Christmas Gameing Blog # 3

While many feel the film DRAGONSLAYER is one of the best depictions of what a D&D universe might actually be like (I prefer Hawk the Slayer) the ending does not make a lot of sens, unless you have read the novelization of the film. Then when the main character says “I only wish we had a Horse” and the Horse appears, then it makes sens.

Because if you reed the book you discover tha

• As an infant, Galen was handed to Ulrich by his parents due to their fear of his magical abilities. Ulrich took him as an apprentice, but was concerned with the lad's lack of focus, which usually resulted in the unintentional creation of bizarre, dream-inspired creatures.

So he had the inborn ability to be a Wizard(Sorcerer) but required training (wizard) to realize his full potential.

The same theme is seen in Harry potter, Potter was Born to be a wizard and displayed uses of his power (the snake) long before Hogwarts, it was Hogwarts and his experience that trained him to be a Wizard.

We could also include Luke Skywalker in this analogy, he had the blood but needed the training. Even some of the X-men could also fit this idea of Blood vs training or Improvisational magic vs Trained Magic,

A sorcerer is the Artist of magic while a Wizard is the Scientist of magic as one GM once said.

In OG D&D there was the Magic User Class and the Cleric Class and that was it, all the other permutation did not show up till much latter. The wizard was the old guy in the floppy hat and robes and modeled after Gandalph and Merlin. A person had to spend Years studying ancient texts to master magic, as if magic was the D&D equivalent of a Masters Degree. Any Jo could pick up a sword or pick a lock but Wizardry required years of Study which is why they only had a D4 Hit Points, because all those years made them week and frail

Except, both Merlin and Gandalph were known to lay the smack down on more then one occasion, and neither were students of magic, Gandalph was a 2000 year old Angel in Human form when we first meet him in the Hobbit and Merlin was to son of Supernatural beings.

So.

What's the BIG difference between saying that all Wizards are born with the blood line to use Magic(Sorcerers) but they must be trained by a Sensi to use there magic properly as a Wizard Other wise they just go mad with power? Or cause a lot of damage with there uncontrolled magic(Harry with the snake at the Zoo?)

Or that Wizards and Sorcerers are not the same at all (though isn’t a Sorcery with the Arcane Blood Line a Wizard?).

On Paper the difference between a Sorcerer and a Wizard are as follows

A: Blood Line vs Specialization

B: No Familiar vs Familiar/Arcane Bond

C: Spontaneously cast spells vs studying specific spells each night.

D: Lesser spells known/memorized and longer time to reach top tier spells vs more Spells known and reach top tier spells sooner

The spontaneous ability to pull spells out of thin air gives the Sorcery a slight advantage but they know less spells from which to Improvise. A Wizard has to memorize his spell and with out feats can not change them till his next rest, he has more spells in his arsenal but he has no way of knowing what the next few encounters might require so he may have 8 Spells memorized to fight Frothgar the Frost demon but -Oops look its his ½ brother the Flame Demon .

On versatility the Sorcerer takes the lead and personally I like the Blood Lines more then School Specialization

On utility and pure raw power a wizard will trump a Sorcerer-if he is prepared.

The question again is, are all Wizards like Galen? Having the raw power to do magic but requiring training to be a true wizard

I like that idea

In the end though it's the choice of each player and GM as to how magic works in their world.

At the end of the day both the Wizard and the Sorcerer are going to cast magic Missile.....At the Darkness

Till next time

Be excellent

Christmas Blog # 2-The Bard

Anyone remember back in 2^nd edition D&D when Bard was the first prestige class? Yeah, back in the day in order to be a Bard the Character first had to-if I remember correctly- take 4 levels as a Warrior, 4 levels as a Rogue and I think 1 level as a Wizard before they could become a Bard. Yeah back then bards were Bad Ass and had songs that could ruin whole city’s and stuff.

Today the Bard is something of a laughing stalk and often bards are made fun of in RPG literature and at games when really when you think about it bards are the ultimate Jack of All trades character and if played right can still be Bad Ass!

Think about it, under pathfinder /D&D rules a bard can use the same weapons and wear the same armor as a Rogue, and that can be upgraded with a feat. They have all the sane skills as a rogue, they have a verity of spells that allow them to Heal and buff the party as well as do some ranged DPS as well. In addition there are all the amazing skill synergies and Buff's bards provide. Need to know where the God of water hid her Trident? Bardic Knowledge for the win!

Bard can pretty much fill any role in the party, maybe he does not fight as well as the Warrior or spot traps as well as the Rogue but he can do both. With his skills and buffs and spells he can pretty much be built to be any character the player wants

Indiana Jones type hunter for lost relics=Bard.

James Bond style of spy=Bard.

Swashbuckler swinging from the chandler while drinking=Bard.

Grumpy sage=Bard.

Stem punk Crazy inventor=Bard.

Its time to stop laughing at the bard and realize that it is the ultimate Jack of All trades/ Utility character that also allows for the most specialization and quirky personal builds of any class.

Sure the Rogue gets more skill points (8 as opposed to the Bards 6) but they both have the same skill list and while the Rogue is often pigeonholed into being the Disable Traps/Back Stab guy the Bard has no such limits. His play style and build is far more up to you then the Rogue, plus the vast Knowledge Skills and Synergies eventually allow the Bard to be better at almost everything-except for disabling traps and back Stabbing

Plus the bard is just Fun. He is the ultimate Fun character, he can be the ray of hope in a dismal dungeon Providing much needed Buffs for the party and a little levity to that grim scenario

Or, he can be the grim bringer of doom.

Bards have there origins in the many cultures of the World who did not have written Languages and who's History and Story’s were passed on via Song or Tale.

In the dark Ages they did not have Google, the only way any one knew what was happening in the wide world was when a Travailing minstrel or message runner (both rolls of the bard) came to town They would be paid in Coin and free food in exchange for keeping the town up to date in the events from around the World.

It was considered Bad luck if a Viking long boat did not have a Scald adored to sing the raiders praises to Odin and to beg the Sea Gods for a good voyage.

In the tales of Middle Earth the power of Song is well known, many of the Characters sang in the books. From Bilbo’s walking song to the powerful songs of the Elf's that told the history of the World. Strider sang , Gandalph sang, even the Ork's sang (where theirs a whip, theirs a way) Plus Music has changed the World in more ways then another forum of Communication Songs to fill our hearts with pride and joy. Songs to remind us of who we were and where we came from. Songs of protest, of anger, of grief. MTV,Elvis, The Beatles

Now all this does not mean the bard has to just sing? Oh no. James Bond is a Bard and he does not sing. A bard can play a Flute or a Lute, tell a Joke or Dance up a Storm, and heck there is not much distance between dancing and Martial Arts.
So my dear Christmas reader, it is time to stop considering the Bard the Joke of the pathfinder/D&D world and realize that he is a pretty amazing Jack of All trades world Changing man about town and for a change of pace, try running One . Cant make up your mind what Character you want to play, be a bard because they can be EVERYTHING.

Till next time when we close to door on D&D for 2014

Happy Holidays and

Be Excellent!

Holiday gaming blog #1 The Barbarian

because nothing says Christmas like a Barbarian?

Happy Holidays to all the Gamers out there. I apologize that I am not posting as much as I would like. Real life you know.

Today we are going to take a look at one of the more misunderstood characters in Pathfinder/Dungeons and Dragons and that is the Barbarian.

The problem is that most players who chose the Barbarian want a easy to run dude that hit's things and takes a lot of damage, and while that is a HUGE part of the Barbarian there is also a lot of MATH involved with this guy that often confuses players.

We will get to that in a second, first lets just address the idea of a Barbarian as a job in the D&D world. Because that's what a class is when you think about it, it's the Characters Job.

Harry Potter went to Hogwarts for Seven years to become a Wizard. Sir Lancelot trained since youth to become a Fighter(Knight). I went to School to become a Teacher.

Conan did not go to Barbarian School to become a Barbarian.

Barbarian is a CULTURE, not a Class. It's a point of perception, not a job?

When the Italians first arrived in China to open the Silk Road they called the Chinese and Moguls they met, Barbarians

When the Chinese first met the Italians, they called them Barbarians as well.

