Welcome back to the Role Playing Games PDF Spotlights column, where we look at some of the PDF’s that have been released in the past week that have caught my eye. Hopefully you’ll spot a game or two of interest! I’m playing catch-up this week so all of the below were released in PDF between 29th October – 4th November 2022.
A|state Supplement
By Handiwork Games
Something untoward is occurring at Folly Hills Dog Track. Unfancied hounds are winning races…
Competitive dogs are going to the pot…
The turnstiles are no longer thick with punters…
What has cast a shadow over the once-thriving Track?
Explore the cutthroat world of the dog track, the home of avaricious betting syndicates, vicious organised crime groups, disgruntled dog owners, and many bemused punters.
This supplement for a|state presents the Folly Hills Dog Track, a location teeming with trouble and opportunity that can become part of your game in many different ways.
Gone to the Dogs also includes 3 pages of tools and advice to run investigations in The City, using the Forged in the Dark ruleset.
Core Rulebook
By Thomas P. King
In The Unseen World, you play a paranormal investigator traveling across Japan, visiting various towns, researching haunted locations, and trying to collect evidence of the supernatural. You’ll have to properly manage your resources and time while also trying not to succumb to fear during your investigations. Level up, gear up, and build your team of investigators!
The game’s main mechanism uses a deck of standard playing cards split into two decks. Your deck, the Action deck, uses the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit plus one Ace at the beginning (you can earn more Aces as you level). You’ll use a hand of 4 cards against the Challenge deck, which starts with the 6, 7, and 8 of each suit with one 5.
A Check is made by playing a card, applying modifiers based on the situation, then optionally making a Push by adding the top card of the Action deck to your total. Meet or exceed the Challenge card to succeed.
Towns, locations, NPCs, and haunted backstories are generated using a series of tables, allowing for a near-endless variety of horror adventures. You’ll acquire various items and recruit team members from the NPCs you meet along the way during the game. Each campaign will have its own evolving story.
Chivalry & Sorcery Sourcebook
By Anderian Designs Ltd
The town and city series of books will explore the conurbations of the Kingdom of Anderia, giving the gamesmaster a place to base his adventures from. Each book will have maps of the city or town and details of the more interesting places within. The idea is to represent the more playable locations, a grocery store doesn’t need to be detailed in a sourcebook, unless of course the produce there comes from Arcadia and the storey is to find out where and how the owner manages to get such goods – now that’s worthy of entering into a sourcebook. Therefore you will not find the ordinary here, you will get inns and taverns with patrons and some story hooks to hang your town and city-based adventures on.
The NPCs in here are all of a low historical level of development, with few expectations, if you are running a more heroic or cinematic game then feel free to add to their skill levels. The same goes for any of the story plots or NPC characters, feel free to change and alter them to make them fit with your imagination. The goal of the books is to give the mind go the gamesmaster a little nudge, a kick-start to get the creative juices flowing.
5E Dungeons & Dragons Adventure
By Pacesetter Games & Simulations
Welcome to a world of new adventure! The day has finally come. Your training at Farrador Keep has come to its end. You are now a fully-fledged adventurer ready to make your name known in all the lands. However, this time, you will go it alone. Farrador is a relatively peaceful region; however, menacing monsters reside in the shadows of even the brightest lights. You are being called to explore abandoned mines, save villages from devastating foes, and claim your name as the next true adventurer. All this and more will be possible as you go Into the Unknown!
Into the Unknown is a true solo adventure for characters level 1-5 for the 5th Edition game system.
5E Dungeons & Dragons Adventure
By Frog God Games
Ancient Desert Secrets
Deep in the trackless wastes of an arid desert lies the dusty bed of an ancient, dried-up lake. It’s home to a clan of feisty gnolls who don’t exactly lay out the welcome mat for outsiders. But the adventurers are on a mission — the dead lake also hides the ruins of strange, forgotten temples, places that even the ferocious gnolls fear to tread.
Who built these labyrinthine passages and dusty chambers, and what secrets do they hide? Once the adventurers have won the gnolls’ respect (or at least their tolerance), the ruins lie open for exploration. Inside are the answers to the mysteries of the temples’ origins, and the fate of their builders, but even armed with this knowledge, can the heroes survive the challenges that lie beneath the Lake of Dust?
Written by the prolific and talented Steve Winter (Complete Psionics Handbook, Horde of the Dragon Queen, The Scarlet Citadel, The City that Dripped Blood, Orcus in a Winter Wonderland, and much more), with cover art by Martina Scafa, and interior illustrations by Hector Rodriguez, and Terry Pavlet, Lake of Dust is an adventure for a party of 5th level characters. Good luck! You’ll need it.
