Recommend Me an RPG

I can see myself having an “earthquake” mechanic where if nobody has pulled a block after 10 minutes, The Elder Gods made the table shake

Seriously, though, get with Hyacinth Games and get a copy of Wreck Age for review. The game is PHENOMENAL, their miniatures range is top notch, and they could use some press.

Baron:
www.gencon.com/event_finder?search=wreck+age

If you’ll be at GenCon, you can join the event, thereby giving you material for the article without having to learn it yourself

SuperflyTNT wrote: Seriously, though, get with Hyacinth Games and get a copy of Wreck Age for review. The game is PHENOMENAL, their miniatures range is top notch, and they could use some press.

Seems pretty dang cool, I'm gonna look into it.

MattDP wrote: I enjoyed it enough to buy the author's rather more serious effort Spire, a game about fomenting rebellion in an oppressive elvish society. I haven't played this yet, and it's certainly not one-shot, but the imagination in the setting is incredible. It's worth buying for the fluff alone.

I've had my eye on this one for a while, seems very cool, but the price tag's been just a little too hefty for me to buy in. I know that fifty bucks isn't an insane price for an RPG, but with tons of other great games available for less it's hard to pull the trigger.

Weird, I was just looking at Spire today after seeing it recommended on an off-site thread about “best RPGs for pleasure reading.” Agree that it looks super interesting but looks overpriced.

Anyway, to the OP, I will second the recommendation for Burning Wheel and recommend its related game Mouse Guard.

I also like The Quiet Year, Contenders, Mutant: Year Zero, and the One Ring. On my phone so I can’t be wordy right now but I’ll try to follow up later.

This thread's a little old so you may not need this info any more, but we got into Eternity RPG because it has no DM and has a big focus on group storytelling. There's great combat mechanics as well, which is big for me. But it's something you may want to look into: aeturnumgaming.com/

I just grabbed World Wide Wrestling and I am just dying to play it.

It’s an Apocalypse World game (a system that seems pretty hard to go wrong with in my experience) that follows the lives of professional wrestlers in the ring and in and off the camera, as well as the promotion itself. There are of course matches, which is unique in itself because you’ll often have players fighting each other. While the matches are happening, a player not involved becomes the announcer and runs commentary on what’s happening in the ring, which is just a brilliant touch. This being professional wrestling, the outcomes of the matches are predetermined by the GM, but the players aren’t told who wins until the match is almost over, keeping them working to be entertaining. This is key, because in addition to players wanting to tell an entertaining story for their friends, in the game they are trying to win popularity with the Imaginary Viewing Audience, which kinda sorta fills in for XP. This being an ApocWorld game, however, things don’t always go as planned and complications happen and the GM has to swerve to keep things on track and make it look like that was the plan the whole time.

I’ve gone through several phases in life where I’m really into pro wrestling, but it’s safe to say that I’m a fan and I’m always pleased to see the theme represented in gaming. But man, the decisions made here to fit it into the framework of a RPG just feel so pitch perfect.

I am currently obsessing on FORBIDDEN LANDS.

It uses the same basic system as MUTANT YEAR ZERO but is all about fantasy hex crawls with ambiguous protagonists.

I did a read-through of the players book here:
rpggeek.com/thread/2116973/lets-read-for...nds-players-handbook

I've had my eye on Into the Odd for awhile, but I'm neck deep into Dming a D&D campaign right now. Which I am surprised to report that I am really enjoying. maybe we'll take a summer break and try something different.

dysjunct wrote: I am currently obsessing on FORBIDDEN LANDS.

It uses the same basic system as MUTANT YEAR ZERO but is all about fantasy hex crawls with ambiguous protagonists.

I did a read-through of the players book here:
rpggeek.com/thread/2116973/lets-read-for...nds-players-handbook

I would love to hear a comparison of Forbidden Lands to DCC hex crawl. I am familiar with their D6 system from Tales from the Loop. What are the unique or specific perks?

Da Bid Dabid wrote:

dysjunct wrote: I am currently obsessing on FORBIDDEN LANDS.

It uses the same basic system as MUTANT YEAR ZERO but is all about fantasy hex crawls with ambiguous protagonists.

I did a read-through of the players book here:
rpggeek.com/thread/2116973/lets-read-for...nds-players-handbook

I would love to hear a comparison of Forbidden Lands to DCC hex crawl. I am familiar with their D6 system from Tales from the Loop. What are the unique or specific perks?

So DCC is pretty traditional and very rules-light. Which is fine, it's not called "Hexcrawl Classics" after all. The overland journey rules are all of about 10 pages and half of that is art. There are only two mechanics: a table listing various forms of transportation and their speeds in both miles/hour and miles/day. The rest is a lot of folksy prose about how dangerous and uncertain travel is in a medieval world. The equipment list has a price for daily rations but everything else is up to the GM.

FL's journey system is a lot more involved. There's a large map of the setting, at a scale of 1 hex = 10 km. The day is divided up into four Quarter-Days of six hours each, Morning, Day, Evening, and Night. For each QD you choose what you are going to do from a discrete list of actions:

1. HIKE. Do this if you want to move across the map. In open terrain this lets you move 2 hexes per QD, 3 if mounted. In difficult terrain (mountains, swamps, dense forest, etc.) it's 1 hex per QD, mounted or not.
2. LEAD THE WAY. If you're hiking, one person also does this. They make a skill check to travel safely; failure means roll on an amusing table for a mishap.
3. KEEP WATCH. Can be done while hiking. Watcher gets a skill check to spot potential trouble before it gets the drop on you.
4. FORAGE. Skill check to find edible plants.
5. HUNT. Skill check to take down a deer or other game animal.
6. FISH.
7. MAKE CAMP.
8. REST. Recover from injuries and/or spend XP.
9. SLEEP. Have to do this for at least one of the QDs.
10. EXPLORE. Go into a village, dungeon, castle, or other site and check it out.

All of those except Rest and Sleep have an associated skill check with a custom mishap table if you fail. Results range from mildly annoying (party is harassed by a swarm of mosquitos) to potentially deadly (a gust of wind blows your campfire out of control and all your tents are burning). The terrain in the hex modifies many of the skill checks -- very hard to forage for edible plants in the mountains, much easier in a forest, etc.

GM rolls for a random encounter once per QD if you're on the move, or once per day if you are sheltering in place and laying low. The GM's guide has a whole bunch of random encounters with a varying likelihood based on terrain. The encounters are all very well done, nothing like "20d6 bandits" but varied, interesting, and creative opportunities to reinforce the flavor of the setting.

I dig it; it's not just a mechanical exercise but has lots of ways to create narrative and give characters a chance to show what they're made of through how they engage with the events that spin out of traveling.

Is Shadowrun: Anarchy the easy-to-play SR game it's billed as? Is it a stand alone book or a supplement to the core rules? Is it compatible with SR adventures/modules or only SR:Anarchy specific product?

Is it any good?

For people who are interested in trying new RPGs that are easy to learn but mechanically deep, you might check out Eternity RPG. It's a GM-less game that can be played solo (for you busy people who don't always get to meet with your gaming group), and can be played in quick 5-10 minute sessions. It's also great for gaming groups. Eternity's the only game our group has been playing for the last year or so. Having no GM has been a huge switch for us (I always used to GM and people still sort of look to me in that manner), but the storytelling has been way improved with everyone contributing. aeturnumgaming.com/

Hope you guys enjoy!