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DriveThruRPG
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You Better Watch Out! You Better Not Cry!
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And you'll be crying if you miss out on all the incredible sales!   
The 2009 Holiday Sales Guide, your source for all great deals!
Be sure to check back frequently throughout the holiday season to discover all the amazing celebratory deals our publishers are bringing to you!
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The Game Geeks Review: FANTASYCRAFT
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The Game Geeks, the premiere RPG Review program on YouTube, reaching thousands of viewers every month, have just posted their latest review - Crafty Games' FantasyCraft!
Kurt has some great things to say about this game. Even better, you can get a coupon code by watching the show that will net you special discount for purchasing the PDF!
And don't miss the latest FantasyCraft releases -
 
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Warhammer 40K Rocks Your RPG World At Last!
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Now Available, EXCLUSIVELY on DRIVETHRURPG!You are an Acolyte in the service of the Emperor's Inquisition. You stand in the front line of a great and secret war where your duty is to hunt out the foul stench of heresy, the vile alien, and the twisted influence of Chaos. You will tread where others fear, venturing to distant planets, ancient space hulks and the unsavoury depths of the under-hive.
You will never know fame nor reward, yet if you stand resolute your deeds will be whispered to the God-Emperor of Mankind and your name will be revered for millennia.
One of the most anticipated and well-received RPG releases this millennium, Dark Heresy is at long last available as a PDF download. |
EXCLUSIVE SPOTLIGHT - MONGOOSE PUBLISHING! |
 So Many Worlds Under One Roof!
Mongoose Entertainment has grown over the years from "just another upstart" to one of the premiere game publishing studios in the world. Based in England, their reach covers the globe, and the sheer number of amazing worlds and games they have - Conan, Paranoia, Judge Dredd, Runequest, and of course, the world-famous Traveller - is enough to leave any RPG fan's jaw hitting the floor.
They bring exceptional quality to their work, combining fabulous art and excellent design and editing. This approach made them one of the top developers of OGL content in the world.
With re-launches of both Judge Dredd and Paranoia, now is a fantastic time to discover all the magic that has the Mongoose brand logo on it.
  
DRIVETHRURPG is the exclusive digital home of MONGOOSE PUBLISHING! |
More Pathfinder Awesomeness from OtherWorld!
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 This release introduces the Shadow Assassin, a new core class designed for use with the PFRPG. It is a stealth-oriented class, with an emphasis on fighting effectively with light or exotic weapons, powers designed to strike down a single foe, and mystic control of shadows that greatly increases the character's power in dim lighting and total darkness.
You know you want it, so click and get it for the low, low price of $1.99!
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Also of Note...
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It's a Karmic Christmas - Between now and December 31, when you purchase select Karma Roleplaying system products through DRIVETHRURPG, you can send a free digital copy of your purchase to a friend! They'll send your friend a special link to download the product for free, with a note letting them know that it is a gift from you!
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Just like Constantinople, Reality Deviant has gone and had a major name change - now they're called Gun Metal Games! And they're celebrating both the name change and the holidays with a 25% off sale all the way to Christmas Day!
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Take another look - One of the quirkiest games that's ever been out there is QAGS: the Quick A** Game System. The folks at Hex Games have been doing really entertaining stuff with this game for years, including some rather incredibly well-attended events at GenCon. You owe it to yourself to find out what the fun and excitement is all about!
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Newest Free Products
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 West Gate 30mm Papercraft Model
by Dave Graffam Models
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68938&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $4.95
WEST GATE This is 30mm-scale terrain for wargaming, roleplaying games, miniature dioramas, skirmish games, model railroads, class projects or just for fun. Assembly is quick and easy, requiring 7 sheets of cardstock, a sharp hobby knife and glue. The W...
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 Race Cookbook/Ironborn of Questhaven (PFRPG) [BUNDLE]
by Rite Publishing
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68936&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $13.74 $9.50
THIS IS A BUNDLE PRODUCT. WHEN BUYING THIS ITEM YOU WILL RECEIVE SEPARATE DOWNLOAD LINKS FOR EACH PRODUCT LISTED BELOW... Ironborn of Questhaven (PFRPG)MSRP: {display_products_non_sale_price(68775)}BUNDLE PRICE: {display_price(3.0000)}Ironborn, ...