It's all perception.

Ok now we got that over with, if the Barbarian’s job is to hit things and take damage, how is he different then the Fighter, other then the D12 hit points. What makes a Barbarian in D&D/Pathfinder not juts a Fighter in a lion cloth?

The D12 Hit Dice, and the Rage power.

And it's the Rage power that turns the Barbarian in to a character that requires a lot of Math.

Let's look at a First level Barbarian with an 18 Strength.

That’s a +4 to hit and damage because of Strength and a +1 BAB at First Level.

So if he is wielding a Two Handed Sword (which they always are) that’s +5 to hit 2d6+5 to damage.

Now we give him Power Attack (Which we always do)

That’s now Two different sets of Numbers to use. Two handed Sword with out Power Attack and Two handed Sword with Power Attack.

That's before Rage, once the Barbarian enters rage that's Two more set's of Numbers the Barbarian has to deal with.

Two Handed Rage Sword with out Power Attack and Two Handed Rage with Power Attack.

We are now at Four sets of Numbers, and that's at FIRST level. It only get's more complicated as the Barbarian goes up levels.

So the Barbarian is not in fact a simple I HIT THINGS WITH MY AX Character It practically requires Excel to do all the Math for the Player. Leading to very confused players who often just drop the character or the game because it turned out to be far more complicated then they thought.

You do not have to take the Barbarian Class to be a Barbarian. It's a Culture and a Mind set not a Job. Bolvi and Conan can still be Fighters (in fact before there was a Barbarian Class, Conan was just a Fighter when stated out in various products)

But if you want to play a Barbarian as he is in the Book, understand that Math will be involved.

The idea of a savage feral wild-man with a Two Handed Sword screaming out the name ODIN while he cleaves through the skulls of his many enemies is a pretty awesome idea of a character to play, the Math can be a distraction if the Gm does not warn you that there is math

At the end of the day it's the players choice and the player should be informed as to what the pro's and con's of any class are.

So, The Barbarian Math!

Next time, the bard.

Happy holidays and be EXCLENT...

The True Power of the Cleric.

I have often been known to say the the Cleric is the most broken class in the D&D Verse because it can do everything. I have also been known to say that death in the D&D verse is like the cold. You get over it.

Which I mean to say is that in your typical fantasy game, the Cleric/Healer has multiple ways to stop death from claiming a person. From using simple first level cure light spells to stabilize someone to his abilities to resurrect the dead at higher levels. No one who dies in a D&D type game will stay dead if there is a Cleric around.

One thing that is hardly ever thought about in a RPG though is just what having a Magic healing person actually means for the world, (or just how powerful that person would be in our world right now.)

Thanks to a Cleric, no one in a typical D&D world would ever have to worry about disease, poison,plague,wounds or even death. Babies would be born with no risk to them selves or the Mother thanks to a cleric and no one would ever die unless they wanted to. No one would ever starve because a Cleric can create food and water. No one would ever have to worry about Thieves or Assassins due to the Clerics ability to create a Sanctuary. Disease and plague would be a thing of the past, poisons would be instantly dealt with. No on could ever tell a lie thanks to the Clerics Zone of truth powers and the threat of the Forthcoming Zombi Apocalypse would be nothing more then a bed time story thanks to a Cleric.

Polio,Ebola,Cancer,Brain Damage, 3^rd Degree Burns, Broken Bones,Starvation,Poison, and every other medical Symptom would be dealt with in a blink of an eye thanks to a Cleric.

Crime would be pointless as the Cleric's powers would alone him to locate the Suspect,replay the Crime and make sure the Criminal suffered the appropriate punishment. There would be no question of Guilt as the Cleric can make the bad guy tell the truth. Heck, he can make the Crime Scene talk and tell him what happened.

Never mind all those religion arguments and crusades, the cleric proves 100% that there is a God, possibly more then one.

AND! Should the cleric ever run in to a problem his powers cant solve, well he would just summon a Angel to help him!

There would be no need for Science to progress since a Cleric would be able to provide everything that motivates industry.

The n there is the DEATH thing. No One stays dead if the Cleric wills it so. Dispute over a Will or who is the next in line to sit on the Throne? Nonsense,the Cleric just brings the dead back to life and asks them. Only one woman on earth can solve this problem but she died 20 year ago? No big thing, the Cleric can bring her back.

Overpopulation and starvation because of the death thing? Not a problem as the Cleric can create an endless amount of food and shelter and should the world get over crowded? The Cleric just opens a Portal to the next?

Every thing that ever plagued a Fantasy medieval setting would not exist because of the Cleric, thus making him the most important, powerful and BROKEN class in the game

Now imagine a Cleric in today’s world? It's mind boggling what one Cleric could change in One day on our world., and a few dozen clerics? They would be ruling the World by the end of the Week!

So the next time someone does not want to run a Cleric in the D&D game because he thinks they are Just Heal bots. Make them read this article and fear the Power of the Cleric.

Happy holidays

Be excellent

To PDF or not to PDF?

Hello RPG fans, I apologize for being out of the loop recently. Been far to sick to publish. But we are back so lets start rolling some Dice?

So this time around I thought we could take a look at the PDF Product market.

Only a few years ago, downloading and printing out a PDF was a novelty but now with the advent of so many portable electronic devises that are capable of storing a PDF and allowing you to look at them at a moments notice PDF's are now a very easy medium to use. My crappy nook not withstanding, pretty much everyone has a devise that can quickly bring up that PDF and let you find the topic you wanted to look at. Plus it seems like much of the market is now being target at the PDFF market. There is am much as,if not more PDF gaming materiel right now as there is Printed material

So is PDF going to be the preferred environment for gaming in the next few years?

Many factors seem to be directing the RPG market in that way.

PDF's are cheaper to download then there printed counterparts. A average Book today can cost anywhere between $30.00 and $80.00 Dollars, most of that price going to cover the utterly pointless full page-full color -high gloss art that dominates the Books these days. While the PDF's of the same product can range from FREE to under $30.00.

PDF's are easier to transport. An average game book is around 100-300 pages and can take up a lot of room in your backpack. PDF's on the other hand weigh noting since they are stored on your Tablet/Laptop/I-Phone. In addition you can carry multiple PDF's on said tablet while you are limited by the weight your Backpack can hold or how many books you tossed in the Trunk for this weeks game.

PDF's are easier to navigate. Once on your electronic information thing of choice, it takes no offer to open the Doc and enter the search command for the Topic you are researching at the time. In addition your Tablet lets you surf the net as well, thus allowing you to search for information on line within seconds while gaming. A true time saver.

Common Core/The Electronic Classroom: Hears another tidbit that you might never have considered save for the fact that I work in education. With the advent of Common Core and the Electronic Classroom, all learning is being geared for the Tablet population. Smart classrooms will train future gamers how to use the Tablet to interact with the Classroom and Education systems as opposed to Books and paper Within a few years books will be but a memory. Your Grandchildren may have no idea what a book is(Which is a shame)

Most gaming product can now be found in both there printed version and a PDF version, and many of the more recent product is PDF only. It is FAR cheaper to put a document on line then it is to print out a few hundred books that you have no way of knowing if they will even sell. There are tons of books on the Shelf at my local game store that have not moved in Years because all that information is on the Internet and is FREE or under $10.00

PDF's take up no room as they are on your computer. Think of all the shelf space you will save in the future if all your gaming product is on your I-Gadget?

So, are there any reasons not to PDF?

Yes, but most of them are minor

After you Pay for the PDF, you still have to Print it out and get it bound if you want a hard copy Between the price of the download, the price of the paper and ink and the price to get it bound it will end up costing as much as,if not more then the copy on the shelf at your local game store.

Once printed out a PDF is as large, if not larger then the non PDF product so it will take up as much room and weigh as much as its counterpart.

While having the PDF on your I-Gadget makes things a lot easier, I have personally found it difficult to look up a fact on a PDF as opposed to just opening my book and finding the page. Depending on the speed and power of your Tablet thing , a page of information could take up to a Minuit to find?

As gamers we like to have things in our hands! Our dice, our Figures, or Writing implements and are books. We like our books, we are tactile in nature: We want to be able to open the book, find the information and share the book with others.

