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Best & Worst of Gaming 2009 [Part 4]

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 06-01-2010

Category : D&D4e, Just my two cents, Legacy D&D, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG, Random musings, Savage Worlds, WHFRP

So, this is the last part of my look back at 2009. I won’t bore you with stories from the past from now on, because we live in the future now!
Thanks again for Zach from RPG Blog II, who had posted his “Best & Worst of Gaming 2009” series in December. Ok, without further ado, let’s look at the last categories:

Worst Trend

The notion that ”RPGs have to become more like boardgames/videogames/MMOs/etc.” is the worst trend of 2009. Of course, this idea has been around quite some time, but it again reared its ugly head in the last year. With its powercards, battlemaps and miniature combat D&D 4th Edition already is pretty boardgamey [1], but FFG really managed to overdo it IMHO with the 3rd edition of Warhammer FRP: custom dice, a lot of cardboard thingies, only 3 players plus one GM can play the core game. I prefer a classic game, where I just need the rules, pen, paper and dice to play. What’s so wrong about that?

Trend I Hope To See In 2010

More boxed sets! I have to fully agree with Zach on this. I am especially excited about the upcoming Dragon Age boxed set, that I preordered quite a while ago. But the recently released Doctor Who boxed set looks pretty cool, too. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia, but I always liked the old AD&D campaign setting boxed sets. And I believe the boxed set format is the best way to get new people into the hobby.

Product Of The Year

Savage Worlds Explorers Edition There are so many great products, it really is hard to pick any one of them. Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG is a strong contender (although I don’t own it myself), but from what I’ve seen, it’ would be worthy of being PotY. My second idea was Dragon Age by Green Ronin. Ok, it’s only out as PDF, yet, with the boxed set to come hopefully soon, but I’ve already fallen in love with it’s old-school charm.
But in the end I went with “Savage Worlds” by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Shane Hensley’s RPG is not exactly new. Even the latest edition, the “Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition” was released in October 2007, but for me, 2009 was a great year for Savage Worlds. Interest in the game rose all over the blogosphere and a lot of great settings, supplements and adventures for SW have been released last year.
And when you consider that the SWEE which contains all the rules you need to play in almost any campaign sets you back mere $10, then it’s obvious why SW is still product of the year for me.

That concludes the series. I hope you had a great year 2009 and I wish you a much better year 2010! Take care everyone. And now back to our regular program!

1 – I don’t want to bash D&D 4th Edition here, I just used it as a popular example, there are many other games guilty of needing too many gimmicks during combat, like my beloved Savage Worlds (which uses “bennies” (poker chips, glass beads, etc.) and poker cards for initiative). So please don’t start another Edition War in the comments. Thank you.

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Cyberpunk!

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 26-11-2009

Category : Fluff/Inspiration, Other Systems, RPG, Random musings, Savage Worlds

Inspired by Triple Ace Games’ cyberpunk rules I would love to write a Cyberpunk setting of my own, but alas I can’t decide what kind of setting I would prefer.

First off, there’s classic cyberpunk like the world presented in William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer or in the Cyberpunk 2020 game. I could also add in some Japanese influences. Anime like Ghost in a Shell, Appleseed and perhaps even Bubblegum Crisis come to mind.

There’s also always the possibility to go the Shadowrun route and add some supernatural influences as well. If you want to give it a more grim and gritty feel some lovecraftian influences might work.

The only things I am sure about is that my campaign should focus on a single urban metroplex and that I want to use Savage Worlds rules. Aside from that everything else is pretty much open for debate. I want to focus on one big city because it’s much easier to design an interesting city than to create a whole world. And especially Cyberpunk campaigns usually are set into a city or the sprawl surrounding it. If needed I can always work out the details on other places when the need arises.

When I start working on this setting, I will post my thoughts right here on the blog. So if you have some ideas on what you would incorporate into the design let me know. Good ideas are always appreciated.