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 Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes
by Issaries
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68924&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $60.00 $30.00
Sartar - HeroQuest in the Kingdom of Heroes... The year is 1618 S.T. The Flame of Sartar has been extinguished. For generations, our wise kings and powerful magicians fought against the armies and demons of the Lunar Empire and kept us fre...
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 Sartar Campaign Pack
by Issaries
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68926&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $15.00 $7.50
The Sartar Campaign Pack contains all of the maps, character sheets, and clan sheets found in the Sartar Kingdom of Heroes book. These are full page high resolution PDFs that allow for higher quality printing as well as ease of use for the Game Master.
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 FSpace Roleplaying FED GDD Original articles
by FSpace Publications
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68935&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $0.50
FED RPG is the first incarnation of the roleplaying rules that developed into FSpaceRPG. During it's first year a number of articles appeared in the local New Zealand gaming magazine, Generals, Dragons and Dice. Those articles in their original layouts ...
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Newest Staff Reviews
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 Ironborn of Questhaven (PFRPG)
by Rite Publishing
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68775&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $3.75
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (from Sean Holland)
Review
Ironborn of Questhaven is a 21-page PDF (16 pages if you remove the covers, OGL page and ads) for the Pathfinder RPG written by Steven D. Russell and published by Rite Publishing. This is part of Rite Publishing’s Questhaven line.
The layout is a standard double column design, clear and easy enough to read with a nice set of bookmarks to aid in easy navigation. The art is all black and white pieces and spare but conveys a solid view of the Ironborn.
The Ironborn are a created race, and each made for a specific purpose by powerful arcane magic. The Ironborn are amazingly flexible in design, ranging in size from small to large, with stat bonuses chosen by the creator and then further customized by selecting one of twenty-two ability packages which express exactly what the Ironborn was created to do ranging from acrobat to woodwalker, diabolic design to spellmaster. From a purely mechanical standpoint, this gives an almost unprecedented ability to build exactly the racial power set to optimize a character to be what you wish them to be. Now, Ironborn do have some limitations, they are vulnerable to magical rusting, and suffer penalties to most social skills. Additionally, as all Ironborn were built with a purpose, they are driven to perform that purpose on a daily basis or they slowly start to become unbalanced.
A selection of feats related to Ironborn are provided, ten in all including the Create Ironborn item creation feat, most of which involve modification to the physical structure of the Ironborn. A sorcerous bloodline specific to the Ironborn -constructed- is included along with a clockwork familiar template.
While I find the idea of the Ironborn very intriguing, their ability to be extremely focused and efficient at what they are designed to do risks over shadowing ‘normal’ races in those roles. However, an all Ironborn campaign could be a fun experiment and Ironborn as antagonists should be an interesting challenge. If you are interested in such races, you should give the Ironborn of Questhaven a look.
Disclosure: As a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DriveThroughRPG, I received my copy of this product for free from the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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 Exodus Post Apocalyptic RPG: Wasteland Adventure #17
by Glutton Creeper Games
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68820&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $3.00
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars (from Andrew Lindley)
Review
Exodus Post Apocalyptic RPG: Wasteland Adventure #17 is a post-holocaust d20 Post Apocalypse OGL scenario that requires the Exodus Survivor's Guide, Exodus Southwest Guide and Exodus OPS Campaign Manual to play. It also has an alternate title of "The Glow of Death" on the cover. OPS, in case you're wondering, stands for "Organized Playable Scenarios" and as far as that goes this 22 page PDF does what is says on the tin. The Glow of Death is designed for 4 to 6 characters of 4th to 6th level.
