Era IV: 2005: BLASTO! Bring in the star ships and the superheroes!!!!!!

Things start looking a little more big budget and a little more franchise based this year...

 

Great White Games returns to its original name: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
BTRC publishes Hollyworld.
Crafty Games is formed when Alderac Entertainment Group’s Alex Flagg and Patrick Kapera leave AEG to continue the Spycraft RPG.
From 2001 to 2005, FanPro LLC released over a dozen original Shadowrun titles and reprinted core titles that FASA had originally released. FanPro LLC releases Shadowrun, Fourth Edition. Likewise, FanPro LLC continues to release new Classic BattleTech books in English.
Apex Publications begins publishing its sci fi and horror magazine Apex.
Bully Pulpit Games begins publishing indi games.
Evil Hat Productions begins publishing micro games.
Flying Mice releases Cold Space.

Cold Space: a space opera game set in an alternate cold war-era after antigravity and FTL space travel change the world. Several supplements are planned including a Soviet sourcebook. Cold Space is the company's best-selling product, outside the Starcluster line.

Serenity based on the television series Firefly and the film Serenity by Margaret Weis Productions.
Dawning Star using the d20 Future system by Blue Devil Games. Earth mass-evacuates and a gateway device scatters humanity across the galaxy. Welcome to the start up planet of Eos.
WARS RPG by Mongoose Pub. It is the end of the 24^th century. The Rift opens before Jupiter, giving individuals super powers and opening the gate for the various invaders.
Starship Troopers by Mongoose Pub. D20 system inspired by the film series.
Babylon 5 by Mongoose Publishing. Based on the TV show.
Dread by The Impossible Dream. Using a Jenga (the “Tower”) as the success / fail mechanic, with more complex actions equating to more complex pull strategies.
Star Trek by Decipher, Inc. This is the D20 edition.
Cyberpunk V3 is published by R. Talsorian Games. Now set in 2030. Also this year, the publisher picks up the RPG lines for Bubblegum Crisis, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, and Dragonball Z.
Jeremiah RPG by Mongoose Pub. Using the d20 3.5 system. Gritty, post-apocalyptic world of Straczynski.

Spycraft by Crafty Games and AEG. Second edition.

Kayfabe by Errant Knight Games. Enter the wrestling industry and promote your wrestlers ‘story’!
Dogs in the Vineyard by Lumpley Games. Set in the 19^th century, you play in pre-statehood Utah and take the roll of one of God’s Watchdogs.
The Mountain Witch by Timfire Publishing. Seven Samurai meets Reservoir Dogs.
The Seventh Seal by Morrigan Press. Horror inspired by the Book of Revelation.
Hollyworld by BTRC. All characters are Actors in a world where ‘reality’ is big budget action flicks. Two stats: Style and Substance.
Capes by Muse of Fire Games. GM-less superhero game using a bidding mechanics with dice.
Living Legends by UNIgames, which was origionally titled Advanced Villains and Vigilantes.
Truth & Justice by Atomic Sock Monkey Press. Superheroes using the PDQ system.
With Great Power… by Incarndaine Press. A superhero game designed to simulate “soap operas for boys”.
Tomorrow Knights by   Z-Man Games. Based on the comic series from Marvel’s Epic imprint. Superheroes, cyberpunk future, mechas, and summer-blockbuster stylings.
BASH!: Basic Action Super Heroes by Basic Action Games. Rules simple lightweight superhero system.
Mutants and Masterminds by Green Ronin Publishing.
Godsend Agenda by Khepera Publishing. Superheroes and the culture that worships them.

Dreaming Cities by Guardians of Order. A modern fantasy with goblins, night clubs, ancient gods, and subways.

The Everlasting: Book of the Unliving by Visionary Entertainment Studio. Fantasy / modern, urban horror.
Mind’s Eye Theatre LARP: by White Wolf Pub.
Mage: the Awakening by White Wolf Publishing. The new story arc of mages looks at ‘Orders’ rather than ‘Traditions’; nine ‘Spheres’ are now ten ‘Arcana’; the new ‘morality system’ is in place.
Werewolf: The Forsaken by White Wolf Publishing. The new story arc focusing less on the ‘protecting Gaia’ aspect, and more on a level of personal morality.
Chaos Flare is published by F.E.A.R. Set in a world fighting against the Demiurge and playing characters awakened to bring Justice back.
Deadlands: Reloaded by Great White Games.
Army of Darkness by Eden Studios. As in the flick of the same name. Uses the Unisystem for cinematic action, baby!
Book of Unremitting Horror by Pelgrane Press.  This is a background setting that enables horror games to grow new teeth: give your character’s nightmares new intimate horror.
Dead of Night by SteamPower Publishing . Enter the b-movie land of horror and slasher flicks.

Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game current (third) edition post-last-years-LARP.

Neiyar: Land of Heavenand the Abyss by Bards and Sages Publishing. The fantasy jungle island setting of Neiyar where an insane goddess rules above and a demonic god rules below.
Thieves’ World RPG by Green Ronin. Based on the book series, run the Maze, experience the fantasy underworld magic!
Blue Rose by  Green Ronin Publishing. Romantic fantasy inspired by the writings of Mercedes Lackey and Diance Duane.
Polaris by Tao Games. Knights, doomed folk, and the North Pole.
Old World Bestiary by Black Industries. Part of the Wharhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2^nd ed rule book series.
Artesia: Adventures in the Known World by Archaia Studios Press. Based upon the comic book series of the same name; using a Fuzion-based system.
Iron Gauntlests Expanded by Politically Incorrect Games. Fantasy ruleset in the world of Amherth.
Deathstalkers Fantasy-Horror Role-Play by Cutter’s Guild Games. A fantasy / horror game that alters the core d20 system.
The Shadow of Yesterday by Anvilwerks. Influenced by Leiber and Howard, this is the world of Near. Love & sex, Violence, wonder & magic, and the chance for hope.
Tekumel by Guardians of Order. A revamp of Empire of the Petal Throne.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay by Black Industries. The second edition of the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
Reve: the Dream Ouroboros by Malcontent Games. In this fantasy game, you play a Journeyer who travels the dream universes of dragons.
Earthdawn by RedBrick. High magic and players who level up through their Disciplines’ Circle.
A Game of Thrones is published by Guardians of Order. Welcome to Martin’s series.
Usagi Yojimbo RPG by Sanguine Productions. Set in Stan Sakai’s comic book of fantasy Japan in the Edo period.
Weapons of the Gods by Eos Press. Wuzia fantasy with Kung Fu masters seeking the fabled Weapons of the Gods.
Atlantis: The Second Age by Morrigan Press. Antediluvian Earth and exotic technomagic creations set in Bard Games’ Atlantean Trilogy.
The Deryni Adventure Game by Grey Ghost Press. Based on Katherine Kurtz romantic fantasy series.
The Burning Wheel by Luke Crane. A fantasy setting that folks seem to love or hate.
Seven Leagues by Malcontent Games. Fantasy / fairy tale d12 system.
Iron Heroes by Sword & Sorcery / Malhavoc Press.

Fudge by Grey Ghost Press. Touted as the ‘10^th anniversary edition’; this game (actually released in 1992) is expanded, but still keeping to ‘edition zero’ roots of generic core rules.

True20 game system is published by Green Ronin Publishing.

Steve Jackson Games? Beuler?

GURPS 3: Eli
GURPS 3: Lillith
GURPS Fantasy: A genre toolkit designed to help folks create a variety of high / low / dark / historic / etc. fantasy settings. 2005
GURPS Banestorm: Fantasy setting of Yrth. Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2005
GURPS Changing Times: Transhuman Space. Part of the fictional settings set of design.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Time travel and culminating the Infinite Worlds settings. Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2005
GURPS Traveller: Working in a section of Traveller’s universe. Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2004
GURPS Casey and Andy : Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2005
GURPS Prime Directive: Be a part of the Star Fleet Universe. Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2004+
GURPS Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque: Updates to alchemical magic. Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2004+
GURPS Yuel: Part of the fictional settings set of design. 2005

From the self-published side of things…

Executive Decision LARP: A 'real time RPG' where world-in-the-balance decisions must be made by the person in the Big Chair.

Mainstream popularity of blogs are commonplace around this time period. Genre-based and Reverse blog styles are embraced by RPG-ers. Online RPG games offer game altering choices: Radiata Stories and Steambot Chronicles.

Era IV: 2004: Alienating Altercations of Aberrant Alliteration!

Wow. It’s been a month since the last post?
Really?
Gen Con and re-writing a submission takes precedence, I suppose!
Change is in the air this year; an evolutionary change. A lot of old standbys get retrofitted or revamped. New editions of major lines occur. Time to change out those text libraries!

…and that campaign you were working on.

With these changes also come various games that can be described as ‘passion projects’ that reflect various non-RPG books, TV shows, movies, and writer styling.

Nightfall Games partners with Cubicle 7 Entertainment and SLA Industries continues to be published.

AEG publishes the Worlds Largest Dungeon. 840 pages long. 16 full-color poster maps. Designed to take 4-6 characters from first to twentieth level over two (real time) years.

