Tell us about something good that you got recently

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Still waiting for the publisher’s announcement for when Against the Darkmaster will be available at Canadian distributors (‘been following them on the official Discord for months).

Just jumped on the Marvel United train. Retail copies (missed the Kickstarters) but still I find it really fun and loving the nicely streamlined rules. The kids like the minis too.
 
Just jumped on the Marvel United train. Retail copies (missed the Kickstarters) but still I find it really fun and loving the nicely streamlined rules. The kids like the minis too.
Marvel United is an awesome game.

I didn't pick it up during the first KS, but enjoyed the corebox so much, I grabbed an aftermarket all-in and also jumped all-in during X-Men too.

275433575_5089427087792972_3552090349789184421_n.jpg
 
Did they get this sorted out for you? They've always been super responsive any time I've reached out to them.

Side note - I was able to order mine yesterday afternoon, but I kept having to log in to the cart.
Just got home from gaming. Nothing yet from them.
 
Marvel United is an awesome game.

I didn't pick it up during the first KS, but enjoyed the corebox so much, I grabbed an aftermarket all-in and also jumped all-in during X-Men too.

View attachment 47461
The game is awesome, but i've already posted my set to a local FB boardgame sales group - in the interest section. I just don't care for the amount of room it takes up.
 
In between juggling real life I continue to play about with/churn out books. With the 'new' book press I gave it a test run on Warlock! with the following results:

1657088441917.jpg


I'm normally critical of my efforts with a 'must do better' attitude but this one came out nice I must admit.

1657088441979.jpg


1657088441994.jpg


Currently working on Against the Darkmaster, the 'not a bullet stopper' edition which means chopping the book up into smaller tomes. I think I can tweak/redesign the book press for mk3 to get a pixel perfect fit for A4 paper.

book-2-cover-done.jpg


I think this will wrap the second book. This is mk4 or 5, needing to reposition/tweak the text location on the book.

needs-recover-book-1.jpg


Indecision on the cover means this will more likely be recovered. Glue is currently drying then I'll have a think/play about with a recover.

vs-D-book-1-interior.png


The book itself is fine. These are the last of the 'bullet stopper' covers at 3mm thick greyboard. Once the supplies are gone I'll try a thinner/lighter 2mm board and see how that compares. Had I not split the big book up it would be a 500+ page weighty tome and tricky to handle. No thanks.
 
Just received this for about $20, shipped.
1657578216530.png

I'm hoping it unseats the MEGS system, which I'm not clever enough to understand on my own, but I had a fantastic GM a couple decades ago, so...nostalgia. The mechanics of it were conceptually comfortable. I have the Blood of Heroes revised + the GM screen.

But if I find Valiant usable for a similarly wide power range, I'll likely let BoH go. I have high hopes. Most supers games are to crunchy for me. This one seems more descriptive, "reactive," and much simpler than anything I've played.

I found FASERIP manageable, but got AP making characters (or I was disappointed with random outcomes),. MnM felt like a natural progression in the 3.0 years, but after that I just got tired of it. SAGA was a delight, but I never ran it myself and let all my stuff go a while back. I wanted to like MHR, but found it inscrutable.
 
Got the missing Coriolis rpg stuff from Modiphius UK storefront in today. Thirty bucks for shipping but they had the stuff where as Modiphius US storefront didn't and neither did Free Leagues Publishing. The completionist in me feels happy, plus they got it to me in about a week which was a surprise and nice. Two sets of dice, GM Screen and three books.


Coriolis Rpg stuff 2.jpg

Also as an aside. I always get to the local gaming store early due to traffic issues here. It's basically a sixty mile drive if I can go the direct route, if I leave at 5pm it could take me two plus hours to get there.(I've had it take me 3 hours) If I leave at 4pm its a toss up if it will take me an hour or an hour and a half. So I tend to just leave by 3pm, get there around 4pm and snag something to eat while I read on the laptop and relax. Going over mechanics and my character or read the Pub.

