RPGs

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Types of RPGs
Fantasy
Science Fiction
CyberPunk

• Dungeons & Dragons
• Palladium
  
• Star Trek
  
• Star Wars
• World of Darkness

Defined
RPGs, also known as Role Playing Games, spans a wide variety of gaming systems. In some cases it can be difficult to determine if a particular game is really an RPG, or if it is a Wargame or a Board Game. The system here generally considers an RPG to be a system that primarily consists of Rule Books and Statistics on paper, with Miniatures being a secondary consideration, if desired. A Wargame, by the same token, will rely most heavily upon Miniatures, with the obligatory Rule Books and Statistics being focused mostly on group tactics and strategy as opposed to a single person, in RPGs.

Board Games may have elements of both, but generally the distinguishing factor of Board Games is that the game comes out of a box ready to play, without having to Generate any characters or units on paper to start play.

D&D Settings

Dungeons and Dragons, besides giving the world an RPG system that has seen numerous incarnations and 35 years of play, also gave us multiple game settings - that is, standalone worlds within the D&D system with unique lands, kingdoms and characters to explore. Some have been more popular than others, and some have spanned several versions of the game while others have fallen away.

Some are complete worlds, while some are really modular mini-realms or concepts that can be plugged into any world.

Settings
Al-Qadim
Birthright
Blackmoor
Council of Wyrms
Dark Sun
Dragonlance
Eberron
Forgotten Realms
Ghostwalk
Greyhawk
Jakandor
Kara-Tur
Kingdoms of Kalamar
Lankhmar
Maztica
Mystara
Pelinore
Planescape
Points of Light
Ravenloft
Rokugan
The Savage Coast
Spelljammer
Wilderlands of High Fantasy

Game System - Trinity

In 1997, White Wolf Game Studio attempted a new addition to their gaming catalog - a trilogy of RPGs using the same game system, and occuring at different points in the fictional universe's time line. Although the games were published in reverse order, with Trinity being the first actually published, the 3 games chronologically are Adventure!, Aberrant, and then Trinity.

Adventure!
Set in 1924, Adventure! is a pulp action setting, and the game book itself was published in sepia tones to evoke the mood of that time period. Daredevils, Mesmerists and Stalwarts explore and seek the cause of the release of Telluric energy. This is what causes the heroes to gain their powers, and sets the foundation for the next two games.

Aberrant
A super hero based game set in 2008, this is the second of the trilogy and deals with the near future, and the ways in which the Telluric energy has change society.

Trinity
Trinity is in the 22nd century, and deals with the aftermath of a great war that started in the Aberrant time era.

The three games were all originally published utilizing the Storyteller game system, and were later re-released under the d20 system.

D&D Module - B2 Keep on the Borderlands

RPGs> Fantasy> Dungeons and Dragons> D&D

Any old time D&D fan will know this module, as it was included in the D&D Box Set from 1979-1982 and was an introduction level module that would be the first adventure many newbies to the game would experience.

The basic plot is a typical dungeon crawl - go into the Caves of Chaos and kill all the bad guys. These included Kobolds, Orcs (two warring tribes!), Goblins, and a fearsome Minotaur among others. The module serves as kind of a "Who's who" of enemies from the basic D&D game, and most adventurers will encounter this stable over and over again throughout their adventuring careers.

B2 also spawned several sequels and re-dos, most notably Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, a 2nd Edition version set 20 years after the events of the original module. A pared down version also appears in the super module B1-9 In Search of Adventure. A novel, The Keep on the Borderlands, was published as a standalone novel with the tag of "Greyhawk". There has been some contention regarding the Return and the novel as the original Keep was added to the Mystara campaign setting, and crossed characters and gods could confuse the uninitiated.

Hackmaster also published a version of the adventure.


Resources
Keep on the Borderlands at Wikipedia
Keep on the Borderlands at RPGNet

Purchase the varying incarnations at Amazon:

D&D

 RPGs> Fantasy> Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons. The most venerable and prolific of fantasy RPGs, known by all gamers and even most non-gamers. Now in it's 4th edition, D&D has had a long and varied career with ups and downs, some great material (and some not so great), and a varying image in the public eye. Accused of corrupting youth, being an escape, being a psychological tool, and any number of other things. There are plenty of websites discussing D&D and detailing it, so here we will just touch on the basics, and provide a map through the different incarnations of this grandfather of games.

Current Edition
Dungeons and Dragons is currently in it's 4th Edition as numbered editions goes, but is in it's 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th incarnation (depending on the criteria). The current edition was released in June of 2008, and has been generally well received by the role playing community. The current release tends to favor action more akin to online MMORPGs than the previous editions, which is considered both a boon and an anchor, depending on which side of the fence is asked.

Release History

• Chainmail (Predecessor game)

• D&D (1974)
• D&D Basic Set (1977)
• AD&D (1977)
• D&D Basic Set 2nd Revision (1981)
• D&D Basic Set 3rd Revision (1983)
• AD&D 2nd Edition (1989)
• D&D Rules Cyclopedia (1991)
• D&D 3rd Edition (2000)
• D&D 3.5 (2003)
• D&D 4th Edition (2008)

All editions before 3rd Edition published by TSR, starting with 3rd Edition published by Wizards of the Coast.

D&D

Chainmail
The predecessor to D&D was a wargame for medieval type miniatures known as Chainmail. Written by Jeff Perren and Gary Gygax, the rulebook was published by Guidon in 1971 and contained a fantasy supplement that was the basis for the D&D game.

