Against the DarkMaster - semi-clone of MERP

[grodog]

Thought this might catch folks' eye:

Now there is Against the Darkmaster (VsD for short). This game is clearly inspired by, and draws heavily on, MERP. But it’s not a retro-clone (i.e., it’s not the MERP version of OSRIC). Rather it’s what I would call a quasi-clone (a game that draws heavily on an earlier one, and retains broad compatibility with its predecessor, but also deviates from it in some important ways). VsD looks like it’s compatible with MERP, in the sense that it should not be difficult to use MERP material with the system. But VsD introduces some new elements. For instance, VsD separates “races” from “cultures”: both humans and halflings, for instance, can have the “pastoral” or “urban” backgrounds. These elements of characters were not distinguished in MERP.

More at https://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/20 ... aster.html

Allan.

[Necron 99]

Yeah, that's an interesting game, I recall seeing the Kickstarter and almost went in on it. This past July when we got together out in CO for PeyCon, we stopped at a local game shop and they had a copy on the shelf. Nice looking book, I think James came close to picking it up. From what I know it's supposed to be a pretty good replacement for MERP. Wish I would have had the chance to play MERP back in the day, that's one I missed out on.

AtDM has some fantastic artwork for sure and it seems like a well designed system. If I wasn't already tied into The One Ring KS from Free League, I'd probably take more interest in it.

[Ancalagon]

Yeah, I came "thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis" close to picking it up in CO. Upon returning to NE I pulled a Jack Burton and said, "What the hell," and ordered a copy with the GM screen. I like what I've seen so far but haven't had the time yet to give it a full reading. I'll definitely put it on the list of games to demo somewhere down the road.

[Necron 99]

Dang, nice. That's cool, I hope to try it out sometime.