The Pick Up Pile. Pondering Fallout The Roleplaying Game

And it’s time to crawl out through the fallout, under an orange coloured sky for the latest entry in the Pick Up Pile; Fallout the Roleplaying Game, the last of the newer games I got for Christmas. Just in time for the Amazon Prime series to land on April 11th. This game is available in physical form from most game stores, or direct from Modiphius themselves HERE. Alternatively PDF copies can be obtained from Drive Thru RPG HERE, or Modiphius HERE. Also I must mention that when you buy a physical copy of the game, from any retailer, Modiphius can be contacted for a free PDF as per the instructions HERE.

First up, as I usually do in these reviews is the physical description. A sturdy, 432 page book withe ribbon bookmark (have I mentioned too much how I love ribbon boommarks yet?). Pages are thin to keep the book from being overly bulky, but not fragile and feel like they’ll stand up to regular gaming use. The cover is blue, made to resemble the back of a Vault-Tec jumpsuit, with the number 111 on it, so those familiar with the Fallout videogames will already have an idea of the default setting in the game. The PDF is indexed and has clickable links in the contents page, however page references do not appear to be links. The PDF also came with an Errata document to check your copies are up to date. This was last updated Feb ’23 so any new copies should be updated to have all these corrections already.

So, when you crack open the book, what’s inside? The contents page lists out the Twelve chapters (plus intro). Welcome to the Wasteland, Core Rules, Combat, Character Creation, Equipment, and Survival cover rules thet concern everyone playing the game. Corporations of Pre-War America, Vault-Tec, and The Commonwealth are all setting details, both geographical and historical. Then you have Gamemastering, Denizens of the Wasteland, and With a Bang or a Whimper for the GM’s eyes only. These are followed by the Appendices, where you’ll find the index and the character sheets, which I won’t go in depth on other than to say the sheets are clearly laid out and fit the look of wverything else in the game.

The artwork throughout the book is brilliant, much of it seems to be concept art and illustrations from Bethesda themselves. A lot of it having been used in various Fallout game promotional things over the years. There are atmospheric two page spread before every chapter, and example illustrations everywhere. A fantastic amount of good quality art that breaks up the text nicely.

Welcome to the Wasteland is up first. These four pages give an overview of the game, the default setting (Boston as pre Fallout 4), and what you need to play aside from the book.

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering the Cyberpunk Red Netrunning Deck

Now this is a game accessory I’ve been after for a while, but never seen it at a decent price when I had the cash… until now. The Cyberpunk Red Netrunning Deck from R.Talsorian Games. Physical version, as reviewed here, available from most good game shops and nerd suppliers, digital version is available HERE from Drive Thru RPG.

So, what’s in the box? and will it help you hack the Gibson? There are 52 regular playing card sized cards in here. All nicely cut and of a sturdy cardstock. The cards are typical playing card/CCG size, as shown in the picture below, so you can use standard size sleeves to cover them if you want that protection (which I have done).

The cards are split into four categories, 7 Floors, 3 Daemons, 27 Black ICE, and 15 Programs. Each representing a part of the hacking system from the core rulebook. You get:

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering Tales From The Loop.

This instalment of the Pick Up Pile is on a book that’s been out for a while, but is new to me (as I got it for Christmas). Free League’s Tales from the Loop, the game of kids and mysteries in the 80s based on the art of Simon Stålenhag. Available in physical form from most FLGSs and in digital from Drivethru RPG here.

Physically this is a nice solid hardcover book with obvious high production values, as one can expect from Free League if you’re familiar with any of their products. It’s 192 pages, and thick pages they are too. To give an idea, this volume is about the same thickness as my Alien Colonial Marines book which is 350+ pages. Each page is off white with easy to read, well spaced, good sized text. Artwork is of a high standard, as you’d expect from the inspiration, and scattered throughout.

There are 12 chapters in the book, the first 5 being for everyone playing, covering background, setting, character creation, and rules. The last 7 are for the Game Master only covering mystery structures and sandboxes, and four adventure that can be strung together into a campaign with one adventure per season of a year.

First up is the usual “What is a roleplaying game?” and “What’s this game about?” sections. The usual fare that anyone reading this has probably seen a million times. Also covered here are the Principles of the Loop:

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering Interface Red Volume 3 & Cyberpunk Red Data Screen. [UPDATED]

Heyyyyyy Night City, welcome to another pondering post here on the Pick Up Pile! Tonight after the body lottery we’ll get right on to covering Interface Red Volume 3 for Cyberpunk Red. Then we’ll take a look at the Data Screen .pdf for the same game.

First up, Interface Red Vol.3 a book I’ve been wanting to get my grubby little mitts on as soon as I heard it had the full body conversion rules for CPRed in it. It’s a 114 page pdf, I’ll update with details of the print version when that arrives.

