If you enjoy roleplaying, but you don't take it too seriously, you'll probably like this book by Jonny Nexus. I know I did. Go on, give it a read. What have you got to lose?
Probably. In fact, if you look really closely, you can see the very Image of Lucifer reflected in the dice pictured above! That's right, we roleplayers have sold our souls to the Evil One in return for Earthly Power and Riches! After all, how else can you explain why roleplayers are all rich, beautiful, self-confident jet-setters....
Hang on, there's something wrong with that picture. I wonder what it could be?
I've been roleplaying for about a zillion years (though not so much lately as I would like -- curse working for a living!). I started with AD&D and Empire of the Petal Throne, moved on to Rolemaster, Chivalry & Sorcery and Runequest, dabbled in Traveller and Space Opera, and was eventually introduced to Champions.
My system of choice is the Hero System, a very flexible (though somewhat complex) roleplaying system which will allow you to build just about any sort of character for any genre. The only real fault I find with the HERO System is that its generic nature makes it somewhat flavourless, which can be a real problem when playing in an Epic Fantasy, magic-rich milieu. System mechanics tend to intrude, and you get real suspension-of-disbelief problems when players start talking about using their "8d6 electricity-based Energy Blast" rather than casting "Malazar's Greater Galvanic Thrust"
I'm currently GMing (and playing) primarily fantasy stuff, and for a while I went back to the 3rd Edition of the venerable D&D. I originally gave up on AD&D because the clunkiness, restrictiveness and inconsistency of the system drove me up the wall, and transferred my campaigns completely to HERO. The advent of D&D3e brought me temporarily back into the fold, and I found it a much more satisfying gaming environment than AD&D ever was for Epic Fantasy. However, in the end I gave up on D&D3e for much the same reasons I gave up on AD&D — even with the enormous improvements made with the advent of the d20 System, you pretty much still end up playing the D&D version of fantasy. Once again, I've gone back to Fantasy Hero and have relegated all my D&D books to occasional source material.
Not HERO or D&D related, but well worth taking a look at for its excellent design and wonderful Empire of the Petal Throne resources is http://www.tekumel.com |
| Here's some stuff I've done for my own campaigns, which may (hopefully) be useful and/or entertaining. I'll add more as I get time and energy. | |
My WorldHere are the maps of the game world I've been using for fantasy roleplaying for many, many years. The first maps were drawn up about 1982, but I've prettified them considerably since then. The page (linked to above) shows small scale maps, but there are links to considerably larger and more detailed JPG and PDF files. This is where I put scans of various old dungeons, cave complexes, islands, towns and so forth. I usually write a few instructions to myself on my maps, but apart from those few pieces of information, these maps aren't keyed. |
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Swords & Wizardry StuffThis is a so-called "retro-clone", a rewriting and reorganisation of D&D from its earliest incarnations in 1974. There are others available (Labyrinth Lord for one) but this is my favourite of the ones I've seen so far. It's a very rules-light, free-form system, simple and easy to learn and play, and lacking the byzantine complication and restrictions introduced in successive editions of the game. I've become quite interested in these retro-clones lately. They seem to have the potential to make roleplaying a lot more fun and a lot less work than has become the case with the gigantic, encyclopædic rulesets that have become fashionable in recent years. |
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HERO System Stuff (4th & 5th Editions) |
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D&D Stuff (3rd Edition)Also, here are some ideas I've been mulling over about how to transform D&D to a classless point-buy character creation and advancement system, without impacting (too much) on the way the game plays, and importantly, still allowing seamless use of the vast amount of D&D resource material available out there. |
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FUDGE RulesFUDGE is an excellent free RPG system by Steffan O'Sullivan, now being marketed with resource material and what-not by Grey Ghost Games. The rules themselves are available from their site (among other places) as a free download in plain ascii text. I have reformatted and massaged the ascii into html, with extensive interlinking, which make the rules much easier to navigate. The aim is to create a ruleset which can be used on a laptop; it's mostly finished, but it's still a work in progress. FUDGE is highly user-configurable, which has enormous advantages, but it does tend to mean that the GM has to put in a lot of work initially to set it up for the style of game he or she wants to run. I haven't used it a great deal as yet, but on brief aquaintance it seems to me that it works best for short-run scenarios and pick-up games rather than for extended campaign play. However, for a one-off session or two, its ease of character generation and simple mechanics are really good. |
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Quick NPC Personality Profile Generation3d6 and this table are all you need to randomly generate personality profiles for any NPC. It's fast! It's easy! It's fun for the whole family! December 2008: My friend Morbid (David Thompson) wrote this nifty javascript implementation of the generator to semi-automate the process and avoid all that tedious dice rolling. Thanks Morbid :) | |
Tabletop Models and Mapping ResourcesThis is a small (but growing*) collection of hex papers, mapping modules and paper models which can be downloaded, printed, cut out and assembled for use as props for tabletop gaming. The range, of course, reflects my own gaming interests, and is therefore primarily appropriate for medieval historical or fantasy gaming. | |
Some of my painted minisHere are a few of my painted wargaming and roleplaying miniature figurines. Now that I'm the proud owner of a digital camera, I'll start uploading more examples as I get around to it. | |
Substance Weight ChartThis chart details the weights of various stones, metals, woods, and miscellaneous substances. If you want to know how much a cubic metre of diamond or a cubic foot of platinum weighs, the information is right there waiting for you. NEW! Now updated with (probably) more accurate (maybe) conversions to pounds per cubic foot! | |
The Salic Laws of the FranksThese excerpts from the Salic Laws of the Franks might help you to figure out just how much to fine your PCs for rampaging through that small town bar and chopping the legs off half a dozen locals. | |
An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Roleplaying BallisticsThis page is designed to give a little information about the way that ballistic objects — that is, unpowered projectiles — act. The information is geared more towards roleplaying than real life; I wouldn't try using this information to determine your next artillery barrage. However, if you want to know how high you have to throw that school bus to get it to land on Target Boy 600 metres away, and how long it will take to get there, here's the information you need. | |
A Child's Guide to the UndeadThis essay was originally written many years ago to provide some concrete information to my players about the way that undead would be handled in my campaign. I deliberately omitted any system-specific references, since it was supposed to reflect character knowledge of the subject, not player knowledge. I've added and deleted bits and pieces here and there, but hopefully it's still comprehensible and entertaining. | |
Because I am a fundamentally lazy and slothful bastard, that's all there is for the moment. Check back from time to time though, you never know when I might become inspired to do some more.