One of the stand-outs this week is a scanned copy of an rpg that was released in 1974...and not put out by TSR, at least not until they got the rights and released it in 1975. It's an interesting look back at the beginnings of rpgs. In addition to this gem, we have 9 other new rpg PDFs, some new WotC rereleases, some new adventures and an interesting Spotlight of the Week.
Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures
It is hard for rpgs to capture the whimsy and flight of imagination of childhood fantasy novels. This rpg attempts to do just that. Inspired by the works of Ursula K. LeGuin and Lloyd Alexander, it provides a simple and quick to implement system with many of the familiar OSR tropes with it. It then provides ready to run character kits and adventures so a group can play an entire story in one evening from start to finish. Does it accomplish all it sets out to do? I don’t know but I am curious.
Night’s Black Agents: Excess Baggage
This is what promotional PDFs are all about. This PDF is for Night’s Black Agents, a GUMSHOE system game of high action spies against vampire conspiracies. It provides a short, 20-minute demo scenario with enough of the rules to be able to both play the exciting adventure with them and learn the unique aspects of the system (such as how investigation skills work). It’s a fun way to find out if the game is for your group and since it’s free you can’t go wrong. This would also be an excellent product for those who already have the game and are about to start a campaign with it. Simply run this before starting the campaign and everyone can get a feel for the game before making their characters instead of going into the system blind.
Razor Coast
This 544 page behemoth is an epic adventure and setting spanning 8 levels, all for the Pathfinder system. It is a swashbuckling adventure with pirates, weresharks, naval battles, undead worms, gatormen, ghosts, vengeful gods and a host of other fanciful encounters. Port Shaw is the last port of civilization in the area and is beset by a myriad of problems. Can the adventurers save it?
Along with the huge adventure, there are a few more PDFs to go along with the setting/adventure. You can get the Freebooter’s Guide (full of character options such as new races, classes, spells, etc – all with material specific to the setting), Fire As She Bears (new rules for ship to ship combat, new rules for ship design and new ship based magic items), and Heart of the Razor (4 more adventures that can be inserted into the Razor Coast main adventure).
Faith
This rules-lite system aims to provide a complete storytelling gaming adventure and system in one package. In it everyone plays a modern-day thief out to pull a heist. It is designed to be able to be played instantly without a lot of rules getting in the way of the fun. Does it work? I don’t know, but I love that it bills itself as “A Heist Game”.
Skulduggery: Pacific’s Six
Speaking of heist games, we have this adventure setting for the Skulduggery rpg. In it you play a team of expert conmen and thieves out to steal millions in cash, diamonds and a blackmail file worth even more, all from a secure vault. The Pelgrane Press core game is written by the noted Robin D Laws and is designed to allow for fast repartee and outmaneuvering of your opponents. Sounds like a lot of fun. Did I mention I like a good heist game?
Ephemeris
This is an epic science fiction game of trading, exploration and grand conquest. It is designed to allow for any course of action the players would like to pursue up to including affecting galactic empires. The game originally came out in 2009 and since then has been supplemented by various race and class additions/new information. Now all of those supplements have been added into the core rulebook to create one whole, and expansive, rulebook. With nearly double the number of pages, going from 332 to 608, there is plenty packed into this game.
Bonus Bestiary for 4th Edition D&D
Kobold Press’ Open Design herein presents 16 new monsters for the 4E game. Culled from their various supplements and adventures they give us the new monsters fully detailed and illustrated. If you’re still playing 4E, you’ll want this.
Perils of the Surface World
Hollow Earth Expeditions has been slowly building a name as an excellent pulp game and setting. This supplement for the game presents 4 new adventures ranging all over the known world both in location and style. In addition, each adventure gives us new rules for the GM that they can add into their own game such as Atlantean magic, martial arts super-powers and the supernatural. If you like pulp adventures, make sure to check this out.
Domains at War
When Adventure, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) first came out it made a huge splash in the retroclone, old school scene. As with most retroclones it provided its own take at the original D&D rules and then added its own thing, in this case an excellently detailed end game of kings and kingdoms for the players to delve into. One of the more anticipated follow-up books is Domains at War wherein large scale combat rules are given. This is a preview of that final product and it’s free!