Unusually for the normally dark and grim post-holocaust milieu The Glow of Death takes a light tone, playing up to martial arts movie tropes. This is apparent even in the plot which is a basic "find the parts of the broken up McGuffin." A bit of flavor is added by the loss of one piece as the result of the death a martial arts master in the first scene. His student, now out to recover the artifact and avenge his master's death is the party's "new best friend NPC." You could argue that the McGuffin trope has been mined so many times it has descended to the level of a cliche. However, there are many such as Hollywood, computer games designers and even such RPG luminaries as ChattyDM who would disagree with you. Further in a scenario that can only be taken as humorous using well trodden tropes can not only be forgiven but is arguably necessary to prevent plot details from distracting the players as they hamm up the jokes. Given this the default player entry hook, a nice familiar "you interrupt an apparent mugging" is pleasing in that it telegraphs to the players the presence of a big sign saying "This Way to the Dungeon."
Whilst humor and trope mining does allow the designer to introduce the PCs to a set of mysteriously familiarly named NPCs with obvious powers as opposition, it does not excuse the almost entirely linear encounter structure. Having said that the writer has documented, where needed, multiple paths between each encounter in the line. So the GM is less likely to find herself extemporizing plot links or being accused of railroading the players.
As to the "can be converted to any post-holocaust game" tag, this scenario has, perhaps, a too lighter touch for many post-holocaust campaigns. But if you do wish to convert, maybe for a one off interlude, then the included Martial Arts Technique descriptions and a familiarity with d20 should be all you need.
Apart from the logo on the front the only art in this PDF is the collection of maps at the back. These are straight forward and basic affairs but should, when enlarged, be suitable for use instead of dungeon tiles.
There are demerits. The text contains a number of grammar and spelling errors though it does remain understandable. All the named NPCs are male and the campaign background contains gratuitous mentions of a pastime which is counted as animal cruelty by many.
All in all the scenario is competent and meets, but does not exceed, the quality expectations set by its 3.00 USD price tag.
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 Dungeon of Terror: Virtual Boxed Set©
by 0one Games
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65688&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $19.99
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (from Joe Kushner)
Review
The Dungeon of Terror Virtual Boxed Set is a product consisting of several products, the various Dungeon of Terror Line by 0one Games. The maps are provided in black and white, fully bookmarked and with extra utility. Each section is its own zipped file for ease of use. The Dungeon of Terror does contain a quick back ground write up as well as details as to how large the dungeon actually is. "DUNGEON OF TERROR contains 164 rooms, 8 different
zones (each one featured in a single product) and it’s broken in 225
customizable tiles.
You can play DUNGEON OF TERROR as a whole dungeon
or extract your favorite sub-dungeon (or even a single room or
encounter area) to suit your campaign. If you’re bold, you can lay
down a massive 120x150 inches dungeon to play the most extended
miniature-scaled dungeon crawl of the history!"
The virtual boxed set has the advantage that you can see how massive the whole thing really is. This allows you to decided ahead of time if you want to go through the effort of making it a true mega dungeon or of chopping it up into something else. There is plenty of room so the options are wide and far reaching. At $19.99, the price is also fair.
Each section has an overview of the dungeon. The section of the dungeon that is in that file, is highlighted. Art is relatively simple, clean, black and white. For best results, use a laser printer or take it to a professional shop. There is a lot of black on the default level. Notice I said default level though. You can change certain elements of the PDF by clicking on the level option. This includes changing the black background to a gray background. Visually, they both have appeal but either way the ink consumption on a standard inkjet would be tremendous. Other options include removing text, say if you want to print out material for the players and don't want them to know what room their currently in, to changing the standard square map to a hex map. This allows the game to be used in settings where the default isn't the dreaded square.
By providing these options, the makers have allowed the Game Master opportunities to get various uses out of the material. For example, he can use the legend map and print it out with no details, giving the players some idea of the structure of the dungoen, but no actual details of what's in the dungeon.
In addition to the maps themselves, there are extra files like the tables. This is an eight page file that has a listing of random encounters. Each page is for one of the various dungeon levels. For example, in the orc's nest, the very first product, encounters range from standard orcs to king's guards to named individuals.