Anyhow when I got there Tuesday there was a group at another tabling playing the Alien rpg. So I ended up listening to that while I did my thing at the other day. They were having fun and attrition was definitely a thing. lol. Too bad it's on the same day as my other game, I don't have it in me to try to do two different games in the same day and spend eight plus hours plus the there and back drive. It was just nice to see something other than DnD or a DnD variant being played.
 
I picked up the "bullet stopper" edition of Against the Darkmaster, and I'm liking it so far. A lot. I picked up the original edition pdf a couple of years ago, and flipped through it a few times but largely discarded it. Not so this time. I'm enjoying it. I'm reading it, cover to cover, as time permits. I'm through character creation and I've rolled up one (a Man Animist with the weald culture) as I was reading through.

I also picked up Lex Arcana Core Rulebook. This was sitting on shelf in a F(not terribly Local)GS and every time I'd go in I'd thumb through it more and more. Finally pulled the trigger. The production value is pretty high. Great concept, good art, immersive prose. I don't know if it'll make it to the table, but it will get read.
 
I picked up the "bullet stopper" edition of Against the Darkmaster, and I'm liking it so far. A lot. I picked up the original edition pdf a couple of years ago, and flipped through it a few times but largely discarded it. Not so this time. I'm enjoying it. I'm reading it, cover to cover, as time permits. I'm through character creation and I've rolled up one (a Man Animist with the weald culture) as I was reading through.

I also picked up Lex Arcana Core Rulebook. This was sitting on shelf in a F(not terribly Local)GS and every time I'd go in I'd thumb through it more and more. Finally pulled the trigger. The production value is pretty high. Great concept, good art, immersive prose. I don't know if it'll make it to the table, but it will get read.
I finally got their website to have my order go through for Against the Darkmaster, should be here next week. ::beam:: Look forward to comparing it to my memories of MERP.
 
Another big box from Noble Knight, the last for probably some time. Mostly more Starfinder, but I also got the Mongoose printings of RuneQuest, RuneQuest Companion, and Player's Guide to Glorantha.

These books are all new to me; my only experience with BRP or Chaosium to-date has been Call of Cthulhu (5th Ed, in the mid-Nineties) and, well... RuneQuest just never struck me as the game for me. I am big on the high adventure power fantasy, playing lawless and rootless "heroes" who answer to neither kings nor gods etc etc etc. I never went in for the "cultural immersion" style of roleplaying.

I bought King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind a few months ago.

I am definitely interested in the Glorantha setting and I'm warming up to the idea of.... tempering my shameless adolescent wish fulfillment with some more realistic and less modern/individualistic cultures.
 
Another big box from Noble Knight, the last for probably some time. Mostly more Starfinder, but I also got the Mongoose printings of RuneQuest, RuneQuest Companion, and Player's Guide to Glorantha.

These books are all new to me; my only experience with BRP or Chaosium to-date has been Call of Cthulhu (5th Ed, in the mid-Nineties) and, well... RuneQuest just never struck me as the game for me. I am big on the high adventure power fantasy, playing lawless and rootless "heroes" who answer to neither kings nor gods etc etc etc. I never went in for the "cultural immersion" style of roleplaying.

I bought King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind a few months ago.

I am definitely interested in the Glorantha setting and I'm warming up to the idea of.... tempering my shameless adolescent wish fulfillment with some more realistic and less modern/individualistic cultures.

RQII-era Runequest wasn't as lore-centric as modern grogs would like to have us believe. It's quite possible to play it without spending a lifetime studying the collective fandom's interpretation of Glorantha canon. Just don't bring true fans into the game.
 
Even though I've owned most editions of Deadlands and all the editions of Savage Worlds I've just started a Deadlands: the Weird West game using the Adventure Edition and its going great. Maybe the new edition cleared up some hiccups I'd had in the past but I'm just loving it.

And its nice to take a break from DnD 5E and heroic fantasy.
 
