Runescape

Runescape is a fun game - its quick and easy to get into and you can be downloaded and ready to go in no time. I find it great for casual gaming but there's plenty of scope for serious MMOers too, with loads of content to keep you going for an age.

Its listed as free but is it play to win? I don't think so. At least, my character got quite far and I didn't feel limited and I'm having a great time with my new character. I'm sure there's benefits to paying a subscription, and to be honest I'm really tempted. I want to delve a little more into the world to see if I can create a tabletop roleplaying campaign world out of it!

I'd love to see the setting of Fighting Fantasy adapted to an MMO like this. As much as I'd love a FF game to be like 'Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance', a game I spent countless hours playing on the PS2, I'd love to see Allansia and the rest of Titan given the MMO treatment, and be able to travel the world and partake in dungeons and adventures based on the books. I think the popularity of the FF franchise would suit a game like Runescape, as well as give the exisitng Runescape fans - and new gamers - a whole new world to explore.

'Tis a dream I have.

The One Ring from Free League Publishing

I'm reading the new 'The One Ring' from Free League Publishing and enjoying it immensley; the artwork and design, as ever, is excellent and it really helps with immersion. I'm a huge fan of atmosphere and theme in RPG books as I feel it helps with getting emotionally involved with the game, and this has flavour in spades.

I'm making my way throught the starter set, core rules and the Rivendell supplement so I'll report back with more details soon, but rest assured that this is another instance of Free League knocking it out of the Park.

MiniSix from Antipaladin Games

 Before you go to a popular game engine for your next campaign and you spend an age tearing the system up to make it work for what you have in mind, can I just point out that there is a system with which you don't have to do that to a huge extent.

The MiniSix system is a cut-down version of the D6 system that covers all genres, is modular so that you can make it as light or crunchy as you want, is easy to hack and really easy to learn. Its basically the WEG Star Wars D6 game (I've always said that the first edition rulebook worked well as a generic system) trimmed right down for general play.

The D6 System is well worth your time and a lot of fun. Before you hack into your usual system, give this a look.

My Fighting Fantasy adventure translated into French

 My first Advanced Fighting Fantasy scenario 'The Floating Dungeon of Varrak Aslur' has been translated into French and is being included in a book of 10 scenarios with some amazing writers I admire and look up to. It'll be available from Scriptarium.

Check out the awesome cover!

Fighting Fantasy - The Trolltooth Wars

Since I ditched Facebook and Twitter I've got back into reading and I thought I'd go back and enjoy some old books. I've started with The Trolltooth Wars, one of my favourite fantasy books when I was a kid.

It's still an entertaining read, with a lot of flavour for a fan of Fighting Fantasy, and the graphic novel really gives it life. Hugely enjoyable.

I'm falling into a FF hole and I'm thinking about running new games using the introductory game.

Using RPGs for something other than their intended purpose

I used 13th Age to run a campaign set in Conan's world of Hyboria. The gods were the Icons 

It was awesome.

I once used the original Cthulhu Dark Ages game to run a game set in Middle-earth, just after the War of the Ring.

The low magic worked really well and the system suited it.

I also used the Buck Rogers XXVc to run an adventure game for a crew travelling beyond the Solar System for the first time, so it was a kind of Lost In Space game using the D&D Monster Manual for alien beasts and races.

The first edition WEG Star Wars RPG I used for all kinds of things. Fantasy, hard sci-fi, modern. That book worked just as well as a core system rulebook as it did as a Star Wars game.

I ran a Warhammer 40K game using WFRP first edition and the blue pages of the original WH40K Rogue Trader book. Instead of the homeworld being Terra, I kept it as The Old World.

I used MERP in a fantasy Europe setting, stripping out the magic system and using the monsters in a kind of medieval version of the show Supernatural.

I used Twilight 2000 for a Vietnam War era game about a squad getting shot down and becoming lost in the jungle, and I threw in the Predator for good measure.

I used Call of Cthulhu Third Edition for a 1920s gangster game, with warring criminal factions in the fictitious city of New Roma on the East Coast. The twist was that the family winning the war was summoning monsters to use as hitmen so nothing could be traced back to them.

I used Paranoia straight - no humour, no jokes, but horribly stark and dystopian. The players had to sneak around as they organised the resistance to try and break free of the Computer. It was strangely compelling and really creepy.

Basic Fighting Fantasy

Still one of my favourite roleplaying games, it's a wonderful world to game in and the ruleset is fast and fun. It's clunky but I think the power of nostalgia gets me through.

I like Advanced Fighting Fantasy but sometimes I just want starters and not the main course.

FIRETEAM - Rules Light Sci-Fi Action Roleplaying

OUT NOW - Fireteam is a rules-light combat-heavy #ttrpg in which you play a specialist in an Interplanetary Combine Fireteam.

BUY HERE

A simple D6 dice pool roll-for-successes system keeps the action moving and includes five 1 or 2 session combat missions.

This is an adventure roleplaying game designed for quick one-shots of high action and fast combat. Players will take on the roles of Specialists in a Fireteam of the Interplanetary Combine, a government body in constant conflict with the universe.

Threats to the Combine come in all shapes and sizes; insurrection, terrorism, and strange, alien threats that the Combine struggle to deal with. On top of all this they are fighting an ongoing war with the Gene League Separatists, a huge collection of worlds that see the Combine as a threat to their ‘freedom’ and individuality, as well as seeing the rest of the non-augmented human race as inferior. They feel they are fighting a war for the purity of their genetically superior species and their independence, and worlds and star systems continually change hands with the borders shifting every few months. It’s becoming more than the Combine can handle.

If there’s a problem, and if every other route to a resolution has tried and failed, then it’s time to call a Fireteam.

Cosmic Quest - Share this! It's free!

Cosmic Quest is a handbook to help you use the core rules of Those Dark Places for exciting games of stimulating exploration, exciting combat and heroic deeds.

I originally played this with the awesome team that is @tales_infinite and I ran a Star Trek game set just after the Dominion War. It was a lot of fun, so I wanted to share it!

FIRETEAM - A Rules Light Science Fiction Action Roleplaying Game

Out Friday 29th October!

It's short and sweet with a setting you can build on with an easy D6 dice pool roll for successes system.

The bulk of the book is 5 combat missions that expand the setting, good for  1 or 2 sessions each and for both fighters and roleplayers!