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Terror Network: A Counter Terrorism RPG by Bedrock Games
by Ricardo N. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/02/2011 11:31:58

Terror Network is a focused role-playing game. Players assume the roles of counter-terrorism agents working together in a variety of operations. Personally, I like games like this, which set out to do one thing well. Everything is tied together: character creation options, action resolution system, even the adventuring system (or operations as they are known in this game.) Furthermore, as another reviewer has already written, the game is to the point. The rules take less than ten pages and give the framework to resolve most situations.

This book is well organized. It starts with the nearly mandatory introduction to role-playing games, with a twist: it includes an overview of the game, with terms that will be used throughout the book. It follows with character creation and equipment and then the game rules. After those, there are background chapters on terrorism and counter-terrorism, ideas on how to run the game and a sample scenario. There is also a useful index at the end.

If there is one thing to complain is that I really liked the concept of the "Character Network" and I wish it could have received some more attention on the rules.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Terror Network: A Counter Terrorism RPG by Bedrock Games
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Altered Earth
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/18/2011 18:46:05

Fans of 4e should eat this up. The only real problems here are the lack of mutant animal and mutant plant characters.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Altered Earth
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ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Galaxy Master's Guide
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/18/2011 18:42:30

Of the Astral Empires D6 PDFs, this one as the most original material. ...a fair companion to the freely available D6 Space PDFs.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Galaxy Master's Guide
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ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Interstellar Arsenal Technology Guide
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/18/2011 18:39:29

I only paid a dollar for this, but since the vast majority of it was taken directly from D6 Space and D6 Ships, both available for free in a much more readable layout, I was ripped off.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Interstellar Arsenal Technology Guide
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ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Core Rules Powered by OpenD6
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/18/2011 18:36:14

This PDF is an excellent example of everything that can go wrong with an ogl product. The text of the first half of the book is taken almost entirely from D6 Space, and the second half is far from original. The formatting leaves a lot to be desired. Download D6 Space instead, for free.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
ASTRAL EMPIRES-THE ROLEPLAYING GAME Core Rules Powered by OpenD6
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Road Rage Bundle [BUNDLE]
by Donald H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/17/2011 12:07:55

Overall, a fun little game, as advertised. You drive your armed and armored cars (and trucks) down a changing highway. Each player chooses a car template and customizes it to their taste (add those missiles, oil slicks, passengers, etc.). Each player also holds a hand of road tiles which they play during the game, extending the highway as necessary. You make your moves, make a driving skill roll, and if you pass that, you can fire on the other players. Our group found that the driving skill rolls often resulted in more damage to the cars than the weapons. The base set includes 3 car templates and plenty of road cards; the expansions add other cars plus trucks, a handful of new road tiles and some random effect cards to mess up the other players with.

The only minor shortcomings are some misspellings, occasionally referring to the same table by different names, and sometimes we were a little confused by the organization of the rules. Luckily, the rules are short enough that we could always figure things out. Some of our players could have used an example of how to fill out their car templates.

If there are future expansions, we vote for pedestrian rules and the chance to get off the highway. Next game, we're setting up an arena circuit and adding zombies!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Road Rage Bundle [BUNDLE]
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Hell on Earth, Issue 1
by matt c. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/09/2011 12:19:47

Solid stuff. A great first addon to an already fascinating idea for a wargame. A very unique style of artwork and small fan fiction snippets to tell the grander story. Slightly confusing backstory at first but once you accept its progress through chaos, it all coheres. Highly recommend this and the other rulesets!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Hell on Earth, Issue 1
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Altered Earth
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 08/07/2011 08:35:48

Opening with a Setting Introduction, which describes the variety of game types that you can play in this bleak yet chaotic apocalypic future-Earth, a setting rich with a wealth of opportunity for those brave, perhaps vicious, enough to sieze what they want and defend it against all comers. The background is explained, a gradual decline brought about by wars, economic catastrophes and environmental damage: no single apocalyptic event but a succession of disaster after disaster that brought once-green Earth to its present state of barren wasteland scattered with giant city-fortresses ruled by warlords.

