Seek the Wolf in Thyself!
SYSTEM: Call of Cthulhu 7e DATE: 2017-01-28 I was not entirely satisfied with the way this one went. Maybe I needed more prep time but the group never got to a point that made them want to stay on board and investigate everything. Or perhaps I gave out too much up front, but by the time…
SYSTEM: Call of Cthulhu 7e Cool little adventure that is very similar to the one I ran in generic modern Savage Worlds. This one had a cool monster that only a few characters can see. The central premise is to hunt down this monster and figure out why some can see and others can’t. It…
Tunse’al Quick Starts & Side Tracks is one of the lower quality items from the 2013 Free RPG day, but it takes advantage of one of the more popular and fun generic systems on the market. It is apparently a Kickstarter setting. By now, they have released a few PDF products on RPGNow or DriveThruRPG.
Free RPG Day: Dungeon Crawl Classics & XCrawl is a new Free RPG Day Adventure Booklet from Goodman Games. One of the more surprising things about this year’s Free RPG Day was the amount of free full size books it contained. One of those books was the complete Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG core rulebook, which is no small book. That book is reviewed separately on this web site. I only mention that because this booklet – Free RPG Day: Dungeon Crawl Classics & XCrawl – contains no rules and in fact contains adventures for two separate settings.
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Shadows of a Black Sun is a new Free RPG Day Adventure from Fantasy Flight Games. Within the Star Wars community, few things, short of the Disney purchase of Lucas Films and the impending release of Star Wars VII, have had more buzz than the release of the new RPG by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Back in 2011 when FFG obtained the license after Wizards of the Coast dropped it, I was skeptical. I personally went through a long phase of my life with various versions of the Star Wars role playing game – from d6 to d20 – over several campaigns. However, thanks to the prequels, my Star Wars fandom was severely diminished and I stopped running Star Wars games all together, selling everything I had.
Hall of Bones (Free RPG Day) is a new Swords & Wizardry Free RPG Day Adventure from Frog God Games. The old school movement continues with another entry into the mix that I had not heard of before – Swords & Wizardry RPG. This is not to say these guys are brand new to the market – it’s just new to me. Their Free RPG Day offering is the Hall of Bones, and it contains all you need to run and play it.
Castles & Crusades: A Pot of Broken Bones (& Halfing Broth) is a new Free RPG Day Adventure from Troll Lord Games. One of the more surprising things about this year’s Free RPG Day was the amount of free full size books it contained. One of those books was the Castles & Crusades Player’s Handbook. Although this is not a review of that, I wanted to say that unlike other Free RPG Day products, A Pot of Broken Bones (& Halfing Broth) does not contain the rules to play the game. This is a full adventure. I assume the intent was that the store owner would give whatever GM ran this adventure in his store the Player’s Handbook to get familiar with the game system.
Since the inception of the d20 OGL, there have been a plethora of d20 games, supplements, variances and retooled rule-sets. Few have survived since 4th edition D&D arrived on the scene and d20 evolved into the Pathfinder flavor. Castle & Crusades has been one of the few with staying power.
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Preview Pack is a new Free RPG Day Preview Pack from Flying Buffalo Inc. I have to admit that I have heard of Tunnels & Trolls in passing but never really been exposed to it. I have not heard good or bad about it. I am going into this completely unfettered and new to this game. I think that is what is intended for any of these Free RPG Day adventures, isn’t it? Also, in the Free RPG Day bundle, there are three games represented that I would say were vying for the 3rd or 4th place in the fantasy RPG industry – and maybe even second place since D&D has seen such a great decline – Tunnels & Trolls, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Castles & Crusades. Having little to no experience with any of these, I truly wanted to see which one(s) stood out to me.
There is a local gaming store that actively supports my efforts in area cons and the Charlotte area gaming community. I met Ryan when he wanted to run Warmachine demos for one of my MACE events. He now runs Above Board Games (ABG) in Fort Mill, SC, one of the best gaming stores in the area. Every year, Ryan buys at least one packet for the Free RPG Day and even though something always seems to prevent me from participating, he still gives me the leftovers from what he bought – which is usually a lot, unfortunately. I use it to give these leftovers out as door prizes and SWAG to my GMs at MACE and other events (depending on how long it lasts), which they do appreciate. I really try to give a little extra to my GMs but with my limited budget and limited donations it’s not always a lot.