Roleplaying in the fantastical realm of Orb.,,
Walk among the shadows, strike unseen: the martial arts gamebook series The Way of the Tiger by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson becomes a pen-and-paper RPG! The Way of the Tiger RPG brings intense action in a world of strange fantasy, where ninja dwell in the darkness and sorcerers unleash powers beyond comprehension.
Match your skill and cunning against brutal villains, strange beasts, and the followers of dark gods. Become a ninja of the Way of the Tiger and seek vengeance on Yaemon, Grandmaster of Flame.
Become a samurai of Eo or errant knight of Rocheval and wage war on the scorpion sons of Nil, Mouth of the Void. Become an elven enchantress of Tanajla and use mind-bending powers against the Order of the Scarlet Mantis. Become a templar of Time or scholar of Fate and manipulate your own destiny!
From the Sea of Snows to the Desert of the Forsaken. From the Island of Tranquil Dreams to the Mountains of Undying Solitude. The realm of Orb awaits!As that overview makes clear, there's a lot more to Orb than Japanese-style magic and characters. The world was originally created by Mark Smith for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign he ran when he was at school, and to my eternal regret I never got to play in it. Other Brighton College alumni like Jamie Thomson and Mike Polling ("The Key of Tirandor") describe Orb as one of the great roleplaying experiences of their lives, and many of the characters in the gamebooks are based on their adventures.
This is a print RPG, incidentally, not an app, so the technophobes out there can breathe a sigh of contentment. What could be any more perfect? How about the return of the Way of the Tiger gamebooks themselves? And in both digital and print form, would you believe? I'm not kidding... More news very soon.
Print? Print! Please.
ReplyDeleteYES! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is officially my favourite blog post ever!
ReplyDeleteExcellent news. :-)
ReplyDelete:) Will look forward to it then!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Joe
Hello Dave, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, even though I never miss a post. Between the return of the Way of the Tiger series and Fabled Lands being released in many forms,(Print,Web,Android,and Apple devices) this is looking to be great news for your company and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. I have a question: What are the similarities and differences between this and the Fabled Lands RPG?
ReplyDeleteI don't really anticipate any similarities, Mike, as Megara have a different design team from Greywood Publishing, who did the FL RPG.
DeleteI ought to clarify that the Orb roleplaying game is not affiliated with Fabled Lands LLP. We own the rights to the WOTT gamebooks, but Orb is Mark Smith's property and the RPG is a deal he has done directly with Megara.
Great news - and espcially for the prospects on the gamebooks! Dare I hope... lucky number 7 at long last?
ReplyDeleteReprint of Way of the Tiger Gamebooks? That would be absolutely amazing! I'll be looking forward to more news! and how are things with reprint of the fabled lands series? I know there are a lot of fands who would love the initial series to finish coming back into reprint (5 and 6 are really good ones). And of course who wouldn't want book 7 to be written?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad these old favorites are coming back into the world.
ReplyDeleteTo answer everybody at once, I can say that there will be an initial launch of six gamebooks (in print and digital form) next spring. These will be reissues of our old books, except for one all-new title by Jamie. I can't say which 5 books will be accompanying that one, but if this venture is successful you can expect to see *all* our old gamebooks in print within a couple of years, plus new titles. But I'm being careful to make no promises until we see how these first six go!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds absolutely amazing! I'll be sure to buy those Way of the Tiger print version; especially the new one by Jamie! Seeing all your old gamebooks back in print, and especially new titles, would be the best thing that's happened to the literary and gaming world in years!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait :)
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Quite apart from anything else, the world of Orb had the best deity names of any fantasy gaming setting, ever! I used to steal them for every single D&D campaign I ran. I particularly liked Vasch-Ro, the Wargod, He Who Sows For The Reaper :)
ReplyDelete