Privateer Press's Matt Wilson talks Warmachine: Tactics!

by Randy, Angie & Julian
@coffeeswiller
@growingupgamers


Hi, readers! We have an exciting treat for you today. Matt Wilson of Privateer Press agreed to give us an interview about Warmachine: Tactics, the computer version of their amazing tabletop miniatures game. The Growing Up Gamers crew have been big fans of Western Immoren, the setting for Warmachine, its sister game Hordes and the Iron Kingdoms roleplaying for about a decade. This is a world at war, a world of steampunk-inspired fantasy where nations go to battle with great machines of war called warjacks. Controlled and directed by powerful armored spellslingers called warcasters, these steam- and magic-powered robots are the game's namesake.

Matt Wilson, creative genius behind this world and founder of Privateer Press, is quite a guy. In addition to to being the game designer who brought us Warmachine, Matt is an accomplished artist whose work can be found both in Privateer Press products as well as in Magic: The Gathering; I highly recommend checking out his art site. Matt's company Privateer Press now makes tabletop miniature games (Warmachine, Hordes, and Monsterpocalypse), board games (Level 7, Grind, and the Bodgers line of games), hobby accessories (the Formula P3 line of paints, brushes, and hobby tools), and now is about to go electronic with Warmachine: Tactics.

A Warmachine computer game has been anticipated for a couple years, since the announcement of a partnership with Privateer Press and WhiteMoon Dreams. Two weeks ago, it was announced that Privateer Press would be going to Kickstarter to fund development of their game. We feel that this is a great move, as it allows fans to really get behind the game and have a more direct connections with the people producing it. The project launches July 10th, and we had the opportunity to ask Matt a few questions. Check out what he had to say!

Metal on Metal, by Matt Wilson

Growing Up Gamers:  I am so excited to play Warmachine on my computer! What can I as a player expect from this? Can I build my own warcaster? 

Matt Wilson: WARMACHINE: Tactics has both a multiplayer mode and a single player campaign mode. The multiplayer mode has a lot of similarity to the tabletop version, but as this is a different medium, we're taking advantage of what it can do to enhance the experience, while at the same time, eschewing that which works better on the tabletop. In the single player campaign, while you're not building your own warcaster, you are in control of the character's progression from level to level. Each campaign focuses on a single central character, the first of which we'll be revealing in our Kickstarter video.

GUG:  Different characters and campaigns? Awesome! How close will this adhere to the rules for the tabletop game? Have there been any challenges in translating those rules to a computer game? And is there anything your team is bringing to the digital game that couldn't be done on the tabletop?

Matt: The experience will feel familiar, but it's not the same game. Conceptually, it's the same world and environment and we're adhering the the same basic mechanics on a fundamental level. But the math behind the scenes works differently. There aren't any cannon fodder soldiers that go down when they take one point of damage as sustainability is much more crucial in a game of this scale, lest balance be tipped too quickly in a match. And definitely, the medium gives us the opportunity to do things like interactive terrain, that is less viable on the tabletop. Of course, the very exciting part of this game is getting to experience it all happening in front of your eyes. We've taken a very cinematic approach to the action. Seeing Warjack power attacks happening as real-time events in the middle of a combat round is just awesome!

GUG: Are there plans to port to any consoles if the Kickstarter is successful?

Matt: Our focus is entirely on PC and Mac, but we are developing with other platforms in mind should the opportunity arise. The team at WhiteMoon Dreams has designed a UI that can work on virtually any platform with any control set. In other words, it works just as well with a touch screen as it does with keyboard and mouse, as it does with a standard console controller. So, if opportunities do come up in the future, we won't have to reinvent the game from scratch.

GUG: The GUG crew is no stranger to Kickstarter; we (as Escapade Games) used that platform to fund our upcoming game, Storm Hollow: A Storyboard Game. Crowdfunding allows a connection between game creators and fans that traditional publishing just did not do, and we love the way it has allowed game designers to bring their products to market. The press release made it pretty clear why you chose to crowdfund Warmachine: Tactics. I would follow up and ask, why now?