RQII-era Runequest wasn't as lore-centric as modern grogs would like to have us believe. It's quite possible to play it without spending a lifetime studying the collective fandom's interpretation of Glorantha canon. Just don't bring true fans into the game.

Agreed, the original RQ1 and RQ2 back in the late seventies were actually pretty light on lore and were much easier to adapt to your own world setting. Which most of us actually did indeed do.
 
Agreed, the original RQ1 and RQ2 back in the late seventies were actually pretty light on lore and were much easier to adapt to your own world setting. Which most of us actually did indeed do.

The material they supplied was pretty good, although I will admit to mapping out some of the surrounding regions.
 
The material they supplied was pretty good, although I will admit to mapping out some of the surrounding regions.
It felt more open ended and flexible to being able to go where you wanted with it back then. As more and more lore came out it became more restrictive in my opinion but still fascinating to just read.
 
While on a brief hiatus I picked up my own hardcopy of The Lord of the Rings (I usually always borrowed them from my Dad). I got this compact set in faux leather

6B11EB1A-1214-4D38-BD43-F19BFA30AA4C.png
82B5DB54-1E64-418B-B069-EEA421A3BEDA.jpeg

They were really affordable. Nice to hold (like small bibles, but with thicker paper).

They’re not perfect by any means (the text is REALLY small, and there are occasional weird text warping where a line gets slightly “squashed”), but overall much nicer than mass paperbacks.
 
It felt more open ended and flexible to being able to go where you wanted with it back then. As more and more lore came out it became more restrictive in my opinion but still fascinating to just read.

I think you get that when you overdo your mid-level canon. It can be interesting to read if done well (but more often not) but it functions more to inform gatekeeping than actual play.
 
Another big box from Noble Knight, the last for probably some time. Mostly more Starfinder, but I also got the Mongoose printings of RuneQuest, RuneQuest Companion, and Player's Guide to Glorantha.

These books are all new to me; my only experience with BRP or Chaosium to-date has been Call of Cthulhu (5th Ed, in the mid-Nineties) and, well... RuneQuest just never struck me as the game for me. I am big on the high adventure power fantasy, playing lawless and rootless "heroes" who answer to neither kings nor gods etc etc etc. I never went in for the "cultural immersion" style of roleplaying.

I bought King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind a few months ago.

I am definitely interested in the Glorantha setting and I'm warming up to the idea of.... tempering my shameless adolescent wish fulfillment with some more realistic and less modern/individualistic cultures.
As others have mentioned, with the 70s and 80s material, the cultural immersion stuff is much less, in fact, in that era there is very little culture described. Even using Cults of Prax, I run a pretty loose campaign from a culture standpoint, and there are cults with less cultural demands and there are cults with more cultural demands. I never got any of the Mongoose stuff so I don't know how it's laid out though I do know it covers a different era of Glorantha than RQ1-3, Hero Wars/Quest, RQG.
 
5150 New Beginnings Cover.jpg5150 Working Grave cover.jpg
So, this isn't really that recent (work has been kicking my arse particularly hard the last couple of weeks), but I picked up Working Grave, and then 5150 New Beginnings (as WG isn't stand alone).

In case you don't know (and I'm sure most here won't), it's ostensibly a solo skirmish wargame, and WG in particular is about working the graveyard shift in a future sci-fi city. The premise is completely up my street, and as a 5150/THW veteran, I know that the line between skirmish and RP game is very thin.

What I usually do is completely remove the game system and import whatever I want in its stead. This time, as the system has supposedly been streamlined, I'm going to run it as RAW as possible (at least to start). This has meant a lot of re-reading something that I sort of know, plus deciding on a few minor changes and options, like running it as an episodic ensemble.

I hope to have a blog with AARs and other things and currently deciding how fancy I want to be. Currently thinking of turning the dial up to 11, but that is causing delays so might pull back from that.
 
View attachment 47533View attachment 47534
So, this isn't really that recent (work has been kicking my arse particularly hard the last couple of weeks), but I picked up Working Grave, and then 5150 New Beginnings (as WG isn't stand alone).