[UPDATE]

Now my print copy has arrived. It’s a solidly put together softcover colour book with matte finish pages. Due to the page count it feels more substantial than previous interface volumes, as it’s about the size of the previous two put together. It’s the same width and height as Vol.2, so slightly taller than Vol.1.

I did notice large areas of flat colour, such as the red in chart borders and solid black areas are a little lighter than in Vol.2, and more than in the standard print run CPRed books. This isn’t too severe and I think I only noticed it due to a once-professional background in colour matching. Also, oddly this volume has two blank white pages at the end, I guess due to the amount of pages of content being one less than the required paper for the volume.

Top left: Interface Red Vol 2. Bottom Left: Vol 1. Right: Vol 3.

Neither of the above minor issues really detract from the book in any way. It’s a well put together book, reminiscent of some of the Chrome Books for CP2020, and I’m glad I picked it up.

[END OF UPDATE]

The first chapter is Hardened Mini Bosses, for when your players have optimised their characters so well and you need a ready made ass-kicker to give them some challenge. The Hardened Pyro upgrade to the Pyro from the core book being the easiest to do a direct comparison with, and yeah, this will catch cocky players out. Just make sure your players can take it.

Next up, Digital Dating in the Dark Future, a series of lifepath like tables that simulate dating in your characters downtime. I didn’t think this would be that useful to me at first but I’ve come around on it. the main reason is that whilst the lifepath creates characters for the GM to use from a characters history, this can create someone that’s here and now in the game.

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering The Deck Of Many Things.

This Pondering entry of the Pick Up Pile will be a long one as it’s covering the Deck of Many Things set for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, published by Wizards of the Coast . So that’s two books and a deck of 66 cards to go through.

I have the limited Alternate Art cover set of this, however the covers are the only difference in the two versions, the internal contents being identical. The cover is very nice, with spot gloss effects on any raised details and artwork, further enhancing them. This is another winner in the line of Alt art books.

I’ll go chapter section by section and chapter by chapter through the Book of Many Things, giving an overview of contents and commenting on them.

The first section is the Dungeon Master’s Toolbox, each chapter covering ways the deck can be used by the DM to enhance their game, even if not using it as the magic item itself in game.

Fool. As with the tarot card that shares it’s name this section is concerned with beginnings. It details the history of the Deck of Many Things throughout the earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons. From the first appearance in Greyhawk 1975 where it was 18 but nameless cards (the effects of which did have some resemblance to the modern deck) to the set that comes with this book. The more recognisable names and effects starting to be codified in the ’79 DMG. An interesting, if maybe too brief, history of the deck. The rest of this chapter serves as an overview of those that follow.

From the 1st Edition DMG

Key. This chapter has details on how to introduce the deck to your game without breaking it. Several adjusted decks are listed, tailored to different group tastes, such as a relatively low powered deck for lower levelled characters or one with harmful cards suitable for a horror themed game. The there are brief sections on how to introduce the deck in your game’s story and how to introduce the effects of a card draw. Following is a section suggesting magic effects for each card when used a s a separate artefact on its own. Such as the Gem card storing a 6th level spell and being able to cast from it daily, or the Star granting advantage on saving throws for 10 minutes. A really nice alternate use for each that could be worked into a campaign where players are assembling a deck from scattered cards, and want to use them for something before the deck is complete. Finally there is a part dedicated to making new cards, suggesting that any characters attempting this should be at least 17th level and it should take a long time and some exceptionally rare components. Perhaps more suited to NPCs unless you have a very high level open ended campaign.

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades.

In this entry to the Pick Up Pile Pondering series, I’ll be looking at Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades Wuxia Roleplaying by Brendan Davis and Jeremy Bai, published by Osprey Games.

This is a smaller format volume than many roleplaying game books. 229mm x 153mm which is about the same as many hardback novels. This makes it easier to hold when reading, and seems to be Osprey Publishing’s standard size. Despite the smaller dimensions the 272 single column pages are densely packed with information. They are maybe a little hard to skim to find information quickly, but they are well organised and the contents and index are detailed enough to find what you are looking for.

The introduction of the book doesn’t have the usual “What is a roleplaying game?” section that most books have. Perhaps understandably, as this is unlikely to be anyone’s first RPG, but a surprise to see its absence. It does have a note about the genre influences that are key touchstones, particularly the works of Gu Long who is name-checked many times in the book. It also notes that the portrayal of Chinese history is anachronistic and should not be taken as an accurate source on history.

The Pick Up Pile. Pondering Paranoia.

The first Pondering of the Pick Up Pile, Paranoia (2023 Edition) from Mongoose Publishing.

The first section of the book is the intro covering what is the game and how to use the book, the usual fare for this section, what is this, how to use it? etc. this is just a few pages. then we get on to Chapter 2, the rules, which is 45ish pages including character creation, how to play, and gear.