Matt: It took a long time for me to believe that Kickstarter was the right route for us to take in order to make this game. While Kickstarter has quickly proven to be a powerful platform for fundraising, it's still a new platform, and one that is little understood. We needed time to study it, to determine if the risks inherent in crowd sourcing are worth accepting given what we are trying to achieve, and to understand the actual business necessary to manage a successful Kickstarter project. The majority of Kickstarters fail. Of those that fund, many individuals and businesses alike find that they have not properly planned how to manage the capital that they've raised. In conducting a Kickstarter, you're making a huge promise to the people who back your project, and more than anything, we wanted to be confident that we could deliver on that promise. So, before our project will even launch, we have put a great deal of time, effort and money  into developing enough of WARMACHINE: Tactics so that our potential backers can have the same confidence we do.

The myth about Kickstarter is that it's a place to fund ideas. We're not Kickstarting an idea, we're Kickstarting a project that is in motion, that has proof-of-concept and a business plan, and that is being executed by an experienced team with overhead and expenses that must be maintained during this startup period prior to even launching the project on Kickstarter. Getting to this point, responsibly, took time, and I wouldn't have wanted to launch it a moment sooner.

GUG: Why does Privateer Press need Kickstarter? There has been a lot of talk among fans of crowdfunding as to who belongs there, whether or not bigger players should be there, even suggesting that they might be edging out independent studios. What can you say about that and the kind of commitment it takes to delve into making a video game, and whether it would have been possible to do otherwise?

Matt: For Privateer and WhiteMoon Dreams, the two practical routes to getting a WARMACHINE video game made are the traditional publisher/financier method, which entails lengthy review processes and a great deal of expense on the part of the developer in an effort to try and align the product they are trying to make with the right financing entity — which in the current video game industry environment I would liken to trying to force a planetary alignment with your own bare hands — or, crowd sourcing. For a company the size of Privateer Press, creating a brand new video game isn't analogous to creating new board game product, it's literally launching an all new business. In order to make this happen on a timeline that is within the foreseeable future and not have to nut away funds for the next ten or fifteen years, saving up enough to launch such a venture, crowd sourcing has become a viable and attractive opportunity.

Kickstarter itself has released its own stand on what's appropriate for Kickstarter. The idea that 'bigger players' have a negative impact on other projects is a theory with no scientific support. Instead, Kickstarter has proven the positive impact 'big players' (or let's say popular companies and personalities) have had on the community as a whole because all the data they have shows how many first-time backers those big projects brought in, and how many of those backers went on to back other projects on Kickstarter. Whether or not Privateer is a 'big player' is somewhat in the eye of beholder. The fact is, we're totally independent, as is WhiteMoon Dreams. But Privateer does have its own community of players and I believe that many of them are going to be first-time backers on Kickstarter with this project, which means we'll also be helping the Kickstarter community grow by conducting our project there and exposing new people to the platform and all the projects going on there.

The best thing about Kickstarter is that its patrons are the ones that ultimately decide what belongs there or not. Anyone arguing that a particular project shouldn't have been on Kickstarter because of its owner's pre-established popularity, is arguing against the very spirit of Kickstarter, which is that the 'crowd' has been given the power to decide. Beyond the terms of use that Kickstarter has defined, it's not for any individual to say what should or shouldn't be put on Kickstarter — the community of Kickstarter users will decide that as a whole, and currently, the community as a whole does not appear to agree with the negative sentiment.

GUG: We are big fans of Magic: The Gathering, a game you are certainly familiar with, given your illustrations can be found on a number of cards for that game. A few years back, Wizards of the Coast released Duels of the Planeswalkers, a great videogame version of Magic available for consoles. Aside from being fun, that game serves as an excellent tutorial for learning to play Magic and has been phenomenal for bringing new players to that game. Do you anticipate Warmachine: Tactics having a similar role?