Core Rulebook
By Modiphius
A NEW TABLETOP ROLEPLAYING ODYSSEY BEGINS…
“100 years ago, a satellite detected an object under the sands of the Great Desert…”
Homeworld: Revelations will give fans of the original Homeworld game the exciting opportunity to view the universe from a new perspective, taking on the role of the crew aboard one of the Kushan fleet’s ships. Whether it’s joining the Mothership on its odyssey, or helping re-establish the Hiigaran homeworld, there will be endless adventures.
Homeworld: Revelations expands on what we know of the Kushan people and the game’s major factions, like the Kadesh and the Taiidan. Fans of the universe will learn that there are more incredible secrets hidden within the Guidestone which can be discovered through the roleplaying game. You can expect more detail on the people of the whirlpool galaxy so players can create their own stories of discovery and adventure, revisit locations from Homeworld to uncover their mysteries, and even explore the events of the Exodus to find out what else the Kushan discovered, gained and lost on that famous journey.
“On the stone was etched a galactic map and a single word more ancient than the clans themselves… Hiigara – Our home.”
Modiphius has employed the expertise of Martin Cirulis, one of the original writers of Homeworld, to consult on the setting and lore, along with Homeworld experts at Gearbox Entertainment and Blackbird Interactive. The Modiphius 2d20 roleplaying game system has been adapted and developed by head of RPGs Sam Webb and line manager Virginia Page from Star Trek Adventures (developed by Nathan Dowdell; Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, Mutant Chronicles), based on the original 2d20 system design by Jay Little (Mutant Chronicles, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire).
A fantastic team of dedicated writers, many long-standing fans of the Homeworld games, have been assembled to work on the roleplaying game, including Mike ‘Norsehound’ Ptak, Oz Mills, Jason Brick, Andy Peregrine, Marie Tokuda, John Kennedy and John Dodd. One of the original artists for the Homeworld video game, Aaron Kambeitz, has created the cover art for the roleplaying game whilst art directors Katya Thomas (Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, Star Trek Adventures, John Carter of Mars, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of) and Kris Aubin (Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, Achtung! Cthulhu) have been working to provide fantastic new artwork to bring Homeworld: Revelations to life!
“This is Fleet Command.”
- A 300 page PDF full-colour PDF designed for ease of use.
- Step inside the fleet and for the first time discover the personal story of the Hiigarans
- The history of the Kushan people – From their origins on Hiigara, into exile on Kharak, and back again. With adventure ideas for play in any of these periods throughout their history
- Explore the harsh desert world of Kharak and the cities and societies found there.
- Create a character from some of the most famous of the Kushan Kiith – Naabal, Soban, S’jet, Paktu, Manaan, and Somtaaw.
- Take your role as part of the crew on any of the classic Homeworld vessels
- Discover life on board the Mothership as part of its many important divisions – Command, Tech and Engineering, or Exploration and Research.
- Details on all other factions and their technology – Taiidan, Bentusi, Turanic Raiders, Kadeshi, The Progenitors and the Galactic Council
- Covers the events of Homeworld 1 and Homeworld 2, Homeworld Cataclysm and Deserts of Kharak
- You’re not grounded! Simple ship combat rules give you everything you need to take command of fighters, corvettes, frigates, Capital ships, Super Capital ships and of course the iconic Mothership herself!
- Packed full of never-before-seen Homeworld art to bring the universe to life in a completely new light
- A new iteration of Modiphius’ 2d20 RPG system designed from the ground up to let you dive deep into the events of Homeworld.
Warhammer Fantasy RPG Scenario
By Cubicle 7 Entertainment
Geheimnisnacht, the cursed night when the Chaos Moon rises full and the dead do not rest easily, approaches, and violent storms have wracked the northern coasts of the Empire. On the tiny island of Odner the captain of a small trading cog is tasked with delivering a cargo of the unconsecrated dead to a safe harbour before they become restless. The Characters are roped in to assist him, but the journey ahead of them is sure to be troublesome and perilous. This spooky scenario for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay takes place upon the ocean waves, and whilst the Sea of Claws supplement is not needed to enjoy the scenario, it would help provide additional ideas and details.
- Skeleton Crew is a short scenario that can be completed in a single session, filled with spooky goings on and mysterious events.
- The scenario contains all the rules and background needed to include Captain Vangheist and his ship, the Shadewraith, in games of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
Please note: Some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item the author of this post will receive an affiliate commission.
Voices From The Pulpit 