Games of the Decade?

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Trippy

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I've just remembered it's nearly the End of the Decade!?! What are your favorite games, published in the last 10 years, and why?

I'll give mine in a bit......
 
Videogame: Dark Souls.
RPG: Apocalypse World.
Boardgame: 7 Wonders.
Cardgame: Android Netrunner.
 
hmmm, this is gonna take some time to think about
 
I looked through the list of games published in 2010's on Wikipedia and added some missing from there.

I'm torn for tabletop RPGs.
1) DCC for it's Gonzo and pushing the aesthetic of the 50-70's fantasy novels.

2) Godbound. Playing a godling while being mostly comparable with 70's-80's D&D? Yes please!

3) Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I'm gonna say it. I like earlier D&D but there's definitely ways to improve on it. This is one of the better ones.

4) Adventurer Conquerer King. Love companion and it's rules for building your own classes. Like the domain management aspect.
 
The Delta Green Rpg, from Arc Dream Publishing. A fantastic version of a classic setting supported by a retooled and improved BRP system. I consider it the best form of BRP to date, while maintaining true backwards compatibility with older DG and CoC products.

I'm a fan of a number of products related to the Cepheus Engine. In particular, HOSTILE from Zozer Games. I like the reproduced MGT1e rules combined with a setting that could easily model an Alien(s) and/or Outland campaign.
 
The One Ring looks interesting but I haven't played it. It's one I wouldn't want to referee. I dislike the name, though, as it sounds like a jeweler's cheesy ad copy and the abbreviation makes me think of Joe Kubert and the paperback publisher.
 
My first thought was Doctor Who: AITAS , but google tells me that was 2009, so just missed it.

When did RQ6 become Mythras? Because that's definitely in my top ten if it counts for this decade.

Lady Blackbird is definitely up there.

It's probably too soon to judge Kult or Mothership, but I hold them in pretty high esteem at the moment

Absolutely Ryuutama, that game is a hobby paradigm shift.

Same with The One Ring
 
TristramEvans said:
My first thought was Doctor Who: AITAS , but google tells me that was 2009, so just missed it.

When did RQ6 become Mythras? Because that's definitely in my top ten if it counts for this decade.

Lady Blackbird is definitely up there.

It's probably too soon to judge Kult or Mothership, but I hold them in pretty high esteem at the moment

Absolutely Ryuutama, that game is a hobby paradigm shift.

Same with The One Ring
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I think I've heard of all of these but nothing has compelled me to seek these out. Please sell me on them.


Also I'd add either Microscope or Kingdom to my list. They're very different RPGs from my normal experience but cool.
 
Well, obiviously D&D 5E has to be on the list.
Although for me, I would put both Dungeon Crawl Classics and 13th Age ahead of it for D20 games, even if they didn't outsell D&D 5E.
The One Ring deserves a mention for it's aethestics and portrayal of a classic setting.
RuneQuest Adventures In Glorantha also deserves a mention in regards to bringing back Glorantha in a big way.

Although for me personally, the biggest games have been Call of Cthulhu 7E, Mythras, and Fate Core.
 
Bunch said:
I think I've heard of all of these but nothing has compelled me to seek these out. Please sell me on them.
Click to expand...


Hmm, well, I think Raleel is the official Mythras salesman for The Pub, but I'll say this - of all the Roleplaying games I've played, ran, or read from the 5 decades of the Hobby's existence, Mythras is hands down, without even a moment of hesitation, the best fantasy RPG system that I've encountered. It is just a beautiful system, mechanically, that interacts with play perfectly. The only way I can really describe it is if, in the 80s, someone took Runequest, Chivalry & Sorcery, and Rolemaster and said "I wonder what an evolution of these games would look like in the far future if combined and streamlined by master game designers for decades?" I would not have said this just from reading RQ6 when it came out, but it was playing in a game about a decade ago now, from character creation onwards, I instantly fell in love.

YMMV, natch.

Lady Blackbirtd is a free game (so just google it up and download the maybe 10 page pdf) that blends concepts that were being floated during the Indy explosion of the early aughts into one succinct presentation (there's a bit of The Pool in there, some ideas from Fate, etc). It's one of the best "pick up and play" RPGs I've ever come across, and infinitely adaptable for those who like to tinker.

Kult: Divinity Lost is the newest edition of the classic horror game from the 90s, that was doing Clive Barker and Kafka when White Wolf was doing Anne Rice. As I said, it's too soon for me to come up with a concrete judgement, but the new edition is a sumptuous tome that is incredibly enjoyable to read. I'm hoping I might get a chance to run a session in the coming year, and if I sell my group on it, do a campaign.

Mothership is an OSR game, that basically does "Aliens". It's one of the few implementations of the OSR (rtead: D&D) that I actually would really like to run or play. I have no idea how it compares to the new Official Alien RPG that just came out - which I did not pre-order. I think the pdf is "pay what you want" on Drive-Thru.

You can find any number of threads on here recently about The One Ring, and it's a shame that it's making this list for me in the same month the gameline died. It is not a game I would be able to run with my current group, and it's definitely a system that would be far more fun to play than GM from what I can tell, but it's a beasutiful adaption of the source material - I'd hesitantly say the only LOTR RPG (and I've played all the previous ones) that really captures the essence of Tolkien's world. And the art and design of the books was just gorgeous.

