So, this thread is to talk about what we thought were the big hits of the year, and why. What was really good?
What surprised you?
RPGPundit
I didn't buy that many current products this year, mostly ebay'ing some old and new classics.
Artesia really rocked my boat.
Iron Kingdoms: Five Fingers is one of the best citybooks I ever got.
Book of Nine Swords put some spirit back into the D&D fighter.
Hmm.
I have to agree on Book of Nine Swords - it really pumped up the fighting class end of the D&D game, giving interesting 'powers' to fighters instead of relying on the feat system as the Fighter class does. Beyond that I'll have to think - aside from D&D, I didn't really buy a ton of recent stuff this year.
Did Pulp HERO come out this year? No? Hmm. I got some Hero books, but I think they were all from last year, actually.
Book of Nine Swords
Madhaven, for the cover alone
Ptolus
PHB II jazzed up both my D&D games rather nicely. Was that one this year?
Hmmm... I wanted to like Book of Nine Swords, but it just says "power escalation and outshining the core fighter" all over it to me.
Fiendish Codex Volume I was a sweet treat for me. Well written, loaded with adventure ideas.
Looking for others to round out my list, I find myself only halfheartedly crowing for many of my remaining purchases. I've gotten some use out of a lot of them, but nothing makes me say "I couldn't live without this."
Rappan Athuk Reloaded has me jonesin' to run a game. It's a rehash, but one that was nice to see.
Shades of Gray is a campaign adventure. A bit long, but pretty cool. I am having trouble findnig a hardcopy.
Ptolus is the pretty product of the year, but I could really live without it. It's setting assumptions keep me from using it to my satisfaction without a little rework.
Bards Gate is a good city book that fulfils a lot of long waits and it really pretty well done.
Complete Mage is working pretty well for me. I like that it has no new core classes, but it squanders entirely too much time on the warlock.
In the non-D20 realm, Burning Empires is a nice acquisition, with innovative yet eminently usable takes on a lot of things, but the chances of me actually using it are slim.
Overall, there are lots of products I consider "good" but few that "wowed" me. I don't think 2006 is an especially good year for me gaming-product wise.
Quote from: jrientsPHB II jazzed up both my D&D games rather nicely. Was that one this year?
Yeah. I almost listed it, but I disdain all the new core classes coming from WotC, so I didn't list it. The feats, spells, and some optional rules are pretty snazzy.
True 20 would be my pick, and it really surprised me that I liked it, since M&M was a little too Hero-ish for me (I love Hero, but if I wanted to play supers that way, I um, play Hero, not some attempt to shoehorn it into the d20).
But True 20 seemed really nicely done to me and I ran a great campaign for it during the writing of my Excalibur conversion.
Chuck
Ptolus is hands down my favorite gaming product of 2006. The layout is awesome, the hypertext style indexing is awesome, the setting is awesome, the maps and player handouts are awesome... And it is very pretty too. One of the best RPG books I've bought in a number of years actually. And I'm making good use of it too.
Definitely agree on the Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords it's a fantastic product for D20.
True 20 is another product that I think is extremely well done and in several areas outshines D20 as a more usable game.
Shadowrun 4th ed. Is a great revamp to a broken system. It fixes a lot of mechanical issues and also by putting decking into a more usable manor fixes a lot of the issues that decking previously created.
WFRP Realms of Sorcery and Tome of Corruption. Both flush out areas that were missing from the original Core book and bring in plenty of new things for GM's and players to enjoy. They did what they promised to do and brought a wealth of knowledge to the WFRPG.
Given that the True20 I actually love came out last year, I don't really count it.
What I'd put on my list would be mostly Warhammer books; realms of sorcery is great, as are pretty well all of the books of theirs I've gotten (I forget which were this year and which were last). I don't have the Tome of Corruption yet, but I'm sure its very cool too. Ditto with the Border Princes and the WFRP Companion.
I think that In Harms Way is also awesome as a general game, and will probably end up being a very very successful small press game (well, it already is, but I mean as in "spawn sourcebooks").
RPGPundit
IMO there wasn't much of interest this year.
I'll vote for the True 20 core book and Bestiary, as well as the first release for Rolemaster Classic (the cleaned up & reogranised version of RM 2nd edition).
