RPG Print News – Mongoose Publishing, Arc Dream Publishing, and More

Lots of exciting RPGs this week including a history of Traveller (all editions), an adventure for Delta Green, a vampire game designed for both table top play and classroom use, and three adventures for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. There is also an RPG about traveling home after completing a quest and adventures for both Salvage Union and Best Left Buried.

Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.

This is Free Trader Beowulf - A System History of Traveller

• SYSTEM: Traveller (all editions) by Mongoose Publishing
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover TTRPG history
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.99
• DESCRIPTION: “This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone … Mayday, Mayday.” A history of Traveller from the first box set in 1977 to the current version. Traveller wasn’t the first science-fiction RPG, but through its unique design and through the evolving development of Charted Space, it has become the longest running SF RPG. Many challenges faced the game along the way. The Imperium was shattered. Outside help was brought in for the second edition. The base system was jettisoned for one version of the game. The game company faced bankruptcy. This book covers those challenges and more covering seven editions, three publishers, and various licensees.

God's Law by Arc Dream Publishing

• SYSTEM: Delta Green RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• DESCRIPTION: A shockingly, unnaturally gruesome death brings the PC Agents up against a corrupt section of the massive Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. A criminal gang working as deputies have met the unnatural and began twisting older, deeper laws towards avarice and corruption.

Five Hundred Year Old Vampire by Central Michigan University Press (Fire Up Chips!)

• SYSTEM: Thousand Year Old Vampire
• PRODUCT TYPE: box set
• RETAIL PRICE: $55
• DESCRIPTION: A multi-player keepsake RPGs of collaborative table top play and also suitable for running for students in an educational setting. Play progresses semi-randomly through prompts answered with writings from the vampire’s perspective and also includes player-created artifacts and rules for multi-player vampire Cohorts. The PC Vampires gradually lose their humanity and struggle to adapt to a changing world. The Vampires do things both monstrous and awe-inspiring, and the players record these deeds through journaling and artmaking which create memorable keepsakes that they hold on to after the end of the game. Includes: five (5) decks of prompt cards (237 cards in total), aA Prime Vampire deck of 16 cards, a card tray, dice (d4, d6, and d8), rulebook, and six pre-generated characters plus blank character and cohort sheets on a tearaway pad.

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The Thousand Eyes of Thaumagorga | The Vanishing Isles of the Summer King | The Oblation Slab of the Hepatomancer by North Wind Adventures

• SYSTEM: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover adventures/softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $35/$35/$20
• DESCRIPTION: The Thousand Eyes of Thaumagorga is an adventure for four to eight characters of third through fifth level. A keep has been built in the Skarag Coast, a land ruled with iron and blood by the terrible demon-blooded race known as the orc. The PCs journey to the holding, lured by the promise of gold and glory. The Vanishing Isles of the Summer King is an adventure in for four to eight characters of fourth through sixth level. The PCs sail to the Isles of Maedsid, deep in the Hyperborean Sea, searching for druids missing for forty years. Concern has grown amongst mainland druids, prompting calls for inquiry. The PCs are also interested in the growing rumors of treasures undreamed of. The Oblation Slab of the Hepatomancer is an adventure for four to eight characters of fifth through eighth level. For many months, small villages and farmsteads have been plagued by swift and deadly attacks by a vicious band of Viking berserkers in their longship. The PCs gain information that could be used to put a stop to these murderous slavers.

The Long Road Home by Plane Sailing Games

• SYSTEM: A unique role-playing story game
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $25
• DESCRIPTION: PCs are heroes on their way home after finishing their quest, reminiscing about the adventures they had along the way, and wondering whether the ideals they loved would be waiting for them at their homecoming. The group chooses a genre and creates the realm and the great enemy of their quest. The game takes place in flashbacks to remember the story of the quest: the highs, lows, triumphs, and tragedies. Ordinary playing cards are used to prompt the emotions to roleplay in a scene.

False Flag | Rainmaker by LeyLine Press

• SYSTEM: Salvage Union
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $32 each
• DESCRIPTION: The PCs navigate a region in the midst of a battle for supremacy in False Flag. An inky black void known as the Vornaya Event heralds the emergence of an intelligent, otherworldly, nanite, hive entity. Meld Nanites serve as a conduit to unlock new realms of research. A cold war ignites between two companies with each vying fiercely for control over the Meld Nanites. The populace of Vornaya are caught in the crossfire. Also includes rules for crafting Nanite-Tech and piloting Nanite-Mechs and six Mech Chassis including the Nanite-Chassis. In Rainmaker, in the ruins of an atmospheric monitoring station, the PCs find data on the ancient art of cloudseeding. For now, the discovery is secret. But across the broken land, clues to the source are scattered. If too much suspicion is raised, others will take up the hunt as water is life and water is wealth. The PCs have to be ready. Also includes seven new Mech Chassis for Salvage Union including demonic Automechs, three new Bio-Titans to challenge the PCs, and additional Systems, Modules, and Pilot Equipment options.

