For Gold and Glory - Released

Thanks to the Retro Roleplaying blog for posting about this.

From the For Gold and Glory site.

After 3+ years of work from several talented individuals, I’m proud to officially announce the first complete release of [i]The Adventurer’s Compendium:
A Comprehensive Guide to Adventuring [b]For Gold and Glory[/b] and How to Survive Long Enough to Enjoy It[/i].  This is a role playing game adapted from and based on the Advanced Fantasy RPG (2nd Edition) published in 1989 by TSR and developed by David “Zeb” Cook, Steve Winter, and Jon Pickens.  As a “simulacrum” game, the goal is to update, compile, and revise the material in compliance with the Open Game License to be compatible with old material and create new, derivative work.

Downloading now.

Have updated the Retro Clone List.

Note (30 Mar 2013): The site seems to be down. If you go to the bottom of the Retro Clone List you should find an updated link.

Hulks and Horrors Core Set -- Indiegogo

http://www.indiegogo.com/hulksandhorrors?a=562939 Came across this on another, better, blog.

Sleeper RPG: Playtest @ Birmingham Games Expo 2012 (Updated)

Introduction

[30 May - Added scans of documents

13 June - Added more scans of missing characters. Thanks Anna :) ]

I turned up for my first ever games expo excitedly on Friday morning to pick up my tickets and rush off to play an unreleased RPG game called Sleeper.  A disaster occurred, they could not find my tickets. Within minutes someone introduced himself as Tony and whisked me away and sorted me out with tickets then virtually escorted me across the road for the game.

Thanks Tony, disaster to superb customer experience in minutes.

Sleeper RPG: Before The Game

UK Games Expo: Game Link - http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/game.php?id=RPG37

Having never played a game at an expo before I thought I would try something new. The write up above looked quite intriguing and the briefest of scans of the Death Spiral website helped.

A bald gentleman introduced himself as Ben Counter, freelance author and one of the creators of the game, and said he would be running the session.

After a few minutes I figured out where I knew the name from, minus ten points for me.

The Famous Ben Counter

Sleeper RPG: Introduction

Ben introduced the general game concept. (from the Site)

Sleeper is a roleplaying game of Cold War relics and secret wars. It pits your character’s superhuman powers and elite training against the deadliest relics of the Cold War. The game combines military action, ultramodern gear, science fiction horror and the secret history of the twentieth century in deadly and thrilling battle for the survival of the world. During the darkest days of that conflict, the superpowers came to believe that nuclear war was a likely event. So they took their biggest secrets – the artificially enhanced agents and soldiers, possessing superhuman powers and the highest levels of training – and buried them in secret facilities from which they would wake when nuclear war had finished. These sleepers would then help found the post-nuclear world according to the principles of the regimes that created them.

I had a feeling of Cold City, Hot War meets military action movie. We had six pre gen characters to choose from. I selected Gravedigger as he was frankly the best. A teleporting KGB sniper agent. When I played him he developed a strange liking for the hot tub, I don't really know why.

Gravedigger

Playing Yesterday's Games Today

Recently I ran a quickie beginner friendly game at the grand opening of Fife's newest gaming arena Minmax Games, if I am feeling brave I will post a link to the scenario at the bottom.

Since I rediscovered role playing games I have run some sessions of Savage Worlds, played a fair amount of Dungeons & Dragons 4E and am now running a regular Traveller game. My current experiences with 4E are not the best, this I suspect has more to do with my play style and gaming memories than the actual system itself. The system seems well balanced just not my cup of tea. I did find myself thinking back to basic Dungeons and Dragons.

[caption id="attachment_546" align="aligncenter" width="220" caption="D&D Expert Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)"][/caption]

My memories told me the game was quicker, simpler and just more fun.

Cthulhu Dark

Just came across this:

Cthulhu Dark is my rules-light Lovecraftian game. (Or try the easily-printable version).

The rules are fun and incredibly minimal: they fit on one sheet of paper. You don’t need a character sheet to play, so you can start playing after two minutes of prep. Despite the simplicity, there are some interesting rules twists: look at the Suppressing Knowledge rule for an example.

More info here from Thieves of Time. Just about to print it out.

 

RPG Breakout: Pa[CENSORED]ia RPG

The computer is your friend. Everything is fine. Every version of Paranoia is perfect and could not be improved. Knowledge of other versions than the computer approved version is treasonous. Indicating knowledge of other editions is treasonous. What is an edition? The computer is your friend. Have a nice daycycle.

Paranoia

[caption id="attachment_890" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="Paranoia RPG"][/caption]

The Role Playing Game

Current Publisher: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/paranoia.html

RPG Geek: http://rpggeek.com/rpgfamily/378/paranoia

RPG Net: http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=2217

RPG Net: http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=755

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)

There is but one version of this game, the current one. Previous editions that do not exist include the 1st, 2nd and 5th. Knowledge of the 5th edition is considered more treasonous than normal (*). This game is a creation of the computer, your friend.

RPG Breakout: Mutant Chronicles

Everybody loves mutants. Mutants and guns. Here is a brief summary of the influence a not quite forgotten Scandinavian RPG has had.

