The Big Stick of Game Design

Bully Pulpit Games

Durance Now Available in Stores

Posted by Steve on November 27th, 2012 — in News

We’re pleased to say that Durance has now officially been released in the US and you can find it at Indie Press Revolution and many local game stores. It will be generally available in Canada. the UK, and other parts of Europe starting on December 1st. Our retailer backers have been able to sell the book for a few weeks already, and we continue to encourage people to shop with them. If these stores are local to you, please tell your friends and give them your business!

In addition, Durance is available as a digital package including several formats (PDF, Epub and Mobi).  The package is available from DrivethruRPG  and it is included with purchase of the print book from IPR and from participating Bits-and-Mortar retailers.

A few of the many Notables in Durance

November Playset of the Month: Tartan Noir

Posted by Steve on November 20th, 2012 — in News

For November’s Playset of the Month, we give you Tartan Noir, by David Bradshaw:

There’s been a murder. A body lies dead in a run-down apartment. There are signs of a struggle. Broken furniture litters the floor. Two of the victim’s fingers have been cut off. There’s a human turd on the mantelpiece. Hang on, what?

Welcome to the world of Tartan Noir: fiction with a hardboiled, cynical, violent and frequently alcoholic view of crime in modern-day Scotland. There are good guys, there are bad guys but there definitely aren’t any heroes. Tartan Noir is about world-weary anti-heroes, deeply flawed characters with a variety of vices that would not normally be becoming of someone of their narrative stature. And while it is certainly hardboiled, there’s frequently an edge of wackiness that separates Tartan Noir from its American cousin. So pour yourself a dram of single malt and prepare to indulge in a little Tartan Noir.

This playset is heavily inspired by Scottish crime writers, in particular Ian Rankin and Christopher Brookmyre. Any of Rankin’s Inspector Rebus series and Brookmyre’s Where the Bodies are Buried and When the Devil Drives would be excellent fuel for your hardboiled, whisky-drinking anti-hero. For a touch of whimsical craziness, Brookmyre’s Jack Parlabane or Angelique de Xavia novels will provide excellent inspiration.


Durance: Coming Soon to a Store Shelf Near You

Posted by Steve on November 10th, 2012 — in News

We’re pleased to say that Durance has been shipped out to all of our Kickstarter supporters, and hopefully everyone will have the books in their hands soon. If you missed the chance to back the project, you can still get the book from one of the many retailers who did!

The following stores will all have Durance (including the PDF) available before you can find it anywhere else, so please give them your business!

U.S. Stores

7th Dimension Games
491 York Rd
Jenkintown, PA
19046-2737
Rainy Day Games
18105 SW Tualatin Valley HWY
Aloha, OR
97006
Crazy Squirrel Game Store
464 E Bullard Ave Ste 105
Fresno, CA
93710-6172
Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy
6111 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX
78757-3226
Endgame Oakland
921 Washington St
Oakland, CA
94607-4003
Gamma Ray Games
411 E Pine St
Seattle, WA
98122-2311
The Haunted Game Cafe
3307 S College Ave Unit 107
Fort Collins, CO
80525-4196
Modern Myths
34 Bridge St Ste 4
Northampton, MA
01060-2405
Myriad Games
1525 South Willow St.
Manchester, NH
31030
Rogues Gallery Comics & Games
1601 S IH-35 #360
Round Rock, TX
78664
Tyche’s Games
1056 S Lumpkin St
Athens, GA
30605-5121

International Stores

Leisure Games
100 Ballards Lane
Finchley, London
N3 2DN
United Kingdom
Sphaerenmeisters Spiele
Wilsberger Str. 31
Herzogenrath NRW 52134
Germany
Subcultures
Oudegracht 194 (werf)
3511 NR Utrecht
the Netherlands

October Bonus Playset: Living Dead

Posted by Steve on October 24th, 2012 — in News

What? Another playset? Well, yes and no. As a Halloween bonus, we’re releasing a second Fiasco supplement—Living Dead, a zombie apocalypse add-on for any playset!

Everything has changed. No more paperwork or errands or ballgames. We still fight and squabble and lie as much as ever, but not for money or drugs or power. When the world has been overrun by the living dead, survival is the only thing that matters. Banding together always seems like a good idea in theory; strength in numbers, right? Keep believing that if you want, but those people just might kill you before the zombies. Remember, only one thing matters: staying alive.

To be clear, this supplement is an add-on, designed to be used with another playset. Zombies in a nice southern town? Perfect. Zombies in the Old West? Of course! Zombies on the grassy knoll? Oswald is the least of Kennedy’s problems.

Living Dead is the work of James Gabrielsen, author of last October’s Playset of the Month Camp Death.


October Playset of the Month: Back to the Old House

Posted by Steve on October 20th, 2012 — in News

The Halloween season is upon us, and as a treat for Fiasco fans, we’ve selected something particularly surreal and creepy for our October Playset of the Month, Back to the Old House:

The House has been calling you. It’s dead dust breath seeping though splintered doorways. The dark hiss of long forgotten stations. Endless nights huddled in the death shed, and tears at bedtime. The house is calling, but you don’t pick up.

You’ve tried to forget, to make a fresh start and be somebody new, but it’s all bullshit. Everything that counts for anything went down in that fucking house. Bad things happened, and you were a part of it. You left unfinished business. That’s why you need to go back. To finish it. To end it all.

You would rather not go back to the old house. But you will.

This playset was written by Sean Buckley of Leisure Games in London, instigator of the excellent Fiasco Picnic event!