I'm not even sure what that means. System-wise or setting-wise? Concept-wise? Time spent thinking about it -wise? I don't own any of the more popular games that I suspect are meant to be identified here like Dogs in the Vineyard, Monsters and Other Childish Things, or Microscope, but I do have some possible candidates:
For time spent noodling over the mechanics and how to make characters while liking the system, Champions is probably up there. Mutants and Masterminds is not too far behind.
For time spent trying to envision the mechanics and how it all works together Marvel Heroic, or Cortex Plus as the mechanics are now known, was a fairly recent mind expander.
For time spent in my head trying to make a coherent set of rules out of it, hands down it is Rifts, the unsolvable problem of RPG's.
For time spent building worlds and equipment, some form of Traveller - Original, Mega, maybe even New Era - as it had some construction rules down to where you could design your own guns down to bore in mm and type of propellant. I did.
Concept-wise I think Reign is a level beyond the "normal" view of most RPG's. I don't know that I'll ever get to run or play it but just reading it made me think differently about some aspects of all of my games.
I'll also throw Dawn of Worlds in there - it's a world-building game that's even more different than most RPG's. It's definitely on the edge of what should even be called an RPG, but there it is. More on it here.
I ran across these on DTRPG last week and didn't think they made much sense as a PDF, then I realized they could be ordered as physical cards and got more interested.
There are 17 cards to a deck. They are normal playing-card sized. The set above is the "Dread Pirates" deck. Each one represents an NPC (or a vehicle in the case of the pirate ship here).
The barkeep is from the "Typical Tavern" deck. The cards are also double-sided, with stats on one side (above) and background details and some names on the reverse.
Now NPC cards alone might not be revolutionary - although these do look very nice - but these are also printed on a sort of plastic or with a plastic coating that means dry erase markers work on them just like they do on a whiteboard. This ups the utility considerably. Besides the obvious uses for combat, it is also handy for noting things like reactions, modifiers, magic effects, or just monkeying with the stats. Maybe there are two "ladies of the night" in the bar - use two different colors of marker to keep notes on both of them on one card!
I'm a big believer that when you're actually running games you can never have too many NPC's at the ready. Going back to 3E D&D I printed out a set of monster stats on index cards and kept that little card file on the table for my entire run with that system. Savage Worlds is easier to run than a lot of games, but it is definitely a "GM Enhancer" to have complete stats for a pirate ship and crew, or a tavern and all of its patrons, or a set of fire cultists right there, ready to go with no work on the GM's part. This is very much a "zero-prep" kind of product.
I picked up the pirates (for our eventual Pirates or 50 Fathoms game), the tavern set (for a lot of potential games), and the wild west archetypes set (for Deadlands). They are each an interesting mix of "standards" and some unusual types, like the character in the wild west set that dual-wields cavalry sabers. I like a sprinkling of the unusual and these hit the mark really well.
There are a lot of different sets - here's the link to their list on DTRPG.
Here's the company site too though there's not a lot there.
A few final thoughts:
It would be really nice if they could work out some kind of licensing deal with Pinnacle and create campaign-specific sets. What if you could get a pack that covered every NPC in 50 Fathoms or Slipstream? I'd pay for that.
Vehicle cards would be nice too, say for a Weird Wars campaign. Tanks, jeeps, aircraft can come up quite a bit in that kind of game.
How about some other games? I'm pretty sure ICONS characters would fit on a card like this ... maybe. Traveller characters could (and vehicles! and spacecraft!). Heck GURPS characters might be able to fit on here. Old school D&D monsters certainly would. There is a lot of potential here.
A few weeks ago I might have said "Savage Worlds" but I'm fixing that particular problem so I'll say it's this:
The Original
I've owned this game since 1982, picked up every version except the latest, have a ton of supplements for it, and haven't run or played it in at least ten years. Why?
It's a fairly complex game that rewards "system mastery" but not many people want to take the time to "master" it nowadays.
