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Matthew
2009-06-26, 07:06 AM
Continuing the grand old tradition of last year, Free RPG Day 2008 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83682), I was wondering who else managed to get freebies this year? I managed to procure:

Rogue Trader Adventure (Fantasy Flight Games)
Paranoia Quick Start (Mongoose Publishing)
Dragon Warriors Quick Start (Mongoose Publishing)
Pathfinder Bonus Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
Castles & Crusades Quick Start (Troll Lord Games)
Hero's Handbook: Immortals and Amethyst: Hearts of Chaos Flip Book (Goodman Games)
Khyber's Harvest Adventure (Wizards of the Coast)
Hero's Bane Quick Start (Claymore Entertainment)

but missed out on:

Hero Lab Demo with unique data files (Lone Wolf Development)
Hollow Earth Expedition Adventure (Exile Game Studios)
Geist Quick Start (White Wolf Publishing)

Grab the Cache (Mongoose Publishing)
Commemorative Dice (Chessex Manufacturing)
Unique Gold Dice (Q-Workshop)

I have since had time to read most of what I acquired. So far the best item has been Rogue Trader with the worst being Hero's Bane; the production quality for the latter was quite high, but the writing was pretty awful. The Goodman Games and Paizo Publishing offerings were fairly middle of the road, which is to say good production values and reasonable content. The Amethyst adventure was weaker than the Hero's Handbook, being far too linear, but was an interesting retread of Heart of Darkness in an imaginative setting.

I really do not like the new Castles & Crusades trade dress, but the adventure seems better this year, even if the Quick Start rules have not changed (errors and all!). The D20/4e adventure Khyber's Harvest I have mentioned elsewhere, suffice to say I thought it was much better than last year, but the internal art was inferior. The Dragon Warriors and Paranoia booklets I have not finished reading yet.

Anybody else get some of these products?

JediSoth
2009-06-26, 08:07 AM
Neither of the gaming stores near my house participated in Free RPG Day. The larger of the two hadn't even heard of it! (And it's not like I live in a small market in the boondocks, I'm in Indianapolis--home of Gen Con, for Pete's sake!)

Sounds like there was a lot of good stuff this year, though.

banjo1985
2009-06-26, 09:01 AM
We're playing Dragon Warriors in our group at the moment, it's a pretty good quality game, though there are typo's and statistic mistakes all the way through. Nice fast-paced game, pretty brutal with a high character turnover, we're having fun with it. Dangerous Brian, my learned Barbairian died in the last session though. :smallfrown: It reminds me of early D&D to be honest, mainly with the setting, gritty power level, and havings classes with minimum stats as prerequisites.

I must admit that I've never played any of the others, though a Paranoia game is on the cards for us at some point.

RTGoodman
2009-06-26, 09:05 AM
Paranoia Quick Start (Mongoose Publishing)
Castles & Crusades Quick Start (Troll Lord Games)
Khyber's Harvest Adventure (Wizards of the Coast)
Commemorative Dice (Chessex Manufacturing)
Unique Gold Dice (Q-Workshop)


:smallsigh:

It's a shame nowhere within like a two-hour radius of me participates in Free RPG Day. There's always lots of stuff I'd like to get my hands on.

Totally Guy
2009-06-26, 09:05 AM
That's today? That's no good I'm working.

Matthew
2009-06-26, 09:13 AM
Neither of the gaming stores near my house participated in Free RPG Day. The larger of the two hadn't even heard of it! (And it's not like I live in a small market in the boondocks, I'm in Indianapolis--home of Gen Con, for Pete's sake!)

Sounds like there was a lot of good stuff this year, though.

That is pretty annoying. We have two game stores in our area, but only one that participates. The other store is uninterested in doing so; I have no idea why even after speaking to the manager about it.



We're playing Dragon Warriors in our group at the moment, it's a pretty good quality game, though there are typo's and statistic mistakes all the way through. Nice fast-paced game, pretty brutal with a high character turnover, we're having fun with it. Dangerous Brian, my learned Barbairian died in the last session though. :smallfrown: It reminds me of early D&D to be honest, mainly with the setting, gritty power level, and havings classes with minimum stats as prerequisites.

I must admit that I've never played any of the others, though a Paranoia game is on the cards for us at some point.

