News - Cyberpunk, Stargazer, Dungeonslayers, Supers, Geomorphs,

Spring is sprung, the dafodils are sprouting and the collective juices of inspiration appear to be flowing. The flow is no greater than in the world of Free RPG stuff. In this news update, we discover that modern Cyberpunk can be fascinating and novel, that podcasters will play any old stuff you send them, bloggers can write RPGs too, super Supers, random geomorph maps and The Free RPG Blog is going into print.

1KM1KT Cyberpunk Revival

Good friend and blogger Gordon McKerrel (Twitter: new2rpg) has been running the 1KM1KT Cyberpunk Revial Competition for just over 2 months now and the creators have noses pressed up against the grindstone. The aim is to revive Cyberpunk by crafting a modern setting that feels like Cyberpunk but is an extrapolation of this millenium rather than the last. A difficult task indeed.

The ideas that have bubbled up are both broad and deep. Unlike the 24 Hour Competition, the long deadline (end of June 2010 - yes, plenty of time for you to enter) means that there is a friendly, collaborative approach to the entries. Most have their own thread on the forum and advice and ideas are gladly exchanged. It's

• Metropole Luxury Coffin by madunkieg
• Squatters & Sleepers by Spacemouse
• Project X by Hawell
• Cybershade by Blaquesabe
• ROME by WittyDroog
• CyberSins by Thought
• Technogrammation by Corone (who gave us Doom and Cookies)
• Open Life by NoobHealer
• Multiplicity by Koipond
• Erreshet by SheikJabooty
• ModernPunks by TadK
• Flooded by Phil
• Disgenesia by Maledictus
• Code named Neon by Peril Planet (Nathan Russell of the Here Be Gamers Podcast no less!
• The Grey City Machine by espynwislyn
• Physrep by Nifara

If you like Cyberpunk and think you can modernise it, then there is plenty of time to enter. You have until the end of June and only have to submit 30 pages. You can use someone else's game system as it's only really the setting we're after. It's free to enter, so you really have nothing to loose!

Guerilla 60 Second RPG Podcast

I've been receiving some superb feedback from podcast listeners about the 60 second Guerilla Podcast. There are now 4 in the wild, have you heard one? Do you know where all four are?

If you are a podcaster and you would like to support the Free RPG community, the please do send me an email. Each 60 second podcast is unique and reviews a free RPG game or resource.

Gears by Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf, blogger extraordinaire (Twitter: StargazersWorld) is having a creative gush at the moment. His lite system Gears, is a well rounded generic roleplaying game system that is neat and lite. Michael will probably not thank me for posting this news item because Gears isn't finished. You might have clicked the link and then come back, enraged that I've wasted your time. Stay with me for a moment.

What makes Gears a delight is the fact that Michael has been blogging the process - the ups and downs, decisions and thoughts. It's a fascinating read, written at the same standard as his regular posts. Here's a summary.

• Stargazer’s World presents Gears
• Gears / AARG - Michael is accused of plagiarism
• Gears: the core mechanic
• Gears:Skills
• Gears: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes - Michael has a crisis of confidence - I've been there!

I do hope Michael completes Gears, you can keep up to date with Gears here. Michael has actually completed another project since, but I'll leave that up to Michael.

Jeff Moore's Xceptional

Jeff Moore is a free roleplaying game powerhouse. Imagine if you actually created every RPG project you thought of. That's the only explanation I have for Jeff, he's prolific. The fact I've not managed to review one of his games is statistically unlikely and an error I'll be fixing soon.

Jeff has been developing his super supers game Xceptionalon his blog. It's fascinating to see that he applied my guide to organsing a free rpg as a brutal editor. I won't witter on any futher as I'll be reviewing Xceptional in due course.

Lots of Dungeonslayers goodness

I love Dungeonslayers. Its mix of simplicity, efficiency and knowing what its trying to achieve has made me come back again and again. Christian Kennig has been spewing splendid content since my review. There are now 5 one-page Dungeons-2-Go which are all immediately playable. As if that wasn't enough there is also Forgeworks, a 4 page addon with weapons and armour. The supplements for Dungeonslayers are superb as they all stay on message: lite, efficient and effective.

Geomorphs Ahoy!

Geomorphs are map sections that can be printed and slotted together to make big maps. You might remember that Dyson Logos has embarked on a challenge to create a whole bunch of them. You might also recall I became nerd-aroused and used them to create a random map maker. It got StumbledUpon in a big way, so I asked OUR GLORIOUS BENEFACTOR on 1KM1KT. Dyson took a pause (more of deep breath) and is now ploughing on with more.

More Geomorph joy is provided by, Tim 'Risus Monkey' Ballew, who has made great use of my random map maker (with permission, natch) with his own Risus Monkey Random Map. It's effort such as this that makes me proud of being part of the Free RPG Community.

Open Game Table Vol 2

I'm proud to announce that The Free RPG Blog is going to be included in Volume 2 of the Open Game Table, due for release this summer. To stand shoulder to shoulder with some simply stellar blogs and industry professionals makes me puff my chest out with considerable pride.

You've been quiet, Lang.

Yes! I've been working on loads of things, here's a flavour.

• Chom Isis, my web game of scheming and deviousness is running its first proper full-length game.
• Icar Version 4 is heading on apace, I'm making great strides through the GM guide.
• New 1KM1KT archive. The current archive is based on Wordpress, which is ok but requires a lot of work to keep going, I'm writing a new one and progress is slow but steady.
• Finally, I am writing a series of posts on how to write an RPG, from the idea to the printed book.