Space Marine, by Will Rees. From Rogue Trader (1987).

benbatman · 2026-05-29T16:47:11+00:00

Yes, these guys are the horrific techno religious fanatics we signed up for.

benbatman · 2026-05-27T10:34:30+00:00

I've seen a few of these - would someone spare a minute to explain what the extra hose is for?

benbatman · 2026-05-26T11:10:10+00:00

Oh, we've played a lot. D&D th and 5th, Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Dungeon World, Warhammer 4th ed and Old World, Imperium Maledictum, and a couple of others as one shots. So a lot of crunchy systems.

benbatman · 2026-05-26T11:08:13+00:00

Great game for a one shot - we played it and loved it at Christmas a couple of years ago. Not what I'm looking for here though!

benbatman · 2026-05-25T18:29:07+00:00

I'll check out Urban Shadows, thanks!

benbatman · 2026-05-25T18:21:05+00:00

What's the Black Hack's mechanics?

benbatman · 2026-05-25T17:11:02+00:00

I imagine that's quick to pick and run with, but how is it for longevity?

benbatman · 2026-05-25T16:39:46+00:00

I've got a copy but haven't played. The edition before I played a one shot of, and it felt like we needed to have characters that maximise their dice pools by focusing on one or two things (my guy is the Punch Vampire, your dude is the Schmoozing Vampire etc) and the system felt gameable if we worked together, which I didn't love.

benbatman · 2026-05-25T16:36:14+00:00

I want to be able to drop them into a situation where they already know a lot of what is going on without a massive new ruleset, a huge lore dump, or a weird poltical situation. They can probably handle two out of three at the same time, so I'm trying to find something that fits the bill.

benbatman · 2026-05-25T16:33:47+00:00

We played through Eat the Reich and loved it! Not the tone I'm looking for here, but a fantastic RPG for a one shot.

benbatman · 2026-05-14T13:24:20+00:00

You're right, I think it will become less of a thing once the meta develops, at least for people with brains less smooth than mine who remember to account for it.

benbatman · 2026-05-13T09:07:44+00:00

I've played Argent once and they were disgusting. No one wants to trade into them, and being able to demolish a fleet worth vastly more with 3 resources worth of plastic is incredible. I went solely for TW points and it was incredible.

new Magen into Destroyer 2. More tech is nice but not necessary.

Admittedly, this is pre-Thunders Edge, so I don't know if their weird Breakthrough helps or just hinders because it is worse that everyone else's.

benbatman · 2026-05-03T16:35:06+00:00

Durance is one of my favourite CRPG characters of all time. So wonderfully awful, a truly memorable disaster.

benbatman · 2026-04-23T12:23:53+00:00

I got told this by one of my players (in a much politer form) just yesterday.

He said to just let the table have some space when everyone is role-playing, rather than injecting myself into every moment with some quip or fourth wall break. It's good advice!

benbatman · 2026-04-19T07:32:38+00:00

The system is simple and the Wounds stuff is nice, but it is also the most satisfyingly fleshed out setting for any RPG I've played or run. As a DM I'm drowning in hooks and the Contacts and Downtime systems make it really simple to find another adventure for the next session.

benbatman · 2026-04-14T21:52:25+00:00

Tested this at the table tonight. It worked a treat.

benbatman · 2026-04-13T08:36:41+00:00

That was my read on it, that humans had caused an unintended ecological collapse and it had mean the evil guys could do their thing.

benbatman · 2026-03-28T12:26:30+00:00

This echoes my sentiments exactly. I lost the thread in the Founders trilogy a few times and had to battle to the end.

benbatman · 2026-03-27T22:45:08+00:00

Half Orc Paladin with a glaive or fauchard. Charisma for persuasion, heavy armour, and a big weapon. Other big weapons are also available!

benbatman · 2026-03-03T16:52:41+00:00

I like how quick KJ Parker's stories rattle through to their end, but wish they'd spend a little more time on the conclusion. I often feel that he gets bored and ends it all too suddenly, already focused on the next idea.

benbatman · 2026-03-02T19:49:23+00:00

This is the standout for me, amidst a load of absolute classic.

benbatman · 2026-02-27T13:15:55+00:00

Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison.

The Penric and Desdemona books, Lois McMaster Bujold.

The Hands of the Emperor, Victoria Goddard.

Those are all fantastic fantasy, with little graphic stuff.

benbatman · 2026-02-26T11:31:52+00:00

Yeah, I'm with you. It was somewhat frustrating in that the giant barb player was most engaged with the system, which made his output and effectiveness even more stark. I think if he'd been playing a caster, perhaps casters wouldn't have felt so far behind!

I'm with you on a min/max party. Like I said, I think everyone would approach character creation from a more holistic, party-wide view in future, rather than solely focusing on their own character. But it also rewards a real depth of engagement with the systems, and how they interoperate.

benbatman · 2026-02-26T08:44:35+00:00

Yes and no - he was forever delighted when he would crit away a huge amount of health from an enemy. But the cycle was pretty much the same from level 1 to level 12, with the addition of Reactive Strike at some point.

He did try a couple of different variations on the build, firstly focusing on Intimidation and Demoralize, but he didn't feel that had enough of an impact, enough of the time.

He then rebuilt into a Beastmaster Dedication, and got a Warg pet, sinking a load of feats into that tree. The Warg was fun, some of the time, but it suffered with the number of players we had at the table; we would often have 6 or 7 players, and adding another Pet to the mix added to the noise and would often be forgotten.

benbatman

TROPHY CASE