The latest blog post from Cubicle 7 confirms an August 2011 release date for the One Ring. They also showcase some new artwork. One quote:

Chock full of incredible artwork by leading Tolkien artists, including John Howe, along with rich and detailed background information, The One Ring’s game engine focuses on the themes and character types that give Middle-earth its unique place in the annals of fantasy. There has never been a Lord of the Rings game that’s more evocative of Tolkien’s unique vision. The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild releases in August, 2011. The core release consists of two core books in a premium slipcover: Loremaster’s Guide for GMs andAdventurer’s Handbook for players. (source)

The game is looking good. I will be very interested to check out this game and its game mechanics.

Paizo impresses again. Whereas Wizards of the Coast has begun exiting the pre-painted plastics miniatures scene (they still have some, but have stopped producing much of their line) Paizo has now entered the fray. From the Paizo blog:

Paizo Publishing and WizKids Games announce a new partnership whereby WizKids Games will produce a special set of pre-painted plastic miniatures for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box, an introductory boxed set slated to release in October 2011.

“We’re excited to bring the Pathfinder property to life via 3-D pre-painted fantasy miniatures” said Lax Chandra, President of WizKids Games, “Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG has emerged as a leader in the RPG category and we are looking forward to working with their great brand.”

“WizKids essentially created the pre-painted plastic miniatures category, and they’ve only gotten better in the years since,” said Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens. “We are thrilled to work with WizKids to bring our iconic characters to tabletops all over the world.”

Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box pre-painted fantasy miniatures will be available at paizo.com and through WizKids distribution partners worldwide starting in the fourth quarter of 2011. (Source)

This is a great development. Busy gamers and GM’s don’t always have the time, patience or talent to assemble and paint metal miniatures, but pre-painted plastics can add flavor to any game table.

After seeing the photos from Dallas Comic Con 2011, where over 10,000 attended, I got to thinking. What’s the coolest costume for the least cost when attending a comic book, anime or gaming convention? I think the person who did the Lego Head must be the winner in this department.

A “Lego Guy” costume just needs the head, probably composed of a hat, layered with duct tape and cardboard and some sort of bright cloth. Best of all, you could just take off the head when you want, and instantly revert to “Normal Guy” when at a table actually playing a game.

I am very excited about the upcoming Fall release of The One Ring.

I know that there is not a lot that has been announced about the product yet, but I thought I’d take the opportunity to mention some of the things which I believe would help spread its adoption by the gaming community:

1) Multiple adventure modules

I hope there are multiple scenarios/adventure modules or whatever you want to call them available soon for the product. Many good systems are released but months go by with no commercial adventure modules being available for the system. For busy GMs such as myself, this can be very limiting. Having adventures hooks or 1 sheet adventures (like Savage Worlds) from either Cubicle 7 or third parties is pretty key to success in my opinion.

2) Limited ‘community use’ content

I like what Paizo has done with Pathfinder:

http://paizo.com/communityuse/package

Since so much of gaming these days involves Blogs, Portals, Play-By-Post forums, VTTs, etc., having some limited things players can do with game content without risk of getting sued really aids getting the game ‘out there’ on the internet.

3) Third-party publishing opportunities

I know with a licensed setting this can be a challenge. But to the extent you can let folks have some guidelines which, when followed, let them publish content to expand or aid in your system, this is really important. I like what Savage Worlds has done with their two licensing systems for example:

http://www.peginc.com/Licensing.html

Ideally there would be both Fan (not-for-profit) and a Licensed (for-profit) options for publishing.

Here’s one way I think this could work given the licensed setting restrictions from the Tolkien IP holders.

In the U.S. at least, the laws are such that you can publish materials that are ‘compatible with ______’ on the Label. You can be a Third Party and create a light bulb that is ‘compatible with GE light fixtures’ without violating GE’s trademark in making that statement. So there are so many aspects of Middle-Earth (Orcs, Trolls, Elves, etc.) which are not trade-marked or under IP restrictions, seems like third parties could put out stuff which supports the core product. It would really be cool to have a web site with a dozen or two free or cheap adventures which are ‘compatible with The One Ring’ which would allow people to plug into the Tolkien setting. So long as you tell people what they can and can’t do and give them a path to create companion products, it can really aid the adoption of this new system to the gaming community.

Anyway, just wanted to add my two cents on this topic, and I’m really hoping for success for The One Ring RPG!