Tommy's Top Six of 2011 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

Last year's Tommy's Top Six and Birthday Blog Giveaway was a pretty good idea and a pretty big success, so I decided pretty early on to revisit it again this year. I am keeping the same criteria this year for last year's selections, which are as follows: 1) Only one title from each company could be eligible. Spread the love around and all that. This year, it was much easier to do that than last year. 2) I'm not concerned with when the book was released, only when I reviewed it, which had to be between December 17th last year to December 17th this year.

Also, like last year, I have some "runner-ups" or "honorable mentions"...a seperate blog post will detail those.

Oh, hey...and this is my 300th blog post! Yay!

GHOSTORIES EXPANDED (Precis Intermedia Games)

Why You Should Buy It: Ghostories is a really misleading title, as this is pretty much an all-purpose horror game. Using the genreDiversion system, Ghostories has everything you need to play, and is also compatible with other genreDiversion games (like Mean Streets), while including conversion charts for PIG acquisitions like Bloodshadows. That's a LOT of play that you can get out of this one book. As noted, it goes above and beyond just ghost stories, providing demons, liches, shapeshifters and trolls, and then some. In addition to being able to play normal humans, the book opens things up to a number of powers, like Sorcery, Revelations (visions), Binding Lore (binding spirits), Unholy Arts (which summons Phantoms, who are reallly demons, and that's Bad), and much, much more. In addition, the book crams in nine adventures and around twenty plot seeds, so there should be very little question as to what you "do" with it. On top of that, it includes 21 ready made characters. I'm a fan of games that are a little lite while still having crunch, and the cool, atmospheric modifiers for the supernatural powers in this game qualify (like casting spells on Samhain, for instance), and the powers in the game are a fun, unique mix that help characters stand out from each other without making the game about essentially horror superheroes. I had picked up the original version of Ghostories before but really kind of overlooked it, but a side by side comparison of that one and this are wildly different. Ghostories is a meaty, 128 book with a low-powered, horror feel, and I would gladly use it in place of games like, say WitchCraft. In fact, for my next pure horror game (not the ass-kicking, monster-hunting type ala Angel or Rippers), I would look to Ghostories first before I would anything else (even Savage Worlds), and that's about the best compliment I can give. And it is worth noting that Ghostories HAS rules mods that make it a little more cinematic, but there are other games that can do that better. Stick with the low-end, investigative horror and Ghostories should shine.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Realms of Cthulhu (Reality Blurs)

Why You Should Buy It: The idea that Savage Worlds is only good for high-octane, pulp adventure got completely kicked in the teeth by Realms of Cthulhu. Filtering the Cthulhu Mythos through the Savage Worlds lens, Lovecraft's legendary mind-bending tales managed to impose their demented will on the Savage Worlds game system. Now, Realms of Cthulhu doesn't fundamentally alter Savage Worlds...it just provides you additional rules to fundamentally alter Savage Worlds with. For instance, Pulpy and Gritty damage as well as Physical and Mental damage. Setting rules that can make Savage Worlds MUCH harsher than most folks seem to think it is. It does up the complexity level of Savage Worlds, but only a bit, and it grows organically out of existing mechanics. The bestiary is an extensive one that covers most known Lovecraftian beasties, and it's full of random charts with which to generate random entities and corrupted people. It also has conversion notes for Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium, in case you want to use CoC materials with Realms. Magic gets twisted sideways and overhauled to fall in line with the Cthulhu mythos, and the production values are as good as any Savage Worlds book on the market. The options, setting rules and random generators in Realms of Cthulhu make this an amazing addition to any Savage Worlds library.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Savage Suzerain (Savage Mojo)

