Well, here you have three of my favourite universes, but my reaction to the announcements of the new games is decidedly mixed. 

The One Ring is a release from a gaming company I respect, who have done a wonderful job with the DW game, even if their release schedule has been erratic at best. Mechanically, I expect a good job. Unfortunately, it’s set in Middle Earth, which is one of those settings I have tremendous trouble in thinking up adventures for. It suffers from the same problem that afflicts Dragonlance: the big story has already been told, so what else is there for the players to do?

Thankfully, I’m not everyone, and there are people who can think up new stories for Middle Earth. In a lot of ways, FFG and their Middle Earth Quest boardgame and LotR card game can show the way for scenario ideas. I’m rather hoping that Cubicle 7 puts out a few adventures for the game, as that’d make my life a lot easier.

For those interested in the game, the first release is out in PDF, although it’s not the cheapest PDF in the world, we are talking about over 300 pages of material. The game is set in the 20-30 years immediately following The Hobbit, and concentrates on the area known as The Wilderland – the land between the Misty Mountains and the Running River, which includes Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain. 

Interestingly, the game takes a generational approach to its characters, with every year of game time taking 4-6 sessions to play. When a character dies or retires, the new character (often related to the old or inspired by him or her) takes up the adventure with some bonus depending on how well the old did. I’m quite fond of this style of play, which makes me very interested in actually running a campaign of this game.

The Marvel Superhero RPG does not have the same trouble for me as a game set in Middle Earth: I have no trouble thinking up superhero adventures. Martin has no trouble thinking up superhero adventures. It’s the sort of game we’d play, given a chance. And, given I’m so much more a Marvel follower than a DC follower, it’s a RPG I’m more interested in than the latest Mutants and Masterminds variant.

Unfortunately, system might be a problem. It’s designed using the latest variant of the Cortex+ system from MWP. Now, the original Cortex system was used in the Serenity RPG, and although it allowed for the creation of really memorable characters, the resolution system was one that irritated me massively – by the end of the campaign, we were basically running systemless.

Cam Banks (lead everything man, it seems, at MWP) assures me that Cortex has changed based on the feedback he’s had over the past few years. Some of the changes seem to be more dice (from traits) which would certainly help fix the randomness of the rolls. He’s been trying to upload the new Quick Start rules to Dragon Brigade which has the latest variation on the system – unfortunately DriveThruRPG has been having server trouble, so it’s taking longer than he hopes. So, looking at how the Cortex system has evolved will be a way off.

Mutants and Masterminds gave me some major problems last time we played it; it also has a new version, so we’ll likely compare the systems at some point when Martin returns to a Supers game. Of course, he’s really wanting to run some Savage Worlds, assuming we ever managed to finish the Eberron game he’s running.

One would think that Star Wars would have the same trouble as Lord of the Rings as to making up adventures – the big story has been told, after all. Strangely enough, that’s never been the case for me. I’m sure that part of the reason comes from the original West End Games version of the RPG, which was well supported by RPGs and showed us entirely how new adventures could be written for the Rebellion era. (We played a 3-year campaign using that system, so I’m quite fond of it). 

A few years ago, we played through the entirety of Dawn of Defiance, the levels 1-20 campaign for the Saga (d20) version of Star Wars. Although a couple of parts of the series were really good adventures, as a whole it didn’t hold up to our earlier SW game. The system also made a difference – the d20 mechanics, to a large extent, were a lot more visible in the play, and the design of the adventures (with a lot more emphasis on combat) didn’t have the banter and free roleplaying we got in WEG.

So, how will FFG handle it? Well, with any luck, not like their recent WHFRP game. More mechanical than d20, is how I’d characterise that system, and that isn’t how I’d like Star Wars to go. But the game isn’t even announced yet – just that they have the license – so all we can do at present is speculate.

One game just released, one game announced, and one game licensed. Some interesting times ahead.