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Ideas for game designs spring from unlikely places. In the case of Raptor Ruckus, the new role playing game crowdfunding in August, it came from a designer being told what not to do. We spoke with Zac Goins of Snapback Studios about what he hopes to build with his dino-centric RPG. “Oddly...

Characters in dungeon crawls tend to be on the light side. This happens for a variety of reasons, whether you’re talking about developing storylines through or because characters tend to be disposable and easily replaced. There’s a fine line walked by this style of game in thrilling players by...

The SHIVER series from Parable Games takes a broad approach to horror. Each expansion looks at a different subgenre, such as slasher movies or Gothic horror. Their upcoming crowdfunder for SHIVER: Corporate takes on a popular new genre that combines the dread of hunting monsters with knowing...

It’s hard to believe Munchkin, the classic card game from Steve Jackson Games, is old enough to drink (in America). Heck, it’s almost old enough to rent a car. What started out as a lampoon of a certain style of Dungeons & Dragons where gaining loot and breaking the rules wins out over...

Splitting a core book is a calculated risk. What information do the players need? What information is most important to the GM. In the case of Cthulhu By Gaslight Keeper’s Guide, the split focus on things like NPC stats for historical figures, information on Mythos beasties and forbidden tomes...

When I bought my first Call of Cthulhu core book in high school, it contained three eras to set mysteries. The 5th edition had information on the modern day, the classic era of the 1920s and what it called the “Gaslight era” of the 1890s. Each of these time periods made sense in their own way...

Of the (as of this writing) two world wars, the second one gets move coverage. The good guys and bad guys are defined more clearly, the media is exciting to watch and many of the games are considered classics. World War I is messier on all sides thanks to a newfound efficiency of human butchery...

The Warhammer brand is one of the few gaming IPs that has a similar cultural cache to Dungeons & Dragons. It has decades of lore that span multiple games and eras of the world. Celebrities have started to discuss painting (or neglecting) their armies. When Games Workshop released the Warhammer...

The 80’s remain one of the last times of weird wonder in the world. It’s a time when kids on bikes could find a secret pirate ship hidden below their town. A time when a teeanger could hang out with a mad scientist and have time travelling adventures. Game designer Rev. Joey Royale taps into...

Blades In The Dark is one of the most influential role playing games in the past decade. Multiple games use everything from the d6 pool system to long term projects measured in clocks. What began as an evolution from the Powered By The Apocalypse lineage of games has grown into its own robust...

Sword and sorcery games tend to appeal to the old school side of the role playing game audience. Source material like Howard’s Conan and Leiber’s Fafhrd greatly influenced Dungeons & Dragons and loom large in the minds of fans who have been in the hobby a long time. While heroic fantasy is...

When I review different titles in the same line, I try to spread them out. It keeps me from burning out and also gives you, the reader, a little bit of variety. However, Bundle of Holding is currently hosting a deal that includes both Old School Adventure Anthology titles, so I decided to bump...

Remember when making stuff up on the Internet was fun? When someone could post something silly and checking it out was interesting and not a desperate attempt to fight back real world horrors? Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, created by Trevor Roberts was one such online story. It purported to...

Even if you don't know Rodney Thompson’s name you are likely to have played one of his games. He’s the designer of Lords of Waterdeep and has worked on several editions of Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars Saga Edition and many other role playing games. He started his own company, Scratchpad...

Modern day dungeon crawls exist on an interesting spectrum. On the one end, there’s gritty, dirty cave runs with a wild mix of monsters. On the other end, there’s wild fantasy with sentient mushrooms and breathing caves. It shows how many authors have interpreted the classics in their own way...

As much as I love pulp adventure games, I was a little hesitant when Outgunned:Adventure was first announced. I first came to Two Little Mice through Broken Compass, of which Outgunned was a refinement of the system and mechanics. Did I really need another game to simulate my favorite movie...

A spoonful of fantasy helps the genre go down. This often applies to role playing games set in historical eras such as Deadlands or Call of Cthulhu. In the case of Love, Career & Magic from designer Wonmin Lee it applies to a genre of television. This game is about being part of a reality show...

Sandbox and storyline campaigns often feel like they are on opposite ends of a spectrum. Storyline campaigns feel like a custom movie built for players that respond to their actions. Sandbox campaigns engage in the joy of discovery and allow players to pursue the locations and characters that...

One of the classic gags in old school adventures were the very beefy stats for important NPCs. The tavern keeper was a 10th level fighter to keep players from deciding the game of exploration and battle had turned into a game of rolling over the friendly townsfolk and shaking down the quiet...

When it comes to history in my games, I prefer authentic vibes over specific accuracy. I don’t want my games to screech to a halt over what type of sword the villainous pirate captain is using and whether it existed in the period. I can get those arguments from the internet any time, any place...