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2023 Day 23: Arcana Familiar
I backed Arcana Familiar at a time when I was craving new and original systems, and they totally delivered. This is, in fact, only the second or third card-based system that really appeals to me, and the most straightforward of those. Is it a system that can only work with cards? The basic system could be replicated, but not as well. It definitely ( Read more... ) -
2023 Day 22: Electric Bastionland
I love the design aesthetic on Electric Bastionland. It’s laid out with lots of space, but I found that it perfects conveying a lot of information in few words. It’s partly because it’s about mood, aesthetics and ideas. It doesn’t contain so many off-the-wall ideas as Spire, even though the setting is definitely zany, but I was definitely left with ( Read more... ) -
Wanderhome
I’ve got a few cosy and near-cosy games in this year’s challenge, but Wanderhome is the cosiest of them all. You play anthropomorphic animals travelling for no dramatic reason where you encounter people and things. There is nothing threatening in the world, just little obstacles to overcome here and there in lovely cosy ways.
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The House Doesn't Always Win
This Michael Whelan game is different yet familiar. It’s certainly more familiar than the game I keep confusing it with, House of Cards.
There is no specific setting for THDAW. You can choose your own, or you can take one of the two page settings from back of the book. But all scenarios have a requirement that you need to be a group intent on ( Read more... ) -
Moriah
A bit like Strange Hills, Moriah is not a game about action but of philosophy, introspection and sacrifice. The Gods have declared the Time of Judgement and they are wrathful. Only a worthy petition on top of Mount Moriah might save Mankind, but none have succeeded so far.
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2023 Day 18: Coyote & Crow
Coyote & Crow is the first, or at least, most notable roleplaying game about and written by Native Americans. It hit kickstarter and word spread, a combination of a splash cover, good blurb but mainly because it is pretty unique. It’s set in an alternative future where a meteor changed the planet a millenia ago, the Americas crashed then developed ( Read more... ) -
Do I have enough books
Just in case anybody was wondering "Do you have enough games to do another 31 Character Challenge?", here are some of the books that I haven't read yet:
Kickstarter
* are pending but reasonably expected within the next six months:
- Tiny in the Tower*
- The Blood*
- When the Moon Hangs Low*
- Sunderwald
- Bard RPG*
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2023 Day 17: Strange Hills
One of the themes for my 2022 characters is “stuff I backed”. I can’t remember why I backed Strange Hills but I’m glad I did. I really, really like how you play the bad guy. But the empire has fallen and you play a bad guy stripped of everything meaningful, you’re just one refugee amongst many. You have the option to have a redemption story, but ( Read more... ) -
2023 Day 16: Never Going Home
Never Going Home is a game I bought because of the sheer volume of recommendation, and I think the hype is justified.
It’s the great war. It’s bad enough the generals haven’t worked out how to deal with opposing machine guns so men etc are dying in vast numbers. Now someone opened a gateway to another dimension and there are monstrous predators on ( Read more... ) -
2023 Day 15: Devils Run
First there was the miniatures game, really a war game I suppose, except that the units were all cars operated by a number of colourful factions. Something must have clicked somewhere because people wanted it to be a post-apocalyptic, road-warrior RPG. So here we are at this version, combining rules for 2D20 and Savage Worlds ADE.
The achievement ( Read more... )