Check Out BLASTER Volume 1; An Indie Designer Anthology
June 19, 2020 by brennon
A selection of the most well-known and well-regarded indie developers within the tabletop industry have got together for a new project called BLASTER. Volume 1 of this new anthology project is available right now featuring content for your games by the likes of Joseph McCullough, Ash Barker, Mike Hutchinson, Joey McGuire, Sean Sutter and Greg Horton.
BLASTER Volume 1 Magazine
Available through DriveThruRPG in both digital and physical formats, this first volume of BLASTER comes with a variety of new ways to play your favourite games. As someone who has had a flick through this myself, it's a pretty sterling read. Here is a breakdown of what you can expect within...
- Martian Racing Federation, a stand-alone game-mode for Gaslands by Mike Hutchinson. You’ve seen Earth's worst, now witness their overlords.
- Last Days: TIMELINES by Ash Barker, which takes the Zombie Apocalypse through time; beginning with the Old West.
- The Lotus Guilds of the Twilight Seat spring onto the scene in Relic Blade by Sean Sutter along with downloadable assets for these new Seekers.
- The Beastmasters, a whole new faction for THIS IS NOT A TEST by Joseph McGuire. With complete rules for these maniac pet-owners in the Wasteland.
- Rangers of the Watchtower, a complete mission supplement from Rangers of Shadowdeep by Joseph McCullough that reimagines the game with a fellowship.
- Closing thoughts from all five designers on this first volume and the state of wargaming.
As well as featuring lots of fascinating new rules content, BLASTER is actually just a really good read. The artwork and photography is spot on and everything is laid out nicely too. It sounds like a small thing, but making something like this fun and easy to read makes a massive difference.
BLASTER Volume 1 Magazine // Contents
Some of my favourite entries from Volume 1 including the Martian Racing Federation rules which build on Gaslands and the Rangers Of The Watchtower scenario for Rangers Of Shadowdeep. I would really love to give those a try myself!
If you're fascinated by what these designers have been tinkering with behind the scenes then this is a wonderful window into their thought process and of course the end result. I am very interested to see where they go next with this too and what other ideas they have rattling around inside their heads!
Have you given this a read?
"Some of my favourite entries from Volume 1 including the Martian Racing Federation rules which build on Gaslands..."
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Sounds good and may get people interested in games they never considered playing before.
For those that liked BLASTER, the people involved, The design crew (Joe, Joey, Sean, Mike and Ash) are joined by Greg Horton for a round-table on game design available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5uqcoKCzSg
This sounds like a lot of fun! I’d love more issues delving into other obscure games, and maybe some mainstream ones. (I was kind of hoping we’d get some backstory for that cyberpunk cowboy on the cover, because he looks like a cool character.)