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 12 RPG Gift Ideas of 2009 |
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Twelve Days of Roleplaying By Gerald Cameron, Dennis Hancock, Demian Katz, Matthew Pook, Allan Sugarbaker, and Mike Sugarbaker
(That's right, people, that price is in the Canadian moneys.) For fans of
roleplaying systems that lay back from the face-stabby antagonism and focus
on providing atmosphere, but remain completely setting-agnostic, there was no
more salient statement this year than Ribbon Drive. Joe McDonald's game takes
a ready-made narrative structure – the road trip – and fleshes it out by
running character and situation generation through free-associating on that
road trip staple, the mix CD. The game comes packaged as a beautiful booklet
designed by Kevin Allen Jr. (Sweet Agatha), tucked into a DVD case that
also houses a custom mix CD to get you started (featuring The Darkest of the
Hillside Thickets, plus more than one undercover indie-gaming luminary with a
guitar).
Based on the popular graphic novels of the same name, also published by
Archaia Press, the Mouse Guard RPG is a redevelopment of the Burning Wheel
system. This incarnation has been streamlined enough that
first-time roleplayers and RPG veterans alike will feel at home, and it
is within the capabilities of bright kids to play. The characters are
sentient, bipedal (but not full-on "furry") mice who live in their own
small society that is loosely inspired by Anglo-Saxon England. As part
of the Mouse Guard, the PCs protect their fellow mice from predators,
the elements, sentient weasels that would enslave them all, and even from
each other. Most of all, Mouse Guard is a game of duty, teamwork and
service to your community, even when it may not want your help.
Fantasy Flight sought advice from key Games Workshop luminaries in order
to create this new take on the classic system. This boxed set provides four races
and 30 careers for a range of character choices; four rulebooks to
introduce players to the system and the Old World; and the twin hearts
of WFRP 3e's mechanics, over 300 cards and 30 custom dice.
Full-color cards list every skill and ability, as well as numerous
special actions, summarizing the ways to max-out those all-important
dice rolls. Various amounts and types of dice are rolled for actions,
depending on the choices each character makes, and the GM must then
interpret the number and types of symbols that result. Even the
adventurer group itself gets a Party Sheet, which confers bonuses or
penalties and allows teamwork actions to be visually represented. The
new system of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Third Edition, a system
to be gamed within the game, evokes some of the card-influenced feel of
games like TORG, and this level of player involvement could be
quite appealing to the right gamer, whether roleplayer, card gamer, or
wargamer.
At last Call of Cthulhu has the campaign it deserves for the modern day,
and the Mythos is hardly involved at all! Instead, Kevin Ross gives us a
trio of well researched and very filmic (not cinematic) ghost stories,
including a haunted house, a road trip gone wrong deep in the desert,
and a J-Horror style tale set under torrential rainfall in the midst of
an encroaching flood. Strongly grounded in the mythology of female
spirit trios (such as the Fates, the Gorgons, or even the three witches
from Macbeth) and the dark aspects that embody femininity's darker side,
Our Ladies of Sorrow is beautifully detailed, enabling a Keeper to run
an incredibly creepy experience.
Little black book Traveller and FATE 3.0/Spirit of the
Century have had a love child (and Burning Wheel is the
godfather), and the result is Diaspora, a game that presents
hard, interstellar science fiction in the FATE system. Although beloved
Aspects and skill pyramids are still present, there is plenty of
innovation as well. Highlights include a streamlined stunt system,
setting creation and character creation that are group activities, and
distinct tactical sub-games for personal combat, small unit tactics,
starship battles and social conflicts. Diaspora gives gamers
gritty, old school science fiction in a shiny, sleek, new school
wrapping.
After releasing a whole slew of modules and source material for Dark
Heresy, Fantasy Flight Games has finally released the long
anticipated Rogue Trader. No longer do the bonds of gravity or
the whims of their Inquisitors bind characters – now they can have a
controlling interest in an ancient trading vessel. Armed with a ship of
their own, the players have more options to root out heresy, claim vast
riches, or fight it out with manipulative xenos in the depths of the
cold black void. Rogue Trader includes new weapons, equipment,
skills, feats, and rules for designing your own vessel. The best part?
'Tis completely compatible with Dark Heresy. Grab your trusty
bolt pistol, strap on your power sword, and get to the bridge. Your crew
is awaiting your orders and the universe waits to be plundered.
Science fiction comes hard in Eclipse Phase, a near future RPG in
which technology ran rampant and tipped humanity over the Fall into a
transhuman existence. Having survived ecocatastrophes on Earth, mankind
faced nuclear strikes, biowarfare, nanoswarms, and the mass
upload of millions, before the uplifted A.I.s responsible finally fled the Solar
System leaving behind Pandora Gates, wormholes that connect humanity to
the rest of the galaxy. The survivors live off Earth now, having
achieved immortality through the digitalization of the mind and the
ability to resleeve themselves from one body to the next, be it
biological or synthetic. The future still remains perilous and it is up
to a cross-faction conspiracy known as Firewall to protect us from the
many dangers still there. As to be expected from the minds behind
ShadowRun (twenty years old this year), Eclipse Phase is a
rich setting, equally as rich in terms of character and campaign
options.
