Tenkar's Tavern: Five Finalists for the Three Castles RPG Design Award Have Been Announced

Friday, February 22, 2013

Five Finalists for the Three Castles RPG Design Award Have Been Announced

The five finalists for the Three Castles RPG Design Award are:

Adventurer Conqueror King System
by: Alexander Macris

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
by: Jeffrey Talanian

Barrowmaze
by: Greg Gillespie

Cavemaster RPG
by: Jeff Dee

DCC RPG
by: Joseph Goodman

With the exception of Cavemaster (which I never heard of before) I own the list, and these are all strong choices. Four out of five are game systems and the fifth is probably the strongest megadungeon released in 2012 (yes, I'm talking about you Barrowmaze.

You can read the original thread at the NTRPGCon forums here.

4 comments:

PriddayFebruary 22, 2013 at 5:32 PM
Hmm, I just bought ACKS barely a week ago. I'm really interested in the political and economic rules. A lot of games really don't have anything comparable so you either have to splice in stuff from elsewhere or just hand-wave it.
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Gothridge ManorFebruary 22, 2013 at 6:01 PM
Wow, good group. I have to admit I haven't heard of Cavemaster. Gotta go check it out now.
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maasenstodtFebruary 22, 2013 at 9:47 PM
"All strong choices" is exactly right. I own all five and have used all but Cavemaster in play in at least a couple of sessions. Given my experiences, it would be very, very difficult for me to pick a winner amongst them because they've all proven themselves to be excellent.

In the end, if I had a vote, I think I'd give the nod to Jeffrey Talanian and AS&SH. Like ACKS and DCC, it presents an extremely well polished ruleset. Like Barrowmaze, it presents a compelling setting. AS&SH is also the only one to be in the same ballpark as DCC when it comes to art and presentation. And ACKS comes in a box set!

I'm really glad to be attending North Texas RPG Con again this year. It's a wonderful convention, but this is probably the first time that I'll be genuinely anticipating the awarding of the Three Castles.
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Jeff DeeMarch 8, 2013 at 1:56 AM
Here's a Cavemaster review: http://trollandflame.blogspot.com/2012/06/cavemaster-play-review.html

And an interview I did at geeknative.com: http://www.geeknative.com/32807/interview-with-cavemasters-jeff-dee/

-Jeff Dee
UNIgames
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Friday, February 22, 2013

Five Finalists for the Three Castles RPG Design Award Have Been Announced

4 comments:

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