John Farrell

Vaesen’s Nordic Horror experience stands out among myriad monster of the week horror RPGs in almost every way that I value as a reviewer: its aesthetics are strong, its presentation is excellent, its use of source material is thoughtful and unique, and its mechanics, while not quite as developed,

Mork Borg receives the highest recommendation of any game I have ever reviewed. It is more than a dark fantasy low magic horror roleplaying game, but as a game it delivers in spades, rusty and covered in filth though those spades may be. Mork Borg is a new landmark in

The line between good concept and good implementation is a fine but important one, and Ring of Pain is unfortunately on the wrong side of it. This miniature roguelike has great aesthetics and mechanical principles, but doesn’t seem to know what to actually do with any of those things.

With the recent dark apocalyptic RPG and Vaesen, a horror RPG based upon Nordic folktales. While I have yet to review these games for this site, suffice it to say that with both titles, Free League proves they are the most consistent, quality publishers on the market. Enter stage left

Neverending Nightmares aims to capture the unknowable horror buried in the unconscious mind, and while it doesn’t quite succeed, it does deliver a short and intensely creative experience. From the starting point, this short horror adventure sets out to be something different from its contemporaries. It doesn’t deliver

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn was a beautiful gift that died too soon. Plaid Hat’s LCG combined ingenious mechanics centered around careful risks, resource management, and crucial timing, to deliver a wondrous challenge that, sadly, ended up cancelled due to a number of logistical reasons that, as far as

Warhammer 40k Mechanicus contains a bevy of interesting narrative and mechanical decisions, but this tactics game is also marred by questionable implementations of those decisions.

It’s the fate of most independent 5e compatible settings to get lost in the shuffle, and the time I have spent with Rational Magic makes me hope that it doesn’t suffer that same fate. Combination campaign setting, rules set, and an adventure book, Rational Magic sets itself in