Pretty Darn Fun (a look at new PDFs) Wicked Fantasy
Quite a few new systems out this week, including the WICKED FANTASY setting book which recreates the generic races. Plus our usual countdown of the 10 best PDFs of the week!
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
#1 Wicked Fantasy Full Book
John Wick is one of the more respected rpg writers out there. He has written widely, such as designing the Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea games. Of late he has turned his hand to the Pathfinder system and written a series of PDFs that take a look at the races of fantasy (elves, dwarves, goblins, etc) and reinvigorated them. Each book has introduced new ways of looking at the race, added something unique and given gamers more to work with. This 300 page PDF has collected 10 of the series into one PDF.
#10 The Blue Book 2013
Oone Games has been releasing a series of maps for some time now. They range across a wide range of genres and styles. They have maps for buildings, vehicles, lairs and adventure locations. They range from traditional fantasy to futuristic genres. Overall they have more than 600 different maps. Finding the right one can be hard, so they have released this book for free which provides a listing of their maps in an easy to navigate format. If you are looking for a specific map, this is a good place to start.
#9 Cosmic Patrol: The Eiger Agenda
One of the offerings from Free RPG Day was this from Catalyst Game Labs. Cosmic Patrol is their rules-lite space opera game of high adventure. This 28 page PDF includes some quick start rules for those who don’t own the core system and an adventure wherein the characters try to stop a space empire from enslaving another race and building a doomsday weapon. Best of all this is still free and a great way to check the game out. I know I’m interested.
#8 Frandor’s Keep
Hackmaster began as a parody of D&D within the pages of Knights of the Dinner Table. Eventually it became a real rpg system that took many of the tropes of early D&D to the extreme. By doing so it captured many of the old-school sensibilities. Frandor’s Keep is a campaign setting/adventure designed to emulate the venerable Keep on the Borderlands for Hackmaster. It provides an adventuring area for a group to start in and explore. It also includes surrounding areas ripe for adventure. Also included in this 160 page PDF is additional material designed for Frandor’s Keep but were once separate material.
#7 Monster Island
It’s nice to see a resurgence of late for RuneQuest. This 296 page PDF is a sandbox setting of a vast lost island full of jungles, great beasts, ancient cultures and adventure. The setting can handle almost any genre from traditional fantasy to pulp. For the setting you get various new cultures, new cults, fully detailed locations and tables to tie them all together. For the game you get nearly 100 new monsters for RuneQuest and new dark spells. Sounds like a fun and exciting setting that could easily be adapted for any system. Also this week Monster Island Companion was released which is a multi-layered map of the island, allowing for variable printing, and the charts/tables from the core book in one place.
#6 TORG
The current owners of TORG, Ulisses Spiele, continue to release the older material for TORG as PDFs. This week we see two more with The Land Below and Los Angeles Citybook. The Land Below is an Inner Earth setting in the style of the standard pulp, but with a mash-up of dinosaurs, jungles, lost civilizations and a Nazi analog. The Los Angeles Citybook is also a setting book giving details on the city itself along with the techno-demons and ninja that inhabit it. Both books also provide new character options and an adventure.
#5 Hands of Fate Bundle
Hands of Fate is a unique fantasy rpg featuring fast combat and free form magic. It also allows the players to set the course of an adventure for better storytelling and comes with a setting where evil has laid dormant for centuries but now rises anew. This week we see a Bundle with several Hands of Fate products. First there is the Core Rules which gives us the rules and outline of the setting. The Guide to Karth gives more character options and some in depth information on several regions and factions within the setting. Monsters of Karth provides dozens of new monsters for the setting. Finally, Ars Academia gives us new options for characters, especially the Sorcerer. If you are looking for a new fantasy rpg with all the extras in one package, this is it.
