Three Games to Play in 2015!
With the start of the new year I would like to suggest to you a new year's gaming resolution that should not be too onerous to undertake. Consider moving out of your comfort zone and playing a game or three you have never tried before. As gamers, we know what we like, we talk about it, blog about, get into edition wars over it, and champion it as the one true game.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
You don't have to show your devotion to a particular game by dating it exclusively. The game does not have feelings to betray. It won't mind if you step out a bit, you could have fun, and you might learn a thing or two that you can bring back to your one and only.
OK. Enough with the slightly off-putting relationship metaphor.
In order to help out, I thought I would present you with the three games I hope to try, either as player or GM in the coming year. I don't intend to limit myself to three, but I want to make sure I get AT LEAST three new games in. And so, in no particular order:
#1 - Barbarians of Lemuria - Mythic Edition!
I lied. This one is in order of preference. I have wanted to play this since I heard that there was a Kickstarter to produce a shiny new edition. That it exceeded many of its goals and went with full color art throughout, more art throughout, an optional large format map and more content - that's poutine and gravy for me [if you don't know what poutine is, your obviously not Canadian - get you to the interwebs, and yes, I mean poutine AND extra gravy]!
A rules-light, sword and sorcery game by veteran game designer Simon Washbourne, Barbarians of Lemuria is a bastard child of the OSR, hearkening back to the very core of the genre which has inspired games since the beginning of roleplaying. Lovingly referential to Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, King Kull, Fafrd and the Gray Mouser, Jirel of Joiry, and other icons of Sword and Sorcery, this game has a lot more than fond memories going for it. Like a full setting waiting for you to jump right into. Its previous edition has inspired a number of hacks, like Honor & Intrigue, the game of swashbuckling adventure that I did a sort of review, play report about, and Barbarians of the Void [Sword and Planet action in the distant future]. It also looks ideal for me to run a game set in the world of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane, something I have been longing to do since I tried it, sort of, with 3rd edition D&D.
Currently the Mythic Edition is unreleased, pending the completion of layout and printing, but should be ready to drop soon. You can like Filigree Forge's Facebook page, or stay tuned to my ravings, and then you will be sure to be in the know when it comes out.
I have been interested in Eclipse Phase for quite a while, yet I have not bought the game. I am unsure why. I like the notion of transhumanism in an RPG, and mixing it with horror is a natural fit. I have always been drawn to body horror and personal horror films [Like Ginger Snaps, or the indy film Bloom, which looks wicked cool and seems to be doing an Indigogo campaign with an RPG element. [There is another article, Clint - Bloom the RPG of Horrific Personal Transformation].
How human can you be if your body is ultimately little more than a pair of socks. So much of what makes us what we are is tied to sensation and perception. Remove, or modify, those and what happens?If we can't feel, do we still have feelings? And in Eclipse Phase, it is all taking place in a shattered future rife with role-playing opportunities. Game on.
The system is described as percentile-based, which, given my love of Runequest, is going to be pretty familiar territory. This also means that I might get some nibbles from my core group of players.
[Checks pulse] . . . OK, I appear to have talked myself into buying this.
I jumped and bought this game when it first came out in 2006 and have never played it. I want to change that. Now owning games I never get to play is not that unique an experience, but I love the subject matter and really like the look of HEX [the acronym is also fun]. What turned me off is the uber-simplicity of the system. Now by and large, I am not a crunchy-rules-guy [although Runequest can be said to be on the crunchier side of the scale], but Hollow Earth Expedition made me wonder if there is such a thing as too simple a game system.
There is really only one way to answer that question, so I have resolved to try it and see. It has been looking at me from my game cabinet with sad accusatory eyes anyway. I hate that, so I am going to encourage the behavior by caving in.
I hope that I will not stop at three new games this year. There is a lot of stuff out there, whether new to print, or new too me. For example - although I have had opportunities, and my friend Scott is the creator of the game, I have never played Delta Green. Probably time I fixed that too.
Go get some game.