Scene set, Chapter 2: Races looks at, well, the races available to players. The default is, of course, human beings - as described in the 'Humans' section of the Dungeons & Dragons 4e Player's Handbook. However, if 'fantasy' elements are required, the use of this ruleset means that the D&D fantasy races are compatible - even if they are explained away as aliens or from another dimension within your game. Or there are other options here: you might want to play an android, for example, a robot with artificial intelligence that has developed self-awareness... a process which tends to end in insanity. The formulae of D&D 4e have been used to good effect with such as 'Play an XXX if you want...' and powers for androids being renamed 'skill programs' - very neat retooling of the ruleset to suit the game setting. You could also pick a cyborg, a human with a lot of prosthetic enhancement and replacement. Stranger are the experimentals, subjects of mind or body altering biological experimentation, and gene freaks, who are genetically engineered humans, altered to excel in one specific area. Strangest of all, perhaps, are the risen, who have died and been restored to life by technogical means.

Next, Chapter 3: Classes examines the different career paths that characters can follow. Different races tend to be better at different classes, but you can enter whichever one that you wish. There are three to choose from: athlete, diplomat and specialist. Fantasy classes from D&D can also be used, the most suitable being those that draw on the martial or psionic power sources... unless you want to go really fantasy, of course. Athletes excel in melee, specialists in ranged combat, whilst diplomats use their minds and their charms to achieve desired outcomes. For each, a wealth of exploits and other features enable you to customise the character within these broad categories to end up with whatever you want. It's clear that plenty of thought has gone into these.

Chapter 4 then presents some paragon paths for those who reach 11th level and choose to specialise further. These are based on past history and inclinations, not on any specific class, and all are available to any character. Relic hunter, killer, high-tech gladiator, free agent, king of the streets, tunnel rat... it's the style in which you go about your adventures, the areas in which you wish to excel, that determine which, if any, you choose.

Race and class decided, on to Chapter 5: Skills and Feats. There are two new skills - Psych and Science - to equip your character to deal with the world as it is now, as well as notes on how to adapt existing D&D skills to the setting, in particular how to use knowledge of nature to forage in the wastelands. There are plenty of setting-specific feats to choose from as well. This is followed by Chapter 6: Equipment and Vehicles, so that you can kit out your newly-created character. In this setting, each fortress-city has its own currency, often held in electronic format: fine whilst you stay in one place, but what if you are visiting, or travel around a lot - or just have to leave in a hurry? Once you move on, electronic funds need to be converted into something more tangible. Precious metals and gems are a standard, of course, but drugs, medicines and ammunition are also popular. Then on to armour and weapons, and more general gear including medicines, food, and the various necessities characters are likely to need. An interesting point is that gear is defined as the stuff your character has that makes a difference to his being able to complete the adventure. Services - from lodgings to those of 'sex workers' and even a scale of bribes - and vehicles are also included here.

Next is Chapter 7: Experiments. Here are described several protracted procedures that characters might wish to undertake. They fit an analogous position to the 'Rituals' of D&D although they can involve the use of a wide range of skills. So if you wish to reanimate a fallen character, or persuade one of those archaic satellites to give you a view of the world from space... here's how. A character sheet blank, and off you go...

Despite the overview of the setting given at the beginning, the GM is going to have to engage in quite a bit of pre-game designing: surroundings, personalities, as well as whatever adventure is to take place. This work gives you the tools and a glimpse at the setting, but more work is needed before you will be ready to stride forth and adventure in the Altered Earth. What is here is good, clearly presented, consistently thought out... but it feels almost as if there's a second part to the book yet to come.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Altered Earth
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Lightspeed: Alien Contact
by Yilbber V. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/05/2011 22:47:23

Totally useless for Fuzion, And stats are incompatible with Fuzion material.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Lightspeed: Alien Contact
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Art of Michael Wolmarans, Nightmares and Dreamscapes
by Alexander L. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 08/05/2011 07:01:22

Originally Published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2011/08/05/the-night-gallery-volume-i-issue-i/

Object d’art number two: Art of Michael Wolmarans, Nightmares and Dreamscapes. At a hefty $9.99 you’d expect this collections to have at least four black and white pictures. But no, instead you only get 10 full page, full color illustrations as well as the same pictures again, but shrunken down and in b&w. There’s a nice selection of fantasy/horror going on here. There’s the bloody-mouthed woman from the cover, a hellish landscape, odd skeletal remains, even the Bride of Frankenstein dressed in her 50’s housewife best holding a fresh-baked apple pie. My favorite is a somewhat original take on what I assume is Baba Yaga.

While some of the art is a bit too wacom-tablety for my taste (wide, soft lines that don’t look like anything other than a computer made it) each piece is good in it’s own right. Not just nice to look at, but seeming to convey a story, or a part thereof, all by itself. Good art is inspirational , and you could easily work these into your campaign, or even use them to create a new scene you hadn’t thought of before.

