RPG: We’re Off To Gen Con–Here’s What We’re Looking Forward To
Gen Con 2018 kicks off today! There are some amazing RPGs coming out this year–whether you like your RPGs grim, perilous, dark, gritty, or flowing like ink from a brush onto the pages of history, there’s something for everyone to be excited about.
This year’s Gen Con is gearing up to be pretty fantastic, whatever you play on your tabletop. There are some amazing board games making their debut, and if you’re into minis, well GW is coming out with some titanic new releases. But for my money, these RPGs are where it’s at.
Wrath and Glory
Okay let’s start with the obvious one. Wrath and Glory is here, and we’re very excited about it. We had a chance to play this game back in May, and it was a blast. It’s got a unique system for bringing characters together and encouraging/rewarding roleplay, and is one of the best ways to play the ‘mixed 40K party’ that Rogue Trader dreamed of all those years ago.
Case in point, in the game we played, we had a Guardsperson, Commisar, and Space Marine, and it all felt like they could hang together. The full game will also have rules for playing as Aeldari and Orks–I’m looking forward to getting to play a Boy and his Squig. There’s quite a pedigree associated with this game, dating back to Rogue Trader, which in turn took a cue from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay…speaking of which:
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Cubicle 7’s Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is a return to the World-That-Was (hi Marco), letting you set foot once more in old familiar territory. The cities of the Old World are calling, while Chaos gathers at the gates, ready to once more go to war in a Grim and Perilous world.
This one hearkens back to the glory days of 1st and 2nd Edition WHFRP. There’s a lot of old school charm on display in this game–it wears its origins on its sleeve while still working with modern game design, so you get a lot of crunchiness to the system, but it’s still playable accessible to people who don’t spend their days playing WHFRP and NOTHING ELSE. Plus this game lets you play a Tax Collector.
Pathfinder Second Edition (Playtest)
So this one is maybe cheating, because it’s not the actual final version of the game–but the playtest for Pathfinder’s Second Edition will be coming out this Gen Con. This marks the first time in a decade that Pathfinder has updated its rules. So far we’re excited about what we’ve seen.
The game promises the same depth of customization that Pathfinder is known for, but now with some streamlined rules that make for faster gameplay, cutting down on some of the idiosyncrasies that Pathfinder inherited with its 3.x Engine.
Legend of the Five Rings
I had a chance to play the Beta version of this game. Legend of the Five Rings is a beautiful system. We’ve already been stepping back into Rokugan with the L5R LCG that Fantasy Flight Games released last year–but this takes that to a whole new level. It’s got an elegant system that allows players and their GM to carve out a story of honor and steel in the Emerald Empire.
One of the best things about the RPG is its system, which differs from FFG’s Star Wars/Genesys system, grounding itself firmly in the world of Rokugan.
The Witcher
Finally we have the Witcher. This one is something of a surprise, coming a little out of the blue in an announcement earlier this month from none other than R. Talsorian Games. Yeah, those guys. The same company that originally produced Cyberpunk 2020 (which is distressingly around the corner now), is going to be releasing a tabletop RPG that takes you into the world of the Witcher.
Which makes sense–R. Talsorian has already partnered with CD Projekt Red to bring you the hotly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 (which will be out, eventually). I’m probably looking forward to this one most of all. The Witcher’s world hits that dark fantasy vibe really well, and with its focus on hunting monsters there should be a lot for players to dig into.
We’ll see you on the other side of Gen Con, folks. Maybe we’ll have new surprises to show off–at any rate, Happy Adventuring!
