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The Lord of the Rings is a story about the journey. Mordor is scary and memorable, but the books and films are more about the adventures and the people along the way. The One Ring also focuses on travels. There are rules for classic fantasy battles, of course, but also a lot of pace devoted to...

When thinking about using a generic RPG system at my table, I think that simpler is better. Rules sets are easier to adapt to specific genres when there is room to add things. It’s stronger to add in ideas rather than pull things out. Remove mechanics, and it can be a challenge to see how it...

A review of the full game is forthcoming (Free League sent me that too) but yeah, character creation isn't very heavy at all.

Dungeons & Dragons has offered players a chance to get their medieval fantasy stories on for years but there’s always been a desire to play in Middle-Earth and let folks show off how much lore they’ve absorbed from Tolkien. There have been several official RPGs over the years with The One Ring...

Stories are rooted in conflict. The main character wants something but can’t get it. They must overcome those obstacles to resolve the story. Role-playing games are no different, but more often than not, those conflicts are resolved through combat. Yes, everyone has examples of times when their...

The lure of the boxed set is fairly clear. Everything you need to play the game all in one tidy package. This idea has evolved over the decades but I would be lying if I didn’t still enjoy cracking open a box and exploring everything inside. The Black Hack had a moment in the sun a couple years...

I like the loose implications of the setting. If you want TMNT or the store brand versions of the factions in the book, great. Or whip something up during session zero. I have a lot of the After The Bomb books, so I was considering throwing some Terminator into the mix and have them...

It's aimed at being a TMNT retroclone. Some system similarities but mostly the stripped down version in that book rather than RIFTS or Heroes Unimited.

Licensed RPGs are the shooting stars of tabletop roleplaying games. They burn brightly, hopefully beautifully and then are lost to history once the license ends. Many live on in the library shelves of those who love them. Some are sold for ridiculous amounts on the internet. A few are reborn as...

Fiasco is one of my go-to choices when a friend that’s never played a role playing game asks me about trying one. It’s a simple, clear setup with easy mechanics that plays in two hours or less. It also tends to be gutbustingly funny given the dark humor threaded throughout the playsets available...

The gun deck is only used for firearms.

In 1993, The Book of Nod appeared on gaming store shelves around the world. It came just as Vampire: The Masquerade’s hardcover Second Edition was truly exploding into popularity. It shed light on the World of Darkness in an unusual way; as an in-game document. The book sold in stores was the...

Hard copies of the book are still available for pre-order here.