In case you don't know (and I'm sure most here won't), it's ostensibly a solo skirmish wargame, and WG in particular is about working the graveyard shift in a future sci-fi city. The premise is completely up my street, and as a 5150/THW veteran, I know that the line between skirmish and RP game is very thin.

What I usually do is completely remove the game system and import whatever I want in its stead. This time, as the system has supposedly been streamlined, I'm going to run it as RAW as possible (at least to start). This has meant a lot of re-reading something that I sort of know, plus deciding on a few minor changes and options, like running it as an episodic ensemble.

I hope to have a blog with AARs and other things and currently deciding how fancy I want to be. Currently thinking of turning the dial up to 11, but that is causing delays so might pull back from that.
I look forward to reading your blogs, I have been a fan of Ed’s games since the mid 00’s. Almost every rulebook desperately need an editor but the chain reaction system is genius and really makes these lite-RPG skirmish games dynamic and stand out. The fact you can play them solo, coop or head to head is just icing on the cake.
 
Wow, my friend stumbled across these books in a 2nd-hand book store - AD&D 2E Player's Handbook and AD&D 2E Dungeon Master's Guide - $25 AUD each - or both of them together for $40 AUD - he phoned and told me, so I said definately go ahead and buy them, I would pay him for them as soon as I could!
(that's approx $27 USD / 23 GBP)

Given the prices that collectors are paying for them online, that is quite a good buy. Obiviously the 2nd-hand store owners don't know the rpg market.

He dropped them off to me this afternoon when he called in at my door to see how I was going with my week of flu/bronchitis (post-COVID fun).
Going much better now that these books are finally in my bookshelf!

I never got around to getting AD&D 2E in the 1990s, although I loved the art and the vibe of the settings that TSR was pushing during that era - Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Al-Qadim, Planescape, Ravenloft, Dragonlance etc. I had my RQ book for fantasy games, but modern supernatural was my focus for a while, and I tended to buy WoD rpg books thru most of that time until it just sort of fizzed out for me, leaving me to return to fantasy at the end of the '90s. By then I had missed the boat on AD&D 2E, and I bought D&D 3E when it came out in 2000 or 2001, but to my dismay WotC had dropped those TSR settings by then.

We did play D&D 3E for a few years, but I never bothered with D&D 3.5E as there was there was something about WotC D&D that didn't capture my imagination as much as the earlier TSR era. I have subsequently bought D&D 5E, and the art direction is much better for me than 3E or 4E, and the mechanics are streamlined as such that I think it's the best version of D&D in that respect.

However I still prefer much more of the art and flavour of the material from TSR. The 80s stuff feels very iconic and classic to me, and the 90s stuff still feels current for me, even though many years has passed since then.

I already have these AD&D 2E books in pdf, but it is great to have the physicality of hardcover books, even if they are second-hand (but in decent condition for their age). Although I tend to play other systems, I just love classic fantasy as portrayed the way TSR did it back then!

ADD2E PHB DMG .jpg

Now...I really want to get the AD&D 2E Monsterous Manual to go with this, but the prices on both Amazon and eBay are stretching it for me at present.
There was a pic of a shop in USA that someone posted recently which seemed to have a lot of old AD&D 2E books in stock on their shelves...
I am not sure, but it may possibly have been a pic posted by robertsconley robertsconley ...if anyone knows what I am talking about, can they attempt to redirect me to that thread?
 
Last edited:
It felt more open ended and flexible to being able to go where you wanted with it back then. As more and more lore came out it became more restrictive in my opinion but still fascinating to just read.

My early view of Glorantha was based off only a few limited RQ2 products, with the rest of it being made up of my own teenage homebrew.
It changed by the time I was in my 20s and had exposure to the wider world of RQ/Gloranthan products, but I remember my early days being perhaps much richer due to not accessing so many products.

