Akrasia
Procrastinator
For fans of 'rules lite' systems, it looks like there will be a few interesting fantasy options in 2005. Three in particular stand out:
(a.) Castles and Crusades. Published by Troll Lord Games, and soon supported by the original 'Castle Greyhawk' (renamed 'Castle Zagyg') by EGG.
(b.) Unisystem's 'FRPG' (viz. AFMBE + the 'Dungeons and Zombies' supplement). Published by Eden Studios. Not sure if there is any support planned.
(c.) Blue Rose. Published by Green Ronin. At least three books appear to be on the boards, with more to follow if the game is a success.
I really like 'rules lite' systems (well, actually 'rules medium' systems, as I don't mind some rules, and most post-1999 games seem 'rules heavy' to my 'grognardly' eyes), so this is good news to me, and many fellow old farts that I know and game with.
I am reading through the C&C PHB right now, and I really love this system. It captures a lot of the flavour of 'old school' D&D and AD&D. Ironically, as a game that imports the 'd20 mechanic' from 3E in the service of what is essentially a new version of OD&D and 1E, I think C&C makes much better use of the idea of a 'unified d20 mechanic' to resolve tasks than 3E. Anyway, I was already familiar with the basic system from C&C's basic 'box set' (my review here: http://www.enworld.org/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=Akrasia&product=CCDSBS), but the PHB is a great improvement. I can hardly wait to convert my 'Ilmahal' campaign over to C&C. One great thing about this system is that it is a snap to convert stuff from any edition of D&D into C&C terms. I have tonnes of 1E and 3E stuff that I am eager to use with C&C. Good times, ahead...
I have only flipped through Eden's 'D&Z' at my FLGS, but I have long been a fan of Unisystem (especially as realized in the Buffy and Angel games). Although D&Z includes four different 'deadworlds', I suspect that the system would work best for a 'swords and sorcery' style game, a la Howard and Leiber. At least this is what I expect to be the case, given what I know about Unisystem. By Crom, if I ever get around to running a Hyborian campaign, I will probably use Unisystem's D&Z (rather than Mongoose's Conan RPG, as Conan's combat and feat system actually exacerbates all the problems I have with the 3E system). Indeed, a Cinematic Unisystem Hyborian campaign could be quite cool.
While I generally loathe the genre of 'romantic fantasy', with its flakey 'neo-paganism' and annoying talking animals, the mechanics of Blue Rose look quite interesting. I like the idea of simplifying the d20 system to three broad classes, getting rid of the uber-tactical elements of 3E combat, and introducing game concepts like corruption. In fact, the stuff on 'light-versus-shadow' and 'corruption' suggest that it might be a good system for a Tolkien-style campaign. (Plus, I hear that the talking animals taste even better than the nontalking ones.
)
Finally...
(d.) With Unearthed Arcana and the Basic Game now available for 3E D&D, a 'semi-lite' version of the game might be cobbled together. Namely, if one uses the combat rules from the Basic Game (and eliminates all feats requiring AoOs), and introduces some of the 'simplified skill rules' from UA (plus a few house rules), a reasonable 'rules lite' version of 3E looks possible. Still too much work for my tastes, but it is nice that there might be a way to run a 'fast and dramatic' version of 3E with WotC's more recent products.
Anyhow...
I am sure that I am forgetting something, but 2005 is looking good (from my perspective).
And the return of Thieves' World will surely rock! Ohhhhh yesssss...
Pax
(a.) Castles and Crusades. Published by Troll Lord Games, and soon supported by the original 'Castle Greyhawk' (renamed 'Castle Zagyg') by EGG.
(b.) Unisystem's 'FRPG' (viz. AFMBE + the 'Dungeons and Zombies' supplement). Published by Eden Studios. Not sure if there is any support planned.
(c.) Blue Rose. Published by Green Ronin. At least three books appear to be on the boards, with more to follow if the game is a success.
I really like 'rules lite' systems (well, actually 'rules medium' systems, as I don't mind some rules, and most post-1999 games seem 'rules heavy' to my 'grognardly' eyes), so this is good news to me, and many fellow old farts that I know and game with.
I am reading through the C&C PHB right now, and I really love this system. It captures a lot of the flavour of 'old school' D&D and AD&D. Ironically, as a game that imports the 'd20 mechanic' from 3E in the service of what is essentially a new version of OD&D and 1E, I think C&C makes much better use of the idea of a 'unified d20 mechanic' to resolve tasks than 3E. Anyway, I was already familiar with the basic system from C&C's basic 'box set' (my review here: http://www.enworld.org/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=Akrasia&product=CCDSBS), but the PHB is a great improvement. I can hardly wait to convert my 'Ilmahal' campaign over to C&C. One great thing about this system is that it is a snap to convert stuff from any edition of D&D into C&C terms. I have tonnes of 1E and 3E stuff that I am eager to use with C&C. Good times, ahead...
I have only flipped through Eden's 'D&Z' at my FLGS, but I have long been a fan of Unisystem (especially as realized in the Buffy and Angel games). Although D&Z includes four different 'deadworlds', I suspect that the system would work best for a 'swords and sorcery' style game, a la Howard and Leiber. At least this is what I expect to be the case, given what I know about Unisystem. By Crom, if I ever get around to running a Hyborian campaign, I will probably use Unisystem's D&Z (rather than Mongoose's Conan RPG, as Conan's combat and feat system actually exacerbates all the problems I have with the 3E system). Indeed, a Cinematic Unisystem Hyborian campaign could be quite cool.
While I generally loathe the genre of 'romantic fantasy', with its flakey 'neo-paganism' and annoying talking animals, the mechanics of Blue Rose look quite interesting. I like the idea of simplifying the d20 system to three broad classes, getting rid of the uber-tactical elements of 3E combat, and introducing game concepts like corruption. In fact, the stuff on 'light-versus-shadow' and 'corruption' suggest that it might be a good system for a Tolkien-style campaign. (Plus, I hear that the talking animals taste even better than the nontalking ones.
)Finally...
(d.) With Unearthed Arcana and the Basic Game now available for 3E D&D, a 'semi-lite' version of the game might be cobbled together. Namely, if one uses the combat rules from the Basic Game (and eliminates all feats requiring AoOs), and introduces some of the 'simplified skill rules' from UA (plus a few house rules), a reasonable 'rules lite' version of 3E looks possible. Still too much work for my tastes, but it is nice that there might be a way to run a 'fast and dramatic' version of 3E with WotC's more recent products.
Anyhow...
I am sure that I am forgetting something, but 2005 is looking good (from my perspective).
And the return of Thieves' World will surely rock! Ohhhhh yesssss...
Pax