The other file is templates. This is a small print of the room with linned space for you to put down your own notes. By doing this, it allows you to highly cutomize the material. If you're using an 'old school' game with very small monster blocks, you could probably write down all of the monster information right on the page. There are pages for each room in the virtual boxed set.
The Dungeon of Terror is a great product for those fans of the old school maps who have numerous ideas that they'd like to implement, but have no mapping skills to do so. There's places for orcs, undead, and assassins, as well as numerous others here so grab a pen and get started on the customization.
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 Suzerain Scrying 6, Silk And Steel
by Talisman Studios
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=58788&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $1.95
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (from Megan Robertson)
Review
Are you scared of spiders? For if not, you probably will be after visiting this little gem in the Suzerain Scrying series of resources.
Adventurers are faced with a narrow passage, a lot of webs around... place virtually undisturbed save the recently-deceased corpse of an earlier (and unluckier?) adventurer lying in the far corner. The good news is that the spiders visible are regular-sized, not the giant man-eating sort all too often found down a dungeon. Going in?
As well as an atmospheric description, replete with details just waiting for the observant to notice, there is a beautifully-clear explanation of how the webs actually work, how they are used by the resident spiders to their advantage.
The accompanying rules section gives all the details you need, and even if you don't happen to be using the Suzerain ruleset there is enough information that should you like the idea of this dungeon room, it will translate readily to the game mechanics of your choice. There are a few goodies to be found on the corpse by characters who survive long enough to take a look - an interesting mix with plenty of potential for further exploits.
Another of these neat little snippets, which pack a tremendous amount into a few pages, not just stuff you can use straight off but also inspiration for further use and development.
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 Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2
by Spectrum Games
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=58818&it=1&SRC=newsletter
Price: $16.00 $8.00
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (from Megan Robertson)
Review
Who watched cartoons when they were growing up? Or still watches them, perhaps covertly, today? (You don't need to answer that!) In the Foreword the point is made that not only are cartoons very entertaining for youngsters, they also provided a fertile inspiration for games on the playground... so why not for role-playing as well?
Channel 1: Introduction (to promote the TV show feeling, 'chapters' are called 'channels'!) begins by attempting to define what sort of cartoons this game is intended to emulate - the 1980s action-adventure ones, which have been grouped together as 'retro-toons.' Now I'm a bit old to have been entranced by them (I graduated in 1980!), but certainly caught the odd episode and can see the appeal. Typified by boundless enthusiasm, violence that was brief and never seemed to draw blood (although robots came apart a lot) and no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between the Good Guys and the Bad 'Uns, the sheer innocence and capacity for boundless fun is at the centre of their appeal. Next comes the usual 'this is what role-playing is' piece, with one of the best explanations of the role of the rules in an RPG I've heard in a long time, and an example of play. Then there's an overview of the rules and the concepts behind them. It's pretty simple. Using a D12, you add any appropriate Traits you have and attempt to beat a Difficulty Number determined by the GM to succeed at what you are trying to do. If you're in combat, you and your opponent roll and whoever gets the higher result is victorious. Finally, a run-down of some of the seminal cartoons upon which this game draws, along with the author's personal reflections. The only one of them that I recall is He-Man, but I can think of plenty other similar cartoons that fit the bill - reflection, perhaps, that I watch British TV rather than American!
Channel 2: The Series is aimed mainly at the GM and looks at how to decide on the underlying concepts for your game. After all, unlike many games, there are so many different things that you could do under the broad setting of a 'retro-cartoon' that players are not going to be able to start thinking about suitable characters until you tell them what your particular cartoon series is about! (If you are bereft of ideas, the Appendix has some to start you off; or of course you can choose to base your game on a cartoon you've watched.) To facilitate this, you create a Series Guide (for which a form is provided in another Appendix) and circulate it to prospective players. It has four sections in which you set out what you intend - series information, PC creation quirks, rules information and cast information. And, of course, you'll want to start with a catchy name for your show. A tagline and a few paragraphs to cover the premise round out your series information. Think about the sort of introduction the show might have (maybe a voice-over to the opening sequence), or what would appear in the TV guide. Things like who the heroes and their main opponents will be, and the main setting(s) in which the action will take place belong here. Then you also need to decide on how many points have to build characters and any particular requirements that you have - a game set in the upper layers of a massive jungle will need characters who can fly or climb, for example. This process outlined, the discussion moves on to look at common themes which you can draw upon. Plenty to get you thinking, but it's clear that a fair bit of work will be needed before you start playing.
