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StoryKeeper
2009-11-23, 11:19 PM
Hey, guys. I'm not great at staying on top of new rpg's on the market. Are their any good games that have come out in the last year or so? Preferably soething with more emphasis on story and cinematic action that just combat.

root9125
2009-11-23, 11:21 PM
Dragon Age: Origins.

The best game ever.

Here's what Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation had to say. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1096-Dragon-Age-Origins)

Zeta Kai
2009-11-24, 12:06 AM
Dragon Age: Origins.

The best game ever.

Here's what Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation had to say. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1096-Dragon-Age-Origins)

I would presume that the OP is referring to tabletop RPGs.

Totally Guy
2009-11-24, 03:36 AM
Recently... there's Mouse Guard, pretty fantastic. That's got my vote.

But I think if you look at the boardgame geek website, I'm pretty sure that they started up a tabletop RPG sub-database. Should give you some answers.

Vic_Sage
2009-11-24, 03:38 AM
Monsters & Other Childish Things (http://www.arcdream.com/monsters/)

Pretty much my favorite RPG, to bad I rarely get the chance to play it.

Shademan
2009-11-24, 03:57 AM
Recently... there's Mouse Guard, pretty fantastic. That's got my vote.

But I think if you look at the boardgame geek website, I'm pretty sure that they started up a tabletop RPG sub-database. Should give you some answers.

seconded!
mouseguard=awesome
I would also reccomend the comic

misterk
2009-11-24, 06:30 AM
Rogue Trader is out and exciting. It seems like a better use for DH's system than the way DH has used it.

Kiero
2009-11-24, 07:15 AM
WFRP 3rd edition is out soon.

As is Legends of Anglerre (which I've been talking about here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132458)). It's predecessor Starblazer Adventures is relatively recent.

lesser_minion
2009-11-24, 07:19 AM
White Wolf released Geist:The Sin-Eaters.

I've bought the PDF, but I haven't played a game yet. It seems quite nice though.

As Kiero said, WFRP 3rd ed is also coming out soon, using FFG's brand new Six Roll Engine where everything is decided by six different dice rolls in a way that just about might be tolerable if only because the dice used in each roll are completely different, allowing you to roll all of the dice at the same time.

I'm more excited about the DAO tabletop game - it's being done by Green Ronin, so it should be at least mildly awesome

The Rose Dragon
2009-11-24, 08:14 AM
If DA:O tabletop game turns out to be only mildly awesome, that would mean GR is slipping in their standards.

wizuriel
2009-11-24, 09:00 AM
I heard alpha omega (http://www.alphaomegathegame.com/) is really complex but good

Satyr
2009-11-24, 09:19 AM
There is a re-release of Little Fears. Which is actually a really good game, and one of the few true horror games. It is basically about children facing the evil stuff of nightmares. Not some romantic 'oh precious is the childhood' game,full of rose-colored nostalgia, but a real horror game.

It is a great game. Pretty much niche-ware, but the best game of the last five years or so. Yes, it is not completely new, but it is very unlikely that you ever see the first edition of this game, because it was highliy limited.


Then there is Ghost of Albion, by Eden Games. Uses pretty much the same game system as All Flesh Must Be Eaten, but in a simplified and streamlined 'cinematic' version. It is a very decent Urban Fantasy game in the Victorian Age, including an easy accessible background for its time, and since it is Unisystem, it is fully compatible with their other games. In the case you ever wanted to play a Sherlock Holmes/Night of the Living Dead/Planet of the Apes crossover with Avatars of the Ancient Gods as protagonists.



If DA:O tabletop game turns out to be only mildly awesome, that would mean GR is slipping in their standards.

Considering the abyssmal crap that is their ASOIAF RPG I really don't have that much hope for this. I haven't played Dragon Age yet, and it may be the most awesome fantasy background ever, but considering what Green Ronin made out of a very likely forerunner for the 'Best Fantasy Background ever' title, the quality standards seem to be about the level of the security standards of Tchernobyl.