It's hard to argue with the logic: the second year of Dungeons &
Dragons: Fourth Edition is the year for the second wave of core book
titles. DMG 2 is just in time to advise Paragon-level campaigns,
and to offer alternate rewards in the form of Boons and Grandmaster
training, in case XP and loot have become boring. Like its predecessor,
DMG 2 offers considerable advice on role-playing, even bringing a
taste of story-centric roleplaying to a very mechanical system. The book
also provides more guidelines for encounter design, and several examples
of skill challenges – a system that was the tragic flaw in Fourth
Edition's initial release. Monster themes and character class
templates add variety, and the reappearance of Planescape's
Sigil, the City of Doors, complete with a basic write-up and
mini-adventure, may get some old school D&D players excited this
season.
Better known in England, where it introduced many gamers to the hobby
thanks to its wide distribution as a series of small paperbacks, Dragon
Warriors is an old school class-and-level RPG with a grittier, more
historical flavor than Dungeons & Dragons. This re-release reformats the
rules into a more traditional large-format hardback while retaining the
spirit of the classic edition. It is also already well-supported with
supplements, including revisions of the lengthy adventure scenarios that
helped distinguish the original release. If you want to find something
new for somebody who likes their games old, this might be just the
thing.
OgreCave has trained with these warriors before. Make sure to read
our full
review of Dragon Warriors here.
After its massive open beta playtest, Paizo's much-anticipated
Pathfinder RPG finally arrived at Gen Con. Weighing in at 576
pages, this rulebook does the job of two core books by covering player
and GM concerns in the same volume. Veteran D&D players will find
most of their old game materials are still compatible with
Pathfinder, something 4e can't say, earning Paizo's new
system the 3.75 Edition nickname. Boasting multiple experience
point tracks for varying character advancement rates, legit versions of
numerous rule fixes (simpler grappling rules, anyone?), and the
elimination of the "dead level" effect (Paladins actually have more
abilities than just combat!), this is a rock solid successor to the
fantasy roleplaying legacy. Pathfinder is gaining momentum by
describing the world of Golarion in Pathfinder Chronicles and
Adventure Path supplements, and continues to be D&D 4e's
biggest competition.
The Rubicon has been crossed: we have achieved a roleplaying system
wherein between two thick, large books, one entire volume is devoted
to character creation. That tells you what you really need to know
about the HERO System, and about who you might buy it for. HERO: Sixth Edition is
the most visually appealing, internally consistent, and...
highest-version-numbered edition the game has yet seen, with the
borderline-insane plethora of options you might imagine (but it
doesn't skimp on the GM advice, unlike certain other major '09
releases we could name). We look forward to what Hero Games will do
with it as a platform, not just for the superhero-RPG gold standard
Champions (its revision is still upcoming), but the dark-horse
favorite Fantasy Hero as well.
Gamers who enjoy George R.R. Martin's Westeros novels will find Green
Ronin's take on his world holds true to his vision. A Song of Ice and
Fire players begin by working together to build their house,
determining its influence, lands, population, favor, and (potentially
sordid) history. Using d6 dice pool mechanics, characters set forth to
carve out a better place for themselves and their house. Combat can be
rough – the system has harsher rules for healing to maintain a gritty
feel. Like many RPGs over the last few years, ASIF ventures into
social conflict territory, with complete step-by-step rules for opposed
tests of Intrigue to charm and seduce your way through the ruling class.
The book also includes an excellent mass combat system that maintains
the feel of individual character actions being integrated into a
large-scale conflict, rather than being lost in the sea of war. In all,
the "game of thrones" is captured quite well by this new fantasy system.
And because the roleplaying cheer is overflowing this year, we offer a bonus suggestion:
Imagine if you will, that it is 1944 – you are President Harry S.
Truman, and Hitler has unleashed the Midguard Serpent to bring about
Götterdämmerung. What do you do? According to Ken Hite's imagination,
Truman orders the army to fly a B29 into Jörmungandr's eye where it
detonates the Trinity Device. Cue the serpent's irradiated body and
toxic blood falling to Earth, dividing Europe with the Serpent Curtain,
and causing a super tsunami to ravage the USA as far as the Rockies. Now
it's 1948, and the world is Conan meets Mad Max, or SMGs
and Sorcery, in a world with magic, psionics, Jörmungandr-derived
technology, and snake cults. Post-WW2, post-apocalypse, and
post-Ragnarok, The Day After Ragnarok is available for both
Savage Worlds and the HERO System, is rich in gaming
detail, superbly imaginative, and arguably one of the best pulp settings
you will ever buy. After all, what other setting gives you brilliant Top
Five lists such as the Top Five Places To Stomp Nazis and the Top Five
Secret Bases?
The Cave dwellers hope these RPG shopping suggestions will prove
helpful in your holiday endeavors. Not done shopping yet? Then look back through our other 2009 gift lists for even
more gift suggestions.
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 Back to Features index |
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Ribbon Drive
Mouse Guard
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Third Edition Core Set
Our Ladies of Sorrow
Diaspora
Rogue Trader
Eclipse Phase
Dungeon Masters Guide 2
Dragon Warriors
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
HERO System: Sixth Edition
A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying
The Day After Ragnarok