Empire of the Petal Throne (Original Manuscript Draft)
The first non-D&D fantasy setting to be released by TSR was Empire of the Petal Throne. The author of the setting, M.A.R. Barker, had been working on it since the 1940’s and it is compared to the works of Tolkien, specifically for its depth of setting history and fantasy linguistics. This is a scanned copy of the game taken from the Barker’s archives which was part of a limited run before TSR began publishing the game. This is your chance to see a piece of the early days of rpgs.
WotC Classic PDFs
UK7 Dark Clouds Gather (1E)
HHQ2 Wizard’s Challenge (2E)
DMGR9 Of Ships and the Sea (2E)
Complete Mage (3.5)
Adventures
The Gates of Tarina – Pathfinder.
AL4 The Waystation – DCC. Level 3.
Lair of the Perilous Pits – DCC. Bundle with 3 adventures.
Strange Allies – Generic/OSR.
The Sugar Hill Invasion – ICONS.
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
NeuroSpasta
Chris Dias and Dias Ex Machina Games have really made a name for themselves as the people who moved the 4E rules out of the fantasy mold and into guns and sci-fi, specifically with Amethyst, a post apocalyptic setting with swords, magic and guns and Ultramodern4, a set of rules that move 4E into the modern day and futuristic settings. NeuroSpasta most definitely moves more into the science fiction niche. Its setting is one of an idealistic city set in the future where human belief systems are being questioned as they encounter changes in the world; transhuman is the overriding theme. Along with the setting are new rules for cyberware, hacking, new races, new character options, rules for robotics and new monsters. As this is a setting book, you will need either their Ultramodern4 or Amethyst rules to use this PDF. If you like the 4E rules but are looking for something non-fantasy, this is an excellent start. If you’re curious, you can check out their Free Preview.
Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures
It is hard for rpgs to capture the whimsy and flight of imagination of childhood fantasy novels. This rpg attempts to do just that. Inspired by the works of Ursula K. LeGuin and Lloyd Alexander, it provides a simple and quick to implement system with many of the familiar OSR tropes with it. It then provides ready to run character kits and adventures so a group can play an entire story in one evening from start to finish. Does it accomplish all it sets out to do? I don’t know but I am curious.
Night’s Black Agents: Excess Baggage
This is what promotional PDFs are all about. This PDF is for Night’s Black Agents, a GUMSHOE system game of high action spies against vampire conspiracies. It provides a short, 20-minute demo scenario with enough of the rules to be able to both play the exciting adventure with them and learn the unique aspects of the system (such as how investigation skills work). It’s a fun way to find out if the game is for your group and since it’s free you can’t go wrong. This would also be an excellent product for those who already have the game and are about to start a campaign with it. Simply run this before starting the campaign and everyone can get a feel for the game before making their characters instead of going into the system blind.
Razor Coast
This 544 page behemoth is an epic adventure and setting spanning 8 levels, all for the Pathfinder system. It is a swashbuckling adventure with pirates, weresharks, naval battles, undead worms, gatormen, ghosts, vengeful gods and a host of other fanciful encounters. Port Shaw is the last port of civilization in the area and is beset by a myriad of problems. Can the adventurers save it?
Along with the huge adventure, there are a few more PDFs to go along with the setting/adventure. You can get the Freebooter’s Guide (full of character options such as new races, classes, spells, etc – all with material specific to the setting), Fire As She Bears (new rules for ship to ship combat, new rules for ship design and new ship based magic items), and Heart of the Razor (4 more adventures that can be inserted into the Razor Coast main adventure).
Faith
This rules-lite system aims to provide a complete storytelling gaming adventure and system in one package. In it everyone plays a modern-day thief out to pull a heist. It is designed to be able to be played instantly without a lot of rules getting in the way of the fun. Does it work? I don’t know, but I love that it bills itself as “A Heist Game”.