Character creation is quick, it takes up about 6 pages, including some nice half page art pieces. Though you will need to refer to later sections for more detail on Service Groups (jobs) and Secret Societies, both of which your character must have, this section just giving an overview.

As I noted in my entries for the January Character Creation Challenge using Paranoia, I really like the character generation for this game. The adversarial selection of skill points sets the tone already, putting players at odds with each other. Picking a +5 to give your neighbour a -5 in a skill they really want must feel really good. (There’s also an option for more traditional individual character creation if the adversarial method isn’t for your group.)

There’s little in the way of narrative/background for each character, but there’s enough for broad strokes. The Treason Button and Violence Button sections give a bit more to role play with, what causes you to fuck around and what causes you to fuck shit up.

The Pick Up Pile.

Welcome to the first post in a new series, The Pick Up Pile. I’ve been looking for something to do with this blog as it’s been sitting idle apart from the January Character Creation Challenges, especially with my solo Twilight: 2000 game being on hiatus as it’s a bit depressing to play in light of current world events.

Also it keeps my little grey cells bubbling away and it kinda justifies my game collection whilst I don’t have a game group.

So whats in the Pick Up Pile? Well, as the name suggests it’s going to be about games and game related stuff I’ve recently picked up. I got a few game books for Christmas and have picked up a bunch of things on Ebay and elsewhere recently.

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Christmas gifts were the Paranoia core cook, Fallout: The Role Playing Game core book, Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, Tales from the Loop, and The Deck of Many things.

Initial thoughts on each of these;

Paranoia is a slim hardcover, with substantial glossy pages. The writing is quite large and well laid out making it easy to read. Art is interspersed throughout and is of a decent quality, showing characters, scenarios, equipment and organisation logos

Fallout has a ribbon bookmark, more books should have ribbon bookmarks. (I have a thing for ribbon bookmarks!) It’s a hefty book, that looks well laid out and separated into clear sections. Lots of really nice art that I think is concept art from the videogames.

Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades is a nice convenient smaller size hardback, with 260+ pages. The art is great, thematic and consistent all the way through. The text is clearly laid out in, full page width and of a easily readable size.

Tales From the Loop has some THICK paper, 192 pages in a book thicker than some 300+ page ones I have. As expected in a game derived from an artist’s work, the art is fantastic. From what I’ve read this really gets what the 80s were really like, more than a lot of properties do. I’d bet on it having been written by people that actually lived through the decade.

The Deck of Many Things box set is striking. The books and cards are really nice looking pieces. The Book of Many things appears to be a good DM targeted expansion, items, creatures, idea prompts etc. The cards themselves feel nice and the companion book details a few ways of using them.

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Purchases were all D&D related, I got the 4th edition PHB, the 3rd edition DMG MM and PHB, and the 1st edition DMG.

Initial thoughts on these;

I like the cover art on the 4th Edition PHB having spot gloss effects highlighting the logo and the central figures in the art. The interior is clearly laid out and readable. The art in each section has a very distinctive style that seems unique to this edition, everything’s so curvy and pointy at the same time. It’s odd seeing magic items in the PHB, I’m more used to seeing them in the DMG. From an initial skim combat does seem very minis and grid based.

For my tastes 3rd Edition has the best spine artwork, that old mage’s tome look. The text looks a little cramped and the sketchy lines around it make it a little less immediately readable to me. The sections seem laid out as you’d expect from 5e. The Monster Manual has a bunch of critters in it that don’t appear to have been updated to 5e, that’s something I might look into doing. Finally it is nice to see the tables listed in the contents page at the start of each book, so if you know what table you are looking for you can jump straight to it, this needs to return.

The 1st Edition DMG shows people in the 70s had better eyesight, the text is tiny. It’s a solid book, from what I can tell my copy is 44 years old, and even missing its spine the text block is holding together. There’s a lot of detailed stuff in here and it will take me a while to work though. As shown in the Character Creation Challenge I really like the funny little guy generator in Appendix D.

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I intend posts for this to be split into two categories. “Pickups” where I post about something new I got in, maybe a photo or two and a couple of thoughts after a brief skim through (I guess this counts as the first “Pickup”) , and “Ponderings” where I’ll put up a larger entry for each book as I work through them. I’ll give and overview of the physical appearance of the book, and a few thoughts for each chapter highlighting things that stand out to me.

I’ll also add new purchases to the pile as I pick them up, putting them in the queue to be covered. They won’t necessarily be covered in the order that I got them, more likely when they excite my “Ooh shiny!” impulse.

If I ever get to the end of the queue then I’ll pick something older out of my collection and cover that until I get something new and shiny.

No plans for a schedule yet, as that depends on how long it takes me to get through a book and how much I have to say.