It doesn’t take much more than flipping through the first few pages of the Savage Rifts: Tomorrow Legion Players Guide to know that writer Sean Patrick Fannon has a deep love of the gonzo sci-fi setting first introduced to the world by Palladium Books in 1990. Fannon’s take on the material is significantly more than a straight […]
A World Without (Dice Pool) Limits: A Review of Shadowrun: Anarchy
Ah, Shadowrun. Perhaps one of tabletop gaming’s most evocative settings, saddled with one of its most complex role-playing systems. For years, gamers have marveled over Shadowrun’s amazing world where Man meets Magic and Machine, then backed away slowly when they hit waves of rules concerning character creation, combat, magic, the Matrix (Shadowrun’s virtual reality internet), and so much more. There […]
A Great Game to Read: A Review of Exalted, Third Edition
I don’t have any experience with Exalted’s previous editions, so I can’t really comment on what’s changed. All I know is this: by the time I finally finished reviewing all of Exalted: Third Edition (EX3)’s 650+ pages, I was stunned. Not just by the monumental size of this game, but it’s scope and execution. EX3 […]
Lost & Found: A Review and Play report of Trail of Cthulhu
This past weekend, I got a group together to play Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu. Though the game came out in 2008, I never got a chance to play it, until now. Designed by Kenneth Hite, Trail of Cthulhu is one of several games powered by the GUMSHOE System. The design philosophy behind the GUMSHOE system is that in an […]
Apocalypse 2.0: A Review of Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
The latest game powered by the Apocalypse, Legacy: Life Among the Ruins serves as an elegant re-exploration of the trail first blazed by Vincent Baker in his revolutionary RPG, Apocalypse World. Legacy is, essentially, a prettier, cleaner, and more-refined version of Baker’s game. Legacy is classic post-apocalypse adventure, complete with mutant monsters, weird and wild technology, and even a Maelstrom to […]
Grimmest and Darkest: A Review of Dark Heresy, 2nd Edition
Make no mistake about it: the 41st Millenium, as described in the second edition of Dark Heresy, the flagship roleplaying game of the Warhammer 40k franchise, is one of the darkest, grimmest, most brutal settings ever in a role-playing game. A slowly-dying Imperium fights a losing war against countless, limitless enemies across different planes of existence, thousands […]
Opening Act: A Review of the Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook
Hot on the heels of the excellent Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook, publisher Green Ronin de-coupled the setting from the system and released the Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook. The Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook is, almost literally, the rules from the Dragon Age RPG, scrubbed of its setting, and presented for use in any fantasy campaign of your […]
As seen on TV: A review of the Dragon Age RPG core rulebook
Oddly, role-playing games have had a very good streak in bringing franchises to the table. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings both have very popular, remarkably well-done tabletop RPGs, for example. And now, the videogame franchise Dragon Age has its own tabletop role-playing game crossover…and it is every bit as good. Technically, the Dragon Age RPG has been around since about 2009, in […]
Kickin’ it Old School: A Review of How to Game Master Like a Fucking Boss
In the wonderful world of tabletop role-playing games, there are two separate yet equally-important schools of thought: the “old-school” style of play perpetrated from classic editions of Dungeons & Dragons through the 80s, and the “new-school” style of play coming from the rising indie RPG movement of the late 90s through now. How to Game Master Like a […]
Super-light: A review of Worlds in Peril
The bar-raising, mind-blowing Apocalypse World has taken the hobby by storm, quickly moving from its post-apocalypse roots to old-school swords-and-sorcery with Dungeon World, urban fantasy with Monster of the Week, teen romance with Monsterhearts, even professional wrestling with World Wide Wrestling. Now, Kyle Simmons has brought the apocalypse to the realm of superheroes with Worlds in Peril. For those not in the know, the Apocalypse Engine, as […]
