The jolly season of 2018 is almost upon us, and it’s time for us to give that geek in our life a present. But what to give them? Together, the writing team of d20Radio has come up with some gift guides for you to enjoy. Hopefully, you’ll find some inspiration for your presents. 🙂 (Please note that these articles are partly collaborations, so more than one other may have contributed to the article – those will be noted by each recommendation).
1: The Expanse RPG (Recommended by: Ben Erickson)
Okay, so this game isn’t technically available yet, but you can find the quickstart rules that were released around the time of the game’s Kickstarter on Green Ronin’s website for free as a PDF or for a couple of bucks for a physical version. I recently reviewed the release of the Modern AGE Basic Rulebook which is where The Expanse is said to be drawing its rules and then modifying some of them to better fit the setting. The Kickstarter is stating a January release date, so it won’t be long before we’re able to make a hard burn into space and find out what’s going on in the Belt and beyond.
This is an excellent gift if you have friends or family you want to introduce to M&M 3e. Or for yourself if you are new to the system. It IS fully compatible with the other M&M 3e books; the mechanics aren’t changed but explained better and character creation is simpler for new players. That said, BHH won’t be as useful to experienced M&M gamers unless they are planning on GMing for players new to the system. As of this writing, it is on sale for US$30 hardcover/$17 PDF. (Kim’s note:Â Please note that the PDF can be found here, while the hardcover can be bought here. Linda has reviewed the entire book here.)
3: Scum & Villainy (Recommended by: Phillip Krzeminski)
A tabletop RPG designed around a starship crew trying to make ends meet in a hostile galaxy using the creative commons rules pioneered by Blades in the Dark. The system has its own engaging setting that draws from notable space opera settings (Firefly, Star Wars, and Cowboy Bebop) and can be used to run games in any of those settings. There is a great wealth of set-piece material that allows the GM to easily put together a session with essentially no prep and the modular rules can be used to craft a gaming experience that is as streamlined or robust as your group desires.
A tabletop RPG designed around a starship crew trying to make ends meet in a hostile galaxy using the creative commons rules pioneered by Blades in the Dark. The system has its own engaging setting that draws from notable space opera settings (Firefly, Star Wars, and Cowboy Bebop) and can be used to run games in any of those settings. There is a great wealth of set-piece material that allows the GM to easily put together a session with essentially no prep and the modular rules can be used to craft a gaming experience that is as streamlined or robust as your group desires.
4: Dungeon Crawl Classics (Recommended by: Kim Frandsen)
This is one of those strangely Old-School games. It took a lot of D&D 3.0 and ran with the idea of the old-school sensation and feel of the older roleplaying games. Within it, you’ll find lethal traps that you can overcome by being smart as a player, you can find spells that can go horribly wrong (each spell has a unique spell list that you roll on whenever you cast the spell, to see if it goes off well or not. Magic in this system is dangerous, so it can be lethal to your enemies, but it might be just as bad on yourself), and you’ll find a nod to the original D&D way of having races work as classes too. It’s a truly enjoyable romp, that evokes the feel of classic sword and sorcery like Conan the Barbarian (the books, not the films) and stories of that nature.
This is one of those strangely Old-School games. It took a lot of D&D 3.0 and ran with the idea of the old-school sensation and feel of the older roleplaying games. Within it, you’ll find lethal traps that you can overcome by being smart as a player, you can find spells that can go horribly wrong (each spell has a unique spell list that you roll on whenever you cast the spell, to see if it goes off well or not. Magic in this system is dangerous, so it can be lethal to your enemies, but it might be just as bad on yourself), and you’ll find a nod to the original D&D way of having races work as classes too. It’s a truly enjoyable romp, that evokes the feel of classic sword and sorcery like Conan the Barbarian (the books, not the films) and stories of that nature.
It also comes with an interesting dice mechanic that I’ve never seen before, the dice-chain. Basically instead of having the usual modifiers of +2/-2 and so on, instead you move up and down a dice chain, either increasing or decreasing the dice size (i.e. going d2, d3, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d16, d20, d24, d30 – and yes, d16, d24 and d30s exist in dice sets for this game). It encourages the use of strange dice, and I certainly prefer rolling dice, rather than adding modifiers.
Finally, it has a rather unique way of generating characters. You start by generating 4 characters (these are really simple, each character takes about 2 minutes to create) and then the GM runs what is known as a character funnel. The funnel is an adventure for 0-level characters, and you play all 4 of your characters, while the other members of your gaming group play 4 too. Whichever one of your characters survive the funnel advances to level 1, and that is now your character for the campaign. (It should be noted here that Dungeon Crawl Classic comes in both a PDF and a softcover currently, but the hardcover is out of print. – Don’t bother with the PDF unless you really want it digitally. It costs the same as the softcover.) – If you end up liking the system, you should pick up MY adventure for it too. 😛
5: Pugmire (Recommended by: Kim Frandsen)
As I’m sure some of the Patreon can attest, this is a very enjoyable little game. It takes D&D 5e, makes it even simpler, and then puts it in the hands of the canines. I am not going to belabor the point here, but there’s a reason that this book found its way to my shelves, just based on the strength of Ben Erickson’s original review. Having played it later on with the Patreon gamers just reinforced how good a game it really is. Buy it. (Oh, and if you’re feeling adventurous, check out Canis Minor – the storefront for Pugmire. They have community content there in a similar manner to the DMsGuild for 5e, and until the end of November, if you submit content to it (and it’s approved), they give you a free copy of the upcoming Monarchies of Mau, which introduces… Cats.).