Why You Should Buy It: Obviously, I'm a pretty big fan of Savage Worlds. Like Realms of Cthulhu, Savage Suzerain kind of plays with the way you look at Savage Worlds. Whereas RoC takes it to harder and grittier levels than the core, Savage Suzerain expands it far beyond what most people consider to be the "upper limits" of the system. Savage Suzerain is a world-hoppping Savage Setting that actually encompasses multiple Savage Settings and dials the awesome up to 11 by making the PCs capable of ascending into Demigods, a rank beyond Legendary. The settings thus far have included fantasy warfare (Caladon Falls), Space Empires (Dogs of Hades), cyberpunk vampire apocalypses (Shanghai Vampocalypse), pulpy Depression-era investigation (Noir Knights) and much more to come. Any of the above books (especially Caladon Falls, a thing of beauty and awesome) could have qualified, but I have a One Book Per Company rule, and this is the one that expands those options to begin with and makes the rest of them possible. This is the book that lays the groundwork, providing a slew of new Edges and explaining just how Pulse Paths (which replace Arcane Backgrounds) work. Pulse starts off with basic effects, mimicking the powers from the savage Worlds rules, but eventually scales up to reality-altering (at least temporarily) levels. The Savage Tales and Plot Point campaign in Savage Suzerain is also one of the most effective I've seen at hitting all the thematic bullet points while still leaving the setting wide open at the end. I love Savage Worlds just as it is, but I love those Savage Settings that blow the whole thing wide open, like Realms and Savage Suzerain. Oh, and it has my favorite Hindrance ever: Optimist.

Buy the PDF at RPGNow or the print version at Amazon.com.

Savage Worlds Horror Companion (Pinnacle)

Why You Should Buy It: The Companion series is designed to help you expand Savage Worlds in your chosen genre. Similar to the old PDF-only Toolkits, the Companions provide new rules, Edges, Hindrances and so forth. Two of my favorite books from that line were the Horror GM's Toolkit and the Horror Bestiary....both of which did a LOT to inspire the material for this book. Obviously, horror is nothing new to Savage Worlds, what with one of the earliest settings being Rippers, to say nothing of the Deadlands connection. Even Necessary Evil had a bit of a horror element to it. The Horror Companion does a fantastic job of taking the earlier toolkit and bestiary and bringing them in line with Savage Worlds Deluxe edition. There are a number of horror specific tweaks, like Doubting Thomas becoming a Major Hindrance, but my single favorite part is the addition of Monster PCs, from vampires to werewolves to angels to demons. There are also great new powers and Arcane Items. If you're planning on running any sort of horror game for Savage Worlds, you would do well to pick this up...and even if you're not, and you like having monsters around, there are plenty of options to choose from. While I can't quite call it indespensible, I'd say it's pretty close, as a lot of this stuff is pretty easy to adapt to any Savage Worlds campaign that isn't "normal" (Deadlands Blessed totally need Consecrate Ground).

Buy the PDF at RPGNow.

Sword Noir (Sword's Edge Publishing)

Why You Should Buy It: This unassuming tome is a complete rulebook, drawing from multiple sources for inspiration, including Savage Worlds and FATE. The different pieces make the game feel familiar if you've played some of the games that inspire it, but it's very much it's own game and not just a bolted on mish-mash. The human-centric setting is a bit different for fantasy games, and magic is thematically perfect, inflicting higher penalties for your successes rather than your failures, corrupting you over time. Some of the neater aspects are how character advancement/development are tied directly to the game mechanics: Critical failures allowing you the option of improving Traits or Qualities while Critical Successes allow you to add Stunts tied to your Qualities. The Qualities are all of a "Player Defines Them" variety, which is nothing new, but Sword Noir does a very effective job of guiding the players through creation by tying Qualities to various aspects of character generation. Sword Noir is a very unique game, created from some very familiar parts, that works better than it probably should.

Pick it up in PDF or in a print at RPGNow.

