I decided to write this because I do enjoy RPG games but don't get to play them as much as I'd like any more. I guess it just gives me a chance to talk about games that I don't get to play much. That being said, I haven't played some of these for a while and might not have read through the books even longer than that so I could be a little rusty, if I make any mistakes I'm sorry.
World of Darkness
There are two now, Old World of Darkness (oWoD) and an updated version which I have New World of Darkness (nWoD) which is now known as Chronicles of Darkness, but I still have the World of Darkness books.
What I liked about it was mainly the theme, it is very dark and based in a fractured version of our own world. For normal people it is just like our world but all the things that go bump in the night are real, people just don't know about it or don't believe it when they do. In the game players are characters that are encountering this darker world for the first time, stumbling into a world with ghosts, zombies, vampires and werewolves. I really like the gritty urban horror/fantasy theme.
It is a Storytelling system so do focus more on the story than playing a game. It uses D10s and players roll a handful based on the number of points they have in relevant skills and attributes and any 8+s are a success. It is a pretty simple system but has rules covering most of the things players might try and do.
I have the God Machine rules update which introduces a whole new antagonist for the players as well as updates the rules, new versions on the game (Chronicles of Darkness) have these updates included. I also have the Antagonists book, which add new monsters for the players to face and a few PDFs with pre-gen characters and starting adventures etc.
There are loads of source books available so you shouldn't have trouble finding books to help with any theme or adventure you are trying to run in this world. They also have versions of the game like Vampire the Requiem, Changeling the Lost and Hunter the Vigil that let you play as those creatures that live in the dark side of this world like Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings, Demons, Prometheus and Mummys. There is also a Dark Eras line which puts players into the World of Darkness through history, like Victorian Changelings, 1980's Vampires and Mages in the 20's and 30's.
Changeling the Lost
Following on from World of Darkness I also have Changeling the Lost. This uses the same system as the World of Darkness but allows players to control Changelings, humans that were kidnapped but the Fae and held captive and tortured before they were able to escape back through The Hedge to our world. When they return they find that they are changed, not really human any more but not really Fae either.The setting is a really dark twist on classic fairy stories, much closer to medieval equivalents. It was the setting from the World of Darkness's range that really stood out for me because it had such a unique take on fairies, goblins and trolls while still keeping a lot of the classic imagery and beauty from more modern fairy stories. The game describes itself as a game of beautiful madness and I do think that is something that comes through as players explore a world of fairy tales in the modern world while trying to balance their human sides with the new abilities they have, all with the lurking terror that one day their old master might return to try and reclaim what he has lost.
I have a few other books for this as well, I own the Goblin Markets supplement that I really like. It adds a few rules and some background to these markets which lets players interact with creatures from the Hedge and I thought had some really good story ideas or just opportunities for players to learn more about the new world they find themselves a part of. I also have the Night Horrors: Grim Fears book with again is another antagonist book giving Storytellers more enemies for players to face.
The End of the World
I have two books from Fantasy Flights The End of the World range, Zombie Apocalypse and Alien Invasion but it also includes Wrath of the Gods and Rise of the Machines. Each book uses the same system but is self contained so has all the rules. They also contain 5 scenarios on each for a different kind of apocalypse based on the theme.
The system is really simple, players roll a number of positive D6s based on any positive traits they have or factors that might affect them and a number of negative D6s for negative traits or factors that are effecting them. Negative die then cancel out any matching positive die and if there is a remaining positive that is less then the players attribute number they pass, if there are any negative die remaining they take a Stress (which acts like Mental, Social or Physical damage) in the correct category.The game includes both Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic settings for each scenario so players can trying and survive the apocalypse then survive in the new world that is left afterwards. Honestly I do think this game works better as a one shot or short campaign than a long ongoing one. It is really easy to learn though and allows character creation very quickly, since player are making themselves.
Victoriana 3rd Edition
I found the idea of mixing fantasy and steampunk really fascinating and that was all it took for me to get the game.
The game uses a dice pool mechanic much like World of Darkness where you roll a number of D6s based on your relevant skill and attribute for the task. You are looking for 1s and 6s to be successes but 6s explode and get to be re-rolled. Most tasks will require 2 successes but harder tasks could need more. It makes for a fairly simple and exciting system and the exploding dice means it is possible for a character to achieve something even if they are really badly skilled in what they are trying to do, so there is always hope. In combat players can take multiple actions each turn but have to divide their dice pool by the number of actions they take, so more they try and do, lower their chance of success is for everything.
