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More Than Meets the Shelf: Licensed RPGs in the Age of Too Many Games
At some point, I picked up a Humble Bundle of licensed RPGs: G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Power Rangers (all Renegade’s Essence20 line). This was not because I had a burning need to run a Power Rangers campaign, but because the price-to-page-count ratio made the lizard part of my brain clap its little hands. They now
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Putting Down the Sonic: Why I Sold Doctors & Daleks
There are books on my shelf that say something noble about my taste and discernment. Then there are the others. Doctors & Daleks belongs to the latter category: the sort of purchase that clearly involved a momentary lapse of judgment, a credit card, and the words “5E” and “Doctor Who” in unwise proximity. By the
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After the War – Space Bears and Trauma (Review)
I’ve owned Apocalypse World and Mutant: Year Zero for ages and, like a true GM, never actually run either. I like the idea of post-apocalyptic survival, but when I sit down to prep, my brain quietly puts on a trench coat and leaves the scene. So I picked up After the War, hoping its “rebuilding
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Dragonbane – The Secret of the Dragon Emperor #1
The Dragon Emperor is dead. In the Misty Vale, a forgotten corner of a broken realm, ancient powers begin to shift. Ruins groan in the earth. Shadows move in the pine-thick forests. Villagers speak of monsters in the hills and strange lights in the sky. Something old is waking. Four adventurers have come via the
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FiveEvil – A Quick Review, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Fear 5E Again
Every so often I am reminded that Past Me cannot be trusted with a Kickstarter account. At some point he apparently thought, “You know what you need, as a person who has deliberately drifted away from 5E? A 5E horror game.” And then, months later, a perfectly handsome PDF arrived and Present Me had to
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Conan the Hyborean Age – Quick Review
My take on Conan: The Hyborian Age (Monolith 2025), read alongside the old Modiphius Conan 2d20 and your usual S&S suspects (Barbarians of Lemuria, Crypts & Things, Swords Against the Shroud, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells). The core engine is simpler than 2d20, spicier than BoL.Monolith Conan is: pick a Stat (Might, Edge, Wits, Grit),
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Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game – Quick Review
Here’s my “first-impressions” review of Warhammer: The Old World Roleplaying Game, taking it on its own terms and then comparing it to my current fantasy standbys. The engine is clean and decisive (dice-pool, target-under). You build a pool of d10s equal to a Characteristic (typically 2–6), roll them, then each die ≤ your relevant Skill
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ALIEN: Evolved Edition – Quick Review
My take on ALIEN RPG: Evolved Edition (having enjoyed 1e’s cinematic one-shots but bounced off it in preference for Mothership). The engine is familiar with nicer knobs. It’s still Year Zero: d6 pools, 6s are successes, push to reroll and gain Stress; Stress dice can trigger Panic. That core “do a scary thing → roll
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Cold City 2e – Quick Read Review
I had a quick read of this last night so these are just first impressions. (ed’s note: this was originally posted on my Discord) The engine is punchy, narrative-first. It’s d10 dice-pool vs. dice-pool. Both sides roll; whoever has the higher single die wins. Your “successes” are every die above the opponent’s highest die (ties
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Delta Green Quickstart – First Impressions
My take on Delta Green: Need to Know (the free Quickstart), as a CoC7-first GM who likes Trail’s clue ethos and isn’t into heavy metacurrencies. The engine works for me. It’s classic roll-under percentile with familiar BRP stats/skills, so the table friction is about the same as CoC7. Checks are clean, sample damage is intuitive
