Endies - RPG style

 

The Endies, Endie Endie Yum Yum...

Ok, I stole this from the Lady Tabletop Blog, so here is my version... Not quite awards, but a look back at and brief thoughts about the role playing games I have played or run this year. Here they are, in alphabetical order (fancy), just because that was how my folder sorted them when I went to upload the images.

None of the rambling thoughts that will follow are likely to delve too deeply in analysis or mechanics, or what have you - I'm going to try and focus on what I remember most about the games, and whether I would be happy to run or play them again.

Agon

A role playing game of Greek myth and legend, by the myth and legend himself, John Harper. I'm not sure how many sessions of this we ended up playing, perhaps somewhere between 8 and 12. Agon is quite a system focused game. Normally this might be a bit of a turn off for me, I prefer light games that 'get on with it', but Agon is different. Here the system is carefully designed to reflect the themes and stories the game centers: the epic tales of Greek myth and legend, and as it happens it also does a good job of 'getting on with it', as it were... 

As someone who grew up listening to audio books of (Sir) Tony Robinson reading Greek myths, and who has a shelf of such books, the thematic focus of the game, and the clever mechanics designed to bring these to life were a delight. I thoroughly enjoyed Agon, and would be keen to play it again.

Candela Obscura

Candela Obscura, by Darington Press is a sort of steam-punk-ish, Cthulhu-ish, Faerie-ish setting, built around a Forged in the Dark system. We have played maybe 30 sessions of Candela Obscura this year, nearly one a fortnight all this year. The game is good, and I have enjoyed it a lot, despite the horror elements not really being something I am normally drawn to. It helps to have a good GM, and a well crafted and well run campaign. We were lucky enough to have both in Megs, who has run us through a number of Candela campaigns, including the most recent of her own design:

Click above, and find yourself an excellent Candela Obscura game.

Candela Obscura has been a thoroughly enjoyable game to experience, and I'd highly recommend it. I am keen to continue playing (though my character has a habit of straying too close to danger for his own good).

Corsairs

Designed and published by me. I won't go into too much detail here, as it feels self-aggrandizing. Corsairs was the first RPG Zine that I designed and published. This year my game group and I dusted it off, and ran it anew, we've played maybe 20 sessions so far, and have just passed something of a turning point in the campaign. It's been a lot of fun delving back into the world of the floating islands, and I am keen to, at some point, revisit and expand on the system. My first self-published game, and still one my favourite of the games I've designed. 

Death in Space

Published by Free League, Death in Space is a sort of OSR style cosmic horror sci-fi game. I'm not a huge fan of horror, and to be honest I'm not quite sure why this style of unforgiving mechanics combined with a horror tinged setting is so popular, but each to their own. 

I should say off the bat that we only played a few sessions of this. It is not really my style of game or setting; I love sci-fi, but while there seems to be no-end of sci-fi horror, there seems less sci-fi of other varieties. The game itself however, is well written and designed, and contains a fantastic description of the setting, a heap of useful charts, and is very well produced. If this style of game is your thing - I'd recommend it.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire

Probably my favourite of the Star Wars RPGs that Fantasy Flight released, and a system that gets a lot of love or hate style reactions. It's janky and comes up with some curious results, but I really do enjoy it. We've played nearly 20 sessions of this so far, and it's been a blast.

I started this with the intention of running one of the campaigns that FFG published, and quickly got sidetracked into an Andor style campaign of the first stumbling steps in a larger fight against the expansion and aggression of a fascist regime. 

I really do like this system, despite it's flaws, and have enjoyed running it a lot.

Feng Shui 2

Feng Shui, by Robin D. Laws, and Atlas Games. I was very exited to give this game a go. We played maybe 5-6 sessions of it all told. The game system is very obviously, and very famously, designed to reflect the beats and tone of an action movie, and at this it excels. I don't think I did a very good job of running this game, and in the hands of a different GM, I think it might have worked better. Certainly as the sessions went on we realised various styles of play seemed to work better than others. In the end it's a game I enjoyed, but just fell a little flat. Having said that, the game is hilariously written, and was worth the price tag just for the enjoyment of reading it alone. I might play this game again with a GM who has some experience with the system, no doubt this would alter my perspective, but I'm not rushing to run it again before that revelation occurs.

Torchbearer

I think we played 2-3 sessions of Torchbearer, very early in the year. It's not a game I feel comfortable giving my opinion on. One thing I do hold against it is that I designed a dungeon crawl that I called Torchbearer before I realised that the name was already in use, how dare they (or great minds think alike, it depends on the day - insert suitable emoji so everyone is clear I am not being serious).

From memory this was an unforgiving OSR style system, which I'm learning is not my favourite style of game (when I want horror, failure, and despair, I'll watch the news thank you). But I honestly don't remember enough about Torchbearers to have an actual opinion - so ignore my thoughts on this one.

Vampire

Not a fan of vampires, zombies, and etc. and not sure why I like this game. Oh wait, the answer is because my good friend and prestigious author extraordinaire RinoZ, ran a campaign he set in Melbourne, Australia, with lots of familiar landmarks, references, and tropes. He did a great job running the game, and was generous enough to put up with my bullshit (my character is a musician of rare skill, and either very helpfully plays the background music to the fight scenes he often instigates and leaves the other characters to sort out, or tries to charm his way through social encounters through the medium of song - the sort of character GMs hate, and are justified in doing so).

With Every Fibre

A game I designed and self-published as a zine. This is a fantasy game, with a system that I think works really well (not biased at all). It hasn't sold as well as most of my other games, partly perhaps because there are many fantasy games, partly perhaps because I did all the art myself for this one, and partly perhaps because I am a fool and the game actually isn't very good... no, not the last one, can't be the last one. Seriously though, I do like this system, and it's one I would definitely revisit.

Fin.

So that's it, a round up of the role playing games I have run or played this year. Probably the favourite of the games I have played were Agon and Candela Obscura, with Agon taking the prize for the game with the mechanics best designed to capture their theme. 

Of the games I have run, I think I have enjoyed running Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, and Corsairs the most, with Star Wars taking the prize as it's not a game I designed, and because the gritty nature of the Andor style campaign has been a great variation to an otherwise well-trod setting.

Perhaps at some point soon I'll do a blog post of the games I would like to run in the future...