As I’m sure some of the Patreon can attest, this is a very enjoyable little game. It takes D&D 5e, makes it even simpler, and then puts it in the hands of the canines. I am not going to belabor the point here, but there’s a reason that this book found its way to my shelves, just based on the strength of Ben Erickson’s original review. Having played it later on with the Patreon gamers just reinforced how good a game it really is. Buy it. (Oh, and if you’re feeling adventurous, check out Canis Minor – the storefront for Pugmire. They have community content there in a similar manner to the DMsGuild for 5e, and until the end of November, if you submit content to it (and it’s approved), they give you a free copy of the upcoming Monarchies of Mau, which introduces… Cats.).
6:Â Alpha Omega Core Rulebook (Recommended by: Kim Frandsen)
I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure where to start with this one. It’s a very unique setting, one that’s hard to define. It’s a post-apocalyptic steampunk setting, where devils and angels have reached the earth. At some point in the past, the earth was practically destroyed, turning everything into a barren wasteland, with only a few mega-cities surviving. Humanity was slowly recovering and was about to start reclaiming the wasteland, when the angels and devils arrived, to continue their eternal war. Now humanity is caught in the middle, and neither side seems to be a good option to join, as both appear to be equally hostile to humanity.
It’s a good read, even if you never play, and the art inside the book is GORGEOUS, but it is worth noting that Mindstorm Labs, the company behind Alpha Omega, is no longer active and the game is no longer supported, but it survives in PDF form.
I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure where to start with this one. It’s a very unique setting, one that’s hard to define. It’s a post-apocalyptic steampunk setting, where devils and angels have reached the earth. At some point in the past, the earth was practically destroyed, turning everything into a barren wasteland, with only a few mega-cities surviving. Humanity was slowly recovering and was about to start reclaiming the wasteland, when the angels and devils arrived, to continue their eternal war. Now humanity is caught in the middle, and neither side seems to be a good option to join, as both appear to be equally hostile to humanity.
It’s a good read, even if you never play, and the art inside the book is GORGEOUS, but it is worth noting that Mindstorm Labs, the company behind Alpha Omega, is no longer active and the game is no longer supported, but it survives in PDF form.
And with that, we complete the Holiday Buying Guide for this year. Hope you all have a great seasonal holiday. 🙂
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Kim Frandsen
40 years old, and a gamer since I was 13. These days I freelance as a writer for various companies (currently Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Paizo, Raging Swan Games, Rusted Iron Games, and Zenith Games),
I've dipped my hands into all sorts of games, but my current "go-to" games are Pathfinder 2, Dungeon Crawl Classics and SLA Industries. Unfortunately, while wargaming used to be a big hobby, with wife, dog and daughter came less time.
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It’s kind of funny – nearly everything you like about DCC rubs me entirely the wrong way. Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read through it, but I honestly felt it presented itself in a very adversarial way as far as GM/Player dynamics go. The Zocchi just feel kitschy to me, and rolling on a chart for *every* spell just drives me nuts.
That said, I do like the character funnel. And of course, your mileage obviously varied from mine. Maybe I just need to take a second look at it in a better frame of mind.
Oh no, that makes perfect sense. Part of the OSR is the “adversary” feeling with GM and PC, but I didn’t think it was as bad in DCC as a lot of other OSR-style games that I’ve run across. – That said, I do get your point. 🙂
– On the spell side though, I have to admit that’s something that I really like, that each spell can have an extremely varied effect, it’s very much in the style of the “Conan/Hyperborea-feel” that magic is powerful but dangerous and unpredictable. It is NOT a modern sensibility in any way, and in other games, I absolutely hate having that sort of unpredictability, both as a GM and as a player. In general, it should be fairly clearcut if something works or not, and how it works, but within the context of the feeling they’re trying to achieve, they really hit it.
(The Zocchi dice I just love, but that’s because I don’t like modifiers, and I like rolling dice. ;-))
But you’re right, the one thing that really stands out is the character funnel. It’s been one of the best ways I’ve seen so far, of creating a character, in a d20-type game, that doesn’t devolve into min-maxing (at least not on purpose), because that uber-powerful character might die before they ever get to level 1. (I know that can happen in Traveler as well, but at least here you get to play the character, rather than dying due to a roll on a table, before the game even starts).
I’d encourage you to take a second look Ben, but it is entirely likely that it might not be to your liking, whether in a good or bad mood. 😉
Regardless though, take a Look at Alpha Omega – if you like art, you’ll adore it. 🙂