Which leaves...Ryuutama

I've got to restrain myself, as I'm cutting into my studying time, but I could easily fill a few pages gushing about this game.

Briefly, it's a translation of a Japanese RPG, that is - how do I put this?

Like someone translated a Miyazaki film into RPG system form.

It is a "quiet" game, about exploration, and wonder, and discovery. It's a fairy tale with all the attendant classic feelings that goes along with that, perfectly capturing all the "Glamour" that Changeling: The Dreaming attempted, and in the face of Ryuutama, failed

The game system is unique. completely unrelated to any other RPG before it. It's wistful, charming, and there's a sweet melancholy to it that is practically indescribable. More than any other fantasy RPG, I want to crawl into and live in Ryuutama's world.
 
For me ICONS. We got so much play, so many different campaigns and one-shot fillers with it. It's not the most innovative or finely polished systems, but it is very, very playable.
 
TristramEvans said:
Kult: Divinity Lost is the newest edition of the classic horror game from the 90s, that was doing Clive Barker and Kafka when White Wolf was doing Anne Rice. As I said, it's too soon for me to come up with a concrete judgement, but the new edition is a sumptuous tome that is incredibly enjoyable to read. I'm hoping I might get a chance to run a session in the coming year, and if I sell my group on it, do a campaign.
Click to expand...

Go and listen to the Red Moon Roleplaying Podcast for the Kult scenario - The Summit. It's by Matthew Dawkins (of Vampire: The Masquerade fame) and is narrated by him too (he has an excellent voice for this type of thing). It's absolutely brilliant as a real hard hitting horror module, and it's really well played by the actors. It comes in several installments, but it should sell most horror aficionados to the merits of the system and it's possibilities.
 
OK, so my list would include:

Apocalypse World - not my first choice, as I think they get the archetypes wrong for a post apocalyptic game proper and I'm not really sure it's as groundbreaking as some make it out to be, but it definitely set a trend and a mode of play that plenty have copied. I also think it's a terrific system for introducing gamers to the hobby.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying - Another interesting system, which found a way of balancing out different power levels by largely making them inconsequential against personally driven narration, simulated by rolling all your applicable dice first and then choosing how to use them. Very much in the tradition of innovative Marvel roleplaying games (ever since Marvel Super Heroes from 1984) by doing things a bit differently in a cutting edge way, and very well presented. Lost it's license rather suddenly, which is a shame because the Marvel Cinematic Universe was really taking off culturally.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition - Let's be honest, D&D was on the ropes before this came out with Pathfinder overtaking sales and lots of disquiet amongst fans about the previous edition's direction. 5th Edition had the biggest open marketing/playtesting campaign in the hobbies history and the creators listened. The result, after 5 years of counting, is that the current edition has the best sales and arguably the biggest reach of any D&D edition ever. For me, it's the first edition of D&D that I genuinely keep going back to for fantasy. I'd also make mention of the excellent Adventures in Middle Earth for 5E, which I found slightly more familiar to run with than the equally good The One Ring, that is sadly about to expire as a license.

Mutant: Year Zero - Lots and lots of apocalyptic games to talk of in this decade, but this one is the best in my view. It was based on the original Swedish game from the early 1980s, but it's game system was actually much more interesting in this version. Other games have used 'pushing' rules too, but it's particularly well implemented in this game to give players a sense of desperation. The maps, cards, dice and high quality rules book all make an immersive experience - and the model has been used in several other supplemental games, and others like Tales From the Loop and most recently Alien.

Fate Core - Some may have reservations about the game, but it's definitely well supported and dynamic. I much prefer it's use as a generic system than as it was presented with Spirit of the Century previously. The system and protean approach - with relatively free form character generation which you can almost do on the fly - really does allow the game to flourish as a more organic version of GURPS. The setting supplements, of which there are many, frequently have some very exotic and original spins on old ideas. I would also make a quick mention of Fiasco, which is the epitome of what a lot of people were trying to work to in 'narrative indie' gaming in the 2000s, and provides an excellent set of ideas and resources too......but technically it was released in 2009.

Mythras - After all the shenanigans of the RuneQuest license, the one good outcome was that the Mythras game was able to stand on it's own two feet. Previously released, in a formative sense, as the Mongoose's version of RuneQuest II, and then Legend, and then RuneQuest 6th edition, a change of Chaosium ownership saw The Design Mechanism losing their license over creative differences. Essentially, Chaosium wanted RuneQuest to return to being exclusively about their Glorantha setting, while Mythras was designed as a generic system. I'm still awaiting the Mythic Greece supplement, which is the single biggest appeal to me, but there is a lot of craft and passion in this game and a whole lot of utility for a wide range of settings. A bit like BRP, but more cohesive and sometimes more logical. There is an argument to be made for keeping games specific rather than generic, as with RuneQuest: Glorantha, or also other absolutely superb BRPish games I have picked up recently - Paladin (based on Pendragon) and Aquelarre - but Mythras gets the nod for tenacity and self belief in their own project.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) - I'll mention it because no-one else will, but this is such a go to for my personal sci-fi gaming these days that it would be remiss of me to not mention it. It's just the most fun you can have if you dig life path generation and dirt-and-grimey space travel. Yes, the original is still Classic and yes, Marc Miller made his own Traveller 5th edition for purists too. But Mongoose's version is more accessible, colorful in presentation and has the most epic pirate campaign I've ever seen.

Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition - The most controversial release for another classic game, largely because it precisely makes the game about what it has always said it was about - playing monsters. Some have hated this game, and continue to do so, but I won't get into any of the politics of it here. Suffice it to say, this is the Vampire game that reminds me of how I felt when I first picked up the 1st edition nearly 30 years ago now, stripped down of all the fluff and nonsense. The upcoming Fall of London is actually a campaign I've always dreamed of and has me excited for possibly working out ways I might combine it with Kult (see below). Great, indeed, beautiful game mechanics too.

Delta Green - An actual 1st edition if you consider it was only made a stand-alone game recently. Bluntly, it modernises the traditional Call of Cthulhu ruleset in ways that I wish Call of Cthulhu 7E had done. In short, the rules work brilliantly for gritty thrillers, without trying to turn everything into a pulpish romp. On top of this, the writing and scenario design (of which there are lots) remain first class. Delta Green is more specific than Call of Cthulhu (and actually CoC has had some excellent supplements and support in the new edition), so you can only really use it for modern day America agents as it stands (and I suppose you could also enhance it with a few ideas from Unknown Armies, which just tried a little too hard in it's recent edition, in my view). For that specific use, however, it's in a class of it's own.

Kult: Divinity Lost - Completing a 'trilogy' of brilliant horror releases for me. It uses an Apocalypse World like engine, which fits like a glove, and really brings out the dark storytelling qualities of what is one of the most evocative backstories in all of gaming, utilizing real (but originally twisted) occult beliefs in ways that make them surreally compelling. Stunning presentation, intelligent writing and some very powerful, often satirical scenarios have already been written for it. More, apparently, is on the way and I'm certainly eager for it.

So that's mine.
 
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TristramEvans said:
Absolutely Ryuutama, that game is a hobby paradigm shift.
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Did you back the Kickstarter (or are you multi-lingual? :smile:). The English version seems to be stuck in development-hell for the moment?

As to the question Apocalypse World seems to have kicked off a bigger wave of follow-on products than any other game released this decade so, even without playing it, it would get my vote as ‘most influential game of the decade’.

Of recent games I have played, 5e is definitely the best version of a game called D&D for my money. And 13th Age does a lot right in terms of more structured combat and more free-form non-combat rules. There is a lot to enjoy, there.

The One Ring would win ‘best implementation of an existing property’ by some margin. It really captures the feel of Tolkien’s books.
 
Everybody is going to be surprised when I say "Mythras" at the start...right :grin:?

Cepheus/Traveller. An OGL variant of Traveller was long overdue. But I like the T5 as well, it's got an amazing amount of material and gives you the tool to produce your own - even in areas as diverse as making new weapons!
That said, thou shall not underestimate good ol' eyeballing if you're to be a Referee...:tongue:

The One Ring. I own it, I like it, it's just that I'm not really up for running Middle Earth...

Was Barbarians of Lemuria published in this decade? If yes, this. If not, "Barbarians of Lemuria: Mythic edition" and "Everwhen"!
(Hey, if you can include D&D in the list, I can include the Mythic edition of BoL).

Exalted 3. Whatever else you say about it, it's going to leave a trace...at least by being the first system to admit it's so heavy it needs to publish its own slimmed-down version (which I expect would end up being used more). That said, there's a lot to like in the combat chapter and the social mechanics as well...despite some fans' initial aversion to the combat. It just makes sense.

GURPS: Tactical Grappling. I expect mechanical solutions based on it* to keep influencing game design in the coming decades. It's already started, with the Dragon Heresy for 5e.

Legends of the Wulin. Until something better comes along, this is THE wuxia RPG...except it's so crunch-heavy it's toying the land into unplayable land even for me. And I like...well, pretty much no game has scared me off by mechanics alone (mechanics that end up producing a game I don't enjoy are a different matter:thumbsup:).

Apocalypse World and PbtA. Need I explain? No? Great!

Spellbound Kingdoms. Read a review if you haven't already! I'm not up to the task of explaining why I like it so much, beyond the fact that there are two simple reasons to like it: the setting and the system:devil:!

CoC 7, I guess. It is a great game, no doubt about that...and I like the changes, except for the Luck rules.

Delta Green, the new edition. 'Nuff said.

Ryuutama is also great (yes, I'm a backer, it seems...they're not sending me updates for nothing). That said, it's not the style of game that I usually run:shade:!

*Amusingly, something similar exists in T2000 when it comes to grappling. Just like how Mythras Manoeuvres existed, in a way, in Unknown Armies 2e, and how the idea of "superior styles" existed in Dying Earth RPG before LotW (though the authors in all cases might have been unaware of the predecessors).
 