Sadly the reasons not to have the PDF are few and mostly involve Cost and personal preference I personally always prefer the book to the PDF, mostly for Price and my tactile need need to have the book in front of me so I can read it in bed/on the bus/plane or whatever.

But that’s just me .All in all PDF's are a fare more effective way to carry about the information you need for the game. One I-gadget can hold Dozen’s of RPG documents and only take up a few inches of space in your backpack. In addition you have them backed up on a Zip drive (you do have them backed up right) so if anything happens, you still have it at home AND the PDF site will let you download it again for Free as many times as you want once you have paid for the initial copy!

So to PDF or not to PDF, sadly as much as I love books, want to support my local game Shop and disagree with Common Core, PDF's are the best way to go about your gaming life.

As long as you paid for them and downloaded them LEGAGLY. (Which we all have done. Right?)

When looking for PDF product. Try RPG Download. RPG Now. RPG Gateway. Pazio's on line store or the web site of the company who's product you are seeking to buy. Most product on the web will also offer a PDF copy as well for Free.

Till next time, keep RPG alive and remember.

Be excellent..

Happy holidays!

Last Spokky october blog

On the day of the dead when the year to dies.
Good Morning Boils and Ghouls and welcome to our last SPOOKY OCTOBER BLOG on Horror in RPG. I hope you all enjoyed our exsploartion of this aspect of our hobby?

Halloween is an interesting holiday,especially since it does not in fact Celebrate anything. We have this strange relationship with Halloween, we spend all this time,energy,effort and money on it as a group, yet individually we each have our own understanding of the holiday and why we celebrate it.

Though lets face it, we celebrate it for the candy.

Halloween has no one origin, it is a incoperation of several cultural events and celebrations that have all been mashed together. The actual origins of the evening date back to before the Roman Empire, while our modern version of the Holiday originated somewhere in the 50's and is the result of Candy companies trying to sell more candy.
The most interesting aspect of Halloween is that before the Romans it was considered the end of the Year, thus the whole “Day of the Dead when the Year to Dies” thing.

It was a celebration of the end of the summer, a successful harvest and as Summer became Winter it was the end of the Year as far as our ancestors believed.

Most of the things we associate with Halloween,Pumpkins,Candy, Masks, Ghosts also have very simple origins and have no association with anything Pagan or Evil.

The most well known aspect that dates back is the Ghost thing, as celebrated on November First with the Dios De' La Morte (SP?) celebration. As this was a time of endings and beginnings and of long dark nights our ancestors believed that on this night the spirits of the dead would return to visit them.Q This was not seen as a bad thing but as a celebration of there lives,they were welcomed into the home and food and drink was left out for them. As it was dark and the Dead have a horrible sens of directions, lights were set out so they could find there way home. Often these lights were placed in hallowed out gourds. The weight of the gored would prevent the candle from falling over,let the spirit know that there was food and warmth for them in the house and face it look pretty cool. (Plus you had to do something with the Squash after you took out all the good stuff)

So right there you have the beginnings of the “dead walk the earth” aspect of Halloween. Candles in Gourds (pumpkins) aspect and the giving food to the spirits (trice or treat).

The idea of giving food to the spirits at your door (trick or treat) most likely grew out of the previous idea of providing food for the dead(See above). It was believed by many cultures that these spirits might want to play tricks on there relatives and that other spirits might wish to harm the family.
Food was left out as a bribe to the more mischievous spirits in the hopes they would leave your house alone. Similar to Christmas carols some people would go visit there family and neighbors and partake of the free food. They would even knock on the door to demand the free food if it was not left out. If they did not get the free food they might preform a minor trick on the house, such as kicking over a light. Since they did not want any one to know it was them, they would often wear masks.

Masks and dressing up date back to the dawn of man's history. Shamans and warriors would wear masks and body paint for many reasons from hunting to religious ceremony's. In latter years masks would be parts of celebrations,theater,religion and crime. Any time someone did not want to be recognized or to play the part of someone else, a mask of some kind was used.

The darker and more sinister aspects of the holiday grew out of the general superstition during the dark ages and the holly roman Church desire to control people, and nothing controls the uneducated better then fear.

Now a days Halloween is, or at least should be about Children. AND CANDY. It is one of the few holidays despite all the mass media that is just for Kids. There is no historical or religious background to the holiday other then the mish mash of ritual;s and habits from the past. Take all that away though and it is about Kids and for kids. And the kid in all of us. AND CANDY.

Till next time enjoy the holidays in whatever forum you wish. Be safe,be sane and most of all Be excellent

Spokky October Blog # 4

Happy Halloween Boils and Ghouls and this time lets take a look at some of the Classic styles of Horror and the games that fit them.

The most classic style of Horror is the Passive Victims or “Idiots in a cabin” horror. Usually it is a group of very pretty but very stupid teens who think a good idea is spending the weekend in that creepy old cabin in the woods. This never ends well for them.

While many movies follow this story, few of the Horror games do. Most Horror RPG's use the second method.

Reactive Investigators This is the X-files stile of Horror. The heroes are members of a underfunded under prepared nebulous organization who go out and investigate something spooky after the fact. Spooky old Pirate ghost, lets go check it out.

Most horror games use the Investigator style of play. The heroes work for “Some government agency” or Privet agency and find out about something horrible and go invigilate it.

And I would have got away with it to if not for you meddling kids.

his style of RPG is reflected in most of the Horror Games. Resident Evil, Silent hill, X-files, Ghost busters, Hijinks,Chill, Call of Cathulu, beyond the supernatural,M20 Horror,Hunter, MIB, Zombi Hunters, Bruise 13, Stalking the night fantastic, The list goes on.

In games like COC you really have no chance to Win, you just survive and do your best to slow the eventual awful stuff. While in more active participation games like Chill or Burrow 13 you actually have the ability to beat the monsters and win.

But for how long, how long.

The third style of Horror RPG is still relatively new and that is the World Of darkness,Supernatural, Vampire Diaries games where not only are you in conflict with Horror you are actually members of the Spooky population. From sexy soulful vampires to conflicted werwolf’s and pouty angels. This style of game was made famous by the World Of darkness/Vampire the masquerade games.

The creations of Ann rice and the Urban fantasy movement of the late 80's would have had us embracing the dark rather then fearing it.

No longer were the monsters the bad guys, now they were the heroes. With there own morals,back story and reasons to adventure.

The world of darkness/vampire the masquerade games and there many clones portrayed our Nightmares as heroes, things to be proud of not afraid of. LARP became a word, story telling diceles role playing became a thing. These games flooded the market, though most of them did not survive past the early 2000's.

Even today people still argue Team Jacob or Team Edward Well all you children of the night, I'm sorry but I am and will always be TEAM BUFFY! Horrible evil monsters are not something to be embraced, there are to be hunted down and staked.

Except for SPIKE, because he was cool.

Speaking of Buffy, that brings us to the nest type of Horror RPG. Lets hunt them down and kill them.

Games like DELTA GREEN and BUFFY would have us play thew roles of active hunters of the dark. No longer were investigators underfunded and under prepared Now the Players knew the dark existed,where they were hiding and had the skills and weaponry to hand those meddiling vampires there candy ass.

Thankfully no RPG's have yet to embrace the SAW style of Torture Porn horror films and most of today’s Spooky Movies are variations of the Hunted cabin/Idiots in the woods story. As for Horror RPG's on the market today>

They are all Zombie related Everywhere you look the Zombies have invaded our RPG's At least once every 3 months a new Zombi Survival RPG arrives-only to quickly vanish.

Despite our love of being scared, we tend to not like being in a Scarey Role Playing games As of today only a few RPG's of the Horror type have any staying power. The never ending juggernaut of Storytelling RPG's that is the World of darkness Line and call of Cthulhu style games. We see a new Zombie game but they seem to not have the staying power, maybe Zombies are overdone and its time to move on.

Personally I think the next big wave of Horror will be a throw back to the 1950's. Science gone wrong horror (planet of the apes) and Kiju horror (Godzilla).

That said SHARKANEDO IS THE BEST MOVI EVER! And I can not wait to play the SHARKANADO RPG!

So Kids, what type of scarey story will you dust off this week for your Halloween RPG?

