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About OgreCave and its staff
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 12 Downloadable Gift Ideas for 2009 |
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An Aetheric Guide for Christmas By Gerald Cameron, Dennis Hancock, Matthew Pook, Allan Sugarbaker, Mike Sugarbaker, and Lee Valentine The last minute shopping panic has begun, and you've got no way to get to the store! That gaming buddy of yours has already made it clear you'll love what he got you, but you have nothing to give in return. Fear not, for OgreCave has put together a final gift list for 2009 that, as in previous years, is filled with downloadable games of all sorts. Just hop online, read through our selections, and download a life-saving gift or two. The Cave Dwellers are happy to assist, as always.
In a good year for the "Old School Renaissance" of roleplaying, it is a
pleasure to see a contribution from one of the movement's most notable
commentators, James Maliszewski. Designed for four to eight characters
of fourth to sixth levels, in The Cursed Chateau the adventurers
find themselves trapped in a mansion as the playthings of a malicious
spirit. As they contend with strange puzzles and traps, the characters must struggle
to find a way out. Inspired by the classic adventures Castle Amber and
Tegel Manor, with a little touch of the Cthulhu Mythos, The Cursed
Chateau can be used with any version of Dungeons & Dragons (aside from the very
latest) and is easily adapted to other fantasy RPGs.
Proving that less is more, James Raggi IV gives us a Dungeons & Dragons adventure that has almost no monsters, few traps, plenty of puzzles, one big trap, and tons of atmosphere. Part of the "Old School Renaissance" and designed for character levels one to six, in Death, Frost, Doom the players have the opportunity to explore a hauntingly empty mountain top shrine, full of small details and oddities that build towards a tense and eerie experience. It will ultimately be curiosity that leads to the characters' undoing as it takes them too deep inside the complex and they unleash a torrent of evil. Death, Frost, Doom is a brilliantly dark and gloomy horror scenario, easily adapted to other fantasy RPGs, but perfect for a change of pace from the monster beating, treasure grabbing dungeon bash.
The Cave Dwellers have explored this chilly adventure before. See our full review for more insight.
Houses of the Blooded is a storytelling game of romance,
bloodshed, intrigue, and treachery. As one of a magical race called the
Ven, you exist within one of the race's six ruling houses. Each house
is out to gain advantage over other Ven, all the while using the rest of
the world's inhabitants as pawns in elaborate games of life and death. Houses makes players value facets of play that normally go unnoticed – awarding Style points for each character's fashion choices, for example.
The game includes rules for both "friendly" and "cut-throat" modes of
play, allowing for all levels of manipulation. A 48-page preview may even convince you to spring for the full
print version ($45.00 for the 400+ page book).
The tower-defense-y thing has been done a number of times now, and done
as a dungeon crawl more than once (notably in the
still-upcoming-in-the-US Dungeon Lords by Vlaada Chvatil of
Space Alert fame), but we wanted to call this one out for a few
reasons: first, it's a solitaire game. Second, self-aware dungeons?
That's undeniably original. And in addition, this is one of a few
print-and-play games highly-rated on BGG that you can also get through
the relatively new POD game vendor The Game Crafter. Give the gift of
science as you test the quality and durability of this ambitious
service, even as you give a fun game and thumb your nose at the
format of this all-downloadable list! (Um, or you can just download it.)
This unassuming adventure module is a spiritual descendant of Tomb of Horrors, designed for old editions of Dungeons & Dragons and modern retro-clones. Low-level PCs discover the ruins of a tavern that was once a waypoint for adventurers headed to the frontier to make their fortune. Now it is a twisted monument to its owner. Can the PCs and (and the players) keep their wits about them, or will they be ground to dust? Delightfully devious and just the right level of deadly, The Grinding Gear is a challenge players will brag about defeating – or lament their losses at its feet.
Deadly traps are a particular favorite at OgreCave. See our full review for disarming product analysis.
We appreciate that we can out do Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels
with Omnihedron Games' Duty & Honour RPG, which lets the players
serve under Wellington in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte in the
Iberian Peninsula. So we are just as pleased to be able to serve in
Nelson's navy as in the novels of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester with
the publisher's second RPG, Beat to Quarters, which enables play
as the crew and officers of a ship in His Majesty's Navy (the ship
itself a character all its own). Undertaking orders from the Admiralty,
crewmembers can expect to face the might of Bonaparte's navy and the
navies of his allies, deal with pirates and privateers, curb the power
of revolutionary America, but above all, they must ensure England's
supremacy over the seas. Just as with Duty & Honour, this is a
card-driven RPG played as a series of missions and challenges (both
official and personal) that let you run out the guns and stand by for
action!