Throne of Avarice by SoulMuppet Publishing

• SYSTEM: Best Left Buried
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $40
• OTHER RPG NEWS: Best Left Buried: An Interview with Zach Cox
• DESCRIPTION: A setting book and procedural generation toolbox to generate the citizens, victims, regions, and reprehensible rulers of the Grand Duchy of Calmyn, a nation struggling to reclaim its dominion over the known world. Covers well-known Cryptdigging Companies, predatory Ducal Bureaus, Consortium subsidiaries with their tendrils across the known world, despairing rebellions fighting everyone else’s oppression, and more.

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[Riquez]

I like the art i see on these Hyperborea books, but i dont know much about it.
Is it related to RE Howard / Conan at all? That is where I know the term from but the website doesnt see to mention that.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

I like the art i see on these Hyperborea books, but i dont know much about it.
Is it related to RE Howard / Conan at all? That is where I know the term from but the website doesnt see to mention that.

Hyperborea website and more details.

From the site: "HYPERBOREA is the premier role-playing game of swords, sorcery, and weird science-fantasy. Its milieux are inspired by the fantastic literature of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. Game rules and conventions are informed by the original 1974 fantasy wargame and miniatures campaign rules as conceived by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson."

 

[SteveC]

I like the art i see on these Hyperborea books, but i dont know much about it.
Is it related to RE Howard / Conan at all? That is where I know the term from but the website doesnt see to mention that.

I played a scenario with the designers and it seems to be an OSR based game, so heading back to the early AD&D days. It looked great and played better than AD&D did out of the box (in my opinion of course) so if you're looking in that direction, this was a good looking and well designed game.

 

[Vaslov]

I like the art i see on these Hyperborea books, but i dont know much about it.
Is it related to RE Howard / Conan at all? That is where I know the term from but the website doesnt see to mention that.

The default setting is in something loosely based on Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborean Cycle stories, with a number of other pulp writers of the same era having some of their tales show up, including Howard's Conan. It is a far future science fantasy setting. The sun in a giant red sun. You are on a satellite orbiting Saturn that is a flat plane where man from various ages mix together in a setting that 1000 years ago went through something called the Green Plague, when much knowledge was lost. Mankind is slowly recovering their lost world and is by no means the top of the heap anymore. Like most D&D settings you can use the rules just fine without the setting.

The rules started with Basic D&D, sprinkled in some AD&D and some of the authors own house rules. Some highlights include

• All player characters are human. So lighting in dungeons has meaning.
• No multi-classing rules. Though there are several custom classes that fill in the multi-class type characters.
• Lots of optional rules for combat. My players and I have generally been ignoring these, but many of them are interesting.
• It does subject players to the horrors of THAC0. My table all was able to recall it and with the grid on the character sheets it is an easy conversion. Has not slowed us down, but everyone current at the table recalls descending AC is good, etc. It is a flavor of game I know some cannot stand. Would be easy enough to convert to a AC 10 and up scale like modern editions if that was truly a blocker for your table.

For me the setting is my current favorite flavor of OSR type games when I want to play the quintessential D&D "go in a dungeon and get loot" type of game. Other stories can emerge, but the system leans in heavy that I get the most mileage out of it staying as close to that lane as I can.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

That Traveller book was written by Shannon Applecline, who in my book is the premier historian in the RPG space. $60 is a bit rich for my blood these days; but I've got a birthday coming in March so maybe dropping some brooooooooaaad hints around spouse and adult children wouldn't go amiss

 

[agrayday]

That Traveller book was written by Shannon Applecline, who in my book is the premier historian in the RPG space. $60 is a bit rich for my blood these days; but I've got a birthday coming in March so maybe dropping some brooooooooaaad hints around spouse and adult children wouldn't go amiss

i preordered this book, and received it sometime ago. its landscape format, 300 pages. Has a lot of the GDW, imperium and mongoose era wargames and rpgs, and product checklists of all releases. Its basically the history of the Traveller product line including licensed material, fanzines, and community content. Its a great reference book if your into understanding all the Traveller products.

I should add, its not anything like the D&D 50th book.

 

[BovineofWar]

i preordered this book, and received it sometime ago. its landscape format, 300 pages. Has a lot of the GDW, imperium and mongoose era wargames and rpgs, and product checklists of all releases. Its basically the history of the Traveller product line including licensed material, fanzines, and community content. Its a great reference book if your into understanding all the Traveller products.

I should add, its not anything like the D&D 50th book.

Ditto, recieved it a while ago and thought it was released a few months back. The physical book is a gorgeous coffe table piece and I'm just as happy with it as with Shannon Applecline's other works.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Ditto, recieved it a while ago and thought it was released a few months back.

 

[Piperken]

Without needing to delve into particulars, that Delta Green adventure is a ripped from the headlines story; I'd be up to trying it as a player for that game, esp. if it was handled well.

Cool to see 1k Vampire ppls craft a multiplayer version as Five Hundred Year Old Vampire. A great title to call it as well.

Based off the blurb, the setting book by Yaksha feels inspo worthy to me; there's elements of their writing I like.

A great variety in this update!