When I was a kid, I was an adventure book hoarder. I had an entire bookshelf full of them. Every day, before I got on the bus for elementary school, I’d take this small black briefcase and fill it with adventure books and bring it to school. I was running a one-man lending library right […]
Invoking for Effect: A Review and Commentary on Fate Core
Recently, I was criticized for comparing every game out today to Fate Core. It’s not fair, I was told. After some thought, I realized it was finally time to give Fate Core a review and explain why, exactly, I think this game is today’s standard-bearer for tabletop roleplaying, and why every game that’s come out since can and should be compared […]
Expendable: A Review of Feng Shui 2
I read the first edition of Feng Shui back in 1999. I was so excited by its presence, and I loved its many innovations…mooks who go down in a single hit? Not caring about ammo? Combat revolving around pulling off crazy stunts and not worrying about realism? This was awesome! I thought. Finally, a role-playing game that catered to the action […]
Back from the Dead: A Review of Chill, 3rd Edition
Every long-time fan of tabletop role-playing has a game they consider amazing that slipped through the cracks, an unfortunate casualty in a hobby where only a few big names dominate the hobby’s attention. For many, that game was Chill, a horror RPG first released in the mid-80s. Overshadowed in the 80s by Call of Cthulhu, a second edition was released […]
A Beautiful Nightmare: A Review of Iron Kingdoms Unleashed
Though the current trends in tabletop roleplaying are for loose, flexible designs…games like Numenera, Fate Core, even (arguably) the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons…there is still a very large part of the hobby devoted to the meticulously-detailed games of yore. With roots firmly tracing back to the hobby’s wargame origins, games like Pathfinder and Shadowrun continue to draw massive crowds and have […]
A Review of A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying as a Gateway Game
To say that HBO’s A Game of Thrones is a hit is, at this point, an understatement. People are downright rabid about the show! People who would ordinarily have nothing to do with a story of medieval drama are absolutely crazy about the violent, intriguing, and tragic world in George R.R. Martin’s books. What better way, then, to attract new people into the […]
True Quality: A Review of Ruins of the North
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Ruins of the North, the latest supplement for Cubicle 7’s outstanding Lord of the Rings RPG The One Ring, has all the polish and grandeur of every other product in the line. If you’re a fan of this roleplaying game (and really, you should be), then picking up Ruins of the North should be […]
Insanely Good: A Review of Silent Legions
Lovecraftian horror RPGs are a dime a dozen, with the venerable Call of Cthulhu leading the pack, young upstart Trail of Cthulhu in a close second, and the rest trailing behind. This has been the way of things for years, and everyone’s been fine with it. Now, there’s a new kid on the block, and he’s looking to change everything. Silent […]
Back for the Fourth Time: A Review of Earthdawn, 4th Edition
(Note: this review is based on the Kickstarter release of Earthdawn’s fourth edition, which is not yet commercially available. Links to Earthdawn in this review refer to the first edition of the game, released in 1993). In my high school years, FASA’s Earthdawn was one of the defining games of my roleplaying hobby. An awesome setting that […]
Know Your Role(play): A Review of World Wide Wrestling
In 2010, D. Vincent Baker made a game called Apocalypse World. Since then, the hobby’s never been the same. Emphasizing a conversational approach to gaming rather than hard-and-fast rulings and backed by simple, elegant mechanics, Apocalypse World took the world of roleplaying by storm, and has since spawned numerous spinoffs and conversions. The latest game to adorn the now-glorious words “Powered by […]