#4 Shrouds of the Ancients
The world of Terrath befell a tragedy centuries ago. Now humanity huddles within the sanctuary of Aegis which itself is now corrupt and overpopulated. People seek to reexplore the world and regain freedom outside of Aegis and the characters are a group of these people. This game is a dystopian fantasy. The rules feature a classless, levelless system along with a magic system that is flexible to accommodate the players. This PDF provides everything a group needs to start playing on this world.
#3 Knight of the Dinner Table
Kenzer & Company have released two more Knights of the Dinner Table compilation issues. Between vol. 7 and vol. 8 they give us issues #19 - #24. In addition, there are 5 bonus strips between the two Bundles of Trouble. With each being 100 pages long, there is a lot to laugh at here.
#2 Theater of the Mind Magazine
There are many zines out there that give us wonderful new content; new adventures, new monsters, new magic items, etc. This new magazine is taking a slightly different approach in that there are no game stats. Instead they are focusing on the role-playing, or more specifically, on the immersion in role-playing. It contains advice and articles to help in this regard. If they do have new monsters it will be about how the monsters relate to a story of interaction, rather than simple stats. If you are looking for something to enhance your game outside the norm, this should help.
The Rest
WotC Classic PDFs
It’s nice to see some releases from some different editions; the past few weeks we’ve seen nothing but 2E material. 2E is good, but PDFs from a wide range of editions is better. Of the releases this week, X2 is my favorite. Which is yours?
Adventures
Quite a few new systems out this week, including the WICKED FANTASY setting book which recreates the generic races. Plus our usual countdown of the 10 best PDFs of the week!
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
#1 Wicked Fantasy Full Book
John Wick is one of the more respected rpg writers out there. He has written widely, such as designing the Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea games. Of late he has turned his hand to the Pathfinder system and written a series of PDFs that take a look at the races of fantasy (elves, dwarves, goblins, etc) and reinvigorated them. Each book has introduced new ways of looking at the race, added something unique and given gamers more to work with. This 300 page PDF has collected 10 of the series into one PDF.
Wicked Fantasy is a brand new setting book focusing on ten races. It has been a year-long project for myself and Gillian Fraser, re-creating the "generic" races found in most fantasy roleplaying games. We re-designed humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings, and then turned our attention to orks, gnolls, ratmen, goblins and kobolds. Ten races, all with a wicked twist.
Our re-envisioning effort met with much critical applause with reviews calling the new races "brilliant," "sometimes near genius," and containing "lessons every gazetteer should look at."
WICKED FANTASY INCLUDES:
* 300 pages of full color
* Ten "re-designed" races
* Dozens of New Archetypes, Feats, and Prestige Classes
#10 The Blue Book 2013
Oone Games has been releasing a series of maps for some time now. They range across a wide range of genres and styles. They have maps for buildings, vehicles, lairs and adventure locations. They range from traditional fantasy to futuristic genres. Overall they have more than 600 different maps. Finding the right one can be hard, so they have released this book for free which provides a listing of their maps in an easy to navigate format. If you are looking for a specific map, this is a good place to start.
#9 Cosmic Patrol: The Eiger Agenda
One of the offerings from Free RPG Day was this from Catalyst Game Labs. Cosmic Patrol is their rules-lite space opera game of high adventure. This 28 page PDF includes some quick start rules for those who don’t own the core system and an adventure wherein the characters try to stop a space empire from enslaving another race and building a doomsday weapon. Best of all this is still free and a great way to check the game out. I know I’m interested.
#8 Frandor’s Keep
Hackmaster began as a parody of D&D within the pages of Knights of the Dinner Table. Eventually it became a real rpg system that took many of the tropes of early D&D to the extreme. By doing so it captured many of the old-school sensibilities. Frandor’s Keep is a campaign setting/adventure designed to emulate the venerable Keep on the Borderlands for Hackmaster. It provides an adventuring area for a group to start in and explore. It also includes surrounding areas ripe for adventure. Also included in this 160 page PDF is additional material designed for Frandor’s Keep but were once separate material.
