The Ravens Nest

Independent Titles For Games You Should Check Out!

With WoTC forcing digital bundles upon their players, and I think we all know that I’m not surprised, nor do I support it, and as we approach the month of July, I think we’ll follow Professor Dungeon Master’s lead. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, have a look at this…

Got it? Good because, rather than make a video on this, I wanted to lead off with the Kickstarter we talked about on my own live-stream; Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age!

No, I haven’t gotten a look inside it as of yet, however, I have had the distinct privilege of checking out another release by Elf Lair Games; Night Shift: Veterans of The Supernatural Wars.

If you haven’t checked this game out, it’s one of the best and most customizable games on the market to date. While we’ve all house-ruled games and made our games more bespoke at the table to accommodate a wide range of play and referee styles, it’s always been some type of work for cross-compatibility in some way or another but the engine under the hood of this and Wasted Lands, is none other than the Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System (O.G.R.E.S.) is truly a modular system. Like a d6 system, it has it. d20 something you and your table are just used to by default? No Problem! B/X? You know it! OD&D Rules? Why Not?! Vey and Brannan bring the game to you and you bring the game to your table, your way. Your Table, Your Rules has never been more in play than it is now.

But, Wulfgar, …that’s not Wasted Lands.

Thank you, Strawman, I’m aware but if you’re already familiar with O.G.R.E.S. then you’re already ready already for one of the absolute most original Sword & Sorcery RPGs out there. In fact, if the stretch goals are met, there will also be a coversion guide available to another game that Jason Vey works on as a staff writer for Troll Lord Games; Castles & Crusades! So if you’re used to the SIEGE Engine, you can play it that way as a true C&C supplement complete with setting AND you can parlay it into Amazing Adventures (another awesome game Vey has authored) or Night Shift where you can play the same character as an Immortal (Night Shift Night Companion required because it’s another class of character.) Today has never been a better day to see separate publishers sharing RPG DNA across the board and sticking by their gaming philosophy. Right now, as of the time of this article, Elf Lair Games is on it’s way to their initial goal of $18k. Let’s see if we can’t blow the doors off of $40k and get all those stretch goals!

In the meantime, stop by Elf Lair Games and check out their current offerings.

You know I can’t go indie without talking about my friends at The Red Room! You know I can’t do that! They have had some releases…plural that, like many previous releases, have not fallen short of keeping with their continuity in their Wretchedverse. Let’s kick it off with none other than their grounded supers game, Wretched Vigilantes.

This big, bad volume is a superhero game, however, it has less to do with the MCU and more to do with properties like Watchmen, The Punisher, Batman, Shadowhawk and other properties where our heroes are more like Dirty Harry and Paul Kersey from Death Wish.

The setting is Hammettsville aka Crime City and a group of retired vigilantes are called out of retirement, confronting personal demons and moral dilemmas of past decisions. It’s dark, brooding anti-hero goodness and a healthy dose of taking the law into your own hands when the law is ineffective at stopping a damn thing. The Vanguard Squad have become corrupt crime lords and it’s up to you to show those assholes a thing or two. Pure, unbridled street justice will be served and shitbags will be wasted. You might be a good guy but, like everyone in The Wretchedverse, you’re probably not the good guy everyone was hoping for.

Meanwhile in Avalidad (The Setting for Wretched New Flesh) the setting Orbital Decay makes it’s debut! Humankind reached out to the stars in exploration for new resource pools as Takeda Tech and other major corporations seek to exploit, not just space but you and your crew as well in order to find the mother lode and get obscenely rich doing it. This setting draws heavily from movies like Alien, Outland, Event Horizon and Pandorum and does it’s level best to bring you the terrors of the vacuum of infinite void, introducing claustrophobia, horror, isolation, desperation, fear and paranoia into the story, giving you a thrill ride with retro tech and does it work? …maybe.

Oh, but my sweet summer children, you thought we were done? Oh no no no no! We’re only getting warmed up! Sister Pride comes at us with it’s sin’s name’s sake all through this volume.

The year is 1993. Portugal is shaking off the shackles of socialism and finally experiencing democracy, reaching for it’s goal of joining The First World. Old guard and new clash and those whom can’t keep up with the times are getting left in the ashes. Lisbon, the capital, filled with contradictions, is growing and transforming itself into a modern city, but the traces of poverty that still plague the country are obvious. Drug traffic and consumption have escalated dangerously along with gang related violence. But the worse is yet to come. When the body of a young prostitute is found eviscerated in the Monsanto hills, soon to be followed by another one, the police quickly conclude they are facing a serial killer, a type of criminal they know only from American movies. The media goes crazy with the news of the “Lisbon Ripper” and panic spreads among the local prostitutes. In this scenario, the players will take the role of police detectives, journalists, or amateur sleuths trying to uncover the identity of the Lisbon Ripper. Find The Ripper…before The Ripper finds you.

Ah, Here it is! One of my absolute favorites of The Wretchedverse, Wretched Époque.

This book in it’s first edition introduced us to The Beyond and The Apostles of Pain. Paris during the Belle Époque (1871 – 1914) had degenerated into a city filled with crime, hedonism, a resurgence in occult philosophies and practices, murder, conspiracy and political intrigue. The best part, you as GM really get to decide where it goes, how it plays out along with the players at your table and what terrors you’ll face. Don’t let the pretty cover fool you, this is a game of very high stakes and, well, have a look at the description itself.