Tough Justice (Postmortem Studios)

Why You Should Buy It: Easily the oddest selection on the list, Tough Justice is a historical farce RPG designed to emulate a very bloody period of England. Meant to be played as an adversarial RPG, it is one of my favorite approaches to PC vs PC games, because the PCs are on opposing legal teams, rather than actually having to do battle with each other (though that's not completely ruled out). I'm a sucker for courtrooom dramas, and that sort of thing is often abstracted down to a couple of die rolls...here, EVERYTHING impacts the outcome of the case, from pre-trial actions to witness tampering to closing statements to the jury. Most importantly, the game has an extensive list of examples to walk you through every step of the case, from arrest to execution (if applicable). You don't even have to worry about getting stumped with the creation of cases and defendants, as there are large, random charts for that. In fact, it is even possible for PCs to wind up standing trial, if you broke too many laws in their pursuit of justice. Easily the most unique game on this list, Tough Justice isn't just different to be different, it is a well-written game based off a tested system, providing one of the most unique experiences I can think of. You don't want another fantasy heartbreaker or Star Wars clone? Then pick up Tough Justice and support something truly different from the norm. Bonus points if you base characters off of the cast of Boston Legal.

Pick it up in PDF at RPGNow or in print at Lulu.

And with that out of the way, now let's get to what you really came for: Free stuff.

Today marks the second anniversary of The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever...as well as my 300th blog post. Last year, we had a very successful Birthday Blog Giveaway, and this year, we will do the same!

Thanks to the generosity of the above publishers, I am pleased to announce the following prizes:

- A PDF copy of Ghostories Expanded.

- A PDF copy of Realms of Cthulhu.

- A PDF copy of Savage Suzerain.

- A PDF copy of the Savage Worlds Horror Companion.

- One (1) print copy of SWord Noir, and two (2) Complete Sword Noir PDF Bundles, including Sword Noir and two adventures. (Print copy and bundles awarded separately).

- A PDF copy of Tough Justice.

Eight great prizes, including a print copy!

To enter, simply send me an e-mail to tommyb(a)sstelco(dot)com, with the subject (minus the quotes) "Happy Birthday Blog", listing your order of preference for the prize. Once I have closed entries by 11:59 PM Central Time on January 15th, I will use a randomizer to determine the winners...#1 gets their first choice, #2 gets their first available choice (their first choice if it wasn't taken, second if it was, and so on).

Thank you once again for continuing to read the blog. Thank you to the publishers for their generous donations for the Blog's Birthday. As the New Year begins, I have made some tweaks to the blog, placing the Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same articles linked off the front page, and I have also added an Amazon aStore as one more avenue with which you can support the blog if you so choose.

Up next, I'll discuss a handful of products that almost...but didn't quite...hit the Top Six mark and why.

Thank you, have a Happy New Year, and good luck in the contest!

Tommy

Tommy's Take on Grim & Gritty, Bloodsucker: The Play and Chav: The Play (Kinda)

Hi, remember me?

Been awfully busy with the webcomic, which just started it's second arc a few weeks ago, as well as convention appearances. Working on getting back into the swing of the reviewer thing. So with that in mind, I have a short review I wanted to touch on, and a "kinda" review about two other products by the same author.

GRIM AND GRITTY

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A while back, I reviewed Tough Justice - and rather loved it. Grim and Gritty is a combat supplement for Tough Justice by Tough Justice writer Ian Warner. You can download it for $1.99 from RPGNow, or buy it in print from Lulu.com for $9.29. Essentially, it is 40 pages of combat rules for Tough Justice (which didn't delve heavily into combat). Combat isn't wildly different from most games, although there are unique bits like a pre-fight roll determining either how soon it will be before the defender can attempt to escape, or how quickly reinforcements come, and the end result of combat (death or capture) is entirely up to the victor. The supplement takes the Tough Justice legal setting very seriously, with attackers can gain Felony Dice, but Defenders do not, due to their right to defend themselves.

WHAT WORKS: The rules for dueling seem like they would be the most thematically appropriate for the Tough Justice setting, and this includes pistol or sword duels, fist fights or hag fights (with appropriate rules for differentiating them from regular combats). The book also does an admirable job of trying to cover all relevant combat bases, including a weapons chapter, gang-up rules and mass combat.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The proofreading could have been better, especially in regards to punctuation. The book encourages exceptions in combats whenever characters made from different Historical Farce games are used together, which can prove annoying at times.