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AsenRG said:
Cepheus/Traveller. An OGL variant of Traveller was long overdue. But I like the T5 as well, it's got an amazing amount of material and gives you the tool to produce your own - even in areas as diverse as making new weapons!
That said, thou shall not underestimate good ol' eyeballing if you're to be a Referee...:tongue:
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Good nominations, but I would make mention that the Traveller OGL was already there in the 2000s when Mongoose Traveller 1st edition came out. The reason why Cepheus came out was because 3rd party publishers weren't happy with the changed licensing situation when the 2nd edition came out.

I'm not really qualified to say the specifics of what they didn't like. However, the major difference between the two editions, aside from some rules tweaks here and there, is that the 1st edition was very much set up as a generic sci-fi game with an implied setting and lots of varied 3rd party support, while the 2nd edition is much more set up and supported almost exclusively for playing in the Third Imperium OTU setting. There are exceptions, like the Traveller version of Mindjammer and the upcoming 2300AD series, but the game is now more akin to GURPS Traveller in the way it's supported rather than GURPS Space....so to speak.
 
Mutant Chronicles Resurrection for beginning the 2d20 system's rise to prominance. (obvious troll is obvious)
 
Trippy said:
Good nominations, but I would make mention that the Traveller OGL was already there in the 2000s when Mongoose Traveller 1st edition came out. The reason why Cepheus came out was because 3rd party publishers weren't happy with the changed licensing situation when the 2nd edition came out.

I'm not really qualified to say the specifics of what they didn't like.
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robertsconley robertsconley, that's your cue.
 
Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition. I think I actually prefer the brand-new Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, but I've only been running Adventure Edition for a few months, so it's hard to put it up as a "Game of the Decade."
 
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It is D&D perfected. After so many editions, retroclones, heartbreakers, and homages, AS&SH fulfills everything the game should be. No need for any new games, we can all go home and just play now.



Although I say that jokingly, looking at my bookshelf I think I actually did stop buying new games after AS&SH's 2nd printing.
 
RPG: Tie between Dungeon World and FFG's Star Wars for me.

DW showed me that there was a lot more to the RPG scene than crunchy combat simulators, which I really appreciated. It was also my first serious foray into DMing and it taught me a lot. My now dispersed group still reminisces over our campaign in DW.

SWRPG was my group's next step up, and I enjoyed it as a great mix between narrative focused roleplay with some crunchiness sprinkled in. By no means a perfect system (space combat and the force's morality system come to mind as egregious offenders) but I would be hard pressed to name any system as perfect. I had a lot of fun with it, and it re-invigorated my nerdy love for the larger SW lore... which the films have recently failed to achieve!

Boardgame:

Eurogame, Brass. I only recently got it but can't get enough of it. Such a well designed game! I love how tightly the mechanics mesh together, and the fight for board space and resources allows for some player interaction to occur.

Ameri'trash', tie between SW: Rebellion and Twilight Imperium 4.

Rebellion is fantastic at retelling the galactic civil war in a pulpy, referential manner. My wife blowing up Kashyyk in 3 different games is a constant joke we have. I have memories of multiple games ending explosively in the base being discovered and blown to smithereens, or the death egg going boom.

TI4 is an exhausting, all day affair that I think about for weeks after and constantly look forward to. Not just dudes-on-a-map, but the negotiations, underhanded tactics, political plays... it's an encompassing game of a galactic struggle between multiple factions that drains me but fills me with such enjoyment.
 
I don't pay much attention to when exactly a particular game was published. I'll have to study the list on Wikipedia and hope everything I own is on there. I'll also refer to RPGG and get back to you later.

Edit: I compiled a quick txt-file of all the games I own that were published 2010-2019. You may have forgotten about some of these!

And now to choose...
 

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dbm said:
Did you back the Kickstarter (or are you multi-lingual? :smile:). The English version seems to be stuck in development-hell for the moment?
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I picked up the KS version secondhand. I think the pdf is available; the translation is obviously done (very well done), so I don't know what the development hell issues are.Maybe they just can't afford stock of physical copies outside of what was printed for the KS?
 
Dumarest said:
robertsconley robertsconley, that's your cue.
Click to expand...

Indeed :grin:

Trippy said:
Good nominations, but I would make mention that the Traveller OGL was already there in the 2000s when Mongoose Traveller 1st edition came out. The reason why Cepheus came out was because 3rd party publishers weren't happy with the changed licensing situation when the 2nd edition came out.
Click to expand...

The Mongoose Traveller 1st edition SRD wasn't a complete RPG in the way that the D20 SRD was. It had a lot but was missing important elements like careers beyond a single example of the scouts.

However there was Traveller20 which had a lot of usable content that was missing from the MgT 1e SRD but in terms of mechanics was for the D20 system. So to make a standalone Traveller RPG that was open content would take a lot of creative and editorial work.

The incentive wasn't there until the licensing fiasco with Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition and the TAS Community Content Program on DriveThruRPG. Jason Kemp stepped up to the plate and wrote Cepheus.

Dumarest said:
I'm not really qualified to say the specifics of what they didn't like.
Click to expand...

All DriveThruRPG Community Content Program License have a clause (among other clauses) that limits you to only releasing derivative content of any contributed works within the program.