Wretched Époque takes place in the period known as the Belle Époque, which is dated between 1871 and 1914, ending when World War I started.
This is the time and the fictional place where Umberto Eco’s Simone Simonini – the most cynical and disagreeable character in the History of literature, as the author meant him to be – crosses paths with Jacques Tardi’s Adèle Blanc-Sec, Edgar Allan Poe’s Chevalier Auguste Dupin and Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin, amidst anarchist bombings, the echoes of the Dreyfus affair, the catastrophic side effects of secret societies conspiring in the shadows and the mysterious results of experiences conducted by mad geniuses. Not yet pulp, not quite historical, it is neither the right time nor the right mood for Steampunk or Dieselpunk, this is the time of Nouveaupunk.

Secret societies, shadowy conspiracies, mysterious cults, political intrigue, the Beyond and The Apostles of Pain? Dive into this deadly pool for more. It’s expanded on since it’s first edition and mixes well with the Spaghetti Western stylings of Wretched Country (Second Edition of this setting TBA.)

You can find all of these and more on The Red Room’s Website and be sure to check out their subscription plans. Top Tier is $20 per month and is all-inclusive and you can get every PDF available through the site. For print options, check out their Lulu Dot Com storefront.

We’ve presented some Old School Renaissance games thus far but yanno what? We should go with the really old school. Back where it all began…Zine-Style Wargaming!

Don’t worry, folks, we have an offering for that one too in the form of Mutants! from Paddy’s Parlor Games!

No, really Mutants! is the title and it has more that earned that exclamation point, kicking Wham! in the nuts and taking it from them and asking them “Fuck you gonna do about it?”

But what is Mutants! I hear you ask. Well it’s simple. With this book, exclusively available at Big Geek Emporium, you build teams of mutants in a skirmish battle field and you can customize your mutants in all manner of ways. Need extra arms? Covered. Cybernetic prosthetics? Oh yeah! Maybe the occasional tentacle or two? …This Ain’t Lovecraft but…okay, maybe that too. Use resources online or a 3D printer to make your army, print, prime, paint and then set the bastards against each other and battle it out to the last! This ain’t storytime…unless it’s Mutant storytime and, as Clarence Boddicker once said, “Guns, Guns, Guuuuuuns!”

Do you need measuring tape? Absolutely not! It plays on a 15” X 15” grid and each player starts with a team of no more than 7 creatures to battle against others. Don’t have minis or a 3D printer. Use bottlecaps and character sheets then! Four people can easily get in on the action, all jockeying for position over a Forsaken Planet…namely ours after a complete and total thermonuclear shake and kick that leaves you waking up fearing for your life and fighting each and every day in a kill or be killed scenario where you’re fighting for resources, strength and even life itself. Wargamers, this is where you can scratch your itch to your blackened heart’s content and best of all, it’s FREE!!! We like free, don’t we? We do. Get this bad boy today!

Oh but that is not all that Paddy has to offer, no no no!

Paddy goes back to Cha’alt and takes us with him with his News Zine that presents news from Cha’alt and this one isn’t just a scenario, there’s plenty of weapons, scenarios, lore, races and art.

Part of an annual series, it makes the perfect companion to your Cha’alt game. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I do recommend Cha’alt if you like it gonzo and weird. If you pick it up in print, the PDFs come free so check that trilogy as well! Cha’alt uses the Crimson Dragon Slayer d20 System and the books are largely setting, lore, scenarios, etc. Also, these books are super high-quality prints and will absolutely offer more than anything offered by some coastal wizards. In fact, they’re built to last and each volume comes signed and numbered. Go check those out. Seriously, go. Wanna try before you buy? Go get the Cha’alt PDF and pick up Crimson Dragon Slayer d20 while you’re at it…that one’s free and you’ll love how rules-light it really is.

Ahh…Guess what? That’s right my fellow gamers, no way I’m letting you rest just yet!

You like the whole mutant thing, the post-apocalyptic thing? Well, what if it wasn’t we as humans that kicked it all off? You’re in for a treat!

That’s right it’s Frac Brain Studios coming in hot with Dystopian Dawn: 2526! What is this game, you ask? Well, I’ll let the fine folks over at Frac Brain tell you all about it in one graphic!

This is going to be for my newer gamers who just love d20 systems because they’re so streamlined and easy and guess what? This is one of those games that bridges the gap between old grognards and newer, beginner gamers. Sword & Sorcery, Science & Tech, why it almost sounds like Thundarr: The Barbarian and yes! It kinda is! Okay so it’s not the IP itself but if you like Mad Max, Fallout, Borderlands and Techno-Wizardry, then this is your game right here! You still have mutants, you have barbarians, druids and a few more. Set 500 years after the apocalypse hit our planet, now you have a savage world ready to adventure in and character creation does include backstory for your character to make it seamless in it’s integration. It’s the result of a successful Kickstarter and I have absolutely gone through the player and GM’s guide in PDF and found myself right at home with it. I think you will too.

Speaking of Kickstarters, be sure to hit up that Wasted Lands Kickstarter because much is needed to bring this bad boy to life and, I’ve just been informed that the Archer Class is a free download to check out, so go have a look.

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