Whatever it is, stay safe-stay sane. Have fun this Halloween and above all

Unpleasant dremes-MUWHAHHAHAH

Haloween Blog # 3. Toomb of Horrors

Good evening Boils and ghouls and welcome to another Fright Day Night Blog on ransom topics relating to the Horror genera in our Hobby.

This week I wanted to take a look at what is pretty much considered the best,hardest and scariest module of all time. TOOMB OF HORROES.(Dun,dun,dunnnnn)

S1 The Tomb of Horror's. No one knows where it is located, no one has ever survived it yet everyone has herd of it? How is that a thing?

Having run this adventure in it's many incarnations and played through it multiple time and even survived it-Once! I can say that for pure terror and horror it is not that Scary. The main fear in Tomb of Horrors is that either One of the many Traps will end your characters life or more frightening take away your characters stuff. Since Death in D&D is pretty much like to cold in our world-You get over it ! There are just so many ways to bring a Dead character back to life in D&DF that Death really is not that big a deal, but the prospect of the dungeon taking away all your characters stuff(Which it has the possibility of doing) now that is the main Fear.

Tomb of Horrors though quite deadly is not that Scary, in that there are no insistence in the Adventure where you encounter any of the defined tropes of a Scary Movie/Book.

While many of the Puzzles and traps are brilliant and the adventure it self is one of the best written, there is no actual story to the dungeon. You never really get an explanation as to who the demi Lich was, what situations led him to chose a life of un-death and why he built the Dungeon in the First place. Just to test his cleverness against any One seeking his Treasure, well if that was the point then why did the Lich leave things in the Dungeon that could actually end his un-life? There just is not enough Explanation behind the Adventure and in order to be a Truly Scarey Scenario there has to be a Story that captures the imagination of the audience and presents them with an atmosphere where they willingly suspend there disbelief.

If the Tomb has a Horror counterpart it would most likely be the Saw franchise. Clever evil all powerful Lillian creates a series of clever (And often ridicules) puzzles and traps for his victims, but each trap can supposedly be escaped?

The Tomb and the rest of the S series have been often copied but never matched. Even some of the rewrites of the Tomb are not as good as the original. There is a reason why tomb of Horrors is so well known. It is perhaps one of TSR/Mr Gygax's best works and it certainly is One of the best modules of all time. Every person playing D&D/Pathfinder deserves a chance to go through this Module once.

Its an awesome, nail biting fun run but Scarey, in the way Saw is scarey? Again the main threat to the Module is that a Character can die or more importantly lose there stuff!

Since Death in D&D is not that big a threat, the main fear of this module is that it can take away the characters stuff. Now that’s a concept that is truly horrible.

So there you have it kids, a Halloween look at the greatest D&D module of all time, S1 The Tomb of Horrors.

Perhaps you will be the One to survive the Traps of the Tomb and end the Lich's threat?

Or perhaps you will just be another Victim?

Either way, have a great weekend and

Unpleasant dreams...MUWAHAHHAHHAHA!

Haloween Fright Night Post # 2

Friday Night Frights: Pt 2: Call of Cathulu.

Good evening Boils and ghouls and welcome to another Rocktober episode of Fright day, where we use the Halloween excuse to look at Horror in Role Playing-Or just Horrible Role playing!
HA, that never gets old!

Tonight we take a look at the enduring legacy of Call of Cathulu and the general fascination with the tentacle lord.

As I have said before, I am the rare Geek who is not a fan of Ol' Squid face, but the impact the Writings of Mr Lovecraft have had on Role Playing and media in general can not be overlooked. I often wonder as I stare at the Super cute Stuffed Cathulu if Mr Lovecraft had any idea the effect his writing would have on the World?

Not only has Cthulhu graced several games, movies, books, toys,television shows but he has influenced media in all it's forums. Hellboy?=Cthulhu. Japanese tentacle Anime? =Cathulu. The Davy Jones character from that Pirate movie?=Cthulhu. Green Ronin Games" Free Port"=Cathulu. That’s just a sampling of the things the dark elder god has graced over the years.'

Lets focus though on the actual game. The Plot of an average Call of Cthulhu game is something like this. Generate character, character investigates weird happenings,character goes insane.

The game has undergone several generations and changed ownership a few times and birthed several games such as Delta Green and something called Cathulutech, there is even a Cthulhu punk movement?

This is what the web has to say about the product as copied from Wikipedia.
 

For those grounded in the RPG tradition, the very first release of Call of Cthulhu created a brand new framework for table-top gaming. Rather than the traditional format established by Dungeons & Dragons, which often involved the characters wandering through caves or tunnels and fighting different types of monsters, Sandy Petersen introduced the concept of the Onion Skin: Interlocking layers of information and nested clues that lead the Player Characters from seemingly minor investigations into a missing person to discovering mind-numbingly awful, global conspiracies to destroy the world. Unlike its predecessor games, CoC assumed that most investigators would not survive, alive or sane, and that the only safe way to deal with the vast majority of nasty things described in the rule books was to run away. A well-run CoC campaign should engender a sense of foreboding and inevitable doom in its players. The style and setting of the game, in a relatively modern time period, created an emphasis on real-life settings, character research, and thinking one's way around trouble.
The first book of Call of Cthulhu adventures was Shadows of Yog-Sothoth. In this work, the characters come upon a secret society's foul plot to destroy mankind, and pursue it first near to home and then in a series of exotic locations. This template was to be followed in many subsequent campaigns, including Fungi from Yuggoth (later known as Curse of Cthulhu and Day of the Beast), Spawn of Azathoth, and possibly the most highly acclaimed, Masks of Nyarlathotep.[4] Many of these seem closer in tone to the pulp adventures of Indiana Jones than H. P. Lovecraft, but they are nonetheless beloved by many gamers.
Shadows of Yog-Sothoth is important not only because it represents the first published addition to the boxed first edition of Call of Cthulhu, but because its format defined a new way of approaching a campaign of linked RPG scenarios involving actual clues for the would-be detectives amongst the players to follow and link in order to uncover the dastardly plots afoot. Its format has been used by every other campaign-length Call of Cthulhu publication. The standard of CoC scenarios was well received by independent reviewers. The Asylum and Other Tales, a series of stand alone articles released in 1983, rated an overall 9/10 in Issue 47 of White Dwarf magazine.[5]

The standard of the included 'clue' material varies from scenario to scenario, but reached its zenith in the original boxed versions of the Masks of Nyarlathotep and Horror on the Orient Express campaigns. Inside these one could find matchbooks and business cards apparently defaced by non-player characters, newspaper cuttings and (in the case of Orient Express) period passports to which players could attach their photographs, bringing a Live Action Role Playing feel to a tabletop game. Indeed, during the period that these supplements were produced, third party campaign publishers strove to emulate the quality of the additional materials, often offering separately-priced 'deluxe' clue packages for their campaigns.

Additional milieu were provided by Chaosium with the release of Dreamlands, a boxed supplement containing additional rules needed for playing within the Lovecraft Dreamlands, a large map and a scenario booklet, and Cthulhu By Gaslight, another boxed set which moved the action from the 1920s to the 1890s.

Now while we can talk about the Horrible Horror of the unknown and how to run a successful game of this genera, what truly intrigues me is how Cthulhu public domain and why we are so fascinated by it that we make Stuffed Animals and Breakfast cereals with him on it? (ok I may have made that part up)

Again let us turn to the font of all wisdom, Wikipedia to explore the insidious way Squid boy has been licensed over the years.

1: Chaosium has licensed other publishers to create supplements using their rule system, notably including Delta Green by Pagan Publishing. Other licensees have included Miskatonic River Press, Theater of the Mind Enterprises, Triad Entertainment, Games Workshop,[7] Fantasy Flight Games, RAFM, Grenadier Models Inc. and Yog-Sothoth.com. These supplements may be set in different time frames or even different game universes from the original game

2:
Robert M. Price described, in his essay "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos," two stages in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first stage, termed the "Cthulhu Mythos proper" by Price, was formulated during Lovecraft's lifetime and was subject to his guidance. The second stage was guided by August Derleth who, in addition to publishing Lovecraft's stories after his death,[4] attempted to categorize and expand the Mythos.[5]

And if you want a COMPLETE LIST ? of everything those Tentacle have Touched. Try this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_in_popular_culture

Now as the full moon of October drifts over the Ocean and the white owl that lives in my Attic begins his nightly hunt, I leave you with this perplexing question. Just how did Cathulu become public domain? Because I cant find a actual answer, and if that is not intriguing enough there is always this to think on tonight as well.