Mutant Chronicles RPG

[caption id="attachment_880" align="aligncenter" width="417" caption="Mutant Chronicles RPG (1st Edition)"][/caption]

 Roleplaying Game:

RPG Geek Link: http://rpggeek.com/rpg/513/mutant-chronicles-1st-2nd-editions

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_Chronicles

"Mutant" is one of the three first seminal Swedish role playing games, together with Drakar och Demoner and Chock.

The original Mutant was based on Basic Roleplaying System and was released in 1984. It was set in a post-apocalyptic future where most of the human race had been eliminated by a disease. The survivors hid away in subterranean enclaves and genetically experimented on humans and animals and sent them up above ground to see if they could survive. A following nuclear war between the enclaves eradicated humanity more thoroughly, technology was forgotten, and the only survivors were these humanoid mutants and humans in cryo-sleep. The country has now broken down into smaller societies, technology has been forgotten and is now on pre-industrial revolution level. But there are still the "forbidden zones", where lost technology still lies untouched but where the radiation levels are lethal.

"Mutant 2" was released as an expansion in 1986, and changed the die rolling rules to reflect those of Drakar och Demoner Expert, where the designers left Basic Roleplay and changed into a system based on icosahedric dice.

In 1989, "Mutant 2089", or "Nya Mutant" was released. Not only were there several rules changes, inspired by the cyberpunk wave, the setting was changed from a pre-industrial revolution technology society to large mega-cities, controlled by huge corporations. Designers suggested that the old Mutant setting existed in between these cities.

Mutant R.Y.M.D. in 1992 took another step from the basic setting and was more a space-travel science fiction roleplaying game. The ruleset was very similar to Mutant 2089 and the settings were officially compatible. This version was short-lived, though, as it soon was transformed into Mutant Chronicles.

Mutant Chronicles further enhanced the setting of Mutant RYMD, but added creatures and other ideas from the successful horror RPG "Kult".

In 2002, when Target Games has ceased to exist, another publisher called Järnringen published "Mutant - Undergångens arvtagare" (The Inheritors of the Apocalypse). With this, they reverted back into the first setting with a pre-industrial revolution setting populated by mutants and mutated animals. "Järnringen" (Iron Ring) was also the title of one of the very first scenario modules for the first "Mutant".

Järnringen ceased publication of "Mutant - undergångens arvtagare" in 2008, while continuing with their space travel RPG "Coriolis". (from RPG Geek)

Top N Computer Pen & Paper RPG Games

Not including the Dungeon and Dragons games. Apart from maybe one or two.

Dungeon Hack

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dungeon-hack

[caption id="attachment_845" align="aligncenter" width="232" caption="Dungeon Hack Cover"][/caption]

For my first game I am going to break the no D&D rule.

This is a graphical cross between nethack type games and second edition AD&D. The best version of AD&D for my money, but I did miss ount everything between 2nd and 4th edition.

Free Science Fiction RPGs

A brief list of science fiction pen & paper roleplaying games.

Finding games for my retro clone post suggested that most of the free games out there were based on classic fantasy archetypes. Thankfully some people out there are producing games with a science fiction twist for those what would rather fight space aliens instead of dragons. Some will be clones of older systems, others will be inspired by older systems. If you are willing to pay a little there are many more classic style science fiction RPGs that can be purchased for a pittance.

Mutant Future

[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter" width="309" caption="Mutant Future Cover"][/caption]

Homepage: http://www.goblinoidgames.com/mutantfuture.html

Inspired By: Gamma World

Clone: Not quite. Uses the Labyrinth Lord rules as a base. I think the original was based on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

Free Download: Yes

Review: http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/06/review-mutant-future.html

Savage Free Bestiary: Reformatted.

Not really my work I just tweaked the formatting. Download from the Scribd page. Various version at my mediafire page.




Further downloads.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxUNSRn6CN88MXhxbkNNVlZFcDg/edit?usp=sharing


http://www.mediafire.com/?dise9bcwzal86

RPG: Retro Clones, Interpretations

While I was writing my Return to RPGs series of posts I kept thinking about my old D&D gaming sessions through rose tinted memory filters. I have been looking for something to fill in the D&D shaped hole in my mind.

The D&D I originally played was the Basic game 1983 Revision red Box edition and it's following rule books (expert, companion etc). These books I now know tend to be referred to as Dungeons and Dragons BECMI as edited by Frank Mentzer. This was evidently a follow up to the Dungeon and Dragons B/X rule books by Tom Moldvay and David Cook.

Way back then I did have a look at 2 Edtion AD&D but felt there were too many tables and too much fluff :) Trying 4th Edtion AD&D was a bit of a shock. It is a fun game but I have missed far too many generations of the game to work out quite what has happened. I still spend time trying to work out my THAC0#. I saw mention of the huge change between 4th Edtion and 3.5 so had a look at Pathfinder.

Pathfinder is really nice. I like it a lot. But it still has far too many bells and whistles.

For me the best and purest system was the Mentzer D&D with the rules system from the Gazetteers.

