PDQ Games

[Silverlion]

Does anyone know anything about the PDQ fantasy RPGs: Questers of the Middle Realms, or Jaws of the Six Serpents?

I have Truth & Justice which is a solid little game but I was curious about the fantasy deriviations.

 

[Arcane_Avatar]

I ran Jaws a few years back. It was great fun in an OSR style but with updated mechanics. Well worth a punt.

 

[PrivateEye]

They're both good, in slightly different ways

Jaws gives a pretty solid Swords and Sorcery experience, and the supplement (Serpents' Teeth) has some great stuff in it as well - a section on the Swords and Planet genre, and a section for running 1930s pulp

Questers is more light hearted, but has some excellent bits on making up your own pantheon as you go along, and for qualities relating to your title and holdings (if you want that sort of game). Magic is a bit more standard fantasy fare than Jaws

Personally I would use Jaws, but add the best bits from Questers. Get Serpents' Teeth as well if you like Pulp!

 

[AsenRG]

Does anyone know anything about the PDQ fantasy RPGs: Questers of the Middle Realms, or Jaws of the Six Serpents?

FWIW, I've been told that Jot6S is quite a good example of "how to do S&S with PDQ", but have never had the opportunity (or inclination, I guess) to check it.

 

[Savage Schemer]

I've been running Jaws off and on since its release. It's hugely popular with my group, and I personally love it. I have run Questers too but it's nowhere near as popular. The popularity in my group mostly comes down to tone, for which we prefer S&S. The games themselves are nearly identical, with the main difference being that in Jaws, magic is more open-ended, ritualistic and dangerous. In Questers, magic is effectively just taking another Quality. Jaws also has a few things like "dark learning points" and different "danger levels", that suit the darker tone of the game.

Neither is heavy with setting. There's a brief setting outline, and the rest is left open for the GM to define as required or desired.

If there's anything you want to know, I'll be happy to answer your questions.

 

[Malckuss]

I like to mention Sword's Edge Productions' work. Sword's Edge is the primary product, very much a cinematic system in a vein similar to PDQ but using d10s. The product that might appeal in this instance is Sword Noir 2E, an S&S plus noir, much in the vein of Fritz Leiber's writing.

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

I'm a big fan of the PDQ system.
Jaws is great and has a free-form magic system. Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies is great if you want something different in terms of a fantasy game. Pirates on flying ships.

 

[Silverlion]

I've been running Jaws off and on since its release. It's hugely popular with my group, and I personally love it. I have run Questers too but it's nowhere near as popular. The popularity in my group mostly comes down to tone, for which we prefer S&S. The games themselves are nearly identical, with the main difference being that in Jaws, magic is more open-ended, ritualistic and dangerous. In Questers, magic is effectively just taking another Quality. Jaws also has a few things like "dark learning points" and different "danger levels", that suit the darker tone of the game.

Neither is heavy with setting. There's a brief setting outline, and the rest is left open for the GM to define as required or desired.

If there's anything you want to know, I'll be happy to answer your questions.

Thank you, I've got plan for when I get paid to pick up one of them. I'm a huge fan of Truth & Justice (I'm amazed it didn't catch on more for as good as it is, but I suspect not having a solid setting may have had an impact, also timing.)

 

[Malckuss]

Thank you, I've got plan for when I get paid to pick up one of them. I'm a huge fan of Truth & Justice (I'm amazed it didn't catch on more for as good as it is, but I suspect not having a solid setting may have had an impact, also timing.)

Unfortunately, I think the layout and presentation may have negatively impacted it, too.

 

[Jkitz]

I like to mention Sword's Edge Productions' work. Sword's Edge is the primary product, very much a cinematic system in a vein similar to PDQ but using d10s. The product that might appeal in this instance is Sword Noir 2E, an S&S plus noir, much in the vein of Fritz Leiber's writing.

Here: https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/Swords-Edge-Publishing?limit=50

We have a sale on the print versions of Sword Noir 1e and it includes both 1e and 2e PDFs.

I think Sword's Edge games are the only PDQ adjacent games I have played, so I can't offer a contrast between them.