I had a look at the Mouseguard RPG after it won the origins instead of D&D4. I have never read the comics, and what I know about them guarantees that I'll probably never do so either, so it may be that the game just wasn't meant for me. The impression that I got though, is that it is pretty much a game for roleplayer parents to play with their kids. It is oh so cute and kid-friendly. That is both great and really not, at the same time. For a more or less adult or mature (in the meaning of complex and plausible, not as in 'with a lot of cleavage) audience, the appeal of this game is pretty much non-existant. For those who long for the more simple time when they were eight or so, it may be a gem.

lesser_minion
2009-11-24, 09:24 AM
I was under the impression that the issues with ASoIaF RP were to do with something other than the actual quality of the rules and so on - there were issues with printing and things like that, IIUC.

They might have also had an issue supporting it or something like that.

In general, Green Ronin are a very talented group of designers, but my understanding is that they are basically "small group big name". Occasionally there will be issues.

Satyr
2009-11-24, 09:33 AM
No, the printing and physical quality of the book of SIFRP was okay. Not outstanding, but okay. The rules of the game were mediuocre at best as a generic fantasy game, but a complete and utter failure as a take on the Game of Thrones. I could go into detail, but the first take on the setting by Guardian of Order was much, much better, even though it was based on D20 and had to cope with that clunky system.
(The true perl, the Tri-Stat rules which were actually good only appeared in the De Luxe edition of the game. A shame.)

I could go into detail while SIFRP is a pretty bad game in general and a really poor version of ASOIAF specifically, but that's pretty much worth an own thread.

Oh, it is also pretty new, but to be honest, for the money for this really poor game, you could better buy a lot of empty bottles, shatter them over your bed, and slowly eat them. That would be more fun than to actually play this blackout of a game.

Shademan
2009-11-24, 10:07 AM
There is a re-release of Little Fears. Which is actually a really good game, and one of the few true horror games. It is basically about children facing the evil stuff of nightmares. Not some romantic 'oh precious is the childhood' game,full of rose-colored nostalgia, but a real horror game.

It is a great game. Pretty much niche-ware, but the best game of the last five years or so. Yes, it is not completely new, but it is very unlikely that you ever see the first edition of this game, because it was highliy limited.


Then there is Ghost of Albion, by Eden Games. Uses pretty much the same game system as All Flesh Must Be Eaten, but in a simplified and streamlined 'cinematic' version. It is a very decent Urban Fantasy game in the Victorian Age, including an easy accessible background for its time, and since it is Unisystem, it is fully compatible with their other games. In the case you ever wanted to play a Sherlock Holmes/Night of the Living Dead/Planet of the Apes crossover with Avatars of the Ancient Gods as protagonists.




Considering the abyssmal crap that is their ASOIAF RPG I really don't have that much hope for this. I haven't played Dragon Age yet, and it may be the most awesome fantasy background ever, but considering what Green Ronin made out of a very likely forerunner for the 'Best Fantasy Background ever' title, the quality standards seem to be about the level of the security standards of Tchernobyl.


I had a look at the Mouseguard RPG after it won the origins instead of D&D4. I have never read the comics, and what I know about them guarantees that I'll probably never do so either, so it may be that the game just wasn't meant for me. The impression that I got though, is that it is pretty much a game for roleplayer parents to play with their kids. It is oh so cute and kid-friendly. That is both great and really not, at the same time. For a more or less adult or mature (in the meaning of complex and plausible, not as in 'with a lot of cleavage) audience, the appeal of this game is pretty much non-existant. For those who long for the more simple time when they were eight or so, it may be a gem.

mousguard kid friendly!? you ****tin' me? It is violent!

AtwasAwamps
2009-11-24, 10:15 AM
mousguard kid friendly!? you ****tin' me? It is violent!

Clearly someone doesn't know any two year olds.

