Recent RPG good buys (April-May)

[Praetorian]

In an effort to keep traffic up- here is a list of rpgs I have bouth in the last month that I think are worth investing in (I hope to make this a regular post, where I laud the good rpgs I have purchased over the past few months)...

1) Relics and Rituals: Excalibur. From Sword and Sorcery Studios

I dig the Aurthurian setting in general, and what this book does is take that setting, and turn it into a toybox of great D20 material. Good artwork throughout, and some nice PrCs with accompanying Ron Spencer art is certainly a plus. This book does not have stats for the round table knights- it is not that type of book. What it does so is take standard D&D 3.5 and add some Arhturian flavor to plop in an existing world or build a new campaign around.

2) Wyrd is Bond. From Key 20 Publsihing.

I really love this little rpg. Basically, it is about gang-land magic users. In all honesty, considering the setting and background material, this could be a very stupid and trite game. However, it is surprisngly good. Wyrd does not take itself too seriously and uses a lot of the pop culture icons of the rap music industry as points of refernce to make the subject material approachable by the most green suburbanite (those of you who know me- know just how green I am). Nice streamlined mechanics and a nifty setting where magic is the tool of the downtrodden and underclass make this one of the best semi-idie rpgs to come out in some while.

3) A/State. From Contested Ground Studios.

Made by our Scottich friends- this is a great looking and very striking on rpg. heavy use of well done computer graphics to render the huan form and a very intriguing setting, make this an expensive, but worthwhile purchase. It is a mix of dystopian and X-punk themes. Its hard to explain, its a bit like Blade Runner meets Perdido Street Station... but I do encourage everyone to google for the Contested ground site and check over their stuff. I have always been a fan of rpgs that consiously mix their art with the writing, and A/State is the most recent good example.

There, three rpgs to check out in the coming months. Really good buys and worth investing in if you are a collector like me.

[Juicetyger]

Good idea! Where do you find this stuff?

[Jeph]

I got to take a look at Wyrd is Bond two weeks back at an ENWorld gathering here in NC. I haven't ordered it yet, but I definitely will--the concept is cool, what I saw of the mechanics were well executed, the art is okay to good and the layout is excellent. And it has semi-gloss pages!

Gotta love semi-gloss pages.
--Jeff

[Praetorian]

[General Lee]

[Praetorian]