2016 has been a great year for RPGs. From Monte Cook Games’ No Thank You, Evil! aimed at kids, to the triumphant release of The Dracula Dossier for Night’s Black Agents, to the cthulhuriffic Strange Aeons Pathfinder adventure path, to D&D’s return to Barovia and the publication of 5e’s second monster book, we’ve had a lot to enjoy this past year.
So what does 2017 promise? More new and exciting (and different) places and ways to get your adventure on. Here are four new RPGs that should release in the next twelve months that have already got people talking.
Ok, I’m cheating a bit with this first one; Blue Rose is actually an RPG that was first published by Green Ronin over a decade ago. However, this new Blue Rose will not be using the True20 rules, and will instead be built around Green Ronin’s Fantasy AGE rules, the same engine they built for their port of the Dragon Age computer game to tabletop RPG. Still, fans of the original will enjoy this return to Aldis with fresh new cover art from Stephanie Law, an expanded gazetteer of the world, and more adventure support. There’s no announced release date for Blue Rose yet, but the writing is all done and the book itself is in layout.
Star Trek RPGs are nothing new, either, but we haven’t had one since the 20th century, and we’re long overdue. The current keepers of that flame are Modiphious Entertainment, creators of Achtung! Cthulhu. The game is currently in open playtest and will be available for purchase this summer. The game promises to cover every era of Trek, from the classic original series and its spin-off movies, through The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. In short, everything up to, but not including, the new movies. The game also promises a wide range of mechanics to cover all the classic elements of Trek like exploration, diplomacy, and dueling starships.
Star Trek isn’t the only anticipated sci-fi release for 2017. Paizo’s also coming out with a science-fantasy version of their Pathfinder RPG called Starfinder. It’ll use the familiar Pathfinder mechanics (based on D&D’s 3rd edition d20 system) and we can expect the usual high-level of production values and support Paizo is known for. The due-date for Starfinder is August.
Finally, there’s the mysterious black cube of Monte Cook’s Invisible Sun. Billed as a premium RPG set in a surreal world, Cook describes it as, “Harry Potter’s wizarding world if it had been written by Philip K. Dick.” The Kickstarter was exceptionally successful (something we’ve come to expect from the crew at Monte Cook Games). The team that gave us Numenera and The Strange has yet to disappoint, bringing us innovative mechanics and new ways to play RPGs with each new release. Invisible Sun promises to pull out all the stops when it comes to innovation, and you can bet other publishers are keeping their eyes on this one.