Jerthanis
2009-11-24, 10:18 AM
I haven't played Dragon Age yet, and it may be the most awesome fantasy background ever, but considering what Green Ronin made out of a very likely forerunner for the 'Best Fantasy Background ever' title, the quality standards seem to be about the level of the security standards of Tchernobyl.

Careful, your fanboy is showing.

Zeta Kai
2009-11-24, 10:28 AM
Clearly someone doesn't know any two year olds.

My two-year-old beats up everyone in sight, at random times. He isn't kid-friendly.

Totally Guy
2009-11-24, 10:59 AM
The impression that I got though, is that it is pretty much a game for roleplayer parents to play with their kids. It is oh so cute and kid-friendly. That is both great and really not, at the same time. For a more or less adult or mature (in the meaning of complex and plausible, not as in 'with a lot of cleavage) audience, the appeal of this game is pretty much non-existant. For those who long for the more simple time when they were eight or so, it may be a gem.

Beyond the art work there are some interesting rule implications that allow players to really take a hold of the story.

Wises, once I fully got to understand them, pretty much allow a player to create some kind of truth within the game world. And Circles allow players to request the NPCs they meet. They all require successful tests to work out to the player's satisfaction but either way something cool happens. Actually that pretty much happens any time dice are rolled.

And the players provide plot hooks in the form of their beliefs.

It's a game of choices that all matter. Character death is real. Advancement is organic and sensible.

I've been really pleased with the time I've spent learning it. I'll be running a game at the UK meet-up in York next month. And hopefully that'll be good too.

mikeejimbo
2009-11-24, 11:31 AM
How about Ken Hite's Trail of Cthulhu (http://www.pelgranepress.com/trail/index.html)? I mean, it is more than a year old, but I still hear it's pretty good.

eepop
2009-11-24, 01:08 PM
I heard alpha omega (http://www.alphaomegathegame.com/) is really complex but good

We've played it a dozen or so sessions. Its pretty good. Seems like it needs one more book to be longterm playable though, which assuming the company survives to make it would probably another year or so out from now.

SurlySeraph
2009-11-24, 03:45 PM
There's Eclipse Phase (http://www.eclipsephase.com/game), which is about transhumanism.

potatocubed
2009-11-24, 04:19 PM
Beyond the art work there are some interesting rule implications that allow players to really take a hold of the story.

Wises, once I fully got to understand them, pretty much allow a player to create some kind of truth within the game world. And Circles allow players to request the NPCs they meet. They all require successful tests to work out to the player's satisfaction but either way something cool happens. Actually that pretty much happens any time dice are rolled.

And the players provide plot hooks in the form of their beliefs.

It's a game of choices that all matter. Character death is real. Advancement is organic and sensible.

I've been really pleased with the time I've spent learning it. I'll be running a game at the UK meet-up in York next month. And hopefully that'll be good too.

It sounds like the Mouse Guard RPG is a Mouse Guard setting for the Burning Wheel RPG. Which is cool - if the whole 'Mouse Guard' thing turns you off, pick up BW and make up your own setting.

Totally Guy
2009-11-24, 05:17 PM
It sounds like the Mouse Guard RPG is a Mouse Guard setting for the Burning Wheel RPG. Which is cool - if the whole 'Mouse Guard' thing turns you off, pick up BW and make up your own setting.

My Burning Wheel campaign starts Saturday.

erikun
2009-11-24, 05:30 PM
I'm not sure how "lately" you're talking about, but Mouse Guard RPG (which I will 3rd), Geist: The Sin-Eaters (World of Darkness), and the Pathfinder Core + Bestiary are all out. Um, some new D&D 4e books, but you'll probably be seeing new 4e books all the way until they release 5e.

Sorry I'm not up to date, as I'm sure there are several other lesser-known titles floating around.

Inhuman Bot
2009-11-24, 05:32 PM
Careful, your fanboy is showing.

