Fantasy Games of Choice
1) Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Warhammer wasn't the first fantasy roleplaying game I ever played, however it is the one I've put the most work into. When a friend of mine first introduced me to the first edition book, we sat down, made characters, and talked about a world of possibilities. Then we actually drew an entire town, searched the rule book, and placed all applicable careers into the town. I had made fantasy adventure before, but I only populated a few necessary NPCs. This town became the living, breathing fantasy realm that all GM advice tells you to create. Events happen in the town regardless of the players. Townsfolk live and die. Events unfold in the background. When the players come back to the town, they may find it much different than when they left. I hadn't done anything like this; I hadn't created anything outside of a dungeon before. The Warhammer career system, and some brainstorming with a friend, brought this all out of me.
2) D&D 2e
I specify second edition (and to be more specific, Skills and Powers) because this is the game I have spent the most time playing. And that's not all. All of the time was fun. Sure there were times when we needed to look up rules. There were times when we forgot to add bonuses and we had to retcon events. However, whether it was the adventures, the GMs, and/or the other players, we always had a blast. Admittedly this was the kind of group you could play any game with and have the time of your life. We just happened to be playing D&D...with the owner of the local game shop...while second edition was the big thing. Whatever, it worked out just fine.
3) Ambition & Avarice
There are endless materials written under the collective designation of the OSR (Old School Renaissance). I say "endless" not exactly literally, but in the interpretation that I could probably spend all my free time reading these publications and not finish in my lifetime. I have downloaded years worth of settings, systems, adventures, plot hooks, NPCs, magic items, etc. onto my computer. I have purchased a select few in print. What I needed was the one system I would use to run them all.
Originally I figured I would use Basic D&D (Red Box). It was the first RPG I owned, it was barebones, and it would hold, in some way/shape/form, everything these supplements would add. Instead I found this handy little OSR retro-clone that fit well with the game as I like to play it, plus added some fun twists. I printed out some pregenerated characters and ran the game at a couple local conventions. The players really seemed to have fun, and I was able to run the game on top of published adventures from different periods in gaming history.
My willingness to play in, and run, early versions of the game seems to have me on the good side of the author. He keeps me in the loop of the current version and lists my name under the playtester section of the credits. Some of my original ideas (magic items, traps, NPCs) fit Warhammer, some fit D&D, but now I'm getting some that fit this particular OSR retroclone. I have a new race that I will be typing up shortly, but I feel I should wait until the latest release of the ruleset is out before I publish the race on my blog.
There are fun things going on with this game, and I'm glad to be a part of it. The fact that I can use all my OSR collective supplements with this game brings it into my fantasy games of choice list.
Warhammer wasn't the first fantasy roleplaying game I ever played, however it is the one I've put the most work into. When a friend of mine first introduced me to the first edition book, we sat down, made characters, and talked about a world of possibilities. Then we actually drew an entire town, searched the rule book, and placed all applicable careers into the town. I had made fantasy adventure before, but I only populated a few necessary NPCs. This town became the living, breathing fantasy realm that all GM advice tells you to create. Events happen in the town regardless of the players. Townsfolk live and die. Events unfold in the background. When the players come back to the town, they may find it much different than when they left. I hadn't done anything like this; I hadn't created anything outside of a dungeon before. The Warhammer career system, and some brainstorming with a friend, brought this all out of me.
2) D&D 2e
I specify second edition (and to be more specific, Skills and Powers) because this is the game I have spent the most time playing. And that's not all. All of the time was fun. Sure there were times when we needed to look up rules. There were times when we forgot to add bonuses and we had to retcon events. However, whether it was the adventures, the GMs, and/or the other players, we always had a blast. Admittedly this was the kind of group you could play any game with and have the time of your life. We just happened to be playing D&D...with the owner of the local game shop...while second edition was the big thing. Whatever, it worked out just fine.
3) Ambition & Avarice
There are endless materials written under the collective designation of the OSR (Old School Renaissance). I say "endless" not exactly literally, but in the interpretation that I could probably spend all my free time reading these publications and not finish in my lifetime. I have downloaded years worth of settings, systems, adventures, plot hooks, NPCs, magic items, etc. onto my computer. I have purchased a select few in print. What I needed was the one system I would use to run them all.
Originally I figured I would use Basic D&D (Red Box). It was the first RPG I owned, it was barebones, and it would hold, in some way/shape/form, everything these supplements would add. Instead I found this handy little OSR retro-clone that fit well with the game as I like to play it, plus added some fun twists. I printed out some pregenerated characters and ran the game at a couple local conventions. The players really seemed to have fun, and I was able to run the game on top of published adventures from different periods in gaming history.
My willingness to play in, and run, early versions of the game seems to have me on the good side of the author. He keeps me in the loop of the current version and lists my name under the playtester section of the credits. Some of my original ideas (magic items, traps, NPCs) fit Warhammer, some fit D&D, but now I'm getting some that fit this particular OSR retroclone. I have a new race that I will be typing up shortly, but I feel I should wait until the latest release of the ruleset is out before I publish the race on my blog.
There are fun things going on with this game, and I'm glad to be a part of it. The fact that I can use all my OSR collective supplements with this game brings it into my fantasy games of choice list.