Last time, I had two contenders; The One Ring and Stormbringer. The Professor won.
This time, I’ve multiple contenders but most of them come from the same two publishers, one based in Sweden and the other in the UK.
Fria Ligan seems to have done a sweep of the properties that I really like; The One Ring 2nd Edition, Alien, Blade Runner and the Tales from the Loop books. Modiphius have Dune, Star Trek Adventures and John Carter of Mars.
Much as I love the 2d20 engine, my heart tends towards the Fria Ligan lines. Alien pretty much nails the feel of the films, especially the collapse into panic. The storylines of the scenarios are excellent (although in some parts their construction and pseudo-science leaves room for improvement). Tales from the Loop (and its sibling Things from the Flood) both capture the feeling of Simon Stålenhag's artwork and the tweens and teens adventure films of the 1980s and 1990s. Blade Runner is near perfectly done; we played the first case file and it evoked both the films and the neon-noir setting so fantastically that you'd need a Voight-Kampf machine to tell them apart. I prefer the Year Zero Engine iteration in Blade Runner, but that's a personal thing.
Then there is The One Ring second edition. The game engine has been tweaked and improved, the layout is much clearer and the text better structured. The artwork is fantastic (although I also love what was done for the first edition). I'm looking forward to playing or running this. The One Ring still rules for me; I've too deep a connection to the source material and the Darkening of Mirkwood campaign cemented my love for this roleplaying game. Blade Runner came close, but not quite.
I suppose I could have mentioned Cubicle 7's Doctor Who roleplaying game, or perhaps Pelgrane Press' The Dying Earth game, but both of them have the distinction for me of my owning multiple books yet still not having run them. The latter definitely intimidates me; I fear I can't meet the level of wit it demands and would sorely like to try a game of it so I can get a better feel for it.. I had planned to run this Furnace, as I have in previous years, but found yet another reason to put it off. Both of the games are done really well but I've struggled to find the urge to play them.
21 August 2023
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