What if the best way to invade the world was to make a joke of yourself? I mean it's hard to take the threat of a elder god of chaos and destruction seriously if you are looking at a super cute Stuffed Animal in his image, right?

And maybe that’s exactly what Cthulhu wants?

Unpleasant Dreams

October Horro RPG Blog # 1-Now with Candy Corn

FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS

October Horror Role Playing Blog # 1

Happy Fright day Boils and ghouls. All this month I will be taking a look at Horror Role Playing games...or maybe just some Horrible Role Playing Games...HA GET IT?
Anyway. Before I open up the vaults for any one specific Horror role Playing System, let's delve in to the Question of can you in fact run a Horror Scenario in a world where your Player's have Characters with “Super powers?”
Be it Spells,Future tech,or actual Super Powers your average beginning PC in a RPG is a cut above Joe Shepherd so, can you in fact run a Scenario that is scary for Guys who can cast spells or whatever?

For Example: I recently tempted to run a Hunted Mine scenario for a D&D game. I had all the Props,Dark twisting hallways. Weird chttering sounds. Strange shadows on the walls, Brief glimpses of glowing red eye's. Every thing I thought would evoke the sens of dread I wanted the PC's/Players to feel about this Mine. Which lasted all of 5 Seconds! Between the Wizards ability to cantrip Light Spells, the Cleric detecting evil, the Rogue with his perception the Frightening Haunted mine just became a standard throw down with some Kobolds because the PC's had changed the environment due to there “Super powers”.

So? What could I have done to make that scenario work? Sure I could have Railroaded the situation by telling them there “powers” are not working but that would have been unfair . I could have made them roll a few more dice rolls and just give them wrong answers, but anything I could have thought of was again quickly defeated by the fact that your Average First level PC is a Super powered machine. It's very hard to run a dark spooky hallway scene when the Wizard has the ability to create Light as often as he wants.

Several other articles and ideas on Horror scenarios suggest things like mood music (which I had), darkening the lights in the room (Which I did not do), banning Phones from the table (Which I need to start doing), saving throws vs fear, giving them wrong answers (which I did) but frankly my personal experience is that unless you are an amazing story teller it's just not possible to create a haunted house scenario for “Super powered” beings. I for One have never been able to run a successful Ghost story and I have tried, in fact in all my years of gaming I have only ever played in One spook story game that worked!

So, again what can you do? It's hard our players of today because we are Jaded, have watched a ton of scary films and are thus prepared and our PC's have an arsenal of Super Powers?

Add to that the fact that your average RPG player has seen a lot of Horror Films and has a vast amount of experience from previous games (both video and face to face)and unlike your average “Victim” in a scary movie is in fact SMART!

You don't see Joe first level fighter going down the stairs, alone,with out a weapon, in the dark, in his Jammies that often do you? Why? Because no logical sane person would do that!

No, your average person might freak out in a Scary situation in RL but us gamer/geeks have been training for stuff like this forever! A Geek/gamer would grab a weapon or five, a flash light or torch and either get out of the house or wait for the Killer and then whack him over the head with a bat. Am I right?

Frankly Kids, I don't know if you can run a Horror scenario in today’s jaded society. It has to be a agreed upon contract with the GM and players that the players are going to ATEMPT to suspend there disbelief, shut down there logical mind and be open to the idea that the scenario is a “Scary Movie.”

I'm not sure it can be done? We are to smart, to experienced, to aware that our PC's are for lack of a better name “Super Human”. At least I could not do it, not that I wont try again. I mean, you sort of have to run a Halloween Game in October right?

This is not a “how to “article, it is more of an open letter . How would you run a Horror scenario? What would you do in a situation like that?

That’s it Halloween fans! October blog # 1.

Tune in next Fright day when we review our first Horror RPG..Till next time.

UNPLEASEN DREAMS!!!!! Muahahahahah.

“Reach for the Sky” An evening of Savage Worlds .

On Thursday September 11, Several Players including my Self, Tristan Richter, Jake Rockwell and Two Others who's names I Sadly can not remember sat down with Writer/Artist and Game Master Andres Salazar at Seths Games and Anime for a game of SAVAGE WORLDS set in the world of His Graphic Novel PARIAH MISSOURI.

This is my review of the SAVAGE WORLDS GAME SYSTEM From Pinnacle Entertainment.

SAVAGE WORLDS is a small generic RPG, similar to GURPS or Q&D. It uses points to build the characters, has Advantages and disadvantages and several World Books in print ( including PARIAH MISSOURI).

That’s about where Savage Worlds and any other Generic System comparison ends, because Savage Worlds is a very unusual and excitingly weird game System that on paper sounds like a mess, but when you actually play it-Works, Brilliantly.

I have dabbled with the System on and off since it came out and for me to say that every Idea I came up with for a character I was able to make in Savage Worlds, well that’s quite a honer because I am a Notorious Harsh judge of Role Playing Systems.

Savage Worlds has several things about it that makes it stand out from other games.

Dice: This was the first thing about this system that confused me and at the time made me go “Why”. All characters start with a D4 in each stat and Skill, when ever you make a roll VS that whatever you roll a D4 (And if a PC may add a D6 wild dice, see below). You may spend your Build Points to raise the Stat to the next Die type. A Strength of D 4 can be raised to a Strength of D6. So now, every time your roll that Stat/Skill you roll a D6 (+D6) instead of a D4. You can continue to spend build points to raise stats/skills a Die type to the Maximum die type of D12.

The Idea behind this is, that the bigger the Die type the more likely you are to roll a 4 or Higher and 4 is the base Difficulty of all Stat and skill rolls.

Now I don’t do Math, so I have no idea if this theory is sound. From personal experience it seems I am far more likely to roll above a 4 on a D6 (+d6) then I am on a D12. At first I was very confused by this mechanic and felt, why not just 1d6 or Multiple D6's or some other mechanic then Increasing the Die you rolled?
Having played Savage Worlds though, despite my Fear of Math I have to say this strange Little mechanic works. Rather then bogging play down, it is very fast and easy to understand.

Raises. As mentioned above, whenever the Player rolls a Dice he/she gets to add a second D6 to the roll and use the Higher of the two. Should Either of those Dice max out (6 on a D6) then the player can roll that dice again. If that max's out then the rolls keep going till the Player ceases to roll a Max out.

A roll that’s 4 points over the target number is called a “raise.” If your hero needs a 4 to Shoot an opponent and rolls an 8 or higher, he hits with a raise!

A Raise, and every addition raise the Player might get increases the result of what you just rolled for. Extra damage, The possibility of a Critical Strike, pulling of an unbelievably lucky skill check and so on. This Raise mechanic allows Character to achieve truly heroic and cinematic results to there action.

Benny’s: Another Way this System adds a more Cinematic feel to the Scenario is its Benny’s Mechanic (For those who don’t know, “Bennie’s” is a slang term derived from “benefits.”) Every player starts each game session with three “Bennie’s,” gaming stones or other tokens that signify a little bit of good luck or fate.

A player can use a Benny to re roll any non Damage related die roll. You can even keep spending them until you get the Die roll result you want or you run out of Bennie’s! The Mechanic is a Reward, not a punishment in that it lets you take the best of your rolls. If your original roll is a 5, for example, and a Benny gets you a 4, you keep the original 5 instead.

Bennie’s are not saved up between games, you start each game with 3 but some Advantages may give you More or Less.

Don t worry though Game Masters, you get Beanies for your Villains/ NPC's as well. At the start of each session, the GM gets one Benny for each player character in the group, any Major NPC's also get an additional Two Bennie’s over and above the GM pool of 1 per player at table.

Between this rule and the Raise rule , combat and skill task resolutions can quickly become very exciting, heroic and cinematic.