Combat is complicated, though I don;t think it's much more complicated than most 3E/4E/Pathfinder D&D games and like those it smooths out a bunch with experience
Champions books were everywhere in the 90's during 4th edition. Most RPG'ers knew about Champions/Hero System. Then the company that published it hit some hard times and it took a few years to get the game back on track with a new publisher. I think this put it behind the curve of the 3E boom when a lot of people came to/came back to RPG's circa 2000 and it never really caught up in "mindshare". Now it's on a 6th edition and it still almost non-existent in game stores as the company again has had some rough times the last few years.
It covers a lot of genres but it was always best known for Superheroes, and in the last 10-15 years a bunch of superhero RPG's have come along, from Mutants and Masterminds to ICONS. Not all of them have survived, but going from 3 or so popular superhero games to half a dozen or more really segmented up what was already a niche genre.
The Peak
It's big advantage though is that it models anything you can dream up with a system that is pretty crunchy and uses a point system that has 30+ years of actual play behind it so when they say "balance" it's not just a bullet on a list of design goals. It's also pretty fun to play (and run) based on my more-distant-than-I-would-like memories. There is also quite a bit of supporting material developed over the years and even more from hardcore fans on the internet.
The Current (and wow that is not my favorite cover)
I really need to find a way to work this game in to the rotation.
I use screens less now than I used to. Actually there have been peaks and valleys over the years. I used to think of them as a cool extra thing, then I got to considering them essential, then I backed off a bit, then they started making those cool hardcover-stock landscape format screens (Star Wars Saga Edition had the first one I believe) and I was addicted for a few years. I've gotten better, and I run a lot of games "screenless" now because it gives me more flexibility with the setup of the playing area, lets the players know I'm rolling straight, and it's one less thing to keep up with. I run Pathfinder, ICONS, and Marvel screenless though I admit I did use one for 4E D&D. The last screen I paid anything for was the one that was part of the Werid Wars: Rome kickstarter and that was because it kind of came in the set.
That's changed as of last week. I finally picked up one of Pinnacle's customizable DM screens and I am pretty happy with it.
Now these things have been around for probably ten years in one form or another. I know they came along pretty early in the Savage Worlds run - because it makes sense to have a flexible screen setup for a game that covers as much territory as it does - and I always thought they were cool but I was never running it enough to justify getting one. Necessary Evil came close but it ended before I pulled the trigger.
Think of the nicest, heaviest, 3-ring binder you have ever seen, one with the see-thru plastic pocket/cover on the outside. It's like that, only it's a tri-fold landscape design (and doesn't have the rings) and has the cover/pocket on both sides.
There are of course PDF's customized for various Savage Worlds campaigns available for a few bucks. More generic ones are free. It is completely possible to make your own too, and they don't even have to be Savage Worlds - you could use it with any campaign and any RPG. It's a great idea made even better by the total portability of PDFs.
Heck just being able to customize the player side with things like maps of the current campaign area, notes on NPC's, or pictures of the PC's is a pretty cool option.
I don't know that I will start using it for ICONS or Marvel or even Pathfinder, but I am going to try it out with Savage Worlds and see what I can do with it. If the 4E game ever gets rolling again I may do up some custom inserts for it too. It's another tool in the toolkit and I'm looking forward to trying it out.
Our Deadlands campaign "continues" from where it started (almost 3 years ago! - that went by quick!). Having boarded a west-bound train in Missouri, the next leg of the trip will take them across the great plains of Kansas. Next stop is Andover Station, followed by Barlowe Station, then Varney Flats - and veterans of the Weird West probably know where this is heading now.
For now though, we have a brief stop in Andover to change crews and take on water and coal. To pass the time our heroes (gunslinger Will Treaty (Blaster), huckster Isaac O'Hardy (Red), and new scientist Doc Lightning (Who)) stop in at the saloon after the mad scientist stops in at the general store and buys some "junk". Conversation at the sparsely-populated bar reveals nothing of interest locally and the boys are resigned to drinking to pass the time.