How? By saying he doesn't know what DAO is like, and that GR sucks? Sounds rather fanboyish. :smallconfused:

Satyr
2009-11-24, 06:11 PM
mousguard kid friendly!? you ****tin' me? It is violent!

As I said, I haven't read any of the comics. As far as I know, it is a chivalric tale with anthropomorphic mice, fighting against "evil" other rodents and the like. I have superficially looked through the game, found it to be full of mice quoting heroic phrases and fighting of evil stuff. Yes, it is probably violent, but as far as I can tell, it is much closer to Disney than to Spiegelmann's Maus. Yes, I had the impression, that the violence degree for Mouse Guard is probably en par with those long disney movies. Perhaps someone tragically dies (preferably a parent) and then someones other death is completely justified because he was evil. If I can put that in a movie for six to ten year old kids (like Bambi, Lion King... ) than I have absolutely no moral qualms to see it in a roleplaying game for the same age category of kids.


Careful, your fanboy is showing.

Yes, I am a full-blown and highly praising fanboy of A Song of Ice and Fire. It is not without its faults, but it is the best fantasy books I ever had the pleasure to read, written by an author who actually has talent, good ideas and knows how to develop a story. He certainly doesn't know how to develop a story quickly, but hey, I'm in it for the quality, not the quantity.
And the Green Ronin ASOAIF RPG is pretty bad. I would argue that it is bland and mediocre all in itself, but if you add that the game is considered to be an adaptation of the novels while it is not possible to create the novel's protagonists as characters, you see how bad it is.

Seriously, you could do better with pretty much every single more realistic generic fantasy system, file off the serial number and spend a week copying and pasting fan-made stuff from the internet, and you'll have a better game than "SIFRP" ('hey, we have an established, well-known standard abreviation for A Song of Ice and Fire and for Roleplaying Games! Let's use neither!'). A Gurps of Thrones, All Games of Thrones must be eaten played, Burning Wheels of Ice and Fire, A Song of Harnmaster and Fire, Savage Song of Ice and Fire, A WoD of Ice and Fire, The Riddle of Steel and Fire... Really, ASOIAF is all but hard to put into an RPG framework. It is pretty much medieval anachronism stew with a lot of swords and intrigue and really bloody swordfights.



It sounds like the Mouse Guard RPG is a Mouse Guard setting for the Burning Wheel RPG. Which is cool - if the whole 'Mouse Guard' thing turns you off, pick up BW and make up your own setting.

Okay, Burning Wheel is a well-working and quite flexible gaming system. I have played it once or so on a con, and it works well, as far as I can tell. Back then, it was just yet another pretty generic fantasy system (as if you hadn't seen one of those...), but at least one that was well written, based on a well thought-out core mechanism and easy to learn and play.
So mechanics-wise, Mouse Guard seems to be quite solid.

mikeejimbo
2009-11-24, 06:35 PM
For my tuppence on Mouseguard, when I heard about it, it reminded me of Brain Jacque's Redwall series, which I believe was a major inspiration? In any event, although those books are aimed at a younger audience, they often contained violence, but it was never extremely gratuitous and usually fell into the story really well. They were really good books. If the game emulates that, more power to them.

Terraoblivion
2009-11-24, 06:52 PM
May i ask which traits it is you consider anachronistic Satyr? While it there is some jumping between different parts of the middle ages depending on the topic at hand and the area of Westeros it is hardly major anachronisms. As it is it is really more or less just the fifteenth century without cannons and with vikings, which i'd consider fairly minor as anachronisms go.

StoryKeeper
2009-11-24, 11:42 PM
Wow! Responses piled up a lot faster than I was expecting. Thanks, ladies and gents! From what I've skimmed of your responses (going back to reread them now) it looks like I've kept track of some of the big things out there. Notably I've skimmed through Mouseguard and Rogue Trader (but can't be convinced to get the later until they let me play an eldar) and already own Monster and Other Childish Things. Thanks for all the great suggestions and please feel free to add more!