RPG

RPG: Systems vs. Story

By msarko on 8/9/09 10:59pm
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I've written a lot already about tabletop games, both of the board and roleplaying varieties, but I'm still something of a newcomer to the scene. As such, I struggle with a lot of elements that long-time players have taken for granted. I didn't start playing these games until my mid-20's, so I don't have any nostalgia factor for any of these systems and settings. Rather, I mostly just take each game at face value. No matter what I've played, there seems to be an issue with balancing the fictional "flavor" of the games and the systems by which they are played.

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Board Game Review: Prince of the City

By msarko on 8/7/09 3:07am
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Last week I wrote about White Wolf's World of Darkness line of roleplaying games, so I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about one of their simpler properties, a board game called Prince of the City. Released in 2006 as a less involved supplement to the RPG Vampire: The Requiem, this board game is relatively easy to grasp for first-timers but has a lot of room for strategy in the case of long-time players.



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RPG Review: Old vs. New World of Darkness

By msarko on 7/27/09 10:20pm
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The game development company White Wolf has created some of the most popular and, in every sense of the word, successful role playing games in history. Beginning with Vampire: The Masquerade in 1991, White Wolf has taken the business into a new standard for atmospheric storytelling and streamlined mechanics. In 2003, the company decided to reboot their World of Darkness brand in an attempt to clean up a complex but extremely messy field. So, how do the two versions of the WoD compare?

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RPG Review: Mutants and Masterminds

By msarko on 7/20/09 3:05am
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Pen and Paper Role Playing Games are great excuses to get together with friends for an evening and have some creative fun. At their best, they are dynamic and full of intriguing atmosphere. But not all RPG's are created equal. They all have their ups and downs, their strong points and their room for improvement. So, what actually makes a good RPG and is Green Ronin's Mutants and Masterminds one of them?



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