White Wolf ends its story arc that was first introduced in 1991’s Vampire: The Masquerade comes to a close, becoming replaced by the Storytelling System and a more streamlined rule set for the previously published book series. Two books are introduced this year to promote the next arc: The World of Darkness; the new rules and core book, and Vampire: The Requiem.

Cracked Mirror Publishing is created by J.A. Dettman to produce supplements for the M&M Superlink program.

Wicked Dead Brewing Company is created by John Wick and Jared Sorensen to produce games and books independent from AEG.

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd is created featuring the Cortex System or Cortex Plus game system. This publisher was founded after Weis (who co-founded Sovereign Press Inc with Don Perrin) divorced.

Flying Mice has a series of in-house additions:

F20 was added to the Flying Mice lineup on March 7, 2004. It is the company's first foray into OGL games, with the proceeds of the core rulebook going to the American Cancer Society. When Flying Mice LLC joined with several other game companies in the Better Mousetrap Games consortium, publishing rights to F20 were given to fellow member Chine Games.

On October 19, 2004, Tribes Of Mother Night was added to the catalog of games. Tribes Of Mother Night (or just "Tribes") is a dark fantasy game revolving around the presence of shapeshifter blood in normal characters. Tribes was somewhat inspired by the juxtaposition of heroic fantasy and paranoid fear seen in Ravenloft. Tribes uses the F20 system, and now is part of the Chine Games lineup.
The Book Of Jalan game was released on December 24, 2004, although it is not the first game to have this name. Jalan is a standalone Starcluster setting that is also Clash Bowley's take on 'traditional' fantasy roleplaying games, in that in a system designed for classic hard sci-fi, one also finds 'magic'.
Just days later (December 30, 2004, Flying Mice LLC released Aquavita. Aquavita is game set on an aquatic Dyson sphere 1 AU in diameter, inspired by movies set in the 1980s and pulp fiction written in the 1930s. The original tagline for Aquavita was "One Billion Earths", a reference to the sphere's surface area (rounded off). Aquavita uses the F20 system, and now is part of the Chine Games lineup.

 

Starcluster II by Flying Mice. A hard science space opera set in a time after Sol has gone supernova.
Albedo by Sanguine Productions. Third edition of the hard SF multip-species military game. Based on the comic series Erma Felna: EOF.
Star Legend, a Japanese space opera RPG is published by F.E.A.R.
Star Munchkin by SJG. Based upon the d20 (3.5e) system.
Paranoia by Mongoose Publishing. Yes. ANOTHER edition!
Splicers: published by Palladium and set in a war between humans and the robots of N.E.X.U.S.
Heavy Gear by Silhouette. Stomp that giant ‘bot with the retrofitted concepts of mecha after Activision lost the rites to Battletech / MechWarrior.
NeoTerra a cyberpunk / virtual reality setting by EABA.
Ex Machina by Guardians of Order. Covers eras spanning from a Cyberpunk world to a post-Cyberpunk world. The books is written under two systems: Tri-Stat d8 and d20.
Tokyo NOVA: The Detonation is a cyberpunk RPG 4^th edition is published by F.E.A.R.

The Black Company RPG by Green Ronin. Based on the fantasy novels by Glen Cook.

Barbarians of Lemuria by Beyond Belief Games. Run the barbarian landscape created by Lin Carter.
Eberron Campaign Setting by Wizards of the Coast. A new D&D setting; featuring post WWI-esque pulp, noir, and steampunk elements.
City State of the Invincible Overlord by Necromancer Games. This is an updated version of the Judges Guild classic.
Legend of the Five Rings RPG by AEG. This is a licensed work from Five Rings Publishing Group (1997). It uses the same locations, centering on Rokugan and is based upon feudal Japan and other Eastern influences.
Castles & Crusades is published by Troll Lord Games initially as a boxed set for Gen Con, but later published as a finished product that year. It introduced the SIEGE engine game system, which is based upon the d20 system that has been modified to streamline the rules and enhance the story elements of the game.
Lone Wolf RPG by Mongoose Publishing. Join Kai and the lethal world of Magnamund.
Conan The RPG by Mongoose Publishing. What it says on the can, folks.
High Adventure Role Playing (HARP) is published by Iron Crown Enterprises. A revised edition of the fantasy game system.
Fireborn Gamemasters Handbook by Fantasy Flight Games. Play as a dragon during a mythic age of our Earth.
Conspiracy of Shadows by Bob Goat Press.  Think X-files / Millennium in medieval Eastern Europe.
Eldritch Ass Kicking by Key 20. Humorous ‘wizard stomping RPG’!
DragonMech by Sword & Sorcery. Build fantasy-based mechs and hammer them through a fantasy campaign.
Xcrawl by Pandahead Productions. Extreme sports in a dungeon crawl environment.
Arianrhod RPG by Fujimi Shobo / Game Field. MMORPG-esque manga game in an orthadox fantasy world.
Mongoose Publishing releases OGL Ancients (Greek / Egyptian RPG), OGL
Swashbuckling Adventures (7^th Sea) by Alderac. This is the d20 reboot of 7^th Sea.
Dark Millennium a game of alternate history, zombies in 11th century Earth.
Roma Imperious by HinterWelt Enterprises. An alternate Roman Empire with magic being discovered by Constatine. Play in the year 1461 after the Empire has taken the known world.

