by ctimmins

Interregnum

by drb1004

Related Item: Paranoia Second Edition

dom5 wrote:

Forest-R probably needs to work on his weapons skill! He’s not really having a lot of luck.

Which is presumably the fault of a subversive secret society. And definitely not The Computer….

Commies! Commies everywhere...

by drb1004

Related Item: Paranoia Second Edition

chromatine wrote:

That was fun. :)

Thanks :D

by Ugavine

aramis wrote:

pestigor wrote:

I mean what would a tavern be like in any setting if there weren't a few people off in the corner playing dice, cards, faro or some other game of chance where the house held a decisive edge (unless it's pick up poker)

Realistic, that's what.
Most gambling in public houses wasn't run by the house.
Many public houses didn't tolerate it inside, either - some for moral reasons, some more for practical reasons.

Those practical reasons include being oultawed in many places, the perceived liability of the house, increased fights, reduced drinking (most gamblers don't drink as much when playing), increased targeting for robbery. And that many games are houseless.

Gambling is generally legal in the UK, some restrictions. It's not something I generally see often any more, aside from fruit machines that can be found in most pubs. Growing up in the 80s I certainly used to see card games regularly played in pubs, though gambled amounts were generally pennies. That said, some pubs in the UK do run Poker tournaments, a friend of mine has won a couple.

by SeaofStars

I have played gamblers, mostly specifically hucksters in Deadlands. My current huckster travels with a revival preacher, as their assistant, and runs a dice game out back during the preaching for the, er, less religious types. And plays Faro in the bars, with the owner's permission. It is all set dressing though, no rolls, just ways to gather info and get the lay of the land.

I have other charaters gamble on occasion, usually when they can use thier abilities to cheat.

by drathbun

No it’s locked.

by AZBarbarian

My favorite and most used was definitely the Dungeon Masters Guide (AD&D 1e). It set a high bar for this sort of thing.

by Pentaclebreaker

Balance of powers is always a hard game 😉 no matter what system . . .

In D&D 1ed. (and basically all other editions of it), characters are really weak at first level . . . to reach half-god powers at highest levels.

In Traveller one has to have the right mixture of group members to master a ship . . . or crash into the next planet or sun . . . and starting characters have just a hard time not to die and get the relevant expierience . . .

In Vampire a good background story is the half of success 😉


Ciao

Martin

by AZBarbarian

It was a big part of playing a huckster in (Deadlands (Original Edition). The huckster.in our group couldn't pull a good hand, ever. Until he wanted a bad hand and foylt a straight flush which turned an innocent into a mummified corpse.

by Pentaclebreaker

Hi there,

pure gambling has so far only been a hook for some more adventure intros 🙂 In our home group (d&d 5e; Greyhawk) the next session will be about being IN the big arena of Greyhawk City . . . Our group is only partly interested in the fame and prize money - would be nice. But may also cause some other problems. The arena master seems to be involved in some shady buisiness we are currently investigating 😉he is our real target.

Gambling is mute compared to adventuring 😉

Ciao

Martin

by vitaliyf

An item Board Game: Legacy of Dragonholt has been added to the geeklist PAX Unplugged 2026 Virtual Game Market

by MichaelLavoie

My goodness, it's been a long time since I've posted one of these. The last one was nearly 17 years ago.

I revive this series now because, due to advancing age and the early ravages of Parkinson's Disease, I have begun selling off my collection of board games and RPGs. Going through all my stuff I recently dug up my copies of almost the complete run of Interregnum (I am missing only two of the 47 issues), as well as the 7th Sea Player's Guide. Thus reminded of how fond I was of this system, I searched for my review of the game and found it in issue 34, which contained #16 of my zine, True Magick. I thought that it would be worthwhile to share.

As before, I present my review more or less exactly how it appeared in the APA. I reserve the right to correct any typos and other errors that may have escaped me back then, as well as to remove any in-jokes and references that pertain to Interregnum and its other contributors. I'll also insert some parenthetical comments from the perspective of the present day.

