Games I am excited about: 2018 Edition

Yes, I am easily excited. There are a lot of gamers who are wary of new things, who stick to their old and well-tread ways, but I am not one of those. I love new games. If I could I’d get a new game every day. Leafing through a new rulebook makes me excited about all the games I could run with it. Sure, most of the time, the book ends up on the shelf unused, but if I got at least some excitement out of it, the purchase was IMHO not wasted. And you can always come back to a game later.

2018 is still young, but I thought this might be the right time to talk about a couple of games I am looking forward to. Let’s start which was actually funded on Kickstarter last year: Forbidden Lands.

Forbidden Lands
Forbidden Lands is the latest game created by the people behind Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis and Tales from the Loop. This time around it’s a fantasy roleplaying game designed with sandbox play in mind. The Forbidden Lands are actually said sandbox where the players can explore countless locations, fight the bad guys, make a name for themselves and build their stronghold. It seems like the perfect combination between everything which makes MY:0 great (check out my review!) and a classic fantasy world. Recently the first three chapters of the rules have been released to backers in English (the Swedish version is almost done), but hopefully the complete package will be available in the early months of 2018.

The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Last year Green Ronin announced that they have secured the license to create a roleplaying game based on the popular book series (and TV show) by James S.A. Corey. If you are at least remotely interested in Science Fiction you definitely should check out the books or the show. I could now add paragraph upon paragraph why I love the series, but this would be way beyond the scope of this article. Let’s just say that it was a breath of fresh air, because of its believable world and characters, and the fact that the authors really cared about the underlying science of space travel (aside from a few aspects like the super-efficient Epstein drive).
Green Ronin is going to use it’s Fantasy Age ruleset adapted to science fiction, which will probably a variant of their upcoming Modern Age game. I have to admit I am a bit skeptic if these rules are really a good fit for a science fiction setting, but I am still looking forward to this release. Even if the rules are not to my liking, the corebook and any sourcebooks will probably worth it for the background alone!

John Carter of Mars
Modiphius is currently raising funds for the production of a roleplaying game based on a streamlined version of their 2d20 system set into the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ book series. I wouldn’t call myself a huge John Carter fan, but I’ve read and enjoyed the first book of the series and I totally loved the 2012 movie. It’s a shame there will never be a sequel.
John Carter of Mars sounds like it could be a very fun game. Barsoom is a great setting for adventure stories and planetary romance is a genre we don’t see that often in roleplaying games nowadays. The 2d20 system is solid, if a little slow at times, but the more streamlined version used in John Carter might do the trick. Modiphius also has a pretty good track record when it comes to Kickstarters, so I was not surprised that the goal was hit in no time and it seems they hit a new stretch goal every other day. Exciting!

These are three upcoming games I am excited about! What are you looking forward to? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!