Sounds good. I am looking forward to giving these both a read through, though finding the time to play is another story...



It's a shame nowhere within like a two-hour radius of me participates in Free RPG Day. There's always lots of stuff I'd like to get my hands on.

You should look into getting the items you want from an online vendor, such as Noble Knight Games. In fact it seems that a number of items are still available from there.



That's today? That's no good I'm working.

Nah, 'twas last Saturday. Most of these can be downloaded for free or picked up from Noble Knight Games (http://www.nobleknight.com/default.asp) (while stock lasts). Let's see:

Free Downloads

Rogue Trader (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=617)
Dark Heresy (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=50&esem=1)
Pathfinder Bonus Bestiary (http://paizo.com/store/games/roleplayingGames/p/pathfinder/pathfinderRPG/v5748btpy88x4)
Castles & Crusades Quick Start Rules (http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/ccqs.html) (2007) [I don't know why 2008 and 2009 are not available...]
Dragon Warriors (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=63015)
Hero's Bane (http://www.claymoreentertainment.com/)
Geist Quick Start (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=63060&affiliate_id=5405)

Noble Knight Games

Paranoia Citizen's Guide (http://www.nobleknight.com/productdetailsearch.asp_Q_productid_E_2147399691_A _inventoryid_E_2147641650)
Hero's handbook (http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147399684_A _InventoryID_E_2147641643_A_ProductLineID_E__A_Man ufacturerID_E__A_CategoryID_E__A_GenreID_E_)
Khyber's Harvest (http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147399682_A _InventoryID_E_2147641605_A_ProductLineID_E__A_Man ufacturerID_E__A_CategoryID_E__A_GenreID_E_)
Unique Gold Dice (http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147399685_A _InventoryID_E_2147641644_A_ProductLineID_E__A_Man ufacturerID_E__A_CategoryID_E__A_GenreID_E_)
Commemorative Dice (http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147399686_A _InventoryID_E_2147641645_A_ProductLineID_E__A_Man ufacturerID_E__A_CategoryID_E__A_GenreID_E_)

TheCountAlucard
2009-06-26, 10:39 AM
:sigh:

Another free RPG thingie goes by without my having known about it. I wish someone had told me about this... :smallannoyed:

Duke of URL
2009-06-26, 11:14 AM
I was going to go to one nearby (relatively... still a good 30-40 miles away), but found out I was already committed to going to a kid's birthday party. The joys of parenthood! :smallsigh:

Panda-s1
2009-06-26, 05:06 PM
Okay, I'm gonna brag. There's only two stores in the area that were doing Free RPG Day. I thought I would only be able to go to one, but I plotted a course by bus for both. Before I get to the first store, there's a used book store across the street that happened to have both A Game of Thrones and A Feast for Crows in good condition, so I complete my ASOIAF collection for cheap. I then get to the first game store, and another guy just grabs a bunch of material and sets it aside. I thought "Well, maybe he's gonna pick and choose when he's done looking around." I ask the lady behind the counter if it's one per customer, and she replies I can take one from each stack (apparently they had free material for three weeks last year when it was one per customer). Score! I got everything but C&C, Hero's Bane, Hollow Earth Expedition, and the dice. I go across the street to a Mexican market for some water and find Inca Kola, which I've been looking for these past four years, so score again (it was pretty good). Then I ride the bus to the next store and pick up the C&C adventure (I was kinda hoping to see other people I know at that store, but no luck).

So I had a good day on Free RPG Day. Geist has me the most excited, as I've been wanting to get into WoD, and even own a copy, but none of the fancy games that go along with it, but Geist seems like a good place to start. Hopefully I can run it (or find someone to run it) soon. I already own a copy of C&C, and if what you say is true about the errors, then the preview is not that useful to me. The Pathfinder bestiary... okay, I'm not a fan of Pathfinder, but I do like how they do their monster statblocks, y'know, so they're legible.

The Paranoia preview is rather dense, I don't know if I want to read through all that. Dragon Warriors looks cool, if not a bit too retro for me, but I'm honestly disappointed there's only two classes in there, and neither of them use magic. That just sounds kinda boring for a preview adventure, IMO. Rogue Trader also looks cool, but I'm really not familiar with the system, and I still don't think I get it.

