Archive for category Roleplaying
Roleplaying games you should play: Star Wars
Posted by Rockjaw in Gamey, Personal, Roleplaying on June 3rd, 2009
This is the latest in a series of posts looking at roleplaying games I really think you owe it to yourself to play.
Last time out, looking at Ghostbusters, I talked about the wonderful simplicity of the game’s system, and how it could only be betterered by one thing: taking that system and combining it with the greatest science fiction movie trilogy of all time. Well, at least, it was in 1987….
9) Star Wars
Remember how Traveller, well, just didn’t do it for me? Remember how I was essentially seduced by that image of a Luke Skywalker-lookalike on the box? (Damn you, GDW….) Well, it took five years or so, but finally my sci-fi roleplaying prayers were answered in 1987 with the release, on the (gulp) tenth anniversary of the movie, of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game from West End Games.
If Marvel Super Heroes had opened my eyes to how a game system could work with you in creating a setting, Star Wars blew out of the back of my skull. Designed by Greg Costikyan, Curtis Smith and Bill Slavicsek, the simple D6 system in Star Wars expanded on the initial principles of Ghostbusters, and was an absolute joy to read. The original rulebook filled my head with the potential excitement of adventures across the galaxy, where the players would fight for the Rebellion against the evil forces of the Empire. Blasters would be fired! Quips would be uttered! Lightsabers would be drawn! Heroes would be made!
So naturally, in the first session of my campaign, the players stole a starship and then – I remember this quite specifically – spot-welded the ship merchant to the inside of his own safe.
Yeah, they weren’t really looking to be heroes.
Roleplaying games you should play: Ghostbusters
Posted by Rockjaw in Gamey, Personal, Roleplaying on June 1st, 2009
This is the latest in a series of posts talking about tabletop roleplaying games that I highly recommend you play. Last time out, I talked about the dark delights of Call of Cthulhu, the first roleplaying game which needed a statistic to measure your sanity. As I mentioned, regardless of how fun it might be, the subject matter can be a bit of a downer…
… which is why if you are in the market for a supernatural RPG that won’t have you glancing nervously into dark corners, then don’t wait another minute. Pick up the phone and call the professionals!
8 ) Ghostbusters
I’ll forgive you for thinking – like so many other high-minded roleplayers before you – that Ghostbusters is just some stupid movie tie-in game. Because on some levels, it’s exactly that. It’s got the hallmarks – very few rules; lots of pretty cards and handouts to play with; an almost cavalier attitude to the oh-so-serious activity of roleplaying.
When you take a closer look though, not only has Ghostbusters got a design that is being emulated by today’s ‘story-driven’ roleplayers, but it’s also got a campaign background that could spawn a million adventures. Not bad for some movie tie-in.
Created by the multi-talented guys who also brought you Call of Cthulhu – who were probably glad for the break – Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game was released by West End Games in 1986. These days, a two-year gap between ‘product’ and ‘tie-in’ would seem suicidal, but we forget what a global phenomenon Ghostbusters was – not to mention how long it would have taken to materialise on ‘home video systems’. Those two years were well spent however, as Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford had created a game that perfectly emulated the original movie, while also expanding its potential.
Roleplaying games you should play: Call of Cthulhu
Posted by Rockjaw in Gamey, Personal, Roleplaying on May 30th, 2009
This is the third in a series of posts looking at ten (or so) roleplaying games, of the traditional pen-and-paper variety, that I’d highly recommend you play. Last time I talked about Marvel Super Heroes and DC Heroes; in this post we’re going for something a bit more spine-tingling….
7) Call of Cthulhu
It seems to me, at least in recent years, that Call of Cthulhu has finally taken a place alongside Dungeons & Dragons as one of the pillars of roleplaying. While it’s always been a great game – and unlike D&D, has never needed to radically reinvent itself – I think sheer longevity, perhaps coupled with the fact that it matures exceedingly well, has given it a near legendary status. It’s well deserved.
I should be clear from the off that I’m no Cthulhu scholar. I’ve played it fairly infrequently in my 20-odd years of gaming, and generally I’ve enjoyed it, although I never wanted to run a game myself. I’ve always been aware of it though, as right from the start Cthulhu had something about it; a sense of being ‘grown up’ for lack of a better term.
If you’ve never encountered it, then as the covers say, Call of Cthulhu is a roleplaying game set in the worlds of HP Lovecraft, an early 20th century novelist who was probably a few hammers short of a toolbox. Created by Sandy Petersen for Chaosium in 1981, and then later revised and expanded upon by Lynn Willis, the game won multiple awards from its inception.
