Hey everyone,
Next week I'm helping to give a presentation on tabletop roleplaying in the library at the Texas Library Association Convention in Austin. As part of the presentation, we would like to post sort of a quick and dirty guide to RPGs for librarians. It isn't meant to be in-depth or comprehensive (not by a long shot!). It simply lists a selection of commercially available rpgs, followed by the publisher (with website), the genre, the core books required, and available support products categories (accessories, sourcebooks, adventures, fiction, computer games, etc.).
One thing we'd like to offer is a difficulty rating: on a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is it to learn and play the core rules. And this is where I need help. See, this sort of rating system is subjective at best. I'm sure there are some MENSA guy online here who found HERO to be a snap, but struggles with Barbarians of Lemuria. So what I'd like to do is post the list of RPGs we are including and have anyone who cares to rate their difficulty as he or she sees them.
This is meant to be an aid for librarians introducing RPG programs for kids and/or adults, often taking on the reins themselves with no prior experience. Please try to be objective. The idea is to rate each RPG, on a 1 to 10 scale, on how difficult the rules are to learn and play. Please try to judge each RPG individually. Don't feel the need to rate any RPG you are not familiar with. In the end, we'll average the ratings and that's how we'll present them. And please, don't suggest additional RPGs to add. We're down to the wire on this one as is and adding new games just isn't in the cards at this stage. The point isn't to be comprehensive, the point is to be a useful starting point.
Here are the RPGs we are listing:
Dungeons and Dragons (4th edition)
Pathfinder
World of Darkness (nWoD)
Dragon Age (Green Ronin)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
Exalted (2nd edition)
Savage Worlds
Gamma World (4e-based)
The Dresden Files
Castles and Crusades
Smallville
Leverage
Supernatural
Shadowrun (4th edition)
Shattered Empires (Paradigm Concepts)
Witch Hunter: The Invisible World
Traveller (Mongoose edition)
Earthdawn (3rd edition)
Hollow Earth Expedition
Mutants and Masterminds (3rd edition)
Thank you very much for your help!
Tom
Next week I'm helping to give a presentation on tabletop roleplaying in the library at the Texas Library Association Convention in Austin. As part of the presentation, we would like to post sort of a quick and dirty guide to RPGs for librarians. It isn't meant to be in-depth or comprehensive (not by a long shot!). It simply lists a selection of commercially available rpgs, followed by the publisher (with website), the genre, the core books required, and available support products categories (accessories, sourcebooks, adventures, fiction, computer games, etc.).
One thing we'd like to offer is a difficulty rating: on a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is it to learn and play the core rules. And this is where I need help. See, this sort of rating system is subjective at best. I'm sure there are some MENSA guy online here who found HERO to be a snap, but struggles with Barbarians of Lemuria. So what I'd like to do is post the list of RPGs we are including and have anyone who cares to rate their difficulty as he or she sees them.
This is meant to be an aid for librarians introducing RPG programs for kids and/or adults, often taking on the reins themselves with no prior experience. Please try to be objective. The idea is to rate each RPG, on a 1 to 10 scale, on how difficult the rules are to learn and play. Please try to judge each RPG individually. Don't feel the need to rate any RPG you are not familiar with. In the end, we'll average the ratings and that's how we'll present them. And please, don't suggest additional RPGs to add. We're down to the wire on this one as is and adding new games just isn't in the cards at this stage. The point isn't to be comprehensive, the point is to be a useful starting point.
Here are the RPGs we are listing:
Dungeons and Dragons (4th edition)
Pathfinder
World of Darkness (nWoD)
Dragon Age (Green Ronin)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
Exalted (2nd edition)
Savage Worlds
Gamma World (4e-based)
The Dresden Files
Castles and Crusades
Smallville
Leverage
Supernatural
Shadowrun (4th edition)
Shattered Empires (Paradigm Concepts)
Witch Hunter: The Invisible World
Traveller (Mongoose edition)
Earthdawn (3rd edition)
Hollow Earth Expedition
Mutants and Masterminds (3rd edition)
Thank you very much for your help!
Tom