CONCLUSION: I really enjoy Ian Warner's off-beat work in particular, and Postmortem's work in general. As the author says, even in this book, Tough Justice is completely playable by itself, these are just additional rules, in case the combat doesn't work for you. Is there anything indispensible in here? No, although I do really like the addition of the dueling rules. Otherwise, if you have played Tough Justice a time or two, you have a pretty good idea as to whether or not the combat is robust enough for you.

The other two products I wanted to mention are part of Ian Warner's new Kittiwake Classics line, and are based on the Shadow World RPGs Bloodsucker: The Angst and Chav: The Knifing. They are Bloodsucker the Play and Chav the Play. Yes, they are scripts. Try as I might, I could not get into the right mindset to actually review scripts (just something I have trouble working out in my head), but I am terribly impressed with how complete they are (with stage directions, character bios and so on), and I certainly applaud Mr. Warner for taking a novel approach with these game tie-ins. In fact, a more ambitious person than myself would attempt to organize a production of one of these shows at a convention if you could get the cast together. Chav and Bloodsucker are each available at Lulu for $9.29 apiece.

Weekend News Update

Caladon Falls Still Needs Your Help

Time is drawing near on the Caladon Falls fundraiser, and Savage Mojo still needs your help. A great campaign with a nice twist on standard fantasy that, I think, appeals to the Savage Worlds fans who also like stuff like Warhammer and Dragon Age.


The RPG Blog Alliance


I'm not usually a "joiner", but here I am, a member of the RPG Blog Alliance. After just a couple of days, we are already more than 100 blogs strong, and in addition to hosting a combined RSS Feed, the RPG Blog Alliance has their own centralized set of message boards.

I Have Seen Savage Worlds Deluxe And It Is GOOD.


As part of my work as a freelancer, on such projects as *redacted*  and *redacted*  (both coming soon), I have been allowed a prerelease look at Savage Worlds Deluxe. Honestly, from everything I had heard, I was incredibly skeptical about the need for Savage Worlds Deluxe, but those thoughts disappeared pretty quickly digging into the book. The return of *redacted*  was surprising, but not unexpected, and very welcome. The section on *redacted*  is really great, providing more *redacted*  for players and GMs. As good as it is, the new *redacted* don't quite work for me as well as the old ones do, and I was kinda surprised at the complete removal of *redacted*. It's some really good stuff that will hopefully take Savage Worlds to that next level.


Part-Time Gods Shatters Another Benchmark


Eloy Lasanta's Part-Time Gods kickstarter just keeps on going, breaking the $6,000 mark...astonishing. He's been releasing regular updates over on the Kickstarter page, including art previews.

Development Issues


The Sekrit Projekt I mentioned last week is probably NOT going to be showing up around October after all, especially if I plow ahead with pursuing a commercial license and Pinnacle does approve it. I have been tapping some of my contacts for advice and aid, and I'm ultimately thinking I may need to go back to the drawing board. However, I will get SOMETHING out the door in time for Halloween, regardless.

Postmortem Video Trailers


Ian Warner of Postmortem Studios sent me links to all of these the other day, and while I had seen the Tough Justice one, the rest were new to me...behold, the YouTube trailers for four of Postmortem's games!

Invaderz Pocket Edition

Tough Justice

Agents of SWING

Courtesans

I'm off this weekend, starting a new job on Tuesday...I plan on releasing reviews of Sword Noir, The Path of Kane and MACHO over the weekend, for your reading pleasure. Thanks!

Tommy's Take on Tough Justice

Tough Justice is a very interesting concept: A courtroom drama game set in the time of "The Bloody Code", running from the late 17th century into the 19th Century. The Bloody Code was known as such, because the courts in England apparently looked to capital punishment as the solution for...just about any crime. The players play Prosecution and Defense in a capital case and, perhaps most interestingly, the game offers "kid gloves" sidebars for running it as an educational experience.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Tough Justice is $9.99 in PDF, or $15.11 through Lulu. The PDF is 260 pages and, while searchable, lacks bookmarks, unfortunate in any PDF over 100 pages. The author, Ian Warner, is a big history buff, which prompted the creation of this game, it seems.

