RPG Print News – RPGs I’ve Run Through The End of 2024

Merry Christmas! Holidays are here and no time for a weekly update.

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.

​

Amazing Adventures Bundle by Troll Lord Games

• SYSTEM: powered by the SIEGE Engine same as Castles & Crusades
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebooks, GM screen, and adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $105
• OTHER RPG NEWS: Amazing Adventures: An Interview with Jason Vey
• DESCRIPTION: What I’m currently running. This one is great: powered by the SIEGE Engine but set in a world like ours but with a supernatural edge. The PCs are bigger than life heroes and have Fate Points to make a bigger impact in their world.

The One Ring (Second Edition) by Free League Publishing

• SYSTEM: unique d6 dice pool with one d12
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $55.50
• DESCRIPTION: This second edition is amazing: steeped in the lore of Middle-earth (not the novels per se, but the setting), with rules to cover combat, journeys, and councils. I liked this one so much I bought the cloth map and ran a campaign for nearly a year. With Moria out now I am likely to make a return to Middle-earth.

Troika! (Numinous Edition) by Melsonian Arts Council

• SYSTEM: British 2d6 (Fighting Fantasy RPG and game books)
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $36.95
• OTHER RPG COVERAGE: Troika!: A Played It Review, Troika!: An Interview with Daniel Sell, Troika! Deep Dive: Another Interview with Daniel Sell
• DESCRIPTION: One of my all-time favorites. The PCs explore spheres connected throughout the hump-backed sky. The setting is baroque, overflowing with adventure, soaked in blood, and relies heavily on British new wave science fiction from the 1960s and 1970s.

Strange Tales of Songling by Bedrock Games

• SYSTEM: Network Rules: d10 dice pool
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• OTHER RPG COVERAGE: New Year, New Campaign: Strange Tales of Songling
• DESCRIPTION: A horror monster-of-the week style RPG inspired by Chinese ghost stories. My movie watching experience was enriched by watching A Chinese Ghost Story and reading an English translation of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. This game is more dangerous than it might seem on the surface, but getting immersed in this supernatural China of long ago is well worth facing the danger of fox spirits, hopping vampires and ghosts. PCs confront the supernatural as demon hunters, scholars, wandering swords and dangerous ritual masters. The system is easy enough to run and the book comes with four complete adventures as well as monsters based on Chinese anomaly accounts, folklore, and horror movies.

Zombicide Chronicles RPG | Zombicide Chronicles - Road to Haven Campaign Book by CMON

• SYSTEM: unique d6 dice pool
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook/hardcover adventure book
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.99/$24.99
• DESCRIPTION: I ran this one at Charlie Con this year. It plays like the board game but with added tension when humans are found. Will these new people help or make things worse? What do they know that the PCs don’t? I used the board game to set up a massive rubble crawl with the PCs starting at one end, fighting through to the other, and rescuing an important NPC along the way. Great fun, fast, and with enough RPG details to make it feel bigger than a board game with roleplaying. The Road to Haven Campaign Book supports campaign play with an extended mission for PCs to complete along with interesting NPCs to meet and new rule options to unlock.

Xcrawl Classics - The Complete Collection by Goodman Games

• SYSTEM: same rules as Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: collection of hardcover core rulebook, adventures, and GM screen
• RETAIL PRICE: $149.99
• DESCRIPTION: I have run a lot of campaigns that use the rules from DCC RPG. This latest combo rules and setting using those rules is set in a dystopian USA with live dungeon crawling events as a blood sport. Like previous versions, the setting comes forth most strongly through the adventures which provide more monsters, NPCs, treasure, and setting lore. While I have kicked campaigns off with the 0-level funnel, for this setting I might start with first level PCs, still novice crawlers but not nearly defenseless. However, for a more Dungeon Crawler Carl feel, zero level makes a lot of sense.

Forbidden Lands Core Boxed Set | Forbidden Lands The Bloodmarch by Free League Publishing

• SYSTEM: Year Zero Engine
• PRODUCT TYPE: boxed rules/hardcover setting
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.93/$41.80
• DESCRIPTION: The included adventure sites in The Bloodmarch open up after the events in the adventures included in Forbidden Lands. The Bloodmarch is a land of ash and magma. Worm monsters threaten all while the Rust Brothers attempt to rise in power. This setting seemed a bit more fantastical than the core setting, with blood red forests and worm invaders and fungus and fire. A nice change of pace. I am glad I ran this one as a second campaign after the more traditional one in the boxed set. It is a weird one, but the setting is fun to explore and the NPCs and monsters are a real challenge.

​

Leagues of Gothic Horror | Leagues of Gothic Horror - Guide to Mordavia, Land of Horror by Triple Ace Games

• SYSTEM: Leagues of Adventure
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover rule supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $29.99/$16.99
• DESCRIPTION: Leagues of Gothic Horror is a supplement for horror replaying set in a gothic age. The PCs faced a range of monsters and explored the realm of Mordavia. The PCs helped a ghost find rest in a haunted asylum, faced murderous marionettes come to jittering life, and faced a mummy run amok in a museum. Many of the monsters have their own supplement with additional versions and added rules to assist the GM.

Charlie is a participant in the Noble Knight Affiliate Program and the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, both of which are affiliate programs that provide a means for participants to earn money by advertising and linking to Noble Knight Games and DriveThruRPG respectively. Posts and articles posted here by others do not reflect the views of Charlie Dunwoody. If you like the articles at EN World please consider supporting the Patreon.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Great! Thanks for the input! Looking forward to the new Monster book too.

I am as well though it may be a bit before it is ready (per the interview). I have the original monster book in print, and I also picked up D20 Call of Cthulhu which is unbelievably helpful in writing Yog-Sothoth style adventures. I pulled the mi-go and their weird tech from that book along with nightgaunts.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I am as well though it may be a bit before it is ready (per the interview). I have the original monster book in print, and I also picked up D20 Call of Cthulhu which is unbelievably helpful in writing Yog-Sothoth style adventures. I pulled the mi-go and their weird tech from that book along with nightgaunts.

d20 Cthulhu I remember being surprisingly good (ran a number of memorable campaigns with it)

 

[Desrimal]

That’s fascinating, but not relevant to this thread or a topic for these forums.

I was answering another user who was suggesting that people shouldn't support Troll Lord Games. That's the relevance

 

[Morrus]

I was answering another user who was suggesting that people shouldn't support Troll Lord Games. That's the relevance

Do not respond to moderation in-thread. You won’t be posting in this thread again.

 

[Ghost2020]

d20 Cthulhu I remember being surprisingly good (ran a number of memorable campaigns with it)

Same! I didn't hate it at all, and now I wonder why i got rid of it.

Did it scale weird like standard d20 games do? (zero to superhero)

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Same! I didn't hate it at all, and now I wonder why i got rid of it.

Did it scale weird like standard d20 games do? (zero to superhero)

It has a basic 3.5 chassis so yes zero to hero. Every PC has d6 hit points per level. However, none of the magic items and wizard spells that power up D&D 3.5 are there, so PCs aren't as tough in comparison and I think the scaling would feel smoother. And unless the pulp variant is used, AC is rather low.

 

[TerraDave]

the d20 Cthulhu book is actually really good.

Its just that BRP CoC is also really good.

There are worse problems to have.