Lynn Willis (–2013)

I've been playing the BRP rule system in the form of Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, 6th Editionfor 20 years now. I've always enjoyed Cthulhu but for some time now I've wanted to try a fantasy setting using the BRP ruleset but have never had the chance. As my kids have got bigger and fell in love with Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and tabletop roleplaying they've been on me to find a good fantasy setting for them to quest in. Well, Magic World fits the show more bill..perfectly I might add.

Because of my experience with Call of Cthulhu the rules are no trouble, but truth is the d100 system is quite easy for even the most inexperienced roleplayer. The magic system is well designed and can bring about some truly evil villains. The deadliness of the combat system will, hopefully, keep players from being stupid and just plowing into the dark cave. The selection of races/creatures in the book is vast and easily meets all the needs that my gaming group requires. The included spells are varied enough that the selection allows for no overlapping if you by chance have more that one sorcerer in the party. Additionally it comes with a beautiful fold-out map.

So if you're looking for a RPG that has an easy, yet solid and deadly system you can't go wrong with Magic World. Furthermore, if, like me, you're looking for a great fantasy game for younger players Magic World is a great fit.

I've been looking for the for sometime and once again Chaosium comes in for the win.

To put it plainly...Magic World is fantasy roleplaying, dare I say it, at its best. show less

Much harder to find than Cults of Prax and worth the chase, it contains nine dangerous deities that give evil and chaos a fighting chance. The format is nearly identical to that of CoP, including excerpts from the Adventures of Paulis Longvale, a Lunar initiate. The book strongly recommends to GM's that players never join these cults, but the temptation is a strong one. The artwork could give people nightmares. Gushing blood, severed heads, gut wrenching unholy rites, twisted chaos show more creatures, and abominations to the sight of the gods abound in gossamer black and white detail. The 22 introductory pages, especially the cosmology section and the pronunciation guide, provide some of the best source material to date. You get chaos features, Thanatar gifts and geases, and everybody's favorite, the Crimson Bat. How many of us have plotted to destroy this dreaded tool of Lunar diplomacy? They added the new runes of Heat, Cold, Ice, Light and Undead. Every cult is great except for the cult of Primal Chaos, the most simple one ever written. Lords of Terror put most of this book back in print. show less

Possibly the greatest pen-and-paper RPG of all time, based on the works of one of my favorite childhood authors. Who doesn't want to pretend to be bon vivants and librarians confronting the meaningless madness of space and time? So cool it's ridiculous.

Call of Cthulhu (CoC) is a "pen & paper" roleplaying game (RPG) published in 1981 by Chaosium and still very popular. Now in its 6th edition, CoC features a very simple but realistic set of rules based on opposing percentual skills and probabilities. Based on the Basic Roleplaying set of rules, also called D100, is very similar to the actual probabilities we are used to in the real world and allows a very easy and smooth playing experience without the multiple tables, stats and calculations show more which complicate and slow down most of the other RPGs (D&D anyone?). Also the player and NPC stats are generally compatible with real people with real skills and capabilities. Magic exists but is limited and can have dire effects. Weapons need expertise and have real world effects disallowing superhuman powers in players (as found in other RPGs): reckless players can quickly die in CoC.
CoC is a investigator-suspense-horror RPG with a classic setting in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. However, with time most every other era (future inclusive) has been adapted to the game which has a huge collection of sourcebooks and supplements ranging from several-months-play long elaborate epic missions to short one-hour-play adventures.
An important feature is sanity which is expended each time a player has a terrible experience or has a contact with the Occult, direct or through text, objects or rituals. Loss of sanity causes psychotic surges and ultimately leds to definitive dementia.
In sharply contrast to other RPGs, after several versions the core principles an rules of CoC are still the same enabling direct use of old published material and preserving the investment already made by faithful veteran players.
The game is easy to learn and the adventures very easy to prepare generally in a short time. The easy intuitive rules and a lot of clever settings and scenarios allow for a smooth game and a very unique and suspensive game playing experience. show less