I didn’t ask for much for Christmas this year. Mostly simple stuff — socks, a book or two, maybe a new hat. While I did have a handful of TTRPG books on my wishlist, my wife and family surprised me with 3 new games! I already knew that I would write up a Side Quest or two for any games I received, but I didn’t realize I would have so many to choose from. Now I get to add three amazing titles to that list! (Game diversity, huzzah!) Let’s take a look at what you can expect to see content for this year.
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New hat! #critter
The Witcher RPG
From R. Talsorian Games — “The Witcher Role-Playing Game will allow tabletop RPG fans to re-create an array of characters known from the Witcher universe and live out entirely new adventures set within the world of Geralt of Rivia. Powered by Fuzion, the same ruleset that made Cyberpunk 2020 gain worldwide player acclaim, The Witcher Role-Playing Game will feature a myriad of spells, rituals, and curses; favorite gear and items from the entire Witcher series including a bestiary of devilish monsters players can face during their adventures. The system will provide all the necessary tools to create and play out your own adventures and become everything from a battle-hardened monster slayer to a merchant kingpin controlling a vast network of contacts.“
My familiarity with the Witcher series started with Witcher 2 on PC, which then turned into playing Witcher 3, reading the first few novels, and watching the Netflix show in its entirety, multiple times. Courtney is also a fan of the Witcher series and has read further into the books than I have, so she’s already claimed the GM spot for our first campaign.
I anticipate making a few monster den maps and other dark places for creatures to hide, plus some locations based around social encounters with villages or mages. Who knows, I might even try to homebrew my own witcher school…
Grab a copy of The Witcher Role-Playing Game
Star Wars RPG -- Age of Rebellion
From Fantasy Flight Games — “Fight against the sinister Galactic Empire as a member of the Rebel Alliance. Engage in guerrilla warfare across the Star Wars galaxy as a soldier, or gather critical intelligence as a cunning Rebel spy. Battle legions of stormtroopers, win new planets and their citizens to your cause, and stay on target in the fight against the ultimate power in the universe. No matter what role in the Rebellion you take, the fate of the galaxy rests in your hands.
Age of Rebellion thrusts you directly into the ongoing Galactic Civil War between the evil Empire and the rag-tag Rebel Alliance. Woefully outnumbered and outgunned by the Empire’s vast military, you and your friends may undertake any of a wide variety of missions. No matter your duty, no matter your motivation, this is your chance to play your part in the cause for galactic freedom. Be a hero. Join the Rebellion!”
Like many others who are homebound this year, we watched a lot of shows on streaming services. One of those shows happened to be the Mandalorian. There were a few times during action sequences I’d say to myself “I’d love to write up campaigns like this”. Sure enough, Courtney was listening and I found Star Wars: Age of Rebellion under our tree. Of the three games I received this one has been around the longest — releasing originally in 2013. I was aware of its existence but hadn’t felt the urge to explore it until recently.
Plus, it gave me an excuse to buy more dice.
From my understanding of the rules so far, battle maps aren’t a big factor in gameplay. However, that won’t stop me from trying my hand at sci-fi environments and spaceships in the near future. Writing Side Quests and drawing maps for Star Wars will be quite the change of pace for my typical fantasy-focused content!
Grab a copy of Star Wars RPG – The Age of Rebellion
Zweihander
From Andrews McMeel Publishing —
“ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG is a game where your characters will:
- Live in a gritty, “realistic” fantasy world
- Make morally grey decisions & enact vicious reprisals
- Uncover insidious plots & political intrigue
- Take part in heart-pumping chase scenes
- Venture into the wilderness & survive its perils
- Desperately fight in clandestine & open field combat
- Defend themselves from injuries, madness, & mutations
- Encounter sanity-blasting creatures & their minions
Using the Powered By ZWEIHÄNDER d100 game engine, you will create grim characters, write perilous adventures, and build your own low fantasy & dark fantasy campaigns.”
This was another TTRPG I had heard of, with friends expressing their fondness for the setting and system. I experimented with a homebrew D&D hard mode a little while ago, but I’m ready to go full hardcore into this “grim and perilous” world. I’m currently reading Zweihander, and it even suggests that battles are hard-won affairs, and “dungeon-crawling” isn’t conducive to character survival. I get the feeling dungeon maps will be on the small side, but no less dangerous. I’ll likely focus on larger scale settings, like villages and hamlets, with the occasional dark shrine to forgotten gods added in for flavor. I can’t wait to get started on these ones!
One last thing — this book is HUGE! It’s almost 700 pages long and could seriously do some damage if it fell into the wrong hands.
Grab a copy of Zweihander.
Wrap up
There’s a lot to look forward to in 2021, and a lot of TTRPG rules to commit to memory! It might be awhile before I get to publish anything related to these games, though I am eager to start. Keep your eyes peeled on our Side Quest page for content featuring these and many more games this year!
Thanks for dropping by! We would love to hear your thoughts on these titles, so please drop a comment here on the blog, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Discord! If you’d like access to more maps and content, including downloadable PDFs of our adventures, check out our Patreon. We’re able to do what we do because of all our amazing Patrons!
