New/Free/Popular/Intriguing Games on DTRPG / 30yrs of FF

 New / Re-released

Game of Thrones, Game
of Thrones, Game of
Thrones. Unfortunately,
I've haven't seen the
TV series or read the books yet,
but... GAME OF THRONES!

Free / Recommended

Savage Insider, for the
Savage Worlds system.
Great teeth, class act all around.

Intriguing / Random

I'm on a Metamorphosis Alpha
kick atm so this generic
system scenario by Mr Ward
has caught by beady eye...
To buy or not to buy
VAPORISE! 

- Stupendously Popular -

You love the One Ring game.
It's your precious.
You may want this as well...

Nostalgia -Indulgent Purchases
(because the 80's never really ended)
- currently reading -

So far, I have the only PDF versions but I am considering
buying the book versions from FGU directly.
It's just a shame they're not sold in boxes any more!

Recent random thoughts:

I've been scanning in some pictures from Dicing with Dragons which Russ (Fiend Folio, Fighting Fantasy, Fabled Lands et al) Nicolson  is actually posting on his own blog!  Once I've got all the scans to together I'll post them here as an ongoing tribute to one of favourite line-art artists. *fawn*
 -I get all worshipful over Russ Nicholson and Liz (T&T) Danforth.  Maybe it's an "old-school" thing ;)

Mentioning Fighting Fantasy - this month SFX Fantasy magazine are running an article celebrating 30 years of Fighting Fantasy, but if you want the real low-down on all things game-booky, check out the Lloyd of Gamebooks blog for his April AtoZ challenge.  I should (rather bashfully) mention, that amongst writing celebrities, that yours truly might be appearing in the K entry regarding collecting FF books which somehow links with "kleptomania"?  - No wait, I didn't steal them all!  I sometimes even sell them: http://bit.ly/BBgamebooks  ;) 

Okay, I'm off to bed, to read about ninjas and fusion guns... 

April 2012 Lulu code 20% off books and ebooks

20% of ebooks and printed books on Lulu in April.

Lulu.com - the best alternative
to printing them yourself.... ;)

Remember that RPG rulebooks and adventures hide in the "Games" section!
Use Code:
APRBOOKS12
http://bit.ly/Lulu_APRBOOKS12
-Which takes you to the "Publish Page" for some bizarre reason - click on the "Buy" tab. Stop creating, buy, spend, consume!
Looking for ideas?  List all posts in this blog labelled "Lulu"

Free Shadowrun 3rd edition downloads (Catalyst)

I likes free downloads.  Thems makes me very happy, even when I know the price is potential adiction to a full product line.  It's a worthwhile gamble, especially if you're just looking around for ideas, art and inspiration for the campaign and system you are already running.

An ork with a pipe in a trenchcoat
-sample pre-gen in the
Shadowrun 3rd Edition
Quickstart Rules

Today I re-introduced myself to Shadowrun.  Shadowrun is now in it's fourth edition.  My memories of the launch of the 1st edition were with a mixture of feelings, similarly expressed was the snobbery from Cyberpunk-ers and RIFTS players.  The art looked great, but I remember wondering why anyone would want elves and goblins in Blade Runner.  As I've said before, back then, my view of genres as campaign setting was pretty strict.  Shadowrun looked like something a younger brother would bring to the table - a mix-up of everything they liked from other games.  Parallels could be made with the lazy quasi-humorous translation of fantasy Warhammer into Rogue Trader/40K with it's Squats, Space-Orks, and Eldar - and later the dropping of some races because they just weren't aesthetically cool enough.  However, in contrast to this perception it seemed to take itself very seriously.

In these post Buffy/Angel days (and all of the TV series which followed), where everyday magic, assimilated demons, vampires were explained with ethnic, counter-culture, alternative lifestyle metaphors, I feel more ready to accept the potential richness of the Shadowrun setting.  Possibly, I'm so shallow, that I will not accept a setting unless I've seen it in a film or read the book first.  Shadowrun looked like a derivative "meta"-game, like (the implausibly popular) Blood Bowl - an in-joke between gamers.  Judgimg by the number of products and editions the publishers must have been doing something right.  Looking at Shadowrun now, it looks as though it could have been a real blast to play, either seriously or with humour (again back to jokes vs. apocalypse Buffy and Angel).  So now I'm wondering if I seriously missed out on something.  But at least now, given the chance I could get my teeth into the basics.

Shadowrun: Quick Start Rules: Third Ed

Although a long way away from complete as a rule-set, a handful of sessions could definitely be played through using the following free products...

Shadowrun 3rd edition free downloads on DriveThru/RPGNow:

Shadowrun: Quick Start Rules: Third Edition
Shadowrun: Gamemaster's Screen: SR3
Shadowrun: Critters

(DriveThru links the PDF downloads)







If you're a die-hard Shadowrun fan, but haven't been back there for a while, you might be curious enough to have a look at the platinum bestseller Shadowrun: 4th Edition 20th Anniversary Core Rulebook (Catalyst) -PDF $15. 

Check out also the free PDF quick start rules for 4th edition on the Catalyst website.

Amazon link thingy to printed copies ->

If you have no idea what any of this is and you wouldn't mind a world where trolls splice into the Matrix and tattooed elves tote seriously state-of-the-art guns and all sorts of other strangeness, then the several editions of Shadowrun might be well be worth a gander. :)