My earlier post pretty much sums it up here, Homebrew Settings
 
What I find with Against the Darkmaster is that while the game's quite crunchy, made more noticeable with it's granularity, it's actually relatively simple for most people to get their heads around the rules. I think character creation is a perhaps a bit trickier than most medium crunch games but ther rest is easy to learn and explain. I think it's a much simpler game than D&D 3.X or 4 in practice.
I agree. VsDM is quite crunchy, but it's a good kind of crunch. It gives players lots of flexibility with character builds and especially magic but the actual game is relatively simple and straightforward. One thing I do love about the game: it does with one dice roll what systems like WHFRP or The Witcher take 3 rolls to do. Roll to hit, determine critical and determine damage.

Not having attack and defense rolls be opposed is also a huge plus.

I would love it if VsDM came as two books instead of one massive, intimidating doorstopper of a book. Supposedly, there's a Player's Guide in the works.
 
Now...I really want to get the AD&D 2E Monsterous Manual to go with this, but the prices on both Amazon and eBay are stretching it for me at present.
There was a pic of a shop in USA that someone posted recently which seemed to have a lot of old AD&D 2E books in stock on their shelves...
I am not sure, but it may possibly have been a pic posted by robertsconley robertsconley ...if anyone knows what I am talking about, can they attempt to redirect me to that thread?
This one

Warzone Matrix in Cleveland however they charge the going collector's rate so you know.

If push comes to shove you may want to get this off of DriveThru
 
This one

Warzone Matrix in Cleveland however they charge the going collector's rate so you know.

If push comes to shove you may want to get this off of DriveThru
Yes I know the premimum editions are on DrivethruRPG, and if they were being printed as hardcovers then I would be definately grabbing them.
The original AD&D PHB, DMG, and MM, are printed as hardcovers - but WotC is only allowing DrivethruRPG to print the AD&D 2E versions as softcovers for some annoying reason. I actually have these titles as pdfs in my iPad, but I really want them as hardcover editions in my bookcase.

Yeah that was the pic - Warzone Matrix in Cleveland - thanks for finding this!
I figure they will be asking for collector rates, but I just want to compare them to what else I'm seeing on the web at present - thank you for finding this, greatly appreciated!
 
Last edited:
My early view of Glorantha was based off only a few limited RQ2 products, with the rest of it being made up of my own teenage homebrew.
It changed by the time I was in my 20s and had exposure to the wider world of RQ/Gloranthan products, but I remember my early days being perhaps much richer due to not accessing so many products.

My earlier post pretty much sums it up here, Homebrew Settings
As I've mentioned before, my vision of Glorantha started in 1978 when I purchased and started running RQ1. It expanded a lot when Cults of Prax came out. Since then I have absorbed bits and pieces from supplements, mailing lists, forums, and such, but fundamentally my Glorantha is primarily informed by RQ1 and Cults of Prax. The newer maps are nice enhancements, but don't necessarily CHANGE how I view Glorantha, just give me more landmarks to hook things into and a better sense of the terrain (I really need to make a photo atlas from the pictures Jeff Richards has shared). But I don't get sucked into the cultural anthropology of Glorantha that some folks really enjoy. Might I use a bit or two that comes out of that? Maybe, but actually pretty unlikely. My Sartar is more medieval European than anything else, if only because that's what makes sense to me and is cued by the RQ1 rules.
 
I found this in a corner under a carpet in a back room of my parent's house. It was there for about 50 years. I have no idea of it's origin. Smallest D6 ?

IMG-3217-2.jpg




IMG-3218.jpg



IMG-3219-2.jpg
Looks about the size of the d6s that came with my 2nd edition Call of Cthulhu boxed set.
 
Looks about the size of the d6s that came with my 2nd edition Call of Cthulhu boxed set.
The size seems right for the D6s that were supplied with S.P.I. wargames back in the day. I still have some and will try to remember to post a picture. They were all white, though, as far as I know.
 
Last edited:
Finished converting the bulletstopper that is Against the Darkmaster (VsD) to something more manageable...



