
A subconscious aim of this multi-part
thread was to remind some of my old gaming colleagues of the good times we had playing these "silly" games... and as you see later on, I may just have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams!
(a)
Savage Worlds (Pinnacle). I've always been a fan of the supernatural Western setting
Deadlands (a mainstay of my 'middle period' in the non-gaming wilderness, when I first discovered the Internet and the wealth of free game support out there), but could never get my head around the rules system.
So when, years later, it evolved into the generic
Savage Worlds system I was at first hesitant to pour money into yet another game that I couldn't fathom the rules of. Eventually, of course, I cracked - when Pinnacle brought out
Deadlands: Reloaded - and, boy, was I surprised!
Savage Worlds is written to be a wicked, fast, furious and fun game for 30-something gamers who don't have eight hours free to prep a game
(how much time did we 'waste' in those days?!!!).
It is easily adaptable to any setting, has some nice optional 'gimmicks'
(I love the "adventure cards" that players can use to introduce plot twists), is geared towards figure use without being a combat-centric strategy game like
D&D, and has an ever-growing mountain of free (and paid for) online support, both official and
fan-generated.
Pinnacle has also, this month, pulled a marketing masterstroke with the launch of its £5.99
Explorers' Edition of the basic
Savage Worlds rules. A full colour, digest-sized, version of the rules
(all of them, mind you, not just a 'taster'), plus an adventure for less than the price of a pizza!
Other games companies should take note... I've already heard of Gamesmasters buying four or five copies to hand out to all their players!

(b)
Mutants & Masterminds (Green Ronin). If Pete, Steve and I were 14 again, this is the superhero game we would be playing - beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Mutants & Masterminds is Steve Kenson's grown-up version of
Villains & Vigilantes, using the streamlined
True20 variant of d20.
It has the flexibility of d20, but unfortunately brings all the usual mechanical crunch and paperwork along with it. I know there are online applications and spreadsheets that deal with a lot of these issues, but it's still a heady brew for an old fogey like me to cope with these days.
That said the publishers continue to produce an incredible range of finely illustrated, and text heavy, supplements and background books
(as well as adventures that I'm not so bothered about) covering every aspect of the superhero genre imaginable.
I have grown very fond of this game because it reminds me of my favourite period from my gaming youth
(my Villains & Vigilantes' years) and gives me an insight into what it would be like if we had stuck together as gaming cabal and were still playing the same
HeroPress campaign!

(c)
Hollow Earth Expedition (Exile Game Studio).
Ladies & Gentlemen, we have a winner!
At
Military Odyssey the other day Nick happened to mention that he had ordered a copy of
HEX and that maybe we should think about starting a game sometime soon!
HEX reads as though it should be another fast, intuitive, rules-lite system - akin to
Savage Worlds - but geared specifically towards pulp style adventures exploring lost cities, battling dinosaurs and outwitting Nazis. You couldn't ask for a better game setting.
It uses a simple "count the successes"
dice pool system that allows you to roll any sort of dice and just tally the even numbers; most skills and abilities are ranked one to five; and all the rules appear to use some variation of these core principles.
My original copy of the rules is hidden somewhere in storage, and so Rachel kindly bought me a new copy
(on the condition that when we find the old one it goes straight on eBay and she gets the money - only fair!) - so when I've finished my current Doc Savage two-in-one novel (
Resurrection Day/Repel), I shall give the HEX rules another read through.
I can't wait to actually test drive this system later this year. It's been about nine months since I first discovered the game and fell in love with it; planning to launch a tabletop game inspired by
The Island At The Top Of The World, reuniting many of the old
HeroPress stalwarts. Unfortunately cold feet - brought on by lingering, minor brain damage from my stroke (memory gaps, word blindness, general nervousness and anxiety etc) - made me eventually chicken out from running it.
This time I'm hoping Nick will be willing to run the first adventure, then I might step up to run the next
(once I've developed some confidence in the system and my ability to process it mentally) and then we could alternate.
This could be it ... the 10-year role-playing drought looks like it's coming to an end!