A shout from the street brings rouses the bored patrons. There is a group walking towards the town from the north, and as someone recognizes them - "It's the Clampett Gang!" - doors and shutters start slamming as the well-known local criminals make their approach. The gang hasn't been seen in these parts for months but their reputation does not seem diminished. The sheriff is not in town as he rode out to deal with trouble on a farm this morning and hasn't made it back. As the other townsfolk run for cover our heroes are perfectly fine taking on the gang.
Will Treaty calls out that they know who the gang is and the town doesn't want any trouble. The criminals continue to approach without making a response.
Isaac calls out that the gang needs to stop at the edge of town. The criminals continue to approach.
Will fires a rifle shot over their heads as a warning. Nothing changes.
Doc Lightning charges up his lightning gun and moves to a better position, grinning.
As the gang closes in, it looks like the biggest member, Jethro, is in the lead, along with the sharpshooter Ellie May. Jed, shotgun man and the leader, and Granny, his adviser, are behind them. Drysdale, the knife specialist, and Hathaway, the pistoleer are spreading out to the flanks. Our heroes take cover and prepare to fire and note an odd, shuffling gait to the intruders.
Then Doc Lightning rushes from cover, closes in on Ellie May, and realizes she does not really match the tales of her comliness, what with the oddly colored skin, open wounds, and groaning sounds coming from her mouth instead of speech. He unleashes the power of the lightning gun on her as she raises her pistol and puts an end to whatever problems she is having.
This opens the festivities on a high note and in less than a minute a tremendous volley of shots, electricity, and flying magical cards are blasted all over the place. The gang is clearly some kind of walkin' dead and their well-known gun prowess appears to be vanished but they are still firing. Gunslinger Will drops his rifle and fans the hammer on Jethro and Hathaway as Huckster Isaac drops a huge blast of green flame to finish them off and Granny is blown away by lightning. Drysdale almost gets close enough to use his knife on the huckster but falls to urgently-tossed magical bolts and a bullet as the fight ends.
Shaken, the grateful townsfolk thank the travelers. Drinks are on the house, and the sheriff returns before the train leaves and gives them a reward - "well, I don't know what they were but they're dead now so you can claim the reward" is pretty much the extent of the discussion.
DM Notes: This was a short "shake the rust off" encounter to get us back on track with Savage Worlds and Deadlands. It was a couple of hours of digging out character sheets, re-gathering the props (poker chips, cards, hat for the fate chips, miniatures) and bringing them back up to speed on the situation. I like my "westbound train" campaign kick-off idea and I'm going to stick with it for the first few sessions. Sure, it is literally a railroad, but they don't have to leave the train station/saloon and go looking for trouble - that's strictly up to them. Once we reach California they will have more options as the Great Maze is just full of interesting things. The session went well with some socializing and haggling followed by combat. I think the walkin' dead having guns was a surprise but they handled it (and they only have a d6 in shooting anyway) and they all got some glory time in. They're pretty enthusiastic about it and they've been asking to play again ever since but with vacation in there we haven't had time, or rather I haven't had the energy after being out on the boat all day. We will try to pick it up again this week and move on down the line to Barlowe Station.
My most recent RPG is a set of stuff for Savage Worlds during DriveThruRPG's recent sale. They are:
This is a military-oriented sci-fi game by a Polish company named "GRAmel" that looks a lot like a 40K/Warzone type universe but I'm perfectly fine with that, that's a good option to have with teenage boys in the house. Savage Worlds also plays a heckuva lot easier than the official RPG's for either setting.The company's main website is in Polish but if you want to see their English work here is their DTRPG page. I'm still reading this one so I'll have more to say next week.
