DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Other comments left for this publisher:
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
THW Classics Presents: FNG: Tour of Duty
by David M. H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/22/2023 02:58:15

Same format as 95th. Which means some very clever bits and some not so. I definately like the scenarios, but less the RPG part of the game, but that's just me. Still worth the buy in any case



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
THW Classics Presents: FNG: Tour of Duty
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Dark Hold Goblin Adventures
by Enkidu X. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/22/2023 11:28:37

Very fun and amusing setting for Savage Worlds. I had a lot of fun playing with it online during the lockdown.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dark Hold Goblin Adventures
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
5150: Fighter Command
by Peter H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/18/2023 17:35:59

this has to be a joke, the rules are insanely obtuse all the way through... okay, you want to check manuvers, okay what page is that expained on... QRS = go look through ALL the 20+ pages of QRS, next issue oh let me guess, QRS? yes QRS, okay what page... it is in one of them right? then go back and continue to read the rules until you hit the next paragraf and have to go back to the QRS to find it only it isn't expained in the QRS it is a throwaway line on page 5 (leader dice)... avoid this crap!



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
5150: Fighter Command
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Great Hall Burning
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/17/2022 14:44:35

"Great Hall Burning" contains 44 pages of GMless compact rules for battles and interactions by Ed Teixeira. The setting are the British Isles during the Viking Age, but this is very generic and you can adapt it easily to other places in the same period. The originality of that game, compared to other THW products, is that it plays on three different levels. The main one is, of course, the battlefield level. This time, you can lead small units of shooting (4) or melee (8) soldiers and pit them against "Potential Enemy Forces".The rules are rudimentary and abstract, but adaptable to your own needs. Battles are themselves divided into four main types, not counting the rules for naval (drakkars) fights at the end of the book. It's because they all form a full compaign which is the next level : each petty kingdom of the British Isles has a "morale" number which determines who goes to war, and increases/decreases following your victories/defeats on the battlefield. So, when the opponent's number reaches "0", it surrenders and you have conquered it. As the potential leader of an or (in the future ?) several units, you must have, in the main settlement of the kingdom, to interact with the local residents (king, jarls, captains, merchants, warriors, citizens) in order to get some "fame" and, moreover, to recruit warriors or be given the command of a unit. This "third level" is already a "game within the game", and each month, some random events may spice up the course of your saga. So, GHB is a must for any player who likes early medieval wargaming or roleplaying, even if he's not particularily interested by Vikings. As for myself, I led a full campaign where I reunified Ireland's five kingdoms.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Great Hall Burning
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Warrior Heroes - Legends
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/31/2021 15:40:18

Warrior Heroes - Legends is a hundred pages long "skirmish game" by Ed Teixeira using his own "Reaction System". A skirmish game is halfway between a wargame and a RPG-gamebook, where you manage a small team of heroes and pit them against opponents to fulfill some objectives. All of this can be played GMless. I'm not the first one to review WHL on the net and this game has indeed gotten mixed reviews, so what's pro, what's con ? Ed's system works well with guns (in the broad sense, both firearms and laser weapons) and still works with swords and bows at the skirmish level, but it is both cumbersome and quick-and-dirty, while many players may prefer the good ol' RPG system they have on their shelf rather than feeling overwhelmed by the many tactical details. WHL revolves mostly around one stat (Reputation); fortunately, the characters (and monsters) can be flavoured with various "attributes". So, for example, in my final playtest, I had an archer and a Dwarf (each Rep 4) facing a Ghoul (Rep 4 too) and they were ultimately defeated by her, for she had much better attributes. An interesting feature of WHL is that it has rules to generate a rather detailed "battlefield", i.e. a terrain where the confrontation takes place. I used a 30 cm-sided paper sheet, on which I could set stones, vegetation, habitation blocks to simulate the battle scene, and I took paper stand-ups from a medieval RPG both for the heroes and their foes. As for dungeons, they can be generated randomly and abstractly, using a card deck and rules given in the book. The games takes place in four countries in the northwest corner of Talomir, Ed's medieval fantasy world. Your heroes' actions are broken down into a few Encounters, i.e. generic scenes where they have to fulfill a short-term objective like repel an enemy attack, or reach the building at the other end of the "battlefield". Many tables indicate which settlements, buildings, potential enemies/friends they are bound to encounter. My private feeling is that some rules are of little, if none, usefulness (age, hours of operations and purposes of shops...) while additional encounters and/or a full-fledged adventure generator as in "Larger than Life - Director's Cut" could have boosted the appeal of the game, since the incentive for you and your heroes to wander in that world is rather low, with no long-term mission to carry out nor a time-sensitive threat to overcome.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Warrior Heroes - Legends
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Future Tales
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/20/2021 04:28:08