The Goodman Games flip book was alright. Immortal Heroes is okay, but I'm not a huge fan of epic level play. Hearts of Chaos is kinda linear, and the preview characters on their website are kinda strange to say the least (and their powers could use better wording), but I really do like the premise of the setting and hope the final product is good.

Matthew
2009-06-26, 05:42 PM
That does sound like a good day!



I already own a copy of C&C, and if what you say is true about the errors, then the preview is not that useful to me.

The errors are more irritating than problematic, as the same ones have been reported three years in a row now. The only one that leaps to mind as of now is that large shields provide +2 AC in the Quick Start, rather than +1 AC as in the PHB.



The Pathfinder bestiary... okay, I'm not a fan of Pathfinder, but I do like how they do their monster statblocks, y'know, so they're legible.

Heh. Indeed.



Rogue Trader also looks cool, but I'm really not familiar with the system, and I still don't think I get it.

I grew up with the Rogue Trader version of Warhammer and wanted an RPG version for about twenty years, so I am no doubt biased. :smallbiggrin:



The Goodman Games flip book was alright. Immortal Heroes is okay, but I'm not a huge fan of epic level play. Hearts of Chaos is kinda linear, and the preview characters on their website are kinda strange to say the least (and their powers could use better wording), but I really do like the premise of the setting and hope the final product is good.

Yeah, their offering last year was much better, Punjar: The Tarnished Jewel, and I agree as to Amethyst; on the whole the product felt a lot more speculative, and less "complete".

Panda-s1
2009-06-26, 05:52 PM
The errors are more irritating than problematic, as the same ones have been reported three years in a row now. The only one that leaps to mind as of now is that large shields provide +2 AC in the Quick Start, rather than +1 AC as in the PHB.
Well like I said, I do have the PHB. Though they are updating with this next version, eh...

I grew up with the Rogue Trader version of Warhammer and wanted an RPG version for about twenty years, so I am no doubt biased. :smallbiggrin:
Wait okay, so the number in the circle is the 10s place! Okay, now it makes a lot more sense. But can you really compare old Rogue Trader to the new one? I mean 1st ed. 40k was a skirmish wargame with RP tacked on, Rogue Trader the RPG is, well, an RPG. Not to mention the huge changes in 40k lore, I don't even know if rogue traders work the same way, though I could be wrong.

Matthew
2009-06-26, 06:09 PM
Well like I said, I do have the PHB. Though they are updating with this next version, eh...

I hear the changes are going to be available in a pdf download for free, but it does somewhat rub me the wrong way.



Wait okay, so the number in the circle is the 10s place! Okay, now it makes a lot more sense. But can you really compare old Rogue Trader to the new one? I mean 1st ed. 40k was a skirmish wargame with RP tacked on, Rogue Trader the RPG is, well, an RPG. Not to mention the huge changes in 40k lore, I don't even know if rogue traders work the same way, though I could be wrong.

Yeah, it took me a little while to figure out the "10s" thing. It is hard to say whether the Rogue Trader adventure game can be compared with the original Rogue Trader war game. In terms of "canon" a lot of stuff has changed over the years, but a lot of stuff remains the same. It's not too hard to ignore the more annoying changes. However, the Warhammer 40,000 RPG(s) look to be very similar to the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, which was my first, and still holds up quite well.

I would say that Dark Heresy was not really my cup of tea, but Rogue Trader seems to be very much in keeping with the original concept, and it is now definitely on my list of books to buy at some point. The original game was more about the "feel" than it was the rules (though I still think the rules are superior to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th iterations, haven't seen the 5th yet).

I should point out I have played many of the ancillary games as well, such as Epic (1st and 2nd edition), Confrontation (an old much classic only available in White Dwarf back issues now), Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic, and so on. The rules systems always felt broadly compatible in generalities if not specifics.

Nai_Calus
2009-06-26, 07:14 PM
The nearest place for me was a good three hours away(No.), so I just ordered some stuff I'd been wanting to get anyway from Noble Knight. I only cared about the dice anyway. Chessex was already out, but I wanted the Q-workshop die sample more anyway. I got a d6, the most boring of all dice, but considering that the only game I play IRL is Shadowrun, it's also the only type of die I ever *use*.

The purple with yellow is awesome though and I wish I could get a full set of it. :<