Book 5 is still a hefty thing mind. Maybe I should have split the adventure from it to thin it out? Ah well. Another problem with book 5 is that I found the size limit of A3+ paper. The width of the spine means I have to consider extending the cover sheet onto an extra page as per my previous (pre inkjet) printing efforts. As the last book to be finished (5) it needs a little bit of finishing off. First, some 'squishy time' under the weights to remove the 'spring' that comes from printing on pages, collating and sewing them together, slapping a cover on and spraying the thing with lacquer/varnish. The inkjet paper is far more durable and less likely to tear/lose a chunk of printed coating once sprayed. I think I'll keep my eyes out for another means of clear protective covering that isn't clear contact, which is the devils invention, designed to confound and frustrate me.



Cover design/indecision meant that Book One is slightly different to the others. Tweaked/Changed the layout slightly to reposition the titles from Book 2 onwards.



Found a generic 'darkmaster' style pic for the back cover (same on all).



*sigh* Wouldn't be a project from me without a few gaffs. I'm sure you can spot one. Currently printing the replacement spine for book 5...

What is it?

A clone of MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) from the 80s. Written from the ground up and kickstarted successfully, it's a decent effort at something 'Not D&D'. The 'Darkmaster' is obviously 'Big Bad' of the campaign as Sauron was in the War of the Ring and Chapter 18 gives rules on making your own unique bad guy who 'won' the war of the ring/cauldron/thingie. It's a D100 based game and though I haven't delved deep into it yet I expect it will go something like: take a while to create characters, start out walking somewhere (in the rain, because it's a bit grim), things get interesting/hilarious when combat begins because of the Critical table results.

Ah, now I see where I screwed up. Book 5 (Grimoire) also has 'Appendix' in with the tables all in one place. Maybe too thin to split off as its own book but would have helped slimming Book 5 down. Ah well.

As for the Crit rolls, stuff like this:



I remember chuckling at a few MERP results back in the day (I'll have been 12 or 13 years old I guess when I got MERP in 84 and lapped up the gore splattered hilarity of crits and fumbles) but these descriptions seem ... drier.

Why print it off? Surely all that effort means it would be cheaper to buy it?

Well, first off, it's a bulletstopper in the original form. Next the publishers of the game seem to have an objection to send it to Europe. Shipping costs most likely, because even though North America is currently receiving the reprints of the book (which sold out) there's no 'ship to UK' option. Their loss. In terms of cost this cost me time. I'm set up to print dozens of hardback books before I need to buy anything else. Sure, the cost to get to that stage isn't cheap but it's something I enjoy doing and learning as I go along. Plus I get to faff about with alternate covers to make my copy 'mine'. One day I will declare one of the books I make 'perfect' and stop making them, going onto something else. A couple of the books I've done here are close to that, I have to admit. I like picking fault with my work (makes me try harder next time) but I think after book 2, 3 or 4 (or maybe a couple of them) I was admitting that there was little else I could do to improve the process of book binding on them. Covers probably are my 'must do better' on at the moment.

Will it ever get played?

Dunno. Maybe. I'll read it and see. The game is medium crunch along the lines of Runequest/D100 stuff and adding up big numbers from bonuses to open ended rolls then searching out charts seems quite clunky these days. Especially as I combined the charts (in the Appendix) to the Spell list section in the inch thick book 5. Oops.

What's next?

Trying to figure out how to combine the BECMI gazetteers, maps and all, into a few books. There are 12 or 13 of them I think.
 
Lovely stuff J Jenx! Way better than my versions!
Actually how they turned out to look at is on you for suggesting the use of the internal art as cover pictures. :thumbsup: I just had to figure out how to lay it out on a cover. Mostly (sort of) got it right but Word totally craps itself on my laptop when dealing with A3+ size. It looks fine on screen but prints out weird, like ignoring the orientation and paper size. End up getting the word doc setup then save as PDF then print out as an image.

Part of the 'challenge' for the next project is combining maps as a fold out thing.

gaz1-karameikos-8-trimmed.png


Print out as A4 (and squint), as A3 and fold or A3+ and umm, fold several times...?
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top