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Freebie: Daring Tales of the Sprawl Cyberpunk rules

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 24-11-2009

Category : Freebies, Other Systems, RPG, Savage Worlds

In October Triple Ace Games released a free cyberpunk rules supplement for Savage Worlds that is intended to be used with their “Daring Tales of the Sprawls” adventure line. But from what I’ve seen the rules can easily be used in any Cyberpunk setting.

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So if you want to run any cyberpunk game using the Savage Worlds rules, you should have a look at TAG’s 15-paged free PDF. On the website you also find a couple of pregenerated characters (two Street Samurai, one Hacker and one Driver) and a blank character sheet to create your own Cyberpunk heroes.

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Confessions of a lazy GM

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 11-11-2009

Category : Advice, Gumshoe System, Other Systems, RPG, Random musings, Savage Worlds

A Dungeon Master, but probably not of the lazy variety. I am a very lazy when it comes to preparing roleplaying sessions. When other GMs plan and prepare for weeks I usually make some preparations just mere hours before I start running a game. Sometimes I don’t prepare at all, hoping that my improvisation skills save the day. If everything else fails, a nice tavern brawl keeps the players occupied for long enough to give me some time to make up something in the back of my head.

Of course this doesn’t work in every game. I am currently running a Savage Worlds game using the Rippers plot point campaign. And if you ask me, SW is perfect for the lazy GM, especially when you use it to run any of the plot point campaigns. In most cases you sit down at the table, read the next plot point description and the rest is done by hand waving.

You have to be thinking on your feet all the time, making up NPCs on the spot and coming up with encounters on the spot is vital for the lazy GM. And alas this doesn’t work in every game. You should never try to run an investigative game that way. It just doesn’t work. Ok, if you have read every murder mystery novel on the planet you may be able to pull it off, but in most cases it’s near impossible to be successfully lazy when investigative games are concerned.

But especially when you and your players favor action over complicated stories, you can easily have a lot of fun without hours of preparation. And being a lazy GM although helps you in well-prepared games or when you are running and commercial module. When things go awry, you can always rely on your improvisation skills, that you have trained while being the lazy GM, to save the day.

There’s even a reason why being a lazy GM can also improve your game. Some GMs tend to meticulously plan their adventures which may lead to the focus being shifted from the players and their characters to the background story and the NPCs. If you don’t plan ahead you usually rely on your players to drive the action while you improvise on the spot.

Recently my group asked me to run “Trail of Cthulhu” on New Year’s Eve. I fear I will have to do some preparation for this session after all. As I wrote before, it’s extremely hard to pull off a great investigative game without some preparation. But in the long run I will probably always be a lazy GM.

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Necessary Evil

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 22-10-2009

Category : News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG, Reviews & First Looks, Savage Worlds

Necessary Evil Explorer's Edition The Savage Worlds game is not only known for its fast, furious and fun game play but also for the unique settings. Some of those settings may look quite ordinary on the first look but most of them have a least a certain twist that makes them different. One of those settings is Necessary Evil.

On the first look, NE looks like any other superhero background. There a super powered humans with flashy costumes, evil alien invaders, an iconic city where most of the action happens and all the other trappings of superhero comics. But on the second look you notice that things are not as you might expect them. The most obvious twist is that almost all superheroes have been killed during an alien invasion and now the super villains have to save the day! The former bane of humanity has formed small cells of resistance fighters that use their superhuman abilities to fight the alien invaders.

The Plot Point Campaign in NE sheds some light on some secrets of the NE universe and contains some more surprises, but I don’t want to spoil anything here. But it’s pretty obvious that the world of Necessary Evil is not your father’s superhero comic world.

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Lazy Friday Video Post: Game Geeks #122

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 16-10-2009

Category : News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG, Savage Worlds, Video

It has really been a busy week and as you may have noticed I haven’t posted as regularly as usual. This lazy friday video post is featuring the latest episode of Game Geeks. This time Kurt Wiegel presents “Legends of Steel”, a Savage Worlds game by Evil DM Productions.Enjoy!