Players take the role of investigators into the occult and the supernatural, with what may start off as ‘conventional’ ghouls and ghosts ultimately giving way to much more powerful and mysterious eldritch horrors – the Great Old Ones, Lovecraft’s ultimate evil from beyond the stars. These ‘gibbering horrors’ have been so influential over the years that Lovecraft probably deserves to be put on a plinth next to Bram Stoker, but when CoC first debuted, the idea of fighting monsters who were so terrifying that mortal man could not even look on them without going mad was still pretty revolutionary.
More roleplaying games you should play: Marvel Super Heroes, and…
Posted by Rockjaw in Gamey, Personal, Roleplaying on May 28th, 2009
For those of you coming in late, this post is the first in a series of sequels to “Five roleplaying games I’ve played, and you should too“, which covered my thoughts and feelings (oh, those feelings) on:
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Traveller
- Champions
- Skyrealms of Jorune
- Top Secret/S.I.
Feel free to go read that as a primer.
This post was originally going to contain five more games, but it grew so much it became obvious that if I didn’t hack it up into smaller pieces no-one was ever going to read it. So, here’s the first of five parts, with the others turning up in the next week or so. Don’t worry, your favourite is probably included.
6) Marvel Super Heroes or DC Heroes
Yes; I’m cheating a bit here, and giving you a choice. Why? Because both of these games simulate their respective comic book universes so well, and c’mon – everyone’s got a favourite from The Big Two. Deep down.
Let’s start with Marvel Super Heroes though, which is easily my favourite superhero RPG. Marvel holds an eternal place in my heart for a number of reasons, but overall it’s just because I’ve had the most fun with it. I had fun with it when I was 11 or so; fun when I was 17; fun when I was 28… and I’m pretty sure I’ll have fun with it again.
As you can tell, it’s been something of a constant companion, the old reliable game system that I keep coming back to when others have come and gone. I’m sure it’s similar for those who are long-time lovers of Dungeons & Dragons, who know the system back to front and can practically name page references for rule checks. I’m not quite at that level – not any more – but for a while, it was pretty close.
Old is new again: a guide to ‘retro-clone’ roleplaying games
Posted by Rockjaw in Gamey, Nerd Alert, Roleplaying on May 8th, 2009
About as scrappy and loosely organised as the original roleplaying hobby, retro-clone roleplaying games (or ‘simulacrum games‘ to some) are spreading across the web, gradually gaining converts to their cause: a return to fast-paced, imagination-led roleplaying.
Most of them have a lot in common:
- They’re inspired by the early editions of Dungeons & Dragons.
- They use Wizards of the Coast’s System Reference Document, under the terms of the Open Gaming License.
- Best of all, most of them are free to download, with no strings attached.
Just add dice and you’re ready to play.
Why play a ‘retro-clone’?
You might ask why anyone would want to play these games, when Dungeons & Dragons now has a 4th Edition, and thirty-plus years of recognition behind it.
Well, the reasons are as varied as the players, but for most, it seems to be simple: they want to get back to something that they feel has been lost. Away from enormous rulebooks and mountains of supplements, they want their imagination to take hold again, to run things fast and loose, and to experience roleplaying as they remember it.
While you can easily argue that roleplaying games don’t ‘force’ you to play any particular way, it’s also hard to argue with history and tradition. So if you’re fed up with people throwing rules in your face, or you just fancy getting back to the ‘old school’ way of playing without hunting down out-of-print rulebooks, there’s probably something for you here.
Secret origins
While there may be some people who’ll come to these games completely fresh, perhaps even as their first roleplaying experience, I think it’s more likely that they’ll be introduced to them by someone else – someone who played the original games that inspired these clones.
As one of those people myself, when I first heard about these games, I wanted to know which retro-clone was inspired by which original game. I figured that would help me gauge whether I was interested in using them, based on my memories of the original game, and frankly, I was also just curious.
Unfortunately, most of the retro-clones don’t explicitly state their ‘inspirations’ – basically because of the legal terms of the Open Gaming License, which do not allow them to position themselves as direct replacements for those Other Trademarked Games which usually feature an ampersand in their title. As a result, I had to do some research to determine exactly which game, and which edition of which game, inspired what. (Then I made some pretty pictures to make it really clear.)
As I haven’t agreed to any binding legal license, however, I don’t have to be coy as to what inspired what – even though it’s just that, inspiration. I want to be clear that while most retro-clones use the System Reference Document and will therefore have very familiar mechanics and systems, that does not mean they’re direct copies of Dungeons & Dragons. Instead, they’re inspired and derived from it, and that means all of them will be slightly different from the original… even while they feel very much the same. In other words, my use of an ‘equals’ sign in the pictures below is meant to be interpreted very loosely.
You said what?