"Future Tales" is a hundred pages long "skirmish game" by Jay Mackesy, using the "Two Hours Wargame" system by Ed Teixeira. A skirmish game stands halfway between a wargame and a (GMless) roleplaying game, you can manage a small team of heroes and pit them against enemies. This time, the setting is space opera, you know this universe where heroes can walk and breathe normally in outer space :-) (think at Star Wars and Flash Gordon). The tables, which are the core of the game mechanics, are rudimentary and generic but do their job. Therefore, you can play not only humans but humanoids and robots too, and you can wield different kinds of weapons like laser guns, desintegrators (!), and lightsabers, and even cast a few spells (think at the "Force"). The fighting system remains realistic, so I could experience that lightsabers and magics are of no help against laserguns... Fans of space opera may regret the absence of rules for starships, however, some scenes of fights between such craft are given in the Story section. The latter section is a full-fledged generator of a GMless adventure, based on Ed Teixeira "Larger than Life 2e - Director's Cut", this time with no "Love Interest" but of course flavoured to a space opera setting where you travel between four basic locales and confront or avoid the "Potential Enemy Forces". In general, these PEFs should represent no major challenge, you can negotiate or fight them off; the final ordeal arrives when the "Big Bad" shows up with his host of minions : here the combat can be dealy, but you can hope to escape capture and survive the villain's monologue... In my humble opinion, though I find it less entertaining than "Lovecraft's Revenge", "Future Tales" can give you much fun and shall be a good starting rule system for people wishing to roleplay in a space opera setting without investing in a more expensive system.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Future Tales
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Lovecraft's Revenge
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/04/2020 02:31:37

"Lovecraft's Revenge" is a 79 pages long book by Jay Mackesy, using a version of Ed Teixeira's THW system, a "skirmish game" half-way between a wargame and a gamebook which can be played GM-less. As indicated by its name, this one is set in an environment inspired by the writings of the US horror writer Lovecraft (i.e. mostly New England in the first half of the 20th century). I've often been critical of THW's "one-stat" system, but this time, the author has managed to endow this game with ingredients that turn it into a worthwhile must. The actors of the game are divided between Humans (a dozen professions that you can choose for your character), Animals (ex: cats which can be omens of another encounter...), Creatures (i.e. monsters) and Deities. The system still works with the One-Stat (Rep) which can increase or decrease following your good or bad results in the adventure, but it is counterbalanced by an excellent selection of Attributes (some are advantages, others are detriments, and others are peculiar to non-humans) so that your character does not become invulnerable when it reaches Rep 6. All these "figures" are summed up in a table at the end of the book, what is extremely helpful when you are running fights. The combat system hasn't been "boiled down" as in other THW titles and therefore works well with firearms that your characters can wield (including handgrenades and dynamite !). A few magic spells are given as well. All of this leads to interesting results : for instance, I had a character who was a priest, be he was hurt by a simple dog before he could cast a spell, since the attributes give rules making dogs very swift animals. Furthermore, the flavouring rules are well made : ancient artifacts, insanity and above all Darkness level. This number serves to calculate which kind of opponents you are bound to encounter as well as for some other challenges : beware before it runs out of control ! The adventure generator revolves around a "clue system" : after you solve (whether with fight or peaceful interaction) your encounters, you can find some clues, if you pass some tests, that may lead you to the "big bad" behind the whole story. The locations are generic but iconic of Lovecraft's universe, and they contain buildings that can be haunted (lol, the old towne with its mental hospital !). In truth, the game is not about completing your quest (I just completed one out of six, and I didn't even find the big bad) but about how long you will survive before you get killed/turn insane. In my last adventure, I was a soldier wielding dynamite, which wasn't very helpful for my first encounter (a dead body). In the course of my investigation, I met a thug armed with a gun whom I managed to recruit. Alas, my bud turned more and more insane, missing most of his targets and, at the end (in the infamous mental hospital), I had to flee from the invulnerable Spawn of Yog-Sothoth, while my friend lost his last bit of sanity. So, if you're looking for a thrilling game, don't look further !



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Lovecraft's Revenge
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Adventures with Captain Nemo
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/03/2020 03:11:00

"Adventures with Captain Nemo" is a "skirmish game" by Ed Teixeira, i.e. half-way between a wargame and a gamebook where you can manage your small team against foes, as set by the scenario and the random encounters. There are 15 pages of rules which use the "one Stat" system, i.e. Rep(utation) which can increase or decrease following the outcome of your actions. The adventures take place in one of THW's settings, Lemuria, a lost world located in the Indian Ocean. I was looking forward to explore this island with its teaming jungles and its monsters but all of this ends up as a major disappointment. There is nearly no description of Lemuria and your potential foes are nothing else than a one-stat like each other. The 17 pages of campaign is a railroad of nine missions given to you by Captain Nemo; therefore there is no replayability but, anyway, except perhaps for the two naval battles, the encounters are mere dice-throwing versus Rep 3, 4 or 5 so that the gaming interest fades off very quickly.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Adventures with Captain Nemo
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Legends Of Araby
by Olivier S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/17/2020 14:58:41

"Legends of Araby" is 91 pages long "skirmish" game by Ed Teixeira, i.e. a game halfway between RpGs and a stand-up/figurine game that you can alone.

