, I would have made an awesome MMO!" Guess what. That is not the problem it used to be. If you got an awesome idea and/or you are a talented designers/developer, got a like minded group of people and build your Kickstarter project.

 And by the looks of it, there is a real trend going on. As you can see from the table below, out of the successful projects with the most funds pledged, a great deal are game related. Most of them easily exceeding their initials goals by quite a margin.



 So, are an avid game, looking out for new, exciting game that break from the current mould? Visit the Kickstarter  games section !
  Are a game designers, developer, artist with an interesting idea looking for ways to fund your project? Kickstarter might actually be the solution for you.

 My hope, is that through Kickstarter, in the foreseeable future, we will see games coming out that are truly innovative, without the restrictions imposed by publishing groups and CEOs, who usually want to stick the old and tried solutions
 Lastly, I wanted to share with you my favourite out of the game project in Kickstarter. A cooperative RPG, board card set in a nightmare-horror setting, called Kindgom Death: Monster. The quality of them minis is just staggering!

Ten largest successfully completed Kickstarter projects by total funds pledged 

(only closed fundings, up to Nov. 2012 are listed). Source: wikipedia

Rank	Total USD	Project name	Creator	Category	% funded	Backers	Closing date	Link
1	10,266,845	Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android	Pebble Technology	Design	10,266	68,928	2012-05-18	[1]
2	8,596,475	Ouya: A New Kind of Video Game Console	Ouya	Video Games	905	63,416	2012-08-09	[2]
3	3,986,929	Project Eternity	Obsidian Entertainment	Video Games	362	73,986	2012-10-16	[3]
4	3,429,236	Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures	Reaper Miniatures	Games	11,430	17,744	2012-08-25	[4]
5	3,336,371	Double Fine Adventure	Double Fine and 2 Player Productions	Video Games	834	87,142	2012-03-13	[5]
6	2,945,885	FORM 1: An affordable, professional 3D printer	Formlabs	Technology	2,945	2,068	2012-10-26	[6]
7	2,933,252	Wasteland 2	InXile Entertainment	Video Games	325	61,290	2012-04-17	[7]
8	$2,542,390 (£1,578,316)	Elite: Dangerous	Frontier Developments	Video Games	126	25,681	2013-01-04	[8]
9	2,485,506	Homestuck Adventure Game	MS Paint Adventures	Video Games	355	24,346	2012-10-04	[9]
10	2,437,430	Oculus Rift: Step Into the Game	Palmer Luckey	Technology	974	9,522	2012-09-01	[10]

Dark Angels, Dark Secrets, Part 1: Introduction

The Unforgiven are here!

Your robed, secretive, plasma tooting
space marines have finally arrived!

     As anyone who is even mildly interested in Warhammer 40K must have noticed, the much expected Codex: Dark Angles (6th edition) has hit the shelves, as of a couple of weeks ago. Of course, almost 6 years, and 2 editions of Warhammer 40K, have passed since the previous Codex. But things like that tend to be forgotten when the newest flashy Codex hit the shelves.

  

 It is only the second Codex to be released after the arrival of the 6th edition rulebook (after Codex: Chaos Space Marines). It was a higly anticipated  release, and until its release forums and blog were on fire with rumours about its contents. A lot of the buzz generated, was also due to the Dark Vengeance boxed set, featuring Chaos Space Marines and Dark Angels.

6 years we waited for a Belial
 model and we got one  with
Urinary incontinence

  In hindsight, Dark Vengeance, was  a very big clue of what was to come. For those who know anything about the Dark Angels, would know that there 2 things which set them apart from the other chapters (not counting the 'dark secret' thingie, which we will touch upon in depth later). And these are their first two companies, the famous Deathwing and Ravenwing Companies. Ok ok ok... maybe 3 things, add plasma weaponry in the list! Indeed the focal points in this release are the new Deathwing and Ravenwing units. Apart from those,  the Codex did not harbour any big surprises. I mean, we did get Asmodai back, and praise the Emperor for that, but what was not a surprise. I don't think they could gotten away with such an omission again! Of course we got some new shiny stuff in the wargear section and some slightly reworked special characters, but really all to be expected.

   So if you like terminators, bikers, land speeders (I know I do!) and some plasma guns.... come on who doesn't like some Str 7 Ap 2 goodness!

    

But the purpose of this post is not to talk about the new models and units, or the fact the much anticipated model for Belial is in a pose, with his knees bending inwards as if he is dying to take a piss. No. The purpose is to talk about what, fluffwise, sets Dark Angels apart. Namely, the terrible dark secret they  are harbouring. I expect, that now with the release of the new Codex, we will see a lot of talks and speculations all over the internet, concerning the nature of this secret. And of course that is what this post is all about. 

Crash Course on Dark Angel History

  Let's do, first, an as brief as possible, recap of the events that lead up to the Dark Angels' "fall from grace". I will skip most of the details, as they will be the subject of next articles.

