In the twilight years of TSR the company took one last stab at the non-D&D segment of the gaming audience with its own attempt at a generic ruleset. Designed by Zeb Cook & incorporating some elements familiar from Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space & the Conan RPG, the result was the Amazing Engine system. The […]
The soundtrack makes a lateral shift from DragonForce to Blue Öyster Cult today as we delve into Chaosium’s Stormbringer. If you didn’t already know what the deal with Stormbringer, Elric et al. was you probably wouldn’t be reading this, so let’s just jump straight into chargen. Stormbringer is based on what has come to be […]
Next in line on the shelf, cue up your DragonForce Pandora station because we’re headed for the World of Synnibarr, second edition. For the few out there unfamiliar with the legend, World of Synnibar is a multi-genre-ish RPG roughly contemporary with Rifts. In Synnibar, various fantasy, sci-fi & comic book martial arts heroes live on […]
Jumping backward & forward today to a simpler past & future, the next game in line on the shelf is Mazes & Minotaurs (M&M). In 2002 Paul “Mithras” Elliott wrote a humorous alternate history of gaming in which he imagined that the very first RPG was inspired by Ray Harryhausen sword & sandal Greek adventures […]
I’m taking a different approach to this year’s character creation challenge. When I first read about the challenge I did a quick count of the games on my shelves, thinking I wouldn’t have enough to fill 31 days. Turns out I had underestimated by a factor of two: I’ve got no fewer than 74 games […]
Early spring is the most dangerous time to be dawdling in the streets. Not because of the traffic – the pavement is so crumbling so badly that trying to do better than 25kph is asking for a blowout or a broken tie rod – but because the sodden condition of the underlayment & soil makes […]
It’s said that to kill a unicorn is one of the gravest sins one can commit. The price in Corruption a deed so foul exacts is high enough to kill some mortals on the spot. There is worse still. There is more than one who would attempt it, whether in the service of the Exarchs […]
However elvish these knives look, you’d better think twice before letting one see them. They were actually crafted for a notoriously lazy human noble who counted hunting among his many dilettante pursuits. Tracking animals through the woods or flushing birds out of the underbrush was such a chore, though. The solution, as was obvious to […]
When the ground shakes like a cavalry charge but the accompanying noise is a bovine bellow rather than the shrieking of horses, you know that a Measurer is on the prowl. These enormous undead, fully seven feet tall if they were ever to dismount from the jet black ox they ride, rampage across the countryside […]
The Unfathomable Professor Mesmerismo was the first to discover the somewhat unusual properties of burning fuels other than the standard quicklime in a magic lantern. Other mineral compounds would open windows onto one of any number of other planes. Most were infernal – not a surprise considering the revolting stench of the resulting fumes – […]
Rummaging In The Junk Drawer 