#7 Monster Island
It’s nice to see a resurgence of late for RuneQuest. This 296 page PDF is a sandbox setting of a vast lost island full of jungles, great beasts, ancient cultures and adventure. The setting can handle almost any genre from traditional fantasy to pulp. For the setting you get various new cultures, new cults, fully detailed locations and tables to tie them all together. For the game you get nearly 100 new monsters for RuneQuest and new dark spells. Sounds like a fun and exciting setting that could easily be adapted for any system. Also this week Monster Island Companion was released which is a multi-layered map of the island, allowing for variable printing, and the charts/tables from the core book in one place.
#6 TORG
The current owners of TORG, Ulisses Spiele, continue to release the older material for TORG as PDFs. This week we see two more with The Land Below and Los Angeles Citybook. The Land Below is an Inner Earth setting in the style of the standard pulp, but with a mash-up of dinosaurs, jungles, lost civilizations and a Nazi analog. The Los Angeles Citybook is also a setting book giving details on the city itself along with the techno-demons and ninja that inhabit it. Both books also provide new character options and an adventure.
#5 Hands of Fate Bundle
Hands of Fate is a unique fantasy rpg featuring fast combat and free form magic. It also allows the players to set the course of an adventure for better storytelling and comes with a setting where evil has laid dormant for centuries but now rises anew. This week we see a Bundle with several Hands of Fate products. First there is the Core Rules which gives us the rules and outline of the setting. The Guide to Karth gives more character options and some in depth information on several regions and factions within the setting. Monsters of Karth provides dozens of new monsters for the setting. Finally, Ars Academia gives us new options for characters, especially the Sorcerer. If you are looking for a new fantasy rpg with all the extras in one package, this is it.
#4 Shrouds of the Ancients
The world of Terrath befell a tragedy centuries ago. Now humanity huddles within the sanctuary of Aegis which itself is now corrupt and overpopulated. People seek to reexplore the world and regain freedom outside of Aegis and the characters are a group of these people. This game is a dystopian fantasy. The rules feature a classless, levelless system along with a magic system that is flexible to accommodate the players. This PDF provides everything a group needs to start playing on this world.
#3 Knight of the Dinner Table
Kenzer & Company have released two more Knights of the Dinner Table compilation issues. Between vol. 7 and vol. 8 they give us issues #19 - #24. In addition, there are 5 bonus strips between the two Bundles of Trouble. With each being 100 pages long, there is a lot to laugh at here.
#2 Theater of the Mind Magazine
There are many zines out there that give us wonderful new content; new adventures, new monsters, new magic items, etc. This new magazine is taking a slightly different approach in that there are no game stats. Instead they are focusing on the role-playing, or more specifically, on the immersion in role-playing. It contains advice and articles to help in this regard. If they do have new monsters it will be about how the monsters relate to a story of interaction, rather than simple stats. If you are looking for something to enhance your game outside the norm, this should help.
The Rest
- Five-by-Five – A new system with a flexible but powerful die rolling mechanic.
- Supporting Roles Teamwork Traits – One of the things I liked best about 4E was the synergies between the character abilities. This product introduces teamwork traits to Pathfinder.
- High Space Core System Maps – 12 gorgeous star/system maps.
- Nova Praxis – This already released game is a transhuman sci-fi game based off of the FATE system. It is now Pay What You Want.
WotC Classic PDFs
It’s nice to see some releases from some different editions; the past few weeks we’ve seen nothing but 2E material. 2E is good, but PDFs from a wide range of editions is better. Of the releases this week, X2 is my favorite. Which is yours?
- X2 Castle Amber (Basic)
- X3 Curse of Xanathon (Basic)
- FOR7 Giantcraft (2E)
- PHBR15 Complete Ninjas Handbook (2E)
Adventures
- Crystal of Mythrynyx – Tunnels & Trolls.
- Into the Black – Pathfinder and Savage Worlds. Fantasy.
- TM1 The Ogress of Anubis – 1E. Level 4-6.
