#review

Flotsam: Adrift Amongst the Stars is a GMless and diceless roleplaying game by Josh Fox (Lovecraftesque), being funded via Kickstarter now. Players portray street-level denizens of the shady underbelly of a space station, facing various threats and developing their interpersonal relationships. Think Deadwood or The Wire against a backdrop of Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine or The Expanse. Unlike many other roleplaying games, there is no gamemaster (GM). Instead, the…

Vangorro is a complete, two-player fantasy battle card game from local game creator Max Tong. Last year, at the age of 10, Max became possibly the youngest published tabletop game designer in Malaysia with the first release of Vangorro, subtitled “Warriors VS HobNogs.” Max illustrated the various heroes and monsters of Vangorro himself, and designed the game with help from his father, Sim Tong.   I almost missed the Vangorro…

Cthulhu Dark is a simple, stripped-down roleplaying game of cosmic horror written by Graham Walmsley (Cthulhu Apocalypse, Stealing Cthulhu, Play Unsafe), Kathryn Jenkins (various articles at Final Thoughts of a Murdered Guard) and Helen Gould (Classic Monsterhearts, “The Sores” in Fear’s Sharp Little Needles). Although the basic Cthulhu Dark rules were released by Walmsley as a free two-page download in 2010, this review will cover the expanded 2017 version of Cthulhu…

Night Witches is a roleplaying game of Soviet airwomen at war. With clear, instructive writing and design by Jason Morningstar (creator of Fiasco) and striking visual design by Brennen Reece (The Warren), the book does a great job evoking the WW2 Eastern Front milieu and lets players tell exciting stories of these underdog heroines.     Night Witches: Portraying the “Unwomanly Face of War” Night Witches is a Powered by the Apocalypse roleplaying…

What: Blades in the Dark When: 2017 Who: John Harper Why: The allure of playing a gang of daring scoundrels in a compelling industrial-fantasy city setting, with structured heist and downtime mechanics.   Blades in the Dark: A Game Deserving of the Spotlight We’ve always been captivated by stories of criminals, from Outlaws of the Marsh and Robin Hood to The Thief of Bagdad and the legendary stealth computer game…

What: The Warren When: 2015 Who: Marshall Miller (author), Bully Pulpit Games (publisher) Why: Because you were wondering about the rabbits in my logo   The Warren: Why a Roleplaying Game about Rabbits? Animal adventures appeal to me. The struggle for survival and a better community grows starker and more elegant when viewed through the eyes of tiny creatures. Rabbits. Let’s go back to when I was 12 years old….