Encounters: Bravest Warriors Blue This May

Catalyst Game Labs Comments Off

Apr 092015

Encounters: Bravest Warriors Blue

$12.99

The Space-Time Calliope is vast and dangerous, waiting for courageous heroes to save the day. You’re those heroes! Become the Bravest Warriors and battle your way through a myriad of encounters to heroic victory!

Encounters is a new dice and card game mechanic from Catalyst Game Labs where players try beating the cards individually, but with a good dollop of player interaction.

In the Blue Deck, you play this fast and fun dice and cards game as Chris, Wallow, Plum or Impossibear!

2-4 players

15-30 minute play time

Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission contest voting now open!

Catalyst Game Labs, Deck Building Games, Shadowrun Crossfire Comments Off

Jan 132015

From Catalyst

Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission contest voting now open!

By JHARDY | Published: JANUARY 9, 2015 | Edit

A few months ago we announced a contest for fans to design their own mission for Shadowrun: Crossfire. We received some intriguing submissions, and the time has come for fans to vote both on the Fan Favorite mission and on the Wildest Ride! Votes can be submitted at a forum thread posted for that purpose, or they can be e-mailed to randall@catalystgamelabs.com. So get voting, and good luck to all the designers!

Voting ends February 8th; get over thee and vote.

Create A Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission Contest

Card Games, Catalyst Game Labs, Deck Building Games Comments Off

Nov 042014

From the Desk of Randall Neil Bills

Shadowrun: Crossfire is in the wilds, being played and enjoyed by thousands of gamers. Not only has it had great critical acclaim, but it’s rapidly selling out of its first print run; we’re already lining up a second printing, and the first Mission Pack!

With all of that excitement in mind—alongside the wonderful campaign nature of the game in earned karma and stickers—we’re announcing a Create a Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission Contest.

I’m going to try and get a friend to join me on this – any other takers?

Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut now out!

Catalyst Game Labs, Shadowrun Comments Off

Sep 192014

Press release

Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut now out!

By JHARDY | Published: SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

It’s a fine day to play Shadowrun! But then, I always think that. Today’s an especially good day, though, because you can get the Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut. What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a standalone version of an expansion to Harebrained Schemes’ critically acclaimed Shadowrun Returnscomputer game that was even more critically acclaimed than the original. How critically acclaimed? Well, people said things like this:

You can read the full article at Catalys Game Labs.

Valiant RPG Rules Review

Catalyst Game Labs, Featured, RPG's, Valiant Comments Off

Sep 182014

The Full book is about 200 pages. Nearly two thirds of the book is about the Valiant universe, its characters and some adventures. That means the meat of the rules are contained in about fifty pages. This sets the stage for a rich setting, great roleplaying and light rules.

I’m a big fan of this book. The art alone makes it worth the purchase. You find great valiant art on nearly every page. If you’re new to the valiant universe, like me, You will find this book to be a tome of vast knowledge. It was way too easy for me to become immersed in the fluff – not something I normally do.

I have already reviewed the QSR, but if you haven’t read that here is what I think you should know. Valiant is a storytelling game. The players each take turns narrating a chapter. They must combine their efforts to play through the challenges while attempting to overcome the obstacles thrown at you from by the lead narrator (ln) – who is also playing a character.

As you might expect you will face challenges that will require you to pass a test or two along the way. In order to make such a check you roll a d12 plus the appropriate stat die vs d20 plus some modifiers. The higher number wins. Luck is the wild card and it always remains a static number. When the die roll plus the static number match luck it’s a crit!. The other cool part about this is that the stats are represented by dice.

Which brings us to character creation. It is a pretty fast and smooth process, I made my first character in 20 minutes and my second in about 15. Creation uses nine steps one of which is assigning power dice and picking powers. This system is fast and easy. It’s so easy I think Valiant could be a great gateway game for a college dorm.

I have played a few time now and I find that the system flows smoothly, with very few hiccups. I was really surprised at that the narration works. It seems that there is never a dull moment in this universe, largely because each narrator is trying to out do the other. With all that said, I’m concerned for theValiant RPG – it might just be too much fun.

You can find a copy at DriveThruRPG or visit Catalyst to learn more

Valiant RPG QSR Rules Review

SR Crossfire this August From Catalyst Game Labs

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Jul 282014

Shadowrun: Crossfire Case Pack Deal

$299.95 SRP

Shadowrun: Crossfire is a deck-building game in one of the most popular game settings of all time!

Crossing cyberpunk with fantasy and plunging players into a world dominated by ruthless megacorps, Crossfire gives players a chance to dive into the shadows to see if they can survive.

