shoplifter
Member
OK, I know that there are a few of us who really dig PnP RPGs around here so I thought I'd toss up a post with a few of my recent purchases and some not as recent stuff that I'm revisiting.
HARP is published by Iron Crown. Yes, the same ICE that brought you the joys of Rolemaster and the Middle-Earth RPG. Well, not quite, its actually a new company who purchased the ICE IP and is now dba Iron Crown. The staff is super friendly, and the game is pretty great to boot.
I'd chalk it up as a Rolemaster-lite. If you hated the craziness of RM, give this a shot. It's really easy to learn, combat is relatively gritty, and it's easy to fiddle with rules. It's a skill-based system with professions and levels, but really not like D&D at all for those who aren't big class/level fans.
Spells are also skills, and are scalable with high enough skill levels to increase duration, affect more targets or increase range. All in all it's really cool, and highly recommended. College of Magic will the next book in the line, and it should be available by Origins (which is here in Columbus every year).
The Riddle of Steel is published by Driftwood games, a very small publisher even by RPG standards. It boasts the most realistic RPG combat system available (outside of going all LIGHTNING BOLT~! on your ass.) It's not kidding. Combats are very tactical, very gritty, but fast moving. There are many combat maneuvres that have very real effects on the fight and death is swift to those who tempt it.
Character creation is done Shadowrun-style, with players 'picking' social status, skill points, race and the like. This helps create well balanced characters. There are no levels or classes. All rolls use a d10 dice pool method. Each character has spiritual attributes (wants, desires, devotions) that aid them when something stands in the way of their achievement. Magic is quite powerful, but it can age users much like your old-school arthurian type magic can, and it's usage is also a high pick on the table.
Another highly recommended and uber-cool game for those willing to try it out. It works very well for groups with only 2-3 players and a GM. Try out the quickstart rules for a taste of what the game has to offer. You can download them HERE.
HERO System, 5th Edition is the (gasp) 5th edition of the Champions ruleset. You can literally make anything you want. Creation is point based like Gurps, but infinitely more flexible. Wanna make Superman? Damn, that's easy. Wanna make Galactus? Just as simple. Someone a little more complicated like Ultra Boy or someone with loosely-defined power frameworks like Iceman? Yup, easy as pie. The system is as robust as you want to make it.
Not to mention, it can handle ANY genre you want to throw at it. Of course it can handle the superhero stuff, that's what it was originally designed for, but it can handle Space Opera, Hard SF, Fantasy, Martial Arts, basically whatever you want. The genre books are good even if you never use the Hero System. They've got really good advice on running those types of games, and are pretty intersting reads to boot if you just like RPGs and the tropes that go along with them.
The creation system is effects-based rather than ability based. This means that rather than looking through the book and picking out a 'Fireball' spell or power, you determine WHAT you want your power to do and then build it using the appropriate power in the book. This means that there are often multiple ways to build one power, allowing a great deal of flexibility for players and GMs to make their characters truly unique.
Many folks are scared away by it's complexity (it looks VERY intimidating at first glance) but there's a steep learning curve at first while one familiarizes themselves with the system. After that, it's all fun and games. I'd say it's the Virtua Fighter of the RPG world; a steep learning curve but once you really learn, you might never want to go back to what you had before.
Tome of Horrors II by Necromancer Games. These guys are old school D&Ders at heart, and it shows. Besides, who doesn't need more monsters for their D&D Campaigns, especially very good and imaginative ones?
I'm also waiting on Eberron to be released. I'm not quite sure how much I'll dig of it, especially compared to old stalwarts like Greyhawk and Planescape, but hopefully it'll bring some fresh blood into the hobby. It's really sad when I'm below the average age of PnP gamers at 26. Not because I feel that people get too old to roleplay (they don't) but that means that less new blood comes into the hobby every year, lost to computer games like EQ and the like. Don't misunderstand me, there's nothing wrong with the MMO genre IMO, but if these folks can waste away 8 hours a night camping for items and accomplish next to nothing I think they'd enjoy a good D&D session quite a bit more.