Caliban and the Young Jonson

  The Emperor (aka Empy, the Big E, Emprah) decides to create the Primarchs to be the generals and leaders in his planned Crusade to unite all humanity. Chaos, being chaos, decide to mess with him  and scatter the till infant Primarchs all over the galaxy, and they are forced to fend for themselves until finally their dad Emperor located them and reunitd with them. One of them, is Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the 1st Legion, which came to be known as the Dark Angels. Mr. Lion, landed on the planet Caliban, incidently a planet pretty close to the Eye of Terror (never a good thing). Caliban is an extrenely dangerous place to be in. The planet, densely forested, is home to some badass, deamonic beasts. The only safe heavens are the strongholds of the various Knightly orders that exist on Caliban. So the infant Jonson lands and survives on a planet on which he has no right to do so (survive that is). A band of Knights lead by Luther, from a group known simply as The Order (REALLY!! The Order? You guys in GW could be asked to find a decent name? Just 'The Order'?) find young Jonson, who is about 10 years old at the time, and instead of killing the boy for a beast, Luther takes him in. 

  Of course being a Primarch comes with certain perks, superhuman strengh and intellect and all around awesomeness being some of them. Jonsongrows into becoming a Knight of the Order, starts a crusade to rid Caliban on the beasts that roam the land and being the special snowflake he is, he eventually becomes the Grand Master of the Order. Luther being an important knight and hero of Caliban on his own right, is completely overshadowed by Jonson... like who wouldn't be overshadowed by a 6 ft tall superhuman, with an intellect to match, starts to feel the first pangs of jealousy towards his brother knight. Just after the completion of his crusade, The Emperor finds and there was much rejoicing. Jonson reunites his Legion, which he renames Dark Angels. Of his fellow knights, those young enough and able are undergone the process to become Space Marines. The rest of the knights just get some genetic enhancments, as they cannot possibly survive the process. 

The Lion leads the assault on Caliban

   Treachery on the Horizon

   Luther, his second in command, his closets friend, mentor, etc., is of the latter group. Envy seems to take root in Luther's soul. The 1st Legion, now renamed Dark Angels Legion joins the Emperor's crusade.
  Skipping most of the event that take place between the time of the Dark Angels joining the crusade and the eventual destruction of Caliban. The campainging Angels, at the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, reach Caliban (all the intervining years Jonson and his Angels have little to no contact with Caliban). They get a surprising greeting by their fellow marines, when Caliban's defense forces fire upon them. Jonson order an orbital bombardement and eventual leads an assault on the surface. Leader of the renegade force on Caliban is his former bestets friend, mentor, brother-in-arms, Luther, who has fallen to Chaos (pressumably?).

   Eventually the Lion confonts Luther, who, being empowered by the Chaos gods give the Lion a run for his money. At the climax of their duel, Luther inflicts a grievious wound on the Lion. Realising at that moment the magnitude of his treachery by seeing his former comrade wounded, Luther denounces Chaos' hold on him. Naturally the Chaos gods get really pissed off, since they can't handl rejection and lash out with a tremendous phychic attack on Caliban Luther his renegade Angels. Luther is left mad and broken. Caliban under the strain of the phychic attack and the ongoing bombardment,  is torn apart, the only intact part is the Dark Angels' Fortress Monastery complex, known as The Rock. Moreover, all Luther accomplices, henceforth known as The Fallen, are sucked into the Warp, presumably scattered around the galaxy. The Lion, however, was nowhere to be found.

  The Aftermath

Remember that all this happened right after the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, when half the Astartes Legions fought the other half under circumstances and for reasons which at the point might not have been 100% clear to all. Now Caliban is destroyed, the Lion is nowhere to be found and the remaining Dark Angels are on a Rock floating in space. Not a very promising prospect for them, especially considering the general context of the Horus Heresy. So, supposedly, Jonson's Inner Circle, who we can only guess that they at the only people privy to the truth behind all the events, decide to keep all this a secret.  So they cover the whole incident as best as they can and begin their secret crusade to find all the Fallen Angels, in the hope that it will bring the Legion's redemption in the eyes of the Emperor.

  

  From that point on, and following the instruction of the Codex Astartes, the Dark Angels chapter and their successor chapter, collectively referring to themselves as The Unforgiven, undertake their secret crusade. Sometimes they put such extreme importance to their own agendas that they are known to abandon battlefields and their allies, and extreme cases attack or threaten hostilities towards Imperial forces. The true nature of this terrible secret is something that only the most high ranking officers know and they are prepared to keep it that way at all costs

To be continued.....

Stay tuned for the next Parts, where we will be dealing in more detail with the Fallen Angels and, possibly the most mysterious character of 40K, Cypher.

  In the meanwhile, if you wish to look up at some resources so as to form your own opinions here is a list for you!

• Codex: Dark Angels : Really any version could do. Although it will only give you the basics
• Angels of Darkness : Novel by Gavin Thorpe. Interesting read, casts some doubts on Jonson's loyalties
• Descent of Angels : Horus Heresy novel. Terrible book, but interesting information as it details the early history of the Dark Angels. 
• Fallen Angels : Horus Heresy novel. It picks up where Descent is left. The quality of writing is slightly better. It details events right before the campainging Dark Angels arrive in Caliban. Personal comment: The very last paragraph put forward another possible dark secret.

Whether you choose to do some homework before the next part, I am always keen to discuss any part of the history of the Dark Angels, so do not be afraid to add your comments below!  ;)