That this meant in more simple terms that you could not release the Mystery of Sirius Stations in the TAS Program for Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition. Then release the Mystery of Sirius Stations for D20 Modern, Fate, or your own RPG. Even though the only content you used from the TAS Program was the mechanics of MgT 2e.

Nor could you take Mystery of Sirius Station if you released a Fate version and release a MgT 2e version within the TAS Program.

Finally this not only applies to adventure released for multiple systems but also for settings and their supplements like a region guide. Where most if not all of the work is the author's own IP. Since most MgT 1e 3PP were about their own original setting, this meant that the TAS program had zero appeal as they would lose all rights to continue the setting once the life cycle of MGT 2e ended.

Now when it comes to settings like the Third Imperium or Forgotten Realms then this clause is warranted. But many of these programs promote mechanics not settings or are a hybrid like TAS. In this case this clause is a huge negative for creative types.

However Fantasy Flight modified the Genesys Foundry license so that it doesn't labor under this restrictive for works that only use the Genesys mechanics. Fantasy Flight does offer some settings as part of the program as well.

Hall of Champions for Hero Games will also be switching to this type of license as well according to my correspondence with the CEO of Hero Games.

Trippy said:
However, the major difference between the two editions, aside from some rules tweaks here and there, is that the 1st edition was very much set up as a generic sci-fi game with an implied setting and lots of varied 3rd party support, while the 2nd edition is much more set up and supported almost exclusively for playing in the Third Imperium OTU setting.
Click to expand...

True Mongoose has been releasing a lot more 3rd Imperium material with the 2nd edition. Most of it pretty good and advances the setting beyond what been written before like the Great Rifts supplement.

However Traveller always could be used for other setting even when a particular edition focuses heavily on the Third Imperium. Mainly because like D&D's Greyhawk, the setting is designed to be a kitchen sink of the tropes found in the original 3 LBB.

As for Cepheus it is a recognizable variant of Traveller.
 
TristramEvans said:
I picked up the KS version secondhand. I think the pdf is available; the translation is obviously done (very well done), so I don't know what the development hell issues are.Maybe they just can't afford stock of physical copies outside of what was printed for the KS?
Click to expand...
For some reason earlier today only a foreign language version was coming up in DriveThru, but now I can find it (and buy it :smile:)
 
TristramEvans said:
I picked up the KS version secondhand. I think the pdf is available; the translation is obviously done (very well done), so I don't know what the development hell issues are.Maybe they just can't afford stock of physical copies outside of what was printed for the KS?
Click to expand...

The expansion books are in dev hell. The base game has been out forever. Also, I agree. I have the nice deluxe version of the core book and its so good and so interesting. The translator is good but super slow. I'm still waiting on him to finish Shinobigami... the Kickstarter is only 3 years late! (the pdf of the base book is out, but the physical copies are in limbo, and the expansion book is also in limbo).

I'd say Ryuutama & Blades in the Dark would be my two choices for game of the decade for me personally. Double Cross might get close? Though technically Double Cross is from the 2000s, the English version came out in like, 2012/13. Though technically Ryuutama is from 07? I guess we can count Double Cross as well, they are all games of this decade for English anyway.
 
Lots of good answers above, but my votes go to:

Blades in the Dark: Probably the most evocative setting I've ever read, made so very gameable in so few pages, and the system is hackable to the nth degree. I've put it on this list over PbtA (too restrictive) and Fate (too loosey-goosey) as it really crosses the streams to make something better than either parent system.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Reinvigorated our love of dungeoneering and weirdness, and has the most 'magical' magic system, gods that actually interact with the game world, and a host of other stuff that reminds me of the good old days, when the hobby seemed to have more whimsy about it. DCC, more than any other game I can think of, focussed on a "fun first, fook the fiction" approach that was a breath of fresh air post-Forge, post-GNS-theory and all of the other srs bsns that the last 20 years brought to the table.

Mythras: I think Mythras was the shot-in-the-arm the d100 landscape needed. It certainly got us rolling percentiles again after many, many years. Not sure if the "Chaosium Renaissance" would have been possible without Mythras coming along before it. And its scope and modularity make it another game that loves to be hacked. It's hackability is why I've listed it instead of the new Delta Green, which would be my fourth pick if I was going to count all the way up to quatro.

An honourable mention for Old School Essentials, but the dice haven't hit the table yet, so i don't feel right making it a pick.

Obviously 5th Edition D&D is the elephant in the post, but while it's amazing how it has struck gold and expanded the hobby in pretty unprecedented ways, I gotta say that no sir, I don't like it.
 
robertsconley said:
Indeed :grin:



The Mongoose Traveller 1st edition SRD wasn't a complete RPG in the way that the D20 SRD was. It had a lot but was missing important elements like careers beyond a single example of the scouts.

However there was Traveller20 which had a lot of usable content that was missing from the MgT 1e SRD but in terms of mechanics was for the D20 system. So to make a standalone Traveller RPG that was open content would take a lot of creative and editorial work.

The incentive wasn't there until the licensing fiasco with Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition and the TAS Community Content Program on DriveThruRPG. Jason Kemp stepped up to the plate and wrote Cepheus.