Matt: WARMACHINE: Tactics will be a great way to introduce people to the ideas of the game and the setting, and we certainly hope it will introduce more people to the hobby of tabletop gaming, but it doesn't function as a tutorial. In the Magic example, you're actually playing the same cards with the same rules in the video game that you are in the physical game. But WARMACHINE: Tactics is somewhat different in scope, and the mechanics that must be understood on the tabletop are largely invisible in the video game experience, so you're not likely to come away from WARMACHINE: Tactics fluent in all of the rules necessary to know in order to play the tabletop game But you will understand the fundamental strategies and the nuance of how different elements in your squad interact and support each other. I do think being good in one would give you some advantage in the other.

GUG: Since tabletop Warmachine is not a solo game, we were wondering about the depth of the campaign mode versus multiplayer mode. Do you expect most players to spend more time playing in multiplayer mode, with the campaign  being sort of a tutorial? Additionally, will there be an AI for solo play outside of campaign mode?

Matt: The single player game is not a tutorial, but it will be a great way to learn the depth and strategy of the game because it does structure your learning experience through the course of the campaign. But the single player campaign is where we get to tell our story, and that's something that both Privateer and WhiteMoon Dreams share — a love of great stories. So making sure we had an amazing campaign experience has always been a requirement of the project. Whether or not more people will play mulitplayer than the campaign, or vice versa, I can't predict. But the multiplayer environment is going to be something that is constantly expanding, so I suspect that always-fresh experience will keep people engaged in multi-player quite a bit. We're not just doing one campaign, though — it's a big world with a lot of characters, so the single player experience will also be something that is constantly fresh. And we are building an arena where you can test your squad builds against an AI, for sure.

GUG: Sounds great! Will we see our favorite Warmachine warcasters in campaign mode? 

Matt: There are dozens of warcasters in the setting, so whether or not you see your favorite featured immediately remains to be seen! But the ultimate goal is to realize as much of the setting as possible in this game. And the better we do with our Kickstarter campaign, the more we'll be able to get in there.

GUG:  Many of the fans of Warmachine are miniature hobbyists (myself included!) and would say that some of the fun of the game is painting models to bring to the table. Will there be a nod to the creative types, perhaps the option to "paint" warjacks and units with customized colors, or choose alternate color schemes?

Matt: All I can say right now is that we're hobbyists, too, so this isn't something we have overlooked. Okay, I'll also say, "Stretch Goal".

GUG: Thanks for that tidbit! Where in the Warmachine timeline does this take place, or is it outside that timeline? Prime starts in 604 A.R., and Colossals takes us to 608 A.R. 

Matt: The campaign is going to feature characters that are new to WARMACHINE, some of them introduced in next year's expansion book, Vengeance. As such, the timeline is concurrent with the timeline in the story found in the game books.

GUG: In terms of the collaboration and division of labor between WhiteMoon Dreams and Privateer Press, how involved has Privateer been in the development, and what level of freedom has been afforded to WhiteMoon Dreams to make their mark on Warmachine: Tactics? What has been done to ensure the game feels like Western Immoren, the world of Warmachine?

Matt: The level of collaboration between Privateer and WhiteMoon Dreams is huge and will have a huge effect on the outcome of the game. I'm personally part of the core gameplay design team. I'm also storyboarding character animations and cinematics and I'm leading the writing on the campaign story. In doing all of that, I'm also drawing on the resources at Privateer, like Jason Soles and DC in development, and Doug Seacat, our lead writer, who can assist with making sure the story and game are as faithful to the tabletop game as possible. But there's no real give-and-take here, like one might expect, because WhiteMoon Dreams is 100% invested in making a game that looks and feels as true to WARMACHINE as it can. We're so totally aligned in our goals, and I spend so much time with both companies now, it often feels to me like one giant organization. Even moreso as we've been developing these new characters for both the tabletop game and video game. We've got rules being developed at Privateer that are getting interpreted into the video game at WhiteMoon Dreams, and we've got artwork being created at WhiteMoon Dreams that will appear in our books and that our sculptors are using to create miniatures for the tabletop. It's an incredible level of synergy to see happening between two distinct companies and the end result is that we're going to bring WARMACHINE to life in video game form. It's one of the most exciting things I've ever been a part of.