Initiative/Ace's. Yet another interesting mechanic this RPG uses and a Homage to the original Deadlands rule set(before Savage Worlds Deadlands). Rather then using Dice to establish Order in Initiative, you have the preferred option of using a Deck of Cards. Not only does this method help the Game Master keep track of who's turn it is, it adds a extra dose of excitement to the Combat round.

The idea works as Follows, each Player is dealt a card from the Deck, while the Game master deals himself only One card.

The Game Master then counts down from the Ace to the Deuce, with each group resolving its actions when its card comes up. Ties are resolved in suit order: Spades are first, then Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs.

Now, A character who is dealt a Joker gets to go whenever he wants in a round, before anyone else or at any point later, including automatically interrupting another Players action if he wishes. In addition, the Player who drew the Joker adds +2 to all Skill made this round, and +2 to damage!

The Game Master must then reshuffle the deck after a Joker is dealt to any character .

When the Combat is over, all cards are returned to the Deck and the Deck is shuffled till next time it's needed.

Now yes, you can use Dice to determine Initiative but this way is just so cool.

There are lots of other bits and bobs in the system that are common to all generic Role Playing Systems like Advantages and Disadvantages and Powers, all of which can be gained via the Creation point' given to each Player. Nothing we have not seen before, but even those have a Gritty, Cinematic feel to them. It's the flavor of the whole game and it's many world books, including the “Weird West” world of Pariah Missouri.

I am not a fan of Point based Systems, it seems a lot of work for very little reward and they have a long history of being able to be broken , but then any system can be broken if you are clever enough.. So like I said when I first saw this game a few years ago I did not like it, the weird Multi Dice rule alone was enough to confuse me, yet I have played it time and time again and had a blast! Rather then being a determent, all the wacky rules in this game work to its advantage. It provides a fun,easy system that is very quick to learn and very open to adaptation to fit your ideas.

I look forward to seeing where the game goes in the next few years, and I highly recommend it-especially since the basic rule Book is like $10.00 and the Quick play PDF free rules are on the Savage Worlds Web Site.

On a Scale of One to Five I give Savage Worlds a 4 ½!

Special thanks to Writer/Artist Andres Salazar and his creation Pariah Missouri..

Many facts in this review were taken off the Savage Worlds web site and/or the PDF Quick Play Rules. Check em out at http://www.peginc.com/

Review: Dungeons and dragons 5th eddition. Icon's of the Realms Figgur Set

Review of: Dungeons and Dragons 5^th Edition. Icons of the realm Figure Set. Tyranny of Dragons First run.

Ok lets start with. I love toys, and I love plastic Figures for Role Playing. Sure I did the whole Mattel Mini thing and even painted some good ones. But I love toys and I love the Plastic Sculpts, mostly because I cant paint. I also love the versatility using plastic Figures provides. I can mix and match Toy Dinosaurs and Weird Stuff from the .99 Store with my Official figures and it works.

The previous sets of Official Dungeons and Dragons figures had some of my favorite Sculpts ever, and as the Current set was from Wiz Kids and was the Beginning of the Dungeons and Dragons 5^th Wave I expected some pretty Awesome figures.
After all the Red Dragon and Brass Dragon from the current run are amazing.

The Starter Box Costs about $16.00 and is large enough to Hold One Huge Figure, or a Big Figure and a few small ones or a Lot of small ones.

So with Child Like Glee at the prospect of New toys, I opened my Box to see that I had gotten

1 Pegasus Figure, one stand for said Pegasus but no way to attach Figure to stand.

One Creepy Smiling guy ,one Halfling and one-Well I'm not sure, I think its a Small Demon?

That’s it. $16.00 for 4 figures. No catalog poster of the Set, no Stat cards for the Figures or even explanations of what they are?

The Pegasus is Ok, but the fact they did not provide any way to attach it to the stand is a big let down. The other Three figures are-Well IMHO CRAP!

Weird Smiling guy? I have no clue, is this a Necromancer, a Witch or just some Creepy Old Guy who wants you meddling kids off his Lawn?

The halfling figure was ok in that I could tell what it was. Sculpt wise it was armature at best

As for the Grey lump of Plastic with vaguely Humanoid features? I guess its a Small Demon or a Homunculus, but I don’t know? As I said. No Stat cards, No Poster Showing the Figs Numbers and Names and if the name of the Creature is on the bottom of the Figure-I cant see it!

I am unbelievably disappointed in this first run, especially since the Dragon Sculpts are so Awesome.

I know Wiz Kids and WOTC can do better. I have seen them, but they better hurry up and improve the next run because the Figurines from Mage Knight and Pathfinder are Cheaper and better.

On a Scale of One to Five. I Give these a Two! Save your Sixteen Dollars kids, its better spent on Plastic figures from other sources or a bag of Plastic Dinosaurs from the .99 Store.

Till next time-Be excellent!

What the game World needs Now-An Opnion

Up on a Dice Box. An editorial/Opinion

I apologize to any one who is thinking of Publishing any RPG product this year but I do not believe the Market needs any more Offerings for Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons at this time.
Not only do an average of 200-300 Titles come out a Year world wide for D20, there are literally dozens of titles dating back to 3.5 OGL that are just gathering dust on the Shelf’s of your Local game Shop that could easily be used as Inspiration for a game of D20 Role Playing.

No I believe for something to make a Dent in the market right now, it has to be something DIFRENT.

It has to be this generations GURPS, this generations WORLD OF DARKNES, this Generations CYBERPUNK.

When GURPS came out the market place was an endless dessert of D20 Product, then along comes this simple Little GENERIC System and it changed everything. Within days everyone was playing GURPS and Loving the seamless Open Way it could be used to duplicate any type of Role Playing environment from Fantasy to Super Heroes. By the end of the Year there were Dozens of Generic system coming out and to this day the aftermath of GURPS can be felt with such game lines as FATE and SAVAGE WORLDS.

My love/hate relationship with GURPS is a well known story, but I can not argue the effect this game had on the market. Because it was something new and different!

I am a huge fan of the Short lived Cyberpunk genera from the Mid 80's. I wanted my future to be the dirty working Future of BLADE RUNNER and this genera was a perfect place to live out my Role Playing for a while.
R. Talsorin Games CYBERPUNK 2020 and its many fellow Cyberpunk games Were hugely popular and spun off many strange sub genres. Splatter Punk, Arcane Punk, Steam Punk, Diesel punk, Weird West, ETC.

Much like it's motto, Cyberpunk burnt out but for a while it was King of the Hill because it was new, different, exciting.

WORLD OF DARKNESS and its Main product line VAMPIRE THE MASQURADE is another example of a game that took the Idea of Elf’s and Dragons and tossed them out and embraced the rising popularity of Vampire Chic! Thanks to Ann Rice and her Lastat, Vampires were cool and this led to the sudden popularity of this Game System and pretty much birthed the LARP movement.

Remember the short lived TV show “Kindred,the Embrace” Would we have Sokki or Rachel or even Buffy if not for this game?

What the game World of 2014 needs is not more D20 OGL Product. Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5^th are fine, if you want to be successful in the game market today you need to change the Game. Alter the Paradigm, be aware of the hunger out there for something new and embrace it.

I don't know what it will be, but I know the market is ready!

So grab your Imagination, plug in to the net, create something amazing but most of all...Be Excellent!

A few of my favriot games

Gratings Fellow fans of Role Playing games and thank you for joining me on this Adventure through the RPG-verse (I just made up a word).

A Blog about Role Playing games would not be complete without the mandatory List of my Favorite Role Playing games and other such things.

Now let me remind you that this is just one man's opinion and you and I might disagree on something. I may find a product amazing and you may find it awful. You might think to your self “But Mike, what about this game....”. Again this is all Perception, in this case mine.

I am just here to educate you on things that I found worth speaking about, you might learn something new, you might agree with me, you might not. I might learn something from you?

That said. Lead on McGuffey

Dungeons and Dragons!
No list about Role Playing can not be complete, or even exists with out mentioning Dungeon and Dragons. It is the first and last word in Role Playing so Thank you D&D for opening this amazing world for all of us to play in.

Do I love Dungeons and Dragons. Yes. Do I play it, do I run it Yes. Do I think it's the best system ever? no.