All DriveThruRPG Community Content Program License have a clause (among other clauses) that limits you to only releasing derivative content of any contributed works within the program.

That this meant in more simple terms that you could not release the Mystery of Sirius Stations in the TAS Program for Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition. Then release the Mystery of Sirius Stations for D20 Modern, Fate, or your own RPG. Even though the only content you used from the TAS Program was the mechanics of MgT 2e.

Nor could you take Mystery of Sirius Station if you released a Fate version and release a MgT 2e version within the TAS Program.

Finally this not only applies to adventure released for multiple systems but also for settings and their supplements like a region guide. Where most if not all of the work is the author's own IP. Since most MgT 1e 3PP were about their own original setting, this meant that the TAS program had zero appeal as they would lose all rights to continue the setting once the life cycle of MGT 2e ended.

Now when it comes to settings like the Third Imperium or Forgotten Realms then this clause is warranted. But many of these programs promote mechanics not settings or are a hybrid like TAS. In this case this clause is a huge negative for creative types.

However Fantasy Flight modified the Genesys Foundry license so that it doesn't labor under this restrictive for works that only use the Genesys mechanics. Fantasy Flight does offer some settings as part of the program as well.

Hall of Champions for Hero Games will also be switching to this type of license as well according to my correspondence with the CEO of Hero Games.



True Mongoose has been releasing a lot more 3rd Imperium material with the 2nd edition. Most of it pretty good and advances the setting beyond what been written before like the Great Rifts supplement.

However Traveller always could be used for other setting even when a particular edition focuses heavily on the Third Imperium. Mainly because like D&D's Greyhawk, the setting is designed to be a kitchen sink of the tropes found in the original 3 LBB.

As for Cepheus it is a recognizable variant of Traveller.
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While there is a lot of useful information in that reply, and without wanting to shift topics on my own thread too much, the thing you didn't mention in any of that is that Mongoose is the company that actually negotiated and pays for a license of the Traveller brand.

3rd Parties didn't and while they have their own products and IPs to protect, the opportunities they had to make these products in the first place only came after Mongoose released at least part of their license as open content. If they didn't release enough material to allow a 3rd party publisher to release an alternative core rules, I'd say fair enough, because the idea was to support their core rules. I mean, they weren't obliged to release any open license - they did so for their own business interests, and it's important to remember that. Whatever the issues of licensing with the 2nd edition, which now appears to be mainly about drivethrurpg clauses, the point remains that while Cepheus is a recognizable variant of Traveller, it's not an official, licensed, Traveller game.

I do agree that the Third Imperium is a pretty generic setting, which means that this is not an all bad situation. In a similar fashion to the conflicts RuneQuest had while being released by Mongoose, the (healthy) outcome is that now RuneQuest is a specific game, published by Chaosium, for it's original Glorantha setting, while Mythras has now emerged as the more generic, universal title that can be supported by 'friends' who want to do other settings with a similar ruleset (albeit not as an open license).

In the case of Cepheus and Mongoose, I see both humming along with their own design briefs. I guess there is potential for the licensing situation to change with drivethrurpg (maybe the release of 2300AD will catalyst something), but the incentive isn't there if the Cepheus rules have already been released anyway. It's not as if the third parties are going to switch back again any time soon.
 
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Wormturn said:
Mythras: I think Mythras was the shot-in-the-arm the d100 landscape needed. It certainly got us rolling percentiles again after many, many years. Not sure if the "Chaosium Renaissance" would have been possible without Mythras coming along before it. And its scope and modularity make it another game that loves to be hacked. It's hackability is why I've listed it instead of the new Delta Green, which would be my fourth pick if I was going to count all the way up to quatro.
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Technically, it was the 'Chaosium Renaissance' that led to Mythras coming along, as they had to adapt when they lost their RuneQuest license and make their own game.

On the other hand, you could argue that The Design Mechanism's stewardship of the RuneQuest license, after the license was taken from Mongoose, was possibly what persuaded a lot of people that the veteran game system still had legs. This is a bit complicated by the release of Chaosium's BRP big gold book, however, and that fact that the game we now know as Mythras included some original ideas and developments.

In any case, in terms of sales, I think Chaosium's renaissance has more to do with a change of ownership and the continued publication of Call of Cthulhu, mainly.
 
The Mythras thing is just cognitive bias on my part, as it's what got *us* back into playing d100, whereas all I did with the Big Gold Book was noodle around with it. Having said that, the BRP BGB is still worth its weight in precious metal as a reference, but it's also the last thing Chaosium has put out that I've been interested in.
 
Well I wanna say Savage Worlds... but I got into it late in the Explorer's Edition lifecycle (and it came out in 2004) - no game has occupied my table more in the last ten years than that system. SWADE is still too new... so I feel like it's cheating.

So when I look at the other games that have come out in the last decade that have been consistent winners at my table - and my crew keeps coming back for more... it shockingly comes down to FFG Star Wars.

It blows my mind really. I don't think it's the best system. I don't think I'd use it for anything else... (but with Genesys you could) - but it does Star Wars so damn well. And this is coming from someone that *dearly* loves the West End editions and still owns everything. But yeah... for games that have come out in the last ten years... I have to give the prize to FFG Star Wars.