--

I hope that you are all as excited about Warmachine: Tactics as we are! We will link to the Kickstarter once it goes live. In addition, Matt has agreed to do a follow-up interview at that time. I'm sure we'll have loads more questions once we see what the backer tiers and stretch goals are! Do you guys have any questions for Matt? Leave them below! Here's the teaser trailer:





Images courtesy of Privateer Press

2 Ways to Play: The Iron Kingdoms RPG Then & Now... and a Giveaway!

2 days left of on our game giveaway to support the Story Realms Kickstarter.  Today, we will be exploring a game that the entire Growing Up Gamers crew have played and loved: Iron Kingdoms.  This dark fantasy role-playing game depicts a world ravaged by endless battle and devastating machines of war.  It was one of our favorite games to play with D20 System and now a new version is out that much more resembles the mechanics of the Warmachine system.  No one here is more qualified to talk about Iron Kingdoms than Randy, who ran the games we played and has spent countless hours reading about the Iron Kingdoms and painting many miniatures of the games heroes and villains.

By Randy


When I first saw the Monsternomicon, Volume One on the shelf at the local game store, I knew I had to have that book. It was 2002, when Dungeons & Dragons third edition was still fresh and new. I cracked open the book and had my first glimpse of a neat, new world... one that took a step back from the standard fantasy tropes, threw in an industrial revolution that was half steam powered, and half fueled by arcane magic. Welcome to the Iron Kingdoms.


The narrative of the settings is that it is a world at war in many ways. There is the struggle between the nations of the world, as some seek to expand and others try to protect their borders, and their allies. There is a struggle between the forces of progress, and those who would stamp out the smoke-belching factories. Religious zealots, too. These conflicts offers ample plot hooks for all manner of stories you might want to tell and participate in.

The D20 version of the Iron Kingdoms was introduced in a series of modules called The Witchfire Trilogy. The story introduced us to the complex antagonist Alexia Ciannor, and the unholy blade she came to possess, the Witchfire. The Monsternomicon that I mentioned before followed, then a short volume called Lock & Load. After that, it was a long wait for the Iron Kingdoms Character Guide and the World Guide, but the wait was well worth it. Those books are, in my opinion, some of the most well-written RPG books ever to grace my shelves. One of the most memorable campaigns I ever ran was set there. It is really a pity that the publisher, Privateer Press, was far more focused on its wargames set in the same world, although to be fair, the books supporting those offered great source material.

A month ago, my wonderful wife brought me a copy of the new Iron Kingdoms Core Rules home from GenCon. I have been waiting for quite a while on this one, and it is a beautiful book. Full color, loads of art... and a new system. The system is based on the rules of the wargames Warmachine and Hordes, and is even compatible somewhat with them. It marries the character advancement options of previous RPGs with the "wargamey" rules of a tabletop miniatures game. And the execution is good.

I admit to being very sceptical the first time I heard about it. I honestly love miniatures, and have a great time painting them. I use them in other roleplaying games, too, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to be nudged toward being a Warmachine player. I recently just played a battle scene pitting units from Warmachine against characters built from the Core Rules, and I had a great time. It was indeed very much like a wargame, and it certainly shone. We played a combat that would have been insanely complex in the D20 system in a pretty short amount of time; that's a plus. I still have yet to try a more traditional RPG adventure, though I suspect the system's relative simplicity will allow that to run smoothly, too.

So... which is best? Time will tell. The D20 system is very familiar to most roleplayers and lots of sources exist to supplement player options. The new system, with its compatibility with Warmachine/Hordes, allows you to play epic battles in less than half the time of a comparable on in D20. Right now, I like them both. I have already played one combat scene with the new system and was quite impressed. Happy gaming!

