Blood!

The Role-playing Game of Modern Horror (second edition)
Modern (Horror)
Postmortem Studios
2006
Complexity: 4

It’s time to start the Spooktober festivities with a spooky horror game. Blood! Is a game that more-or-less seeks to emulate modern horror films—or since the original came out in 1990, horror films of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Both versions are also notably British, which I guess is only relevant if you know about the banning and censorship of horror films that was going on there in the 1980s. Anyway, video nasty history aside, Blood! is a game with a lot to offer, some might even say too much—I would be one of those people. Let’s just say there’s a reason I added a complexity rating to my review format.

[Spooktober Horroreviews!]

Why hello there, this is just a notice that for the whole of October I'll be reviewing two horror games each week. But to make things interesting, each week I'll be reviewing one game that might be good and one game that probably isn't good... and it'll probably be fairly obvious which is which. So make sure to tune in each Tuesday and Thursday in October—except for the last one which will be on Wednesday because I ran out of Thursdays.

Dungeon Reave

Medieval (fantasy)
New Realms Publishing
2016
Complexity: 4

I came across Dungeon Reave while browsing games and initially thought it didn’t warrant my interest. But then I caught a very important sentence in the description, “Dungeon Reave is closely compatible with Xtraor.” Yes, that Xtraor, the worst game I’ve reviewed and notably one that claims to be “revised” while looking like it hasn’t even been proofread. Well obviously at this point I knew I had to review Dungeon Reave—which also claims to be revised. What mysteries does Dungeon Reave hold, does it bring redemption or further condemnation for the mysterious “J?” Join me and find out. Or not.

Console: Handheld

Medieval (fantasy)
Self Published
2009

Console: Handheld is the third in a series of games intended to recreate the feeling of a CRPG, plus it’s a pocket game, and I’m on a bit of a micro game kick at the moment.
The interesting thing about Console: Handheld is that rather than just being a handheld game based on console RPGs, it a handheld game based on handheld console RPGs; seeming to take the bulk of its influence from the early SaGa—aka Final Fantasy Legend—series. Honestly the influence is so strong that I’m not sure if I should be considering this a SaGa fan game or not.

Phones of Glory

Modern
Bully Pulpit Games
2018
Complexity: 1

So I wanted to mix up my random selection method, so I decided to just go to free rule books and review whatever the newest title was. And that title was Phones of Glory, a game about civic engagement. Now this isn’t really a role-playing game in the strictest sense, or any but the loosest sense—the same sense in which any social interaction is a role-playing game—but as I’ve often stated, this is my blog and I just kinda do whatever I feel like. This will however, be a super short review.
Wait a minute, did I just call life a LARPG?

Cookie Jar

Modern (crime)
Post World Games
2011

Well, randomly selecting a game to review seemed to work out pretty good last time, so I did it again. This time I will be looking at Cookie Jar, which at just over 500 words is the shortest game I’ve reviewed, and my shortest review to date.
Cookie Jar is a game of crimes, or rather the accusation of, denial of, and concession to crimes. And while it may be a very little game, it’s definitely an interesting little game.

PreHysteria

Prehistoric (comedic)
Fantasy Core Games
2012

So it turns out that I have a bunch of games I downloaded and either never read, or completely forgot about. This is one such game.
As one may guess, this is a caveman-themed game—which there really don’t seem to be too many of—and also seems to be intended by the creators to be played while drinking heavily. But I don’t drink heavily so I’ll be reviewing it totally sober, which in retrospect may have been a bad idea.