Best Super Hero Role Playing Games.
The SHRPG genera is actually a lot larger then most people think, while you may only be aware of One or Two Super Hero RPG's there are in fact Dozens of Titles both serious and silly in this genera, dating back to the Birth of Role Playing( Superhero 2024). As for what I think is the best SHRPG.

 

Villains and Vigilantes. One of the oldest Super Hero games on the Market, I have been playing it since the 80's and it still amazes me to this day how this 34 page Simple game has been able to capture the feel of a Comic Book in a way very few other Games have. You can Play Super Powerful Flying Guy and Dark Vigilante Guy together and the system give each of them a Chance to Shine and truly captures the world of Super Heroes To this day still one of my all time Favorite Games and Systems.

Marvel SHRPG.
I am talking the Original Marvell Super Hero Role Playing game now, it had the best random Power Table ever (Stretching and ice powers). A percentile based game that used Words to describe the power level of a character You could have one Stat at Feeble and another at Extraordinary , as apposed to just having a 8 Strength and a 30 Intelligence The fact that powers could be Feeble, while often silly was able to create a world where some Super Powered individuals might have nothing more then the Ability to Boil Water but it worked. Marvel is full of Characters who's powers were, less then Stellar and yet they were as much fun to play as the Characters who could stand Toe to Toe with the Angry Green Guy.

Heroes Unlimited. The Palladium System is a generic RPG System that had it's beginnings in Fantasy and Super Heroes but latter branched out into Horror, Space and of Course its most famous product line RIFTS. It is an easy system to “break” and create truly Epic Character within, but the Systems makes very Little sens. I love Heroes Unlimited but it's very hard to make/convert characters within. I can make a Villain in V&V in under 10 Minutes, it can take an Hour to make one in HU! If the rules were just a Little bit more organized it Could have been an Amazing system, but because of its Flaws and ability to be broken it rates as 3^rd in my Top SHRPG.

The Best Science Fiction/ Space RPG

SF RPG's are the second oldest type of Role Playing and probably the second largest in Sheer Volume of product over the past 40 Years.

Sure there a LOTS of variations on the Theme “Science Fiction” but for the most part, you hear SF you think Space. Despite the popularity of the genre, very few have stood the test of time-Quick think of a SF RPG other then Star Wars/Star Trek? Yeah its hard isn’t it, there are other SF Games but it is very difficult to Compete with a RPG set in a Established Universe like Trek, Wars, Dr Who, Etc.

Traveler:

Often Imitated, but never duplicated. Traveler is one of the very First Space RPG's, it was very simple to learn-A character could fit on a 3X5 card and one of the only games where you could die during character creation. Its Character background Section would be the Grandfather for several other games that would feature a “Life path” section including D&D 5^th . I played a Lot of Traveler and it was a blast! It has been reborn several times, under various different Company, including Steve Jackson’s GURPS. Look for Traveler under its current 2014 Flagship at your Local game shop and take a Gander at one of the Oldest SF RPG's there is.

Raven Star

One of the best Little Sci Fi games you have probably never herd of. I stumbled across this game over 14 years ago in the back of a game Shop. It was a small press indie game, bare bones but just a amazing Little prize.

The game was sort of Shadowrun/Spelljamer in that it combined Sci Fi and fantasy, each fantastic race-Like elf’s- was an Alien Spices, there was a sort of “Magic “ System that had a very “use the Force” feel. I lost my only copy of this game about 10 years ago and am always looking for it. It was Shadowrun/Spelljamer as it should have been

Blue Planet

Another Small press Space Game. This hauntingly beautiful Ecological Story of a game imagined A galaxy where the Characters were explores of a “Water World”. If Sea quest DSV was a RPG, this was it. It was a very elegant game but it's actual rules system was clunky and it spent a Little to much time being “Protect the earth” preachy Still one of the best IMHO.

 Heavy Gear/ Jovian Chronicles

Another Little engine that could RPG that you have probably never herd of. Dream pod 9 has been around since the late 90's and has produced over 200 products for this “Real Robot” Anime inspired game. It combines Role Playing with a tactical Miniature Combat System. The Dream Pod 9 SiloCore System is a D6 system and is pretty damn good. I have always seen product for the game but never met any one who has actually played it. I recently acquired some of the Product and was blown away! What An Amazing story these guys have been telling!

Honorable Mention: Star Wars/Star Trek

Obviously we can not talk about Space games with out a Nod to Star Wars and Star trek. There have been several incarnations of each Franchise as the rights filter from one Company to another and a Star Wars/Star trek RPG has always been in some forum of print somewhere. We grew up on Star trek and any geek over the age of 15 has some connection to Star Wars, it was the movie that changed the world. No matter what version of the Games you find, no RPG library is complete with out One copy of Both games.

The Old West/ Weird West RPG.

There is nothing more American then the Wild West, sure we Love the Magic and the Elf’s and the Dragons, but the Old West is our Mythology, our History! That Said, You would think that Cowboys would be almost as popular as Elf's in our minds but for some reason the RPG's set in the Old West have never caught on.

As for the Weird West,that’s taking the Mythology of the Old West and adding the Steam Punk ideals and maybe some Magic.

Despite all this if you do a Search on line you come up with Two, though there are a few more.

 

Deadlands.

There are several things to Love about Deadlands. Technically a “Steam Punk/Weird west” game, the system was flexible enough that you could run it as either a “realistic Old West' game , a “Spaghetti Western”Old West game or a Full on “there are Zombies in the Mine” Old West Game.

The Original Deadlands RPG system used playing cards instead of Dice to determine the outcome of all things, adding to the amazing flavor and fun of the System. Deadlands has also been made into a D20 System and is currently part of the “Savage Worlds” game line. I love this game and it's system in all its generations.

Tombstone

A tinny, bare bones system, truly more of a tactical Miniature game then an actual RPG and yet there was something about it? One of those small, indie games that somehow managed to truly capture the Feel of a western in a RPG setting. I believe you can find a PDF of the system on line, small, fast, flexible Fun.

Boot Hill.

One of the Original Old West RPG's dating back to the very beginnings of our Hobby. It was a Realistic old west game where Cowboys fought bandits, saved the rail road and rode off into the sunset. As systems ok, it was a bit clunky but still fun to play. Truthfully, one for the history books but when going Gun to Sword against Dungeons and Dragons it came up, short.

Horror Role Playing Games.

There is a Reason why this Genera of Role Playing Games has such a Huge library, we love to be scared. Weather its the Lovecraft Terror of “he who shall not be named”. The Gothic and Sublime Horror of The Classics (Dracula ETC). The In your face Horror of Slasher films. The Goofy horror of Scobby Doo or the More bare Bones Street level Horror of Buffy, there is a RPG system for you.

Stalking the Night Fantastic/ Burro 13

Before there was X-Files, before there was Dresden, before there was Supernatural there was Burro 13. Like many other Small press Role Playing games STNF/Burro 13 has changed publishers more then once but it was one of the First Urban Arcana Horror games I ever played. The system was pretty easy and the Ideas were fun. Monsters did not have names in this Setting, they were classified as “Amorphous Blob #” and then a Number. So vampires were just “Amorphous Blob #12. “ I enjoyed everything about this system, it had feel and play style that reflected how Horror was viewed in the 80's.

Chill/Gothic.

Another Small Press RPG that changed Names and Publishers before vanishing from the Shelves. This was the game that chose to stray away from the Modern Sensibilities of the 80's and rather explore the older, classic style of Horror. Chill/Gothic was a very slow game and very well thought out, the combat system was a bit clunky and character creation was a Little confusing but the atmosphere the game tried to create more then made up for the rule set. By taking modern Horror back to its Victorian Black and White Roots it reminded you that Horror was not about the Guy in the Hockey mask trying to kill you, it was about atmosphere and story telling and Dracula.

It came from the Late, Late, Late Show

A Hilarious Send up of the Slasher films of the 80's. This small press RPG was written with the idea that the Characters “Knew” they were in a Slasher film and as such had to follow certain Rules like, always go downstairs, in your underwear, with out a flashlight and never say “ill be right back.” if the Movie Scream was a RPG, this would be it. Frightening one moment and hilarious the next, each Character had the ability to Once per game. Call in her Stunt Double, Have a hero Moment and Storm off Set, but you had to be careful when and how you used these powers because the GM could turn them against you in abused.