Honorable Mention: Talislanta: The Savage Lands. Why? Because I'm a horrible shill (but it doesn't mean it's not a great game).
 
Most of the newish stuff I've played has been based on older games:
DCC - as mutant offspring of D&D. It provided some of my best gaming moments of the past several years.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess - which has been my primary OSR intersect.

New BRPish stuff - Mythras/Classic Fantasy/Magic World/Delta Green/World War Cthulhu - mostly Magic World, but I managed to play in games of all of them and look forward to more.

There's plenty of other new things I played and enjoyed... but they were just one-offs or didn't make an impression. Lots of other cool stuff I've bought/read and have yet to play... like Spire and Symbaroum.
 
I agree with lots of the picks already mentioned, including Kult, Lady Blackbird, AW, TOR and Microscope but to avoid repeating everyone else I'm going to pick Beyond the Wall by Flatland Games.

It takes my favourite version of D&D, B/X, and crafts it so intelligently into a flexible, low magic, quick-to-start, improv-friendly YA fantasy game with loads of mythic fairy tale feel and flavour baked into the chargen and adventure playbooks.This is the D&D I always wanted.
 
Trippy said:
While there is a lot of useful information in that reply, and without wanting to shift topics on my own thread too much, the thing you din't mention in any of that is that Mongoose is the company that actually negotiated and pays for a license of the Traveller brand.


3rd Parties didn't and while they have their own products and IPS to protect, the opportunities they had to make these products in the first place only came after Mongoose released at least part of their license as open content. If they didn't release enough material to allow a 3rd party publisher to release an alternative core rules, I'd say fair enough, because the idea was to support their core rules. I mean, they weren't obliged to release any open license - they did so for their own business interests, and it's important to remember that. Whatever the issues of licensing with the 2nd edition, which now appears to be mainly about drivethrurpg clauses, the point remains that while Cepheus is a recognizable variant of Traveller, it's not an official, licensed, Traveller game.
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Except it not a one street, a gift of generosity to be treasured. Mongoose benefits as well. By harnessing for free the time and creative energies of their fans and fans of Traveller to promote their products. Being allowed to create contents just gets them to talk about that much more.

The problem in this day and age is competing for people's attention. Let alone for their dollars. With technology dropping the barriers for distribution and content creation dozens of RPG products and works are being released every week. Mongoose can't do what it wants to do alone.

While TAS did not foster a healthy 3PP market for Traveller 2nd edition. Mongoose did up their game as far as the quality of their writing and products. As editions god MgT 2e has been well received. Still a hair over the pricy line but at least I feel like I am getting my money worth on the few things I bought so far. So do many other hobbyists who have bought their material.

Trippy said:
while Mythras has now emerged as the more generic, universal title that can be supported by 'friends' who want to do other settings with a similar ruleset (albeit not as an open license).
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Mythras doesn't have a open license, but Design Mechanism is willing to work with 3PP they trust. The only open content for D100 system is Legends which is based on Mongoose Runequest II. However this may change as Chaosium is planning to release open content under a non-OGL license for their Basic Roleplaying System.

Trippy said:
the point remains that while Cepheus is a recognizable variant of Traveller, it's not an official, licensed, Traveller game.
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Doesn't matter to enough Traveller hobbyists. For several reasons:

1) Traveller hobbyists are used to juggling multiple editions and system that represent Traveller.

2) Marc Miller Traveller 5e wasn't well received and remain a niche taste in the hobby.

3) The core of Cepheus is Mongoose Traveller 1e a well received edition.

4) Half of the Traveller hobby is about the Third Imperium as a setting which goes hand in hand with #1.

5) Mongoose prompted setting other than the Third Imperium with MgT 1e, which greatly expanded the portion of the hobby devoted to Traveller as a game as opposed to being the Third Imperium rules.

6) Finally, Marc Miller gave permission for a Cepheus sub forum to be hosted on travellerrpg.com. It may not be offical or licensed but it has been acknowledged and welcomed.


So what all this means that Cepheus is and will remain a thriving part of the Traveller hobby from here on out. Especially with the technology we have today we can publish quality works within the time we have for a hobby.


Trippy said:
I guess there is potential for the licensing situation to change with drivethrurpg (maybe the release of 2300AD will catalyst something), but the incentive isn't there if the Cepheus rules have already been released anyway. It's not as if the third parties are going to switch back again any time soon.
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I have to stress, the no derivative clause is a show stopper among many who would otherwise contribute. The only program that can get away with it are those offering a compelling setting IP and D&D. Even D&D is accompanied by the 5th edition SRD.

If you don't get that I'm sorry but the reason is simple, myself and other publish in the time we have for a hobby. We don't have the time to generate yet another setting throw away original ideas that we can't build on further. WIth the variety and amount of open content already floating around there near zero incentive to submit to overly restrictive IP rules when all that being offered is a system.
 
robertsconley said:
Except it not a one street, a gift of generosity to be treasured. Mongoose benefits as well. By harnessing for free the time and creative energies of their fans and fans of Traveller to promote their products. Being allowed to create contents just gets them to talk about that much more.
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I didn't claim it was a gift, I said it was in their business interests at the time. It isn't now, because Cepheus essentially markets itself as a competitor, rather than a contributor.

