Tag: Role-Playing

08/19/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #95

Plenty of tabletop gaming goodness for you this time ~

GrogHeads Staff, 19 August 2016

Swords & Sails (VR Soft)
$3k of $42k, ends 16 September 2016

Not even close to making funding – yet – this campaign just launched and includes options for a pretty cheap print-and-play-only copy, as well as a pledge level just for the metal coins included in the game. Yep, metal coins. It’s set in 1000AD, and allows 2-7 players to tackle rewriting the history of Europe as the French, Byzantines, Germans, Russians, or others. There’s an espionage mechanic that’s rare in a game like this, as well as your usual 4x goodness that let you build armies, fleets, cities, and more. Explore your way through their campaign page and see what you think.

g95-swordsSails

 

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05/20/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #93

After a short hiatus, GARPA is back! ~

GrogHeads Staff, 20 May 2016

Polyversal Miniatures Game (Collins Epic Games)
$24k of $30k, ends 9 June 2016

We let Byron chime in on this one in an earlier interview.  After scaling back from an overly-ambitious earlier Kickstarter campaign, Polyversal has relaunched with a leaner, meaner, and slimmer campaign that’s focused on the game and the minis, and less on the terrain.  You still get the same great 6mm minis game with an innovative command system that visually represents command relationships with the layout of the unit cards.  Oh yeah, some of the minis are just wicked cool.  Rumble over to the campaign page at Kickstarter and see what you find!

g93-poly

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03/25/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #90

What’s up for preorder in March?  Space wars, dice, castles, and WAR! ~

GrogHeads Staff, 25 March 2016

Hull Breach!: In Defiance of Dictators Card Game (Not-So-Broken Games)
$10k of $33k, ends 17 April 2016

We’ve been tracking the Hull Breach gang for a while, going back to 2013 (https://grogheads.com/?p=3199), so now that their new release is hitting Kickstarter, of course we’re going to throw them some love!  It’s a deck-builder type of game, with tactical gameplay that depends on how well you can structure and deploy your assets. Your home base (“station”) needs your protection, and you attack with all variety of ships, marines, and special weapons.  Mixing and matching with other boxes lets you customize your deck; fret not, though, as it’s not a collectible game, just a customizable one.  The new box includes enhanced rules for team play, new victory conditions, and a streamlined rulebook, to go with a truckload of new cards.  Launch for their Kickstarter page and fire off your pledge.

g90-hull

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03/20/16

GrogHeads Reviews Knights of Pen and Paper 2

Lightweight RPG adventuring on your computer ~

Avery Abernethy, 20 March 2016

Knights of Pen and Paper 2 is a light and unique adaptation of a table-top Dungeons and Dragons game brought to the computer. The “players” sit across a table from a game master who describes the game. Quests take place, monsters appear and combat ensues. The game master describes the world situation and stylized enemies appear which must be slain by your party. The graphics are retro-cheesy 1990s style and the music uses every single aspect available of 8-bit sound cards memorable to those of us who played computer RPGs in the 1990s.

Combat is uber-simple. An initiative roll sets the order of action for everyone involved in the combat. Only one action can take place during a character’s turn. Character choice per combat round are either using a normal attack, using an item, casting an attack spell if you are a spell caster, using a special attack if you are a fighter type, or using a special character ability if you have one. Each character can do one of only six choices per combat round. There is no tricking, sneaking, or otherwise avoiding enemies. It is kill or be killed in this pixilated realm.

No Enlightment Here

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03/18/16

Classic Reviews: Barony

In the free-wheeling high-concept/questionable-execution years of the mid-90s, a lot of crazy role-playing ideas bubbled up.  Better Games explored a few of them, and several of them in Barony ~

Brant Guillory, 18 March 2016

CR-Barony-1Better Games has disappeared, and with them, several extremely good ideas bound up in some horrid presentation.

 

There are three books in Barony. One develops characters and introduces players to the concepts of “Free-Style Role Play,” one walks GMs through developing scenarios, and the last one is an interesting work on dragon battles. Covers are colored cardstock, with black and white art. Line drawings abound. The cover is a loose slip-sheet similar to the older D&D modules, but it is plain paper, not cardstock, and so it is flimsy and does not stand on its own.

 

Better Games had a line of games that were all considered “Free-Style Role Play” that attacked several ideas that gamers had held onto more out of habit than necessity.

 

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