Skulduggery: Pacific’s Six
Speaking of heist games, we have this adventure setting for the Skulduggery rpg. In it you play a team of expert conmen and thieves out to steal millions in cash, diamonds and a blackmail file worth even more, all from a secure vault. The Pelgrane Press core game is written by the noted Robin D Laws and is designed to allow for fast repartee and outmaneuvering of your opponents. Sounds like a lot of fun. Did I mention I like a good heist game?
Ephemeris
This is an epic science fiction game of trading, exploration and grand conquest. It is designed to allow for any course of action the players would like to pursue up to including affecting galactic empires. The game originally came out in 2009 and since then has been supplemented by various race and class additions/new information. Now all of those supplements have been added into the core rulebook to create one whole, and expansive, rulebook. With nearly double the number of pages, going from 332 to 608, there is plenty packed into this game.
Bonus Bestiary for 4th Edition D&D
Kobold Press’ Open Design herein presents 16 new monsters for the 4E game. Culled from their various supplements and adventures they give us the new monsters fully detailed and illustrated. If you’re still playing 4E, you’ll want this.
Perils of the Surface World
Hollow Earth Expeditions has been slowly building a name as an excellent pulp game and setting. This supplement for the game presents 4 new adventures ranging all over the known world both in location and style. In addition, each adventure gives us new rules for the GM that they can add into their own game such as Atlantean magic, martial arts super-powers and the supernatural. If you like pulp adventures, make sure to check this out.
Domains at War
When Adventure, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) first came out it made a huge splash in the retroclone, old school scene. As with most retroclones it provided its own take at the original D&D rules and then added its own thing, in this case an excellently detailed end game of kings and kingdoms for the players to delve into. One of the more anticipated follow-up books is Domains at War wherein large scale combat rules are given. This is a preview of that final product and it’s free!
Empire of the Petal Throne (Original Manuscript Draft)
The first non-D&D fantasy setting to be released by TSR was Empire of the Petal Throne. The author of the setting, M.A.R. Barker, had been working on it since the 1940’s and it is compared to the works of Tolkien, specifically for its depth of setting history and fantasy linguistics. This is a scanned copy of the game taken from the Barker’s archives which was part of a limited run before TSR began publishing the game. This is your chance to see a piece of the early days of rpgs.
WotC Classic PDFs
UK7 Dark Clouds Gather (1E)
HHQ2 Wizard’s Challenge (2E)
DMGR9 Of Ships and the Sea (2E)
Complete Mage (3.5)
Adventures
The Gates of Tarina – Pathfinder.
AL4 The Waystation – DCC. Level 3.
Lair of the Perilous Pits – DCC. Bundle with 3 adventures.
Strange Allies – Generic/OSR.
The Sugar Hill Invasion – ICONS.
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
NeuroSpasta
Chris Dias and Dias Ex Machina Games have really made a name for themselves as the people who moved the 4E rules out of the fantasy mold and into guns and sci-fi, specifically with Amethyst, a post apocalyptic setting with swords, magic and guns and Ultramodern4, a set of rules that move 4E into the modern day and futuristic settings. NeuroSpasta most definitely moves more into the science fiction niche. Its setting is one of an idealistic city set in the future where human belief systems are being questioned as they encounter changes in the world; transhuman is the overriding theme. Along with the setting are new rules for cyberware, hacking, new races, new character options, rules for robotics and new monsters. As this is a setting book, you will need either their Ultramodern4 or Amethyst rules to use this PDF. If you like the 4E rules but are looking for something non-fantasy, this is an excellent start. If you’re curious, you can check out their Free Preview.
It falls to the members of the Division of Public Safety to protect Archon and its inhabitants from threats from both without and within.
But which is the greater threat?
In a future of ambiguous ethnicity and rampant cyberization,
what use is there for obsolete national borders and political beliefs?
The boundaries separating man and machine are not only blurred, but utterly erased.
The conflict in this new-fledged world is not between nations or between law and order
but between millennia-old traditions and an inevitable shift in consciousness,
with the very meaning of 'humanity' and even 'identity' placed in the crosshairs.
Will Archon be the beacon of a shining future, or will its enemies bring it crashing to the ground.