Also from GRAmel is a swords and sorcery setting that I have heard a lot of good things about but never actually read. Honestly, I don;t really need another fantasy RPG but there have been a lot of good reviews of this and it was on sale! I also think it could fit very nicely with the SW mechanics so I need to take a look at it. Again, I'll have more next week.
This is a campaign from Pinnacle that's been out for a while but I never managed to acquire. I have it now in PDF at least and it looks like a lot of fun. It's very much Flash Gordon 30's/40's style pulp sci-fi and I can see it being a blast to play. I have read this one and as much as I like it, I'm not sure who I could run it for - I could probably talk the Apprentices into it even with the retro, because they've seen the 1980 Flash Gordon and I could show it to them again as a warm-up. Ray-guns, rockets, lion-men, and bird-men all sound cool and the action-oriented nature of the setting would be perfect for them. Beyond that though, I think it would take some doing to convince my other "usual suspects" to dive in for a full campaign.It's still very cool though.
This is an even older Pinnacle campaign that I never picked up. It takes a lot from Van Helsing (the Hugh Jackman movie) and some League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and is sort of a Victorian cyperpunk - not so much steampunk - with two secret societies at war in the shadows using dehumanizing magic/technology to even up the odds. I'm still reading the campaign section and it's fairly dark. There's less pulp here than in many Savage Worlds games, and more ... dismemberment. It does have some cool ideas, but I'm not sure how interested I would be in running or playing it for the long term. I need to finish it then I will write up my thoughts on the whole thing.
It's an easy thing to catch up because the answer to the first 3 are all the same:
It's my first played, first DM'd, and first purchased. It was the only RPG I owned for a couple of years. Old posts about it here and here. I still have the contents, though the box is long gone. I picked up another copy of it a few years ago and that one is in pretty good shape.
One of the major issues with RPGs is that it can take a lot of time to play one. Most of my campaigns have run on a weekly to biweekly schedule with roughly six hour sessions as the plan. This worked well enough until 4E became the main game and it became tough to get through more than 2 combat encounters in a session. Now in general it's worth it if you want a very tactical flavor to your combat but it definitely slows down what you can do in each session if you're used to things moving somewhat faster. This also ruled it out as weeknight game as even a 6-10pm session is really only going to allow for one to two fights maybe, at least the way we played.
Now with jobs and kids a weeknight game is hard to do anyway so this wasn't a huge loss but when the kids want to play something on a weeknight, well, 4E is probably not my first choice. Pathfinder is faster, but I'm already running that and with the suspended 4E campaign lurking in the background I'm not sure how much more dungeony-stuff we all need. M&M does alright, and ICONS does things even more quickly but we haven't been in as much of a superhero mood lately. ICONS is great for one-off runs so I'm sure it will return but at the moment it's not really on the radar.
Think I can sell this one to them but we will see
What does play fast, has enough crunch to satisfy us all, and is very well supported, is Savage Worlds. With a variety of settings, fairly simple rules, interesting mechanics, and some nicely done small adventures and plot point campaigns it's tailor-made for running a "smaller" game. I think the campaigns could be as epic as anything else we've done but they seem to fit into the available chunks much easier than a lot of games.
So we're going to try it.
Now I've been a fan of the game for a long time and I've run a fair amount of it but most of it has been scattered across the years with a session or two here and there. This time I have talked to the apprentices and we'll be making a conscious effort to use it for our home games, especially on the weeknights.
A one-sentence description drew a lot of interest in this one
So far I've been asked for Deadlands, "Pirates", and "that Van Helsing Monster Hunter game" (Rippers) so there is definite interest in the options. With Red heading off to college in a few weeks things are going to be different around here but I'm sure he will come back occasionally.
Note: This is totally NOT 40K
So as we break out the cards and dice I'll post the results up here. Hopefully one of them takes hold enough to turn into an ongoing campaign but I'm not going to force anything just yet. I'm going to see what they ask to play once we have a few sessions under our belts and go with the flow. Deadlands is first on the list and then we will work our way into some others.