Next, Channel 3 looks at Character Creation, running through an overview of the process by means of an annotated version of the character sheet. One neat idea is to envision your character as an action figure toy, as many of the 1980s cartoons had associated toy lines. Another is to try describing the character in phrases or 'Factoids' rather than a full-blown background essay. Rather than the conventional attributes and skills used in many RPGs, characters in this game use Traits - which are one-word or a phrase descriptor of either something the character can do or something that he possesses. While you have a free rein in choosing Traits, try to be fairly specific... and plenty of ideas are provided to get you going. It's a point-buy system, the cost of each Trait depends on what it is and how good you are at it, and will need to be negotiated with the GM. Characters who transform or shape-shift need to work out Traits for all forms they can adopt, and a similar system is used for Companions and for vehicles.
Characters designed, Channel 4: Rules of Play discusses how game action is resolved. The key concept is that it's a game of telling stories, and any rules are subordinate to that intention, and only need be used when the GM feels it is appropriate to add an element of chance to an outcome of a task and similar occasions. The mechanical use of Traits to resolve tasks is discussed at length, with plenty of examples in case you find the very clear explanation hard to follow. More complex rules such as those for chases and combat (which is turn-based) are also covered. The interesting thing about combat is that as there are no 'combat' Traits per se, it is up to each participant in a fight to decide which Traits to use to attack others or defend themselves. Moreover, characters accumulate Setbacks rather than being injured, and when they have four Setbacks they are defeated and the victor gets to describe what happens. It's quite abstract, but once you get the hang of it swift and often hilarious brawls ensue.
The Rules chapter also covers character advancement and a section on how to play according to the spirit, the concept, of this particular game. This leads naturally on to Channel 5: Game Mastering. This covers further rules more appropriate to GM use, material on NPCs... and even rules for simulating commercial breaks! (Perhaps that's taking the TV cartoon metaphor a bit far...) More conventional rules for things like fires and falling - always mportant in cartoons! - also feature. There's plenty about building a 'supporting cast' of allies and bystanders as well as villains and their crew, with suggestions on how to bring them into the story to good effect. Actual writing and running of scenarios is given plenty of attention too: not just good advice about structure but showing how it fits into the cartoon mode. The chapter rounds off with general Game Mastering advice, mostly concerned with actually running the game. All sound stuff, and again, neatly woven into the cartoon nature of this game rather than general points (although they are worth remembering whatever you are running.) The bit on 'cartoon logic' is particularly illuminating about what makes this genre so different from any other games you might play.
Now on to the promised Appendices. Appendix 1: Featured Series provides a wealth of ideas for the GM scratching his head over ideas for their cartoon show. Three ideas are presented, complete enough that you can use them without much need for further work. There are even ideas for individual adventures within each overarching concept, although those are going to need further development before they are ready for play; and for those in a rush, some pre-generated characters suitable for the particular concept and some ready-made villains for them to defeat. They are all good fun, and depending on your own and your players' tastes, all three have the potential to make an entertaining game. Although the three shows are given a backstory not just for the cartoon itself but about how it came to be in the 'real world' these are just marvellous invention, real as they sound they are not genuine 1980s TV cartoons!
Appendix 2: Miscellaneous Stuff includes conversion notes if you want to draw on the first edition of Cartoon Action Hour, a character sheets and the Designer's Notes. Fascinating reading if you like to know what's behind a game, as well as all about that game.
This is a beautifully put together game, really capturing the spirit of 1980s cartoons in both flavour and actual game mechanics, working together in a harmonious whole to empower the playing of an exciting game in this genre. All you need to do is ask yourself if you want to play 1980s TV cartoons... if you do, here is all you need!
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