Beyond those two items, nothing new caught my eye. :shrug:
Though a "story" game, I think Burning Empires would be the jewel of my 2006 pickups. First there is the quality of the book (art, layout, print quality, etc...). What I really like about the game though is that it allows the GM to emulate the graphic novels using the system, which is the point. So instead of having a "party" of characters travelling together and performing tasks, you can have characters acting seperately to achieve the group goal (stop the Vaylen).
It would also be my first choice of systems to run a Warhammer 40,000 campaign.
For me it would be True20 all the way. Core book and Bestiary mainly, but True20 Cybernetics is also a great resource for plugging chrome into a sci-fi game. Nice simple, yet functional rules for cybernetics free of setting specific material.
Both True20 and Shadowrun 4E came out last year no, so technically not 2006?
I really liked both myself myself. (Sans True 20's settings)
In Harm's Way
Questers of the Middle Realms
about all I can think of for "this" year..
Quote from: SilverlionBoth True20 and Shadowrun 4E came out last year no, so technically not 2006?
I really liked both myself myself. (Sans True 20's settings)
In Harm's Way
Questers of the Middle Realms
about all I can think of for "this" year..
I don't think the Bestiary or Cybernetics were out until this year. Also, the True20 hardback I don't think came out until this year, so for non-pdfers it's probably still a valid choice.
In Harms Way:
The Sea,the World. Your Ship, your Country
It's :cool:
Regards,
David R
I'll add a vote for True20 since I am its whore- all except the final 71 pages of the book (including the "index") because I'm not THAT much of a whore.
I'm going with Ptolus because it's the best of the few items I was able to get this year. And with Artesia because of the vision and the art. Both are marvelous pieces of work.
I'll have to go with Artesia. Not only is the setting quite well done, the layout and design of the book is amazing. Totally creator owned, written and illustrated to boot so the 'feel' stays the same throughout.
Ptolus towers over everything else I've seen or bought this year. In the 27+ years I've been involved in gaming, I can't remember a product so awe-inspiring in its execution. Gorgeous yet functional, a combination rarely seen in gaming products.
Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom: in just 16 pages, Matt Finch writes one of the best dungeon adventures of the last five years. Weird and evocative enemies, cool and very D&Desque challenges, and despite the small size, a lot of things to do and explore. Also, great cover art.
I'm amazed nobody's mentioned
The Great Pendragon Campaign yet. Greg Stafford's been working on that monster for
twenty years, and it really does show. It's a superb supplement.
Pendragon 5th edition + Great Pendragon Campaign = Best thing Greg Stafford has ever done.
Quote from: RPGPunditWhat I'd put on my list would be mostly Warhammer books; realms of sorcery is great, as are pretty well all of the books of theirs I've gotten (I forget which were this year and which were last). I don't have the Tome of Corruption yet, but I'm sure its very cool too.
Oh, it is, it really is. There's a few of the editorial slipups that the WFRP line has sadly become known for, but it's easily the most value for money I've had from any of the WFRP2 supplements so far.
Quote from: WarthurI'm amazed nobody's mentioned The Great Pendragon Campaign yet. Greg Stafford's been working on that monster for twenty years, and it really does show. It's a superb supplement.
Pendragon 5th edition + Great Pendragon Campaign = Best thing Greg Stafford has ever done.
Problem is, it only just now showed up in my FLGS, and I've yet to get the money set aside to buy it.
Quote from: WarthurI'm amazed nobody's mentioned The Great Pendragon Campaign yet. Greg Stafford's been working on that monster for twenty years, and it really does show. It's a superb supplement.
Pendragon 5th edition + Great Pendragon Campaign = Best thing Greg Stafford has ever done.
I wasn't even aware this book was out yet. I guess that shows where Pendragon is in terms of visibility these days, huh?
Which is kind of unfortunate, since Pendragon 5th is actually quite well done. I was worried that they'd Forge-up the crap out of it, given all the unfortunate posterior claiming of possession that the theory swine make over Pendragon, but it wasn't half-bad in fact.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditI wasn't even aware this book was out yet. I guess that shows where Pendragon is in terms of visibility these days, huh?
Which is kind of unfortunate, since Pendragon 5th is actually quite well done. I was worried that they'd Forge-up the crap out of it, given all the unfortunate posterior claiming of possession that the theory swine make over Pendragon, but it wasn't half-bad in fact.
RPGPundit
Yep! I've got Pendragon 5th and am very pleased with it. I was afraid WW would WhiteWolfize it, but they didn't. Then again, though I really - I mean
really - disliked their oWoD games, I actually liked the nWoD game - not Werewolf or Mage or Vampire, but the core "mortals" book. Maybe they're growing up?
