Seek the Wolf in Thyself!
Pathfinder: Ultimate Equipment is a new RPG Supplement from Paizo Publishing. I chose to do this review a little differently. I wanted to get a wide range of opinions on the voluminous book and so I let several of my gaming group borrow the book and write a short review on it. So this review is from a gaming group’s perspective – GM and individual players. Each player has their own gaming styles and preferences but all are at least 30 years old and most are closer to or older than 40.
Talisman: The City is a new Board Game Expansion from Fantasy Flight Games. Talisman City was one of the classic expansions put out for 2nd edition back in the day. Originally it had some very innovative additions to Talisman and we always played the game with it. When I saw this expansion for Talisman, I was curious how Fantasy Flight had changed it.
Subsector Sourcebook 1: Cascadia is a conglomeration of work, merging previously released work done in a PDF series called Quick Worlds with a lot of original material. Gypsy Knights continues to impress me with their quality work. This handsome book presents a series of believable systems in a 8×10 hex subsector map (a Traveller standard). These systems can be inserted into an existing Traveller campaign, used as the center of a new campaign, and even used in another system or setting with a few twists.
Much anticipation surrounded the much fabled Fading Suns 3rd edition, at least in the circles of Fading Suns fans. Unfortunately, due to many difficult situations, 3rd edition never really made it to fruition. Instead a “revised edition” was released with fewer changes to the core system and a new approach to the format of the core rulebooks.
According to the publisher, the goal of the new edition was not to make past published material obsolete but streamline the system while maintaining compatibility. I say up front, I was not the biggest fan of the Victory Point system. In so many words, it was anti-player to me. Perhaps they did not want the players rolling skills as often as I did but I wanted my players to have a sense of accomplishment and most that played the VP system did not get that out of it. My hope with any new VP system was to make it more player friendly and fun to play.
21 Plots Too is a sequel to Gypsy Knights Games’ very creative and inspiring 21 Plots. In much the same way as 21 Plots presented you with plot ideas, 21 Plots Too does as well. The supplement presents several plots around patrons encountering a party with a starship. While 21 Plots had a few fairly eccentric and unconventional plot ideas, 21 Plots Too seems to have a few more.
I stumbled across this RPG in a discussion about a friend wanting to start a new campaign that wasn’t Pathfinder or D&D 4e. He asked for suggestions for other systems and someone suggested this one. It was described as a combination of all that was good about 3rd edition OGL mashed together with good bits of 4th edition as well as some Star Wars d20. I was intrigued. In a time when the market is dominated by what is considered the next generation of the 3rd edition rules – Pathfinder – I was interested in seeing someone else’s approach to update the 3rd edition rules.
John Watts and his group of friends are diehard Traveller fans and when Mongoose Publishing put out their edition of the classic version, Gypsy Knights Games arose from that group with a whole slew of material for the Traveller fan. 21 Plots is just one small part of the extensive product library.
In 2013, my wife and I picked a couple of cons to go to. First on the list was Mysticon in Roanoke, Virginia (February 22-24). This is a con with an interesting history. In the 80s, Mysticon existed for 3 years and I am not sure about the circumstances behind it’s collapse back then. It is now in its third year in its new incarnation. I remember working with some of their concom, helping them with advice when I worked in the fandom con business. They are good people, very smart about their approach to the business and I think they are going to see the fruits of that intelligence for years to come.
You awaken on the cement floor, naked and covered in goo, surrounded by huge tanks with other humans. You see that you have fallen out of a similar tank, conduits and wires dangling. You are in some kind of experimental facility, dark and strange, and all you know to do is ESCAPE!
Thus is the basic premise of Level 7. It has the feel of other games similar to it with some interesting twists. It is a heavy thematic game with interesting mechanics. One to four players can play a character who must escape from the Subterra Bravo facility while dodging armed guards and alien clones.
Few games bring about more emotional reaction than Fortress America, in my experience. It has come to epitomize the American style of board game. You either love it or you hate it. There are very few who are in-between those extremes about this game. This game has a lot of history for me and for others in the gaming community. And that history has brought out these reactions. I own and have played the original for years and have thoroughly enjoyed it, so my history with it is already fairly positive.