The book includes an astonishing 24 page glossary of slang and legal terms from the era, impressive by any measure. As well, just in case you need it, is a list of English noble titles and how one should address them in conversation.

Characters are defined by six stats, on a scale of 1-5, with 18 points to spend. The six stats are Authority (using facts and logic), Jibe (banter and insults), Charm (people skills), Investigation (er, investigating), Violence (er, violence) and Composure (the ability to keeo your cool). Interestingly, your Composure can Decay throughout the game as you fail Composure rolls. Next, characters can either be Good At two things, or Very Good At one thing...either taking a +1 bonus in two areas, or a +2 bonus in a single area. Finally, you pick a Merit and a Flaw. Merits include bits like Ferreter (making Investigation rolls easier), Unimpeachable Morals (making Jibe harder to use against them) or Water Tight Private Life (making Investigation harder to use aginst them). Flaws include Too Nice By Half (making it harder to use Jibe), Wimp (making it harder to use Violence) and Secret Felony (which provides a chance that the PC may wind up as the defendant!).

Next, the group picks teams (Prosecution and Defense) and assigns Roles. Barristers are the lead on the case. Attorneys are the back-up lawyers, basically, and Allys are pretty much everyone else. Additionally, Prosecution gets Thief Takers, which are kinda like bounty hunters. Finally, the players flesh out their characters' backgrounds in key points, and then agree on Relationships with the other characters (codified in little in-character quoteS). While the book does provide a character creation example, step by step, it also includes half a dozen sample characters spread out among Prosecution and Defense.

Generally, you roll a die and add 1 to it if you're Good at it, or two if you're Very Good at it, and add your relevant statistic. If you have a relevant Merit, you roll two dice and take the highest, if you have a relevant Flaw, then do the same and take the lowest. Pretty basic, but functional. You can also "Play Booty", which is throwing a Challenge. This is most advisable if your Composure is in danger. Additionally, some rolls are just made against a chosen Difficulty, and are not actively opposed by another character. Every Challenge's Win Margin has a wider effect on the case, and is tracked by the GM through Case Points.

Defendant Generation (if the defendant isn't a PC), plays right to my strengths: It's a bunch of random tables. Roll sex, age, profession...Males, Females and Children have their own Professions tables, so you don't wind up with an 8 year old pimp or a 45 year old male midwife. Stats for adults are handled like normal, kids have fewer points. The Profession the defendant has also provides a bonus for either Prosecution or Defense, depending...and some professions can be hidden from the Prosecution, denying them their bonus.

Once the Defendant is created, we move onto the case. A chart is provided for the various offenses, which can provide Defense and Prosecution bonuses. The crimes including Cutting Down Young Trees, Sodomy, Intercepting The King's Mail and...wow...being an Unmarried Mother Concealing A Stillborn Child. There are numerous sidebars here about some of the "crimes", including that last one, as well as combinations that may not make much sense (although you can certainly run with 'em...frankly, I think the idea of a 12 year old on trial for Insurrection is quite interesting).

The GM is recommended to track Case Points secretly, presumably so it would be harder for both sides to "game the system", and I like that approach. Some of the crimes provide bonus case points like the occupations do, so yeah, it is quite possible for someone to wind up with a pretty big lead due to randomization.

Once everything is set up, dive into the Arrest phase. This largely consists of the Thief Taker taking down the Defendant. The example here is darkly humorous with an overzealous Thief Taker pummeling the Defendant (a younger girl) in order to bring her in.

From there we move to the Pre-Trial Phase, which also includes challenges of honor such as Dueling (but only between respectable gentlemen), Pugilism (but only between working class men) and Hag Fights (between working class women). The Pre-Trial Phase takes place over a set number of turns (the default is 7), and each side gets to take an action each turn. The types of actions can vary greatly (allowing each team to play to their strengths), with numerous examples provided for inspiration. For instance, you can start nasty rumors to poison the well against the other side's case, try to intimidate witnesses, seduce a member of the opposing team to learn information and so on. This is followed by a very lengthy example of the pre-trial phase.

