Category Roleplaying Game

On the heels of the cinematic masterpiece that is the first volume of Dune from Warner Brothers, Modiphius has released a new Roleplaying Game within that world.

Modiphius Entertainment are most known for their creation and mastery of the 2D20 system where EVERY action requires rolling two twenty side die. They have taken that system and applied it to the world of Dune and Arrakis. Do you ride the sandworm? Roll 2D20. Are you wearing your moisture suit properly? Roll another 2D20. The system makes for a more cost effective experience while simple mechanics make it easier to learn. My favorite aspect of the 2D20 system is that it makes the focus more the story you are telling together instead of how you complete a task.

The world of Dune is one created with so much depth that jumping into it can be overwhelming. The roleplaying game is just as rich, pulling from all of the books to develop the world. The sheer amount of information contained within the core rulebook was enough for even me to look at it and say, “whoa, that’s a lot to read”. Seriously, I said that.

The thickness of the tome isn’t daunting, not like a Game of Thrones novel would be. The words aren’t even tiny themselves, there’s just a lot per page. That being said though, there needs to be metric ton of information contained to build the world right. It’s unreasonable to expect every player to have read every book in the franchise like I have. This is how you convey what’s important without forcing players to read more than a dozen novels. Add all of the sourcebooks and campaign books and at a glance it’s a bit much.

In Summary-

The mountain of information simply makes sense when you take a simple rules set and combine it the vast lore of Frank Herbert’s most famous world. The production quality is some of the best I’ve seen from a roleplaying game. Between hand drawn/painted images, highly detailed maps and a plethora of lore there is enough here to make a diehard fan of the franchise excited, even if they don’t play it. The game system is designed for easier play which in turn makes for a more cinematic experience. Add to that the fact that you can play this game using any point in the timeline, you have a game that is a must for replaying and Dune fans alike!

I can’t wait to see what other sourcebooks get released. Specifically I hope we see some centered around individual great houses so that we can have more dedicated details for some of them. The top houses and groups I’d like to see more from would be IX, Atreides and Harkonnen of course, but also the Tleilaxu. However the sourcebook I want to see the most would be centered around the Jihad era. I want to specifically engage with or play as the Cymek. I’d even kill for an army based tabletop game like A Song of Ice and Fire or The Lord of the Rings that puts the Cymek against the Butlerian Jihad. Please make this happen Modiphius. The time is right for this to finally work too! What forces would you like to play?

Who has family members that downright suck? Sloth King Games give you the chance to play one of them with My Shitty Family!

Most social deduction games have players trying to identify who did the nefarious act but in My Shitty Family everyone is doing something that is (at the very least) not good. Gameplay is equal parts discussion and acting. You take one the role of a family member and draw a hidden trait card. This card can be something annoying or even downright offensive. These can be political affiliation, sexual orientation or just a shitty behavior like racist. After this is decided you get some Shitty Habits to also display during the game and then Shitty Topics are drawn one at a time. Each topic is discussed in a round where you are trying to display your Hidden Trait and Shitty Traits. Your goal is to keep your Hidden Trait secret while still behaving that way.

To get the most out of this game you will need to have some acting skills. In order to really succeed at this game you need to sell everyone on the trait without being obvious about it. Some of these can get offensive. Sloth King Games reminds players in the rulebook to remember this is a game and is meant to be fun. There are two issues I see with the game. The first being that many people are unable to separate themselves from reality and the traits and topics can upset them. The second is that some player have these shitty habits already and will have trouble not showing them during the discussions when they don’t have the related card. To add to the mayhem are Family Challenge cards. These are challenges that are both hilarious and teach the players more about the characters themselves.

The art for each character is both highly detailed and really emphasize some of their traits at a glance. It reminded me of Martin Morazzo‘s work on the Ice Cream Man comics from Image Comics. The mechanics of the game are really quite simple and leave most of the complexity to the players.

Overall I found the game to be something truly unique. The design was both thought out and showcased the creativity of the designers. As I mentioned before, many of our players had trouble removing themselves from their characters and let them influence how they played more and others were too easily offended. The game has potential to be a lot of fun but with these dynamics it was a bit more difficult for our group. A way we found to make it better with our group was to have us review the possible cards ahead of time and remove the ones that were triggers for our players. For example one player is a member of the LGBTQ+ and is easily triggered by homophobes so the homophobe card was removed for their playthrough. Doing this we found the game to be much more fun.

Operation Cold Iron is the first expansion for the GI Joe roleplaying game from Renegade Game Studios but does it hold it’s own?

Renegade Game Studios had sent us a copy of the first expansion for the GI Joe Roleplaying Game– Operation Cold Iron. This is essentially a mission pack that adds four mission chapters for the overall Operation. Additionally it also brings stats for new vehicles and foes like Destro and the Snow Vipers. A mistake many game publishers make (at least in my opinion) is that they keep updating rules for the same characters or monsters/enemies. Prior to opening this book I expected RGS to have made this mistake and include a new version of Cobra Commander. I was pleased to see they did not. In fact there was almost nothing that could be considered a duplication in any way.

The campaign spans from Ethiopia to Siberia and is aimed at players leveled between 2 and 6. It follows directly after the Emerald Oubliette (a short mission that is included with the DM screen purchase) but does not require the mission to be played. The only requirement leading into this book is to have played the introductory mission from the core book.

Overall mechanics are the same between the games. They actually are the same across each of the properties, using the same core mechanics but different specific stats and details for each character. That includes Transformers, Power Rangers and My Little Pony! What makes it even better is that Transformers already have a history of crossing over with GI Joe in the comics so it wouldn’t be too far fetched bringing them into a game session if you have both books. Tying in MLP could be a fun way of making a game that all the kids can play with you.

Considering the expansion is completely full of content I feel the $45 price tag is quite reasonable, especially considering you are getting about as much content as you have in the core rulebook. The core book is $55. The only complaints I have about the game are that I need more friends interested in playing the game and that I want to see more miniatures released. The former they can’t help me with but the latter perhaps they will. There is already a single miniature pack that comes with most of the core Joes. Maybe they will even make my dream of a GI Joe full scale war game on the tabletop a reality one day. For now, I will continue dreaming and feel the need as much as possible playing the RPG while I wait.

Renegade Games brings the ultimate roleplaying game for 80s fanboys- GI Joe the Roleplaying Game!

Over the years GI Joe has had many iterations to the comics and cartoons. The Joes originated in comic and animation starting with Marvel Comics. They were later replaced by Devils Due and then at their current home at IDW Comics. Devils Due continued the story where Marvel left off but IDW rebooted it to take the story with the original write where it was left off at Marvel. I have always wanted to play in this world and now Renegade Games has given us the chance to do just that.

The quality of this book though is what really makes it stand out. The images and attention to detail are superb. Even better is that, with such a rich history of comics and cartoons, you are able to play any source material you want. That’s right! If you prefer the Devils Due run then you can play it. If you prefer the IDW reboot run then you can play that! You can literally play any source you want, as long as the GM/DM and players all agree.

Right off the bat (pun intended) I have a big complaint about this game- you can only play as a member of the Joes team. Other than Snake Eyes, Scarlet and Jinx, I am a fan of Cobra. I want a Cobra Roleplaying Game next or at least a supplement that does the same thing. Their D20 system is really easy to pick up and play without much experience with other roleplaying games.