7th Sea is a roleplaying game by Jennifer Wick, John Wick, Kevin Wilson, and a cast of thousands. It was published in 1999 (2000 according to the RPGG database) by Alderac Entertainment Group.

This one kind of caught me by surprise, as I hadn't heard (or at least paid attention to) any news of its impending arrival. When I saw it in my FLGS, I had to buy it. I am a sucker for anything piratical; I have playedThe Avalon Hill Game Co's Blackbeard so many times that the pieces are starting to wear out, and my favorite computer game of all time is Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004). Thus, my interest in this game could not have been greater.

7th Sea is set in an alternate Europe in the year 1668. The countries of Theah are very much analogous to those of Earth. Avalon is England, Montaigne is France, and so on. This gives players something familiar in which to ground themselves, while allowing the introduction of strange and exotic details to remind them that they are not playing in our world. It is a world of conflict (both political and religious), espionage, sorcery, and, yes, piracy. The setting is very well delineated, richly detailed, and thoroughly described. The major NPCs are fascinating. I also like the idea that future supplements and adventures will take the setting through an advancing timeline. GMs will have to adjust these for events in their own campaigns while being freed from having to detail events in parts of the world outside of the main thrust of their game. This should make for a very interesting world.

Character creation is skill-based rather than class-based. Players have a pool of points which they use to buy attributes and skills. The designers place limits on how high these can be bought up to during creation, a prudent precaution. Even within these limits, the PCs are Heroes, with abilities far beyond those of the average denizen of Theah. The system encourages players to think deeply about the type of character that they wish to play and to develop a concept of their hero before they start spending points. What should result from this is well-rounded and believable characters rather than min-maxed combat machines.

The game's conflict-resolution system revolves around the concept of Drama. It is the designers' intent that the game feel like a swashbuckling movie a la The Three Musketeers or Captain Blood. 7th Sea mostly succeeds in capturing that feel. Although the combat system in particular seems a bit cumbersome at first glance, it plays better than it reads. 10-sided dice are used in mass quantities. The combat round has 10 phases, and at the start of a round the players roll a d10 for each point of their panache attribute. The results determine in which phases their PCs can act. Resolution depends of the appropriate attribute or skill ("Knack" in game terms), the degree of difficulty being assigned by the GM. Running down a deserted street to escape from a wounded but still-dangerous villain might be a reasonably simple act, while leaping from a balcony, grabbing a chandelier and swinging across the room to land on the villain's back would be considerably harder to pull off. When all else fails, players have a pool of Drama dice that they can use to attempt to pull their fat from the firs. It all works together pretty well.

The magic system deserves a brief mention. Buying sorcery skills takes a lot of points, so mage characters should be rare. The exact nature of the sorcery that a PC can use depends upon their home country, as each realm in Theah give rise to its own particular type of sorcerer. Sorcery in 7th Sea is not overwhelmingly powerful and comes with its own costs. (I originally thought it to be nicely-balanced but now believe that it might be a bit underpowered.)

The game is not perfect. It was expensive at the time (the two orignal books cost $30 each when most game manuals were selling for $20-25), and there was much discussion on Usenet (anyone else remember rec.games.rpg?) about the price. I think that it's worth it because a good campaign can run for a long time and provide many hours of enjoyment. However, it is best to ensure that this is what you and the other players want before plunking down that kind of cash (this assessment has not aged well, but I left it in anyway). Also, the pirate portion of the game is underdeveloped in the core rulebooks. There is a supplement that expands the pirate theme (Nations of Théah: Book One: Pirate Nations, which I reviewed separately) but that entails a further outlay of money. (There was also some attrition among the AEG's design staff, which I thought might cast doubt on the long-term viability of the system, but the many items that were issued over the succeeding years proved me wrong.) I can recommend 7th Sea to anyone interested in the theme. Grade: B.