...And the giveaway continues!  

Today we are showing off 2 more Game Salute games you can spend that prize money on.  Today we give you 2 games with very unique themes.  Also, we hit 600 backers today!  We will definitely be adding some games to the prize mix.  Keep spreading the word and check back in tomorrow to learn about what loot is going to get added in these final days of the giveaway.

Impact City Roller Derby 

Seriously, how many games have you heard about that are based on the Roller Derby?  In this fast paced board game you try to get Jammer to pass more opposing players than your opponent's Jammer.  You must use strategic movement to pass or block your opponent.  Dice rolls and special cards are used to execute different offensive or defensive plays straight from the flat track derby race.  You can even get dirty and play foul cards which allow you to risk getting caught by the ref as you cheat your way to the win.

Everything Is Dolphins

Speaking of unique, this is a pen and paper role-playing game entirely about dolphins set in a world where there are no humans.  It's also an art book.  The art is bizarre and beautiful.  It comes from a variety of high and low and elsewhere artists.  The game play hovers somewhere between side scroller video game (though it is not a video game), talking animal fairy tale, and triptastic fun.  The art is bizarre and beautiful. 

Playing with Steam!

by Randy
@coffeeswiller

Fine, I'll admit it. I'm a closet steampunk. Which is -not- to say that I have closet full of spiffy custom or DIY quasi-period threads, have a computer with a wicked lacquered wood and brass or go to conventions and speak in my best imitation old-school Queen's English  (though I wish I did!). What I mean to say is that I have a fondness for the aesthetic, read steampunk fiction and lurk in steampunk forums. There's some great creativity going on there, and it's worth taking a look at. So, what is it, anyway?

Steampunk is usually represented as Victorian futurism... that is to say, mostly contemporary people trying to imagine a future that Victorian-era people might have foreseen. Clear as mud? Okay, okay... think of heroes in top hats and/or corsets riding dirigibles, fighting mad scientists with death rays. Or in steam powered exoskeletons. Not all steampunk is necessarily Victorian-based... a lot can take place in a fantasy setting, with the primary steampunkiness coming in technology having the flavor of that era but generations ahead in function and complexity. I'm including a sample reading list at the end for those of you interested in looking at the literary genre.

Off the page, you'll see steampunk enthusiasts at conventions, making really cool stuff and/or online in various forums devoted to the subject. Without a doubt, steampunks are the best-dressed geeks around (and I say geek affectionately, as I consider myself one!). It's hard to find a group of people so obsessed about their wardrobe... or their cool toys! A browse through the interwebs will reveal to you a very active bunch of people making amazing case modifications to computers, creating amazing clothing, action figures and mock weaponry. And T-shirts, presumably for when they're not wearing corsets or waistcoats. But, all that aside... what about gaming?

Quite a few games recently have incorporated steampunk into their theme over the last few years, to varying degrees. I am not going to try to go over all of these; this is not a comprehensive overview. But the ones I'm including here are games that have caught my eye and/or crossed my game table. So here they are... a delightful smattering of ludological diversions that, perchance, you may ask friends to indulge in should they come a-calling!

The Games

Girl Genius: The Works: This is a card game based on the Hugo Award-winning webcomic and graphic novel series by Phil & Kaja Foglio. I must say that I follow the webcomic faithfully, and if you haven't read it, I recommend starting from the beginning. The game has you lay out cards in a gear-like pattern. On your turn, you rotate a card and check to see if any of the symbols match surrounding cards; if it does, you remove the card ("pop" the card) and perform the listed action, for good or ill. Then you add it to your score pile and replace it with a card from your hand. This continues until you hit 100 points. As a game, it's decent. What I like best is the Foglio art of characters from the Girl Genius storyline.