Hudson City: The Urban Abyss by Hero Games. Go vigilante and rid Hudson of its scum.

The Secret of Zir’An by Paragon Games. WWI pulp action adventure.
HERO 5 System by Hero Games. Update of the HERO system.
Inou Taskai is a game system where super-humans are based upon Japanese legends and cultural references. It is publsiehd by F.E.A.R.
Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game is released by Marvel Comics using a custom system.
The Authority is published by Guardians of Order. DC / Wildstorm imprint comic book game.
Godlike RPG is the “superhero roleplaying in a world on fire, 1936-1946” is published by Arc Dream Publishing and introduced the One-Roll Engine.
Dark Champions by Hero Games. This is the Champion game of the gritty streets, where spies, mercs, and counterterrorists run.
vs. Monsters Deluxe Edition by Ronin Arts. Gas punk meets modern urban legend, meets eldritch chaos, mixed by Tim Burton and the Brothers Grimm.
Blood Games by Flying Mice. A horror RPG where monsters are monsters and religion takes a prime role.
Kult a nightmare universe parallel to our own, heavily influenced by Gnosticism published by Paradox Entertainment.
Bloodshadows RPG by West End Games.
Dead Inside by Atomic Sock Monkey Press. Horror / fantasy about characters born without souls.
Heaven & Earth 3e by Abstract Nova. Think David Lynch’s take on the small town horror of Potter’s Lake.
One of the Living by Eden Studios. Part of the zombie All Flesh Must Be Eaten world.
Wyrd Is Bond by Key 20 Publishing. Street gangs, magic and folks looking to score.
Steampunk, OGL Wild West, and Classic Play (a series of RPG supplement books).
A|state by Contested Ground Studios. Find hope in the dark, gaslamp streets of The City where millions toil in a sepiatone world.
There is No Spoon by Steve Darlington. RPG in the Matrix films in this rules-light system.
BESM d20 Revised (Big Eyes Small Mouth) is published by Guardians of Order.
HARP High Adventure Role Playing by  ICE.
Prime Time Adventures by Dog-eared Designs. Create the TV show you always wanted to see!

Prose Descriptive Qualities System by Atomic Sock Monkey Press. A rules light system that has 3 levels of task resolution for any situation.

Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: The RPG by Atomic Sock Monkey Press. Based on the board game of the same name. Play archetypal roles.
Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game is published by Guardians of Order. Diceless. RPG.
Savage Worlds by Great White Games. Fast! Furious! Fun! Generic system!
The FATE role play system is produced by Evil Hat Productions, based upon the FUDGE game system.

From Steve Jackson Games!

GURPS 3: Dragons
GURPS 3: Temple of the Lost Gods
GURPS 3: The Rats Revenge
GURPS 3: Singapore Sling
GURPS 3: Strange Bedfellows
GURPS 3: A Very Nybbas Christmas
GURPS 3.5: Grendel
GURPS 4: Basic Set by Seve Jackson Games. This introduces the GURPS 4 rule set and a myriad of future books associated with it.
GURPS 4 Characters: In-depth character creation
GURPS 4 Campaigns: Rules on how to create GURPS campaigns for 4e.
GURPS 4 Deluxe Edition:  Hard bound and colored.
GURPS 4 Lite: Focused on character creation.
GURPS 4 Ultra-Lite: The free start-up PDF.
GURPS 4 Update: How to convert 3e into 4e.
GURPS 4 Magic: Expanding the core rules.
GURPS 4 Martial Arts: Expanding the core rules.
GURPS 4 Mass Combat: Expanding the core rules.
GURPS 4 Powers: Expanding the core rules.
GURPS 4 Thaumatology: Expanding the core rules.

MMO’s:

World of Warcraft MMO is released.

Online RPG games offer game altering choices: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines where you play a newly-created vampire seeking to find an artifact that could destroy all vampire bloodlines.