Roleplaying Games.
those strange little games I play with REAL people!
What are role-playing games, well I could waffle on for ages and never quiet hit the mark. The best way to find out about them is to try them. There are many commercial games, and many home brews. Of the commercial games I have a liking for Runequest, Call of Cthulhu -both originally by Chaosium- Twilight 2000 and Ars Magica.
There are not many shops these days. The Growth of Games Workshop in the mid to late 80s indirectly led to most shops going under, There are 2 left in London (and I am always looking for more)
Leisure Games Finchley. Good shop with web front end.
Orcs nest. A Central London treasures chest with a web site as well.
Runequest.
Runequest is set in an Age of Heroes on a world called Glorantha. The focus of the game is in Satar, a Celtic/Norse flavoured society on the Edge of the Romanesque/Semi-Stalinist Empire of the Red Moon. Adjacent is the region know as Pavis which has the feel of a wild west frontier town with surrounded by the Indian like nomadic tribes of the wastes. However my preferred Region/culture Is the Malkioni of Seshenalia, A land flavoured by chivalric romances of the middle ages with a single faith with more schisms and heresies that you could point several sticks at. Also sorcery is the main magic there rather than the spirit magic and divine magics of the other regions.
Glorantha Home page. Now Runequest and Glorantha are with a new company.
Call of Cthuluh.
Call of Cthulhu is derived from the Works of H.P. Lovecraft but usually taking in most horror and supernatural tales popular in the 20's and 30's. It uses a wonderfully flexible system and it would quiet easy to use the system for any multitude of action adventure in the early 20th century.
Pagan Publishing, These guys also develop the game and mythos of Cthulhu.
Twilight 2000.
Twilight 2000 was by the now defunct GDW. It's set in the Anarchy of a post apocalyptic Europe in the late 20th century. Nukes have flown to a small degree and society as we know it has ceased to be. Its certainly a good system for late 20th Century combat orientated situations. The game I have a distinct pleasure of playing in has taken a deviance in that the limited nuclear exchange has opened gateways to parallel worlds and the PCs have discovered that certain elements of the former world powers have intended this all along, and just like Pandora's box, someone has to close it again, and just like Frankenstein's monster, its got out of control! The failsafe, an electronic intelligence called terminator has not quiet kicked in, and the PCs are left holding the baby!
Loonzs Pages. Links to all sorts of things for the game T2K
Module and Adventure Archive. For T2K
Far Future Enterprises handles the reprints.
Traveller.
One of the original Role Playing Games, unlike Dungeons & Dragons and the rest this is set in the far future. A Far flung interstellar empire known as the 3rd Imperium is the setting. Yet for all the technology, and alien races, the old maxim of 'The more things change, the more they stay the same' rings very true.
BITS (British Isles Traveller Support) is the main source of current development.
Far Future Enterprises Has reprinted the "Classic' series of books in handy compilations.
Downport. is the main Fan based portal and is quiet active.
Ars Magica.
Finally there is the wonderful Ars Magica. Set in the 12th century in the days when magic and Magi are a fading force. The PCs are members of a Covenant of mages, they play the mages them self, Their Companions or the grogs who are their foot soldiers. Apart from magic and these isolated communities the rest is pretty much standard 12th century Europe as the writers of the great chivalry romances have pictured it! Complete with curses to be lifted, great wurms to fight, Fey stealing children and all manner of things to contend with. Similar in concept to Chaosiums Pendraken game, except the players get to be their own Merlin, rather than just a knight!
Project Redcap. The Red Caps are the messengers of the order of Hermes; this is also a good site to start with.
Mythic Perspectives. The Ars Magica magazine. Well worth the read!
Warpstone. The Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay magazine. Very useful to the Ars Magica player.
General links.
Fudge on line. free universal rules.
The Internet guide to ultimate evil. The best sites about best bits of being the baddie.
more to come.