HARP is published by Iron Crown. Yes, the same ICE that brought you the joys of Rolemaster and the Middle-Earth RPG. Well, not quite, its actually a new company who purchased the ICE IP and is now dba Iron Crown. The staff is super friendly, and the game is pretty great to boot.
I'd chalk it up as a Rolemaster-lite. If you hated the craziness of RM, give this a shot. It's really easy to learn, combat is relatively gritty, and it's easy to fiddle with rules. It's a skill-based system with professions and levels, but really not like D&D at all for those who aren't big class/level fans.
Spells are also skills, and are scalable with high enough skill levels to increase duration, affect more targets or increase range. All in all it's really cool, and highly recommended. College of Magic will the next book in the line, and it should be available by Origins (which is here in Columbus every year).
The Riddle of Steel is published by Driftwood games, a very small publisher even by RPG standards. It boasts the most realistic RPG combat system available (outside of going all LIGHTNING BOLT~! on your ass.) It's not kidding. Combats are very tactical, very gritty, but fast moving. There are many combat maneuvres that have very real effects on the fight and death is swift to those who tempt it.
Character creation is done Shadowrun-style, with players 'picking' social status, skill points, race and the like. This helps create well balanced characters. There are no levels or classes. All rolls use a d10 dice pool method. Each character has spiritual attributes (wants, desires, devotions) that aid them when something stands in the way of their achievement. Magic is quite powerful, but it can age users much like your old-school arthurian type magic can, and it's usage is also a high pick on the table.
Another highly recommended and uber-cool game for those willing to try it out. It works very well for groups with only 2-3 players and a GM. Try out the quickstart rules for a taste of what the game has to offer. You can download them HERE.
HERO System, 5th Edition is the (gasp) 5th edition of the Champions ruleset. You can literally make anything you want. Creation is point based like Gurps, but infinitely more flexible. Wanna make Superman? Damn, that's easy. Wanna make Galactus? Just as simple. Someone a little more complicated like Ultra Boy or someone with loosely-defined power frameworks like Iceman? Yup, easy as pie. The system is as robust as you want to make it.
Not to mention, it can handle ANY genre you want to throw at it. Of course it can handle the superhero stuff, that's what it was originally designed for, but it can handle Space Opera, Hard SF, Fantasy, Martial Arts, basically whatever you want. The genre books are good even if you never use the Hero System. They've got really good advice on running those types of games, and are pretty intersting reads to boot if you just like RPGs and the tropes that go along with them.
The creation system is effects-based rather than ability based. This means that rather than looking through the book and picking out a 'Fireball' spell or power, you determine WHAT you want your power to do and then build it using the appropriate power in the book. This means that there are often multiple ways to build one power, allowing a great deal of flexibility for players and GMs to make their characters truly unique.
Many folks are scared away by it's complexity (it looks VERY intimidating at first glance) but there's a steep learning curve at first while one familiarizes themselves with the system. After that, it's all fun and games. I'd say it's the Virtua Fighter of the RPG world; a steep learning curve but once you really learn, you might never want to go back to what you had before.
Tome of Horrors II by Necromancer Games. These guys are old school D&Ders at heart, and it shows. Besides, who doesn't need more monsters for their D&D Campaigns, especially very good and imaginative ones?
I'm also waiting on Eberron to be released. I'm not quite sure how much I'll dig of it, especially compared to old stalwarts like Greyhawk and Planescape, but hopefully it'll bring some fresh blood into the hobby. It's really sad when I'm below the average age of PnP gamers at 26. Not because I feel that people get too old to roleplay (they don't) but that means that less new blood comes into the hobby every year, lost to computer games like EQ and the like. Don't misunderstand me, there's nothing wrong with the MMO genre IMO, but if these folks can waste away 8 hours a night camping for items and accomplish next to nothing I think they'd enjoy a good D&D session quite a bit more.