This is a great game, mixing magic, steam punk and Victoriana history in one. One word of note however the game does point out that the Victorian era it is based on was great for rich, European males, but not so much for other people. While this has been tones down, and fantasy races like Beast-men and Ogres fill in even lower standings than other people do some of that still exists here. Players can of course choose to ignore that if they want but the book is written with some historical accuracy.
Fantasy AGE
Fantasy AGE is a really great system that uses 3D6 rolls for any test. The numbers of results of these are then added together and need to hit a target number based on the difficulty to pass. Pretty simple. However, one of those dice is a different colour to the others and called the Stunt Dice, if any doubles are rolled players get a Stunt. There are lots of stunts available and list for Combat Stunts, Magic Stunts, Social Stunts and Exploration Stunts. Each stunt costs a number of points and the result of the Stunt Dice is how many Stunt points the player gets to spend. I really like this system because it means players get to try and pull off some very impressive actions and the game encourages players to describe how they do it rather than just "I get to do double damage".
Having a settingless RPG in my collection is really handy because it lets me play games in any setting I can come up with and none of the rules are tied to a setting so don't need to be ignored or house ruled to make it work in a different world. There are plenty of settingless fantasy games out there, the biggest obviously being D&D but I find the simplicity of Fantasy AGE and it's great stunt system make it one of my favourites.
A season two of the web series is, I believe, in development and since the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger I am hoping a season 2 book will be realised along side it.
7th Sea
The setting is very detailed with background on each of the main countries and the history of the world included. Each country has a unique history and current status based loosely on a historic time period of the country it is based on. Castille for example is based on Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, Avalon is Elizabethan Britain and Montaigne is France just before the France Revolution. Each country also has it's own forms of magic unique to that country so what a magic user can do will be dependant on which country they come from.
Players take on the roles of Heros in this world trying to right wrongs, stop fiendish schemes and return rightful Kings to their thrones. The system uses a dice pool which players roll and try to make as many 10s a possible from the results. These are their Raises and players spend these to complete action, set up opportunities for their friends, damage enemies or avoid damage. This system does lend itself to lots of exciting actions as it encourages players to describe what there characters are doing as they leap onto tables, jump between ships or swing from chandeliers all while fighting a dozen thugs single handed.
The action and setting of the game make it really exciting and fun to play and the corruption mechanic, which punishes players for "unheroic actions" does kept the sense of players being heros going.
I did Kickstart this so have started to receive a few PDFs for new books for the game as they are being written, the first I got was Heros and Villains which give new pre-made heros and villains for your players to meet. There are others in the works that I am receiving updates about.
The Call of Cthulhu
The game itself covers almost all of the Mythos from what Lovecraft himself created to parts added by other writers since and it allows keepers to pick and choose the parts they want to include in their stories. It is different from many of my other games because players will realistically not be able to hurt many of the creatures in the game, let alone kill them, so it focuses more on investigation and horror than combat.
The game is normally set in the 1920's, the same as Lovecraft's stories but has rules for modern settings as well and multiple supplements from Chaosium and other companies cover other time periods like World War 2.
It uses a D100 system so to complete an action players roll a D100 and need to get a result below their relevant skill (also out of 100). Getting below your skill is a success, below half your skill is a hard success and below 1/5 your skill is an extreme success.
The game has been going for years and there are lots of supplements already out for previous editions and more being printed now for 7th edition. The game also includes a handy conversion guide to change things from 6th edition to 7th so you can use old supplements in the new edition.
Discworld Roleplaying Game (GURPS 4th Edition)
From what I have seen the book contains a lot of information on the Discworld and how to run games based there. It looks like it could be great just to read if you are a fan of Terry Pratchett and not even gamer.
I did have a look through the weapons list and I was disappointed that the old Morporkian favourite, half a brick in a sock, was missing. I might have to come up with stats for that myself.
I get the feeling this might work with my group as well. The comedy part of the Discworld books mixed with the fantasy and adventuring should be good and it wont detract from the theme if players get a little silly from time to time.
A Song of Ice and Fire
I have always like the Song of Ice and Fire world and I've read the books and watched the TV show. I wasn't overly convinced by the idea of a RPG based on it because I thought it would just be re-playing what I had already read about and watched. I did look into the RPG though and saw it was based on the time between Robert's Rebellion and the start of the books which is a point in the world's history that we don't really know too much about which makes it much easier to come up with new and original stories.
Players not only create their characters but also the House that those characters belong to which I though was a really good idea, play them trying to gain fame and power for their House. It has some classic combat mechanics but like the books has a heavy empathise on scheming, politics and intrigue which I though would make a great addition to my collection.
Like I said this isn't all the games I own, I have a few others I've picked up as PDFs but not really looked at to know much about them. When I get time I do need to start looking through because there might be some good games in there I don't know about yet.
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