psionics
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Exploring (the rest of) Eberron
By the time you read this, I'll be scampering about GenCon in Indianapolis, thick in the middle of four days of gaming and geekery. Don't weep for me, for I am already gone! One of my hopes for this weekend is to reconnect with pen-and-paper RPGs, a part of my gaming life that has almost withered into nothingness. That got me thinking about Eberron -- the D&D campaign in which DDO is set. You don't hear DDO players fussing about it so much any more (people either made their peace with it or moved on), but way back when, the Eberron setting was a fairly controversial choice for Turbine to make. After all, there are dozens upon dozens of campaign settings, including some (like Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance) that most people associate with the franchise. Eberron, on the other hand, was a relatively wet-behind-the-ears upstart with a quirky setting that can best be described as "Indiana Jones meets steampunk meets flashy, practical magic." Personally, I've grown to like the campaign, and I want to take a look at how the pen-and-paper version was constructed, how the Eberron setting shines in DDO, and how Turbine could be using it more.
Ask Cryptic explains how Star Trek Online will handle canon
The latest Ask Cryptic focusing on Star Trek Online addresses a number of questions sci-fi fans have about where the IP is heading in the MMO space. Not surprisingly, many of the questions asked of Cryptic deal with how well they'll adhere to Star Trek canon. The Cryptic Studios devs were asked about how they would handle the iconic story and characters of Star Trek, namely with voiceovers and cut scenes. The devs state that Star Trek Online avoids issues of tampering with Trekkie canon by setting the game in 2409, a good 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager. So while some of the locales familiar to Star Trek fans will be present in the game, players shouldn't expect to bump into any (or many) familiar faces.
Earthrise organizations revealed
Masthead Studios has released information about the factions that will populate the post-apocalyptic setting of Earthrise. These groups are referred to as 'organizations' rather than factions; players will work with them to gain access to 'design technology'. This acquired technology can be applied to items, 'creating unique, powerful, and highly sought-after creations.' The details released thus far on these four organizations in Earthrise suggest that the game will have high science/technomagic and psionics, as well as 'light' peacekeepers and 'dark' mercenaries. The organization descriptions also give some clues as to how they will relate to one another in the game's Enterra Island locale.
