Leagues of Cthulhu

Yesterday Triple Ace Games launched a Kickstarter for Leagues of Cthulhu.

What is Leagues of Cthulhu? It's the Lovecraftian add-on to Leagues of Adventure. Leagues of Horror gave us Gothic Victorian horror and now Leagues of Cthuhlu will gives us sanity-shattering cosmic horror. If you've been interested in Leagues of Adventure, Leagues of Horror, or Ubiquity in general this is a great way to get into the game. Every pledge level comes with a pdf of Leagues of Adventure and Leagues of Horror. As of now I'm backing at the Expedition Member level, though depending on how my funds are towards the end of the Kickstarter I might upgrade to Miskatonic University Freshman (since I missed out on the Leagues of Horror kickstarter).

Hollow Earth Expedition PDF Free for 24 Hours!

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hollow Earth Expedition, Exile Game Studio has made the pdf free for 24 hours. Just click this link to get your copy.

Bundle of Holding - Ubiquity

Want to give one of the Ubiquity games a shot? Now is the time. The current Bundle of Holding is
chocked full of great Ubiquity content. For 11.95 you can grab the starter, which has the core books for Hollow Earth Expedition (with GM Screen and Addendum), All for One: Diabolique Regime (with GM Screen), Leagues of Adventure. The retail value of those pdfs is $66.00. If you pay more than the threshold price you get six more titles (valued at $71.00).

Here are the bonus titles:

• Desolation: high fantasy post-apocalyptic game (core rules)
• Mysteries of the Hollow Earth: new secrets for HEX
• All for One: Paris Gothique: a huge guide to Paris (with new monsters, lackeys, and supernatural locations)
• Leagues of Adventure: Weird Science Compendium - new gadgets, weapons, vehicles, henchman and Leagues for LoA.
• All for One: Le Mousquetaire Deshonore: a four part campaign for AfO 

Ubiquity

My interest in Ubiquity has been piqued. As I said in my last post, I picked up Desolation. I wanted something more. Initially I was torn between Hollow Earth Expedition and Leagues of Adventure. Teaming up with amazons to fight Nazis and dinosaurs seems like a great time, but then again so does hopping around the world with Allan Quartermain and exploring ancient ruins. While eventually I hope to get both games, in the end my decision on which to get first was made by the price tag. The paperback version of Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) is half the price of Leagues of Adventure (LoA).

+Timothy Brannan has some great Ubiquity posts on his page, my favorite being his League of Extraordinary Ladies posts. I've thought about doing some HEX/Pulp Marvel heroes. There's some great artwork here that I'm using as inspiration.

Whether your play HEX or LoA, Triple Ace has some great free LoA downloads that work for either. My favorite is the LXG themed one. I plan on using their Hyde idea to stat my pulp Hulk. Exile Games has four years worth of Free RPG Day HEX adventures as well as sample characters, here.

Desolation RPG

A few months ago I picked up Desolation. Desolation is a post-apocalyptic fantasy game that uses the Ubiquity system (just like Leagues of Adventure and Hollow Earth Expedition).

Other than reading some blog posts, this is my only real taste of the Ubiquity system (and I've not actually played it just read it). As far as the system is concerned, I really like what I've read. The rules seem really simple (though not in a detrimental or insulting way) and I love the style points. The main difference between Desolation and other Ubiquity games is the inclusion a free form magic system and alternate races (most Ubiquity games assume characters are human).

Now I'll talk about the setting a bit. The before the apocalypse part of the setting is rather bland. It just seems very classic high fantasy, like Forgotten Realms or something. Honestly not a lot of setting information is given about the world post apocalypse either, but I think that's intentional. The book allows GM's to create their own post-apocalyptic fantasy wastelands, which is a nice strategy on the part of the writers. The fiction nails the bleakness of the setting and I really enjoy it.

If you are a fan of Ubiquity or want a different take on fantasy, I don't think  you'll go wrong picking up Desolation.