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TheTome /
BuyingDilemmaYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. solvedd@vid May 22 2003like a gordian knot sliced by the fiery sword of truth, justice and the eskimo way, the BuyingDilemma is solved I'm getting Sorcerer (inevitable, though I really want the supplements, but they're useless without the original, but anyway, guess I'll just buy em one a year or something) and Universalis (in time for our HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix? launch, hopefully, yay roleplaying for kiddies with parents with money! hopefully there will be a copy left for me to buy, otherwise I guess I'll just order some more :) Story Engine and Riddle (see ReviewOfRiddleOfSteel) are well worth a look -- so many games, so little money (but, just to point out, there is a trove of free games out there in el Internetino, some of which are reallyreallyreally good, there is no need to bow to consumerism; if you're looking for a free mindblowing RPG experience, off the top of my head I would recommend ThePool? or TheWorldTheFleshAndTheDevil?, both listed at TheForge) backgroundI have never, actually, bought or owned real roleplaying stuff for myself before, and last year and this used my awesome bookstore powers only to order comix stuff; a sad state of affairs, I'm sure you'll agree well, hell, I'm commiting myself to buying something this year, the question now is... what? suggestions are requested; note that I am only interested in exciting breakthrough kinda stuff, so games like GURPS and GOO are out, as are variants of traditional games ala Storyteller variants, d20-anything; and of course, no duplication of anything somebody already owns (that's what borrowing/swopping is for ;) add suggestions, web references or comments on suggestions d@vid d@vid May 14 2003shortlist seems to be sorcerer & universalis; anyone got suggestions that blow them out of the water? TravisCasey May 15 2003Those two would be very hard to "blow out of the water." :-) I'd note that Donjon's base mechanics are very similar to Sorcerer (same die-rolling mechanics, concept of "rolling over successes" is shared by both). A couple of interesting games that you didn't mention below: ]] from Hubris Games is one of the inspirations for Universalis. It has similar mechanics for deciding struggles and shares the idea of describing things with "traits", but is closer to a "traditional" RPG -- there's a GM, players have characters. ]] from DriftWood? publishing has an interesting detailed combat system and a "build-your-own-spells" magic system. It combines gritty fantasy with powerful magic, plus mechanics which make character development depend more on achieving character goals (like "avenge my dead brother" or "keep my love safe") than on killing things and taking their treasure. De ProfundisCall of Cthulhu play by mail web references: http://www.hogshead.demon.co.uk/NS_deprofundis.htm d@vid] May 11 2003haven't heard much else about it, but "CoC? pbm" is enough for me! any good reviews please let me know TravisCasey May 12 2003I got it about a year ago now. It's a good read, but it should be noted that it's almost purely a "here's ideas on how to play this way" sort of thing. There's basically no rules given whatsoever, just thoughts on how to maintain a Lovecraftian atmosphere. d@vid May 14had a look at the hogshead site and linked reviews; definitely not what I originally thought (play by yourself by mail), so maybe I'll pass for now (cool, but I don't see myself using it) DonjonPDF format deconstructing D&D game, focusing on making-stuff-up-on-the-fly web references: http://www.anvilwerks.com/docs/donjon/ http://www.indie-rpgs.com/reviews/29/ d@vid May 11 2003sounds awesome, relatively cheap, no physical book, though (not a huge worry for me) d@vid May 14 2003it is awesome, oh the pdf dilemma Sorcererdemon summoning magic users, awesome GMing? tools, open setting (defaults to modern day) web references: http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/ d@vid] May 11 2003the even awesomer GMing? tools are only in the first supplement (Sorcerer & Soul), which means committing to Sorcerer only; not sure if I'd really want to run a Sorcerer game though, sustained dark and gritty isn't really me TravisCasey May 12 2003Both the supplements (Sorcerer & Sword and Sorcerer & Soul) are very good. The "GMing? tools" in &Soul don't really require you to have Sorcerer, and they're applicable to any sort of game, really. &Sword also has some very good GMing? advice, and again, you don't really need Sorcerer to make use of it. d@vid May 14 2003actually read the site in detail, see the apprentice version, it is cool! must... buy... sorcerer... I'll just get the supplements later Universalisspend points to create story elements, to have story elements do things, to make stories happen web references: http://universalis.actionroll.com/ d@vid] May 11 2003sounds better than it sounds (er), would anyone else want to play it? TravisCasey May 12 2003I've gotten to play it semi-live once on the #indierpgs IRC channel, started to play in the Universalis Wiki game (at http://www.eschatek.com/tiki/). I'd like to get to play it more -- I definitely like the concept, and the way it can play out in live play. d@vid May 14 2003"exciting breakthrough kinda stuff", nuff said! |