Turned out on the wonderful world of the internet I was not the only person to have this itch to scratch. There was a whole world of stuff!

It turns out game rules can not be copyrighted:

Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.

At least in the U.S. I believe it is similar in Europe. This means  some enterprising people with far too much wonderful time on their hands have recreated or reinterpreted old gaming systems. They are known by the collective title of retro clones. All seem to be very careful about avoiding naming the system they are inspired by and only concentrating on no longer commercially exploited versions. A few minutes of Googling will find much more complete lists than the one that follows. Most of the retro clones have made slight or significant tweaks to the core rules, often these are the more popular house rules that people used or additions from published supplements. Sometimes ideas from later versions are backported.

Best of all most of these games are free to download with print versions on offer from Print on Demand stores.

Here is my rough list of what I found and liked the look of..

Metacreator: How To Create A New Savage World

I am not a rules lawyer :) Nor am I an expert with the Metacreator software (link), something I primarily got to help me make characters quickly and easily. Something it excels at. My experience is limited to using it with Savage Worlds (link).

Eventually I got to the stage where I needed to expand what was available. In the old days I would have just used endless reams of paper stolen from school. Today W.H. Smiths take a dim view of grown adults, probably kids too, nicking endless pads of paper. I need to create a new world. The help system is excellent:



But it did take me some time to get my head round it. Here is my attempt to help others as slow as myself. For the purposes of this example the world I create will be based on my unused campaign idea "The Hollow Apocalypse" when the entities lurking in the Hollow Earth invade the surface in the early twentieth century.

Return to RPGs IV: My Love For Sheena Easton's Tail.

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Well not really. What do we know about Sheena? Wikipediarrrr!

Sheena Easton (born Sheena Shirley Orr; 27 April 1959) is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records. Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop hits "9 to 5" — known as "Morning Train" in the United States — and "For Your Eyes Only", "Strut", "Sugar Walls", "U Got the Look" with Prince, and "The Lover in Me". She went on to become successful in the United States and Japan, working with prominent vocalists and producers, such as Prince, Christopher Neil, Kenny Rogers, Luis Miguel, L.A. Reid and Babyface, and Nile Rodgers.

No. That is not what she is famous for.

This is what she is famous for;

Return to RPGs II: Idiocy and Fat Club

Big Red Box Of Social Exile

So there I was with a big red box of RPG fun. I had no idea what to do with it and the solo adventure they had included looked fairly slim.

The books said that there were two kinds of people involved in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. The players who undertook exciting adventures and the dungeon master who set the scene and did everything else. I didn't know any dungeon masters to let me become a player.

For that matter I didn't know any players. D&D did not look like it would be much fun as a solitary activity.

Back then geeks, not that we were called that, tended to clump together at my school.

Return to RPGs: Appendix 1 - Pathfinder

Odd. I have not finished my series on my return to RPG gaming and here I am writing the appendix already.  In essays I always used to write my conclusion first so I knew what research I wanted to cite :) The reason I am doing a quick appendix is because of this:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Pathfinder RPG Core, Cover"][/caption]

I have just got this through the post today.

During my return to roleplaying I tried to find out what had happened in the many, many years I was away. I learned that TSR was gone and some card gaming company had eaten it and done something potentially nasty to AD&D. Which initially did not bother me till I realised that AD&D was all that was left.

Return To RPGs I: Back To Mystara

Currently I am hurtling toward 40 years old with all the grace of an enraged warthog. Time for a mid-life crisis I thought, get a fancy red car and a younger wife. The problem being I am unable to drive, due to not knowing how,  and already have a younger wife.

Then I realised I was already having my crisis and it started over a year ago. I was returning to my youth by rediscovering the joy of roleplaying games. Something I had been thinking about for years.  I thought back to my first RPG and came up with this:

[caption id="attachment_544" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="D&D Basic Set (Source The Acaeum http://www.acaeum.com/)"][/caption]

Then I thought. No. That's not right it goes back further. Join me if you like. Or not.

Metacreator and Savage Worlds

I purchased Savage Worlds recently and quite like the look of it. More information can be found here.

The Savage Worlds Game System

Essentially it a a universal rules system for RPGs. Looks pretty good and I intend to test it with a bunch of total newbies in a week or two.

The problem is that I have been out of the way of running RPGs for almost fifteen odd years. I am pretty rusty and the Savage Worlds system while fairly simple is new to me.

I have a few plot ideas but thought it would be handy if I could find something to make my life a bit easier, especially with making up some pre-generated  characters. Using the power of Google™ I discovered Metacreator.

Metacreator

Put the spark of life into your characters with Metacreator, the customizable application for creating roleplaying game characters. The website was pretty stark and not very welcoming but as I had seen the software recommended in a forum somewhere and had some credit in my Paypal account I thought I would try it. The download link came through in seconds and the software seems to be working fine on my Windows 7 box. Running under Wine on Linux did not seem to be so successful. Also seems to work well on my Windows XP netbook.

Here is my brief introduction to Metacreator. Which will also serve as my learning experience for using Windows Live Writer.