Era III: 1999 Publisherpalooza

The end is neigh! The computers will crash-crash, banks will crumble-crumble! Ya know, I always considered this year a missed opportunity in the gaming industry. It is the end of the millennia. This happens once every thousand years. I’m surprised that more companies didn’t grab hold of this easy marketing angle and come up with any Event for their game. Even if it was a single book or an one-off thing. Ah well, I’m just a dude blogging in Wisconsin. I’m sure the industry knows best.

Right?

Anyway, back to the scheduled program. West End Games partially merges with Humanoids Inc. this year and is fully acquired by them in 2001. SSDC, Inc buys out the rites to Optimus Design Systems. Target Games closes due to bankruptcy, bought out by Paradox Entertainment, then licensed to Riotminds. Neogames is based in Sweeden and is the re-creation of Target Games. Pelgrane Press came into being in the U.K. Studio Ronin spins off Ronin Arts which became dedicated to the PDF industry. Z-Man Games kicks open its doors.

In the land of game systems, here is what hit the shelves:

DC Universe by WEG, published under the Humanoids Inc umbrella. This used the Legend System, which was a variant of the D6 system.

Stargate SG-1 by WEG. This became an aborted project due to bankruptcy.

Dragon Fist by WotC. An AD&D variant campaign setting where Hong Kong cinema meets Chinese mythology.

Dark*Matter by WotC. The second campaign setting to the Alternity RPG.

Sengoku by Gold Rush Games. This is a medieval Japan-based game highlighting the mythology of the period.

Brave New World by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. A superhero game set in an alternate (and fascist) USA.

SLA Industries, by Nightfall Games joins forces with Hogshead Publishing.

A big year for White Wolf Publishing:

Guide to the Technocracy by White Wolf Publishing.

Laws of the Night LARP: by White Wolf.

Laws of the Wyld West LARP: by White Wolf.

Aberrant by White Wolf Publishing.

Hunter: The Reckoning is published as part of the Storyteller System.

Trinity is published as part of the Storyteller System.

Fading Suns 2e by Holistic Design. Dawning of the sixth millennium and the star faring humans have reached a new dark age.

Passion Play LARP: by  Holistic Design. A Fading Suns live-action game system.

Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet by  Aetherco / Dreamcatcher. Time travel game engine that is simple but complex in its implications.

Systems Failure by Palladium Books. The collapse of civilization

MechWarrior RPG 3e by Palladium Books.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten by Eden Studios, Inc.. Survival horror in one of eleven “Deadworld” settings.

Demon City Shinjuku RPG by Guardians of Order. Based on the horror anime of the same name, a demon city has grown within the ruins of the Shinjuku district.

Dominion Tank Police is published by Guardians of Order. Part of the BESM 1^st edition.

Gear Antique Renaissance is a steampunk RPG published by F.E.A.R.

7^th Sea RPG by Alderac Entertainment Group using a Roll-and-Keep system. Ride the waves!

Bearers of Jade by AEG. The second sourcebook for the Legend of the Five Rings system.

Michael T. Desing’s Army Ants RPG 2e by Teddy Bear Press. Set in your back yard!

Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying 2e by Atlas Games.

Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Atlas Games. A look into the Unknown Armies New Inquisition organization.

Rolemaster Standard System is the revised version of the 1995 game system by Pelgrane Press, based in London,

Nobilis by Paros Press, Hogshead Publishing, and Eos Press. This is a diceless, resource-management, and optional LARP game system. It is based upon various mythologies set in a fantasy world: Prosaic Earth, which is a lie accepted by all to explain suffering. The ‘reality’ of the Mythic Earth is one that is a flat Earth drifting near the Yggdrasil, Heaven, Hell, and all the Wyrd-ness that is associated with such things. . Play a Sovereign Power (the Nobilis), where they become the personification of Time, Death, cars, etc.

Puppetland: A storytelling Game with Strings in a Grim World of Make-believe by Hogshead Publishing. Battle it out in Punch’s oversized puppet theater!

Blade of Arcana published by Enterbrain and focused upon an epic fantasy setting of divinity.

Delta Green by Pagan Publishing. First released in ’96, a series of sourcebooks are released this year.

A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Concordance by Armitage House. 2631 different Mythos stories!

C.J. Carella’s Witchcraft by Eden Studios. The first RPG to use the Unisystem rule set, players play “Gifted” magic-using humans, ‘Lesser Gifted’, or even supernatural monsters. Heavy on the neo-pagan practices.

Tales of Chivalry& Romance by Green Knight Publishing. Part of the Pendragon 4 series.

Metabarons RPG mystic-space opera by Jodoverse.

This year, from Steve Jackson Games:

GURPS 3: Black Ops

GURPS 3: Japan
GURPS 3: Myth
GURPS 3: New Sun
GURPS 3: Warehouse 23
GURPS 3: Warriors
GURPS 3: Y2K

LiVEJOURNAL is launched. In the world of MMO’s, Dark Ages from KRU Interactive, The Forth Coming, Mir 2 and the release of EverQuest by Sony Online Entertainment. Asheron's Call in the West. Square's Legend of Mana, the most open-ended in the Mana series, allowed the player to build the game world however they choose, complete any quests and subplots they choose in any order of their choice, and choose which storyline paths to follow.