It uses Ed's "2D6 Sword & Sorcery" system found in other of his books, a system (described in 9 pages at the end of the book) that revolves around one stat : Reputation (a little like "level" in many RpGs, however this "Rep" can both increase or decrease following the outcome of the different encounters). OK, I'm aware that it was impossible to lodge a more detailed system but I explained in one of my other reviews ("Talomir Tales - Distant Shores") that this One-Stat leads to the impossibility of developing a strategy and to two opposite ends : either you're too weak and are doomed to failure and demise, or the lucky end, you become near invulnerable after two encounters (what happened to me...)

Fortunately, the setting really saves this book for Ed has managed what not everyone has attained : to render the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights. "Legends of Araby" is set in the desert realm of Barylistan (of the larger "Talomir" world used by Ed for his medieval fantasy works). Most of the game revolves around the "interactions" that your character shall have with the inhabitants of that country : tens of different Interaction tables with diffeent results are given, with encounter tables depending on the region, or the city you are in. Therefore, the game turns itself into a small gamebook full of little adventures like being given a mission to set free a nomad chief's daughter from a harem or become a mercenary in a "faction" (like the army, the hill bandits, etc...), in the very spirit of Aladdin or the tabletop game "Tales of the Arabian Nights". So, these encounters and interactions are a must for any lover of Sword & Sorcery who, perhaps, shall use them with a ruleset of his choice.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Legends Of Araby
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
5150 No Quarter - Mecha Combat
by Marco R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/29/2018 10:32:09

Disclaimer: this is not a review of the game's rules. I didn't even get to the game part because this book is just awfully presented and I grow more enraged every time I pick it up.

Chapters should be concise and focused, instead they're broken into many numbered paragraphs and sub-paragraphs that interrupt the flow of reading. Some fundamentals aren't explained in detail (ie: movement). Some rules are not even used in the game but explained nonetheless (ie: star powers). Some rules that could be explained in one simple sentence are broken into bullet points and examples (ie: activation roll). Tables aren't organized. The book is littered with long and repeated explanations of things that shouldn't be explained at all (ie: how to use a table and my most hated feature of all: "Here's how we do it:" is written 63 times. A rulebook is exactly that, an explanation of how things work). Several fundamental rules of the Chain Reaction system are explained backwards.

I bought this book beacuse I thought that the authors might have put more effort than in the free Chain Reaction pdf (which suffers from the same issues), and worked on the criticism towards previous products (saw complaints similar to these of mine, several times online). No chance.

I want to believe that there's a good, solid game behind the Chain Reaction system, but I might never really know because I can't get to that. The book works against my patience as a reader.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
5150 No Quarter - Mecha Combat
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Morale Napoleon
by Bob B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/10/2018 03:43:53

We play Napoleonic tactical games but I wanted to try a Corps level game. Most of the Corps level rules are about £40, a lot for rules that I may not like/use. Then I saw these. I read comments on TMP and the blurb on the cover and bought them. I’ve read them several times and have a solo game on the table – a simple French Corps of 2 infantry divisions and 1Cavalry division attacking a Russian corps made up the same for this test game. Haven’t finished yet but moves have been fine. Just getting to melee. My figures are based differently to those recommended but hasn’t made any difference to my solo game. The mechanics and the feel are different to my normal games and it may take several games to get used to these – it looks like it will be worthwhile. As to the rules they are well written and understandable. There are examples of everything with a few line drawings. No full colour pictures of painted figures – don’t need them. There are extensive army lists covering the major and minor armies of the period. There is one major omission – the Ottomans, and I frequently play my Turks against Napoleonic Russians. There is, however a general list of stats which should allow me to field a Turkish army. No mention of the US war of 1812 – I don’t play this and so don’t mind. Very interesting rules – I can see me (us) playing Corps games but not all the time – which was one of the reasons I was loath to invest £40 upwards in a set of rules. As well as one-of games there is a campaign system. Reinforcements are catered for, solo option and lots more. Good value for money and well worth trying for something different. Recommended won't give it 5 stars until I have played a few games but will give 4 and think it will be worth the extra star in future



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Morale Napoleon
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Day of The Scourge
by Dan P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/01/2012 17:09:19

Great Little scenario. Runs well with the basic Chain Reaction 3.0 rules from THW. 5150 is not needed.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Day of The Scourge
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Red Ops 5
by Dan P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/06/2012 14:15:40

The game is fun and fast playing. It is based on an older version of the Chain Reaction Rules from Two Hour Wargaming, but that dosn't distract from the play. Plus those rules can be found for free here at Drivethrurpg. Some of the rules seem disjointed, and not fully explained, but with the CR 3.0 rules, this shouldn't be a problem.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Red Ops 5
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Modern Havok
by Ricardo N. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/02/2011 11:48:19

This can be seen as a "lite" version of Chain Reaction 3.0, with some added information and three new scenarios. Overall, I'd say that it runs faster than the full CR 3.0 since there are less character states (for instance, no Hunker Down), simplified reactions and a modified melee system. As such, I think that it is worth for introducing the reaction system to new players or playing with larger numbers of figures while maintaining the speed of the game. The scenarios are also nice, especially the two for gangs and police.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Modern Havok
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 14 (of 14 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Hottest Titles
 Gift Certificates