One of the few third-party rules expansions for Dungeons & Dragons:
Fourth Edition, Hardboiled Armies lets you tackle military
operations as easily as you would any other combat. While the map is at
a larger scale, unit stat blocks are very similar to the standard
monster stat block. Like its predecessor Hardboiled Cultures, it also
explains the logic behind the decisions, and offers some tips on hacking
the system to your own ends. A selection of sample military units and a
sample mass combat, with tokens and play-size map to try out yourself,
rounds things out.
The critically received 2001 RPG of children confronting their fears of
something under the bed returns in an all-new edition. This Nightmare
Edition casts Little Fears players as young children aged between
six and twelve, facing threats and dangers they will no longer believe
in once they become teenagers, but while still younger will have the
innocence and the Power of Belief to face such fears with a little
magic. Such fears might be more "pedestrian" creatures such as ghosts,
vampires, and zombies, but they can be more personal fears from the
closet, or worse, deep within Closetland itself. Not as edgy or
controversial a game as it was in 2001, the new Little Fears presents an
expanded, more developed setting in which to explore the fears that we
have forgotten.
If award-winning, trail-blazing game designer John Wick ventures into
zombie territory, you should follow him. The Shotgun Diaries is a
speedy onramp to the world of the fabled undead apocalype, and every
session has to deal with survival. To stand and fight eventually means
someone will become infected or get eaten – that's what happens in
the movies, after all. Instead, The Shotgun Diaries encourages a
continuous fighting withdrawal, as the zombies will break in at
some point (the Zombie Clock mechanic will see to that). Boasting
quick-and-dirty character creation, and all the tropes of the living
dead genre, this game will force you to fight for survival every step of
the way.
You have to love a game that makes you print it out so you can pretend
to be playing with 16-bit graphics... in a light wargame... based on a
console strategy title... that was based on tabletop wargaming. It could
only be more insane if someone made a Flash version of it. Even if
you're not into anything that might be a wargame (give it a chance! Half
the numbers are just the hit point track!), the terrain tiles are
lip-smackin' good for all sorts of purposes. Show the Advance
Wars lover on your list that you care, and print and assemble some
of this action.
If you are a fan of Michael Schacht's acclaimed zoo building game
Zooloretto, owners of Apple's higher end portable devices will be
pleased to know that they can now carry the game with them on the go.
The game features family-friendly, full-color graphics made complete
with animal sounds. While the game does not currently allow for
internet play against friends, you can either pass your iPhone in a "hot
seat" mode against multiple human players, or you can play in a 3-5
player game against AIs. At a price of under $5.00 you can't really
argue with this one. You can see a video of the user
interface, then download your app copy today.
It's the first transhumanist RPG (sorry, Eclipse Phase – we
love you, but you didn't commit), and the first game ever to so neatly
invert so many of the baseline assumptions of the genre. It's got the
most engaging game fiction you could hope for, adorable artwork and just
generally great presentation. It's a serious advance in the state of the
art of roleplaying, and membership in the beta gets you first crack at
the print preorder in March. Get on board the Donut or live to regret
it.
Let the bonus round begin: here's another brand-new electronic release we recommend...
BioWare created an awesome story line and setting for computer gamers
with Dragon Age: Origins, and now Green Ronin has followed it up
like a Chuck Norris Approved™ karate chop to a watermelon that'd would
make R. Lee Ermey
squeal like a school girl. The Dragon Age RPG picks up where
BioWare left off and put it all down on paper so all gamers could get in
on the action. Set in the world of Ferelden, where Darkspawn lurk
beneath the ground waiting for an Archdemon to unite them and take over
the continent, Dragon Age is a fantasy setting ripe for questing.
The Darkspawn appear ready to strike, so the question is: are you strong enough to unite
the Kingdoms of Ferelden against a common enemy? Grab the early release of the Set 1 PDF, and gather 'round the table with your friends – you're going need them!
Thus we conclude our fourth and final gift selection list
from 2009. We've been doing these list for a while though, so you can get ideas from lists of holidays past or continue looking over our other 2009 gift lists. Our selections for Christmases past will make great gifts, though they may be a bit harder to find than they used to be.
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The Cursed Chateau
Death Frost Doom
Houses of the Blooded
I, Dungeon
The Grinding Gear
Beat to Quarters
Hardboiled Armies
Little Fears: Nightmare Edition
The Shotgun Diaries
Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics
Zooloretto for iPhone/iPod Touch
FreeMarket Beta edition
Dragon Age RPG, Set 1 (PDF)