Red November: The only truly cooperative game on the list, Red November casts the players as the drunken gnomish crew of a submarine that is both falling apart and being pursued by a kraken. I had a good time playing it. What I think is really innovative about the game is how it tracks time. The board is framed with a time counter. The person whose token is farthest back on the time track takes the next turn. You have discretion in how much time you want to spend trying to repair something (or another task); the more time you spend, the higher likelihood you'll be successful. It's great to have as a consideration, and an excellent way to ramp up the tension. Overall, not the best of the cooperative games out there, but very good, very funny and very steampunk.

Around the World in 80 Days: Based on Jules Verne's classic and a Spiel des Jahres nominee, Around the World in 80 Days isn't necessarily the strongest steampunk-themed game, but I feel it belongs here. It's a race against time, and against other players. You collect various types of travel cards and spend them to advance to the next location. It's pretty simple, and it's pretty accessible for non-gamers.



Aether Captains: I've heard positive things about this game but have not yet tried it. It's a solitaire dice game where you are the pilot of a war zeppelin fighting air pirates.  I primarily included it because... it's hard to get more steampunk than war zeppelins. Enough said.

Ascension: We reviewed this earlier, but I wanted to include this as a good example of a fantasy setting that incorporates steampunk. The Mechana faction in this game are all about the clockwork and anachronistic technology. Cards like the Watchmaker's Altar, Rocket Courier X-99 and Reactor Monk are examples. A solid and fast-playing game in the deckbuilding genre, Ascension is a good addition to any game shelf.

011: This is one that caught my eye for it's excellent art. The only game that has not yet been released, it is based on a novel and the game itself is a collaboration between game designers and a symphonic metal band called Therion. The BoardGameGeek entry has some card images and I recommend checking them out. They went all out with the steampunk theme, and photography figures heavily into the graphic design. Based on the description, it appears to be "competitive cooperative"- meaning that everyone must work together, but in the end one will win. Castle Panic has a similar mechanic. So... that's all I know about the game. But it's one that I'm very interested in trying.

Etherscope: Etherscope is the first roleplaying game on the list. Also a game I haven't played, but I've browsed the books and am fascinated. Based on the d20 Open Game License (OGL), it combines elements of steampunk and cyberpunk. From my readings, it seems to combine the best elements of Shadowrun with the standard tropes of steampunk. I keep meaning to pick up used copies of the core books, but have never got around to it.

Lady Blackbird: This is an indie RPG module with a light rules system that looks a lot like The Burning Wheel (I think it is some sort of BW Lite, but I could be wrong). The module seems very flavorful, and has very interesting pregenerated characters. It's a free download, so try it out! This was recommended for inclusion by Joseph Giddings. Thanks, Joseph!

Airship Pirates: This is a new RPG that I'm looking forward to trying out. The system it uses is from the Victoriana 2nd Edition (another steampunk RPG I missed!). I know very little of this other than that it is based off the songs of Abney Park. The art that I've seen for this is pretty amazing and I can't wait to locate a copy.

Iron Kingdoms: Iron Kingdoms (IK) is actually a setting that spans multiple games by Privateer Press. In my opinion, this setting is one of the best out there. It combines sword-and-sorcery fantasy with steampunk... they call it "full metal fantasy". It's a world where where is fought by steam-powered constructs (warjacks) alongside kinights and riflemen. Here are the games this encompasses:

-Iron Kingdoms RPG: The longest-running game I was dungeon master for was set in the Iron Kingdoms. In addition to having some of the best-written setting material, one of the things I like about it was that it did a great job of incorporating mechanical magic (mechanica) into the setting. Though mechanica items were significantly cheaper than standard magical ones that did the same effect, they were powered by batteries. Well, accumulators... which are magical batteries. New classes for the d20 system included Gun Mages (as awesome as they sound!), Arcane Mechaniks, Bodgers (sort of a junker, sort of roguish) and Fell Callers (a race-specific battle bard). And, later on, warcasters. warcasters are the rock stars of the Iron Kingdoms... mages (mostly) in steam-powered armor leading warjacks and others into battle. An amazing setting, and worth a look.