Shadowrun Crossfire: Base Game

$59.99 SRP

Shadowrun: Crossfire is a deck-building game set in one of the most popular game settings of all time. Crossing cyberpunk with fantasy and plunging players into a world dominated by ruthless megacorporations, Crossfire gives players the chance to dive into the world’s shadows and see if they can survive. Players’ imagination and ideas aren’t limited, so the characters they use in Shadowrun: Crossfire shouldn’t be limited either.

I had the chance to play this at Origins 2013, while they were still working out the kinks. In fact we even used proxies. I was very impressed in the earliest stages of development. I can’t wait to see what they have done.

Words with Randall Bills from Catalyst Game Labs Part 1-3

Battletech, Board Games, Card Games, Catalyst Game Labs, Featured, Origins 2014, Shadowrun, Shadowrun Crossfire, Sprawl Gangers, Valiant, Words With 1 Response »

Jul 162014

First I’m sorry this took so long, but I had a lot of unforeseen problems after Origins that prevented me from taking the time to break this down into three parts. For example flooding put our internet provider under water, that makes the whole social media thing pretty difficult. There were other weather problems but no access to the internet was the worst. But Randall and I did talk at Origins game Fair about nearly everything Catalyst related. Since Randall had so much to say it was necessary to break it into smaller segments.

Sprawl Gangers
Battletech and SR box sets
Valiant, The Duke, and Hostile Takeover

Part one is about the current trends with Sprawl Gangers. The Skirmish Game that takes place in the Shadowrun Universe. We do chat about Valiant briefly but we come back to it later.

Continue reading »

Valiant RPG QSR Rules Review

Catalyst Game Labs, Featured, RPG Book Reviews, RPG System Review, RPG's Comments Off

May 152014

Have you seen the new quick start rules for Valiant Universe RPG? I have. They made me reminisce on some of my early RPG days. In high school we role-played like it was our life. I can’t tell you how much D&D we played. We also played Marvel Super Heroes, Rifts, and even a little bit of DC mingled its way in. We had countless night where we would sneak out of our respective houses and meet up to play in a tent. Yes, I said a tent. Which didn’t do so well in the winter, but we managed to find a barn. There wasn’t any heat at first but we made it work.

I was and I still am very fond of the Marvel Super Heroes Game. It was the first RPG that expanded my vision of what RPG’s could encompass. The game also had a unique flair to it with karma and and power shifts. Valiant is going to be a game that does that same exact thing. Catalyst has introduced some very unique concepts that might just influence the future of story telling games. Two of these are the cue system and the introduction of a lead narrator, at least I have never seen it before.

The Cue system in a nutshell is this; character definition. On each character sheet there is a series of sentences that depict the characters personality. Some of these reflect the hidden identity of the character while others display attitude of the hero, and some exemplify the approach taken in combat. Basically, they are a guideline to influence the players decision making while attempting to stay in character.

Battletech Intro Box

Battletech, Catalyst Game Labs Comments Off

Mar 282014

From The Desk of Randall.

The BattleTech Anniversary Introductory Box Set thrusts you onto the battlefields of the 31st century.

There’s never been a better time to leap into the action with the best-yet-published Introductory Box Set for the seminal BattleTech game. While our online allotment of orders is sold out, you can order it from your local hobby stores RIGHT NOW!

Go grab the best value in gaming and start clashing across alien worlds in metal titans of action-packed gaming fun!

Strap yourself into the ultimate suit of armor: the BattleMech. Thirty feet tall and weighing up to a hundred tons, this humanoid engine of destruction is a walking arsenal with enough firepower to level a city block. The BattleTech game system takes you into the world of the 31st Century, where war has become a way of life. You are a MechWarrior. You are in command of the most powerful machine on the battlefield, and hold the fate of empires in your hand!

Words With Jason Hardy

Catalyst Game Labs, Con on the Cob 2013, Featured, Shadowrun Comments Off

Oct 252013

I had the opportunity to chat with Jason Hardy while at Con on the Cob. We talked about Shadowrun of course. We specifically hit on some of these; Evolution of game mechanics (light), An archetype book, Ares Corporation, Splintered State, Intro box set, Sprawl Gangers, and Crossfire.

You can check out everything you need on Shadowrun at Catalyst Game Labs.

Shadowrun seminar from Con on the Cob 2013

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From Catalyst

Shadowrun: Crossfire Mission contest voting now open!

From the Desk of Randall Neil Bills

Press release

Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut now out!

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