-clash
Note: I'm not nominating nWoD for Best of 2006, merely surprised that it was at all palatable. In any case, it was released in 2005. Pendragon 5th was much better, actually. The only game released this year that really hit me was Hearts and Souls, but I'm afraid I'm way behind on recent game purchases...
Do I miss anything if I already own the fourth edition? From a quick browse at the FLGS, it looks like it's mostly cut down to size, with almost no new stuff.
Quote from: SosthenesDo I miss anything if I already own the fourth edition? From a quick browse at the FLGS, it looks like it's mostly cut down to size, with almost no new stuff.
Seconded. Can I run "The Great Pendragon Campaign" with earlier editions of the rulebook?
Not a big True 20 fan, but I'll throw my hat in for the Book of Nine Swords as well. Fiendish Codex and the Dragon Compendium too.
Quote from: rcsampleSeconded. Can I run "The Great Pendragon Campaign" with earlier editions of the rulebook?
Yes, with some points.
- The Fourth Edition shoved the assumed starting date forward to after the events of The Boy King - which is the first part of the Great Pendragon Campaign. So you won't be able work out your father and grandfather's career in detail if you are starting from the beginning.
- I actually strongly recommend starting any Pendragon campaign limiting people to knights of the Earl of Salisbury (the default presented in 5th edition), simply to get people into the flow of things. At the end of the day, knights really should be the focus of a Pendragon campaign, because the trials of knighthood are what the Arthurian myths are all about.
Quote from: Warthur...The Boy King - which is the first part of the Great Pendragon Campaign.
1st question: Is the Great Pendragon Campaign just compiled older adventures (i.e. let's take The Boy King, Savage Mountains, blah, etc. and mix)?
2nd question: Mechanically, is there much difference between 4th and 5th?
Sorry for the side track..anyone with an answer can PM me...now back to your regularly scheduled thread.
True20 was just a pdf until, I think, April, of this year, which means it might as well not have existed until then, so that gets my vote as the best of 2006. The True20 Bestiary is also a wonderful supplement, so that gets a thumbs up too. Pity about the settings, really.
Burning Empires. A relatively recent acquisition but it shines as one of the best SFRPGs I've ever seen. It does everything I want it to do. Disclaimer: I'm a goob for the source material so I was predisposed to like this game. Still, the game itself (while not perfect IMO) would be my system of choice for anything like a WH40K or Battletech RPG.
This wasn't a great year for RPGs, IMO.
KoOS
Conspiracy-X 2.0. I've had the old edition for awhile and 2.0 was everything I'd hoped for.
...except the glossy pages. I hate that.
Quote from: rcsample1st question: Is the Great Pendragon Campaign just compiled older adventures (i.e. let's take The Boy King, Savage Mountains, blah, etc. and mix)?
No. It's a super-remastered version of the Boy King with the timeline widely extended - from Uther's reign to the death of Arthur - and packed with adventures (in various levels of fleshing-out), background material, supplementary rules and courtly intrigue.
Essentially, you can run it through to cover the entire Arthurian saga, or you can use it as a resource for beginning a Pendragon campaign at any stage in the timeline.
Quote2nd question: Mechanically, is there much difference between 4th and 5th?
No.
Quote from: ScaleTrue20 was just a pdf until, I think, April, of this year, which means it might as well not have existed until then, so that gets my vote as the best of 2006.
...except that it was the system of last year's Blue Rose - and the PDF was wildly popular by PDF standards, enough to make the book a reality.
Quote from: Warthur...except that it was the system of last year's Blue Rose - and the PDF was wildly popular by PDF standards, enough to make the book a reality.
Sorry, unless it can sit on a shelf, it's not released, by my standards. PDFs don't count outside of fringe web board communities. And Blue Rose, well, it might have used the system, but it's its own bucket of shit. True20 hit the shelves in its true form in April of 2006.
Quote from: ScaleSorry, unless it can sit on a shelf, it's not released, by my standards. PDFs don't count outside of fringe web board communities. And Blue Rose, well, it might have used the system, but it's its own bucket of shit. True20 hit the shelves in its true form in April of 2006.
I think the more important issue is that the Blue Rose version of True20 is NOT the same set of rules as the original PDF version of True20 and neither of these are the same set of rules as the eventually Print version of True20.