A fun, fast, amazing game system that embraced the fact that horror though frightening is also often Funny.

HIJINKS!

When the dark Rises, when the walls run red, when the monsters come out from under the bed. There is one name on the lips of all, one individual who will stand up against the Horror.! I of course mean Scobby- do.

Sooner or latter someone had to do a Saturday Morning Cartoon Mystery RPG and HIJINKS was the first I was made aware of and one of the best because it embraced this genera with the 3 Bowl of cereal love that all kids have for the Zany Adventures of those Meddling kids. It first was just a Mini Game inside a Dragon magazine but would latter appear as a Small indie game. Almost impossible to find, but if you do see it. Grab it. Put on your PJ's , grab a bowl of cereal and relive those wacky adventures

Delta Green

While most Horror Games operate under the assumption that only a few gifted/cursed individuals are aware of the “Things that go Bump In the Night”. Delta Green takes a more, logical view that after a while someone would notice that these things are out there and do something about it. In this case Delta Green is a RPG about the military taking the fight to the Monsters and Blowing them up! No mystical Mubo Jumbo, just good ol' Guns and Grenades!

Delta Green has appear under a few Publishers over the years, some used a Good RPG system other did not. I am unaware if the game is still in publication as I have not seen the product in quite a while, but if your like me and like the idea of the Military laying the smack down on those Vampires and Serial Killers then this is the game for you.

Buffy!

System wise the Buffy game, if you can find it is relatively a very good system that embraces the inherit TV quality of the Buffyvers and is a lot of fun to play. I loved the Simple Skill System of the Game.
There are other reasons why I love Buffy, but this is not the place to share them. Needles to say I consider the Show to be amazing and the RPG worth owning

 

Honorable Mention. Call of Cthulhu

I am the rare geek who is not a fan of Lovecraft, or the idea of a game where you can make a Character and then have him go insane in the first ten Minuets of the game. I honestly have never enjoyed playing a COC game (though I did like Delta Green) and I enjoy (And have written) Horror RPG's

COC has gone under so many incarnations and para-mutations due to the Public Domain nature of Lovecraft writings The Big Squid is everywhere and its hard to fear Cthulhu when you have seen the Plushy! Still the influence of Lovecraft on so many aspects of Fiction and Media and Role Playing can not be denied! (tentacle monsters anyone?) and the RPG maintains a die hard following and has had so many award winning products that you just can not talk about Horror with out talking about Lovecraft. Go Fighting Cephlopods!

Post Apocalypse.

It's the end of the World as we know it. While the 50's and 60's gave us Atomic Horror, the 70's and 80's gave us the desolation of mad max and other Horrors both Man made and fantastic. Post holocaust RPG's reflected the 1984 feel of the 80's. We had everything going for us and yet we were all awaiting the apocalypse that never came. While having a very large library of RPG's set in this genera, strangely enough most of them are More Arcane Punk/Weird War futures then just Nuclear Wastelands? Perhaps we wanted there to be some magic in our destruction?

The Marrow Project.

There is so much to say about this system and the fact it has withstood the test of time and still exists. Complicated and yet simple with some amazing ideas and of course it had the MARS-ONE which was just the Frelling cool. I could go on and on about how this game changed the shape of the beginnings of Role Playing , but I will just say it was Post Apocalypse Awesome!

Warp World

Warp World was one of the first Weird Wars games, it actually may predate RIFTS. It imagined that the Apocalypse would be more Super Natural then man made and that we would be having to deal with threats Both Nuclear and Weird. Plus it had ODIN as an NPC rock Star, I mean what a awesome idea? I pretty much loved every game that came out of BTRC's early days but this one holds a special honer because of the whole Odin/Rock Star Idea.

Other.

Face it I could do this for days,and I have not even touched on FANTASY (best for last). There are soooo many Role Playing genres that I just cant list every game I loved, so lets focus on the one's that stand out and I feel are truly important mile stones for our hobby?

R Talsorian Games Cyberpunk 2020

Not only is the INTERLOCK system one of the best gaming engines I ever used, this was the Cyberpunk game as far as I am concerned, it captured every aspect of the genera the way it should have be. True Steve Jackson games did get raided by the FBI when they put out GURPS Cyberpunk which is pretty cool, but Cyberpunk 2020 did it first and better! The fast, Violent combat system, the Live fast die pretty esthetics it was everything that was the 80's and the Cyberpunk Future we all wanted.

R Talsorin Games Teenagers From outer Space

There are a Lot of Generic Anime games that have come and gone, but TFOS which featured the Dumb Down version of what would become INTERLOCK captured the feel of Anime in a way that was truly original. Is BIG EYES /SMALL MOUTH a better Anime system? Well it lasted longer then TFOS but TFOS is as close to perfect a game System as I have ever seen and I constantly refer to it and INTERLOCK when I am designing a Game.

GURPS

I have a long standing Love/Hate relationship with GURPS but when it first came out it revolutionized the RPG market. A generic System? Well it had been done before but not as well as GURPS. GURPS was fresh, easy and exciting. It changed everything, soon everyone was jumping on the GENERIC system band Wagon and coming up with ways to create Multi genera worlds. Super Heroes, Giant Robots and elf’s all together! Wow. It was also a point based system which led to some very unusual ways to break . Like the fact you could be a vampire Horse for 0 points?

PARNOIA

Oh my god was this game just amazing, hilarious and so much fun. Everything about Paranoia was amazing, it took the ideas of Role Playing and turned them on there head by embracing the strange silly nature of our hobby. You were so busy having fun with this game that you did not mind when your Character died, after all you had 6 Clones waiting back for you in the vats

List goes on.....But now

FANTASY ROLE PLAYING.

We end where we began, with the genera that started it all. Sure people have been telling stories and playing “lets Pretend” for as long as history, but Gygax and company changed the world when they said “What if we had rules?”

Are any of us in this Hobby who did not get there RPG start with Dungeons and Dragons. Can you imagine the world of 2014 if we did not have D&D. World of War Craft? Nope, would not exist. Magic the Gathering-Gone. Big Bang Theory? Kit would be a Show on PBS. The list goes on and on and on. D&D has effected every aspect of life from Advertising to Movie making to cooking. It gave us a place to play and explore and discover the best versions of our selves that we could be.

So thanks guys.

Ars Magica

Ah, Ars Magica! What can I say about this game that has not already been said. Ever Watch the movie DRAGONSLAYER, imagine that as a RPG and you can begin to get the idea of how different and amazing this game was. I am not the only person who thinks that this was the best fantasy RPG ever made! Sadly things happen, games change as ownership and people change and the game that was became something else, still for a moment in time this was it-The game that got it right.

Record of Lodos War.

Ok not only is Record of Lodos War one of my favorite Fantasy Anime Series, but this Japanese version of D&D is awesome. It had everything our Dungeons and Dragons had but with a Japanese Anime flair that our Hobby so desperately needed in the early 80's. I am unaware if this has been Translated to English, but I had the ability to play it with my Japanese friend Tomoko a Long time ago!

Watch the Anime if you can, its a blast!

And so True believer we come to an end of me talking about stuff I like and why, from this point on these Posts will be less centered on my opinion and more about the History of Our hobby and various products and ideas that need reviewing or disusing and as always I am open to Suggestions and Ideas.

Now, as we put our dice away. I hope I have given you some fresh views into the amazing world of this Hobby that is almost 50 Years Old.

As for my finale BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME EVER!

Well its what ever RPG you are playing at the moment dear friend, that’s the best ONE ever because it is bringing YOU joy.

(though yeah TFOS is pretty damn close).

May all your games....BE EXCLENT!

• In addition, this is a link to a Almost complete list of Known, published Role Playing games. There are a few missing, but it's a good place to start.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_role-playing_games_by_genre

“Things that go Bump in the Night” is Copyright Michael L Straus/Tiki Joe games 2014.

Any and all products and individuals mentioned in this article are Copyright by there respective owners and I have not received permission to use them, rather I am using the names under the “Public Domain” rules with no intention of making any money off the use of the names.