Resources
Chainmail game at Wikipedia
Chainmail at RPGNet

D&D "OD&D" (1974)
Published as a set in 1974, the original D&D game consisted of 3 booklets.

D&D - Mystara

Mystara grew out of the "Known World" generic campaign settings in early Dungeons and Dragons source material. It has it's origin in the module X1 - Isle of Dread, an Expert level adventure for basic Dungeons and Dragons.

D&D - Planescape

In 1994, TSR released a campaign setting called "Planescape", which was essentially an expansion of the "Manual of the Planes", re-worked and deepened to create a rich setting that spanned numerous planes of existence.

Overview
Sigil is the center of the planes, a city (the "City of Doors") that leads to anywhere a traveler might wish to go. Ruled by the Lady of Pain, Sigil is a waypoint for all manner of beings (except for deities, who have been banned from entering Sigil, by the Lady), and can be a rough place. Portal keys are needed to access the multitude of planes that Sigil touches, and so some may be stranded within or barred from entering, if the proper key is not held.

Many factions dwell in Sigil, from across the planes, and not all are peaceable with each other. Many conflicts flare up daily in Sigil, and while outright war does not happen (thanks in no small part to the Lady), violence is common enough to jade the inhabitants of the city that see it more often than they might care to.



Items
Boxed sets
* 2600 Planescape Campaign Setting
* 2603 Planes of Chaos
* 2607 Planes of Law
* 2610 A Player’s Primer to the Outlands
* 2615 Planes of Conflict
* 2621 Hellbound: The Blood War

Accessories
* 2602 Monstrous Compendium Appendix
* 2609 In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil
* 2611 The Factol’s Manifesto
* 2613 Monstrous Compendium Appendix II
* 2620 The Planeswalker’s Handbook
* 2623 On Hallowed Ground
* 2624 Uncaged: Faces of Sigil
* 2625 A Guide to the Astral Plane
* 2630 Faces of Evil: The Fiends
* 2633 A Guide to the Ethereal Plane
* 2634 The Inner Planes
* 2635 Monstrous Compendium Appendix III
* Planescape Conspectus
* The Planescape Sketchbook

Adventures
* 2601 The Eternal Boundary
* 2604 Well of Worlds
* 2605 In the Abyss
* 2606 The Deva Spark
* 2608 Fires of Dis
* 2614 Harbinger House
* 2619 Something Wild
* 2626 Doors to the Unknown
* 2628 The Great Modron March
* 2629 Faction War
* 2631 Dead Gods
* 2632 Tales From the Infinite Staircase

Ars Magica

Overview
A game set in Mythic Europe, "...where myth is real and where the superstitions of the common folk hold true." Ars Magica takes you into the middle ages of Europe, where you may play as wizards controlling the magic to dominate the destiny of all.

Mechanics

Gameplay

Links
Atlas Games: Ars Magica Homepage
Ars Magica at The Goblin Trove store

Glossary of RPG Terms

A
AD&D - Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

B

C
Character - A persona run within a game by a Player

D
D&D - Dungeons and Dragons

E

F

G
Game Master (GM) - The person who runs an adventure group. Also called Dungeon Master, Narrator, Role Master, and other terms. The ultimate arbiter of what happens in the course of a gaming session.

H
Hack n Slash - An adventure that consists of little more than hacking and slashing a series of monsters and opponents. Very little "Roleplaying" may be involved.

I

J

K

L

M
MMORPG - Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game

Module - A standalone, self contained adventure published for a particular game system

Monty Haul - Named after the TV Show moderator from Let's Make a Deal. A Monty Haul campaign is known for the excessive awarding of gold, money or items to a playing group.

MUD - Multi User Dungeon. The text predecessor to MMORPGs. Also MOO and MUSH.

N
NPC - Non Player Character. This is a character in a gaming session controlled by the Game Master or a Player. that the Players do not have ultimate control over

O

P
Player - A person who plays a game

Q

R
RPG - Role Playing Game

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Star Frontiers

Star Frontiers is a science fiction based RPG published by TSR in 1982.

Overview of Game

Character Creation

Players roll their characters up using a simple d100 for each of the main attributes: Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, Reaction Speed, Initiative, Intuition, Logic, Personality and Leadership. They had several races to choose from: Human, Dralasites,Vrusk, and Yazirians. This was from the basic rules, with the expanded rules adding Sathar as a possible race reserved mostly for NPCs.

Classes

There are no classes in Star Frontiers, but rather a simple skill system based on Military, Technology, and Biosocial skills. The closest to a "class" is the selection of a primary skill area from the three lists.


The Game System



Original Star Frontiers Alp

The original box set came with everything needed to start your characters and have a starting adventure. It came in a blue box with sci-fi figures (2 humans and a Yazarian) in front of a crashed spaceship. The box included the basic rulebook, expanded rulebook, first module (SF-0, Crash on Volturnus), 2 maps (Spaceship detail/Volturnus and a generic spaceport), counters and 2 dice (d10).

Star Frontiers (Alpha Dawn) [BOX SET]

After the success of the original game, expansions started being released, and the original boxed set was renamed Alpha Dawn. While the box set contained rules for character based play, there were no detailed rules for spaceships.

Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks (Boxed Set)

Knight Hawks remedied the lack of rules for starships, and contained a similar set of items as the Alpha Dawn box set: Rulebook, Adventure (SFKH-0: Warriors of White Light), map, counters and dice.