So is it worth ten bucks? I’d have to say that’s up to you. It’s a bit much for my taste, but you could certainly spend your money in worse ways.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Art of Michael Wolmarans, Nightmares and Dreamscapes
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Altered Earth Preview
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/27/2011 14:41:36

Jam-packed into some mere 28 pages are an overview of the setting, several sample characters, an adventures AND some ancillary material: plenty and enough to decide if this is a game that would appeal to you and your players.

First comes the setting information. After talking a bit about science-fiction adventures in the far future, things calm down a bit and it turns out that this is a post-apocalyptic Earth setting some unspecified time in the future. Civilisation has been destroyed in a series of wars, so well destroyed that nobody really remembers what it used to be like. Out of the chaos there arose powerful warlords who over the course of time have established fortified city-states that stand proud over the desolation and wilderness. Against this backdrop, all manner of adventures may be had.

The cities are teeming masses of humanity, crowded into too little space, piled layer upon layer, the higher up you live, the better-off you are. Governance is sparse, law and order just about non-existant. The rich hire security, the rest survive as best they can. Even in those rare places that hold elections, little concern is paid to the well-being of the population, whilst the majority of places are under the sway of a dictatorship of some kind. Real power lies in two places: the corps and the warlords. Neither care about ordinary people.

So, given this premise, 5 pre-generated characters and an adventure for them to play are provided for those who are intrigued enough to want to try this out. Glancing over the character sheets, it's clear how core D&D 4e has been bent, folded, mangled, spindled and macerated to suit. You'll still need the corebooks to make the most of it, or certainly once you branch off to concocting your own materials or characters for this setting, but there's a whole range of new stuff - from chain-swords (shades of Rifts here!) to appropriate powers and skills - that remain true to the underlying system yet give it a distinctive spin.

The adventure comes next. Set in the urban jungle of the lower levels of one of these vast cities, the characters are asked to find a missing girl, whose adventure sampling the darker side of life has gone sadly awry. Encounters aplenty await, as they make their way through situations that are described evocatively, words bringing them to life in the mind's eye. Chases, brawls, negotiations, opportunity to try out role-playing, skills and that chain-sword as you explore this alternate reality and stamp your mark upon it.

Then comes the additional material. Some concept art, mostly warriors and gangers, people you'd not care to meet in a dark alley but probably will if you play the adventure. And more background material, this in the tangible form of how money is handled in this game, and some of the things you can buy with it. Want a protein bar, or space in a 'coffin hotel' to spend the night?

As an appetiser, this gives a fair bit to get your teeth into (although I wouldn't recommend the protein bar, to be honest!), certainly enough to try the game out and consider whether or not it will suit your group and meet your gaming needs. And it's free, a good start. More than that, though, it does give a good flavour, a good feel, for what is in store.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Altered Earth Preview
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GROMM: Fantasy Skirmish, Basic Edition
by matt c. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/21/2011 19:52:48

An outstanding variation of the vanilla fantasy worlds we now find ourselves surrounded by. GROMM's mechanics are to the point and flawless in their operation. This is truly a gem of a free ruleset, and will only get better with time.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
GROMM: Fantasy Skirmish, Basic Edition
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Mystic Adventures
by james w. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/19/2011 19:38:15

My ten year old daughter and I enjoy this very much. One of our favorite games is Return of the Heroes. When we want a break from that or your typical dungeon crawler Mystic Adventurers and expansions fit the bill. Production quality and art is not the greatest but the game play is good and I usually pimp out my pnp games anyway. I rate it a 4 out of 5.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mystic Adventures
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Dark Dungeon 2, Mini-Game #20, Lair of the Spider Cult
by Ricardo N. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/02/2011 13:16:31

This adventure for Dark Dungeon includes three additional adventurers, two spells, five dungeon tiles and five new enemies. It is a good addition to the game as the adventure plays very differently from the Goblins Lair (the one that comes with Dark Dungeon.) While that was structured as a dungeon delve, this one has more of a story going, and plays as a mix of "choose your adventure" and tactical, grid-based combat.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dark Dungeon 2, Mini-Game #20, Lair of the Spider Cult
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Lightspeed
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/01/2011 23:03:43

The five stars is for the setting: a deliberate derivative of Wars and Trek with some classic '80s anime tropes thrown in.

I much prefer the instant fuzion system to the full version presented here, but it isn't so crunchy that it's unplayable. I'm looking forward to the open D6 version of Lightspeed.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Lightspeed
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