By the Trial Phase, Barristers are going to be doing most of the heavy lifting, although there are options for others (namely Allies) to do, such as appear as witnesses or prepare "surprises" for the trial. Again, this goes into each step of the Trial, from describing even the smell of the courtroom to setting the Jury Strenght. The GM gets to sit back and play Judge, reacting to the tricks pulled by Prosecution and Defense. One area where I would part is the Defense's plea...it says the GM should decide what stat to use, but unless you're really having issues between the Defendant and the Defense, I don't see why the Defense wouldn't have a say in it. Anywho, Prosecution also has a distinct advantage in that they get to "sum up" their case (think modern closing statements), while the Defense is forbidden from talking to the Jury! The Verdict is a simple matter of comparing the final scores, but the GM (playing as the Jury) should play it up a bit. There ARE rare cases in which a Defendant is found guilty, but is not sentenced to hanging...but most of the time, yeah, victory for the Prosecution does equal death.

But that's not all! There are also last minute twists that can be played, such as female defendants trying to get knocked up in order to avoid the death penalty, or defendants getting cases reopened when it came down to the wire between Prosecution and Defense.

When you get into the final days of the Defendant (if found guilty), there is a surprising amount of room for drama, especially if the Defense did get attached to the Defendant. Five methods of execution are given (Hanging, Burning At The Stake, Beheading, Drawn and Quartering and Firing Squad, although only the military get that last one). Then, the GM gets to decide what to do with the body.

Tough Justice is a largely non-lethal game (for all but the Defendants), so Retirement is presented as an option to get rid of those characters you may not care for any longer. To that end, Advancement goes with the player and not the character, so new characters are on par with existing ones. The final phase of the case is rolling for Felonies...if the PCs broke the law over the course of the game, well, they may have to answer for it.

Appendix One offers some Advanced Rules like Cock Ups, which are (essentially) critical failure rules. Pregnancy rules are also covered, complete with Abortion rules. Other rules include Downtime for PCs, a whole section Tough Justice LARP rules and even allowing the other five stats to degrade the way Composure does.

Appendix Two is full of sample characters, first being NPCs tied into the example case given throughout the book, and the second being half a dozen defendants (2 male, 2 female, 2 child), completely detailed with stats and crimes (and a plug for an upcoming novel).

A two page summary of the entire case proceedings is also given, always a welcome sight.

Finally, we get a heartfelt afterword, a character sheet and an extensive index.

WHAT WORKS: First off, the book is VERY light on art. It is almost all text, which sounds crazy for what is really a rather simple system...except for when you realize that a BIG chunk of the book is a walk-through of playing the game from character creation, on through to post-execution. There really should not be much issue with someone reading the book and going "but what do I DO with it?" I like how, in some areas, the author erred on the side of legal fiction over legal fact, but I thought he also did a tremendous job with conveying The Bloody Code.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The "rolling for pregnancy" felt strangely out of place, although it may still be justified, seeing as though it is a very valid defense for female prisoners to escape death...I think the Abortion rules might have been just a step too far, though. Also, an electronict book that is 260 pages and does not have bookmarks is disappointing.

CONCLUSION: Okay, I went into this with the expectations of Chav, WizKid and Bloodsucker in my head, even though I was explicitly told that it was more serious...and I wound up completely amazed. Yeah, the book could have been shorter, if you cut out the extensive examples, which I would not recommend. The audience is going to be more limited, given the courtroom drama aspect over more traditional RPG fare but - and pardon my french - Ian Warner managed to turn a passion for history and a particularly insane period of English history into a viable RPG without making a wholly pretentious ass out of himself. Much like their humor games, there is still a very playable game in here, and one that I'll be going so far as to add to my bookshelf and not just my PDF library. Given the quality of the writing (and my love for courtroom drama), I will overlook the "What Doesn't Work" I noted above, and say that this is certainly the most pleasant surprise that I have encountered this year, hands down.