Dilbert and WOTC Form Unholy Alliance

Wizards of the Coast has annouced a deal with United Media to develop a non-collectible card game based on the popular Dilbert comic strip. Entitled Corporate Shuffle, the 60-card game will feature the business blunders and inane workplace maneuverings of the famous cartoon. Players compete against each other as they maneuver back and forth across the corporate culture. The winner assumes the title of "Big Boss," and presumably will be granted the same goofy haircut that Dilbert's inept employer sports. Corporate Shuffle has been modeled on WotC icon Richard Garfield's Great Dalmuti card game.

"We're thrilled to develop a quick-paced game based on this popular character," said WotC president and CEO Peter Adkinson. "Corporate Shuffle combines Richard Garfield's award winning game design with Scott Adams' satirical look at corporate culture." Corporate Shuffle will be available in May and retail for a suggested $11.95.

FPG puts RPG Branch on Hiatus

FPG Games, producers of such game lines as Guardians and Dark Age, will close its role-playing division this March. FPG net representative Dave Gentzler made the announcement on Feb. 20. "I was always pleased at just what a great group of players we had, and what a pleasure it was meeting them face to face," Gentzler commented. The company hopes that the shutdown will only be temporary, and that they'll be able to produce more RPGs sometime in the future.

Traveller Hits the Big Leagues

SweetPea Entertainment, producers of the upcoming comic-based film GEN13 has acquired all rights to the venerable Traveller RPG. In conjunction with Grand Design Entertainment, the company is currently developing both TV and film concepts set in the Traveller universe. Imperium Games, the current publisher of Traveller, was formed by SweetPea last year to relaunch the game. In addition, the company has owned the film rights to Dungeons and Dragons ™ for the past two and a half years.

What SweetPea plans to do with the title is a little nebulous. They have already partnered with comic writer Rob Liefield to create a Traveller comic book, but film and TV prospects seem dimmer. "Role-playing is a hugely popular literary category that Hollywood doesn't really understand," said SweetPea president Courtney Solomon. Escalating budgets and the high cost of bringing fantasy or science fiction to the screen also hurts Traveller's development into a viable series and/or feature film. The languishing status of a Dungeons and Dragons movie attests to this fact.

"The first draft [of the D&D film] was going to cost between $100 million and $130 million," said Soloman. "Now we have it down to about $65 or $70 million."

A small word of advice for the people at SweetPea: don't look to Kindred: The Embraced as the way to do RPGs properly.

WildStorms CCG Announces Expansion

WildStorm productions has announced the latest expansion set for its WildStorms CCG. Entitled Legends, the 150 card set will offer a new twist for players: optional solitare rules. "A common request from fans has been fopr solitare rules," said WildStorm VP Ted Adams. "We've incorporated that request into that set." Legends has been slated for a May release. No price has been set.

Battletech CCG expands with Counterstrike

Counterstrike, the first expansion of the BattleTech CCG, has been slated by Wizards of the Coast for an April release. The set will offer new 'Mechs, different mission and command cards, and new pilots and personalities from the BattleTech universe. The BattleTech CCG is currently second only to Magic in CCG sales, and the new expansion will doubtless strengthen WotC's hold on the market. Counterstrike will be sold in 15-card booster packs and retail for $2.95 a pack.

R. Talsorian to Produce Votoms: The RPG

Hot on the heels of its Bubblegum Crisis RPG, R. Talsorian has announced the production of another Anime-based role-playing game. AT VOTOMS, a sci-fi game involving man-sized powered fighting machines, will hit the shelves sometime in the summer of 1997. Central Park Media, the producers of the VOTOMS series, has granted official licensing to the game, which means it should be chock full of pictures, characters, and inside information.