So you're really talking about 3 different "editions" here; which would mean to me that the new book that got published in April 2006 was a NEW book, because its rules are revised and changed from the last version.
RPGPundit
Quote from: ScaleSorry, unless it can sit on a shelf, it's not released, by my standards. PDFs don't count outside of fringe web board communities. And Blue Rose, well, it might have used the system, but it's its own bucket of shit. True20 hit the shelves in its true form in April of 2006.
How long was it before you accepted movable type as a substitute for copying by hand?
Quote from: mythusmageHow long was it before you accepted movable type as a substitute for copying by hand?
:rolleyes:
PDF/electronic publishing are in their infancy now, deal with it.
Damn, no mention of Coyote Trail? I did a lot of work for that one. I'll mention it, then. Oh, I might as well mention Hunger while I'm at it, despite the PDF hate. ;)
Pete
Quote from: Scale:rolleyes:
PDF/electronic publishing are in their infancy now, deal with it.
So what? What difference does that make? I can now keep and store hundreds of books in a much smaller space, plus I can print out specific pages when I need them. I love books, have had thousands of them throughout the years, but I can tell you that when brutal reality bites you on the ass and you have to get rid of most of them, electronic forms of books begin to look a helluva lot more attractive. When I had to dispose of a huge number of my books recently due to lack of storage, at least I didn't have to touch any of the pdfs I have.
Quote from: King of Old SchoolBurning Empires. A relatively recent acquisition but it shines as one of the best SFRPGs I've ever seen. It does everything I want it to do. Disclaimer: I'm a goob for the source material so I was predisposed to like this game. Still, the game itself (while not perfect IMO) would be my system of choice for anything like a WH40K or Battletech RPG.
This wasn't a great year for RPGs, IMO.
KoOS
Quote from: GunslingerThough a "story" game, I think Burning Empires would be the jewel of my 2006 pickups. First there is the quality of the book (art, layout, print quality, etc...). What I really like about the game though is that it allows the GM to emulate the graphic novels using the system, which is the point. So instead of having a "party" of characters travelling together and performing tasks, you can have characters acting seperately to achieve the group goal (stop the Vaylen).
It would also be my first choice of systems to run a Warhammer 40,000 campaign.
A kindred spirit. :toast:
Quote from: pspahnDamn, no mention of Coyote Trail? I did a lot of work for that one. I'll mention it, then. Oh, I might as well mention Hunger while I'm at it, despite the PDF hate. ;)
Pete
Haven't read it yet, but I will. And after I have, I'm betting a lot of other people will too.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditHaven't read it yet, but I will. And after I have, I'm betting a lot of other people will too.
RPGPundit
Oh, it's cool, Pundit! :D
-clash
Hunger is great! I have a review in the review section on that one.
In Harm's Way
Buring Empires
those are the three in 2006 that really stand out.
Quote from: Scale:rolleyes:
PDF/electronic publishing are in their infancy now, deal with it.
So age determines legitimacy?
Quote from: RPGPunditHaven't read it yet, but I will. And after I have, I'm betting a lot of other people will too.
Excellent! I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
And MCrow, thanks again for the review. Hunger was a blast to playtest.
Pete
I 29th Ptolus,
Oh yeah, and I'm back on the Internet... sorry for the disapearing act :)
fiendish codex I was it for me. ... nine swords was interesting, but just made me wish they'd put 4th edition out (whatever it is) already.
Quote from: beeberfiendish codex I was it for me.
Oooh, yeah, how could I forget? Fiendish Codex I is damned good. It's distilled coolness. One of WotC's best releases in the last year or so.
Having finally digested it, I'm going to add Burning Empires to the list. Why? Because it's the best effort at making a fair, balanced GM-vs-players game I've ever seen. The GM and players are encouraged to go all-out to win victory for their "side", and the rules apply to everyone - no changing them around by GM fiat! The system presented is focused on one particular conflict in the gameworld - humans vs. parasitic brain worms - but is incredibly easy to adapt for other situations. You can even just discard it and play the game as a traditional, open-ended RPG.
You know, asides from the complete lack of hardware, for which I dinged in in thew stinkers thread, I'd have to say that GTIW was an excellent product and did a damned excellent job of explaining one of the pivotal eras in traveller history: The wars beterrn the terran confed and the first imperium. For that, it was a great product, for leaving out all hardware it was a stinker.
Take your pick.