The problem in this day and age is competing for people's attention. Let alone for their dollars. With technology dropping the barriers for distribution and content creation dozens of RPG products and works are being released every week. Mongoose can't do what it wants to do alone.
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But they are doing it alone. They've changed their business model - it seems to be much more about raising funds for specific projects through Kickstarter than it was. And, considering the funds they have managed to raise, it appears to be working for the main. Notably, they dropped the Judge Dredd license too, which indicated as much as anything they weren't that much interested in promoting the game as anything other than a Traveller universe game. Like I say, maybe the release of 2300AD may change it, but I don't think the third party situation seems to have affected their own successes one iota.

Doesn't matter to enough Traveller hobbyists. For several reasons:

1) Traveller hobbyists are used to juggling multiple editions and system that represent Traveller.

2) Marc Miller Traveller 5e wasn't well received and remain a niche taste in the hobby.

3) The core of Cepheus is Mongoose Traveller 1e a well received edition.

4) Half of the Traveller hobby is about the Third Imperium as a setting which goes hand in hand with #1.

5) Mongoose prompted setting other than the Third Imperium with MgT 1e, which greatly expanded the portion of the hobby devoted to Traveller as a game as opposed to being the Third Imperium rules.

6) Finally, Marc Miller gave permission for a Cepheus sub forum to be hosted on travellerrpg.com. It may not be offical or licensed but it has been acknowledged and welcomed.
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Well, I am a Traveller hobbyist too, and so you don't speak for everybody. Personally, I am ambiguous about Cepheus and it's related products as long as it doesn't affect the Mongoose production of materials I like and want. That said, honestly, most of the third party stuff holds little interest for me as I'm entirely content on what I get with the officially licensed stuff.
 
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  • DCC = fun
  • Barbarians of Lemuria is one of the best lightweight systems of all time
  • Stars Without Numbers - not for the rules of play but for the incredible world-building mechanics
  • Delta Green, for its adventures and supplements, for obvious reasons
  • Lamentations of the Flame Princess, for its library of adventures and brilliant little mechanical innovations - this one introduced me to OSR and brought me back to role-playing
  • Old-School Essentials, for being more B/X than B/X
 
In no particular order:

V20 (without the bloat) - Playing the Sabbat is awesome!
Beyond the Wall - OSR done right and dripping with folklore flavor.
Savage Worlds - Not the best system per se but I've had a great time GMing it and the scope for gaming in huuuge.
WFRP - Lamentations before there was Lamentations.
Open Quest Deluxe - More as a good rule set.
Other Dust.

And I'm sure I've forgotten some!
 
Trippy said:
I didn't claim it was a gift, I said it was in their business interests at the time. It isn't now, because Cepheus essentially markets itself as a competitor, rather than a contributor.
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Cepehus publisher don't market themselves as a competitor. Nor the system in competition with Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition or Marc Miller's Traveller 5.

The fact that Mongoose is the official Traveller licensee at the moment gives it a prestige that no publisher using Cepheus has. They also have the right to publish for the Third Imperium which is popular in its own right. Marc Miller as the original author of Traveller has his own prestige.

Furthermore the world of Traveller official rulesets is already fractured. MgT 2e, T5, and the elements of past editions like the Traveller Book are available in print. Moreso each has their own distinct take on Traveller, The Traveller Book and the CD-ROMs represent the past, MgT 2e represents the expansion of the material for the Third Imperium (and soon 2300 AD as well). And T5 is Marc Miller's ultimate vision of Traveller.

Cepheus likewise has it own take, original science fiction settings for Traveller. All distinctive niches of a niche.

My opinion is that this a good thing because it increases the chance of an individual becoming part of the Traveller hobby by increasing the variety of material available for Traveller.

Trippy said:
But they are doing it alone. They've changed their business model - it seems to be much more about raising funds for specific projects through Kickstarter than it was. And, considering the funds they have managed to raise, it appears to be working for the main. Notably, they dropped the Judge Dredd license too, which indicated as much as anything they weren't that much interested in promoting the game as anything other than a Traveller universe game. Like I say, maybe the release of 2300AD may change it, but I don't think the third party situation seems to have affected their own successes one iota.
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My view is that crowd funding

Trippy said:
Well, I am a Traveller hobbyist too, and so you don't speak for everybody.
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I don't presume to speak for everybody. Having been a Traveller hobbyist since the 80s and followed the Traveller hobby on-line since the early 90s, I do have some observations on the Traveller hobby. Separate from my opinion on how best to foster the Traveller hobby.

Trippy said:
Personally, I am ambiguous about Cepheus and it's related products as long as it doesn't affect the Mongoose production of materials I like and want. That said, honestly, most of the third party stuff holds little interest for me as I'm entirely content on what I get with the officially licensed stuff.
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The same technology that allows Cepheus publisher to do their thing also benefits Mongoose. I have no doubt that MgT 2e will thrive as long as Matt continues to manage things well. That new material will be released on an ongoing basis.
 
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