-Warmachine: Warmachine (and its sister game, Hordes) is a miniature skirmish game. It pits battlegroups led by warcasters (warlocks for Hordes) against each other. Five factions struggle for control of the Iron Kingdoms. One of the most popular mini games around. I personally own and have painted loads of these minis for my roleplaying game, but do not actually play it. I do, however, own most of the books, and mine these for roleplaying material.

-Grind: Grind is a game based on the Warmachine universe where teams of Warjacks play an arena combat game, trying to score goals with a huge spiked ball. I own it and keep meaning to play it. Mostly, though, I just got it because the plastic warjack minis are the same scale as Warmachine and it's a cheap way to get new warjacks (Cygnar and Khador factions).

-Infernal Contraption: Privateer Press a few years back decided to release a line of games called Bodgers. They all feature gobber (goblin) bodgers and their shenanigans. This one is a race to complete crazy machines by raiding junk piles and connecting them to each other and to appropriate power sources. I wanted to like this one, but beyond theme (and great art!), it's not spectacular.

Hopefully you've found something you'll want to try in that list. I personally find the steampunk genre immensely fascinating, and I'm all about combining that with my favorite hobby! If you want to get into steampunk, or know more about it, here's a reading list and some resources:

Fiction:
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
Dreadnought, Cherie Priest
The Peshawar Lancers, S. M. Sterling
Leviathan, Scott Westerfield
The Horns of Ruin, Tim Akers
Heart of Veridon, Tim Akers
The Difference Engine, William Gibson
The Alchemy of Stone, Ekaterina Sedia
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville

Nonfiction:
The Steampunk Bible, Jeff VanderMeer, S. J. Chambers
1,000 Steampunk Creations, Grymm, Barbe Saint John

Online Communities:
The Steampunk Empire (I'm coffeeswiller)
The Clockworker's Guild
Brass Goggles (also coffeeswiller there)

I hope you enjoyed this! Do you have any experience with the genre, or have any games, books or anything else to share about it? Leave us a comment!

My favorite campaign setting: Iron Kingdoms!

My favorite roleplaying setting is the Iron Kingdoms (IK) campaign setting by Privateer Press. Originally a series of adventures released in the early days of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, later releases expanded it to a full-fledged setting that really pushed the limits of the d20 System (for those unfamiliar, this is the system that D&D uses). What makes the IK great? Let me tell you.

      

The Iron Kingdoms is set in the land of Western Immoren, a land where nations war upon one another with swords, guns, magic and warjacks. What is a warjack, you might ask? It's a magical steam-powered robot. That takes orders from a wizard. In power armor. Seriously... digest that. The IK is a world that isn't quite steampunk (it's too fantasy for that), but melds the elements of an industrial society with a world evolved from the medieval fantasy default of standard D&D.

One aspect of the flavor I love is Mechanika. Mechanika is the fusion of magic and technology, and yields some interesting results. What that means for the adventuring heroes is that most over their magic items will be battery-powered... yes, you heard correctly. You're going to need to recharge accumulator (magical "batteries") to make your magic sword work. Of course, standard magic items exist; they're just rarer, and making them can attract unwanted attention from otherworldly beings.

I ran a campaign set in this world for about 2-3 years, and I loved it. The setting is also shared with a couple miniatures combat games (Warmachine and Hordes), so there is a lot of supplemental material to draw on as sources for conflicts in the world. I used these to create the feeling that while the PCs were definitely heroes, the world was much larger than them and that wars were raging around them. Good times. I recommend taking a look at this world. Good starting points are the Privateer Press site for the Iron Kingdoms at http://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms or by picking up the recently released PDF of the hard-to-find Iron Kingdoms Character Guide from http://paizo.com/. Enjoy!

Want to hear about someone else's favorite setting? Why not check out Cool Factor 5, our friend's excellent gaming blog.